Warnings:
swearing
death
descriptions of wounds

James heard screams but didn't realise they belonged to him until he felt Sirius's arms wrap around him and heard his hurried whispers trying to comfort him.

They were dead. Marlene and Dorcas were dead, just like Lily.

James heard someone else scream and turned to find Peter bolting down the hallway, away from Marlene and Dorcas's corpses. The others ran after him and James, sensing his friend in danger, snapped out of his own grief and ran after them.

They found Peter at the front door, franticly trying to pull the door open but to no avail. He turned his head when he heard their footsteps and looked at James in the eye as fear washed across his face.

"It's locked," he whispered.

No. No, no, no. This couldn't be happening. James ran to the door, hoping that Peter just didn't put enough force into opening the door, but even as James pulled, pulled, pulled, the door didn't open. He heard rather than saw Remus run to one of the windows and turned to see the result.

They were also locked.

James recalled Fabian telling him one time that their parents were away a lot of the time, so they'd installed security measures on all of the windows. For some reason, they were activated, and they wouldn't be able to break the glass because Fabian had also told James that the glass could withstand a bullet without breaking.

"You won't be able to open it," James rasped. Everyone's eyes turned to him. "Security measures on all of the windows. The glass is too strong to break."

He didn't say it, but everyone heard the next words stuck in his throat.

They were trapped.

Frank fished out his phone and James let out a sigh of relief. They could call the police, and everything would be fine, and even if Frank didn't have any battery left, James knew for a fact that he did.

So why was Frank's expression so broken.? Why was he staring at his phone like all his dreams had just been crushed? Like there was no hope for escape.

"There's no signal," he said roughly.

No signal. No signal, no signal, no signal-

"Fuck," he heard Sirius mutter.

A silence descended upon the group, one full of hopelessness and devastation.

"What if the killer is still in the house?" Remus eventually spoke, voicing everyone's thoughts.

What if whoever killed Lily and Marlene and Dorcas was still here? What if they were planning James's death right then and there? They were trapped in a mansion with no hope of escape or rescue, with a murderer possibly in there with them.

Everyone was glancing around, as if the murderer was about to jump out and stab them then and there. James's mind strayed back to Regulus. He was somewhere in here, possibly still looking for him, or hiding away because he'd heard everyone's screams. He could be hurt. James needed find him, to make sure he was okay.

"We still need to find Regulus," James said, taking action. "This is a big fucking house, so I propose we split into pairs so we can search more ground quicker. Once we find Regulus, we can try and come up with a way to escape. Everyone okay with that?"

"That's how everyone dies in horror movies," Peter spoke up.

Sirius scoffed. "This isn't a fucking horror movie, Wormtail. This is real life."

Wormtail, a nickname they'd came up with for Peter. There was also Prongs for James, Padfoot for Sirius, and Moony for Remus.

Peter shrunk away from Sirius's words, flinching as if he'd been hit. James shot Sirius a look and comfortingly squeezed Peter's shoulders.

"It's okay Peter," he assured. "We'll be alright. You can pair we me if you'd like."

Peter nodded quickly, so it was up to Remus, Sirius, Mary, and Frank to pair up. James could see Sirius wanted to pair with Remus, but he could also tell that Sirius would feel safer with Frank, so when Mary chose to pair with Remus, Sirius didn't complain much.

They decided where they would all look, and then they split up, James casting one last glance at his friends before he left with Peter for the fourth floor. While James and Peter search all of the fourth floor, Sirius and Frank were assigned to the third floor, and Mary and Remus were in charge of the second floor. They'd all already checked the first floor when searching for Marlene, so they left that floor empty.

Peter and James searched the fourth floor silently, neither of them feeling much like talking. James was always looking everywhere, gaze darting left and right like the killer was going to pop out in front of them at any moment. James didn't even know if the killer was in the house, but he knew that if they were he would be stupid not be wary.

"I'm scared, James," Peter whispered after they'd finished searching yet another room. They still had about half the floor to check, so they continued on, walking through a long hallway.

"It's okay," James said, trying to be comforting. He hated seeing his friends scared, even if they had reason to be. "We just gotta find Regulus and then we'll be fine. The murderer probably isn't even here."

Just as he said that, though, Peter let out a scream and James's head snapped to the direction Peter was looking at, feeling his skin crawl when he saw someone at the end of the hallway, holding a silver knife that glinted in the dim light of a nearby lamp.

The killer was wearing a Ghostface costume, the white mask shaped like someone screaming in pain, or maybe it was fear. Either way, it made James want to turn around and bolt, which was unusual because James usually considered himself a rather brave person. The rest of the outfit was just a black cloak with a hood thrown over the top of the mask, though James noticed the killer was wearing black gloves.

"Pete, run," James ordered, grabbing Peter's arm and running away just as the killer started moving after them.

James ran as fast as he could, chest panting as he pushed more and more, needing to go faster and faster. Peter wasn't as fast as him though, and eventually started to lag behind. James knew they had to find somewhere to hide, with Peter being unable to run for much longer, so he made them turn into the first room James saw and slammed the door shut.

There wasn't a lock on the door, so James pushed the first piece of furniture he could against the door. A wardrobe. After that was a bedside table, and then a desk followed by a chair, until James was satisfied that the killer wouldn't be able to enter without a struggle.

He then turned to Peter who was hyperventilating, each breath coming out quick and short as he stared at the door with wide eyes. There were tears in his eyes, as well as on his cheeks and James longed to get rid of his pain.

"Hey, hey, you're okay," James said, trying to get Peter to calm down. "You're safe. I'll protect you I promise. Nothing bad will happen to you."

Peter let out a hiccup, finally calming down a bit, until suddenly his hands clapped across his face, and he mumbled something before running into the bathroom connected to the room they were in. James heard the unmistakable sound of someone vomiting into the toilet and winced.

When the vomiting sounds had subsided and James was no longer panicking about Peter, James looked around at his surroundings, wondering if he'd recognise the room. He'd been the Gideon and Fabian's house many times before, but he still hadn't explored the whole house so there was a big chance he was in a room he hadn't been in before.

James felt relief when he recognised the room, though. It was Fabian's, and James remembered being in the room multiple times before, playing video games with Fabian and Gideon, whose room was right next door, connected by the bathroom-

James's eyes widened and he ran at top speed to the bathroom, but he was too late. Peter lay there, bleeding out as he clutched his belly, trying to keep his intestines inside his stomach. James blanched and fell to his knees scrambling towards Peter.

"I'm so sorry," James whispered, voice cracking as he held Peter in his arms. "I'm so, so, sorry."

"James," Peter whimpered. "James I don't want to die. I'm not ready to die. James please."

James let out a sob, holding Peter closer to him as his friend started to take his last breath. He squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the rattling cut off mid breath, and then there was nothing. No noise besides James's own sniffling.

James sat there, hunched over Peter's dead body as he cried for the loss of his friend.