Rule 26 - Swayze

"What are we supposed to do now?" Domino"s voice broke through the darkness. I blinked and hugged her tightly before releasing her. "If you didn"t kill Ruth, then the killer is still out there. What if he"s waiting outside with the chainsaw?" Goosebumps covered her arms and legs, partially from the shower being turned off, but also with her terror of the unknown."I need to find my dog."

I gently urged her off me. Koi scooted back and grabbed his clothes. We"d sat together for a long time after the water stopped, and now, only our hair was damp.

"We'll find him." I assured her.

I rooted around for my clothes and tugged them on. Koi walked away, and a moment later, we were all wincing as the harsh white light flicked on, revealing our deviancy to the room. For a moment, we were all struck dumb. We stared at each other, not sure of how to react. Domino"s cheeks flushed, and she scrambled for her wet clothes. Koi and I exchanged a look.

Would she run?

"Here, let me help you." I hurried over, picking up her shoes.

"Where"s my—Oh." She frowned as her eyes settled on her underwear, shredded to pieces on the green tile.

"I"ll buy you more." Koi chuckled nervously. I glanced at him, and he looked genuinely remorseful over the torn panties. This wasn"t my brother, my best friend. He didn"t give two shits about righting the wrongs when it came to women. I didn't either, but here I was, trying to make sure Domino, my little broken doll, was okay after all of this.

I broke away from them as Koi helped her redress and instead went to the door, opening it slowly. I had no clue who the maniac with the chainsaw was, but I'd heard him taunting Domino. He'd been close. If he was that determined, he'd be waiting nearby. Seeing no one around, I stepped out cautiously. It was still dark outside. The security lights flashed, and I froze, waiting for someone to pop out, but no one did.

Instead, a black lab bolted out of the woods. I called him over, and he froze, turned to me and cocked his head curiously. He recognized me and bound over quickly. I leaned down and pet him to calm him down. One problem solved, I thought to myself.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. It was just past three in the morning. I had about a dozen missed calls and texts. I started to go through them, but another call came through. I answered it quickly.

"Hello?"

"Swayze? Have you seen my sister?" Mattias screamed into the phone. "I"ve got Swayze!" he called to someone around him.

"Which one?" I answered sarcastically.

"Domino, asshole. This shit isn"t funny. Someone is out there?—"

"She"s with me," I interrupted. "I"m sorry. I shouldn"t have been?—"

"He's got Domino!" Mattias screamed at the other person, then returned to me. "Where are you guys? What about Koi? Or Chitra and Beth! Jesus Christ, this is a fucking nightmare. Fabian needs to wake up and get over here."

"Koi"s here too. Do you want us all to meet up?"

"Yeah, yeah. The ones we"ve found all came back to the cliff. Come meet us here, we need to figure out a plan."

I looked toward the dense trees. Domino wouldn't be able to walk back. She"d run over a mile just to get here.

"Can"t we meet back at camp?"

"Bro, I"ve got a fucking dead body here!" Each word was enunciated and bellowed into the phone. "I can"t just leave this shit lying around. Get my sister back, and if you see any of the others that were here, tell them to come back or they"re fired." He hung up.

I let out a dry chuckle. Fired? I think losing their shitty summer job was the least of their worries right now with a killer on the loose. Although, it may have been one of them.

I went back into the showers and found Koi and Domino in an intimate embrace. I stepped back through the door. Jealousy flared in my chest, and I turned completely away and shut the door loudly, to make it known I was out here, waiting. I dug into my pockets for my cigarettes, lighting up and taking a drag. All of this felt so new and confusing and... painful.

My gut had been telling me something was wrong back at the cliff. Everyone was far too excited about Domino going down the zipline. I pulled Domino from her spot in line, because of it. Chitra had been too obsessed with the order of people going down, and now we all knew why. But she didn"t have the strength to stab anyone that deep. She"d been working with someone, but who?

Koi and Domino came out after I took another drag. Georgie flew to his owner's side and Domino squealed with relief.

"Oh my god, you found Georgie!"

I nodded to them but couldn"t look either of them in the eye. I know we"d agreed on sharing her, and she seemed to enjoy what we"d just done in the showers, but seeing it in the light? That was a bit harder. It"d be one thing if she was like all the other chicks around Camp Frisky. Hot, horny, without a single thought in their head. The girls we slept with before were discarded the moment we blew our loads into our condoms. We didn"t catch feelings because those girls didn"t have anything much to offer in return. We were just another cheap thrill to ride at Risky Rush Park.

But not Domino.

No, she was better than all of us. Johnny Blue and the others on her list were proof.

"Where are we going?" Koi asked.

"We gotta go back to the cliff. Mattias is gathering everyone up."

"Did they find the killer?" Domino asked; eyes wide with fear.

"He didn"t say. Can you walk, or do you need to be carried?" While the cigarette had tapered some of my jealousy, a small bit still lingered.

"I can walk." Her voice was small as she shrunk into herself.

"I"ve got you." Koi bent down and urged her to climb onto his back. I glared at them and stomped toward the trees, Georgie following me.

"Come on," I snapped and stormed inside, the trees enveloping me.

I used my phone"s flashlight to lead the way back to the cliff. Trees had been spray-painted last year to help guide us to and from, and we followed those. I didn"t say a word to the happy couple behind me and made it to the cliff almost five full minutes before them.

Mattias stood near the picnic table, chain-smoking, while Mitchell rocked back and forth on the seat. Marisol had been crying at one point but now was staring blankly off into the night. Blane, Andrew, and Grace had been found, but Beth and Chitra were still MIA. Fabian joined us shortly after we arrived.

"We can"t let this get out, man." Mattias"s eyes were wild as he tugged on his hair and smoked. "They"ll want to shut down the camp. This is a fucking PR nightmare."

Fabian went straight to Ruth"s body that was still lying in the same spot. His hands were buried deep in his pockets, and he hadn"t said a word.

"Did anyone find the chainsaw guy?" Mitchell yelped. He was the most inconsolable out of everyone.

"Not yet. I think he ran away. I saw him. He"s a huge motherfucker, but something got his attention and he turned the chainsaw off and walked away," Blane told us.

"Just... walked away?" Mattias asked, incredulously. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Someone was out to kill Domino." Fabian turned suddenly and came to our circle. "Obviously. As they knew we were here, it"s probably not safe for her to just return to camp."

Marisol suddenly came to, bolting up from her seat. "And where do you plan on putting her?"

"She can come back home," Fabian shouted back at her. "We have security and cameras and?—"

"No." Domino"s quiet, but firm voice interrupted her siblings" fighting. "I"m not staying there."

Fabian frowned. "Domino, I don"t think we have a choice right now."

I reached for her, putting my arm around her waist and pulling her to me. "She said she doesn"t want to go."

Her siblings looked from me to her and then me again. Mattias swallowed and nodded.

"That"s fine. Actually, yes. Let"s... put you in a hotel for a few days."

Fabian cleared his throat and pointed to me. "You and Koi, I want you to be her new bodyguards."

"Bodyguards?" Marisol snapped. "Now she"s got personal security?"

"Some tried to kill her, Marisol!" Fabian roared. She flinched back, but he kept going. He hurried around the table and grabbed her face, squeezing tightly. "We"ve got a dead cook on our hands because of your constant shit talking. Whatever fucking simp you convinced to do this fucked up. You tell him that when you see him."

"I don"t know what you"re talking about." She pushed him away.

"If I find out you had anything to do with this…" he warned.

"Noted." Marisol inhaled and turned around. "So now that she"s got protection and none of us are the killers, what do we do with the body?"