Chapter 19 - Today was not a good day

The walk wasn't all that bad, we had decided to try and entertain ourselves by telling each other stories of our past. I mostly talked about this kid who used to go to school with me, he was a real piece of work. Some sort of behavioral issue and major anger issues, we had kind of been friends…more than friends. I didn't really like him, I just liked the thought of being with somebody, and guys are kind of gross. I had a lot of good stories about times he had flipped out. From the time he hit a bunch of kids with rulers and I caught one to him hiding behind a door and ambushing the older students when we got some for help, they were hanging on my every word. And I was hanging onto theirs. "Have I mentioned the time Penelope got stuck in a tree in the woods during one of our 'camping trips'?" Opal asked, I could nearly feel the quotation marks on the words camping trips. They weren't your usual camping trips, I had gathered that much, it seemed to be more of a test. Where they were dropped into the nearby woods and had to find their way back with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and their skills, kind of sounded like child abuse Opal and Penelope spoke fondly of their 'camping trips'. Penelope groaned "Oh Gods, please don't tell her about that' She protested. "Well one time during a trip of ours Penelope decided it would be a good idea to climb the tree and try and find our way back to town that way" Opal started "That doesn't seem like that bad of an idea" I offered. "Because it wasn't" Penelope interjected "It wouldn't have been if you hadn't freaked out halfway up and refused to come back down, you were up there all day!" Opal teased. Both me and Opal burst out laughing while Penelope turned into a tomato. "Oh s-shut up! You tried to eat a bee!" She retorted, Opal gasped in offense "I was five! I didn't know any better you…you idiot!" SHe retorted back. I was dying laughing now, holding onto the cold stone wall so I didn't fall over in my current state, which yes, has happened before, I'm not proud of it but oh well. It is what it is. The two kept walking, I followed behind, having to walk quickly to catch up for the seconds lost while I had stood there and laughed. The wall's turned from stone to mosaic, I hoped that that meant that we were getting closer to the fountain. Penelope seemed to have some sort of idea where we were going, or at least she didn't look too lost. She didn't hesitate when we hit a crossroad, turning left without any indication of thought. "Wait! How do we know we're going the right way?" I asked before I turned down the hallway behind Penelope. Opal paused in the middle of the three way crossroad, looking over at Penelope expectantly. Penelope opened her mouth to speak before there was a loud growl from the hallway on my right, we heard the sound of hives hitting the mosaic floors which caused Opal to flinch, stepping closer to Penelope. "Do you really want to go the other way and find out what that is?" Penelope asked, "Yeah no, contrary to popular belief I don't want to die" I decided. Me and Opal followed Penelope down the right hallway quickly, not wanting to find out if it was him making that noise. I still couldn't get that scene out of my mind. Michel and Luke laid on the ground, their corpses bloody and desecrated, Victoria hiding away so she didn't die. Now so traumatized she barely spoke. And their bodies…you could tell they had put up a fight and died in pain. I couldn't stop thinking…would that be me? Or Mriram, or Basil, would we become one of the bodies laid on the floor, nothing in our graves like the rest of the sacrifices? I walked straight into the wall, the coppery taste of blood filling my mouth as I bit down hard on my tongue. I stepped back, biting my lip to avoid crying out in pain and shock. "Are you alright?" Opal asked, stopping a bit behind me, Penelope didn't stop or turn around, just continuing to walk at a brisk pace. I nodded "I'll be fine, just got distracted," I assured her "Am I bleeding?" I asked, looking up so that she could see if my nose was bleeding. "Nope" Opal answered, shaking her head, I looked back down at her as we started to walk again. I sucked in for a few moments to stop the blood, my teeth moving against my tongue to draw out the blood and apply a bit of pressure. It was something I had always done and just an overall trick that worked alright I guess though it might be one of the reasons kids back at school called me a vampire. Though it was probably unrelated to them calling me a witch and joking about burning me at the stake…I don't think I want to think about that too much. I wasn't really sure how we were even going to find our way back, sure Penelope seemed to know what she was doing and I was absolutely sure her skills could be trusted but I was also fairly sure that she didn't actually know where she was leading us. She was just good at looking confident and not worrying us, it was like me using all my fancy words and acting like I was some sort of mini genius so…so that I didn't feel useless. So I didn't just feel like somebody who could be forgotten even though I was, Mom had forgotten to pick me up quite a few times before. I know she always says she doesn't have a favorite child, but I know that she's never forgotten Basil like that, I know that my stubbornness isn't the only reason why she wants him to take over the apothecary. But I had been able to find that approval with Miriam…she never cared what I got on my last test, or how useful I could be. I think she believes in me more than I believe in myself. Why am I ranting again? I…can't even remember. I was careful to not walk into any more walls, that would be seriously embarrassing. Eventually we came to a somewhat similar sight, I recognized the familiar bedding me, Miriam, and Penolpe had come across a few days ago though parts were now a bloody red. "Do you think they're…" I didn't want to say it aloud, "Hm?" Opal looked between me and Penelope with a confused look on her face. "That's Seb and Selena's camp, we saw them a few days ago…I…wonder where they are" I sort of asked but we all knew where they were. They were dead, no doubt, and if they weren't they would likely bleed out soon. "We should take this with us," Penelope gestured to the bloody bedding on the floor. "Not like they can use it anymore and we do need some more sleeping stuff unless you guys want to get back problems" She joked. I rolled my shoulders "It's a little late for that" I admitted, my back wasn't too bad I just needed room to stretch out properly. Maybe I could do some of those core twists Opal did this morning. Opal shrugged "I don't see why not" She offered, we started to bundle up the bedding, taking some of the less bloody pieces with us. "At least we know how to get back this time" I offered as we started to walk again. Maybe today would be a good day after all, it would be nice to have one day without any sort of terrible occurrence occurring. Goddess above, I feel like a nerd just saying that. The blankets were sort of damp, the blood was likely from a wound that happened recently otherwise the blood probably would've dried by now. And it wouldn't be red, blood dries brown, not red. We should be able to wash it off in the fountain, but what if that contaminates the water? I do know an old water filtration system Dad had taught me and Basil a few years back, that was back when we used to camp down by the river. Mom had never really liked that, she always stayed home but none of us really minded. She would always make comments on 'how much she hated sleeping in the tent' or 'how dirty it was out here', very annoying. Dad's camping trips were always the best, we would just go out in the tent with only a backpack or two of camping supplies and whatever we could find in the forest and around the area paired with water we filtered from the river. It was kind of like how Opal and Penlope used to get dropped off in the woods I guess, just safer…and without most of the risk of dying. Though I guess being safe and not having much of a risk of dying are both kind of the same thing. We were actually pretty successful in finding our way back. I had started to walk next to Penelope instead of behind her though Opal trailed behind a bit, she was starting to get distracted by some of the mosaic patterns. They were rather nice now that I paid attention to them, it was a beautiful pattern that resembled the ocean. Aquamarine and deep blue tiles shone in the faint light of the torches along the wall paired with soft whites for sea foam and colorful fish. Even some pale green turtles. "Who do you think did all the tile work?" Opal asked, I shrugged "I don't know, I'm shocked they didn't die working on them. I would've thought he'd just kill them. Especially during the stone work, that stuff takes forever" I mentioned. I had actually tried to make some designs on the large boulders in the woods near me and Mirams's fort but I had quickly given up. I had almost ruined at least three of my mom's knives and it hurt my wrist every time I worked for more than ten minutes. "Maybe someone did it before he started to live here, that does kind of explain how they added all the cameras and microphones and all those crazy traps and machinery" Penelope added. "You're smart" I complimented, without really thinking. Oh my Gods that reminds me of the time one of my classmates told another they were smart and then our teacher spent like half an hour yelling at us about labeling which was insane. Then when Miriam asked her why she was yelling at us she yelled I'M NOT YELLING, I JUST HAVE A LOUD VOICE! She did give us all chocolate afterwards though which did kind of make up for it, and then she took us out for like an hour long DPA. Which is daily physical activity since we don't really get recess, I think that was actually before I started going through the hole during DPA. We were able to find our way back, my vision tunneled as I noticed Miriam lying in one of the sleeping bags, a wet ripped piece of clothing draped over her burn. Her skin was faintly red and I already knew something was wrong. I dropped the blankets, rushing over to her side. My head turned sharply to Basil "What.Happened"'.