Laughter and conversation soon died down to mere whispers as everybody in the plaza slowly broke up into smaller groups to tell stories about the bad ideas they’d had. Overall, Milo had a bit of trouble understanding why some people had done what they had, like Ren getting so drunk that he passed out in the neighborhood pool and almost drowning.
From what Milo had understood, there wasn’t too much exciting about his life compared to everybody else’s. TK had tested for his black belt in mixed martial arts, Ren had partied like a wild animal, Nile had worked himself to death for college funds, Leena began writing a story, Yani got a job at a modeling agency… And what had Milo done with his summer? Get shipped around the entire mainland United States sightseeing with his enthralling father. It wasn’t fair, he had no stories to tell anybody, nothing to laugh about, and no stupid decisions to look back on. His life had been utterly, and completely, boring. And he hated it.
Milo was standing over with TK and Leena while Nile laughed and joked around with the Velcro couple, Ren and Yani. So far, he was still wishing something interesting would happen. There everybody was, together again, and in a practically deserted town. Come to think of it, he had never even seen the desk clerk or any other hotel staff around. Well, whoever was supposed to be working this shift was about to get fired, and Milo or somebody else would make sure. There was some excitement right there.
“So Milo” Leena mused, crossing her arms blandly and shifting her weight to another hip. “What’d you do with your summer?”
There it was, the question Milo hated to answer. The one he hated to ask himself. “Nothing” he replied nonchalantly, trying to play off his boredom as nothing. “Parents carted me around the mainland states and showed me how much nothing there is in North Dakota”
TK chuckled a little bit, leaning against the wall and balancing on one footpaw. “Sounds like a party and a half” Lord, his voice rumbled like thunder.
“Yeah… You have my pity” Leena chimed in, grinning mirthlessly.
With a sigh, Milo shrugged his shoulders and turned to the other laughing group. Everyone but him was lucky. With a slight ping of envy in the back of his head, he turned back towards TK and Leena. If his life wasn’t any fun on its own, he was going to make his own fun.
“Here’s an idea…” he mused, walking over quickly in between the two. “Since this place is like ghost town, how about we go exploring?”
TK seemed to roll it around in his head a bit, but then pushed himself off of the wall with a smirk. God he was tall. “And here’s the twist…” he started, beginning to sound a bit like Milo with his enthusiasm. “Whoever brings back the most interesting thing gets… Hm, what should the prize be?”
Leena raised a paw in the air and chuckled, taking a step towards Milo. Every step she took, her shirt, or whatever it could be called, swayed as if there were a breeze around her. “The winner…” she started. “The winner gets one truth question to everybody here… In private. Any question, every person, only the truth”
Milo blinked a few times, wondering where the hell she had pulled that idea from. Sure, it would prove rather interesting, since some of them were apparently dying to figure a few things out. Hell, it would even be interesting to make somebody tell the truth. Of course, the thought swam through his head about how it could probably bring some things to light that others were touchy about, but… Hell, who was he to argue with Leena?
“You got a deal” Milo grinned eagerly, putting a paw out, and slightly up, so they could shake on it.
TK agreed, and they were now set. Now to just get everybody else. So TK called the other three over, and then-
“Hey, where’s Nella and Rellian?” Milo asked suddenly as everybody gathered around the rug in the center to explain the competition.
Milo’s eyes instantly went to Nile, who suddenly averted his eyes to the ground in what seemed like a mix of confusion and irritation. Without another thought, Milo knew he shouldn’t’ have asked. Anything having to do with Nella was a very sore subject for Milo. They had gone out for almost two years… Poor guy.
“They walked off into the hallway a while back” Nile groaned, rolling his eyes and chuckling nervously like it meant nothing to him. Milo knew otherwise. “Let’s give them their time alooone…” With a nod, everybody laughed slightly, especially Ren and Yani. They knew about alone time.
“Okay, okay” TK chuckled, holding out both paws for silence. “Milo had a great idea… A competition, and apparently, Nella and Rellian have already lost”
More laughter.
“Okay, here’s the rules!” Milo said, trying to project his slightly high voice over the much taller group.
Suddenly, he felt himself raise above the crowd… He was flying, actually flying! And then he was figuratively brought back down to Earth when he realized TK had placed him on the tiger’s broad shoulders. With a nervous cough, he chuckled and continued.
“Here are the rules. We split up and go around this ‘ghost town’” he made sure to make the quotation signs with his fingers. “And whoever finds the most interesting thing in an hour, wins. The prize is…” he said, and motioned with his arm towards Leena.
Ren apparently thought that she was the prize, and broke out laughing, only to be set straight by a brutal slap from Yani.
“The prize” Leena continued, looking daggers right at Ren. “Is this. Consider it like truth or dare, but only truth. The winner gets to ask whatever question they want to everybody else in private. But if anybody is caught lying… Let’s just say the punishment won’t be pretty”
Suddenly, a spontaneous evil laugh sliced through the air as if it were right out of a horror movie. Milo nearly off of his perch on TK’s shoulders from the sudden shock of it. But Milo already knew who it was. Leena… d**n, she must have practiced that one over the summer.
There Leena stood, leaning slightly back, legs slightly apart and knees partly bent. Her arms started off going straight towards the ground, but bent a perfect ninety degrees at th elbow, leaving her paws facing straight up towards the ceiling. On top of that, her face was slightly uplifted towards the ceiling, and her mouth was spread open so wide, Milo could swear that her lips had to have cracked from that. Her teeth, though, it was like she had taken time to sharpen them all individually, each one looked like it could rip through steel. The most convincing part of her laugh, though, was her violet eyes, which almost looked fake in the fake light of the room. The only thing that was missing was a crack of thunder.
“So…?” Leena asked, returning to her normal slacked posture, putting a paw on her hip and holding the other one out like she was going to shake. “How do you like my evil laugh?”
Stunned silence was the answer she got, and it was a well deserved one at that.
“I’ll take that as an ‘awesome’” she glumly sighed, rolling her eyes and turning towards the door. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m heading outside so I can get a head start”
Instead of dashing out, like Milo expected, she slowly sauntered out like there was no rush at all. Talk about a ruined opportunity.
“You’ll never beat me!” Milo suddenly shouted, breaking the silence with his rather high pitched voice. Laughing wildly, he hopped off of the tiger’s bulky shoulders and darted for the door, hoping that the others were right behind him. Considering the shouts and scrambling footsteps, they were more than excited.
Then again, who wouldn’t be excited to explore a ghost town? This place was practically the textbook definition of abandoned. He had seen no other cars, no hotel staff… It was like the entire place had been abandoned and forgotten years ago. Milo was more than excited though, he was anxious to see what he could find in the empty streets. Were there shops with nobody guarding the merchandise? He felt wild, free, and adventurous for the first time in his life.
This had to be the best idea he had ever cooked up.
This had to be the worst idea ever…
Milo stepped cautiously down the empty street. He could barely see a few feet in front of him thanks to the fog that had rolled in while they were talking inside. A few more minutes and the sun would fully set, and it would become even harder to see than it was at the moment. As it was, Milo couldn’t even see the sidewalks that lined the street he was wandering down. If he was going to find anything at all, it would have to be right in front of his face before he even realized what it was.
Well, so far, he had been out wandering for what seemed like an eternity, but a quick look at his watch told him it had only been a half hour. Since he ran out the door into the thickening clouds, he hadn’t seen another living soul around. After a minute or so of running around giddily through the fog like a little adventurer, he had gotten a bit frightened. He called out to see if anybody was around, and there had been no answer. He was truly alone in a deserted city where he could barely see the road ahead of him.
Every store he had tried to go into was locked tight, strange enough, even though it was only around seven twenty when he had tried most of them. The first ten minutes he had spent trying to get into any of the stores without breaking a window, and the last twenty had been spent trying to find his way back to the hotel. From the road, this place had seemed rather small and homely, but when there was no end to the road in front of him, things had a way of seeming a bit larger than life.
Maybe… Maybe there was somebody around him now, or he was near the hotel. He could call out again and hope somebody heard him, but his hopes were dismal.
“HEY!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, which, unfortunately, only sounded like a frustrated little kid.
He hated being so small, he hated being so cute and cuddly. He wished somebody would take him seriously for once, and-
His train of thought not only derailed, but crashed and burned as his eyes turned towards the left end of the street. He could have sworn he just saw some movement over there, most likely one of his friends hoping to scare the flaming bag of dog doo out of him. They had always done pranks like that on him, like hiding in his house and waiting for him to get home from school… They still hadn’t changed, had they?
Stifling a chuckle, he turned and silently made his way out of the street, only seeing the curb a second before he tripped right over it. d**n this fog… But then again, if he was having trouble seeing, that meant that his friends were having the same problems as he was. This was turning out to be fun after all…
His eyes lifted up, and right in front of him was a pharmacy. He couldn’t make out the name on the cracked wooden sign that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in decades, but he could make out the shape of a pill at the bottom. His eyes made their way towards the door, and much to his surprise, it was closed.
Well, might as well check to see if it’s locked, maybe he could bring back some drugs and get a good laugh from everybody. That’s something interesting right there… Better than nothing. So much for his hopes of finding some kind of historic treasure… That would have been the ultimate find.
His paw found the surprisingly polished handle on the glass door and he pulled it gently, hoping not to set off any alarms. Much to his surprise, it came open without even the telltale creak of an unused door. Flattening his large ears the best he could, Milo ducked inside, pulling the door silently shut behind him. Best not to let the prankster out there know he was inside.
After taking a deep breath, he turned to see if anybody was at the counter. As he suspected, the place looked like it had been abandoned for a good century or so. A thin layer of dust coated the ground, and the wooden counter was cracked in several places. In Milo’s mind, this pharmacy was ancient, and that front desk proved it. It was unpainted wood that looked like it had come directly out of an unused tool shed, sawdust and all.
The layout of the small pharmacy was rather basic. There was a desk in the front with an old “Welcome” sign imprinted into the front of the wood. Behind that four-sided desk were aisles of assorted things hanging from the two shelves that split the back of the store into three aisles. The shelves were made of the same kind of backyard wood that the desk was comprised of.
Milo cringed slightly at the unwelcome feeling that the store presented. If was almost as if the place was telling him to get out of there, like there was some apparition hunting the pharmacy. A shiver shot down his spine at an alarming rate.
He felt like he was on some kind of childish dare, like spending the night at the old haunted mansion just to prove he was a man. But this was just for fun, right? Nobody would blame him if he came back with nothing, right? So he would just turn around, walk back out into the lonely fog, and… Okay, maybe it was better in here.
Okay Milo… This isn’t so bad, as long as you don’t get a claustrophobia attack while you’re here… His parents had always warned him that enclosed spaces would make him lose his cool, but he was mostly positive he could handle anything that came his way. Hell, if that dense fog didn’t make him freak out, there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish.
And now to get those pills, the ones that would probably get his parents mad-
Wait a second. His parents. Everybody but Nile had gotten here about an hour before, with their parents. Milo’s had told him they were going out to go shopping in the antique shops here, but they still weren’t back. Maybe they were lost in the fog as well. Maybe they were just pulled off on the side of the road, waiting for the conditions to clear. Everybody else’s parents but Nile’s had gone with them, and by now, they were probably more than lost in the few roads this town had.
Well, they could worry about themselves, it was time to get the good stuff. He sure as hell wasn’t going to try any of it, he had learned that much from some of the screwed up druggies at school, but he wasn’t so sure about some of the others if they were left alone with the pills. Ah well, it was their fault if they wanted to screw up their minds. He was going to stay sane. Perfectly sane.
With a resigned sigh, Milo began to plod forward, his tail flicking nervously about behind him with a mind of its own. Around the desk, down the middle aisle… On the shelves, there were plenty of boxes for assorted drugs, but Milo didn’t recognize a single one. Almost every single box had the same exact number of specks on it, and some in the same places. Milo, being as curious as he was, crouched to get a closer look at one of the boxes. He didn’t recognize the name, but it said ti was some kind of birth control. Milo grinned. This would be perfect for Ren and Yani… Everybody would get a crack out of this one. So he leaned over and picked one up in a shaking, but eager, paw. Instead of the finely coarse texture he expected, it was as smooth as wax, and none of the dust specks loosed or even fell on the box. In fact, they were printed onto the box itself, which felt like it had just been manufactured yesterday.
If the dust on these boxes was fake, then… He slowly turned around, wide eyes barely believing what he saw. The dust on the floor was fake also, printed into the tiles he had slowly walked across. There were no footprints from his sneakers, and no dust in the air. What kind of a place was this…
In his confusion, he dropped the box to the floor with a clatter, staring straight ahead at the door. Maybe he was just getting paranoid, but he wasn’t believing that the figure outside in the fog was one of his friends. If that was the case, he needed to get out of there, and quick. But if the movement he had seen came from the direction of this pharmacy, and there was nobody in here, that meant he was still out there. Oh… This was not good at all.
Something broke the silence though, a slight groaning sound from behind him. The first thing that popped into his head, besides panic, was that this was some kind of zombie infested town that was about to reach out and take over the world. Call him paranoid, but when faced with the situation he was in, he wasn’t quite thinking completely straight.
Slowly, he turned around, facing the back wall now, covered in that misleading speck pattern on it. Now that he knew it wasn’t real, it was painfully obvious. But he saw nobody behind him. Not exactly what he was expecting, but still unnerving. Hearing sounds and seeing nothing was much worse than hearing sounds and then seeing something there. This just left his imagination to run wild on its own, and Milo’s mind ran wilder than an out of control train. What if it was some kind of invisible zombie that people couldn’t see until it was too late? What if it was some kind of-
There it was again, not exactly a throaty groan, but more like somebody who was just shifting around in their sleep. And then a slight rattling sound, like metal hitting a wall over and over.
Milo just stood there frozen. He could tell where it came from, and it sounded like it came from behind the back wall. But there was no door back there, was there? Granted, he was still about twenty feet or so from the back wall and his vision wasn’t the best, but… Well, he might as well check it out. He wasn’t about to go back outside into the stifling fog.
The sounds continued, and they drove his feet slowly towards the back wall, making sure he was as quiet as possible. Every step he took could be his last… No, why the hell was he thinking like that? He truly was getting paranoid. This place probably wasn’t a ghost town, their parents probably went out together and had all of the shopkeepers make everything look old fashioned. This was all for the party, and Milo had fallen for it. Everybody had fallen for it. That figure outside was probably one of their parents making some last minute preparations with the sound device hidden in this back wall… Ha, this was perfect. They truly did an amazing job… They went to such lengths to do this, and the fog was probably in the weather forecast for the area. Wow… Milo wished he had the kind of creativity his parents did.
Mentally saluting whoever put all of this together, he walked casually back towards the wall, trying to find the tape recorder hidden in there. He put one of his large ears against the wall, hoping to get a better idea.
Genius, this was pure genius.
He slowly made his way over to the right side of wall, hearing it strongest over there. Sure enough, there was a little break in the marvelously dusty paint job, just like a door. Milo smirked and slipped his tiny fingers into the crack, slowly pulling it open.
Their parents were great.
Light slowly began to show the hidden room as it spilled into the darkness that had apparently been camping in the room for a long time now. Slowly, the darkness receded to the foreign light, and the door opened further, showing the contents of the room. Actual flecks of dust danced about in the invading light, sparkling and doing a dance that Milo didn’t understand.
The room was bare, the walls were a blandly gray cement that looked unevenly poured, and the ceiling and ground were exactly the same. There were a few glass cylinders on the ground that Milo could see, scattered about in a brainless fashion. Milo only then recognized what those were on the floor.
Syringes.
His eyes went wide and his pupils dilated so far that his eyes almost seemed like little black dots with a gradient of hazy color around them. What the hell… What the hell were syringes, shattered and whole, doing in a back room of a pharmacy… But then again, since what’d he’d seen in this shop so far, he wouldn’t be surprised at anything anymore. Nothing at all would scare him now. This was the final straw.
Sighing a bit, he began to turn around.
Clank.
Milo froze. His back was to the darkness that was slowly becoming light.
Mmmmmmpppph…
He needed to turn around. He needed to.
Clatter. Clank.
God, do something. Run. Legs, dammit, do something!
Nnnn… Mph.Clank. Clatter.
Run Hide. Something. Don’t just stand there.
The sounds continued. He didn’t want to turn around. He just couldn’t move.
“Okay…” he whispered to himself, closing his eyes and turning around. He had to face this. This whatever it was. Zombie or something.
But when he opened his eyes, all of his expectations were shattered by something far more than he had anticipated.
Chained. Chained to the wall like that… How could they?