Chapter Two: And Then There Were Five

"So what are we going to do?" Greg asked, looking at Andrew.

Andrew looked around the group. They were all looking up to him.It might have had something to do with being several steps high than them physically, but he kind of figured it was something more. He had been the one to step forward. So logic said that it was him who had been destined to lead. Or - more likely - stumbled stupidly into the leader position. However it had happened -

"Hey!" his brother snapped. "I know you're busy with an inner monologue, but we need to figure out what we're going to do. Now if you'd stop trying to look like Washington crossing the Delaware, we might be able to come to a solution."

Andrew frowned to hide the pink flush of embarrassment rising in his cheeks. He quickly descended the stairs to join the group at the bottom.

"I vote we hole up with the vending machines and pray the janitors come in early on Monday."

"Yeah right!" Josh scoffed at Greg's suggestion. "We need to find these sons-of-" he glanced at the girls, "suckers, and get them before they get to us."

"We don't even know that they're after us," Andrew said. "It could all be some stupid prank."

"I don't think anyone would go through this much trouble for a prank," Tori told them. "It's just too elaborate."

"So what? We're trapped in this school with one or more psychos on the loose?" Josh was finding the entire thing too weird to believe.

"I told you we should have studied in the library," Greg muttered. "But no... Nobody listens to me..."

"Shove it," Matt grunted.

"Look," Sami said, her voice soft. "We don't know that they're after us. We don't know that they're not. I'd say let's just split up and try to find a way out or a phone that works. Half of us can search Hankamer, and half can search Cashion. We'll meet in twenty minutes back at our study table."

Andrew studied Sami for a moment and then shrugged. Matt and Josh exchanged looks, but neither said a word.

"I'm with Sami," Greg answered.

"Me too," Tori smiled, squeezing her sister's shoulder.

"Alright then." Andrew faced the group, regaining his destined - or not so destined - role as leader. "Matt, Josh, and Sami will take Hankamer; Greg, Tori, and I will take Cashion. Twenty minutes and then we rendezvous."

Everyone nodded and then split into their groups. Sami was reluctant to leave Tori.

"Are you sure about this?" she whispered.

"We'll be fine. Stick close to Matt. He's obnoxious enough that nobody will probably want to take him."

Sami chuckled and then turned and jogged to catch up with her group.

"Ready?" Andrew wondered.

"Not remotely," Tori responded, but pushed forward anyway, leading the way towards the Cashion building.

Andrew watched her walk. Her stride was long, as were her legs, and she was tall, maybe 5' 8" or 5' 9", with chestnut hair that swung near her lower back. For as long as they'd been friends, he still couldn't fathom having that much hair on his head, let alone playing sports with it; yet Tori did. She was a star lacrosse player. Beautiful and tough. Now that was a lethal combination. If only he could -

The lights flickered, snapping Andrew from his inner monologue again. All three of them froze, waiting to see if the lights would go out again. They flickered a couple more times, but continued to stay lit.

"This is wicked creepy," Tori murmured, heading down the stairs the led to the bowels of Cashion.

As they reached the bottom, Andrew glanced at the finance lab. It was dark.

"That's weird." He moved closer and put a hand on the glass, peering through at the darkened computer screens, and blank scroll bar that usually quoted stock prices all day.

"I didn't think they ever shut that lab down."

"I don't think they ever do," Tori answered Greg's statement.

"Well somebody did," Andrew told them, "and I'd bet it was the same person that is playing with us tonight."

He puffed out his chest a little and turned to head down the hall, intending to take the lead from Tori, but she was nowhere in sight. "Tori?" he wheezed, all the air rushing out of his lungs.

"Ease up," she hissed, poking her head out of a classroom. "I'm just checking classrooms."

An intense wave of relief swept over him. He wouldn't know what to do if Tori was taken. They were best friends, and lately -

"Are you going to help or what?" Greg grumbled from down the hall.

"Oh, right."

Andrew wandered farther down the creepy corridor and tugged on a door handle. It opened easily. He thought about going inside, but it was dark, and from what he could see, there was nobody in there. Andrew pulled his head back to find Tori staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Get in there. Flip on the light, check the corners. We need to be thorough."

"Of course." Andrew smiled like he knew that's what he was supposed to be doing. He reached inside, found the light and flipped it on. "So, Tori," he started, "I was thinking that maybe -"

"Where's Greg?"

Andrew glanced down both sides of the hall. "He's probably in a classroom somewhere."

"Well  we need -"

The sudden darkness that fell silenced her thought. Andrew held his breath, mentally counting the seconds until the lights came back on. He had just reached thirty-four (or was it forty-four?) when the lights snapped back on.

"Greg!" Tori called, pulling open the door to a classroom across the hall. "Greg!"

Andrew scrambled to help her find Greg, thinking that maybe if he found Greg, she would let him take her to dinner. If they ever got out. Alive. The though made him shiver so he shrugged it off as best he could and continued to pull open doors, calling Greg's name into the darkness of each one.

"No!" Tori huffed. "It can't be! Not Greg!"

"Tori! Andrew!" Josh's voice floated down the stairs, followed quickly by the other three. "Where's Greg?"

"We don't know! He was checking rooms with us, and then the lights went out, and then - "

Sami wrapped an arm around her sister's waist. "It's not your fault," she told her.

"I know but...if we had stayed together...if I had - "

"Not your fault," Sami repeated.

"Sami's right," Matt told them. "It's not your fault. But I guess now we know that they're after us. So what are we going to do?"

"Change our strategy," Josh answered quickly. "We need to stick together from now on. Stay in each others' sight at all times."

"Agreed," Andrew answered, just to say something.

"I'm so sorry," Tori told her sister. "I should have - "

Sami shook her head at her sister. "No. We'll find him. I know we will. There's nothing to be sorry for."