The Game at Carousel: Book Four Stubs July 17th (Arc II Chapters 1- 85)

I could hear footsteps and Ted screaming as someone dragged him along the floor. I had a gun that Antoine had given me and enough Hustle to be able to use it.

I climbed out of the treehouse in what probably looked like a very clumsy crawl. I managed to land on my feet and point the gun in the direction of the open door, where I could see a mysterious figure standing.

He still held Ted's foot as he dragged him.

I took a shot.

And I missed.

I couldn't have missed. I had devoted so many points to Hustle that I should have been able to pick up a firearm and hit anything in a storyline, but somehow, I had missed. If I had hit and it had not been fatal, I could understand that, but missing... made no sense.

That either meant that the figure had higher Hustle than I did, or he had a trope that protected him from gunfire.

I shot again. All I saw were the sparks that flew in the distance as my bullet hit something other than my target.

"Let go of him!" I screamed.

The figure didn't care. I couldn't see his face; he was just a silhouette, but I could tell he was taller than me. At that moment, I was afraid to unfocus my eyes so I could look at him on the red wallpaper.

Luckily, for a reason that I didn't understand at the moment, the dark silhouette of his head turned, and in the blink of an eye, he was out the door, which he slammed behind him loudly.

He left Ted screaming and hollering on the floor.

Kimberly and Dina were down from the car lift treehouse.

"I need a flashlight," I said. "That was definitely the killer."

I had left mine up in the treehouse. Dina grabbed it for me.

I did the thing that I often saw in action movies where cops put a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other so that they could shine the light wherever their gun was pointed.

"We need to go outside," I said.

"With the killer?" Kimberly asked.

"It's where the story is going," I said, which, of course, was pretty much the only reason we ever did anything, but in this storyline, it was something my character would care about, too.

Kimberly prepared her gun and flashlight similarly to how I did.

"I didn't take all those self-defense and firearms training courses because I thought I was going to be running after killers," she said. "It was for when the killers ran after me."

Her Hustle jumped up two points, as did her Mettle and Grit. Her hand, which held her firearm, steadied.

"Let's go," she said.

"Ted, grab the camera and follow us," I added.

"He grabbed me," Ted said. "I thought he was going to kill me."

"Well, he didn't, so it's time to work," I replied. I had to have earned that promotion somehow; being a hardass was a good reason.

We crossed the garage toward the door we had entered in the direction the killer had gone, and as we did, we heard someone outside yelling. It wasn't a scared yell.

Kimberly started to say "Antoine" but disguised it as a gasp and then said, "It's Sheriff Stone."

Outside, he was yelling, "Hello, Miss Madison, are you here?"

If he was in character outside, that meant that he was On-Screen, and we were also On-Screen, which meant that something was about to happen that involved all of us.

Kimberly rushed out the door.

Dina and I were right behind her, and Ted had found the courage to get his camera and follow us lightning-quick.

Antoine stood at the edge of the field and continued screaming.

"Sheriff Stone!" Kimberly cried out.

Antoine turned to us, and that's when we saw the killer.

He stepped out of the shadows like he was coming out of thin air.

He stepped up behind Antoine.

"No!" Kimberly screamed, and we all ran in that direction.

"Get down!" I screamed and raised my gun.

Antoine had good reflexes and was already on edge, perhaps more so than might be expected. As we got closer, I could see in the moonlight that he was sweating and gaunt.

He rolled out of the way before the killer could get behind him.

And there, by the light of the night sky, I got my first look at Benny.

Not Benny the Haunted Scarecrow that I would know from the sequel, not a ghost or magical thing at first glance.

The red wallpaper just called him Benny.