Chapter Text
As she walked into the brightly lit gas station, she glanced around and took in her surroundings; a miserable looking girl with thick eyeliner and a blonde streak in her messy brown hair wearing a black leather jacket over her uniform at the counter, a tall blonde girl with messy blonde curls was examining the candy rack, next to her was a girl with dark dreads, glasses, a maroon colored sweater and pants with an intricate design who was not so inconspicuously staring at the blonde.
Lowering her head, Alison walked swiftly to the back of the store to the frozen section and eyed the various ice cream flavors. She jerked her head to the side as she heard the front door swing open with the jingle of a bell and the sound of sneakers squeaking against the floor.
“Jesus, it’s raining like hell out there” a voice said
“Mhmm” she heard a bored reply, probably from the girl at the register.
The squeaking migrated slowly to the back closer to where Alison was standing. To avoid human interaction, she quickly grabbed a pint of mint chip ice cream and scurried over to the register. While at the register, a girl that was too dressed up for the weather they were having with a blonde bob entered the store, perfectly dry, holding a small black umbrella that was now folded and scrunched into a closed position. She click-clacked her way to the coffee machine in the corner, the girl at the cash registers eyes followed her until she was out of sight and Alison snapped her fingers to get her attention.
“Excuse me, I need to check out.” Alison said impatiently
“Yeah, sorry.” Sarah looked down and scanned the ice cream. “Is tha’ all?” She said in an English accent.
“Yes, it is. Now, how much?”
“Uh it’s--Shite!” A huge crash shook the gas station, sending everyone to the floor and a few to scream, including Alison. A shock wave shook the entire store for a few minutes before calming down. The person with squeaky shoes, a girl, ran to the front of the store and said,
“Is everyone okay?”
There were a few nods, but mostly everyone was in shock.
Finally, the dreaded girl said, “What the hell was that?”
“I-I don’t know.” The girl behind the counter said as she stood up shakily. She looked to where the girl in heels was and shouted, “Oi, you alright?”
The girl emerged from behind the aisles dusting herself off and said, “Yes, yes, I’m fine” In a posh English accent. “So, has anyone the slightest idea what that was?”
“An earthquake, maybe?” Suggests the still sitting dreads girl. “Or a plane crash?”
The register girl walked to the windows and examined the surroundings outside. “Shite…”
“What? What is it?” Asked a still frightened Alison, but quickly recovering.
“There’s a fire and a ton of smoke. Like a fuckload.”
“Oh my,” Alison says, hand lifting to touch her own neck.
The blonde girl who was the only one not to speak yet was frantically tapping her phone and putting it to her ear “My phone is not working.” She said in a French accent before going back to tapping on her phone.
“Mine either” and “same here” was repeated as everyone else checked their phones.
Squeaky shoes ran outside for a few minuted before returning with a terrified look on her face. “My car won’t start and all the cars in the lot have flats. Also, there is a lot of screaming out there. It’s like fucking hell on earth.”
Suddenly the lights flickered and then went out, followed by a low rumbling that ended after a second but started again immediately after in that pattern. Like footsteps.
“Holy shit what the hell is that?!” Counter girl screamed. Everyone looked to where she was pointing. There was a large figure in the distance that was slowly making it’s way to town. It was a mile off from the station but still terrifying.
“Okay, we all need to get away from the windows because whatever the hell that is, it could easily kill us all if it knows we are here or even comes near this place. Everyone follow me.” Squeaky shoes said and walked to the back of the gas station and into the camping aisle.
All six of the girls sat in a circle and went around giving their names and how old they were.
“Beth, seventeen.” Beth was the one with squeaky shoes. She was cute in a confident sort of way. Not that Alison thought she was cute, it was just an observation.
“Alison, seventeen.” Beth looked at her, smiled and winked, sending a rush of blood to Alison’s cheeks, causing her to look away.
“Sarah, seventeen.” Sarah was rough looking but still pretty in a punk rock sort of way.
“Rachel, seventeen.” Rachel looked and sounded as if she thought she was better than everyone else. She did not look like a very nice person. Sarah winked at her and Rachel cleared her throat and looked away causing Sarah to smirk.
“Cosima, seventeen.”
“Delphine, sixteen.”
“Ah the baby of the group. Cute.” Sarah said with a smirk. Delphine rolled her eyes and muttered something in French.
“So I was thinking that it would be safer if we all just spent the night here since it’s pretty late and then maybe make a plan in the morning. Sarah, d’you mind if we use the stuff here?”
“Nah, I don’ give a shit.”
“Is everyone okay with this?” Beth was met with nods and said, “Alright, then it’s settled. We stay here for the night and move on in the morning.” Beth handed out sleeping bags and everyone set up their little sleeping spaces that were not too close together but also within each others reach.
Sarah locked the front doors before returning to her sleeping bag next to Rachel.
Alison drifted off to sleep with the faint rumbling that was becoming quieter and quieter as she slowly entered the darkness of sleep.