Hollow Veins

Chapter Twenty One; Jumpscares

"You boys are stupid, fricking lucky." Prince winced as Ari checked for broken ribs, "I wouldn't call it lucky..." He glanced back at the passed out Jaden across the room. She glared at him, "Cough." "What?" "Cough. On. Your. Hand." Sighing, Prince relented. Ari grabbed his wrist and stared at it, "No blood." "Yep, I'm good." Ari clenched his wrist tighter, "No, you're not you could of -" Without warning, she burst into tears. Prince looked at the others, a terrified expression on his face. Awkwardly, he scootched up to a sitting position and patted Ari on the back. Even more to his suprise, she hugged him and sobbed into his shoulder. Meanwhile, Jasper, Ren, still gripping Jaden's hand, Alice and Aaron stared in slight horror. "Hey, hey, hey. You alright?" Ari's voice came in muffled sobs, "It's... my... fault... All my fault... I-I... pro...voked him. Just... wanted a... dis-traction." "Of course it wasn't. I hit the guy anyways," Prince looked pleadingly at Jasper, who shrugged helplessly, as surprised as Prince. Ari's shuddering breaths eased up, and she pulled away. "Sorry," She said, looking down, embarrassed. Ari wiped her face. Prince put a hand on her shoulder, "You're good, Ari." Her face reddened, and she stood. "Gotta," She sniffed, "Check on Jaden." Ren leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Jasper mumbled half heartedly, "We have to get our stuff." Aaron raised his eyebrows, "We could get attacked." Jasper tucked a leg under himself before answering with a shrug, "We'll starve. Take your your pick." Prince glanced at him, "Such a cheerful thought." Jasper looked back at him, "I could go alo-" "No," Alice broke in. Prince, Jasper, and Aaron stared at her. "No more going alone." "What about Jaden?" Prince said in slight disbelief. Jaden lifted his hands, and Ren let go. He slowly signed, half asleep, "You... can leave... me... here." "Shut up and go to sleep," Ari glared down at the "patient." Alice continued, "We're not leaving anyone alone. Three will go and get the bags, three will stay with Jaden." It seemed like a decent plan. Prince, Ren, Aaron, and Jaden would stay. Ari, Jasper, and Alice would go.

They quietly slipped down the alley way. Alice's heart raced. She'd been giving Ari a wide berth. Alice was scared of provoking either her anger or tears. She shook her head to clear it as they grew closer to their stuff. Suddenly, Alice was jerked back, pulled into a crevice of an alley. A hand clamped over her mouth. She looked to see Jasper put a finger to his lips. Ari had slipped into one across from them. An elongated shadow fell on the crumbling street. Jasper's panicked eyes met Alice's. Her breathing sped, and she trembled. Pale skin, bloody scabs, and torn skin stretched over the misshapened bone structure. It crawled forward. It's a gaping hole of a mouth smacking. Jasper squeezed her tightly. Alice wanted to shut her eyes but couldn't make herself. She looked back at Jasper, his eyes reflected her own terror for a minute, and then he seemed to force himself to calm down. He gave a small reassuring nod. Alice looked back at the huddled creature. It seemed to almost smell them. A howling scream sounded far off. The Infected tilted its head. It reeled around and raced back the way it came. Jasper slowly removed his hand. The Infected's head jerked right in front of them. Alice couldn't scream, couldn't gasp, couldn't even breathe. The Infected slowly clenched its jaw and sniffed. Jasper squeezed Alice so tightly that she couldn't have moved if she wanted to. Slowly, the Infect extracted its head. Another Infected scream. Slowly, slowly, the creature limped away. Alice shuddered against Jasper. They waited a minute, two minutes, three. Finally, Jasper let her go. "Let me go first," He murmured. "It... it didn't see us... how...?" Jasper shook his head, "I don't know. Maybe this one had bad sight." Jasper stepped out in front and looked back and forth. "Clear," he said. Ari came out of the other alley, "You... you guys ok?" Alice did her best to smile, but to tell the truth, she was still trembling like mad, "We're alright, but our stuff. We need to hurry and get it. It's pretty much just finders keepers here."

Jaden's side burned. He gritted his teeth. Just ignore the pain, he told himself. Don't be a wimp. Great, now he was sounding like his dad. Jaden sighed. Was that where he was headed? On the way to being exactly like his father. Pfffft no. Jaden wouldn't ever be like that. He wouldn't let himself. He let out a pained gasp. Jaden felt annoyed. When had he gotten so philosophical. Jaden smirked in spite of himself. He needed to cut the emotionalness out. He opened his eyes to see concerned faces all peering at him. Jaden rolled his eyes and signed, "I'm fine." Prince and Aaron blinked. Jaden looked at Ren for help. "He says he's fine," She spoke slowly, like she didn't believe him. Aaron snorted, "You've been shot. You're not fine." Jaden signed, and Ren spoke, "He says," She paused, looking at the smirking Jaden, "Wow I had no idea I was shot. Thanks, Einstein." Aaron glared, "Oh just go to sleep." Jaden tentatively adjusted himself and then signed. Ren looked back at, "You're not gonna make me say it, are you?... You are." She sighed, "He says... ok, mom."