Dead or Alive

Chapter 1 Prologue

I was sitting in my house watching TV with my friend Clementine Findley. She is spending the night over at my house since her family is out of town for the week.

"I can't believe that we have only one exam left and then we are out of high school!" I said, not really paying attention to the show.

"I can't believe it either! These four years have flown by. I will miss you and the others, but I'm glad we get to leave that hellhole," Clementine said.

"Some of the teachers were nice though," I retorted, flipping through different channels absentmindedly.

"Yeah, I guess so." 

Suddenly the TV shorted out and the power turned off. We looked at each other and Clementine began flipping the light switch trying to get the lights to come back on.

"Flipping the switch over and over again isn't going to make the lights turn on, Clem," I said, very amused by her actions.

"I know. It was worth a shot," She said as she plopped back down on the couch.

"I'll go and check the breakers. Maybe that'll help," I said.

I got up from my comfy bundle of blankets on the couch and walked down the hallway, my feet gliding gently across the floor. I went downstairs into the basement and began looking for the breaker box. I turned on the flashlight from my phone and shone it at the walls, waiting to see the glimmer of the box. I found it in the back corner of the basement. I walked towards it when I felt something scurry over my foot. I shrieked and jumped backwards, landing on my butt. I looked and saw a tiny little mouse scurrying across the floor. I sighed with relief and stood up and continued walking to the breaker box. I opened the box and began flipping the breakers. Nothing changed.

"Hey, Clem!" I yelled, "Did the lights turn on?"

"No! No they didn't!" I heard her yell back. 

I sighed again and began making my way back to the stairs. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and I turned to look at it. Whatever it was, it was sitting on top of a pile of old magazines that my mother insisted of saving. I picked the mysterious object up and examined it. I pulled on it slightly and revealed that it was a machete!

"How the hell did a machete get here?" I asked myself.

I decided to show Clementine the machete so I carried it up the stairs and back into the living room.

"Hey, did you figure out why the power went out?" Clementine asked.

"No, but look at what I found in the basement!" I exclaimed.

I pulled the machete out of it's sheath and held it out for her to see. She looked at it with wide eyes. She gently took it out of my hands and began to examine it.

"This looks really well made! It's even still sharp!" She exclaimed, running her finger delicately along the blade.

"I know! I don't even know how it got here!" I said, gently retrieving the machete from Clementine.

I examined the old leather sheath and discovered a small tag sewn inside of it. It read "Property of Edison Delia".

"This was my grandfather's machete!" I exclaimed.

"Really? Lemme see!" Clementine said, running over to my side to read the small tag.

"Wow. Your grandfather was a badass!" She exclaimed, shaking my arm gently.

"I always thought that he was kind of boring actually," I said, putting the machete back in it's sheath.

"Anyway, what do we do now? Your parents aren't home, and we have no power," Clementine said.