The Experiment

Chapter IV

Katrina screamed. And screamed. And screamed. She only stopped screaming when Wyne pulled the bloody finger out of her hand and threw it away, as hard as he could. She didn't notice that he had waded in after her.

"Relax," Wyne said, hugging her tightly. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about!" Katrina laughed hysterically, pulling out of his embrace. "I found a finger! A finger!"

"I know you did," he replied calmly. "But that doesn't mean that people died here. Look around. Do you see any blood? Any sign of a fight?"

Katrina glanced around them. Wyne was right.

"If you don't think that there was a fight, how do you think a finger ended up in the fountain?" Katrina demanded.

Wyne hesitated before speaking. "I'm sure there are plenty of logical explanations."

The hesitation was all Katrina needed. There was a fight, she was sure of it.

Katrina waded out of the fountain, thankful that the bloody finger was not in the water that they had just drank. She shook off the excess water on her and put on her shoes and socks.

Katrina explored the ground floor of the mall, looking for any other blood. She found nothing.

"Let's go upstairs," she called out to Wyne, who was also searching.

"Why?"

"I don't see anything down here. Maybe the fight was upstairs, and the finger had fallen from one of the mezzanines," Katrina said, already climbing up the stairs, as the escalator and elevator didn't have any electricity to power it.

Katrina searched the second floor, but it, like the first floor, was devoid of anything unusual. However, when she arrived at the third floor, she hit a jackpot.

"Wyne! Over here!" she called. Wyne immediately teleported next to her, gasping when he saw what she did.

People, all of them from their group of ten who went exploring, were lying in a large pool of blood. They were all obviously dead. Blood was on the walls and covered most of the ground. The person closest to them was missing his right index finger, which must've fallen into the fountain below. There were dead coyotes around them.

Wyne looked at Katrina nervously.

"Don't worry, I won't faint or freak out again," Katrina said, even though she wanted to.

"There are only six people here, which means that only three, four including you, survived," Wyne observed.

"Dean, Blythe, and Derrick survived," Katrina said, doing a quick sweep of the dead with her eyes. Katrina crouched down and felt one of the kids' bodies. It was cold and clammy.

"His body is cold. The attack didn't happen recently," she said, straightening. "Come on, let's get out of here. This place is creeping me out."

Wyne gladly obliged, leading the way down the stairs.

Katrina? something said.

"What?" she jumped. She turned to Wyne. "Did you say something?"

"No," Wyne replied, confused.

Katrina, it's me, Dean. I'm talking to you using telepathy, the voice said again.

"Dean? Where are you?" Katrina said aloud.

"What are you talking about?" Wyne asked.

Blythe, Derrick, and I are in the pharmacy on the third floor. Please come.