When The Light Goes Out

by Jack Thompson

  "I don't know why. It just happened! I rushed straight over to assess the damage, and then you guys showed up."

  I groaned, and felt every eye in the room on me. Trying to sit up was the biggest mistake of my life, because my mouth was filled with lint once more, but this time my head felt five times its normal size. Fell. Was Serena saying that I'd fallen down? I didn't did I? No. I hadn't. I remembered her pouncing, and some blurry stuff (although I might have deserved whatever it was; to an extent) and then I was waking up to a conversation about falling down. Or was that a dream? Could it have been? No. Not even my mind was quite that cruel to me.

  "Excel, don't try to move. You hit your head pretty hard." "Yeah, you were even bleeding."

  "Bleeding?"

  "The skin broke. It appears superficial; head wounds always bleed horribly." "Am I going to be okay?"

  "Yeah, you're going to be fine."

  And I really wanted to believe what they were telling me. I really, really with all my heart wanted to believe that I was going to be okay. Except Serena was giving me a look that could kill a rock. It made my stomach heavy, and I'd barely registered what was going on before I was rolling over, throwing up impossibly so. There shouldn't have been anything to throw up, but I was, and several people had to excuse themselves from the room. Not that I blamed them. Heck no, I didn't blame them.

  "How'd I hit my head?" "You fell, Excel."

  "No." "No?"

  "No," I said, however firmly this time. My throat hurt, on the outside it hurt. The skin. My face hurt as well, and I was almost positive that I was right. "No, I didn't fall. Serena attacked me."

  There was a moment of silence, before Billy, Luke, and Jared all burst into laughter. Ian and Malachi looked at me oddly, as if trying to figure how serious I was. Serena gave me a deadly look, but I figured she wouldn't attack me, again, with my friends in the room. The memory wasn't entirely clear, but the image was there. I recalled the girl digging her fingers into my throat, trying to kill me. She'd been upset about "Criss."

  "I didn't attack you, Excel. You must have had a dream while you were out." "No, I"

  "Hush, Excel. Lay back down before you give yourself a headache." "I already have a headache."

  "Want some Advil?"

  "I don't want to pass out again."

  "Excel, that was because of the sedative you were given" "I'd really prefer not to take chances, alright?"

  "If you say so. But if you want a" "She attacked me."

  I couldn't believe it. There I was, dizzy with a head wound, and everyone in the room was brushing my words off like they were the words of a nut job. George looked like he kept trying to get to me, but Ian had a surprisingly strong looking grip on his shoulder surprising for a man who'd been shot in the chest several times. In fact, Ian was standing by himself which was a bit of a shock. He must have been recovering, at least a little. And I was getting rather upset by the looks I was receiving.

  "Excel, please be serious," Jared spoke with a grin. "Serena doesn't attack people." "Yeah," Luke agreed. "She's got absolutely no upper body strength."

  "Yeah. I did notice that," I conceded. "Probably why she didn't kill me when she was strangling me. I couldn't breathe! " "I didn't"

  "If everyone will shut up." And everyone turned towards Billy. "I've got the perfect solution." "Really?"

  "What is it?" "Spill, old man."

  "If she really tried to strangle you, Excel, there would be marks, would there not?" "Yeah!"

  My throat, front and back, was thoroughly checked. It didn't take very long, only a few short moments, and then Billy was clicking his tongue at me. I wanted to slug him, but I didn't. I wisely thought it wouldn't have been a very good idea (especially with his hands still on my throat.) Luke came over next to check, made the same noises, and shook his head at me.

  "No marks, Excel." "But I'm telling you"

  "Excel!" I flinched as Malachi snapped at me, narrowing soft brown eyes in my direction. Really he did look like the man from my dream. Except, Malachi looked irritated. "If there are no marks. There are no marks. Stop trying to get Serena in trouble."

  "But I'm telling you the" "Enough, Excel. Okay? Enough."

  Before I knew it, I was left completely alone with Pixie, and George. The insulting part was that they were told to watch over me. As if I wasn't practically two educations older than them. They barely waited for the door to be shut, when they both scrambled over to me, poking and prodding at my neck for reasons I didn't initially understand. As it turned out, they wanted to either prove, or disprove my story themselves. They didn't want to take the word of the adults.

  George had told his story to Pixie, who officially avoided Serena and her lackeys (as I chose to call them. I mean, she was obviously the brains of the operation. So to speak.) The two seemed a little disappointed in their searching my throat for bruises until I let out a wince, and threw my hands up to fend them off. They figured it was all the proof they needed, and Pixie was running out the door.

  "You okay, Excel?" George asked, sounding extremely small, and extremely scared.

  "Yeah, sweets, I'm fine," I tried to assure, but now my throat hurt badly. And my back was one giant pain. And my head was still throbbing. I was half tempted on telling the lot of them to take me out of my misery; leave me to the zombies. At least then the pain would eventually go away. Unless, of course that is, zombies feel pain. I didn't know. "Just fine."

  "You don't look fine."

  "My body's one collective ache, love."

  "Oh," He stared. "But you said you were fine." "I am fine. Just a little sore. It's okay"

  "What'd you say?" "What?"

  "Why'd she attack you?" "You believe me?"

  "I was.. uh.. eavesdropping on your conversation with her. At first I mean. After Malachi left you there I sort of snuck over to the door to listen." "What'd you hear?"

  "Everything up until 'leave Malachi alone.' As if she can control you or something." "That pissed you off too?"

  "A lot."

  "I asked who Criss was." "Criss?"

  "Yeah, I heard her and"

  "I'm coming Pixie. Jeeze, stop pulling. That needs to stay attached to me," Jaden sounded completely frustrated from the other side of the door, effectively cutting off my explanation. "Why didn't you just get Malachi? He wasn't the one trying to get into the bathroom."

  "You were closest." "But I gotta pee!" "Tough noogies."

  I let out a bark of laughter right as the door pulled open, Pixie leading Jaden, half leaned over, into the room. He was doing the most interesting potty dance, but looked at me determinedly, as if trying to see what was needed. His eyes narrowed when there was no apparent injury, but he still knelt beside me, shifting my neck around.

  "Okay, so what's wrong?"

  "I dunno," and I grinned. "You really gotta go?"

  "You think?! What the hell was I called in here for?!"

  "To check Excel's neck, silly!" Pixie giggled, shifting my head, and pointing. "It hurt her right there."

  "Okay, okay. Move. I'll take a look."

  Both Pixie and George moved out of the way, Jaden moving into their place to take a good look at me. He was visually frustrated maybe five minutes later, leaning in closer, and closer until I was sure the damn boy was going to bite me. I wouldn't have been able to fight back much, as it were. And Pixie was reading my

  "Pixie!" I snapped. "Put that down! It's not nice to read other peoples stuff without their permission." "Dustin was reading I before."

  "Well I was asleep, and not able to catch him." "So he was allowed to read it?"

  "No. But now that I know who it was, I'm going to kill him next time I see him." "No!" The girl cried. "Don't kill him!"

  "By kill, she means make extremely uncomfortable, Pixie. Don't worry," came Jadens reassuring voice. My throat was stroked in a comforting manner for a moment, before Jaden lifted his head once more. "One of you guys get Malachi."

  "Why?"

  "Just do
it."

  Pixie ran out of the room again, and George came over to see what Jaden was looking at. I wished there'd been a mirror, because I was officially curious. Malachi hadn't believed me before, he'd taken Billy's words at face value. Jaden obviously wanted to show him something though, something that presented a worried expression in the corner of my eye.

  "Jaden?"

  "You've definitely got a mark, Excel." "A mark?"

  "I don't see how Billy missed it." "On purpose."

  "What?"

  "Maybe he missed it on purpose." "George!"

  "Hey, it's a possibility."

  "It's just not good to doubt the people you're wi-"

  Something, somewhere, crashed loudly. A door, perhaps, I thought. I hadn't realized that splintering wood has a distinct noise, but it's what came next, and the only thing I could think of was that the zombies had gotten in. They'd gotten into the building from the first floor, and dammit we were fucked. There were probably still zombies on the roof of the clinic, and regardless we didn't have the ladder anymore. I didn't remember seeing one when we'd finally gotten across.

  "Jaden"

  "I don't know."

  "How secure was the first floor?" I asked. "The windows, the doors"

  "All firmly locked, and as barricaded as we could get them. Trust me, we did everything we possibly could to get those things safely shut after letting Serena, and Billy and them all in."

  "Couldn't have left them outside?" "Excel!"

  "Just a question."

  "Jaden, I don't really have time," came Malachi's voice from the doorway. "The zombies are breaking down the blockades trying to get to us. We've got the lower stairwells entirely barricaded, but it's only a matter of time. We don't even have any food up here."

  "Where is here?"

  "More or less an abandoned building. It was used for storage or something." "Damn."

  "What did you need?"

  "I" Jaden paused, looking entirely unsure of himself. "I think Excel might have been telling the truth. Serena might have attacked her." "Not you too, Jaden. Seriously.."

  "Come look at this."

  I was uncomfortably close to a spaz out right then, with Malachi's hands descending on my throat. It wasn't a position I wanted to be in, with a man who seemed more angry than he seemed anything else. But his fingers were gentle, and warm. I hadn't entirely realized I was cold until then, until he touched me. My body convulsed, I curled around myself, and the shaking started.

  "Excel?"

  I made a evasive noise, and shook my face roughly against the ground. "Excel, what happened?"

  What happened..?

  To retract an earlier statement, the worst mistake of my life was actually asking who "Criss" was. At the moment I asked the question, there were several things I hadn't considered. I still couldn't move right because of whatever drugs were in my system. Those drugs didn't help to numb the pain coursing through me though. My reflexes were slowed. And Serena was obviously very upset that he died. These things paired together with the fact that I asked, made Serena whip back her arm, and punch me right in the eye, a blow I simply couldn't avoid for the life of me. And it's not like I hadn't tried, because I did. The moment I saw her going to hit me I made a hasty attempt at moving.

  My hasty attempt at moving, however, turned out to be a major fail.

  After the punch knocked me to the ground, Serena dove at me, digging nails in around my throat so tightly that I'd been afraid I was going to start bleeding. I'd expected to I'd wanted to shock the girl, but I hadn't wanted to get such a violent reaction from her. I hadn't expected her to attempt to choke me, however glad that she didn't seem to possess the strength to. There was a fire burning behind her eyes, and I must have let out a sound of discomfort because the sadist grinned. Her lips curled up over her teeth, and she smiled at me, as if she wasn't sitting on my chest, trying to kill me.

  "G't off" I choked the words out, raising my hands to pry her off of me, but her grip tightened. "The 'ell? G't off!" I wanted to scream for help, but couldn't. If her hands weren't, her weight was preventing me from taking any deep breaths.

  "Don't you ever talk about Criss, do you understand me?" The dark eyed girl hissed. "Don't you dare ever utter his name again. If you so much as think about him with your filthy mind I'll sew your lips shut, your eyes closed, and leave you for the zombies."

  I couldn't believe the way the girl was threatening me, but I was still working on her hands. Tears were coming to my eyes, forced there by the sting in my throat and chest. My body was telling me to buck the wench off, but I was in so much pain from my wounds being slamming against the floor, still weak from the drugs, I was failing at simply making the girl move her hands.

  "You're not worthy enough to speak of Criss, the good man that he was!" She growled at me, pausing for but a second, gaining a confused expression. "Hohow do you know about

  Criss?"

  "I hheard you and whatshisface tttalking when I was 'sleep.'" "You weren't asleep?"

  "Nightmare about some dude that looked like Malachi." "And was killed."

  I was my turn to freeze, and stare, asking, "How'd you know that?"

  "Our conversation must have been influencing your dream. We" dark brown eyes narrowed, as if the girl only just realized she was divulging information. Suddenly the world just went with with a star-burst of pain from somewhere between the floor and my head. After the room faded back in, it circled around me for a second, and then faded around the edges. Seconds later nothing.

  "And now this."

  "If she punched you, why don't you have a black eye?" "How long was I out?"

  "Twenty minutes..?" George said, looking at a wall clock, and then at Jaden for confirmation. Once the man nodded his head, George nodded his, and repeated his answer with confidence. "Twenty minutes."

  "But that doesn't answe-"

  "Maybe she didn't hit me hard enough for it to form that quickly. Some bruises aren't instant." "If it wasn't that hard, how'd she knock you over?"

  "Drugs. Wounded back. All that good stuff. Ring a bell?" "Excel, this is a really hard story to digest."

  "Malachi, I'm telling you the truth!"

  "She's telling the truth, Kai!" Pixie supported me, but went unheeded.

  The man just gave me a look. I knew, I really knew that he didn't believe me. And, for some entirely weird reason, that bothered me. A lot. To the point that I felt my chest tighten just a bit. The man thought I was a liar, and it really shouldn't have bothered me. At all. But it really did, and I clenched my jaws as I watched his expressions shift. Disbelieving, incredulous, frustrated.

  Maybe he wanted to believe me, but it was I admit a rather far-fetched tale. "Excel, why do you want me to believe you so badly?"

  "Because it's true!" I nearly shouted at the boy, feeling extremely embarrassed by the crack in my voice. The fact that I was talking like a boy just hitting puberty really showed how emotional I was getting. "It's true! Why the hell would I fucking lie to you about this, Malachi?! Why? Why would I? What the hell would I gain from it?"

  "Hush. Excel, calm"

  "Why won't you believe me?!" "No. No, Excel, don't"

  "I'm not a liar, Malachi! Haven't you realized that by now?!"

  "You were lying to Serena just a little while ago," the boy hissed, sending a deadly, however weak glare in my direction. "Or did you forget that?" "Wait," came Jaden, a look of utter confusion about his face. "Lying huh? Are you saying Excel didn't really need help in the bathroom?"

  "No, Jaden. We were having a private discussion."

  "About?" And George had an eyebrow quirked at us, Pixie sitting beside him looked entirely confused. Malachi lowered his voice greatly as he said, "We don't trust them."

  "Them?"

  "Serena. Jared. Luke. Billy. All of them. We don't trust them." "Why?"

  "It's a long story. I don't want to explain right now, okay?"

  When had I started crying? I wasn't sure, but Malachi shot me a
nother look, a different one before, throwing his head up at the ceiling as if requesting a savior. It wasn't long after that when he lowered a hand to my face, and shock of all shocks, wiped my tears. Even Jaden looked surprised at the compassionate show.

  "Don't cry, Excel." "Don't cry."

  "You made Excel cry!"

  "Whydon'tyoubelieveme?" I couldn't get over it, and asked the question again in a wavering voice. I was so tired, and in so much pain, crying out when Malachi pulled me so I was sitting up. I was face to face with him, looking straight into brown eyes. He looked exactly the guy I'd dreamed about. "Why?"

  "Excel," he started, voice questioning. Tone wavering. Something told me that he didn't know what to believe. "Why should I believe you?" I winced when Malachi wiped my eye again.

  "Excel?" "That hurt."

  The realization seemed to dawn on Jaden's face before Malachi's, but Malachi did seem to get the picture after an extended moment. His eyes widened, and hardened, and softened in a matter of moments. I was almost amused by the play of emotions, but realized it wasn't something to be amused about. Even a little bit.

  "Jesus, you were serious."