It's the fourth day since they arrived in Fiore. And you know what that means.
Gray's POV~ Right outside the door
We hear footsteps, coming right at us.
"Shit! We gotta go!" I whisper-yell.
Natsu sprints toward the window and leaps out.
"Stupid flame brain..." I mutter and leap out after him. "That was close..."
Gail's POV~ Leaving Levy's dorm
"Huh? Did you hear that? I could've sword I heard something hitting the ground earlier... Not to mention excessive cursing..." Claire mumbles and scratches her head.
"Let's go back to the dorm. Let's not make this harder than it has to be." Brook says, and rubs her eyes. "It's getting late, and we need to pack. Not to mention covering up our tracks.. We need a good alibi..."
We head back to the dorm and retrieve the magic circle supplies. Brook gathers Dakota's stuff, and attaches his collar. We then set our packed things by the door, and go to the guild.
"Hey, Mira! Can you take care of these two? Just for tomorrow. We have to go visit some friends in the next town over." I gesture toward the cats and smile.
"Sure, no problem! I would love to take care of them."
Back at our dorm room~
Brook retrieves her chalk and we clear a spot in the room to draw the magic circle. She makes sure to leave a tiny space in our side to let us get our stuff.
I've stocked up on knives, some extra pistols, and a bat. Honestly, I've forgotten how scary the apocalypse is... Being here in this world has made it way easier...
Once we get all of our stuff together, Brook picks up Dakota in his puppy form, and draws the last seal in the circle. Purple lights flash all around us, out the windows, through the cracks in the door, all around us. And then it's gone. It's replaced with pure darkness.
Brook POV~
We are awoken by Dakota's yips and squeals, and it takes me a minute to realize that's him barking. Besides his barking, everything is eerily quiet. Gail is rocking back and forth. But this wasn't a playful rocking, like back at the guild. This was sheer terror. Claire is still lying on the floor, sleeping quietly. We're downstairs lying on the carpet of the living room. I notice that the walls have taken up a greenish tint, and the house smells awful. The flatscreen TV perched on the wall is rolling static.
I go to shake Claire awake, and find that she has a deep cut in her arm. I glance down at my side and notice that my knife accidentally pierced her skin. "Fuck. Claire, hold on. I'll go grab a first aid. Gail, help me out here. Stop the bleeding as much as you can. I need to get disinfectant. Who knows if the infection gets into open wounds."
Gail slaps her hands over the wound and applies pressure. I move into the kitchen pantry and look for the first aid kit. Everything is ransacked. Although, I see a small box in the very bottom of the pantry. "Oh thank god..." I pick it up and undo the clasp. I see disinfectant, some gauze and a roll of athletic tape. Dakota sniffs it, and decides that it's safe. "I rush over to Claire and spray on the disinfectant. I spray what a normal person would probably say is too much, but I think in this situation it's necessary.
Gail applies the gauze and finishes by rolling the athletic tape around it. "Okay... I think we're good..."
"And now we wait..."
Claire's eyes pop open and she sits up, startled.
"Calm down. It's just us." Gail says and glances down at Claire's bandages.
Claire then looks at her arm and turns pale. "What the hell happened?"
"Don't worry. It's nothing serious. You probably, ah... Dragged it across a nail while we were asleep." I say, and avoid Claire's eyes.
We all stand up and I glance around the house. "Mom? Dad? I'm home!" I hear an audiotape which is charging in the outlet. The tape is on repeat: "Look at the kitchen table". I wonder how long it's been going for... "Mom, Dad? Are you even here? Answer me!" I yell frantically and search the floor for blood. And then I see it.
Led by a trail of bloody splotches stained into the hardwood floors, I see a letter. I walk over to it, and take a seat right in front of the letter. I clear my throat, and pick up the blood stained envelope. I carefully undo the fold and pull out the blood stained sheet of paper. The writing is sloppy, and little red dots are all over the paper. It read:
'Dear my beautiful baby, Its been so long surviving here, and you haven't come back yet... If you're getting this letter, I'm so glad that you're alive... but I'm afraid I may not be here much longer... The infection has gotten worse.. The capital is sending helicopters to retrieve families that haven't been infected... We're the next family to go, your father and I. I hope you're getting along well in your dream world. If you're ever reading this letter, just know that your father and I love you very much, and we hope to see you again one day. Never forget us, my child.
Always loving you, Mom
P.S. Tell our Dakota we love him.'
It was then that I realize we never went back to being 13. 4 days become 3 years. A defect in the product, maybe? A horrible, horrible defect. I scream, and everything goes black.
I wake up to Gail standing over my body, clutching the letter. "Brook, wake up!" Tears are falling from her eyes and she wipes them away. "I know it sucks. I know we never got to see them again. But please, we need to stay strong in this world! We all need to see our families. You can't be selfish, Brook. Not in this world. Not anymore."
I start sobbing and bury my face in my hands. "It's been 3 years. They were waiting for 3 years, Gail. They were waiting for us to come back, and we never did. How could this happen!?"
Claire starts crying and starts to grab her knife...
Gail stands up and slaps Claire. "We need to stay strong, dammit! I know our families may be gone, but we still have each other! And we still have the fairies to go back to!" Gail then wraps her arms around Claire and takes Claire's knife. She throws it against the wall and then hugs Claire again.
"Claire, we need to see if you're family is still alive. We need to check it out." I say, and retrieved the knife Gail threw.
Claire nods and swallows loudly. "Let's go."
Gail's POV~ Once we reach Claire's house
We're right outside Claire's house, and there are no human traces, or so Dakota thinks. The house itself is torn up and destroyed. I don't think you'd have much time to get out of a house like that, since it's so compact and there's only a few exit options.
Claire keels over and vomits. She sobs and collapses oven more onto the sidewalk. Brook goes and comforts her while I just stare up at the house.
"Its hard to imagine all of those house parties and slumber parties we've had in that house destroyed... But it must hurt even more for you, Claire..." I say, and pat Dakota on the head.
As soon as Claire feels better, we walk around the house one last time, and start off toward my house.
We walk up the street that was once crowded with cars, but is now completely empty. The road is bumpy, and no longer flat. The trees have been chopped down, and all the fences have been reinforced with barbed wire. I run up the driveway, and then hear glass shattering. "Mom, Dad! Zachary! Are you in there! I'm home!" I call out and push open the door, which was barricaded with couches. Surprisingly, It felt like nothing was in front of the door... Somehow, everything in the house was intact. "Moom! Daad! Zachary! Can you hear me?"
Brook puts a hand on my shoulder and says quietly, "Don't waste your breath. They aren't here."
Just then, I feel a strange sensation. Almost like there's a presence... Then I look up and see my cousin Ben, standing in the doorway leaning against the door frame. He's aged, and wears a black t-shirt, and tattered jeans. His once-blonde hair is now brown from all the dirt.
I throw myself into his arms, tears streaming down my face.
He pushes me down to the ground and takes out a pistol. He stares at me with such ferocity and notices my knife. His gaze hardens even more, but then when he looks at my face, his gaze softens and he drops his pistol. He brings his hands up to his mouth and whispers, "Gail? Is that you...? I thought you were dead..." He helps me up, and hugs me. He's crying now, and so am I.
"Ben.. Ben.. Do you know where my parents are? And Zachary? Please let them be okay..."
Ben looks down at his feet and swallows. "Here, come inside. It's dangerous out there. Believe it or not, the shufflers have gotten smarter. They set traps. That's why they don't come out anymore. But in a way, it's more dangerous like this."
Once we go inside and take seats in the living room, Ben takes a minute to look at all of us. It must be kind of strange to see people who were presumed dead, alive, and older. "Brook, Claire. It's nice to see familiar faces around here (They went to the same middle school)."
"Ben, back on topic. Where's my family? Are they safe? Were they taken to the capitol?"
"Well, this'll take a long time to explain, so just relax for a bit, and have something to eat. You must be hungry..."
After he gets us some food, he continues.
"See, my family was killed early on by the shufflers. Before my father was killed, he told me to come here, and when I arrived, your family was still alive. They told me I could stay with them until they did something about the virus, but one night the walkers surrounded the house. Your mom and dad hid me and Zachary in the attic. But by the time everything calmed down, your parents... were gone..."
My eyes begin to water. Soon I'm bawling and leaning against his shoulder. "D-Does that mean Zach is alright?"
"No... While we were out scavenging one day, remember when I was talking about the traps? Well, Zach went off the path, thinking he saw something, and got trapped." Ben stops and then his eyes get cloudy. "He begged for me to help him, but there was nothing I could do. His leg was caught in a bear trap and it was getting dark. He eventually bled out, thankfully before the walkers could get him." Ben's cheeks and eyes are red and the tears are flowing down quickly. "I was the only one left. I thought it was just me against the world, so for these past 2 years I've been alone. It's been so long since I've had a conversation with a human being. Sometimes I feel like I'm losing my sanity... Before your parents disappeared, it was a couple days before they said that you had a chance to escape this world. I always wondered where you went. The way they said it made it sound like you committed suicide... Where the hell did you go, Gail?"
"I went to my dream world with Brook and Claire. It broke my heart to leave you guys, I promised I would come back. But something happened. When we got there, we aged by 3 years. We were only there for 4 days, and came back today. Then we realized, however, that we were still 16... We aged, somehow... It was only supposed to be 4 days, and yet... Somehow..." I sob, and bury my face in his shoulder. "It's been 3 years... Now they're gone.. Things could've been different if I were there to help... Instead I was selfish... I killed my parents and my little brother..."
I break away and start bashing the floor with my fists. I take out my knife and start stabbing the ground. I collapse and sob into my hands. Then I remember the last words I heard said to anybody in this world... 'Go have fun... Dinner's in 4 days.'
"Ben, do you have any more food? Tonight will be a feast. Please."
This whole time Brook and Claire have been silent, staring at the door, as if anticipating something. They're alert. We sit around a makeshift dining table with our meals in front of us. We pray, and even though Brook and Claire are atheist, they join in. It's the only thing we can do now, is hope for mercy. Instead of eating, we all just share memories and sob. Some of the stories are happy, like the carnival we had in Elementary school, but some are sad, like the day the apocalypse began.
Then, out of nowhere, I hear groaning. And shuffling sounds. The same noises I heard on the first day of the apocalypse.
"Shit." Brook says and pulls out her pistol and knife. Claire does the same.
"Brook, we'll fend them off! Just get the stuff ready! Ben, you have 2 minutes to decide if you're coming with us or not!"
As Brook hurries to draw the circle, Ben looks up and smiles. "If it really is a dream world, then I want in. If we can get away from a nightmare to a dream, I don't care where we're going."
The shufflers start shattering the windows, as they did 3 years ago, and start crawling into the house.
"Ben, how did you manage to fend these off for 2 years all by yourself?"
"Um, actually, I haven't had to for a while. When it was just me they never noticed."
"You've gotta be kidding me..."
"Guys, the circle's ready to go. Grab anything you need. We don't need to take any food. But you should take some items of personal value. Oh, and Ben, think of a magic you think would be killer. Because where we're going, magic is key." Brook says and smiles. "Here Dakota, let's go."
Before we go, I fight off several shufflers and get to my room. I grab childhood mementos, like photographs of my family, and a stuffed animal, which my parents gave me on my 5th birthday.
"Hurry up, Gail. The chalk is going to rub off soon." Brook calls and shoots a shuffler in the head, instantly killing it.
"Kay."
Once we're all in the magic circle, Dakota shrinks down so he can fit in Brook's arms. Ben notices this and his eyes widen. He looks over at Brook in astonishment. "We'll explain later!" Brook yells and finishes drawing the seal.
A blinding purple light shoots up and the house is engulfed in magical energy.
We wake up in the alleyway, again, and after getting woken up, we gather our things and walk to the sunlight.
I spread my arms out wide and yell, "Welcome to Fiore!"
KAY! So, we have another character! Yayyyy! Anyway, just to clear up any confusion, they were walking around for an entire day. Yep, an entire day. Plus, they were asleep for a little while, so that made it seem shorter. Anywayyyyyy, we have a new recruit! I wonder who he will be paired up with? *Evil laugh* Stay tuned for more, and review! Please!
