After TPOT 9, the infection was never cured. Two brings the infection to the equation playground, letting all hell loose.
Warnings for this book! Violence, sickness, gore, gore art, disturbing imagery, death
Warnings! This book contains gore, horror themes, graphic images, and other potentially disturbing scenes! Don't feel obligated to read please!
This specific chapter contains: Disturbing imagery and violence
Five tossed and turned, trying to get to sleep, but a sinking feeling of dread wouldn't leave them alone. Groaning, they rubbed their eyes, pulling their pillow over their face and laying there. Something was wrong, and they knew it. Five tried going through everything that could possibly be wrong: did they leave the oven on? Was Fourteen still locked up? Six wasn't up to any trouble, right? Four hadn't tried anything recently, One and Three were still nowhere to be seen, and Fifteen didn't even go near the Equation Playground... Everything was fine, realistically.
But....
Five's thoughts were interrupted by a weak, high-pitched scream. Nine. Shit. Five sat up immediately, eyes going wide. There were more screams and a few bumps from outside, causing Five's fur to stand up slightly. They quickly got up, expecting to see an escaped Fourteen outside, probably attacking Nine. Five rushed outside, ready to deal with Fourteen. "Damn it, Fourteen, I swear to—HOLY SHIT!" Five cut themselves off, taking several steps back into their doorway as they saw the creature attacking Nine. Hearing their yell, its sunken eyes snapped to Five...
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Two..? Can we even call it Two? Rushed forward with an uncanny smile, reaching out for Five before they slammed the door, locking it as Two scratched and pounded against the other side. Nine, still in shock, stood for several seconds, watching that thing attack Five's door as a small stream of blood ran from a cut on her arm. They snapped out of it, running off to their own house before Two returned its attention to them. Nine was confused, panicking as they ran.
Five stayed behind their door, squeezing their eyes shut as it rattled. They were convinced it would come off the hinges with how hard Two was throwing itself against it, but Five stayed still, pushing their weight against the door and remaining silent, praying to math that it would go away. After a good 30 minutes, or what felt like hours to Five, the scratching and banging died down, and Five heard footsteps trailing off somewhere. Letting out a quiet sigh, Five slumped down against the door, leaning back slightly. They swore they saw their life flash before their eyes, not sure how they were alive right now. No way in hell would they be able to sleep that night...
Sleep..
That's what Four wanted to do, but X practically dragged him out of bed and out the door. Apparently Five had something super important to say, or something... Four yawned, dragging his feet as X pulled him along by the hand. Five made everyone go to too many meetings; this was stupid. When Four and X got to the other numbers, Four glanced at Five, cringing a little. Nine was standing next to Five, both looking like they had seen some things. Nine had a few bandages on, but Five seemed physically okay...
"Jesus, you look like shit." Four commented as he and X walked up to the two. Five shot him a glare, not responding as they turned to the group. "Now that everyone is here, I just want to bring something to everyone's attention." They began, glancing back at Nine. Everyone else looked tired, not in the mood for another one of Five's rants. "Last night, Nine and I saw Two." Five paused again, and Nine groaned, speaking up before they could continue their choppy story. "Two has some kind of disease! Like- rabies! They attacked me, bros!" She raised her voice at the group, pointing at her bandaged face.
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Four exchanged confused glances with X, seeming just as lost as the rest of the group. "They mean Two is not the Two we know. Like, some kind of zombie, or something." Five backed Nine up, crossing their arms. Their voice was a bit shaky, despite how hard they were trying to seem like they didn't really care. "Yeah, man! They totally tried to eat my brains!" Nine whined, dramatically combing her fingers through her fur.
"Yeah, uh, bullshit. Also, even if you're telling the truth, the hell are we supposed to do about it?" Six spoke up, rolling his eyes. "Uh, KILL THE ZOMBIE BEFORE IT SPREADS, BRAH!" Nine yelled back, crossing her arms. "Where's your proof, huh!?" Six stepped closer to Nine, raising his voice. "MY BEAUTIFUL FACE WAS RUINED, DUDE! I WOULDN'T DO THAT MYSELF!" Nine retorted quickly
The other numbers watched the argument, each having their own doubts about this "zombie," but Five never really lied about stuff, nor did they have a reason to. Four tuned out the argument, thinking about it all. He had heard about something happening over on their stolen show, but he had thought they figured that situation out.
Four remained quiet, knowing the other numbers would be pissed to know he knew something was wrong and didn't say anything sooner. X was quiet as well, focused on the argument between Nine and Six. The crowd had a few side conversations, trying to decide whether or not to believe Five and Nine. Eventually, they ended up agreeing that it was probably true.
Four looked at Nine, silently frowning. He stared at their injuries, remembering how that disease spread between his old contestants. There was no way he could say something; that'd freak everyone out! That would be fun.. But they might try to gang up against him, and Four was too tired to deal with that right now.
