February 29

Chapter 28

The feeling of cold water slapping her in the face woke Stacey immediately. Her eyes flickered open like faltering strobe lights, her vision slightly distorted. Her head throbbed from the slam on the wall, causing her to groan a little, but otherwise she felt okay. Blinking, she looked around to see what had woken her. A blurred figure swam into view, materializing into the familiar face of Mark. The flashlight he held extended and accented the shadows of his face, giving him a ghostlike, skull appearance. He was frowning, as always, his eyebrows set into a straight, tight line, no sign of happiness emitting from him.

Serious. This had to be serious.

"Wha--?" she slurred, rubbing her aching head. "What's going on? What happened?"

"No time now," Mark said curtly. "We have to go. Now."

"Where?"

"The hospital. That's where it is."

"The hospital?" she sputtered. She managed to piece the fact that that made no sense together. "Why? Shouldn't we be staying away from the hospital?"

He shook his head and proceeded to haul her up, making her headache even worse. She wobbled a bit, caught her balance, and stood straight. "I know, but...we just have to go there right now, okay?"

"Why?"

"Because. No time to explain right now-"

"Why?"

"He's gotten caught, okay?" Mark suddenly exploded, showing the most feeling she had seen from him since first meeting him. Emotions flashed across his face like a video frame: shame, despair, desperation and hopelessness. "It, the thing attacked, both of us. It overwhelmed me so I couldn't get into Ethan's mind. We were running and he wasn't fast enough and...he's just gone. And we're running out of time."

"How is going to the hospital going to solve anything?"

"We have to save Ethan before it's too late. It the Aura gets what it wants, we've lost everything. It's our job to make sure that doesn't happen."

"So what do you plan to do?" she asked. "We can't just barge there. Where would he be? What did Dean say? Where is he anyway?"

Mark went quiet. His eyes fell to the ground.

"What?" she snapped, starting to panic. "Spit it out! Where is he?"

"He's dead," Mark whispered.

Stacy was silent for a second. "How-?" she sputtered.

"Ethan. He was...he was being consumed by the thing. That evil thing, so vile. He didn't know what he was doing. He could barely control himself. It was, he couldn't do anything. It was an accident. Look, we can't do this right now, because we have to-"

"Ethan killed Dean? Ethan?"

"Stop!" Mark exclaimed, again shocking her. "Stop it! All you kids want is answers! Answers, answers, some that we have and some that we don't! What don't you understand about the situation at hand? I can't talk right now! We have to go."

He started to walk in the opposite direction, leaving her no option but to follow. Hurt coursed through her, followed by anger at his outburst. Then the knowledge of what Ethan had done hit her too, leaving her with what she could only describe as sadness. Dean hadn't been her bestie, but he was a good kid, a driving force to everyone. And Ethan? How could he? Just how? She had half-joked about him killing them all, but that was all it was, a joke. This wasn't supposed to happen.

It wasn't long before they were at the open door, Mark shining a bright path down the sidewalk. There were no dogs anywhere, no sign of threat even as they skittered out like bugs, rushing into the car and starting the engine immediately. Lights leapt on. The car rumbled to life like a beast, sending vibrations through her body. They pulled out, silent as two stones.

The first thing Stacy noticed as how dark it was. Even the streetlights, relics of an older time, were out. Houses in the block loomed like eyeless faces over the roads. The dot was still there. The stars were faint.

"My good lord," Mark muttered.

"What?" Stacy asked.

"It's nothing," he said quickly.

"Tell me!"

"It was nothing. I swear."

Stacy glared at the dashboard. Mark glanced at her, gripped the wheel, and sighed.

"When you were unconscious, the Aura managed to push Ethan to his limits. I don't know what it did, but next thing I knew, the lights in the house were out--"

"Why didn't you just turn them back on?"

"I tried. I hoped that maybe there were just off. But..." he paused. "But all the light bulbs had at the least exploded. Most of them had melted."

"Melt-"

"If he could do that for all these houses, houses that aren't too close, then it's even more important that we save him."

"Bt what if turns his powers on us?" Stacy asked reasonably.

"Let's try not to think about that," Mark said quietly, "but I can guess that since we're still alive and able to move, it can't be completely hopeless." His green eyes glinted in the dashboard lights. "I'm sorry I yelled out at you."

"It's fine," Stacy replied. "It's okay, really."

"It's just, I was at my limit. I was worried, I was in a corner, and...I just didn't know what to do. I had no idea what to do. I didn't mean to hurt your--"

He made a sharp turn to the right, causing Stacy to flop on the door. "What's the big deal--?"

"Christ," Mark said softly, squinting his eyes in the distance. His hand store to grip his hair. "It hasn't even been five minutes!"

"What?" She turned in the direction he was looking towards and saw. Saw the blazing white eyes, the wispy, shadowy and gaseous black bodies, the blank infernos imbedded into the faces of what looked like humans, could have been humans, but definitely weren't. Walking slowly towards them. A cold sweat dripped down her forehead as chills and shivers sashayed up her spine. She watched the army of them and slowly began to realize what she was up against. Serious. This was definitely serious. With a snap, she noticed that hope was leaving her, flying off into the south like geese flocking from the cold winter, the winter of fear. In its place, the ice of doubt and despair snowed over her, froze her optimism over. How could they measure against any of it? Surely they would die.

She looked at Mark. "They can't hurt us," she said with certainty, focusing what little anticipation she had left into the words. "You told us. It's its weakness. They can't hurt us."

Mark didn't say anything. The snow was becoming a blizzard.

"They can't," she reiterated, hoping he would agree. "You told us."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Mark whispered, staring intently at the people before him.

For a second, relief washed over her. So she was right. Even a smile former on her face. "Then what's the problem? Let's drive through them."

"It's a sign," Mark mused. "You can't see it, but I can."

"What do you see?"

"It's...it's an eye," he said.

Stacy lowered her eyebrows. "An eye?"

"An eye, that's right. We're going to have to exceptionally careful now."

"So what is that supposed mean? An eye? I see you?" She shook her head. "This thing is messed up."

"It isn't just that," Mark said, gunning the car forward. "It means that it's always watching. And it knows we're coming."