ʟɪɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ: ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀɪᴏɴ x ᴠɪʟʟᴀɪɴ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

Chapter 22: A Deceitful Meeting and a Fateful Encounter

Y/n had arrived at the meeting coordinates earlier than she had expected.
This would have been fine, had the meeting place not been at the old abandoned train station to the east of town.

The old train station was an obscure part of South Park, but Y/n had to admit it was discreet enough for her to meet Kenny there without having to worry about being tracked by the cult.

Of course, this didn't make it any less disgusting.

Eyeballing the blotchy stains on the broken-down platform made Y/n's stomach twist, and there was no way she was going to go so far as to sit down on the beaten-in boxes nearby. They smelled like cat piss.

Instead, she stood in the middle of the platform, scuffing her shoes against the cracked concrete.

Waiting for her boyfriend.

Waiting for Kenny.

Waiting. . .

Y/n checked her watch. It was well past eight, and he was nowhere to be seen. She was really annoyed by that. If he wanted to meet her at the train station so badly, why couldn't he at least be there on time? It was like he didn't care about seeing his girlfriend that had, quite literally, risen from the dead. It made no sense to her.

"Wait, what if he thinks that I was just some kid pulling a prank?" Y/n thought worriedly. "No- that can't be right. I sent him a picture! But what if he thought I was just reusing an older-"

The sudden echo of approaching footsteps in the distance drew Y/n out of her speculations. "Well, I guess that Kenny's finally gonna grace me with his presence," She mumbled.

Though, as the footsteps grew louder, Y/n became less certain that they belonged to her beloved. The steps sounded too loud to belong to him, considering that Kenny was the one who wanted to keep the reunion discreet in the first place.

The imposing volume of the stomps was careless. Too careless to belong to him.

"Listen to yourself, Y/n. You're being paranoid." She silently chided. "Kenny is going to come around that corner, and you're going to look like an idiot in front of him."

Y/n stood perfectly still, one hand firmly clasped in the other, staring intently at the foreboding corner while the person who she hoped was Kenny continued to approach.

Though, as they drew near, Y/n could have sworn that she heard more than one set of footsteps. Then, her ears caught wind of a barely audible conversation emitting from the same spot. . .

"I don't know, should we have brought the semi-automatics? I've heard that the Deathless did a number on our forces yesterday. It's not to be taken lightly."

"Psh, come on. It's just some stupid lovesick teenager! With my training, I'm pretty sure that I'd be able to take it in a fight."

"Whatever you say. Just remember, if you accidentally kill it, the chief is going to pike your naked corpse up onto a stick."

"Okay, mom. I'm sure it won't have to come to that, seeing as we've got strength in numbers. Let's just go and get this kid tranquilized."

Y/n froze. Did she hear that correctly, or had she officially lost her mind? She didn't want to believe it, but she would've been an idiot to still blindly believe she would walk out of this encounter unscathed.

With the cultists quickly approaching from the right, Y/n had little time to act. Panicked, she impulsively dove into the pile of piss-stenched boxes. They collapsed in on themselves at the impact, but they cloaked a crouching Y/n with a protective layer of smelly, environmental deception.