Page 27 of Stay Scared

“All of it stops.”

I already tested it. The men stopped, and the doorway stayed open. I don’t need him to explain the rule again.

Ash looks toward the service corridor. “What I cannot promise is that the rest of the system is secure.”

The fourth mask is still somewhere inside their structure. He stood close enough to silence me while Mark watched, then disappeared through a route none of these men claim to have opened.

Mark is locked inside a trailer under protocols they designed. Someone stole my camera feed and accessed a maintenance channel Ash says should have been sealed. Cade has drifted closer to the open doorway without blocking it, his body angled toward whatever might come through, while Owen keeps checking the corridor between glances at me.

Whoever breached Crimson Night knew exactly where to move.

“If I leave now, what happens to the footage?”

“You keep everything recorded so far,” Ash says. “Five thousand of the completion fee was guaranteed on entry. You lose the rest.”

Five thousand will help, though twenty-five thousand would help a lot more.

Cade sees the calculation. “Don’t stay for the money.”

“That is not your decision.”

“I’m not pretending it is.” He answers immediately, still watching the corridor. “Someone’s already inside our system. I’d rather shut the whole night down than watch you get hurt over the payout.”

“You helped bring me here.”

“And I’m telling you this isn’t the same situation anymore.”

Ash turns slightly toward him. “That decision is Salem’s.”

Cade leaves the argument there.

I look down the corridor. Leaving would put me onto a route they have already admitted somebody else can access. Staying keeps me near the three people currently hunting the breach.

Neither option qualifies as safe, and only one gives me answers.

I step back into the red room. Nobody closes the door, and the white operational lights stay on.

I walk to the chair and pick up Cade’s skull mask by one strap. The inside is still warm, and a faint smear of makeup marks the edge beneath the painted teeth. My fingers remember fastening a helmet strap beneath Cade’s chin before a winter ride.

I resent the memory enough to hand the mask back.

“You wanted a confrontation.”

Cade takes it. “I still want one.”

I turn toward Owen. “You wanted me to turn around.”

His eyes settle on me. “You finally did.”

The quiet delivery lands harder than it should.

Finally, I look at Ash. His Voice mask rests on the chair behind me.

“You wanted to know what I choose when I cannot guarantee the outcome.”

“That was the question.”

“I’m choosing to stay.”