Into the Darkness

Chapter 9

No one back in the room knew what to do after the others left. Kara was no exception. She weren't sure if life should go on as normal as possible or if they should try and do something. And if it was the latter then how should they decide what needed to be done?

After a few minutes of shuffling and whispers, Travis answered that question for her. He pushed his way to the front of the group, "Okay guys we at going to try to do things as normal as we can with the rest of them gone. There is no point in sulking or trying to go after them"

"Shouldn't we do... I don't know, something?" Gwen asked. Gwen liked control, Kara knew that much. This must be killing her.

A few people murmured in agreement but gave no suggestions about what they should be doing.

"What can we possibly do?" Eliot sulked. "They're gone. We don't know if we will ever see them again." Eliot was close with Argus, when Eliot first got to the room Argus imidiately took him under his wing like a big brother. They rarely talked to anyone but each other. If you ever were close enough to hear their conversations you would hear them chattering away about some town or place in England that they had both been to at one point or another. They were talking about home. Even though everyone else had gone through the same thing there was something different about talking to someone from your home. Of course there was Benedict but he was from Ireland and besides, he had always seemed so distant from the rest of them. He was always sitting above the rest of them, not in a bad way, in a way that they needed. He was their untouchable leader, the guy who stayed together when everyone else was falling apart. The voice couldn't seem to shake him no matter how hard he tried. It was inspiring. Travis was like that too but in a more quiet way, of course, everyone assumed he would step up now.

Avan and Gwen stared at the wall the others had left to like they were trying to think of something to be done. Eliot looked as if he was about to cry. Kara wasn't sure how she was feeling. She wanted to comfort Eliot but felt like she was inadequate to do so. She hardly knew him. Luckily Travis stepped up and slid next to him.

"Cheer up mate." He said trying to imitate an English accent.

Eliot struggled against a smile, "Don't ever do that again... it's insulting." He said half jokingly, half serious. Kara thought she could detect a tiny bit of smugness in his voice. Or maybe it was just the accent.

Looking around Kara could see that Allie was sulking a ways away for a much different reason, she was angry. She had wanted to go with them. She knew her well enough that she didn't appreciate being left out because she was younger. In fact, she probably would have been a better fit than Carina and she knew it too. Kara considered going to say something to her but wasn't sure what she would say. Allie had always been separate from the rest of the group. Maybe it was her age or perhaps that she was unwilling to trust any of them. Someone had mentioned to her that even though Allie had been in the room for over two years she still viewed most of them as strangers.

Kara moved on to the next person that was separate from the group, Vincent. If Allie was Angry than Vincent was probably furious. Furious may not be the right word, it was more like a jealous rage. She knew that he had been here almost as long as Benedict and Travis but he was not nearly as important as they were. And that probably wasn't the only thing either. She saw what happened when he was trying to volunteer to go with the group. He faltered, froze up. He had been scared and now he figured it looked as though Carina saved him. He hadn't wanted her to do that especially not from a girl who had been here for less than a month which was practically nothing compared to his four years.

"You okay Vince?"Avan asked genuinely concerned. Vincent was not as good at hiding his anger as Allie. 

Vincent only shrugged which was sure to bother Avan. Avan had an interesting personality. He was always trying to smile, trying to be overly positive. Sometimes it was nice but a lot of the times it ended up being annoying. Of course, he was only trying to help, that was painfully obvious. He just wasn't ready to give up hope yet, that was obvious too. No one else had even bothered to try that hard to keep a smile on their faces. Especially not Kara, she thought indifference was a much easier look.

Kara can't help but notice the facade that everyone is desperately trying to keep in place. The one where Travis can be Benedict, Vincent is a brave hero, Allie isn't thought of as a child, Eliot isn't lonely, Gwen has control over her life, Avan's world of positivity and smiles isn't collapsing. Elle isn't completely furious at her brother. She thinks that if anyone of the people left here were to admit that those things were not true everything would fall apart. It was all so delicate, so breakable. Like a house of cards. One card taken out the whole thing collapses. Someone shakes the foundation, it collapses. If someone were to even breathe a little to hard on it. Bye Bye card house. It's a horrible way to live, always tip toeing over the piles of broken glass.

"If you could all quiet down I would appreciate it. I want to get some sleep." Elle mumbles as she storms off towards the mats. No one had ever seen her fight with Dale before. They had always been so close. Not like they could read each other's mind close like some twins but still very close. It must have been nice for them to be here together. Kara wanted nothing more than to be with her family right now.

Dale and Elle's fighting seemed like this horrible omen. If they could fall apart like that what else could. Half their group was gone. Travis was struggling to fill the giant hole Benedict had left. Eliot was completely alone. Gwen felt completely useless. Allie and Vincent were both growing farther and farther apart from the rest of them. Avan was struggling to remain his positive self and Kara felt completely hopeless.

And let's not forget about a small but deadly virus creeping its way through the bodies of Allie, Avan, Eliot, and Kara.

By the end of the next day, they would barely be able to move. By the end of the week, three of them would be dead.