Disclaimer: Cody belongs to Pearson Television Productions. Obviously a lot of the ideas from this story (including the title) come from a movie. Anything in this story that is in reference to the plot or the characters of Scream are property of Wes Craven and Dimension Films.
Authors Note: As some of you may realize, this story was not a part of the original series, which is why it’s marked new. This was an idea I had that I started on based on one of my favorite movies. However while I was starting it, I got so into some other fics, that this one got looked over and was left unfinished. Once I started bringing other characters in, I didn’t want to post this fic so I never finished it. I found it and figured if I was going to re-post the series, I might as well finish it and add it in. So, I hope you enjoy.

Power Rangers Zeo
“Scream”

Katherine Hillard turned all the lights off and the TV on in her living room. She was getting ready to have a movie marathon that night with just herself. Her parents were out of town for the weekend, and her cousin Carri was out on a date.

She walked away from the TV and put some popcorn in the microwave. Then the phone rang.

“Hello?”, she asked grabbing the portable from the kitchen counter

“Hello.”, said a voice on the other end

“Yes?”, she questioned

“Who is this?”, the voice asked

“Who do you want to talk to?”, Kat asked the caller

“What number is this?”, asked the voice

“What number did you dial?”, Kat asked

“I don’t know.”, the voice said

Kat smiled. “I believe you have the wrong number.”

“Do I?”, asked the voice

“Hey, don’t worry about it.”, Kat said before hanging up the phone

Not but 2 seconds later the phone rang again.

“Hello?”, she questioned

“I’m sorry I guess I dialed the wrong number.”, said the same voice

“Why did you call back?”, she asked

“To apologize.”, the voice told her

“I forgive you. Bye.”, Kat said

“Wait! Wait! Don’t hang up!”, yelled the voice

“What?”, asked Kat. She was starting to get aggravated.

“I want to talk to you for a second.”, the voice told her

“There are 900 numbers for that.”, Kat pointed out hanging up the phone

The phone rang another time and Kat rolled her eyes as she picked it up. “Hello?”

“Why don’t you want to talk to me?”, questioned the voice

“Who is this?”, she asked

“You tell me your name I’ll tell you mine.”, the voice said

“Um... I don’t think so.”, Kat said

“What’s that noise?”, asked the voice

“That’s the microwave. My popcorn’s done.” Kat walked over and took the popcorn bag out then she opened it and started eating a few pieces.

“You’re making popcorn?”, asked the voice

Kat nodded. “I made some.”

“I only eat popcorn at the movies.”, the voice told her

“Well I’m getting ready to watch some movies.”, she told him

“Really? What?”, the voice questioned

“Just some scary movies.”, she replied

“You like scary movies?”, the voice asked yet another question

“Well some of them.”, Kat told him

“What’s your favorite scary movie?”, the voice asked

Kat shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“You have to have a favorite. What comes to mind?”, asked the voice

Kat smiled. “I do have a favorite. Scream. You know, the movie where the lunatic calls and asks annoying questions to girls and then kills them wearing a ghost mask.”

“Yeah.”, the voice said

“What’s yours?”, asked Kat

“Guess.”, replied the voice

Kat thought for a moment. “Um.... Nightmare on Elm Street.”

“Is that the one with the guy that has knives for fingers?”, asked the voice

“Yeah, Freddy Kruger.”, she told him

“Freddy, that’s right.”, the voice said, “I like that movie. It was scary.”

“Well, the first one was but, the rest weren’t that good.”, Kat replied

“So, you got a boyfriend?”, asked the voice

“Why? You want to ask me out on a date?”, asked Kat

“Maybe.”, the voice told her

The voice repeated the question. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Kat frowned. She didn’t have one... Tommy was still with Kim and she would never try to do anything to take him away from her. “No I don’t.”

“You never told me your name.”, the voice said

“Why do you want to know my name?”, asked Kat

“Cause I want to know who I am looking at.”, the voice told her

“What did you say?”, questioned Kat

“I wanna know who I am talking to.”, lied the voice

“That’s not what you said.”, Kat informed him

“What do you think I said?”, asked the voice

Kat didn’t reply.

“Hello?”, he asked

“Look, I got to go.”, Kat told him

“Wait! I thought we were going to go out!”, exclaimed the voice

“I don’t think so.”, Kat said hanging up the phone

“Don’t hang up on me!”, the voice yelled as she put the receiver down

The phone rang again.

“Shit!”, she exclaimed as she picked it up. “Yes?”

“I told you not to hang up on me.”, the voice said

“What do you want?”, asked Kat in a tone that showed how scared she was becoming

“To talk.”, replied the voice

“Well dial someone else. Ok?”, requested Kat

Then Kat hung up. But, not to her surprise, the phone rang again.

“Listen here...”, Kat started to go off on him but then he cut her off

“No you listen to me! You hang up on me again, I’ll gut you like a fish. You understand?”, asked the voice

Kat walked through the living room, still hanging onto her popcorn. She caught a glimpse of her copy of Scream on the table. Kat gasped as she realized what was going on. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“More of a game really. Can you handle that?”, asked the voice. “Blondie.”, he added

Kat ran to lock the doors and looked out the window.

“Can you see me?”, the voice asked her

“Listen, I am two seconds away from calling the police.”, Kat informed him

“You mean those guys up at the station with a doughnut in one hand and a coffee cup in the other? They’d never make it in time.”, the voice told her

“What do you want?”, asked Kat

“To see what your insides look like.”, the voice replied

Kat slammed the phone down. Then the doorbell rang twice.

“Who’s there?”, Kat called out but got no reply. “Who’s there? I’m calling the police!”

The phone rang again.

“You should never say who’s there.”, the voice informed her, “Don’t you watch scary movies? It’s a death wish. You might as well come outside and investigate a strange noise or something.”

“Look you’ve had your fun now. So, I think you better just leave or else.”, threatened Kat

“Or else what?”, asked the voice

“Our else.... you’ll be sorry.”, Kat said, only thinking of how silly it sounded after she said it.

The voice laughed. “Let’s play a game.”

“I don’t think so.”, replied Kat

“Ok. Fine. I’ll just kill you.”, the voice told her

“No! Wait! Let’s be sensible here.”, Kat pleaded

“What are you going to do? Play or die?”, asked the voice

“What kind of game is it?”, asked Kat

“Here’s how to play. I ask you a question, and if you get it right you live.”, the voice told her

“Please, let’s not do this.”, Kat tried asking again

“Come on, it’ll be fun.”, promised the voice

“This is not my idea of fun.”, Kat informed the voice

“It’s an easy category.”, the voice said

“Come on...”

“Movie trivia.”, the voice told her, “I’ll even give you a warm up question.”

“Don’t do this, I can’t.”, Kat told him

“Name the killer in Scream?”, asked the voice

“No.”, Kat said

“Come on, it’s your favorite scary movie remember?”, the voice said, “He called girls on the phone, wore a ghost mask.”

“I don’t know.”, Kat told him

“Come on, yes you do.”, the voice said

“What’s his name?”, asked the voice

“I can’t think.”, Kat said

“Your life depends on it.”

Kat finally gave in to his game. “It was Billy and his friend Stuart.”

“Yes! Very good.”, congratulated the voice. “Now for the real question.”

“Hey, I answered one already.”

“But you’re doing so well. We can’t just stop now.”, the voice told her

“Leave me alone!”, she growled

“Then answer the question. Same category.”, the voice said

“Ok fine.”, she said

“Name the killer in Friday the 13th.”, said the voice

“Jason! It was Jason!”, she exclaimed

“Afraid not, no way!”, yelled the voice

“Listen it was Jason! I saw that move 20 times!”

“Then you should know that the original killer was Jason’s mother, Mrs. Voorhes. Jason didn’t show up till the sequel. I’m afraid that was the wrong answer.”

Kat made a face. “You tricked me!”

“Lucky for you there’s a bonus round.”, the voice told her. “Final question, are you ready?”

Kat looked around. “Why don’t you just leave me alone.”

“Answer the question and I will.”, promised the voice. What door am I at?”

“Excuse me?”, questioned Kat

“There are two main doors to your house. The front door and the patio door. If you answer correctly you live. Very simple.”, explained the voice

“I can’t do this, I can’t, I won’t.”

“Your call.”, the voice told her

Kat dropped the phone and ran for the back door. To her surprise she was met by a figure, a figure she couldn’t quite make out. She swore under her breath and ran the other way as the figure tried to get in.

She approached the front door and tried to get it open. To her surprise it was stuck.

“Open!”, she commanded as she used all her strength to open the door, but got no results.

As she tried to get the door open she heard the back door open.

“Come on.”, she muttered.

But there was some outside force keeping her from opening the door. Finally she gave up and turned around seeing where she could make a brake for it but came face to face with ghostface.

Several hours later Rocky DeSantos and Carri Hillard rolled into the driveway. Carri stepped out of the passenger side of his car and closed the door. She waived as she went to unlock the front door. Rocky stayed in the driveway watching to see that she got in.

Carri put the key in the door and tried to turn it but nothing happened. She started to bang on the door. “Kat!”, she called hoping Kat would hear her

But she got no reply and she continued to try the door. Behind her she heard the engine cut off on Rocky’s car and a door slam. Rocky came up behind her. “What’s wrong?”

“The door won’t open.”, she complained

Rocky took the key. “Here, let me try.” However, he had no more luck than she did. “Man this thing is really jammed good.”

“Let’s try the back door.”, Carri suggested. The two of them walked around to the back of the house, only to find the patio door open. Carri ran in. “Kat?”, she questioned getting worried

Rocky ran in behind her, calling Kat’s name as well. All the sudden Carri stopped when she entered the living room. “Oh my God.”, she whispered

The living room was a mess. There was popcorn in the floor, and pieces of a broken vase. The couch pillows looked like they had been thrown around, and a can of soda was on the table, knocked over with its contents spilled in the floor. On the side of the wall they were looking at, in what appeared to be blood, were the words “Who’s next?”.

Carri turned around looking at the room and when she saw the other wall she screamed and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Wha-“, Rocky started as he turned to see what she saw. On this wall it was written “Dead kitty” with a dead cat sitting in the floor. Rocky had seen a cat almost exactly like this one before, and that was PC.

Carri started to cry and she turned away from the scene before her eyes, burring her face in Rocky shoulder. Rocky put his arms around her. “We’ll find whoever did this.”, Rocky promised her

“What about Kat?”, she asked between tears

“She’s still alive.”, Rocky promised. “I know she is.”

“Let’s go find Billy and...”

Rocky cut her off. “This doesn’t look ranger related. And you know if it’s not we have to call the police.”

“How do you know for sure?”, asked Carri

Rocky pressed a button on his communicator. “Billy come in.”

“What is it Rocky?”, asked Billy Cranston

“Has their been any monsters or anything like that on Earth in the last few hours?”, asked Rocky

There was a pause before Billy answered. “No.”, he replied

“Thanks.”, Rocky said. “We have to call the police.”, he told Carri

Carri broke away from him and walked towards the phone. When she picked it up she got a dial tone. “One of the phones must be off the hook.”, she said

Rocky spotted the portable on the floor. Right next to Kat’s communicator.

“Come on let’s go use your neighbor’s phone.”

The police came in and surveyed the place, then they asked Carri and Rocky a million questions.

“Detective Mark Kincaid. I’m going to be working with you to find this guy.”, the guy in charge introduced himself. “So who is it that was in this room?”

“My cousin.”, Carri replied. “Katherine Hillard.”

“Where are your parents?”, he asked

“My parents? New York.”, she responded. “But I live with my Aunt and Uncle and they’re in San Diego.”

“Do you have a phone number from where they’re staying?”, Kincaid asked

Carri nodded. “Let me go get it.”, she said walking off

“Where were the two of you this evening?”, Kincaid asked

“We went out to eat then we went down to the beach.”, Rocky replied

Kincaid jotted a few things down on a piece of paper. “Tell me what happened when you arrived here.”

“Well, I drove Carri home and she got out of the car and went to open the front door, only it was jammed. So I turned off the car and went to try and help her get in, but we couldn’t get the front door opened. We came around to the back, found the door open and we walked in and saw the room like this.”

“I see.”, he said slowly as he wrote more down

Carri walked back into the room and handed Kincaid a piece of paper. “Do you think she’s...”

He looked at her. “Dead?”, he supplied. She nodded. “We can’t be sure of that right now. The blood on the walls appears to belong to that cat over there. By the way, is that your cat?”

“No we don’t own any pets.”, she replied shaking her head no

“Rocky, Carri!”, exclaimed Adam Park as he and his friend came running through the back door

“We came as soon as we got your message.”, Tommy Oliver told them

“Do you have any more questions detective?”, Rocky asked him

“No, I believe that will do it.”, Kincaid replied. “Why do you kids go home and try and get some sleep. There’s nothing more you can do here.”, he suggested as he walked off

“I am home.”, Carri muttered. “Let me just go sleep in my room knowing what’s happened down here.”, she said. Then she brushed past the others and walked out the door.

“Carri wait!”, Rocky called as the three boys chased after her

“What?”, asked Carri. “You guys don’t have to be here, go home.”

“Yeah and what about you?”, asked Adam. “You need to get some rest.”

“I’m not going and sleeping in that room. I’ll sleep in the...”, Carri paused and lowered her voice, “I’ll sleep in the Power Chamber if I have to.”

“I would say come back with me but I have a full house.”, Rocky told her

“We have an extra room. Why don’t you stay there tonight.”, Tommy suggested

“Tommy I can’t impose like that.”, she told him

“It’s not a problem.”, Tommy replied. “I’d be more than welcome to have you stay there.”

Carri sighed. “Fine. Let me go get some things.” She started to walk off but she turned back and looked at Tommy. “Thanks Tommy.”, she said then she walked back into the house

“I can’t believe...”, Tommy didn’t finish his sentence as he ran his hand through his long hair

“Who would do something like that?”, asked Adam

“I don’t know.”, replied Rocky. “But whoever it is, Kat’s not the only one he’s after. He left a message that said ‘Who’s Next’. The question is who’s he after.”

“We’ve got to think of all the groups Kat’s in.”, Adam said

“She’s involved in dance.”, Tommy started. “And a few clubs at school. But why would anyone be after them?”

“Then there’s the obvious.”, Rocky said pointing to his communicator

“But nobody even knows about that.”, Adam said. “Besides the ones involved and David.”

“And anyway, who would want to hurt us?”, Tommy questioned. “Who’s human.”, he added

Rocky shrugged. “Some psycho maybe. I don’t know. Besides it was just a suggestion.”

“So then what suspects have we got?”, Adam asked

“None.”, Tommy replied. “That’s the problem.”

A few minutes later Carri walked back out, duffel bag in hand. “I’m ready.”

“Alright. Let’s get out of here.”, Tommy said as the four teenagers walked off

Early the next morning Rocky got up and got ready for work. He wasn’t much in the mood to go, he was too concerned with Kat to be giving work his full attention. But he knew he had to go. They were already short staffed and lifeguards are one thing you can’t afford to not have.

Rocky pulled his car into his usual parking spot. He grabbed his stuff, locked his doors, and headed to check in.

“Hey man where you want me at today?”, Rocky asked

Jake Thompson looked up from his clipboard. “Tower thirteen.”

“Lucky thirteen?”, Rocky questioned a smile forming on his lips. Every single day without fail strange things happened by tower thirteen. And not just one a day, tower thirteen keeps everyone busy. His friend told him that yesterday someone actually gave birth by there.

“I think you can handle it.”, Jake replied smiling

Rocky nodded and headed down the beach. He reached tower thirteen and reached for the keys to unlock it. Quickly he got everything open and ready for the day’s activities. As he sat in his chair, he started to comb the beach. Not for any activity, not this early in the morning. But for Carri, who had promised to stop by sometime.

The morning hours passed and she still hadn’t shown up. Rocky figure she wouldn’t show this early, she had a long night and would probably be sleeping for a while.

Finally lunchtime rolled around. The beach picked up, and tower thirteen was starting to live up to its name. Rocky had already dealt with a little girl who had her lose tooth pulled by her brother and a teen star who the moment he laid down on a beach towel had at least a dozen middle school girls all over him. It took both Rocky and the guy’s security guard to get them off.

Sighing Rocky went to sit in his chair for a while hopefully. That’s when he saw it, a real rescue opportunity. It was one guy who swam too far out and was drowning, nothing more than a routine rescue. He grabbed his rescue can and ran to get him.

When he got there, the guy had gone further back. Something told Rocky this wasn’t right. He could hardly make the figure of the guy out. And come to think of it he didn’t remember anyone swimming out into the ocean this far anyway, he would have said something to him. But, being the good lifeguard he is, Rocky swam after him. When he got to the spot he last saw him at, he wasn’t there. He turned and looked in all directions and didn’t see him, so Rocky prepared to dive underwater and search.

“Are you prepared to die?”, a voice asked

Rocky thought he recognized the voice, from the movies, and he spun around and there was his “victim” although he wouldn’t know who he was because he was in a ghostface mask. Rocky assumed this was the guy that attacked Kat, and that if he was after him maybe it was Power Ranger related. But he didn’t have much time to think as he was attacked.

They fought for a while, but ghostface had the advantage because he held a knife. He knocked Rocky unconscious and then pulled him underwater to make his getaway.

Around a half an hour later, Carri walked in to an over crowed lifeguard headquarters. She looked around. “Sheesh.”, she muttered as she walked over to Rocky’s friend Cody. “Hey Cody. What tower is Rocky at?”

“Oh… how do I…”, Cody couldn’t quite get his words out and he was interrupted by a woman’s wailing and the sounds of kids crying.

Carri turned to the source of the noise. The woman was Mrs. DeSantos, and she was there with all of Rocky’s brothers and sisters, the littlest of who were doing the crying. “Shh.”, she said walking over and picking up Elizabeth, the four year old. She immediately clutched Carri’s shirt with her little hands and cried into it. “What’s wrong?”, she asked fearing the answer.

“Rocky’s gone and he’s never coming back.”, seven year old John explained

Carri paled and almost dropped Liz. “What?”, she questioned turning to Cody

“He went out for a routine rescue. And he never came back. We saw him go down along with the victim, but we were too far away to help. Who knows what happened. Maybe the current was so strong it pulled them both down, or the guy that was drowning lost it and took them both down.”, Cody explained

“Or it was sharks.”, Jake said walking in with Rocky’s can in hand

Carri took it from him.

“I don’t know if you should mess with that what if…”, Jake stopped when Carri glared at him

She looked it over. The normally white rope was red, she assumed it was a blood stain. Carri looked at the can. It looked like it had been patched up with a rectangle patch. Carri ran her fingers over the patch, only a corner of it rolled up revealing it to be a laminated sheet of orange paper. She pealed it off and looked at it. The message read: “Two down. Who’s next?”

“No!”, Carri screamed as the tears started to form. She sat Liz down on the floor.

“What’s wrong?”, asked Jake

“Call Detective Mark Kincaid, from the AGPD. He’s working the case.”, Carri ordered. Jake nodded and went to place the phone call.

Matt DeSantos, the thirteen year old, looked quizzically at Carri. “What’s going on?”

“It looks like we’re dealing with a serial killer.”, Carri said simply with a look of determination on her face. Something has to be done about this guy and fast.

Later that afternoon Tommy, Adam and Carri met up at the Power Chamber. Carri, who acted strong in front of the DeSantos family and the other lifeguards, was now crying in front of her friends as she retold the story.

“Well….”, Adam said pausing to think, “Rocky had his communicator with him. See if you can’t teleport the signal here.”

Alpha went to work on the controls. A few minutes later Rocky’s gym bag appeared with his communicator in it.

“Damn.”, Tommy swore. “Alright, well we can still search for both Rocky and Kat’s Zeo energy signatures right?”

“Assuming they’re alive.”, Carri replied

“They are alive. It’s just a matter of finding them.”, Adam assured her

“I have already searched Earth. Neither Kat nor Rocky are there.”, Alpha said

“It is possible that this human was working for King Mondo and has captured the others and taken them to another dimension or part of the galaxy.”, Zordon said

“Well we can search the galaxy, and all other dimensions, if that’s what it takes.”, Tommy said

“Right rangers. We won’t give up hope.”, Alpha replied as he started the search

“But remember the person attacking appears to be human which means it is out of our control. Any information found must be reported to the police.”, Zordon warned

They all nodded understandingly. As much as they wanted to go in and use the power to destroy this creep, he was human which meant he would have to be processed by the American legal system. But they all knew that once they caught him, he would be behind bars for a good long time.

Carri, Tommy and Adam arrived at the Angel Grove police station that evening. The Detective had requested that they come see him.

“I have some good news for you kids.”, Kincaid said

“Please share.”, Carri practically begged

“That cat that was in your house, it was a particularly rare breed of cat. There are only two registered in the county. One is registered to an older lady and is alive and accounted for. The other seems to have been sprung from a pet spa and hasn’t been seen since.”, Kincaid replied

“What does that mean?”, Tommy asked

“It means that since there was no b and e, then the person has to have had access to the building. So we have a list of about twelve suspects.”

“That’s good, right?”, Adam asked

The detective nodded. “Also I thought you would want to know that we searched for Rocky’s body based on the currents... there was no way his body could have gotten far and we didn’t find it. Also there was no evidence that your cousin had been harmed. All that blood was definitely feline.”

Carri let out a sigh of relief. The detective looked at them. “Now I need to know something from you all. This is obviously personal. So who would want to hurt you?”

The three teens looked at each other. “I’m sorry, but I can’t think of anyone who would want to hurt us.”

“Me neither.”, Carri said and Adam nodded in agreement

“This is important. Someone is out there, hunting you guys down. Someone who has a motive to kill you. This person has already taken two of your friends. And they are going to come after you next.”, Kincaid said glaring at them

Carri frowned. “We’re just high school kids. We haven’t even had that much of a chance to find enemies.”

“We know how important this is. If we knew anything, we would absolutely tell you.”, Tommy assured him

“Yeah two of the closest people in the world to us have gone missing. And we want nothing more than to find the bastard that did this and have him punished.”, Adam chimed in

Kincaid sighed. He didn’t think the teens were telling the truth. But there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He reached in his pocket and handed them each a card. “Alright. But if you think of anything, don’t hesitate to call.”

The three teens nodded as they walked out of the police station.

Later that night, Tommy, Carri and Adam sat down in Tommy’s living room on the couch. Tommy looked at his two friends and sighed. “I’ll be the one to say it.”, he started. They hadn’t brought it up yet. They went out for dinner and nobody wanted to say anything in public. “The detective was right. This has gotten personal. First Kat, and now Rocky... somebody is after us.”

“But who?”, asked Carri

“I don’t know.”, Tommy replied

“Well it is absolutely not Mondo. Or any other villain for that matter.”, Adam pointed out

Carri frowned. “But who does that leave? Who else knows who we are?”

“She’s right, there’s not much of a pool to choose from.”, Tommy said as he ran his fingers through his hair. He was racking his brain trying to come up with answers.

“Well I can safely say it’s not a former ranger. And the only other person who knows our identity is David.”

Tommy quickly jumped in after Adam spoke. “And we know it’s not David. Which means, somebody knows who we are.”

“But how? We’re always so careful.”, Carri said. She thought about it. She could never remember a time where she hadn’t checked and double checked before she morphed and teleported. She looked at the others. She could tell they were thinking the same thing.

“It’s possible someone is working for Mondo, doing his bidding.”, Adam suggested

Tommy frowned. “That’s an idea. But Mondo isn’t one to use humans as evil. And if he did, I don’t think this is what he would have planned.”

Carri sighed as she crossed her legs and propped her elbows up on her knees, putting her head in her hands. “Tommy’s right, this wouldn’t be Mondo’s style. This is from the mind of some sick human. I just don’t understand why anybody would do this. I just.... I can’t believe this is all happening.”

She felt a hand on each shoulder, one from Tommy and one from Adam. It was hard on them to loose two good friends, but Carri was missing both her cousin and boyfriend. “Kincaid will find this jerk. And find our friends. And when he does, well we have the best legal system and I know that he will get what’s coming to him.”, Adam tried to comfort her

Carri smiled. “I donno. I kinda like Hammurabi’s Code. You know, an eye for a eye. So when we catch him, I can beat the crap out of this dude without having to use my powers.”

Tommy laughed. “Yeah but he would still be free. Besides, I don’t think Zordon would approve.”

“Why not? He’s evil, I’m good. If Mondo comes down and sends a monster to abuse two rangers, we get to beat it up. What’s the difference?”, she grinned at Tommy as she finished. “I know I know. This loser is human. We shouldn’t hurt other humans.”

“Yeah but I think you might have had a point.”, Adam said as he smiled at her

“Why thank you.”, she replied

Suddenly, the three teens heard a noise. They all sat straight up and looked around. “You locked all the doors didn’t you?”, asked Adam

Tommy nodded his head in response.

“Maybe it was just a figment of our imagination. Because we’re all just freaked out about everything.”, Carri suggested, more to comfort her own fears than anything else.

“Maybe one of us should go check it out.”, Tommy said as he started to walk

Carri was quick to grab both of the boys wrists. “Or maybe we should just stick together. There’s safety in numbers you know.”

“We’re black belts, we’ll be fine.”, Adam said motioning to himself and Tommy

“Yes and I’m sure Rocky would have said the same thing.”, Carri replied

Tommy sighed. “Well we haven’t heard the noise again so maybe Carri was right after all.”

“Or maybe I’m just a lot quieter than you expected.”, someone said from behind

The three teens snapped around. Carri gasped as they stood face to face with ghostface. “What do you want with us?” asked Carri

“Let me show you.”, he said as he slung a knife at them

“Get down!”, Adam yelled as the three hit the floor

Tommy was the first one up, he grabbed Carri by the hand, who grabbed Adam, and they all took off. Tommy made it to their back door, which was jammed. They could see ghostface catching up to them. Tommy waited for a second, then kicked the man in the mask in the stomach, barely avoiding getting sliced in the leg. “Come on!”, Tommy yelled as they took off again.

He led them into a back room in his house, one that had a huge glass window that they could easily break and escape through. As Tommy looked for something to break the window with, ghostface threw a knife and caught Adam in the back of the leg.

“Adam!”, Carri exclaimed as she ran towards him

“Carri no!”, Adam said as he struggled to his feet and pushed her back. Ghostface was rushing him, and he didn’t want her to be killed trying to protect him. As the killer ran for him, he threw him aside. Unfortunately, ghostface was now blocking the window.

Tommy moved quickly to grab Carri by the wrist and run towards the stairs. If all else failed, they could break out of an upstairs window.

“What about Adam?”, Carri asked reluctant to go

Adam stood face to face with ghostface. “Don’t worry about me. I can’t keep up with you guys anymore. Just go.”

As much as Tommy didn’t want to, he knew that they would have to leave the house. He started to lead Carri up the stairs. As they ascended, he could see ghostface run after them, and Adam try to get in the way. He didn’t watch any more than that. He couldn’t if he was going to save himself and Carri.

He took Carri into his bedroom and opened a window. He slid out onto the part of the roof that sat around his window, then helped Carri out. They looked towards the ground. Without hesitating, the duo jumped.

After they hit the ground, Carri looked towards the house trying to get a glimpse of Adam. Tommy knew that if something had happened to Adam, they may not have much time. “We’ve got to run.”, he said

“Where?”, asked Carri

“Far away from here.”, Tommy replied

She nodded. She was hesitant to go, she could never leave a man behind. She knew Tommy couldn't either. But there was no sign that Kat or Rocky had been killed, so there was no reason to believe that was Adam's fate either. And if he wanted to kill Adam, he probably already would have. They had no choice but to run, or suffer the same fate as their friends.

Tommy led Carri through the neighborhood. He really had no idea where they were going. After a while, they ended up in Angel Grove park. Carri stopped. "Do you think we're far enough away?"

"I don't know. I hope so.", Tommy replied

Carri took a few deep breaths to calm herself down as she walked over and sat on one of the swings. Tommy went down and sat on a swing beside her. "What are we going to do?", she asked. "He's obviously going to come after us."

"I know.", Tommy said as he glanced down at the ground. "And I don't have the answers. I should... I am the leader after all... you guys look to me for guidance and I feel as though I'm letting everyone down."

Carri put a hand on his back. "No, you're not. It was your quick thinking that got us out of the house. We might not be here if it weren't for that. And... and you're the leader of the power rangers. You know how to handle threats from Mondo. But this is a threat from a psycho killer. None of us could have known what to expect, or what to do."

Tommy sighed. "Yeah but I just feel like I could have done more."

"Don't worry. We'll find our friends, and we'll catch this creep."

Tommy looked up at her. Even though she was smiling at him, he could see tears forming in her eyes. He knew she didn't want to break down. Not now, there was still to much at stake. There was still to much uncertainty about the night.

Carri took her hand off his back and brushed away the tears before they could fall. "Do we need to keep moving?", she asked

"Not right now.", Tommy said looking across the park. He smiled as he remembered all the times they had come out there for relaxation. It was almost enough to calm himself down from the nights events. "We'll just relax for a minute, then we'll go."

One minute quickly turned into twenty, as both Carri and Tommy got up and sat down beside a tree, dozing off. Tommy was the first to wake up he looked at his watch and cursed under his breath. He nudged her. "Carri, we have to get moving. We fell asleep."

Carri opened her eyes and stared at him, then she sat straight up upon realizing what they had done. "Let's go.", she said as they both jumped to their feet.

As they hurried through a more wooded area of the park, a figure jumped out from behind a tree and threw Carri across the ground. Tommy was quick to hit the person in the ghostface costume, turning their attention back to him.

Carri saw ghostface turn as Tommy engaged him. Then she saw him reach behind his costume and pull something out. She gasped as she realized what it was. "Tommy look out!", she yelled. But it was too late. She heard the shot go off, and saw Tommy hit the ground.

She jumped to her feet and ran towards ghostface. As he turned, she kicked his hand causing him to drop the gun. He cocked his head as he pulled out a knife and tried to slash her. She barely avoided the knife, then she turned and took off. She could hear him on her heels. At one point she thought she had lost him, only to find she had been sadly mistaken.

Ghostface swirled her around and slammed her into a tree. She gasped as he held the knife to her throat. "What are you going to do, kill me?", she asked

"Not yet.", he replied

"I don't understand.", she said

"Do you think I've killed your friends yet? No that would be to easy. Tommy over there, well I had no choice. But for the rest of you, well it would be much more fun to, say, gas you all and let you all watch as each one took their last breaths."

Carri fought back tears as she glared at the killer. "Who are you?"

"This is the fun part. As I revealed myself to the others, they didn't recognize me. I suspected as much. But you, well you might know who I am.", the killer said as he took of his mask

"Benny?", Carri said as her eyes got wide. She recognized him alright. He used to be good friends with her brother. But she hadn't seen him in years. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"To you? You think this is all for you? No, you're just a coincidence. Although killing you might rekindle my friendship with your brother."

"What are you talking about?"

"He will have lost his baby sister, I lost my baby brother.", Benny let his voice trail off. "You see, a little less than two years ago my brother was walking home from school, minding his own business when he was attacked. By aliens. And killed."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Everything.", he snapped. "You see the power rangers were nowhere to be found on that day. They always claimed they stood up for the citizens of Angel Grove, protected them, but yet they weren't there to save my brother. So I vowed my revenge. I had to find out the identities of the power rangers. It was harder than I thought. But after a lot of research, and some hidden cameras, I figured it out. Rocky, Tommy and Adam have been nice enough to stick around to let me carry out my revenge. Billy, well I'm not completely sure what happened to him. And the two female rangers were replaced. But, you know, if you can't get who you want, their replacements are the next best thing."

"Killing us isn't going to bring your brother back.", Carri told him

"Maybe not. But it will sure make me feel a lot better.", he said. Benny went to reach into his pockets, planning on using drugs to knock Carri out to take her away. But before he could do anything, there was a shot fired. Benny sunk to the ground.

Carri's eyes got wide as she saw who was standing there. "Tommy!", she exclaimed running to him and throwing her arms around him.

Tommy winced and Carri backed up. She saw all the blood coming down his arm. "Are you ok?", she asked

"Yeah. I think the bullet went all the way through.", Tommy said

"Just the same we're going to take you to the hospital.", said Detective Kincaid as he walked towards him

Tommy and Carri snapped around. "How did you find us?", she asked

"With the help of the staff, we found out that Benny Johnson was responsible for the petnapping at the pet spa. As we were going to search his house, a unit found his car just outside of the park, so we rushed over. We were looking for him when we heard the shot fired.", Kincaid explained

"He said our friends are still alive.", Carri told him

"We'll find them.", Kincaid assured her. "You guys don't worry about that."

Tommy and Carri stood there as the ambulance workers came in. Some went to check on Benny. And some ran to Tommy. They escorted Tommy to the ambulance and wanted to take him to the hospital. Tommy reluctantly agreed, and Carri rode with him.

Carri walked into Tommy's hospital room as he was putting his shirt on. Tommy looked up at her and smiled. "The nurse said for a through and through, my arm was looking really well. I didn't even need stitches."

She smiled back. "Chalk it up to job benefits."

He laughed as he hopped off the medical bed. "They said I'm good to go.", he told her. "Now I think we can go home and get some rest."

"I don't think I can rest until I know that the others are ok.", Carri said as she and Tommy started to walk out.

"I know. But we know they're not dead. And I'm sure Kincaid will call us as soon as he finds them.", he replied

"But...", Carri stopped and looked down the hallway. A smile started to spread across her face. She took off running, with Tommy jogging behind her. "Rocky!", she called out.

Rocky turned around and saw her coming. He put his arms around her and picked her up in the air for a second, before putting her down and giving her a kiss.

"I'm so glad you're ok. I was so worried and..."

"Hey!", the nurse exclaimed pulling her away from him. "Just because he was being stubborn and refused to be wheeled up here, doesn't mean he's in any shape for all this."

Rocky saw the look of confusion in her face. "Don't worry. They just want to observe us overnight. No big deal." He reached over to squeezed her hand.

"So the others are here too?", she asked

"Yeah. Everybody is alive and well.", he replied

"I don't know about well.", the nurse snapped as she pulled Rocky away. Rocky waved at Carri before he disappeared.

"Feel better?", Tommy asked

"A little bit. It would help if that nurse wasn't such a"

"Hey kids.", Kincaid said cutting her off. Tommy and Carri looked at him. "I know it's been a rough night, but I need to ask you a few questions."

"How's Benny?", asked Carri

"He's in a coma. The doctor's don't think he'll ever come out of it.", Kincaid replied

Tommy frowned. "That's all my fault. I can't believe I shot him."

"It was self defense. He was planning on killing you and your friends. In fact, when he shot you he had probably thought he'd left you for dead. Which brings me to my next question, why would he want you dead?"

"He told me that his brother died a while back. And he used to be best friends with my brother. So I guess he thought that if he killed me and my friends, than my brother would know what he went through and they could be friends again.", Carri lied

Kincaid frowned. "We pulled his file. It turns out after his brother died he went through a lot of therapy. And the depression he had turned into a lot of anger. Unfortunately, he wouldn't let them help. He quit going to therapy. He found a new favorite movie. I don't think I have to tell you what that was."

Carri and Tommy shook their heads no. "So is it alright if we go home and get some sleep?", Tommy asked

"Absolutely. As far as I'm concerned, this case is closed.", Kincaid said as he turned and walked away.

The two teens looked at each other and smiled. They were happy to finally be able to get a good night's sleep.

The following afternoon, Carri and Tommy invited everyone over. Carri had stayed in Tommy's guest the previous night. Even her Aunt and Uncle didn't want to go back to the house with the mess that was still there. They had been staying in a hotel. The crime unit would hopefully be by in the next day or two to clean up some of it. Then hopefully things could get back to the way they were.

Kat was the first one to ring the doorbell. Tommy smiled as he opened it up and let her in. "Mom and dad almost didn't let me go.", Kat said as she smiled back at him

"Tell them not to worry, that I'll take care of you.", Tommy replied

Kat turned her head away so Tommy wouldn't see her blush.

"Hey Kat.", Carri said as she threw her arms around her cousin.

"Hey.", she replied returning the hug. "Where's everybody else?"

"I'm here.", Adam said as he opened the door and let himself in. He looked around Tommy's house and shuddered. The previous night's memory slowly came back to him, then he shook it off.

"Guys, why don't you have a seat.", Tommy said gesturing to the couch. Carri stood as she let Kat and Adam sit first. They had been through so much, she wanted to make sure they were comfortable. The doctors had cleared everyone physically. Any injuries they had sustained were well on their way to healing by the time they got to the hospital.

The last one to wonder through the door was Rocky. He smiled at everyone, then went over and gave his girlfriend a hug. She gestured for him to sit on the couch. He sat on the end, then she knelt down on the floor beside him. Tommy sat down in the recliner. A few seconds later, Billy teleported in.

Tommy looked at the rangers. "I am so glad that you guys are ok."

"He never wanted to kill us, not individually at least. He knew who we were. He blamed us for his brother's death.", Kat said with a look of sadness in her eyes

"About that," Billy started as all eyes turned toward him. "Alpha and I did some investigating when we found out who the killer was. Because they found his car, I was able to get to his house. I removed anything in his room with reference to the power rangers. Zordon wasn't thrilled, but we couldn't risk what might happen if your identities were made public."

"But what does that have to do with his brother?", asked Adam

"I did some investigation into his brother's death, and it turned out that his father beat him to death. The man had left a few years prior. The little boy hated him for it. So, when he came back drunk and trying to get money from his exwife, the boy yelled at him. That's when... that's when he beat him. Benny was at basketball practice when it happened. His mother didn't have the heart to tell him the truth, he loved his father. So she blamed it on aliens, and he in turn blamed it on the power rangers. He captured you and put you in a leftover world war two bunker. That's why we were having trouble detecting you."

The others looked around the room, unsure of what to say. Kat was the first to speak. "That's awful."

"He vowed revenge on us. He said he was going to bring all of us together and make us suffer like he had. He wanted us to watch the people closest to us die. I remember being in there, just hoping you guys could stop him before it was too late.", Rocky said

Carri stood up and put her arms around Rocky. "You guys should be thanking Tommy. It was him who stopped him.", she smiled over at Tommy. "He did what he had to do during a crisis. That's why he's our leader."

Tommy just smiled as the other rangers congratulated him on a job well done. "Hey I have an idea.", he said as he stood up and smiled.

"What?", asked Kat as she looked over at him

"Why don't we all go down to the park. It is a beautiful sunny day, and for November it is pretty warm outside. We could have a great time."

Adam smiled. "That sounds like a lot of fun."

"Count me in.", Kat agreed

"Me too.", added Billy

Rocky pulled his girlfriend down to his lap and looked at her. "What do you think?"

She gave him a quick kiss. "I think it sounds like a lot of fun."

And with that, the six friends left the Oliver household and headed to the park, enjoying the beautiful afternoon and trying to put the past days events behind them.