The Doppelgangers

Lithuania left Felix looking after the Nilbmahians and Timoteo, while she walked down the tunnels alone, making her way to the surface. The darkness of the tunnels was numbing, and the perpetually blackened skies of LusciousLocks, every so often mixed with the illusion of twilight, weren’t exactly more comforting; but at least outside there was open space. A dangerous open space, for sure, but open space nonetheless. Lithuania knew that so long as she didn’t wander too far from the concrete tower, she’d be fine. 

She reached the stairwell out of the tunnels, pushed the unnecessarily heavy wrought-iron door, and stumbled outside. The air was cold against her cheeks, and the sky was, as usual, darkened by swirling gray clouds. She sat on the step to the tower’s entrance, and inhaled deeply. At least the air was fresh. Last time she had been out here, the heat was quickly growing unbearable. She closed her eyes, and let her mind wander… Wander away from the concrete tower… away from the forest… away from LusciousLocks. She let her mind wander to Marco. Wherever he was, she knew he was alive. She had seen him. In a world darker than hers, but filled with a blazing orange glow. There was fire. Marco was agitated. He had seen her. He seemed to think he was seeing a ghost. He looked terrified. And that had been all. Lithuania had popped back into the trembling tunnels, dazed. Her subsequent memories were confused.

“Marco, where are you?” Lithuania whispered.

And without really thinking much, Lithuania stepped away from the tower and wandered towards the woods. She clutched her pistol out of instinct as she entered the dense forest. For some reason, at that moment LusciousLocks just didn’t feel all that threatening. Until Lithuania stepped on something squishy.

She looked down, immediately removing her foot from whatever she had stepped on. She couldn’t tell with perfect accuracy, but it looked red. Like a thick, pulpy substance… or…

Lithuania loaded her gun and held it aloft, her eyes struggling through the surrounding darkness. She looked down at the bloody pulp. Whatever it was, it seemed to have exploded—and splattered in a particular direction. Lithuania looked in that direction, and saw two bodies, lying inert on the forest floor. Two familiar bodies…

“What the…” Lithuania approached them. A woman, unconscious, lying over a man, unconscious. Both were still breathing. The blood wasn’t theirs, or at least not the woman’s. The man seemed to have sustained injuries. Lithuania pushed the woman’s hair aside. “The hell?” They were hardly alive, but Lithuania was sure it was them. They were Isa and Winfry—again.