Six Feet Under.

chapter thirteen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: MR. JANSON

Layla sat in a chair, feeling exhausted and numb. Her vision was blurry, but she could make out the shape of a man walking towards her. She immediately knew she didn't like the man—he was even worse than Luke, a boy she had always butted heads with, even before his betrayal.

"Layla." The man greeted with false enthusiasm. "It's been a while."

Layla only glared, despite the haze that she was in. Her eyes stared coldly at the blurred figure ahead of her. She didn't want to satisfy the man with a response, but she couldn't hold back her anger.

"Layla..." the man drawled out, like it was routine. He had grown used to her anger. After what he stole, she would never forgive him.

Layla wasn't aware of the person next to him until she heard the shuffling, and she blinked rapidly as she looked to the next person. She could make out a dark haired boy, who held his hands at his sides. She couldn't see his face through the haze.

"This is Minho." The man said, "you'll be training him from here on out. We've decided to see how well you work with others due to your... skill set."

Layla didn't respond, because she figured she didn't have a say in the matter. She didn't know who Minho was, but she just hoped he was better company than the man standing only a few feet away from her.

The man began to talk once again, but Layla's vision began to go dark—no. Layla began to wake up, the voices around her pulling her out of her deep sleep.

"Layla!" Newt's voice rang clear in Layla's ears. Her eyes shot wide open, her vision now clear. She glanced around; the world had gone dark, but the helicopter she was in was as loud as ever. How she managed to fall asleep with all the noise, she would never know.

     Layla made eye contact with Newt. He looked frantic as he yanked her out of the helicopter upon seeing her awake. "What's going on?" She called out, her voice barely heard over the noise.

     Layla heard Minho's voice behind her, and hesitated. She glanced back, squinting her eyes as the wind whipped the sand all around, threatening to damage her eyes. Minho was shaking Thomas awake, who seemed to be in a deeper sleep than she was.

     "Let's go!" Newt called.

"Get out of here!" A soldier shouted, suddenly whipping their head into the direction of an inhuman scream off in the distance. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard—Layla hated it, surprisingly more than the sound of a Griever.

     This sound brought forth a headache from behind her eyes. She stumbled, Newt catching her quickly and bringing her back to her feet.

     It was such a horrifyingly familiar sound.

"Cranks! We got cranks!"

"What the fuck are 'cranks'?" Layla shouted, turning to face a soldier. The soldier forcefully pushed her back towards the building ahead, shouting something that she couldn't hear over the gunfire.

As she made her way to the large building ahead, she squinted her eyes as lights shined left and right. After getting used to the darkness that she loved so much, her eyes burned in aggravation. Putting her hand over the lights to block them out was no use, as the sand that flew around clouded her vision.

Everything sounded muffled as it was a mix of gunfire, shouts and screams. The helicopter blades had a deafening sound as they continued to spin at a deadly speed.