Chapter 44-3

He waves a hand, "I got it. You should give them a hand." Chase walks by, dropping six or seven sticks. I gather them up into my arms. "I'll pick up the ones people drop so we don't have to come back for a second trip." Coach Foster raises an eyebrow, eyes momentarily flickering over my form. It's a good thing I wore baggy clothing. "You guys should drop that off and come back for one more round if you want a healthy fire for the rest of the night. I'm about to sleep and don't want to be disturbed for more wood later on." "Not a problem!" Kayla says cheerfully. Felicity hands a part of her pile to me. "We'll be right back." As we make our way back to Kayla's house, another chill ripples down my spine. This time it comes from the trees around us. Even though there are a few, the surrounding bushes are dense enough to successfully hide whatever is in there. Something moves from one tree to the other and I can hear low growls. The weight of a gaze pulls on my shoulders and I frantically look around and over my shoulder. There could be a coyote or raccoon. Felicity and I are at the very back of the group. I shouldn't have gone to so many haunted houses this year. Everyone knows it's always the ones on the end that get picked off first. Everyone else is so far ahead. "Are you getting the feeling that we're being watched?" I ask. Felicity looks over at me and frowns, stopping in the middle of the trail. At least keep walking before something bad happens! "Not really. I mean aside from Coach Foster watching us like a creep..." I shake my head. "No, I mean...I think something's watching us from behind the trees." My stomach does a knot in fear. I can feel the quickening pace of my heart rate. A violent rustle crashes from behind us and I whirl around. Something darts across the trees and rushes toward us with a loud snarl. I drop the sticks and grab Felicity, making a run for it. "I think it's a rabid squirrel!" A dark figure leaps from behind a tree right onto me. It grabs a hold of my arms from the back, sending me tumbling to the ground. "Rawwr!" I scream, blindly kicking and punching as much as I can. "Get away! Get away! Run and get help Felicity!" "Ouch! Ember!" Someone grabs my arms and legs and pins them down. I open my eyes and stare up at Hayden's grinning face. His hair is covered in twigs and the remains of leaves and shadows playing across his face from the moonlight to make him look like a werewolf. He grins from ear to ear. Felicity is beside him, doubled over in laughter. Gianna, Gabby, and Paris step out from behind trees of their own. They're all laughing. "You asshole!" I screech. Hayden laughs, "Admit it! I did good!" I struggle under his grip and kick my legs. "I hate you." He leans down and kisses me before grabbing a hold of my arm and pulling me to my feet with one swift tug. "No you don't." I cross my arms over my chest and try to recover from my mini heart attack. The sudden adrenaline rush makes me shake and I swat at him again. "No, I do. I hate you so much." Hayden laughs an circles his arms around my waist, lifting me off of my feet and spinning. "Hayden!" He stops and kisses me again. "Ember!" "What the hell is going on?!" Chase demands, sprinting in our direction. He's out of breath and on full alert. He stops and looks at Hayden. "Fuck man, don't scare us like that. I thought someone was getting fucking murdered out here." "Not a chance," Hayden replies. "It was just a harmless prank." I nudge him in the ribs, "Maybe for you." "Oh don't be such a baby," he teases. I stick my tongue out, "Bite me." "Gladly." I roll my eyes and wiggle my eyebrows at him. Hayden's grin only widens. Chase takes in a few deep breathes, "Okay. As long as that's settled," he pauses and look around. "Have you guys seen Kayla? She wasn't with us." "What do you mean?" I ask, "I saw her with you. I swear."  The look on his face has my heart kicking into overdrive once more. My eyes widen. If she isn't with us and she wasn't with them - Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. "She's still at the barn," I breathe. "Fuck." Pulling out of Hayden's grasp, I turn around and make a run for the barn without saying another word. This was the bad feeling! He was it. Why didn't I pay closer attention to him?  The door of Coach Foster's house is still open and the light is still on. The barn door sits slightly open. Anger and panic mix in my veins. Just as I throw open the door, a blood curdling scream splits my ears and a hand reaches from the dark room, pulling me forward and tossing me onto the ground. The air stops flowing into my lungs from how hard I hit the wood. Disoriented, I turn onto my back, eyes unable to adjust to the lack of light. Sobs and whimpers come from across from me and Kayla lets out another harsh scream. "No! Stop!" Oh my God. Vomit rises in my throat and I scramble to sit up right, hand shooting out for the nearest weapon. Everything is pushed away and I'm sitting on empty floor. He planned for this. "Shhh," the Coach coos. My heart constricts but the fear keeps me from moving to help her. Wherever she is. The lights are off and I can't see anything. The impact of being thrown to the ground makes everything fuzzy and hard to focus on. "You sick asshole, poor excuse of a man! How could you?! Leave her alone!" I shout, crawling across the floor. Where are the others?! Where is Hayden?  I swear they were right behind me! Though I can't see him, I can sense that Coach Foster is close. The air shifts around me. "She wants. She's been hinting at it for such a long time." I spit the bile from my throat. "Don't! Even try to - you're disgusting. Nobody wants it! Stop it! Stop!" "I might be disgusting," he says calmly. "But when I'm done, you're next." ________________________________________________