Act 1: Groundskeeper: Chapter 8

I looked at Den, and he looked back at me, his brown eyes narrowing and making his expression unreadable

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” He said, turning to face the direction from which the noise came, towards the desert biome.

“Head towards the loud, obviously dangerous gunshot?” I said, rolling my eyes at how stupid it sounded.

He turned back to look at me with a smirk on his face. “Exactly.” He then took off running in the direction of the gunshot and desert biome.

I sighed and ran off after him, struggling to keep up. We ran for about two to three minutes before there was another gunshot, and someone screamed. Someone who sounded like-

“Wren!”

“Huh?” He stopped and turned around to look at me. “Is that Bl- the girl you were with?”

“Yes, that was her. We need to hurry.”

I continued running, and this time it was Den who was struggling to keep up. After we ran for a bit more, Den let out a sudden shriek, and I stopped, nearly losing my balance and stumbling into the mouth of a giant gaping hole in the ground that seemed to come out of nowhere.

“Thanks,” I said as he caught up and bent over, panting from exhaustion. “I wasn’t paying attention and I would’ve gone right over the edge.”

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“No- Huff- problem- Huff.”

“Well, shit,” I said, turning to address the giant hole in the ground. “It would take way too long to go around; we need to find some way to get across.”

“Don’t worry, I got this.” He said, standing back up. He then stretched his arms out, and the trees seemed to come alive, well, more alive than they already were. The trees bent down, forming a bridge for us to cross the gap. We ran across, and as our feet hit the ground on the other side, the trees snapped right back up like a slingshot.

“Was that your Parability?” I asked him.

“Yes, I can control plants. What's your Parability?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Oh.” He was silent for a moment. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s not like it’s your fault. Besides, all it does is make me the special one, not everyone else.”

Then there were two more gunshots in rapid succession, followed by a loud, bloodcurdling scream. I started running again, leaving Den in the dust with no hope of keeping pace this time. Gradually, the jungle faded into the desert. The bleeding of polar opposite biomes was surreal, but I didn’t have time to admire it. I didn’t even have time to think about it. Eventually, I saw Wren. She was about fifty yards away on top of a dune, but I knew it was her. Both of her arms had been mangled, and a chunk of her right leg was gone. Where there should have been blood, there was black, wispy ink instead.

“WREN!!” I screamed, somehow running faster than I had before. Den had just managed to catch up to me, only to be left behind again.

I was about ten yards away when the boy with the blonde buzz cut, grey eyes, and glasses came up the dune behind her, holding a shotgun. My face paled as I tripped and fell, getting a mouthful of sand. I looked back up just in time to see him grab Wren, put the barrel of the shotgun to her head, pull the trigger, and blow her head off.