Page 86 of We’re All Going to Die Tonight!

The scream rips through the air, and we both jolt up from the floor. Caulder’s hand tightens on mine as we both look to where it came from—above us. Terror finds me, adrenaline racing through my blood again as I stare at him. I know what we’re about to do before we do it.

Because we don’t leave people behind.

Hand in Caulder’s, I pull him back into the house, down hallway after hallway, through the living room, and up the stairs.

Where Emerson’s standing, shirtless, his blond hair wet from his shower, emerald-green sweatpants covering his legs.

The knife in his hand pointed directly at us.

Chapter 48

Caulder

October 17

3:47 a.m.

Time slows to a stop. I see Emerson standing there in the dark, see the knife. Next to me, Avery lets out a gasp. She takes a step toward Emerson; then she stops.

Then, she screams.

I look up, and someone’s appeared in the doorway to Emerson’s room. I squint to make them out in the dark—they’re tall and a little wiry. And I realize they usually have a cocksure smile plastered on their face.

Only now, he looks like a ghost.

“Lucas?”

Chapter 49

Avery

October 17

3:47 a.m.

He’s here. Lucas is actually here, standing in front of me, eyes as wide as saucers, mouth hanging open as he looks from me to Caulder. I follow his gaze to Emerson, whose smile broadens as he holds up the knife.

“Emerson,” Caulder says slowly. “Put the knife down, man. What’s going on?”

“Look who I found,” Emerson says, still holding up the blade. “Look who I found lurking around with this.”

“Holy shit.” Kaitlyn’s voice is a bolt through the air, and I turn to see her stepping into the hallway from her room. She blinks fast, moving from Lucas to Caulder to Emerson to me and back again.

“What the fuck happened?” Kaitlyn asks.

“They’re working together,” comes a strangled sound from behind Lucas that makes me jump. I look past Lucas’s shoulder to see a closet door is ajar, two wide eyes peering out at me through the dark.

“Marlene?” I ask, rushing past Kaitlyn, Caulder, and Lucas to fully open the closet door. She’s trembling harder than ever as I take her hands in mine. “What are you talking about?”

“Lucas,” she says, and there’s such hurt and betrayal cracking through every syllable that it makes me tear up. “He gave Emerson the knife.”

“What?” I ask, looking from her to Lucas, shock written across his features.

“I came in here to cry,” Marlene explains through sniffles. “After what Emerson said. I just wanted to be alone. I heard the shower turn on. And then I heard footsteps. And then I heard…I heard a scream.”

She lifts her gaze to Lucas, meeting his eyes. It seems like forever ago that I watched the two of them playing Guess Who? downstairs.

“That wasn’t me, Mari,” Lucas says, and I don’t know how to process the fact that he sounds just like the Lucas I’ve always known. Kind, gentle, sweet. Curious about the world.