Rule 56 - Swayze

"Here, Georgie! Here, Georgie!" I called, waving a dog biscuit in the air. "Come here, boy!"

"What the fuck are you doing?" Grace crossed her arms.

"We're killing people, not dogs, tonight." Mitchell came to my defense, tossing his arm over me. "That's like, a golden rule."

"Never let the dog die." Mattias joined us in the open camp center, looking for the fucking dog.

Domino had spent another day in Fabian's office with the door locked. Koi had gone to her last night. Before he left, he took the bottle of pills she'd been downing every night and then made sure there was nothing else she could take tonight to make her less than fully aware of her surroundings.

It needed to be fair.

We heard the dog barking and a moment later Andrew came through the cabins, jogging alongside Georgie on the leash.

"Got him. Where should we put him tonight?"

Mattias took the leash and started toward his house. "He can stay in my room. I'll probably take him afterward, anyway. What do you think? Would you like me to be your new daddy?" He spoke to him in a baby voice as he led him away.

We tried to feign aloofness as we waited for Domino to take her exit in the evening. She left just before sunset, this time with a book in her hand.

"I bet that's some kind of will playbook," Marisol said. "Like, how to get us cut out of everything. I don't trust Fabian as far as I can throw him."

We went up to the house and someone turned on music. They were throwing a party as if this were the last night of their lives. I wanted to laugh at how true it was for some of them. How many would die tonight?

Mattias brought out some coke, and I found my mouth watering, watching everyone snort a line, or two, in Mitchell's case. He did his lines and grinned at me.

"Come on, you know you want to."

I glanced at Koi. We'd discussed staying sober, but it'd been entirely too long since I partook in anything past alcohol. I stood and went to the kitchen island. Mattias set me up, and I took my line.

I inhaled deeply as the rush came quickly. Endorphins filled me and I was way more excited about tonight than I was before.

I went back to the living room, where the rest of the party was. Andrew and Beth were making out on the couch, his hand up her shirt.

"Hey, Swayze, you got any of those condoms left?" Andrew muttered. I pulled my wallet out and tossed him the last one, pausing only a moment to take one last look. I hadn't used one of these all summer. I wouldn't use one ever again.

So long, Camp Frisky.

Koi came from the kitchen looking just as guilty as I had moments before. We sat on the couch and relaxed, as best as we could, high on cocaine, and enjoyed the party. The music was loud, the lights were flashing, and I was beginning to forget the reason for the party altogether until Mitchell asked me to join him outside for a cigarette.

Mitchell was never much fun while high. He was fidgety, and that bothered me. His hand shook as he tried to land the cigarette between his lips.

"Man, I don't know if I'm ready for this. Fabian's like a brother to me."

"Then let's not. We don't have to do their bidding."

"Yeah, but if I don't, Mattias will never let me hear the end of it. He's going to grab the dog now."

"The dog?"

"Yeah, that's how we're luring her out. Don't worry, as soon as we see her heading toward the woods, Mattias is taking him back to the house. The dog didn't do anything wrong."

"And you think Domino did?"

Mitchell looked up at me curiously and then put his hand over my shoulder. "Man, I didn't want to be the one to tell you, but you're too fucking lovesick and need to know the truth. Do you remember Elliott Spencer, Marisol"s ex? Domino killed him. She came back last year, demanding money. The sisters got into a physical fight, Elliott pushed her off Marisol, and she pulled out a knife. That"s why all of this is happening. She"s a monster, man, she"s gotta be stopped."

"Who told you that?" I asked.

"Marisol. She was crying and everything."

I stared at him for a long time. He really believed her. I steeled myself.

"Alright, let"s do this."

We went back inside, and everyone stood. Marisol was handing out masks, and Mattias was offering everyone various weapons. A hunter"s knife, a hatchet, a small machete, scissors, a hammer. He reached me, and I shook my head, leaning down to pull the knife from my boot. Koi did the same, handing me our masks from his backpack.

"So, I"m going to go grab the dog. I won"t come back until she"s in the woods. Then, you chase her. Scare her, but don"t kill her. Marisol called dibs, got it?" Mattias waved his knife around.

"What about Fabian? Are we killing him still?" Beth asked, snapping her scissors shut.

Mattias tilted his head as if giving it thought. "Sure, why not? First one to stick him wins a prize."

"What"s the prize?" Grace asked.

"I don"t know, a golf cart." Mattias shrugged. "It doesn"t matter. Let"s fucking go." He slid his mask on, and everyone followed suit. He ran upstairs, bringing Georgie down. He left the house and we all went to stand on the porch and wait.

My high had worn off, and now I was just pissed.

"Mitchell, where"s your weapon?" I asked.

"Oh, right. I need to go get that. Mattias said I could take the chainsaw we found in the woods the night Ruth died." He went to the garage, and by the time he came back, Georgie and Mattias were racing back.

"Go!" he screamed as he ran inside.

The party flew off the porch and into the woods, screaming and cheering wildly. Mitchell pulled the chord on his chainsaw and it roared to life.

Koi and I stayed back, taking the stalking approach rather than the psychobilly.

We heard her scream and started that way, but then when we reached the area, we didn"t find Domino but Mitchell. He"d dropped the chainsaw and was afraid to pick it back up, as it was still going.That was… odd.

"Oh, scared?" I laughed.

He scowled. "A little, yeah!"

"You should be." Koi grabbed him by his collar and lifted him off the ground. I reached into his backpack and pulled out a rope and a gag.

"What are you doing?" Mitchell asked as I wrapped the gag around his head, stuffing a rag in his mouth. Koi pushed him against a tree and I worked on tying him to it.

"How much rope do you have in there?" I asked.

"A lot, why?" Koi asked.

"I have an idea." I grinned under the mask. I picked up the chainsaw and shoved it into Mitchell"s hand.

We left Mitchell there and went on to find Domino and the others. We followed the raucous laughter and caught Domino speeding past us. She fell and screamed out in pain.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Andrew yelled.

"We just wanna talk!" Beth said.

"I don"t! I want to kill you!" Grace howled.

We stayed behind, watching from a distance as everyone else trapped her from every direction. They were pushing her back to the camp. She made it there and hid under a cabin until she felt safe enough to run. She fled back to the park, but she was seen and they jumped on golf carts to chase her.

I was thoroughly impressed by how well she was at hiding in the dark. If you weren"t looking for her, you wouldn"t see her at all.

Koi and I continued our slow, methodical trek. We knew eventually we"d catch her and then deal with everyone else. When we lost sight of her, we went up to the tram to look down on the park.

All the while, the sounds of her moaning and groaning in pleasure still blared from the speakers. It nearly drowned out the maniacal laughter.

"There. She"s collapsed." Koi pointed down toward the tilt a whirl. She was lying on the ground, struggling to lift herself. I looked around and saw the party about fifty feet from her. If she didn"t move, they"d catch her.

I pulled out my phone, pushed a few buttons, and shut the looped audio off. Her head flew up in surprise, and I pushed the microphone button and brought the phone to my mouth. I watched her carefully as I spoke the words I knew would motivate her.

"Get up, coward."

Koi looked at me curiously and then turned back to her on the ground. My words had worked. Her defeated face suddenly tightened and she struggled to her feet. She looked around for the source of my voice, and then not seeing it, ran into the house of mirrors.

Oh, this was going to be fun.