Me, Myself, and Her

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Cruel Summer

"Annie? Annie!"

The voice sounded far away, but got closer and closer with every shout.

"Annie! Annie! Annie!"

It was the shaking that got her up.

Annie's eyes fluttered open and she saw Max's panicked face above hers. Her eyes honed in on one spot- a blossoming red spot on the redhead's cheek. She moved her hand up to touch it gently.

"Max are you okay?" she asked.

The girl scoffed. "You don't look that great either, Barbie."

Knowing that one was awake, Max moved over to the other unconscious body. "Mike! Get up, can you hear me?" she asked, shaking Mike awake, too.

Annie sat up a bit slowly, her own hand moving to her face and touching a very tender spot. When she pulled her pointer finger away, it had blood on it. It didn't feel like it was trickling down her face at all.

She looked over to the side and up, seeing blood on the wall as well. "What...?" she muttered and moved a hand to hold the back of her head.

Everything came rushing back, including the gun. She felt for it and realized it had fallen out. Looking around, she found it about a foot away.

"Hey, come on," Max said, much quieter this time. Annie looked over and saw Max helping Mike off the ground. He had a pretty sizable wound on his own face. "You okay?" she asked, he seemed out of it.

Annie kept the gun in her hand and walked over to the other two as Mike looked around the room. "Where's El?"

They looked around, two very important people missing. "Fuck, he's got her," Annie said, looking at the other two in panic. Mike's eyes were wide as Annie spoke. "Where the hell do we go?"

He looked around and thought for a second. "I know where we are, come on!" He hurried around the girls and they ran right after him. "Come on!" They moved faster.

He pushed open a door and Annie started to recognize it.

"Scoops!" she yelled, and they ran through the break room and into the main lobby. They could see the monster looming ahead and skid to a stop right outside the store front.

Annie took in the scene before her. El was laying on the ground, Billy standing in front of her, staring down the monster standing in the large mall opening. The room was slightly hazy. She remembered the fireworks from the grocery store, and for a second Annie was disappointed she missed out on the sparkly, neon sticks of dynamite.

El was crawling backward, trying to get away from everything. Annie wanted to run out and pull her back, but her feet stayed glued to the mall's tiled floor.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. The monster's mouth-tentacle came spitting out towards the pair. El covered her face as she prepared for it to make contact.

Billy catching it instead.

He let out yells as he pushed against it. More tentacles came wriggling from the monster, ready to attack. A strangled sob from the beautiful girl next to Annie finally got her feet to move. Her mind might not be thinking straight, but her feet had a plan.

"Annie!" Max screamed, watching the brunette run forward.

Mike looked over and saw the same thing. "Annie!"

But the girl kept running. She felt the weight of the gun in her hands and it felt heavy but right. She knew this was something she had to do, never wanting to see or hear Max cry.