Trigger Warning: A character dies in literally the first part. Surprise.

Superstore Slaughterhouse

THE LOCAL GRAB & BAG WAS AS GOOD A PLACE AS ANY TO KILL YOUR FRIEND. It helped that it's pharmacy was stocked with enough drugs to kill a grown elephant. Which was great, because all they needed was enough to kill an already weak teenage girl.

Bec winced as they snuck their way through the store. Blessed be the ambulance they stole, because it basically saved her life. That is to say it had enough supplies to keep her from bleeding to death before they killed and un-killed Sam and got some actual help. Now she just had to keep from passing out like a loser again. Should have been easy. No sleepy. Sleepy bad. But when even turning her head too quickly made her vision blur, it became far harder to achieve.

They group sat around the pharmacy as Simon collected what they needed. He excited with an armful of containers.

"A few months ago, my brother Timothy had an unfortunate experience in which he ingested too much of a certain substance," Simon explained as he dumped the containers on the table. A very fancy way of saying he ODed. "He was dead for two minutes. But...we got him back!"

"Kate," Deena turned to her friend. "It's time for your close-up."

Kate proceeded to dump the pills onto the counter. In seconds she'd begun sorting them. They all looked the same to Bec, with the colors being the only differences, but Kate seemed to know the difference just by studying the numbers. She collected them into piles, which she then passed to Simon to explain.

"You need to take these in order," Simon pushed the first pile forwards. "Pile one takes the edge off. You're gonna feel like you're being fucked by a unicorn."

"Why — why would anyone want to feel like that?" Marney asked.

"You have no idea," Simon then moved on to the next pile. "Pile two is gonna bring your core temp way down. You may feel slightly sick. Now, you need to take a five minute interval between pile two and pile three. That's really important, okay? Pile three brings you down and out, so you gotta take that 'take five' or it's all gonna go to shit!"

"How many do we have?" Kate asked, picking up some of the epi-pens.

"Tons. Like, a thousand."

"Wait. Epi-pens?" Deena gave them an incredulous look.

"Epinephrine, also know as adrenaline. This is what brings her back. This is Jesus!" Simon announced.

Bec was pretty sure he expected them to be more excited about that. They definitely weren't.

They stood still as they painted Sam's blood onto the front of chests shirts. Most of them got lucky. It was on their shirts, so if they panicked, they could just take it off. Running around in your bra was weird, Bec had to admit, but getting shanked again was weirder. Simon, meanwhile, just got a bloody X on his bare chest. Unless he did some quick scrubbing, he was stuck with that.

Kate gave Josh a quick kiss before they split up. Bec blinked. Did that happen while she was passed out?

Grocery stories usually freaked Bec out for normal people reasons. Like the painfully high prices. Now, with only a faint blue glow from the coolers and monsters seconds away, Bec suspected that was the least of her problems.

So was the law. Trying to stay calm, Bec grabbed a box of cereal from the shelf, broke open the seal, and dug through it. Her shoulder screamed at the movement, but it settled to a dull ache once her arm was still. That was the best way to do it, she found. Movement hurt. Just keep it still. At least the pain wasn't so sharp that way.

A faint song picked up in the distance. Bec froze. It was too far for her to get an exact location. Heavy foot steps followed.

A scream. Bec whipped around. She knew where that came from — Sam and Deena. Bright light exploded from that direction and Bec broken into a run. Or her best approximation of one. A vague hustle. Even the slightest gain in nearly sent her doubling over.

Screams echoed through the building. Kate. Bec turned to check behind her. Nothing. Bec stepped into one of the aisles.

Right into someone's waiting grasp.

An arm closed around Bec's throat. She thrashed as she was torn off her feet. It got her dropped. Right onto her back. Bec barely registered the explosion of pain. Just the split second her vision went black. Then she was back and Miron Wardwell was top of her. He swung the sickle for her eye, raking the side of her face instead when Bec twisted out of the way. Bec used to moment to catch his wrist long enough to sink her teeth into his hand.

The weapon clattered to the ground. Bec gagged as black blood flooded her mouth, and then again when Miron drove his knee into her gut. She tried to grab for the sickle. Her arm wouldn't move.

With cry, Bec threw her weight upwards. It was enough to force Miron back and free her good arm. She swung to the side. Bec's finger tips caught the handle.

Miron grabbed a fistful of her hair. Bec screamed as she was thrown backward. The air was torn from her lungs. Her vision doubled as Miron stepped over her. Bec tried to move, but she could barely manage enough air to think. A second to late, Bec tried to push herself back.

The last thing she saw was Miron Wardwell driving his heel into her face. 

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THE POLICE ARRIVED, BUT IT WAS TOO LITTLE TOO LATE. They'd saved Sam at the cost of half their friend group.

Marney didn't hear most of what the police said. She stared out into the waiting room, fingers pressed to the cut on her cheek. Just a cut where Ruby Lane had slashed at her face. Bec's face had been smashed in to the point of being unrecognizable and Marney had just a cut.

Nick Goode took them back, one by one, for interrogation. Marney didn't know why she went last. A part of her was glad. There was nothing she wanted less than to talk to someone right now. Even Jude, sitting silently by her side, seemed like too much. It was all too much. But that didn't matter to the sheriff and Marney couldn't exactly tell him no, she when she was called forward she went.

There was a recorder on the table. Sheriff Goode hit start. He sounded tired as he started to talk.

"Interview with Marney Wardwell. Sunday, October 2nd, 1994," Sheriff Goode said. He leaned back in his seat. "Wanna tell me what happened."

They had a set story to tell. They were picking up Sam's prescription. It went dark. They hid until it was over. They didn't see who attacked who, who killed who, or anything that might be useful. Marney stuck with that. She didn't have the energy to make her own lie and it was easier than the truth.

"Where'd all that blood come from?" Sheriff Goode asked. He wasn't impressed.

"My sister." The truth. "She protected me." Also the truth.

Sheriff Goode sighed. Marney knew he wasn't happy with them. His eyes drifted past her, and for a moment she wondered if he saw Jude standing behind her. Of course he didn't. Jude was dead. Just like Liz, and Bec, and Simon, and Kate. Sheriff Goode didn't see any of them. He just saw another Shadyside tragedy. It was all they were to him. All they ever would be.

"I'll tell you want the fact tell me," Sheriff Goode started. "The junkies —"

Simon and Kate. They weren't junkies. They were trying to provide for their families. Make a future for themselves when everyone else had given up because of where they were born. If you thought about it, they barely even did drugs. Just sold them. More importantly, they were their friends. They sacrificed themselves for Sam. They deserved to be remembered as more than just 'the junkies.' But Marney didn't say that. Why would she? Sheriff Goode would never listen. The news would never listen. Why would she waste her breath on people who didn't care?

"They're to blame for everything, and your sister died trying to stop them," Sheriff Goode said. Marney wondered why he didn't try to throw Bec under the bus, too. Maybe he still felt he owed them for Jude. "Now, I think that's too easy. But that's the story this department will go with, unless you can help me to see it differently."

"I'm sure it is," Marney said. Her voice sounded hollow, even to her. "I just want to ask, Sheriff Goode. When you give your speech, which one died first? Did Kate shove her own head through a bread slicer? Or did Simon ax himself over the head? And was it the drugs or horror movies that made them do it? I'm curious. If I can have some input, and I think I should since it's my friends you're slandering, might I suggest the devil? We haven't had a good Satanic Panic in a good while."

Sheriff Goode frowned. But Marney guessed he had nothing to say, since he clicked the recorder off. If he had it his way that would be the end. Marney Wardwell would go home with her father another victim of the family curse.

But somewhere in Shadyside, Sam Fraser tried to kill her girlfriend and failed. Somewhere in Shadyside, a group of friends wouldn't let their loved ones die in vain.

Author's Note: The end of 1994! People who've read the original version of Urban Legends already knew it was coming, but I still feel bad killing Bec.