by Max Jager
"It's my fault she's out there. I thought she would know better then to run off, I misjudged her and because of that she's missing. I'm not going to leave her behind." George stated.
"How do you know she's still alive" Charles pointed out.
"We don't. Which is why I'm not asking anyone else to go." George answered. "I made the wrong call, I will fix it myself."
"It is an honorable thing to do." Damion stepped in. "Let him stay if he wants to."
"Look guys, we need to go." Charles stated
George hesitated, conflicted. Then he got up and walked away. "I'll catch up after I find Sophia. Go without me, I will find you."
"George! Get back here!" Fate shouted at him.
"If you're going to try stopping me you'll have to fight me and drag me back." George just kept walking.
Brooke and Elliott turned to Sarah. "Is there really no way we can keep searching for her? There must be something we can do." Brooke asked.
"They are right." Matthew stated. "We need to go before more people die. If Sophia is alive, her and George will find their own way back. They aren't pushovers."
"What if he's the killer? And he now has her isolated. That went too smoothly on his part to be unplanned." Fate stated.
"I trust George." Matthew spoke up.
"As do I." Damion added.
Sarah sighed. "I really want to go search for her. But it isn't my call to make." She sighed. "Charles?" She asked.
"I'm sorry, but we really can't stay any longer. Let's go." Charles insisted and lead the group back out of the mall.
The group walked back to the house where they had left the others. There was a pile of five dead goblins stacked outside the house, and another stack of six goblins lying on the side of the road outside the mall. Both the living room and the street outside had signs of two fights. The group cautiously walked into the house and over to the stairs, wondering if there were any goblins still alive.
There was a trail of bloody footprints left behind by two people, one with boots and one with sneakers. The footprints were leaving the scene of the fight and going up the stairs.
Everyone walked up the stairs. Charles noticed the tripwire and warned the others about it as he stepped over it.
In the room Jackson was cleaning the blood off his boots. Chloe, Evelyn, and Snipes were all sitting together in a corner. They looked a little shaken but were quietly talking amongst each other.
"Where is Carley and Jake?" Brooke immediately asked.
Chloe stood up and walked over to the others. "Goblins attacked, we had to split up and tackle two groups at once. Jake went missing in the chaos."
"And Carley ran off I assume?" Matthew asked.
As soon as Matthew said it Carley stepped in from the other room. A silent statement saying they were still here. Carley, once seen by the group, went back into the other room.
"Where is Sophia and George?" Chloe worriedly tried to look around the people standing in the front, in hopes that they were behind them somewhere.
"Sophia was targeted by goblins, and she ran. George went to look for her." Fate sighed. "George separated her from the group, keep an eye on him if he returns."
Chloe hesitated, but noticed the worried looks on everyone's faces. "I'm sure Sophia is alright. She's smart, she knows how to survive. And George is probably fine too." She reassured everyone.
"It is getting late, we need to get away from the mall and make camp." Charles instructed.
"We can't go far from the mall. We need to stay close so Sophia and Jake can find us." Fate spoke up.
"We can't, we need some distance from the mall. The goblins will send out more hunting parties tomorrow morning." Charles replied. "If everyone was armed and capable of fighting, that would be one thing. But we are not, it's unsafe."
"Come on Charles." Sarah turned to him. "We can stay nearby."
Charles hesitated. "Alright we will stay in the area, but we need to move out of sight of the mall at least. And if we stay we must leave early in the morning before the others come looking for us."
"Thank you." Both Fate and Sarah said at the same time.
The group moved around to the other side of the block and all slipped into a building that wasn't visible from the mall. As they walked Carley slipped away briefly, then returned a few minutes later to hand Jackson a roll of fishing line. The group set up camp on the second floor of the two story building. As usual, Jackson and Carley vanished once camp was set up and everyone was settled in.
Next Chapter: Moving Forward
Chapter 4: Moving Forward
- Chapter 4: Moving Forward -
Brooke awoke early in the morning, as she always did, this time there was no scent of food or anything, it was strange, she had been getting used to it. She sat up and looked around, for once there was no sign of Carley. She noticed that Elliott was awake and just hadn't gotten up yet. Fate looked exhausted but was awake, it seemed like she stayed on watch all night long. Chloe was off in the corner doing some stretches to prepare for the day, Matthew, Charles, and Sarah were standing in a corner talking amongst themselves.
"Did Sophia, Jake, or George return?" Brooke asked Fate and Elliott.
Elliott shrugged, and it was Fate who answered. "No, neither have been seen since we lost them.
Brooke sighed, worrying about her new friends. "What about Carley and Jackson?.
"No sign of Carley. I spotted Jackson on the second floor of the building across the street.
"Really? Carley is always here around this time with breakfast, she hasn't been around?" Elliott asked.
"No, no sign of her at all." Fate replied. "I hope I didn't scare her off."
"She did tell you where she was staying last night, maybe we should go check on her to make sure she's okay?" Elliott suggested.
"Yeah, I think I'll go make sure she's alright." Brooke said as she stood up.
"Maybe I should go try? I'm good with the ladies, if I throw in a little charm maybe I can get her to stay with us?" Elliott suggested.
"Comeon Elliott, she doesn't seem like she'd be interested in you." Brooke laughed.
"You don't know that." Elliott protested.
"She has a girlfriend, remember?" Brooke pointed out.
"Oh, yeah that's right. But still, flattery can work wonders, if I make her feel special enough she may feel more comfortable staying with us in the future. Even if she has no interest in me. It's worth a shot." Elliott replied. He stood up and brushed the dust and dirt off his clothes.
"You can try, but I really don't expect it to get anywhere." Brooke shrugged.
"I want to watch." Fate chimed in. "This should be amusing, and I do need to apologize to her." She also stood up to join the others.
Brooke nodded. "Alright, just make sure we are careful not to crowd her. She appears to be afraid of us, especially you Fate." She warned, then lead the group out of the building they were taking shelter in. They moved very cautiously down the street and into a nearby house. She lead the group up to the third floor, then into a back room where they found Carley lying on the ground, curled up in the corner of the room.
"We should wait out here, to not crowd her." Brooke said to Fate as she gestured for Elliott to go do his thing. Fate nodded and leaned against the wall as she waited.
Carley was asleep and was wrapped up in an old, but thick blanket they had found in this house. Elliott cautiously approached, trying not to wake Carley. As he walked across the room his foot got caught on a tripwire made of fishing wire which immediately clanged a few pots and pans together.
Carley jolted awake and tensed, making their body look small by pushing themself back into the corner. Carley spotted Elliott and calmed down a little, but looked up at him with a confused and sleepy expression. "Why?"
"Why what?" Elliott asked as a confused look spread across his own face.
"Why are you here?" Carley asked.
"We didn't see you this morning, like we usually do, I came to m
ake sure you're okay." Elliott replied.
"Um. Thank you? I am okay." Carley replied. "Catching up on sleep."
This wasn't going anywhere near the way Elliott had expected it to go. He was quickly finding out that Carley wasn't very easy to talk to. "Why don't you come back to camp with us?" He asked.
"I'm happy here, by myself." Carley quietly replied.
Elliott sighed, he realized he was going to have to try a different approach to get Carley to talk. "Comeon Carley, it worries me having a pretty girl out here all by herself."
"Well, it's a good thing I'm not a girl then." Carley replied. His expression looked pained and very upset as he spoke.
Elliott looked baffled by that answer, he didn't know what to say now. He could hear Brooke and Fate bursting out into laughter behind him but was ignoring them. "We've been referring to you as a girl this whole time, why didn't you say anything before?"
"Nobody asked. And it kinda made me happy." Carley replied. "Sorry."
"Why?" Elliott asked and sat down on the ground across from Carley.
Carley broke eye contact and looked away, "... Back in the real world I was-" He stopped mid sentence and shook his head. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"For something that doesn't matter anymore, it seems to bother you a lot." Elliott pointed out.
Carley shook his head. "It used to matter, but now that I'm stuck in here I can't finish going through with it. I'm stuck like this, so it doesn't matter anymore. There's nothing I can do now but suck it up and keep moving."
"Carley" Elliott placed a hand on Carley's shoulder, and for once he was able to touch Carley without him recoiling or pulling away. "Don't give up, you never know what we'll be able to do."
Carley was quiet for a moment, but then shook his head. "No. There's nothing else that can be done." He brushed Elliott's hand off, his broken ribs caused him to cringe in pain as he stood up. "Lets just go back to camp. I'm causing too many problems. Just let me gather my things."
"You're not causing too many problems." Elliott stood up and took a step back to give Carley space.
"No, I am. You guys spent all day arguing with me because I was being stupid and, ironically, in my effort to help everyone else I was being self centered." Carley explained as he went to gather his book and his dagger. "I thought about it a lot last night. I'm not letting my personal problems become the group's problems anymore. So please, just let it go."
Elliott thought about it for a moment. "As long as you promise to take care of yourself, and your personal problems. And you promise to let others help when you need it, I'll let it go." He replied.
"Of course." Carley replied. But when Elliott just stared back expectantly Carley sighed. "I promise."
"Good, now let's get back to camp." Elliott said as he turned to leave.
As he left the room Fate stepped in. Upon seeing Fate Carley took a step back. "Carley." Fate started "I just wanted to say sorry about yesterday. I was a little too rough and harsh."
Carley shook his head. "I let my fear control me, and I did a few stupid things. You acted within reason, you don't need to apologize."
"But I am apologizing, whether I need to or not, and I stand by that. I was out of line, and I'm afraid I might have caused your injuries more harm." Fate replied.
"Thank you. I'm alright." Carley replied. When Carley noticed the worried look on Fate's face he gave her a brief, and fake, smile to try and prove that he was okay.
The four of them walked back to camp, Carley was still keeping a little distance but walked much closer than before and was making a notable effort to stay somewhat close to the group. Although he looked very uncomfortable.
Once the group returned to the campsite they found Jackson there, and they also noticed that George had returned. Sophia and Jake were still both missing.
Fate spotted George immediately walked over to him. "You came back? Without her?!" She angrily questioned him.
"I know. I couldn't find any trace of her and I figured I could be useful if I came back. Even if you don't trust me." George shrugged. He glanced over at Carley. "Oh, she's actually with you guys now?"
"Yes, h-" Fate paused and glanced back at Carley, thinking over what she was about to say. "She decided to stay with the group for now. For the sake of our sanity." She explained. She noticed Carley briefly flash of a genuine smile flash across Carley's face but turned her attention to George.
"We will keep an eye on him." Sarah spoke up.
"Speaking of which." Charles spoke up. "We need to get moving. The goblins will be sending out hunting parties soon and he ones we attacked will be looking for us." He warned.
"What about Sophia and Jake?" Fate asked.
"Trust me, I really want to go look for them. But there's too many people in this group we have to protect. Going to search for them would put everyone here in danger. We can't do that." Charles answered.
"Jake's dead." Jackson spoke up. His tone was flat, as if the words had no meaning to him.
"What?" Fate, Brooke, Elliott, Snipes, and Chloe all snapped to look at Jackson. Everyone else except Carley gave him a confused and distrusting look.
"I found his body while I was scavenging last night." Jackson replied. "Same as the others, no shirt, wings carved into his back."
"So then you're the killer." Evelynn butted into the conversation. "You were supposed to be guarding him when he disappeared, you were gone last night, and you're the only one who found the body and you happened to find it last night? Night is when the killer strikes."
Jackson rolled his eyes, but it was Carley who quietly spoke up. "Um, actually, I spoke with Jackson yesterday. We both believe the killer is striking during the day. Before we settle down for the night." He softly explained. "It would explain why nobody has seen the killer leave at night, despite us setting up night watches. The killer didn't leave, they had already made their kill. If they did get Jake, whoever it was struck while Jackson and I were trying to fight off the goblins outside. A group of them came after us, and then we spotted a second group attempting to enter the mall. We didn't want them to sneak up behind you guys so we attacked them. When we beat them and got back upstairs Jake was gone. Whoever got Jake did it then."
"You're just saying that to cover your own ass, and probably his too." Evelynn argued. "I saw you two talking behind everyone's backs. Have we considered that there might be two people working together."
"Evelynn, relax. We have no evidence of this yet." Fate insisted.
"I am relaxed." Evelynn argued. "But people are dying here every day, and I don't want to be next. We need to do something about this, now, we know it has to be one of those two. It might even be both of them." She insisted as she pointed at Jackson and Carley. Carley shrunk back and Jackson just rolled his eyes again, the look Jackson gave her clearly conveyed that he thought she was an idiot.
"Evelynn you're going to be fine, if anything you are among the biggest suspects and you're only making yourself more suspect by doing this." Fate insisted.
"How does me not wanting to die make me more suspect?!" Evelynn argued.
"Ladies, break it up." Matthew stepped in between them. "We are going to be fine, these two are going to take us to a village where we will be safe." He pointed to Sarah and Charles who both looked a little uncomfortable.
Fate ignored him though, she took what Evelynn said as a challenge and stepped closer to her. "YOU are concealing a knife." She pointed to Evelynn, almost pushing her finger into the woman's face. "And you didn't bother telling us. You accuse everyone else but they've all been upfront and honest, you have been nothing but dishonest and unhelpful. You've done absolutely nothing for the group, other then complain. So step back and shut up unless you have something useful to contribute instead of these baseless and stupid accusations."
"Both of you, knock it off." Matthew insisted as he stepped between the two of them again.
"No!" Evelynn nearly shouted at him as she tried to step around him, but he
wasn't letting her. "Who the HELL do you think you are Fate? Everyone knows it's those two, it's obvious." She turned to the rest of the people in the room but they were all silent. She turned back to Fate regardless. "You don't get to be screwing around with everyone else's lives, your failure to act already got three people killed!"
"The two of you are acting like children, knock it off!" Matthew shouted.
Evelynn glared back at Matthew. "She's being a complete b-"
"QUIET!" George bellowed out and slammed his fist against the wall, creating a fist-sized hole in the wall. His voice was so loud most of the people in the room quickly covered their ears. He got everyone's attention. "Sarah and Charles need to speak."