"Huh, that's a good question." Laurel sighed softly. "Yeah, it might be like the candy store. And who knows what kind of people might show up there." It might be nice to sleep in a bed, but she had no idea what a hotel might look like in an apocalypse. Getting the Jeep stolen from them would be really bad, too. "I don't know. I guess, if we pass one, we can check it out. But I agree, we should try and find the weapon before the sun sets." Laurel nodded. They probably would have enough time to find the weapon before the sun went down.
Ana nodded. “Yeah…” she trailed off, and for a long while, there was only the noise of the car driving over the road, and the wind. Finally, she spoke again. “I wonder what happened to all those people who used to live in the town. Do you think that there’s a monster that could consume them without struggle? Or maybe a hypnotist-type creature?”
Laurel watched the landscape pass, eyes alert for any monsters. There was nothing, though, much to her relief. Although this was the best time to think about everything that had happened so far, Laurel didn't want to. If she thought about any of that, she didn't know what would happen to her. Instead, she hummed a song to the wind until Ana spoke. "Hmm. There might be. I haven't seen any monsters other than those weird shadowy ones, but that doesn't mean they couldn't exist. Honestly, I wouldn't doubt something like that could happen." Laurel laughed dryly. "I hope we can find them, though," She added as an afterthought. Laurel didn't know many people in the town, but she didn't like the idea of everyone who'd lived there being gone forever.
"Me too." Ana shook her head, shivering slightly. "I may not like people all that much, but I like it even less when everyone is missing." She sighed. "Do you think they all ran?" She answered her own question. "No, they couldn't have. The cars were still there, and there was no sign of anyone breaking in to any of the stores, which would usually happen if everyone was trying to run away."
She gave a wry smile. "I hope we can find them too."
She glanced at Laurel, who was looking worried. "Do you think that there are more types of monsters than just the weird shadowy ones we saw with Endor and that bug one we saw in the candy store?"
"Heh, yeah." Laurel nodded slowly. "I don't think they all left. What you said makes sense." She sighed softly. What in the world could have happened to everyone? If they didn't leave, and the monsters didn't eat them… where did they go? "I… I hope not. I can't deal with any more of those monsters." But Ana's question wormed into her brain. Terrible, imaginary monsters ran through her brain and Laurel shivered. What would their king look like? Another parade of monstrosities skipped through her mind. "No, there had better not be." She repeated, shaking her head to get rid of the images. Her imagination was a little too good at that moment. "But if there are, I'd rather they stay away from me."
"Me too." Ana frowned. "As much as I don't want it to be true, I think that there are more types of monsters than just the two. The Shadow King can't be that unimaginative, right?" She shook her head. "I wonder if we'll see any other people while we're getting the weapons. And…" She hesitated. There was a question she had been wanting to ask for a while, although Laurel wouldn't know the answer. It was something that had been bothering her for a while. "Who do you think Endor and Alina or whatever her name is really are? What if they're the ones who are sending the monsters toward us, and not this so-called Shadow King?"
"Probably… I don't know, maybe he is. I mean, we have the monsters that look like they're made out of shadows and their king is called 'the Shadow King', so…" Laurel trailed off. She desperately wanted this Shadow King to be unimaginative. She wanted him to stay away from her and Ana forever, or at least until they could fight back. "That would be nice to know that other people still exist, but if they're trying to get the weapon, then… I don't want to fight against humans. But we need to get that weapon." Laurel didn't know why she was so sure it was her and Ana who needed to get the weapons, but she didn't want to think about other people getting it. "Oh." Ana did make a good point. "Endor seemed to know a lot. And she probably could have gotten rid of all the monsters without us, but she insisted that it was us who had to do it. I guess we'll just have to be ready for anything." Laurel shrugged. She wanted to believe that Endor and Alina weren't the bad guys there, but she couldn't rule that possibility out.
"We will. I don't want to have to place my trust in someone I don't know," Ana said. "So I really hope that they're trustworthy. I don't want to be stabbed in the back. So we might want to be careful around the weapons." She sighed, shaking her head. "I probably shouldn't be so wary around people who are trying to help me. but I really can't help it."
Laurel nodded slowly. "Yeah, getting stabbed in the back would suck." She frowned and looked over at Ana. "Do you think the weapons would hurt us? Actually, that would make sense if they were against us. We go off on a grand quest to get the all-powerful weapon, only to get killed by it." Laurel sighed softly. That would be a twist she would love to read about, but not one she would want to live. "It makes sense. We know nothing about anyone who's tried to help us so far, so it's only natural to be cautious around them." It was probably better to doubt first and slowly begin to trust instead of trust instantly and get killed or hurt because of that trust.
"Yeah." Ana sighed. "I wish we knew the full details of what is going on, rather than some vague details that don't make any sense." She shook her head. "But these thoughts are really dark. Let's think of something happy. Like… puppies."
She grinned. "Do you think the pet stores have any pets there at all? Because we could pick up a few pets. We don't have too, but it would be cute."
"Me too. But when could things ever be that easy?" Laurel laughed shortly and ran a hand through her hair. "Oh, yes, I like puppies." She smiled at Ana, grateful for the distraction. "I don't know. I would hope so. The alternative is…" Laurel shuddered slightly, then laughed. "Ha, yeah! We could get a little mascot or two to come with us!" Her smile faded. "But that would be so sad if they got killed or hurt! I don't know." Laurel shrugged, then squinted at the road ahead of them. "Do you think that's the lake?" She pointed out a slight glimmer ahead of them. Either it was the lake or just a mirage, but she hoped it was the lake. However much she liked talking to Ana– and she liked talking to her a lot– she was getting nervous.
"I- that's true." Ana sighed. "It would be so nice to have a little friend, though. Maybe a cat. They don't have the need to be around people all the time. They're just soft and cute. And bad-tempered." She grinned, thinking of how her brother often compared her to a cat.
She glanced over to where Laurel was pointing, and sped up a bit. "I think it might be," she said, as they emerged from a strand of trees. "I think it is. Thank goodness. I was getting worried."
"Oh, a cat would be lovely!" Laurel exclaimed, smiling a little at the thought. It would be nice to have a companion with them. It would be something normal and cute to distract them from the horror around them. To take care of it, though… Laurel leaned forward, eyes fixed on the glimmer in front of them. "Oh, good." She watched as the lake came into view. It looked totally normal, and there was nothing to suggest a weapon was being kept there. "I wonder where the weapon is," she muttered, scanning the area for monsters this time. There were none that she could see.
"I hope it's not in the water," Ana said grimly. "Although with our luck, that might be the case."
She looked out at the dark water, which seemed to go down forever and ever, and shivered slightly. She had never liked water, although she knew how to swim. Water scared her. There were so many things that could go wrong in it. You could drown. You could be afloat forever. You could lose your supplies, or get caught in a storm. You could get lost at sea. There were so many ways that you could get hurt or killed, with few ways to stop them, or help yourself. It was scary to her.
"Yeah. Going swimming isn't what I want to be doing right now. Expecially in a lake." Laurel wrinkled her nose at the water. She was fine with swimming pools and maybe oceans, but lakes were not her favorite. They usually had a lot of stuff in them and she hated it. "I guess we'll just have to see." She waited until the Jeep was stopped before getting out. The lake still didn't look special, and she still couldn't see anything that indicated that there were weapons there. "Huh. I guess we're going for a walk?" Laurel glanced at Ana and shrugged.
"I… guess. Unless you think we should stay in the Jeep?" Ana shook her head and answered her own question. "No, nevermind. It probably doesn't do well in the sand, plus we might get sand in our eyes. And that would suck. We'll just have to go the slow way." She stopped the car and parked it off near the lake, but out of immediate sight of the road, and unbuckled, hopping out. Her sneakers hit the sandy ground, and she pursed her lips, before grabbing some of the knives from Endor, the map, and some candy.
Laurel noticed that Ana grabbed some candy and grinned. Some snacks would make this trek more enjoyable, that was for sure. She shoved some candy into her pocket and grabbed her knives. The lake looked pretty big and she really didn't want to walk all the way around it. Still, how else were they supposed to find the weapons? "Does the map pinpoint any specific location, or just, 'the lake'?" Laurel glanced at Ana for a second, then went back to staring at the lake. Something glimmered a little ways off the shore, making Laurel's heart jump. Was that the weapon? She took a step towards the water, half-convinced it was just the sunlight reflecting off the water. It probably was, but there was something that seemed to be telling her it wasn't just the sun. "What's that?"
"I think it just says the lake." Ana glanced at the map. "Yeah, just the lake." She glanced at the wide expanse of water and shivered. "Doesn't look very fun. We have a lot of ground to cover. And no boat."
She unwrapped a mint and popped it into her mouth. She was instantly on alert at Laurel's tone of voice. She strained her eyes to see. "What's what?" She didn't see anything. "What is it?"
And then she saw the strange light on the water. "I think… we should probably check that out. What do you think?"
"Great." Laurel took several steps towards the weird glimmer. "Yeah, it's our best lead. How nice would it be if that was what we were looking for, though? Then we can avoid walking around the lake and all that." She reached the edge of the water and frowned at the glimmer. The water was distorting it too much to see what exactly it was, but it did look like it was metallic. Maybe it was just some junk someone had thrown in, or maybe it was the weapon. She couldn't tell at all. "Does that look like what we're looking for?" Laurel crouched down, hoping a different view would reveal what it was. It did not, just showed her a different distorted image. "Hmph. Are we going to have to go swimming?" She stuck one hand in the water to test the temperature. It was pretty chilly, not something– Laurel frowned, trying to pull her hand out of the water again. There was something weird about the water, almost like it had grabbed her. "Uh… Ana, I think I'm stuck." She tried again with the same result. The water suddenly jerked her forward an inch or two, almost making her topple into the water. "Agh! What is happening?"
"W- oh shit!" Ana watched in horror as the water tried to drag Laurel into itself? What on earth was happening? This wasn't something water did… right? It freaked her out more than she would ever admit, and she stood frozen for a moment. She had been so startled that she swallowed her mint whole, and choked, until it forced itself down her throat, leaving a burning trail of pain behind it.
She reached out her hand to grab Laurel, trying to pull her away from the evil water.
Looking at all the other weird things that happened to her, getting dragged into a lake by the lake shouldn't have been too surprising. Still, it was unsettling. She heard Ana exclaim in surprise, and then it sounded like she choked on something. Laurel managed to tear her eyes away from the water and looked back at Ana. She didn't look like she was dying, which was good. The water tugged her forward another inch and Laurel let out a yell, grabbing Ana's outstretched arm in an effort to not get pulled into the water. "What is–" At that moment, the water seemed to stop playing around. Laurel's hand shot forward, causing her to lose her balance and topple into the water. "Cold!" She yelled, unable to focus on anything else at the moment. The water dragged her deeper, Laurel struggling to keep her head above the water. After a second, she realized she was still holding onto Ana and let go. She may have been doomed, but that didn't mean Ana had to be. The thing holding onto her hand pulled her down again. Laurel had just enough time to pull in one last breath before the water closed over her head.
Laurel seemed to be struggling with something when the water dragged her down even further, and then she let go of Ana's hand.
Ana just stood there for a moment, a horrified look on her face. Why had Laurel done that? Was she really that useless of a person, that she couldn't even pull someone out of the water?!!
Gritting her teeth, she made up her mind. She wasn't going to abandon Laurel just because she was afraid. She never left people behind, if she could help it.
Taking a deep breath, she dove in after Laurel.
The water pulled Laurel deeper into the lake. She fought to keep from screaming and wasting precious oxygen, but she didn't need to worry. A few seconds after the water closed over her head, the water all around her was replaced by air. Instead of being pulled by something, Laurel was now falling through pitch black. The only thing she could think of was that there was some sort of portal under the water, though that was ridiculous. Laurel looked around wildly, the wind snatching at her wet clothes and rushing through her short hair. From above her, a sudden splashing sounded, almost like someone had jumped into a pool. Laurel managed to look towards the sound to briefly see a spot of light. Had Ana followed her? Why had she done that? Laurel had let go so Ana wouldn't be dragged into who knows where! It made her feel a little happy that Ana wouldn't abandon her, but at the same time… Laurel's thoughts were interrupted when she hit water again. Falling into water from that height should have felt more like smacking into concrete, yet it didn't hurt at all. She surfaced and started treading water, then looked up. Unfortunately, the light that had appeared was gone, and there was nothing but black above her. All she could do now was hope Ana was also magically stopped from splating onto the surface of the water– or her, too.
Ana felt the water closing over her, and fought against the panic that was rapidly growing inside her. Fuckfuckfuck, she thought. She was running out of air, and her heart was pounding so hard it hurt, like it would bounce out of her chest, breaking all her ribs in the process.
To top it off, she had lost sight of Laurel.
So she was having a great time.
And then suddenly the water turned into air, and she was falling. She could only manage a relieved breath before she smacked into more water. The water this time didn't pull her down, and with a few hard strokes, she broke the surface of the water, coughing.
She glanced around, treading water. She had lost her shoes somewhere, and her wet clothes were pulling her down. She spotted Laurel treading water a few yards away and felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She stroked over. "Are you okay?" She asked.
Laurel heard a splash near her and let out a breath, turning towards the sound. Hopefully, that was Ana falling painlessly into the water and not her dying. A few seconds later, Ana broke the surface and started moving towards her.
"Yeah. I mean, besides all this craziness," Laurel waved at the water and weird underwater cave they were in, "I'm good. What about you?" She gave Ana a concerned look, then decided she should be looking for a way out, not at her friend. Laurel spun a little in the water, looking for something that was not water. In the distance behind her, she saw something glowing slightly, and maybe something that looked like a beach? She couldn't be sure, but it was better than just treading water until they got tired and drowned. "Does that look like land? I think that looks like land." Laurel waved one hand towards the weird glowing light, then started swimming towards it. "Come on, maybe that will lead us out of here." She couldn't wait to get out of the water– her clothes were dragging her down and she was getting very cold.
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