CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE DEATH WISH

Large hands grabbed Jess's shoulders and shook her awake. The brunette groaned as she opened her eyes to find herself sprawled on the grimy floor of the abandoned factory with a throbbing headache.

"Jess? Jess?!" A panicked, male voice whimpered as they turned her over to see her just waking up. Billy stared at her with concern, processing what had just happened.

"Billy?" Jess asked. When the past events came flooding through her mind, Jess's eyes widened with alarm and she sat up straighter. She grabbed Billy's face to find him bleeding and sweat-covered.

"Jess, we gotta get out of here," Billy tugged on her arm to make her stand up. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"Billy, I- I'm so sorry," Jess hiccuped. "It got to me. I tried to fight it, I swear, I'm so sor- " Billy turned around and grabbed her shoulders.

"It's okay, we have to go, though." Nodding, Jess and Billy started to sprint out of the factory. A roar vibrated throughout the whole factory, making the walls threaten to cave in. Jess couldn't help but cry. It was her fault that Billy was now in the same position as her. It was her fault that she has sentenced him to a fate worse than death.

"Shit," Jess cried as the roar came closer to her. "Billy, go!"

The boy stumbled in front of her, grabbing the car door and throwing it open. He waited for Jess, ushering her inside and she slid into the passenger's seat. He climbed in after her, turning over the engine. It was a melodic sound for tortured ears and Jess melted into the leather seat.

Billy peeled out of the lot and down the road. He seemed to be hyperventilating and if it were any other day, Jess would have probably grabbed his hand and told him it was all okay. But Jess was curled up in a ball in her seat, crying into her knees.

She wasn't so scared of the monster anymore, she was scared of what was to come next. It got to Billy, the only person that she actually cared about. Now what? Was it going to come for Delilah? For her parents? Jonathan?

Jonathan. He was telling the truth. Everything he said about a monster and another dimension and the Mind Flayer, it was all true. What is she going to do now that her world has now officially crossed over into another?

She didn't have much time to think about that as the Camaro came to a harsh stop. Billy opened his door and quickly clambered out. Jess followed him with curious eyes.

"Billy? Billy, where are you going?" She watched him as he threw open the door of a payphone. "Billy!"

Jess threw the passenger door open and ran up to him. She stood inside the payphone booth as he dialed 911. Holding her breath, Jess started to wring her shirt with anxiety as the phone dialed. It seemed to take forever, ringing constantly as time ticked on. With every passing second, she could feel the Mind Flayer creeping up on them.

"He's here..." Jess whispered, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Billy gave her a frightened look as the payphone booth light flickered chaotically. Billy stared at the panicked bulb as the police dispatcher finally picked up.

"911, what's your emergency? Hello, is anyone there...?" The voice of the female dispatcher faded and Jess turned to look outside. The road had turned dark and the air felt thinner and colder. Specks of-- dust? Serpent flesh? Ash?-- floated peacefully outside of their small phone booth. With a distressed look on her face, Jess pushed open the glass door and stepped outside.

Billy followed her, placing a protective hand on her waist to keep her closer to him. Dark figures approached them, all marching at the same pace in a large group. The couple looked on with confusion and fear and Jess started to breath harder as well.

Having enough of this bullshit, Billy stepped in front of Jess while she tried to pin him to her side. She didn't want him to go closer to the large marching group anymore than he did already. A blue haze obscured their vision, but two lone figures started to detach from the group.

"What do you want?" Billy asked, trying to keep calm for Jess's sake. The brunette clenched her jaw, hoping this wasn't what she was thinking this was.

The figures ignored him, so Billy spoke up. "Hey! I said, what do you want?" Billy stumbled closer to the group, but Jess held him back, clinging to his arm for dear life.

"I said, what do you want?!" Red lighting shot through the sky, followed by a demonic sounding thunderclap. The two figures started to emerge from the haze and the coule realized what they were looking at.

Staring back at them were themselves, dressed the same as them and everything. Billy's world shattered before him as his face faltered and he grabbed Jess's hand and crushed it so hard that he may have broken bones. Jess didn't notice Billy's deathgrip for her attention was focused primarily on what was happening right in front of her.

With a deep, echoing voice, the clone of Billy said, "To build. I want you to build."

Jess stared at her clone who gave her a blank look. She had already received her message, so her clone seemed to be just a shell. Exactly how I felt...

"To build what?" Billy questioned, his breathing became labored again. Jess's grip on his arm began to falter once her clone's eyes glazed over and suddenly was full of life again.

"What you see." Billy huffed and shifted his weight.

"I don't understand..."

Jess's clone spoke up, saying, "I am pleased with your progress."

The brunette's breath hitched in her throat as she turned her head away, burying her face into Billy's leather jacket. Billy grabbed her shoulder and held her closer, staring back at his clone. Thunder rippled through the air and just like that, they were gone.

"I don't understand!" Billy turned around to see if they were behind him, but found the clear road ahead with the warm, summer breeze drifting down the cement. "What do you mean? I don't understand!"

"Billy," Jess tugged the boy away from the center of the road and they stood near the Camaro whose headlights beamed onto them. "Can we please go home? I don't wanna stay here."

"Yeah," Billy nodded and guided her back into the car. He kept a watchful eye on the road and the forest, just in case the clones or that fleshy monster wanted to come back. When he sat back into the car and closed the door, he finally allowed himself a breath. Sensing her boyfriend's discomfort, Jess grabbed his hand that hovered over the stick and squeezed it hard.

-

Tears fell into the white porcelain sink of the Hargrove's bathroom as Jess tried to scrub the blood, dirt, sweat and grime off of her skin. The more she scrubbed, the more she started to cry. When the water turned a nauseating color of dirty red, Jess started to scrub harder. She needed this whole night to get off of her skin. 

Flashes of Billy's screams and the face of the horror that plagued her shot across her mind. Her hands shook with anxiety as she quickly turned the faucet off.

Waking tentatively into Billy's room, Jess carefully opened the door so that she wouldn't frighten him. He sat on his bed, staring at his shoes. His breathing has calmed but the color had yet to return to his face.

"Billy?" The boy kept staring at his shoes. Jess waited for him to acknowledge her as she sat next to him. Knowing that he probably felt alone, she took his hands in hers and intertwined their fingers so that he couldn't disappear on her.

He finally looked up and stared at her. His face was full of hurt and confusion. Tears settled on the rim of his eyes and he looked like he was fighting hard not to scream.

"What's happening to me?" Choking back the tears that threatened to fall, Jess took his trembling hand and squeezed it.

"Remember when I used to have those seizures?" Billy nodded and Jess took a breath. "Well, those weren't actual seizures. That monster that attacked you? It attacked me a year and a half ago. Those seizures were Him taking over my body."

"So... I'm going to get seizures?" Jess sighed and shrugged, giving him a tight-lipped look. 

"I don't know, maybe. The only reason why He was giving me the seizures was because He wasn't able-bodied yet, probably. Now that He is..." Jess took a sharp intake of breath and nervously traced Billy's veins on his hand. "I don't know."

"You could've told me," Billy murmured in her ear. Jess shook her head no.

"No, I didn't want to expose you to this world. The last thing I wanted was you to be sucked into it." Jess couldn't help but sniffle as she recalled Billy's screams of pain.

"Still. I could've... I don't know, done something," Billy sighed.

"There's nothing that you could've done," Jess swallowed. "It's... our future now. We just gotta learn to live like this."

"Hey," Billy caught her attention after a minute. Jess turned to face him and saw that his eyes were raw with emotion. She didn't know what to make of it as Billy pulled her closer.

"I love you."

Jess's breath caught in her throat as she processed what Billy had just told her. Her heart could've exploded and if it weren't for her shocked state, she could've also cried. After the hell they have been dragged through, Jess could finally smile a warm, genuine smile.

"I love you too."

a/n sorry for the long wait! i have another billy book that was just published called Kryptonite if you want to check it out!