CHAPTER TWELVE
( ! murderer on the loose ! )

IT WAS TOTAL pandemonium. Kids were in the Mess Hall screaming and crying, especially when the lights went out. Gary was standing outside, ringing a cowbell to signal everyone to meet where he was as he screamed out for everyone to get inside. Nick was counting kids heads as they ran by, trying to collect everyone.

But all James could think about was Jeremy and the broken glasses. The poor boy couldn't have been any older than 10, and his life was already over. It chilled James to the bone to know this little boy with so much life to live was just laying in one of the many buildings around camp, dead.

"Everyone stay calm! Everything's alright! Uh, how many?" Gary questioned, walking over to Nick. He had come inside when the kids began to scream and no one else was finding their way towards the mess hall.

Nick sighed. "Twenty-three." Gary gasped. "That's 30 missing at least." Nick quickly walked past Gary and towards the phone on the side of the wall. "Wheres Cindy, Kurt, Joan?" Gary looked around, stressed and worried. "I don't know. I haven't seen them. Or Tommy or anyone. Maybe they're looking for us."

Nick sighed and slammed the phone down. "It's dead." James put a hand on Gary's back, trying to help calm down his friend. Ziggy walked towards the three boys. "We have to go. We have to warn people."

"I'm sure they heard the bell. Hey!" Nick stated quickly, reaching out and grabbing Ziggys arm. "My sister, she's still out there!" Ziggy struggled, pushing against Nick.

"Oh yeah? The same sister you've hated since you were a baby?"

James walked away from the two, following after Gary who was telling kids to get away from the windows. "Me and Gary will go." James heard Nick say and watched as Gary looked over terrified. "What?"

Nick didn't even acknowledge Gary, continuing to talk to Ziggy. "Just please stay here." Ziggy quickly began to fight back and Nick quickly yelled over her. "I'm not letting you get hurt."

Many campers turned their heads at that, whispering to each other about what the counselor had just said. James put his head in his hand, sighing as Nick didn't even seem to notice and put his hand on Ziggys face.

"Hey, you realize that's a camper, right?" Gary questioned, following Nick as he walked over to some flashlights. He handed Gary one. "Look, you make for canon one. I'll head to nine."

"Wait- wait. What if the killers still out there?" Gary freaked, looking at Nick. "That's the whole point, Gary." Nick responded, walking towards and then out the front door. Gary followed quickly before turning around to address the campers. "Hey, everybody! Stay here! Okay? Okay."

James bit the inside of his cheek but quickly flinched when Becky and the other one pushed Ziggy up against a wall, Will standing behind them. "Where is she, witch?" The second one questioned before Becky added, "what'd you do with her? Huh? You kill her like you killed Jeremy?"

"What are you talking about?" Ziggy questioned quickly, very confused. Becky gasped. "Sheila!" The other one, James thought he really outta learn her name, quickly snapped. "Where the fuck is Sheila?"

With that, Ziggy quickly remembered where they had left the girl. "Shit!" She pushed past the three, slamming into their shoulders on the way and grabbed James' hand, pulling him with her out of the mess hall.

"Nick! Nick, we forgot Sheila!" Ziggy screamed out, still holding onto James. She looked around for a second, realized Nick wasn't around and sighed. "Shit!"

"Come on, we can't wait for him here." James hurried, pulling Ziggy with him and the two went sprinting towards the outhouse.

THE TWO RAN right towards the outhouse, James quickly pulled the screwdriver out of the door and stuffed it into his back pocket. Ziggy walked in first, looking around at the disgusting ground that had bugs crawling all around it. James walked in right behind her, shutting the door behind them. "Sheila? Sheila, are you still in here? Sheila?" Ziggy questioned, stepping on bugs as she walked before opening one of the stalls.

She looked down, seeing the toilet before Sheila quickly came out of the stall behind Ziggy and pulled her backwards. "You bitch!" James acted quickly, wrapping his arms around Sheila and pulling her away from Ziggy. But Sheila had a tight grip on Ziggys neck so wherever they went, she was dragged along.

"Sheila! Listen to me!" Ziggy tried but Sheila threw her against the wall as James picked Sheila up, her feet leaving the floor completely. "James! Put me down asshole!" Sheila yelled, trying to get towards Ziggy.

Sheila used her feet to kick at Ziggy, kicking the girl wherever she could. "I'm trying to help you! There's a killer—" Ziggy gasped out but as James only had Sheila up with his arms around her waist, her arm was free and she smacked Ziggy right across the face.

Ziggy, having enough, punched Sheila square in the face, causing the girl to pass out and for her head to fall back onto James' shoulder. "Fuck, Zig!" James gasped, slowly putting the now unconscious girl in the last stall closest to him.

Gary, now suddenly behind Ziggy, put his hand on her shoulder. "I heard shouting. What's going—" He stopped himself at the sight of James standing back up and moving back from a knocked out Sheila, sending the boy a majorly confused look.

"What's going on in here? What the fuck—" Gary gasped, in shock from seeing Sheila knocked out. "Is everyone okay?" Ziggy questioned quickly. Gary shook his head. "No! Everyone's headed back to the Mess Hall. I just— Where's Nick?"

Ziggy sighed, she had no clue and was getting stressed out.

"Help! Help! We're down here! Help!" James quietly heard and thought he was going crazy. Well until Gary asked, "did you hear that?" The three of them went silent and listened closely, James heard the screaming again and began trying to find where it was.

Ziggy seemed to figure it out faster, going back to the original stall she had checked for Sheila and opening up the doors. The screams became much easier to hear and James stood next to Gary behind Ziggy, closer to the door than Gary was.

Ziggy opened the toilet seat and looked inside of it, seeing her sister and Alice in a cave. "Cindy?" Ziggy questioned, completely confused. "Ziggy? Oh my god!"

"What are you doing down there?" Ziggy questioned, her confusion only growing. "It's... it's kind of a long story. Are you okay?" Ziggy nodded. "Yeah, just— hold on a second." She shut the top of the seat again, standing up and grabbing the bucket that once had bugs (and before that paint) in it and began trying to pull it down.

"What is going on?" Gary questioned. Ziggy turned to him and James quickly. "My sisters in the toilet." Gary thought he heard her wrong for a second. "What?" Ziggy quickly snapped. "Gary! Just help me!"

Gary quickly got to helping, not wanting to be screamed at again. The two got the bucket down and quickly got in line. Ziggy was closest to the toilet, putting the bucket inside so that the two stuck girls could be pulled up. Gary was next, holding the rope behind Ziggy and James stood behind him in the stall Sheila had originally been hiding in, also holding rope.

"Just get on! We're pulling you up!" Ziggy told the two that were stuck, both getting extremely happy knowing they'd be saved. Once Alice was on, Ziggy turned back to the boys. "Now!"

They all began pulling, James' teeth on the top pushed down hard on the bottom ones as he pulled, using all of his muscles to help lift the girl with just a rope and a bucket.

Alice was getting up there and they were getting her closer and closer to the top with every pull. "Come on! Keep pulling!" Ziggy stated, trying to keep the boys, and herself, from giving up.

The door suddenly creaked open loudly and as he pulled, Gary looked at who it was. "Tommy! Tommy, what are you doi..."

James looked up quickly, seeing Tommy soaked in blood. The next thing he knew, Tommy swung his axe and sliced Gary's head straight off his body. Ziggy fell backwards while James stumbled further into his stall, Gary's head rolling towards him. Gary's body then fell through the open toilet, landing on Alice, who had just fallen from where she was being pulled up.

Tommy's attention went to a screaming Ziggy and as she ran past him, he struck his axe down, missing her. Now it was James' turn to run and he quickly shoved Tommy out of his way, sending the insane boy tumbling a bit as James sprinted the hell out of the outhouse.

"What the actual fuck!" James yelled to Ziggy as the two began running from Tommy, who now was walking out of the outhouse after them. Ziggy and James continued to sprint, now both having Gary's blood all over them.

James wanted to get the hell out of this camp. He wanted to be back with Mary-Jane and not on Tommy's fucking kill list.

The two weren't looking where they were going, constantly looking back to check Tommy wasn't there, so, when Ziggy slammed into Nick, James was sent slamming into Ziggys back. "Fuck, ow."

"What are you doing?" Nick, who James didn't even know was standing there, spoke towards Ziggy. Ziggy, freaking out, stuttered out, "he's here!"

Nick looked around to a second. "Come on." He grabbed onto Ziggys hand and began pulling her with him, Ziggy grabbing James quickly to pull him along with them. "Oh yay, I'm the third wheel again." James mumbled to himself, quickly getting a foot to the shin from Ziggy as they ran. James ran a bit faster and looked at Ziggy with a small glare. "Ouch!"

Ziggy sent him a glare back as they ran. "Shut. Up."

James just rolled his eyes but didn't say anything back, not wanting to start an argument and alert Tommy of where they were. The three ran back into the Science & Nature, quickly shutting the door behind them (Nick locking it) as Ziggy and James slid into a corner, Nick running over to sit with them.

Ziggy sat between the two boys and looked to Nick. "Did we lose him?" Nick nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Are you okay? You hurt?" Ziggy looked down at her now bloody shirt as Nick stroked her hair. "It's not my blood. It's Gary's." She then looked at Nicks blood covered shirt. "And yours?"

Nick looked down at his own shirt. "Um... Sean, Jesse, Rod, Stacey." James quietly cussed to himself. "Shit." Ziggy, at the same time, gasped. "Shadysiders. It's the curse."

"No, it's, uh, it's just some psycho." Nick responded and James had to keep himself from scoffing. It was easy to just blame a psycho when you weren't apart of the group constantly targeted with murder. He liked Nick, sure, but he had no clue what it was like to feel cursed.

"No, no, it's not some psycho. It's Tommy. My sister's perfect, virgin, boring boyfriend Tommy. She did this." Ziggy replied quickly. "Cindy?" Nick questioned and James actually looked over at him like he was an idiot for that one. Ziggy gave him the same look. "The witch!"

Nick shook his head. "That's not real, Ziggy." James looked at Nick. "Wheres the proof she isn't real?" Nick looked back at James, sighing (he had honestly forgotten the other boy was there). "Wheres the proof she is?"

Ziggy scoffed. "That's exactly what a Sunnyvaler would say. I thought you were different." The ringing of the bell began to sound and Nick turned away from the two Shadysiders, looking out the window from where he was. "They're getting on the bus. We have to go right now!"

He grabbed onto Ziggys hand but she instantly protested. "Hey, no, no, no, no. I can't! My sister is still out there!" Nick grabbed Ziggys face. "Please, Ziggy. I know I've let a lot of people die tonight—"

"Nick this isn't your fault."

"—Not you! I'm not letting you die. Because, uh... yeah! I do like the weirdo from Shadyside. And I was thinking... maybe once we get out of this, we could, uh... we could start a book club or something. Maybe... I dunno, Stephen King's new one is supposed to be good, I hear." Ziggy looked right back at Nick. "I'm done with King. Judy Blume for me from now on."

"Yeah, Judy Blume sounds, uh... sounds perfect." Nick responded. Ziggy had to check something. "You believe me, right? About the curse?" Nick nodded slightly. "Yeah, of course. I am different. Now, come on. We gotta get out of here. As soon as we do, we'll call the cops. Your sisters gonna be alright. But first, we gotta get on that bus."

A sudden bang on the door sent James to no longer sit. He was now crouching down, both feet ready for him to get up and just start sprinting. "Hey, uh, dorks. Let's figure all this out later and run now."

Neither Ziggy nor Nick seemed to hear or be paying attention to James as they looked through the snake glass cage up to where the banging was coming from. When a hand punched through the glass and an arm stuck through the now broken window, opening the locked door, James bent back down quickly and pulled Ziggy down right next to him.

The door slammed shut and Tommy looked around, Nick had luckily been pulled down by Ziggy just in time. He breathed heavily as he walked around, heavy footsteps echoing in the silent room.

Tommy seemed to notice the snake as his heavy breathing got closer but his footsteps stopped. Nick, Ziggy, and James all quickly and quietly ran to a new hiding spot, but Nick left a bloody hand print showing where they had just been. Angrily, Tommy smashed the snakes cage, letting it free.

He continued walking around again, the snake now slithering towards the three who were hiding. James bit down harshly on the inside of his cheek, drawing blood, when he felt the snake now traveling along his leg.

Looking down, James watched as the snake continued it journey. Next going on Ziggy (while still slithering over James) and then resting it's head on Nicks leg. Ziggy, as afraid of snakes as ever, bit her trembling lip trying to keep quiet with the snake laying right on her lap.

It was silent for a second, James had even forgotten Tommy was trying to kill them, but he remembered fast when Ziggys screams echoed through the room and she was being picked up by her hair by Tommy.

"Ziggy!" Both boys screamed, both also standing and trying to get the girl back from Tommy's grasp. He dragged her across the table before slamming her onto the floor. Tommy lifted his axe up and swung down, but, at the last second Nick moved Ziggy out of the way and the axe went right into his leg.

James took this chance and sprinted past Nick, grabbing Ziggy under her armpits and pulling her up to stand with him. "Ahh, run!" Nick begged through the pain. "Run!" He then screamed and the two Shadysiders did just that. Tommy quickly chased after them, not seeming to care about Nick at all.

James and Ziggy searched for the others hand as they sprinted off back towards the Mess Hall, both needing some sort of comfort and normality as they ran from a witch possessed killer.

AUTHORS NOTE!
wow, look at me go. another chapter done and only at most three left for this movie!!! (don't get any hopes up three is if I can draw it out a lot LOL) but even with this movie being longer it's definitely less to write when there's two main stories instead of one.

hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'd like to say sorry in advance for what I will be doing soon!!!

also can we talk about how funny it is for me to see people comment freaking out once they realize that james is annies dad? it just makes me laugh seeing it hit people. very fun for me (and points to anyone who notices the little things I have both characters do or reactions they both often have to the same type of situation)

anyways, I'll be adding some simon x annie couple graphics (what even is their ship name???? idk.) to the authors note of the next chapter because I feel like being mean!!! mwah