31 Days

14 - Transmission

Warning(s): language, talk of violence and wounds, death

His feet pounded against the pavement. He pushed himself to go faster, faster, go faster, damn it!

He knew something was wrong, he felt it the second he stepped out of their base by himself. And now he could be too late because he'd let himself wander too far, convinced that he was simply paranoid.

"COME ON!" he screamed into the open air, urging himself to move faster.

I can still save them!

He heard nothing but the sound of his frantic heartbeat in his ears. He saw nothing but a blur as the landscape passed by. It didn't matter, he'd seen it all before. He didn't have time to stop and see if something had changed. He had to get back to base and he had to be there now.

All he could think of was the first time he'd met the group a year prior. Tanner, their leader, was kind and welcoming to him. Olivia and Johnny had quickly befriended him, and the three were as thick as thieves. Sam had taken him under his wing and showed him the ropes, teaching him how to survive and to help others survive too. Janis taught him how to fight and fend for himself. Even Bobby, the ruffian and bully of the group, had eventually learned to like him.

He'd been a scared fourteen year old when he first met them. And now... now he was more scared than he had ever been at the thought of his friends being hurt.

I have to save them...

Tanner still had to find love, Olivia still had time to grow up, Johnny still had to reach his 13th birthday, Sam had a kid who needed his father, Janis still had advice left to give, Bobby still had time to change his ways. They all still had so much time left. They needed to have that time left.

The searing, agonizing pain in his side meant nothing to him. He just needed to go faster.

The one word transmission he'd heard over his walkie-talkie that had sent him sprinting to the base had terrified him. The voice, which he unfortunately recognized, laughed and had said, "Gotcha." Now, the voice echoed loudly in his head like a broken record.

"Gotcha."

He took no notice of the tears falling from his eyes, both from the wind whipping his face and from the sheer terror coursing through his veins.

"Hang in there, guys, I'm coming!"

He reached the base in record time and quickly dashed inside to find Tanner bound and gagged by the entrance. He was unconscious, but his chest rose and fell steadily.

He stepped over Tanner's legs and noticed the door to the first room on his right standing ajar.

That door is never open...

He moved toward the room, a growing sense of dread settling in the pit of his stomach. A pair of shoes were visible, and they looked like Janis' infamous steel-toed boots.

"Janis?"

As he entered the room, his heart stopped and his head spun. Janis had a knife buried hilt deep in her back. Not only that, but...

Johnny, 12-year-old Johnny, lay lifeless a few feet away, his eyes dull and unseeing, his skin pale.

Before he could let loose a scream that had built up inside of him and swelled to his throat, his walkie-talkie crackled to life.

"Too late, Quinton."

And with that, Quinton broke down.

A/N: say it with me, "JOHNNY DESERVED BETTER"

I'm so sorry XD I think this is my most violent chapter yet, and I don't think it'll get much worse than this in terms of violence. But this was a total 180 from the previous chapter, so I'm sorry for that haha