Warning! Horror, Major Character Injury
"Jared, you have to stay awake, you hear me? You have to stay awake, everything depends on it." Alana reached out and shook the trembling boy who was fading in and out of consciousness.
It all started as a little bit of fun, they all were bored kids with nothing else to do. They were hanging out in Jared's basement, as per usual, when they noticed an odd patch in the wallpaper. Jared, with no regard for safety nor the well being of his house, had stripped back the paper to find a door.
It had no knob, so Connor had kicked it in to reveal a tunnel of sorts. All five of them were immediately intrigued. Who built it? Where did it lead?
"Let's go." Connor had lead the way through the tunnel, with Jared in charge of mapping the place out in his mind. They took twists and turns, their only light from Evan's dingy, old flip phone.
They had wandered until they reached a small clearing.
Filled with skeletons.
The group stood in awe, confused and quite scared.
"What the fuck is this?" Jared prodded a skull with his foot, making it roll across the concrete floor.
"Is it some sort of catacombs?" Alana leaned down to examine one of the skeletons when they heard something.
A growl.
They all froze, the hair on the back of Jared's neck stood on end as, from the shadows, a creature appeared. It would almost be considered dog-like, if it wasn't about three times the size of the largest dog Jared had ever seen.
Oh fuck.
Jared began to scramble away, and everyone else followed suit. In his hurry, he banged his head on the side of the tunnel, making him see stars. Connor grabbed Jared and threw him over his shoulder to try and get the boy out of the way as quickly as possible.
"Where are we going!" Zoe yelled from the front as she reached a cross roads.
"Oh fuck, Jared knows." Connor moved Jared so he wasn't carrying him, but rather supporting him. "Jared, baby, where do we go?"
Jared hardly remembered his last name, let alone where they were supposed to go.
Murphy? That was his last name, wasn't it? It definitely sounded familiar.
"Jared, please." Evan reached an arm out and wrapped it around Jared, helping Connor support the boy.
Or was it Hansen? Manson? Mansion?
"Left, I think." Jared managed to slur, and so that's where they went, following the boy's instructions.
God, Jared's eyelids felt so heavy. It wouldn't hurt if he just took a small nap, would it? Just as he was shutting his eyes, he received a smack on the face from Connor.
"Sorry, bud, but you gotta stay here with us, okay?" Connor's voice was smooth and silky, it made a little bit of the panic in Jared's chest go away. That was, until he heard the growl behind them again.
"Fuck, okay, now where, Jared?" Connor asked again.
Jared looked left and then right. Or did he look right and then left? Which way was which again?
Jared bit his lip, desperately trying to focus, but his thoughts were escaping him like water through his fingers.
"Jared, please!" Zoe begged.
"Let him focus!" Someone else snapped at her.
Wait, who had spoken? Jared looked up at the boy holding him up. What was his name again?
C, it started with a C. C-C-Cody? Cole? Chris?
Jared felt his knees go weak as he began to collapse to the floor. Someone scooped him up bridal style, and he managed a small thank you.
"Jared, you have to stay awake, you hear me? You have to stay awake, everything depends on it." Alana reached out and shook the trembling boy who was fading in and out of consciousness.
Oh hey, he remembered Alana. She was the one that liked books, right? Or was it boobs? Was Alana a lesbian?
Jared laughed out loud, throwing his head back as the others looked at each other in fear.
"Let's just go right." Zoe gulped, beginning to head into the tunnel.
"Are you sure?" Evan squeaked.
"Fuck no, but I doesn't look like we have any other options." She gestured to Jared, who was now tracing his fingers over Connor's cheekbones, which were wet with tears.
As they walked, it got increasingly harder to keep Jared awake. The boy was practically throwing a fit in Connor's arms.
"What do we do?" Connor asked as Jared kicked and squirmed.
"Let me sleep! Let me sleep!" Tears fell down Jared's cheeks.
Everything was silent for a moment, with the exception of Jared's struggle to break free.
"W-we could always leave him behind." Alana suggested finally.
"No." Connor's eyes grew sharp.
"Wait, it does make sense, Jared's been nothing but loud, maybe that's how the creature has been following us." Zoe turned around.
"No. We're not leaving him, I refuse." Connor cradled Jared, holding him closer to his chest. Jared mumbled something about mildew. Evan bit him lip, he seemed torn.
"I mean, we can't leave Jared behind, he's our friend." Evan said quietly.
"He's delusional." Zoe said firmly.
"Plus, I think it would be painless. He'd go to sleep and just, never wake up." Alana added, lookin anywhere but at Jared.
"Connor!" Jared blurted out as he suddenly remembered the boy's name. Connor looked down at Jared and gave a laughed, tears filling his eyes as he stroked Jared's hair.
"Don't worry, baby, you're fine." Connor assured him. "I would never let anything hurt you, ever." He looked up back up at everyone else. "We're going forward with Jared, I don't care if he's the reason we're being followed."
Zoe pursed her lips and turned around on her heel, continuing down the tunnel.
"You're going to have to be silent, okay?" Connor cooed to Jared as they walked. "That's important." Connor pressed a kiss to Jared's forehead. Jared grinned, his eyes somehow becoming less dazed.
When they reached another twist in the tunnel, Jared shouted out, "Right!"
The group all looked at each other, surprised, but followed the instructions. As they continued, Jared seemed to get more confident. However, as Jared got more confident, the closer the snarling sounds got.
"We're close, one more left and two more rights." Jared assured them. They pressed forward, and Jared lazily looked over Connor's shoulder, when he saw it. The creature was only about ten feet away from them, it's teeth were large and it was leaving a trail of drool.
"Run." Jared squeaked into Connor's ear. Connor didn't need anything more than that to start sprinting, everyone else doing the same.
"It's right there!" Zoe said excitedly, and sure enough, they reached the door within seconds, Evan slammed it shut and everyone helped pull a bookcase over the door.
"We made it." Alana sunk down to the floor.
"I knew you could do it." Connor scattered kisses across Jared's face, making the boy giggle.
"I'm just glad we're safe-" Evan began to sigh.
There was a growl from upstairs.
