Chapter 10

Linda went silent after asking that one question "What happened to the man?" She wanted to know how he survived such a monstrosity but was too tired. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk.

When she looked at him he looked like a ghost of himself, like something huge was left behind in that place. His face had splatters of blood on it, and even on his shirt. It was obvious that something gruesome had occurred when she wasn't looking. It made her weary a little and at the back of her mind a question resounded again and again "What happened to the man?"

But they did survive. Or did they? Would you call that surviving? They didn't have any serious injury but Were their minds still intact? Will they be able to completely survive that night?

Linda leaned back on the seat and closed her eyes. Maybe sleep would help her to calm her nerves? She had been on alert the past few hours ... As she was about to drift into sleep the car swerved in an unusual way causing her to jerk forward.

"What?" she asked looking confused.

James was leaning forward to his car's steering wheel like someone who had fallen asleep. How could he fall asleep on the steering wheel? The car was moving quickly to the side because his feet rested on the accelerator and he wasn't controlling the pressure his feet put on it.

"James!" She yelled at the top of her voice with every bit of panic she had the last few hours rushing back to the surface. They weren't surviving a horror to plunge headfirst into another horror.

"What ?" he asked like he didn't know he just fell asleep.

"Don't fall asleep" Linda said then sat up as if she could stop it from happening again. Then she knew how important it was to know how to drive a car. If she could drive a car she would have been in a better position to drive.

Another set of minutes of her being alert so she'd scream his name in case he fell asleep, passed by. And finally, they were in front of a strange house. They could barely see the house because it was covered by a large fence and an even larger gate stood in the middle of the front part of the fence.

It didn't occur to her to ask him where they were going. She just wanted him to stop driving to relieve the tension that his sleepy self gave him... Maybe later after she took a nap she'd start thinking about finding her way home on her own. She'd had enough of James for one night, morning, and afternoon.

"Let's go," Linda said to James who rested his back on the seat with his eyes closed. But he didn't respond. Instead, he remained in that position.

For a second there Linda thought he had died so she had to look closely at his chest to observe the simultaneous rising and falling.

But he had to tell her where they were. Or at least show her his apartment. She had never been there before.

Crossing over to the driver's side of the car she unbuckled James's seat belt and started shaking him.

"James! James!! Wake up!" She yelled.

"What's wrong with him?" A voice from behind her asked. It was soft and high pitched ... If she wasn't freaked out by James being possibly unconscious or on his way to the afterlife she'd be admiring such a lovely voice.

She turned to see who it was. Maybe she could help her figure out what to do.

It was a lady who was probably the same age as James or a little bit older.

"I don't know!" Linda said while shaking her arms in a motion that suggested she was clueless.

"Wait! Is that James?" The lady said as she rushed forward to the car to slip into the space between where Linda was standing and the car. "Why is his shirt stained?"

The lady was inspecting him as if she was some kind of police officer. She placed her two fingers on the front of his wrist and waited for a second or two.

Linda started to get uneasy. Will this lady take them to prison because of the blood stains on his shirt? Why didn't she just take care of the situation calmly instead of freaking out? But then they were trying to escape cannibals so the police would understand. They were victims in the situation.

The police should even be ashamed that they didn't notice cannibals right under their noses. How about strengthening the security system? They should be focusing a lot on that instead of asking about the blood stains.

She thought trying to calm down the new worry that was brewing from the pit of her stomach.

Everything was starting to make her anxious. Which wasn't totally different from how she was before the incident... But now she was a little more paranoid than anxious.

But then she didn't even need to worry because the lady told her to. "Don't worry he's okay" and she wasn't a police officer. "I can give you my word. I'm a nurse"

Cool. That's really cool. Maybe she could give her something to cause her to forget the last set of hours.

"oh! That's good!" Linda said to the lady

It was obviously time for her to leave because she was done with helping her. Then Linda needed to figure out where the heck they were. But the lady still stood there looking at James like she was familiar with him.

"Are you his girlfriend?" She asked when she finally turned to look at her.

"No," Linda answered wondering where all those questions came from. It was so unusual. Did strangers go around asking such questions when they helped people?

"Hey. Precious. What are you doing here?" James was talking. If they weren't so close to him they wouldn't have heard him.

"Oh, you! You totally freaked her out" The lady said gently slapping his right shoulder.

So, she wasn't a stranger.

"Why are you here?" the lady continued. According to what James said her name was Precious.

"I don't feel so well. I'm feeling a little bit dizzy."

"I told you to go to the hospital with complaints like that. Besides the hospital is closer to your hotel than my house"

He ignored her. "Help me up"

"Why is your shirt stained?" Precious asked as she leaned to help him out of the car. His shirt wasn't the only thing that was stained. Everything on him was messy and they both smelled like sweat like they just exercised. Linda was trying to imagine what was going on in Precious's mind.

Linda shifted to give them space to come out of the car. She had to bring out the car key that was still in the ignition hole and lock the car.

She was looking forward to sitting in a comfortable chair and sleeping for hours. But then she still had to go home to do that.

"Ugh," a sound of disgust and exhaustion meshed together came out of her mouth. She was glad no one heard it. They'd probably ask her why she did that. And she didn't feel like talking so much or even explaining that she had no cash on her to go home or that James exhausted self would have to take her home.

From the looks of it, James could barely hold himself from collapsing on Precious. But somehow she was still holding on. Precious had that dream-like body: dreamy especially for the social media influencers. An accentuated hips and inwardly curved abdominal sides. Her skin was flawless with the way its chocolatey brown color glistened against the sun. She was delicate. It was a surprise how she could manage to hold herself from falling. James wasn't an entirely light weighted person, he was far from that.

Linda followed them quietly not because she didn't have a thousand and one questions to ask but because those questions were unimportant and she was observing the surrounding.

She'd have to be observant to shake off that eery feeling that they haven't had the last of those cannibals.

The house was like every new building she had been in, there wasn't anything exceptional about it. It just had the usual new building smell. It was a three-storey building with perhaps two or three-bedroom apartments.

" Come in", Precious said to her after unlocking the door. It made Linda feel a little bit like a stranger. Precious could open the door to his house but she couldn't. That was such a stupid feeling but she couldn't shake it off; that petty feeling.

'Will I stay outside? I'd obviously have to go in.' Linda thought. It was supposed to be a sarcastic thought but it was unnecessary and lame. She didn't have to think that.

She followed them in and pushed the door to lock it but it locked on its own after making a set of automated sounds like that of a robot. She didn't realize it was a computerized door when Precious unlocked the door earlier because she was lost in her thoughts.

"Wow" She had seen such automated doors only on TV so she was strangely amazed seeing them in real life. What an odd thing to be amazed at, especially after what they had just come out of.

"Come on" Precious was motioning her to the room. Why? She didn't need to go that far. The living room was okay for her.

Linda hated receiving favors from people because she knew she'd have to repay them whether they asked for it or not. Humans are like that. They give favors while pretending not to expect one or more in return. And even the littlest favor such as borrowing a matchstick from your neighbor was being noted. She hated the feeling of indebtedness it gave her.

"You'll have to look after him while I'm away" It was as if Precious saw her through hesitation.

Look after him? Why?

"I thought you said he's okay "

"Not entirely. He's okay anyways "

Linda was confused. The lady wasn't making any sense.

She was following them into one of the rooms. The corridor that led to the rooms was tiny but it led to a large room. It was even larger than her room. The bed sat in the middle of the room with a large wardrobe at its side.

Precious knew her way around; it was obvious from the way she acted.

"It's just a mild concussion. He'll be okay. I'll get him something to take. But I don't think it is wise for him to drive. Can you drive him home?" Precious was helping James to lie on the bed. They looked so much like a mother and her child. Somehow it was like they'd done this before. It didn't seem like that was the first time he had come running for her help or even had her coming over.

But wait a minute!

'...Can you drive him home?'

Linda thought that question was ridiculous. They were already at his home so there wasn't any need for that.

"I don't understand. Drive him home? Isn't this his home?"

"Oh no! Not at all. This is mine. "

That makes a lot of sense.

"Well. I can't drive."

"Then you guys will have to wait. I'm so late to work if not I could've taken you both home"

'What a kind lady ' Linda thought.

But the last kind lady literally went crazy and Hollywood level of bizarre on them. So, she wasn't quick to admire her kindness. She wasn't quick to do anything that didn't involve her laying down her head to sleep in peace and safety without waking up to madness.

Without waiting for her to object or agree to what she had just proposed she left...

"James" Precious said softly when she came back to the room. She went to seat down on the side of the bed next to where James lay, with her feet on the ground. She held two drugs in tablet forms on a plate in her right hand and a glass of water in her left hand.

Her voice was soothing Linda was tempted to tell her about the intense pain in her legs.

After a little while, James opened his eyes. He looked as if he had just come back from building a bridge with his bare hands. It made Linda feel pity for him. Although they were so many times that she doubted him in the past few hours he really was the reason that she survived.

Tears came clogging her eyes but she tried to stop them because she didn't want to look ridiculous in front of the kind nurse.