Ambrosia

It was nearing the end of the Evacuation time and Allison, Claire, and Jamie were outside Claire's home. They had spent the day taking photos of sites where Tantalus attacks were. The house was in sight as they began picking up the pace.

"I wonder what your grandma will say about these pictures," Allison laughed.

"She'll probably claim that she was there," Claire shrugged.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Jamie muttered coldly.

Both Allison and Claire stopped and looked at him. Jamie stopped walking, staring away.

"Jamie... you okay?" Allison murmured.

"I'm fine," Jamie spoke quietly.

"Jamie, really, what's wrong?" Claire asked.

"It doesn't matter, it's not important," Jamie started walking again.

Allison looked more worried. She had never seen Jamie like this.

"Really guys! I can't be in a bad mood myself?" Jamie was annoyed.

"You were fine earlier..." Claire frowned.

"Well I'm not right now."

BANG!

The sounds of thousands of doors slamming were heard. The clock rang endlessly for a long moment. Immediately, Allison, Claire, and Jamie's eyes widened.

"We're locked out..." Allison whispered.

"Unless Claire's grandma is home..." Jamie pursed his lips.

"...She's with the swat team!" Claire shook her head, panicking.

IT was quiet for a long moment. The clock had gone silent and the sounds of their heavy, panicking breaths were heard. Allison could of sworn she heard everyone's heartbeat along with her own.

"Guys... we need to get to either my house or the therapy office. Which one is closer?" Allison bit her lip.

"Your house is," Claire responded immediately.

"Alright. We need to run as fast as we can. Don't stop for any reason. If someone falls, keep going, they can get their self up," Allison looked down the street, "Everyone ready?"

"Ready..." Claire nodded hesitantly.

"Ready," Jamie spoke afterward.

"Okay... RUN!" Allison yelled as they all sprang from the sidewalk, running down the street. They breathed heavily as they ran, fear overflowing in their minds. The sky was becoming a deep purple and in the horizon, it was dark, vacant, and eerie. The sounds of their shoes clamping onto the concrete echoed in the silence.

Allison was most afraid because she was so nervous they wouldn't make it in time. They stopped at the edge of a fork in the road.

"God damn it... which way!? I forgot!" Allison was jumping up and down in panic, trying to remember.

"Think!" Claire breathed in nervously.

It got silent again, and Jamie slowly turned around to the sound of a wailing echo.

"The Tantalus are out..." Jamie murmured.

Allison then gasped as she began running, "This way! Hurry!"

They all headed down the right side of the fork. They tried to run faster with every step, panting loudly.

"The house!" Claire pointed. They saw the red, colonial home up ahead in the distance. They sprinted faster. The sound of screaming behind them came louder with each step, forcing the three to run even faster. They breathed more heavily, loudly, and hopelessly until they were panting, gasping for air.

"We're almost there, keep going!" Allison yelled to them, almost losing her voice from the tiredness straining in her legs.

Their feet continued to clamp against the pavement. Sweating and anxious, they tried to keep steady breaths. The house was directly ahead. The screaming came closer. Allison, startled, turned around, only to see a Tantalus only 20 feet behind them, jumping at them, shrieking loudly.

"Ah, crap!" she screamed when she saw it, gasping as she fell forward.

"Allison!" Jamie screamed. He immediately turned around to pull her up.

"Go, go! I can get up!" Allison was pulling herself up. The Tantalus was just above her, trying to snap at her and she screamed once more.

"Bastard!" Jamie glared at it as he pushed it away. Anger was building up as he clenched his fists, wanting to strike it right in the face.

"Jamie, no!" Allison huffed.

"It's okay!" Jamie replied. He then looked at the Tantalus as it spread its arms out, jumping at him. Jamie glared at it, mumbling to himself as he shot his arm forward, nailing it in the face. He then turned and pulled Allison up so that they could keep going, "Come on!"

Allison followed, to see that Claire had stopped, waiting for them. They then ran together and quickly opened the screen door.

"Erin! Ethan! Aunt Sarah!" Allison cried in a blood curdling shriek. Claire and Jamie helped bang against the door. Allison looked back to see dozens of Tantalus heading towards them. Her eyes widened.

"AUNT SARAH!" Allison screamed even louder.

The door swung open quickly and Jamie, Claire, and Allison all tumbled over each other inside.

"Guys! In! Quickly!" Erin tried to close the door. They scrambled out of the way as Erin then locked the door shut, the sound of banging and scraping heard on the other side. Allison, Jamie and Claire sighed in relief as they slid to the wall. Allison appeared to be crying though, sliding down to the floor.

"...Allison, what's wrong?" Jamie looked down to her.

She looked up at him, "You shouldn't of came back to help me! You could of gotten killed!"

"...Allison, your life is worth much more than mine--"

"If you got hurt, I would of never forgiven myself!"

"...Allison, please," Jamie frowned.

"Jamie, just let her relax, she's probably still shaken from that... thing attacking her!" Claire shook her head, "Think of it this way. We couldn't get through to you earlier, so why should you get through to her?"

"Well, aren't you protective of Allison," Jamie glared at her, "You like her or something? Because you seem to hate when I try to comfort her."

"Well sorry emo boy, but no, I'm just looking out for her. Wouldn't it be a shame if she ended up crushing on a player such as yourself?"

"Player? What about you? Cheating with girls--"

"That was one time. You expect me to believe you didn't cheat either!?"

"Well I didn't!"

"That Penelope girl looked pretty close to you! And I believe you did have a girlfriend at the time!" Claire's face was more red than her own hair.

"She was only a friend!" Jamie rolled his eyes gravely.

"Funny how all of your friends are girls. Are you sure you ain't trying to say that you're actually gay?"

"Wrong. That's your thing. Sorry, but I don't exactly like any guys as friends or as boyfriends. So I stick with girls."

"Well I'm not surprised. All of you boys are sex-addicts who treat girls like candy. You buy one, sometimes two, or three, and then you throw us away after you finish eating us--"

"You dirty, rotten bitch--"

"You guys need to SHUT UP!" Allison screamed.

Both Claire and Jamie looked at her silently.

"You guys have no idea what it's like to see your two best friends fighting, do you!?" Allison rested her hand against her forehead, "It's heartbreaking, worrying, and most of all, annoying!"

Jamie and Claire's flushed faces began to grow pale again as they looked away awkwardly.

"Claire, you'll be sleeping in my room with me. Jamie, you'll be sleeping in the guest room," Allison spoke more quietly as she started to walk away.

Erin, who was still in the room had wide eyes, looking to the two. Jamie and Claire looked back at her, blinking. Erin nodded at them, giving them the thumbs up as she walked away.

Later that night, Allison was sitting on her bed, looking outside. She could see the bright clock tower and could hear the shrieking of the Tantalus. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Allison muttered.

"Hey..." it was Claire.

Allison looked over for a brief moment, "Hello."

"Listen, I'm sorry about that fight between me and Jamie. There were a lot of things we wanted to get out and--I just couldn't control--Jamie just makes me so angry sometimes!" Claire shook her head.

"...What the hell was that fight even about, anyways?" Allison turned, but kept a straight, grim expression.

"Me and Jamie... a couple months ago, we went out. He 'cheated' on me and so I cheated on him. It was a big mess. I didn't want him getting too close to you."

"Why? He's just a friend."

"But this is different. He likes you. He wants to be around you, Allison."

Allison blushed at the thought of Jamie liking her. Claire shook her head once more.

"Please, don't make the mistake in falling for him... he's nothing but trouble. He's gone out with so many girls, hurting them in some way."

"Alright. I won't. Besides, I only saw him as a friend anyways."

"That's not enough to assure me, Allison, you need to promise."

"Alright, alright," Allison put her hands up, "I promise."

Claire smiled at her and then sat on the bed beside her, "Good. Now anyways, Jamie is already in bed. We made up, but he still might stay quiet. He won't be as comforting or smiling anymore. It's all an act to dazzle you, so yeah."

Allison gave a small chuckle, "Haha... I'll miss his bubbly, cheerful personality."

"Maybe so, but now, we'll see his mysterious, angry side," Claire laughed, "You'll see how he really feels."

"ah. Like earlier, walking back, that was weird."

"Oh yeah. The reason he acted like that was because one of the Tantalus sightings was where his family was attacked. That's what he told me earlier at least."

"Oh... wow."

"Yeah, " Claire began to lie back, yawning, "He doesn't know if his parents, or sister are even still alive. All he remembers is that they were all attacked and his family was taken to an Ambrosia Unit at the hospital. They wanted to take him, too, but he assured them he wasn't attacked. Anyways, they never came out."

"Wow..." Allison didn't know what to say, "Just... wow. How long ago was this?"

"He said it was a year ago or something," Claire blinked.

"Ah, I see," Allison then laid back. She sighed, closing her eyes as Claire did as well. She thought about what could of happened to Jamie's parents.

They attacked his entire family... that must of been more suffering than death... she bit her lip. She couldn't imagine what she would do if everyone was gone. She pictured herself dying alone in the street, the rain pouring over her as Tantalus had mocked her, screeching at her as they clawed at her pale, broken body. She saw herself screaming for her parents, her sister, and her brother. She saw herself crying for Jamie.

She blinked slightly, standing up in the middle of the night, seeing that Claire was fast asleep and the lights were off. She looked to her alarm clock to see that it was 1:30 AM. She shook it off, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she crept out of bed. She got her mini flashlight out and headed out the door. She then walked into the hallway. She wasn't sure where she was going, looking into the eternal darkness as her eyes began adjusting quickly. It was silent and the sound of her small feet against the wooden floor made a mall tick with every movement. She heard the sound of taps against the wall and she blinked. She slowly moved the metal shingles of the door to see that it was raining out. Looking around, she couldn't even see any Tantalus.

"Hm..." she wondered. She didn't want to take any chances as she moved the shingle back and turned around. Walking down the hallway, she saw that the guest room door was open. She blinked, wondering if he was asleep with the door open to keep it cool. She walked over as quietly as possible, peeking into the room. She could see the moonlight that had been somewhat fogged from the rainclouds invading through the shingles into the corner. She let her flashlight dash across briefly. She narrowed her eyes, noticing an empty bed.

"What are you doing?" Allison heard a voice behind her as she took a step back, running into someone.

"Jesus Christ!--" she yelped as she turned around, flashing the light on Jamie who shut his eyes as it blinded him.

"Hey, hey, it's just me!" he breathed.

"Oh--oh!" she gasped, trying to calm down, "Oh my god, you scared me..."

Jamie smiled faintly, "Sorry. I couldn't sleep, so I explored for a bit. Hope you don't mind," he sheepishly laughed as he scratched the back of his neck.

"No, don't worry about it," she finally let herself breathe steadily as she looked to see if anyone had awoken. It was still silent, so everyone had been asleep still.

"What are you doing up, anyways?" he asked.

"Sorry--had a nightmare. I went to... go to the bathroom and saw your door open. I was wondering if you left it open by accident--"

"You realize that there's a bathroom attached to your room?" he raised an eyebrow.

Allison looked puzzled, "How did you kn--"

"I told you, I was exploring. Don't worry, I didn't peek on you guys sleeping," he rolled his eyes playfully.

"Oh. Hah, alright."

"Anyways, why were you really up?" he then asked.

Allison stayed silent for a moment, before sighing, "I really did have a bad dream. I just couldn't sleep and so I went walking around."

"Walking around to my room?" he laughed.

"What? Nonsense, I told you already! I saw your door open!"

"Right," he spoke sarcastically.

"No, really!" She couldn't believe that he was this hardheaded.

"You wanted to see me so that I could save you from the monsters under your bed?" he laughed.

Now she was annoyed, "I really didn't come to your room on purpose."

"Alright, alright, I was just teasing you," he kept a small smile painted on his face as he looked at her.

Allison shifted her weight through her feet as she was still shining the flashlight to the floor. She lifted it, shining it into the hallway awkwardly, unsure what to say to him. Jamie closed his eyes, still faced in her direction.

"Anyways, I should go back to sleep. You should, too," Allison spoke tiredly.

"Alright. I'll see you in the morning then," he spoke more softly before walking past her.

Allison nodded, walking back to her room. She saw him shut the door and so she walked back into her room, shutting the door as well. She then slid back into the bed, resting her head against the pillow. She closed her eyes, feeling her heart racing still. She wasn't sure if it was from being nervous or if she was startled still. She ignored it for a long moment before falling back to sleep.