The Blainter

11...

Abbey and Zoe walked into the main entrance of the art gallery, again. They had walked into a complete circle and stood right where they first began their adventure in the art gallery. The room looked the exact same as it did before, except that there were fewer people. Unfortunately for them, Mr. Evans wasn't there. Zoe hurried to the corridor that neither of them explored yet and peered out into the hallway. Things started to get a lot stranger for her, as she quickly realized that that hall wasn't lit with torches.

"The torches in this hall aren't lit!" Zoe said, pointing down the far left corridor. She looked to Abbey for her intake on the matter in hand. Abbey gave her a quizzical look before joining her to stare out into the dark hall. She too couldn't see a single torch ablaze. Abbey looked around the room behind her just to make sure that she wasn't missing anything. They were alone. The shattered statue and the broken chair were the only things misplaced, and that was because of the students themselves.

"But...", Abbey said, pausing for a moment, "That would mean that if Mr. Evans was lighting the torches down that back corridor, then he may have turned around at some point!" Abbey sighed and sat on the floor beneath her feet. She was tired, both mentally and physically. She was supposed to be learning new things and having a fun adventure! Not whatever this was! 

Abbey didn't prepare herself for anything bad happening today, except for maybe running out of gas or money. She felt that nothing could have gotten her ready for the killer beforehand anyways. Even if she did have a clue.

Abbey leaned her head on Boomer's back and silently began to cry. The dog immediately tried to comfort his favorite human with his saliva-drenched tongue. He knew when she was sad, and normally, his slobbery kisses would make her laugh. Sadly, Boomer's attempts were ignored. 

Zoe looked at Abbey, and her heart began to break at seeing her friend so defeated. Abbey had been the only true friend that Zoe had the pleasure of knowing in her sixteen years of existing. They had been around each other for quite a long time, even growing up in the same town and following the same rules. Zoe was more outgoing and she was a strong girl. She had always found a way to help Abbey in her toughest times, but she was at a loss for words for the particular situation that they were in.

Zoe sat beside Abbey and rubbed soothing circles into her back. She listened to her sniffles and tried to think. Not finding Mr. Evans in the main room, as she'd expected, had stumped the order of her escape plan. It was time to make a new one. She was thinking hard when she suddenly thought of something that made sense to her.

"He must've turned around!," Zoe exclaimed, content with what she was choosing to make her reality, "Which means that he won't have much time to walk into that maniac's path! We can save everyone before he even gets to them, but we would have to hurry! Mr. Evans will have time, but we don't know exactly where that maniac went. I know you are tired, but the quicker we react, the quicker we can get the upper hand!" 

Abbey didn't believe that everything was going to be as simple as her friend thought it would, but she lifted her head and carefully wiped the tears from her eyes. One of her lenses threatened to fall out despite her gentle touch. She quickly adjusted it to fit onto her eyeball before looking at Zoe through a clearer vision. She knew that she had to put on her theatrics, and convince her friend that she was agreeing with her outlook on things. Abbey didn't want Zoe to have the pressure of carrying her through the day. It was bad enough that she had to be the decision-maker, and if Zoe was going to cling onto her hope, then she would hold onto hers for a bit longer as well.

"Great idea," Abbey said, rising to her feet and placing Boomer on the floor, "Let's at least upgrade our weapons first. This little rock is useless, and you have been carrying that stone for a long time. It's too heavy to fight with!" Abbey pulled Zoe to her feet and looked around the room. Her eyes landed on the chair that Emmet had destroyed earlier in the day. Both of the back legs were still attached to the bottom of the seating area.