Apocalyptia (Apocalyptia #1)

Chapter 4

This time when she awoke, she found herself lying on Paul. When she felt her hands bound behind her back and the gliding of a car beneath her, the fear set in again.

Paul seemed to notice her stirring, and when their eyes met, she began to gear up for the loudest scream she could manage, but one shake of his head and she was left silent. Now wasn't the time. Instead she had to settle for a tense silence, and as much as she hated to, she waited.

Crystal gazed out the window and found herself entranced by what she saw. Mary's gas station ... the old high school hangout ... her friend's house, and the grocery store she passed every day on her way to ...

"Are we in Brookwood?" She didn't mean to ask it out loud, but either way she was met with a surprisingly calm answer from the driver.

"Yeah. We're held up in the old high school, you know the school —"

"Brookwood High, yeah, I know it well." She usually wasn't one to cut people off, but she didn't want to hear much from the guy who had aided in her kidnapping. The driver must have known conversation wasn't exactly possible and instead went back to his task of transporting them to the high school.

Paul eyed her with a look she couldn't place, but she was too busy studying his condition to worry about his thoughts. His skin was pale, and not what most would call a regular fair-skinned complexion. He had been tan, no doubt from his years of hard work and outdoor activities, and now he looked as if he had been a hermit all his life. His eyes were glassy and even through the jacket he wore she could feel his fever, and his shallow breaths weren't comforting to hear, either.

Panic rose in her chest and she suddenly felt reliant on the stranger chauffeuring them.

"Hey. My friend is hurt."

The guy let out a grunt, which sounded almost like a laugh to Crystal.

"I'm not surprised."

Crystal sent a glare in the man's direction but couldn't keep it long. Being bound didn't make the task easy, but she could wriggle enough to at least a sitting position  to get her weight off of Paul. Surely lying on him hadn't helped his condition.

She mentally cursed the driver and sent a few mental daggers his way, mainly pissed at how careless he and his friends had been to just toss them in on top of each other like that. She then went to her task of surveying. It didn't take long to find the huge bloodstain on the side of his left leg, and Crystal had been lying directly on it.

She met his eyes and began to profess her apologies, but he only shook his head.

She was beyond worried and was only growing angrier by how useless she felt. She could do absolutely nothing to stop what was happening, and if it hadn't been for her, Paul probably could have been the one to escape first. He would have kept on running, wouldn't he?

She would never be sure, and her thoughts on the matter were quickly silenced by the familiar view of Brookwood High School. The driver pulled in to what was once known as the senior parking lot, and Crystal took time to survey the destruction.

Not too much had really happened to the school. The freshmen parking area — also known as the gravel pit, for obvious reasons — was just littered with large meteorites rather than the usual gravel, and the building itself had mainly aesthetic damage from what she could see. With all of its rooms and large meeting areas, it was perfect for a large group to hide out and camp in. The only major change was the old Brookwood High sign, which had been crushed beyond all recognition by a meteorite.

Crystal couldn't help the fit of nostalgia that hit her all at once. She had met all of her best friends here. Didn't some of them still live in Brookwood? She couldn't be sure, and she doubted she would ever find out.