Hollow Veins

Chapter Thirty Seven; Playing Statues with Zombies

Ari opened her eyes blurily. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus. She caught Jaden's eye. He'd moved closer to them, so now he was sitting almost in front of them. He was smirking at her. Ari fully woke up and realized what she was doing. She was leaning her head on Prince's shoulder. Bright red with embarrassment, she sat up. She moved as fast as she could without waking him up. Jaden was still smirking. Ari glared at him. She really hoped Prince had fallen asleep before her. Jaden made a heart with his fingers and pointed at them. He gave Ari a smirking nod. She raised her eyebrows and ran a finger across her throat. Jaden only smiled wider. She dropped her head in her hands. If she had only been a few inches farther from him. A yawn sounded next to Ari. Prince looked at her sleepily, "What's the matter, Ari?" Jaden signed, "Yeah, Ari, what's the matter?" She scooted away from both of them. “I’m fine.” One by one, the other started getting up. Ari found a pair of scissors in Alice's backpack. Her hair was getting past her shoulders. Ren watched as Ari brought the scissors close to her scalp. “No, no, no.” Ren walked over to the frowning Ari. "What do you mean 'no.'" "Your hair's too pretty to cut that short." Ari smiled a bit but said, "It's dangerous to keep it long." Alice laughed behind her, "Too late we're not gonna let you." Ren took the scissors and grabbed a hair brush from her bag.

It took maybe fifteen minutes to finish. Ren and Alice seemed to debate every cut. Prince watched the proceedings with much amusement. Ari sighed when it was finally over. Grumbling she stepped outside. The air was misty. She liked mist. It reminded her of Fall. She wanted August to end. The door opened behind her. Prince's voice, "You could almost believe it's a normal day." Ari nodded. “It seems so calm.” He studied her. “Things are always like that, huh.” He was like that now that she thought about it. Prince always seemed to hide something or other. Maybe that was why Aaron suspected him. Before Ari had too. Now she didn't. He was, despite his craziness, trustworthy. That thought made her happy. Ari couldn't help a smile. Prince back smiled. “Like your haircut?” She shrugged. “Well if I had it my way…” “You’d shave it all off?” He suggested. "I might look like a boy or a monkey, but it's more suitable. Necessary, I guess." Prince smirked. "Well, not necessarily a boy, possibly a pretty girl monkey." Ari punched him in the arm. He laughed, "Well, I added pretty on there for you." She laughed too, “Was that to keep me from hurting you.” “No I meant it,” He continued laughing. “Which part, girl, pretty, or monkey?” Prince weazed for a minute or two, "Uh, pretty?" Ari raised her eyebrows. He chuckled, "That was what i was supposed to say, right?" Then his face went more sincere, with a hint of a smile, "I meant it." Ari tried to stop the smile spreading up her face. It didn't work. Prince smiled, too. Ari leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Then she wheeled around and went back inside, leaving Prince to stand there, for once at a loss for words.

Jaden sat with his laptop, with one of their maps sat out next to him. Ari shrugged. He turned his attention back to the map on his screen. He signed, instructing Alice where to make marks. "Uh, why are we doing this again? Jaden signed, "Tunnel entrances." "Uh, fun..." He smirked, "Yay." Prince pushed open the door. He walked over a sat next to them. He was clearly, at least to Jaden, suppressing a smile. The thought suddenly made Jaden curious about something. He signed, nudging Alice to speak for him, "Hey, can you hide your accent?" Prince looked confused, "Huh, eh... uh... Do what now?" "Like talk in an American accent." Prince narrowed his eyes. "And, uh... what trick is this?" Jaden shrugged. "No, trick. I'm just curious." Prince nodded and spoke in a lightly strained voice, but his accent was gone, "Yeah, I can. It just feels unnatural." Ren laughed from over by Jasper, "That's... weird." Prince shrugged. "Yep, it's less of, 'Oh I'm pronouncing things correctly,' and more of, 'I'm changing the entire way I'm used to speaking and changing my muscle memory.'" His voice went back to normal with an exhale, "Though after a while of living in America and getting used to speaking English, my accent has faded a little. Fais-moi confiance, it was way thicker when I first got here." "Yeah," Ari said, "Don't do that again. That was weird." Prince smirked and put a hand over his heart in mock shock, "You like my normal voice?" Ari looked skeptically, "Mmmm... no."

They started getting ready to leave. They had found the general location of some nearby tunnel entrances in case of emergency. As they walked out, Jasper gave instructions, "If we get separated, try to get to one of the entrances. Supposedly, they'll look like a little building, and there will probably be a sign, so hopefully, we won't miss it." As they slipped through the streets, Ari felt a panicked. That was a mistake, that was a mistake, that was a mistake, she screamed in her head. You should apologize, or I don't know, die?  She'd never thought of herself as that type. Well, now she'd gone and made herself look stupid. Oh, great, Prince was walking next to her. He probably was thinking condensingly about her right now. Of course he was. He was probably mocking her silently. She was just one more dumb girl in his eyes. Ari squeezed her eyes shut. She needed to stop it. Thinking about how stupid she'd been would get her nowhere. All of the sudden, Prince jerked her back by the wrist. He put a finger to his lips. The alley split two ways. Forward and left. Jaden, Aaron, Ren, and Jasper had stopped dead, ahead of them. Alice stood frozen at the junction. "Infected," Prince murmured in Ari's ear. Alice was directly in view. If she moved... Aaron stepped forward. Jaden attempted to grab him but was pushed away. Jaden made motions to Jasper. Jasper locked eyes with Aaron. He inhaled then nodded at him. Aaron pulled his gun and waited. Alice glanced at him. If the Infected saw her, Aaron would shoot.