Parental Madness

Will looked on as the girl closed the distance to the car, while Anthony busied himself with the contents of the medical kit. The white box had very little in it; Anthony grimaced as he took out a pack of normal-sized band-aids, regarded his wound, and put the bandages back. The boy had been clenching his teeth all the way from Reggie's house, trying to ignore the searing pain from his arm. A band-aid wasn't going to help any more than the hem of his shirt had.


Anthony looked down to where he'd used his shirt to stop bleeding. It was less than a day in, and he already had blood stains.


Meanwhile, Will had shut the door and the girl had climbed into the backseat. Anthony glanced over his shoulder, feeling a little grumpy at the stranger helping herself to their supplies; but they had offered them to her, after all. Will was trying to figure out the GPS they'd acquired, the machine softly beeping every time he pushed a button.


He set the GPS beside him and turned to look at the new girl, who was introducing herself. "I'm Will," he responded, before looked over at his roommate, who was busy wrapping a strip of fabric around his arm.


"What?" he asked Will in a sour tone.


Will put on a wry smile. "The grump over there is Anthony."


The wounded boy looked up for a moment, then back down to his injury.


Will took the steering wheel once more and slowly accelerated away from the park. "We're going to Green Lake because we... We have reason to believe there's an adult there who's still sane," he explained. He thought their guest- Anthros- ought to know the plan. The Subaru rumbled on down the road, identified both by the street signs and the GPS.


"Turn left on Whitetail Avenue," said a broken machine voice.


Will obliged, spinning the wheel.
 
Jared is quiet as he leads the group around the side of the high school towards the gym side entrance. He is familiar with it, as he has taken weight-lifting and other PE classes as electives whenever possible, though this year he had decided early dismissal was the better option. Max too should know the school's layout, but he is unsure about Jillian. Though Jillian seems too old to be in middle school, Jared is sure he would have heard or known about him, had he attended the same school.


Leigh, he is less than thrilled to notice, not only is holding Max's hand, but is whispering to him under her breath, her neck craned up to try to reach the boy's ear with her lips. Were Jared not currently basically the one that was in charge by default, which meant he had to keep some sort of calm between everyone, concerned that any yelling would bring any nearby adults running, and also carrying his nearly mute sister, he would have turned around and slammed Max against the brick wall of the building just to show him what he thought about him even touching his sister, even if she was the one initiating most of it, but as it was, that didn't seem an option at the moment.


Clinching his jaw even more tightly, shifting Angelina on his hip and rubbing her back lightly just to attempt to give his hands something to do rather than wrap around Max's throat, Jared stopped in front of the entrance to the gym, trying to open it. It was, as he has suspected, locked.


"The entrance by the cafeteria, where people can go out to the courtyard," he said next, "They hardly ever lock that."


As he had predicted, this was open...but what he had not thought about was the fact that, though there probably were no longer any adults in the school, there were children. Several bodies lay scattered across the cafeteria floor, and his bet was that more lay in the classrooms and halls. As Jared stared, his stomach sinking before he thought to cover Angelina's eyes, his mind raced, trying to think of what they could do...what were they /supposed/ to do?


Leigh was holding onto Max so hard her fingers were white, her nails digging into his skin, and when Jared looked back at her he could see her chest hitching, knew she was about to cry all over again. Almost desperately he spoke, trying to stop this before it started, trying to think of what, if anything, they could do.


"Leigh...Leigh, it's going to be okay, do you hear me? This is good...this...if they think everyone here is...gone...then they won't come back. Okay? So...I want you to sit down. Sit down at that table over there-" he pointed to one that had no bodies near it- "Sit there, and hold Angie on your lap, and close your eyes, do you understand? Close your eyes, and make sure she closes hers too. I'll take care of this, okay? I'll...I'll take care of this."


Leigh is reluctant to pull away from Max, but when Jared repeats himself, raising his voice slightly, she does as he says, still taking deep breaths that are verging on sobs. When Jared gently disentangles Angelina from his neck, putting her on Leigh's lap, Leigh immediately winds her arms around her and hugs her sister tightly, in a manner that was very uncharacteristic of her towards her. Turning towards Jillian and Max, Jared takes in a deep breath himself.


"I was thinking...for now...we put them in the walk-in freezer...so...well..."he drops his voice, "They're going to decompose. So...the ones here...and all the other ones we find...that's probably where we should put them. I think...they should have at least two freezers, right...one can be for food...and one for the bodies. Will you help me? Move them, I mean...you don't have to."


But he hopes they will, because all this by himself...it could take quite some time.
 
Anthros would glance between the two, still at unease being with strangers, but alas it felt safer then being out there alone. The one with dark hair was looking through the first aid and she couldn’t help but to peer over his shoulders at the supplies, and… the nasty cut. She backed up then, never one for the sight of blood, yet her gaze would keep resting his way, despite herself.


Blondie would turn and her face would redden in embarrassment for her wondering eyes. At his name she would offer a smile and only laugh when he had to introduce the grump. So Will and Anthony, she would muse to herself, only to notice what the dark haired grump, no Anthony was doing. “Y-you need stitches” she would blurt out, only to realize he most likely already knew that. But if all the adults were… how was he or anyone supposed to be taken care of? Her eyes widened, couldn’t you die if stuff like this went untreated? “Is there… Lidocaine in that kit of yours” she asked softly, hesitantly.


At the mention of a destination Anthros felt a relief she hadn’t known she had been holding out for. A safe refuge while all this chaos went on, who wouldn’t want that. But at the mention of an adult… her face would pale. From what she had seen it was all of them, but… maybe there were ones unaffected. That would be a relief, they were just kids, what could they do? Adults could fix this easy. Right? She felt conflicted about this new development but would nod her head, she didn’t have anyone in the world right now aside from these two, the least she could do was trust in them.


 
So it was a gun. It was about time that somebody else had noticed it besides Max, and he was glad it was the oldest. Announcing the fact that it was a gun probably didn’t do any good though, as Leigh suddenly bolted next to him, and he sat up to be level with her. The girl returned to his grasp in between the questions about the gun and he smoothed over her hair despite her brother talking to her. Now the driver’s eyes were on him instead, and Max tried his best to stay focused on Leigh, ignoring his glare.


A mere moments of the scrutiny was all he got, and then there was that commanding voice again; it turned out Max wasn’t even a main character. The protagonist was Jared, and his glaring eyes, reminded him of something…Nickolas’ eyes were the same. Perhaps the hero had already died in their story and they were all just extras that were meant to die anyways


As Max climbed out of the vehicle, he was immediately wary of the boy holding the gun and draped a protective arm around Leigh’s shoulders. The girl was sniffling, and he realized his own eyes stung with the prevention of tears to fall. As Jared mentions the gym exit, he nods stiffly and then rubs his face into his shoulder before guiding Leigh to said door. Jillian hoped they didn’t have to break a window, and Maxwell’s hand falls to take Leigh’s; someone willing to use a gun but not break open a window sounded like someone not willing to use a gun.


Hadn’t he done that at one point?


Leigh’s voice in his ear makes him slightly jump before he recognizes the murmurs as her voice, crying into his ear. Scared, and at a loss of what her brother was doing or at least complaining about him as if that would bring some normalcy back. The door turns out to be locked, and they are sent off to the entrance by the cafeteria, which they never did lock…


There was a moment, when it was opened that he wished they had locked it, as the putrid smell of death, blood and all greeted his nose. He had to swallow something other than spit as he grimaced at the body’s lying around, and much like Jared he tried to stay sane. There was nothing he could do to calm down Leigh though, and he even let go of her hand, although her grip stayed firm. Barely feeling the nails burrowing into his skin, he looked around once again; all of his friends were probably present in the mass of bodies. The note made him feel uncomfortable.


Just as he was latching back onto Leigh, the girl was pulled away to a cafeteria bench to close her eyes, taking her younger sister with her. Jared had asked him to help him and he grimaces slightly, clean-up duty was for set workers…wasn’t it? Maxwell shook his head free of thoughts again, all of the dead, were going into the ice cooler.


“Yeah” when he spoke, to agree, he took a breath of the air around him and immediately started coughing at the taste of the air. He wished the senses weren’t so closely related in reference to awful smelling things such as death tasting like such. Shooting a longing look at Leigh before she covered her eyes, if she even did, he moved towards one of the smaller teens. With a grimace, he reached out and touched the stone cold body, some blood dry while other parts just gelled.


He started moving…
 
(This is just a more detailed version of his background, scroll to the dotted line for his current situation.)


After waking up for school, Kurt began his morning routine with a bit of a warm up, stretching, wall push ups, high knees, cool down stretch, then a warm shower, skincare, and teeth brushing. Kurt changes the exercises sometimes, but for the most part this was his usual routine. After getting dressed and combing his hair, Kurt went downstairs to expect a usual breakfast, but nothing was prepared. This didn't phase him too much, his mom works at an earlier time than his dad did, so prepared his own breakfast. After breakfast he would head to school, which was only a few blocks away, so he would run there.


Kurt always made it rather early to school, today was no different. He decided this would be a good chance to look over his notes once more for good measure. He never knew if there would be a pop quiz, which his history teacher was notorious for giving out. Once classes began, he began to notice some of the mannerisms in his teachers were beginning to change. Even his AP English teacher seemed very different, her usual self being quite cheerful, today she seemed for sinister for some reason. Again, maybe it was an off day.


Once school had ended, Kurt would run back home to drop off his things, this time taking a very narrow, snaky shortcut that only works if he's going home. It was the quickest, and most fun way home, and practice was in less than an hour so he needed the time to get ready. The path was like an obstacle course, that characteristic always made it more fun for him to go home in. He would jump over gates, trashcan's, scaling, bar work, a free runner's dream. He made it to the end, and it really got his mind off his off school day. When he reaches his house the door is oddly open. His mother always stressed there being a possible danger of thieves breaking to the house. Maybe someone actually broke into his house this time, he was worried. He checked the garage window and his mother's car was in there, so she was home.


Cautiously entering his house through the front door he puts his bag on a hanger attached to the wall and goes to the closet near the entrance to grab a bat. He was hoping his mother was fine, he crept to the kitchen hoping she would be in there; no one was there. He called his mother, taking a risk in case other people were in the house, he could easily distract them and lead them out of the house. A creaking noise come's up from behind him and he jump-rolls forward and cocks his bat ready to swing when he sees it was just his mother.


Sighing in relief that she was fine he lowers his guard while standing up, only to be launched at with knife. With the distance he made away from her before, he just barely misses the assault. "MOM! What are you doing?!" He exclaims, but her face has only a gentle smile on it. She replies to him, "You're going to be fine. This isn't going to hurt one bit, I'm your mother after all. So LISTEN TO ME!" She launches once more, this time Kurt is a little bit more wary and uses the bat the deflect the attack, and push his mother to the floor. He run's to his room quickly, skipping most of the stairs going up.


Once he's inside his room is almost in shambles, he hears his mom running up the steps so he quickly closes and locks his door. He feels so lost at what to do, he doesn't know what's going on with his mother. Suddenly he hears banging on his door and the nob rustling, trying to break through. Kurt quickly realizes that he cannot stay here right now, and had to go. He didn't know for how long, but it wasn't safe. He opened his window and stepped onto the roof of the front entrance and garage, when suddenly his door is broken into. He panics and jumps off the roof and does a jump and roll into his lawn. He makes a break for it.


There's a place that he hasn't been to in a very long time that he sure no one would find him at; the tree house. It was a tree house his and his friend's dads had built long ago. The ladder still held up mildly well, and he hopped in through the bottom entrance. There was an exit in the back just in case he needed to make another break for it, or a long branch leading out to the rest of the park. He searches through the secret hiding spots for things from his cub scout days. A mostly mint condition swiss army knife that was well preserved, surprisingly, a flashlight, with a few gauze rolls. He put them in an old satchel that was left behind. Suddenly he gets a call from his dad and picks up his phone.


"Hello?! Dad?!" He asks frantically, but quietly. "Hey, Kurt. What's wrong? Where are you? I just got out of work." His father calmly responds. "Mom's gone nuts! She came at me with a knife! and Where I am..?" His dad knows his schedule by heart, he wouldn't just ask where he was, this is something he knows. "Yes. Where are you? Tell me, I'll stop by to pick you up." His father says. "How did you know I wasn't home or at school?" Questioning why his dad would think he was somewhere else. "JUST TELL ME RIGHT NOW. I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR ARGUMENTS." His dad's impatient tone was frightening, so Kurt almost responds until he hears a scream coming out of the left side of the tree house.


He looks out the window and notices one of his old friends running out of his houses, pale face, full of fear. The boy's parents gave chase after him, cornering him at the far side of the high fenced backyard. The boy drops to his knees and goes into a begging stance, tears rolling down his face. The parents ruthless kill him on the spot. After finishing the mother drags the body into the house while the father cleans the area.


Dipping back into the tree house, he vomits. He's never seen a dead body and this was all too much for him. He then hears his father through is phone calling his name wildly, almost maniacally with the question, "WHERE ARE YOU?!" repeatedly. Kurt picks up his phone and tells him an area that was on the other side of town, no where near his location. He felt like his father was going to do the same thing as his mom, the same thing as his friend's parents. He hung up and took out the battery to his phone.


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He didn't know what to do. He sat in the same spot for an hour, and the smell of vomit was getting to his head. Was this all brainwashing, why are his parents like this? why are the rest of the parents like this? He stopped thinking about those things for a second and realizes he shouldn't stay in the same spot too long. Even though this is possibly the last place his parents would find him, it was still a place where he could be found. So he peeks out of the window of the right side of the tree house and heads out through that way, which has a sturdy looking branch that looms towards the forest. He notices the branches descending towards the ground sort of like uneven bars.


He tucks the baseball bat he got earlier between his legs, and wraps some gauze on his hands. He didn't want to get splinters, but he wasn't going to be doing anything fancy either. He tries to fasten his bat using his newly gained satchel, and leaps towards the branches. He quickly goes from branch to branch, grasping and un-grasping, until he reaches the lowest branch, which was still over a story and a half high, but decides to try the landing anyways. It's hard for him to do the jump roll this time with a bat on his back, his legs took some pain, but it was bearable. Looking back, he was a lot farther from the tree house, about 15 meters.


It was very shadowy where he was, he seemed to be close to the highway, and near his high school. He didn't know what decisions to make, it was much to hard for him to comprehend. He knew if he went to the highway, with his deductions that grow ups aren't trustworthy right now, he decides school may be the best place, but he questioned if staff would still be in the vicinity, since there are a multitude of after school programs happening. He's going to take the risk anyways, but hide in the forest area he's in, that reaches just behind the parking lot of school. He starts to run, trying not to make too much noise. He doesn't want to attract more people to him. His trust is running low at the moment, and may attack anything that moves.


Knowing that he he is being overly cautious and presumptuous about his current situation, he wanted to take the extra measures. He saw someone get killed by their own parents, his own mother tried to kill him. There was little space to be optimistic about everything. When he reaches the parking lot, Kurt lays low, scanning the entire area. The last few set of adults were heading out hopping into their cars. Kurt was trying to see what was off about this scene, the adults seem perfectly sane, everything seemed fine.


Suddenly the door from the school peeks open and a small hand creeps out. As the adults begin to drive, they make a minor turn towards the door and heads straight for it. There, a teenage girl manages to get half her body out, and she is covered in bloody wounds, extremely weak from fatigue. A female adult gets out of the car and opens the door drags the child back into the school. She comes back out moments later and her hands her sleeves and torso were covered in blood, blood that wasn't hers. The car speeds away.


Wanting to vomit again, Kurt looks down and takes deep breathes. Tears are welling from his eyes. There is something going on, something that is totally wrong. He sits there for hours, trying not let the situation get the best of him. He stays in the same area for about another half hour, and some people start sneaking around the school. He's frightened, but he notices that they aren't really adults. They're teenagers just like him, and younger kids. He didn't really recognize them, but he didn't know if they were dangerous or not. They had already gone inside.


He wanted to stay put just in case, but he was becoming really hungry, and just laying in the same place made him exhausted. He stood up, but the pain from his recent jump started feeling worse. He tried to wiggle it off and maneuvered his way towards the school. Trying not to be seen, Kurt laid low and hid behind every large thing, and sprinted to the door where the girl he last saw trying to escape.


The door slams slightly, and he jumps. He tries to hide, feeling like a rat, jetting under a table. It's sort of dark where he is, he can sort of see a familiar shape. He takes out his flashlight and almost flicks the on switch, but then a smell reaches his nostrils and he decides its better he not know. He wasn't ready to vomit, again, so he rushed out what seemed to be one of the bigger art studios. He sat under a large desk for good measure and tried to figure out his next move again.
 
Jillian walked in with the rest, beginning to get use to being in a group now. He still didn't know anything about them besides who was family and that one of the girls was dating, maybe, one of the boys. It was a little weird for him, but Jillian didn't say anything about it. He was weird in his own way. He was not going to judge anyone on what they were doing now. He had killed someone. Dating didn't seem that bad especially since nothing had probably happened...maybe.


But once they made it into the building, Jillian didn't think any more on the relationship of Max and Leigh as he tried hard not to run or scream. So many bodies. Thye covered the place. It was hard to look at and Jillian shallowed hard, pushing back the thought of them all. They were dead now. Lifeless corpses. It was hard to accept. All of this. It was completely insane. No one should have had to die. Not like this especially, attacked by the very people they looked up to or protected them before. Jillian kept feeling more and more sick, but he didn't throw up. He didn't want to seem weak or something. Not that it really matrtered now he guessed. He didn't think anyone would judge him if he did get sick. He was surprised no one else did.


Jillian almost missed what Jared asked of him and Max. He looked down at the bodies and then to the older man. He could say no. Max seemed to be helping. But Jillian would feel guilty if he let them do it and he didn't.


He reached down and touched one of the bodies nearby, but it was too much. Jillian ran over into a corner, his lunch now gone. He wiped his mouth, crying a little, hating that he had let himself throw up. He looked back over, shaking, but no. He had to help.


"I'm...I'm sorry."


He reached down again, looking away, pretending it was anything by a dead body of someone he might know. He just wanted to get this over with.


 
Jared did not fail to notice the way Max continued to look at Leigh, practically staring at her, his hesitation to begin moving, or even to speak to him, or the spacy look in his eyes before he began to slowly move some of the bodies towards the freezer, as Jared had suggested. At the rate Max was moving, it would still take all day to get the room halfway okay to stand to be in, and even then, what about the mess of the blood to clean up?


Jared couldn’t think about that now. It was impossible to think about the enormity of this task, the awfulness of it, the meaning behind it, and still be able to actually do it. It was impossible to think that he knew most of these kids, that he had classes with them, or had at least passed them in the halls. It was impossible to think of them as ever having been human at all, and still be able to touch them, to drag them like they were nothing more than a sack of potatoes.


The first body he moved was a boy he recognized, a boy who had been on the football team…Jared had known him since they were ten years old. He gritted his teeth, forcing down nausea, forcing his thoughts to focus instead on his sisters. He could not think of this…body. It was not a person, not anymore, and Jared, if he concentrated, could almost convince himself it never had been. He swallowed bile at the cold, stiff feeling of the blood-slicked skin beneath his hands, trying to touch as little skin as possible, trying to keep his eyes focused ahead as he moved the bodies with as much efficiency and speed as he could make himself.


His sisters. Think of his sisters. Doing this for them…they were all he had now. All he had left. Doing this for them…


He heard Leigh shriek and abruptly dropped the body he had been toting, rushing back towards her, his heart pounding, eyes darting for any signs of intruders, any signs of an adult approaching, a reason for her scream. But then as he followed the direction of her gaze, he saw that her eyes were open, that she was watching Jillian in the corner, and that Jillian had just vomited. Even from a distance Jared could see he was crying, and that Leigh, still gripping a silent, saucer-eyed Angelina in her lap, was still near tears, sniffing in an effort to stem them before they started.


“He’s…we can’t do this, Jared,” she whispered, and she wiped her face against Angelina’s shoulder, not loosening her grip on her. “We can’t stay here, we need to go. We can’t STAY here…”


His eyes shifting from his sister to Jillian, Jared’s jaw clinched, and he shook his head, his voice more abrupt than he intended at first.


“Yes, we can, and we’re going to have to. Leigh, there is nowhere else I can think of to go, do you understand? Can you think of somewhere else?”


“No-“ Leigh started, lowering her head near Angelina’s again, but Jared cut her off.


“Then this is where we are. I told you…shut your eyes. And dammit, make sure Angie shuts hers too, don’t let her look at all this! Jillian- or whatever your name is-“ he turned to the boy in the corner, shaking his head. “Just…if you can’t help, close your eyes too, okay, we don’t need people passing out or adding to the smell in the room. If you’re not going to help, clean that up with something and sit with the girls.”


It isn’t until all this has already been said and he looks again at Leigh’s hunched form, Jillian’s obvious misery, that Jared begins to feel a little guilty for his harshness. Sighing, he shakes his head, amending his tone as he stepped towards his sisters. Sitting next to Leigh, he slipped an arm around her and Angelina awkwardly, hesitating, as this was something he rarely did, and then kissed first Angelina, then Leigh on the top of the head.


“Just…shut your eyes, okay? I’ll finish up fast as I can. Jillian…sorry…just…do what you can, all right?”


When he took his arm from around them, Leigh reached for him, seeming to want to keep him near her, her eyes glinting with near desperation, but Jared pulled back, repeating to her that he’d go as fast as he could. He hoped she was actually listening to him and at least making Angie close her eyes.


As he settled into an unpleasant rhythm of body dragging, always forcing his thoughts away from the grim reality of what he was doing, he decided an appropriate focus, an appropriate distraction, even a welcome one, at this point, would be to think instead of Max…Max, and his sister. He stomped down hard on his disgust and anger with what seemed to him a strong possibility, and by the time the seventeenth body was piled in the designated freezer, Jared had convinced himself of the next step of keeping his mind off this all.


He was toting his thirteenth body when he passed Max, saying in a low but far from friendly tone, “I don’t care if this is the end of the world, I don’t care if we all die tomorrow. Before we go, I better get an answer from you on what the hell you’ve been doing with my little sister.”
 
Jillian looked at Jared, the harsh words hitting him hard and he almost began to cry again. It was getting to be far too much for the young teen. The bodies. The killing. The parents and adults becoming murderers. He just wanted to sit down and cry and have someone tell him it was all going to be okay. He wanted it to all be a dream.


But that wouldn't be happening. Jillian had to toughen up. The world he was going to be living in now was only going to get worse. He was going to have to move dead bodies, even people he knew, and use his gun again, definitely on people he knew. It sucked and it hurt, but Jillian was beginning to realize it was the only way. At least for now. Maybe something would happen to make it easier or maybe they would just become accustomed to their new life. At least they were safe for now. That was good. Even with the bodies and the fear, he hadn't seen any adults around here. He wondered if the others had weapons too. Did he have the only gun? It seemed ridiculous somehow. Surely their parents had a gun too or something? But maybe not. Or maybe the adult were using.....


Jillian shook his head. He moved, almost in a zombie-like manner, cleaning up his mess. He had to help the other two. Even if he dressed like a girl and acted like a girl at times, he was still a boy underneath it all, right? He had to be strong and brave. Or at the very least he was one of the older people here and that is why he had to do it. Nothing to do with genders.


"I can do it. I won't let you two do it alone. I...I think I am better now."
 
Will felt a little uncomfortable as he navigated down the road. Sure, the world had just gone psycho, but he never had known how to act when you met a girl in the middle of an apocalypse. His eyes were fixed on the road.


Anthony, however, looked up from his bindings when Anthros blurted out, eyeing the newcomer gaurdedly. She looked a little worse for the wear- but then again, they all did. He noted her bleached hair and thick make-up; looked just like the type of person he'd avoid when walking down a hall in school. He supposed, though, that social classes didn't really exist anymore.... The girl looked just as shaken up as he felt. Maybe more so.


"Stitches would be nice," he said softly, wincing slightly as he pulled the cloth tighter around his left arm. He sighed at Anthros' second comment; "There's practically nothing useful in this thing." Latching the kit shut again, he tossed it back into a bag of supplies and took a water bottle.


"Turn right onto Morrison Lane," monotoned the GPS.


Dutifully, Will turned the vehicle as the two boys fell into silence. They'd be at the lake very soon; it was pretty close to the park.


Anthony took a glance at Will. The boy was tense, staring out the windshield with an anxious expression; he could almost feel uncertainty radiating from the him.


"What if it's a trap?" Anthony asked the unsaid question, very quietly.


Will gripped the wheel tightly.


A few seconds later, passing a sign pointing towards Green Lake, he responded in a shaky voice; "It's my dad."


Anthony was silent.
 
There was no time for sickness. Max tried to push that into his mind, as the sounds and smell of what Jillian was doing reached him. There were only the bodies, the bodies of the girls from the volleyball team who would stare at him as he walked past. Then their friends would ask him questions and giggle at his response, playing with their hair or go to gossip. An expectation of relief or at least guilty happiness was in him, but all he felt was disgusted, completely disgusting.


Leigh’s shriek hit him at a delayed time, and he glanced towards her to see that her brother was trying to comfort her. The man always did a better job than he did; why was that? Why was Leigh always more okay with her brother then with him? It brought some insecurity to the forefront and Maxwell immediately picked up his pace on the hauling. The cafeteria would be in a much cleaner state by the time Leigh would see it again, and she would feel much better. She had to feel better he was trying his best just to appease her….


Max rubbed at his face, barely noticing the fact he was getting the student’s blood all over him, or who he was even moving. Had Jared simply instructed this room? The entire building? Tightening his lips on the aspects of asking of Jared, he saw that the older male was already heading towards him. It was the look on his face that made him practically swerve to avoid him, but he still heard his threatening question. There was a close chance that Max now smelled like Angie, but as he took a couple steps, he was relieved, but confused at the same time.


There hadn’t been much time before, but there still weren’t many instances that he showed a malicious interest in what he and Leigh did. Unless… Max immediately looked over at Leigh, which seems to be useless because the girl is covering her eyes. He didn’t know if the girl would be crazy enough to brag about such a relationship to her brother, much like she had around her sister. Max had heard many instances where Leigh had tried to brag about the fact she was sating someone to her older sister.


Did Jared know? He didn’t know. Leigh did know all of what they did though, and sometimes she liked to exaggerate. He hoped to all hell, that the girl could keep quiet to all the things that he might get killed for. With a huff of a sigh, he resumed work avoiding any contact with Jared, it was lucky that Jillian had started helping again. The three would be down soon…


((OoC: I hope I portrayed Leigh fine x3’)
 
Jared was hardly surprised when Max did not answer his question-that-was-more-like-a-stated threat, about the nature of his…Jared hated to even think the word “relationship” in regards to whatever it was that Max and Leigh had, but he could think of no other word that really fit. Surely, they didn’t have a relationship in the manner that most people would think of the word “relationship…” right?


He knew how Leigh was. He knew how she and Lydia had butted heads constantly about Leigh’s more provocative behaviors, the way had constantly tried to get herself into things that she was neither old nor mature enough to be able to handle. He also knew that she tended to exaggerate, and try to push things into appearing they were more than they actually were. So, on one hand, although it definitely looked to him like this Max guy had…something…going with her…what, exactly, that was, was difficult to estimate.


And it looked like Max wasn’t talking right now.


Jared worked with grim efficiency, trying to handle the bodies with little regard or respect for the fact that they had once been people- it was difficult to show reverence for them as people when he was trying to convince himself of the fact that they were nothing more than particularly realistic and disturbing dummies. He noticed that Jillian and Max were managing to help, that Max had in fact picked up speed, and was silently grateful for this.


It took perhaps a little twenty minutes for the room to be clear, and another twenty or so before they had managed to clean with paper towels as much of the obvious signs of blood and gore as they could. As soon as it was over, Jared headed straight for the sink in the kitchen area, scrubbing his hands, forearms, and face until they were red and nearly raw, but he still did not feel clean. He had a feeling that he never would, now.


Still, he stepped back to let Max and Jillian have a chance to do so before returning to his sisters where they were sitting. They were both very still on the cafeteria seat, their eyes squinted shut, and as Max looked at them, seeing the scrunched misery in their features, the paleness of their skin, his stomach flipped. Sitting beside them, he tapped Leigh’s arm gently.


“You can open your eyes now…eventually, we’ll try to clear out the whole place, if we need to, okay, Leigh? But I think this, the cafeteria, was the worst…most of the kids wouldn’t have been in school, when it happened. I think…I think this must have been the kids staying for cheerleading and basketball practice…the gym is right next to the cafeteria, they must have been trying to run…”


His voice trailed off, and Jared clinched his jaw, not finishing the sentence. There was no need to explain it to the girls, really, but he continued to reason it to himself. Most of the school would have been empty, if the change had really not occurred until after school let out. The kids in the cafeteria, most were in casual, comfortable clothing like one might wear for basketball practice or cheerleading practice. There was undoubtedly other bodies scattered through the school…if kids had stayed to work on projects in the library, or in the art room, or if there had been any club meetings or drama rehearsals or anything else like that going on…but it was nothing like if the adults had suddenly gone crazy while everyone was in class. This, the cafeteria, was probably the worst of it, though Jared had a feeling the library, gym, and auditorium might be pretty bad too.


“You can open your eyes,” was all he said to Leigh and Angie finally. “And Leigh, you can give me Angie if you want, I’ll hold her….if you need to go to the bathroom, or…want a shower, or anything…and we can get Angie cleaned up, something to wear…we can do that in a few minutes. Right now…I just…”


His voice trailed off again. What he wanted was to have time to recover from what he had just done, what he had just touched and felt and seen. But he could hardly say that to them, not out loud. Instead, he finished, “We can do that in a few minutes if you want.”


Taking Angelina from Leigh, he settled her into his lap, not surprised when Angelina turned herself mutely to face him and hid her face in his neck, winding her arms around him. Jared put his chin on top of her head somewhat awkwardly and patted her back, and when Leigh pressed herself against him, hooking her arm through his even as her eyes scanned the room anxiously, probably for Max, Jared had his hands too occupied to pat her too, but he let her stay squished against him. Waiting for the others to rejoin them, he took in a slow breath, trying to be as subtle about it as possible.


They may have cleared the room, they may have done what they could to slow decomposition, but he could swear he can still smell death.
 
Trying his best to collect himself underneath the table but his hunger was getting to him. He wanted to meet up with that group he just saw, but where do they stand in terms of all this? He kept questioning, they didn't seem suspicious to his point of view, just trying to get out of this scary event. He'd been sitting for only a few minutes and no one seemed close by, but he knew the other people who entered before him were still in the school.


He lost his concentration and didn't feel like thinking about people anymore. Kurt's stomach kept growling, so he decided it was now or never to get food. He was sure the people he saw were safer than the ones he could have ran into, like those adults who murdered-- Kurt shook his head. He feels weak just thinking about it.


He stood up and edged towards the door, and realized how much bigger the art studio looked compared to when he first walked in. His bat started to slip from his satchel strap to the floor. It made a loud clanging noise against the ground. "Crap, crap, crap!" he said while picking up the fallen bat. He decided carrying it would be the better option, but in the corner of his eye he caught a black Jansport backpack and an art tube with a strap. These would be better carrying tools than what he has now, so Kurt ran towards both and picked them up, but hidden next to the items was a blood covered body that was carved to the bone. Kurt choked up a little bit, trying to hold back his vomit, feeling the room spinning slightly. This wasn't the time, though, he just needed to leave.


Managing his way out of the room, he kept seeing the image of the carved body, feeling as though every wound inflicted on that which was once a person, marked on his own body. His chest was getting unusually tight, then he noticed he was close to one of the lavatories. It was the women's but this didn't matter at the moment, he just wanted to use the sink. He turned the water on slighly so it ran without making a lot of noise and filled his hands with water. He splashed some on his face and filled his hands again for a drink. He took deep breathes and fell into a sitting position. "Keep moving... Keep moving... It's only going to get harder from here." He got up, looked at his new bags, empied the old contents and put his in their place. Survival things in the backpack, with the exeption of the pocket knife which he kept in his pocket, and bat in the tube.


His goal was the cafeteria, which was just upstairs and around a corner. He felt his legs shaking at the thought of more dead bodies, but he slapped himself a few times and forced himself to calm down. He started running towards the stairs at the end of the hallway, but was suddenly distracted by trails of blood. He stopped, and turned around. "I can't..No. No no no no." He had to, so he managed enough courage to enter the doors. What was there was worse than any horror movie he'd seen, body on top of body, layered in a section behind the stairs. Few of them were faces of his classmates, others were friends from previous years. Kurt went light headed, things were going black. He took a few more steps back into the hallway, then his body just crashed, and he passed out.
 
Anthros would look towards the front of the car with unease. Perhaps it was the possibility that the whole world just might have gone crazy, or the fact that she was with two strange boys she had just met, but there seemed to be a lot of tension in the air. So dense she debated stabbing it with a fork to see if she could.


Nodding wordlessly at his comment about stitches she tried not to think about what could happen if he didn’t get them, surely he could manage right? At being told there wasn’t such a thing she could sigh a guilty breath of relief, because without a numbing agent of sorts there was no way she could try to stitch him up without, so she thought it fair she didn’t even have to offer such a thing now. The idea sticking a needle through bled skin sent a dizziness to her head and she would lean her head into her hand, trying to stare out the window, only to realize the view wasn’t doing any better for her nerves.


The GPS voice would startle her eyes open, only for Anthros to realize she had started drifting off already. Mood and gloom, no Anthony, would ask about a trap and she couldn’t help but to look up at the two boys, wondering now what made them believe they had found a safe place, only for Will to reply in a voice all but sure.


Images of her own father, alive and attacking her with empty eyes, laying on the floor looking lifeless while a surreal amount of blood gathered around his body. She must have paled considerably under all the makeup. Were they really going to an adult, would he try to… no she refused to think of such things. Besides there were three of them now, three to one was good odds. Still Anthros couldn’t help but to feel alone still, sitting in the car with two boys that she had just learned their names, heading into who knew what kinds of danger. “Let’s hope for a happy family reunion” she would mutter a sample of her dry humor.


 
Jillian struggled to remove the bodies he could, trying hard not to look at the others or too closely at the bodies. It was bad enough to just touch them. Jillian had to try hard to repress his urge to throw up or whimper or do anything to really draw attention back to himself. He just wanted to get rid of the bodies and be done with it. Even if it was only the cafeteria for now.


Jillian looked at the others briefly, trying to see what they were doing. Jared was talking to his siblings and Max was still moving bodies. Jillian looked around, biting his lower lip and walked over to where Max was.


"Hey," he said, feeling awkward. "Max right? I haven't really talked to any of you. I feel like some kind of outsider. The rest of you seem to at least know each other." Jillian shrugged. "So I'd thought I'd say hi."
 
(Uhh, I wasn't really sure what to respond to here... Lilac's post made it so we were done cleaning up the bodies and were washing up, But Nell just posted saying we were still doing it. So... I responded to Nell while working around Lilac's post.??)





Before he was done with the bodies, there was a voice that brought Max’s attention away from his thoughts of the job. He had to get it done, there were only a few bodies left, only a few more left and he could rid himself of the feeling. That’s what he told himself, but as he looked up to Jillian, he realized his breath was heavy, and his own sweat and tears were mixed with the blood of these people, which stained his clothing and skin. The boy had called his attention, and as he spoke again, the words flowed around his head, not catching.


There was greeting, and with it Maxwell strained a smile, before nodding his hello, and dragging away the final body that he saw. It wasn’t all they had left to do, for instead of being able to converse with the boy they were to scrub at the blood. Suppose it had to be clean, suppose it shouldn’t reek of blood anymore or even seem like blood. Clean it up. Clean it up and then they were able to clean up themselves.


As he was left at the sink with Jillian, he started washing up himself and turned to the boy next to him.


“Hey, sorry about back then…” he notes, starting to scrub the blood off before ripping off the sweater he was wearing and throwing it on the ground. Nearly not clean enough…
 
Jared keeps his eyes on the other two boys as he stays close to his sisters, absently rubbing Angie’s back, then taking one arm out from around her to slip around Leigh’s shoulders as well as he lets himself simply sit for the moment, attempting to detach himself from the vivid memory of what he has just finished. Though he has scrubbed his hands until they were nearly raw, he is uncomfortably aware that his skin is still crawling with the lingering sensation of blood and other bodily fluids staining his skin, of the coldness of dead flesh against his own. It feels almost wrong to touch his sisters with those hands, as if he is staining them somehow, and yet it feels better to touch them, as if by touching their warm, living flesh, it is removing the dead flesh from his, bit by bit.


He rocks Angelina slightly, distantly aware of her hot breath against his chest, and Leigh pressed against his side as he looks out at Jillian and Max. They are barely speaking, seeming shellshocked as well from what has just occurred. He knows better than to ask what has happened before they got here, how they both came to be running down the road before he picked them up. He himself will not be speaking of Lydia, of their mother, not unless he has to, not any time soon. Maybe never.


As he takes a deep breath, feeling Angelina’s head move with the rise and fall of his chest, he looks down at Leigh, noticing that though she still clutches his arm, she is looking at Max, as though silently asking him to come to her. Somehow Jared doubts that the guy will, not with Jared holding her at his side, and he is absolutely okay with Max ignoring his sister’s wants.


Perhaps five minutes pass with no one speaking, but to Jared the time seems much shorter. He could have stayed silent for the rest of the day, until all of them fell asleep where they sat or stood. But Leigh pulled at his arm, whispering to him hesitantly as she glanced at Max, as though not wanting him to hear.


“Jared…I need to go to the bathroom. And…Angelina kinda smells. So she should too.”


Jared looked down at his youngest sister, wondering how she would react to this insult. Normally Angelina would get offended and indignant over any slighting remark Leigh tossed her way, immediately retaliating in her six-year-old manner, and within fifteen seconds the girls would be bickering continuously. But right now she showed no reaction, and this blankness from her was beginning to seriously concern him. It wasn’t as if any of them could be said to be dealing particularly well, or that any of them were not disturbed by all of…whatever the hell was happening…but this reaction was so uncharacteristic of Angelina that he was actually afraid, and helpless as to what he could do beyond continue to care for her the best he could think to. What if she never spoke again?


There was no point in borrowing trouble…they might as well just get through the day before he worried about her future mental health. Starting with what Leigh was saying, helping her now.


“Yeah,” he said in reply to her, nodding, then, looking down at Angelina again, smoothed her hair back and pushed at her shoulders slightly, making her back away from him so he could look at her. “Angie, we’re going to go to the bathroom, okay? Find you some clothes somewhere, maybe just a t-shirt or something. You can wear it like a nightgown, okay? So…do you want to walk, or do you want me or Leigh to carry you?”


“I don’t want to carry-“ Leigh started, but Jared gave her a look that stopped her. He waited for Angelina’s reply.


The little girl did not speak, but moved with sluggish motions, sliding down off Jared’s lap and sticking a grubby thumb in her mouth, leaving the other hand free. The thumbsucking was something Jared had never noticed in her past the age of two or three, and that was worrisome to him, but the fact that she had responded, and that this appeared to be an indication that she was willing to walk rather than be carried, was encouraging. Taking her free hand, he glanced towards Max and Jillian, saying out loud to them, “We’re finding a bathroom and a shirt for Angelina to change into. It might be best if we stick together, but if you want to stay here we’ll come back.”


He didn’t wait for a reply from them before leading his sisters out into the hallway, gripping Angelina’s hand, Leigh crowded up against his other elbow, her hands gripping his bicep. He could hear her uneven breathing as they stepped out into the hallway, seeing the occasional body scattered across its lengths. He squeezed Angelina’s hand, patted Leigh the best he could manage with the other, and swallowed, fixing his eyes straight ahead.


“Look up at the ceiling, don’t look down. I won’t let you run into any of them. Leigh, don’t cry,” he said almost sharply, because although the girl was not yet doing so, previous patterns of behavior with her within the past hour or so told him it was a strong possibility. Taking her hand as well as Angelina’s, he started to maneuver them in the manner that most avoided bodies towards the bathroom.


But as they were passing one body, he noticed something odd…it had no wounds, like the others, no obvious causes of death. And then something really strange…he could see its chest moving.


This boy was alive.


“Leigh, back up against the wall, holding Angie’s hand,” Jared commanded.


Still not looking behind him to see if Max or Jillian were following, he let go of both girls’ hands, though Leigh was reluctant to obey. Kneeling beside the boy in the hallway, the boy who appeared only unconscious, Jared slowly put his hands to his throat, feeling the boy’s pulse. It was steady, and yes, he could see his eyes moving beneath their eyelids.


Removing his hand from his throat, Jared lightly shook his shoulder, uncertain.


“Hey…hey…you okay?”


**


In their small home some ten miles away, Vicky Sherwood walked up the front porch and opened the door to her home. Her hair is slightly disheveled, her shirt stained with blood, and yet her eyes are calm. Walking into the living room, she opens the door to the fridge and takes out a beer, popping the top and taking a long swallow before sitting on her couch and flipping on the TV. She removes a pack of cigarettes from her purse and lights one, taking a drag as she leans back against one arm of the couch. She appears relaxed, even bored. Only two doors down in the hallway, her oldest daughter still lies dead on the floor of her bedroom, blood staining the floor, and yet Vicky appears to simply be kicking back after a long work day.


When her cell phone rings, she reaches for her purse lazily, digging inside it for several moments before coming up with it in her hand. Flipping it open, she answers.


“Hi Carol…yeah, just got home…think we’re off the rest of tonight, what with everything going on, but I’ll be back in tomorrow. You know how it is, bills and all the rest…have to be dead to get a vacation.”


She chuckles, taking another drag of her cigarette and releasing out the smoke, before answering again, her tone just as casual as before.


“Yeah, I got Lydia already, carpet’s gonna be hell to clean. Might just hire someone to do it for me, only thing is where am I gonna get the money for that, you know? Always something with these kids, money money money, them them them…lucky you only had the two and have it done with already, I’ve got three more to go. But you know me, always was one to procrastinate…”
 
Jillian looked down at his own body when Max went to go clean up. He nodded and headed over, cleaning his own self. He touched where the gun was and for a moment tears threaten to spill over. But Jillian was able to keep himself calm. He washed, taking small glanced at Max. When Max removed his shirt, Jillian went red in the face. Sure he wasn't sure which gender he preferred being. Boy, girl, either, neither. But he was sure about what his sexual preference was.


He looked away, hoping the other teen didn't notice his blush. The last thing he wanted was for things to become awkward. They were going to have to live with each other. Surviving with the group didn't seem fun if people avoided him. He already felt weird and an outsider. Besides Max seemed to have something going on with one of the girls, maybe? He couldn't be sure.


Jillian finished cleaning himself, not able to remove his own clothing to change. There might be clothes in the boys' and girls' locker room though if he needed any. He looked back at Max, trying to fight another blush.


"No it's fine. I just...want to know you guys a little. Since it seems we're stuck with each other for now."
 
While Jillian was slightly discomforted by the fact that all Max wore was a white wife beater, the boy himself was feeling a lot better. The shirt was a lot cleaner but it made him somewhat nervous about splashing water at himself. It would have to do for now though, he would look for something that was a little less bloodied later. Looking at his pants, he realized they were much of the same but wasn’t quite comfortable walking around in his boxer for the whole world to see.


He was done cleaning, and once it clicked to him that this was all he col do, he felt the burn of the hot water and his sore skin. The boy backed away from the sink, letting Jillian in and upon seeing there was no paper towel, he used the front of his shirt, forgetting it’d be see through until he saw it himself .With a sigh, he slightly turned from the boy and crossed his arms over his chest.


Being cool was the first step in trying to acquire a new friend. The way that the boy had worded his comment made Maxwell think twice, though, they were the only two here. Jared definitely wasn’t going anywhere near him, so the boy in front of him was his only chance at a friend at the moment.


“…That’s a good idea” maybe a compliment should help things along; he was terribly bad at making friends due to awkwardness. There was something that he was forgetting; he felt it in the back of his mind bugging him, something about the boy in front of him. “So…do you like that clothing?” Max asks, gesturing slightly before pulling back: maybe that was rude of him of course he’d like the clothing if he was dressed in it.


“I mean… UH” to make matters worse, his voice slightly cracked at the end and he fidgeted, covering his face with his hair by looking down.
 
Things are dark, and it seems a spotlight is overhead. The light coveres a radius of about one foot around Kurt, and he stands there trying to analyze his situation. Suddenly the light expands and he is in a room, his dining room, and his parents are finishing up meal preparations. It feels like life is normal again, and what just happened was only a nightmare, one that for some reason was hard to remember.


"Kurt, we're about to eat. Sit down." His mom said with a with her usual smile. Kurt smirked and walked to his place at the table and took a seat. They did the usual, sat down, said grace, talked about school and neighborhood shenanigans. His plate was set with baked chicken, steamed vegetables, and a little bit of Jasmine rice. Everything felt so right at the moment, until this unfavorable, but familiar smell leaked into his nose. Soon the scenery started to dim, and his food flashed between what it was, to raw flesh and needles. He look at his parents and they were laughing together in their normal manners, but suddenly another flash an their bodies were covered in gore of others, their faces had taken on crazed crooked smiles.


Kurt was ready to run, his body felt strained and suddenly he made it for the door. Suddenly his dad came flying at him, his father's hands clutched onto Kurts shoulders, pushing him straight into a wall. Thrusting his son back and forth against the wall with a tight grip, his father's face looked blood thirsty, and Kurt felt his body well up in fright. Suddenly he heard a voice, "Hey... Hey..."


Kurt's eyes had bursted open along with his arms pushing the boy in front of him off, naturally confused at his situation. Kurt almost screamed, but instead he made made a set of frightened grunts, and tried to catch his breath. It was all just a nightmare, but no he was only in another one. He looked at his surroundings and saw the people from before, in the parking lot. His breathing was still uneven and his body was shivering, but he looked at everyone and tried to his best to talk. "Hi..." He said, his hopes that they were only in his same situation, and not as crazy as the other adults he's seen.
 
The boy is shivering and looks very frightened, as he looks between the three of them, and when he speaks, he seems to have difficulty forming the one syllable word. Jared backs away from him slowly, wanting to give him space, to make sure the boy knows that he doesn’t intend to hurt him. How many other people in the building might still be alive?


“He’s awake!” Leigh hissed loudly, as though the boy couldn’t hear, and Angelina simply stared at him with round eyes, gripping her sister’s hand loosely and making no protest even when Leigh squeezed hard.


“Shh, just be still…you’re going to scare him if you talk loudly, Leigh,” Jared murmured to his sister, but kept an eye on the boy as he spoke to him softly. He didn’t want him to think they were threatening and either bolt or try to attack, though attacking seemed unlikely. The boy was so terrified he was actually grunting aloud.


He made sure to keep his hands where the boy could see as he moved further from him, towards his sisters, and spoke to him softly, standing mostly in front of them, just in case.


“We won’t hurt you…these are my sisters. I’m Jared, and this is Leigh and Angelina. We call her Angie mostly,” Jared continued, and he reached behind him, taking hold of both their hands to make sure they stayed back. “Are you hurt?”


He looked the boy over, still seeing no signs of injury, and then slowly began to move with the girls, tugging them away from the boy, further down the hall. “We’re just going to get cleaned up…if you want to come…you can. We have two more people in the cafeteria…you can go with them too. We put away all the bodies in there, so it’s safe, and clean…whatever you want. But none of us…none of us are like them out there.”


He was relieved when Leigh and Angelina both went with him and were quiet, though frequently glancing back at the boy. He walked slowly, waiting to see if he would follow, talk, or remain where he was. His main concern now, though, was to make sure his sisters were safe…just in case.
 
Kurt looked at the boy, listening to his words, and slowly his breathing became usual. He couldn't help his shivering at the moment, but eventually that would calm down as well. For some reason he felt like a deer, at least in their perspective he might as well been. He looked down, after listening to the boys words some more, as the three people retreated slowly.


"Name's Kurt... Did you guys..." He paused for a little bit, wanting to ask about the situation, about their parents, about everything. Everything had happened so quickly though, maybe they know only as much as he knows now. So he retreated from that question and recovered with another, "Did you guys find food? I-I'm really hungry." He felt useless only saying that, so he carried on, "I can cook. Maybe I'll just wait for got you guys here and we can go to the cafeteria and make something together." He smiled half heartedly, hoping his deer like image of himself would just go away. He clasped his hands together and leaned against the walls.


He noticed his clothes were actually much dirtier than he thought, since he'd been laying low on the dirt for so long, earlier. It didn't bother him, though, it's something he'll worry about later. Why did he feel he could suddenly trust them...? Most of the kids were dead, these people in front of him weren't, they seemed to have gone through the same things he has. There was little reason not to trust them, plust the youngest girl, Angie, looked harmless. Jared seemed okay, and Leigh... seemed afraid of him, only a bit, but with good reason.
 
Now that the boy- Kurt- was stringing sentences together, and seemed logical, not likely to run or attack, as Jared has been watching for, Jared stops, still holding the girls’ hands, and half turns back towards him, relieved. He guesses that if he had been unconscious, he would be pretty shocked when he woke up too. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to ask him any further questions…it seems like a really good idea, in fact, to talk about what was going on now, and what had happened in the past, as little as possible. Keeping everyone as calm as they can, under the circumstances, is obviously the way to go.


The boy is asking about food, and Jared answers after some thought, nodding. “Yeah, there’s plenty of food here, I mean, it’s a school, right? Vending machines, there’s a snack bar, there’s stuff in…well…we…one freezer is…full,” he said vaguely, not wanting to mention the bodies again in front of the girls, at the risk they might get upset again. “But the other we can use the food out of it. Yeah, why don’t you go into the cafeteria with the others and I’ll get my sisters taken care of and come back to you guys?”


“I don’t need you to- “ Leigh started, but then stopped herself, thinning her lips together. It appeared that she had rethought her statement and come to the conclusion that she did indeed want her brother looking out for her, and in fact her fingers tightened slightly around Jared’s hand. Angelina’s remained limp, though her eyes did appear to be focused on Kurt rather than the bodies in the hallway.


“We’ll meet you there,” Jared said again, and he stooped to pick Angelina up, having to let go of Leigh’s hand to carry her. He raised an eyebrow for her to follow him as he started his way down the hall again, and Leigh stood for a moment, still looking back at Kurt with growing curiosity, before almost darting after her brother, not wanting to be left behind.


Jared was thinking of the lost and found box in the front office, so he could get clothes for them all to change into out of the dirty, bloody ones they were currently wearing. It would feel amazing to be able to change, maybe even shower, to feel just a little more removed from the death still all around them. He wasn’t sure how he would find something for Angelina in a high school lost and found box, but they’d have to make do.


There were far fewer bodies at the front of the school, only one or two, in fact, probably because, as Jared had thought, the majority of students staying after school had been in the detention room, gym, or weight room, all which were located in proximity to each other. Still, he told Angelina to close her eyes as he carried her into the office, opening the closet where extra school t-shirts, jackets, and hoodies were stored that could be purchased at school events, and also the lost and found items.


It was simple enough to find himself a clean t shirt and pair of gym shorts that fit, and getting Leigh a small t-shirt and female’s gym shorts wasn’t difficult either, though they were both baggy on her. Angelina was harder; there simply was nothing that would reasonably fit a six-year-old there, and in the end Jared selected a t-shirt for her that would fall below her knees, serving as a dress of sorts.


The girls were still quiet as Jared escorted them to the nearest bathroom. He was thankful to see that there were no bodies inside it, and decided then that when he could get a chance, he would begin moving bodies again, putting them in one room, once the girls were settled. He didn’t like the thought of having to start up again, and also didn’t like the possibility of leaving Leigh with Max without him there to watch, but they couldn’t just leave the bodies everywhere if they were staying here any length of time.


The bathroom was a boys’ room, and that was Angelina’s first comment as she looked up, eyeing the urinal against the wall.


“What’s that?” she says softly, her eyes on it, and Jared is surprised but grateful to hear her.


“This is the boys’ bathroom!” Leigh exclaims, but one look at Jared stops her.


“Leigh, go help Angie get herself changed and cleaned up in the biggest stall,” he tells her.


“HELP her, she can change herself…she’s old enough, she-“ Leigh started, but all it took for her to give in was Jared saying her name again in a slightly raised voice. As she disappears into the stall with Angelina, Jared changes quickly, then scrubs his hands again at the sink before his sisters finally emerge, Angelina looking very small and almost swallowed inside her shirt. Jared picks her up to hold her up to the sink, telling her to wash her hands, then helps her dry them before putting her down again.


“I guess we should go back with the others now,” he says, turning towards the door, but when Leigh does not immediately follow, he stops, looking back at her. “Leigh…we’re going back now, okay?”


But Leigh is staring into the mirror, her mouth slightly open, her eyes darker and lost than they had been before. Her hair is hanging limply into her face, there are dark smudges beneath her eyes, and mascara is smeared almost like a panda’s face about her eyes as well. She looks very tired, very frightened, and very, very young…and when Jared finally looks at himself in the mirror as well, he is startled to see that his own face is not so different in appearance than hers.


“Why is this happening?” she asks, her voice very small. “Why are they doing this to us?”


Her voice catches, and she bites her lip, her eyes averting at last from the mirror. And Jared…he can think of nothing to say.


Why /was/ this happening…what was going on?


“I don’t know, Leigh,” he said finally, his voice gentle, and he reached to pat her shoulder before taking her hand in his, reaching for Angelina’s with the other. “I’m sorry…I just don’t know.”


As they walked back to join the others, the simplicity of her question would not leave his thoughts. Why WAS this happening…what did it mean?
 
Kurt glanced at the boy once more before he and his sisters went into the bathroom. He smiled, then noticed the younger sisters' and looked away, pushing himself off from the wall. He knew he had to tackle the staircase once more. He felt more ready this time, maybe it was thanks to Jared. He seemed like a good example, very brave, unlike himself who feels like a late bloomer to the situation. He takes deep breaths, only looking up towards the top of the stairs, carefully avoiding things in his peripherals.


Somehow, he managed to the top, and quietly opened the doors leading to the hallway. He sighed in relief, feeling a lot calmer, but still sort of hungry. Kurt walked to the cafeteria, trusting that there were people around, and they were safe. No one was there yet, possibly showering as Jared said before. He made his way to the kitchen not to waste time, and when he arrived the place was a bit messy. So he picked up a few things and rinsed them off, and set them.


Afterwards he managed to one of the freezers, stopping himself before opening. "... One of these is 'Full' ..." He remembered being told this. He couldn't figure out what that meant, but he was obviously diverted away from it. He looked at both, one being an industrial fridge, one being a large freezer room. He went towards the industrial fridge automatically since it was smaller, and found somethings he could work with. He looked around the kitchen some more, and there seemed to be some uncooked spaghetti noodles. "Spaghetti and meatballs?" There weren't a lot of fresh vegetables, but plently of canned sauces and meat. He started washing his hands.


After setting everything out, he began filling a pot up with water for the spaghetti noodles. Thinking of this meal, with all the canned foods, he felt thankful that he brought his own lunch to school. How his mom would prepare balanced meals so he was always ready for the rest of his day. Then he thought-- he wouldn't have that luxury anymore. His felt his body sink, but somehow managed to continue kitchen duties. He set the pot on the burner, but didn't light it, and went out to he cafeteria, to see if people were around. He heard footsteps so far, a large set of them, so they must've either been others or Jared, Leigh, and little Angelina. He stood behind a pillar just in case it wasn't them, since these recent situations left little to be secure about.
 
By the time Jared enters the cafeteria with his sisters, Angelina has lifted her head off his shoulder and is actually looking around as if coming awake, though her arm is still locked around his neck. Leigh lets go of his hand and runs forward towards Jillian and Max, hooking her arm through Max's as her brother goes to sit on top of a table, setting Angelina down beside him. The little girl climbs down and begins to wonder around the room seemingly aimlessly, occasionally stopping to stare at spots on the ground that Jared can see nothing different about from where he is sitting, but which he suspects must contain blood that has not been fully wiped.


He shudders before he can stop himself, tearing his eyes from Angelina to his other sister, who is talking to Max and Jillian, but mostly Max at a mile a minute speed.


"What have you been doing? You don't want new clothes? There's stuff in the lost and found, we even got a shirt for Angie. She's not wearing anything else, which is kind of gross, but we didn't have much choice. I mean the stuff is mostly old and dorky or kind of eh, nothing matches, but it's better than what we were wearing, there was stuff all OVER it, blood and....and...Max, it's going to be better, right? It's going to be okay? When we all wake up, everyone will be better, and we can just go home and maybe they'll go to jail but maybe some of them won't, and we'll be okay. Don't you think...don't you-"


It was then that Leigh noticed that Kurt had joined the others in the kitchen, that he seemed to be cooking. She pulled away from Max slightly, her eyes lighting up with interest. "You're cooking? What are you cooking? I thought guys didn't cook, Jared never does."


Overhearing her, Jared stood, glancing towards Angelina to make sure she was okay before walking closer to the others, observing Kurt's actions for himself and giving a quick, slightly forced smile, nodding in approval.


"That's a good idea, Kurt...Jillian, Max, this is Kurt."


He gives Max a hard look, as if to silently ask him to step away from Leigh, as he speaks. He's not actually hungry, and in fact can't imagine being able to eat. But if Leigh is hungry, and surely Angelina needs to eat too...and they have to do something to keep calm, to try to keep normal, even if nothing is.


But they need to do more than just cook...they need to be gathering everything they might need for supplies. Flashlights, candles, stuff to make up beds with...anything that could be used as a weapon, just in case. Maybe even barricading all possible entrances...


If they wanted to be safe, they had to start thinking ahead. Because they were now their only form of protection.
 
After peeking, all was well when he heard the three talking with another pair of voices. He let out a sigh and continued back to the kitchen. With a bit a sparkling ball of enthusiasm, Kurt was rushed to by Leigh with a bucket of questions on his cooking ability. "Uh. Yeah, I cook. I always helped ... with prepping. You seem like you want to help." She looked capable, and he looked up to Jared and some new faces. Max and Jillian were their names, as Jared introduced. "Thanks, man. Hi, I'm Kurt. It's nice to meet you." So far he's less flustered, more confident. Jillian and Max seemed comfortable, well max more than Jillian. He noticed Jared's hard stare towards Max, and he adverted his eyes for a second.


Kurt looks back to the older Trio, "Lets set up some plates and silver--no, Plasticware." He starts up the burner, and begins on the sauce for a bit by opening sauce cans. He looks at Leigh, "Do you know how to cut things, or want to prep salad?" Though there weren't enough fresh vegetable ingredients, there were plenty large bagged salads in the fridge. He looked at Angelina. He tried to say in a Kind voice, "Hey, want to help with drinks?" She reminded him of some of the kids he used to help during gymnastics camp. It was a little weird for Kurt since he was an only child, but he's had a decent amount of childhood interact. Plus Jared seemed to have a lot on his hands, already.


In the back of his head, he worried a bit about his parents, even though they were now murdering monsters, were they still alive? Were they going to be normal again? The water started boiling from the pot and he put the spaghetti in with a little twist, so it'd spiral around the pot. Then he stirred a bit and worked on the sauce, afterwards.
 
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