Chapter 3

Here goes the third one... Please review...

Juan lost trace of the time at a point, and he could not tell for how long they had been in that washroom, looking at each other, panicking inside, trying to stay calm outside. But at a point, it was not concealable anymore. They had not exchanged a single word since the start of it. The sole sound of the water dripping from the sink was breaking the silence. Neither Stephanie nor Juan had found the courage to get up and close it properly. There was no point in this.

The entire world was totally pointless. What the hell where those thing? Juan had his head full of dark schemes to explain what they were, but none of it really made sense. Stephanie had stayed silent since the start, and seemed even more troubled than Juan. She kept staring at the wall behind Juan, never crossing his gaze more than one second. He would have reassured her, if only he had been slightly reassured himself. But he was frightened as hell. He didn't want to talk about these things. If he did not mention them, perhaps he would forget about them.

But the thought of those fearsome monsters could not be erased from Juan's mind. He felt trapped, both physically and mentally. And, most of all, he could not stand this silence between him and Stephanie. He needed to do something, or he would simply turn nuts.

Frustration ran through his body as he stood straight. He walked to the door, checked the improvised lock set on the handle, and pondered silently. There was no way he was going out there with those things. But he could not stand the coldness of the washroom, and the silence that filled every centimeter of it.

Trying to find something to do to prevent his mind from having disturbed thoughts, Juan walked to the sink and shut it properly. Slightly relieved, he turned back to Stephanie, who had not moved from her spot. He tried to squeeze a few words, or at least a smile, but his mouth was blocked. His mind was running crazy.

He could not help but picture mentally the monster that had chased him outside. He was so deep in this sort of horrific show playing in his mind that he did not notice Stephanie getting up and walking toward him.

It was only when she reached him that her pretty face chased away the death and blood that tinted his mind.

She stopped right in front of him, at about twenty centimeters. Juan paid close attention to the expression on her face, and noticed that her lip was twitching at a point. Se was trying to say something, but she could not. Juan know that. He felt the same way since her had met her.

The stood a long moment like this. Juan could feel her breath on his neck. At a point he imagined it was her hands that he felt. He starred in the blue of her eyes, lost in the perfection of the magnificent color.

Juan felt a soft touch on his body, a very pleasurable sensation. It took a long moment to Juan to fully comprehend the situation at hand. When he finally did so, he smiled widely, and felt the pain and fear being washed away.

She had fallen in his arms, trembling with fear. She had her arms wrapped around him, and her head on his shoulder, eyes shut. Juan ran a hand in Stephanie's hair, and held her closer. Not a even a single word was exchanged, however Juan did not felt the need to do so anymore. He just wanted to enjoy this moment of tenderness with Stephanie.

He concentrated on this situation of incredible perfection. Time slowed down, and Juan could feel Stephanie's head on his shoulder. He lowered his hand slightly and played in her neck softly. He could sense she was calming down. She needed him as much as he needed her. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. He could sense it. He could not tell whether this want was physical, or emotional, or both, but he knew one thing for sure : he loved her.

In this mist of confused emotions and disturbed thoughts, Stephanie appeared as a lighthouse stranded in the middle of the fog, to guide Juan throughout this unwanted course of events. Now that he had Stephanie so close to him, he felt the former situation coming back at him. He was stuck in this bathroom, with no other exit than this door probably surrounded by hundreds of these mindless things. Juan hesitated on the word to employ to name them. They weren't alive, they weren't dead. To say the whole truth, they didn't even looked human at all. Only the shape of the human body reminded them that those things had once been humans like themselves.

Nonetheless, Juan still held the girl he loved tightly in his arms. At a point, their bodies separated once more, and the world turned back into gray and death.

They had to get out of there. They would not last long outside, but it was better than just rotting inside the small room. Juan broke the silence, his voice trembling a bit.

''We... we got to get out of here...''

Stephanie nodded. She knew it too.

Juan went for the door, and placed his hand down on the cold metal handle. He pulled the heavy door toward him, backing up a bit, and gazed upon the total desolation that had taken place while they were in the washroom.

The sky had turned to shades of gray, and the horizon was only broken by an huge ferris wheel far away, stopped in the middle of it's course. The roller coaster was still standing proudly next to the building, to the left. But the trains were not moving anymore. The path from which they had fled inside the washroom was now empty. Only a few discarded newspapers and soda cans laid where the monsters had been not so long ago.

Juan made a step forward, but felt something holding his arm. He turned back to see Stephanie holding him back.

''What if these things... are still down there?''

''I don't know... But don't worry. All we need is something to protect ourselves.''

Juan scanned the area around him, searching for a potential weapon. But, even in the chaotic state the zone was in, there was none. No odd steel pipe or plank of wood, nothing like that. And that enraged Juan more than anything. He was vulnerable, and he had no ways of protection Stephanie had something attacked them at that point.

He still had Stephanie's hand around his arm. It was the only thing keeping him from sinking into a sea of grim thoughts about both the situation at hand and the future, if such an euphemism could still be employed in their situation.

They walked away from the building, fighting an urge to dive back inside the safe cocoon formed by the washroom. There was no point in hiding. On their own, they would not last long. They had to find other people. Strangely, despite the large number of students filling the alleys and paths of the park just moments ago, nobody was in sight. No matter in which direction the two survivors looked, nothing moved.

''Someone else must've survived somehow...'' Juan said.

Stephanie did not answer. She had a worried look on her face, but she forced a smile when Juan glanced at her. He smiled back, and patted her shoulder.

''Don't worry... We'll find help...''

She smiled. This time, it seemed less forced.

Fear was for now much more of an enemy than those things actually were. The fact that they had not showed since that point in front of the roller coaster was both welcomed and feared. While Juan was pleased that not a single one of those creatures had showed up yet to attack them, it was deranging that the things had vanished away without leaving any traces.

At a point, they reached a small-sized food court. Half a dozen restaurants were disposed around a square-shaped area filled with tables. A lone man was sitting back on a chair in the center of the room...