I drive into town just in time for the festival. My friend tells me he has this girl that I just have to meet and takes me over to this pavilion. I’m a bit skeptical but I go along and sit down. A very wild-eyed teenager intercepts me on my way and tells me that I’m going to die the next day and be struck by lightning multiple times that night. I brush him off and keep moving. When I get there I see this beautiful girl sitting at a table near my friend and another girl he’s talking to. I sit down next to her and start talking. The next thing I know the same teenager walks up and says many of the same things to this girl. Soon enough it’s night and this girl, Michelle, and I have fallen in love.
We all move into this huge building for a ceremony, but I’m not paying attention. All I care about is talking to Michelle. That teenager that approached me and then Michelle stands up to make a speech and even though I was only barely listening he says only a few words, “You are all going to die. Tonight. In this house.”
Soon after that I’m knocked unconscious and I’m outside again under that pavilion. It’s raining hard. The building is shining and all the lights that shine through windows are on. There are bystanders nearby with shock and terror written on their faces. I ask what’s happened, and without taking their eyes from the building, they tell me, “Leon struck again. This orphan kid turned serial killer a few years ago and has been eluding police ever since. He has all the people from that party earlier today up there.” I don’t consider how I was ejected from that death trap. All I care about is getting in and helping Michelle.
I ravage my surroundings for some form of weapon and find a strange one. It’s about the size of a pistol with a rifle stock and instead of a barrel there’s a knife blade. I slide a switch on the side and it folds down, push it back and it folds up. I flip it down and run into the house forgetting the rain. A single bolt of lightning strikes two feet from me and chars my side. I keep running and make it inside. The first thing I see is five people stripped and thrashing against their bonds, chains that have them tied at the wrist to the wall and ankle to the ground. It kills me to do it but I bypass all of them and keep moving up the floors. Every floor has at least two or three bodies tied this way and I’m terrified that a human could do this.
Around the eighteenth I find two bodies with the same treatment but with blindfolds and open cuts all over them. I press on and keep moving. As I near the top I’m wondering about two things, first where this mad man is, and second why he put Michelle so near the top. I climb one more floor and see him with his back turned walking up the next flight and hear muffled cries from this floor that sound like Michelle. Without hesitation I leave him and run to Michelle. She is tied the same way as the others before her but she is untouched. I don’t question fate, but instead get to work on her restraints. As soon as I get her up and we start running, I hear steady footsteps from above. We keep running and running and soon we make it down to the second floor.
He materializes out of a doorway with the knife end of a weapon identical to mine in his hand pointed at us. I push Michelle behind me and draw my own. He smirks and starts toward me and somehow I’m able to hold him off. Soon he stops trying to kill me quickly and tries to tire me out. I start attacking faster and he merely parries everything. After one I push his knife blade to the side and throw my shoulder into him, ramming him against a wall. He falls but is not showing any signs of surprise. I kick his gun-knife away and with my barrel pointed at his head I elect again not to kill him but to attempt to cripple him and step down as hard as I can on the front of his kneecap. I hear something pop and don’t look at his face before running. I can hear him hobbling after his gun and know there isn’t enough time to make it to the stairs.
On the run I pick up Michelle and shoot out a window. As I jump through the portal, another bolt strikes next to me, leaving my leg burned. I roll to cushion my fall and protect Michelle at the same time. We don’t talk and sprint toward my car, which I had pointed out during the day. I unlock it as we approach and we both get in. We make for the airport to fly ourselves as far away as possible and suddenly a tire blows out.
We are about 15 minutes walking distance from the airport and start running hoping to whatever god is in heaven for some form of protection. Three busses pass us by on the way and one comes between us, perpendicular to the sidewalk we’re on. The driver’s door is facing me and the back end against the sidewalk. I shudder in horror as I see him emerge and shoot franticly at him. Again I can’t bring myself to shoot for the kill, but to cripple. I aim for the kneecap I thought I had broken, which appears undamaged as he walks on it. All the while I call, “It’s him! Run! Get away from here!” and sheer terror envelops Michelle and she runs toward the airport. I keep calling even as he rams a knife into my side and I feel the voice flying from my lips. I collapse, still living, but soon dying.
“She made it out Leon. She escaped. You didn’t kill her.”
“Why did you not attempt to kill me?” he says and he starts bleeding through all of the injuries I inflicted. “You had many opportunities and you took none.”
All I could reply with was, “I’m no killer.”
“You have ended me.” And he collapses next to me.
As my vision fades the last thing I can think of is that I regret none of what took place.