After Hours

Chapter 9.

Ember's POV.

   The night seems to drag on. I keep looking at my watch, expecting several minutes to have passed, and then it's only a few. Eva is still being passed off from Grayson, to Cameron, to Vanessa. I really don't want to carry her and I don't think my skinny arms could take it. Even though she is small.

  "Where are we going?" I ask for the 15th time.

   Vanessa stops quick in her tracks and whirls to face me. "We're going to find the one who is doing all of this. Stop asking questions."

   She continues on and I jog to catch up with her. "Isn't that dangerous?" I ask.

  "Got a better idea?" Vanessa asks, not turning to look at me.

   I keep quiet and she nods quickly. "Didn't think so."

   Grayson falls in step with me and I look up at him. I don't sat a word and he doesn't either. We both know what we're thinking. How are we going to get out of this alive? We walk on, into nothingness, really. The fog is super thick and we have our weapons out just in case of a surprise attack. Thankfully, the zombie-disney characters have kept to themselves for the past few hours.

   I glance down at my watch and notice it's only 2:15. I sigh and wipe the small beads of sweat off of my forehead. Cameron stops suddenly in his tracks and hands Eva to Grayson. He motions for all of us to stop and turns on his phones light.

  "What?" Vanessa whispers.

  "There is a girl over here. She looks dead," he says.

   Vanessa runs over to him and I follow. There, on the path, is the body of a girl. Dead or alive, Cameron picks her up, brushing her ombre hair out of her eyes. He puts his head down on her chest and sighs with relief.

  "There is a beat, but it's pretty faint," he says.

   Vanessa looks at her pale face, cracked lips, and frail, shaking form. She snaps her fingers. "I know what's going on. She's dehydrated by the looks of it. She probably can't find water and hasn't the few nights she's been here."

   Grayson whistles. "You're good."

   Vanessa smiles at him and I feel a strange feeling in my stomach. Jealousy? No. I don't have a reason to be jealous of him, we're not even together. Cameron carries the girl to outside of Boardwalk Pizza, which doesn't even look like it. The sign is falling off and the paint is chipping. Funny how nice this place looks in the day time.

   Vanessa takes water out of her bag and opens the girls lips and lets the water fall into her mouth. To my surprise, the girl opens her eyes, letting out a small cough. She looks around, her blue eyes searching our faces.

  "Who are you? Where am I?" she asks.

   Grayson looks at me and I begin to talk. "I've only been here for a short time, but you're in Disneyland."

   She smiles, despite the cracking sound of her lips. "Stop. I'm dreaming. I had this dream the other... night." she then gets a horrified look in her eyes. "The other night! I've had this dream before!"

  "This isn't a dream," Cameron says. "This is real."

   The girl looks into his eyes and a tear slips out of her eye. "Real?" she asks.

  "What's your name?" Vanessa asks.

  "Jess," she answers.

  "So you've only been here last and this night?" Grayson asks.

   She nods. "I think so. I'm just so confused. And thirsty," she says, gulping down Vanessa's water.

  "You want to tag along with us?" Cameron asks, getting a sharp look from Vanessa.

  "What?" he asks.

  "We don't know this girl. Her name might not even be Jess. We don't know this girl she might be working for Them. Or Him. Whoever is the leader of this thing," Vanessa says.

  "Right here," Jess says, wiping her mouth.

   Cameron ignores her. "We can't leave her. She almost died."

  "So? All a trick, Cameron. We can't trust her," Vanessa retorts.

  "Again, right here," Jess says, rolling her eyes.

   I smile. This Jess girl has a sense of humor. Vanessa sighs and folds her arms. "We'll take a vote. All in favor of leaving her, raise your hand."

   Vanessa puts her hand high in the air and looks around. No one else does and she sighs. She lifts Eva's limp arm and smiles. "Two. At least it wasn't just me."

  "Come on, Vanessa. She's coming with us," Cameron says.

   Vanessa frowns, but doesn't disagree. Cameron helps Jess up, but she can't walk too well. She huffs and puffs until she sinks back down to the ground. "I'm still too weak. Why not stay here the night until we come back tomorrow?" she offers.

   Vanessa opens her mouth to protest, when I stop her. "Right here is fine." I say, getting a glare from Vanessa.

   Grayson puts Eva down by Vanessa and scoots over to me. I smile at him and he returns it. "I hate to say this, but I feel like we should get use to this," he says.

   I wince, but nod. "Maybe. But like you said, we'll find a way out. Right?" I ask.

   He doesn't answer and I sigh. "I'll take that as a no. Anyway, are we not going to work tomorrow?" I ask. "You can chill at my place, if you want."

   He nods. "We'll see if this works. I don't think that not showing up to work will change our outcome at night, but it's worth a shot. Wait, won't your mom think it's weird for me to come over?" Grayson asks.

  "She leaves for work at 7:00 and doesn't get back until around around 6:00. As long as you get there before then, I can hide you until we go to sleep that night. It shouldn't be that hard," I say.

   Grayson looks doubtful, but doesn't protest. All of the sudden, I'm leaving the scene. We all are, except for Jess. She looks down and tears form in her eyes.

  "This was my last night. I'm stuck here. I didn't even know I've been here this long," she says.

   I want to say something, but I fade from the scene and wake up in my bed. I have at least two hours to sleep, but I don't. Something isn't right with Jess.

   I will find it out, though.

New chapter!

I'm super excited for this book and love how far we've gotten!

Thanks for reading!

The picture is of Jess.