Year E3029

Ocea

I held my arm with my palm, crouching under a window. My mom ran into the house with Fin, checking for more medical supplies. The bush before me shook as a beetle bug ran by us on the street. A group of safforians chased after it with their fire.

Wyatt ducked lower until they disappeared. He pivoted on his heels, placing his backpack on his shoulders. His eyes met Stopper's before glancing at me.

"I'm going to go in and help them," Wyatt said, crawling out from the bush. "They are taking too long."

I squeezed my arm tighter as Stopper placed his hand over mine. I glanced from the prickly bush to his green eyes. He smiled as soon as he noticed me watching.

Stopper's smile fell to a sad expression. "Hey, I wanted to say sorry," he whispered, scooting closer while his hand pooled with my blood.

I looked away from him, watching my feet. "For what?"

"The Savior group I was with when we first met." He shifted on his feet, sitting to be comfortable.

I mirrored him, crisscrossing my legs with my rear on the ground. The brick house behind us cooled our backs as we leaned against it. He kept his hand cupped over mine, with his fingers curling around my wound.

He huffed, peeking over the bush, then glanced back at me. "I left that outpost as soon as possible," he said. "They didn't handle any of this correctly, letting you ride off on that beetle. Chester—" Stopper froze for a split second, then smiled when a sunhover flew by. "That group always pisses him off."

I gave him an uneasy smile as the pain warmed in my arm. He crouched away, lifting my hand from my bleeding arm. He pulled the gauze away slightly, watching more blood pool up in the white material.

Stopper shook his head. "Something isn't right."

Confused, I glared at him. "Yeah, stabbed with glass." I pointed at my arm with a sarcastic facial expression.

Stopper rolled his eyes. "No, the bleeding should have stopped by now."

My eyes widened, glancing at the blood dripping down my arm. "What if it hit an artery?"

Stopper tilted his head, unwrapping the gauze around my skin. "No, you would have lost more."

Warmth filled my arm as he lifted the last blood-filled patch. The red blood dripped down my arm into the violet dirt below us. Stopper leaned closer to my injury, bringing his backpack next to him.

"I see," he said, squinting at the wound.

Stopper pulled a set of glasses from his bag and placed them on his face. Human-invented glasses only told me one thing. This young kid was from the poor part of town. His emerald eyes glanced at me, then pointed at his glasses.

"Don't tell anyone," he said, pulling tweezers from his bag. "My older sister and I had lived on the street since I was young."

My face dropped while my heart sank to my stomach. Stopper froze with the tweezers, glancing into my eyes.

"Don't give me that look," he said. "For that reason, I don't tell anyone. Why my sister doesn't."

"What about your parents?" I asked.

"They disappeared when I was five." He maneuvered the tweezers near my arm. "My sister raised me."

"Where is your sister now?" I panicked, causing him to grip my arm. "Did this fascist group take her like they took my friend?"

A pulling feeling stung my arm. "Got it," Stopper said, holding the tweezers to show me the long glass piece. "That was still in your arm."

He smiled at the glass before tossing it into the bush. He fished into his backpack, pulling out a tiny first aid kit. His soft fingers wrapped my arm tight while the blood stopped pouring.

Without glancing at me, he taped off the wound. "My sister is at the safe house we are heading to," he said, peeking his eyes up with a smile. "Done."

"Thank you," I said, looking at my arm. There was no blood seeping through this time.

"No problem," he said, leaning against the building with me. His foot tapped the bush before us, shaking the needle bugs out.

I peeked at him. "So, people call you Stop?"

Stopper smirked, glancing at the sky. "My friends do."

"Okay, thank you, Stop."

He gazed at me, freezing with a smile. Stop's green eyes bobbed between mine and my lips as he leaned closer. His hand reached my chin, brushing to tuck my hair behind my ear. My heart raced as his mouth closed inches from mine.

I jumped back. "Um, I wonder why the others are taking so long," I said, grabbing a branch to lift myself out of the bush.

Stopper wrapped his arms around my hips, pulling me on top of him. I sat in his lap while he placed his palm on my mouth. I wiggled until I heard footsteps coming our way.

"Shh," he whispered before letting me go.

I crawled off his lap to lie in the dirt, trying to become invisible. Stopper fanned his arm over me, placing his cheek on the ground with me. We watched boots run up to the bush and stop.

"Area yellow, clear," a female voice said before running off.

We stayed with our faces in the dirt, feeling the vibrations of the bombs going off in the distance. Stopper closed his eyes as a rumble shook the bush next to us. The glasses on his face shifted down his nose as we waited for the explosions to stop.

I glanced from his face to the branches and needle bugs on the ground. The insects scrambled around the rocks, collecting vegetation. A spider crawled from a hole, snatching one of the bugs and bringing it back to their home underneath.

The black relict skipped its eight legs toward me, stopping inches from my face. "When do you think Ocea will wake up?" the insect said, sounding like Thomas.

"I'm not sure. Black relicts affect everyone differently," the spider mouthed out in Wyatt's voice.

"I've known someone that tripped so hard after being bit. That poor champ stripped naked and ran around yelling. The queen spider will destroy us all," the insect said with a smile, mimicking Stopper.

A rough hand touched my hair before a warm blanket pulled over my body. I glanced from the spider to see nothing covering Stop and I, confused. My hand reached in the air as an invisible palm took mine.

✧✧✧

I shot up, bumping heads with someone. Rubbing my forehead, I glanced to see Thomas holding my hand.

"Ocea, you are awake." Full of excitement, he glanced over his shoulder. "Guys, she's awake."

Dylan stood from the table, peeking at me, but sat back down with his wires. Huffing out, I see the scratchy blanket over my legs as I lay on a hard floor. The darkness lit up above me as Thomas moved, standing up.

"How are you feeling?" Wyatt said, walking from behind a shelf with Becca in his shadow.

"Great," I replied, but something in the darkness caught my eyes.

A tiny figure jumped from one shelf, causing me to crawl backward, pointing. Wyatt and Thomas both looked into the open area.

"What do you see?" Wyatt asked.

"She is hallucinating," Stop's voice said from behind me.

The figure jumped again, landing closer to us. I stumbled to a stance, running into Stopper's arms. He placed his hand under my armpits as I glanced up at him.

It wasn't Stopper holding me, the body of a man, but the head of a spider. I screamed, trying to escape his arms, but his grip tightened.

"Ocea," the bug man said. "It's me, Stopper."

I yelled in terror as I watched his multiple eyes scan my face. The black front pinchers twitched, leaning closer to my face.

"Let me go," I cried, tears streaming down my face. "Don't eat me."

The man-spider dropped me as I landed hard on the ground. The pincher-face bent over, touching my back as Stopper's fingers changed to black spider legs.

"Ocea," Thomas said, crouching next to me.

"Thomas," I cried, tucking my face into his chest. "Something happened to Stop."

Thomas wrapped his arms around my body as a chuckle echoed around. I glanced up to see the spider man holding his stomach, laughing at me. His spider face pronounced the poisonous fangs as spit foamed around its mouth.

"She is fucking deranged," Spider Stopper said, pointing at me.

"Oh, knock it off, Stopper," Wyatt said, walking in front of me and crouching.

Wyatt brought his hand out, touching my forehead. He then looked into my eyes, waving his hand near my face. His fingers blurred to nothing as he moved them too fast.

"She's feeling hot, and her eyes can't focus." Wyatt stood, pointing at the man spider. "Leave her alone until this hallucination ends."

Spider Stop shook his head, laughing. I watched him pat Wyatt on his back as Wyatt's face slowly morphed into a black relict. Screaming under my breath, I tucked my face into Thomas's chest. He tightened his hold on me as I glanced up at him.

Jumping back, slapping his hands away, I crawled backward from Spider Thomas.

"No!" I screamed at him while he put his hands in the air.

I panicked, bobbing my eyes at all my friends, seeing their faces formed into the black relict. Stumbling to a stance, I ran into the dark with footsteps behind me.

The gloom shadowed me while the lights above followed my every step. I couldn't flee the danger as a beam pointed at me. The brightness radiated at my skin as sweat dripped down my forehead.

A shadow jumped from behind a shelf, grabbing my shoulders. Their hands gripped tightly.

"Ocea, calm down," Dylan said from the spider's mouth.

I ripped his arms away, running blind. There was no place to escape from the motion sensor lights. My skin warmed up, feeling like fire. I fell, crawling as I ripped my shirt off, needing fresh air.

A soft hand touched my bare skin on my back. "Ocea, just sit still," Becca's voice echoed from the darkness. "This will pass."

I pushed her away from me, running, but everything burned. Placing my hands on my hips, I tried to strip my jeans off, needing to be free, but my shoes snagged. The warm air stung my skin like being electrocuted. I fell to the ground, slipping my shoes off. I kicked my legs, trying to rip my damp pants off. Once I was free, I threw them into the darkness, seeing them catch fire.

I covered my face with my arm, feeling the steam from the fire before I crept under a table. Sweat dripped down my back, trailing to the tops of my underwear. My moistened bra stuck to my skin, needing removal.

A shadow ran by me, causing me to crawl out from under the table and sprint. I pulled at my bra, breaking the strap on my left side. Stumbling to the hot ground, I swatted at the last material on me. Flames caught as the cotton burned my skin.

I screamed, sobbing into my hands, bringing my knees to my chest, rocking on my rear.

Footsteps stomped toward me, shaking the ground. I peeked up from my knees, seeing the spiders crawling closer. They surrounded me, ready to kill.

"Please," I cried. "I need to save Thomas first." I placed my palms over my face. "Release him from the Men Of Suits before I die."

"Ocea, we won't hurt you," Thomas's voice said as someone brushed my hair back.

I glanced up, seeing his face beam back at me. "Thomas?" I questioned, only seeing him.

"Yes." He smirked before stripping off his jacket and placing it over me. "Let's get you dressed."

I wiped the tears from my cheeks, glancing to see everyone watching me. Their faces relaxed with relief as I smiled at them.

"Hey, guys," I said, feeling embarrassed. "How's everything going?"

Wyatt's mouth gaped open while Stopper laughed. I glanced back at Thomas as he shifted his coat higher on me.

"Dude, that was dope," Stopper said. "Do it again."

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