Are Y*u Scared Of The Dark?

Sabrina kept glancing around, her chest feeling lighter from clearing up the issue with her friend. Riley's mood had also significantly brightened and her movements were less stiff and more care free. They didn't bother checking the cabin. They just came to get some supplies and head out. Distractions could not be afforded and they could only do what was necessary, especially since sentries were patrolling the areas now.

They reached the outskirts of a little town where Archer and Riley and been to the previous day. Riley directed them both to a building that they haven't looked at yet. They both nodded at each other before pulling out their weapons and walking in. Riley took the lead while Sabrina lagged behind and double checked their surroundings. They took every opportunity to duck behind things and peek out to avoid being surprised.

What else could they do? Be careless and get injured? No, thank you.

Once they did a thorough check of the little store, they lowered their weapons and put the safety on. The girls let out a deep breath and looked around the shop. Sabrina was browsing the front near the cashier's desk while Riley ventured towards the back rooms.

Sabrina deemed the place safe enough to call out once she observed what kind of shop it was.

"Yo, Riles! I think we hit the jackpot!"

Riley quickly emerged from the back with a shaky expression. Looking around, she made the same discovery. "I think you're right," she said with a huge grin. Yes, they found a party store. They both dashed around looking for party supplies and other items to make Cody's birthday special.

The girls regrouped at the cashier desk, a little out of breath from the walk and their mini scavenger hunt.

Most of the shelves had been completely wiped, much to their disappointment, but they did manage to salvage some things. They were a little upset as some of the things that they wanted were damaged, but they managed to pull through at the end. They had one sack completely filled and another one filled a little over halfway.

"Let's go and look at the other buildings and then come back to check these back rooms. Don't want anyone else getting valuables while we're out party shopping," Riley said while lowering her sack behind a desk and signaling Sabrina to do the same. Sabrina did as gestured and agreed with the suggestion.

They were soon met with fresh outside air. There were quite a few shops and buildings but they didn't fit in the criteria of things they needed to raid.

An arcade? I would kill to play a video game right now and forget my worries.

Thoughts as trivial as that occupied her mind, trying to distract her from the feeling of impending doom. Okay, maybe that was a stretch, but if you have a bad feeling, it's something you have to pay attention to. Gut instincts are usually right.

Maybe I should bring it up with Riley.

Sabrina pondered over that thought and then gave in.

"Is it just me or are you getting a bad feeling too?"

Riley didn't speak, probably thinking over what to say. She responded shortly, "Actually, yeah. I thought I was just being paranoid after yesterday."

"Maybe. Let's just stay alert," Sabrina said.

Riley just nodded.

The air seemed toxic. Not like, poisonous. It just felt like something evil was lurking, waiting to make its next move. Like those parts in horror movies when everything is quiet and then BAM! Jumpscare.

Sabrina thought that maybe Riley and her were being paranoid, both with similar but different reasons. They both didn't want to be seen by sentries: Riley, because she didn't want to get injured or something and Sabrina because she didn't want to get caught and most likely killed by Vision, himself.

The name just left a sour taste in her mouth even if she did say it in her head.

They walked into a salon. Not to be pampered, just to get some shampoo and other things. Even if it was the apocalypse, it didn't mean that they would resort to being animals.

A girl's gotta care for her hair. Before they chop it all off because it's a lot of work...

Yeah, she was kind of a tomboy.

After around 2 or 3 hours of the tedious torture of looking for things they finally decided to call it quits, seeing as the sun was about to set.

They regrouped at the party shop with only one more sack filled and sat atop a desk.

Right now they had two and a half filled sacks. One more with the weapons that they left back by the cabin and some things in their backpacks which Riley used to house her gift for Cody. Sabrina didn't manage to find anything worthwhile so she'd have to wait.

Riley could see that this was bugging her so she tried to offer some reassuring words, "Don't worry about the present, we can go look for one tomorrow. I could swap my shift with Archer since you two are not really on the best of terms because when are you ever?"

They both chuckled.

"Thanks Riley."

"No problemo, Lia."

Recalling their agreement from earlier, they hopped off the desk and began to make their way to the back before hearing something that made them stop in their tracks and their blood run cold.

It was a voice.

Not just any voice.

A robotic voice.

"Sentries," Riley whispered.

Sabrina didn't need to be told twice. In the blink of an eye, she grabbed Riley's hand and bolted into the back rooms, switching the light on in the process.

"Do you think they'll find us?", Sabrina whispered.

"I don't know what they're capable of, yet. They could have heat sensors or something," Riley whispered back.

That didn't really help them. They were practically sitting ducks in this room. Heavy thuds were heard in the distance, then slowly creeping closer.

The girls backed away from the door, not wanting to barricade it in case the noise alerted the robots.

That's if they didn't know where they were.

They were now opposite each other at the back of the very large room, weapons armed and focused, waiting to use them if need be.

Everything went quiet.

They held their breaths.

Thud.

They started. The step came from the other side of the wall. The sentries were behind the building. They didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

They looked at each other with uncertainty, having a conversation through their eyes.

Should they make a run a for it? Or should they wait until the coast was clear?

They decided to wait.

Suddenly they were consumed by darkness.

Unable to see anything they started to panic, but one even more than the other.

"Riley? Riley, where are you?", Sabrina whisper-shouted, trying to locate her friend.

No response.

A sharp breath was heard before it became ragged.

A choked out "No, " was heard.

"Riley? Riley?!", Sabrina called out.

"Riley, are you okay? Where are you? I'm coming to get you," she said before reaching her arms out into the darkness and stumbling around.

"Please," Riley whispered so softly that Sabrina almost didn't hear it.

Sniffling and whimpering was heard. Sabrina felt like a python had wrapped itself around her heart, constricting it. Even if she couldn't see Riley, it pained her to hear her sound so scared.

"Riley. Please. Call out to me or make some noise so I can get you. Please just try," Sabrina pleaded, her voice shaking.

Sabrina stopped so that she could listen for Riley's signal. It was so quiet for a while that she thought Riley had passed out or something. She was about to panic but realised that it wouldn't help either of them. She decided to just be patient and wait for her friend.

After a while, Riley's voice spoke up, sounding a little more firm than before.

"Lia," she said.

Sabrina snapped her head towards the right where she heard the voice coming from and carefully made her way towards it with her arms outstretched.

After about six strides she felt the canvas of Riley's bag. She spun it around gently and caught Riley's hands in her own before speaking, "Riley. It's me."

Riley relaxed and then pulled Sabrina into a tight hug. She was shaking violently. Sobs wracked her body. Sabrina was shocked. She slowly lifted her arms to return the embrace.

"Riley? It's okay. I'm here. You're okay," she whispered in an attempt to console the terrified girl.

"The dark... It's a- a bad place. Bad. I c-can't," Riley stammered.

"Riley-", she started and then stopped when said girl buried her face in Sabrina's shoulder.

" 'M scared," she whispered into the fabric of Sabrina's jacket.

"Riley. Calm down. I'm here. Nothing is going to happen to you. I'll keep you safe, okay? No matter what," she promised.

Riley didn't respond, the only sound filling the room was Riley's heartbreaking sobs.

"Hey. I said I would protect you. Please don't cry," Sabrina said softly. This time Riley nodded.

"I'm gonna find a way out. Do you want to come with or do you want to wait here? I promise, I'll get you out. I won't leave you," Sabrina explained.

"I'll c-come," Riley said.

"Okay."

Riley stood up straight and held Sabrina's hand. They found the nearest wall and slowly followed it to the door. Sabrina out her ear against it, listening in case anything was waiting for them on the other side. She heard nothing and opened the door. Light filtered through the room.

They could see.

They walked out and sat in an aisle. Just to calm down. Riley went in for another hug and Sabrina was fully prepared this time, hugging back with the same force.

Riley bawled her eyes out and Sabrina just sat and waited for all of it to come out while she patted her on her back, whispering words of reassurance in her ear.

They sat there for what seemed like forever until Riley calmed down.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and stood up. Sabrina got up as well and looked at her in concern. Riley's eyes were red and puffy.

She covered her face and looked away.

"I'm sorry," she croaked. Her voice hoarse from all the crying and hicupping.

"Don't apologise," Sabrina said and smiled kindly. Riley returned it.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

They picked up their sacks and were on their way back to base. On they way they picked up the weapons and then continued.

Once they made it back, they went into the restrooms first to leave the supplies for Cody's birthday.

"Are you okay?", Sabrina addressed the elephant in the room.

"Yeah," Riley replied looking away.

"Do you want to talk about what happened earlier?", she asked.

"No," she said and walked out of the door.

Sabrina tried her best not to feel hurt by that. It was clear that it was something very personal and Sabrina didn't want to overstep her boundaries so she let it go and followed her out without a word, closing the door behind her.

She stood in front of the vending machine door while Riley punched the code in. Her eyes were still red and her hands were still shaking as she gripped the supply bag. The door opened and they made their way down to the boys.

The main area was empty. Sabrina raised an eyebrow to that, but Riley didn't seem phased as she tossed her bag to the side and went to the kitchen to get some water. Sabrina put her bag on the table because they needed to sort through the weapons and then went to look for the boys.

She found them in the training room. Archer was coaching Cody in some hand to hand combat. They didn't even notice Sabrina until she cleared her throat. Cody beamed and ran to hug her while Archer just gave her an unimpressed stare. They knew something was up when Sabrina didn't smile back as wide and walked quickly to the sitting area where they saw Riley sitting on a chair and just staring at the floor.

Archer recognized this look all too well and sent Cody to try and cheer his friend up. He turned to Sabrina. "What happened out there, Lia?", he asked while crossing his arms.

Sabrina sighed and explained everything while Archer listened without any interruptions. When she was done, he ran his hand through his hair and nodded. He went to talk to Riley and Cody came back. Sabrina handed him the flash drive, which he swiped and went to look for his laptop, leaving Sabrina to stand by herself.