Possessed (A MCSM Fanfiction)

Chapter 2 - The Abandoned Lab

"Jesse?!"

Lukas and Petra burst into Jesse's bedroom, the door swinging open and thudding against the wall loud enough to make Rascal yelp in fright. Their wide eyes scanned the empty room furiously, searching for their friend. Jesse wasn't there, but the shattered window suggested where she went.

Petra was the first to react, promptly shoving Lukas aside as she bolted into the room and straight towards the window. She grasped the windowsill, sticking her entire head through the hole to peer out.

"There she is!" Petra called when Lukas came jogging up behind her, pointing out of the window.

There in the distance, getting smaller as she moved away from them, was Jesse. She was running in an odd manner, her head slightly tilted backwards and her arms limp at her sides instead of pumping the air like they usually did.

"Where is she going?" Lukas asked, his voice rising a pitch in panic.

"I don't know!" Petra exclaimed, pulling her head back inside.

Gabbing the window by it's frame, Petra straight up ripped part of it out. She clambered out of the large gap, jumping down onto the sandy ground below. Lukas didn't need telling twice, climbing through after her, with Rascal short on his heals.

Jesse was getting further and further away, nearly at the drop off that looked out across the entire town lying beneath them. Lukas, Petra and Rascal sprinted after her, their bare feet thudding against the ground. Completely ignoring her friend's desperate calls, Jesse disappeared over he side of the cliff, descending down it like it was something she scaled every day.

"What-?!" Petra gasped in horror as they skidded to a stop at the top of the cliff, seeing Jesse continue to run off below them.

"What do we do now?" Lukas asked her through his rapid breaths.

"Follow her, obviously!" Petra snapped at Lukas.

She promptly dropped to the ground and flung her legs over the side of the drop off. Deaf to Lukas's anxious complaints, Petra felt for a foothold, beginning to climb down. She was fully aware of the fact that she should have taken a moment to calm down first, her hands trembling violently as she tried to steady herself. But there was no time for calming down, if there was, they might as well have gone around and taken the road down.

Finally Petra pushed herself off the rock wall, landing squarely on her feet. Waiting for Lukas to catch up to her, Petra took that as a moment to catch her breath. Her heart was racing madly from the adrenaline fuelled climb, her stomach wishing she hadn't eaten so recently.

A brief few seconds later, Lukas landed on his feet beside Petra, gasping for breath. She looked up, seeing Rascal looking down at them from the top. He whined loudly, stepping around uncertainly.

"We'll be back soon, boy!" Petra called up to him. "Wait for us!"

"Where did Jesse go?" Lukas asked, wiping a few droplets of sweat from his forehead, and looking around.

"That direction." Petra said, pointing to the road that lead out of town. "Come on, we gotta hurry."

Without waiting for a response from Lukas, Petra broke into a run again. Her legs effortlessly carried her across the terrain, weeks without rain leaving the ground hard as rock and easy to move on. Petra could feel her breath coming out in large gasps, her chest burning like fire. Sweat tapped down her face and drenched her pyjamas. Even the night air was hot.

Lukas's raspy breaths weren't far behind Petra, so she didn't bother to look back at him. Her eyes were locked on the shrinking dot in the distance, Jesse still moving at a strong speed. Ignoring how much her body was complaining at that moment, Petra pushed more and more energy into her step.