The Taken

21

Ramona was a leech. All she did was suck the energy out of everyone's moods. She was depressing and always down, never motivated for anything. She was skinny, frail, weak, unstable. Why was she wasting her time living. She picked at her scabbing hangnails, delicately peeling away at her skin on the sides of her fingers.

No point in stopping, she deserved worse pain. Her knee hadn't been doing the best, it was gashed slightly and itching like crazy. A thin and scattered layer of dirt and shreds of fabric rested on top of it. The wound rubbed against her jeans, making it sting.

She felt for her switchblade in her back pocket, nervous that it wouldn't be there. She turned her head around to see if she could see Veronica. It had been too dark, but Ramona was sure she'd be fine. She was tough, unlike her.

The group walked in silence, they were still a little jittery from running like dogs away from the adults, and now that it was night, they'd been even more frightened.

"What do you think's gonna be there?" Jake asked, breaking the aching silence. "You were the last to go on the scavenging party there, Jan'," he added.

"It was really full of 'em. There were like, at least a hundred," Janice replied. "That was over four months ago though."

"And the water tower?" Ramona asked, curious about something interesting.

"Right, yeah. It fell, but it didn't seem to be full of water, ironically. But it almost fell into the Whole Foods," Janice responded back.

The awkwardness came on strong again. These kids had no past relations, they barely even knew each other. Ramona was wishing she was back at the library, even if Rick was still running it. She'd made family there and left them.

The sound of crunching introduced itself, then two groaning figures came out from the trees. It was too dark to identify if they were mothers or fathers. Didn't matter, they were still a threat.

"Jake you take the left, I'll take the right. Ramona, watch our backs." Janice snapped into her assertive and serious self, not afraid and ready for anything.

The two slowly and cautiously approached the other two, their steps methodical and thought out. Janice tightened her grip around her bat and swung as hard as she could. Her adult was caught off guard and stopped only to be met with the cold club to the jaw. The body tumbled, landing onto the other figure's legs.

Jake swung for the head, only to miss. His target fell to its knees, knocked down by the companion. After the last adult's stroke of luck, it lunged toward Jake's chest with greasy, bloated hands.

The adult pushed him to the ground and he found the thing on top of him. Jake was pushing its head back, splitting open the cheek.

"Janice!" He cried, trying to knee the adult in the abdomen and pushing its arms away with his.

Janice took her bat, hitting the top of the skull. It dented heavily and the body fell limp on the disgusted and frightened boy.

"Guys. There's a few more," Ramona warned and whispered, seeing three adults closing in.

Jake and Janice pushed the body off and Janice offered her empty hand to him.

"They look manageable. Should we take 'em?" Ramona asked.

"We don't have time, too dangerous and we need to move," Janice assured, keeping a low voice as to not catch the adults' attention.

Ramona huffed, wanting some action in her meaningless life.

"Maybe next time, freaks," she whispered.

Ramona pulled away and followed the two others who were fast-walking. Jake had been wiping blood, pus and saliva off of him. The grogginess crept into Ramona's eyes, making her want to collapse and give up.