As my eyes open, I could feel a strange numbness throughout my body, no strange fog surrounding my body any longer. I was standing in the middle of an aisle of what seemed to be an old grocery store, the dim lights occasionally flickering overhead. I feel my hand grasped tightly around something but as I look down to see what I was holding, something blue falls over my eyes, blocking most of my vision.

Curiosity turns to confusion as I lift my free hand to move whatever blocked my view, my fingers making contact with soft locks of hair.

"What the..."

I breathed out as I looked at my arm, seeing a green hoodie sleeve that nearly went past my fingertips. I looked at my other hand and see that I was clutching a ruler broken in half, wooden splints and jagged metal poking out dangerously from the broken end.

I blink slowly as I realize this was the weapon Susie had wielded.

This was her hoodie as well.

I was dumbfounded, but before I could continue my inspection, a large

masculine figure nearly walks past the aisle, but abruptly stops in his tracks whenever he sees me. He had a black mask with some sort of skull face on it, and he called out to me in a hushed voice.

"Susie! I've been looking for you. Mask down, remember?"

He made the motion of pulling down a mask, and as if I had just been hit with a cold wave, I began moving towards him, but it wasn't me moving. I couldn't stop myself from walking towards this new figure.

My actions weren't that of my own anymore. All I could do was watch what was happening.

"Is this a memory? Why am I here?"

I thought, and tried speaking but the words I had wanted to come out didn't, instead I reach up and pull down a mask that had been resting on the top of my head.

"Sorry Joey, it was getting difficult to breathe and—"

The words I— or she— were saying were interrupted by an alarmed shriek, followed by some yelling then a crash. Joey swears under his breath as we dash out of the aisle and towards what I assumed to be the front of the store.

I see an older man holding... Julie? In a chokehold, her mask had been knocked off of her face and lay on the ground a few feet away. His face was red with rage, and the hue only seemed to deepen as his eyes landed on us.

"I've already seen this bitch's face! Take the masks off and leave or... or i'll hurt her!"

The man yelled threateningly, and was visibly sweating bullets as his eyes frantically looked from Joey, to me. He yanked a taser from his back pocket and positioned it close to her ribs. Her eyes widen as she stares at me, a few strands of her blonde hair had fallen over her face, and her right cheek had a bleeding gash.

Joey held up his gloved hands as we both saw who I assumed... no— knew was Frank stalking towards the older man from behind, his movement like that of a hungry wolf.

We needed to distract him until Frank reached him.

"Look man, we didn't think anyone was here. Just let our friend go, and we'll leave."

He spoke calmly, but the old man seemed to get even more pissed off. As he was about to start yelling again, I saw the lights catch a silver glint shining as it slammed down hard into the man's back.

He screams in agony as he drops the taser, also letting go of Julie in the process. She quickly grabs her mask from the floor and puts it back on, coming to stand by Joey and I. Her shaking hand grasped mine, causing a strong feeling of jealousy to churn my stomach as we watched Frank twist the blade, then yank it out of his back.

He kicks the man to the ground, and he wheezes as blood gushed out of the wound. Frank looks up to us, his fists clenched at his side, knife still dripping blood.

"Finish the job."

He barked at us, and we all seem to visibly tense. He stood there staring at us for a few moments before leaning down and roughly yanking the man up so that he was almost in a kneeling position. He cried out in pain, and Frank yelled again.

"I said finish the fucking job, are you three deaf?"

Joey was the first of us three to spring to action, grabbing his karambit and slowly walking up towards the man, who looked up at him with pained,

pleading eyes. If Joey took any notice, he didn't show it as he plunged the knife into his ribs.

Another bloodcurdling scream echoes through the building as Joey sliced upwards with the knife, pulling it out and staring at the man for a second before stepping back, looking to Frank then us. The tile underneath the man was pooling with dark red blood, the sickly sweet metallic scent flooding into my nostrils as I breathed in.

I nearly gag, shaking my head and dropping my weapon as Frank and Joey look to us expectantly. It falls to the ground with a hollow clang, and Frank scoffs. The man was panting shallowly, seemingly about to pass out, but Frank lightly slaps the side of his face a few times.

"Don't pass out yet, we're only halfway done, you bastard," he growled in his ear, then looks at us before speaking lowly, pausing between each word.

"This. Is. No. Place. For. Cowards."

His gaze heavily rested on me and Julie released my hand, walking forward. Frank held out his knife, and Julie reluctantly takes it from him. I hear her inhale deeply as she swiftly stuck the knife into the man's chest, sliding it out as quickly as she had struck it in. He made a strange gurgling noise as he fought to breathe, his eyes half closed and blood slowly leaking from the corner of his mouth.

Frank gets up, allowing Joey to take hold of the dying man. Julie grabs my trembling hand, and places the knife into my open palm as I shook my head side to side. Frank gets behind my shaking body, putting his hands over mine and making me clutch the knife tightly. He lowers his head down to my ear as I whimper.

"We're in this together, shy naive little Susie. Don't you understand?"

He spoke softly, more encouraging now as he took a small step forward, forcing me to take one as well. I hear the man trying to pray as he let out short, shallow breaths, causing ice cold terror to shoot through my veins.

I didn't want to kill, but as we approach nearer and nearer to his body, I squeeze my eyes shut— knowing it's what I was going to have to do.