FULL ECLIPSE (Book #2)

𝕿𝖜𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖍 𝖔𝖓𝖊

I slowly lift my eyelids, expecting to see the lake, the trees, Bray... But only our school's cafeteria greets me. I look to my side, expecting to also see an M1911 in my hand, but weirdly enough, it's the crumpled-up piece of paper that was spiralling towards me. I must've caught it without realising it, like a reflex. I drop the ball of paper and it rolls a few feet away from me. I stand there hopelessly, like some weirdo, staring at the ground, whilst everyone else stares at me. I hear a chair being pushed back, followed by quiet footsteps and soft arms embracing me.

Carmen's hugging me.

I can tell from the vanilla scent of her platinum-blonde hair. I fall apart in her warm embrace. Finally, I'm somewhere safe, somewhere sound... She peers into my brown eyes with those big turquoise orbs of hers. Like some sort of motherly instinct, she places a piece of my bang behind my ear before bringing me into another hug. A second to all these people meant nothing, but within that second, my whole world came crumbling down – literally.

"Did they just 'dimension-shift'?" Bray whispers to Ella.

"'Jump', they call it 'jump'," Ella murmurs.

"He's infected," I sniffle, burying my face in Carmen's hair; I can't let anyone know that I'm crying, their baseball captain crying. "He's infected and Amber's pregnant and I've got no fucking clue what to do."

Carmen's hold weakens for a moment, then it tightens again. "Shh..." she coos. "We will figure it out."

Another chair is pushed back, more forcefully this time, followed by, "alright, everyone!" Jace claps, looking around the caf at all the other mindless students. "Show's over! Get back to eating your chicken & mayo sangers and talking shit!" He walks over to me and asks, "you good, Sylvester?"

I nod, "thanks, Jace." I go sit back down with the group. "Bray," I take a moment to breathe, "you hated your dad because he wasn't even your dad, just some deadbeat drunk your mum had to put up with. And about 'Paris 207', that girl, she saw your- " I clear my throat, "ballsack."

Bray gapes, his eyes wide open.

"Believe me now?" I ask him, on my last desperate attempt at getting him to believe.

"I-I-I-I-I," Bray stammers. "How, I mean, yeah how? How is any of this possible?"

"We don't know," I state concisely. "Which is precisely what we're tryna figure out. But we need you. I need you."

He takes a moment to contemplate like he still doesn't believe me, then finally, "summer camp busses are leaving on Sunday after the midterm exams. Meaning we all have to be on that, right?"

I smile, "yup," and then my smile fades from just looking at his sea-green eyes, it triggers resentment instead. "Y'all, I need to get some air," I leave the caf, ending up in the students' carpark.

"Dean," Bray follows me out. "You okay?"

I shake my head in annoyance and keep walking.

"Dean!"

"You know what, Bray?" I spin around. "No! No, I am not okay! And I don't get why everyone keeps asking me that when they know I'm not okay! But what's funny," I chuckle in irritation, "this time, you're the reason why I'm not okay!"

"Me?" Bray stands there, perplexed.

I clench my jaw, wanting to turn away and keep walking but a part of me just doesn't understand why, "why would you give up so easily?! Huh, Bray?! Just like that, hm? After all the shit we've been through, from this spot right here," I point down at the school grounds, "to the Moonlight's Diner, to the city, Monty's, Black Eden's Hill and the checkpoint!" I point into the distance. "Why fucking give up when WE WERE RIGHT THERE?!"

"Dean, I... What are you talking about?" he shakes his head. "My other self?"

I groan, "yes, Bray! Your other self is one piece of shit!"

"Hey, hey, hey," he steps forward, supportive. "Whatever the fuck happened in that world," he gestures to the side like 'that world' is right next to him, "we can fix it. We can fix anything."

"Not this, Bray..." I clench my jaw and look away. "You got infected."

"'Infected'?" he repeats. "Oh sweet Jesus," he runs his hands through his hair then holds his chin, thinking intently. "Alright, alright! Then we'll find a cure for me, something, anything. It's not the end of the world, Dean."

"That's what I said to you!" I snap, taking offence; the sudden optimism from him is something I could've used in the other world from his other self. "...Till you asked me to pull the trigger."

"Damn..." he says in disbelief. "Brah, you right, I do sound like a piece of shit, innit?"

"We'll find a cure," Carmen confirms, standing behind Bray with Ella by her side. "It's never too late, Dean."

"Yeah!" Bray hollers. "F-forget what the fuck my other self is telling you, man! You gotta save me! You gotta! I've been waiting for a zombie apocalypse for ages, I can't be dead in it."

I laugh or cry or both! I don't know!

"Dean!" Amber runs out of the caf with Jace. "Jace said something was up with you. What happened?"

I look at Jace and he shrugs. Did he have to tell her?

"Y'all ain't ready to hear it," I shake my head, parasympathetic mode settling in.

"Try me," Jace hands me my backpack that I left at the caf.

"Okay," I nod. "First of all, we all have to be on those buses for summer camp."

They all nod.

The 6 of them I started with, the 6 of them I ended up with. It's like we're all being drawn together because of our fate in the apocalyptic world. Does that mean me and Ella will also be drawn together again? But her and Mum, they can't be as ill-fated here as they were in the apocalyptic world, right?

"Hm?" Ella gazes at me.

"What?" I ask her.

"You said my name," she smiles.

"When?"

"Just then."

"Oh... I..."

I blink.

❖

Whiplash. The shockwave gives me whiplash as it rushes through me, and for a second, all I can hear is ringing in my ears. The bullet, on the other hand, spirals through a vortex and goes straight through his forehead. Brain matter spurts out like a slo-mo water balloon popping in midair. He crashes into the crystal blue lake, gradually submerging to the bottom of it, still and lifeless... However, was it ever alive in the first place?

"Dude!" Bray opens his eyes. "You didn't-"

"Shoot you?" I finish off for him. "Yeah, you wish!"

He looks over his shoulder to see the last of the lurker's hand sinking into the lake. It makes me wonder what other horrid things lie at the bottom of that enchanting body of water. Before Bray has the chance to fight back or disapprove, not that he even has any fight left in him to disapprove, I pull his arm over my shoulder and help him back to the clearing where the helicopter is waiting for us.

I can feel the scorching heat behind me, making the tiny cuts and scars all over my body burn. But it's not from the dying sun the heat's coming from but from the tsunami of blazing fire consuming anything in its path.

"Don't look back, Bray! I gotchu!" I jump onto the ladder with Bray.

"Hang on my wee whirlybird!" Uncle Emmett swoops the chopper back up into the sky with intense speed.

I take a glance underneath us to see that we were just millimetres off from turning into KFC. It's a full eclipse, just darkness and destruction. The rest pull the ropey ladder up, hauling us over. I fall flat on my back, tryna catch my breath because if I don't catch it anytime soon, my heart's gonna explode. Then, I hear a deep hoarse noise coming from beside me, followed by a bloodcurdling scream from Carmen. Bray... Everything in me pauses, everything in me tells me not to look to my side but I do so anyway.