Chapter 1
Daniel was all set to move out. Harold came behind him with two puke green tattered backpacks --both stuffed to the point of breaking--and set one on Daniel. Jessica and Randy staggered into the scene, groggy from an interrupted sleep. Daniel motioned for the rest of the group to take a formation behind him. They covered an empty school courtyard, massive enough to host a football game or two, the quiet eerily taking over the atmosphere. To the left, weeds broke through concrete, reaching for the a non-ecistent sun behind bronken and low-hung gray clouds. To the right, the sad sky stretched on
"Are we there yet?" Jessica was whining to whoever would listen. Incidentally, that was nobody.
"We'll get there when we get there, Jessica. If you wanna navigate, however, I say all for it. Here." Daniel passed her a scratched ring, dull to the ordinary eye. All Jessica did was stare, with the other three impatiently bouncing to get a move on.
A few seconds passed. "Nah, I'm good," She passed the ring back, "but how the hell does that thing work?" The group had started moving past the courtyard, into the school's smallest building.
Daniel was silent for a moment as he slipped it back on his right ring finger , then, "It'll take too long to explain. We've got a lot of work to do, in a short amount of time, ok?" How cliché, Daniel thought to himself. Jessica opened her mouth to snap back, like she normally does, but something about Daniel today put her off.
They had shifted into a hallway that had all the lockers open, most of the doors ripped off the hinges, and the same eerie silence that had taken its toll on the mood moments earlier.
Then, Daniel dropped to a knee and motioned for silence from everyone. Something was moving. He reached to his backpack frantically. Very quickly, he found what he was looking for: a ballistic knife and a napkin. The other boys backed away, except for Randy. He had been with Daniel long enough to know what came next.
He watched, grinning on the inside, as Daniel slowly crept forward taking a new stance. For the last part he closed his eyes and motioned for Donnie and Harold to do the same. Daniel grabbed something that ,to the human eye, was invisible, and with a swift motion ended the wriggling in his arms. Then a heavy thud echoed out, like a bowling ball striking a hollow wood floor. He took the napkin and dropped it on the floor. Moments later an amber liquid soaked into it, just out of nowhere. Now Daniel would motion for everyone to turn around as a whirring sound and a fading whine killed the silence.
Daniel grabbed the still invisible thing, crunched it into a smaller shape with his hands and dropped it in his pocket, so no one would take it.
"What was...h-how..Whe-..What?" Harold was shocked. Daniel turned around and looked him in the eye. He still said nothing, signaling now was not the time to talk. He couldn't look at any of them, even Randy. He then looked up, his expression pulling into a tighter frown, his right eye doing a barely noticable twitch. "Now, if you don't mind, It's best we get out of here." There was a sound of rushing footsteps, a squeak of a rusted door, and they were gone.
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He heard people running and a rusty door squeak twice. He would go for help, but there was not an ounce of strength to be had. The most he could do at this point would be to shuffle silently. Two weeks with no food, drips of water from cracks, and smelly mold bulging from all crevices. His eyes closed and he tried to make his last thoughts of home. But what home?...Well, then, better times...Yes, better times...He leaned back, shut his eyes, and gave in.
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Kathrine's comment: Sorry, but the intense punctuating is distracting from the story! try to break up some of the five comma sentences into separate sentences so it flows better. The prologue is amazing, by the way.
