"Mana!" was all I heard before I was checked over the railing by an unexpected force. Ava's smiling face contorting to an expression of horror was the last thing I saw before going flying. In the air, I tried to land on my left arm. A dream turned to reality, and my left arm was shattered on impact. It was almost useless anyways. I let the adrenaline swallow me, but not at the right time. Someone had opened the door, and the sounds of the machine gun had attracted hundreds of thousands of zeds. I was in the heart of the storm.
"Son of a bitch!" I army-crawled between dozens of jaundiced legs, holding my breath for as long as possible. I swerved and avoided, and as I did, the elevator with my friends--nay, my family--made its way down. Danny kept the door shut, and all of them watched in terror, since there was nothing they could do. I got a few feet away from the glass, screamed my love for them all and everyone else, and turned back to the speeding zombies. I crawled back two feet, then watched my own fate become sealed.
This is it, I thought. This is the end of Ariana.
---
"NO! NO, NO!!" Pogan was throwing a fit in the elevator. Ava was crying. I was trying to hold him back.
"Mason fucking Martin, calm down!!"
"No!! They took my best friend!! They need to die!!" I held him back from joining the same fate as Ariana. Her screams were muffled by the glass, but I heard them as if I was right next to her.
"No, no!! Ava, Danny, Mason--AAGH!! AAAGH!!" Her shrilled screams were silenced. She was silenced, once and for all. I pressed the "up" button on the elevator as the tears fell down my face.
"Danny... Let me go... I gotta..." I let him go now, there was no use holding him back. He fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, his sobs so powerful they racked his whole body. Ty was at Ava's side, more crying with her than trying to keep her from crying.
"Wha-What do we do now?" Ty choked out. I grabbed my gun from its holster. Whatever adrenaline that had fuelled Ariana in her last moments was bubbling inside of me. I could feel it run through my veins the higher we climbed.
"I'm getting some sweet revenge." The elevator dinged, signifying our being back at the top. I marched out, feeling as if Ariana was about to face certain suicide with me.
---
Link to the art made for this chapter:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/colorslive/jpg_512x512/2554222-DDdx7AO2ILVuDVfC.jpg
