VIRUS

Chapter 13- Goodbye

It was probably the most uncomfortable ride, that time we'd been shipped off. Just Hamada, Logan, Sammy, and I. No one came to support us. No one came to help. After all the rumors spread by Squad 119, no one was surprised when we were shipped out alone. We just had to make sure we didn't get hurt, considering Magdalena was gone.

    No one spoke the entre ride. I sat opposite of Hamada, and Sammy sat next to her. Logan stared off into the distance a few inches from me out the window of the cramped car. I could tell they were still thinking about everything, about everyone. I glanced at Sammy. She mimicked Logan, drifting off into the clouds. The only thing that was different was that she occasionally looked over at Hamada.

    Hamada. She stared out, too, but something seemed different about her. I occasionally saw what I thought were flickers of purple, but who really knows?

    She held her sword close to her, as if someone was just about to attack.

    My mind faded back towards the memory of that practice...

    I looked at her again. Her eyes seemed clear, focused- yet somehow distant and distraught. I wondered if fighting helped keep her occupied enough to forget the darkness inside.

    We finally arrived at the edges of Cattiti, better known as Purple Road. I knew why Red Wolf was called Red Wolf- everyone did, it was because Wolf Demons inhabitted it most- but I could never figure out why Cattiti was called Purple Road, and Purple Road was known better than Red Wolf around here.

    We got out of the car and watched it drive away. We looked ahead onto the remains of Cattiti. It was amazing to see how the land shifted into death oh so quietly. You knew the shift was there, and you knew that something was wrong, but you didn't talk about it out of fear of doing so.

    We started walking, and the air shifted. I shivered, and I noticed Sammy did, too. Both Logan and Sammy seemed to be able to handle everything. They seemed ready, even if they were scared. I glanced around for Hamada, but then quickly realized she was still where the car had dropped us off.

    She was staring at the ground. Shivering. Her eyes a muddled color.

    "Hamada?" I called out to her. Logan and Sammy stopped.

    "Clarissa, are you okay?" Sammy asked, slowly walking towards her. "What's going on?"

    She didn't say anything. She just stood there and shivered. Curious and a little worried, I took a few steps closer to her. Seeing her closer, I realized how frightened she was.

    "Clarissa?" I whispered. She snapped her eyes up to me. I wasn't sure what I was seeing. I saw a swirling mixture of blues and purples and blacks. I wasn't sure what, but something in her eyes, her scared, lonely eyes told me that this wasn't just Amelia coming to talk.

    Something was triggering this.

    "Can you move?" Sammy asked. "We have to keep moving." Clarissa held her sword loosely, then tightly. Loose, then tight. Loose, then tight. She held it just enough to make it shake. She looked back down, a horror movie playing in fromt of her eyes.

    "They're coming," Logan warned, drawing their sword. "Get her out of whatever mess she's in. We need her, she's the best fighter."

    "Just give us a damn second, Logan!" Sammy snapped. I looked out over Cattiti. Thousands upon thousands of demons of all shapes, sizes, and class rushed towards us. The noise was piercing.

    "Get her to move, Sammy!" Logan snapped back. "We're dead if she does this now!" I looked from Logan, to Hamada, to the impending enemy. Then I drew my sword and rushed forward.