The hospital remained quiet with only the sound of Nigel's haunting words bouncing off the walls. The tragic tail continued slowly as every turn was expressed every thought was shared. He spoke slowly....
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"What are we going to do now," Wally said in a whiny voice
"Well," Cree said slowly pondering this question carefully, "I guess we could walk until we find a town or someone to take us in for the night, then in the morning we can take a bus home."
"That's a good idea," Nigel said nodding curtly, "But we have to be careful, there are a lot of sick people out there."
The rest of his team followed him into the darkness, slowly, listening carefully around them. Then the footsteps came, it sounded as if someone was following them, they could even feel intense stares cutting into them.
"Nigel," came a voice.
Nigel must have jumped and surprised Cree because he heard her scream.
"Cree," He said in a firm voice, "That was me, its okay."
No answer
His heart began to beat faster as each step sounded in perfect rhythm with the echo of the footsteps behind him.
"Cree?"
No answer
"Come on Cree this isn't funny," He said loudly now, "I know you hate us but you don't have to be cruel."
"Why are you yelling," Came Wally's voice, "It's really annoying."
"Never mind," he said slowly, obviously Cree was refusing to speak for who knows what reason and he didn't want anyone to think he was being paranoid. After all, he was always the brave one, and if he lost his cool, so would every one else...........
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His roommate immediately cut into his story.
"Why didn't you try to find her instead of walking more," He asked slowly, keeping his ears trained for Nigel's response.
"I was pretty stupid wasn't I," Nigel said with a small chuckle, "If I had stopped to find her then she wouldn't be dead now, none of this story would have happened, my friends would still be alive, and I wouldn't be here."
"Don't beat yourself up over it," The young boy replied again, "Continue your story."
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It was much later in the night when they approached light. Light from under a bridge.
Hoagie let out a long exaggerated groan.
"We've been walking all night," He said in a tired voice, "This is as far as were gonna get."
"Yea," Kuki chirped in from the back, "I think we should stop here for the night."
"Fine," Nigel replied sitting down under the bridge, then suddenly he jumped back up, "WAIT, and where is Cree?"
Everyone started looking around with shocked expressions, and then Abby stepped forward.
"She probably got bored and caught a bus back to Cleveland."
That's true, Nigel thought, laying himself down and closing his eyes.
Hours later Nigel woke up to hear Cree's voice, laughing. Cold unforgiving laughter, the kind that can make someone's blood curl. He heard slow footsteps on the bridge above him and suddenly a face was hanging down from the bridge, Cree's face, stained with blood, flesh falling off her cheeks.
"Nigel," She whispered softly, and suddenly in a clap of lightning she was gone, and Nigel was left with only the bitter cold to comfort him.