Sneaky Talky Stuff

"But... you're dead! I saw you die!" Riley said.

"Yeah, I guess you did. But, I am alive right now! After all, if I was dead, I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO GET MAD AT YOU TWO FOR MOVING SO FAR AWAY!" Lorina said, "Seriously! How'd you guys get from South Dakota to South Carolina so quickly? I last saw Riley in December. It's January! How would you be able to walk that far so quickly? I mean, I guess you could drive, but still."

"It IS you!" Riley started grinning widely, "And sorry about the move. We kinda got teleported here."

"By me!" Lina piped up.

Snow hugged Lorina, "Yes! We can finally be crazy people together again!"

Lorina turned her head to Lina, "Ah, weird magic by you brought them here."

Lina bowed, "Yes, indeed."

"So, what have I missed?" Lorina asked after getting out of Snow's hug.

"Well, Snow and I met, albeit in an... odd way," Riley said, "And we met this huge group."

"Cool! Oh! I found that my parents are alive!" Lorina said.

"Really? Was... there anyone else with them?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, actually! I saw your brother with them," Lorina said.

"Yo, sorry to be the downer here, but how do we know this is the real Lorina? If you saw her die, then this could be some weird spirit illusion thingy," Eri said.

"She knew I had a brother without me even telling her," Riley said.

"So? This person could be a stalker or something!" Eri said. "Say stuff about Snow and Riley only Lorina would know."

"Snow dug a ten feet hole when he was ten because he thought he could go to Japan if he dug far enough," Lorina said.

"That is, admittedly, true," Snow said.

"And Riley said 'putang ina mo' to her Filipino friend's mom because her friend told her it meant 'nice to meet you,'" Lorina said.

"Yeah, that was... awkward," Riley said.

"What's that mean?" Lina asked.

"It's basically cursing," Eri said.

"So, it is the real me!" Lorina said.

"Okay. She sounds trustworthy for the most part," Lina said.

"She IS trustworthy," Snow said.

"Okay, she IS trustworthy," Lina corrected herself.

"Awesome! It's sooooo great to see you guys again! So, who is everyone here?" Lorina asked.

Eri pointed out the faces and names of everyone in the group.

"That's a lot of people..." Lorina said.

"Yeah. I have a list of everyone here. We have like thirty something people," Eri said, "Also, stay clear of Rabbit. You may not be a target of his affection, but it's painful to even interact with him."

"Thanks for the heads up," Lorina said.

"Hey, Lorina, how did you get here so quickly from South Dakota? You pointed out how we couldn't have used walking, so what transportation did you use?" Riley asked.

"You would not believe it, but I think I found some sort of space-time-hole thingy. I tried to steer clear of it, but I fell in it, and I ended up somewhere in Tennessee. I guess I felt some sort of connection to where you guys were, so I stole a bus and drove it here," Lorina explained.

"Whoa. That's wild," Snow said.

"I know, right?!" Lorina said.

"So, are you gonna stay here now that you've found us, or what?" Riley asked.

"Well, in my mind when I was traveling, I kinda hoped we could all be a traveling party together. Just the three of us," Lorina said, "But if you guys want to stay here, that's fine. I'll think of what to do if that's the case."

"I don't know, we've been with this group for a while," Riley said.

"So, is there any other reason you guys stay here?" Lorina asked.

"Well, the people are pretty interesting, and it's better than being alone," Snow said.

"But if we all leave together, you guys won't be alone," Lorina said.

"I'll think about it," Riley said.

"It definitely would be fun to do though," Snow said.

Eri, who was still lurking around the three friends, cleared her voice and spoke up, "We still haven't addressed the obvious elephant in the room. Why is Lorina here, happy, healthy, and alive if she DIED in December?"

Lorina shrugged, "Even I don't know. I just kinda woke up. I wasn't even in like a coffin or anything."

"Really? But I put you in a casket and floated it down the river," Riley said.

Lorina shrugged again, "Listen, I don't know how I'm alive, but I think you guys should take what you can get. Maybe I might drop dead any minute, so let's enjoy me while I'm here."

Eri looked pissed, but she just said "fine" and finally left the three of them.

"Oh, though, can I at least crash here for tonight?" Lorina asked.

"Sure! You can sleep in my room. It's with Teresa and Brenda," Riley offered.

"Sounds nice! Snow, who do you share a room with?" Lorina asked.

"The Wonderlandians and Abe," Snow said.

"Oh, so with that Rabbit guy?" Lorina asked.

"Yeah... not always a peaceful night," Snow said.

"I'm still honestly shook that you're here. I mean, you dying... you have no idea what that put us through," Riley said.

"It also kinda ties into how we met," Snow said.

"Oh, do tell," Lorina sat down on one of the benches.

"Well, I came up to the group and asked if there was any suitable campgrounds. Snow suggested one, and it turned out to be pretty good," Riley said.

"Seems normal for now. BUT, then the Teletubbies started attacking the group and Riley came back and helped kill them," Snow said. "And then Cassie seemed to recognize Riley, though I still don't know why."

Riley shrugged, "I didn't recognize her. But later they invited me to their cave and Snow asked if I knew you. And... I had to break the news about you to him."

"The next things that happened... are not actions I am proud of," Snow said, "Obviously, I was in a bit of denial about your death or whatever that was considering you're here right now. Riley left after that. I ran away from the group, and a few of them along with Cassie followed me to check up on me. I wanted to be left alone, so I told them messed up stuff about how I should die. I didn't mean it, but Cassie was so insistent about staying. I got really pissed and..." Snow drifted off.

Lorina eyes had widened, but she didn't say anything.

"Well? Go on. I actually don't know this part of the story. Snow, what the heck did you do?" Riley asked.

"I... tried to pull a knife on Cassie. Okay, hear me out! I was NOT gonna actually use it on her. I thought it could scare her into leaving. It didn't. She snatched it away from me, and she got so angry that she got all of my knives out with her freaky metal powers and threatened me with them. The rest of the people with her chastised her for that, and that moment of distraction allowed me to run away," Snow said.

"Oh, is this where I come into the story again?" Riley asked.

"Yeah..." Snow said.

"Yeah, so basically the group comes to my camp and they inform me that Snow might be trying to kill me. And I'm like lol, aight, I'll kill him first. And then rIGHT after that, Snow freaking attacks me. We start yelling at each other as we fight. Then Eri knocked him out with a rock," Riley said. "So yeah."

"My gosh, Snow, you're a horrible person. Like, a-are you okay?" Lorina said.

"I'm fine. It stopped after I regained consciousness. I wasn't in my right mind at the time," Snow said.

"Yeah. I can scold him if you feel the need to. Though he wasn't the only one to act violent after your death. I nearly obliterated one of the trees in the forest. Our attackers were lucky they escaped, or else they may have gotten a taste of my wrath!" Riley said.

"I don't think either of you acted in a healthy manner," Lorina asked.

"Don't worry, we are very alright now," Snow gave a thumbs up.

"Anyway, I can show you your temporary room," Riley said, and turned to Snow, "Though, since it's a girls' room, no guys allowed!"

"Yes, I'll just stay here for now," Snow said.

"Good boy. You get a treat later!" Riley patted Snow's head.

"I'm not a dog," Snow said, and without thinking he casually gave Riley the middle finger.

Lorina slapped Snow's hand down. "No! There are children here!"

"Sorrrry," Snow said.

"Let's go," Riley said, and she started towards her room.

Meanwhile, Lina sprawled over one of the benches next to Ocotillo. "Hey. Hey. Hey, Ocotillo."

"What is it? I'm trying to learn how to form coherent sentences in written English," Ocotillo said.

"I thought you knew how to read it," Lina said.

"I do, but grammar and spelling confuses me, so it's hard to write actual sentences. Anyway, what did you want?" Ocotillo said.

"Do you ever worry about that Cobra guy?You know, the guy who will be the father of your daughter," Lina asked.

Ocotillo groaned, "I'd forgotten about him until now. Though, he's all the way in South Dakota, so I don't have to worry about him for now."

"Yeah, but Lorina was all the way dead, yet here we are," Lina said.

"Well if he tried anything creepy, I'd destroy him," Ocotillo said.

"Yeah, but what if you guys fell in loooooove," Lina said and giggled a little bit.

"Did you forget that Qibli and I are together?" Ocotillo asked.

"But it'd be soooooo scandalous. Plus, I'm a writer, I've gotta consider all the possibilities!" Lina said.

"Whatever. Have you even written lately?" Ocotillo asked.

"No. It's an apocalypse after all," Lina said.

"Yeah... I'm gonna go back to studying," Ocotillo said.

Lunch passed. Dinner passed. Night fell upon Downtown Charleston. Everyone in the group fell asleep.

Then, in the middle of the night, Eri was awake and could not go back to sleep, so she decided to inflict her suffering on someone else.

"Lina, wake up!" Eri whispered and gently pushed her friend's shoulder.

"No, I'm asleep," Lina groaned, her eyes not opening.

"You can't be asleep if you're responding to me," Eri said.

"I'm sleep talking then," Lina said, her eyes still closed.

"Come on! Let's go on a midnight adventure!" Eri said.

Lina jolted up. "A midnight adventure!" Lina whispered-exclaimed. "That sounds awesome."

"Yeah. I was thinking we could explore the art galleries here. My dad and I used to do that before the apocalypse. Then we'd eat cake afterwards, but I don't think we can do that," Eri said.

"Ohh. That'd be so cool," Lina said, "I've got a flashlight!"

"And I've got a candle and matches!" Eri said.

"Awesome! Let's go," Lina said.

"There's an art gallery in this building, actually, so let's head there first," Eri said.

In the Charleston Place's art gallery the most interesting things they saw were the resin art goldfish and betta fish. They looked 3D-realistic, but were actually multiple layers of resin.

Then there was an art gallery that had up close paintings of faces and eyes with a foggy background and ominous colors. When they shined their light on them, they freaked out for a moment.

Another art gallery had miniature models of places like gas stations, houses, and firework stores.

The last place they went to wasn't an art gallery, but it certainly satisfied their sense of taste. Savannah Bee Company's honey store. Due to honey's 2-5 year shelf life, the honey tasted perfectly fine, and Eri was reunited with the wonders of chocolate flavored honey.

It was around two in the morning when they came back to hotel. The two girls quickly fell back asleep, exhausted from their secret awesome midnight adventure.

They weren't the only ones that had snuck out that night.