Page 28 of We’re All Going to Die Tonight!

“Dorman’s room first,” Caulder continues. “Everyone together. And everyone be on alert, okay?”

“Should someone stay with Lucas?” I ask, barely trusting myself to speak.

Caulder meets my gaze, then looks at Lucas.

“We’ll be quick,” he says, not answering my question but answering it all the same. “Come on. Let’s hurry.”

I force myself to move, to follow, if only so that I don’t have to keep looking at Lucas. Avery stays close to me as we walk down the hall to the rooms with closed doors, knocking on each one as we go. The ones Dorman and McCullough should be in.

But there’s no answer.

“This is taking too long,” Kaitlyn says, throwing her body forward to seize the doorknob.

Fear surges inside me all at once. What if the killer’s in there, waiting for us?

“Hold on,” I start to say, but it’s too late. The door is open, and she’s stepping into the darkness, blond hair swishing behind her.

The lights go on and the room’s huge, some sort of suite that clearly has at least two walk-in closets, plus the bathroom. There’s a gilded chandelier at the center of the room hanging over a bed that looks untouched. It feels like a dead end until I see Ms. Dorman’s luggage, which Kaitlyn must also see, as she starts opening doors and calling out, “Dormy? Where are you hiding? Did you realize someone had literally been attacked on your wa—”

Her last syllable’s cut off, and I turn to Javi. I see the flash of his eyes; then he rushes forward. I glance at Avery, her face even whiter and paler than usual, and follow after her.

We all freeze behind Kaitlyn, who’s come to a standstill in the en suite bathroom.

There’s blood everywhere. And on the floor is Emerson…absolutely still.

Chapter 17

Javi

October 17

12:58 a.m.

I thought there was a lot of blood around Lucas. But this…This is something else.

It’s on the mirrors, on the walls, on the sill of the open window, where rain is slipping in, and…all over Emerson.

“Shit,” Kaitlyn says, voice shaking. “Are you kidding me? Is he fucking dead?”

She looks from Caulder to me to Avery and then back to Emerson on the ground. None of us seem to want to approach Emerson, but Kaitlyn takes three steps gingerly toward him to look down at his face streaked with red.

“What the— Ah!”

Suddenly, Emerson groans and sits up, and we’re all screaming.

“Emerson!” Avery says, streaking forward now that there are signs of life. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

“I-is he gone?” Emerson struggles to get the words out. “He must’ve knocked me out.”

“Who’re you talking about?” I ask. “What the hell happened, man?”

“He came in through the window,” Emerson says. “I just barely fought him off. He was going for Lucas, and I tried to stop him—”

“Lucas is in the hall,” Kaitlyn says. “He’s alive. Let’s go back to who the hell are you talking about?”

As she speaks, I go to the window and look out down below. There’s nothing but darkness and rain, which peppers my hands with cold, icy darts of water. I shut the window and step away, careful to avoid the streaks of red as I walk back to Kaitlyn and wait for Emerson to answer her.

“I don’t know,” Emerson says slowly. “Someone attacked us. Knocked Lucas out and then I attacked him with his own knife and he came after me. Chased me in here.”