When Chase left his house earlier that night, he didn't expect to be hiking through the forest. In the dark. Alone. Had he known that, he would've worn better shoes and brought a flashlight.

But, for now, the dim light coming from his cellphone would have to do.

It barely illuminated the space ahead of him. As he staggered forward, trying his best to dodge trees and the occasional shift in terrain, a gnarled root hidden in the dirt snuck up on him. Before he knew it, he was face-to-face with the ground. Spitting dirt, twigs, and dry leaves from his mouth, he got up and dusted himself off.

Whatever Theo had to show him, he hoped it was worth it.

Ahead of him, he spotted the faint outline of Stella moving through the underbrush. He was glad she chose to wear a yellow dress. The bright color was the only reason he could still see her. He assumed Theo wasn't too far away as she seemed to know where she was going. Getting lost in the woods wasn't exactly his idea of a fun night out.

He then realized someone had the foresight to tack a few wooden signs into the imposing trees around him. Red arrows pointed him in the direction of the old quarry.

A million different possibilities for why Theo was bringing him to the quarry ran through his brain like speeding code through a processor. His first thought was aliens. He immediately discarded it; aliens weren't real. His second thought was that something equally surprising must've been inside the dig. In regards to what exactly, he had no idea.

After a few more minutes of following the signs and listening to the eerie ambiance echoing around him, the forest broke away to reveal a clearing that dropped off into a sheer cliff. A group of teenagers stood around the area, talking and snapping pictures of whatever it was that resided within the quarry. Some passed around a blunt and others drank from beer bottles and plastic cups.

Chase slowed his pace as he approached them. Theo, who had been conversing with a rather short girl in a black Nirvana hoodie, beckoned him over to where he was standing.

''What's all this?'' he asked. ''The after-party?''

That earned a few snickers from his peers.

''You brought Stella and the new kid?'' the girl Theo had been talking to asked. A deep scowl had been etched into her pale face, which was adorned with dark makeup and random piercings.

''He's cool, Emily,'' Theo said. He flashed a smile at Chase. ''Right, Chase? You're cool.''

Chase nodded slowly. ''Yeah, what he said.''

''As for Stella, I'm not so sure.''

''Gee, thanks, Theo.'' Stella rolled her eyes at him. She and Emily glared at each other for a bit. After a while, they averted their gazes and pretended to be preoccupied with something else.

Chase shot Theo a skeptical glance that said: ''what was that about?''. His friend simply shrugged.

He never would've thought Stella had any enemies; after all, she was the most loved girl at school. But, if she was to have one, a girl like Emily Yumiko certainly fit the bill.

While he didn't know her personally, he knew enough about her to know she was a little strange. She hung out with the punk rock kids and spent most of her time out of school in detention. The only reason he knew that was because that was where he first met her. She was also a self-described anarchist and hated the preppy kids of River Hill; Stella happened to fit that bill. Though, her dislike for the senior class president was greater than her dislike for anyone else.

With Chase not growing up with the majority of River Hill's students like most, he didn't know the backstory to their feud. While intriguing, he wasn't going to go around asking questions about it. Instead, he decided to start asking the important ones.

''So, anybody wanna tell me what's going on here? It's cold and I kind of want to go home.''

''Check it out for yourself,'' another voice said. Standing off to the side was Oscar Jimenez—River Hill's resident class clown and prankster extraordinaire. It was a bit of a surprise to see him out here. Chase would've figured he would've still been in the party.

His gaze narrowed, Chase took his advice and made his way through the small crowd that was gathered around the edge of the cliff. Not realizing how high up the ridge was, a wave of vertigo crashed over him. Nearly stumbling into the chasm, he regained his footing and took a few breaths to steady himself.

He then turned his attention to what lied within the pit. The base of the drop-off spilled into the abandoned quarry, which was about the length of a football field and just as wide. Old stacks of scaffolding, mining carts, and rusty digging equipment were scattered around the stone-covered floor.

That wasn't everything.

Tall, black drills with high-tech designs were built into the ground. Their huge, cylinder augers pierced the solid surface, the sound grinding into Chase's ears. He squinted into the clearing, seeing the plethora of black vans with red logos painted onto the sides parked in the quarry. Men covered in dark tactical gear wielding machine guns walked around the place. Clear, glass containers filled with red crystals were lined up next to the vehicles.

''Who the hell are those people?'' he asked, looking around at the group of people behind him. They all shrugged, murmuring all at once about who they could be. He picked up bits and pieces ranging from the men being government agents to aliens. Shaking his head in frustration at them, he walked back over to Theo and Emily.

''According to Emily, they're some super dangerous terrorist group. They originated from Europe and have been committing crimes all over the world,'' Theo explained. He spoke so fast that Chase could barely make out what he was saying. Placing his hand on the boy's shoulder, he urged him to calm down.

''What he said.'' Emily held up a black camera that hung from a strap on her shoulder and snapped a few flicks of the quarry. The sound of the shutter clicking filled Chase's ears. ''We did a quick Google search and found a forum about them. They seem to go by Kismet. Apparently, the government has been trying to take them down for years.''

Chase pursed his lips as he tried to remember something his father told him. He vaguely recalled the man telling him about a group of mercenaries who were hellbent on finding some experimental element. If the people in the dig site below them were those people, and he was certain they were, then they needed to get out of there.

And fast.

With each minute they stuck around, the chances of their capture—or deaths—rose. He wasn't sure about the others, but he wasn't in the mood to fight off a band of dangerous terrorists. While he wasn't worried so much about himself, with his military background and whatnot, he didn't want any harm to come to his fellow students.

''This is crazy,'' he said in disbelief. ''We shouldn't be here.''

''I'm with Chase.'' Stella pulled at the sleeves of her dress while chewing on her bottom lip. ''I mean, if these guys are actual terrorists, why are we just watching them? Shouldn't we be calling the police or something?''

Emily cast a burning glare in Stella's direction. ''To answer your idiotic question, we already called tried calling the police. But, as you can see, we're in the middle of a forest. There's no service out here.'' She held her phone up and displayed the lack of signal on it for extra emphasis.

''All I'm saying is that this seems like a really bad idea.''

''Look, you can leave if you want,'' Emily retorted. ''No one's keeping you hostage. We were all having fun before you and Blondie over there decided to be buzzkills.''

Stella narrowed her hazel irises at her, her jaw taut as she struggled to keep her mouth shut. The people around them were beginning to instigate, which was never a good thing. Not wanting the situation to escalate any further, Chase figured he should've stepped in.

He gestured at both girls. ''Alright, I think we all should just calm down— ''

''If you guys think it's so dangerous to be here then you two can leave,'' Emily interjected, disregarding Chase's statement. She turned to Theo. ''I don't even know why you brought your lame friends here anyway.''

The permanent smile that Theo always seemed to wear faltered. ''Hey, that's not...c'mon now, be nice.''

''Goth Queen kinda has a point,'' Oscar said. ''I mean, no offense to them but they weren't even with us when we got here.''

Chase shot him a piercing glare to which he replied to by putting his hands up innocently.

''I don't even know why you came,'' Emily continued while directing a sneer in Stella's direction. ''I mean, she almost never does anything fun. Besides going to these trivial high school parties. And I really don't count those as being fun. Oh, look at me, I'm Stella! Student class president, straight-A student, Ms. Perfect!'' She scoffed. ''Give me a break.''

''You're so bitter,'' Stella spat. ''And you wonder why no one likes you.''

Chase watched the hate manifest in the other girl's ebony irises. His skin crawled and he averted his own eyes away from hers.

An awkward, tension-filled silence fell over the group of teenagers. Apparently, it was too much for the others to bear, as most of them issued their goodbyes and made their way out of the clearing. Soon after, the only people left were Chase, Theo, Stella, Emily, Oscar, and one other person.

Leaning against a tree, Oscar retrieved a lighter from his jacket pocket. ''Way to ruin the vibe guys.''

Chase crossed his arms over his chest. The arguing seemed to be over with. For now, at least. He decided to take this opportunity to try and convince the others to leave the area with him. ''I still think we should get going. These Kismet dudes are bad news.''

''Like I said before, you're free to leave whenever you like." Emily gestured towards the opening in the forest that led back towards the party. ''The door is that way."

Stella mumbled something under her breath. ''Whatever.'' She walked past Chase and stopped at the mouth of the woods. Turning her head, she asked, ''You coming?''

He nodded at her. ''Yeah, just give me a sec.'' Moving towards Theo, he lightly tapped his arm. ''You gonna be alright out here? I don't want you to die or anything. You're kind of my only friend.''

''It looks like you're getting pretty acquainted with Stella over there.'' He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

''Oh, shut up.''

Theo chuckled. ''Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me.''

Chase eyed him with an air of caution. He didn't want to leave him there, all things considered, but the guy seemed to be alright. Hopefully, he had his inhaler on him.

''Alright. I'll see you Monday, Theo.''

He turned and joined Stella, who stood looking up at the star-filled sky while she waited for him. The two of them shared a look before preparing to re-enter the dark forest. Just as he was about to take a step into the foliage, Emily cursed loudly behind him.

Stopping, he turned around to figure what happened.

She was now standing near the edge of the cliff with her camera held in front of her face. Her hands trembled as she held the device. Oscar, Andre, and Theo converged on her, trying to figure out what was wrong.

''No way,'' she sputtered. ''This can't be real.''

''What is it?'' Chase asked he walked back over to them. Stella followed closely behind.

Emily tried replying but she couldn't seem to muster a response. He took a peek at the screen of her camera and studied the picture on the small display. It was a closeup of the quarry. A few of the mercenaries lingered in the background. One of them stuck out like a sore thumb.

He was the only one in the entire dig site who wasn't wearing a gas mask. His face suggested he was in his early twenties, but Chase wasn't sure. Shaggy, black hair fell into the man's face, obscuring his gaunt features. Crimson irises shone through the dark locks.

A chill rippled down the boy's spine upon realizing the hired soldier was staring straight at the camera. In fact, he even had his head tilted as if he posed for the picture.

But that couldn't be right. Theo said they couldn't be seen from where they were.

Chase wasn't willing to stick around and figure out if the man spotted them or not.

''We need to go,'' he told them all. ''Like right now.''

Everyone nodded in agreeance. With a second thought, they all raced back towards the opening into the forest.

However, they would never make it there.

Men from the quarry emerged from the trees, harsh red laser sights shooting out from their guns. Warped shouts came from their masks, ordering the group of students to stay where they were and put their hands up.

Chase froze and slowly raised his hands. He contemplated running but decided against it. While he was in good shape, he couldn't outrun a bullet. Besides, there was no way he was leaving Theo and Stella behind. And the others, of course.

''Everyone stay calm,'' he advised.

While everyone seemed to be regressing into crisis mode, he was as cool as ever. Panicking in a situation like this wasn't the best thing to do. If anyone did anything these soldiers didn't like, they'd find their body filled with lead. The best course of action was to follow their orders and hope for the best.

The six teenagers were forced into a tight circle as the mercenaries closed in on them. A machine gun barrel was pressed into Chase's back. Seconds later, he and the rest of the group were being forced down to their knees.

Next to him, Stella pleaded with the men to not kill them.

No replied. Though, her cries elicited a few laughs from the Kismet soldiers.

That was when he came.

He materialized from the shadows, wisps of red and black smoke curling around him. As he prowled forward like a feral predator, the sword hanging from his hip scraped the leaf-covered floor. A wicked grin stretched across his lips.

Horror covered his face as if it were a looming shadow.

It was him.

He stopped in front of his kneeling hostages. Around the red-eyed soldier, his fellow mercenaries adjusted their rifles and forced everyone to stay down. The man snickered while shaking his head like a disappointed father.

''You guys picked the wrong night to wander off into the forest.''