After nearly three hours, the rain had finally come to a stop. Its left over scent tickling the noses of everyone in the store. Zane fluttered his eyelashes. The clear lighting now illuminating the sea of grey, causing him to squinch his eyes. He had fallen asleep alongside Layla, who was still fast asleep across his lap.
Zane stretched his arms— his bones crunched from being stagnant for so long.
"Layla" he called, patting her head gently.
She opened one of her smoky grey eyes peering up at him. She obviously wanted to remain sleeping, but they had been in the store long enough. It was time to get moving.
"Are we leaving already..?" she asked, her voice as gentle as a baby.
"Yeah... Well, I just woke up myself. Haven't checked on the others as yet."
"Okay, you go check while I sleep a little longer. Come get me when you're done."
Zane giggled, "Alright".
Zane then picked himself up and moved to the back of the store to check on the others. Layla took out a small pouch she was carrying and laid it on the floor next to her. Slowly, she eased her head on the pouch, ready to continue her nap. The floor was however hard on her body. It was very uncomfortable, resulting in her shuffling for a moment of relief. While she shuffled, she felt her arm brush against something soft and unfamiliar.
She reopened her eyes, looking for what had just brushed against her skin. Her eyes then met upon a tiny ball shaped item laying right next to her. She sat herself up— rubbing the sleep from her eyes to get a better view. She looked down at the strange item once again, trying to discern what it was.
To her surprise, it was the head of a doll, which was completely severed without a body. It looked similar to one of the dolls Ellie had been playing with earlier. Layla carefully picked up the doll's head looking at it strangely. She then felt her finger trace against something like paper at the back of the doll's head. Slowly, she turned it around inspecting it. Her heart picking up pace in fright. On the back of the doll's head, a piece of paper was attached. On the paper, the name 'Layla' was written creepily.
Layla released a short yelp as she threw the doll head back to the floor. She had never been so creeped out about a doll in all her life. Was Ellie the one who did that? And if she did, why did she cut a doll's head off and mark it as 'Layla'?
Layla had no intention of sitting around waiting for answers. She got herself up and sprinted to the back of the store.
"Get down!" cried a voice in a whispered shout.
Layla's instincts immediately kicked in, as she dived towards the floor. Her eyes looked up to see everyone else doing the same.
"What is it??" she asked in worry.
"Keep your voice down! We don't need them to know we're in here!" hushed Tyrone.
Layla had no idea what they meant. She averted her eyes onto Zane who looked a little worried.
"What are we hiding from? Apocrypha?"
Zane didn't respond. He instead pointed his finger up towards a small window. Layla narrowed her eyebrows as she carefully forced her eyes to peep out the window.
Just as she suspected, there were definitely Apocrypha present. But they weren't the only ones. Right in front of the Apocrypha, was a small box-shaped truck. It had been intercepted by a line of Apocrypha vehicles. Beside the truck, were four humans placed down on their knees. Three of them being fully grown men and one being a small five year old boy. The men were begging for their lives and the little boy cried, latching himself onto one of the men.
The Apocrypha were getting ready to take them. Layla dived back under cover to prevent herself from being seen.
"Damn it... I hope they don't find us in here."
"The Apocrypha don't know we're here... Shouldn't we catch them by surprise and save those people?" inquired Zane hopefully.
"Hell nah fam. It's too risky." declared Nick.
"But they have a kid! We can't let them take him away!"
Layla sighed. There was no way she was going to allow any of them to risk their lives for a group of strangers— whether or not they had a kid, no matter how young. Their lives were much more important than them.
"Zane, I'm sorry, but I can't allow us to go out there. As harsh as it sounds, that one little boy's life, is no where close to as important as our own. If he dies, that's just one life taken away. But if we die, that's the entire world's population swept clean, inclusive of a lot more children like him."
Zane hardened his face in frustration. He was basically being told to standby and watch all those people get killed. He didn't like it one bit.
"Damn it... It's still not right... I can't just standby and watch. I have to help them."
Layla gave Zane an intense stare that froze him on the spot. Her eyes were like a devil's, with a burning inferno. "Zane, don't be so dumb. This is not the time for it. I swear, if you even as much as move a muscle from where you are, I will knock you out. LITERALLY."
Zane clenched his fist in frustration as the little boy's scream became louder. His heart felt like it was about to fall from his chest.
"Let's at least cast a vote. Those who are willing to go out there with me and help them, raise your hands. If you don't then remain as you are."
Zane looked across the faces of everyone present. None of them looked willing to comply. Their faces a little pained, but they remained as they were.
"Why..? Why do you think it's okay to let them die? What if they were someone close to you?"
"Zane bro, I get where you're going, but as Layla said, it's not worth it." stated Nick bluntly.
"They're all just Rank 1, but there are other factors to consider. Remember, the Apocrypha are smart. There could be more hiding just in case the ones on the front are ambushed. Secondly, even if we're to save them, remember that humans are looking for you too. Who's to say they won't turn on us as soon as we save them?" explained Anastasia. Obviously disagreeing with Zane as well.
Zane remained silent as he moved his eyes over to Serenity and Ashley. They both had a look of sadness crawling over their faces.
"Zane, we want to help them too, but Layla's right. It's too risky. We're carrying more lives on our shoulders now, so we are also suppose to be more cautious." affirmed Serenity.
"We help those who are in our radar for help. We can't stick our heads out blindingly. We have to be certain that there's a way for all of us to live. Especially given the fact that we're bound to be short on food and water soon." added Ashely.
"We leave them. That's the sad reality of what's about to happen." also added Deandre.
Tyrone shook his head in approval of their statements. It was the realistic thing to do in such a situation.
"I'll help Zane if he want's to help them! I'll do anything for Zane!" declared Ellie in a joyous tone. Layla staring at her from the corner of her eye, still remembering the doll. She was definitely not going to allow Zane to go with her. She had an extremely tugging feeling she shouldn't leave the two of them alone.
Zane slumped himself down in acceptance. There was nothing he could do, but listen to the screams of the people in need. Slowly, the screams dissipated into nothingness— signaling it was over.
"They're rank 1 Apocrypha, so they won't have a painful death. They're taken back to our mothership asleep. They're also killed asleep, so it's more of dying without even knowing it." explained Anastasia. Hoping that would ease the gloomy feeling they felt.
Silence answered her as everyone remained quiet. The only sound to be heard, was that of the gentle breeze that blew on the outside.
They then decided to wait another hour before moving— just to be safe that all the Apocrypha had left the area. The group picked themselves up and carefully made their way through the door. The small truck was the only thing that was still present alongside the wet road.
The group moved in closer. They needed to see what had been left behind by the people that were taken. Carefully, they inspected the truck. It had a decent amount of gas and a few half-bottles of water stored inside.
As they all sorted through the items, Zane saw Ellie go up to the front seat of the truck and seemingly placed a clear bag, with some kind of white residue into her pocket. It looked like she had just found it somewhere inside the truck. It seemed a little suspicious, which Zane didn't like.
Zane went to ask what she had just found, but Layla began speaking, grabbing his attention instead;
"Okay, I think we can use this to get out of here. Zane, get in the front seat. The rest of you stay in the back. I'll drive as usual." ordered Layla.
"Okay. I'll be in the front then until you're ready." accepted Zane.
Ashley also felt a little disturbed due to earlier events. Due to this, she hurried and climbed into the back of the truck as well. She needed to take another quick nap, in order to relieve herself of some of the built up tension.
Zane did what Layla instructed and moved into the front seat of the truck. He lost himself in thought about the little boy and his constant cries for help. He couldn't help, but feel guilty for not helping them. Was it really the right thing to do?
Zane was then interrupted from his chain of thought, as he saw Ellie come beside him into the driver's seat. He looked at her confused, not understanding why she wasn't in the back like Layla had instructed.
"Why aren't you in the back with the others? And where is Layla?"
Ellie smiled at him innocently as she handed him a bottle of water. "They found a few more things in the back. They're sorting through them for now. Layla told me to give you this bottle of water in case you're thirsty though."
Zane looked at her suspiciously. He didn't trust Ellie and he wasn't about to be dumb enough to accept anything from her without confirming it. He stared through the side mirror of the truck to see Layla and the others actually sorting through something in the back. It seemed Ellie was being truthful.
"Okay... I guess my mouth is a little dry..." accepted Zane as he took the bottle from her.
As Zane uncapped the bottle, he had failed to notice that the seal was already broken. He then realized his hands were shaking. It was as if he was suffering from anxiety. Was his intuition trying to tell him something? Was something wrong with the bottle of water? He pondered for a bit before deciding. If Layla really did tell Ellie to bring him a bottle of water, then it had to be safe. Right? Layla would never allow anything to happen to him.
Slowly, Zane placed the bottle to his lips, as he let the liquid flow down his throat. The entire time, he never stopped questioning his intuition until it finally crossed his mind. The bottle looked brand new, but he didn't remember breaking the seal off the cap. This meant the bottle had already been pulled before it was handed to him.
Zane got ready to spit the water out, but it was too late. It had already gone down his throat. He tried getting himself up, but his limbs went completely numb. His vision became fuzzy and the voices around him began echoing. He heard screams of worry zoom through his ears. Most of them being of Layla's and Serenity's. He forced his eyes over to Ellie, who was smiling at him like a crazy person. Clenched between her fingers, was a small, clear plastic bag of GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate). She had emptied the entire bag into the bottle of water.
"Where the hell is Ellie??" screamed Layla.
"She said something about you ordering her to give Zane a bottle of water." stated Serenity, not understanding the reason for Layla's panicking.
"What?! I didn't tell her to do that!"
By this time, they heard the drivers door slam shut and the truck engine roaring to life. They swung themselves around, running towards the truck. Ellie slammed her foot into the gas pedal, leaving tire markings and smoke in her wake.
"Zane!" they cried, unknowing of the fact he had been drugged.
Layla rushed towards the truck as it left them behind. She ran desperately, trying to gain on it, before she tripped in a pothole— falling flat on her face.
The others trying their best to do the same, but it was to no avail. Ellie had stolen the truck and left them all behind. Horror seeping into their souls as they watched the truck disappear around a corner. This was not the end.