Page 29 of We’re All Going to Die Tonight!

Emerson looks at each of us in turn. When he speaks, his voice is torn between a rasp and a whisper.

“I didn’t see his face,” he says. “But one thing’s for sure. He would’ve killed Lucas if I hadn’t gotten there first. He would’ve killed all of us.”

“Where did he go?” Marlene asks, her voice a shaky, broken thing.

Emerson hangs his head. “He must’ve gone back out of the window. Or somewhere else. I don’t know.”

I look at Caulder, meeting his eyes. “We need to get the teachers.”

“Yes,” Emerson croaks. “Where are they? We need to call 911—”

“We don’t know. We were looking for them when we found you,” Kaitlyn says, then tilts her head up at me. “Where else would they be?”

“Hang on,” Caulder says, turning around and heading out of the room. So much for not separating.

I look back at Emerson, who’s climbed to his feet, wincing, clutching his side.

“What kind of knife did the guy have?” I ask.

Emerson looks at me, annoyance flashing across his face. “What?”

“The knife,” I ask. “That’s how you got those wounds, right?”

Emerson glares at me. “Obviously.”

“So what kind of knife was it?” I ask. “Butcher knife? Chef knife? Hunting—”

“Javi,” Avery snaps, drawing my gaze. Marlene’s shivering next to her, and she narrows her eyes as if to tell me to knock off the knife talk.

I swallow my other questions but keep my eyes on Emerson. He looks at me as if he knows I don’t believe him. Not entirely. I’ve watched the guy debate too many times this summer to not be able to spot when he’s up against a corner and lying his ass off. He’s hiding something.

But what?

“What the actual hell is going on?” Kaitlyn says, backing out of the bathroom. Something in my gut twists, seeing her so upset. We can’t stay here. We’re too vulnerable.

“Caulder?” I yell, and he’s there in a second.

“I checked for Mr. Jay and Coach,” he says. “They’re not up here in any of the rooms.”

“Yeah,” Kaitlyn says, waving her hands around at the blood. “Clearly, they’re fucking dead.”

“If they were dead, their bodies would be here,” I point out. “More like they’ve just disappeared.”

“Unless they did this,” Kaitlyn counters. “Maybe they teamed up and attacked the guys.”

“Kaitlyn,” Avery says, sounding scandalized. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“What?” Kaitlyn says, shrugging. “The pressures of being a teacher, right? Maybe they lost it—”

“And jumped out of the window together?” Caulder asks. “That sounds pretty ridiculous, Kait.”

She huffs. He’s got her there.

“We need to go downstairs,” I say. “We shouldn’t be here.”

“Let’s go,” Caulder says.

No one argues. We file out together but stop at Lucas, still lying in his own blood.