A/N a.k.a Bonnie's Foreword: tashasparkle (This is completely AU. They've dealt with everything ugly that happened in the past, now they're just dancing around each other trying to figure things out and how they feel for one another), jordanjanellejoy (Glad you're enjoying this one too! And yeah, no hurt or dreariness in this storyline, it's brooding free. Just them walking circles around one another and fighting their obvious sexual attraction. Haha.), BONKAIARMY (I'll certainly keep trying to do so! Thank you for taking the time to drop me a line.), aneena (Bonnie will never admit she's jealous. But you and I know the truth), Melika (Hehe, doing my best, Melika! We're working on our stories as though we're being paid. We're addicted.)
Thank you so much for the support guys, it means the world. xo
CHAPTER TWO
Bonnie ached all over, her head feeling far heavier than normal as she woke up. She pressed a hand to her temples, a headache thump-thumping behind her closed eyelids.
Caroline and her cocktails are killing me!
She shrunk back, covering her eyes and face with her right arm as something wet landed on her cheeks, followed by a low groan that reminded Bonnie of one of their late night horror movies.
"Go away, Caroline."
Two wet hands clamped around her ankle.
"Five more freaking minutes," she groused, jerking her leg back, shivering softly. More groaning, these sounded far more unruly than the last. Bonnie was annoyed. "And could you turn off that TV! It's making me crazy—"
Bonnie opened her eyes to give her best friend the death glare of the century, only to meet two lifeless eyes attached to a similarly grayish looking body suspended over her.
Is that blood on his chin? Bits of flesh in his teeth?
Bonnie wasn't even aware that she was the one screaming until she was scrambling away, using her heels to awkwardly make an escape. The person followed her—slowly, but progressively. This was a nightmare! She pushed off the ground, stumbling as she did, bracing herself against a gravestone.
"Stay away from me!" Bonnie ordered as she whirled around to face her attacker. Was it early Halloween or something? Where the hell was Caroline? She looked around, expecting her blonde friend to be hovering nearby having a laugh at her expense. Caroline was nowhere in sight, nor was anything identifiable. Where the fuck was she?!
Another body caught her eye and was being zeroed in on by three other zombies. It took her awhile to make out who it was, but when she did, her heart stopped for half a second. Kai. The last hour came flooding back. Their fight, being trapped in his room and then blackness. Bonnie bent down, picking up a handful of rocks, throwing them first at her zombie and then the other two. It did nothing.
"Leave him alone!" she cried, their eyes averting to her like rabid animals. These weren't people and even if they were – the joke had gone too far. She extended a hand before her, her eyes blazing, her fear tampered down to give way to fury. "Motus!"
Nothing happened. He didn't budge, didn't go down or fly, and instead gripped her extended wrist. She screamed again in panic, wrestling against the weak person's hold, and curled a hand into a fist around the rocks. She brought it against the side of his head, disturbed that instead of crying out in pain—instead of ending his show and cussing her out—he kept advancing, kept trying to take a chunk out of her arm. She was blindly hitting him now, three, four, five hard blows that sent greenish mulch to spray into the air, coating her face and hair in a fine mist of the grossest liquid she'd ever smelled. Before long, his slithery fingers fell away and he keeled over in a poorly animated way and faded away. She was trembling as she turned to look at Kai and his own troubles. He was still out cold.
"Motus!" she repeated as if she'd been sure it would work this time, using her other hand to direct her magic at the zombies, they were upon him now, inches away from a free meal. "Phasmatus Incendia!"
Colorful magic jumped forth, shooting from her palm and body in a way that startled her and made her eyes widen. It hit one, then two and before long they were changing route, staggering toward her. More magic jumped from her hand, her mouth slightly open, and her voice gone. How was she doing that? The two keeled over, dropping to the ground only to fade as if they hadn't existed.
I need to cut down the midnight snacks. They obviously aren't working with me.
Bonnie rushed over to Kai, peering down at his unconscious face. He didn't look bloodied, he looked peaceful. She tried to slap him, hard. She couldn't, her hand swishing past his face by mere inches. She growled in frustration and tried again. And again. She eventually gave up, too tired to fight whatever was going on and sat down beside him in the dirt, her knees drawn to her chest, her back resting against a headstone so she didn't have to worry about those things coming from behind. A long few minutes ticked by, every sound and groan in the distance making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Kai awoke with a wheeze, cutting through the noise and time like a soothing balm.
"Oh good… you're not dead," Bonnie said, moving onto her knees to lean over him.
"Wha—What?" Kai began and opened his eyes, blinking up at her. "Bonnie?"
"One and only," she responded with a deep sigh, wiping of the gunk from her face, briefly darting a glance at her attire. She pulled at her clothes, wrinkling her nose with distaste. What was this?
"What's going on? Why are you—" he started, pushing himself off the ground on his elbows, his eyes darting around to take in their surroundings much like hers had. "Where the hell are we?"
"I figure it's a dream."
"What are you talking about?"
"The zombies."
"What zombies?" he asked, darting a quick look around as if to seek confirmation for himself.
"Well—" Bonnie said, looking around once more to point them out, shrugging lightly when she found none with which to make her point. "They went poof."
"Poof? How much have you been drinking?"
"Excuse me?"
"That beer."
"I didn't have that much."
"What the hell are you wearing?" he asked, scrutinizing her, and got up. Bonnie sighed. "You brought me to a cemetery. What, you plan on killing me out here?"
"What? No. I saved you."
"Right. The zombies… how could I forget? Oh, that's right—there are none."
Bonnie rolled her eyes and pushed off the ground, brushing her hands against her itchy attire. She gaped around her for a minute, taking in the monotonous landscape. How the heck had they even gotten here? Was the beer spiked?
"I think something went wrong."
"Explain," Kai said from his position at her feet, he looked winded, like he'd taken quite a knock. She extended a hand toward him. He took it, allowing her to help him to his feet.
"Maybe during our magic—"
"You mean your assault."
"I wasn't assaulting you!"
"You weren't braiding my hair, either."
"You wouldn't let me leave!"
"Because you wouldn't admit the truth."
"You're delusional—"
Kai scoffed. Bonnie endeavored to smack his chest to silence him and release her pent up agitation on him, frowning when she failed. Once again her hand glanced off his chest. Why did that keep happening? She tried again, gently this time, gripping his shoulder, running a hand down his chest.
"Not that I mind your groping me, Bonster, but what the hell are you doing?"
"N—Nothing," she retorted, brushing off his question to focus on the horizon again, purposely turning her back on him. She took a few steps away from him, tentatively at first and then with more confidence—as if she were driven by something inane. Where she was headed? She wasn't even sure.
"Are you going to tell me what you think is wrong or are you going to give me the silent treatment?"
"I'm undecided," she murmured, choosing to keep things to herself for the time being. She was starting to sound crazy even to herself; then again, this entire place was eerie.
Bonnie started down a hillside, her stomach lurching, the sounds of Kai's footsteps behind her echoing into the hollow and desolate night, mingling with that of a throng of moans and groans.
"I need to sit down," he stated from behind her, he'd been lagging slightly. She looked back, her brows creasing with concern at how sickly he looked. Had one of those things bitten him?
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Bonnie interjected, unable to contain her fear. They were exposed out here and what if those things attacked again? "We need to find shelter or—"
"There's none in this area," Kai stated. Bonnie turned to look at him. "We haven't come across any. And that—" he pointed to the hillside and the obvious dip, "—is probably a hundred foot drop."
Bonnie started back toward him, her eyes darting back and forth upon the landscape. Those zombies were everywhere, all around them, and she feared they might see them. Kai didn't look as phased or maybe he was just feeling too poorly to care.
"Check your bag," he said from his position on a flat rock, his arms resting on his knees.
"My what?"
"Your backpack."
"I don't have—"
He gestured to his shoulder, brushing at the similar strap on it she only just noticed. She rolled her shoulders, shrugging off the carrier, and dropped it to the ground at his feet, crouching to undo the tie on the top. She rummaged around inside it, pulling a few things out and opening the gap to try and see in the shabby moonlight. There were bottles of a red concoction, a handful of coins, a piece of bread, something like a flask of water and a map. There were other things, too, small swords, a matching sweater and a tacky looking pair of pants. Junk.
"What the hell is this?"
"Looks like berry Juice," Kai deliberated, gesticulating she toss the bag his way. She did and watched as he removed one of the red bottles from inside, screwing off the cap and prepared to drink it.
Bonnie was on him in an instant, her hand closing around his wrist to prevent him from taking a sip. "No!"
He looked at her with confusion but made no move to shake off her hand.
"You can't be sure its juice or anything drinkable."
"Bonnie—"
"No. It could be poison." She snatched the bottle out of his hand and screwed the cap back on.
He looked like he wanted to tell her she was being irrational but instead he smiled, grateful for her worry. Bonnie could scream from the rooftops that she didn't care, that he was nothing but a thorn in her side, and yet she was mothering him, protecting him from something unknown.
Bonnie, unaware of his thoughtful look unfolded the map she'd found, smoothing it on the ground, trying to gauge where they were. She struggled to make sense of it, her eyes darting to Kai to check up on him and then to the left to make sure they were okay when the sound of approaching hoof beats made her shudder.
"Someone's coming," she said, grasping the corners of the map to quickly fold it again. Kai, too, heard the noise and attempted to stand. She tucked the piece of paper into the top of her outfit against her breast, rushing to his side and watched as two riders darted past them, their horses prancing in the air, taking far bigger jumps than she'd ever imagined capable of an actual horse. Not that it mattered. They looked human.
"Wait!" Bonnie cried, charging away from Kai's side to give chase to stop them. It was as if they hadn't seen them, as if they didn't care to help them. "PLEASE, WAIT!"
They didn't stop, continuing on, their hooves becoming distant and faint, her eyes suddenly jerking to the horizon and the noise behind her. When she turned back, Kai was running around, greenish magic bouncing from his hands to embalm the creatures. That's why they hadn't stopped. Those things were chasing them. Bonnie rushed back toward him, picking up another rock, throwing it at one of the many zombies that had turned on him. For some reason they didn't care for her and kept attacking Kai, kept forcing him into a run. He was holding his own, but on the verge of collapse. How had she done it before? How had she made them poof?
"Phasmatus—" she started, extending her hand before her, "Incendia!"
Nothing happened. Not like before. Not even a stitch of fire. She shook her hand, drawing it back, and then thrust it forward again, growing aggravated, and then suddenly something jumped forth, shooting from her body when she saw one of those things drive Kai to his knees. All five of them dispersed and dropped dead.
"What the fuck is going on—" Bonnie said while trying to catch her breath.
Kai appeared better, refreshed almost, and as if that spur of magic—or whatever it was—had added color to his cheeks whereas it exterminated the creatures.
"Did the map have anything on it?" he asked.
"Nothing that made any sense to me," Bonnie responded.
"Here," he said walking toward her, briefly sliding his hand into her shirt where he'd seen her tuck the map for safekeeping before she did her mad run.
"Do you mind?" she barked, snubbing his grin as he removed the piece of paper and crouched, laying it out in front of her again. The cheerfulness faded from his face as he looked at the map. He shrugged off his bag, found a similar looking map and compared them. One looked more visible than the other. Bonnie's was still covered in dark patches while his was entirely revealed.
"This can't be—"
"What is it?" Bonnie asked, her voice sounding exposed, frightened of what he might have to tell her. "Kai, what's wrong?"
Kai rose to a standing, looking around, taking in the zombie that neared the edge of the hill but didn't come down. He'd been doing that since their arrival.
"Kai?" Bonnie began, taking a hold of his shoulder lightly.
"It isn't possible," he said in a disbelieving whisper. "We can't—"
"We can't what?"
Kai said nothing, much like she had earlier, and crouched, folding his map, slipping it back into his bag. He repeated the process with her map, handing her the bag. She took it and eased it on. He started back the way they'd come, following the path and direction she'd seen the horses disappear into.
"Where are we going?" Bonnie asked, sticking close to him and moving quickly, not wanting to gain any of those zombies' attention again.
"To get answers."
And how did he propose to do that, she wondered? Bonnie didn't ask, didn't give heed to her concerns for now, opting to remain quiet and to keep up to him for now, trusting he knew where they were going.
