Spoiler Alert: They Ain't Gonna Make It

16. Quite Frankly I Don't Want To Die

Another update! Whoop whoop! I'm on a roll!

So, I give you, last time with...

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KATRINA AND JOSIE

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Letting go of her fears, Katrina cried, "We're going to die."

And now, here is (in present tense)

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KATRINA AND JOSIE

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"We're going to what?" Josie stared in wide-eyed terror at her best friend, suddenly not feeling too well. She didn't believe a word Katrina said. She couldn't.

But yet, she did.

Katrina rubbed her hands on her jeans once again. "The phone. I got a recording saying the phone lines were dead and that everyone in Jefferson Middle School will die a more painful death than anyone else."

"Who else?"

"I don't know!"

The two sighed in unison, both scared for what was to come. They knew that whatever this message was, was real. They knew it was something to fear. Something not good. Something not worth sticking around for.

And Katrina planned on leaving. She and Josie would get the heck out of Jeff and run to their houses, which were, conveniently, right across the street from each other. She wanted them to get out and survive whatever kind of apocalypse situation this would be.

Then there was Josie.

"Let's go find the killer," Josie suggested with a shoulder shrug, taking a liking to the idea.

Josie loved mysterious. Absolutely loved. This was her chance to finally be in one, to finally solve one. Sure, their life's were on the line, but that made it a billion times more exciting for the blonde.

"You want to what?"

"Find the killer," nodded the blonde. "You know, look for clues and save the day and stuff."

Katrina bursted out laughing, slapping her knees in the process. She doubled over howling for a long while, wiping her eyes from the happy tears that sprung from them. After her long, long, laughing fit, she glanced up to her friend, that was giving her a confused look.

The brunet quit laughing. "You're serious?"

She nodded once again.

Katrina paused, thinking of how to word what she was going to say next. "You're insane," she said after finding the right words. "You want to go find the person that is capable of killing us all?" She threw her hands up in the air. "That's idiotic! Why don't we just jump off the roof of the Empire State Building while we're at it?! Poke a hungry lion and swim with starving sharks too!" She began pacing. "That's absurd, Josie. Absurd."

"I don't even know what that means," Josie frowned. Yet a second later, she began smiling once again. She could never stay sad.

Katrina rubbed her hands on her jeans as she walked. "It means it's ridiculous."

Gasping, Josie cried, "It's not ridiculous!"

"Yeah, it is."

"How is it ridiculous?!"

"How is it not?"

"Looking for the bad guy is a great idea!"

"If you want to die! Which, quite frankly, I don't!"

Josie sighed, pondering over her words. Katrina watched her, curious as to how she would persuade her. The brunet knew the blonde wasn't the best persuasive person ever.

"If we find the bad guy, we can figure out their plan and try to stop them."

It was Kathleen's turn to sigh. Her friend didn't get how dangerous her idea was. How stupid and scary it was. Going to the bad guy? That was only going to cause more trouble than needed.

"Josie, think about it. We're two, average, decently smart, eighth grade girls. Sure, we read a lot of mystery novels and watch horror movies." She paused. "Well, you watch horror movies..." She shook herself back to the point, shedding the memory of her screaming her face off in Annabelle.

"Anyway, we're not the toughest people in the world. What would we do if, if we ever caught the bad guy? Throw banana peels at them and demand for them to turn themselves in? Besides, there probably isn't a bad guy anyway. We're probably getting too carried away with this."

Josie sighed. Her friend was right. It was a dumb idea, trying to find the bad guy. They weren't Daphine and Velma. There was no masked men running around, no talking Great Dane, and certainly no Scooby snacks. Even if there was a bad guy, which, like Katrina said, there probably wasn't, what could they do? The person would be prepared, and, if anything, they would have a weapon on them. They were ordinary girls, not superheroes. They couldn't save the day. There was no way.

Knowing Josie finally agreed with her, Katrina wrapped up their conversation with, "We need to get back in there before they start getting suspicious. But first..."

"Let me take a selfie!" someone shouted from down the hallway.

Confused, the girls whipped around in the direction of the voice.

"Jasper?" Josie questioned when the boys got nearer. "Eli? Is that you guys?"

"Yeah," chilled Jasper. "Who else?"

"Who's Eli?" Eli asked, very confused.

"You are?" Kathleen stated, it sounding more like a question than an answer.

Eli mumbled, "Right, and I'm also human too, huh?" He scoffed. "Mortals."

The girls looked to Jasper with a 'what did you do?' stare.

But Jasper just shrugged, slid past the girls, back on the lockers, and into the orchestra room, Eli on his heels.

"See you two." Jasper called over his shoulder as he opened the door. Once inside, he yelled, " 'Sup homies!"

When the two were all the way inside the classroom, Katrina turned to Josie. "You saw the spandex and cape too, right?"

With her face in a knot, Josie nodded.

Both were unsure as to why Eli was wearing a superhero suit, but neither could find the idea weird. To be honest, they knew some really weird people.

Katrina tore her eyes from the door. "I'm going to get a pen for Cat out of my locker."

The two took three steps to Katrina's locker. Being skilled like she was, the brunet opened her locker on the first try.

It wasn't until the red door was ajar did the girls gasp.

"Oh. My Gosh." Josie's eyes widened, her lips parting into an 'O'.

Shock overcame Katrina, her brain unable to move her lips, much less, form a sentence.

The blonde continued. "Looks like we have a bad guy to find."

Katrina nodded, barely able to do so.

Written and taped Katrina's locker, on a notebook sheet of paper, in blood, was:

'I TOLD YOU NOT TO TELL.'