Living Monsters

Chapter 10

It was the second hour of sitting with Nina on the rough pavement, Lana was sure. There wasn't any point in staying, especially since a recurring shuffling noise presumably from the woods accompanying the street interrupted Nina's mourning.

A little part of her brain hoped she would walk again, but really she was lithe and though mentally strong, surprisingly to Nina apparently there were so many attracted to that noise that they completely overpowered all of her friends. No, she couldn't move after this. She didn't really want to.

"Look at the sunset, Nina. Isn't it gorgeous?" she whispered into her tiny ear. She shouldn't be sad. At least she had her family at the start.

Her head appeared to be paralyzed, despite her youth, so much so that Lana knew she would eventually develop plenty of tension in her neck. There were so many tears that some of them were even trickling down her nose.

Lana was never ignoring the footsteps in the area. In fact, she frequently made several walking trips towards the forest and back at the time, while still remaining on the parking lot. One smaller infected was simply wandering around the road ahead in circles. The subtle shadow contrasted with the sun rising from the east. There was one place of sanctuary that didn't look so safe from the exterior, with the broken glass and patches of blood. An idea popped into Lana's head as soon as she saw a card in Elena's pant pocket.

"Let's go in, okay?" she softly prompted. She needs some sleep.

"No. I want you to bring that monster over there and I want you to make it bite me."

Her voice sounded like it was going to crack, despite it being at a relatively high pitch. In any other situation, Lana would be freaking out at what she said. This was different. Maybe there wasn't much for her in this world anymore. Penny was definitely worried sick already, but if she heard that sentence coming from Nina's mouth she would scream.

"I understand where you're coming from. Are you sure this is what you want?" Jesus. Now Lana sounded like a therapist, and Nina was still acting like she was a statue.

"Let's play a game." Lana turned her head to the side, and she was able to see a smile.

The man who approached the door didn't know what to do other than say his name and leave for the van.

"It's Nigel. I'll go get the van started, okay?"

"What?" Penny could see the spit coming out from her mouth. "We haven't come to a decision yet. Aarav, get Caleb and Izzy. The office is so far away from here. They couldn't have gone there without a decent motor."

She didn't know what got into her, except consideration of the feelings of her - friends. Yeah, that was the right way to put it.

This can't be happening, not again. There's probably no point. Now she's probably dead. She turned away from Nigel, trying not to sniffle or think about her at all. This time she definitely did it on purpose.

Darting up the crescent-shaped stairs, Aarav called for Isabelle.

"What?" she questioned as she retreated out into the hallway.

"Someone just came to the door."

"You have got to be kidding me! Ugh!" she exclaimed and tried to shake her permanently gelled fiery hair. She carried her filtered tiny water bottle while stomping down the steps. It confused Aarav and made him want to say something. Wasn't she the one who left Caleb's front door open for the group?

"But he has a van. He has a working vehicle. So you can stop being so upset." Isabelle waited a while before responding.

"I think you have a right to be," she mentioned. "For Penny and Lana's sake."