The Second To Die

The Complication Of Nex :Chapter 11

Waking up, I felt a slight burn on my wrists. For a moment, my brain was still trying to recover and, I didn't think I remembered how to move. Finally, I managed to get the sack off my head, becoming aware of my surroundings. I was in a roller coaster cart, my hands tied to the rail. In front of me, Noah's head was still drooping, his hands tied as well. Pulling at the binds, I groaned. It was no use. 

"Noah." I said. He didn't budge. "Noah." This one was a little more frantic. After a second failed attempt, I was getting worried. "Noah!" I shouted. Instantly, his head popped up, the sack covering his reaction

"What?" He shouted, his voice sounding terrified. Leaning down, he took the sack off with his tied hands, looking around frantically. "Where are we?" He asked. I shrugged. 

"I don't know." I looked towards the front of us, a giant clown painted on the wall. 

"No, no, no." Noah began. 

"Help!" I cried, Noah's voice mixing with mine. "Help us!" Suddenly, from behind us, there was another groan. Turning around, I saw someone with a sack over their head slowly sit up. Quickly, they pulled the mask off and I let out a sigh of relief. 

"Audrey." I said. 

"Oh god, Audrey!" Noah said.

"What's going on? I was parked in the alley behind the Grindhouse and something-" Audrey began.

"Sh, sh. They could be here. They could be watching us." Noah whispered as Audrey continued to struggle. I rolled my eyes.

"Noah, if they are, we're screwed. If we talk, we're screwed. There's no use in being quiet now." Noah looked at me, nodding quickly.

"This is bad. Multiple kidnapping is a common storyline in the torture porn subgenre. Usually only one captive survives, and sometimes..." He trailed off. 

"And sometimes what?" I asked. 

"Sometimes, nobody survives." He said softly. That's when I began to struggle once more, pulling at the bindings. Audrey did the same, both of us making quite a bit of noise as we tried to free ourselves. 

"I see some tools!" Noah said, looking to his right. 

"Try to reach them." I encouraged. He lifted his foot, trying to get to them, but coming up short.

"Its just out of my reach. He wants it to be just out of my reach. It's part of his torture fetish." Noah groaned.

"Come on Foster. Almost there. You got this." Audrey encouraged. 

"Come on Noah." I said gently. He kicked out once more, only to knock the tools farther out of his reach, making them impossible to get to.

"Oh god." He groaned, grabbing onto the rail as he took in deep breaths. 

"Horror movie logic says we're about to die." Noah whispered. "Real world logic, too." I stopped struggling, listening to him. His voice sounded so defeated, so, broken.

"Noah-" I sighed. 

"Only thing left is to tell the truth." He said, turning to Audrey. "I stole your phone. I saw everything. Vex did as well. Your texts from the killer. Even the GIF of you with Jake's dead body." He said, disbelief in his voice. 

"I wanted to tell you guys about it. I did..." Audrey tried to explain. "The killer lured me to Jake's body and got that video, and then he had me, I was completely screwed. How could I tell anybody that?" Audrey shouted. 

"You could have told us! Of all people, we're the ones to tell." Noah shouted. "But you didn't-" He said, softer this time. "And now, here we are, tied up in an Eli Roth movie. God, this whole thing is so Saw two." He said before shouting. "Please don't make me cut off a body part!" 

"Noah, Noah, calm down! We're going to make it through this." He turned back to me.

"How do you know that? I mean, even you should be a bit worried, I know with how much you've lost that death isn't much of an effect but-" I stopped him, scoffing.

"You don't think death still bothers me? Noah, I can't close my damn eyes without seeing Jake's dead ones staring right back at me. I can't relax until I know for sure that Audrey and you are completely safe. I can't look myself in the mirror anymore because all I see is my dead mother staring back at me. You don't think death effects me anymore? Well, it does! Especially when someone you thought was dead, suddenly decides to ring you up and tell you how he is very much not dead!" I shouted. Noah's eyes widened. 

"Vex, what do you mean? Who called you?" Audrey asked behind me. Sighing, I lowered my head, taking a deep breath.

"Wes, my ex. The one I thought Henry killed, he's not dead." Audrey gasped.

"How can you be so sure, didn't the killer use that against you last time?" Noah asked. 

"I'm sure, Wes knew things only he knew." I said. All went quiet as each of us thought. Maybe this was the last time we would get that. Either way, it was broken by Noah.

"Before I meet my maker, I've got some things I want to confess." Noah said. "I don't like my cat. We've never gotten along. I wish I had learned to play and instrument, probably saxophone. I told Riley that my favorite movie was Terminator. It's not, it's-" 

"Psycho. But you didn't want to tell her because who says that on a first date. Somewhere in Time is your second favorite while Terminator isn't even in your top ten." I whispered. Noah looked back at me, chuckling a little. 

"Guess you know this." He said. I shrugged.

"I pay attention." He gave me a painful smile. 

"The first time we kissed, I got mad at you later because I was mad at myself. Riley had just died and, already, I was moving on. I felt terrible, I hated myself for it. I shouldn't have blamed you like that." He said.

"Noah, I totally forgave you." I said, giving him a reassuring smile. 

"There's more." He began. "Lakewood sucked before I met you and Audrey. It sucked a little less when I met Audrey but, it was no longer the worst place to be when you moved here. So, when we kissed-" He sighed. "When we kissed and I realized that you liked me back, I felt so lucky, you know? Like, how could someone so beautiful and full of charm like a nerd like me?" 

"Noah-" I whispered. 

"Then, we were dating and, everything was perfect. Murder was all around us but, I didn't care as much because I knew I had you both, I knew I had you, Vex. Than, you had to leave and you broke up with me and, I felt numb. It felt worse than when Riley died." He paused. "That's a terrible thing to say but it's true. I didn't realize until then that I-" He stopped, looking down and shaking his head.

"Noah, that you what?" I asked. 

"That I loved you. I didn't realize until then that I loved you." He said. "Then, you come back and you give me your blessing to move on but, I've realized that I don't want to move on. Not when your here, not when I know that it's hurting you and definitely not when I know that I am still in love with you and would rather die tonight than not let you know!" His voice rose as he spoke until he shouted the last line, his breathing ragged. "I love you." He whispered. I looked back to Audrey who, had a light smile on her face. Tears were in my eyes as I looked back to Noah who, had his head lowered in defeat. 

"Noah, look at me." He shook his head. "Noah, please." Reluctantly, he raised his head, looking me dead in the eye.

"Go ahead, tell me I'm stupid. Tell me you're already over me because of the whole Zoey thing. I get it." Chuckling, I closed my eyes, shaking my head. 

"Not even a little Foster. I just wanted to tell you I love you too." That was when we heard the shouting. 

*****

Next Chapter will pick up a little before the beginning of episode 7! I'm skipping a little. Yes, Vex is with them when Audrey explains everything, yes she is there when the Morgue episode is recorded. No, I'm not going to write that scene because I have more important things that need to be done in this book before the end of the season.