The Day of Reckoning (Prototype)

Chapter 57: Split Apart

Ramil and I turn a corner and duck into the men's room, running and hiding in a stall. "Where are the others?" I ask him, both of us panting frantically. He looks at me and says "I-I thought they were behind you..!"

I lean against the stall wall and bang my head on it, groaning. "No!" I exclaim. "Why do we keep splitting up today!?"

"We need to look for them. Rory already doesn't like Chris," Ramil says. I nod. We carefully peek our heads out of the restroom and look around. "It's safe," Ramil says, and we sneak out. We walk quietly through the large museum, looking for our friends. After a bit of walking, we hear a lot of growls from behind us. Ramil takes my arm and leads us into another dark room, closing the door and saying "Shh..."

I cover my mouth with my hand as Ramil inspects the door closesly. A shadow slides across the bottom of the door, and I prepare myself to swing my bat. Before I can do anything, though, Ramil shoves me into a closet and puts something against the door to keep me from getting out.

Just then, the room door bursts open, and Ramil throws something at it. He kills it, but another one comes and tackles him. I hear a nasty squelch, followed by Ramil screaming out in pain. I kick at the door until whatever is over it falls away, and I jump out and attack the Shrieker, taking it out. I help Ramil to his feet and he says "W-What are you doing?"

"Helping out?" I say, moving him out of the way just before a Shrieker tears into him. "You've got an entire spike stuck in your arm!" He grabs his spear off the ground, and I shove mine into another one's jaw, killing it with my lacrosse stick. I pull him along with me and we hide in another stall. I grab a medkit and start cleaning and stitching his wound. "Gh- why didn't you stay put?"

"Because you were about to die," I say, focusing on stitching him up. "I wasn't gonna let that happen again today."

"I would've been--"

"No, you wouldn't have been fine," I say, cutting him off. "Ugh, why are you being so reluctant now? This would be the best time for us to be working together!" He groans and winces as I put the needle through his skin.

"I don't want you to get hurt," he says. "That's all. Rory's got--"

"Broken ribs? Yeah, he told," I say. "I know you want us all to be okay, but I don't think I'll get hurt that badly."

"I know, I know. Rory is another story, but he still worries me," Ramil explains. "He doesn't ever tell anyone when he's hurt. I'm just scared right now. After this Kenny incident, I feel like I have to be more vigilant. And Rory always keeps quiet. I just want him to stay safe. Maybe I'm rubbing it off onto everyone else."

"It seems that way," I say. "You should probably talk to Rory about how you feel. It's clear you care about him a lot. And he cares, too, y'know," I continue, wrapping his arm up.

"I know. We've already had a talk. He promised he'd be more vocal, but--"

"Then trust him!" I say. "If Rory isn't anything else, he's loyal,". Ramil looks at his arm and sighs. "Okay,". We creep out of the restroom and move from room to room, keeping quiet and looking for the others. As we move through a room, Ramil says, "Something feels off..."

"What?" I ask, but my question is quickly answered by a Shrieker screeching and pouncing at me! "Ahh!!" I shout, moving out of the way. I trip over something and fall back, my ankle throbbing. "Aggh!!" I exclaim, gripping it. Ramil attacks the Shrieker, taking it out before helping me up. "Are you okay?" he asks. I nod.

"My ankle hurts a bit, but I don't think it's twisted," I groan, wincing when I put my weight on it. "Agh, it'll be fine in a while. This isn't the first time this has happened."

"You can still walk, right?" he asks. I nod. "O-Okay- Gah!" he shouts, pulling us back. We swing our spears into another Shrieker and make our way out of that room, although a monster-filled hallway isn't any better. "Crap!" I shout as we run away. I snatch up a fallen painting and throw it at a Shrieker, getting it stuck on its head. It falls back, but another one jumps up in its place and scratches at me. I put my spear up to deflect the attack, but it snaps in half.

"Oh, come on!" I say, dodging another scratch attack.

"Here!" Ramil says, tossing me one of his smoke bombs. I jump back and move out of the way of relentless attacks before slamming the bomb into one of the monster's faces. I kick it away and keep running, letting Ramil stab at a few of the Shriekers. I look around for anything to grab, yanking another, slighty bigger painting off the wall and swinging it at a Shrieker. The frame breaks, leaving me with two sharp pieces in my hands. I shove one down a monster's throat and stab another with the other piece.

"We're pretty badass together!" Ramil says, stabbing a Shrieker in the head. I give him a thumbs up as I tussle with another one. "How many of these things are in here!?" I ask rhetorically. After a while, Ramil and I start tiring out. I get shoved into a wall, hurting my arm in the process. Ramil pulls me out of the way of a sharp set of teeth, throwing a bunch of smoke bombs in every direction before we run off.

We get to a seemingly safe area and lean against the wall to catch our breaths. "Gah! This is going nowhere!" Ramil groans. "We keep getting ambushed and haven't found Rory or Chris yet--"

Just then, Ramil and I hear loud, frantic-sounding beeping outside of the building, followed by an explosion and wheels screeching. "That sounds like the car!!" Ramil says, and we run towards the beeping. It stops once we're outside, and we see the bright red jeep screech to a halt. We make a mad dash for the car, quickly hopping inside. Ramil fastens his seatbelt and stomps on the gas pedal, pulling out of the parking lot of the museum.

Once we're a good distance away, Ramil asks "Is everyone okay??"

"Yeah," Rory says, keeping his eyes on Ramil.

"We're okay," Chris assures us. "What happened to you two?" I massage my ankle and groan, answering "A little too much."

"Ramil, are you alright?" Rory asks. "What happened to your arm?"

"Just a spike, that's all," Ramil answers, driving around cars and over random bodies. "Are you okay? You aren't hurt anywhere, right?"

"N-No, I'm fine," Rory says. I look at Chris and mouth to him, You know about them, right?

He nods. My stomach grumbles, and I ask "Is anyone else hungry?"

"Yeah. We're heading home to eat right now," Ramil says. After a bit of driving, we pull up to the house and climb out of the car. Everyone is wobbly and tired, and after all that running, I don't blame them. "OKAY, no more running out or splitting up today! Sound good??" I say to everyone. They all groan in response, and we climb up into the treehouse for a meal.