PART I

Uncountable dozens of cars filled the sardine-packed roads of Manhattan. It was definitely true that the city never slept. Lights shone across the breath-taking skyline all the way from lower to mid-town Manhattan. Of course, while the city was buzzing with life at night, Matthew had to sleep after his dizzying experience with psychos.

He got up fresh and energetic, happy to be back home. He grabbed his phone and texted his P.I. friends (although some were not). Ready to meet at Turnip Bakery for breakfast? He typed. Yes, everyone replied simply.

He put on his favourite detective/casual coat and left his apartment. It was a busy Wednesday. Cars swooped left and right everywhere, since he lived in the middle of one of the Central Business Districts of New York City. "Morning," his friend from the nearby café acknowledged him.

He walked into the bakery, taking off his coat and hanging it onto one of the hooks provided on the wall. He sat down as he waited for his friends patiently. Not much later, Megan, Emma and Daniel walked in and waved to him. "Hey! Good to see you guys again so soon!" Matthew cheered. "Wow, looking fresh huh?" Emma complimented.

"Okay, so for Daniel, I already got you your favourite waffles topped with honey and blueberries. And for Megan it's your normal minestrone soup with garlic bread. And since I never know what you eat, Emma, I got you a mix-around breakfast platter. The meal's on me!" Matthew said. Emma laughed. "Thank you!" she exclaimed delightfully.

"Um, about Samuel...since this can't be made official, we could hold a simple private funeral in my house. But it has to be a secret. Also, Agent Jones will be joining us from now onwards..." Daniel murmured. "WHAT! YOU TOLD SOMEONE?" Megan screamed in fright.

Everyone in the bakery turned around to look at her. Nobody really heard what she said so she apologised, "Sorry, I'm just so excited about my sister's graduation!" Matthew looked around suspiciously. "Well, that was a close one. Good lie." he "semi-praised".

After finishing their meals, they all took a cab to the gallery. "Okay, so Agent Jones will meet us at the main entrance," Daniel stated. "We will discuss the nature of this situation there." Megan sighed. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she hesitated. "Don't worry, be happy!" Emma joked, in an attempt to use a meme to calm them down. It didn't work.

"Also, I have something to add," Matthew said. "In case we get into any danger or anything in the gallery, we should trust my friend to help us. He knows the whole gallery so he will know how to help us." Megan nodded, adding, "The fact that we already have some 'Agent Jones' knowing about our situation can't make this any worse."

Then the cab came to a halt. "Okay, we're here," the cab driver said. At the foot of the museum entrance stood a young, fit man in shades and a cap. "That must be him," Matthew guessed. They all took a deep breath before stepping out of the cab, walking towards the man...

PART II

"Hello, you must be Agent Jones!" Matthew greeted. "Yes but call me Gary please. And you must be Matthew Davis." He looked at Daniel. "Oh, hello Mr Wellington. It's good to see you! And your two friends are..." Megan reached out her hand for him to shake. "Stewart. Megan Stewart. Pleasure to meet you." Emma looked at her in surprise. "Yo, that's formal!" she added. "Oh, sorry, I'm Emily Watson."

"It's great to meet all of you. I heard that Matthew had suggested coming to this new gallery because he wanted to see his friend Jacob who had just started working here." he continued.

Then a man of the same age as Matthew walked over. "Hey, Jake!" Matthew exclaimed. "Matt! How are you?" the man responded. They gave each other a brief hug. "Hey Dan! Sup?" he greeted delightedly. He looked at Megan and Emma. "Yes, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Jacob Hernandez. Matt and I have been friends since middle school. I also met Dan at Yale," he said.

"Matthew, I heard you all have something to discuss? So, what's up?" Jake asked. The group went through the whole story of the boar-creature with Jake. "Are you insane?" Jake bellowed. "You're going to get into so much trouble! People are going to think you murdered all 22 of them in the station! And no one's going to believe the 'boar-creature' story! Even I myself can't really believe it! Anyway, I have to tell you something. Early this morning, when the gallery had just opened, a suspicious man dressed fully in black entered. He asked if you were coming later with your friends. It was really strange of him to know what you were going to do, so I declined. Weird right?"

"Hmm, that's abnormal. Did he ask you about any other suspicious information?" Matthew queried. "Nope, anyway, let me show you around, I know almost everything here," he answered. "No thanks. Hey, I don't think it's safe here. We should leave," Megan pulled Matthew's arm away and she walked towards the exit.

"Oh, god!" Emma screamed. "What is it?" Daniel queried. "The-the-exit is sealed! It's gone! This whole block of metal is blocking it!" she shivered. "Come on, there has to be a side exit somewhere, right Jake?" Matthew asked. "Yes, there is. It's at the back, follow me!" Jake exclaimed. "No...NO!" Emma shrieked before fainting.

"EMMA! Wake up!" Megan screeched in worry. Emma's eyes slowly fluttered open. "What is it? What did you see?" Matthew questioned. Emma pointed at the back door. Every...thing...is the...same..." she murmured. Matthew looked at the locks on the door. It couldn't be, he thought.

Two wooden boards. A security-system-controlled lock. A silver padlock. A digital lock. Matthew walked slowly, his hands turning cold and clammy. Dead silence filled the room, the only sounds being the slow, gentle footsteps of Matthew. He eyed the encryption on the digital lock. In a recognisable size and font stood two words.

Yael Technologies.

PART III

"Wait, aren't those the locks you described seeing in whatever police station and house you were trapped in earlier..." Jake muttered. "So, who could have put these locks?" Gary inquired. "Well, you were the second badge of visitors here now," Jake said. "So, who's the first?" Daniel asked.

"Jamie," Jake answered. "Who?" Emma asked, still feeling concussed. "Jamie is Jake's girlfriend. He told me that she would be here," Matthew answered. "Oh great, the more people, the merrier." Megan grumbled. "Hey, don't be so down, I mean, what else can possibly go wrong?" Daniel stated.

That was also the best way to jinx themselves, if jinxing was real. "So, how many people are here now?" Gary asked. "Well, since this is new and it's a small gallery, there are nine people," Jake answered. "You, Matthew, Daniel, Megan, Emma, Jamie, and Edward, our technician and Mary, our general gallery staff."

"Well, that means that only Jamie, Edward or Mary could have locked the doors." Matthew asserted. "I don't think Jamie would have done such a thing; I know her. But since you all are mostly detectives, it's fine if she's a suspect."

"Okay, first, let's try to find something to help us get of here." Daniel said. They walked up a spiral staircase to an artefact display table. On it was a safe with a yellow lock and yellow key beside it. "That's strange. That safe has never been there before," Jake claimed. "Oh well, let's just unlock it," Daniel said, taking the key and unlocking the safe. In the safe lay a gun with an ammo pack beside it. Daniel loaded it.

"Woah, that's against regulations. No dangerous weapons should lay free like that. Be careful," Jake warned. Daniel grabbed the gun and slipped it into his pocket. They continued walking around the second floor. "Hang on, that's not supposed to be there either..." Jake stated, pointing to a wooden board that barricaded the stairway to the observatory. "Never mind, we can find a hammer or something later," Matthew said. Then Emma spotted a red key on a bench. "Hey, a key," she said.

Megan picked up the key. "Wait, there was a door with a red lock just now. Beside the table with the safe," she added. They rushed back to the table and saw the door with the red padlock. Megan unlocked the lock and opened the creaky door. It was a mere storage room with a blue key.

Then there was a loud, painful scream. It came from downstairs. "What just happened," Emma quivered. "Someone has been harmed. But by who?" Matthew said. "Hold up, where's Gary?" Daniel asked.

Then, out of the door to the art display room came a figure. Blood splatters covered his clothes and face. "Oh my gosh..." Megan muttered.

It was Gary.

PART IV

He ran up to the group. "She...she's dead..." Gary panted. "What, she? You killed that person! Look at all the blood. And what are you holding? A bloodied bat?" Emma screamed at him. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this for our sake." Daniel said, holding up the gun and shooting Gary.

Unexpectedly, out of the bullet shell wasn't a bullet. It was a dart. "Um, what's that?" Emma questioned nervously. Gary fell to the floor, groaning in pain. Then absolute silence took over, his body flat on the ground. Then something happened.

His body began to enlarge, and veins started to course around his skin. It transformed into a pinkish-brown tin, with a red light glowing out from the floor. "No...it can't be..." Matthew cried in disbelief. "RARGH!" Gary snarled. "GARY!" Daniel screamed. "That isn't Gary! That's the boar! He's infected! RUN!" Megan shrieked.

They dashed down the stairs, thinking of a way to trap him. Then Megan had an idea. "Emma open the door!" she shouted, pointing to a door downstairs. "Daniel, you be the bait!" she commanded. He took a deep breath before standing in the middle of the doorway, his heart pumping more than a thousand miles per hour. "GRAWGH!" Gary growled before Daniel swooped to the side. He crashed through the doorway before Megan bolted it shut with an extra padlock she had.

"Phew," they all heaved a sigh of relief. "Wait," Emma said. "I think I saw a door with a blue lock near the blocked stairway to the observatory just now." The group all dashed back up to the door. Meanwhile, Jake sobbed quietly. "What's wrong?" Daniel asked. "Jamie...Gary said a woman was dead...it could be her..." he wailed. "Come on, don't be sad. It could be Mary, not Jamie," Daniel attempted to cheer him up. "But if it was Mary, I would have to take ultimate responsibility for this incident..." Jake continued to cry. "Don't worry, we will all take equal responsibility in this," Daniel reassured him.

"Okay, we have a green key and a wrench. Matthew, grab the green key. I'll take the wrench to disable the security system," Megan said. She rushed down to the back door and powered down the system. One layer of defence down again.

The group walked back down to meet Megan. "Hey, there's a green lock there," Jake pointed out. They unlocked the door. Inside was only a shelf and a black lava lamp engraved onto the shelf. "Hey, Jake. What's that?" Matthew asked. "Not sure, don't forget I'm new here," Jake replied.

They looked around for a hammer. There was no sight of it. Every door on the ground floor that was unlocked was checked. Unless... "Hey, what about that door that Gary came out from?" Matthew suggested. "Maybe it's in there?"

Emma jittered. "No! You can't go in there! There's definitely a lot of blood and a body there! Please don't..." she gulped. Daniel stepped forward. He reached out his hand to push the half-opened door slowly. "Oh, gosh..." he murmured.

Blood was splattered upwards everywhere. "No...no...this is exactly what I said would happen!" Emma screamed in horror. "Is that Jamie..." Matthew asked, looking at the gruesome body that lay on the blood-soaked floor. "I can't tell..." Jake answered. "What do you mean you can't tell?" Megan questioned him. "Although this person is female, the body is so disfigured, and... wait I didn't tell you right?" Jake told them. "Tell us what?" Megan asked.

"Jamie and Mary are twin sisters."

PART V

"WHAT?" Megan squawked. "Well, this is getting much worse and much more confusing..." Daniel added. "Oh well, there's the hammer. I'll just grab it." Emma stared at Daniel. "There's blood all over the hammer! Why would you pick that up?" Daniel groaned. "Would you rather hold a bloodied hammer or die here?" he asked. "Ugh, fine, use it! But there's no way I'm touching that," she muttered.

He walked out of the art display room which had been turned into a blood-stained room and broke down the wooden boards. "Well, that was brave of him," Matthew stated. "Okay, so we have two locks down. Now, where can we find the silver key and the passcode for the digital lock?" Daniel asked.

"Hmm... we haven't checked the observatory yet," Emma stated. "Daniel, use your hammer and break the wooden boards barricading the stairway," she suggested. They walked back up to the wooden boards. Daniel smashed them down and threw them down to the ground floor. They walked up to the observatory. There was nothing. Except for...

"Hey, there's a red lava lamp on the floor," Emma pointed out. Matthew picked it up and examined it. "Hang on, remember the room with the black lava lamp?" Megan said. "The lava lamp was inserted into a hole in the shelf. There were two more holes of the same size. Maybe if we find two lava lamps and place them in, it will reveal something. Matthew, remember the well you told me about in the psycho house? It revealed a silver key in a bucket after you fixed the rotor machine. This could be the same."

"That's absurd. How would that work?" Jake dismissed. "Look, if you don't believe me, that's fine," Megan whined. "Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. We'll figure this out," Matthew assured them. "Now let's try to find the last lava lamp."

The group walked around the second floor. "Hey, we haven't explored that room yet. Let's check it out!" Emma exclaimed. They walked into the cramped, empty and dark room. There was only a bench with an orange key stuck in the gap between the wooden boards of the bench.

"Don't worry," Megan said. "I still have the wrench; I'm just going to stick it through the ring of the key and yank it out." Fortunately, it worked. "Now, where can we find an orange key?" Daniel questioned. Matthew suddenly recalled. "There was another door beyond the art display room."

"Aw, man! Not the slaughterhouse again!" Emma complained. "We have to go there, it's for our good," Megan explained. "Ugh," Emma moaned as she dragged her feet on the ground. The group walked back down the stairs before Daniel said, "Wait, I should take a look at Gary to see whether he's still there." He walked over and looked at the door. There were red lights glowing from below it. "Yep, he's still stuck in there," he said.

The group walked back into the blood-filled art display room. "Oh, no..." Emma cried, covering her eyes so that she would not have to see such an unsightly room again. Matthew slowly opened the door. It was a passageway round the gallery.

In the middle of the passageway was a door with an orange lock on it. Megan took the orange key and gently unlocked the door. It was just a warehouse and a garage combined. The group looked around. "Ugh, there's nothing here," Emma grumbled. "Wrong, look inside the car," Daniel corrected.

Inside the old and rustic car was a red lava lamp lying on the car seat. "Hmm, do you have like a hairpin or anything to jimmy the locks?" Matthew asked. "That only happens in movies," Emma ignored him. "Nope, but I have a hammer," Daniel took out the hammer to smash the car window open. "Damn! That was cool!" Jake praised him.

"I'll grab it. I'm small enough to fit in," Megan volunteered. She slipped into the window hastily, grabbing the red lava lamp with here and opening the car door from the inside. "Well, that was fast," Matthew said. "Okay, so now let's just get back to the ro—," Megan said before getting cut off by a loud roaring and thumping sound.

"What was that?" Emma questioned. "Let's get out of here first," Matthew told them. They ran out of the room back through the art display room to the lobby. Then they looked at the oor that Gary was locked in. "OH, GOD!" Emma screamed, trembling in fear. The door was broken.

He was gone.

PART VI

"Stay close, he couldn't have gone too far in this short period of time," Matthew said. "Or could he?" Daniel replied. "HE'S ABOVE US!" he warned. They whole group disassembled as each of them ran forward. Gary, now infected and turned into the nefarious boar-creature, smashed down onto the ground floor, cracking the marble tiles that made up the floor.

Emma held up a gun. A real gun with real bullets. She aimed at the boar-creature and shot him three times in the torso. "Phew, that was close! You saved us Emma! Thank you!" Megan praised her. "Woah, where did you get that?" Matthew asked her. "It was in the room with the blue lock. You guys didn't see it because you were too caught up about escaping. Sometimes, you gotta survive first," she replied wisely.

Well, that's strange. Emma doesn't speak like that, Matthew thought. This time, the boar-creature died. The walked to the room with the lava lamps. Megan, holding the last lava lamp gently with her both hands, carefully placed it into the hole in the shelf.

For that moment nothing happened. Then, a whirring mechanical sound started. The floor began to vibrate. Then, one of the tiles on the floor was elevated upwards, revealing a plastic container containing a silver key in it. Matthew opened the container and removed the key. "Well, here goes nothing," he said as he placed the key into the keyhole, unlocking the lock on the back exit.

"Now all we need to do is to find the passcode," Matthew declared. Jake looked at his phone. "Uh, I need to use the loo, give me a moment," he said before walking up to the second floor. Then Matthew received a call. He took out his phone and answered, "Hello?"

"I can't hide this from you anymore." It was a man's voice. "Wait, are you Edward?" Matthew asked. "Yes, but there's no time to talk about anything else. There is no paper with the passcode here. Boss told me to trick you here, so that even if you try to escape, you wouldn't be able to unlock the digital lock. The passcode is '5692'. Hurry, I don't have much time." Edward said. "Wait, who's your boss?" Matthew asked. Unfortunately, Edward did not realise that someone had been watching him from behind for half a minute already. "Ja—," he mouthed before a gunshot was heard as he groaned as he died. Then there was a distorted background dialogue.

"I told you, we will not tolerate traitors."

PART VII

"GUYS! DID YOU HEAR THAT GUNSHOT?" Jake screamed as he ran down the stairs. "I-I can't contact Jamie! Do you think she's dead?" he bawled. "No, but Edward is. Matthew was on the phone with him just now. He's dead now. We suspect Jamie is the killer," Daniel replied. "Oh, gosh..." Jake sighed. "I should have known it," he continued. "She told me she was going to check out the art display room, but she never left the room, and she didn't respond to my calls. Look."

On his phone were five outgoing missed calls to Jamie. "Crap, where could she be now?" Megan sighed. "Here," Jamie said, standing behind the group before knocking out Jake. The whole group gasped. "Matthew, stay here with oblivious Jake, the rest of you, come with me. Let's go for a walk, shall we?"

Matthew was worried, but he smiled for a moment. Jamie had no idea that he knew the password for the digital lock. Once he had rescued his friends, they could leave. Matthew quickly removed the cover panel for the keypad and slipped it into his pocket before pressing the numbers '5692'. Then a shocking realisation came to him.

He then said to himself aloud, "If Jamie were the killer, she would have at least heard Edward telling me the passcode. She wouldn't have let me stay here, free to type the passcode that Edward gave me. Unless someone else killed him. Unless—," "It was a two-man job," Jake finished Matthew's sentence, conscious, as he stood behind Matthew holding the bat that Jamie left behind.

"Sorry, I'm not sorry," Jake laughed as he whacked Matthew out.

PART VIII

Meanwhile, Jamie dragged the rest of the group to the observatory. "Oh, what a wonderful day to finally kill you all !" Jamie squealed viciously. "Ah yes, the money I would earn for this! After your two stupid successful attempts to escape and one last failed one because I stopped you, Ysrael is gonna pay me millions!"

"Ysrael?" Megan asked. "Shut up, or I'll start with you first. Wait no, since I can kill you now, why not?" Jamie cackled before taking a knife and plunging it into Megan's chest. "Now, you will never escape!" she screamed at them.

"Don't get caught up too much with money," Emma said as she shot Jamie in the head with the last bullet before she slammed onto the ground. "Woah, that was a savage move! Wait... Megan! You are seriously wounded!" Daniel praised in a short-lived celebration before he looked at an injured Megan.

Then several laughing sounds continued as Jake dragged unconscious Matthew up the stairs. "Woo! Look at this! All of you can die now!" Jake cheered. "Oh look, Jamie's dead too!" he added.

"Why are you so happy about that?" Daniel asked. "Aha, you won't understand, DOOFUS! It's a competition. I want to get as much money as possible," he replied haughtily. "From Ysrael?" Emma questioned. "How would you know about that? Oh, big-mouthed Jamie told you? Well, no one cares to tell you about it, just know that it's your worst nightmare." he snorted.

Emma took out her gun to shoot but there were no bullets left. "Ah, yes. I've made sure that gun has not enough bullets to shoot me too, because I was sure you would waste it on the stupid infected Gary. Well, now I can kill all of you helpless noobs!" he screamed merrily.

"Well, actually, NO!" Daniel screamed back as he threw Jamie's knife into Jake, causing him to tumble back down the stairs. Emma gasped. Now both killers were dead.

Unfortunately, there was a bomb with a note left behind by Jake as a last resort to kill them. On the note read: You wouldn't be able to bear the pain of leaving you injured friend behind, would you?

The bomb was set to detonate in two minutes. "Megan, are you alright?" Emma asked. "No, I can't, just leave me. There's a bomb..." she groaned. "No, NO! You have to come with us...you have to..." Emma cried. At that moment, Matthew woke up. "What's happening?" he asked. "Jake and Jamie are dead now, but he left behind a bomb. We have to go, but Megan's badly injured."

"Guys...just leave me. Please, don't die just for me. All of you, leave now." she pleaded. "Come, we have to go," Matthew said. "It will be fine, Emma," he reassured her. "NO! Please don't leave us! Megan!" she screamed as she sank in a sea of misery.

There was a minute left. The remaining trio approached the exit. They rushed out of the building and ran as far as they could, dodging the few cars on the road. Then there was a loud rumbling sound as the ground vibrated and smoke gushed towards them.

Emma just hoped that Megan's sacrifice wouldn't be in vain.

PART IX

"Hey, you okay?" Matthew asked. "Yeh, I'm fine," Emma replied. "You know why I get so sensitive about people close to me dying?" Matthew shook his head. Emma continued, "You know, when I was young, about ten, my father died, stuck in a building before being... crushed. It was only my mother, and my brother left. She worked tirelessly for hours every day so that she could bring enough food to the table for us. Three years ago, she passed away from an unknown illness. I also lost contact with my brother. That only leaves you guys, my friends, as my real 'family'. And now that Samuel and Megan are gone, I don't know how much longer I'll have you guys..." She broke down into tears.

Daniel patted her. "There, there. It's okay," he comforted. Matthew turned around, saying, "Okay, I have contacted my two cousins, Terence and Terri. They are coming to pick us up, we're driving away from Manhattan. "What?" Daniel questioned in shock. "We are already in more trouble that we can be in. Best thing is to leave the area," he answered. Then there was a car honk. "They're here," he said. The three dashed towards the car, opening the car door and hopping in, before they would be gone from Manhattan for a long time...

Meanwhile, in the alley they drove off from stood another strange man. He dialled a number on his phone before the receiver picked up. "Yes, Junior Norman? They escaped again. We got one of them dead, but two more are joining them. I've got a tracker on the car, call whoever is in the area to lock them in their destination once they arrive. Send in Subject 237-D to finish them."