The Gate Keeper: updates on hold until further notice

5. An awakening

The sliding glass doors at the Academy entrance revealed nothing more than Luce's own disheveled reflection against the darkness of the night. Wide earthy eyes darting over her surroundings like a wary field mouse on the lookout for cunning predators. She trailed a hand through her hair, her fingers tangled in knots. She had no solid plan for where she would go, and without any of her things. She couldn't risk being caught as she searched the entire Academy for her back pack which held nothing sentimental to her, just a change of clothes. She didn't need a solid plan, she didn't need a change of clothes. She'd been in this position only a couple of days ago, with the chance to escape dressed in her prison sweats, her face blackened with smudges of soot from the fire. She hadn't hesitated then. She took a determined step forward.

The doors opened automatically. Luce didn't have time to scream. She hadn't seen the two girls sitting in the dark of night as the doors opened. Startled by the rapid movement of a turning head, a girl with skin like coffee and cream, wild hair and feral eyes - something shone within the girls sight for half a second, a flicker of light, a dawning of some kind - she was wrapped in a woolen blanket which she discarded on the ground as she lept up from her perch on the steps. A second girl, pale with ebony hair looked up at Luce like she'd seen a ghost. No, not a ghost Luce thought something much much worse.

Luce took a couple of steps backwards. Before she could process the girls intentions she was being rushed at by a crazed maniac, screeching like a wild cat. There was only enough time for Luce to bar her arms in front of her body as she braced for the impact.

What on ... Huff!

The air was knocked from her lungs, catapulted and spat out like fire. Luce hit the cold hard floor with a relentless force. Stars danced in and out of her vision among a blackened fog that seemed to seep over her entire body, pinning her down as two strong hands grasped her throat. Boney frail fingers wrapped around her neck with alarming strength, as her head pounded off the ground with a vigorous force. The crazy wild haired bitch was going to kill her!The sound of water gushed into her ear drums. For a moment Luce felt with a dreaded certainty that she was drowning, though she felt nothing wet against her skin, she realised the sound was nothing more than her own blood.

Tasha felt like someone had switched on a light, but the fuse had bust, the bulb shattered, an explosion of electrical sparks and shards of glass scattering and falling, but the embers fell on to gasoline and just like that flames erupted and everything was ignited. Remembering was painful, burning raw and angry. She didn't care that she rushed towards her certain death. She shouldn't have survived the first time. This bitch thought she could return, to what? Finish what she'd started two years ago? Hell no! The girl was crazy if she thought Tasha wouldn't put up a fight, fueled by the revenge of every girl she'd murdered here that night. That strength was other worldly! She'd seen this girl toss the bodies of her friends carelessly to one side as though they weighed nothing more than air. Put with only the force of Tasha's body pinning the murderer too the ground, her hands with fingers like pythons wrapped around her throat, constricting, tightening, making the girl turn blue in the face as she struggled, but to no avail. She couldn't push Tasha from her goal. She would die.

Something was wrong. Marnie tried helplessly to pull Tasha's unyielding force off the girl below her. The girls lips were turning blue and her eyes had gone all blood shot making her look even more like the monster Marnie thought she'd been and Tasha was convinced she was. There was no way that this was the same girl who had slaughtered their friends. She was weak, and more obviously she was human, she needed air to breath that much was clear. Elise didn't need to breath to survive, she only needed death, blood and pain.

It dawned over Tasha that this was all too easy. The girls lungs fought for air, a pulse pounded softly beneath Tasha's fingers.

Luce felt the burning air rushing down her windpipe, flooding her lungs once more. Her attackers weight lifted from her chest and Luce scrambled backwards. Her vision still compromised with flashing stars as the world began to filter in to view. Luce clambered up and ran like her life depended on it out of the doors.

"Wait!" Tasha called as Marnie's hand came to rest on her shoulder. Turning to face her friends inquisitive stare, Tasha smiled and nodded, "I'm ok." she promised Marnie, as she turned to watch the girl disappearing through the jungle. "We have to go after her."

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Sorry guys, this chapter isn't quite complete or as smooth as I'd like it to be. But I missed last weeks deadline, and I felt like I needed to put something up here. I'd hoped to give you two complete chapters to get back on track, but life is pretty hectic at the moment.

I had a second part to this chapter hashed out where Marnie refused to enter the Jungle and Luce went on alone, but that would suck right? So I'm rewriting a more epic adventure in that tiny space of jungle in the middle of the Savannah, that will involve all three girls. There may be brown eyes lurking there too :P

Thank you for reading! Please stay with me, I'll update as often as I get the chance to.