Dawned

Chapter 4

Xavier was going to look for Joseph where he had found him, but the halls were difficult to navigate, and he quickly got lost. He talked to people, asking if they knew where Joseph is, but no one knew where he was. Eventually he asked someone that he was talking to earlier. She had a frohawk and hoop earrings.

"Why do you need him?" She asked. "I need his help finding my wasp." Said Xavier. "You don't need him for that." She said. "I, Tasha, an upper member of the plant class, will escort you." She said this with a tone of sarcastic generosity. She didn't seem to mean it. "So will you actually help, or...?" Asked Xavier. "Yeah, I'll help." Said Tasha. "I'de like to visit Sarah anyways. Just let me put my stuff up real quick."

While she put her things into her locker, Xavier waited behind her. He felt something approach behind him. He turned around, half-expecting to see a monster. It was a white wolf, much bigger than Xavier was. The wolf then smiled, trying to be friendly.

"Can I join you?" He asked. "I would like to find my wasp as well. Plus, it's not a good idea to be in a group of only two." Tasha finished packing her stuff away. She stood up, and said. "Sure, you can join us Duncan." She seemed annoyed. She then said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that. I'm just drowsy."
"You're good." Said Duncan.

They began walking to the entrance of the school, and Xavier wondered how they knew their way around this place so well. When they left, Xavier looked back at the school, and could have sworn that the school was bigger inside. They walked down the hill to Bricker City, except for Duncan. He rolled down most of the hill, which made Xavier laugh. They reached the metal cart, and got on. After the cart started moving, Duncan said, "I don't think I got your name. What is it?"
"His name is Xavier." Said Tasha. "That's a nice name." Said Duncan.

They reached the other side and got off. They were back in the Great City. They headed right, keeping distance from the city. "So where is my wasp at?" Asked Xavier. "It's in the wasp nest, which is in the most northeast part of the general country." Said Tasha. But we can't walk there. We're taking the train. There should be a station at the northeast corner of this city." They continued walking, and Xavier asked, "so how does this expiration thing work?"
"Expiration time?" Asked Tasha. "Well, everyone has one. And after that set amount of years, if they haven't lived their life yet, they stay here. Otherwise, they move on to Heaven or Hell, whichever they deserve."
"But staying here is usually bad." Said Duncan. "Usually, when someone reaches their year limit here, the turn into a monster. Which is why there are so many of them here."
"Year limit?" Asked Xavier. Duncan saw his confusion, and explained. "You get a set amount of years. Years are twice as long here, but you age up twice per year. Once on your death day; which is the day you arrived here; and once on New Dusk Day."
"That's why we don't celebrate New Dusk Day." Said Tasha. "It's more of an acknowledgement. Because on that day, everyone gains a year at the exact same time, so lots of people turn into monsters at the exact same time. Which makes New Dusk Day the most dangerous day of the year."
"And it's already Dicember, the twenty-fourth month, so New Dusk Day is coming up soon."

They arrived at the station. It was a platform with some train track on it. But at either end of the track, the tracks just stopped. "Just pull that lever, and the train will start heading this way." Said Tasha. Xavier flipped the lever, and the station started blinking and gave off that sound that blares at train tracks. They waited for a while, and stood in silence while they waited. Then, Xavier heard a clicking sound.

He quickly turned around, but he wasn't able to react. Mary had knocked down Duncan, and had him restrained from the ground below him. In her hand, we're strings going into the ground. With a quick motion, she yanked her hand up.

The strings around Duncan retreated into the ground, ignoring the person in their way. They cut him in every spot; wrist, neck, elbow, knee, waist; everywhere. But then, so quickly that he couldn't even bleed, pieces of wood moved in between the newly created pieces of his friend. And just like that, he was in one piece again. He stood up, in the floating way he saw earlier. He didn't speak. He didn't breath. He didn't move.
Then he lunged at Xavier.

Xavier couldn't react; his newfound friend was trying to kill him. Tasha quickly grew a plant from the ground, it shot up and launched Duncan off of him. "Careful!" Said Xavier. "She's controlling him." Said Tasha. Xavier looked at Tasha. She was now holding a thorny branch, and threw it towards Duncan, and it cut the strings holding him. He stood still for a moment, then collapsed, while burning from the heat.

Mary looked at Tasha with anger, then at Xavier. More strings floated down from her fingers. From behind her, more monsters approached.
Her puppets.

Xavier and Tasha were surrounded, there were too many for Tasha to deal with on her own. Then, something flew by and cut Mary. She let out an angry cry. Amy, the elite of the plant class, had stuck Mary in her side, and prepared to attack again. Amy's arms quickly morphed into a shape similar to tree roots and cut Mary's strings. Her puppets stood still for a moment, then fell. Mary was enraged. She began pulling out clots of string and forming them to human-like shapes. With a single blow, one of them cut Amy's branched arms in half. Her arms returned to their original form, but she was missing the lower halves.

Mary smiled maliciously. Her puppets began approaching them. Xavier and Tasha ran away, dragging Amy with them. Then they reached the edge, and were trapped between Mary's puppets and the void. Then, to their surprise, Mary called her puppets back. She put her hands into the ground. Before he knew it, Xavier, Tasha, and Amy were all brought to the ground, held by Mary's strings. They wouldn't let him move, and they dug into his skin. He felt blood start to soak his body, and he became dizzy. He looked to his side. Tasha was struggling, which caused the strings to cut deeper. Amy didn't move, she was too weak to. He looked at Mary.
She had a wild smile on her face. She was loving this. She didn't want to kill them.
Yet.
All Xavier could hear was a ringing, slowly getting louder. It kept getting louder until,
BANG.

Mary was so focused on torturing the three of them, she couldn't evade the train. It knocked her back about ten feet, and cut her arms off. The sharp wheels of the train sliced through Mary and her strings, each wheel cutting her repeatedly. She let out a scream of agony, and the strings she was made of scattered everywhere as a cloud of cotton. Her string puppets did the same, turning into nothing but a mist of yarn and thread.

The strings around Xavier and his friends loosened, and he began to sit up, but he fell back down. He was too weak, lost too much blood to move. He fought to stay awake, and he watched as some people from the train got off and began to help him and his friends. He looked into the night sky, lit up by the light of buildings. 'I hope the others will be fine.' He thought, as he fell unconscious.