Chapter 10

~Shaw~

       For the past hour or so, we had all been trying to decide what to do while being in this weird alternate Spruceworth that was filled with those creatures. We all wanted to go back to our regular life but we had no idea how. That was what we were trying to figure out.

       But we had no clue about what to do.

       Some of us wanted to split up so we could cover more ground in less time to find out how to get back home. Others thought it would be safer for all of us to stick together.

       "What if someone gets severely injured?" Priya asked. "Only two of the eighteen of us can properly treat a wound, and one if it's extremely bad."

       "Besides, there is safety in numbers," Ariella said.

       "But it's also easier for us to get caught if we're travelling in a large group," Noah said. "And it's not like those things are hard to kill. You could probably poke them and they'll die."

       "Says the guy who ran towards them, got injured, and didn't kill any of them," Dan said.

       "And didn't kill any of them," Noah mocked, something he had been doing all day to Dan whenever Dan disagreed or said something about Noah.

       "He is right, though," Calvin said. "Noah, that is. Those things are really easy to kill. Grant killed three of them with a stick. A stick. If we do separate into groups, we'll make sure there's at least one person in each group who is confident in killing them."

       "There's still a few problems with separating," Gerard said. "For starters, none of us have our cell phones. How are we going to communicate with each other?"

       "We can always agree to meet back here at a certain time," Noah said. "And, of course, spend the night here. Why don't we vote on it? See who thinks it will be better to split up and who thinks we should all stay together."

       That was what we did but since the results were pretty close, an argument broke out instead with each side trying to convince the others why they should agree with them. 

       "Okay, we're never going to decide like this," Calvin said to get everyone to stop arguing. "We need to do something like... The oldest one out of all of us could pick. That would be you, Dan."

       "You only suggested that because you know Dan's the oldest and he was one of the ones that voted to separate," Ariella said. "And that's what you want too. We need another way to figure it out."

       "Okay, what about the youngest?" Calvin asked.

       I looked over at Grant. "Who's younger?"

       "Ollie but as you can see, he's still sleeping so he can't vote," Grant said.

       At least this time, Ollie wasn't asleep because he felt weak from his injury. Josh was able to tend to the wound properly.

       "Then we'll go to the next youngest," Calvin said. "So Grant. Do you think we should separate into groups or all stay together?"

       Grant was silent for a bit before saying, "I kind of think it will be better to get into smaller groups. I just want to get home and we'll have a better chance at figuring it out if we're all looking in separate places. And we won't be such an easy target when we're together in a huge group. We'll just be smart about who goes with whom."

       "I'm sticking with Ollie," I said. "So nobody bother trying to put me with anyone else."

       "Ouch, you hear that Holden?" Calvin asked. "Shaw doesn't want to be with anyone else."

       "Of course Holden is staying with me too," I said. "That's a given. I'm just saying Ollie is going to be in whatever group I'm in. Wouldn't you want to stay with your brother if he was here?"

       "Okay, fair point," Calvin said. "I'm guessing everyone will want to stay with their significant other so along with Kenny and Dan, I'm taking Grant."

       Grant snorted. "How does that make any sense? You just said you guess everyone will want to stay with their significant other yet you're separating me from mine? And weren't you planning on leaving me all alone earlier today?"

       "I'm sorry, what?" I asked Calvin.

       "He's lying," Calvin said. "I wasn't planning on leaving him alone."

       "You said, and I quote, 'I think you'll be good on your own'," Grant said.

       I raised an eyebrow as Calvin said, "Okay, but in my defense, that was after he killed three of the creatures with just a stick. I wasn't actually going to leave him. I couldn't if I wanted to survive."

       "What, you can't take on those creatures on your own?" Noah asked.

       "No, I can," Calvin said. "But I wouldn't be able to take on Shaw, who probably would have killed me if I left Grant on his own. Anyway, we should decide who's going with who. Like I said, significant others want to stay together so I obviously get Kenny and Dan with me."

       "I seriously hate you," Dan said.

       "That's harsh," Calvin said.

       It took a while to decide what the groups were and in the end, we didn't have as many groups as we thought we would; only three. We had four but one of the groups didn't feel as confident because, in Noah's words, they were all wimps. 

       So they had to join my group, which I definitely didn't mind since Josh was one of them.

       At first, they thought that they should just stay here in the hospital so they wouldn't have to face any of the creatures and if someone was injured, they could immediately come here for Josh to tend to.

       Unfortunately, Josh, Noah, and Julian were the geniuses here and we all decided we would have a better chance of figuring out what was going on if they were searching as well.

       We just had to hope nobody got extremely injured that only Josh could fix.

       After decided on the groups, we all then decided which area of Spruceworth each group would investigate. Once the areas we assigned, we agreed to meet back here when the sun was starting to set.

       Before we each left, we made sure each group had a first aid kit, some weapons, and some food and water.

       "You know what I just realized?" Calvin asked. "How come the biggest group is the one with the most valuable and strongest people? If anything, the strongest people should be in smaller groups so the rest of us won't suffer without strong people."

       "And who are these strong people?" I asked.

       "Gee, I don't know," Calvin said. "You and Grant, obviously."

       "Why does everyone assume that I'm just a violent person?" I asked. 

       "Shaw, I love you and everything but... You kind of are," Holden said.

       I glared at my husband. "Thanks."

       "Yeah, so can we switch up the groups?" Calvin asked.

       "Stop whining," Josh said. "You got the one person who won't let anything get in the way of him getting food, so your group will have a lot more food in no time."

       "He's not wrong," Dan said. "Come on, Calvin. Let's just head out and you stop complaining."

       My group was the last one to leave only because it took Grant a long time to wake up Ollie. I was worried at first but then Grant told me it was always hard to wake him up, especially when he was napping in the middle of the day.

       I was finally reassured when Ollie woke up extremely energized. Or at least back to his normal self. He did have a limp because his leg was still sore but at least he no longer felt weak.

       "So since the grocery store is on our side of the exploration, I say we raid it again," Grant said.

       "Again?" Ollie asked.

       "Yes, Calvin and I already raided it," Grant said. "But since we had to split the food up with the groups, we don't have much left, especially with this group of eight."

       "I agree to the food raid," Julian said.

       Everyone else did so the grocery store was going to be the first place we headed to. While we were heading there, we kept an eye out for the creatures roaming the village. I had the crowbar this time since Grant couldn't be trusted with it. Last time, he wouldn't stop hitting one of the creatures until it was dead and if he did it again, he wouldn't be focusing on any other approaching creatures.

       When we got to the grocery store, we started filling up the backpack Grant had found earlier with all the food we could. We also wanted to see if there was anything else since he also found the crowbar here so in the meantime, Julian and Ollie were staying by the door to keep watch.

       "It looks like there's someone out there," Ollie suddenly said, looking through the blinds of the window.

       "Like one of the creatures?" Cleo asked.

       "No, like an actual person," Ollie said. "I can't see clearly because she's a bit far away but that's definitely a person."

       I walked over and peered out the blinds to see what Ollie spotted. It did look like a person but like Ollie said, she was a bit far away so I couldn't see if I recognized her, and her back was facing us.

       And when she suddenly looked towards the grocery store, it became very unlikely that I would be able to recognize her. Her whole face was covered with blood and the right side of it almost looked as if it was smashed in.

       One of the creepiest things I had seen in my life.

       "No," Julian said quietly. "N-no, it can't be her."

       "You recognize her?" I asked. "Because from the way she looks, I doubt anyone would recognize her. It's almost as if someone smashed the side of her face with a... brick."

       Now I know who it was.

       "You recognize her too?" Ollie asked. "Who is it?"

       "It's Cassidy," I said as she started walking towards the grocery store. "And she's making her way here."

       "Who?" Ollie asked.

       I didn't answer, mainly because Noah suddenly said, "Get the salt!"

       "Salt?" Ollie repeated. "Why? Who's Cassidy?"

       "Salt now, questions later!" Noah said, searching the grocery store for some salt while everyone just looked at him. "Salt stops spirits from entering places if we put it on all the entrances. She's obviously a spirit coming to haunt my twin brother and I'm not going to let that happen so don't just stand there and salt all the doors and windows!"

       Nobody questioned Noah and did exactly what he said while Ollie kept an eye out the window since he couldn't move around too much. "Can someone tell me who she is while you're all salting this place?" he asked.

       "Remember Janessa?" Grant asked.

       "That jerk at the party?" Ollie asked.

       "Cassidy is her sister," Grant said.

       Ollie furrowed his eyebrows before saying, "The one that Julian... Oh. So that would mean that's her ghost."

       "Uh, that's what I said earlier and that's why we're salting the place," Noah said.

       "But you know what this also means?" Ollie asked. "There isn't just those creatures here. There's a lot more and we have no way of warning the other groups."

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i was low key scared writing that cassidy part idk why

also i love ollie so much <3 he's so precious <3 and i love ollie and shaw's brotherly relationship <3 even though they're not blood related <3 

i also love grant. and julian. and basically everyone.