Bring Me Back {Book 2 of the Possession Series}

7

Mark woke up next to Amy. He groggily sat up, unsure of what had awoken him. He listened closer. Jack was mumbling something. Silently pushing himself to his feet, Mark quietly walked over to Jack's sleeping form.
"Signe..," he heard Jack sleep-mumbling. Mark ran a hand through his black hair, unsure of what to do. Jack was speaking louder and louder. Waking up, maybe? Suddenly, he sat straight up, hair wild from sleep.
"Seán?"
"Signe!" Jack was breathing heavy, as if he had just ran the Pacer that he and Mark had ran back in their school days.
"Jack, Signe's not h-"
"Seán?" Mark's head snapped up. Another distant cry of Jack's name was heard.
"Signe?" Jack shouted back. If Mark squinted, he could swear that he could make out the shape of someone..or something..off in the distance. Out of the corner of his eye. Mark saw Jack dashing towards the distant figure. In a flash, he was following him.
Something wasn't right.
Jack and Mark closed the gap most of the way. Signe was filling in the rest. As she drew nearer, she jumped. Her expression changed. Somehow, she had leapt over both Jack and Mark. Everybody spun around at the same time. Signe's grey sweater and darker grey sweatpants that she had been wearing shimmered like a hologram, then changed. She was dressed in blood red and black. Her irises faded to a deep red, the whites of her eyes changing to a black that was somehow darker than her sweatpants. She was, in a way, terrifying.
"S-signe?" Jack stammered, stepping back, frightened. She let out a low laugh. As it increased in volume, she tilted her head up to reveal sharp teeth, sharper than a regular human's.
"Uh, Jack? I..I don't think that's your girlfriend," Mark said.
"No, really?" Jack replied sarcastically. Signe's imposter started sprinting towards them, pulling out a dangerous-looking gun from..well, the pair couldn't really tell. They were quite terrified. She was heading straight for Jack. Right as she fired at him, Mark shoved Jack out of the way and took the blow. The bullet went straight through his chest. The imposter let out an angry cry and turned towards Jack. He cowered and waited. And waited. But the next shot never came. He opened his eyes a bit and saw the image of what used to be Signe waver, then disappear.
Regaining his senses, Jack snapped to attention. He quickly turned towards Mark and rushed over to help him.
"Nnggh..," Mark groaned, holding a hand to his chest. Blood leaked out between his fingers, dripping and pooling on the ground. Strings of curse words slipped through Jack's mouth.
"Oh no..Mark, are..are you okay?!"
"Eh..eh heh..watch your profanity..Seán," Mark managed to whisper, turning his head a little as he fell to his knees with a weak smile. He fell forward, his bloody hand moving off of his chest to sprawl out beside him.
"Mark? Mark!" Jack kneeled beside him, rolling him over. He placed his ear to Mark's chest and listened for a heartbeat.
Silence.
Jack let out a strangled cry. He put a hand to his mouth and sobbed, the sound muffled.
"Jack? Jack, what happened!.. Mark?" Jack shifted his position and saw Amy half running, half walking towards them.
"He went down smiling," Jack whispered, tears flooding his eyes as he cried for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
"Oh..oh no..," Amy mouthed, unable to make noise. She slowly sank to her knees beside Jack. She shuffled forward and grabbed one of Mark's hands with one hand and shook him with the other.
"Amy.."
"Mark. Mark, wake up!" she cried, pulling on his hand before dropping it. Jack slid over to her and wrapped his arms around her. The two cried onto each other's shoulders. A voice echoed through the whiteness of the room, colored only by the rusty stains of Mark's blood.
"How'd you like your little..present, Seán?" it said.
"Anti!" Jack shouted towards the "ceiling."
"Jack, who's Anti?" Amy asked.
"Nobody you need to worry about," Jack growled, standing. "Why don't you come down wherever we are and fight me yourself!" He was furious.
"And waste my own precious time? Oh, Jack. My time is too valuable for that. I have my beautiful Shooter to do that for me."
"You changed her name?" Jack was beside himself with anger, but also filled with confusion.
"She already came with a name, my boy. She was just never let out to show it to you. Well, toodles!" The sound of dark laughter filled the room before drifting back to silence.