The day's sun warmed the asphalt. Although it was already October, the weather continued to be warm and sunny. Leaving the city, the trio stopped at a gas station on the way, to rest a little and figure out what to do next. People looking at them might have thought that the trio had escaped either from an asylum or from the war front. The young people with battered, torn clothes, disheveled hair and eyes tormented by insomnia were sitting in the waiting room, as if waiting for something. In fact, they were waiting for the stranger from yesterday, who had promised to find them, but for some time now, there was no news from him.
Jim was indifferently stirring the coffee, Annie was staring blankly at some spot on the floor, Sam was trying to eat the last piece of sandwich.
«Don't you think it's time to go back?»-in Sam's words were noticeable his nervous tone.
«Sam, you know better than anyone, why we're here and why we can't go back,» answered Jim.
«Well, where is he? Or let me to ask a better question. Who is he? Why are we waiting for him at all? He saved our lives, okay, but maybe we should be wary of him too. We don't even know his name.» - Sam's nerves had already begun to give way.
Everyone was silent again, they understood that Sam was right, they had left town on the advice of someone they didn't even know, and now they were waiting for him as if he had to come back.
«Would you like anything else?» the waitress smiled, approaching their table. The young blonde girl was standing near them waiting for an answer, while none of the boys were in a hurry to answer. It seemed they weren't hearing her. The waitress had to cough lightly, as if to remind them that she was waiting for an answer.
Jim «turned on» the first.
«No, nothing is needed, thank you.»
«You must have had a hard night,» the waitress smiled.
«It doesn't get any harder,» said Sam.
«It happens a lot in college, doesn't it?» said the girl, who didn't seem to be in a hurry to leave.
«Believe me, it never happens like that in college,» said Annie, who was starting to get irritated by the waitress' curiosity.
«When I was still studying, Friday nights were always crazy. After that, the weekend was not enough to recover,» the waitress continued.
«Bring me another cup of coffee,» said Annie, rather to dismiss her.
«Of course.» The waitress smiled and went to the kitchen.
«A bit rude, wasn't it?» Sam smiled.
«And that's from a man who bullies everyone,» Jim joked.
«Let me go to the car, they must have already filled up the gas.»
Standing up, Sam headed towards his father's Mercedes. Mercedes Benz 28OSE. His father's pride. The car produced in 1970 served their family perfectly for more than 20 years. When Sam was still a child, his father often let him hold the steering wheel while driving, and when he was a little older, his father already taught him to drive the car. True, Sam did not have a driver's license, but he had a perfect command of the car. And his father knew about it, and there was never a problem when Sam asked him for the car. The black wonder was Sam's favorite toy as a child and best friend now. I wonder what father is doing now that his son is gone with the car. Of course he is worried. And of course he won't get the car back for a long time to scare his father like that. What a stupid idea to go to that funeral. Now he would be at home or driving around town with Jim. Instead of being a refugee, he would hide even from his own shadow.
The gas station employee was not there. Sam called several times, but got no response. He had to turn off the apparatus by himself, which was quite successful for him.
Sam suddenly noticed something that wasn't there before. Silence. There was complete silence. The cars were standing, and no one approached them. The voices of the workers could not be heard, other customers could not be seen. Sam looked in the direction of the waiting room. Jim and Annie were sitting, where there was no one but them. Sam had a strange feeling. They have to leave there.
He walked towards the waiting room, but suddenly he heard someone's heavy breathing behind him. Sam didn't manage to turn around. Two strong hands grabbed his throat from behind, Sam tried to scream, but couldn't, and a heavy blow to the head knocked him unconscious.
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***
«Do you think that wizard lives far away?»
Jim had not been close to Annie before. They studied together, but never had a long conversation with each other. Annie was one of the best in college, there was no subject that Annie was bad at. The teachers often told Annie that she had a great future ahead of her, and Jim really believed them.
«I don't know,» answered Annie thoughtfully. «All this is strange, I mean, how is all this possible?»
«Actually, it is more important to know why it is like this. What is that black rose, what your blood has to do with it all? Well, it was too much for one night, but we can't change anything. It is impossible to fix the past.»
“Listen, Henry said the rose belonged to Jessica and her blood was on the rose too. Do you think it's possible that Jessie's death wasn't a suicide at all?''
«You mean they killed her. I do not think. People saw how she jumped, but no one was on the roof with her.»
«I don't know what to think anymore. I think I'm going crazy.»
«Don't worry, we will find that witch and everything will be like before.»
Jim really wanted to believe it.
The kitchen door opened and the smiling waitress appeared. The coffee was placed on the tray, which the girl brought to the table.
«Please, here's your coffee.»
«Thank you,» replied Annie dryly.
«What else?»
«Listen, can you just go.» - Annie was already angry.
«Actually, no.» - the waitress smiled.
«Excuse me?»
«I barely found you, and you want me to leave. It won't be like that.»
The first thing Jim noticed was the curved, black horn peeking out from under the waiter's hat. Jumping up, Jim overturned the table in a standing position, which rolled to the ground. Jim quickly pulled Annie to his side, who still doesn't understand what's going on. Annie let out a scream of terror as the waitress stepped away.
Standing before them was one of yesterday's monsters, with a disfigured face and long fangs.
Jim stepped forward, Annie. The boy was looking for something with which he could hit the monster. But the marag was very fast. A few seconds later, it pounced on Jim, slashing at him with its long claws. Jim jerked aside. Annie desperately tried to strike the monster, but the latter clawed at the girl and brought its terrible fangs to her neck.
A terrible stench was emanating from its jaw. Annie tried to kick him, but to no avail. Marag's fangs pierced the girl's neck. Annie started screaming in pain.
Somehow getting to his feet, Jim ran to Annie. Noticing him, the marag turned around and hit Jim again, knocking him to the ground. Turning towards Annie, the marag sank its fangs into her flesh.
Annie seemed to pass out, gazing dimly at the monster, saw its hideous fangs, soaked in its own blood, absorbing the last drops of its life.
Blurry-eyed, Annie watched as one of them hit the marag with a heavy iron bar, the latter letting go and falling to the ground, a blurry image of Sam drawn in front of her.
***
The bleeding did not stop. Sam was completely drenched in blood, but he couldn't stop the flow of blood from Ann's wounds.
After being hit in the head, Sam woke up behind a gas station and the first thing he saw was a pile of dead bodies. Dozens of people were killed and dismembered. Some were employees, others were customers. There were even small children. It was quite some time before Sam was able to regain consciousness. Summoning his courage, Sam walked over the bodies, tripping over them several times and bleeding himself. But he continued walking, his friends needed him, and now was not the time to panic. Reaching the car, Sam instinctively opened the trunk and took out the long, iron rod that he always kept in the trunk of the car. Running into the waiting room, Sam stood stunned. His best friend was lying on the ground, and Annie was attacked by one of that fucking marags.
Yesterday, that Henry said that marags do not see or hear anything, but they have a brilliant sense of smell. Being drenched in the blood of the corpses, it seemed to Sam that the marag would not smell him. And in fact he was not wrong. Approaching it from behind, Sam brought down the pole with all his might and the mare fell to the ground. Out of fear and anger, Sam began to strike the monster, with all his might, again and again. Each blow of the heavy iron rod tore a piece from the monster's body, and Sam did not stop hitting. Finally, when he calmed down and realized that he was hitting an already dead body, he realized that his friends needed him.
Rushing over to Jim, Sam tore off his shirt. The wound from marag's claws spread across Jim's chest. Sam quickly ran to the kitchen, took some water, and returned to try to wash his friend's wound. Unconscious from the pain, Jim began to moan heavily. After cleaning up the blood, Sam took off his shirt, tore it open and began to bandage his friend. As gently as he tried to do it, it still caused Jim quite a bit of pain. His bleeding was stopped, but in Annie's case, everything was more complicated. The girl had lost a lot of blood. Blood was flowing thickly from two large neck wounds. Annie was completely white, Sam didn't know what he could do. Sam suddenly got up and ran to the phone hanging on the wall in the waiting room. How he did not understand that earlier. Picking up the microphone, Sam dialed the emergency number... but there was no signal. Sam angrily slammed the phone against the wall. The confused boy approached Annie again and knelt before her. Sam just watched her die. It would take them half an hour to get to the nearest hospital, which would be fatal for Annie. Sam felt so powerless for the first time.
A black rose lay next to Annie. It was completely covered in the girl's blood. Sam wanted to crush that flower, destroy it, never to see it again.
However, something strange surprised Sam. The stem of the flower was completely soaked in Annie's blood, but the flower petals were surprisingly dry. Sam carefully picked up the rose and deliberately dipped its petals into the pool of the girl's blood. The tatters remained surprisingly dry, and not a single drop of blood remained on them. And it occurred to Sam that if Annie was dying because of the flower, maybe she would be saved because of the flower. Sam plucked two petals from the flower and placed them accordingly on the two wounds on Annie's neck and pressed them together. After a few seconds, the bleeding stopped, the whiteness of Annie's body passed, and the girl's breathing began to regulate. Sam wrapped the flower petals in a cloth around Annie's neck, then carried her into the car in his arms. Carefully laying her down, he placed the black rose in her pocket. Returning to Jim, who had already begun to regain consciousness, he was escorted to the car too. Getting behind the wheel, Sam started the engine and sped off onto the highway towards the nearest town, trying to find someone who could help him along the way...
***
The young man walked to the gas station accompanied by a woman, putting his long, black cracked shoes in the pools of blood. Entering the waiting room, the woman approached the dead marag. The woman looked neat and well-groomed, her long curly hair was spread over her back, and her delicate and thin fingers were visible as she touched the monster's body.
«So Henry, and where is that girl?»
«Didn't we come here together Sangra? How do I know where she is?» Henry answered sharply.
«Marags subjugate you, don't they? It's not good to loose control, Henry.''
«The girl will be found, don't worry. He entrusted me with that task, and I will do it.»
«But it's been a long time, Henry. You don't have to make him angry. You know that.»
«Of course I know. Didn't I already say that everything is fine, Sangra?»
Two marags came out from behind Henry. Approaching the traces of blood on the floor of the waiting room, they bent over one of them and began to smell it greedily. Then straightening up, they jumped out of the hall and ran into the darkness of the night.
«We have a new track. Marags have never disappointed me yet.»
«Well, we can only hope that you won't disappoint him either.» The woman stepped forward and disappeared into the darkness.
«Oh these witches... always have to make a dramatic exit from the scene.»
Henry took the pendant hanging from his neck in his hand, turned it around, and the next moment there was no one there. It was only the autumn wind, howling ominously in the walls of the deserted building...