The Fox

Griff-

"What do you mean they don't work?" Griff asked, watching Kricket cautiously.

"I think it is a trick," Alastair said.

Griff pulled his mask off and tossed it to the side. Kricket was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, "This isn't from the gas is it? We would all be like this then?"

"N-no I'm f-fine," she said, trying to stand up but failing.

"We should keep moving, maybe this leads out into open air," Griff said. He picked Kricket up. It just came as a natural reaction, something he didn't even think twice about.

He moved to the front of the group and set the pace a little fast. They needed to get moving. After a few twists and turns they came to a fork in the tunnel.

"Which way?" Casey asked.

"Should we split up?" Another voice came.

*maybe if they split it can get moving along better, and get more interesting.*

Casey

Splitting up. It didn't sound like a great idea, but they didn't have a whole lot going for them at this point.

"Alright," Casey said. "Griff, Kricket, and Lydia. You guys go that way." She pointed down the right pathway. "Dahlia, Alsadair, Flea, and myself will take the left."

"But what if we can't find each other later?" Lydia asked. "Besides, only one group can keep the cell phone. Half of us won't know what this Fox guy is up to."

Casey shrugged. "You guys have the phone, we'll just have to be okay on our own."

The rest of the group set to go with Casey didn't look too sure about being away from the cell phone. Casey wasn't so sure either. If they missed something important, it could mean death for them.

"If anyone wants to go with the phone, you can," Casey told her group. She turned back to the others. "If something bad is going to happen, try to find us please."

Lydia

She really wasn't liking the idea of splitting up. But at least she was with Griff and the phone. Much safer than the other group.

"I want to go with the phone," Dahila concluded shakily. Her voice seemed strained.

"That's fine," Casey said. "Any one else?"

Since no one made a protest, Griff headed to the right tunnel with the other girls close behind. Flea and Alasdiar followed Casey to the left. Lydia realized that they might be doing just what the Fox wanted of them, and that she might not ever see Flea, Casey and Alasdair again. Her mask was bugging her on top of it which didn't help the situation.

They walked on for a while, none bothering to take a stab at conversation. Lydia assumed that it was nearly ten minutes before the phone rang again...

Kricket

I stopped trying to force myself to walk and instead focused on staying concious.

"Stay with us Kricket, we're almost there," Lydia encouraged. I nodded, closing my eyes and burying my face in Griff's shoulder.

"Where are we?" Dahlia whispered. I opened my eyes and saw a big room that was nearly empty accept for a bookshelf full of scattered items and an overstuffed armchair beside a small desk.

"It looks like an office," Griff whispered.

The phone beeped and twittered loudly. Griff answered it and put it on speaker.

"I see you have all decided to split up," the Fox chuckled. "This may just cost you dearly. You four are safe, in my old office room. However, how can you be sure that the others are safe?"

"You're insane," Dahlia snarled.

"True, yes, but insanely brilliant as well. So, my Rabbits, do you sacrifice your safety for the others, or do you stay here and live?" he asked, cackling loudly before hanging up.

*Dahlia*

I looked at the others, asking them with my eyes what to do. They were all as torn as I was. I debated for a moment before answering. "I don't know any of you. I don't know what kind of lives you lead, but I know how I live, and I have nothing to live for. If I'm going to die, I refuse to let others die because I was too much of a wuss to help them. I may be many things, but coward isn't one of them."

I went to the book shelf and found the thickest book I could find. I picked it up and went to the door. I looked back at the others. "If anyone wants to help me, thanks, but if you aren't, at least search for something to help out those who do survive."

I opened the door and walked out, leaving the rest to decide their fate. I didn't want my fate decided for me. I was going to decide for myself. Maybe if I was lucky, I would survive, and help a couple of others survive along the way.

Casey

The three in Casey's group emerged from the tunnel into a large, dimly lit, storage-like room. Rows and stacks of boxes filled the space, creating sorts of "hallways" in the room.

"I wonder where the others ended up," Flea said.

Casey shrugged. "Who knows. Let's just try to find something that could help us out."

Flea and Casey started out into the room, but Alasdair didn't budge.

"Come on," Casey told him. "Just standing around could be more deadly than moving on."

Alasdair shook his head. "It has to be a trap," he said. "A group should never split up, it's always a trap. Maybe one half of the group ends up okay, but I can garuntee you it's never the one that finds itself in a near-dark room full of boxes of who-knows-what."

A loud thud shattered the near-silence in the room after Alasdair finished talking. Flea made his way back to the group, standing near Casey's shoulder.

"Dan, you didn't knock something over did you?" Casey asked him.

Flea shook his head.

"What do you think it-" Casey started.

A low growling came from somewhere in another part of the room. Something else was in the room, something alive.

"I don't suppose the Fox is a real fox, do you?" Flea asked.

"No, Dan, I don't think so," Casey said.

Alasdair remained silent for most of this, but suddenly his arm shot up into Casey's line of vision and he pointed at something. "M-m-mountain lion," he said.

Sure enough, ambling out of one of the hallways formed by the stacks of crates and boxes was a full-grown, muscled, mountain lion.

Lydia

"Dahila's right," she reached for an odd shaped piece of wood jutting out of the wall, "Griff, maybe you should stay here with Kricket or something."

And before He could reply, Lydia was down the hall.

As she grew closer to the fork, she could feel her courage begin to teeter slightly. Not now, she told herself. They need you.

Lydia cautiously entered the darkened room with cooling bravery.

"Dahila!" she cried. "Casey?!... Flea?... Anyone?"

Silence stilled the room. Beads of sweat began to gather on Lydia's forehead. She was too scared to move. She almost shouted again when a low growling pricked her ears. It sliced through the air once more. Lydia raised the wood above her head menacingly in pure fear. Her first thought was it might be some sort of recording, you know, just to frighten them. But she couldn't mistake the animal's sleek coat, illuminated by a musty light allowed in by an open shaft.

"Dear God," Lydia half prayed, half cried, "I don't want to die."

The beast lowered itself in a position to pounce. Wildly, the girl swung her wooden club against the hallow air. "Back!" she screamed. "Stay back!"

Lydia was sure she was going to pass out. She closed her eyes, awaiting her doom. Then it happened. Lydia was tackled to the cold, hard ground. She yelped and waited for the beast's hungry teeth to rip into her flesh. But nothing happened. Lydia opened her eyes to see Flea's scared face panting and looking behind him. Dan saw her looking at him and leaped to his feet, helping her up. Both of them seemed a little disoriented, but he grabbed her wrist and drug her behind a mountain of boxes.

"Are you insane?" He whispered loud enough for her to hear. "You were just standing there, practically begging him to eat you!"

"I-I'm sorry," Lydia sputtered.

Flea put a finger to his lips, signaling her to keep it down. They remained there for a few moments, when a wild scream clipped the darkness.

Kricket

"Okay, I guess I'll stay here-" Griffin started, but Lydia was already gone.

"Thanks," I whispered. "but I think I'm feeling a little better. We really should help them."

"No, we can't go yet," he shook his head. "You can't even stand."

"Yes I can!" I insisted. I swung my legs out and immediately fell to the ground.

"Kricket, don't-" he began, but I was already on my feet, taking a few shaky steps. He sighed. "You're going to hurt yourself if we go, even if you can walk."

"I'll be fine," I panted. "We need to help the others!"

"If you want to..." he said hesitantly.

I nodded, and headed out the door. Griff followed me closely, his hand resting on my shoulder in case I became unsteady.

When we got there, it was quiet, and I couldn't see anyone.

"Hello? Guys?" I called. I heard a snarl and I stepped back a bit.

"Are you okay?" Griff asked. No one answered.

Carefully, I stepped forward into the dark room.

"Kricket, look out!" someone screamed.

I turned to see a snarling blur running towards me, white teeth bared. I screamed as the beast crouched to pounce before blacking out.

*Dahlia*

I watched as Kricket fell to the ground in a dead faint. I had just seen the others and told them where to go.

I saw the wild cat circle Griff and Kricket and knew I had to do something. I remembered a story my grandmother told me. Apparently, my great uncle had killed a tiger with his bare hands back in India when he was only my age. What he did was he jumped on the cat's back, wrapped his arms around it's neck, and squeezed until the thing was dead. He had almost died in the process, but somehow he managed to kill it.

So, I did what I was thinking: I jumped on the mountain lion's back, wrapped my legs around it's waist and my arms around the neck, and squeezed as hard as I could.

It was surprised at first, but then it started bucking and screeching wildly. I prayed to my family to give me strength, to hold on for as long as I could.

"Griff!" I was able to manage. "Go!" I screamed. I saw him pick up Kricket and run down the hall back to the room, leaving me alone with the cat. I was still squeezing as hard as I could, and after almost three minutes of being thrashed around, the lion was starting to slow down. It flipped onto it's back, crushing me. The wind was knocked out of my lungs, but somehow I held tight. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew what I was doing wasn't normal. I knew that normal girls didn't kill mountain lions like this, but I knew that my great uncle was helping me somehow.

Finally, after almost ten minutes, the lion fell to the ground, trying to crawl away. I knew I would have to hold on longer, just to make sure it was dead. I held onto it for fifteen minutes after it stopped moving. I wasn't taking any chances with it.

I finally let go and rolled away from it, almost too exhausted to move. I laid there for I don't know how long, but as I started to fall asleep, I saw that one kid, Alasdair, loom over me, and then I lost consciousness.

Casey

The way Dahlia had taken down the mountain lion had been amazing, a bit unconventional, but nonetheless astounding. As soon as the lion stopped moving, Dahlia's body relaxed and she stopped moving.

Alasdair stood over her, and Casey ran to help. "Dahlia, Dahlia stay with us," she told her. She had to stay conscious until they could get out of there. "Someone help me move her!"

Alasdair and Flea picked her up, Alasdair carrying her feet and Flea had her under her arms.

"Come on," Griff said. "We'll get back to that office, the Fox said it was safe there."

Casey was a bit unsure, unable to fully trust some crazy man who was trying to kill them all, but it had to be safer than the room with a wild animal in it. Though she couldn't shake the feeling that something important was in that room.

"Wait," Casey said, stopping the group. "Alasdair has been pretty spot on when it comes to what move this guy's going to make next. Maybe this whole thing is his own sort of 'video game'. Don't you usually find something helpful after defeating some sort of enemy?"

She looked to Alasdair for confirmation, he nodded. "Usually," he said.

Casey looked back to the others. "So shouldn't we look around? We're going to need some sort of food sooner or later and we might as well just try our luck here."

Griff-

Griff sighed, he wasn't much of a 'video game' type of guy so he didn't really know what the hell they were talking about. But he wasn't leaving anyone this time, no more splitting up. Dahlia had taken out that mountain lion too, saved their lives. He owed her his life.

"Just hurry up, okay?" Griff still had a hold of Kricket. The others had picked up Dahlia and now they were looking around the dark room. They really needed to get back to that office. He didn't trust the Fox but the Fox probably hadn't expected them to go after the others. He just had the creeping feeling that if they didn't get back soon that office might be locked. A safe room, gone.

Kricket coughed and blinked her eyes a few times. She looked up at him with alarm, "What happened?" She asked.

"You passed out," he answered, "after you saw the mountain lion. But Daliah killed it."

She looked at him, confused. Like she thought he was messing with her.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yup," Griff answered.

"Can you put me down?" She asked.

"No," Griff said, "I think this time, you should listen to me. Besides I'm stronger." He smiled a little, peering into the darkness of the room, "Guys, let's go!"

"Oh my God!" Someone said, as they all slowly began to emerge from the darkness. None of them had anything in their hands, "Guys, you are not going to believe what I found!" Casey came into view, dragging something behind her. The black masses made odd clinking sounds as she dragged them. She looked at the rest of us, none of us really understanding what it was, "They're back packs, full of supplies! Food, water, flashlights!"

A few of the others grabbed the packs and slung them onto their backs.

"Come on!" Griff pleaded, "let's get back to that room."

Anybody? Bueller? ... Bueller? ... Anybody? ... Bueller?

Kricket

Back at the room, people began to sort the resources in even piles.

"After we've divided it up evenly, it really doesn't look like we could all survive two weeks on this," Casey pointed out.

"Maybe if we take small bites and even smaller sips," I suggested, sloshing the water in a canteen.

"Every person will have enough food and water for around 5 or 6 days," Alisdair estimated. "I think he expects some of us not to live that long."

"We'll prove him wrong then! We WILL survive this!" I cheered.

"Then we'll run out of food, the way he wants us to," Alisdair shook his head. "The only way we'll all survive is if we escape by then."

"Well then let's look for a way out of here," Griff said, jumping to his feet.

Casey

No one else seemed interested in jumping up to find a way to escape, like Griff apparently did. They were all tired, it had been a long day so far. Casey wondered what time it was, and how long it would take before the Fox had another game to play.

"Come on, guys," Griff said. "We can't just sit around wasting time like this."

"We're no good if we get worn out," Casey said. "We need to be able to handle whatever he throws at us next."

"Yeah," Flea agreed. "This place seems safe, maybe we can rest here for a while until we figure out something else to do?"

Griff crossed his arms and took a few steps towards the only door in the room. He stopped a few feet away and didn't move, he just stood there.

"They have a point, Griff. This Fox guy is mental, but smart. We're going to need a plan," Kricket said.

Alasdair
`
"But what kind of plan can we resort to? The only plan we can really make is to stick together as a group and find our way out. Unless we can find the Fox himself, I mean, if we find him then we could kill him, or tie him to something of that effect so that we can get out."

Alasdair felt himself fall to the ground and sit, examining the blank white tile which made the floor. It confused him, how something like this would happen to him. It made him think about what would have happened if he had stayed home instead of trying to brave the impossible. Maybe if he had continued walking home, rather than being too proud to face his parents, he would have been safe in his bed, playing video games and watching television.

"But guys, we can't really make a plan. What we have to do now is just try to live." Alasdair added, before slumping back against the wall behind him.

~Incognito