Angel of Death

3

Coraline Chambers

Cory woke up in her car, the crink in her neck amplified by the way she was splayed across the two front seats.

As she sits up and surveys the town, it's still empty with beer bottles littering the green from the night before.

So this wasn't just some sick and twisted nightmare, as she had hoped.

Once Cory started her car the text tone for Harry went off and she set her car into park. 'Come to the bridge.'

Instead of replying she threw her phone into the passenger seat and sat there for a moment deciding if she was ready to face Harry yet or not. Or even ready to face Kelly.

Once Cory finally decided to just not bring it up she began to drive over to the bridge where she saw half of the student body.

"What the fuck is going on?"Cory asked Harry as she parked next to him. The boy just pulled her to the railing and nodded.

The railroad was cut off by trees, and that's all it was for miles. Trees. Far from normal.

"Are you okay?" She asked him as Harry leaned on the railing. "What the fuck do you think Cory."Clark snapped at her. She glared at him as she rubbed Harry's back. "Hey, it's okay. We'll figure this out. You need to relax." Cory told him, leaning her head on his shoulder

"Okay I texted a couple people to come see." Luke said as he leaned against Harry's car. Cory nodded at him with a small smile before looking at Grizz who looked worried, understandably.

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"What the fuck..." Gordie mumbled as he stood besides Cory, looking over the railing. "Right. Straight out of the fucking walking dead." She whispered back. He looked at her shaking his head and laughing.

"What do y'all think this is?" A girl asked out loud.

Gordie sat next to Kelly on a curb. "I mean, there's only so many options." He said as he stared off. "Maybe we're dreaming. It's the best option." Allie proposed as she fingered her star necklace. Cory scoffed at her words. "No Allie, we can't all be dreaming. I remember last night, I looked in a mirror, I recognize everyone. This isn't a dream." Cory told her, harshly.

Cory didn't hate Allie at all, they got along quite well. But at that moment, anything anyone said annoyed her.

"Maybe, this is just some elaborate fucking game. Like, someone built an exact replica of our town and just put it in the middle of nowhere, and if we just walk... like, this way or that or any way, eventually we'll get back to the... the real world." Harry said as he pointed in all directions.

The group stood in silence for a moment, worrying.

"I'm not saying it makes any sense." Harry spoke quietly, shrugging.

Cassandra stood up and away from the railing, "There was a smell," she paused, "and then it went away, and it came back, and the buses came for us." Cassandra said, trying to work it out for them.

"You're gonna just, work this out, Cassandra? Like some logic problem? I mean, not a flicker of a doubt?" Harry  barked, his tone annoyed as he looked at Cassandra. "The world doesn't just turn upside down without a reason. We're not in some play-with-a-play." She said. Harry scoffed and turned around for a moment.