ROT

Chapter 3

Moldy sat in the cabin her friends had constructed. A wooden chess board sat in front of her, and behind that was Bryce. The plastic bottle thought for a moment, grabbed a piece, then stopped. He took hold of a different piece, moved it, then sat back down, looking rather aloof. Moldy looked at the chess pieces for a moment. She looked at Bryce, then back down at the board, frowning. He'd made a good move, but maybe if she just...
Ah-ha! Moldy saw an opportunity and grabbed a piece.
Bryce raised an eyebrow, smiling. "You sure you want to use that one?"
Moldy laughed. "What, worried I'll beat you too hard?"
Bryce stopped all of a sudden, jumping out of his seat. 

Moldy simply stared, her hand still on the chess piece. Bryce had spent the most time with Liam out of everyone on the Plane. He knew him best, and as his hearing was the sharpest, he was able to detect when Liam was watching them.

Everybody was rigid as a stick for several moments. Then Bryce relaxed, and Moldy did as well. 

"He's gone?" she asked.

Bryce let out a sigh, nodding. "He sounded pretty huffy last time we talked. I think he's gone to bed."

Moldy laughed. "Heh, bout time!"
Bryce's expression didn't change. He pointed to Moldy's arm. "You dropped your piece."

"Wh-" Moldy looked down. He was right. She'd used her dominant arm, the right one, the one that also happened to have mold growing all over it. She hadn't even noticed when it fell. "Ugh, it's this dumb arm, it's gone numb." she grabbed the knight piece again.

Bryce stared at the sky for a moment before making eye contact with Moldy again. "You know, that's not necessarily a bad thing."

What?!
Moldy stared at Bryce in pure disbelief. "Excuse me?" she said. "Did you somehow forget what on earth my mold is? Did you forget there's a disgusting parasite worming its way through my body that might KILL ME?!" Bryce sat up quickly. "That was too loud, shhhh!!"

"What, what is with the shushing, Liam left, you half-brained nitwit!" 
Bryce's eyes darted from the sky to Moldy over and over again, his expression panicked. He looked as if he was thinking something over. Then he grabbed Moldy by the arm and held her close, putting a hand over her mouth to silence her.

Moldy cursed loudly as she was silenced before quickly shoving the plastic bottle off.  She began to march towards him. "What the hell. Are you doing." 
"Ok, ok, admittedly that wasn't the best way I could have handled that, I know, but I need you to-"

Moldy kicked Bryce to the ground. "Short version. Or else."

"YOU WANT TO HELP SCENTY, DON'T YOU?"

"What." Moldy's voice was cold.

"Ok, I know this all sounds crazy, I know I should have handled that all better! But I was there when Liam and I, wh-when we were looking for Airy. When you die, you don't just die, there's this place you go to, there's a radio there. Moldy, are you listening to me?"

Moldy glared at him. 

"Look, I know you know about the radio. You have to. You've died before! The radio.  You remember that? You have to remember that." Bryce's voice was shaky. 
Moldy breathed heavily, eye contact locked onto Bryce.
"Look, that radio is the key to our escape! Just put in a number, flick the antenna up, poof, you're in a different dimension!"
"What, and I'm the closest there?" Bryce opened his mouth to speak, then sighed and nodded. "It's been a long time since me and Liam went looking for Airy, and the numbers are long, but I think I can give you a number close enough that you won't just get stuck there. Just put the numbers in and-"

Memories began to jumble together in Moldy's head, voices talking over each other, blocking out Bryce's as he explained his stupid plan. Voices of people she'd thought had her back for life. People she'd called her friends. People who had absolutely humiliated her. 
Bryce was mid-word. Moldy didn't care to hear it. She grabbed him by the rim and smacked him against the table as hard as she could. Chess pieces went flying. Fear was in Bryce's eyes now.

"You're all the same."
"What?"
"You all just want to use me. A death, that's all I have to offer you."
Bryce wasn't talking. "You'd come back! A-and you're like me. You'd do anything to help Scenty, right?"
Moldy laughed. "Ha, yeah! I'll just die painfully and slowly, so you all can escape the Plane and live happily ever after, right?"
"N-no, you could go home too, we-"
"How? You remember Earth's number too? Cause you barely remembered the one for where Liam is."
Bryce stopped for a second. Moldy laughed again, looking at her hands. One healthy and black, the other covered in splotches of sickly green. "You're good at this. You all actually get me to trust you first too!"
"Moldy." Bryce's voice was serious. He was getting to his feet now too. Moldy shoved her face into his.

"My condition is my business." She pointed a finger in Bryce's face. "It's not yours, not Scenty's, it's nobody's but mine. You get that?" Bryce nodded. "And it being my mold means I decide what happens with it. You got that?". Moldy could feel anger building up inside her.
"Moldy-"
 "I SAID DO YOU GOT THAT?" she screamed.

"Ok." there was no emotion in Bryce's voice.

Pure rage blotted out his face.
"Good." Moldy huffed and turned around, beginning to walk away. "And don't ever talk to me again, or you'll regret it. I'll make sure of that."