Embrace

Chapter 8

"We stick together, alright? I'm assuming we outnumber that fucker, we'll take them down. But only if we stick-to-fucking-gether okay?" Jess said angrily, wiping away her tears with her forearm before aggressively tying her hair behind her head. She was the most visibly tense. Veins pressed against her skin the more she squeezed her fists together, giving a few limber stretches here and there.

"It'd be fair to assume they've got Jen's gun..." Niall whispered, his eyes hadn't left Jennifer's body yet. They'd respectfully covered it with a bed sheet, but that seemed to only achieve in making it more haunting as opposed to the intended peace. She appeared as a supine ghost, blotches of red for constellations on a snow-white sky. Dipping like macabre chasms where her eye sockets and mouth were.

Niall suspected it was the shock of the situation that explained how they were dealing with everything relatively well. Being hunted, friends dropping left and right. Survival instincts kicked in to high gear, conscious control making sure not to overload on adrenaline and keeping a clear thought. They would feel the tragedy later, but for now: they had to survive.

They each dealt with it in their own way as to their character. Jess was looking for a fight. Not dumb enough to go alone, but not quite smart enough to keep quiet. Her teeth were clamped together and she was incapable of shaking herself from the rage. If it was fight or flight, for her there was only fight.

Will was the worrier. He didn't tremble or panic, just made sure his two remaining friends were as okay as possible, while thinking about the possibilites of what could happen next and how he may pre-emptively counteract it. They just had to get through the night. The storm surely couldn't last all night, and come morning they could escape and get help.

Niall was the observer. When he wasn't looking over Jennifer, Will, or Jess, he was watching everything else. Aware of everything else. Any creak of the floorboards that couldn't of come from the room was immediately a focus. Every draw was suspect for traps. He didn't have time to think ahead right now, only the present mattered.

"We need a better position. We also need to find Emma." Will worried, standing up and pressing his ear to the bedroom door. The other two were silent while he listened, stifling breath and only speaking when he pulled away shaking his head.

"Fuck Emma. I wouldn't be surprised if she was the one doing this." Jess scolded, folding her arms across her chest and releasing a heavy breath out of her nose like a snorting bull.

"You don't mean that... She's our friend, and if she's not the one doing this then we're leaving her out there to die."

"But if we stay here, that means three, maybe four if she's hidden somewhere safe, of us survive. We go out there, and there's a chance that someone will die. One of us will die. Like you said, they've probably got a gun now." No one could deny that Jessica had a point in that. There was a silent agreement here that the logic was flawless. Despite the less than savoury surroundings, even if the murderer were to charge in here with a gun, the chances of them getting far with the three of them in such a close environment were low. Assuming no extra tricks or traps, the three of them had the advantage here.

"We should be extra careful then. You're vying for a fight anyhow."

"Yes, but I'm not stupid, Willard. I'm not going to charge head first into a potential bullet because I'm a bit hot under the collar."

"Tiebreaker! Niall. It's up to you. What do we do?" The two arguing friends then turn to Niall, who once again felt incredibly under the stop light. Shifting his gait nervously as he did his best not to look at either of his expecting friends. Jess stood there, one eyebrow raised and leaning on her left hip.