The Children of Yesterday

Chapter 5 - Fallen Companions

It was a person. They were lying on the ground, some snapped branches below them...He glanced upward toward the towering branches above him. The person definitely didn't fall from the tree...But they did have blood that ran down their face and leaked out of both their ears and eyes. When he looked closer, it was also on their hands. With curiosity over taking him, Rowan moved their hair a bit away from their forehead. Had they been...clawing at their skull? On both sides of their head, right above their ears, they had deep lacerations to the point that they had peeled away their own skin. It made Rowan's skin crawl and his own head began to itch.

He seen their face. Well....Her face. It was one of the people from group B. Her name was Terra. He didn't know her very well, but he still knew her. They had glanced each others way across the cafeteria a few times on accident. Said a few words to each other while waiting on friends. This made his stomach turn...How could someone he knew personally have something like this happen?

Rowan's breathing became erratic. He suddenly felt the instinct of Fight or Flight kick in...And he chose Flight. As fast as his legs had carried him there, they managed to carry him away even faster back. He sped back to the cabins, sprinting back on the path..up the porch stairs...silently opening the door again..and diving under his blankets. He was out of breath. He needed a minute to process. Did he really just find someone's mutilated corpse?

There was no way right? Tomorrow he'd wake up and see her in the cafeteria. He'd realize it was just a dream. A nightmare, really. It had to be..Right?

                                                   .       .       .

He woke up earlier than usual to an alarm blaring into his ear. He then heard a loud thump, and muffled shout...then a groan.

"UGH- MY HEAD-" Caspian yelled, scrambling to get up. "Is...Is the world spinning for you all too?"

"No?? I think you're out of your mind." Henry said, his accent accentuated by sleep.

"Uhm..Clearly he just got the sense knocked out of him. Not that he had much of one to begin with." Stephen commented, grabbing some casual clothes and heading into the bathroom, his hair messy. He clearly couldn't care less about the alarm.

"I don't like this ride..." Caspian whined. "Lemme me off of it pleeaasseee..."

Eventually, they all walked out of the cabin. Stephen was the only one who really took the time to look decent...the rest were in their pajamas. Rowan loved how much warmer it was now that the sun was out. What he didn't love was what the alarm might mean about last night..He immediately saw the other groups, B and C, crowded around two familiar figures.

"Please stand back!-" A woman's voice called out.

The crowd immediately obeyed and took a few steps back. That's when it hit Rowan..The people in the middle of the crowd were Mr and Mrs. Campbell. The two main scientists in the lab. Mrs. Campbell's eyebrows were pinched and she was frowning. Her husband, Mr. Campbell, looked as unbothered as ever.

"We have news." Mr. Campbell announced sternly.

Caspian looked a bit unnerved. He glanced over, meeting Rowan's gaze.

"I wonder who died." Caspian said, with a joking tone to his voice. While normally Rowan would find the joke funny, after last night... he just didn't have it in him to laugh. All he could think about was Terra's limp, bloody, body lying on the forest floor. He simply stared ahead at the doctors.

"Not a bright idea to jinx people." Henry said, clearing his throat. He sighed in disappointment.

"I was trying to lighten the mood....mood killa." Caspian said, exaggerating "killer". He was doing a very bad impression of Henry's accent. At that, Rowan did crack a small, almost unnoticeable, smile. However, it immediately faded after the news that was announced not even 5 seconds later.

"We have found #049, Terra Moreau, dead this morning. We suspect her cause of death was a stab to the heart." Mr. Campbell's voice boomed confidently.

Rowan's heart sank. There's no way they...lied? She clearly had head injuries. Not a stab to the heart. He wanted to scream at them to tell the truth. He wanted to object. Right as he opened his mouth, someone from somewhere vaguely in front of him shouted

"WHO DID IT?!" the guy yelled, his voice clearly on the verge of breaking. "I'LL KILL THEM MYSELF."

"Calm down, Leo." Mrs. Campbell replied in a soft, compassionate tone.

"CALM DOWN?!" He screamed again, now even louder. "HOW CAN ONE 'CALM DOWN' WHEN ALL OUR LIVES ARE NOW AT RISK!? SOMEONE GETTING STABBED ISN'T JUST A USUAL OCCURRENCE, NOW IS IT?" At this point it was clear by his voice that he was crying.

"Leo." Mr Campbell took over suddenly, his voice still as stern as ever. "Calm. Down."All that was heard this time was Leo's loud sobs.Caspian's eyes were wide, his face pale."I told you..." Henry said. Even he seemed a bit nervous."Does this mean I can't make jokes about dying anymore..?"Caspian mumbled"That's exactly what it means, you birdbrain." Stephen commented, rolling his eyes. "You're just bad luck."Caspian glanced at Rowan, then Henry and Stephen. "Well y'all, and Zara, seem pretty lucky to have me...And also, birds are incredibly smart, don't you know?""Shut up would you?" Stephen snapped. "Sorry sorry-" Caspians voice had taken on a mocking tone, "I won't push the big bad guys buttons-""Could you all just stop?!" Rowan exclaimed. It was unusual for him to yell at them...he was the pushover of the group if anything. "I can't even think right now!"Caspian immediately fell silent, and his eyes fell to the ground. "Sorry mi amigo..."