Mikey's POV

It took awhile but we had reached the area where we had seemingly lost Kiara and Clara.

"Well, what now?", Amy asked. "It's nearly pitch black out here, I don't think we're just going to randomly stumble upon them."

"Kane suggested that we use google earth to look at our surroundings once we got here, thank god there's a signal.", I replied unlocking my phone.

"There!", Eli pointed over my shoulder.

I looked to see the house I had told them about earlier. It wasn't too far, though it did look like we had to go through a deeper part of the woods.

"Alright, I'll tell Kane that we're heading towards that area.", I said.

Keeping my eyes on my phone to make sure we didn't stray too far off the path, I almost didn't notice that Eli had fallen way behind. I slowed my walk until I was right next to him. I was about to ask him what was wrong but he spoke first.

"I'm just upset with Kane, I know he's not as reckless as I am and I know he's much more reasonable and actually thinks before he does something but he was just going to ditch Clara and Kiara just like that."

"Well I don't think he would do that. I mean what we're doing is dangerous and could get us into a lot of trouble. His reluctance is understandable."

"I'm just worried, I mean we're all such close friends. We've made sacrifices for each other and we've stuck through together when things got tough. But Kane, this isn't the first time he has ducked out to save his own skin. I'm just worried that one day he'll just abandon us when we need him."

"Come on Eli, you're overthinking it. Kane is definitely cautious at times but I don't think he would strait up abandon us. He-"

"But Michael he could. I know no one says anything but just look at how many times he's ducked out on us. Hell, he's even thrown us under the bus at times when it benefits him. I just- I'm just getting tired of him doing it. We're all supposed to be friends, but sometimes he acts like we're just there for his own benefit. Yet, we keep forgiving him. I'm just getting fed up with it."

I was stunned, Eli usually didn't share stuff like this. He rarely ever talked about anything that was super serious especially anything regarding his own feelings. I was actually unsure I had ever seen him this upset. I turned my head away, not sure how to respond to his outburst.

"We'll talk about this later, let's just focus on finding our friends."

I sped up to where Amy was. She turned to me and asked what was going on. I stayed silent. And just gave her a look telling her I wasn't willing to talk about it at the moment. For the rest of our walk, it was silent.

Eli's POV

I knew we needed to to focus on Kiara and Clara, but my thoughts were consumed by Kane. He had ducked out on us like this before. I would usually let it go and move on but something snapped this time. I just couldn't get over his choice. Once again he was ducking out on us. Kiara and Clara were our friends and he didn't even seem the least bit motivated to help find them. Michael may think I'm overthinking things but I had known Kane the longest. I knew what he was like.

I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn't notice the other two had stopped dead in their tracks. I crashed into the back of Amy. I was about to ask what was going on but then I looked up. I knew why they had stopped so suddenly, the sight was horrific. A girl was hanging by her neck right above the door to the cabin. However, it was apparent that her death had been more brutal than a hanging. One of her eyes was gouged out, her throat had been stabbed, what looked like gunshots had hit her kneecaps, and something had been carved into her stomach region. All three of us stared in horror at the hanging body. There was dried blood all over her body.

Amy took a few steps forward before she suddenly gasped and fell to her knees. Michael and I ran to her.

"What is it?!", Michael asked in a panicked voice.

Amy shook her head, unable to form any words. I looked up towards the body. My eyes grew even wider as tears started to form in my eyes.

The hanging girl was Clara.

Kiara's POV

I had woken up not too long ago. I guess I had passed out after well....

I was still shaken up. For a few minutes I just sat in bed crying. Simon just sat by me and rubbed a hand on my back saying nothing. As much as I wanted to slap his hand away and run I couldn't. I was too terrified and all the emotions swirling inside me made me helpless to do anything but sit there and cry. After awhile he got up and said he was going to hang up some decorations outside. I didn't want to know what exactly he meant by that so I didn't respond, though I still had a good or more of bad idea of what he meant.

As soon as the door closed I tried to compose myself. I wiped away my tears and slowed my breathing. I needed to stay strong. I couldn't let myself just sit there and cry and give myself to that bastard so easily. I wanted to be strong but I didn't have much confidence in myself. As tough as I tried to act and as much as I tried to bottle up my emotions, they always got out. I couldn't even have an argument with my parents without crying. God, what I would give to have a plushie to hug right now.

No, now wasn't the time for that. I needed to take this opportunity to do something. Simon wasn't watching me like a hawk and his family wasn't here to do the same. This could be a rare moment of opportunity I may never get.

I slowly opened to door to the bedroom. Cautiously I stepped outside. I looked around to see a small hallway with a few doors and some stairs leading down. I quickly tiptoed over to wear the stairs were. Looking over the railing I let out a small sigh seeing as nobody was down there. All of a sudden my hopes jumped way up. I could see the front door from here! Maybe I could- nope. Just as I was about to book it down the stairs I saw him through the window doing something. I quickly turned the corner, damn it. I stood there for a few seconds hiding before looking back. Luckily it seemed he had moved. I booked it down the stairs but rather than run for the front door I made a bee line for the kitchen. Maybe this place had a back door?

I entered the kitchen, damn it no door. However something else caught my eye. It was some of those needles that Simon had used on me. If I could just swipe one and wait until he had his back turned I could escape. But I needed to do it fast. Getting a hit on him would be hard enough with his strength, speed, and weird ability to always know what was about to happen, but if I couldn't get it before the rest of his family came back I was screwed. I started making my way to grab one of the needles when

"Kitten?"

'Crap'

Author's POV

Kiara stopped dead in her tracks, not even daring to turn her head to see who it was.

"What are you doing down here?"

She was frozen solid, her mouth sealed shut. When she didn't respond Simon started to move towards her. A rush of adrenaline suddenly hit her and she quickly turned around to have most of her vision obscured by his black hoodie. A hand firmly but gently grabbed her chin and forced her eyes to meet his.

"Tell me, what are you doing down here?" , he asked once more.

At this point Kiara was nearly shaking. Her eyes looked liked the wide eyes of a terrified small animal forced to look into his eyes, which resembled a predator's laying in wait to sink their teeth into their prey. One wrong move could set him off. Who knows what would happen to her then.

"I-I was just hun-hungry", the girl stuttered out.

His golden eyes seemed to relax a bit as he released her chin. She quickly broke eye contact and directed her gaze to the floor. However, she could still feel his eyes in her. Like they were trying to set her ablaze with a single stare.

"Is that all?", he mused. "We don't have too many options so how does ramen sound?"

She nodded, not wanting to have to stutter anything else out.

He turned to walk past her. Her head moved up just enough to allow her eyes to follow him. A piece of her shattered when she saw him gather up the needles and place them into a box with a lock on it and then place it into the fridge. She let out a small noise and frustration and devastation before quickly covering her mouth. She looked back to where he was to see if he had noticed. She saw nothing. Where had he gone. With fear momentarily replaced with confusion he took his chance. Wrapping his arms around her he chuckled when he heard that cute little squeal of hers.

"You know, there are better ways to make me fall asleep than using drugs."

A/N:

Damn, another fairly long chapter. Anyways if you're still reading a big thanks and congratulations for making it here. I never expected this to make it too 100 views (I know that's not a lot), but I'm glad we're getting somewhere (probably). I'm also pretty surprised I made it to chapter 7. Didn't think I would write this far before dumping it. Anyways I decided I won't drop the family. Idk how much of a part they will play but they'll exist at least. Also idk if I'll get another chapter soon but later tonight or tomorrow I'll post an extra thing. It's not a chapter and it's not an authors note. It's just a sfw alphabet thing for Simon I made awhile ago. Maybe this can help you get a better idea on his character plus I just thought it was kinda interesting.