Quality and Quantity Read online

your friends die.”

  “Oh, I’ll be watching. I’ll see you die.”

  “Die!” The blade was plunged into Nate’s chest.

  Amanda squealed as Rosa looked up. “Now!” Harold swung off his branch and tackled Rosa. The knife snapped and Harold charged again.

  “Join your friends!” Rosa dodged and slammed his head against a tree. Everything went black as he slid into Nate’s blood.

  “We’re too high.” Amanda cried. Rosa began to climb and trap them fifty feet off the ground!

  “Amanda, stay here. I’ll deal with her.’’ Will descended as Rosa took out a hook. “Oh man!” Rosa swung it and Will closed his eyes. Nothing happened. He opened them to see Rosa losing her grip with Harold dangling from her feet.

  “Hit her hard.” Harold told him.

  “Fine by me.” Will kicked her in the face.

  Rosa went flying through the air with Harold attached to her.

  “No!” Crack! Bones were crushed as Rosa splattered on the ground.

  Harold was ten feet from death and had latched onto a branch.

  On the ground, the three survivors stood around Rosa’s body.

  “It’s over.” Amanda said as she sobbed and Will held her close. They had given Nate a proper funeral. They returned to the valley and found tons of TNT in the basement.

  “Shall we?” Will asked. They stacked explosives in the house, in the tunnel, throughout the valley, at the campsite, and everywhere in between. They stood on the dirt road with the detonator. “Ready?”

  Suddenly, they remembered the earlier events. They had defeated Death. They were free now. Their friends and loved ones were gone from their loves. Now they were going to leave it behind. Will’s finger moved over the button.

  “Freeze!” He dropped the device and it rolled off the bank.

  “We’re saved!” Amanda shouted.

  State troopers were circling them with the lights blinking. Helicopters raced above them, dropping soldiers down in the valley. Ambulances, firefighters, and FBI agents swarmed too.

  An older man approached them in a black suit. “Agent Rob Hawkins of the FBI. Are you the only ones alive?” The three nodded and were escorted away. They watched as they left the horrific sight. They drove past the lake and for once felt safe.

  In the New York FBI Agency, the three teens were left in a private room. “I can’t believe we’re here.” Harold said, breaking the silence. Three agents came in.

  “Don’t worry kids; your parents are on their way. Also, we got the reports back from the lake. Rescuers found all seventeen of your poor friends. We’re sorry this happened. You might want these. We found them in Kyra Elsin’s bag.”

  Amanda opened a file and found six pictures. One was of all twenty of them in front of school only three days before the trip. There were also one of her and Harold, one of her, Amanda, and Helen, one with her soccer team, and one with them on the bus. The last one was of the campsite early Friday evening. In the background was Rosa’s face staring at them! “I can’t believe we didn’t see her.” The agents had more bad news.

  “We found Bert, Ken, and Mark all dead. I got to give you props. You outran and outlasted the Muroshis the longest. However, Rosa and Amy were never found.”

  Their spirits were broken. Two killers were missing and alive. Now no place was safe. Where would they go?

  “We’re searching all day and night. They’ll be caught.”

  It didn’t matter. They knew they would be murdered.

  They were returned home and forced to listen to their families cry and moan for hours. The next week school was closed on memorial for those who died. Amanda, Harold, and Will were respected for living through it for four days. A memorial statue was built. It represented the photo of all of them from Kyra’s picture. Then all over town, individual statues were built. The messages on each told of their stories and their deaths. The large statue read:

  Anyone can do anything. These kids are heroes. Many scarified their lives, but three strong souls survived. God bless them all.