Cathablanca

Episode #14: "A Bloody Parade of Terror"


"DON'T PANIC! PLEASE DON'T PANIC!" shouted Count Floyd. "EVERYONE -- STAY TOGETHER AND REMAIN CALM! IT'S YOUR BEST CHANCE TO STAY ALIVE! PLEASE!!"
At last the group in the entry hall calmed down to the point where they could hear Reverend Gregory, who decided to take charge and restore order. Holding his hands up in the air and raising his voice in his 'everything's going to be all right, don't panic' voice, he addressed the group with a sincere smile.
"All right, all right now, let's not lose our composure here, folks! There's no reason to get unduly excited", reassured the Reverend. The group looked at him, taking some comfort in his calm tone and demeanor. Just then, MightySam burst into the room screaming.
"THEY FOUND A DEAD BODY IN THE DINING ROOM!!! THERE'S THIRTEEN STAB WOUNDS IN HER CHEST!!!"
Quickly, before the information had a chance to panic the crowd again, Reverend Gregory spoke again in his calm, reassuring voice.
"Now don't get excited, people ... please! It's only one body .. we already KNEW there was going to be ONE of those now, didn't we?" he said, a nervous smile on his face. As he finished speaking, Elbogz crashed into the room, out of breath but screaming hysterically.
"THERE'S A BODY HANGING FROM A NOOSE IN THE UPSTAIRS FOYER!"
This disturbed the crowd, and the Reverend now struggled to keep control of the situation.
"Hold on, folks! Please try to remain calm! Panicking is NOT going to help the situation ... PLEASE!" Just then, Sneena rushed into the room, shreiking at the top of her lungs.
"THEY FOUND THREE BODIES UPSTAIRS WITH THEIR HEADS CUT OFF!!!"
The group in the entry hall, now preconditioned to accept shocking news by the good Reverend Gregory, did not panic. Instead, all at the same time, they looked towards the Reverend to see what he'd say. His face was frozen for a few seconds in shock, then he snapped out of it and screamed himself.
"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!" as he ran around in circles waving his arms.
Two hours later, those who were still alive gathered in the entry hall. Exhausted and spent, their adrenaline depleted, they tried to sleep, as MightySam and Elbogz held onto each other sobbing in the corner of the room. Sneena was still hysterical, sobbing over and over, "No heads, no heads!", as Cathie tried to console her.
With nothing else to do until dawn came and the doors opened, Dirk and Erich tried to make a list of which rooms had dead carcasses and which didn't. Dirk took notes on a pad while Erich referred to his own scribbled notes.
"Dining room?" asked Dirk.
"Carcass," Erich replied.
"Master bedroom?"
"Carcass."
"Study? Drawing room? Sitting room?"
"Carcass, carcass, carcass."
"Kitchen?"
"No carcass."
"What? No carcass in the kitchen?"
"You sound disappointed."
"Uh ... no! I was just surprised, that's all. I mean ... I thought I was beginning to see a pattern, and then ..."
"Oh, I see."
Outside the house, dawn had yet to break. A crowd of reporters began gathering, trying to pry information from the police. Word had leaked out that screams were heard, Francesca's birthday party-goers had not emerged from the house, and all efforts to open the doors or otherwise break into the house had failed.
Inspector Eustacio was assigned to the case, and had never seen anything like it before.
Who will the corpses be? Don't miss the next exciting episode!