I chuckle to myself thinking of all the fucked up sorts of bother she's found herself in over the years and consequently dragged me and the girls into it after her.
Now is probably no different. She’s probably out there giving whatever idiot she has come across some mouthy insults and likely driving them crazy. Either that or she’s killed them for not being a good sport.
My best friend, and the closest thing our group has to a leader, is not a fool nor is she someone to mess with. I know this but it doesn’t ease the anxiety of not being out there covering her back.
Come morning, I will demand that Liz and I go scouting for her, nothing big or strenuous, so the others don’t get too freaked out, but we need to do something, and I know we are the only two that are capable of doing so. Fauna has been gone for far too long and if something horrible has happened then we need to know. I just need to be discreet so that The Skull doesn’t notice me and the girls don’t have a meltdown.
It's not the others fault… but it also kind of is. I can’t imagine myself ever getting so comfortable in the role of sentry as they have. But that’s unfair of me to say. Not everyone is like Fauna, Liz and me. Not everyone gets excited when they feel frightened and not everyone is willing to risk their life on supply runs, especially when someone who is more capable always offers to do it for them.
I may be pregnant, and the girls are overly protective of me because of it, but I’m not useless and I’ll have to remind them of that. After all, I have survived all of these years in this hellhole of a world. Just because I’m growing another being inside of me does not mean I’ve turned into a useless pile of mush that can be excluded from everything I used to do. If anything, I feel more fierce than ever despite what my sometimes spiralling thoughts.
I’m not them. I’m not like the others and I certainly will not be sitting back and letting my best friend disappear for days without going out to check on her.
The extra line on the pregnancy test scared the shit out of me, but it also formed a layer of steel around me, and I'm not going to be defeated.
Mind made up, I run my thumb up and down the machete at my hip, making my way through the last set of double doors. Relying heavily on my other senses, I feel my way down the dark hallway, the only sound the echo of each step I take on the hard-tiled floor.
When I make it to the back of the building, I hear Fauna’s teasing voice drifting through the back door that leads to the playground.
My heart and lungs relax as I’m finally able to take a full breath in since she left.
Fauna is alive. She and Liz are still here to help me survive this torment.
I rush forward and push the door to the outside open, taking in my best friend and seeing the heartbreak deep in those watery brown eyes. Although she looks the best she has for years on the outside — somehow freshly showered and dressed in a clean set of clothing — she seems like she is ready to break on the inside. My heart sinks at the sight.
Chapter three
Isla
‘Leave her alone you nosey bitches.’ I scold the women in front of me, directing my attention to one particular pain in the arse. ‘She’s exhausted and doesn’t need you all interrogating her.’
Luna huffs a dramatic breath which causes a few wild tendrils of her bright pink hair to fly about her face. The girls got a good heart but she loves to barrel into situations like a bull in a China shop and that is something that Fauna does not need right now. Judging by the defeated look she was trying to keep closed off behind her mask of bravery, something has gone down to really effect her, so much that she doesn’t need the added pressure of telling these feral cats what has happened.
‘She’s been in there for hours, Isla. She’ll need to come out and explain at some point.’ Luna continues pissing me off with her incessant whining.
‘I’ll go check on her.’ Her face lights up but quickly drops as I add a stern, ‘alone.’
Luna’s grumbled protests follow me as I exit the reception area and head down the hall towards Fauna. The halls are dark and my footsteps echo through the empty and decaying space. This school was once full of life, a bustling hub of students and teachers. Now it’s been reduced to a hollow and empty space. It has an eerie quality, as if the souls of former students have been trapped here, suspended in the nightmare of a never-ending school day. Well, it wasn’t quite a nightmare to me but it definitely isn’t somewhere that I’d like to be stuck for the rest of my existence.
I shake my head at myself. This pregnancy has made me all superstitious and paranoid. A year ago, hell, even a few months ago I wouldn’t have been going on about souls being trapped in places. Next thing I’ll be praying to the apocalypse gods like Fauna.
The hallway is dark. The light of the full moon shining through the blinds is the only illumination. She always watches over us, particularly in these times of darkness.
Not having much distance to cross between where I just left the girls and where our sleeping area is. I slowly push into the room expecting my best friend to be tucked up and resting just like I left her.
What I do not expect to find is her bent over a desk getting fucked from behind.
By a Skull.
‘The fuck, Fauna!’ The words are out of me before I can register anything but the two bodies tangled together. The man towering behind her wearing a skull mask.
The breath in my lungs catches as I take in the details of the mask. Internally willing it not to be him, please, it can't be him.
He has a similar white skull melded to the fabric and—
My observations are cut short as the man roughly tugs the mask from his face and whispers my name just loud enough for me to hear.
‘Ru?’ My voice sounds far away, unable to believe my own eyes I blink, then blink again.
