SCENE 14
Zachary hadn’t felt this terrified since his first time inside a haunted house when he was 7 years old. Very likely one of the most traumatizing events in his life. His parents thought that he would’ve loved it since he had a marvelous interest in thrill rides and stuff like that. Zachary was scared for his life when he found out that Walter had been taken by the vicious kidnappers. The first people he ran to were Craig and Jerald P to share this terrible news. Craig and Jerald P both slept peacefully with their heads resting on cutting boards flat on the carpet flooring and their bodies coverless. Zachary shouted at them, hoping they’d wake up. “Craig! Jerald! You guys need to wake up right now!”
The boys both sluggishly yawned and stretched their slender arms. Craig had drooled a bit down his chin and onto the floor, leaving a wet mark. “What seems to be the problem?” Craig asked, groggily.
Zachary’s petrified face remained the same. “Someone was taken… again!”
“Who?” Jerald P asked, rubbing his eye weakly.
“Walter!” Jerald P frowned at Craig and smacked his arm. It was bad enough that Craig was a stubborn narcissist, but it’s even for him to be a jinx. “You jinxed it!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t try to predict who was going to be taken next!” Craig’s grogginess replaced with energy in a flash.
“You two, Mr. Bartholomew, the Jammers and I are the only people left in this camp who haven’t been taken yet!” Zachary’s forehead was covered in sweat and he looked as if he was about to pass out. How much energy did he have to exert in a place like this to start sweating so profusely? Craig thought. Zachary must have incredibly low stamina if he can’t seem to use energy very much and still sweat that much. Even Craig could exert more energy without breaking a sweat.
“This whole kidnapping thing is getting out of control.” Jerald P’s furious response broke Craig’s train of thought. Now he’s got the kidnappers on his mind, which is only going to make him irritated about how they keep taking people so easily. How on Earth do they do it?!
“You’re telling me.” Craig uttered, not putting much thought into what he was going to say since everyone could see it from a mile away knowing how Craig is.
“I’m telling, I’m starting to freak out because we haven’t been able to stop them no matter how hard we’ve tried.” Zachary trembled. Starting to freak out? More like starting to have a heart attack, Craig thought to himself, but wondered if Jerald P and Zachary heard or not.
“That’s because there’s more than one of them.” Craig didn’t realize how stupid that sounded until after it exited his mouth. Thankfully, he ad Jerald P to back him up and say something smart to compliment his own comment.
“But, there are more than one of us to go against them.” Jerald P stated. Craig knew he was onto something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but Jerald P was good at strategizing from Craig’s knowledge. Jerald P was an excellent chess player and was good at relatively any kind of game that involved strategy as the key to winning. His strategic brain is also extremely beneficial for school since it helped get him an A+ average in Mathematics. Craig was curious about the outcomes of what Jerald P is discussing, the positives and the negatives.
“But what if that doesn’t work?” Craig questioned, as politely as he could. He hoped that Jerald P would have a backup plan if plan A failed.
“I would just accept the fact that we lost the fight.” Not the answer Craig expected or wanted. Why would Jerald P just give up? It’s not like him to be a quitter, Craig knows Jerald P for being a fighter through any kind of situation not matter how difficult. Was Jerald P planning on quitting or was he going to plan an ambush of some sort that Craig didn’t know about? Jerald P did know how to plan the perfect surprise.
“This fight isn’t over yet! We can still figure out a way to stop them from taking the rest of us!” Zachary exclaimed. A chill ran down Craig’s spine from the sudden optimism from Zachary, it honestly scared him a little to see Zachary so determined to catch Killer Jam and his gang. Craig was determined too, but not as much as Zachary. But, Craig still wasn’t entirely convinced that they were going to be able to take out Killer Jam and his friends, because Craig knew that he was lucky for Killer Jam being unsuccessful in trying to take him away and do who knows what to him.
“We’ve tried everything, Zachary! Everything! And now, they’re going to ruin the Musicale!” Oh, Craig and his singing again. Jerald P was shocked as how long Craig went without mentioning the Musicale or anything about singing or becoming famous. He felt like he should give Craig a gold star or whatever, but he didn’t have any gold stars with him right now.
“Are you sure about that, Craig?” Jerald P asked, raising an eyebrow and forming a slight grin on his face. Craig figured that Jerald P would be thinking of something by now.
“Yes. I’m very sure about that. Why?” He wanted—needed—to hear what Jerald P had to say because this could be the solution to stopping Killer Jam and getting their friends all back.
“I’ve just come up with another idea.” This was music to everyone’s ears. They were shaking themselves silly they were so eager to hear Jerald P’s words.
“Great! So, what’s your plan?” Zachary asked, his patience subsiding.
“Well…” Jerald P whispered his plan into their ears. This plan was flawless. Craig knew that Killer Jam wouldn’t stand a chance against them with what Jerald P had come up with. Killer Jam will be wishing that he were singing songs elsewhere when Craig is done with him.
“We need to tell Mr. Bartholomew our plan and fast!” Zachary said as Craig and Jerald P got to their feet and the three of them ran to Mr. Bartholomew to tell him what they’ve got in mind to deal with the kidnappers.
Killer Jam and his gang all stood together in the Gauntlet, waiting for the right moment to send Dead Drum out to go after whoever he decided. Sadistic Synth had taken the most beatings out of everyone, but he still wanted more action. He knew his time would come where he’d get the fight he’s been waiting for. In the meantime, Dead Drum had to try and catch someone without getting caught and since this is his first victim, he can’t afford to screw things up now.
“Our plan is working out much better than I had considered it to be.” Killer Jam said, smiling behind his mask. Sadistic Synth was on the same page as always, but Blood Bass wasn’t.
“Is it because Craig still hasn’t learned a lesson yet?” Sadistic Synth asked, to see if Killer Jam will confirm his thought.
“Exactly that.” Yep, he did.
“But if he doesn’t learn his lesson, why are we still doing this?” Blood Bass questioned, almost sounding as if she was going to back out.
“Because it’s fun!” Sadistic Synth exclaimed. His demented behavior and wild energy constantly made Blood Bass feel uneasy when she was around him. Killer Jam could get crazy too when he wanted.
“You find anything crazy to be fun.” Blood Bass complained. Sadistic Synth didn’t break from his energetic self just because Blood Bass was complaining about it.
“Yeah, you should’ve seen what happened when I was trying to catch Walter. That was awesome!”
“What was so awesome about it?”
“He actually fought back. And he fought back hard!”
“How?”
“He punched me square in the face!” Dead Drum laughed at this while Blood Bass wondered how Sadistic Synth didn’t have a broken jaw or missing teeth or anything like that. Sadistic Synth did have a pretty thick skull however.
“Yeah, keep laughing. You’re next to take someone.” This came off more as a compliment rather than an insult to Dead Drum.
“All right, Drum, you ready?” Killer Jam said after being silent for some time. Dead Drum grunted loudly and flexed his muscles. “Take your turn.” Killer Jam commented, and Dead Drum stormed out of the room, ready to get his hands on his victim.
“I’m glad you guys shared your plan with me. It’s foolproof!” Mr. Bartholomew exclaimed after Jerald P explained every detail. They were going to group up and charge at whoever came past the hallway doors that was wearing a mask and a suit. Jerald P figured there’d be a decent chance that they would be able to take out most, if not all, of the psychotics if they stayed in a group.
“That’s exactly why we shared it with you. Whoever is behind these kidnappings has gone too far!” Jerald P shouted with fire burning inside his chest.
“Heck yeah!” Craig surprised everyone with his out-of-nowhere determined behavior.
“Let’s take them down! But first, I need to take a restroom break.” Zachary had no reason to say that out loud other than to make Craig and Jerald P cringe.
All Craig could do was sigh and say, “TMI, Zachary.”
Zachary chuckled a bit before walking off to the restroom, which was to the left of the stage room entrance doors. Zachary was oblivious as to if there was someone else in the room with him, but all he knew is that he needed to use the restroom right now. Dead Drum tiptoed his way over to Zachary as quickly as he could without making a peep. He stood behind Zachary and placed his hand on his shoulder.
“Oh, Craig, nice of you to join me.” Zachary said in a sarcastic attitude, since he hated it when people were in the restroom with him. He’s always had this irrational fear that someone would take him while he was trying to use the restroom, but that fear is about to come true as Zachary turned and faced the man who had followed him. His face flooded with terror. The man pulled a spray can out of his right pocket and sprayed Zachary in the face. He coughed and passed out onto the ground, allowing Dead Drum to grab his arms and drag him away. And all Zachary wanted to do was use the restroom.
The rest of the group waited for Dead Drum to get back, but they were getting increasingly anxious, especially Sadistic Synth. “So, how do you think Drum is doing so far?” He asked while twiddling with his thumbs. His nervous energy was about to kick in, he could feel it growing excessively.
“I’m sure he’s doing just fine capturing whoever is his target.” Killer Jam assured.
“What if he got Craig? Or Jerald P?” Blood Bass wondered.
“Then that would be bad because we need those two together before we can capture them.”
“Why?” Sadistic Synth questioned, wanting to get everything done and over with, since he knew Craig still wanted to just sing and dance his heart out.
“Because they’re best friends. They both have each other’s’ backs.” Killer Jam had a killer plan for when the last two victims left were Craig and Jerald P. He was going to put on a show they would never forget.
“Let’s just hope they do when they’re going to be the ones that are taken.”
Craig, Jerald P, and Mr. Bartholomew had been waiting for Zachary for the last 15 minutes now. Craig was getting the most worried out of everyone. He clicked his teeth and sighed. “Zachary is taking forever.”
News to everyone. “What do you think is holding him up?” Jerald P asked while folding his arms.
“Probably taking his time.”
“Unless he was taken before he even made it to the restroom!”
“Oh, great!” Craig and Jerald P ran out to the main lobby and just as they had suspected, no sign of Zachary anywhere. The restroom light was off, so he couldn’t have been in there. The only thing they could do now was call out to him.
“Zachary!” Craig shouted.
“Where are you?!” Jerald P yelled.
“Come out wherever you are!”
“This just had to happen, didn’t it?!” Jerald P had enough of the kidnappers. The second he saw one, he knew he was going to unleash his rage on them, he didn’t care which one, he’d take on any of them.
“Jerald.”
“What?”
“I’m actually getting scared now.” This struck Jerald P as both good and bad news. Good because now Craig isn’t only thinking about himself and wants to find Zachary, but bad because Zachary is gone, and the only people left were the Jammers, Mr. Bartholomew, Craig, and himself. This had to come to an end at some point, and Jerald P wasn’t going to let anyone else get taken, if he was there.
Dead Drum successfully brought back Zachary and placed him in a chair, but he tied his hands in front of him, because Dead Drum knew Zachary wasn’t really the fighting type. If anything, he’d probably try to get himself untied or try to escape the Gauntlet without untying himself. He was placed on a chair just like all the other victims and put in a dark room.
Dead Drum and Sadistic Synth chattered for a while whereas Killer Jam sat against a wall, and appeared to be brooding. Blood Bass hated to see Killer Jam like this, it broke her heart to see him feel so upset about something. She walked over to him and sat next to him. He kept staring off into space, brooding about whatever it is he ponders, normally it’s about his past, which he never liked to talk about, so no one really knows about it, or he tends to think about all the things he’s done wrong in life. Blood Bass was dying to know what was on Killer Jam’s mind. “Hey, are you, all right?” She asked.
“Yeah, it’s just…” He sighed, hesitant to finish his sentence.
“Please, tell me what’s on your mind.”
“It’s just, I really want to spend time with you guys, as friends, but we can’t because of this.” Killer Jam looked like he was holding back tears, but it could just be the makeup irritating his eyes.
“When this is over, then we can all hang out and have fun.” Blood Bass tried reaching Killer Jam with her words, but he was a pain when it came to trying to make him feel better.
“Yeah, but…”
“But, what?”
“I don’t want to lose you guys just because I’m getting caught up in this… this mess that Craig has started.” He had a good point. Craig’s attitude was the thing that caused all this chaos to happen. If only he would cooperate and learn his lesson.
“But you’re doing your best to fix it. And I love that about you.”
“And I love that you guys were willing to help.” Blood Bass stroked her hand through Killer Jam unruly hair, hoping to connect with him, but she could tell he needed some time alone to think about everything going on around him. He grabbed her hand gently and placed it on her lap. “But for now, I just really need some time alone to think about everything.” He continued.
“Okay, just let us know if you need anything.” She said after she let out a deep sigh.
“I shall.”
“Come on guys.” Blood Bass walked out of the Gauntlet with Sadistic Synth and Dead Drum, leaving Killer Jam alone with the victims. He rested his head against the closed door momentarily, before speaking up. “Craig, when will you learn your lesson and end this chaos?”
Killer Jam had been pacing for what felt like hours. It had only been 20 minutes. Killer Jam couldn’t get the thought of Craig’s ignorance out of his mind. It was driving him crazy. Crazy enough to make him want to have a brawl with the kid. His pacing wasn’t helping him. He shouted at the top of his lungs till his throat ached. “This has to end now!” He cried out. He couldn’t simply express his feelings, unless it was in song form. “All this work is a pain in the back, you better cut me some slack because I’ll be coming back the next day. Fear will flood the place, because of my face, and when I walk anyplace. I will, I will watch you! I will, I will watch you! When the people look at me, they stand aghast and they scream, giving me such a bad day. I ought to get up in their space and stand with them face to face, letting them know I’m gonna finish my race. I will, I will watch you! I will, I will watch you! Even when I’m laid back rest is what I’m getting but those people still think that I am threatening. Even when I’m not at bay, it’s not okay, that everyone believes I’m gonna ruin the play. I will, I will watch you! I will, I will watch you! I’m singing I will, I will watch you! Yeah, I will, I will watch you!” He sang.
He walked over to a table that had a single chair placed in front of it. He kicked the chair aside and slammed his fists on the table in a fit of rage. He then ran up onto the stage and shouted once more before uttering, “Craig. You’d better be ready for what you’re about to go through!” Killer Jam was going to make sure Craig really learned his lesson, even if it nearly killed him in the process.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
