Skyline Gang

Chapter 6

An icy cold wind blew fight past the group. A black cloud had followed in like a tsunami. The group huddled close as it headed right for them. They didn't register the doors closing as it all happened too fast. The cloud smothered the group in darkness. No one could see anything in front of them. Even the bright lights in the building couldn't pierce through the darkness. Rainbow's barking and a couple of screams could be heard over the wailing howl of the wind. Nobody dared to move as the wind threatened to knock them down. It was swirling around them so much that it was almost like being in the eye of a tornado. Eventually everyone had to close their eyes as the wind was drying them up. Dude held onto his hat and Bud gripped his glasses as both accessories threatened to be blown off.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the wind died down. The chill was still there, but at least there was nothing to knock the group over. Once they opened their eyes, the cloud wasn't blowing around them so much. It only swirled a little around their feet. It took a minute to adjust to the light again, but once their vision was clear, someone was right in front of them. A woman had made herself known to the teenagers and dog (who was quietly growling). This woman was incredibly tall, about 8ft. Her skin was a pale grey. Her hair was long and almost seemed like it was floating. Her eyes were a sharp, icy blue. Her dress was long, touching the ground. Her headpiece was silver, and shaped almost like a small crown. Her nails were black and long, looking like claws. Her fingers even seemed to be longer than a normal human's. If she was even human in the first place.

"Who are you?" Dude asked, finally finding his voice.

"That doesn't matter for now!" The woman scornfully sneered. She glared at each one in front of her. Her eyes kept cutting right into them like a knife. Her sneer seemed to be more intense when she had a good look at all of them. "This is who was chosen?! You're just teenagers! Weak! Just like those before you!"

"Those before us?" Bud parroted, stepping forward a little. "There was someone else here?"

"Silence!" The woman thundered, seeming to grow taller. Rainbow barked aggressively, warning the woman to back off. She didn't take that well. She grow a little more taller and her stare grew sharper as her eyes glowed brightly. "Be quiet, mutt!" Rainbow immediately stopped barking. His body crouched low and his tail was tucked between his legs. He whined in fright as he backed away a little.

"It's okay, Rainbow." Dude muttered, as he reassuringly rubbed Rainbow's back. The woman growled herself. She raised a hand almost gracefully. The dark cloud charged at the group again. They closed their eyes and braced themselves for what was coming. They didn't know what was happening. There was this feeling of something passing right through them, but no one was brave enough to see what it was. After a few seconds, that feeling was gone. Everyone opened their eyes, and looked around. Everyone seemed to be okay. Shaken up, but unharmed. Was something supposed to happen? Telling by the confused and frustrated look on her face, it seemed that's what the woman had intended.

"I can't hurt you. Yet." She spoke slowly, trying to overcome her own shock.

"Then leave! Or let us go home!" Dude demanded.

"Let you go? Why would I?" The woman mocked, making sure that her words sunk in. Sprout and Candi held on tighter to each other. Pip was starting to show some shaking. Bud took a step back but hesitated on taking any more. "I never even brought you here in the first place! Skyline is mine! It's not my fault that some stubborn fool got you to come here!"

"What do you mean? Hey!" Dude shouted as the woman suddenly dissolved. She seemed to turn into the black cloud around her, her eyes being the last thing to fade. It took a few seconds until the cloud faded away as well. It went eerily silent. Everyone looked around, not sure where to look or even if they should try to get somewhere safer. However, the black cloud appeared again, this time on the stage.

"If I can't hurt you, maybe we can come to a compromise." The woman mused as she formed again. She wasn't as tall this time, but still stood at 8ft.

"What are you offering?" Bud asked.

"Over the course of the next few days, I will be setting challenges. You win, you get to go home. You lose, I kill all of you." The woman says. "Do we have a deal?"

Challenges?

It didn't seem like much but the stakes were high. Not to mention, this woman whoever she is, seemed like she wasn't playing around. She was serious about all of this. She truly had mean to kill them just seconds ago. But then again, she can't hurt them. She said so herself. Not to mention she pretty much promising that they can go home. That's all that they wanted. Go home, go back to their normal lives. Be with friends and family and go to their favourite places. Just anything to shake off this homesickness. These challenges might be easy since this woman can't hurt them, but there has to be more to this than what was being given. They can't play around like it's a video game and lives are reset after a character dies. They need to give the most extreme caution they can give. This wasn't going to be a normal game if they planned to play.

No one could answer a they juggled with the idea of playing this game.

"I'll let you think on this. You have until tomorrow morning." The woman spoke, her voice soft, but dangerous.

"Wait!" Dude ordered, but the woman was gone. As the black cloud drifted into nothingness, something that looked like paper, fluttered onto the stage. After unlatching himself from Candi, Sprout approached the stage. At first he went slow, but then he hurried up the stairs at the centre of it. He grabbed the paper recklessly to look at it. Everyone else felt like they could have a short reprieve after that. They just didn't know how to process any of what was going on. It was bad enough that they were forcefully away from home, but now they need to worry about some strange woman that was threatening them.

"Everyone! Look at this!" Sprout shouted, waving the paper in the air. Everyone cautiously approached the stage, slowly going up the stairs. Sprout flipped the paper around, showing that the paper was in fact a photograph. It was a group of six people. They all appeared to be in their twenties when the photo was taken. Judging by the background, it looked like the photo was taken in this building, the arcade machines were in the back with their bright lights flashing. There were even some people that appeared to be walking around behind the group. The group in the photo were hugging side by side. They all wore white shirts and overalls that were a different colour each. They wore make up and a little bit of face paint. They were all smiling and were welcoming to who ever happened to look at the picture.

"Are they...those who used to live here?" Mimi asked slowly.

"Where are they now?" Candi asked, looking around.

"I don't know...but that woman probably has something to do with it..." Bud shuddered, growing pale. He can't be wrong about that. After all, the entire time that they had all been here, no one had found any evidence of someone else being here. Their rooms were easily catered to them. There were no other rooms for anybody. No one had approached them or claimed ownership of Rainbow. No one had tried to come into the building or show that they could survive outside. Only that woman was the exception. And she was clearly not being a friend. She had made it crystal clear that she didn't want to have these teenagers in this building. Skyline? That was what she called it. However this felt more skin deep than it seemed.

This just got a lot more dangerous.