Rainey came from the bathroom with a damp cloth and went over to Rina. She knelt down and bathed Rina's forehead, who was breathing quickly.
Gwen pulled herself up and walked over to Rina, there was sadness in her eyes. I'd never seen Gwen upset before. She then turned to Esmé menacingly.
"You see what you've done? She's going to turn into one of those things because of you!" Gwen ran over to Esmé and began shaking her. I got up quick and tried to pull her back.
"Gwen, stop it," I said, trying to calm her down. She was pushing me back with one arm and clinging onto Esmé with the other, who was burrowing herself even closer into the corner.
"You know what she did- how can you be so placid about it?" She yelled at me.
"I'm anything but placid, Gwen. It's totally unforgivable what she did," I looked intently at Esmé when I said this. Gwen aggressively pulled her arm out of my grasp and walked away mumbling angrily to herself. But I didn't take my eyes from Esmé, who was cowering away. I crouched down to her level.
"I gotta admit Esmé, I always knew you could be a bitch but, really? Leaving your friend to die? That's-"
"Did you expect me to fight those things off on my own? Carrie was dead, Lisa was dead and Matt and Emma had left- or do they not matter now they've gone?" She snapped out of her self pitying and shouted at me venomously. It made me lose my balance from where I was crouching. Gwen came back over, determined to say her piece.
"You weren't alone though were you? Me and Erin were there, did you think we'd just leave you?" She spat. Leigh stood up.
"She was looking out for herself, just like she always does. Isn't that right Esmé? It's all 'me, me, me', with you. Friends are just a label right? You just use us so that you aren't alone, right?" Leigh mocked her in a childlike voice.
"Screw all of you!" Esmé leapt up. "You'd have done the same if you were in my position, don't pretend like you wouldn't- acting like you're all noble when you know damn well if you were where I was you'd do the same!"
"..Well we didn't did we?" I asked rhetorically, standing up, coming closer to her. "Me and Gwen went in there and helped our friend, YOUR friend- not only that, but Cass, Connie, Leigh and Charlie came to her aid too, and they didn't even know how bad it was in there! You can't go on like you weren't the only one there, because just as you decided to leave you bumped into Gwen and I, and still, you carried on running."
Everyone went silent. They were all judging Esmé, watching her reaction, studying her.
"It should be you lying there." Leigh said looking Esmé in the eyes, declaring her damning sentence. Esmé appeared somewhat hurt by this, she looked around at everyone else, trying to find someone who was on her side. She found no-one.
"So I'm the evil one here? For being scared? Are you kidding me? You're all hypocrites." She fought for herself.
"Esmé, you haven't even looked at Rina since she came in," Charlie said, disgusted. Esmé was dumbfounded. She had nothing to say.
"Have you even said you're sorry about what happened?" Jo asked, with disappointment in her voice.
"She'd be wasting her breath," Leigh added nastily. Esmé looked over at Rina, struggling. Her eyes welled up, and then she turned away and sat at one of the desks with her head resting on her hand. Our attention drew over to Rina instantly as she began choking.
"Guys, what- what do I do?" Rainey asked frantically, tears falling down her face. Rina had been scratched on her arms and legs, and a bite mark resonated above her collar bone. She was struggling to breathe, and the blood in her throat was seeping out of her wound and gurgling out of her mouth. Gwen knelt down beside her in desperation, holding her hand. Everyone came over to her side, standing by her. All of us were crying, the tears stung my cheeks with their relentless flow. Leigh was biting her thumb in impatience, her mascara had run down her cheeks. Cass had her hands behind her head, locking her fingers together and her eyes were shut. Connie cradled her knees with her head burrowed in them.
"Oh my God- I- Carrie, and- and Lisa!" Charlie said between sobs. "They're dead- I- I can't believe…" The rest of her words were inaudible as her cries consumed them. Rina tried to talk, but blood spluttered from her mouth.
"H-a-l-l…"
'Hall'. None of us understood her. Then she pushed herself up from the window unsteadily, and walked in the direction of the reception door.
"Rina? What are you doing? You're weak," Rainey said, following her. The rest of us were in shock, we were all fixated on her.
"D-y-i-n-g…"
Rina tried to pry open the door but her hand couldn't grip the handle. She started crying in determination. Sian looked up at her from where she was sat. She was next to the door, but she didn't help. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched Rina struggle, but she was frozen.
"I don't know what to do," She said, looking at me. I walked over to Rina, trying to pull her hand from door.
"Rina," I said, but she wasn't listening. She collapsed to her knees, but her hand was still hanging on to the door. She was crying uncontrollably. I knelt next to her, and brushed her hair from her face with my hand.
"Rina," I repeated with sorrow in my voice.
"P-l-e-a-s-e…" She looked at me with pleading eyes. She knew there was no hope, and she wanted to do this her way. I turned to the others.
"Guys…" I said. This time I had no plan. Who could? There was no way I could go through what happened with Mrs Robinson again. Not to one of my friends. I'd rather serve myself to those things right now. Leigh marched over and placed her hand on Rina's shoulder. She opened the door and helped her up. I watched as Leigh helped her walk to the hall. Then I followed behind them along with Connie, Jo and Charlie. Leigh opened the door for Rina to go in, and she made her way among the bodies. Gwen stood next to me, and held my hand, tears stains left marks on her face. Rina grew weaker with each step until she finally slumped down on the other side by the curtains, and curled up into a ball with her back to us.
5:35 AM.
I looked at the clock on the desk from where I was asleep. As I went to sit up I felt a sharp twinge in my neck where it had stiffened. Outside, the sun was rising and a warm glow peeked through the slits of the blinds over each of us. Gwen and Rainey were sat opposite each other on the window cushions were Rina had earlier laid. Both were awake, peering through the blinds. Cass seemed to be in a trance, sat against the bathroom door. Connie had laid her head on Cass's shoulder, asleep. Sian was sat by the reception door, with her legs curled up to her chest, it looked like she was having a bad dream. I went over to her and tapped her hand.
"Hey, hey," I said coaxing her out of her nightmare. She awoke suddenly, startled.
"I saw Carrie and Lisa, they were one of those things… They were trying to get in here… They pulled all of out the windows, and then they grabbed me-"
"It was just a dream, Sian," I said, trying to comfort her.
"But what if they're those things now? I-" She began stumbling over her words.
"They were dead… I saw them…" I trailed off, realizing that this was not helping. I spotted Leigh sat on one of the chairs, with her legs pressed up against the desk, pushing herself back and forth. She was staring intently at Esmé, who was asleep. She had a menacing look in her eyes, it made me uncomfortable to keep on looking.
"She didn't want to die like Mrs Robinson," Rainey said, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Do you think she did it to protect us?" Charlie asked, upset.
"Rina was always looking out for everyone but herself. So yeah, maybe she did. And she did just that right up until she died." Connie said cynically. Her eyes had shot open just as Charlie had asked the question, she wasn't asleep after all.
"I can't believe the others left us, didn't see that one coming," Cass changed the subject awkwardly.
"Well they did. And I say we do, too." I suggested, standing up. "I don't want to wait around until what happened to Rina, Carrie and Lisa happens to us."
"You're right. We need to get out of here." Cass agreed.
"And those things are going to break through the barricade, it's only a matter of when." Gwen added.
"Which is why we need to be gone before they do." I finished.