Killjoy (A Lesbian Story)

34: Max

Maybe Thor was just fucking with me. I've been following this so-called trail for almost an hour and there was no sign of Grimes or any place he would be hiding. The sun was getting lower in the trees quickly and I wouldn't be able to track anything then. Even his greasy scent wasn't flowing through the air.

Or maybe I wasn't trying hard enough.

Focus Maxie.

Stopping by a tree, I put my hand to it and closed my eyes. Breathing in deeply, I felt the bark under my skin. I listened to the wind blowing through the treetops and the birds talking to each other overhead. Ants crawled under the leaves beneath my feet. I felt the oxygen run through the tree and the water soak in through the roots.

My heartbeat sped up. My skin heated up and I felt a low growl in my stomach.

Opening my eyes,  I saw the forest in a different nature. Every movement set off a ripple effect in the air around it. I could see where every thing has moved in the last few hours. One trail led between the trees, heading off towards the setting sun.

"Gotcha." I mumbled and set off .

My feet hit the trail, disrupting the forest even more. I felt something start to rumble as I kept walking. The dead leaves under me crunched loudly, the sound echoing off the trees.

"You're amazing." Grimes voice said.

I whipped around. The trees around me were bare and there were no other signs of movement.

His voice was low in a mumble, but it echoed in my mind. "You truly are my greatest creation. You have only unlocked a portion of this glorious gift."

I turned back and continued down the trail. "And you are truly the greatest pain in my ass. Where are you?"

"A place where your mother sent me." He said, disdain in his voice. "It wasn't that bad. I met a lot of like-minded folk. Unlike either of your parents."

I scoffed, scanning the forest. "So a mental institution."

"Exactly!" Grimes exclaimed proudly. "There's a nice lab there and I've told my old colleagues to meet me there in case of an emergency. They'll be so happy to meet you."

"I'll be happy to tell them to fuck off all the same." I said to him. "A colleague of Grimes is a colleague to me."

Movement caught my eye. The trail weaved a bit and ripples faintly followed behind. Raising my gun, set for the movement. My feet carefully picked through the leaves.

Grimes' laugh echoed in my head, "Wow. I can't get over how alike to Grace you are. A real carbon copy. That's why your perfect."

"Do you have some weird obsession with my mother other than revenge?" I asked him. "Because it sounds like a Snape situation."

"She was the girl of my dreams, Maxie." Grimes said, "A gorgeous, brilliant scientist with amazing ideas. But she fell for the jock of the team."

So a Snape situation, then. I stepped over a log and put my side against a tree. My head peeked around and I saw a building break through the trees. It was a dirty off-white color with boarded up windows. A tall chain-link fence surrounded it, rusted barbed wire was curled at the top.

"You're here aren't you?" Grimes' voice sung in my head. He was giddy.

Freak.

"I am." I said softly, walking towards the building. "You gonna throw me  welcome home party?"

"I'll be waiting for you." Was all he said.

Then I felt him leave my mind. It was just like when someone exits a chatroom. There was just a radio silence on his end and an acquired emptiness. My vision started to blur a bit. His trail faded into the leaves. But I knew where I had to go.

I walked to the building. The fence loomed over me. Easily, I took the chain link between my hands and pulled. The metal snapped and I stepped through to the other side. An ancient smelled wafted up from across the parking lot. It's been years since this place has been touched and my presence seemed to have angered it.

Usually I wouldn't be fucking with abandoned asylums. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess.

There was a door at the side of the building. Unlike the other entrances, the boards were dis-guarded to the side. It was wide open and ready for me. So, I walked through. The interior was dark and dusty. It was crowded even if the halls were empty. The hallway was long and dust was suspended in the air, dancing in the small amount of light shining through the boards. I felt a pressure on my chest as I walked down the hall. My feet kicked away debris and trash. 

Everything felt like it was closing in on me. There was a heaviness to this place. Something I've never felt before. The deeper I walked, the more I could hear a humming. So many voices swirled in my mind, like when the horde attacked the Homestead.

Infected people were here. Hundreds of them.

Double doors came up in front of me. Waves of energy and movement were behind them. My hand pushed open the doors. A growling echoed from down the hall. More followed until it was a whole chorus of voices. The humming was deafening. I stepped down the hall. Lining the walls were metal doors. Small squares were towards the top of the doors, just large enough to look through. A door had an interesting hum behind it. It sounded familiar, so I walked to it. I had to get up on my tip-toes to peek through.

There was an infected person laying sprawled out on the ground. It was a woman about my age. She just stared up at the ceiling. Her face was sunken in peeling. Her light hair was coming out in clumps. What  I could recognize was a blue and black cheer uniform.

A foot connected with mine and, since I'm not the most graceful person, I fell to the ground. My tray flipped over and spilled my spaghetti on the front of myself. Above me were female laughs. I looked over at the foot that tripped me. It was a white tennis shoe, tan leg, blue and black cheer skirt, blue and black cheer top, and blonde hair.

Vanessa Roberts.

The last time I saw her was at the school on day one. She was stumbling around the parking lot with blood covering her uniform. Her thoughts were slowed and slurred. Slowly, she was losing herself. I could feel it.

"I'm sorry, Vanessa." I said softly. "You were a bitch to me, but you didn't deserve this."

Vanessa only growled softly in response. I closed the eye slot and kept going back down the hallway. Growls followed me, some strong and some weak. Whispers swirled in my mind. They were confused and angry. One was just a sob echoing in my ears. I slowly got closer to the door it came from. It was familiar as well. I opened the little window and looked in. 

The matching track suit hit me in the face with a memory.

We turned the corner and stopped dead in our tracks. Infront of us, about ten yards away and infront of the gym doors, was a figure. From the track pants and bullhorn attached to their hip, I could tell it was Craft. She swayed a bit, hunched over and head tilted to the side.

She looked the same as she did that day. Coach Craft was hunched in a corner, staring at a crack in the wall. I could hear her sobs in my ears, but her body just sat quietly. Soft growls came from her.

"Coach?" I asked quietly.

Suddenly, her body lunged to the door. I don't know how she moved or when, but her body was against the metal and her face was inches from mine. Craft's milky eyes stared into me. They pleaded with me. 

End... this...

Her face was mangled. There was a hole in her shoulder, blood soaking her blue suit. Someone and something got into a fight with her. Tufts of fur littered the collar of her tracksuit.

Max...

My fingers grasped the eye slot and I closed it quickly. Her sobs echoed again as the metal creaked under the pounding of her fists. I exhaled softly and turned back to the hallway. This was a lot for me. It was so easy when I saw people I didn't even know, but to see people from my past... Before all of this, life was so easy. I don't know why I ever complained.

Pushing their cries out of my head, I continued down the hallway. At the end, I turned a corner. There was Grimes, standing in the middle of the hallway. He grinned to me and spread his hands, even after I rose my gun.

"Welcome to the mad house, Maxie." He said to me.