I’m about to point out that theyaren’tshitty.They’re some of the most successful and influential films in the industry that set the precedent for slasher films—and for the night we’re currently trying to live through.I’m also tempted to say she’s currently ticking every box for the “annoying skeptic,” and those characters never last very long in situations like ours.
Laurie intervenes.“Have you been paying attentionat allthiswhole fucking time?”Her hand pauses over her rough sketch of the mezzanine, and she shoots Billie a look I’ve only seen her direct to the one Hallmark movie I ever dared her to watch.
“EverythingJamie has said and done has been to keep us alive and safe.You should count yourself lucky she knows what to do, because the alternative is waiting for you down at the end of that corridor.”
Her voice is venom, and it brings the conversation to an abrupt end.
After a moment of dead air, Billie scoffs and says, “I don’t feel veryluckyright now.”She strides over to the booth closest to the entrance of the dance floor and flops onto the velvet seat, shooting daggers in my direction.After giving me an apologetic look, Jennifer joins her.
I get it.I’ve got Laurie in my corner and Jennifer, by default, needs to be in Billie’s.I don’t want to descend into an “us versus them” mentality, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence the ones who stayed in the basement are the ones who still stand at the counter, stone-faced and trying to figure out our next steps.We witnessed the aftermath of the violence that occurred in the blackout.We know what we’re trying to avoid.
Laurie slides the newly created “map” across the desk to me.
“That’s all I can remember.Does it look right to you?”
I cast my eyes over her rendition of the three levels of the club.She’s been working diligently on it this whole time, and the scale is all over the place.There are unfinished corridors, and parts of the building are blank or annotated with question marks.But she’s managed to get the bones of the club to align with my faint recollection of Cravin’ and the more recent experience of trying to escape the lower levels of Serendipity.
“It looks good, given we haven’t been in here in years.Though—” I take the pen and draw in the bar on the mezzanine that she’s missed,then I look at a section of booths she’s drawn flush against the stairs on this side of the club.
“There’s a wall that runs behind those booths, right?”I ask, tracing a faint line that slices the booths in half.“It makes another corridor that runs the length of the stairs.”
Laurie lets out an affirmative sound and I pass back the pen so she can turn my light mark into a clearly defined line.“I think you’re right.How do you remember that?”
“I found you there once.Your dress ripped and you had your back against the wall so no one could see you were wearing those weird panties with the cat face on the back.We had to leave the club with me shielding your whisker-decked ass with my body.”I hear a soft huff of amusement.
“And to think,” Laurie mutters, “I thought that was the worst night I spent in this club.”
CHAPTER 13
“The best kill is the kind that awakens the soul.”
—NotThe Notebook
With John’s help, we’re able to add a little more detail to the sketch of the level we’re currently on, and after a few more corrections and a lot more question marks, the map is as detailed as it’s going to get.We spend a few minutes studying it, murmuring about possible exits, but my attention is drawn to fervid whispering a few feet away.
“—Iknow, but—”
“—sheis the one who—”
Jennifer and Billie keep their voices low so I can’t catch the end of their sentences, but Billie can’t hide that deadly glare she shoots at me every now and again.The way they whisper in the dark, the comforting hand Jennifer places on her shoulder, reminds me that we’re missing two people (that I care about).
“Dani and Colette should’ve come back up by now,” I say once Laurie places the final question mark on the map and puts the pen back down onto the desk.
Nobody answers at first.Yes, our goal is to stay alive, but we wantto make sure the others are safe, too.We’ve already lost too many people tonight.Then Wes starts nodding along to whatever plan he’s constructed in his head, and though I have a feeling I know what that plan entails, it still makes the space under my ribs constrict when he says, “I’ll go downstairs.”
“Wes—”
“You’re right.They should’ve come back by now.What if they’re hurt?What if thereisan exit down there that we don’t know about?We need to check.”
“Then I’ll come, too—” I say, and immediately get a backhand to the tit.
“Ow!Jesus, Laurie.”
When I turn to glare at her, she has her most serious face on.The one she usually reserves for when I try to girl math my way through dropping two hundred dollars on skincare.
“You’re not leaving me again, and I’m sorry, but I don’t want to go back down there and see…” She points to the ground.I know she’s referring to what lies on the level beneath us, but the line of her finger lands directly over where the coat check attendant’s foot just so happens to be, unnaturally still and splattered with red droplets.“That.”
Jennifer and Billie rejoin our group as Laurie and I engage in a stare-off, and John makes room for them to join the discussion, clearing his throat.“Do you want me to—”
