The Last Seventeen: (Book 1) An Apocalypse Story

Chapter 12: Day 3

Chapter 12: Day Three

I only had two shots of the tequila. I didn't want to be completely out of my mind, but I was close to it. Chris, on the other hand, had four shots and he was even tipsier. It was funny to see him walk around and stumble on misplaced objects. Other people were laughing too.
Joanna joined in on the fun and took huge swigs from the bottle. She was like Chris. Drunk and stumbling. They were all over each other. They tried to keep each other from falling over but ended up tripping on their own two feet. They fell on each other and just laughed and laughed.
My vision was blurred I could see the people around me, but I really had to focus if I wanted to see who each person was. I was trying to find Andy. In the back of my mind, the warning from The Loon still lingered and begged me to be released into the open. I knew that we needed to leave this place as soon as possible.
I finally found Andy sitting at the bar, talking to Cassidy about what we all should do next. I raised my hand but stumbled over Joanna and Chris, who were rolling on the floor. Andy caught me by the shoulders and straightened me up. I could feel myself swaying uncontrollably slightly to the left and slightly to the right.
"What?" Andy asked me. He seemed annoyed with my state of mind. "We were in the middle of thinking of a plan."
It took me a moment to pick out my words. They were all jumbled up. "There's something in the bathroom. I think it has something to do with," I looked around to see if anyone was listening and leaned in close to Andy's ear. My words were louder than I intended them to be so it was like I was normally talking to him, "the crazy people."
Andy gave me a weird look.
"Look," I put my hand on his shoulder and he shrugged it off, "they are hunting us. They were here last night."
Andy jumped out of his seat and the chair fell over. The loud outrageous sound caused people to look over. They saw the worry in Andy's eyes and went to him.
"What's wrong?" Bryce asked him with concern filling his voice.
"Yeah, Andy, you don't look too good." Caleb joined in the conversation.
Andy looked at the ground, wanting to have a few seconds to think of a lie he could tell, but he had none in his arsenal. He looked up. He looked at me and wanted me to say it.
I felt loose and comfortable now. I could say anything and nothing bad would come from it. I patted Andy on the back and pushed to the front of the crowd. I raised my hands and slowly lowered them until everyone was silent.
"Shhhhhh," I said to all the listeners. "We have a problem."
I waited until everyone reaction was the same. Their faces were filled with mystery. It was great to be noticed for once instead of being pushed around.
"We are being hunted by a psycho."
A mixture of what's and gasps polluted the air violently. People turned toward each other to make sure what I saying was true. Most people just shrugged and shook their heads.
"So, we need to leave before they come and slit our throats."
"Are you serious?" Devin said in a usual worried tone.
"Yeah. He's been drinking. He could just be trying it pull some stupid prank on us or something." Avery tried to rationalize but he didn't look like he believed himself.
"How could you joke about something like this?" Natalie said to Avery. "Even he knows now that this is serious. Of course he's serious."
It felt good to have someone on my side. It made me even more confident.
"Of course I'm serious. They tried to kill Andy and me yesterday. They had him up in a rope snare and he hung upside down. Like this." I swung my hand back and forth, making little screams that resembled Andy. "And I hid behind a tree so scared that pissing myself was a huge percent." I laughed at my own words. "Then I came out and tackled the woman and then-"
"Hold on hold on," Ansley held up her hands. I just wanted to go up and kiss her. Maybe I could? "You knew about these guys before now. Why haven't you told us this before?" She was angry. It's was boiling inside of her.
"Uh oh. Someone get her something to wrap around her face because she is definitely not immune to the gas." I laughed uncontrollably and almost fell.
"I'm not getting mad," Ansley said through gritted teeth. "I just want to know why you guys didn't tell us before."
"We didn't want everyone getting worried and panicking. We thought they would just leave us alone if we just left their sight, but I guess we were wrong."
"Oh you think so?" Raiven piped from the crowd. "I left my friend back there because I thought it was the gas, but I left her to the psychos?! I left her to be skinned and-" she couldn't finish her sentence her emotions and words both caught in her throat at the same time. Tears welded up in her eyes and tried to wipe them away before anyone noticed her.
"Look, if it wasn't for me, Andy would've been dead and you guys might've died to. You could have ended like everyone else."
Even in my own state of tipsiness, I knew I went too far. I felt a punch go into my gut. I doubled over and felt someone grab my shirt. The person lifted me to their own face. I saw Cassidy there, staring me down like I was a little kid. Fury was raised in her eyes.
"Don't ever talk about our friends like that." Her grip was raised and tighten around my throat. Both of her hands enclosed and I felt the air leave my lungs. She started to shake me around like I was a rag doll. "Don't ever say that about them!" She yelled in my face. The air was completely gone out of me. I felt my face turning blue. I thrashed around, trying to get her grip to lessen, but there was no point, she just kept squeezing, I felt the familiar wave of blackness start to surround me.
All of a sudden, I was on the ground with my neck being untouched. I breathed in deep breaths and got on my hands and knees. I started to cough and only got up when I felt okay to do so. I looked to see who my savior was. Devin stood over Cassidy with her hands pinned to the ground and him saying calming to words. I saw her breathing start to slow down then she nodded and got up. I followed suited and got up from the ground.
"Look," Bryce held up his hands and let the attention flow to him. It didn't matter the situation he was in, he would always try to find the religious and safest way out of it. "Our friends are with our God now. They are safe and happy now. They had fulfilled God's plan for them, but we still have our jobs to complete and I don't think it's dying from people affected from the gas. We need to leave this place and find somewhere safe where we can finish his plan."
Everyone thought over this. Although I don't think everyone agreed with the religious aspect of it all, they did agree with moving. They were all on board for it.
"We leave in fifteen minutes." Andy called to everyone. "Get what you need. Food and water. I don't know how long we will be out there but prepare for the worse. We saw what these guys can do. Be prepared."
Andy left them to their packing so he could do his own and everyone else went to pack any extra food and water they could get their hands on.
We were leaving the bar and going back to the open world filled with thieves, murderers, and cannibals. I would've been worried, maybe even trying to think of way to convince everyone to stay, but the alcohol infected my mind with fake courage and bravery.
I was shielded with a fake state mind and a fake set of energy. I was invincible.
...