He Was Dying

Chapter Eight

I watched as light covered us from above.
  "Alright, generator's done, let's go," Evan stood.
Everyone else stood up, then looking to me. Luke was first to speak. "Can ya help us find the exits?"

  I nodded and pointed to our right. "Gate by house," then I pointed forward, their gazes following my directions. "Gate past big yellow machine."

   I was given three kind smiles and a few 'Thank You's. Delirious, Evan, and Luke rushed off to our left while Bryce remained, as if his feet were cemented to the dry ground. He stared at me, a frown tugging at his lips, blue eyes showing hurt.
  "What will happen to you?"

My ears folded in on themselves in sadness. "Do not matter," I told him. "Go."

  He sighed as he turned his head, looking the way his three friends ran. I began to walk off to the right, my tall shadow in the light of the repaired generator shrinking away. Footsteps faded away and a breath that has been held was freed into the chilly air.

Surprise shocked my mind as arms wrapped around my waist. I looked behind me and there was Bryce, eyes shut and seeming relieved as he hugged me. "Good bye."

  His arms retreated and, once he took that first step, I grabbed his wrist. "Omega," I said.

Bryce's voice was laced with confusion. "What?"

  I didn't care if I snapped a rule in half. I felt like I needed to do this. "My name is Omega."

  He stared up at me, a beautiful smile on his face. "Hello, Omega. That's a great name."
My fingers loosened and his hand slipped through my paper thin grasp. His pace quickened and he broke into a run towards the gate by the house.

   My feet continued to carry me as an outline of the wall, silence falling over the forest for minutes on end.
  Leaves crumbled behind me, causing me to stop and turn. Curious little eyes stared up at me.

The young rabbit hopped around my feet, its ears pointed at the sky innocently. Bending down, I held out my hand, which it cautiously stepped onto. I raised the animal to the level we were face-to-face. Its nose twitched and it pressed its forehead to the area just above my mouth, in between my eyes.

   My lips curled into a smile and the rabbit sniffed politely. It padded around on my palm, waddling over to the edge and poking its head over.

I lowered my hand to let it down, but it then tried to scurry up my arm. I let out a low chuckle, picking it off my lower arm and putting down back into the grass.

Sudden screaming erupted from the other side of the yard, near the door.

  "GAAAH!"

"RUN! To the other gate!"

  "Quick! They can't catch us all!"

...They?

I could see the gate in no time. Standing in front of the opening panel was Nurse and Wraith, swinging at the four to keep them away. Rushing up to them, I stood between them and the humans.

  "Omega!" Nurse's voice echoed. "Fancy seeing you here. Almost seemed like you went missing... considering these humans haven't been sacrificed!" She swung her bloodied bone saw at me with a loud grunt, causing me to jump backwards as a clumsy excuse of a dodge.

  "Run!" shouted one of the humans. "To the other exit!" All I heard was their steps racing off.

Wraith just grinned wickedly and Nurse let out a sickening laugh. My eyes widened in terror.

I spun around racing after them. "Stop! The other gate's trapped too!"

Shouts erupted from the direction of the second exit, and I heard the revving of a chainsaw. Glancing to my left, I saw Bryce, Evan, Delirious, and Luke darting towards the cabin. I raced to meet them at the doorway.

  "You set us up!" One of them cried out.

"This is all your fault, rabbit!"

  "We'll never escape, thanks to you!

I remained silent. My ears drooped as they kept telling me off. Except Bryce. "Guys.." he said quietly. "Why would Omega set us up now? And if he was in on it, why did he stand between us and those two at the first door?"

  The other three looked at him with mixed emotions. Bryce continued listing off the reasons. "Why would he have us fix all the generators when the other four could've ambushed us right there?" He turned to Delirious in particular.

"Omega saved you from being sacrificed. I guess you could say he's sorta bipolar in a way, sure. But don't you think he would have taken you out right then and there if he realized he made a mistake and knew it wrong?"

  Luke stepped forward, raising his index finger to acknowledge he was thinking. "Hold up," he said, attention shifting to him. "I agree with your points, Bryce, yeah.. But who is Omega?"

I blinked as Bryce cleared his throat in a scratchy cough. "Uh.."

  "I am," I said.  A few different reactions were on their faces. From what I could tell, it was "Cool", "You have a name?" and "Stop talking, we nearly died on your property."

After a while, it was discussed and agreed that I would go out and distract the others, who still were blocking the gates, while the four humans search for another way out.

  As I stared from the doorway to the closest gate, someone walked up beside me, hands in pockets and fear emitting from his body. "You're pretty brave, Omega."
I glanced down to see two eyes looking up at me. Well,  technically, one eye and an artificial one. I smiled at Luke.
  "I'm not brave."

"Yes, you are. I mean, you're going out there to protect us, are you not? And those four out there are damn intimidating."

Luke was staring at the door in front of us. Wraith and Nurse still stood guard, so silent and still it'd give a grown human nightmares.
"Go now, as it almost day. Exits will not be functional in sun."

He nodded, biting his lip, and turned away to look for the three.

   I continued to look out at the exit. And Wraith and Nurse continued to look out at me.