Thread:TheLoneClone/@comment-26348924-20160509013010/@comment-26348924-20160529154942

Chapter 2

Myst grunted as she brought her heavy duffel bag up the last step. She waved the friendly cabbie good bye and turned to the wooden door.

She opened her phone to check if she was in the right place. She didn't need to have the same experience twice. "117 Moore Street", the text message from her cousin said. Myst looked over her shoulder and spotted a sign that said, "Moore St." She glanced back at the wooden door and spotted the numbers 117 on it. Plated bronze, in fact. This was the right place.

As timid as she was, she knew she couldn't just stand by the door and wait for someone to open it. She knocked on the door.

A few minutes passed, but no one came. Maybe I knocked too soft? she thought. She knocked harder, then winced. "Too hard," she muttered to herself.

After a few seconds, she finally heard the doorknob click. When the door swung open, her eyes grew wide at the sight.

A bunch of teens were huddled by the door, as if waiting for a ferocious beast to come and gobble them up. One of them pointed an old-fashioned gun right at her face, ready to strike. The guy looked as surprised as she was.

Myst tried to keep her cool. "Oh, so this is how you greet people?"

A few moments of silence passed before she heard a cry of pain from inside the house. Whatever it was, it certainly knocked them back to their senses. They all ran back inside. Curiosity got the better of her. She tossed her duffel bag inside and followed everyone else.

Inside the kitchen, a girl was armed with a rolling pin. A boy was lying on the floor, grasping his head and groaning in pain.

The boy who had greeted her with a gun suddenly spoke up. "Adam?"

The girl with the rolling pin looked at him with shock written all over her face. "Do you know this guy?"

"Unfortunately, yes," he replied. "Adam, what are you doing here?"

The guy who got clobbered sat up and gave him a pained smirk. "Hey, no one said I couldn't visit my little bro. Is this a bad time, Jack?"

The rest of the teens looked at "Jack", horrified. Jack, however, kept a stern look.

"This house has a front door," Jack said, seemingly trying to push down the anger. "Why the heck did you use this one?"

"I was in a hurry, okay?" Adam's tone was serious this time. "Look, let's not talk about it here. And can someone get me an ice pack or something? This girl here hit me so dang hard."

One of them rushed towards the fridge and grabbed a pack of ice. She then wrapped it in a towel and handed it to Adam.

He pressed it to the back of his head. He winced, then smiled at the girl. "Thanks, uh…"

"Val," the girl replied. "I'm Jack's… friend."

"Friend?" one of the other guys repeated.

"Shut up, Rire," the girl with the rolling pin hushed him.

"Aw come on, Sage," Rire whined.

"Whatever!" Sage exclaimed. "Let's just move over to the living room. This… Adam guy has a lot of explaining to do."

They all moved towards the living room. Apparently, they were too occupied with Adam to not notice her tagging along, which was fine. They all took a seat on the couches as she took her place in a corner, trying to keep herself unnoticed.

"Okay, Adam," Jack began, annoyance tinged in his voice, "what's this important thing that needed you to use the back door instead of the front, which is the most sensible thing to do?"

"It's not," Adam replied. He still seemed hurt at his brother's indifference. "The back door was the most sensible entryway at the moment."

"Care to explain why?"

Adam took a deep breath, then said, "It's Jimmy. Jimmy Casket."

Myst flinched at the name. Interestingly enough, everyone else did as well.

"Casket?" Johnny Toast repeated, his voice laced with dread. She didn't even notice him and her cousin Johnny Ghost in the room with them.

The boy nodded. "He… I saw him kill Maloney. Murdered him in cold blood. As he was dragging the dead body off, I heard him chanting names. I got scared when he mentioned yours, Jack."

Jack didn't react. His face was still hard as rock, staring at Adam, most likely calculating his statement.

"Why would you be scared?" Jack asked. "I know you well. I know you'd want me to end up just like Maloney, if you're telling the truth."

"Why would I lie about Jimmy-freaking-Casket?" Adam answered sharply. He then eased, his expression turning into sadness, then said, "I'm sorry, Jack. Really, I am. I was wrong. I was so wrong to hate you. I was so wrong to treat you like I did. I thought that… maybe… maybe this'll make up for it."

The girl named Val, who sat next to Jack, put her hand over his clenched fist that lay on his lap. "Jack," she said, her voice calm and soothing.

He let out a sigh. "So if this is true, then what do you suggest we do?" he asked Adam, his voice less harsh.

Heh, that rhymed, Myst thought to herself. She was like that most of the time: desperate to find something to lighten up a dark mood. But in no way was she ever saying that out loud. She liked that no one was noticing her presence, especially since she barely knew them and the tension was too much for her to partake in first-hand.

"Jimmy's closing in on you," Adam told them. "He chased me down for a good amount of time after he saw me following him. I lost him before I got here, but I wasn't gonna take my chances."

"Oh, so that's why you went through the back door," Rire realized along with everyone else. Adam nodded briskly.

"What do we do now?" Ghost suddenly said. Looked like he got tired of listening and not talking.

"Run. Escape while we can," one of them said.

"You're talking crap, Jon," Rire answered. "I say we face the guy head on."

"That's not the best idea right now," Toast said. "I knew how to neutralize him when he was… you know what I mean. Now that he's in a different body, perhaps even found a way to make a new host for himself, we're basically starting from scratch."

"Exactly," the guy named Jon said. "We keep evading him as much as he can, maybe keep an eye on him from afar, just so we can know how to fight him. Neutralize him. Maybe even kill him."

Before Myst knew it, she spoke, "You can't kill him."

Everyone's eyes fell on her. Crap, she thought. Baffled, she decided to further explain her point.

"Jimmy's an entity. A parasite, if you will," she stated. "There's something about him that makes him impossible to kill. I don't know what it is, but there is."

"Who… are you?" Jack asked instead.

"Myst!" Ghost cried, indirectly answering Jack's question. He rushed to her and gave her a tight hug.

Myst laughed and tapped his back. "John, let go. Can't breathe."

"Whoops!" He let go, but kept his hands on her shoulders. "You're early. I thought you weren't coming till next week?"

She rolled her eyes. "I told you to keep a calendar around, John. Geez.

"But that's not the important thing right now," she continued. "I agree with… Jon, right? Yeah. We should be on a constant move while keeping an eye on him. It's the best plan right now. The attack can be done when we have enough information to make an effective move on him."

Sage sniggered, which made Myst shrink inside. "I like her. She's smart. Not like Rire here."

"In any case," Toast said, "we should get packing."

In a few minutes, everyone was busy moving around the complete mess of a house. They collected equipment, books from Toast's study, weapons, canned food and other necessities that will come in handy. They loaded all the things into PIE's white van and got in, squishing themselves in between equipment, and Ghost and Toast sat at the front. By almost late afternoon, around 4 o' clock PM, the grimy white van drove off.

The trip took at least an hour and a half. Toast was driving, and it wasn't very pretty; the van kept swerving around and randomly halting abruptly. When they arrived, they found themselves staring at a huge, seemingly-abandoned warehouse. According to Toast, it was something he bought online. No one bothered pushing it any further.

When they got in, the boys started barring the doors and other possible entry ways while the girls cleaned the place up. When everything was done, everyone was in a heated discussion on what to do next.

"I really think we should go offense on this," Rire said.

"We've been through this, Rire, that's not gonna work," Sage answered exasperatedly.

"Even if we did, it's not gonna be that effective," Jack added. "In any case, we'd only slow him down. We need to know what his weakness is in his new form that we can take advantage of. If he actually has one."

"That's very optimistic of you," Myst couldn't help answering.

"I wish I could help," Ghost said, "but I've only been aware of him a few months back. Besides, whenever he's in control I black out. I don't remember what he's done while I was out."

"It's okay, Johnny," Myst assured him. "Even if you did know anything more about him, I doubt it'd be helpful because he's… different now, in a way. He's much more powerful now that he has full control over a body 24/7."

"We should probably talk more about this tomorrow," Val suggested. "It's getting pretty late. Maybe a good night's sleep would help."

"It's hardly a good night's sleep," Sage muttered.

"Holy crap, how long did we work on barricading the door?" Rire asked no one in particular.

"Well, we did have trouble finding enough wood to cover it up," Toast replied.

"We're gonna have to take shifts," Jack suggested. "Try to see if Jimmy's getting any closer. If he is, keep a close watch on him and see if we can get anything useful. I think I saw a spot up on the roof that we can sit on while we're on the lookout."

"Great idea," Jon agreed. "Go grab yourself a flashlight and a pair of binoculars. You okay with being the first watch?"

Before Jack could answer, Val suddenly said, "I'll go help him! Y-you know, so he won't fall asleep up there and fall…"

"Welp," Rire said, lying on the makeshift beds (which were basically just a bunch of old matresses they found in the warehouse). "Looks like someone's gonna have to watch them instead."

"Shut up," Sage shushed him.

"O-kay then," Jon shrugged instead. "Guess we'll have to go in pairs. Go ahead, you two."

The two teens nodded, grabbed a few things from the "junk pile" (they didn't know where to put all of their stuff so they dumped all of the duffels bags they were carrying on the floor and started calling it that), and headed up a slightly rusty ladder. Everyone else started settling down on the beds.

"Hey, Rire," Myst said. "Jack and Val, are they… how do I say this… like, a thing or something?"

"Yeah," Adam agreed, equally interested. "Is my little bro dating her?"

Rire chuckled. "I honestly don't know. But those two, they've been really close lately."

"I noticed that too," Sage added. "I mean, seriously, those two are almost always next to each other."

"Maybe it's Jack's promise to Nick that's given him this confidence boost?" Jon joined in.

Myst cocked her head. "Nick? Who's Nick?"

They all went quiet. A curtain of despair hung above the three. Did something bad happen to this Nick guy? she thought.

"Maybe… maybe tomorrow, Myst," Jon finally said. "We'll fill you in on that tomorrow."

"Can't wait," she mumbled.

Soon enough, all of them were snoring fast asleep.

There you go lol. I'll edit it more once it's up at the Fandom wiki :3