Avialian started to hyperventilate. “This is not real. It cannot be!” As her breathing got quicker and quicker, she suddenly went limp and collapsed to the floor. Michael and Carolyn did their best to soften the fall, but only managed to keep her torso up near them as her six legs splayed out on the ground.

Sharon gently set down the piece of crystal she had picked up and turned to the others. Carolyn looked sad, and Sharon let out a sigh.

“I feel like I’m missing something important.” Said Michael as he tried to support Avialian.

“For being so good…at surviving on next to…nothing, you really…are bad at comprehension…These are not statues…they are dead ancients…”

“Wait, you mean?”

“Yes, these are…her people shattered…and left on the ground…”

“Like yeah, it’s a bit much. Essentially corpses left on the ground just feels so wrong. Like whoever did this had no respect for the dead.”

“Or maybe they had…greater concerns that…could not wait for…any sort of burial…such as a war…”

Carolyn moved forward and draped Avialian’s torso over her shoulders. “Well, there’s like a lot of stuff we don’t know right now, right? So like let’s focus on our immediate needs. Clear these corpses, and I’ll like drag Avy in.”

“But,”

“Like not now Michael! We’ve got to survive right? So like let’s worry about morals when we’re sure we’re safe.”

Sharon had already started to clear a spot where they wouldn’t accidentally step on anyone. Michael hesitated, but then he went into crisis mode. “It’s just like surviving on the boat,” he muttered to himself before he helped Sharon. They made quick work of it, and with clear effort, Carolyn pulled Avialian’s unconscious body into the cleared ground.

Sharon started to gather a few of the remnants as Carolyn sighed. “Like, things have changed. They’re like way worse than we thought coming in. So I was like thinking that I’d go check things out.”

“Alone? We just walked in on what was apparently a massacre, and you want to go out on your own?”

“Well like, I’m totally best suited for it. Like Sharon is totally blind, and I doubt you’d have any experience sneaking up on people.”

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“Well, what if something happens?”

“Then like you’ve got two wonderful girls that’ll be able to take care of you.”

“Okay, look no. This is it; I’m putting my foot down. If things got too dangerous, we agreed to leave, remember? Well, this is clearly way too dangerous. We’re done. We need to head back.”

“What about Avialian…do you plan to…drag her or…leave her here?”

“What do you mean?”

“There is no way she…will abandon her people…when we have found...them like this…She is going to have…to get to the bottom…of whatever is happening…”

“Like yeah! You’ve totally got to consider a woman’s feelings sometimes Michael.”

Michael rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I,” Michael paused. He wanted to say to cut her loose, but he couldn’t. There was that same pull he had in the beginning to help Carolyn when he just saw her boat drifting. He had never been selfless before, but this felt different. They were right and he knew it. He couldn’t leave her alone to deal with all of this, and it would make sense that she wouldn’t be up for just leaving now.

“Fine, we can stay a little while longer and figure things out but splitting up sounds like the literally worst idea.”

“Um like why?”

“Because that adds like a million complications. Like where will we meet up, what will we do to let the others know if something happens? What if we’re attacked while you’re gone? What if you get lost? It just adds way too much risk for maybe a little early information.”

“Normally I would not mind…you wandering off and…disappearing forever…but Michael has a point…we lose a lot of…our safety net if you…leave us alone…”

“Aw, I like so should have known you really cared Shar! Fine, I guess we can sit around here for now. I just hope she doesn’t like sleep for another few thousand years.”

Michael looked down at Avialian. He thought she would’ve looked peaceful, but she was practically in tears with a look of raw, unadulterated fear on her face. He hoped she wasn’t dreaming, because from the looks of her, it wouldn’t be good. He let pout a scoff as he remembered something from an old cartoon he used to watch. He sat down next to avialian, and gently patted her head. It wasn’t much, but he could swear he saw her relax slightly. While Carolyn and Sharon paused what they were doing to look on like territorial cats appraising the situation. Luckily, Michael spoke up before anything could happen.

“Alright, to make sure we’re at least doing something productive while we wait, I think this is a good time to have our rations.”

Michael pulled out a bottle and a small red purse. He opened the purse to reveal the dried fish strips inside. All three of them gathered around the meager offerings and dug in.

“Like I can’t believe I actually miss Sharon’s cooking compared to this pure dry junk.”

“That is because…I am by far the…best cook out of…the three of us…”

“Like just because I totally get distracted! If I could focus, I’d like totally be a better cook than you.”

“Yet because of that…I am better…Make any excuse that…you want, but…that does not change…the facts…”

Carolyn pouted as she forced down the dried meat followed by a small sip of water. “Like this is all your fault Michael.”

“What? How is your bad cooking my fault?”

“Well, who do you think keeps like distracting me?”

“How? I’m practically working to barely keep everything afloat twenty-four seven.”

“Like exactly! Flaunting your hot bod all around the boats, what’s a girl like supposed to do?”

Michael groaned as he walked into her trap yet again. Sharon giggled and shook her head. “You should learn…to multitask better…like me…”

“Well miss perfect, some of us…”

Carolyn cut herself short as her ears perked up. She put a finger to her lips and quickly moved to close the purse of meat. Sharon was about to open her mouth, and Michael panicked. He quickly pressed a finger up against her lips, which cause a light blush to color her cheeks.

In the distance, far down the hallway a crunching sound could be heard. Like someone was crushing glass under their boot. The hair on the back of all of their necks was standing straight up as they all slowly crowded together.

Crunch

CRUNCH

CRUNCH

Slowly, the sound got louder and louder, then Avialian cried out, “Maghu…!”

All three of them brought their hands up to her mouth and covered it, muffling her, but it was too late. After a brief silence that felt like a miniature eternity, the crunching sound sped up, and was rapidly getting closer. Then, more and more joined in, as if there was a stampede storming down the hallway towards them.

“So like, regret not sending me to spy now?”