V - Classroom From Hell
Clouds formed over the sun of the next afternoon, depriving the Maryland winter grass of the bright ray of sunshine that it so badly needed. Pine cones and empty cans rustled around as roamers wandered on the cracked road surrounded by lush pine trees and naked maple trees. On the road, there were a few cars with no dust attached to their surfaces. The muscles of the roamers pulsed rapidly as their limbs moved around smoothly. Their golden eyes scouted the environment before locking on to a certain group of children.
"Owen, get the one on the left," said Ms. Malone. "Piers, middle. Hargrove, right."
Owen took out his knife and as the roamer on the left started to rapidly approach him. Hargrove unsheathed both of his knives and paced after the roamer on the right. As the roamers' rapid jog turned into a run, the kids braced themselves by pointing their knives at them.
"Hey, Piers, your uncontrollable's comin' right at ya!" said Owen.
Piers remained silent as he took out a tomahawk. Owen looked ahead and kicked the roamer in the legs, knocking it to its knees before jamming his knife through its left eye. Hargrove thrust his left knife into the roamer's chest before stabbing the roamer with his other knife from under its jaw. The roamer went stiff and was dropped to the ground as Hargrove removed his knives.
Owen turned to his right and saw the middle roamer turning its head facing him. He gasped as the roamer leaned in. Suddenly, the metal blade of the small and light axe crashed into his skull, tossing it away from Owen. The roamer fell to the pavement with the tomahawk still in its skull.
"Dude, that was cool," said Owen. "I keep askin' ya. Teach me how to do that."
"Another day," said Piers.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne gulped as Ms. Malone stepped over the bodies of the roamers while holding her snub-nosed revolver. She leaned close to the cars and checked inside, noticing backpacks, clothes, and guns inside.
"Alright, kids, they're near," said Ms. Malone. "Hargrove, I need you to stay behind and watch Troy. Keep yourself hidden."
Hargrove nodded as Troy frowned his cut lips and lowered his bruised eyes.
"The rest of you, follow me."
The snow-capped dirt crunched as Ms. Malone and the children lurked around the woods, with Annie following footprints left behind by a certain group of armed survivors. Lincoln trembled softly as sweat covered the handle of his Bowie knife. Ronnie Anne exhaled softly as she kept her crossbow lowered.
"Over there," said Annie.
The group looked towards a small naked part of the woods, surrounded by pine trees, though the orange light coming from it was visible. Many pairs of shoes and boots were also visible.
"Move into position," said Ms. Malone. "Spread out. Jewelee. Go break a leg."
"On it, Ms. Malone," smiled Jewelee. "It's my time to shine once more!"
Jewelee stood up and exhaled before running towards the small naked spot while the other children moved away, finding a good spot to hide. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked up at Ms. Malone.
"You two stay here with me," she said. "Watch how it's done."
Jewelee panted as she placed blood on her hair and forehead. She then stepped into the naked spot, stumbling and tripping into the ground.
"Woah, woah! What the hell?" shouted a male voice.
"Who is this!" shouted a female voice.
Jewelee groaned as she quickly picked herself up, though left on her knees as the survivors of the camp aimed their guns at her. Tears flowed out of her eyes as she looked around the camp, seeing a large number of tents and sleeping bags, all surrounding a campfire. She looked up at the armed survivors.
"I… I don't mean any harm!" whimpered Jewelee. "I need your help!"
"Who the hell are you?" asked a man sporting glasses and a bucket hat.
"My name… my name is Diamond. I… I just came from Bethesda. I need your help— my friend's dying."
"Why the hell should we care?" shouted a bearded man.
"Easy, Zeke," said the man with the bucket hat.
"She could be a threat."
"She's just a little girl. We'll help her. But we need to keep ourselves calm."
"Hope you know what you're doing, Saleem."
Saleem turned towards Jewelee.
"How did you find us?" he asked.
"I… I asked your friend Lois where her group was."
The group members murmured among each other.
"Her boyfriend got shot with an arrow. Same as my friend. They're both still alive."
"It's the X," said Zeke. "How many of them are there?"
"Like, nine of them. Please, we have to hurry!"
"Alright, alright, we'll come," said Saleem. "Zeke, stay here and keep post! Diamond, lead the way."
Jewelee nodded and walked back into the woods, rattling the empty cans that lined around a wire outside the camp. Eight armed men and women followed her and Saleem. Ms. Malone, Lincoln, and Ronnie Anne kept themselves hidden behind a pine tree as they watched Jewelee lead the armed survivors towards the road.
"Where are the others?" whispered Lincoln.
"Hidden," whispered Ms. Malone. "Invisible to the untrained eye. But if you look closely… Ira's lying under that pile of snow, Owen's on top of that branch, Fallyn is near that hill, Desmond and Sonya are right behind those tents, and the others… eh, I don't know."
"Where's Jewelee going?" asked Ronnie Anne.
"Back to the cars. She's gonna leave a door unlocked for Annie, who's following her."
Ms. Malone peered closely at the camp, noticing Zeke standing on the outer edge of it, holding an assault rifle. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne paid more attention to the tents.
Desmond unzipped a tent before he and Sonya crouched inside it. They looked at a sleeping couple and approached them. Desmond placed his hands around one of the women's lips and slashed his knife across her throat. The other woman opened her eyes as Sonya tightened her hands around her mouth. Her screams were muffled before Sonya stuck her knife into the side of her neck. Sonya then felt the woman gag and twitch as she tried to lift herself up, though she quickly fell down and remained motionless.
Gertrude grabbed her self-made tranquilizer gun filled with chloroform and shot it at one of the armed guards near the wire of cans. She then shot another one, causing their bodies to stumble. Fallyn then fired her arrows at the unconscious guards, killing them off silently.
Zeke continued to patrol the camp as Ira watched him carefully. Sonya unzipped another tent and crouched inside with Desmond. They looked inside and saw two empty sleeping beds. They grumbled as they went back outside. And suddenly, they saw an armed survivor staring right at them.
"Int—!"
Fallyn released her arrow and struck the armed survivor, piercing through her right lung. She then fell down, unable to finish her yell as Zeke and the other survivors ran towards her. Desmond and Sonya went back inside the tent, zipping it back up.
Zeke turned around and saw Fallyn pulling back another arrow. He crouched behind the tent and pulled out his walkie-talkie.
"They're here!" yelled Zeke. "They followed the damn girl!"
Jewelee heard the walkie-talkie as the armed survivors behind her stopped. Then, gunshots began to pop off in the air. Saleem placed the walkie-talkie in his mouth.
"We're coming back!" replied Saleem.
"What about the little girl?" exclaimed a survivor.
"Take her to the SUV! Just two of you! Get our people back!"
Saleem took six armed survivors with him as they ran back to camp while Jewelee stayed and watched them. She then followed the two survivors back to the SUV on the road.
Zeke fired his assault rifle towards the hill as Fallyn kept herself hidden away from the edge. The six other survivors picked up their weapons and looked around the camp. Suddenly, a tomahawk flew across the air and struck the back of a survivor's skull. The other survivors turned around and shot at a certain pine tree in the woods.
"We're losing men fast!" yelled Zeke.
One of the survivors opened up her tent and walked crouched inside holding a pistol with an empty magazine. She then looked at Sonya, who quickly inserted a knife through her throat before she pulled it out. The survivor dropped to the ground.
Zeke turned towards the tent before Ira ran towards him, jumping up to his back.
"Fuck!" yelled Zeke.
Ira cackled as he dug his fingers inside Zeke's eyes. He screamed as the other survivors turned towards him. Desmond escaped the tent and quickly snatched Zeke's assault rifle. He shot an approaching survivor before the magazine emptied out.
Fallyn then shot another arrow, grazing a survivor on the arm, causing him to drop his submachine gun. His arteries were slashed, causing blood to squirt out as he fell to his knees. Sonya quickly stole his submachine gun and fired at the last survivor in the camp, dropping him into the campfire.
"Spread out quick, they're coming back!" exclaimed Gertrude.
Zeke kept screaming as he fell to his knees, trying to grab the attacker in his back. Ira then released his fingers and pulled out his knife as he looked up at Desmond.
"Look at what I'm about to do, Dez," said Ira.
Desmond smiled as Ira grabbed one of Zeke's arm and kicked his back towards the ground, pressing it with his shoes. He then pulled back, dislocating Zeke's right arm.
"Nice one," said Desmond.
"Not done yet," said Ira.
Ira then grabbed his knife and slammed it against Zeke's left hand, piercing through it and sticking it against the ground. His screams echoed across the woods as the armed survivors heard it from a distance.
The engine for the SUV revved as it moved the car forward. Jewelee looked around the back seats of the car, finding no weapons. She sighed and leaned away from the middle back seat.
"Hey, put on your seat belt," said the driver.
"Keep your eyes on the road, mister," said Jewelee.
She then pulled out her knife and stuck it into the right side of the driver's throat. The passenger gasped as he reached for his pistol. However, Jewelee grabbed his seat belt and pulled it back against his neck. His head was pushed against the headrest of his seat as Jewelee choked him with the seatbelt.
The SUV slowed down to a stop and remained motionless on the road for a few seconds before Jewelee came out with a knife and a pair of keys.
"Annie?" she exclaimed. "Where are you?"
Annie came out of the woods with her knife and jogged towards the SUV. Jewelee opened up the trunk and smiled. Annie's eyes widened as she reached inside the trunk, pulling out an MP5K.
"Let's go back," said Annie.
Jewelee nodded. Both girls ran back into the forest, holding a few guns with them.
Fallyn shot an arrow at one of the armed survivors, killing him as the six other survivors took cover. Sonya fired her SMG at the survivors, though none of them took damage. One of the survivors then shot Desmond in the arm, causing him to fall down.
"Dez!" yelled Ira.
"Stay down!" gasped Desmond. "Just… stay down."
One of the armed survivors aimed at Ira before she was shot in the back of her head. Her head slammed against the bark of a tree and her body quickly dropped down.
"Oh no," whispered Saleem.
He quickly lowered his head and ran away from the approaching child soldiers coming from the direction of the road. He passed by an armed survivor who was also shot in the head.
Ms. Malone then came out from the cover of a pine tree, aiming her snub-nosed revolver at Saleem.
"Woah," chuckled Ms. Malone. "Not so fast."
Saleem gulped as he dropped his gun, raising his hands in the air. He looked around as he saw Owen jump down from a tree, taking down an armed survivor. He pressed his knife against his back and pulled it out only to stab him again. He then looked at the last armed survivor alive besides him.
Sonya ran up to the last armed survivor and aimed her SMG at him. She pressed the trigger, but no bullets came out.
"Oh—" gasped Sonya.
The survivor aimed his pistol at Sonya before a knife was thrown against his throat. The armed survivor fell back onto the ground, dropping his pistol. Sonya looked down at his lifeless eyes and turned around, a thankful smile growing on her face. Behind her was Piers, who walked to the armed survivor and grabbed his knife back.
"Oh my god…" whispered Sonya. "Thank you. Thank you, you saved my life."
"It's what we do," said Piers.
"Still, I just… I just have to do this."
Sonya placed her hands on Pier's jaw and leaned in to kiss him. Desmond watched as he groaned in defeat.
"Are you okay?" asked Ira.
"Yeah," replied Desmond. "My heart just hurts, man."
"But you got shot in the arm…"
Sonya released her lips from Piers' mouth and looked into his soft eyes.
"Meet me in the locker rooms at ten tonight," she whispered.
Piers nodded as Owen suddenly looked up.
"What's gonna happen then and there?" he asked.
"Ah!" gasped Sonya. "Ugh, Owen, I wasn't talking to you."
Saleem looked at his camp. All around the camp lay the bodies of sixteen dead survivors.
"You… you slaughtered my people," whimpered Saleem. "With an army… of merciless children. Child soldiers… oh, lord."
"You can come out now, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne," said Ms. Malone.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne revealed themselves from behind the pine tree, looking at the tears falling from Saleem as his eyes turned towards them. Lincoln reached for his gun as he stared at Ms. Malone, his eyes filling up with rage. However, Ronnie Anne placed her hands on Lincoln's wrist and looked at him, shaking her head softly.
"The bodies are becoming uncontrollable!" exclaimed Fallyn.
One of the armed survivors rose up from the ground, growling as it revealed its yellow eyes. Annie walked up to it and stabbed it from the back of its skull.
Another body rose.
"Look at this, Sonya," said Owen. "I've been practicing my throwing skills. I think it's just like Piers'."
Owen grabbed the tip of the blade of his knife and looked at the approaching roamer. He then tossed it at the roamer, though the handle grazed its shoulder.
"Oh, fuck!"
The roamer lunged towards him, though he quickly ducked, causing it to stumble towards Sonya. She screamed as the roamer sunk its teeth into her chest, biting a chunk of her flesh off.
"No!" yelled Desmond.
Piers yelled as he grabbed the roamer and flipped it on its back. He then stood up and tossed his knife at its face, quickly killing it.
"What… what just happened?" muttered Zeke, moving his head around as his squished eye sockets continued to bleed. "I heard… I heard someone scream."
Ms. Malone aimed down at Saleem's leg and pressed the trigger. A bullet flew out of her revolver and struck his leg, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Lincoln!" said Ms. Malone. "Keep an eye on him."
Ms. Malone walked towards Sonya, who lay in the ground as she struggled to breathe. Piers looked down at her, his eyes sunken. Owen felt his heart racing and his eyes bubbling as Ms. Malone looked down at Sonya.
"Miss… please…" gasped Sonya. "Please… let me… let me…"
Sonya coughed as blood seeped out of her lips. Her breaths turned raspy as she struggled to speak.
"The heck's goin' on?" asked Hargrove as he approached the group, with Troy behind him. "Oh, no."
Troy looked down at Sonya, almost growing a smile on his face.
"Any last words?" asked Ms. Malone.
Sonya looked at Desmond, who could only watch in tears. She continued to cough.
"No one? All right."
Ms. Malone cocked her revolver and aimed it at Sonya. Lincoln gulped as he felt his hands get sweaty. Ronnie Anne felt anxious.
"Miss…" groaned Sonya.
Ms. Malone pulled the trigger.
Owen whimpered. Piers looked away. Desmond grabbed Ira and hugged him. Fallyn, Jewelee, Gertrude, Annie, Troy, and Hargrove simply kept their expressions still.
"Dead weight," said Ms. Malone. "Now on to more important matters…"
"You raised a classroom of hell," said Saleem. "I haven't met anyone as evil as you."
"We're just taking what's yours to survive," said Ms. Malone. "But I don't have to explain jack to you."
She turned towards Annie, stepping her foot next to Saleem.
"Drag the blind one here."
Annie nodded and grabbed Zeke's collar and walked him away from the naked area. She then shoved him towards a pine tree, causing him to fall down next to Saleem.
"Unnecessary," muttered Zeke.
Ms. Malone then turned towards Lincoln and Ronnie Anne.
"Ronnie Anne. Shoot that blind fool. Lincoln. Kill the talkative guy. Back of the head. Both of them."
Lincoln looked at Saleem. He stared back at him, tears falling from Saleem's eyes.
"Just do it, man," said Saleem. "May we never meet again in the afterlife."
"Back!" exclaimed Ms. Malone.
Lincoln looked at Ronnie Anne, who walked behind Zeke while approaching him. She then stopped a meter away from Zeke. Lincoln looked at Saleem one last time before he walked around him, stopping as soon as he was facing the back of his bucket hat.
"Saleem… what the hell's gonna happen?" asked Zeke, his voice trembling.
"It's best to remain quiet, my brother," said Saleem.
"Ready?" asked Ms. Malone.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne glanced at each other. Ronnie Anne held a serious expression while Lincoln's fear was visible in his eyes.
"Now!"
Ronnie Anne raised her crossbow and shot a bolt into the back of Zeke's head. He quickly dropped down to the ground, causing Lincoln to flinch. He looked at Ronnie Anne who lowered her crossbow and blew a strand of hair away from her face.
"Cold feet?" asked Ms. Malone, cocking her revolver.
Lincoln raised his M1911 pistol and aimed it at the back of Saleem's head as he looked down at him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered under his breath.
Lincoln pressed the trigger. In the moment he did, he saw a glimpse of a bullet entering through the back of a head with certain cream blonde hair. Saleem's body has fallen forward just as Leni's has.
His right hand was shaking, unable to lower the pistol as smoke puffed out of the barrel. Ms. Malone then crouched down, placing her head next to his.
"Lower your pistol," she said. "You did good. But that's enough for today. We'll look for Lori and Bobby tomorrow."
Lincoln lowered his pistol as his eyes remained fixated on Saleem.
"What do we do with the bodies?" asked Lincoln.
"Leave them," said Ms. Malone, standing up. "Everyone, take as many of their backpacks as you can. Take what you can carry, we can come back tomorrow if we're missing any more."
Lincoln looked at Ronnie Anne who leaned close to him.
"Don't just stand there," said Ronnie Anne. "Get the backpacks."
Lincoln gulped as she walked away holding a bolt with a red tip. He closed his eyes and attempted to shake the image away from his mind. But he could not.
The campfire crackled. The mushrooms floated around the small pot filled with boiling water. Water dripped from the roof gutters on the school down to a puddle outside the fences. Desmond and Ira were comforting each other as they looked at the missing seat. Owen sat with Hargrove, Piers, Gertrude, and Troy, avoiding eye contact with Desmond.
Ronnie Anne placed her plate on the table and sat herself next to Lincoln, who was poking at the mushrooms in his plate.
"Don't worry," said Ronnie Anne, breaking out a smile. "They're not death caps."
"How could you make a joke at a time like this?" said Lincoln.
"It's always a time like this."
"Never from our hands. This world is already cruel enough. Why do we have to add on to it?"
"Look at the bright side, Lincoln. This is how we survive."
"This isn't how I want to survive. It's not worth it. Is this how you want to live? On the wrong side? With killers?"
"This is until we see Lori and Bobby."
"You don't even believe that, Ron. You don't think they're out there. That's why you shot the guy in the head so fast. You want to prove your loyalty so bad. But I know that Lori and Bobby are out there. And you know what's gonna happen when we find them?"
Ronnie Anne remained quiet.
"Malone and her demons are gonna kill them. No— she'll make us do it."
Lincoln looked into Ronnie Anne's eyes, which did not budge from looking at the plate.
"You may not think our siblings are out there, but I know you think your mom is out there. If we stay here… you'll never see her again."
"Alright, I get it," said Ronnie Anne, now facing Lincoln. "What do you have in mind? What's your plan?"
"We escape."
"They're gonna be looking for us. Annie's a good tracker."
"I know."
"We could just kill them in their sleep."
"No, enough killing. I want to be able to sleep well at night myself."
"Might be too late for that."
Lincoln sighed.
"We'll wake up in the middle of the night," he said. "We'll sneak out of the fallout shelter. We sneak out of the school. We take a path through the woods and take the nearest highway pointing north. We find a car. And we leave. We never look back."
"One problem. The exit doors are locked. We don't know how to pick locks. And that asshole Desmond won't help us."
"Actually… there's another way out," he whispered.
Ronnie Anne nodded before she stabbed a mushroom slice with her fork and placed it inside her mouth as the campfire continued to crackle.
The basement was quiet. There was a certain eeriness to the dark basement. The kids were asleep, unmoving, and unbothered. Ronnie Anne looked upwards at the pitch-black ceiling, imagining many different scenarios. Lincoln— also awake— looked up at the bottom of the top bunk and kept seeing the faces of the victims of the camp raid of yesterday. He then felt the bed shake softly before seeing the silhouette of his female best friend next to him.
"You up?" whispered Ronnie Anne.
"Yeah," whispered back Lincoln.
Both children walked away from their bunk bed and walked past some of the kids. Ira was snoring. Desmond was hugging his pillow. Annie looked like a corpse. Fallyn's legs were spread out. Juliett lacked her glasses. Piers was covered inside his blanket. Owen slept on his stomach. Hargrove was sleeping on his side. Gertrude was sleeping with her feet exposed from her blanket.
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne walked past Ms. Malone before hearing a voice behind them.
"Hey… stop," said Ms. Malone.
Lincoln gulped. He felt the hair on his arm rise as he continued staring ahead.
"What… what are you going to do?" she asked.
Ronnie Anne turned around and felt her heart pound against her chest. She then looked at the bunk bed where Ms. Malone slept. There, she saw the leader lying on the bed with her eyes closed, fidgeting around and mumbling.
"Don't. Don't, please," she mumbled.
Lincoln took a deep sigh as he looked at Ronnie Anne.
"She's sleep-talking," whispered Lincoln.
"Uh huh," whispered back Ronnie Anne. "Let's go."
Ronnie Anne placed her hands on the door handle and opened the door. She and Lincoln quickly snuck out of the room before closing the door.
They quickly made their way upstairs as they opened up another door, walking into the first floor. They ran to the lockers, opening up their arms as their hair stood up upon being touched by the cold air inside the hallways. Lincoln looked at the numbers on his arm.
"Twenty-four. Thirty. Twenty-six."
Lincoln moved the combination lock of his locker to those numbers before hearing a click.
"Twenty-two. Twenty-five. Twenty-six."
Ronnie Anne pulled down her sleeves and moved her combination lock. She then heard it click and opened it up. She grabbed her jacket, her newly looted brown boots, her crossbow and bolts, and a backpack filled with a flashlight, batteries, binoculars, a first aid kit, and granola bars. She closed her locker and saw Lincoln holding his M1911, his orange coat, his winter boots, and a backpack consisting of canned fruits, water bottles, a map, and a flashlight. He looked at his Bowie knife inside the locker and remained still.
"Lead the way," said Ronnie Anne as she walked away.
Lincoln nodded as he grabbed his Bowie knife and closed the locker.
The rooftop door opened with Lincoln and Ronnie Anne walking out into the open. The waning gibbous moon hovered near the horizon, watching over the dead city of Bethesda.
Ronnie Anne looked around the roof and looked into her binoculars. She saw highways in the distance, almost completely blocked by the trees of Maplewood— the neighboring town. She then turned around and saw Lincoln walking towards a corner behind the rooftop entrance.
"Hey, wait up," said Ronnie Anne.
Both of them climbed down the ladder and hopped in the back entrance of the school, close to the playground. Lincoln looked across the street, scanning around the darkness of the tall pine trees. He then looked to his right towards D.C. and saw nothing but abandoned buildings, where Lois and her boyfriend were killed. He then turned to his left and saw a street surrounded by many houses, but with roamers wandering around in the distance— all walking in the direction of the raided camp.
"Do we take this street?" asked Lincoln.
"No way. You said woods last night," said Ronnie Anne. "The streets are crawling with roamers. Besides, we can't risk being spotted out in the open. Not yet, at least."
"Okay. Woods it is."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne turned on their flashlights and walked into the woods, hiding themselves in the shadow of the trees.
More than a dozen minutes passed. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne kept themselves in the woods, away from the streets while heading north towards Maplewood.
"Have I mentioned I hate the woods at night?" said Lincoln. "Everytime I go to the woods at night, trouble happens."
"Just admit that you're afraid of the dark," said Ronnie Anne.
"But I'm not. I mean… not anymore."
"It's okay, Lincoln. I was also afraid of the dark."
"Really?"
"When I was five. Haha!"
Lincoln pouted.
"Real funny, Ron. Just keep your voice low."
"Relax, we're not being followed. If we were, I would know."
A twig snapped from behind Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. They quickly turned around, raising their weapons up.
"I'm curious, Ronnie. How the hell would you know?"
"Troy?" gasped Lincoln, lowering his M1911. "Lower your weapon, Ron."
Both flashlights were pointed at Troy. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was disheveled. He then raised his pistol and aimed it at Lincoln, causing Ronnie Anne to quickly raise her crossbow again.
"Woah, woah, what the hell?" exclaimed Ronnie Anne.
"Hey, hey, Troy, relax."
"No one told you boots were heavy?" said Troy. "Shit, they leave a shit ton of clues. Broken twigs. Footprints in the dirt. Trampled grass. Why the hell would you wear boots?"
"Calm down, Troy. We're not gonna hurt you."
"Why the hell does she have her crossbow pointed at me?"
"I don't know," said Ronnie Anne, "maybe because you're pointing a gun at him?"
Troy then pointed his gun at Ronnie Anne.
"I need you two to understand something. The tests we gave you was not only for Ms. Malone to understand you. She needs the new kids to learn the new skills so you two can be like the rest of us."
"Troy…" whispered Lincoln. "You're barely making any sense. Please, just lower the gun."
"Everyone knows how to track, Lincoln. You have to come back, otherwise my sister and the others are gonna find you. And you two will die. Please… just come back with me. Don't leave."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked at each other. Lincoln saw a murderous intent in his friend's eyes. Ronnie Anne saw a fearful cower in her friend's eyes. Then, they both looked back at Troy, his eyes pleading for a desperate acceptance to his request.