"Oh who's trying to scare who now?" Jeff said with an air of humor.
"Shhhhh" Sarah was silent, her ears, straining to hear the sound she feared most of all.
Drip, drip, drip.
"Jeff it's the Black Pond Demon!" Sarah said trying to get out of the sleeping bag and finding herself getting more tangled up in it instead. Jeff was silent for a moment, he was unsure of himself, and if he had really heard the noises coming from outside their tent.
"Sarah, I just made up that story. There is no Black Pond Demon." Jeff said, trying to reassure himself more than anyone else.
Sarah managed to get herself untangled from the sleeping bag and searched around the tent for a flashlight, and something to protect herself. She found the flashlight near the front of the tent, but she couldn't find anything that she could protect herself. In her frantic flee for something she didn't notice the scratching from the back of the tent. She turned on the flashlight and pointed it towards Jeff, and then she saw it.
Two red claws were piercing the back of the tent, slowing ripping down. Sarah screamed and her mind blinded with terror she tried to open the zipper of the tent to escape, except the zipper seemed to be stuck. Sarah swore under her breath, hoping Jeff would come and help her. Sarah dared to glance back and saw Jeff looking towards the claws, the back of the tent slowing opening, frozen in fear.
"Jeff COME ON!" Sarah screamed. Jeff seemed to snap out of his funk, and he came to help Sarah open the tent. "We have to get out of her oh my god oh my god."
The tent finally opened and Jeff and Sarah spilled out the front. The noise seemed to have distracted the demon from his rending the back of the tent apart. Sarah and Jeff were too busy trying to get up to notice the demon slowly approaching them.
"JEFF THAT MONSTER IS REAL!" Sarah screamed hysterically. She was panicking, and out of her mind with fear. Jeff had already stood up, and pulled Sarah to her feet. Then in a blink of an eye, he noticed the red monstrosity making it's way towards them. He pointed towards the demon, unable to move, unable to make a sound, paralyzed in fear.
Sarah motioned the flashlight in the direction Jeff was pointing. She saw the demon in the full light, the light momentarily blinding it, freezing it in place so Sarah could get an even better look at it. It was small like a child, but was blood red from head to toe. Black horns grew out of it's head, and sharp pointed teeth, dripping with the same red substance, stuck out of it's demented grinning mouth. His head appeared too big for the rest of it's body. The demon seemed to overcome it's initial start from the bright light, and started brandishing it's sharp claws at the two paralyzed humans.
Sarah overcame her own shock, and took Jeff's hand and started running. Jeff initially resisted, but he began to run with her as well. Sarah could hear the all too quick footsteps of the monster behind them, each step accented with an oozing splat. Sarah tried to run through the trees, not caring where she was going, she just wanted to put as much space between herself and the demon. Sarah felt as if she could not possibly run fast enough to escape, time itself seemed to be slowing down, but only for herself, the demon seemed to be getting closer and closer.
A tree had fallen down up ahead, Jeff noticed it in time to jump, but Sarah ran into it, falling down on her hands and knees. Jeff looked startled, he wanted to keep running but he couldn't leave Sarah behind. He quickly tried to pull Sarah back up again, but it was too late. The demon was there.
The demon jumped onto Sarah, leaning it's face up against Sarah's. She could feel it's sticky blood covering her, and she suddenly couldn't move anymore. She had succumbed to the demon's poison, it paralyzed her. Jeff was behind her, still pulling on her hand, but she could not longer feel him. Instead all she could feel was the demon's breath upon her face. The demon whispered in a voice much too deep for such a small creature "Your soul." The demon's smile seemed to widen, showing far too many teeth than could possibly fit into such a small mouth.
Sarah's mind reeled. No, she thought, this can't be real this has to be a dream. Sarah's thoughts seemed to come out of her mouth without her realizing it. "This is a DREAM! THIS HAS TO BE A DREAM."
Sarah found herself lying on the cold black floor of the tower, Jeff still trying to pull her out of danger. The darkness of the ceiling replaced the formerly starry sky, and Sarah started to laugh hysterically.
---
Jenn had driven to the hospital that morning faster than she had ever driven anywhere previously in her life. She was glad that no cops had stopped her, the last thing she needed was a speeding ticket. She couldn't really deal with anymore stress in her life at the moment. She remembered the frantic phone call she had received that morning. Emily had been half screaming, half crying into the phone that Sarah was in a coma, that she hadn't woken up that morning. Jenn had jumped into her car as fast as she could, not even stopping to clean off the fresh blanket of snow that had covered it. Jenn normally loved the snow, but now it only seemed a hindrance to her getting to the hospital as fast as she could.
Jenn found Emily and Sarah's mom sitting a waiting room, waiting for news about Sarah. Emily leaped up as soon as she saw Jenn, and didn't say a word, just hugged Jenn tightly. Jenn was worried for Emily and her baby, surely all this stress couldn't be good for Forrest, or for his momma. Jenn hugged Sarah gently back, and went to sit back down. Jenn followed them, and waited news on Sarah, who was currently in the ER.
Emily tried to make small talk and wondered out loud to herself "Are comas contagious?"
"Eh?" Jenn said, wondering where Emily got such an idea. "No..."
"Well don't you remember?" Emily's voice got higher and her speaking pace became faster. "Sarah went to see her not boyfriend in the hospital yesterday, and he was in a coma. She even held his hand, and now's she's in a coma. I mean it can't be a coincidence right? Things like that just don't happen."
"Who?" Tina looked up from the hospital floor she had previously been staring at trying to distract herself. She was counting the tiles, wondering how long it would be until the doctors came out with some good news for all of them.
"You know, her not boyfriend. Well I said he was her boyfriend, but she was like, no he's just my friend since I was real little." Emily said quickly. Tina's mind whirled. For as long as she could remember, Sarah had no friends. Jenn and Emily were the first friends she had ever mentioned, and she didn't think her daughter would be keeping secrets from her, no matter how shy Sarah acted to the rest of the world, she was pretty open with her mother. "What was his name?" Emily continued. "Oh yeah Jeffery Durham."
Tina looked over at Emily with a shocked expression on her face, her mind winding back the years to where she had heard that name before. Terror took over Tina. This was all her fault.
Jenn found Emily and Sarah's mom sitting a waiting room, waiting for news about Sarah. Emily leaped up as soon as she saw Jenn, and didn't say a word, just hugged Jenn tightly. Jenn was worried for Emily and her baby, surely all this stress couldn't be good for Forrest, or for his momma. Jenn hugged Sarah gently back, and went to sit back down. Jenn followed them, and waited news on Sarah, who was currently in the ER.
Emily tried to make small talk and wondered out loud to herself "Are comas contagious?"
"Eh?" Jenn said, wondering where Emily got such an idea. "No..."
"Well don't you remember?" Emily's voice got higher and her speaking pace became faster. "Sarah went to see her not boyfriend in the hospital yesterday, and he was in a coma. She even held his hand, and now's she's in a coma. I mean it can't be a coincidence right? Things like that just don't happen."
"Who?" Tina looked up from the hospital floor she had previously been staring at trying to distract herself. She was counting the tiles, wondering how long it would be until the doctors came out with some good news for all of them.
"You know, her not boyfriend. Well I said he was her boyfriend, but she was like, no he's just my friend since I was real little." Emily said quickly. Tina's mind whirled. For as long as she could remember, Sarah had no friends. Jenn and Emily were the first friends she had ever mentioned, and she didn't think her daughter would be keeping secrets from her, no matter how shy Sarah acted to the rest of the world, she was pretty open with her mother. "What was his name?" Emily continued. "Oh yeah Jeffery Durham."
Tina looked over at Emily with a shocked expression on her face, her mind winding back the years to where she had heard that name before. Terror took over Tina. This was all her fault.
---
Sarah stopped laughing as Jeff hovered over her in concern. "Sorry I was so scared I just had to laugh. Guess this tower is going to be pretty hard to complete." Sarah sighed to herself.
"I don't even want to go any further." Jeff shivered. He had not been expected something like that to happen.
"We have to Jeff. Don't you want to see your family again?"
Jeff made a sound of disgust. "I don't think they'll even care if they see me again. My dad is some big doctor and he's never even home. He never pays attention to me when he is. He just wants to talk about his latest work. And my mom, well she thinks I sleep too much and I should do something with my life. I am taking some classes right now, but it's not going so well. I think she wants me to be a doctor like my father, but I don't want to do that."
"What do you want to do?" Sarah asked, happy to be actually talking with Jeff. After all these years of being so close to him, she still felt sometimes like she hardly knew him at all. She wondered why she had never bothered asking these questions before. Well perhaps because she had always assumed he was just a dream. Now that she knew he was real, she wanted to know more and more about him.
"I want to be an author. I love telling stories. I want to just be able to tell stories for the rest of my life." Jeff smiled. "What about you Sarah?"
Sarah thought for a moment. She had never really thought that much about her own future. She didn't really have any skills, but she was a fast learner. She remembered when she was a little girl she had wanted to be a teacher, or a ballerina, or an astronaut. She laughed and told Jeff "I'm not sure yet, but something. I used to be so shy, I hated just being around other people, but now, now I don't mind it so much. I feel like I could be anything really."
"In your dreams you can be anything" Jeff laughed.
"Yeah well we have to get out of this black tower first. Then I wouldn't mind having some normal dreams. Let's keep going. I'm so scared that someone will find me see that I can't wake up. I don't want to scare my mom, or my friends." Sarah cringed at the thought of her mom finding Sarah and trying to wake her up and being unable to. Sarah didn't want to impart that kind of pain on her mother. "Hurry!"
Sarah started jogging towards to next set of stairs, towards the next door. She was afraid of what might lie behind it this time, but she knew she had to keep pressing forward. The door opened and...
The world tore past Sarah as she drove down the street as fast as possible. Jeff was sitting shot gun, with a shot gun, shooting behind them at the car that was chasing them. Everything seemed to smear as Sarah pressed the gas to the floor, trying to make the car go faster yet. She blazed through red lights, quickly swerved around cars. The sounds of gunshots blasted all around Sarah, but she tried not to think too much about it. A bullet struck their back windshield, and shards of glass flew everywhere. Sarah closed her eyes momentarily, but had to open them again quickly so she could see where they were going. Glass coated the back seat of the car, but Sarah seemed to be uninjured.
Jeff pulled the trigger of his gun, and made a lucky shot. He got the tire of the car behind them, sending the car spinning and it wrecked into a telephone pole. The car exploded behind them, Sarah noted as she raced off without the threat of being shot behind her anymore.
"How did they find us so fast?" Sarah thought out loud.
"I don't know. There has to be a double agent in our midst." Jeff said angrily. "Quick we have to get back to the base. I'm bleeding."
Sarah dared a glance over, and saw that Jeff was bleeding from his arm. She ignored the urge to help him, and made her way to their secret base.
The base was an old shack near the edge of the river. It was hard to get there, and no one would ever expect it. Sarah quickly got out of the car and helped Jeff into the shack. His breathing was getting more ragged, Sarah knew he had to be in a lot of pain. Sarah found Devon typing away at his computer inside, and Lisa was sitting at a table with her feet up smoking a cigarette. Lisa jumped up and quickly ran to their aid. "What happened? This was supposed to be an in and out job."
"They were waiting for us. They knew we'd be there." Jeff painfully said.
"Did you get the info?" Devon said, not turning around from the computer, in fact he didn't even stop his rapid typing.
"Of course, who do you take me for?" Sarah laughed.
Lisa started to tend to Jeff's wound. A shard of glass had embedded into his arm, and she got out her bag of medical gear to try and remove it. Sarah sauntered over to Devon, handing his the USB drive that had the information on it. "We didn't have much time, but it's all there."
Devon inserted the USB drive into his computer. He seemed to go over all the files in no time, while Sarah went and held Jeff's hand as Lisa finished bandaging him up. Sarah's mind began to wander. Who had betrayed them, and why? Could it have been Lisa or Devon? It couldn't have been Jeff, why would he put his life on the line? Sarah let out a frustrated groan, she trusted everyone in this room, she had no reason to doubt any of them.
Devon let out a yelp of excitement. "Yes! With this we can take them down once and for all. This proves their organization has been stealing the profits, now we just have to get this out to the press." Devon stopped mid-sentence as he heard a loud bang outside of their shack. Sarah glanced out the window and saw dozens of cars pulling up towards their shack.
"Shit!" She muttered. "How could they have found us here so fast?"
"Sarah this is not your fault." Jeff said from his chair. Sarah's heart beat quickened.
"I know that. It's my mother's organization. She's been stealing from all those people, she's even killed countless others. I couldn't let it go on. But now I've put you all in danger." Sarah sighed, backing away from the window. Her mind raced at who could've betrayed them all. She had no answers, and no time. She thought quickly. "If I give myself up maybe they'll let you all go."
"NO! Not after everything we've worked for." Jeff said with passion. "You can't Sarah, they'll kill you."
"What other options to we have left? We can't take them all on, we are severely outnumbered. I'd rather die then see you all die." Sarah said, her heart heavy.
"Sarah..." Lisa said, looking down. "You can't..." Tears began to fall from Lisa's face, but she knew it was too late. Once Sarah made up her mind, you couldn't force her to do anything else.
"I'm going." Sarah went towards to door, but Jeff grabbed her arm, and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Sarah, I love you, you can't." Jeff's eyes were welling up with tears. He kissed her with a burning fire of desire. Sarah returned the kiss.
"I love you too Jeff, that's why I have to do this."
Sarah headed for the door. Devon had stopped typing, and watched Sarah's progress across the room. He didn't know what to say, so he let her go without saying anything at all. Jeff tried to stop Sarah, tried to run after her, but Lisa held onto his good arm, stopping him. Jeff was in too much pain to resist.
Sarah opened the door to the shack, and put both her hands in the air. She saw that men were lined up behind the cars, all pointing guns at her. Sarah yelled out "I give up! Please don't shoot. Please let my friends go."
A man standing towards the front, wearing an outfit of black that seemed to consume his whole body, even his face, waved his arm down, and the men all lowered their guns. Sarah made her way towards them slowly and steadily, not faltering although her heart felt heavy. She got closer to the man in the front. His face was masked, yet she could see his eyes. They seemed familiar, yet Sarah couldn't place from where. The man grasped Sarah and forced her into a kneel, and he held her two arms with one of his own. She felt a cold metal against her head.
"We don't forgive those who betray the Pinkerton Empire." The man said harshly. "Do you want to know who betrayed you to us? Do you want your last moments to be for the hatred of your so called comrades?"
"Shut up." Sarah said aggressively. "Just pull the damn trigger." Sarah hoped in her heart for a last minute rescue that she knew would never come. She looked towards her base, towards the friends she was doing this for.
"Heh, as you wish, PRINCESS." The man pulled the trigger, and Sarah felt the bullet against her head, the loud blasting noise, but felt no pain. She fell to the side as she saw Jeff running towards her almost in slow motion.
The man in black said something else, and Sarah seemed to catch the words, as if they were floating around her. "The one who betrayed you was...."
Everything went black.
Words This Part: 3086
Words Total: 38483
"I don't even want to go any further." Jeff shivered. He had not been expected something like that to happen.
"We have to Jeff. Don't you want to see your family again?"
Jeff made a sound of disgust. "I don't think they'll even care if they see me again. My dad is some big doctor and he's never even home. He never pays attention to me when he is. He just wants to talk about his latest work. And my mom, well she thinks I sleep too much and I should do something with my life. I am taking some classes right now, but it's not going so well. I think she wants me to be a doctor like my father, but I don't want to do that."
"What do you want to do?" Sarah asked, happy to be actually talking with Jeff. After all these years of being so close to him, she still felt sometimes like she hardly knew him at all. She wondered why she had never bothered asking these questions before. Well perhaps because she had always assumed he was just a dream. Now that she knew he was real, she wanted to know more and more about him.
"I want to be an author. I love telling stories. I want to just be able to tell stories for the rest of my life." Jeff smiled. "What about you Sarah?"
Sarah thought for a moment. She had never really thought that much about her own future. She didn't really have any skills, but she was a fast learner. She remembered when she was a little girl she had wanted to be a teacher, or a ballerina, or an astronaut. She laughed and told Jeff "I'm not sure yet, but something. I used to be so shy, I hated just being around other people, but now, now I don't mind it so much. I feel like I could be anything really."
"In your dreams you can be anything" Jeff laughed.
"Yeah well we have to get out of this black tower first. Then I wouldn't mind having some normal dreams. Let's keep going. I'm so scared that someone will find me see that I can't wake up. I don't want to scare my mom, or my friends." Sarah cringed at the thought of her mom finding Sarah and trying to wake her up and being unable to. Sarah didn't want to impart that kind of pain on her mother. "Hurry!"
Sarah started jogging towards to next set of stairs, towards the next door. She was afraid of what might lie behind it this time, but she knew she had to keep pressing forward. The door opened and...
The world tore past Sarah as she drove down the street as fast as possible. Jeff was sitting shot gun, with a shot gun, shooting behind them at the car that was chasing them. Everything seemed to smear as Sarah pressed the gas to the floor, trying to make the car go faster yet. She blazed through red lights, quickly swerved around cars. The sounds of gunshots blasted all around Sarah, but she tried not to think too much about it. A bullet struck their back windshield, and shards of glass flew everywhere. Sarah closed her eyes momentarily, but had to open them again quickly so she could see where they were going. Glass coated the back seat of the car, but Sarah seemed to be uninjured.
Jeff pulled the trigger of his gun, and made a lucky shot. He got the tire of the car behind them, sending the car spinning and it wrecked into a telephone pole. The car exploded behind them, Sarah noted as she raced off without the threat of being shot behind her anymore.
"How did they find us so fast?" Sarah thought out loud.
"I don't know. There has to be a double agent in our midst." Jeff said angrily. "Quick we have to get back to the base. I'm bleeding."
Sarah dared a glance over, and saw that Jeff was bleeding from his arm. She ignored the urge to help him, and made her way to their secret base.
The base was an old shack near the edge of the river. It was hard to get there, and no one would ever expect it. Sarah quickly got out of the car and helped Jeff into the shack. His breathing was getting more ragged, Sarah knew he had to be in a lot of pain. Sarah found Devon typing away at his computer inside, and Lisa was sitting at a table with her feet up smoking a cigarette. Lisa jumped up and quickly ran to their aid. "What happened? This was supposed to be an in and out job."
"They were waiting for us. They knew we'd be there." Jeff painfully said.
"Did you get the info?" Devon said, not turning around from the computer, in fact he didn't even stop his rapid typing.
"Of course, who do you take me for?" Sarah laughed.
Lisa started to tend to Jeff's wound. A shard of glass had embedded into his arm, and she got out her bag of medical gear to try and remove it. Sarah sauntered over to Devon, handing his the USB drive that had the information on it. "We didn't have much time, but it's all there."
Devon inserted the USB drive into his computer. He seemed to go over all the files in no time, while Sarah went and held Jeff's hand as Lisa finished bandaging him up. Sarah's mind began to wander. Who had betrayed them, and why? Could it have been Lisa or Devon? It couldn't have been Jeff, why would he put his life on the line? Sarah let out a frustrated groan, she trusted everyone in this room, she had no reason to doubt any of them.
Devon let out a yelp of excitement. "Yes! With this we can take them down once and for all. This proves their organization has been stealing the profits, now we just have to get this out to the press." Devon stopped mid-sentence as he heard a loud bang outside of their shack. Sarah glanced out the window and saw dozens of cars pulling up towards their shack.
"Shit!" She muttered. "How could they have found us here so fast?"
"Sarah this is not your fault." Jeff said from his chair. Sarah's heart beat quickened.
"I know that. It's my mother's organization. She's been stealing from all those people, she's even killed countless others. I couldn't let it go on. But now I've put you all in danger." Sarah sighed, backing away from the window. Her mind raced at who could've betrayed them all. She had no answers, and no time. She thought quickly. "If I give myself up maybe they'll let you all go."
"NO! Not after everything we've worked for." Jeff said with passion. "You can't Sarah, they'll kill you."
"What other options to we have left? We can't take them all on, we are severely outnumbered. I'd rather die then see you all die." Sarah said, her heart heavy.
"Sarah..." Lisa said, looking down. "You can't..." Tears began to fall from Lisa's face, but she knew it was too late. Once Sarah made up her mind, you couldn't force her to do anything else.
"I'm going." Sarah went towards to door, but Jeff grabbed her arm, and pulled her in for a kiss.
"Sarah, I love you, you can't." Jeff's eyes were welling up with tears. He kissed her with a burning fire of desire. Sarah returned the kiss.
"I love you too Jeff, that's why I have to do this."
Sarah headed for the door. Devon had stopped typing, and watched Sarah's progress across the room. He didn't know what to say, so he let her go without saying anything at all. Jeff tried to stop Sarah, tried to run after her, but Lisa held onto his good arm, stopping him. Jeff was in too much pain to resist.
Sarah opened the door to the shack, and put both her hands in the air. She saw that men were lined up behind the cars, all pointing guns at her. Sarah yelled out "I give up! Please don't shoot. Please let my friends go."
A man standing towards the front, wearing an outfit of black that seemed to consume his whole body, even his face, waved his arm down, and the men all lowered their guns. Sarah made her way towards them slowly and steadily, not faltering although her heart felt heavy. She got closer to the man in the front. His face was masked, yet she could see his eyes. They seemed familiar, yet Sarah couldn't place from where. The man grasped Sarah and forced her into a kneel, and he held her two arms with one of his own. She felt a cold metal against her head.
"We don't forgive those who betray the Pinkerton Empire." The man said harshly. "Do you want to know who betrayed you to us? Do you want your last moments to be for the hatred of your so called comrades?"
"Shut up." Sarah said aggressively. "Just pull the damn trigger." Sarah hoped in her heart for a last minute rescue that she knew would never come. She looked towards her base, towards the friends she was doing this for.
"Heh, as you wish, PRINCESS." The man pulled the trigger, and Sarah felt the bullet against her head, the loud blasting noise, but felt no pain. She fell to the side as she saw Jeff running towards her almost in slow motion.
The man in black said something else, and Sarah seemed to catch the words, as if they were floating around her. "The one who betrayed you was...."
Everything went black.
Words This Part: 3086
Words Total: 38483
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