"Is she turned?" Eliza said frantically. "Oh God, she's turned!"
"She's not turned! At least, I don't think she is," Jessie responded.
Penny shook her head. She did not feel turned, but then again, how would she know? This wasn't something she had a whole lot of experience with.
Slowly, she sat up and tried to remember what had happened. Suddenly, it all came back to her and her grogginess turned to panic.
"Lindsay got me. She's going after the worm."
"What?" The other two girls cried out.
Suddenly, footsteps rang out from down the hall. Eliza bolted off while Jessie helped Penny to her feet.
"I saw her! She's running out of the building," Eliza cried out.
"Can you get up?" Jessie asked Penny.
Penny nodded yes. She felt like she was encased in a big cube of jelly. Everything seemed murky and gelatinous around her. Still, her energy was coming back slightly.
With a struggle, Penny got to her feet and followed Jessie down the hall.
"It's gone. She took it," Eliza said, popping out of Cece Ramirez's room.
Inside the room, the aquarium was empty.
"Shit! We need to go after her," Eliza said.
"Wait a minute. Do we?" Jessie replied.
A look of pure indignation crossed Eliza's face. She stared at Jessie with a mixture of venom and utter confusion.
"You just want to give up and let them win?"
"But are they winning? Our goal was to stop this crazy chick from getting turned by her own pet. That isn't going to happen anymore, right? So, what if the infected girls have another worm? They have plenty of those."
Penny thought about this for a moment. Jessie's logic made sense, but something didn't add up. Somehow, Lindsay had listened in and found out there was a worm in the room and then concocted a whole plan just to take it, but why? If the infected had plenty of worms, why go through all the trouble to get this one?
"This doesn't make sense," Penny said. "You're right, Jessie. They have plenty of worms. What made this one so special?"
"You saw it, it was huge! It'll probably do a number on whoever it infects," Eliza said.
"I guess," Penny said.
She remembered her brief encounter with Lindsay. How Lindsay had told her she didn't have a worm now. Was there a shortage of worms? That was the only explanation for why Lindsay would take the worm.
"Whatever the reason, we might as well get the hell out of here. I don't want this chick coming back to find her precious new pet missing and us all standing around like idiots," Jessie said.
Eliza let out a loud sigh and gave Jessie a resigned look.
"Fine, I guess you're right. Let's go."
Jessie flipped the lights off and closed the door. Then the trio left. As they did so, Penny could not shake the feeling they were missing something crucial. There was another piece to the puzzle.
None of them had noticed the faint, rhythmic tapping coming from Cece Ramirez's chest of drawers.
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TBC