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  “Did you hear that?” Ravin asked in a whisper while looking around.

  The three women looked around with shared paranoia.

  “Hear what?” Gemma suddenly gasped with the fear evident in her eyes as she wrung her hands together and frantically looked around. She was just waiting for something to send her into panic-induced hysteria.

  “I heard something too,” Sonya said and looked around with concern as well.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” Felicia remarked but looked as well.

  Ravin hurried down the hallway. The women followed from a safe distance with some apprehension. A tall, lanky man wearing tattered clothing covered in blood dragged an ax behind him as he disappeared into the game room. Ravin stared with a look of alarm then ran after him. All three women hurried after him. Ravin entered and looked around the deserted game room filled with table and electronic games. The three women entered the room behind him and scanned the empty room. Gemma was frightened into a state near hysterics.

  “Did you see him?” Ravin suddenly demanded and sharply looked back at the three women. “Some creepy guy covered in blood and dragging an ax.”

  “Well, he’s not here now,” Felicia said with some reluctance to believe Ravin’s story.

  Gemma latched onto Ravin and clung to his arm. “Can I go to my room now? I really want to go to my room,” she stammered while nearly down to tears.

  “It was a ghost. It had to be,” Ravin boldly announced and seemed unaware of Gemma clinging to him and clutching his clothing as her fear escalated.

  “I really want to go to my room now,” Gemma said while sobbing. She had his jacket sleeve crinkled in her clenched fists and practically pulled it off him.

  Ravin continued to scan the room and was still unaware of Gemma’s death grip on his jacket.

  “There’s no one here and there are no ghosts,” Felicia firmly insisted. “I don’t know what you saw, Mr. Waverly, but you didn’t see any ghosts.”

  Ravin sharply glared at her and was about to lash out when realization appeared to dawn on him. His expression slowly dropped, and he uncertainly shook his head. “Ghosts?” he announced with surprise and chuckled in his throat. “What’s wrong with me? I know better.” He sank into thought for a long moment then looked at the women with concern. “We’ve all been drinking the tap water. There must be something in the water that’s causing hallucinations. It’s the only reasonable explanation.”

  Gemma continued to clutch and claw at Ravin’s jacket sleeve. Ravin nervously pulled Gemma into his arms and against him without a second thought. She immediately clung to him while shivering and held back her sobs. She was still attempting to crawl into his clothing with him, now clutching at his shirt. He didn’t seem to notice or simply didn’t care. If it hadn’t been for the frightened expression on her face, her actions could almost have been mistaken for sexual aggression.

  “We need to just slow down and remain calm,” Ravin informed them then looked at Gemma in his arms. He now seemed aware of her traveling hands but didn’t think much of it. He raised her chin and forced her to meet this gaze. “It’s not real. None of it’s real,” he said firmly. “Just try to relax. We’re going to be fine if we keep our heads.”

  She stared into his eyes, and for a moment, she didn’t seem concerned. She seemed content just to stare into his blue eyes. She no longer clawed at his clothes and instead firmly ran her hands along his chest and shoulders in a more sensual manner. Sonya and Felicia immediately noticed Gemma’s odd behavior. They exchanged bewildered glances. It was possibly more disturbing that Ravin didn’t seem to notice. A woman’s hysterical screams shattered the silence. Gemma screamed in response and nearly climbed Ravin’s body. Her once caressing hands now clawed mercilessly at his shirt and ripped a button off without realizing it. Her nails dug into his shirt and scratched his chest beneath leaving blood trails through his shirt. He reacted with a gasp and clutched her clawing fingernails with less of a reaction than expected.

  “Something’s happened!” Gemma cried out in horror. “Oh, God! Something’s happened!”

  Ravin pried Gemma from his body while trying to keep her from clawing him and looked at the other women. Both were equally alarmed now.

  “We need to check on the others,” he quickly announced with concern.

  Ravin ran from the game room with the three women on his heels. He hurried along the connecting hall, skidded just before the lounge doorway, and ran into the lounge with Felicia and Sonya just behind him. All three immediately stopped. There was blood everywhere! The seven people who had remained in the lounge were slumped in their chairs. All seven had slits across their wrists and blood from the deep gashes freely dripped onto the floor. Darlene, who stood just inside the lounge, stared with frozen horror at the seven dead people. She barely looked at Ravin and the two women standing only a few feet from her. She was most likely in shock.

  “What happened?” Ravin demanded, jolting her from her trance like state.

  She looked at him with surprise and her mouth hanging open. “I--I don’t know,” Darlene said while vigorously shaking her head and attempted to control her trembling body. It was little use. “I found them like this.”

  Dino, Tyson, and Cody hurried into the lounge just behind them, stopped abruptly, and shared the same look of horror at the gruesome sight.

  “Holy shit!” Cody cried out and took a step back. “What the hell happened?”

  Ravin apprehensively walked across the lounge and eyed the seven dead people slumped in their chairs. A straightedge razor lie on the floor in a pool of blood near one of the bodies. He stared at the razorblade then looked at the bodies with deep slits across their left wrists and blood on their right fingertips.

  “They all have blood on their hands from the razor,” Ravin announced softly and shook his head with disbelief. The horror was evident in his eyes. “These people killed themselves one after another.”

  The look of horror on the others’ faces was beyond description as they stared at him.

  “Are you sure?” Felicia gasped. She seemed unable to grasp the concept of a mass suicide.

  “That’s messed up,” Tyson cried out and shared her disbelief. A concerned look crossed his face. “Do you suppose we were also poisoned? Not enough to kill us but enough to make us crazy?”

  Sonya appeared alarmed and looked at her brother. Ravin shook his head in response.

  “No, we weren’t poisoned, but I think we may have been drugged,” Ravin informed them then collected his wits. He took a deep breath and slowly released it. He attempted to stay calm. “We need to resist the urge to panic. We need to remain calm.” Ravin looked back at the others and was about to speak when he looked around the room. His brows suddenly knitted into concern. “Where’s Gemma?” he demanded.

  The others looked around the room as well. Gemma wasn’t with them.

  “She was right behind us,” Felicia insisted.

  “I haven’t seen her,” Tyson replied.

  Ravin became alarmed, bolted from the room, and ran into the grand hallway. He frantically darted in and out of nearby rooms while searching for Gemma. “Gemma! Gemma!” he cried out with the appearance of a madman.

  The others entered the grand hallway and watched Ravin running in and out of rooms while screaming for Gemma. They shared the same look of disbelief.

  “So much for remaining calm,” Dino muttered. He shut the lounge doors behind them, tied them together with some rope, and then looked at the others. “His recent paranoid outburst aside, Ravin is right,” Dino informed them. “We need to stay calm. We should split up into groups, find the others, and meet back in the lobby. No one goes anywhere alone.”

  “Ravin thinks the well water may have been tampered with,” Felicia informed Dino.

  “Figures,” Dino scoffed. “When I suggested it, he thought I was being paranoid.”

  Tyson was surprised by the conversation but nodded in agreement. “Okay, then we’ll on
ly drink bottled water for now,” he announced firmly. “There are cases of the stuff in the kitchen.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Dino replied while patting his nephew on the shoulder. “Let’s find the others before something else happens.” He casually pointed down the hall. “Tyson, you take your sister and Felicia. Check the kitchen, indoor pool, spa, and gym. Cody, Darlene, and I will take the front of the hotel. We’ll meet back in the lobby in one hour.”

  Tyson gathered Sonya and Felicia and herded them down the hall in the direction of the spa and pool area. Dino indicated for Cody and Darlene to head in the opposite direction.

  Chapter Five

  Felicia, Sonya, and Tyson entered the massive enclosed indoor poolroom surrounded with walls of glass. The amazing pool area was expensive and lavishly constructed with a separate hot tub, tile flooring, and an indoor waterfall circulating from the pool. The impressive waterfall ran red with blood-tinged water. All three suddenly stopped and stared at the once elegant indoor pool. Twelve dead bodies floated face down within the water, now tinged red with blood. Despite the tinged water concealing their bodies, their gapping, slashed wrists were visibly and grotesquely noticeable. All three stared at the fully dressed dead men and women within the pool with shared looks of horror.

  “What the hell is going on around here?” Tyson suddenly cried out, unable to tear his eyes away from the gruesome sight in the pool before him.

  “I think I’d like to go to my room now too,” Felicia said softly while clinging to her chilled shoulders.

  “Look,” Sonya gasped with alarm. “Their wrists have been slashed just like the others.”

  “I’m not buying this mass suicide bullshit,” Tyson snarled with increasing agitation. “Ain’t nothing can make a bunch of people spontaneously kill themselves like that.”

  “Maybe Ravin was right,” Sonya gasped as her eyes widened while staring at her brother. “Maybe the hotel is haunted.”

  “You’re all crazy,” Tyson scoffed while shaking his head. “We need to be looking for this crazed killer and stop him.”

  “If it’s all the same,” Felicia announced, “I think I’d rather lock myself in my room until help arrives. I’m not interested in this whole safety in numbers business. It didn’t help any of the dead people we’ve found so far.”

  “I’m all for hiding in my room too,” Sonya announced and pleaded with her eyes to her brother.

  He reluctantly groaned. “Fine, but first we need to find any remaining survivors,” Tyson said sternly then sneered at them with disapproval. “Then you girls can hide under your beds.”

  Sonya glared at him with annoyance. “Do you have to be such a prick?”

  “Under the circumstances? Yes,” he snarled.

  †

  Dino, Cody, and Darlene entered the dismal sunroom with its wall of glass and lavish hanging plants. Beyond the massive wall of windows, the outside sky had turned dark and stormy. The room was filled with wicker furniture and there appeared to be only one man remaining within the seemingly empty room. The older townsman in his fifties swung a baseball bat repeatedly to the floor just beyond the wicker sofa while grunting with each blow. All three watched him and looked puzzled. Blood flew from the bat as he pulled back for another swing and spattered the wall of glass behind him. The glass was covered with dripping blood. Dino held the others back and nervously moved closer to the older man. He stared at the bat dripping with blood. As Dino rounded the wicker sofa, he saw the man beating the bat into an unrecognizable woman lying in a bloody heap on the floor. She was completely smashed and broken from over one hundred strikes. She resembled roadkill exploded by a semi-truck. Another man lie not far away in the same condition. Cody uncertainly approached his brother, stood alongside him, and stared at the gruesome sight. The older man stopped beating the dead woman and looked at Cody and Dino.

  “I saw them. I saw the demons,” the man cried out with a look of fear and possible desperation in his eyes. “They were taking over their bodies.” As he stared at both men, his eyes suddenly widened with alarm. “Look out!”

  The older man pushed Dino aside and swung the bat at Cody’s head. Cody gasped with alarm and dodged the baseball bat, which struck the wicker sofa. Dino swiftly punched the man in the throat, instantly dropping him to his knees. The man wheezed and attempted to catch his breath. Cody stared at the discarded, blood-soaked baseball bat then looked at his brother. Dino stared at the wheezing man on his knees and showed no remorse.

  “What do we do with him?” Cody gasped.

  “There are some tools in the workshop,” Dino replied. “We’ll rig a bolt outside one of the guestroom doors and lock him inside until help arrives.”

  “This is insane,” Darlene gasped from across the room as she stared at the barely recognizable remains on the sunroom floor. “We need to get out of here. We need to hike to the nearest town for help before we end up killing one another.”

  “Anderson and Carter--” Dino began, but he was interrupted by Darlene.

  “Anderson and Carter never made it,” she launched back. “Help would have been here by now.”

  “We sent Reed and Scott,” Dino stated more firmly. “They’re former military men. They’re survivors. They’ll come back with help. We should stay put.”

  “She’s right,” Cody reluctantly informed his brother. “We need to send others for help. This is unreal. We’re not going to survive much longer at this rate.”

  Dino stared at his brother and frowned. “Fine, we’ll send out a couple more scouts,” he replied then pointed a warning finger at Cody. “Just remember, I was opposed to sending more men. We don’t know what’s happening in here much less out there.”

  “Fine,” Cody groaned, “you’ve been duly noted as the voice of reasoning. Now let’s get more scouts out there and bring back some real help.”

  “I should go,” Darlene announced.

  Both men looked at her and appeared skeptical.

  “Why you?” Dino demanded. “Do you have some special ops training I don’t know about?”

  “No,” she replied, “but my friend has a horse on the other side of town--”

  “Sorry, Darlene,” Dino announced while shaking his head, “you’re staying here. We don’t know what’s out there, if anything. I’m not willing to risk your life.”

  She glared at him, folded her arms across her chest, and frowned disapprovingly.

  He raised his brows in question. “What? I’m sexist?” Dino demanded.

  “You said it, I didn’t,” she snapped in response.

  “If it keeps you alive, fine, I’m sexist,” he replied then glared at Cody. “Let’s find the others.”

  †

  Gemma sat alone in the corner of the wine cellar with her knees to her chest and her head buried into her knees. She seemed almost sedate and made no sounds. Someone was heard entering the wine cellar, alerting her. Gemma nervously looked up and glanced across the row of wine racks as she was approached. She suddenly gasped and quickly sprang to her feet while staring with wide eyes. The terror suddenly shown in her eyes as she flattened herself against the wine rack. Gemma screamed hysterically while clutching the rack behind her.

  Chapter Six

  One day later. The night sky was black from the violent storm as rain poured down upon the deserted, backcountry road not far from Fox Ridge Village. It had rained for nearly twenty-four hours and most of the roadways were flooded. Water cascaded in small waterfalls through washed out shoulders along the road. The wind whipped and rain seemingly fell sideways as it blew across the backroad in sheets of water. A newer car was stranded in the flooded roadway nearly three feet deep with the water almost halfway up the car door. The car’s flashing hazard lights alerted an approaching car to the severity of the flooded roadway ahead. A BMW pulled up and stopped a safe distance behind the stranded car. The driver of the BMW, Roger, got out of his car, opened an umbrella, and hurried toward the stranded car before him. The driver of
the stranded car opened his window and looked at Roger as he approached. Roger quickly assessed the situation even though the verdict was pretty obvious. The car wasn’t going anywhere.

  “You’re not getting out of that tonight,” Roger shouted above the pouring rain. “Come on! We’ll give you a lift to the nearest town!”

  The couple in their fifties, Milton and Peggy, got out of their marooned car and waded through the three-foot high water toward Roger. Roger gave his umbrella to the already soaked woman. Milton and Peggy were dressed lavishly from an extravagant evening out, although their clothes were already soaked from the pouring rain and the murky standing water. Roger hurried them to his awaiting car. Having given up his umbrella, he too was now soaked. Another car, a Corolla, pulled up behind Roger’s car. As the couple climbed into the back of his car, Roger hurried to the car behind his. The window rolled down to reveal a younger couple, Shane and Leslie. They looked concerned about what may have happened on the road ahead.

  “The road is flooded,” Roger said above the pouring rain. “GPS says there’s a side road to a small town called Fox Ridge Village. Hopefully, there’s access to another major road through there. GPS is spotty in these parts.”

  “Thanks,” Shane said to the soaking wet man. “We’ll follow you.”

  Roger hurried back to his car. Another car, a Lexus, approached behind the Corolla and slowed to join the parade of stopped cars. Roger jumped into the driver’s seat of his BMW. His wife, Rose, sat in the passenger seat, stared at him, and appeared concerned over his soaked condition.

  “My wife and I appreciate this,” Milton said while leaning forward from the backseat. “I couldn’t get any reception on my cell phone.”

  “Cell phones are sketchy at best on good days in these backwoods,” Roger informed him and was almost humored despite his soaked condition. His wet clothes were almost certainly ruining the expensive leather seats. “You won’t get anything in a mess like this. I’m lucky my GPS is working as poorly as it is. I have no idea where we turn once we reach town.”