Icarus

[Skraal]

The barrage of pain was suddenly interrupted by a new sensation. Hard, sharp blows began to impact against her body, each one bringing with it another scream. The next few moments were a blur, but at some point, Emily managed to open her eyes and see what was going on. Her brain was still foggy and confused, but it didn't take much to notice the fact that she was covered in blood, and Stephen was on top of her bringing a knife down again and again into her body. She stared up at him, red eyes wide with fear as the assault continued.

It wasn't long before her own screams came to a stop, replaced with a pathetic gurgle as the knife came down again, putting a deep slash into her throat. Her transformation had come to a halt, leaving behind a broken and disfigured form of what once looked like an ordinary girl. As she faded in and out of consciousness, the changes to her body slowly began to creep backwards, though the damage to her body left her with hardly enough energy for them to reverse fully. She could feel the life slowly draining out of her, the pain dulling, only to be replaced by a cold sensation.

Finally, she turned to look away, unable to watch any longer. It was all over now; there was no way she'd be getting out of this alive. She didn't really deserve to either. It was her or Stephen, and it was better for everyone that the normal person was the one to survive. It wasn't even much of a surprise, to be honest. On some level, Emily had always known that she was never meant to fit in with other people. Even thinking about the future had always left nothing but a giant black hole of loneliness and depression, and despite her cowardice when it came to the thought of suicide, it always seemed obvious that she wasn't going to last very long without ending it all herself. Every time she had been able to grasp onto the hope that maybe things would be better, life would soon shatter that illusion, leaving her in more pain than before. This was one of those times - Stephen and Claudia's niceness had allowed her to trick herself into hoping that maybe there could possibly be a life for her on the outside, but in retrospect, after what happened with David, there was no way for that to be true. She was just too dangerous to be allowed to live.

Emily wished that she could somehow communicate this to Stephen, to let him know that this wasn't his fault. Her mouth opened to speak, but all that came out was a horrible death rattle. There wasn't much room in her mind for disappointment, though. Her consciousness was rapidly fading, and the world around her began to feel further and further away with every passing second. At the very least, she could take comfort in knowing that she was experiencing these finally moments as herself, rather than as a feral beast. It was only a small mercy, but it was one for which she was infinitely grateful. Slowly, she closed her eyes for the final time, giving in to the exhaustion that had claimed her body. The nightmare was finally over.

Student No. 31: Mei-Ling "Emily" Chou - DECEASED

[Applesintime]

Emily's eyes opened, full of fear and pain, and Stephen almost stopped. It was almost too much for his heart to bear, but his arms kept going, driving the knife in and out, in and out. One of his stabs went through her throat, only adding to the torrent of blood splalttered over Stephen. His tears mingled with Emily's blood as they travelled down his face, splattering down on her body. "I'm sorry," Stephen croaked out through his tears.

And then she stopped moving, a horrible sound escaping her throat, Emily's head turned to look down the road that the three of them had intended to travel down together. Dropping the knife, Stephen fell over her and wept, his hands automatically moving to try and stench the wounds, but he already knew it didn't matter anymore. This wasn't fair. This wasn't fucking fair, it should be him and Claudia and Emily getting out of here and living, god fucking damn it, not him standing over a friend's body, of, of someone he'd just murdered and with his other friend presumably dead. His shirt, his pants, everything was stained with blood. He didn't care.

Stephen stayed like that for a while, sobbing over his friend's corpse. At some point, the tears stopped falling, replaced with sniffles. A part of him wanted to go back. He didn't deserve to escape. Not after what he'd done. But he refused.

This would not be for nothing.

Claudia and Emily would not have died for nothing.

Those words gave him the strength to push himself off Emily's body, wobbling gently on his feet. His right hand hurt like hell — he might have broken something — but he ignored that. Moving automatically, trying to not let himself think about what he'd just done, he leant down again and gently closed Emily's eyes. Opening his mouth again, he chose not to speak. She'd know. If there was some kind of afterlife, she'd be there. Moving over to Emily's bag, he unzipped it and grabbed her food and water, moving it to his bag.

The knife lay besides Emily, and Stephen hesitated. But then he snatched it, shoving it into a pocket. If one of those furries tried to get him, he would do his best to kill the fucker. There wasn't really much else to do now. It felt wrong to leave her like this, sprawled out in the middle of the road in a pool of her own blood. "I'll come back. Promise." Glancing back one more time, at the building looming over this atrocity, where they'd started, Stephen turned to face the road out.

One step forwards. A step closer to home.

((Stephen Sanders continued in For Everyone))