The Skylar Experiment : Beginnings

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Showdown (p.1)

Dear readers, we have made it to the last sequence of this book. It's been quite a ride since I came back to WP with the story. I've met amazing fellow writers who have helped me since Day 1, awesome readers (that includes all of you 😉) and just stumbled across hilarious accounts. My writing is, of course, still a work in progress and I wish to continue improving it. 

There are three last official chapters left. Time to grab a snack, get comfy with a blanket and scroll away! 

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I AMBLED DOWN a dimly lit corridor in the basement, my shaky breath and echoey footsteps as my only companions. The Wanderers might suspect that this was a trap. I was never alone, but the occasion was too rare to let this pass. They couldn't not try to come and get me.

Luc and his friends blocked the stairs and patrolled from afar, ready to spring into action. The basement had been a natural choice. The upper floors had windows, an inconvenience that would have been dumb to neglect. Even with me being anxious about being in this position, I knew they wouldn't let anything happen. Luc himself had been clear about it. 

Wanderers had a sense of unity. I'd witnessed how the death of their own affected them when Luc killed one. Now, the goal was to get at least one sucker inside, then trap it. It wouldn't have a choice but to call his comrades to save him, and then the hard part would be to exterminate them all. 

My palms were sweaty as my pulse pumped in my veins. Every creak startled me, and I'd twist to find that the source of the noise was a ceiling pipe. I gave off the appearance that I was distracted—or tried at least. For credibility's sake, I settled at a lone table and took out homework from my bag, and felt like I was slowly losing my mind. 

The math question seemed to judge me then, and if I caved under the pending fear, the floor would burn. I wrapped a sweaty palm around the pen. Over and over again, I read the same sentences but they never made any sense. 

I flipped a page. The basement air seemed to crack under the sound of it. 

I looked down at my phone. It had been fifteen nerve-wracking minutes. What if they didn't show up?

I couldn't remember that darn symbol in the formulas, so my throat clicked under an excruciating swallow and I caught my head between my hands. Lightning blue eyes streamed in my mind the moment I welcomed the weakness. The feel of the saw-toothed bite sinking into flesh tingled along my forearm, so accurately real it almost knocked me off the bench. 

And there was Emma... that sickening gurgle as the nurse injected her with medicine and the blindness in her gaze. I leaned over the pages of my notebook. 

Five more minutes trickled by until the lights began flickering. I stopped writing and raised my head. That prickling chill rolled down my spine, and I knew deep down they had infiltrated the school. I looked at each end of the hall, but I saw nothing yet. My fingers numbed, causing the pen in my grip to quiver. 

My phone vibrated. Once. Twice. I checked my texts, fighting against the primal urge to get up and run.

They're circling around you. Watch out.

I willed an oblivious expression and pretended to focus on my textbook, rereading a sentence or two and still recording zilch. It was only when a vague cry echoed from one end of the hall, then the other, that I understood that the creatures were trying to close in on me like a sandwich. 

I rose from my seat, fingers curling inward. My entire being screamed at me to leave. It was too late for that.

The first Wanderer skulked in at my left, then the second appeared across from it. They seemed to be grinning, delighted at this golden opportunity—to find me unprotected.