So I think it's about time I continued from that cliffhanger, yeah? So the song from the playlist that applies to this chapter best would be Nothing Left To Say, which is actually located at the top of the Conflict list, and I suggest listening to that on repeat as you read. Otherwise, a new song has been added and I hope you enjoy the chapter~
Also, Happy Easter, guys! I hope you like the surprise I left you all
It's a doozie
Each second felt like a lifetime as she ran back into the park. Everyone else followed, calling for Sora as well, but Aria barely heard them over her own shouts for the younger girl. Her sword drawn, she cut down every zombie in her path that could still walk. Sora could still be alive, she told herself, and helping her get out of the park would be difficult to do with the undead all around them.
She skidded past a burning tree; just breathing was becoming difficult, but her hands worked on autopilot as her mind became unfocused. Down went three more zombies, until finally she spotted the tree she was looking for.
From where she was standing, she could see half of a helicopter blade protruding from its other side, burning just a tad and covered in blood. Aria sped up, catching sight of a sweater-clad elbow peeking around the trunk, and then came to a halt altogether at the sight she arrived to.
Kit crashed into her just seconds after, barely able to contain her gasp. Soon following her were Freddy and Roberto, then Mei, Iza, and Wendy. All they could do was stare.
"I... I think..." Sora gasped, breaking to cough. "I've been... Impaled..."
She was right, although none of them could believe it. Sora was pressed against the tree, feet inches off of the ground, with a large portion of blade lodged into her midsection. Red was pooling around her stomach, staining her red sweater, and slowly dripping down her legs. All of her breaths were laboured, and it was audible to even Mei - who stood furthest away from her, eyes wide in disbelief.
"You're okay," Aria said, trying to bring everyone's hopes up. "You'll be okay - we'll get you out of the park and Daniel can stitch you up, yeah?"
Sora glanced down at her legs, watching her toes nudge each other through her shoes. "Can't-" She coughed again, a spray of blood flying through her teeth. "Can't feel-"
"Jesus Christ," Iza gasped. She turned away, taking in deep breaths, and frantically wiped her eyes. "Aria, what do we do?"
"I don't know," Aria muttered. Her eyes were locked with the blade, every part of her screaming at her to remove it and help Sora. But how could she? Sora couldn't feel her legs, she'd been impaled in a vital area - most of her insides must've been torn up from the impact alone - and Aria wasn't sure if they could carry her around and properly treat her until the next helicopter arrived. "I don't know- Fuck."
The whole group just stood there, unsure of what to do or how to proceed with their predicament.
As though answering for them, Sora reached out and grabbed the closest person to her - Roberto. "Please don't... Don't let them get me," she wheezed. The older boy gave her hand a gentle squeeze as she began to sob, tears streaming from her eyes and mixing with the blood dripping from her chin. "Don't wanna- Can't be like 'em..." Sora was cut off by another coughing fit, even more of the crimson liquid hitting the helicopter blade.
Aria cringed as she watched this happen, torn between looking away to get her bearings and facing Sora to make sure she was okay, to make sure nothing bit her. She wasn't going to let one of her babies turn into one of them; she's rather be bitten herself, first.
"'m cold," Sora muttered. Immediately Aria moved to take off her jacket, her phone falling from her pocket loudly, but she didn't care. She draped the jacket over Sora's upper half, covering her as best as she could, and bit back a cry of frustration. They were so close to getting away for another day, and then bad luck had to catch up with them.
"Any suggestions, guys?" she weakly demanded. She couldn't think of any options aside from the obvious, but that was last resort - and right now they still had plenty of rooms for ideas.
There was a tug on her sleeve, right from behind her, and Aria expected it to be Iza. But no; it was Mei, her wide purple eyes locked with Sora's bloody form. Mei nodded her head towards a small area just a little ways away from the group, then slowly walked over without waiting for Aria. The older girl followed, watching as Iza and Wendy moved to Sora's other side to hold her free hand. Kit was holding onto Freddy's arm, shaking, whilst the young boy stroked comforting thumbprints over her knuckles.
Mei stopped all of a sudden, her grip on her axe tighter than Aria would've liked to admit, and finally she turned to the older girl with a horrified look on her face. Aria was gobsmacked. Mei was usually so nonchalant about everyone else, always looking out for herself and not giving a general fuck about who was in trouble or needed help unless it directly involved Iza; yet here she was, scared over the sight of someone uninfected, innocent, and dying.
"Don't say it, Mei," Aria begged. "Please, don't."
The younger girl went to reply, choked back a breath and started again. "She won't last if we pull it out," she whispered. "Too much blood will be lost - fucking hell, I came pretty close to passing out just from this alone." She gestured to the scar on her stomach, its origins still unknown to the rest of the group. It was so close to her kidney, Aria noted, and it must've hurt to sit through until it was treated.
"We have to try-"
"And let her suffer? Fuck no."
Aria scoffed. "Since when do you care when people suffer, Mei?" she demanded. She clenched her fists tightly, rage slowly building up. "You've never cared when we were in danger or in pain or in mourning of our families - you just cared about you and Iza! And what? You suddenly care about us now-"
"I fucking care when someone gets hurt when they don't fucking deserve it, you freak!" Mei hissed through her teeth. "Open your fucking eyes, Schizo - she can't feel her fucking feet, meaning her fuckin' spinal cord's been motherfuckin' severed clean, and she's coughing up more fucking blood than a fucking lung cancer patient does in their short ass fucking lifespan! She's cold, which means it either got a fuck ton more chilly out and we didn't fucking notice it, or she's hitting the fucking bucket."
Mei shook her head when Aria went to speak again, her grip tightening further on her axe if it were possible. "No, you shut the motherfuck up," she growled. "Your fucking attachment is going to make her fucking suffer and I won't fucking stand for it! You either leave her here so she can die in five, maybe then minutes if she's fucking lucky; pull the blade the fuck out and then let her bleed the fuck out in two minutes; or you can end it fuckin' quickly and let her fucking rest."
"You're asking too much, Mei." Aria was having trouble breathing. That voice was coming back, screaming at her in unintelligible words, making her ears ring as she felt her hands begin to tremble. "I can't-"
"I will," Mei assured her. For a split second she looked remorseful, but her confident stare returned within seconds. "Your sword won't cut through the spine and you'll end up making her choke on her own blood. My axe is made for the job, though..."
She let the sentence trail off, eyes searching for something in Aria's expression. It was approval she was looking for, Aria told herself, because why would Mei even tell her this plan if she was going to do it without her permission? She'd given her options that involved leaving Sora, and was seeking confirmation to do something that'd end it quicker for everyone. But it felt selfish, she reminded herself. It felt selfish that she was leaving Sora behind and letting her die when they could help her.
It was also selfish to hang on to that delusion, her voice taunted.
Unable to stop herself, she nodded once and turned to go back to the group. Mei was seconds behind her, breathing more than audible from - what, nervousness? Anticipation? Distraught? Aria scoffed mentally; that last one seemed a bit of a stretch for Mei Todashi, the one woman army who only cared about herself and all she deemed "cute".
It didn't take them long to arrive back at the group, their positions mostly unchanged. Immediately Aria moved for Roberto, pulling him away from Sora with an apology to the dying girl. Once they were out of an earshot, she whispered to him, "I need you to hold back Iza for me."
"Why?" He looked confused, red and blue eyes narrowing behind his glasses. Aria patted his shoulder twice, weakly, and took in a shaky breath.
"Mei and I-" She stopped herself, thinking over her words. "W-We came up with a solution."
"A 'solution'?"
"Yeah." She forced a short, bitter laugh. "A 'solution', since that's what it's called these fucking days."
He glanced at Mei, who was standing idly to the sidelines and watching the group with those sorrowful eyes again. They just had to be for show, Aria told herself. Mei didn't feel anything half the time unless it was anger. "Care to elaborate?"
Aria tightened her grip on his shoulder. "We're making it easier for her," she ground out, the words bitter on her tongue. She couldn't believe she was agreeing with this. She couldn't believe she was letting it happen! "Like taking an old dog to the farm."
Almost immediately, Roberto took a step back from her and gave her a slightly horrified stare, but it soon melted away when she let the full impact the situation was having on her show. He was reluctant, she noted, and she couldn't believe all the changes she was seeing: Mei was hesitating, asking permission, and caring; Roberto was disturbed by the suggestion, for once silently questioning their train of thought.
"Okay," he said eventually. She nodded, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding, and blinked back tears. Not yet, she thought. Not until after. "She won't suffer, will she?"
"Swift decapitation," she forced out. "Won't feel a thing." Hopefully.
"Okay," he repeated. "I'll hold back Iza."
And with that they hurried back to the group. Without a word, Aria grabbed a hold of Wendy, arms wrapped tightly around the preteen's waist, as Roberto easily swung Iza over his shoulder, mindful of her arm. Aria commanded Freddy to keep Kit where she was, even telling him to shield her eyes if he must, and then nodded to Mei as bile rose in her throat.
Mei staggered over to Sora, ignoring Iza's shrieks to stop and don't let Mei do it, please! But no one was listening. No one wanted to listen. Wendy flailed in Aria's grasp, "I hate you! I hate you! Stop killing everyone I care about! I HATE YOU ALL!" Still, Mei advanced on Sora.
Those hazel, near-gold eyes, once brilliant and full of life, locked onto Mei as she came to a halt before her. "Why are you doing this?" Kit wailed. "Can't we help her?"
"Aria, you can't seriously be letting this happen!" Freddy demanded. "She'll butcher her!"
Aria was silent, as was Mei; only the opposing members of Aria's makeshift family screamed for Mei to stop. Freddy even went to let go of Kit and make a break for Mei, to knock her over, but Roberto quickly snaked an arm loosely around his throat and kept him in a headlock. Aria tripped Kit as fast as she could, sitting on the girl and throwing her gun away once she hit the ground. Both of the younger members flailed and argued, demanding someone help Sora, that their group was mad, but no one was hearing them.
No one alive would hear them but the mad group themselves.
The young redhead was still screaming that she hated everyone as Mei raised the axe, her apology to Sora, while repeated every time she finished the last one, going unheard over Kit's, Wendy's, Iza's, and even Freddy's shouts.
Sora merely offered a smile. She muttered something - Mei almost didn't catch it, but when her mind formed the words and finished the sentence, she almost couldn't deal the blow.
Mei began to swing the axe.
Indecisiveness flashed across Sora's face.
A half-choked plea to wait, to give her one more second, was cut off as the axe broke the skin.
The head rolled to the ground, nearly snagging on the jacket, and half of the group screamed in dismay.
She swallowed the lump in her throat, ignoring the glares from all of the members of her group as she held the phone up and pressed record. She was a mess, she knew, but whoever looked over these videos needed to know everything - including this.
"Same day as the last entry," she whimpered. "Two, maybe three hours later. The number of members has dropped by one, this time outside of our power." Kit fixed a sour scowl onto Aria as she went on, Wendy muttering something to Iza for the fifth time since Aria had pulled her phone out and scrolled through her videos. She struggled to continue. "Sora's gone. Gone, gone. We couldn't even give her a grave-"
"Shut. Up." The snarl came from Mei, who was sitting on her own and facing away from the group.
Almost immediately, Iza scoffed and said bitterly, "No, keep going, Aria. Let her hear exactly what she just did."
Freddy was silent - had been since he was dragged inside with the others, the trio hardly letting go of their opposing members until they'd safely made it into the gas station and made it into the storage room. Kit sat close to him, constantly glaring daggers at the older members of the group as her hands twitched toward her gun every minute or so. Roberto was the only one aside from Aria begging to keep things quiet, neutral, and safe.
"I'm sorry, Mei, but I need to do this," Aria begged. "They have to see what we've gone through - what others could be going through-"
Almost instantly, Mei was up on her feet and dashing over to Aria. Within seconds her fingers was tangled in orange hair, grasping tightly as she yanked Aria forwards and dragged her towards the office at the end of the store room. The opposing members started screaming at Mei again, Aria begging to be let go so she could finish the video, and Roberto finally raising his voice to demand everyone calm down, but Mei kept dragging the British girl until she was at the office door. She virtually threw Aria inside, the phone flying from the older girl's grasp and skidding towards the desk. It was still recording as the younger girls demanded if Mei was going to kill Aria now, sick of her quirks and motherly authority, even her maturity over Mei's. Mei ignored them all, slammed the door shut behind her, and locked it.
Aria went to get on her feet, almost able to stand as the pain in her scalp receded. Mei was on her in an instant, though, knocking her to the ground again with a shriek. They tumbled to the floor violently, rolling around and trying to come out on top, but eventually Mei proved to be the more powerful one - her rage was evident in every aspect of her, a feral instinct displayed pridefully in her eyes.
The first punch was barely felt, but the crack of her nose was loud enough to deafen her. Aria raised her hands as the second punch was aimed at her, feeling the contact of fist and jaw, before finally she resorted to fighting back. She swung her arm out wildly, coming in contact with Mei's throat, and the younger girl rolled off of her in a choking fit. Aria wiped her nose, wincing in pain at the broken cartilage, and caught a hefty a,mount of blood on her sleeve. More dripped down over her lips, off of her chin, and finally the droplets hit the floor.
Mei pounced again, this time catching Aria further off-guard and properly pinning her. Her arms were caught under Mei's legs, pinned to her sides, as Mei's hands clamped around her throat. She squeezed hard and held nothing back, not even when Aria began to panic and writhe around futilely.
"You're a good person, Mei!" Mei screamed. "Thank you for doing this for me, Mei!"
"C-Can't-" Mei squeezed harder, if it were possible. "M-Mei-"
"I bet you think you're real fuckin' smart, don't ch'ya?" Mei snarled. "I bet you think you have us all figured the fuck out after all this fuckin' shit went down, huh?"
She lifted Aria's head and slammed it back down to the ground, another loud crack heard, yet hardly felt. Fists pounded at the door for Mei to unlock it, to leave Aria alone. The two girls ignored everyone else in favour of settling the issue at hand.
"I'll tell y'what!" Mei yelled. "You're abso-fucking-lutely wrong, Aria Lambert! We ain't so easy to read, we ain't so fuckin' easy to play house with, and we ain't so posi-fucking-tively eager to work the fuck together in this shithole of a world! You fuckin' said so yourself - we're all done with each other's bullshit," she elaborated, even putting on a British accent to mimic the older girl.
The corners of Aria's vision began to go dark. "Mei- P-Please-"
To her surprise, Mei's grip loosened a fraction. Then altogether, and before Aria could slowly lapse into a lightheaded, sleepy state, Mei's palm came across her face in a hard and loud slap. She could feel her cheek sting, and a stab of pain surged through her nose. Aria yelped loudly before she was lifted somewhat by her shirt's collar. She was now face-to-face with Mei, staring down to violent eyes that were barely even considering learning the word "mercy".
"You listen hard and you listen fuckin' good, bitch," Mei growled. She let her voice rise somewhat to be heard over the shouts on the other side, giving Aria a quick shake as she continued. "I know I act like a total cunt to others, and deep fuckin' down I am one, but before that bullshit and needless tomfuckery, I have a motherfucking HEART." She slammed against against the floor again, this time with less force, and lifted her up once more. "Do you have any fucking idea how much I fucking hate myself for what I had to do!? For what I fucking suggested in the first place!? I was hoping you'd tell me not to do it! I WAS HOPING YOU'D CALL ME A BITCH AND TAKE MY FUCKING WEAPON, AND THEN ATTEMPT TO HELP SORA! But no! You agreed with me! You let me kill her!"
Mei's hands shook, her grip on Aria's shirt loosening. Tears - honest to God tears - were welling up in her eyes, the feral look gone and now replaced with so much pain and betrayal. "You let me kill a member of the only family I've ever had," she sobbed. "What kind of mom does that - what kind of fucked up mother lets her own kids kill each other without even trying?"
"Mei, I'm so-"
"What kind of fucking mother rubs salt in the wound just hours later!?"
"I didn't mean to, Mei!"
"You still did it!" Mei shrieked. She sniffed loudly, wiping her eyes frantically as she released Aria and began to stand. "You still did it..."
Before Aria could say anything as she quickly crawled a safe distance away, Mei retreated to the desk and made her way around the other side, then bent down and crawled into the small space beneath the desk's surface. "I'll stay here," she said, sniffing again. "If I stay here, I can't hurt them again. Just make sure you lock the front doors on your way out, okay?" There was another pause, this time from Mei awaiting Aria's answer. None came, and she went on, "You can take my axe, too. It's in the corner over there."
Aria barely listened. Instead, she scurried for her phone. It was still recording, most likely having caught all of Mei's speech; she quickly ended the video and unlocked the door, faced with the rest of the group, and closed the door behind her. She barely locked it, leaving it for Mei to come out whenever, and assured the group that she was fine - her nose was just a little crooked now and that she might need some painkillers for a little bit.
For once since arriving, the group shut up and immediately went through each storage shelf to find items they needed.
*Sniffs deeply* Smells like character development and *~conflict~*