Roadkill - catnipz

Final Chapter 8: Infestation

"Rise and shine pretty!"

Haerin is sure that she's dead.

Loud banging, metal meeting metal, high-pitched laughter that draws blood from her ear drums.

Being alive doesn't feel like this. She feels sort of floaty, present but not at the same time, in so much pain she can hardly comprehend it but simultaneously not really feeling much at all. So she must be dead, never in a lifetime has something like this overcome her, there's just no reasoning or explanation and none of it makes any sense.

Or, maybe she just wants to be.

Further obnoxious cackling, that draws closer and closer, and although she doesn't want to, Haerin forces her eyes open. It hurts, and although it's just as dark in the storage room as it's always been, the slight increase in brightness is enough for Haerin to feel as though she's staring directly into the sun. Blinking a couple times, she scrunches up her face with the effort. It's a little more bearable than before, to her relief, but everything still sort of slips in and out of double and struggles to retain its shape.

But no matter how much Haerin struggles to see for the first couple moments, that bright shade of pink is unmissable.

Her stomach drops.

Hanni is much easier to see when she's squatted right in front of Haerin, face to face and grinning wildly, her bunny-like eyes piercing straight into Haerin's own. She's obtrusive in the way she would be back when they'd very first met, except now she's got no reason to hold back, and Minji isn't by Haerin's side as a subtle reminder for her to stand down. So, Hanni keeps looking at her, lips curving unnaturally wide, and Haerin can do nothing except sit on the floor and take whatever's about to be given to her.

"Hey, you with me?" Hanni's voice isn't concerned in the slightest, in fact it's so void of empathy it makes Haerin shiver. She gives Haerin's cheek two light taps with her hand, sniggering, before taking it away. Haerin thinks it must make her look more awake than before, because Hanni hums, pleased with herself. "There she is, good morning!"

Haerin doesn't have the energy to reply. Even if she did, she has no idea what she'd say. All she can do is focus on the growing terror that's building its usual way back into the base of her throat, because while she'd never dreaded facing Hanni as much as she had Minji, it doesn't take away from the fact that Hanni had hated her right from the very start.

"You know, I really should be saying thank you," Haerin hates Hanni's tone, all sickly sweet. It just makes her want to scream, which she knows is what Hanni wants, to just get under her skin and make everything a pain, but Haerin doesn't care anymore. "Thanks to you, I get to go around and say to everyone I told you so," Hanni tilts her head to the side. "It was weird, you know, this whole I just kind of move around thing you had going on," Hanni makes air quotes with her fingers. "I really don't know how the heck you got people to buy into it so quick. Especially after you stuck around after Danielle cut off that guy's finger," she looks at her with this faux sense of pity, and her voice drops to a whisper. "In the end I just kind of labelled you as desperate, and to be honest..." her words are dripping with condescension. "I don't think I was wrong,"

Haerin can't help herself. Maybe before, yeah, she would've had some pride and taken whatever it was that Hanni had to say to her on the chin. But now? Yeah, it's pissing her off, hearing her go on and on like this. Her voice comes out feeble and shaky when she speaks, but she manages to spit the words out none the less. "Why the heck would I be desperate?"

For whatever reason, this question seems to please Hanni immensely. Her grin turns from something bunny-like to more wolfish, and in the low light her eyes take on a menacing glint. "You like Minji a lot, don't you?" Her voice turns to something softer, mockingly so, like she's speaking to a child. "I think you like her a bit more than you were ever supposed to,"