Fungal Fury

Chapter 3; Blake

Amy backed up, Jesse taking control and shoving her behind him like some form of protective friend. His shotgun was held up, directly pointed at the girl's chest.

The girl was pressed against the doors, her eyes locked on the gun in Jesse's hands and her wings frozen. She glanced from the gun to his face, fear incredibly obvious in her eyes and posture.

"Amy why the fuck would you let a Fungal in?!" Jesse hissed, relatively quietly, but loud enough for it to echo a bit in the tiled room.

"I told you, she's not Fungal! She can't be." Amy had doubts, especially since the girl hadn't spoken a word, but she definitely acted sentient, unlike the brainless infected puppets outside.

"What else could she be? She has wings!" Jesse said again, holding the gun tighter and making the girl tense more than she already was.

There was a moment of silence, and a new voice broke it, whispering, "What's going on?"

The girl's eyes continued to flick from the gun to their faces, and she looked terrified, as though the situation had finally dawned on her. Amy's doubts immediately left. This girl couldn't be Fungal! She could talk, she could think, she had emotions, and that completely validated her human-ness... or... mostly human-ness.

Jesse was shocked, and in his shock, Amy reached forward, snatching the shotgun from his grasp. He realized what happened a second too late, as Amy now had the gun in her hands, the safety on with a deafening click.

The girl realized what had happened, but didn't move a muscle, worried that the blunette could turn on her or the guy could pull out another gun.

Jesse nearly screamed, but the fear of the Higher outside squashed that urge, and he just fumed next to Amy. Amy glared at Jesse, then stepped forward, the shotgun held behind her, aiming at the floor, "What do you mean by that?"

There was a pause, and the girl relaxed a little, taking a deep breath, "I mean what I said. I just sort of... woke up here. What are those outside?"

Both Amy and Jesse were shocked. How could she not know? The Fungals have been prowling the earth for years now, and this girl was claiming to be unaware of what they are?

She could feel their shock, and shrank a little more, her wing twitching a bit, making Jesse tense. For all he knew, she was going to rush at them in the next couple of seconds and maul them to death!

Amy took a breath, then sighed, "You honestly don't know?"

She shook her head, glancing back at Jesse again. Jesse didn't return her gaze.

"Alright. Well to sum it up for you: mushroom zombies. They kinda run the place now." Amy spoke casually, but quiet enough so the Higher outside would not hear them. Unless it was already outside but the door not being broken down suggested otherwise.

Multiple emotions passed over the girl's face; fear, confusion, curiosity, and most prominently... understanding. She understood what was going on, even if only a little.

"Okay, so what, these zombies have powers or something?" She asked, her wings bristling as she did so. The blunette before her nodded her head, "Okay, so instead of everyone having powers, the monsters have them. This... is definitely not my home then."

Jesse spoke for the first time since the exposition, "Whoa whoa whoa, 'Your home?' What do you mean by that? You expect me to believe you're from another world or something?!"

He was panicking even more, and the girl thought for a moment. Shrugging her shoulders, she nodded softly, giving an embarrassed smile.

She's insane. She's a mutated Fungal or she's gone insane or something! Jesse was sputtering, trying not to shout or scream at the girl. His thoughts, however, were as loud as they could be.

Amy had her mouth open, but closed it. It wasn't the craziest thing she's been told, so she indulged the girl. She tilted her head a bit, "Were you sent here or something?"

She thought to herself again, then nodded, "I think it was an accident. There was a portal and I was pushed through... though everything's blurry after that... and right before that, now that I think about it."

Her voice trailed off as her words had concerned her. She began to panic a little bit, she should know what was happening before she got sent here. Right?

"Okay, um... I'm Amy, this is Jesse. You know your name, right?" Amy spoke slowly, worried the girl had lost other vital information during whatever it was that happened to her.

"I'm Blake." She spoke confidently now, "I don't think I'd ever forget that."

There was a sigh of relief from Amy, who smiled and held her hand out, intending to shake Blake's, "Nice to meet you."

Blake shook her hand, an oddly casual act considering the times. Jesse couldn't help but cringe about how nonchalant the two were being.

"Okay, Jesse, you keep an eye on the door, tell us if anything happens. I'll be discussing plans with Blake here." Amy spoke quickly, pointing to the door and then walking to the middle of the restrooms, Blake following.

"Wait, what?! Why are you discussing plans with her? You literally just met!" He sputtered, anger consuming him.

"Because she's the one with wings and probably superpowers. This changes everything." Amy was cold, glaring at Jesse before turning back to Blake, ignoring any further protest just like before.

Amy raised her eyebrows at Blake, waiting for the response to the unspoken question. Blake nodded, "I can definitely carry one of you, but not both. I don't know the full extent of my other ability though."

She was rubbing the back of her neck, embarrassed to admit she didn't have full control or knowledge of her powers, but Amy wasn't held up on that, "How fast could you move with one of us?"

"Not very? It's hard to fly on my own, especially with wings way too big for my body, so adding another person makes it even worse. I can do it, it'll just be slow and short."

Jesse was almost growling to himself in anger. Amy just met this girl, is excluding him, and now putting him on guard duty like some idiot! He was getting anxious and angry, and, in his dumb state, decided to open the door to the bathroom. He would check!

It was quiet, so it was likely the Higher hadn't found them yet, so it didn't hurt to open the door and check.

Blake caught sight of Jesse pushing the door open, started to speak and move forward, and then Amy joined her, realizing what the idiot was doing. The door creaked open, Jesse peeking just his head out.

Right at the door was the Higher, it's breathing nonexistent and it's height towering over Jesse. It slammed into the door.

His headless body slid to the floor with a thud, blood spurting from where his head used to be, painting the floors, walls, and door red.