REANIMATION

{18}

"Then come with me, if you truly believe in strength in numbers."

"I can't—." He insisted.

"Then you've made your choice. And I've made mine."

The sun slowly rose, peeking out from behind the horizon. Fanny hopped off the couch and made her way to the closet, opening it as quietly as she could muster. She began to shuffle through the items, looking for something that could carry a decent haul of supplies. Through a bit of digging that only took a few seconds, she spotted a backpack collecting dust in the very back of the closet. It was Pencil's backpack from earlier high school years. It had been relatively untouched from the year it had been used from what Fanny had seen, it even had all her chains and pins on it.

She hauled it out of the closet, holding it out in front of her. It was flattened and extremely light, thankfully empty.

She stood up, slinging the backpack over her shoulder and shutting the closet door before moving to the pantry. She collected multiple of the food cans (which had been restocked by Pencil and Match from earlier in the day) and shoved them into her backpack, as well as some other necessities. At last, once she thought she had gotten everything she needed, she zipped up the backpack and brought it over her back.

It's now or never.. I guess.

She rushed toward the door and fiddled with the lock, opening it up and rushing outside. The moment she felt the cold breeze hit her face, a wave of relief coursed through her. She turned around to look back at the open door. She grabbed onto it and went to shut it, but right before it closed all the way—

A foot shot between the wall and the door, preventing it from closing.

It took Fanny a few heartbeats to process, but once she did, she lurched backward with a gasp, "Wh—"

"Where are you going?"

The door flung aside, leaving the house wide open.

Pencil stared down at her condescendingly.

"Away," Fanny didn't even try to hide the truth from her, "from all of you."

"Are you that upset?" Pencil retorted, fury rising in her voice. She slipped on her shoes and stepped out the door, grabbing onto the harpoon. That made Fanny's heart nearly stop.

"What are you doing—"

"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised," Pencil ignored her, slowly inching closer. Her tone was low and hostile, "you always had a knack for overreacting."

"I'm not gonna be any threat, I'll be gone long before morning–,"

"Yeah, you're right. You aren't gonna be a threat."

"Just leave me alone!" Fanny shrieked, backing away. Her arms raised as her hands balled into fists defensively, "I'm going far away and I'm not coming back, don't you want me to be out of the way!?"

"That's never what I wanted," Pencil insisted, "I wanted you to have a place with us. I thought you could. Turns out I was dead wrong... but I guess I can't be too mad. I did always view you as expendable."

"Expendable? Is it because I didn't agree to the reckless murders!?"

"You can't keep yelling at me for that!" Pencil retorted, "So what if I killed them!? If they were too weak to stand up against me they deserved to die!"

"You killed a child!"

"That doesn't degrade my argument at all! It's survival of the fittest, and he just wasn't strong enoug—"

Fanny struck Pencil right across the face.

She slammed onto the grass, yelping in pain.

Lots of footsteps erupted from inside the house, coming closer to the door. Only a moment later, the rest of the group poured outside to see what was going on.

Fanny gasped for breath as Pencil slowly hauled herself back up onto her feet, face now bloody from the hit, "You deserved that! You deserve so much worse!!"

She rushed at Pencil once more, pushing her back onto the ground, using every open window she had as an attempt to punch her. Pencil jabbed Fanny in the stomach, shoving her off and reaching out to grab the harpoon she had dropped a fair distance away.

As Fanny recuperated, she lurched forward in an attempt to strike Pencil across the face one more time, only for Pencil to grasp onto the harpoon and lunged it straight for her face.

Excruciating pain flowed through Fanny's body as she shrieked in pain and horror. Pencil had gotten her right in the eye. She grabbed onto the harpoon, tugging desperately on it in attempt to get it out. Pencil was the one to finally rip it out, taking her entire eye with it.

The others watched in horror, only Lightning able to speak out, despite it being in a cry, "Fanny!!"

Fanny's hand covered the area of her face, now vacant where her eye used to be.

Yet, despite the immense amounts of agony she felt, she forced herself to slowly rise up once again onto her feet, once again face to face with Pencil.

No matter how much she wanted to scream and fight, she couldn't even begim to muster the energy. It was already extremely draining just to stay standing. Pencil took notice.

She grabbed onto the collar of Fanny's shirt, holding onto her in a threatening manner. At last, her eyes trailed to the others, "Let this serve as a message. If you stand against me, you'll end up just like her."

     "Leave her alone." Snowball spat, beginning to walk toward the two.

     "Oh?" Her eyes lit in amusement, "You want her back? She's all– YOURS."

     She plunged the harpoon straight into Fanny's chest, splattering blood all over the both of them. Fanny tried to scream out in pain, but she felt her consciousness drain before she could even make a move. And the pain slowly faded... along with the beating of her heart.

     The last thing she heard was the sound of Snowball screeching out insults, while others cried out in terror.

   

     She gasped in the fresh air of the night breeze.

     And just like that.... her eyes were open.

     Fanny slowly hauled herself onto her feet, spitting up saliva and blood. Her legs were weak, but she managed.

     "What... the hell......?"

     Her eyed darted around frantically. She recognized the area of the forest, but she didn't ever recall coming close to the place.

     I must've been... dragged here.

     The memories rushed back, along with all of her emotions... emotions of rage.

     Pencil.