Postremus

Part 6

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"Marshal Price?" Kyle asked looking a bit solemn.

"Yes. Have you seen him anywhere?"

The two of them looked at each other and then gestured for Cambria to follow them. They led her further down the roof of the gym to a make shift campfire with jackets laying out to dry right next to it. The two sat down next to the fire and began warming their hands.

"Sorry, but I missed your name." the girl asked Cambria with a half smile.

"Oh. I'm Cambria. Sophomore."

"I'm Kendra. Junior. And this is Kyle, also a Junior."

Cambria nodded and stuck her hands out by the fire. A cold wind swept through air and made all three of them shiver. Cambria looked up and noticed dark storm clouds forming above them, making the mid-day seem more like night.

"You never told me. How did you two manage to escape the flooding in the gym?" Cambria asked them eager to get every bit of information she could.

"Well. Luckily me and Kendra weren't exactly on the gym floor. We were on the upper part, making sure all the doors were locked. Then we witnessed the whole thing happen. We thought about running right out into the hallways, but then we realized we'd meet the same fate as those on the gym floor. And well, here we are." Kyle situated himself closer to Kendra, attempting to keep her warm.

The three fell silent for a bit and listened to the crackle of the fire. Cambria looked closer at the source of the fire and noticed they were burning a copy of 'To Kill A Mockingbird'.

"Do...Do you want to know something we've observed Cambria?" Kendra broke the silence and looked straight at Cambria, her green gaze filled with knowledge.

"Any information is most beneficial."

Kendra nodded and looked at Kyle who gave a nod of approval. "Well. Since the event started it's been about 2 hours. From those 2 hours I've observed that the Mortuus only attack large groups of kids. The stragglers, who travel alone or in groups of 2 go more unseen than those who are in a mass of people. The Mortuus follow the mass group until they've managed to pick most of them off."

Kendra hesitated for a moment and gathered her thoughts. She whispered something to Kyle that Cambria couldn't hear.

"We haven't seen many Mortuus besides the one's swimming in the pool of blood in the gym. I hope that helps." Kendra pulled her knees to her chin and stared aimlessly into the fire. Kyle put his arm around her and pulled her in closer.

Cambria lied on her back and began thinking through the information she was given, hoping to find a clue of where most of the Mortuus are or better, where that sneaky Marshal was hiding.

"I think I have a theory." Cambria announced.

She sat up and the two gave her their attention. "When I was in the commons, maybe an hour after the first attack, I saw no one. Not a Mortuus, a person, no one. The only thing there were dead bodies and lots of blood. As I searched around for a bit I saw 3 boys come running out of the direction of the gym. They couldn't be coming from the gym, there no where to hide in there."

"They could have come from the kiva. If anything, that would be able to hold a lot of people." Kyle announced looking keen on the facts being stated.

Cambria nodded and continued, "So based on those facts, there is still a mass group of people hiding in this school. And with them, the majority of the Mortuus."

"So what do you plan on doing?" Kendra asked.

"Well, obviously its safer navigation through out the school. As long as you stay away from the kiva. It would give me more time to find Marshal..." Cambria clenched her jaw and looked at the two hoping they'd let up and tell her where Marshal was.

"Since you plan on going back out there. We might as well tell you all that we know about Marshals whereabouts." Kendra tucked her blond curls behind her ear and sat upright.

"Kyle knows Marshal. They've been good friends for awhile. Marshal was right behind us and we were about to entire the gym when he stopped. We asked him what it was and he told us 'I have to take care of someone first,' after that he went running back into the commons. We tried to stop him, but there was no way of getting to him before he was out of sight. Kyle thinks he went to the main office."

Cambria bit her lip in frustration. "So he's either one of the dead in the commons, or he managed to make it to the main office in the commons."

Kyle nodded his head, "I don't know who he was trying to help, but they must have been important for him to go ahead and risk his life like that."

"Was he equipped with a weapon?"

Kyle frowned and scrunched his nose, "He might have been. Marshals pretty quick on his feet. And he's incredibly intelligent. From the looks of it, he knew exactly what he was doing, where he was going and he seemed confident in how he was going to get there. There's a good chance he made it."

Cambria stood up and grabbed her pole-blade. "Thank you. You've been a big help. Really you have. But you two shouldn't stare here, especially with the rain, you'll get sick."

"There's no way off of the roof though. It's too high to jump without injury, and there's no ladder to get us down." Kendra said looking up at Cambria.

"If I were to find some way to unlock the doors, would you two try and escape then?"

Kyle stood up and held out his hand to Cambria, "If you can get those doors unlocked we'd be in your debt, and trust me, I'll make up for it handsomely."

Cambria put her hand in Kyles, and gave him a firm handshake.

"I'll be waiting underneath the entrance to the gym. Right there." Cambria gestured to right below them next to some bushes and a walkway to the gym. "I'll wave and give you the clear that the doors are unlocked. If I don't show up before nightfall, I'd suggest finding your own way out."

Kyle looked at his watch, "It's 4:15 right now. You've got until about 6:30 before its dark. Well darker than it is anyways."

Cambria nodded and made her way to the door leading back into the gym. Kyle and Kendra followed behind. She began climbing back down with her pole-blade and looked up at the two.

"You've got two hours. Please Cambria, please give us the signal." Kendra grabbed Kyles hand and she gave a sad smile before a single tear fell from her eye.

Cambria smiled and nodded, in an attempt to reassure Kendra. Kyle waved goodbye and closed the door. Cambria began climbing down the ladder as silently as possible, gliding her feet slowly down the steps. Once at the bottom, she refused to look in the direction of the swimming bodies of Mortuus in the sea of blood. Cambria opened the doors and slowly peeked from left and then right. No one. She began running towards the commons, with her pole-blade in hand. The adrenaline shot through her and she burst through the door leading to the commons, ready to face whatever was on the other side. There swaying close to the stairs on the left side, were the three Mortuus who had pursued and consumed the boys from earlier. Cambria armed with her weapon awaited them to notice her presence. One began sniffing at the air, and then turned around. It was missing an eye ball and had flesh torn from its neck and abdomen area. It looked straight at Cambria, followed by the other two. In a heartbeat, the Mortuus were running towards her, frantically trying to reach a new victim. Cambria steadied herself and awaited their arrival. Her left hand was placed on the end of the pole, her right placed in the middle of the shaft. One Mortuus leaped at her and with a quick movement, Cambria drove the blade into the head of the Mortuus. She quickly pulled it out, side-stepped left, dodging one of the others and spun the pole around above her head only to bring it down unto the head of the Mortuus. Blood sprayed all over Cambria and the brains of the Mortuus fell to the floor. Pulling the blade out again she swung it to her right and took the legs off of the last Mortuus. It fell to the ground and Cambria planted the blade into the head, sending blood upwards.

Cambria pulled the blade out and wiped the sweat from her brow. She heard clapping behind her and she turned swiftly, bearing the blade towards the noise. She noticed a tall boy, with dark hair swept to the side, in black skinny jeans and a dark red sweatshirt. His blue eyes were all too familiar and his defined cheek bones basically gave away his identity. Marshal.

"Fantastic performance Cambria! Glad I finally found you!"