[b]Shannon - The School - Danny/James/Rob[/b]

The school was an absolute mess. As soon as they pulled up to the place, their group had been disgusted to find a parking lot filled with an overwhelming amount of trash and corpses. Approaching the entrance, they found heavy barricades that had collapsed in on themselves. An examination of the windows revealed that every single one of them was boarded up. At some point, a large group had been living inside the place, possibly for quite a while. There was also possible people were still there, even if its defenses had been compromised. Shannon wanted James to stay behind with Rob, but the boy had insisted on going in, so everyone went in to explore.

They found little more than a graveyard on the inside. More corpses were here and there, with a few walkers up and around as well. Shannon stuck close to James, the boy staring almost longingly at the grisly displays they passed. Down one hallway was a trail of bright red blood, with a corpse strung up from the ceiling by a noose. A walker beside it got up once it sensed them, though it slipped in the blood on the floor. It kept doing so, the group frozen by the unsettling scene. James broke everyone out of their trance by [i]laughing[/i] at the display. Chris gave him a hesitant look before taking care of the walker. Right after, Danny decided it would be best for them to split up and cover the whole school. It had a whole two stories, after all.

Shannon moved with James and Rob, though she found herself growing concerned with James. Ever since Valentina had disappeared, the boy had acted [i]odd[/i] to say the least. Sometimes too calm, sometimes too quiet. He was quite different than the boy she'd met in that store months ago. As Rob checked out a classroom, Shannon grabbed James to check out the one next door. Inside, the desks were arranged in a circle, and a knife was lodged into the top of one of them. Dry blood stains were on the floor, looking as if someone tried to clean them up. On the chalkboard was a mess of words-- incomprehensible to Shannon. Whoever had been writing on it seemed to have been writing words at random. Shannon frowned at the display, before moving to examine the shelves at the side of the classroom.

"All children, except one, grow up," James suddenly said, causing Shannon to spin around. At the look on her face, James pointed at the chalkboard. "It's from Peter Pan." It took her a moment, but she indeed spotted the phrase amidst the mess of words. In fact, as she looked more, she found that it was not a random mess of words, but a random mass of quotes.

"You've read Peter Pan?" she asked, looking back at the shelves. She wondered if those books could be found in here. This school [i]must[/i] have a library.

James walked up beside her, idly rubbing his fingers against the dust on the shelves and examining his fingertips. "Mmhm. I used to read a lot... mostly older books. Books my parents said were classics."

"You can draw [i]and[/i] read well. Can you write?"

"Maybe. I never really wrote outside of homework."

Shannon sighed when all she could find was folders of blank school assignments. She'd have to try the library before they left. "You should try it when you get the chance. Emma said she liked to write, so..." Shannon paused at that, giving James an apologetic look. "... Did you do good in school?"

James didn't seem phased by her mention of Emma. "Duh. Teachers always said how diligent I was. In grade nine, my teacher from grade school set it up so I had some sort of advanced reading material. She expected that I'd be on the honor roll." He turned to look at the desks, his gaze lingering on the upright knife. "But everything bad happened before I could do it. I really wanted to be on the honor roll in high school, at least for one year. But those teachers are probably dead like my mom and dad now. Like Valentina." James moved to the desk, grabbing at the knife and pulling it out. "They're all dead, and I think we'll be dead soon too."

Her worry growing, Shannon stepped forward. "James--"

"I want to find Emma, but nothing I want ever comes true anymore. We'll die before we find her. We'll die--" 

"How's it going?" Danny asked from the doorway. Shannon had moved to grab James by the shoulder, but she found herself jumping at Danny's sudden entrance.

"Jesus!"

"What?" He looked at her as if she was accusing him of something.

"[i]Nothing[/i]. James, I'll take the knife--"

"[i]No[/i]." James stared at her, his hand gripping at the black hilt. She could see his hand going white as he strained to hold on to it. "I want to keep it. You never let me hold any weapons. I [i]saved[/i] you with a knife, remember?"

"You don't know how to properly use it. You don't even like guns."

"It's not a gun, it's a knife--"

"Shannon," Danny said, his voice weary. "Let the kid hold the knife. Where we're going, he's going to fucking need it."

"Yeah, I'm going to [i]fucking[/i] need it."

"James!" She gave Danny a reproachful look. "Don't pick up his bad habits."

Glaring at her, James stepped away, shrugging Shannon off as she attempted to grab his arm. "Stop, okay? You're not my mom, so I can say what I want around you." Before Shannon could make an argument, he was moving past Danny and out of the classroom. "I'm going to hang out with Rob."

Shannon stood in the middle of the classroom, flabbergasted by the altercation. She'd always scoffed at the idea of being like a mother to James, but to hear him verbalize it like that... hurt. He'd always treated her like his big sister, or a mother... what was going on with him? "He's stressed," Danny said at the look on her face. "This school's a fucking nightmare, of course he's on edge." He stepped forward now, closing the distance between them. He reached out and took hold of her arms, holding them gently in place. "And I can tell you're on edge too. You need to calm down."

Shannon licked her lips, closing her stinging eyes. He was right that she was on edge, but she was always on edge these days. You couldn't afford not to be. "I'm so tired of this, Dan." She opened her eyes to find him pulling her into a hug.

"Don't I know it," he said. "But it'll be okay. We'll save Emma and make a new life out here. It's not all bad."

She could almost laugh. "Not all bad?"

"Yeah, I mean... no school. No job. No politics. No grand fucking society we have to adhere to. No--"

She pulled back now, keeping him at arm's length. She looked into his eyes warily. "Are you implying there's something good about all this? That our old lives have been destroyed is a [i]good[/i] thing?"

Sensing her mood, Danny detached from her. "Well, not entirely, but--"

"You have got to be kidding me. Are you [i]enjoying[/i] yourself, Danny? I bet you were having the time of your goddamn life in Outpost."

"I don't know why you're-- Okay, look, like I said, you're stressed--"

"Oh, shove off, Dan. You don't get it, and we don't have time for me to sit here and try to make you get it." She moved past him, roughly, much like James had. She knew she shouldn't be so angry at him about this, but she was still on edge about what James said. This school-- this school was a horror house, and Shannon felt like it was eating away at her. Like some supernatural force, every foul mood and memory she'd sustained in the last six months were taking over her like a tidal wave. She was just sick and tired of this world she'd found herself in.

Behind her, Danny said, "That's it. We're done with this place. I'll round up the others so we can get the hell out of here."

Shannon couldn't agree more. Fuck the library.