Well That's Not Good

Chapter 9 - It gets real

The next hour in the car was comforting. Seto explained his attempts to break out, how the walls would repair themselves and how he could never tell the time. Lox explained how they found his notes, and how that helped them on the way. True told Seto about nearly freezing to death on the woods, and upon seeing his hands, Seto insisted he could fix it. 

"Look on the bright side," he said, "I've always wanted to rebuild a limb, might as well start with some fingers!" 

And after they had driven for two or three hours, with the moon high and the panic settling, True got Sky to pull over. Sky crawled over to the back seat, jamming himself between True and the door. For the first time since the unfortunate sleepover, all four get to sleep in one another's company, knowing they're all safe. 

Well, relatively safe. 

As everyone else drifts off, Lox stays alert. Seto leans against him, True wrapped in his arms, a heavy weight against Lox's side. As his (mostly) human companions sleep, Lox thinks over their escape. Seto's face seeing The BAD Guys on the ground wasn't a good sign. He said they were dead, said they should run. Suddenly, it clicks. 

"True, get up." True groans and shifts in his sleep. Lox sighs.
"True, get up." 
"Whyy..."
"The sky is falling." 
"WHAT?!" 
"No it's not, I wanted to get your attention." True frowns, sitting up sleepily. His hair sticks up straight and is flat on one side from laying on Seto. He can only sit up so far with Sky sprawled across all of them with the weight of a corpse. 

"That's not cool. I regret giving you the ability to lie sometimes-" 
"Seto's zombie virus got out." 
"Okay, okay, I'm up, what's really going on?"
"...Seto's zombie virus got out." Lox watches as the blood drains from True's face. He opens his mouth but no sound comes out. Finally, he manages to pull himself together. 

"We- we ned to go back. If that's the case, maybe we can stop it from spreading? Y-yeah... yeah..." He's shaking, and as he tries to sit up more, he falls off the back seats, dragging Seto and Sky with him. 

"Ah! Wha-?!" Seto yelps.
"WE'RE FALLING!" Sky screams, grabbing wildly at the air before realizing he's already on the ground. True grabs onto Seto's shoulders, eyes wide. 

"Seto. Why did you want us out of there so fast?"
"Um...."
"Seto." 
"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" 
"Seto please answer me and prove Lox wrong-"
"They maybe might have broken the scary bottle I put away the other day..."

True lets go of Seto, sinking back. Lox sighs, getting out of the car and moving over to the front seat. He starts the engine, and Seto looks up, alarmed. 

"Wait, what are you doing?"
"Going back. We started this, we're going to finish it." 
"No- wait, no! That's a bad idea!" Seto insists, panicked. He tries to sit up, but Lox hits the gas, throwing everyone else back as they speed back to The BAD Guys building. 

It's quiet when they get there. Lights are still on, and there are skid marks left from their grand entrance just hours before. Magical jellyfish float silently, glowing softly in the building and around the parking lot. Lox gets out, followed by Sky, who starts trying to catch the jellyfish again. Seto stays in the car with True for a minute, looking forward at the building. 

"Maybe we could just block up the doors," he says finally, "They'll rot. We come back in a year, burn the place down, it'll all be fine." True realizes how stiff Seto is sitting, eyes locked on the doors. Lox keeps walking, soon disappearing into the building. 

"We can't just leave the guys," True pushes, "They don't deserve it." Seto picks up his hands, looking at the bandages. Seto hardly ever sat still, always bouncing or humming or laughing or dancing or- anything. He's too still, and it worries True. 

"They kidnapped me," Seto reminds him, "and stole Sky's ship. They might have taken you guys, too, but I tried to burn everything..."
"You almost burned my house down, you know."
"Sorry."
"It's okay. You know what's less okay?"
"Zombies?"
"Zombies."

They sit in silence for a minute, Seto holding True's bandaged hands, looking out at Sky trying to catch flying jellyfish and waiting for Lox to return. The stars are bright in the unlit parking lot, and True finds himself focusing on them rather than Seto's panicked eyes. He doesn't want to see that. 

When Lox walks back out, Sky has managed to shove at least ten jellyfish into the trunk. At first, True relaxes, it seems like Lox isn't scuffed up at all. Then he starts to worry. If Lox isn't scuffed up... 

"Oh, I get it, I go in to look for monsters and you two stay here holding hands," Lox mumbles sarcastically. Seto drops True's hands and True pulls away, not helping the point. 
"What- uh, what did you find?" True asks. Lox's expression is cold. 
"It's empty. There's broken glass, some blood, no living thing but jellyfish." Sky pokes his head into the car. 
"Soo... I can go in and get more jellies?" 
"Sky that's not what- yeah. Yeah you can." Sky lights up (somewhat literally) and skips over to the building. Seto looks stressed. 
"They... they might have gotten out," he says quietly. True's eyes widen. He'd been hoping Seto wouldn't say it. 
"Out..?"
"The door is automatic. The jellyfish got out," Seto says. It's true. Purple lights in the distance say just how far a few had gotten. True's chest hurts, an awful tugging anxiety. 

And to make matters worse, Sky runs screaming out of the building. 

"IT'S NOT EMPTY IT'S NOT EMPTY TRUE HELP AAAAAAAAA-" His screaming only stops when he runs smack into the car. Seto gets out of the car, pushing past Lox and going towards the building as two figures stumble toward the doors. True gets out after him, but freezes in fear, unable to follow Seto. 

The figures stumble forward, recognizable at some of the men in black- BAD guys. Their eyes are blank, jaws slack, and black liquid drips from their eyes, ears, mouths and nose. Seto's hands ignite, and as the doors open for the BAD guys, Seto throws two fireballs. 

Purple flames engulf them, and the smell of rotting flesh sweeps the parking lot. True chokes back a scream as he watches the skin burn off them, their bones char and break. When the smoke clears, there's nothing left but ash. 

And True screams.