SUNNYVALE

(10) EARTHQUAKE AND NEW ALLIES

Tierna feels the cold wind get underneath her hair, and shivers.

The sky, only few minutes ago, was without clouds, but the strong wind had risen and brought coldness and a rainy fog. Tierna, until then only wearing a crop top and some soccer shorts, was quickly walking toward the locker rooms in order to get changed early before training starts. Ever since Eastsiders have been invading Westside's territory, their soccer team was training on the same facility than Tierna's team - thankfully, they had two different soccer fields. 

When she enters the locker room, Tierna immediately stops, in shock: the same blonde short haircut and greenish eyes as she turns around strikes her, but not only - Abby Dahlkemper was naked in front of her, turning her back, quickly grabbing some clothes as Tierna looks away. After a few seconds, the brunette walks toward a bank in order to get dressed in turn, only putting a sports bra on.

In the meantime, Abby had put her school's jersey with the Eastern symbol - a wildcat - and says in a very cold voice:

"What are you doing here?"

As Tierna turns around, she suddenly freezes. 

Suddenly, it was like there was no light anymore: only some weird and cold darkness and falls upon the room. As she looks right in front of her, Tierna looks like she has just seen a ghost.

"What is it? What's going on?" Abby insists, obviously shaking her head in disbelief. She takes a few step forward, before declaring: "Is there something on my face, you piece of shit?"

But Tierna did not talk.

Suddenly, a violent earthquake propelled them onto the ground, as objects started falling from the lockers, that suddenly opened. In a moment of lucidity, Tierna realises that Abby was lying underneath some lockers that were about to get opened any second now. She therefore jumps in front of the girl, grabs her hand, as they both jump out of the way, avoiding the heavy lockers only by few inches. 

After a few seconds, the earthquake stops.

"Are you okay?" Tierna asks, out of breath.

As Abby looks up, she suddenly freezes: indeed, the two girls were holding hands because of the fright they just felt. After a few very awkward seconds during which the two girls longly look at each other, Abby breaks contact, taking her hand back, coughing awkwardly.

After a few seconds, the blonde says:

"Thank you for... uh, you know: saving my ass."

"Sure"

As they slowly get up, Abby frowns.

"Wait" she then says, causing Tierna to turn around toward her, "you had such a weird and alarming look in your eyes right before the earthquake, how the hell-"

"Your eyes are red, Abby."

And indeed, they were: where the green and brown usually was, in the iris, a very colourful red was now showing, as if she was bleeding from the inside.

After taking a quick look into her phone's screen, that now was broken because of her fall earlier, Abby's eyes go wide, as her mouth opens wholly. 

"What the hell?" she then exclaims, panicked.

But before either of them can say anything, they hear distant whispers - whispers that were quite mild, as if they were coming from their own thoughts, but the more time was passing, the more intense they become, until seeming so close that they'd could be thought to be in Tierna and Abby's ears.

Abigail.... Abigailllll.... Abiiigaillll... a serpent-like voice that seemed to produce a weird effect on the blonde more than to Tierna, who still was feeling intense shivers down her spine. Tierna... Tiernaaaaa.... Abigail.