Rule 27 - Swayze

"Hold on. Swayze, stay here. We"re gonna need you." Marisol came over to where Koi and I were sitting with Domino, trying to figure out where we were going to stay. Not all hotels were pet-friendly, and she refused to leave Georgie.

"Why?" I demanded. I glanced behind her at Ruth"s lifeless body, still on the ground. Fabian and Mattias were trying to figure out what they were going to do about it. Mattias looked up and came over.

"We can"t afford word to get out that a murder happened here. Camp will get shut down, cops will be everywhere, and there"s so many fucking violations, it would be the end of the park." Mattias tugged on his hair. He was the park"s crisis manager and in full work mode. "My uncle and his lawyers could use this as a reason why we can"t have the park."

"People are going to know she"s missing. Her parents, other staff," Koi argued. "You can"t just bury her in the woods and hope she doesn"t come back up." He glared at Marisol, who looked at the ground quickly. What was he talking about?

"I know that," Mattias said, not batting an eye at Koi"s comment. "Koi, I want you to take my sister and get out of here, like Fabian said. I"ll call you when you can come back."

"I have to stay? Fuck you, I"m not getting blamed for this!" I pointed to my chest.

"You"re not," Fabian deadpanned. "Koi, go on. Text me when you get to camp and reach somewhere safe."

My heart twisted as Koi took Domino"s hand and led her and Georgie back into the woods. She tossed a glance over her shoulder at me. I"d give anything to trade places with him.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for them to be far enough away to start talking again.

"I have a plan," Mattias said. "We need to get the body to the park."

"The park? It"s a mile to camp, and another half mile to the park," Mitchell chimed in. He"d been crying and rocking himself since we"d returned.

"It is, but our options are limited right now. Men, grab a limb, we"ll get her to camp and toss her in a cart." Mattias waved us over to the body. I didn"t move. I wasn"t touching a corpse.

"If you don"t do it, I"ll tell the cops it was you," Marisol snarled. "It"s your word against everyone."

I blinked and looked around. No one argued, but their silence was enough. If I didn"t help them, I"d be taking the full blame for whatever happened to Ruth.

"Fuck you," I muttered as I strode over and grabbed an arm. Fabian, Mattias, and Blane took the other limbs, and Andrew held her up in the middle.

"Shouldn"t someone take..." Mitchell finally stood. He pointed a shaky finger to the knife still deep in her belly. Marisol rolled her eyes and stormed over, ripping it out of the body as if it"d been a fork in a steak.

"Does this make it a little more palatable?" she asked Mitchell, who paled as he stared at Marisol waving the knife.

"Stop!" Mattias snapped. "Lead the way."

Mitchell and Marisol took off, and we began the laborious task of getting Ruth back to camp. It was awkward and hard in the pitch dark. It took twice as long as it did to walk it solo, but an hour later, we burst through the trees and Marisol had a golf cart waiting for us. We sat Ruth in the passenger"s side and Marisol belted her in.

"Where am I taking this?" Marisol pointed to Ruth. It chilled me, hearing her talk about Ruth"s body as if just a few hours ago it wasn"t living, breathing, and having a good time with us. Ruth had been a person with feelings and memories. She had plans and people who loved her. She had... I gulped as I thought of my relationship with her. Last summer, I"d slept with her, then discarded her as if she was a nobody, but she wasn"t. Guilt flooded through me as I recalled how I"d treated her.

"The Cyclone," Fabian said. He had been pretty quiet but seemed so confident now. Marisol floored the gas and took off to the park. We looked around the circle, waiting for direction.

"We"re walking. We don"t need people seeing multiple golf carts missing."

When this was over, I was going to collapse and sleep for three days. This night did not go in any way I"d thought it would. The only bright spot was that we"d gotten to see Domino, and she was giving us a second chance. She was with Koi now, but as soon as I could, I"d join them and we"d talk about what we could be. Domino was the first person I"d ever wanted to pursue something with past sex, and I wasn"t giving up on that idea without a fight. As we trudged to the park"s most dangerous but most popular roller coaster, her smiling face was the only thing that kept me going.

Marisol awaited against a railing.

"Okay, guys, put her on the ride," Mattias ordered. "Mitchell, you"ll need to help. Fabian"s going to go ahead."

Fabian took off down the way, looking up at the ride. What was he looking for?

"This is fucked up, man," Blane cried as we pulled Ruth from the cart over to the car.

"Shut up and let"s get this over with. I need to go drink until I forget this completely," Andrew snapped at him.

"Front seat," Mattias ordered. "No seat belt." He swatted Mitchell"s hand away and kept the safety guard up.

Fabian returned to the group and pointed to the highest part of the coaster. "Let"s try there."

"Let"s try what?" I asked.

Ignoring me, Mattias went to the control panel, unlocked the machine, and turned it on. "Everyone might want to step back unless you want to get rained on."

"Oh hell," Andrew said and ran to the rails, thrusting his body over them and vomiting.

Mitchell began to weep again as Marisol took to comforting him. I"d never imagined her, of all people, being nice to someone in pain.

"It"s going to be okay. We just have to make her death look like an accident. You like having money, don"t you?" she cooed to him. Mitchell looked up, his eyes swollen and red, and nodded. "If we don"t do this, we"ll lose everything and you and Mattias won"t be able to do all the fun stuff you guys do. Don"t you want to go to Paris this winter?"

He nodded again. Mitchell"s mind was on autopilot, based on the blank look in his eyes, but her words seemed to comfort him some. I shook my head. Marisol Risky was one twisted bitch. That"s what it all boiled down to for her. Money.

Mattias and Fabian stood at the controls. Mattias pushed a button and the coaster roared to life. When it was ready, it jerked forward, Ruth sliding inside the car.

"She"s gonna fall out!" Blane lurched forward as her arm fell out, but it was too late. The coaster was gone.

"That"s the point," Fabian said, not looking at any of us. He was focused intently on the coaster. He raised his arm and spread his hand out. Right when the car was at its highest peak, he closed his hand and Mattias smashed the emergency button. The car jerked violently to a stop and Ruth"s body was ejected and thrown into the air.

Screams erupted from everyone"s mouth, including mine. What the fuck! Ruth flew across the sky. It happened so fast, but it was as if time had stopped to allow us all to get the full impact of what we were seeing. She hit a beam with the loudest thunk I"d ever heard and dropped to the ground, a hundred feet below.

"Fuck, it didn"t work," Fabian swore.

"What the fuck do you mean it didn"t work!" Blane screamed. "You just fucking yeeted her body like a slingshot, man!"

Fabian didn"t react to Blane"s anger. His face was blank just like it"d been all night. "Come on, we"re doing this again until we get it right."

"What exactly is right?" I asked.

His dark eyes darkened further and the expression on his face told me not to ask again. We retrieved Ruth and set her back in the car.

Three more times.

Her body was bloody and smashed in such horrific ways, but with each ejection and retrieval, we grew number. Finally, Mattias timed it right. Ruth"s body went flying, hit a beam at the perfect angle and height, and she was torn in two, her head and torso going one way, her legs going the other.

Fabian pulled out his phone and dialed 911 to report an accident at the park.

No one would see the single stab wound that actually killed her.