chapter eighteen: always shoot for the head

SUNDAY: October 27th, 2026,
woodsboro highschool

7:00PM

Kieran had heard the explosion before he could even see it spread throughout the entire hallway. The smoke was thick and while he had been hiding behind a set of lockers he could see the sight of Alex and Vivian running down the hallway. Both were covered with dust and grime as they coughed, Kieran ran towards them when they ran straight past him.

"Where's everyone else? What the hell was that?" Vivian coughed as she dragged Alex towards the main entrance "I saw Clarie heading for the pool, Alix probably ran after her when the lights went out". She wiped at her face with her sleeve as she pushed the door "it's jammed! Is there another exit!".

"Oh don't you wanna stay for the show?" The trio all turned at the sight of one of the ghostfaces limping down the hallway. The mask was burnt on the left side and you could see blood running down the cracks of it as the person smiled brightly "I'm still here. Looks like little Andy couldn't handle the heat!".

Kieran looked at Vivian and Alex, the two looked so pale and miserable as they held onto each other. The smoke was getting more intense and Kieran could feel himself growing weaker by the second. "Go, there's a fire exit near the library, I'll take care of this".

Vivian looked at Kieran with worry "but the smoke, it's not safe in here Kieran, just let them die in here. It's not our fault they tried blowing up the school".

Kieran inhaled sharply "I'll take my chances, just go!" Vivian was hesitant but she nodded "I'll call the cops, just be careful Kieran. Please don't die, we can't afford to lose anyone else tonight".

The girl held onto Alex as the boy struggled to stand up on his own. Kieran watched them walk down the hallway before he turned towards the limping ghostface. They were right in front of him as they swung their knife forward, he moved back quickly as he dodged the attack. "This doesn't end until I kill you! Why don't you just give up already! You did before, when you saw me dead and helpless! You cried like a baby! You begged to be killed, where's that energy now? Scared you don't want it anymore?".

Kieran sneered angrily "we both know it's you Nadia. So enough with the games!" The girl pulled the mask off her face as she looked down at him. She pointed her knife at him weakly "your stupid friend did this to me!" Her face was burnt and while she was still alive and breathing, she was clearly on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

She laughed weakly "blew the entire theater up! And just when I was so close to stabbing that bitch Claire! I get caught in the damn crossfire while precious little Claire gets away unscratched. What's so damn special about her! Andy did all of this shit because of her stupid play, but she's nothing special. Just another person I'm gonna kill when I'm done with you".

Kieran gripped the girl's wrist when she went to stab the knife into his shoulder. She groaned as she pushed her other hand against the handle of the blade and pushed it downward. Kieran let out a heavy breath as he struggled to push the knife away from his skin.

"Why are you doing this? I thought we were happy, that everything was fine. Why would you let Andy drag you down this path? You could've had such  potential Dia. You ruined everything!".

The girl smiled weakly "life's a bitch, I thought I'd embrace my true nature for once. We could've ruled the world together, you and I the sole survivors of it all. But I knew from the start you were never meant for this life, so instead I'll set you free".

The boy cried out when the knife slowly pushed itself into his shoulder "better you die, then I won't have to remember the pain I felt when I had you. Even if it was for a moment, that kiss meant everything to me and part of me wanted to call the whole ghostface thing off at that moment. But it was too late, the damage was already done, and it doesn't even matter anymore, I'm dying. Nothing can save me".

Kieran let out a shaky breath "you could've let me save me! You had so many opportunities to tell me what was going on! What did Andy even use against you, there's no way in a million years you'd do this willingly. The Nadia I know wouldn't do this".

The girl let out a deep breath "he used you! No one else had anything else to be used against them, he knew that if he killed you I'd never join him. I planted the seed into his head when I showed him stab, this is all my fault and I can't take any of it back. You've had that gun in your pocket this entire time, but you haven't used it. Stop trying to save me!".

Kieran flinched when the girl grabbed the gun he had hid in his back pocket, he had completely forgotten he even had it. She cocked it as she pushed it against his head "go on then, pull the trigger. If you don't wanna be saved then prove you're not worth it! You were always worth it Nadia, you just never tried to see what was right in front of you!".

The girl sneered angrily "and what, was that you? Three stupid little words and I wanted to just end it all, wanted to kill Andy myself and just pretend my life wasn't a complete disaster! There's no saving for someone like me, I screwed up my life the second I put on that mask, and I'll die a screw up!".

"You can still just walk away! Everyone thinks you're dead... you don't have to waste your life" the girl scoffed "look at me, I'm dying. There's no second chance for me, not when I look like this".

She coughed as blood ran down the side of her face "you'll burn to death in here if you keep trying to save me, it's too late Kieran, I ruined everything. Just go before I end up killing you!". She let the gun drop away from his forehead as she moved back.

"You can still get out..... I know what you did wasn't good but I don't care! You can't just give up and let yourself die! I'm not watching you die again". He grabbed her arm "you can still come with me, no one has to know what you did. I'll keep you safe".

The girl smiled sadly as she smacked the gun against Kieran's head, the boy fell towards the ground groaning. "If you won't listen then I'll make you leave, even if it's inside a body bag" she hit him again with the back of the gun and the boy's eyes flickered closed as blood ran down the side of his head.

Nadia picked her mask up off the ground and let it slip over her head as she looked down at Kieran one last time. She turned without a second thought and let herself walk further into the hallway as the smoke lingered around her. She disappeared like a ghost and the last sound that could be heard was the fading sobs of Nadia Montgomery.

—

Woodsboro high swimming pool

7:30PM

Claire ignored the running footsteps behind her as she pushed open the doors of the swimming pool. She could see the bright shade of blue that coated the entire water turn into a vibrant red. She had remembered hearing the gunshot before she could even push open the doors, she had feared the worst when she saw Alix lying on the ground.

"Alix!" she ran towards the girl but was cut short when a vengeful Angel burst out of the swimming pool. The girl screamed like a manic as she ran at full speed towards Claire "you stupid fucking bitch.

Claire sneered angrily "you killed my girlfriend!" the girl punched Angel angrily as she tackled her into the ground. She cried out when the knife sliced her wrist "you're nothing but a trashy bitch! Andy was delusional for even thinking you're the star of our play! You'll never be a star Claire!".

Claire let out a heavy breath as she wrapped her hands around Angel's throat "please I'm the star of my own life and you're just in it! Even faking your death didn't make you relevant. You'll never be me sweetie because there's only one Claire Maitland and I want you to look me in the eyes. Because it's the last thing you'll ever see, me winning once again".

Claire tightened her hold around Angel's throat, her eyes grew in satisfaction at the sight of Angel struggling to catch her breath. She could feel the life slipping away from the girl's body and part of her enjoyed every second of it. When Angel let out one last breath, Claire let herself fall back as she let out a deep breath of relief.

The girl turned "Alix?" she quickly moved towards the girl who laid on the ground with her eyes halfway shut. Blood stained her shirt and face as she desperately grasped Claire's hands.

"Is it.. over?" Her words were slow as she let out heavy pants, sweat coated her forehead as she felt Claire lift her shirt up slowly. "You're losing a lot of blood, I.. I can fix this". Claire ripped her shirt in half ignoring the ache it caused her as she quickly wrapped it around the stab wound on Alixs stomach.

Alix groaned "sorry, it's not exactly gonna feel nice" Alix chuckled weakly "you ripped your favorite shirt for me, I must be pretty important". Claire smiled brightly "I'll buy a new one once we get out of here".

The sudden sound of running footsteps made Claire turn, Vivian and Alex burst through the pool door both of them limping as they struggled to hold up an unconscious Kieran. "You want the good or the bad news first! None of them are any better".

Claire sat up as she approached the trio "I thought you guys got out! What are you even doing here?". Vivian chuckled weakly "well we did try to get out through the fire exit, but they blocked it! We tried everything but we're trapped inside the school and it's on the verge of collapsing from the fire. The good news is we found Kieran when we were running to find you. The bad news is Gwen and Nadia got away or I can assume for Nadia since we haven't seen her".

Claire sighed deeply "well Angels dead, and I think there's a fire exit in here somewhere, maybe we can try breaking the door down? Wait... where's Ben?".

Vivian smiled sadly as she placed Kieran down beside Alix "he didn't make it, he sacrificed himself to kill Andy. I think he's the reason the school is on the verge of burning, I tried to get into the theater. But it's all blocked off and full of smoke, there's no way he survived that explosion. I don't think he wanted to anyways, this is what he wanted all of us surviving".

Alex looked down at Angel "are we sure she's dead? I'm not much of a stab expert but I know they always come back at the last minute". Claire scoffed as she stood up "are you doubting my skills? I mean she looks pretty dead to me. She's not coming back".

Vivian sighed deeply "think you can help me get this door open Alex?" the boy nodded as he followed after the girl. Claire looked down at Alix and Kieran "you two better not die, especially you Alix. I don't just give anyone my favorite shirt, so don't die".

Alixs eyes widened making Claire frown as she quickly turned around, Angel coughed as she angrily stabbed Claire in the shoulder. Claire cried out and then she gagged when blood splattered onto her face.

Angel's body fell into the pool, blood gushing out of her head as Claire looked forward. Corey let his gun fall down to his side as he sighed deeply "I told you kids to go for the head" he wiped blood off his forehead with his sleeve.

"Where were you this whole time?" The man smirked as he grabbed a pair of bolt cutters from a giant duffel bag that rested on his shoulders. "Getting reinforcements, someone had to make sure you all didn't burn to death inside a school. Trust me being back in this place is traumatizing enough. There's no way I'm dying in it, that's depressing. Cops and ambulances are on the way".

He walked past Claire "what! I tried calling the cops like six times! I literally didn't even have a cell reception, how did you even get through once?". The man turned slightly "it's called a radio, have one in case of emergencies and I need to call someone, doesn't need signal just someone in range to accept the call. We were in luck Sidney picked up, even though she thinks radios are useless".

He walked towards the fire exit Vivian and Alex moved back "you two go help Claire grab Alexandra and Kieran, I'll get the door open. Try to be quick, the whole place is gonna go down at any minute".

8:00PM

Life was an endless loop of chaos and destruction, the drama club of woodsboro high knew it all too well. They felt the cold wind the second the door was pushed open. The world felt like it was spinning when they caught sight of the police cars and paramedics.

Everyone was alive, even if some had fallen for the most part they had survived ghostface. No amount of blood or tears made any of them flinch, they felt empty and numb. The strong scent of smoke coated the atmosphere as they watched the highschool burn.

"Is it finally over?" Claire wrapped her arms around Alix as she watched the flames consumed what once was the theater. That mask, that voice in the back of her head kept shouting at her as she let out an exhale.

She felt the heavy weight of ghostface lifting off her shoulders, Claire Maitland the star. The girl who single handedly caused a group of teenagers to turn into psychopaths. The girl who wrote a play for a little club had caused a chain reaction, the world had worshiped her very soul and alongside her they worshiped the drama club. So of course, it wasn't really over. It never is for the drama club.

And it all began when a boy joined the drama club. Claire's gaze looked up at the sight of someone walking towards her, the same boy who had started this inspiration inside her in the first place. The reason she had written the play in the first place "Benjamin?".

—

authors notes:
imagine if I told you this was the end.....oh wait it is.... No comment. Also we are so back! We finally have gifs back, I went ahead and added gifs to all the chapters I couldn't before so go check 'em out!

Also I'm kidding! It's not the end of this book yet. I'm making an epilogue and it'll connect to the sequel, which I'm already working on! And yes you can apply with new characters and have your characters from this one also be in it which they will be automatically due to it being based on the drama clubs so no need to reapply with them since I'll have them on the cast list already. The casting for the sequel will be bigger since it's broadway based or at least a big musical/play setting. Feel free to apply to that when it's out sometime this weekend, I don't work so best believe that's what I'll be working on all day and night until it's posted. I literally can't believe I finished this book this fast... I feel like I should go outside and touch grass, cause I've never in my entire life on this app have finished a book this fast. It took me an entire year to even get that far with one book and once I get the epilogue out this book will have taken me like a month to finish I think. I stayed up despite being exhausted asf from work just to get this chapter out for you guys. So enjoy!!!!!