—————
Alex
—————
Alex watched as the people he knew were getting closed in on by the people of the cathedral. He felt nothing.
He wasn't rooting for anyone, he didn't like the cathedrals, nor did he care if they succeeded in whatever they wanted to do with the people from uni, but he also didn't care about what happened to them.
Weird to think how he just didn't care, about his old mates, his new mates, anything. It was just all empty and pointless. Amazing how things changed once you were exposed to the real, harsh world.
"ALFIE!" He heard Elise cry out.
It's funny how such a familiar voice just seemed so distant now.
"It's okay, Elise! Just stay where you are!" He heard Alfie shout back.
Brave. He'd give him that, it was commendable of him to not want her to be put in any more danger than she already was.
"Get the girl." Alex whispered into the all seeings ear.
The all seeing caught onto it and stood tall, expanding his lungs and shouting.
"Get that fucking girl!"
A section of the crowd broke off, going to the group that had stayed near the doors.
"Hey! Nah nah nah! You better fuck off!" A young lad, maybe 16, shouted at the second crowd.
And second, older boy joined him, who Alex had only met once and recognised as 'Bailey.'
"Yeah, you better walk away now." He warned, pulling out his shotgun.
Malik didn't say anything but stood in front of Elise, pulling out his pistol also.
—————
Alfie
—————
"Elise!" Alfie yelled.
"Regroup! They're in danger!" Marley barked, stamping on the floor when a cult member got too close.
Dolton moves forward, aiming for the weakest, least manned part of the crowd.
"Fuck outta my face!" He spat, shoving the deranged woman to the floor.
The group quickly moved through the small opening Dolton had created, sending the blue man into a craze of laughter.
"You fuckers! You understand nothing!" He screamed.
"Elise! I'm here!" Alfie said, coming and joining the line Bailey and Jay had formed.
All the while in the background, the blue man started chanting, getting louder and more wordless as the crowd around him joined in.
"Get the door open!" Dolton ordered Elise as he shoved another cult member back.
Alfie caught a glance of Marley struggling as a crazed man grabbed ahold of him, trying to rag his head around with his hands.
Marley struggled and lashed out at the man, elbowing him in the nose and pushing him away.
"Get out!" Elise shouted, holding the door open.
"Go on, file out!" Alfie shouted, slowly backing away as the crowd got closer and closer.
Soon it was just Malik that was with him, the others had got outside and were now shouting at them to leave.
"Stay where you fucking are!" Malik yelled, waving his pistol around.
"We don't take orders from infidels and blasphemers!" The blue man screeched, his voice now sounding raked and raw. "Fuckin kill them!"
The crowd went wild, a frenzy of rabid shouts and crazed hands swiping for them.
"Back up! Back up! Back up!" Malik yelled, smacking a woman in the face with the butt of his pistol.
Taking the opportunity, a man grabbed hold of Malik's hair and pulled him into the crowd, punching his face and kicking his shins.
Malik yelled, dropping his gun and trying to throw the man off, to no avail.
"No! Malik!" Alfie shouted, breaking into the crowd and trying to reach him.
It was too late, Malik was dragged off into the ever coming tsunami of naked bodies.
Alfie tried to turn away but was instead gripped onto by a rabid looking woman, her eyes wide, skin almost transparent and hair wild like a dog's.
It all went dark from there, the woman was dragging Alfie away, and the crowd was getting closer. He didn't think of what he was doing, Alfie just wanted to stay alive and in that moment, he didn't care how.
In a blind panic, Alfie pulled up his gun, firing two shots into the woman's chest and one into her skull.
The woman grimaced and yelled, spit and blood spraying from her mouth. Her rib cage broke open and her back exploded, letting the innards pile out from both sides.
Just as she was falling, Alfie watched her expression changed from frenzied into scared and confused. The horrific person she had become leaving in the final moments before her demise, she became herself again, only to have it ripped away. Alfie shoved the corpse into the crowd, jumping back and swinging his gun in a wide arc, scaring the crowd away.
"Fucking come near me, I'll do the same to you!" Alfie roared, aiming his gun up again.
This time, the crowd backed off, cowering away from Alfie and the gun, afraid of getting killed.
"Stay away." Alfie stammered, turning and fleeing.
—————
Minutes later
—————
The all seeing watched as the crowd brutalised the boy that he had learned was called 'Malik.'
He remembered the silly days of when he would have cared about such a thing happening, well not anymore. Fucking snotty nosed teen.
"Hold it!" He heard the Messiah call out.
The crowd instantly stopped laying into the boy and backed away.
"What is it, Lord?" The all seeing asked.
"We can use him." The Messiah continued. "Those lot will come back, we need them dead. They are getting in the way of the truth we are trying to spread."
The all seeing took in every word he said with extreme passion, completely believing what he said.
"We can break him." The Messiah resumed. "He can be used for our own means."
The all seeing looked down at the broken and bloodied boy that was lay on his cathedral floor. He was gasping for breath, making a strange rasping sound, he looked on the brink of death, probably was now that he mentioned it.
"Fantastic idea, noble one. I shall see personally that he complies." The all seeing responded. "Do you trust in my abilities?"
The Messiah looked at him up and down, making him feel so small in comparison.
"Of course, my child." The Messiah spoke, kissing his forehead. "Do your absolute worst."
—————
The university
The same night
Mark
—————
Alfie was leaned back far into his chair, staring right ahead at the blank, blistered looking wall of his dorm room in the uni. Elise was talking but he blatantly wasn't listening to her, her words weren't important to him at the moment. Corey was also still in the room but wasn't talking, just staring at him. A concerned look in his eyes.
"Alfie, please... I want you to talk to me." Elise begged him.
"Elise stop, he won't talk." Mark told her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
Mark was still unaware of what had happened, having being dragged into the boys dorm at stupid o'clock in the morning. Blatantly something that needed addressing though.
"Why hasn't he been sent to see the therapist?" Mark questioned.
"Said he didn't need one." Corey told him.
Mark looked over at Corey, who was still leant against the door, arms crossed with a stern expression.
"We got a bigger problem that Alfie's health at the moment though, man." Corey continued.
"What's that?" Mark asked.
As Corey's started to talk again, Mark looked back at Elise and Alfie. Elise was sat next to him, stroking his head and reassuring him that things were okay.
They obviously weren't, and his bet was that Alfie knew this also, but her words would probably be some sort of help in the long run.
He was proud of her, she's come a long way since her mother had died. So had everyone really.
"We could have a serious enemy shortly... if not already." Corey finished off.
"Those freaks in the cathedral?" Mark asked.
"Yeah."
"Jesus Christ." Mark looked down and shook his head.
"Even worse, they killed Malik and Alex has joined their fuckin deranged cult!" Corey spat angrily, trying to use his anger to disguise the fact that he was choking up.
"It's alright mate, you can let it out." Mark said, coming up next to him and putting an arm around him.
"Everything's just so fucked man!" Corey said harshly through tears and a quivering lower lip.
"Shit, is he alright?" Jay asked, coming in from the bedroom.
Mark looked at him and nodded, unlocking the door and showing Corey the way outside.
Mark shut the door on Jay's concerned face, trying to get out of the room to comfort Corey. Trying to give him space.
—————
Jay
—————
"Fuck." Jay whispered, taking a step back as the door slowly shut.
He looked to his left and saw Alfie, who was looking really spaced out to everything going on around him.
It was tragic really, the lad that had tried to kill him about a week ago, who had been attacking him. Hell. Who he'd tried to kill, was now seeming so much more human.
It really put everything into a bit of perspective.
Jay backed away, leaving Alfie and his girlfriend who he could never remember the name of to have some time on their own.
"What's going on out there?" Izzy asked as Jay are back in the room.
"Alfie has some sort of breakdown, I think." Jay answered.
"Why?" She asked.
"Corey said that he killed someone today, I think it's getting to him."
"Wait... really?"
"Yeah."
"Oh..." was all Izzy replied, turning back around in the bed.
Jay didn't get into the bed, he didn't like beds. He didn't like sleeping much now that he thought of it.
He probably ran on about 1 to 2 hours of sleep per night, if that.
He just couldn't bring himself to do it, he was so scared that something might happen, to him or his sister. Or even the people around them.
So instead he preferred to stay awake, so he could protect everybody. So no one would come in and hurt him.
He didn't let it on but he was very afraid of getting hurt, pain scared him greatly. More than the people around him dying, he reckoned he'd be okay after a while. But he didn't wanna get hurt.
Maybe that was selfish, he didn't know. But he didn't ever want to find out.
—————
Marley and Bailey
Elsewhere in the university
—————
"Ya'll want anythin' to eat?" Bailey asked.
Marley swore to God, he loved the man but his yank accent could go and eat shit.
"Why do you speak like a yank?" Marley asked him.
"Take that as a no." Bailey chuckled and sat down.
"Tell me." Marley jested as he took a swig of his rum.
"Well do you know what I was before all this shit?" Bailey asked him.
"No."
"Well... I was a murderer." Informed him.
Marley bristled slightly, spluttering a little bit of his drink back into the bottle.
He quickly composed himself and took another swig, placing the bottle back on the table.
"How did that come about?" He said calmly, not wanting anything to change.
That was one thing Marley was good at, masking what he truly felt if he needed to. It had proven to come in quite handy at some points.
"Manslaughter. Got into a bar fight. Hit that motherfucker right in the head. He fell and died." Bailey carried on solemnly.
"Doesn't explain the accent." Marley pushed forward.
"Patience, man. Anyways, man was American, so I took on his accent." Bailey explained.
"Sentimental bastard." Marley chuckled, his thick accent clear in his voice.
"I wanted the man to live on through me, never meant to kill him." Bailey shrugged defensively. "Lucky for me, shit hit the fan, i was waiting on a hefty prison sentence."
"Yeah, lucky you, mate. Wow, I'm flat-sharing with a convict." Marley smiled, taking another swig of rum.
"Don't drop the soap." Bailey said, mockingly serious.
"We don't have any soap, dipshit." Marley leered at him.
"Oh yeah. Pass some rum then?" Bailey asked.
"Got herpes?" Marley questioned.
"Don't think so."
"Fuck it, good enough." Marley decided, hading the half full bottle over to him.
Bailey took four large gulps and then handed back the bottle, wincing as he downed it.
"You take that like a madman." Marley gawked at him.
"I had a lot of nights out." Bailey belched and leant back.
—————
Dolton
Dolton's office
—————
What an absolute fucking mess they'd gotten themselves into. First the woman, then Alex and then fucking Malik to put the cherry on the icing.
They would almost certainly have some sort of fight on their hands, maybe even a war.
The loss of life would be immense, Dolton assumed. Not the mention the sheer amount of resources needed; weapons crafted, potentially bullets, even food and water for exhausted fighters and wounded people.
The whole situation was wearing Dolton down to the bone and hurting his head.
Dolton leant back in his chair and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and his forefinger, willing this whole situation to have just been concocted in his head, a figment of his imagination, a nightmare. But it wasn't. He was actually here.
What he needed was someone to send out a message, to see if these cathedral nutters were still hostile or not.
A runner. He needed a runner.
—————
Elise, Alfie, Corey, Jay, Izzy
—————
"We shouldn't be killing people, man. We should be at parties still, washing pots for a shit job." Corey stammered, running his hands through his hair.
"It's alright man, just chill okay, sit down. I'll see if I can get you anything." Jay comforted him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Alfie had come back to reality by now, slouched onto the sofa with Elise in the crook of his arm.
It had been a good few hours since Mark had left and Corey had gathered himself outside.
"Thank you, Jay. You're a Godsend honestly." Corey have his appreciation.
"Don't sweat it." Jay gave him a thumbs up as his disappeared into the kitchen.
"I'm thinking of Jamie at the moment." Alfie told the room.
Elise and Corey gave each other a look, knowing that Alfie could be getting upset again.
"What were you thinking of him?" Elise asked.
"How in the long run he's probably lucky." Alfie stated.
"What do you mean? He's dead ain't he?" Izzy asked, who was sat close to Corey.
This earned a short intake of breath from Alfie who quickly recovered and composed himself.
"He is, but he's missing the future." Alfie answered.
"Isn't that... bad?" Jay piped up, coming in with Corey's cereal.
He handed a grateful looking Corey and bowl and sat down on the floor by the coffee table.
"No. He'll miss out on the horrors which will come. It will get worse, it's bound to." Alfie spike solemnly.
"Hm... a lot worse." Corey agreed, thinking of how and it was already getting.
"Almost a world I don't wanna live in." Jay kicked himself back.
"No don't say that, it will get better." Elise insisted.
"Almost, I said." Jay repeated. "I won't give up my life no matter what."
"I'll hold you to that one day." Alfie replied, cracking a small smile for the first time that night.
"Maybe you will, maybe you won't." Jay remarked, cracking a wide grin and shutting his eyes.
"Anything positive to think of guys?" Izzy suggested.
No suggestions arose, this was when Jay kicked in and spoke to everyone.
"Well, I've got a game." Jay shot up to his feet, shoving the coffee table out the way.
"Fuck are you doing?" Corey asked, interested.
"Can we all sit in a circle?" Jay suggested.
No one moved, all looking around with confused looks on their faces.
This led Jay to grin a bit more and wave at the floor, speaking again.
"Go on then, I won't ask three times." He said energetically.
Everyone slowly got up and sat in a circle where the coffee table once was and chattering a little.
Jay playfully shoved his sister and sat down next to Corey, carrying on.
"Okay, this is called two truths, one lie." Jay grinned.
Corey winced and put his head in his hands.
"Jesus." Alfie groaned.
"Shut up, you'll enjoy this little icebreaker game." Jay laughed. "Now, let me explain the rules to this gem."
Jay rubbed his hands and carried on, determined to make everyone feel better.