So many things in this creation God has blessed us with.

Many things are taken for granted as we live our days.

So much of so little, we quickly lose our view.

Wind.

Grass.

Friend.

Love.

Water.

Kindness.

To not lose my view, in these things I search. I keep.

A black rose.

So beautiful it was, and in so many ways unique.

Soft.

Pure.

Silent.

Bright.

Frail.

Although others may exist, not a one such as this graces our world.

For its petals are of pure feathers!

Odd and precious and perplexing!

In its own elegant extravagance…

Brightly shining frailty…

It shows us the more.

Precious and pure, as the snow from which it grows.

And as the young girl that kneels before it, and beside me.

Smiles.

Frailty.

Strength.

Youth.

She asks to pick it, yet I cannot reply.

For what this is. This moment.

Is not for one such as I to place voice.

As she smiles… so does the essence of the rose.

A blessing?

Blessings!

Gifts!

Hopes!

Joys!

She kneels before this flower of darkness,

as it grows from the purity.

And I saw in her, this rose.

One that should not exist.

A flower of darkness.

A darkness turned light.

As this rose, she too managed to keep her light.

All the blood, the pain, and the death.

And this beautiful child survived.

These moments we are to cherish!

To give thanks!

And to weep…

We bled.

We cried.

We suffered.

We died.

Now she giggles and lays next to the rose…

And I know it was worth it.

It will all be worth.

This flower of the dark.

Amidst the snow.

May our blood lay the foundation for the purity to bloom.

~A Black Rose of Feathers

~Feldyn Goldchord, the Endless Bard

* * *

Getting back to Washington from California was going to prove to be a much more… unique experience than before. With a hyper six-year-old girl, that rarely did what she was told and refused to wear proper clothing -if any at all-, it was easy to understand why. Especially when one wasn’t exactly traveling conventionally.

The bus had made it almost to the Portland area before they hit a military roadblock. The bus wasn’t even allowed to stop there; diverted a good deal east, then south until they could stop. Ally was horribly concerned for Gigi- she had been under the bus all day! It was warmer down south, but was much colder up here. Ally and Gigi had the whole Russian cold tolerance thing going on, but being cold still happened! Occasionally.

When the driver stopped in a gravel lot without even knowing what town they were near, or in, and wouldn’t let anyone get off, Ally pitched a bitch fit that would have made Pazely look like a church mouse. The driver -and other passengers- were more than happy to boot her off, which was exactly what she had wanted.

It was already after dark when the bus drove away, the driver having tossed the bag containing Gigi rather rudely -and roughly- on the ground. Ally stood, acting casual and glaring after the bus until it was out of sight. “Gigi!” she gasped in a panic after the bus turned, dropping painfully to her knees and zipping the bag open quickly.

The little blonde popped out of the bag so quickly, she smashed the top of her head into Ally’s forehead. “Fuck!” Ally snapped, falling back on her ass. Geeg was on her feet, stumbling around like a drunk, shaking her head from side to side, and making stupid noises. At least she had on one of the shirts Ally had bought.

This was going to be a long trip.

“I gotta pee,” the little girl squeaked, heading off towards some trees on the far side of the gravel lot, but stumbled and wiped out. She began to cry. Ally sighed, then hurried over to her. “You okay, Gigi?” she asked, not sounding as caring as she had intended. Gigi was whimpering enough now that Ally felt guilty. “I gotta pee so bad, Ally!” she cried. “I think I’m gonna pee myself if I move!" Quiet sobs wracked her tiny body.

Oh, poor Gigi! Ally quickly and carefully scooped her into her arms, grateful she didn’t get peed on, and hurried towards the nearby trees at the edge of the lot. Ally seriously needed to think a little. Gigi was six, even if she was a bit of a mutated six-year-old at the moment. Not only did she recently save them all -and almost die- from some giant demonic canine, she had also snuck out of an airport and jumped onto the roof of a moving bus to return to her friends. Had jumped! Only then to be stuffed into a bag, and tossed under a bus, where she had to remain for somewhere in the realm of twelve plus hours, Ally was guessing. Maybe less. She had no time-telling device handy.

Ally froze, luckily having already set Gigi down and walked away. Time-telling device. Her watch! Looking at her wrist, she no longer had it on. Oh my God, did she bring it?! Did she leave it?! Did she lose it?! “Don’t listen!” Gigi yelled at her. Ally hardly noticed, so very panicked was she about the golden bracelet watch Caleb had given her.

“I need toilet paper!” Gigi whined, as Ally looked to the duffel bag sitting in the lot. “Use a leaf!” she called to her, and hurried to the duffel. Reaching the bag, Ally looked into the chaos. The shirts and panties she bought were scattered everywhere, as were empty snacks. Not caring too much about that at the moment, she dug through it for the crumpled fast food bag with her ID, money, etcetera… Horror began to overtake her. Had she left the bracelet at the airport? Was it still at home? When had she even taken it off? Hadn’t she been wearing it on the bus?!

Then she saw the yellow rhino plushie, her thoughts were melted back to a more somber reality. “Are you okay, Ally?” Gigi’s tiny voice asked from beside her. Ally hadn’t even heard the child walking over. She smiled to her wide-eyed little cousin, just noticing the blue shirt she wore had a picture of some ugly bearded guy’s face on it. Blugh. Ally should have looked at the things before buying them.

“I’m okay,” she answered, untruthfully. She could not believe she had lost her watch! If Gigi wasn’t here right now, she would be curled in a ball in the gravel, crying. She still might… No, she had to stay strong. Time to change the topic.

“Your shirt is uuuuugly,” she said to her cousin, trying to sound judgmental. “Wanna wear this one?” Ally pointed to the purple pony monstrosity she wore. “Ew, no!” Geeg scrunched her nose, somehow keeping her eyes wide. Ally laughed. The ugly hairy guy was better than ponies, apparently. She couldn’t blame her. But Ally had to admit, she would still pick the purple pony shirt over what Gigi was wearing.

“We need to find food,” Ally said, as she removed her shoes and shirt in the poorly lit lot. “And somewhere to sleep,” she added, removing her jeans now as well.

Gigi giggled and clapped, “Naked?!” she squealed, and Ally shushed her. “No. Calm down, I’m just changing!” And so she changed. Tie-dyed shirt on, and tied in a knot at her hip, hipster briefs only, without pants, and no shoes. It was freezing, but she felt so… rebellious, walking this way in the open! She would put on pants if they found a mini-mart or open store. Provocatively-garbed young girls tended to frighten people. And draw attention they didn't need or want.

Ally packed the duffel back up, zipped it, and slung it over a shoulder. “Let’s go,” she said to her little cousin, and starting walking. “You look like a hooker,” Gigi informed her. “A good hooker, or a bad one?” Ally joked. Gigi ignored the question, “Can we steal a car?” she asked instead. Ally sighed. “No, we are not going to steal a car.”

After two more hours of walking, every place they found closed, and not a single other person encountered, Ally stole a car. It was shitty looking, and parked behind an abandoned building in... wherever this was... They still hadn’t found any town signs. To Ally, they seemed to be in county and not a town. It was hard to tell, wandering random roads in the night.

They didn’t drive for long until needing to blindly drive across fields and farms, no headlights. Why? Because the military was randomly patrolling the roads. After crossing through a small field, something dawned on her: T\they still had to cross the Columbia River! There were not exactly many spots to do so, and the bridge was sure to be blocked. Fuck.

Not long after her realization, and still wondering exactly where they were, Ally had to stop, as they reached the river itself. She had not expected them to be so close! Getting out of the car, and walking a bit, she looked around and sighed. It was so dark you couldn’t see anything. She had almost driven over an embankment, actually. They wouldn’t have gone into the river, with it still a ways in front of them, but the car would have easily been flipped.

When the headlights turned on behind her, she felt panic, thinking they had been discovered. Instead it was just the unhelpfully helpful Gigi. Ally was about to go bitch at the little girl to keep them off, when something caught her eye, down by the water. There was no way…

Tied to a tree, on the steep riverbank, was a boat. A speedboat, not some crappy little rowboat. This area of the Columbia wasn’t as wide as farther west, but she still would not have been comfortable rowing across it. Still… What are the odds? A bright purple and red, shiny, almost new speedboat, happening to be exactly in front of where she stopped the car? This was one of the only spots in sight it could have even been tied as well. Those odds were… well, impossible.

Impossible or not, they needed a way across, and if this damn boat worked, and had the keys in it, she would use it. Getting Gigi and their bag, the girls carefully hurried down to the water. The keys were sitting out, easy to find. Creepy as this was, Ally figured someone had stolen it, or it was for trafficking. Meaning someone would be returning for it soon.

Her Aunt and Uncle Jacobson had a boat, and she had watched her uncle drive it quite a few times. Doing her best to memorize everything just in case she ever had to… err… borrow it.

Ally easily figured it out, and was quickly rocketing across to the other side of the river in the inky dark of night. Slowing down? That she hadn’t really paid as much attention to. Nor the need for a light. So she had just aimed them at what she assumed was a street light in the distance. When they suddenly hit the other bank hard and fast, launching a good ways up onto shore, Ally shouted one long surprised curse, Gigi squealing joyfully. Luckily, it was sandy here, and they came to a not too sudden stop, with no injuries other than to Ally’s pride.

Thankful they didn’t die, or get shot, Ally and Gigi were out of the boat as fast as she could get the child to move, and hurried across the small dark beach, and to the road. This area had much better street lighting, so they walked on the far side, paralleling it west, until they came in sight of a small house, off a ways from the road. They were starving and exhausted.

Fairly content no one was home, the two girls broke in (there was indeed no one inside), and promptly fell asleep hiding in the attic, too tired to go back down to look for food.

* * *

The moment she woke up, Ally roused her little cousin, and fled the house. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep! After hiding a bit, and watching the house, it became clear no one was around. Doing a more thorough search, the property really did feel abandoned. It was odd though, like people had been here not long ago, but left abruptly.

Quickly making them some bologna -yuck- sandwiches, they headed to a much larger house that was even farther from the main road, on some farmland. It too appeared recently abandoned.

In a big garage, Ally discovered four dirt bikes, and one was even a child's bike. Convenient… Yet more believable than the boat, she supposed. Trying not to be overly paranoid, Ally made sure they worked, picked one for herself, then told Geeg they would be riding instead of driving or walking. The little girl had been ecstatic!

Then, Gigi tried to ride it.

No matter what Ally did to coach her, she would go blazing off at mach ten somehow, and smash into something. Or worse – launch herself off the bike in some epic crash. Of course, the little blonde absolutely refused to give up and ride on the back of Ally’s. She was too stubborn to admit that she couldn’t do it, and too determined to just give up, especially since she wanted to ride it. Informing Ally how she had, “Wanted to ride one of these my whole life!”

To the teenager’s knowledge, Gigi had never even spent any time around dirt bikes…

Ally eventually gave in -for now-, and decided to go find them food, while the kid practiced crashing.

It was eerie how everything felt like people had been here moments ago, yet there was no one anywhere. Like they were just gone. There were even several cars and trucks parked outside. Every key peg by the kitchen door had a set of keys. Where had these people gone? Where had everyone besides the army dudes gone? And why was there still power?

TV service seemed to be down, and she couldn’t find a radio, or anything that could connect to the internet. Not even a cell phone!

Opening the fridge, Ally’s stomach growled. Good lord, how long has it been since they ate? That bologna sandwich hardly counted as food. Not that the previous house had much in there to work with. Unfortunately, this fridge too was almost empty, aside from some condiments and beer. Mmmm, beer.

Taking out a bottled beer, she closed the fridge and checked the freezer. Her disappointment turned into a squeal of joy to see it stocked to bursting with frozen foods, including a strawberry cheesecake! Ally loved strawberries. And pastries. And cheesecakes. And Ice cream. Not that she got to have sweets that often. Her mom said such foods led to sin. Sure didn't stop the bitch from stuffing her own face.

Her moms hypocrisy extended to non sweet frozen food, and pretty much any snack. Basically anything that wasn't organic and flavorless, she wouldn't let Ally eat. At least she wasn't vegan. Not that it stopped Ally form eating what she wanted, she just never got to enjoy junk food at home, so had to take what she could get when she could get it.

That said, Ally would usually scoff and mock frozen foods, comparing them to her much superior cooking. Seriously though, she wasn't anti junk food, she just didn't want to get fat, and liked to show off her culinary skills. But after what she had gone through in the last few days, pizza rolls, chicken nuggets, and TV dinners sounded like paradise! The beer in the fridge was the cherry on top.

Under age? Oh, please! Age doesn’t exactly mean much at this point, does it? With all the crimes she had recently committed (was currently still committing), drinking a damn beer was silly to think of as a big deal. She was fourteen, not four!

Starting the oven preheating, and looking for a cookie sheet or something to cook things on, Ally pondered what it would be like if there were no age requirements, dumb rules, or debilitating laws.

Ally stopped for a moment to close her eyes and rub her temples. She was ranting about everything in her head, and it was annoying. She was worn out, and grumpy, and wanted to rage against the machine. That was an old person saying, wasn't it? Must have been a long time ago, since every adult she knew was part of the 'machine'.

Finishing her beer, Ally realized how filthy her clothes were. She was pretty dirty herself... Well, God intended for us to be naked, right? Or at least it wasn’t supposed to be a big deal. So stripping nude in a stranger’s house, drinking their beer, cooking their food, and using their facilities to bathe, wasn’t a sin! And with that ridiculous logic, Ally removed her clothes, and walked naked to the bathroom.

This house was large, and by all the vehicles, it felt like a family should live here. Yet there were no female effects anywhere. Actually, far as things like food and toiletries went, it seemed like a single man lived here.

Taking a quick shower, she used the obviously male toiletries to clean up. At least he had a bunch of cheap razors. Stubble made her feel soiled and angry. Towel drying her hair, Ally let it hang damp, walking naked back to the kitchen. The cool air made her shiver a little. How she loved the thrill of being nude in the cold!

She let that thought linger in her mind as she put the food in the oven. Her relatives were nudists, sure… and she was nude around them quite a good deal… but... why couldn't she remember it? She was having trouble remember a lot recently. There were things she was positive about, but couldn't conjure up detail memory. Like, she didn't want to think of her aunt and uncle naked, but at the same time, why couldn't she remember seeing them that way even once, when she knew she had? Many times.

Deciding it didn't matter, her mind changed course to her own feelings on the topic. Ally could never be a true nudist. She loved being naked. To her, being naked was a thrill. She didn’t think nudity was casual, and fully believed if one wasn’t attractive enough and in good shape, they should remain clothed. Nudity made her heart race, and breath catch. Until she saw some ugly naked person. Then she felt a bit queasy. She hated nudist resorts. Old, fat, ugly, hairy people. Ugh…

Ally realized her views on nudity probably negated the non-sinful nature of no clothing. Not putting too much more thought into it, and grabbing another beer, the teenage girl walked to the kitchen door and opened it, stepping out on the porch. She was going to call Gigi in to eat and bathe, but where was she?

Then she saw a sight that made her smile: Gigi rocketing out of the trees on the far side of a field on her dirt bike; angling towards a small grassy knoll, she used it as a jump, and landed it perfectly, after getting an impressive amount of air.

'Well, I’ll be damned,' Ally thought. Gigi slowed, coming to a stop not far from her naked, beer drinking, cousin. “I did it, Ally! I did it!” Gigi squealed, hopping free of the tipping bike that she failed to support. Her eyes were wide in surprise, but she didn’t seem to care too much that it fell over.

“Yes, you did! You make me proud all the time, you know that?” Ally honestly praised, inciting a gigantic grin from Gigi, and triumphant giggle. Then her expression froze, still wide-eyed, looking clueless and derpy as her stomach growled loud enough for Ally to hear. “And there’s some really good food in here too. I got it cooking already,” Ally informed, getting a squeaky, “Yay!” from Gigi, before she ran past her and into the house. She made a beeline for the fridge, opened it, and frowned at how empty it was.

“I got nuggets cooking, then gonna make some pizza rolls,” Ally said. “Look in the freezer and see which TV dinner you want. I’ll make those in the microwave, and we can take the extra nuggets and rolls with us when we leave. There’s even a cheesecake for dessert!” Gigi didn’t say anything to confirm she heard, but she did close the fridge and open the freezer, promptly dropping stuff on her head. She didn’t seem to mind.

Shortly after, Ally stripped Gigi down, and got their laundry going, while the last of the food heated. Gigi was still so hyper that Ally knew trying to get her to focus and take a quick shower, before food, would be impossible. So she let her bounce around the house while the food finished. When they sat down to eat, she tried to ignore Gigi’s whining that there was no pickles, nor ranch for her nuggets and pizza rolls. Not exactly like this place had a decent spice rack… There was mayo in the fridge, but that was a far cry from ranch.

Once they finished eating, Ally had a hard time keeping the child from falling asleep, having to not only carry her to the tub, but also bathe her. Which was awkward with this new older looking Gigi, so decided to use some cold water to wake the kid up to clean herself. When washed and dried, the little blonde zonked out completely. Ally took that time to finish the laundry, all the while expecting someone to show up at any moment and discover them.

Deciding to add more to her crimes, Ally stole a backpack from a closet, a nice hunting knife, and two foil emergency blankets. They would be back in Castle Rock soon, she didn’t need to fill their carrying capacity to the max. Over-encumbrance was not a good thing with a six-year-old.

She did take a small first aid kit she found in a cupboard, along with some sandwich bags to pack their food. Laundry done, she decided jeans over panties instead of the dance briefs was probably the best. She even put her shoes on, as well as redonning the tie-dye shirt. Only this time, she didn’t knot it at the side. She did her hair once again back up in a high ponytail.

Waking up Gigi to get her dressed, she of course wanted to wear the same thing she had already been wearing. Not that she really had much for options... But why the ugly bearded man shirt, Ally had no idea. She did manage to actually get some undergarments on the child for a change.

When Gigi asked her where she got her pants, Ally started to answer her, and stopped. Where had she got these jeans? Hadn't she been wearing them before changing to something else in that lot? Gigi followed up by asking why she had been naked earlier, and that it was weird, but Ally looked pretty either way. Also, odd. She had been naked around her little cousin plenty.

Outside, bags packed (Ally carrying both), and standing next to their new transportation, she double checked that Gigi was good, then got on her own bike. It was freezing out, but it felt more invigorating than uncomfortable, which was good, as Ally wasn't totally sure she wasn't coming down with Alzheimer's or something, and anything to help clear her head was welcomed.

Right before they left, when Ally was turned away, Gigi removed the pantsu she was wearing, tossing them to the side.

They were then riding away, the terrain allowing for some pretty decent speeds.

* * *

They had been heading northwest, yet were still not in sight of I-5. At this point, Ally had to admit she didn't have a clue where they were. The duo had crossed several smaller rivers, but if they had names, or were actually just big streams or creeks, she also didn't know. The only reason she was fairly certain they had to be close was because of the ridiculous amount of helicopters in the area!

It was getting late, and they had needed to take cover numerous times when helicopters flew by, normally quite low. They all looked like military attack choppers. Not that Ally really knew what that looked like outside of the movies, but you could still generally tell if a helicopter was meant to kill you, spy on you, or film you with a news crew on board. So, logic said they must be close! Right?

Now, with it getting late, and quite dark, they needed somewhere to shelter. Moving at night might be generally easier to hide, but she had to assume the military was using night vision or something. That and having Gigi along generally made everything more difficult. God only knew what would happen if they got caught!

Looking at her fuel gauge, she was painfully low, and knew Gigi must be too. They had stopped once at someone’s garage, siphoning gas to fuel up. Ally had been glad the fuel worked in the bikes. She had no idea about things like fuel, and mixes, and what to use in what, she just knew how to ride. Stopping her bike, she got off and told Gigi (to a LOT of complaints) that they needed to walk them from here.

Making it to a -also eerily abandoned- residential neighborhood, it didn’t take long for Ally to find a small wooden tool shed, behind a house, out of sight of the street. As good a place as any to shelter and sleep for the night! Telling Gigi to wait there, she went out with the two small red gas tanks they had picked up earlier in the day, and quickly filled them via siphoning from parked vehicles.

When she returned, she went ahead and filled up Gigi’s dirt bike, but was just too damn exhausted (she could hardly stand!) to fill hers right now, so opted to have a cold dinner of their remaining nuggets first. After eating, Ally stripped down naked, and fell asleep using the duffel as a pillow, and a large tarp as a blanket.

Completely forgetting to fill up her own bike.

* * *

“Hey, wake up!” was the harsh sounding command that scared the hell out of her. She was used to being rudely awakened, but this was a bit of a different. Ally and her friends had been awakened by the authorities more than once, like when camping where you weren't allowed, that sorta thing. The military waking her? That was a new one.

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“What?” Ally grumbled, with one eye open to the scowling black man in the generic green army-looking clothes, like she had seen in various media. In person, they seemed… cheaper somehow. She was determined not to panic. If she played it cool, maybe they would still have a chance to get away. “Don’t you ‘what’ me,” he scowled, his rifle lowered, but held in two tense hands. He eyed them suspiciously. Cautiously. And to Ally, fearfully. “You two shouldn’t be here. C’mon, I’ll take you to a shelter. Somewhere safe.”

Gigi jumped naked from under the tarp, and bit his boot. It wasn’t very effective. That didn’t stop him from shouting, and aiming his rifle at the child. “NO!” Ally shrieked, and to her relief, he didn’t fire. Instead, he looked almost as relieved as Ally. The fuck was going on? “Please don’t make this troublesome, alright?” he asked the naked child chewing on his boot. His voice sounded… calmer. “It’s my job to get you two somewhere safe.” Ally looked at his name tag; it read ‘WHITE’. Seriously? “Mr. White, what is going on around here?” she asked, throwing a whimper into her voice.

The day was bright outside the door. Not the bright of early morning, but the deeper brightness of noon. Shit, how long had they slept?!

Relaxing his stance completely, he sighed, “Just come with me, okay? We are the good guys. Promise.” Yeah, like Ally would believe that. Only clueless government types called themselves the ‘good guys.’ And more often than not, they were as bad as anyone else. Gigi crawled away from his boot now, back over by the tarp and into a corner. Sergeant White looked a bit awkward. “Why is she naked? Does she have… problems?” he asked, averting his eyes from the child's naked butt. It was a valid question.

His reaction gave Ally an idea. Sighing loudly, “What's wrong with being naked?” and she stood, giving him quite a good look at her own naked body. His eyes grew wider than Gigi’s, and he whipped his head away so fast that he ended up turning all the way around, his back to the two girls. Ally grinned. Unlike Gigi’s assault, hers had been super effective!

“Um, whoa! Uh, okay, I’ll get you girls some clothes or something!” he offered, sounding uncomfortable. Okay Ally, now to think! There has to be a way to- “Hey Adam, I found them!” White called off to someone that Ally couldn’t see. “It’s just two little girls! Bring a blanket or something, they don’t have any clothes on!” Ally was fuming at being called a little girl. And you're an old man, you thirty-somethings jerk!

If there were more of them, they had to act fast, or they really were caught “Gigi, we need to-” Ally started quietly, and was cut short as flames went up behind her in a whooosh; Gigi using a lighter to light the gasoline she had dumped in a corner. There were paint cans and other chemicals in here! “Shit!" Ally cursed, and grabbed the child by an arm, jumped out the door and ran, leaving all their gear -and clothes- in the shed.

“Hey!” the black man in the military fatigues exclaimed, when the two naked girls ran past him. And the shed exploded. Well, more like it flared, whooshed, then went blam! The explosion wasn’t really too impressive, but the man had been feet from it, so easily got knocked over, hopefully unharmed.

Startled, since she had not exactly been expecting an explosion, Ally tripped and fell, then got back up, running fast. Gigi jumped on her dirt bike, and it suddenly dawned on Ally what she had forgotten to do last night. “Gigi, no! I don’t have any gas!” She yelled, to no avail. That damn gas Gigi had lit was supposed to go in her tank! “FUCK!” Ally screeched, after the naked kid bolted away on the bike, a moment before she could grab her.

At least she was going in the right FUCKING DIRECTION! Ally raged silently, though not too secretly.

Several more men in uniform had come running over to check on White, who was on his feet again. 'Shit, crap, fuck' Ally lamented, dodging towards a small stream (or drainage ditch) near where they had parked the bikes. At least one soldier began shooting at her the same moment she hit the downslope. Tumbling into the ditch and splashing painfully at the bottom, she swore to kill Gigi if she ever saw her again.

Freezing cold, naked, her feet getting cut up, she ran. Ally heard someone yelling to cease fire. Thank God for small miracles, and decent people! She continued running, taking the drainage ditch as far as she could, coming out of it near something that looked like a school with a playground.

No one was following her, but there were about five men in uniform with guns near the school, looking over at the direction she had come. And they noticed the naked teenage girl. Ally whimpered, and turned, running towards some houses, as these men too aimed their guns at her. Why the fuck were they shooting at her?! She was quite obviously not carrying any weapons!

Sprinting across lawns, and hopping fences, Ally could not believe she was running from the military, naked, while they were trying to kill her! After cutting through about four yards, she saw a decent-looking bicycle. No one had shot at her since she had hopped that first fence, and she didn't see or hear anyone chasing her.

Jumping on the bike and missing the pedals, she hit the seat hard enough to double over in pain. Righting herself with a grimace, Ally took off like a bat out of Hell. Her feet hurt bad enough, punching herself in the freaking vagina sure didn't help! The peddles were destroying her feet, and completely fuck sitting down! Legs so tired that she didn’t know how she was still going, Ally rode on. Zooming down streets in this small community, and cutting through yards and walkways between houses faster than was safe, but never crashing.

After what seemed like forever, she stopped near bridge that crossed over another creek. Gigi was gone, and Ally was pretty sure she had hypothermia. If she didn’t get somewhere to dry off and warm up, she was going to die.

There were plenty of houses, and there was still no sign of people, so Ally figured it was going to be simple as picking a house to break into. So pick a house she did, a large one with an ugly green minivan outside. It had a ‘Dance Mom on board’ bumper sticker, and she saw a Girl Scout uniform tossed in the backseat. Looked like it might fit her. Good, this house should have clothes she can wear.

Shivering violently, Ally stumbled into the house from the unlocked back door. Some people… First thing she did was start a hot shower and sit down in the large tub. Holding her knees to her chest, the water washing over her, she shivered, and cried.

Ally had no idea what time it was when she woke, just that the water was cold, and there was hardly any light coming in the window. Crawling out of the tub, she stood weakly. Okay, her muscles were good, the water must have just gotten cold. There was no time to delay, she had to hurry! Gigi was out there alone, and the army guys could be anywhere! They could have even caught the little turd by now! Maybe that’s why they had quit chasing Ally?

Without giving herself time to be afraid, she checked the other rooms on the second floor of the house. one of them was a girl’s room. And it was awkward. Everything was pink, and there were little kid’s toys and pre-school type posters and decorations. The closet had clothes that should fit Ally, but the room suggested either a handicapped child, or a mind immature for its age resided here. Or some type of psycho freak parent.

Luckily, the girl was a dancer, so there were some normal (by Ally’s standards) clothes in the drawers and closet. Dressing in a slightly too small black leotard, Ally also pulled on some gray dance sweats that were a little too short, and a yellow shirt that just said ‘meow’ in faded silver glitter across the front. She also decided to braid her hair. The ponytail wouldn’t stay up, and with it loose, it was getting in her face.

Exploring the rest of the house (damn her feet hurt!) for things like food, equipment, and first aid supplies, she heard it: a motor bike! Running to a window overlooking the road, the sound was gone. Had she been imagining things?

Getting paranoid, and being this (assumed) close to Castle Rock, she decided finding Gigi and her friends was more important than packing for a journey. Ally was sore, cold, scared, and hungry. If she took her time here… If Gigi needed her… Hurrying downstairs and out the back door, she grabbed the bike, and heard the motor in the distance again.

She listened as it grew closer, and closer, then the sound obviously flew along the street in front of the house. “There’s no way in hell,” she said in disbelief, and ran around the building. Looking left and right, she saw nothing. Heard nothing. Was she actually starting to go crazy? Then she heard it again. At the far end of the street to her left, several blocks down, she saw the tiny dirt bike round the corner, and start driving her way.

Ally began crying as she jumped up and down, waving her arms in the air. Her sobs quickly changed to laughs, Gigi skidding to a stop in front of her. Ally grabbed her off the bike in a huge twirling hug, letting it fall, laughing amidst her tears at this astounding little naked creature. “We need to get in the back,” Ally said, setting Geeg down, and lifting the bike back up, quickly rolling it around the back of the house.

How had the military not heard or seen the child riding around? Were they following her? Did they have stealth drones or something? Probably... It was the U.S. Army, or Marines, or something. She was so stupid only worrying about freaking helicopters! Too late now.

Carrying the naked and shivering Gigi upstairs to run her a hot bath, paranoia aside, Ally was still a bit overcome with emotion. “How did you find me?” Ally asked, the hot water running. “I h-h-h-heard y-y-you,” Gigi shivered, and Ally had no idea what she was talking about. Heard her what?

“Y-y-y-you l-left Gigi before, b-b-but Gigi won’t leave y-you! E-e-even if I want to, because y-y-you deserve it!” the little girl said in a determined voice, but a look that said she was about to cry. Ally beat her to it; the little girl’s words shattering her heart. Grabbing her tiny cousin in a bear hug, once again, she cried. “Dammit Gigi, I thought I lost you,” Ally sobbed. Then the horrible memories of that giant dog came back to her. “Again! I can't lose you too, Gigi, I just cant!”

And with that, Gigi was crying too. “I’m sorry, Ally! I was trying to make a distraction, and went fast!” she sobbed. “Then you weren’t back there when I looked! Gigi was so scared she was alone! She thought they got you when they started shooting!” Ally composed herself through sheer will, letting the child cry. She needed to be the adult here.

Once Gigi cried herself out, and was only sniffling, Ally set her in the warm tub. “Awwwww,” Geeg moaned with a smile, and despite it all, Ally snickered an unintentional laugh. Oh, how she loved this girl! Her little onion head.

Ally smiled, memories flooding her mind. Back when Gigi was little(er), Ally was making some food while they were out camping with Sally and Jessie. Geeg had seen Ally slicing onions, and started throughout a total fit about not wanting them on her burger. Jessie had, of course, made the loud comparison to the child looking like one of the onions. She of course did not look like an onion, but she got so pressed over the stupidest stuff. Sally had then started mocking Gigi by calling her an onion head. Sally was so sweet, but her and Gigi never really got along. Though these days it had seemed better... Anyway, during a visit to Ally's, somehow the onion head thing came up when Caleb was around. Of course, he had found it adorable, and playfully teased Geeg with it during that trip.

Now that Ally thought about it... No one had referred to Gigi as an onion in a while. It was almost like Caleb cured her of the curse by explaining how important onion were in the culinary world, and that she should be proud to be called one.

As much as she wished to sit here thinking of good times, there were more pressing matters at the moment. “Hey, Gigi… did you happen to see anything you recognized? Like maybe where we are?” The wide-eyed girl looked up at her with that vacant stare of hers, “Gigi saw the burger K, but there was nobody anywhere!”

The burger K was what Gigi called a big wooden letter K on a hillside in Kelso. It was situated to be seen when northbound on I-5. She called it such because whenever they came to town to get fast food, the places they went were within sight of that giant K.

Kelso was the sister city to Longview on its east side of the Cowlitz River, and only about twenty miles south of Castle Rock!

“Take your time in the bath, Geeg. I’m going to look round the house for stuff,” Ally said, standing and turning to leave the room. “But we have to hurry!” Gigi sniffled in urgency that didn’t seem so urgent. Turning back with a soft smile, “And we will hurry,” Ally told her. “But you need to warm up, and I need to get us supplies, and find you some clothes.” Ally smiled big. “We are almost there, I think it would be safer if we walked.”

It only took a second for Gigi to figure out her cousin’s meaning. “Oh! So the army men don’t hear us!” she nodded in confirmation to herself, and changed her attention to splashing her hands around in the water, acting more like a toddler than a six-year-old.

After finding a backpack, Ally started looking around for old kid’s clothes. The parents definitely gave off obsessive weird, odds they hoarded everything from their daughter’s entire life were high. And when Ally climbed into the attic, her suspicions proved accurate. They had indeed kept everything from their daughter’s life. The attic was stuffed to the ceiling so tightly, that maneuvering through would be impossible. Luckily there were plenty of bags of clothing near the attic entrance.

She took a big black garbage sack of kid’s clothes down to let Gigi look through it. After setting it down in the living room, she raided the pantry and fridge, which were fairly stocked. Ally grabbed a can of green beans, a can of chili, and a can of corn. She also took a few warm cans of soda, and some packs of crackers. The fridge didn’t house much worth carrying, but there was a huge jar of pickles, and a fresh sealed mini block of cheddar cheese, both of which she took.

Going back upstairs to a pruny Gigi, she got her out of the tub, then brought her out to where she had left the supplies. Gigi screamed in joy at the sight of the pickles, and quickly had pickle juice all over the floor, and the sack of clothes scattered everywhere. “Y’know what?” Ally said, standing from the recliner she sat in. “I’m going to try to cook us some real food!”

“Yay!” Gigi cheered, mouth full of a pickle she was crunching. “Slow down on those, or they are going to hurt your tummy,” Ally lectured, as she left for the kitchen.

The real food ended up being a couple small cans of stew. This house also had a lot of store-brand dry mix packets, allowing Alley to whip up a thing of ranch for the child, that wasted no time scooping her pickles in it. GROSS!

Fed, bathed, and spirits back up, Ally shouldered her backpack. “You sure you want to wear that?” she asked Gigi, since she had chosen to don a child’s cow costume. It wasn’t much more than a one-piece white and black spotted footy that zipped up the front, with an attached cow-eared hood. The outfit even had a tail. On closer inspection, it may have been pajamas…

“You sure you wanna wear those?” Gigi said in a snotty voice, looking at the hot pink hiking boots Ally was wearing, which were too small for her feet. They were ugly as sin, but the only pair here that came close to fitting. “Touché,” she answered, receiving a puzzled look in return.

Once again, they set out for Castle Rock; Ally in her ugly pink boots and Gigi in her cow pajamas. Ally carried all the supplies. She didn't want Gigi getting tired, and needing to stop. They had many miles to cover.

Which was going to take forever, with how slow the child walked! It was dark now, and the cow-onion was getting grumpy. Not that Ally could blame her. She herself was exhausted, and her feet were in so much pain that a tantrum just for tantrum’s sake sounded like a pretty good idea!

“Are you sure you saw the burger K?” Ally asked her cousin for the millionth time. Gigi ignored her for the thousandth time. This wasn’t going to work. She knew they were close, but out here, east of the highway, she couldn’t judge their progress. Ally would kill for GPS right about now…

When they were stumbling blindly through some fields, and Geeg kept falling over, Ally decided they needed somewhere to sleep. Again. And, like usual, there were houses in the area with enough property to be mini-farms. Also, there was still was no sign of people.

This time though, as they looked for a place to sleep, Ally chose to be more picky. She didn't want to be in a house, or a shack with only one door. It needed to provide shelter, but be easy to get in and out of without getting trapped. Without too much searching, she found a rundown barn with a loft, that was perfect. It was breezy and cold, but she could also see in almost every direction due to holes in the walls.

After eating a fairly unappetizing meal of cold food, the two girls went to bed; needing to snuggle together since it was freezing and they had no blankets. Still, they stayed warm enough, and managed to get some sleep.

* * *

A horse whinnied.

Startled out of sleep, the sun wasn’t even up yet, but she could hear birds already beginning their morning song. What was that noise? Had she heard… Then she heard it again. A horse! Grinning, and forgetting how cold she was, Ally gently shook her cousin. “Gigi, wake up. We gotta go.” Gigi mumbled something incoherent. “Wake up. I think I found us a ride.” Without waiting for the child to respond, Ally grabbed their bag, climbed down the old wooden ladder, and went outside, into the cold misty morning. Not far away, eating grass or something, was a big beautiful brown horse.

So happy that she could cry, Ally was thrilled that the horse was friendly, and obviously a riding horse. She loved horses so much, and now they could ride. So much quieter than a motor vehicle, and way faster than walking. The area they were in should be getting to more farm and less wooded hills too, so could probably ride almost the entire rest of the way!

When Gigi came outside, to Ally’s surprise, she seemed afraid of the horse. Curious.

Ally didn’t have time to deal with the child’s fears, and forced her to suck it up and mount up, bareback behind her. Trying to coax the kids pride, she teased her about being a chicken.

It wasn’t that she was a chicken… Gigi just didn’t want to be around whatever was going to do that to the horse! Not that she shared that with the teenager, instead remaining quiet while they rode.

Not wasting time, Ally had them at a good trot, resisting the urge to start galloping. The sun was starting to light up the sky now, so she wasn't too worried about running into a ditch or something... Ally wasn't new to being on the back of a horse, but she wasn't exactly experienced either.

It ended up being a good thing she wasn't galloping; when they cleared a small hill, she barely kept from going over a cliff. The horse, acting nervous now, and fidgeted under them; Ally staring at what lay before her in both parts shock and horror. As far as she could see ahead, and to the sides, the ground was either black or brown. Dirt, and earth was upturned everywhere, all vegetation was dead or simply gone, including what little trees there had been in these fields.

What… the hell? Gigi still didn’t say anything behind her, and Ally had the horse moving again, this time to their right, as she tried to find a way down onto the destroyed land. More than once, she had to stop and calm the horse. He was seriously freaked out. Ally had never had to deal with a horse this freaked out before, and it was making her nervous. When they finally crossed out onto the burnt earth, the horse was so tense, she kept expecting to get thrown at any moment.

Eventually they did.

It had been taking them forever to make their way through the obstacles of this destroyed area, finally coming in sight of a treeline. Thrilled that the devastation didn’t actually seem to go on forever, Ally had relaxed, letting her guard down. When a huge blue wall shot into the sky from within the trees, going up and out as far as they could see with a loud whoosh, she -and Gigi- easily got bucked flying.

Neither of them were hurt, though the landing was rough. The horse ran off a ways, then stopped, snorting and neighing loudly. But both Ally and Gigi were temporarily too distracted by the giant blue wall to register much of anything else.

It was several minutes as the two sat there on the ground, staring at it in silence, until Ally finally stood. Shaking off her shock, she started walking over to the horse. Remembering what the news had said, if the devastation she stood in was from manastorms, and if that wall had something to do with it, then her and Gigi needed to get the hell out of this area, now.

The treeline was way too far to run to, especially in this terrain, meaning they still needed the horse. If it didn't take too long to get it.

It took a good ten minutes until it quick dodging her approach, then another ten until it had calmed enough to mount. Ally figured if manastorms were about to kill them, it would have happened by now.

Going back would take as long as forward, and after coming this far, the girl was committed. Gigi continued to remain silent during their painfully slow ride to the treeline. Once reaching them, they had been easy to clear, not being dense, and didn't take long to clear them on the other side; some forty or so yards in front of the big blue wall.

They were in a clearing, going as far left and right as the wall. The treeline was so sharp, this had to be the edge of someones property.

“We should let mr. horse run away,” Gigi suggested in a deadpan, startling Ally. “We might need him still, but we can let him graze a bit,” She answered, swung her leg over and hopped down. “He’s in dangerous though,” Gigi complained, as Ally helped her down. “Danger, not dangerous,” the teen corrected, then added “What kind of danger?”

“Of a monster!” was the chirped reply, that finally had some emotion. Despite the words, Gigi didn’t seem too concerned, so Ally wrote it off as her just being Gigi. “Well he can run a lot faster than us, so if a monster shows up, he can run away to freedom!” she coddled, turning to look at the barrier before them. “I guess…” Gigi mumbled, looking back at the horse as it walked away, nervous.

“So, it really is a big blue wall,” Ally said to herself, walking over to it, stopping feet from its surface; this close, it looked kinda like steel. Slowly and cautiously (and she kept telling herself stupidly), Ally reached out a hand and touched it. It sort of felt like steel too… weird, creepy, blue steel.

Looking back and forth the length of this thing, she didn’t see any differences, seams, or breaks in it. How the hell were they going to get through this? Stepping back, Ally looked up, squinting at it trying to see farther, noticing it appeared to maybe curve a bit. Is it dome shaped? Is this thing totally covering Castle Rock, or just a tall barrier?

Ally wasn’t sure what they should do. If there was a way in, which direction was it? Would it be guarded? And if so, by what? And what put it here? Some magic monster terror thing? The military? She had no way of knowing, deciding all that could be done at this point was to walk and search. “Let’s see if we can find a door or something,” she said to Gigi. “Not gonna ride?” the girl in the cow pajamas asked. The horse looked spooked beyond all spookiness, and Ally didn’t exactly feel like getting thrown again. “Nah, let’s just walk. We’ll go down this way for a while, then turn around and check the other way. Kay?” Getting a nod, she starting walking, the wall on her left. She wasn’t moving too fast, so Gigi could easily keep up.

Some time later, having gone both ways a decent stretch, they were now almost back to where the horse was. Ally hadn’t seen even a single scratch, or bump, or anything different. Walking was going to get them nowhere. Unfortunately that left riding. Luckily the horse had remained in the area they dismounted, He even seemed to have calmed down, eating grass and flicking his tail. If they horse did freak out, or they found nothing riding, Ally figured they would try digging. With no destruction this close to it, if it was the cause of the storms from before, they should be safe. Unless the military or some demon showed up...

Kicking at a rock, Gigi had forgotten her worries. She hadn't want to be near the horse when the bad stuff happened to it, so she wouldn't get hurt too. But now she just wanted something to happen, even if it was bad, because this was boring! Not that Gigi wanted the horse to die, she just wanted something exciting; sometimes animals die really bad, it was nature, no one cared unless a human did it. So she guessed it really didn't matter that much.

'Gigi? Is that you? Why did you come back?!'

The sudden voice in the little girl’s head shocked her enough to cry out, startling the horse, causing it to run a good ways farther down. “Dammit, Gigi!” Ally snapped, running ahead to catch up to their mount.

‘You scared me!’ Gigi lectured the nameless voice. ‘You should be afraid! Do you have any idea the danger you are in?’

‘Is it because of the horse? I knew we should have stayed away from it!’

‘I have no idea what you are-'

'It's gonna die! I think a monster is gonna eat it!'

'That could very well be true. There are monsters here much worse than the lycanthropeire you faced before.'

That caused her to frown. She didn't want to be killed by monsters... But she did come back here knowing it was dangerous, right? Being a hero meant you had to fight monsters. Even if that meant you might die. That you might die... really bad... like the horse was going to...

‘Please Gigi, you need to leave.’

‘Namey, is everyones alive still?’

‘You listen about as well as Caleb…’

‘Caleb is alive?!’ Gigi swore the voice sighed at her. Rude! ‘Yes, they are. For now. Regardless, you need to – will you pay attention!’

Gigi ignored the voice she now called Namey (short for Nameless) that was lecturing her like an old person, running to Ally with a big grin on her face. When she got close, she started yelling, “They’re alive, they’re alive!” Once again scaring the horse, only this time it just trotted a little ways from an irritated-looking Ally.

“Seriously, Gigi?” Ally growled, as the goofy girl hopped around happily. “What is your problem?”

“They are aliiiiiiiiiiive!”

“Who?”

“Caleb and everyones!”

“Everyone,” she corrected. “And how do you know that?”

“Namey told me!”

“Who’s Namey?”

“The voice in my head!”

“Oh, well, that’s wonderful.”

Resisting the urge to strangle her cousin, “Can you ask this voice of yours how to get through this wall?” she grumbled. “He doesn’t want us to; he says we are in danger.” And again with the danger thing. Then, looking at Gigi more closely, she didn’t seem to be making this up. “What danger? The monster you were talking about?” Gigi was already shaking her head, “I don’t know, maybe! Maybe the monster that is gonna eat mr. horse wants to eat us too!” Despite the weirdness of the moment, Ally was beginning to get a bad feeling. “Well, tell the voice in your head he can kiss my ass, and see if he can send someone to open a door for us or something,” Ally replied sarcastically. “Just did," Gigi said immediately. "He said that was not very polite!”

Rolling her eyes Ally walked back towards the wall a bit, Geeg running past her to go knock on it. Wasn’t there enough to worry about without Gigi going mental? Putting hands on her hips, Ally was visually examining the thing, again. There must be some way… Walking backwards and squinting upwards, she stopped. There! Way up on the curve! There was something... Maybe a door? A vent? But how the hell were they going to get up to…

Oh, God.

Her heart slammed, blood running cold. Whatever that thing was, it was moving. And fast, coming right at them!

She stood, frozen in place frozen, as the thing raced closer and closer, until she could see it more clearly.

It had the grotesque, hideous torso of a large ugly man, left side of his head shriveled, left arm like a baby’s. And if that was not bad enough, his lower body had numerous huge spider-looking legs that it used to rush down the wall- directly over the top of a clueless Gigi!

“GIGI, RUN!!!” Ally screamed like an actress in a B horror movie, though she currently felt it was warranted. Gigi looked up and jumped back with a surprised shriek. It didn’t matter, as the man-creature (Were pieces of him rotting?) looked out towards Ally, and without slowing, launched straight out from the wall, directly at her.

This time, a bloodcurdling, shrill scream of pure terror escaped Ally as she hit the ground, the monster rocketing over her (It stinks! It stinks so bad!), flipping, and smashing legs first into the horse, that had already begun running away when Ally first screamed.

The horse cried out in agonized panic, and Ally retched; the man-creature ripping the horse to pieces, consuming all it tore off. Ally noticed its legs weren’t actually legs, and had mouths at their ends, aiding in the consumption, and moved more like snakes or tentacles.

Ally scrambled backwards on her butt, trying hard to think, to reason, to get herself under control! The huge gaping holes in this thing’s rotting body began to heal before her eyes, while it devoured their large mount, bones and all.

Faring much better emotionally than her older cousin -though she had peed herself- Gigi was frantically searching the wall now. There had to be a door! They could not die here! She now remembered the fear she had felt before now. Clearly. And this horror wasn’t any better, and it was in the light, not a monster in the dark.

No! She knew this! She knew monsters could eat her! She came back anyway! She needed a weapon! Or powers! Where was the damn door?! Where were her team members?!

'Survive, Gigi! I will get Caleb to listen to me! You fight, and you live! Help will come!'

Terrified, punching the wall hard enough that her knuckles bled, all Gigi really registered was that Nameless didn’t sound like he believed what he was saying. He sounded sad. Like… like she was going to die!

Looking over his greasy shoulder, horse completely gone now, Larry studied the terrified teen that still sat staring at him, reeking of fear. “You. You’re one of her students, aren’t ya? I smell her on you. And the child that pissed herself is too, huh?” At hearing him speak, and as he casually turned to walk towards her on those tentacles; somehow, Ally could again think. She was on her feet, fast.

“The fuck wants to know?” she asked with an unwavering defiance that startled her. The man-thing’s one good eye grew large in what appeared honest shock, then he threw his head back in a deep phlegmy chuckle, good arm across his chest. That was when Ally realized that his legs were not just mouthed tentacles. Somehow, horrifyingly -Oh no. Oh fuck no, oh holy shit- they were each a giant… penis.

His laughter ending, he looked back to the girl that stood in front of him so defiantly. The tiny one looking all about the barrier, flipping out, he ignored. She could be the after dinner mint. This mouthy little bitch had his current focus. He sure was meeting a lot of cheeky little shit fucks recently.

“Name’s Larry. Or perhaps you know me as… hell, what was it...” Larry looked down to the side with a deep thoughtful expression, “Oh, that’s right! Ted,” and smiled, this time getting a proper reaction of respect from the pretty skank. “Ah, so you have heard of me!” The expression of fear on the girl’s face was glorious! He hadn’t been this complimented by a reaction to his name in ages!

“Y’know, a moment ago I had thought to try these new, err… tools,” he wiggled one monstrous penis leg at her. It dripped something purple, and had a huge fingernail on it, like a hat. In fact, each of them did. Not to mention the rows of pointed teeth in their -urethra?- mouths. “-on you. And maybe the little one too,” Larry continued. “But since you’ve shown me a proper response to one of my names…” he grinned wickedly, green snot running from a nostril. “I’ll rip ya to shreds, reanimate your corpse, and fuck that raw instead. Ain’t I a nice guy?” Then he frowned. “I supposed these are a bit big... Really would rip you to shreds if crammed in your cunt... Ah well, no matter, always time for adjustments later.”

Gigi was about at her wit’s end, not needing to look behind her to hear the words he spoke to Ally. She had seen what his legs were. She knew what sex was, and she knew what bad words meant. 'What to do, what to do? No, no, no… Namey? Nameless?! Nameless, you gotta help me! Please, please, please!' There was no answer. The voice in her head had again abandoned her.

In her panic, thoughts almost gibberish, someone crossed her mind. Someone she hadn’t even thought of in days. 'Masque! Masque, help me! Please!' She frantically kept banging on the wall, while screaming in her head. She was here to help them, not fight alone! Not just die! The Jesus Ninja saved her before! And he would again! He had to!!

Ally stood her ground, fists clenched, knees shaking, bile in her mouth. She wasn’t going to fucking scream again! She wasn’t going to die screaming and pleading!!! She would endure! She would find a way to live! To fight him! She had to- Larry suddenly hopped in front of her, one of his appendages lashing out before she could think, throwing her back at an angle, away from Gigi and into the blue wall. From the force she hit it with, Ally figured that impact must have killed her. That she was dead. But, unfortunately for her, she wasn’t. And was still conscious, lying on her stomach.

'He’s gonna kill us!' Gigi screamed in her head, legs feeling weak. Her subconscious remembering the story from the church. 'It’s the zombie guy! The one that hurt Miss Reba!' she pleaded to the ninja in her mind.

There was no answer. There was no reply.

Larry was on Ally as soon as she got to her hands and knees, one giant leg smashing her face down into the short grass by the back of her neck. Ally felt her nose bust, and laughed when she realized the irony of hoping she at least still had her teeth. Larry bashed her into the ground once more for good measure, then lifted her with the same appendage off of her feet, holding her so she was facing him. He held another horse-lipped, penis-headed tentacle close to the girl’s face, as she grimaced in pain. Barely controlling herself, Ally reached one hand back to grab the giant penis-stalk that was biting into the back of her neck, holding her agonizingly aloft, blood running down her back.

“You still ain’t screaming again, despite it all.” Larry was amused, and impressed. “You haven’t even begged. Everyone begs!” he grinned and cackled that last; Ally gagged and retched at the stench that came out of his face. “That’s fantastically marvelous for you, since I’m going to continue to reward you by not cramming a tentacle in your cunt! Or maybe you want some tentacle rape, huh? Maybe stick it in your ass instead?” he beamed his rotten-toothed grin at her, and this time the huge horse-lipped, fingernail-capped tentacle in her face grinned, gurgling a laugh; a nasty gassy stench coming from its mouth that almost made the teen lose consciousness, her world turning sour as spoiled milk. “Guess my deodorant shit’s all warn off,” Larry chuckled. He actually liked the reactions to his stench. There was something complimentary about it.

Gigi had fallen to her knees, bloody fists no longer beating the wall. Head hung, tears wouldn’t even come. 'Please, please, please, please, please,' she continued to beg, though even her mental stamina was drained from the fear 'Maaaaasque… Nameless… Caleb…' her mind softly cried. Giving in to despair, she knew no one could hear her. No one was listening... So she had to be loud! Had to make them listen out loud! Gigi took a deep breath.

Larry sighed now. “Almost a shame to just kill ya so quick, but I’m on a timetable.” He snorted, look of contempt on his face. “And you didn’t cry out for Jesus, not even once,” Larry sneered the Savior’s name. “I hate when fake little Christian bitches like you do that. You might be marked, but your blood tastes of rape, adultery, bestiality, and incest, amongst other things. I bet Jesus changes his-" he froze, startled, "what... how is that possible?"

Despite her pain, her fear… Something in Larry’s words hurt her deeper than anything else he could have done. Not calling her a whore, or making absurd accusations about her sex life. It was when he mentioned she wasn’t calling out to Jesus. That stinging realization caused her thoughts to clarify. Not one time, not in all of this…

…did she even think to cry out to Christ. To her God.

Her Christ they all accused her of not loving. Her Christ they all blamed her of pretending to follow.

Locking her eyes with Larry’s, his expression of bafflement froze when smiled. “Jesus,” Ally said weakly, yet somehow full of strength, “help… us.” And Larry watched as two -for some reason terrifying to him- tears fell from her eyes.

With all her strength, with her mind, and all her voice, with all the power that little Gigi could muster in one last breath; she screamed to any and all. Everyone in her mind, or in her world. To the heavens and to the earth. Every bit of emotion, fear, hope, and faith she put into her shout.

“HELP US!!!”

Hanging her head, trying to be strong, to not die begging, to be a hero, Gigi thought of Jesus, how he was God, and brave, and faced death. Stealing herself, she tried to stand, and couldn't, legs shaking. She was... too afraid. Too afraid to even look over. Too afraid to watch Ally die. 'Namey, Masquie... bye bye now."