The Fox

Of course Hero, just friends

Casey

Dan loosened up a bit when he was sitting down next to Casey. They had been friends long enough that he was used to her presence. It was like they were brother and sister.

"Hey Dan," Casey whispered so Mrs. Banks wouldn't hear. "Wanna skip english with me and go to the band room? I've been working on something-"

"Ms. Cline!" Mrs. Banks shouted.

Casey looked up at her. This wouldn't be good.

"I have had just about enough of your disruptions! Go to the principal's office right now!"

Casey smiled and stood up. "Sure thing." She had to admit, it was a blessing to get out of that class.

She wandered the halls after leaving the room, not really planning on going to see the principal. Instead she hoped to find an empty room somewhere to practice in.

The perfect room turned out to be an old maintenance garage on the opposite end of the school. It was only used for storage now, new garages were built further away from the main building.

Casey latched the door and walked to the center of the garage with her violin. She wished she had an amp for her bass though, she much prefered the bass over the violin. Casey played nevertheless. She had been working for a long time on this piece and she finally had it down.

A low thud broke through her playing. Casey frowned and looked behind her. "What was that?" She knew there couldn't be anything there, no one but her ever really came into this place.

Another sound came from the other side of her. "Hello?" she asked the empty garage. "Is anyone there?"

Casey started to feel strange, like someone was watching her. She put her violin back in its case and nearly ran in the direction of the door.

A crash came from behind her followed by frantic footsteps. Casey screamed and ran faster towards the door.

Her hand clamped down on the cool metal of the door handle. You're home free, Casey.

Before she could open the door, though, she was grabbed by the back of her shirt and pulled backwards. Her violin case fell to the floor, opening and throwing the violin onto the garage floor.

"My violin!" she shouted. Her mother would kill her if it broke.

Whatever had grabbed her put a strip of cloth over her eyes and Casey grimaced as it was tightened behind her head.

"Let me g-"

Her captor clamped his hand over her mouth and pushed her down. Casey's head collided with the hard cement floor. Her senses faltered and everything became a quiet, peaceful, black.

----------

The first thing Casey noticed was a throbbing sensation in her head. She groaned and tried to move, but she was stuck.

"Where the hell am I?" she asked.

There was no answer. Nothing responded except the cloth over her eyes, which promtply fell lose and landed in her lap.

From what Casey could see, she was in an decrepit office of some sort. A desk was pushed against a wall, and there was a half destroyed bookcase lying on the floor. She noticed that she was bound to some sort of chair as well.

Whoever that man had been, he had brought her here and Casey doubted he had good intentions. He was no where in sight for now, though. Casey was alone, tied to a chair, in some strange office.

*let the fun begin*

Lydia

Slightly red in the face, Lydia entered the classroom. She kept her eyes on the floor as she headed to a desk. Glancing over her shoulder, Lydia noticed a girl named Casey invite this guy, Flea, to sit with her.

"Hey Dan," she heard the girl whisper. "Wanna skip English with me and go to the band room? I've been working on something-"

"Ms. Cline!" Banks shouted angrily.

But the rest she tuned out. Drowned in her own embarrassment, Lydia put her chin on an upraised hand. And no one might have even noticed her, she was thankful for that.

Soon the young girl's green eyes snapped back to Mrs. Banks, when Casey slammed the classroom door. Now where's she going? Lydia mused, turning around to glance at Dan who only met her gaze for an instant. His eyes were so blue she almost didn't want to leave them behind that blond mop, you call hair. With her back to Flea, she smirked at her thinking about him. He probably wanted nothing to do with her, and maybe it was for the best. At Least she thought so.

Lydia spent the rest of physics buried in studies, only to be interrupted once by her stupid pencil, who seemed to be rather attracted to the floor. Not bothering to look around, she scooped it up and brushed a strand of black hair behind her ear.

"Class dismissed," Mrs. Banks frowned with an air of disgust. "Oh, and Ms. Jayne, I'd like you to take this to your parents. Have them sign it, then bring it back to me."

"Sure," Lydia replied, snatching the slip from her teacher's grasp and marching out the door.

Once in the hallway, she felt her phone begin to buzz.

From: Sarah

Plz meet me at the N exit

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The north entrance held a tomb-like vacancy that made Lydia uneasy. Her and Sarah chose that meeting spot for that very reason. But unlike every other occasion, Sarah wasn't in sight.

"Late," she mumbled under her breath.

Feeling a little lonely, Lydia leaned against the wall and shrank to the floor. She was almost dozing, when an odd noise met her ears. It sounded like the opening of an unused door. Presently, she jumped to her feet and looked around. Lydia could feel a knot welling up in her throat as she began to walk back towards her class.

Clip clap, Clip clap

Someone was behind her. For a moment, she thought it might be Sarah. Yet before Lydia could find out, an overpowering pain shot through her skull and shook her entire body. Her knees buckled, allowing her body to collapse to the floor in utter darkness.




~~~~

Griff-

Griff exhaled and looked up. Some kid was standing frozen a few feet away from him. The kid looked scared. Griff looked at him but the kid just stood there.

"Hey?" Griff said, "you got a problem or something?" The kid just kept standing completely still.

Griff took a few steps forward, flicking the cigarette on the ground. He looked down at the kid who's eyes were growing larger.

"I said do you have a problem?" Griff's tone was annoyed, he didn't need to deal with some freak staring at him. The kid made one movement, he lifted a shaky hand up and pointed, his eyes the size of saucers. "What the hell?"

Then Griff felt a sharp blow to his lower back. The blow knocked the wind right out of him and Griff fell to his knees. The next blow came to his shoulder and he felt something pop out of place. The final blow hit his head and the last thing Griff saw was the doe eyed kid standing motionless. Why didn't he run for help?

--------------------------------------------------------------

Griff woke up to the sight of a pair of feet tied to the legs of a chair. He looked up at the face of a scared girl. All of his weight was leaning on the shoulder that he was almost certain had popped out of place earlier. He couldn't see much else because he was on the floor but the room felt small and dark.

"I thought you were dead or something," the girl said lamely attempting to struggle against the ropes, "the other's aren't awake either yet but after that stuff he injected in you I thought maybe...I don't know."

"Injected?" Griff pulled himself up into a sitting postion and got dizzy from the movement. His wrists and ankles had been duct taped pretty good.

"Yeah, when he brought you in you were putting up a fight and then he pulled out this big needle and then stabbed you right in the neck," she said.

"Tranquilizer then probably. I don't remember it though. I just remember being at school." Griff tried to twist around but the pain in his shoulder prevented him, he grimaced. "did you get a good look at the guy?"

She shook her head, "not really."

"How many others are there?"

"A couple others, what's going on here?" her tone was shaky and scared.

"Nothing good."

*Dahlia*

I had been working on the costumes for Mr. Bales, sewing and making alterations for whoever needed it, so naturally I spent a lot of time in the costume shop. I was in there altering a green dress when I started to feel eyes on me.

I looked around, the hair on the back of my neck standing up. I got these feelings whenever something bad was going to happen. All of my senses were on red alert. Even so, I didn't hear someone come up behind me. I heard a whoosh of something coming towards me, and had just enough time to duck before the person was able to hit me.

I fell back against the hat rack and felt the pain of the hooks in my back as I saw the figure turn back to me quickly and swing again. I crouched and jumped, going for my attacker's legs. I knocked the person down, and we rolled for a few seconds, trying to gain control over one another. Eventually, my attacker pinned me down. He put his forearm to my throat and pushed, cutting off my air supply. I struggled all that I could, but I couldn't scream. My efforts started to slow, my body becoming heavy.

So, this is what it feels like to die... I thought as my vision started to cloud and darken. I was out cold in thirty seconds flat.

---------------------------------------------------

I woke up with my cheek pressed to a cold concrete floor. The air around me was cold too.

I felt eyes on me again and I opened my eyes to see the boy from theater class and another girl who looked familiar, but I couldn't make her name come to mind.

They breathed a sigh of relief when I looked at them.

"Oh my gosh, you're okay!" the girl exclaimed. "We were almost certain you weren't going to wake up. Your breathing was really shallow. We thought you were going to die." She sounded like she wanted to cry.

I opened my mouth to speak, to ask her were we were, to say that I was okay, to ask her if she was okay, but my throat was raw. I coughed, but my throat burned. I looked for some water, and found a bottle next to me, but when I reached for it, I found that my hands were tied, but I could still open it.

I was about to take a sip when the boy said, "I don't think it would be smart to drink that." When I looked at him questioningly, he said, "He left that for you."

I shrugged and took a sip. It burned a little, but I was at least able to talk. "He already has me where he wants me. Why would he poison me?" My voice was hoarse.

The boy and girl looked at each other, and then looked back at me. "So, you're Dahlia right? Like the black Dahlia murder?"

I winced. "Yep, that's me."

"I'm Lydia." she said. "And that's Griff."

I nodded to him, and then laid my head back on the floor. They were talking quietly among themselves, so I let my mind drift, hoping that it would take me away from this place.

Casey

Soon enough other kids Casey recognized from school were put in the room too. The man kept his face covered each time he brought someone in. Casey did her best to pretend she hadn't woken up yet everytime he came in.

Finally, some of the others started waking up. A few asked questions, some panicked, and Dahlia looked like she just wanted to die.

"So, anyone know why we're here?" Casey asked. Certainly someone knew something.

Alasdair

Black. Everything was black. All he could hear was the slight sound of dripping, the sound of rain, the sound of his childhood. Flashes of long ago memories went through his mind, of little childhood fancies, of walking in the rain with his father, of sitting in a hospital bed staring out the window watching the cars whisping by through puddles, and of a small glowing television in his dark room in which he would always go and hide.

Pain. The back of his head killed, blistering pain seeping from his head through the rest of his body.

Fear.

He could hear voices now, hushed and panicked. He knew he could open his eyes and wake from this deathly slumber. He knew he would be able to see the rest of the people, and know that there was other people with him.

But they were people, and it only just added to his growing fear.

"So, anyone know why we are here?" Her voice crept through the block of his mind and his eyes flitted open. He shipfted into a sitting position and stared at the rest of them with groggy eyes, there faces kept on going in and out of focus. But one thing was for sure. They were all scared as he was,and confused.

"I-I-I..." Alasdair felt his voice becoming louder. "Who are you people?"

--------------------

~Incognito

Kricket

After class, my phone instantly rang. Checking the ID, I saw that it was anonymous.

"Hello?" I asked, slightly confuzzled.

"Hi, is this Kricket?" a male voice asked.

"Yes."

"There's a Leadership meeting this hour outside behind the school. It's an emergency."

"Okay. I'll be there then," I stammered. I heard a click from the other end and hung up my phone. It was a little wierd that the meeting would be outside when it was cold and windy, but I didn't want to get in trouble so I left anyways.

I stepped outside, pulling my hood over my head to shield it from the fierce winds. "Hello?" I called loudly. I looked around, but I couldn't see anyone. "Where are you guys?"

Suddenly, a blind fold was tied across my eyes and as I opened my mouth to scream, a gag shoved between my teeth. I felt strong arms grab my hands and I began to violently struggle. At one point, I thought I had gotten free, but then I felt a fist collide with my temple, sending me sprawling, dazed and surprised. I felt the person tie my hands behind my back just before I blacked out.


When I woke up, I was surprised to see that I was in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. I picked myself up off the cold ground and closed my eyes, wishing that this mightmare would end. I opened my eyes, and saw that it was real. I began to cry, shivering in the cold air.

"Are you okay?" I heard someone ask. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder, and I turned to see the boy from drama.

In spite of how nervous and confused I was I blushed. I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah, I think."

Flea-

"Uh, Ms. Banks? I have to go to the toilet," Flea said. It might have just been her losing track of time, but Casey wasn't normally this long. Of course, there was the principal's office, but, from experience, he knew that those never took long either.

As she nodded, rolling her eyes, he sprinted out, running down the hallway. He knew that band practice normally took place in empty rooms, such as-

"Hello? Casey? Where are you?" he called. There was nothing, not a sound. That was when he saw it. The violin, cast off aside, as if it had been dropped. One thing he was sure about with Casey was that she would never drop her musical instruments. Ever.

He looked around. The shadows seemed somewhat darker, the room closing in on me. He backed away, trying to get nearer to the door. He had to tell Ms. Banks- No, that would put Casey in trouble. He shook his head. He had no idea what to do.

That was when the door creaked open. Flea turned around.

"Hey-" he got as far as he could. It's hard to speak when you've been clubbed by a flashlight, injected with God-knows-what.

---------------------------
Whoo! I think we're all there.

Griff-

Griff scooted towards the girl with the water, "Hey pour some of that on my hands."

She looked at him with an odd expression on her face for a long moments then shrugged and poured the water on his hands. He had already been pulling against the duct tape making it loose and when the water was added his hands got slippery and he managed to wriggle out of the binds. He went to work on his feet next trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder.

A girl sat up and started crying in a corner. He walked towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned and he saw it was the girl from his drama class. The beautiful girl who had come in late.

"Are you okay?" it was kind of a stupid question.

"Uh, yeah, I think," she answered and Griff helped her out of the binds. There were more people in the room than he orignially thought.

"Help me untie everyone else," he instructed, helping the girl to her feet, "if he comes back we need to be ready."

"What's wrong with your arm?" She asked. Griff looked down, he hadn't even noticed he was cradling his forearm, it lessened the pain.

"Dislocated it, someone will have to help me pop it back in," he answered. There was a sickening indent in his shoulder where it should have been smooth.

They started untying the others. Everyone stood and rubbed at their raw wrists.

"Anybody wanna give me a hand, It'll just take a second," Griff said. No one seemed eager to step forward.

Casey

Finally being free of the chair was a relief. Casey stretched and took inventory of herself. Nothing seemed broken, just bruised. The most bothersome thing was that her violin and bass had been left behind.

"I'll help you," she told Griff. "But you'll have to tell me what to do."

After a few minutes that seemed rather painful for Griff, his arm was back in place. "Thanks," he said.

Casey was about to ask the group again if anyone knew anything about what was going on when a loud voice boomed through the room and whatever sort of area was outside.

"Hello," a male voice said. The sound crackled and went out. Casey looked around the room until she pinpointed the source: an ancient intercom system. So that was one clue to where they were, somewhere that required an intercom system. Somewhere big enough for an intercom system.

"I extend a hearty welcome to each and every one of you," the voice continued. "I have brought all of you here for a reason. We're going to be playing a little game for the next two weeks." The voice stopped and everyone exchanged questioning glances.

"What sort of game do you think he means?" Lydia asked.

Crackling filled the air as the intercom was turned back on. The man cleared his throat. "Anyways, you will find all you need around my little arena here. I'll surely be in contact with each of you sooner or later. Have fun, and remember only the most intelligent little bunny can outsmart the Fox."

The intercom went dead. No one in the room said anything for a few minutes. They all just stood frozen to their spots staring at the silent intercom speaker.

Lydia

After everyone was untied, and Griff's arm was relocated, a seemingly broken intercom speaker began to hiss. It's voice filled the entire room with a booming tone.

"Hello," the male speaker greeted them. "I extend a hearty welcome to each and every one of you. I have brought all of you here for a reason. We're going to be playing a little game for the next two weeks."

"What sort of game do you think he means?" Lydia heard her voice break the silence, feeling a little foolish after she had said it. Of course everyone was thinking the exact same thing. Plus, which one of them could possibly have the answer?

Momentarily, the light on the speaker flickered back on. "Anyways, you will find all you need around my little arena here. I'll surely be in contact with each of you sooner or later. Have fun, and remember only the most intelligent little bunny can outsmart the Fox."

Silence followed for a little while, and Lydia wasn't feeling very well. If you've ever been in some sort of fatal accident, or hit with suicide-provoking news, you must very well know the dream-like experience one feels during that time. Her gaze became slightly contorted and her head feeling rather light. Lydia turned to her acquaintances, now seeing them as potential opponents.

"What are we going to do?" Kricket sounded on the verge of tears. Griff, who was now in great pain from the relocation of his arm, still tried to comfort her.

Lydia found herself almost jealous of Kricket. The shaken girl had big, strong Griffin to console her. It wasn't that Lydia had a strong attraction to him, but just an overall need for someone to be there for her. I mean, even Lydia would admit that this situation they all were in was about to get much worse.

"I say we look for a way out," Flea suggested, looking over to Casey for support.

*Dahlia*

"I say we look for a way out."

I looked at the girl who spoke. "I second that motion."

Everyone looked at me. It was obvious that pretty much no one knew who I was and even though I had already known this, it still hurt. I looked away from everyone's eyes. We were silent until Griff spoke. "We do need to find a way out." he said. It was obvious how much pain he was in by the way he spoke, like it was difficult.

"Where do you think we should look? I mean, it doesn't look like we have many options here." The girl, Casey, made a good point. We all thought for a moment when my lightbulb went off. "What if there's a trap door?"

Kricket

The boy, Griff, patted my arm with his good hand.

"We do need to find a way out," he nodded.

"Where do you think we should look? I mean, it doesn't look like we have many options here," the girl named Casey pointed out.

"What if there's a trap door?" Dahlia asked.

"It's worth a shot," I shrugged. After searching the concrete floor for several minutes, we began to realize our efforts were simply futile.

Griff slumped against one of the walls, wincing slightly as he did. "C'mon guys think," he urged. "There's got to be some way out."

"I have a cell phone," I blurted.

"We could call for help!" Flea exclaimed excitedly. I quickly dug into my pocket, only to pull out a cell phone completely different from mine.

"Huh?" I said, confused. "This isn't mine!"

"Who cares! Just try to call 911!" Casey said.

I dialed quickly, but when I pressed the phone to my ear, it beeped angrily.

"It's busy," I replied, even more confused. "How can the emergency line be busy, though?"

Just then, it rang. "H-Hello?" I asked timidly.

"Nice try Kricket, but this phone is only meant to recieve calls from me." I gasped at the sound of the Fox's voice.

"Who is it? Put it on speaker," Griff told me. I pressed the button and the Fox's voice filled the air.

"I really must applaude you all for such a noble effort," he laughed. "But, unfortunately, that is not how this game is played. Keep trying, though. You will recieve another call from me in an hour with hints on how to survive." With that, the line went dead with a click.

Casey

"Good God this man is trying to kill us!" Casey shouted after the line went dead. "He's insane, and going to kill us all!"

Griff shook his head. "Shut up, no one's getting killed."

Casey took a deep breath and turned around. She felt stupid for losing it like that, but she felt she had the right given the situation.

"Maybe someone could bust down that door?" Dan suggested. "I mean, it looks kind of solid and is probably locked but did anyone try?"

Kricket walked slowly to the door and turned the knob. The door stayed shut. She sighed and turned back around. "So much for that."

"Is anyone strong enough to break it down?" Casey asked. "I mean, Griff certainly can't do anything with the pain he's already in."

No one volunteered to even try to break down the door. Casey groaned and fell to the floor. Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

"What?" she asked. "I think best when I'm horizontal."

Something suddenly jumped out at her. In the corner of the room, near the ceiling, was a large metal grate. Air ducts.

"Aha!" she shouted and pointed towards the grate.

Alasdair

He watched the people searching for a way out, scrambling, panicking. The haunting voice of the so called Fox lingered in his mind, making it harder and harder for him to think. This monster, this person had gathered all these people, trapped them in a room to play some sort of sick game. And Alasdair was good at games. He knew he should speak up, and talk to them, but he just stayed their in the dark corner watching, knowing that at any moment an anxiety attack may hit.

But it wasn't until he watched the one girl start unscrewing the metal grate, the ony way out except the locked door. The only way out that was obvious and available to them. And Alasdair watched, scared knowing that in video games, the first way usually led to a trap.

"Don't go into the grate," Alasdair said, surprising himself when she finally pulled off the grate. "It seems to be the only way out, and he probably knows that is the only way out. He wants us to go through the grate. He wants us to play his game!"

Alasdair had gotten to his feet now, and ambled closer to the other people in the centre of the room.

-------------------

~Incognito