Chapter 26: Cynthia Velasquez

(At the turnstiles...)

S-M

I'm not going to lie, as soon as we arrived at our planned destination, I couldn't help but step closer to Sonic. I don't know why I did, but he actually didn't seem to mind; just locked his eyes with mine and gave a small smile of reassurance.

Stop being paranoid, Megan. If you have time to worry, then run...

"Hang on," Granny said, stopping us in our tracks. "That looks like hair to me."

We all followed the elderly sloth's stick which pointed down to a trail of recently cut hair; donning a pitch black colour. This triggered a flashback to something that I saw way way earlier, before this adventure started. I let out a yelp of shock as I almost lost my balance, stumbling backwards until someone caught me by the shoulders with a firm and gentle grip.

"Whoa, whoa!" Sonic murmured, pulling me back up to normal. "You okay there?"

"I-I-I'm not sure," I stammered, blinking and shaking my head a couple of times. "But thanks for um, helping me back up."

The only response was that same smile from before and that was enough to calm me down. Elise saw what happened and gave me a look which clearly said: "I told you he'd like you."

As we followed the trail of hair, the turnstiles for the 'Lynch Street Line' came into view and the sight that we were greeted with, stopped us in our tracks. A woman lay face-down on the grey floor, lifeless, almost as she had just been in a brutal fight and lost.

But, that wasn't it.

"Uh," Peaches shuddered, glancing at me and Louis in suspicion. "Who is that?"

"I don't know who she is," Ellie replied, feeling just as concerned as the rest of us were. "But all we can do is find out."

I hate to get on your bad side, but that's not a good idea...

Despite knowing that we were all in great danger, I cautiously walked ahead of everyone else as I went to investigate. Shockingly, the woman had apparently heard my footsteps and lifted herself up, acknowledging our presence.

Oh no...

She began crawling THROUGH the turnstiles as if they weren't even there, glowering at us dangerously. I immediately grabbed my pistol and aimed it at her, panting quickly as I knew exactly what she was planning to do.

No answer. The woman just inched herself closer and closer to us, moaning and crying out with torment. Elise seemed to recognise these noises instantly and grabbed her revolver. "Megan, get back! That's a ghost!"

Victim Ghosts ... 21 murders ... Wait, was this Cynthia Velasquez?!

I had no idea that my saint medallion was humming like crazy, signalling that it was about to break. As soon as it cracked, that was all it took for a powerful headache to overwhelm me. I desperately fought the pain off as Elise and I both began firing our guns at the floating Cynthia. Apparently the ghost was able to control her hair, as it formed a tight circle around my small frame, trapping me inside. I did everything that I could think of in order to break free, whacking her with my rifle and fighting her physically.

Sonic, Elise and the Herd were shouting and yelling on how they were going to help me and to be honest, I really wanted to scream "Guys, you got a kid in danger here!" to shut them up. Unfortunately, Cynthia saw this as the perfect opportunity to dive right in.

I screamed hysterically in agony as she repeatedly raked her fingers roughly across my shirt, tearing the fabric apart and cutting deep into my chest, creating an intensely painful wound. My vision instantly blurred until it began to fade into darkness, making me realise that I could die right here.

"Megan!"

"Kiddo!"

Thank god Sonic, Elise, Manny and Diego jumped in to help, as things definetly would have gone downhill if they didn't. The blue hedgehog grunted as he performed a series of homing attacks on the ghost whilst the mammoth whacked her with his trunk, delivering severe blows. I grimaced as I clutched my chest wound with my left hand, firing my gun several more times with my right one.

"You okay, Megan?!" Peaches cried.

"Yeah, I'm okay!" I gasped, as I continued firing. "Just stay back!"

Actually, I wasn't.

My panting then turned to heavy breathing as the fight went on. I sprinted up to Cynthia and smacked her hard in the face with my pistol, sending her to the ground. Just as I was about to pin the sword into her, she did something completely unexpected; sliding away and dodging my incoming attack.

"ARGH!" I screamed, running after her with Sonic and Diego in tow.

"GET BACK HERE!" My idol yelled, feeling just as frustrated as I was.

Soon Cynthia rose from the ground, growling to indicate that she wasn't happy with us at all. Elise and the others quickly joined us as the smilodon swiped his claws at the ghost repeatedly with Sonic performing another three homing attacks.

Son of a b*tch, JUST GO DOWN!

Five bullets whizzed past me, hitting the ghost in the torso. She stumbled backwards, struggling not to fall to the floor again. I turned my head round to see Elise firing her revolver at Cynthia and gave her a weak nod of thanks.

"No time for compliments now!" Eddie shouted, apparently noticing what I just did. "Save them for later!"

"That's what I'm planning to do!" I yelled, trying not to succumb to my severe chest injury.

Megan, don't fall down, don't fall down, don't fall down!

We were soon snapped back to reality by Sonic screaming in pain as Cynthia was now injuring him, nearly putting him in the same state as me.

"Get the hell off him!" I roared, sprinting in to prevent the worse from happening. As hard as I could, I pistol-whipped the ghost three times, forcing her to release her grip and sending her to the ground in an instant. This time she just stayed there, as if she knew that we were too powerful for her. I grabbed the sword and finally managed to pin it in.

After all of that, there was just silence.

My vision suddenly got worse by causing my surroundings to fade into black. I began staggering back towards the turnstiles as I wanted to continue on with looking around. My friends thought that was a bad idea as they were trying desperately to stop me in my tracks.

"Megan, slow down!" Ellie said worriedly. "We're gonna get you somewhere safe, okay?"

"Ellie's right!" Manny added. "Both you and your friend need patching up!"

Sonic didn't look as bad as me, but the mammoth was right. He needed some help too with his mildly painful wound, as he stumbled to and fro in an effort to keep his balance. Unfortunately before I could go over and assist him, my legs gave way and I collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud, falling unconscious.

NO! I can't give up here! ... At least my friends are alright...