On a cool Halloween evening, a group of teens made their way towards an old manor on the outskirts of town. The five teens were Jacob the fox, Trevor the otter, Paul the wolf, Nikki the mouse, and Rebecca the hare. Jacob was dressed as a vampire with a black cloak and pants with a blood-red shirt. Trevor was dressed as a zombie, wearing old tattered clothes along with a decent amount of makeup done by Nikki to make it look like patches of fur and flesh were missing from parts of his otter form. Paul was a Night Hunter, adorned with a ivory white wolf mask and carried a large toy crossbow while wearing a black robe that he got from the local Halloween store. Rebecca dressed up as a fairly scantily clad fairy with a short, pale green dress and glitter in her fur and on the fake wings strapped to her back while Nikki went as The Creature, her fur dyed green with fake stitching along her body. The group of friends slowly walked down the last alley to their destination while the chatter of kids out trick or treating faded behind them. The group had been telling various stories about the old manor that they had agreed to as a group dare to last as long as they could for the within  its walls for at least the night. As they drew closer, they could finally see the state of the manor...it stood decrypted and unkept with an overgrown yard and decaying siding and roof; it was clear that the property had earned its reputation as being haunted by all those who had gone before them. The teens approached slowly passed the gate, some nervously laughing while Paul huffed, trying to be the brave one for the group and help them go through with the dare. Once the teens entered, Nikki shyly talked about how the place was haunted and that they should go back only to have a small feline boy laugh at them and say that it wasn’t. His family just moved a long time ago and he was visiting where his parents lived, then offered to play hide and seek with the teens, who after a little reluctance agreed. After all, they were there to explore and have some fun.

The group broke off to various parts of the manor as Rupert closed his eyes and began to count. The cat boy swayed side to side with each number, his tail flicking in kind like a pendulum as the teens found places to hide, one going as a pair, making Rebecca roll her eyes as she had noticed. Once Rupert reached 50, he excitedly yelled out, “50! READY OR NOT, HERE I COME! I HOPE YOU FOUND GOOD PLACES TO HIDE!” before bounding down a hall, his giggles and pitter patter of his feet echoing off the walls.

Unfortunately for Rebecca, those echoes were growing louder as she hid in a cabinet by the sink in the kitchen. The dread of being found made her shiver a bit, her bunny instincts telling her to flee, but steeled herself as she felt her spot was a good hiding spot. She heard the cat come to a stop in the kitchen, he was purring loud enough for her to hear as he opened the cabinets under the sink first, making the bunny’s heart pound with what she knew was irrational fear...it was just a boy looking for her, right? She heard Rupert huff as he found nothing under the sink, “Drat...someone usually always goes under the sink...hmm…” Rebecca then heard his steps slowly, steadily move closer...then the doors flew open as Rupert yelled, “AH HA!” making the bunny jump from fright, hitting her head on the top of the cabinet, “O-Ow!”

“Ha ha~ I found you~”

The bunny nodded, rubbing the top of her head as she climbed out, standing in the kitchen with the cat boy, “Yep...thought I’d be harder to find here.”

Rupert giggled as he swayed side to side, taking steps to the counter top, “Well, I’ve had a few friends hide there before. It’s become one of my first places to check~” before seeming to rummage through a drawer.

“Ah, I was unlucky then. Heh, us bunnies are supposed to be lucky.” She said, taking a few steps to the middle of the room, looking down the hall.

“Yeah...you were caught first.” Rupert said before turning to the girl, a knife in his hands before taking a few rapid steps towards her and drove the blade into her back. The bunny could only let out soft gasp as the blade sank into her heart, her form trembling as her warm blood poured down the back of her green dress, her fake wings fluttering to the ground. Rebecca soon dropped to her knees, then fell onto her side motionless, her eyes glazing over as a crimson pool spread out under her, gleaming in the pale moon light.

In another part of the manor, Trevor was hiding with Nikki in a small utility closet down one of the long halls with plenty of debris between them and the door to obscure their presence. The two giggled as they began to kiss, not wanting the night to go to waste just playing a children’s game. That is until they heard the young cat boy whisper a few minutes later, “Heeeey, what are you two doing?”

The pair nearly jumped out of their skins, the mouse nearly glowing from embarrassment of being caught as Trevor spoke slightly annoyed, “How long have you been there?”

“For a little while~ just in time to see you two kiss!” Rupert said with a giggle before saying in a teasing tone, “But I found you two...you lost the game!”

The otter rolled his eyes as he heard that, letting out a sigh as he said, “Yeah yeah, whatever. We lost, go find the others alre-” He couldn’t finish his sentence as Rupert silenced him by lunging onto the otter, tearing at their neck with his septic fangs, bathing the room and occupants in the fountain of blood. Nikki screamed, fear blocking out any sense of logic or survival as she pushed herself into a corner. The mouse prayed in her mind that this was just a nightmare, her eyes screwed shut, but soon had those prayers denied as Rupert leapt from Trevor’s trembling body onto the mouse. The otter’s hand gripped at his gushing wound, choking on his own blood, while Rupert's claws ripped and tore at Nikki’s body. The mouse's screams went silent as pain ravaged her whole body and more and more of her flesh was ripped from her frame, being carelessly tossed against the walls and floor by the nearly giddy cat boy. Once she laid lifeless, the cat seemed to purr, looking back to the gurgling noise that the otter was making, listening to it slowly fade until his body too turned motionless. Rupert smiled as he felt the heat of life that was in the room quickly evaporate by the cold grasp of death.

Jacob was upstairs, looking through some rooms trying to see which one would be a good spot to hide. As he opened one, he heard a muffled scream that made his hair stand up straight. Trembling slightly the fox turned to look down the hall...the stairs right around the corner. He nearly jumped as he saw Rupert running around the corner, smiling wide as he saw the fox and charged down to him, “I FOUND YOU~!”

Jacob let out a sight as he saw it was the cat boy, though he thought he would have more time as he asked, “What was that scream?” 

“Oh that? I found the mouse girl. She gets spooked easily huh?” Rupert said with a giggle.

“Yeah, you could say that. Sorry for not giving you a good game.” The fox rubbed the back of his head, a bit embarrassed about getting caught while still looking for a place to hide.

Tilting his head, Rupert asked, “Want me to show you a good hiding spot for next time?”

Shyly the fox nodded, still feeling embarrassed while the cat nearly bounced as he led them down the hall a bit further and opened a door. Rupert ushered Jacob into the room as he said, “This is my bedroom. No one finds me here.”

As the door was closed behind them, Jacob’s hair stood up once again. The room was quiet...no SILENT. The breeze against the house was gone...the sound of bugs absent, nothing but the dust of the room in the pale moonlight. The fox felt the blood leave his face as his eyes caught a sight he wished he hadn’t seen...the skeletal remains of a young cat as Rupert’s voice spoke softly behind him, “No one has ever found me…and they won’t find you...but  you lost this round.” Jacob turned around just in time for the cat to jump on him, knocking him over while the cat began to tear at his flesh. With pained screams, Jacob tried to fight the boy off only to feel more of his clothes being torn along with chunks of his chest and neck as the room filled with the scent of blood.

Paul pants as he ran through the house, abandoning his hiding space in the reading room and not caring about this game anymore as he heard Nikki’s scream. As he came into the kitchen he stopped, seeing Rebeca motionless on the floor in a pool of blood. The wolf tossed his mask aside as he threw up, the sight of his friend and the pungent scent of blood and death was too much for his senses. After a few moments, he pulled himself together and pushed on to where he heard Nikki, fearing the worst. As he opened the door to where he thought the scream would have come from he heard another set of screams from upstairs. He opened the door to be greeted by the stench of death once more. He could barely even recognize Nikki but the sight of Trevor made what was going on clear...this wasn’t just a game...it was a hunt. Gritting his teeth, the wolf pushed himself to move. His body wanted to just collapse in despair but his will to live pushed it to move to the foyer, determined to escape! Paul’s heart sank though as he entered the foyer...seeing Rupert standing in the middle of the room, hands behind his back and tail swaying...as if he was waiting for the wolf, “Found you~” the cat chimed. Paul took his toy crossbow, ready to use it as a club as he yelled, “You monster! You killed them didn’t you?!”

“They lost the game...just like you~” The cat said, his grin gleaming in the pale light before moving to pounce the wolf. Paul smashed his crossbow across the boy’s head mid pounce, sending him crashing onto the floor to the side. The impact broke the toy into pieces as Jacob tossed them aside while dashing for the door. Just as he reached the handle, he felt Rupert jump onto his back followed by searing pain of claws ripping at his clothes and into his flesh. Paul tried to reach back to pull the cat off before feeling their fangs dig into his neck, making him howl in pain as he grabbed Rupert’s head and ripped them off his back and to the floor. Rupert did not make it a clean pull, taking a chunk of the wolf’s neck with him. Paul stood out of sheer will, bright streams of crimson pulsing out of the wound on his neck, stumbling back to the door before collapsing...laying motionless in a spreading pool of blood.

Rupert purred as he looked at the new loser of his game, “That’s 5...just one more left…” He looked around, tail flicking before fixating his gaze into the void. “Ah...there you are.” I said with a grin. You would think you were safe behind that barrier? Sadly...you were here when the game started, and as long as it’s night here...I can take my time looking for you~ So I hope you found a good hiding place because...ready or not...HERE I COME!