Chapter Eight: Operation: Principal's Office

***

Sneaking toward the principal's office, in near-pitch black and with a rampaging killer wanting their blood, was the most nerve-wracking thing Dani felt all night.

Every inch of her body was tense as she looked for any sign of Tabitha or her victims. Sometimes, she thought she heard screams echoing before they were quieted permanently, or hear the clicking of her heels, but there was no sign of Tabitha.

Yet.

A bang sounded and Dani jumped, looking around wildly as they all froze, not even breathing, muscles tensed to run.

Nothing. Tabitha wasn't there, a bloodstained spectre looming out of the shadows to slaughter them. They were alone.

"Must have been in some other part of the school," Julie said, trying to offer a logical reason. It didn't comfort any of them.

"Let's just keep going. We're almost there," Colin muttered, and they continued creeping toward the principal's office.

Fortunately, it was on the same level as they were, just a few corridors away—a five minute walk, tops. Five, heart-pounding minutes of walking in near-darkness with no idea where Tabitha was or when she would strike next.

Or which of them would be killed next.

No, Dani thought. I'll stop her. I'll stop and save my friends and Mitch like I couldn't save Zoe. I might even be a final girl and stop the killer.

I can stop her.

And yet, Dani still looked over her shoulder, her heart racing every time a shadow shifted.

They crept down the hallways until they stopped and saw their destination—a door with the plaque PRINCIPAL JONES on it.

Dani, Mitch, Colin and Julie turned to each other, grinning. They'd done it. They made it to the principal's office, without Tabitha finding them. They only had to get inside and call for help, then they could find a way out and get out of here.

Then, after Tabitha was arrested, they could come back for Zoe.

Colin grabbed the door handle and opened it. The door creaked, and the four of them turned, still as death, watching for any sign of Tabitha, listening for the click of her heels.

There was nothing. They were alone. They were safe. For now.

"Hurry, get in," Colin whispered.

Dani, Mitch and Julie filed in, Colin behind them as he closed the door as quietly as possible. They waited for five minutes for any sign the killer prom queen was closing in on them, but there was nothing. They were in the clear.

Now, they just had to find the phone.

Dani looked around at the room—yellowed white walls with flaking paint, a bookshelf that was leaning to one side, armchairs with frayed fabric, a filing cabinet with rust spotting it. The only thing that looked well-cared for was the oak-wood desk taking centre stage in the room. Jones was notorious for telling students not to put their feet up on the desk.

From what Dani heard from Mitch, she and the other students called in didn't listen to the deceased principal.

Now, Dani gravitated to it, running her hand along the polished wood as she looked around it for any sign of the phone, Julie crouching down and pulling out drawers while Mitch checked the filing cabinet and Colin searched the bookshelf. Dani was about to join Julie in looking through the drawers when Colin whispered, "I found it."

The girls looked up to see Colin holding an old-fashioned phone and its cradle up, a triumphant grin on his face. They shared it as he put it on the desk and fiddled with the dial ring, a ding ringing out each time Colin rang the emergency number.

"She won't hear this, right?" Mitch asked, looking at the door.

"We can't be sure. This is our only chance of getting help. We have to risk her hearing it," Colin replied as he turned the dial one more time before letting out a noise of triumph as it rang. "I thin k we've got them!"

He was proven right when Dani heard a bored voice saying through the receiver, "This is the Union County Police Department, what's your emergency?"

"Uh, hey, we're students at Shaydside High, and we need help," Colin said, picking the phone up and speaking into it. "One of the students has snapped and has killed everyone, she's killed our classmates, our principal, our friend. You need to come right now and help us."

"Another Shadysider gone crazy, huh?" a background voice commented, so faint Dani was barely able to hear it even though she was standing right next to Colin, and yet she did.

"Sounds like it," the first voice replied.

"Please, we need help! She's going to kill us all, you have to help us," Julie begged as she took the phone from Colin.

"Look, kid, we want to help, but we're busy right now. It's the senior prom at Sunnyvale High and our department's flooded with drunk teenagers and—"

"This is more important than some Sunnyvale assholes getting drunk off their asses! People are dead, there's a killer in our school, and she fucking slashed our friend's throat open before our eyes! We don't know if we're next or not or when she's going to stop, so get off your asses, call every fucking cop you have, and come help us stop her before she's murdered everyone in this goddamned town!" Mitch yelled into the phone after yanking it out of Julie's hands.

Silence as Mitch looked at them and asked, "Too much?"

"Just a little," Dani said.

"As long as it gets across we need help, I guess," Julie muttered as she took the phone and held it so they could all hear, waiting for the cop's answer.

"Okay, we'll come as soon as we can. Stay where you are and—"

A harsh scraping sounded, accompanied by a flat, singsong voice.

"Long live the queen, long live the queen..."

Tabitha had found them.

"Shit," Dani breathed. Mitch grabbed her hand, holding it tight as through the frosted glass window, they saw the silhouette of her crown as she came closer.

"We have to go. Right. Now," Julie said through gritted teeth, anxiously looking at Tabitha's silhouette creeping closer.

Colin looked at Tabitha, then at the door. "Wait. I have an idea."

Quickly, he told them his idea as they ran to the door, ignoring the cop shouting at them as they placed their hands on the door, Dani hearing the faint click over the scraping and her voice as Tabitha walked closer to them.

"On three," Colin whispered. "One."

The clicks and voice stopped at the door.

"Two."

The handle turned.

"Three!"

As Tabitha opened the door, the four of them pushed it open, slamming the heavy door into the killer prom queen. She toppled to the ground with a grunt, dazed.

"Go, go, go!" Colin yelled as they ran, bolting down the corridor, all pretence of sneaking away gone. Dani risked a look back once to see Tabitha get up, rage penetrating the blankness in her eyes and the slasher-smile on her face.

"She's up again!" Julie yelled—she had looked back, too.

"Just keep running, Jules!" Dani shouted, turning back as she forced her tired legs to move, running through the same corridors until they arrived back at the same flight of stairs.

Where Zoe's body lay at the bottom.

Dani's heart lurched at knowing she would be seeing her best friend's corpse, but survival instincts pushed her grief down as she pelted down the stairs, flats slapping against the concrete as the four of them hurtled down the stairwell. Behind them, Dani could hear rapid clicking as Tabitha gave chase to them.

"How the fuck is she able to run in heels?!" Julie yelled.

"Ask questions later, survive now!" Dani yelled back.

Reaching the last flight of stairs, Dani froze when she saw Zoe's body on the floor, at the bottom of them.

Along with her slashed throat, her chest had been stabbed numerous times, the dark green top of her dress soaked black in her blood. Scarlet gore caked her gaping throat, a macabre choker and beneath her, drenching her teased curls, was a pool of her own blood. Her limbs were askew, like she was a doll whose strings had been cut loose, eyes gazing vacantly at Dani.

Her best friend, dead.

A sob caught in Dani's throat, survival instincts booted out of her as the overwhelming grief rose up to claim her.

The faint, echoing click of heels snapped the survival instincts back in. Later. I'll grieve later. But we have to get out of here. We have to run.

Zoe wanted us to run. I can't let her death be in vain.

"We have to run," Dani said, looking at the stairwell.

Mitch scanned their surroundings, skipping over Zoe's brutally murdered body. "I think we can make it to the dark room from here if we make a left instead of right."

"Can we? She's getting closer," Julie whispered, trembling as her breath hitched in her throat.

"We have to try. Dark room's probably the only safe place in the entire school right now," Dani whispered.

Colin was silent, looking up at the stairwell as Tabitha approached.

"Okay, we go now," Dani said. She ran down the stairs, but paused when she noticed Colin wasn't behind them. "Colin."

Colin looked at them, a strange look in his eyes. "Go. I'll hold her off."

"What?! No! Colin, you'll be killed!" Julie exclaimed, running to her boyfriend, her best friend, holding his hands, eyes shining wetly.

"But you'll live, Jules. You all will. Get to the dark room, wait for the cops. If they don't come, get the hell out of here. Just live," Colin told them, smiling comfortingly at Julie even as his hands shook.

Tears spilled down from Julie's eyes. "Please, Colin. Don't do this. Grow old together, remember?"

Colin gave her that comforting, rueful smile, and kissed Julie passionately, desperately, a dead man's kiss to his love. Julie kissed him back just as desperately and passionately, like if she didn't stop he wouldn't do this, wouldn't make the sacrifice that had everything in Dani scream at her to drag Colin away like he did for her and have them all make it to the dark room, but she knew he would refuse, he would still stay, he would sacrifice himself to save them just like Zoe did to save Julie, to save them all.

That it couldn't be in vain, no matter how much Dani wanted it to be just so her best friend could stay alive.

When Julie and Colin pulled apart, he held her face tenderly, eyes gleaming wetly. "I would have loved to grow old with you, Julie Kennedy. I would have spent the rest of my days with you. And I'm so glad we stopped being scared, because these last two months were the best two months of my life because you were in it. I love you, Julie, and I always will."

Julie sobbed. "Colin."

"Go. She's coming. All of you, run. Run!" Colin yelled, pushing Julie away as she screamed at Colin to run with them, Mitch holding her as they ran down the stairs, avoiding looking at Zoe's body, Dani trying not to think about Colin, about him sacrificing himself so they could live. That he couldn't come with them, not when it meant all of them dying.

And that while his sacrifice meant they all lived, Dani's heart was breaking, that once again she was unable to save another of her friends.

I'm sorry, Colin, she thought, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks as they ran to the dark room—to not let Colin's sacrifice be in vain. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

***

So... *hides*

Good news: The mission was a success and they managed to get help!

Bad news: Colin's the next one dead after sacrificing himself so the others could make it to the dark room and live

Writing Colin deciding to sacrifice himself for his friends and girlfriend hurt, especially his and Julie's last kiss and his confession of love to her and her not wanting to leave Colin and screaming for him to come with them 😭 I am sorry for all the pain that brought

And Dani's lost another of her friends 😭 At least he isn't going down without a fight...

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!