SOTF Mini

[April Stone, continued from Will I Never Be Lonely Again?]

It was another trip through the jungle this time, but April had memorised the route well enough that they didn’t pass any traps or steep inclines this way around. She didn’t know if Megan had brought her lie, if Nick had followed them, or if anyone else had been in the vicinity of the helipad when they had gotten the hell out of Dodge, but she figured that if she kept her head down, her ear buds in, and her feet off the ground, she wouldn’t have to think about it, and she wouldn’t have to answer any of Megan’s questions until she was ready. That, and music helped her run. She wished she had been more prepared for this abduction, now. She could have put some montage music on her iPod. That would certainly have livened the place up.

So she kept running- always forwards, never left or right- until she found the first sign of civilisation for miles, and was surprised to find that it was a mall. April was pleased with this development. A mall meant that April now had the following available to her: Clean clothes, soft drinks, and a metric fuckton of sugar. She didn’t care if it was empty or not. She would steal the Sprite if she had to. She paused, adjusting her bag on her shoulder- hiding Dougal’s tomahawk- and doubled over, dry heaving from the exertion. She had almost forgot how tired she was. Adrenaline was powerful, huh? She stood back upright and wiped her mouth, taking several deep breaths.

"Lets go in through here," She said, between breaths. "Should be safer, right? I was holed up in a guard tower for a couple days. Didn't go so well."

Then, she turned to Megan and shrugged, slowly beginning to walk forwards. As she did, she pulled out her ear buds and stowed them with her iPod in her pocket, ready for whatever Megan was going to throw her way.

((Megan Jacobson continued from Will I Never Be Lonely Again?))

By the time Megan caught up to April, she was wishing she'd done more cardio. Running was hard, and Megan was already exhausted. How long had it been since she slept? Megan shook her head, not wanting to think about it.

When she glanced up, April had stopped. Megan followed her line of sight to find herself at-

Oh. The mall.

"Awesome," Megan deadpanned, still a little breathless. "You know, April, the last time I was here Nick stabbed Sally Connelly to death. Like. A lot. There's probably some bad omens or shit in there." She shrugged, rolling her shoulders and trying to crack her back. "Then again, I don't really believe in ghosts, so I guess it's fine. Just. Let's not get stabbed."

April started to head in and Megan watched her for a second, trying to puzzle through what she ought to say.

In truth, she was mostly confused. Why would April shoot someone? Why was killing a good idea? What had provoked it?

But, if Megan was being honest with herself, she sort of got it. Living was important, and the only way to get to the end was to take out the competition.

Megan wasn't entirely sure if she trusted April, or if April planned to turn around and shoot Megan in the face, point blank. But Megan wasn't angry at April. She couldn't be. She'd forgiven Nick for what he'd done- and, granted, that had been somewhat self-defense, but Megan didn't know what April had gone through. She didn't know why April lied, but there was no point in being upset about it. There just wasn't.

"I'm tired," Megan said carefully, jogging a bit to walk next to April. "I'm just...I'm just tired. It's been forever since I slept, and it feels like I've been in this damned place for years, like I'm running around in circles. My friends are dying. Anthony's dead. Anthony's gone, and I...I don't know. I'm glad to be alive, and I'm glad I didn't have to see it, but I wish I could have done something. I should have been there, you know?" Megan swallowed, determined not to cry. "I should have been able to do something, and I'm tired of sitting here and being useless and watching people die, and listening to my friends die."

Megan sighed, deeply. "I don't know why you did what you did, but I don't care. It's not...it's not alright, but I can't change what's happened, and I don't want something bad to happen to you, either. I don't want my friends to die anymore, so if you're alive and Dougal isn't then...then I'm glad you're alive." Megan squinted at April. "As long as you don't shoot me." Her tone aimed for joking, but Megan wasn't entirely sure she got there.

Megan turned back to the mall, nodding towards it. "Do you think they have Diet Coke? I really need a Diet Coke." She laughed humorlessly. "If Anthony were here he'd totally tell me I had a problem. But, I mean, life's not worth living if there's not Diet Coke in it, you know?"

April wiped her eyes and examined her surroundings before they got too far in. If nothing else, the jungle had taught her that anything and everything on the island could be a trap. The Mall looked like a bomb had hit it, though. The floor was littered with dirt and broken glass and the place had been strip-mined by looters. Waste of time, April thought. We’d have better luck finding food in the jungle. April noticed the trail of muddy footprints she was leaving, and blinked. Was it enough to follow? Undoubtably, but there was no doubt in April’s mind that their trip to the mall would be a short one. Wouldn’t matter anyway.

“Sorry, I didn’t know.” April said, continuing forwards regardless of Megan’s opinion. “I-If I’d have known, I would have come through another way.”

She was trying to remain as diplomatic as possible. April could tell Megan was nervous around her- she was choosing her own words carefully and the smile that usually plastered her face had disappeared almost entirely. Granted, it may have been her presence causing that- for all she knew April was still a killer, ready to shoot her on the drop of a hat. April could let her think that, but a friendly face would go a long way towards helping April stay sane.

However, it became clear to April that sanity was something Megan was sorely lacking. The girl was flipping between perky and pissy faster than a ping pong ball in a drunken game of table tennis. For a moment, the thought crossed April’s mind of putting a bullet square in her skull. She decided against it for the moment because a third kill would almost certainly have everyone else on the island gunning for her. Besides, it was nice to actually have some company for a change.

Megan was determined to talk and April wasn’t all that determined to stop her, so she let the whackjob vent for a bit. She interjected when necessary but otherwise stayed silent. Then Megan mentioned April’s kills. April’s hand brushed against the handle of the pistol in her jeans but she let it go. Megan cracked a joke, and April turned around, outstretching her arm and making a gun shape with her fingers. She closed her right eye and pulled her arm back.

“Bang!” She said, and laughed uproariously. Hefting her bag back over her shoulder, she turned around and kept walking.

“C’mon,” She said. “There should be a café or a food court or something around here. Hell, I’d settle for a subway at this point.”

Megan shrugged as April walked into the Mall. "You couldn't have known," she muttered a bit sorely. Megan really didn't want to be back in the mall, but she also really didn't want to upset April. Who knew what the hell was going on in that girl's head? Besides, Megan wasn't willing to book it alone- she'd be dead pretty fast on her own, she reasoned.

Still, Megan didn't really trust April. She didn't actively distrust April, but she knew better than to let her guard down. April could do something crazy; after all, she had already killed two people.

It was at the moment that April chose to pretend to shoot Megan. Granted, she hadn't actually pulled a gun, but Megan jumped a bit all the same. "Shit!" She glared at April, trying to will her hear into slowing down. "Damnit, you must think you're a real laugh riot," Megan bit out, a touch irritated. She rolled her shoulders, trying to get out of it. April hadn't pulled the gun. She hadn't. That was good, right?

Jesus, Megan had only really interacted with three people on this island. One had held her at katana point, one had killed the katana wielder, and one was a known-killer making shooting noises at her. Where had all the sane folks gone? (Then again, Megan probably wasn't in the best state of mind either.) She shook her head and continued after April, trying to be as calm as possible.

"I think they gave us rations," she said with a shrug. "I never actually looked. I've been a touch...uh. Busy." If one could call "busy" being kidnapped, witnessing murder, running around like a mad man, and frolicking through the jungle with murders. "But the rations are probably shit. I mean, they want us all to die anyway. Starving us out would be a way to do it."

Megan scratched idly at her neck, trying to ignore the death-necklace she was wearing. Sure, starving was a way to do it- but they had more creative ways.

"You'd settle for a Subway, but what if all they have is McDonalds? Not even their fries are vegetarian. Think of all the small animals you'd be eating. Also, it would probably make both of us sick at this point." Megan shrugged again. "At this point, I'd settle for a bottle of Aspartame and a nice place to bunk down."

Megan gestured at the stores on either side of them. "We could also do a bit of raiding, I guess. Though this place is a wreck. Still, we could find something useful."

She thought a bit fondly of Sally before remembering the blood with sudden clarity. "Oh, and, uh, we should probably avoid H&M. For corpsey reasons."

“Hey, just trying to break the ice is all,” April retorted, as Megan spluttered at her bombastic display. “Y’know, with me being a dangerous killer and you being my spunky sidekick and all.”

She breathed in deep and let the acrid smell of urban decay fill her lungs. The mall had been dead long before they got there – half the storefronts were vacant, the pillars were covered in graffiti and the rain had left brown pools of liquid on the cracked floor. April saw some profound beauty in the decay of uninhabited space. How something so busy could become this empty. God, she thought, this must be the dorkiest thing I have ever done.

Her father always said she’d turn out to be an artist at heart.

Or an architect, which was just as bad.

Curious, April wandered over to an empty store and looked at the discolored sign. She squinted, trying to make out the lettering. The writing was definitely English, which was a good sign. The writing was also faint, hard to discern from the layers of dust that had accumulated over it. That wasn’t a good sign. April shook her head, zoned back in and wandered back over to Megan. She was still talking. Shocker of the Century, I know.

If this place had been abandoned for as long as April thought it had, Megan would be drinking ebola and herpes when she finally got the diet coke she was after. April had no objections to that so she kept her opinion to herself and let Megan draw her own conclusions.

As she slowly made her way back towards the other girl, April plugged her Shuffle into her ear. If she was going to suffer through Megan, she may as well do it with some Two Door Cinema Club.

“Can’t make any promises on H&M,” She said, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm in her voice. “My vegan hipster instincts draw me towards the flannel and ironic scarves. It is my curse.”

((Glen Bole continued from From Pain, Awakening))

Is this what the rest of my life’s gonna consist of? Running from place to place, because some asshole five fucking thousand miles away decides it’s your turn to blow up unless you haul ass?

Glen was sick of running. He hadn’t thought before that that would ever run through his head, but getting trapped on murder island does strange things to people. Glen was sick of running. He thought it would probably be a hell of a lot better if he’d had some proper rest, or food, and if he wasn’t constantly carrying a bag, a sledgehammer, and dead weight in the form of Anna.

Well, dead weight aside from the fucking gun she’d been hiding from him. All this time, Anna had been holding a gun, an actual weapon he could have used for attack when he’d been hell bent on finding and killing April, and as defence right now. There needed to be some form of trust for an alliance to work, and keeping a fucking firearm hidden was not something that helped in that regard.

Glen only realised that he’d reached the mall when he almost ran head first into the outside wall. He’d been keeping his head down, partially for speed, and partially because it was actually physically demanding to keep it up. Glen put on the brakes, and placed his hands against the wall, breathing heavily for a few seconds. Then, he swivelled round, leaning with his back to the wall, before sliding down. If his head hadn’t been buzzing, and he hadn’t been breathing so hard, Glen might have heard the faint sounds of April and Megan talking, deeper into the mall.

The mall was as good a place as any to hide out in, if that was their brand new plan. Although the main building seemed to be pretty trashed, Glen was sure there would be a couple of shops still mostly intact. There would be counters and stuff for cover. Plus, there was always a chance that they could find something to help them; food, maybe something to use as a weapon. As he thought this, Glen idly picked up a shard of glass lying on the ground near the entrance. It was fairly small; just about bigger than a regular kitchen knife. But it was definitely sharp. Glen in fact managed to cut his finger on one edge, prompting a subdued mutter of “Fucking hell.”

Glen figured that actually going into the building would be sensible pretty soon, but he wanted to rest a few more moments. Plus, he was still waiting for Anna. The girl had some questions to answer.

((Anna Kateridge continued from From Pain, Awakening))

You just pulled a gun on Carol, Anna.

She knew that.

Why?

She didn't know that.

As Glen almost literally dragged her out of that danger zone, Anna had tried to remember what exactly compelled her to pull her gun on a girl she once shared an English class with. Maybe it was fear. She could have been afraid Carol was secretly about to kill them. But that didn't sound right. She wasn't exactly killing material, at least she wasn't then - she looked all muddy and wet, not bloody and wet. Anna didn't even hear how it happened, she just heard that Carol killed someone, and then for some inexplicable reason she pulled a gun on her.

Once again, it all went back to the fact that she was adjusting to everything strangely well. It was almost matter-of-fact now that this was going to be possibly the rest of her life. Running around with Glen, from danger to danger, avoiding all signs of life until...

That was still the big unknown right there. What came after they couldn't run anymore? Fight? Keep running anyway? Anna didn't have all the answers. Sometimes she did, and she let people know it, but sometimes she didn't, and that was now. The no-answer girl. People she used to know were dying around her, off-screen, and all she could do was think.

But the time for thinking was over.

They'd stopped at a mall. Funny, an island with a mall. Glen was sitting against the wall playing with a long shard of glass, while once again he'd just left Anna to idly stare at him until she decided to do something. Well, how was this for something? Anna walked over to Glen, pulled out her gun, spun it around in her hand until she was holding the barrel and the handle right towards the guy she'd been traveling with for days on end.

"Here. Take it."

Megan winced at April's joke about H&M, but decided to ignore it. After all, April had killed people- another corpse probably wouldn't be any more disturbing than the last two.

Still, Megan couldn't bear to see Sally again. Not after everything Nick had done. Which, hey-

"Where'd Nick go?" Megan turned around to see if he was following them, but the Mall seemed dead empty except for her and April. "I mean, he can Fleetwood Mac it and all if he wants too, but I thought he and I were..."

Were? Were what? Megan couldn't honestly have thought that she and Nick would team up with April to make a super-group of survivors, right? Like this was a game, where she could make alliances and try to not get herself voted off the island? No, of course she couldn't have thought that. She couldn't have been thick-headed enough to actually think she could play this like a game, ever. There wasn't any strategy- it was luck, stupid luck. And she was the girl in the room with the girl with the gun. What did that make her? Lucky or unlucky?

Megan didn't know, and she didn't really want to find out.

"Nevermind," she muttered, shaking her head. She stopped herself from saying that he'd be fine because- well. They were all past fine, at this point. Besides, maybe Megan didn't want him to be fine. Maybe Megan realized that her luck was better off if he wasn't fine. There weren't that many kids on the bus, and so many had died already- they had to be getting closer to the end. Maybe Megan had put two and two together and figured out that Nick dying meant she had a greater chance of living, and not having to kill that many people to do it. Maybe she understood that the smartest thing she could do was keep her head down and wait for everyone to kill each other. Maybe Megan didn't want to hope for the well-being of other people, for their safety, for their families. Maybe Megan wanted to live.

But maybe Megan was also tired, and worn, and very much aware of how low her chances were. Maybe Megan understood that she couldn't go home and live her life normally ever again, especially not if she killed others. Maybe Megan realized that even though she loved her Mom and her Dad and her brother, she couldn't ever love herself enough to want to win- to want other people to die to ensure she got home. Maybe Megan knew that she was as good as dead when she blacked out on the bus, and now all she was jocking for was runner-up.

Maybe. But Megan didn't want to think about it enough to figure out what side of the coin she landed on. That was too far in the future, too far ahead of the game. Right now she was going to walk through the mall with April, and crack jokes about bodies and Diet Coke, and pretend that everything enough.

One step at a time, Megs. One step at a time.

“You’d been travelling with him for a while?” April asked. Nick Reid had checked out of his alliance with Megan long before April had arrived. April could tell from the look in his eyes when she met them at the helipad. “He’s not coming back. Probably didn’t want to stick around too long after I showed up. He must have felt like I was barging in on his turf.”

Breathing in through her nose, she discovered that the air smelled as bad as it tasted, and would have hurled if there were anything left in her stomach. She coughed quietly, in an attempt to get the stench out whilst still masking their presence as much as possible, but she knew it was ultimately pointless. The smell would hang in the air long after they passed, and the trail of mud they were leaving on the floor would draw other killers to them faster than her coughs.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s killed someone else at this rate.” She continued, scratching at the back of her neck. “I guess the best you can hope for is that he’s killing the bad ones.”

After an awkward pause, April hooked the earbuds back into her ears and fell back into introspection. Why am I travelling with Megan? She asked herself. She’s not made for this island. It would be quicker and kinder for me to shoot her now, before Reeves or Steinman get to her.

April was trying to fool herself into thinking she was redeeming herself by buddying up with Megan, but that moment showed it hadn’t taken. The island had warped her to the point she was considering shooting one of her closest friends in the head because it was better than seeing her hacked to pieces.

But she knew she couldn’t do it, so she focused on finding Megan’s damn cola. All of the stores they had passed were either boarded up or empty, and April would have assumed Megan had hallucinated the H&M if she hadn’t been wearing one of their sweaters. It was a fool’s errand and when April was finally fed up with hunting for Megan’s fake caffeine, she asked a single question.

“Are we done here?” She asked. April wanted to leave before it got dark; the flourescent lightbulbs in the ceiling alternated between smashed and vacant. “This mall is empty. We won’t find anything.”

And here she finally was. The girl with the gun, Anna Kateridge, ladies and gentlemen. The girl who had kept a deadly weapon hidden from her so called allies. There was a teeny, tiny voice in the back of Glen’s mind telling him that he didn’t need to get so annoyed about the whole thing. Anna could have forgotten about the gun, somehow, or she could have been preparing it for an emergency, or some special plan, or some shit.

Or, of course, she could have been planning on shooting my fucking brains out when I wasn’t looking.

Glen raised his eyes to look at Anna for a brief moment, before his attention went back to the shard of glass. They weren’t starved for time, here. Glen was pretty sure Anna knew he was pissed; she was smart, apparently, so she could answer his questions without him even saying them. If he wanted to use the shard as a weapon, then he’d need to get a scrap of cloth or something, wind it round the-

“Here. Take it.”

Glen’s eyes flickered up again, this time staying there, as they locked on to the gun Anna was holding out to him. After a few seconds of shock, his vision darted from the gun, to Anna, and back to the gun again, his face a look of suspicion and confusion. What exactly was Anna planning? Why was she handing Glen her gun? Had she really had good intentions right from the start? Or was she planning on flipping the gun round at the last second and shooting Glen in the face?

Glen looked directly at Anna for a good few seconds, as if trying to see what exactly was going on in her head. Cautiously, he stretched out a hand, and took hold of the gun. There was no resistance from Anna; she really was giving him her gun. After looking at the weapon for a few more seconds, Glen spoke.

“Well shit, that’s the smartest thing you’ve done this whole time.” A couple more seconds passed. Then Glen let out a short, bitter laugh.

“God, either you’re still on my side, or you’re the shittiest murderer since… well, anyone.” Glen laughed again, standing up and putting the gun in his pocket, before folding his arms. Slowly, his facial expression morphed back into one of grim irritation.

“Still doesn’t change the fact you were keeping that hidden from me all this time.” Glen said. “Hell, you could have been planning on shooting me and Ben for all I knew. This sorta thing? This little lapse in trust, all that shit? That’s the sort of thing that can destroy a team from the inside.” Glen sighed, looked at the ground, and back at Anna.

“But, seeing as you’re the only person I’ve met out here that isn’t dead or a fucking murderer, I guess we’ll just have to try and survive the best we can. Literally.” Glen knew that, had he started the first day on the wrong foot, managed to piss off both Ben and Anna, or not managed to meet any allies at all, his chances of survival would have been pretty much cut in half. With an ally, they could plan. They could… well. Glen wasn’t sure he could trust Anna to watch his back, not right now anyway. Bitch was far from in the clear.

Glen stuffed the shard of glass in his other pocket, then turned to look at the entrance of the mall. Huge, derelict, and depressing. Fun times all round, Glen was sure. Glen looked round at Anna, gesturing in the direction of the mall entrance.

“C’mon. We’re heading in. You go first. Don’t think I can trust you standing behind me.” Glen said bluntly.

Glen mistook Anna for someone violent, apparently. The gun was some sort of violation of trust? How about she just really didn't feel like seeing it used until...well, until she was about to die?

Some scenario that was.

But they had a mall to check out, and the little amount of trust that Glen still had in her wanted Anna to do it with her. Going first apparently, to absorb the hail of bullets that would inevitably follow. Or not. Such morbid thoughts. They had no place inside Anna's head. Neither did a number of things, actually.

Either way, a door was opened to the mall, and before she could even register the trail of muddy footprints leading up to it and out of it, she heard a girls voice.

A familiar voice.

"-all is empty. We won’t find anything.”

"Nobody move! Or you can join him!"

There was something in Anna's feet that compelled her to turn back. Her brain was trying to edge her towards that same direction but for some reason her gut and her heart and everything that made a Vulcan obsolete pushed her forward at running pace. It compelled her to head through the open echo-ey space that was a gigantic out-of-place mall and turn that corner to see that girl who ruined everything.

She reached for her gun.

But it wasn't there.

So she reached for the next best thing.

"GLEN!"

Megan frowned at April and shrugged. How long had they been traveling? How many people were even left? Was it that likely that Nick had already killed someone? It seemed a little extreme and ridiculous, but, well. Megan had been held captive by a girl with a katana. Extreme and ridiculous was her lifestyle, now.

"We weren't traveling very long, no." She refrained from adding "But I guess being in the same area while he committed a brutal murder made us buddies." Because, well. April was already listening to music, anyways, so there was no point in talking to someone who was totally ignoring her.

Megan ground her teeth together a bit, wondering why she even bothered being anywhere near April. Why not just tase her and run? It would be more interesting, and obviously April had some sort of complex about being better than Megan. Which Megan supposed came from the fact that April was a killer and Megan wasn't. Seriously. This might be the only place on the entire planet where killing someone made you a better person than anyone else. Then again, Megan supposed that the answer to her own question was as obvious as she could get. Stunning April wouldn't kill her, and April had a gun, and April probably would hold a grudge, and dying was not on the top of Megan's to do list.

But, seriously, Megan wanted to punch the shit out of April's smug face right now. Not that she actually would ever do that, even if April didn't have a gun, cause punching people was rude, but still. She could dream.

April idly suggesting leaving the mall in a tone that made it sound like it was Megan's idea to come here in the first place. Yes, it is totally my fault that we wound up in this place you led us too and insisted upon entering after I told you about the corpses in it, clearly was a bad call on my part.

Megan just nodded. "Leaving sounds way better than staying. I fucking hate this place," she muttered, shaking her head. She wondered if she was imagining smelling the decomposing body of Sally, or if Sally was actually decomposing fast enough to smell.

Ugh that was an awful though, abort, abort backtrack backtrack.

Megan spun around on her heel and started to march out of the mall, not caring at all if April was following her. Seriously, getting rid of April's company was a great idea that Megan needed to act on ASAP.

Her dramatic departure of the mall was interrupted by people, however.

Megan stopped short, staring blankly at dude in front of her, sort of at a loss.

"Oh," she said, for lack of anything else. "Hey Glenn."

If April and Megan had been trying to mask their presence, there would have been one fatal flaw in their plan.

In an empty mall, you can hear a pin drop.

As such, the intruders’ footsteps reverberated around the corridor so loudly that April could just about hear them over the wail of her music. She stopped dead in her tracks and stood still, silently pulling the bud from her ear.

“Hold up,” April whispered, as if it would make any difference now. “I hear someone.”

Two people, April corrected herself. If their footsteps were to be trusted. That, or a horse coming through. The thought of a horse galloping through the mall brought a smile to April’s cracked, bleeding lips, but she decided it was a little too silly to happen. It turned out that April’s warning had been useless anyway, because Megan had caught on and was talking to one of them. Quickly, April grabbed her Colt M1911 pistol from her canvas sack and followed. The two of them looked familiar. It took April a second to remember where she met them, though.

The lighthouse, she mouthed.

Glen Bole and Anna Kateridge. She could make out their faces clearly, worse for wear than she remembered them from Coleridge but they all were. More recently, April had threatened them with a gun at a lighthouse, after killing their friend. Now, that same gun clung to April’s hand as she brought it up to eye level and fired three times. One for Glen, Anna, Megan.

If she was lucky, the mall would be three people emptier by the time this one was through.

Glen rolled his neck a little, hearing the satisfying clicking noise it made. There was little need; it didn’t feel sore or anything. It just seemed like the sorta thing to do before heading into a long abandoned mall. Anna offered no arguments about going in first; either she actually had none, or, more likely scenario, she wasn’t voicing any. Good call. Their alliance was being held together by a thread at the moment.

Before either of them could enter the mall, however, a voice echoed from the depths of the mall. Female, faint and distant. Vaguely familiar, but not recognisable from where Glen was standing. Whoever it was, they needed to avoid human contact for the time being. Sure, Glen had just told Anna to go in first, but he would be right behind her with a gun, if anyone surprised them. Until they saw who the owner of the voice was, they should stay out of the mall, out of sight, until the mysterious figure had left.

So of course, Anna charged headlong into the mall before Glen could say a single word. Just ran straight in. Glen was almost lost for words. Almost.

“Oh for fuck’s sake Anna, are you fucking kidding me?!”

Glen paused for about half a second, before throwing his hands up in disbelief, taking the pistol from his pocket, and running into the mall himself. He couldn’t hear anything; no more talking, no footsteps aside from his own. No gunshots, thank god. Even so, the silence was almost more unsettling than anything else. Glen tried to push aside the exhaustion he was still feeling, and the sick feeling in his stomach. He ran faster. Rounded the corner to find Anna, standing and facing another girl. Megan Jacobsen. At any other time, Glen might have tried to remember anything noteworthy about her. Right now, the only thing he could think was She’s not a murderer.

Megan tried to speak to him. A simple, casual, “Hey.” Nothing else. Glen wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Before he could speak, his attention was drawn to a third girl. Not just any girl. The girl. The girl he’d been gunning for since leaving the lighthouse. April Stone; holding a gun, pointing it straight at-

Glen raised his own gun, but it was far too late. Three loud cracks echoed around the almost empty mall, and instinctively, Glen tried to dive out of the way, trying to fire as he did so. Felt the gun jerk in his hand, no idea of who or what the bullet had hit. Felt something hit his arm, no idea whether it was maybe Anna or a bullet. Felt himself hit the cold, hard floor of the mall. There was a shop in front of him, ransacked, empty. It was still protection. Glen scrambled to his feet, ignoring the ever growing pain in his arm, almost slipping as he did so, before barrelling into the shop and, hopefully, safety.

Anna had been pushed to the back of his mind. Right now, the most important thing was that Glen Bole stayed alive.

She could have said something else. Something about the guns echoing around her. Something to the girl who stood there with one of said guns. Something to Glen to make sure he was safe, since that mattered to her.

But all that is rather hard to verbalize with a large hole ripped through your trachea, isn't it?

So no, Anna had nothing to say as she felt herself become lighter. Nothing to say as her legs became weaker and failed to support her weight. Nothing to say as the girl who murdered one friend tried to do the same to another with nothing to do about it. No, the last things to drift through Anna's mind before the never-ending black enveloped her were simple thoughts of her family, nothing more.

Nothing fancy to say for Anna. It was just a time to think of home.

Anna Kateridge - Deceased