After the meeting with his old friend group, Noah watched MC walking back toward school to grab their stuff.
“You coming or what?” – he heard Ava talking to him.
“Uh. Yeah.” – he joined her and Andy, as they started walking toward the Main Street.
“Hey bro, I didn’t know you felt abandoned by us after Jane… You know.” – the Asian boy said by his side.
“Yeah… I know.” – his hands shoved in his pockets.
“Anyway, I’m sorry for not being there. I think all of us were pretty shocked by her death and each one dealt with it in a different way. But I can’t imagine how much you must have suffered by your own.”
“Yeah, Kang’s right. Sorry for not being there. You must’ve felt pretty messed up.” – Ava said, a hint of guilty in her face.
“If I knew…”
They stopped in front of Gunther’s Hardware.
“Hey Andy, Ava. It’s okay. Now, let’s focus on saving Dan.” – he forced a comforting smile. – “But thanks. Uh, for saying this.” – the other boy smiled at him. – “And I’m sorry for making fun of you earlier tonight.”
“’s fine, Noah. We’re even.”
“If you start hugging each other, I don’t know either of you.” – the girl said, making Andy laugh.
“Come here, Ava!”
“Don’t get near me, Kang!”
Noah smiled a little, watching the scene. It almost felt like nothing has changed.
As if Jane was here.
If Jane was here…
“Sorry, got held up by some Britney drama. Ready to head out?” – MC arrived a few minutes later, as Ava grabbed her phone to call her dad.
“I was thinking we should gear up before we go. That dirt monster that came after you could still be out there… plus who knows what else.”
“Good point… if Mr. Red is back, we should be ready for anything.”
Then, Ava extended her phone to MC and a whole weird exchange happened. When it was finally over, he asked them if they could go get some hardware.
“Yeah, better be ready to defend ourselves from all those spoooooooky bushes.” – Andy said.
“Very funny.”
It was not funny.
As soon as they entered the hardware store, MC seemed to recognize the guy behind the counter. Noah had the impression to know him, although he couldn’t remember from where.
But that blonde guy and MC seemed to be too close for his taste.
Noah suddenly mentally ordered himself to stop with that. Why he was so shaken by that? MC was a nice and pretty person, of course they would have some fans.
He decided to go see the aisles near the back of the store.
A little while later, MC was there with him.
“So, have you finally stopped chatting with that guy behind the counter?” – he asked, pretending to be too busy looking at the aisles.
“That guy is Stacy’s older brother. Do you remember him? He used to play with us, sometimes.”
“Connor Green?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh. I didn’t know you guys were so close…”
They turned to him.
“Are you jealous?” – they asked suddenly, a sly smile on their lips.
He felt his cheeks getting slightly hot.
“N-no! Of course I’m not.”
MC chuckled.
“Yeah. I can see it in your face, Beanie Boy.” – crap. He knew he was blushing. Crap. – “ Anyway… finding anything useful?”
“Not unless you wanna go after Mr. Red with a bunch of duct tape and twine.”
MC laughed halfheartily as they moved to scan the shelves on the other side. It was not his intention to make them laugh, but he didn’t regret it.
He actually felt a little better. Less anxious about going into the woods, at least.
“I don’t know how you can be so calm. I’m on the verge of a breakdown over here.” – MC said, softly.
“Calm isn’t the word I’d use. I just… I have to know…” – they looked at him.
“Hey… You can tell me anything. You know that, right?” – he sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyes.
“This has been haunting me for years, MC. What we did… what he did.”
He didn’t look in her eyes when he said those words. He couldn’t.
If Jane was here…
His hands started shaking after a memory of the whole gang playing in the woods with Redfield. Jane in her blue dress, giggling and calling him and MC…
If Jane was here…
Noah clenched his teeth, shaking himself to push away those painful memories of a happier time.
“Yeah… me too.” – he heard MC mutter.
“Mom blames me, you know. For Jane… And for Dad leaving right after.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“It is. She’s said it to my face. Regularly, actually.” – at least once a week, to be more specific.
“Noah, I’m so sorry…”
He shrugged again. He was used to it. It kind of was his fault, anyway. He was supposed to take care of Jane, after all.
If Jane was here…
“The worst part is that… this sounds lame as hell, but the day I lost my sister, I lost my whole family. My mom, you guys… everyone.” – he said, his voice getting lower and lower.
“Noah… You didn’t lose me.” – he looked at MC. They had that determination look in their eyes that he knew so well. – “I’m here for you now, and I always will be.”
A small smile appeared on the boy’s lips.
“That’s corny. Also, not true.”
“Trying to have a moment here, Beanie Boy.” – MC smiled back at him, before putting a comforting hand in his arm, their face frowning. – “I never wanted all of us to fall apart. I hope it’s not too late for us to come back together.”
Noah shrugged indifferently, but they could see another smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Anything’s possible.” – he answered simply.
Just exchanging some words with them was enough to make him feel better.
“I wish things were different…”
“Yeah. Me too.”
If Jane was here…
The two of them continued to browse the aisle in silence, until Ava appeared with Andy, calling out for MC:
“Yo, MC, ready to have your mind blown?”
The girl was holding up a barbed wire baseball bat in her hands.
“Someone’s been playing too many zombie shooters.” – the Asian boy said, making fun of her.
“Ignore this philistine. He’s just jealous of how totally badass you’ll look swinging this around.
MC took the baseball in her hands, smiling at it.
“Niiiiiice. It clobbers, it shreds, it bashes in dirt monsters brains.”
“Damn… yeah, that’ll work. You gonna get it?” – Noah asked, impressed by the weapon.
“Hell yeah I getting it!”
“A bat like that has to have a name.”
“You’re right, Ava. I’ll name it ‘Lucille’.”
“’Lucille’? I like it.” – Ava smiled, agreeing with the name.
“Of course you liked it.” – Noah said, with a small smile on his lips.
“Looks like you’re not the only one who’s obsessed with zombies.” – Andy laughed.
“We all done here?” – MC asked, looking to their friends faces.
“Yeah…” – Noah answered, loitering next to a shelf full of flashlights.
“Did you wanna get something?” – MC asked him, to his surprise.
“Guess I was just thinking about how dark it’s gonna be in there. I don’t love the idea of something sneaking up on us…” – he picked up a heavy black flashlight, giving in a couple of swings. – “This one could even double as a club!” – but then, he looked at the price tag and flinched, before putting it back on the shelf. – “Uh, never mind. I’ll be fine…”
“I’ve got this.” – MC said, picking up the flashlight and pressing it into his hands. – “Call it an ealry birthday gift, Beanie Boy.”
“Seriously? Thanks, MC!”
“Don’t mention it.” – they smiled at him, before walking up to the front of the store, and Connor ringed them up.
“Find everything you need?”
“Yeah, I think we’re set.”
“Alright, then. See you around, MC.”
“Definetly.”
Noah didn’t like the way MC answered and smiled at the blonde boy, but said nothing.
And the four teenagers stepped out into the cool night…
The group followed back roads out of town until they found themselves standing at the edge of the dark woods. Andy and Ava looked pretty confident, talking the whole time.
MC gave a few experimental swings on the barbed wire bat:
“Alright, now I’m ready for anything!”
Andy and Ava entered the woods first. Noah followed them, and then MC.
He could feel MC trailing behind him and he felt somewhat secure, just knowing that they were close.
“At least we can see where we’re going…” – MC said, the bright beam of Noah’s flashlight illuminating the path.
“Well, this place is as creepy as ever.”
“I don’t know. It feels almost like… home.”
Without saying anything else, she started wandering to another direction.
“MC? Where are you going?”
“You don’t hear that? It’s coming from this way…”
He followed MC a few feet behind toward the base of an old, twisted tree. When he stopped by their side, MC was staring down at something in their hand…
He felt his heart stop when he recognized what she was holding: Jane’s whistle, its tarnished surface was gleaming in the moonlight.
“Is that…”
“I thought it was lost.” – MC’s hands were trembling.
He put his free hand on their shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. MC looked at him with a grateful look in her eyes.
Ava and Andy came soon after.
“Whoa, where’d that come from?” – Andy asked, recognizing the whistle, while Ava just muttered “weird”.
“It was her birthday present. If she ever got into trouble all she had to do was blow it, and… and…”
Suddenly, Noah heard something. In the woods.
“You hear that?”
They all stopped speaking, holding their breath.
And then, they heard something moving along with the wind.
And he saw it.
He grabbed hold of MC’s forearm, startling them.
“Don’t… move…” – he muttered through clenched teeth, paralyzed by the fear.
MC followed his petrified gaze. Twenty feet down the path, transfixed in the beam of his flashlight, there was a twisted creature of vines and bone.
“That’s not a dirt monster.”
“That’s a skeleton. A walking skeleton.” – Ava whispered.
“Oh hell no. I did not sign up for this.” – Andy muttered, as the creature advanced, a gob of sticky, yellow saliva dripping from its jaws.
“MC, wh-what do we do?” – Noah asked, looking for her guidance.
Suddenly, the crature lunged forward, barking at them.
“RUN!”
Panicked, they all started running, crashing through branches and undergrowth on either side. Dodging around a fallen tree, another hulking shape loomed up in front of them, blocking their path!
“Aaah!” – MC screamed and made a sharp left turn. Howling, the creature fell in beside the first creature, skeletal limbs clicking as they ran.
Noah noticed to where they were going to…
“MC, we need to turn around! We’re heading straight for the ruins!”
“Crap, you’re right! Come on—“ – MC moved to the right, but one of the creatures surged forward, blocking they back onto the path. – “I think they’re herding us! They want us to go to the ruins!”
“And they don’t want us to find Dan!” – he concluded.
Still running, MC quickly glanced around, watching the creatures.
“Alright, on my signal… We’ll go right! They obviously don’t want us to go that way…”
“…So that’s where we need to go.” – they both shared a nod in agreement.
“Ready… Now!”
Steeling themselves, they all made a sudden, hard turn to the right, dodging past the mossy creature. Covering their faces, they crashed through a thick wall of bushes, before finding themselves in a quiet, moonlit clearing.
“Yo, we’ve gotta keep moving. Those freaky skeleton things are right behind us!” – Andy said nervously.
“We need to find Dan, fast. What if those things are after him too?” – the boy with the beanie said, out of breath.
“Yeah, about that…”
They followed Ava’s gaze… and saw another skeletal creature across the clearing, crouching over a still figure lying in the dirt.
“Oh my god… Dan?!”
“Hey! Get away from him!” – he screamed at the vine creature, who let go of Dan’s leg and lifted its head to snarl at them.
Answering growls could be heard from all around, and suddenly the woods were full of burning amber eyes and glinting teeth…
Noah realized too late that it was not the brightest idea.
“Get ready… we can’t let them take Dan.” – MC said, their fist tightening around Lucille, barbed wire glittering wickedly in the moonlight.
“This is not the way I thought today was going to go…” – Andy said, with a grin on his lips, cracking his knuckles and bouncing on the balls of his feet. – “But hey, beats homework.”
“Heh, I guess so.” – the girl agreed with him, while Ava stooped down to pull a long knife out of her boot.
“What the— where’d that come from?!”
“Given that knives at school are an expulsion-level offense, let’s say ‘the hardware store’.” – she calmly answered Noah.
“Glad you came prepared.” – MC said and then looked at him.
Noah’s knuckles whitened as he shifted his grip on his flashlight.
“I’m ready.” – he muttered, staring at the mossy creatures in the woods.
“Then let’s do this.” – MC took a deep breath before yelling. – “Witness me!”
At the sound of their voice, the plant creatures sprang into action, closing in from all sides.
Using his flashlight as a weapon, Noah smashed it against the creatures heads. While he, Andy and Ava were fighting the monsters, MC sprinted to where Dan lied unconscious.
“I’m sick… of these freaking… WOODS!” – he wailed on the last creature, already on the floor, after hitting it square in the jaw with his flashlight. MC reached him just as the creature gave a final twitch before going limp. The boy put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. – “That’s right… you stay down.”
“Well done, Beanie Boy.” – MC said, smiling proudly at him. He looked at them and smiled too, suddenly feeling less tense.
The clearing went still and it seemed like nothing else wanted to kill them.
“We’re… okay?”
“Don’t know if I’d go that far. I mean, we just got attacked by zombie plants skeletons.” – Andy observed, while Ava gave the pile of bones at her feet a few more stomps for good measure.
“I’m good.” – she said.
“I’m fine. It’s him I’m worried about.” – Noah pointed to Dan, still lying on the floor.
MC kneeled down next to the uncoscious boy, gently brushing leaves and dirt from his face, while the other three remained standing a few feet away, in guard to see if anything would attack them again. Dan and MC exchanged a few rushed words.
“No…” – MC muttered, scrambling away from the boy.
Noah rushed toward her, kneeling by their side. MC looked at him, with a terrified expression on their face.
“MC?! What is it? What did he say?”
MC shook their head, unable to speak as Dan’s eyes flutter closed and he went still once more, with a final sigh.