Penthouse Kitchen, Sky Pencil, Panthersville, DeKalb County, Georgia. Wednesday, October 30th, 2019. 03:20.

Neither of the two girls in the penthouse felt sleepy. Sara noticed that with greater levels of energy in her body, the need to sleep was somehow reduced. But this was not it. Both had a rough night with lots of stuff to digest and were running high on "clooneine".

Sara checked the cow bones for splinters, noticing neither foxhound growled at her when she momentarily took the treats away. She was delighted with such well-trained service animals. She praised them as she returned the bones and they happily went back to sucking the fresh marrow out. She made a note to ask the guys at the campus to save more bones for her.

Sara downed her next cup o'Clooney, then placed it on the counter, thinking it was enough. She was four or five cups ahead of Mary. And the other girl seemed keenly aware of that.

"Take your time and don't spill it again. Do you want palmiers with your coffee? They're just a little stale."

Mary pursed her lips. "Yes, please," she whispered.

Sara served her the not-so-crunchy-anymore pastries and waited until Mary finished her snack.

"I never thought you could be so nice," Mary said under her breath. "It feels like you're not the same person, but it's been just a month!"

Sara forced her poker face. "Is that how you see me now?"

Mary glanced up, met Sara's eyes, then blushed and looked away. "Maybe? You weren't this nice to me, never. Maybe I'm the mean one now. I... I don't know, Sara."

"You weren't nice before either," Sara said with a chuckle she thought would ease the situation. "But we can try, right?"

"Yeah, doh. I wasn't nice to you at all, that's the problem. Why are you... I don't..."

"Deserve it?"

Mary pursed her lips again and winced. She hunched her shoulders and nodded.

"I feel like that sometimes too," Sara confessed. "It's the impostor syndrome."

The other girl closed her eyes, "it's awful. How do we get rid of it?"

"I wish I had a good answer," Sara lamented. "All I can say is 'time'. Time heals all wounds. We can all change if we try, Mary. We barely knew each other before the world went to shit. Heck, we barely knew ourselves."

Mary nodded. Sara continued.

"A lot of shit happened. The stupid fight upstairs took away everyone we cared about," Sara grasped Mary's hand when the other girl started sniffling. "And we cried about that more times than we can count. Yet here we are, alive. The cities that used to be crowded with people, cluttered with the deafening roar of a thousand car engines, are now desert and silent."

"I hate the silence," Mary agreed just to keep the conversation.

"Now, we're stuck with each other. We are besties by a process of elimination. Not too many options, you know. Nobody younger than us survived, and there are only five teenagers alive that we know."

"Yeah, our dating prospects suck," Mary snorted.

"I don't do girls," Sara deadpanned as she gave her warning. "But hey, there's Simon and the RPG guys. Geek is the other white meat. Erm, not the white-white. White like chicken, I mean."

"I got it," Mary rolled her eyes, then cringed at the idea of dating them, "Eww, geeks."

"More for me," Sara wiggled her eyebrows.

"Eww, keep them all for you. Are you making a harem? Hey, you like old dudes, isn't Hainsworth right up your alley?"

"No way!" Sara protested. "He gives out too many daddy vibes. Can you believe he told me I remind him of his daughter?"

"I totally can!"

"'Sides, did you know that getting a harem is all the rage during an apocalypse?"

"Are you? Really?" Mary asked in disbelief.

"What?"

"Making a harem?"

"Maybe?" Sara grinned in jest. "I mean, I already have Kelly and you, did you see the size of the bed in the master bedroom? I need at least a blonde, an Asian, and a redhead to complete the royal flush. Heck, I'll even add the geeks too. A big happy pan-sexual harem. All of them fawning over petite Sara."

"I'm not joining any harems!" Mary protested playfully.

"I had a joke at the tip of my tongue but that would be too insensitive to say even for me," Sara said about telling Mary to get out for refusing to join her harem. "You do you. Get your own harem. Maybe we can have a competition."

"I think I'll pass," Mary shook her head. "I'm not ready for a relationship."

"Me neither! I'm not too keen on having a relationship right now either."

"Or next year, when we become legal. Then we can date adults."

"Touché! But it's not like anyone is going to jail. We have only one cop and he's in a wheelchair. Hard to chase down suspects like that."

"That was just so wrong!" Also in the wrong, Mary laughed. "So, what happens now? Between we two?"

"If you won't join my harem and become my lover, I see three choices, we become friends, we go back to hating each other and do mean girl stuff to one another, or we go on our separate ways and forget each other exists. But hey, I am all for the first choice. It's hard to get to know people, you know? At least with you, I know what you might do. And if you do something that bothers me, I'll tell you and give us a chance to fix it. You do the same to me. Deal?"

"Yeah, whatever. How can you joke about those things? Life must be so easy for you," Mary complained.

"Easy?" Sara rose, indignant.

"Easy. You don't care about people, you said it yourself," Mary accused.

"Look, when the world ended, I got the shittiest job ever. And I was trapped in a building full of dead people with a psycho armed with a .50 machine gun. I had to help these nutcases find their way to the afterlife and not get found by a paramilitary gang of rapists. You wouldn't believe the stuff I had to do to get the job done."

"At least you had a job," Mary said dismissively.

"You have no idea, woman," Sara glowered. "I had to french kiss the ghost of Christine Appleby to make her go away."

Mary's eyes widened in disbelief as she raised her head to stare at Sara. "Shut up, bitch. That's so absurd I won't even."

"Yeah. I was only ever kissed by Christine Appleby. Her ghost. Does that count?"

"She kissed you? And not the other way around? I may acquit you of necrophilia, then."

"Maybe not. I did tease her."

"Now I'm not joining your harem, like ever. Eww, you necrophiliac."

Sara tossed the last shred of pride down a bottomless pit and went all in. "Oh, you have no idea. Do you wanna meet my first boyfriend? He's here, in this building."

She was the kind of girl that would stop at nothing for a half-baked joke. Sara didn't know the meaning of 'pride'.

*

*

Elevator, Sky Pencil, Panthersville, DeKalb County, Georgia. Wednesday, October 30th, 2019. 03:50.

"Then he asked me to play League of Legends with him," Sara recollected, "I let him win, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to kiss me, and I had enough with the pervert. So, I ushered him into the afterlife."

"Classic Sara," Mary snided. "Murdered her first boyfriend on the first date because he wanted to move to first base."

Sara sighed but kept her rebuttal to herself. "That's a lot of firsts."

The elevator dinged. She took Mary to Timmy's apartment.

"God, it stinks!" Mary pinched her nose by the front door. "You really killed him."

"Yeah, I think I need to burn this apartment down."

It would be a better choice than the nice patio.

Mary went to the railing, then glanced down. "Your whole hotel stinks, Sara."

The HVAC did miracles already. But it was true that the hotel needed a good scrubbing.

"I tried to hire you to clean it up," Sara shrugged. "The pay was very good."

"Yeah, no thank you. I'm fine at the university, I guess. The stuff there is free. Why did you bring me here anyway?"

"To show you what I have to work with. If I'm willing to indulge these undead weirdos, why wouldn't I help you, a living person?"

"Didn't we have this conversation already?"

"I guess it didn't stick."

"So, any other exciting things you want to show me?"

"Actually, yes."

*

*

Camgirl apartment, Sky Pencil, Panthersville, DeKalb County, Georgia. Wednesday, October 30th, 2019. 04:00.

Mary stared at the zoo of stuffed animals in awe. "I never saw this many together outside a toy store. At least this apartment smells good."

"If you want any, just go for it," Sara offered sincerely.

"Aren't we trespassing? Whose place is this?"

"Nope, the whole building and everything in it is mine. Besides, the former tenant is probably dead. About whose place is this, come see the bedroom." She guided Mary there. "So, what do you think?"

"Is this a porn studio? Is it legal in Georgia?" Mary wondered as she carefully walked around, trying not to touch anything.

"I think the girl who worked here just streamed herself doing naughty things," Sara replied.

"That's still porn," Mary sanctimoniously decreed. "Why would she expose herself like that?"

"The same as everyone else. Money."

"Lots of money? What's the price on someone's dignity?"

"Cheaper than you think. She must've been raking six figures, by all the gifts she gained and the rent she was paying." Sara knew very well how expensive it was to rent an apartment here. She checked the financial records out of curiosity.

While both girls seemed uncomfortable in the bedroom studio, both were extremely curious. Sara wasn't as disturbed as the first time she was here with Kelly.

"And she was alone in this room, with only a camera. And a lot of dudes in a chatroom saying a lot of nice things to her," Sara rationalized.

"I guess all that attention must distort someone's head."

"Yeah, to some, attention is a drug. And all those gifts. I saw at least ten different usernames, perhaps she had dozens of supporters. Or hundreds. "

Mary picked up a dowel. "This seems to be clean."

"You can have it if you want," Sara teased.

Mary seemed conflicted. She decided to challenge Sara, "Why, you don't need one of these?"

Sara frowned and shook her head. She summoned her resolve and asked, "Did you ever... came using one of these?"

Mary squeezed the latex dowel. She glared back, "Why do you want to know that?"

The girl fidgeted, "It's because I never..."

"Never?"

"Never."

"Fingers, boys," Mary wiggled the thing in her hand, "toys?"

"Never tried boys," Sara confessed, then quickly amended, "not looking to, either."

"Porn?"

"Too fake. And it's all made for dudes."

"I read on one of mom's women's magazines that it's normal. A lot of women can't. And the more concerned you are about it, the worse your chances of getting one."

"I see," Sara started to ponder.

Mary put the dowel back on the table, "And just to satisfy your curiosity, no. I never put anything like these in me," she affirmed, a bit disgusted by the idea.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to insinuate anything. Just that you picked up one of those so easily..."

"That's okay, glad I could help," Mary smiled. "But... You seem to know a lot about this. Did you have to... help her pass into the afterlife too?"

"No. I have no idea who worked here, but it is obvious she only used this place to stream. There are no clothes other than the costumes, and no food in the pantry. She didn't live here. We might find out who she was if we check the computer. There might be some photos or video footage in there."

"Can I?"

"Sure, knock yourself out."

Mary went to the edge of the bed and turned the computer on. She started messing around. "Missy Pink?" Mary read as she opened a finished video file.

The opening vignette was a cartoon pin-up, probably Missy Pink, humping a stuffed toy. It cut to that very room and showed the empty bed. Missy Pink, In the flesh and scant clothing, climbed on it. She had a lace domino mask on, matching her lacy corset, panties, and garter belt.

"She looks familiar," Mary wondered.

Sara climbed on the bed behind Mary. "Yeah. She looks young."

"Hello, everyone," Missy Pink said through the speakers. "Today, I'm unboxing a gift from PowerGuiddo [1] from Brazil! Hi, Guiddo!" She blew a kiss to the camera and pulled a gift box from off-camera. "What did he send me? Is it a jewel? Or some new clothes?" Missy Pink squealed, "Or maybe a new shoe or a toy!"

"Her voice sounds odd," Mary remarked.

"I think she's using some voice change software. I think I saw an icon on the desktop of a mouth with the word 'change' in the label."

"Yeah, but her voice..."

Talking all the while, "Missy Pink" ripped the gift wrapping but Sara noticed it had already been opened. The camgirl squealed as she produced a black box with a big men's genital stamped on top. The box opened to reveal one of the monster toys on display at the nearby table.

Missy Pink made an 'O' with her mouth and covered it with the tip of her fingers. "Will it fit?"

"No way!" Mary gasped.

"Yeah, no chance of that going in. That sucker must hurt a lot!" Sara agreed.

The tension was high and both were somewhat uncomfortable but curiosity won. Neither girl suggested stopping the video.

"Is that?"

"Yeah, it's right next to you," Sara pointed at Mary's left side.

Missy Pink took the "mic stand" machine, deftly assembled it in position, and attached the toy. The video cut but the scene remained the same, the frame just skipped for a moment. Sara assumed the streamer had cleaned up the toy during the cut. She took two minutes to dance near the toy, lick all over it, remove her panties, then set herself to play with the toy. And play she did. A testament to the streamer's acting skills, she seemed to be enjoying it.

Sara puckered her lips as she started to feel sick. Mary was so tense she seemed to be about to bolt away like a cornered hare.

"Sara, that's..."

"Yeah, I don't feel very well either," a queasy Sara waved a hand and climbed off the bed. "It's one thing to read it stretches, but it's another to see it in action. Close the video player, please." Sara walked outside to catch some air thinking that maybe she should burn this apartment too.

The motor whirring as well as the moans and screams suddenly stopped a minute later, a minute too late in Sara's opinion. Immediately after, a flustered and flushed Mary dashed straight to the bathroom, even sicker than Sara was.

Worried, Sara followed and grabbed her hair before Mary could throw up on it. Kneeling before the toilet, Mary's body ejected George Clooney's black goodness and the palmiers. She retched for a while more, then raised a hand for help. Sara helped her back to her feet and handed Mary a towel to clean herself. Mary refused the towel and went to the sink.

While Sara flushed the toilet and cleaned it up with toilet paper, Mary washed her mouth on the sink, then took the mouthwash from the counter and gargled, spitting it out.

"Sara, listen—"

Embarrassed and angry at herself, the girl spun around and pushed the towel toward the other girl. "Yeah, I know. Sorry to bring you here."

"No, it's not that!" Mary waved her hands frantically. "You missed it! After you left, Missy Pink took her mask off! That wretched bitch!"

Only one thought ran through Sara's mind. "Was she someone you know?"

Mary stumbled out into the corridor, then put her back to the wall so Sara could pass past her, "See for yourself. I paused the video."

Sara ran back to the bedroom door and looked at the video. Missy Pink was lying on the bed, spread-eagle with all her assets in plain sight, with the machine slowly grinding to a halt between her legs. Sara dashed and pulled the plug on the computer.

"Goddammit, what the fuck?!?" Sara screeched.

Missy Pink was someone they both knew very well from school, none other than Pamela. Sara heard Mary screaming too. She went to the living room to check on Mary. The other girl had a knife and was in the process of butchering the stuffed toys, stabbing a life-sized bear cub in the chest. Sara timed her pounce and grabbed Mary's wrist as she lifted her hand.

"Whoa. Calm down there!"

Mary was fuming. "That bitch! I'd kill her if she wasn't already dead."

Another uncanny valley kind of perfect Sara impression. But the girl had no mind to call Mary on that.

"Give me the knife, Mary."

She didn't resist as Sara removed the tool from her hand. With both hands free, Mary struggled to rip the bear's head off, screaming in outrage. Sara let her for a moment hop into the kitchen, drop the knife in the sink, then returned to hug Mary from behind, gently dragging her away from the innocent but half-murdered toy bear.

"She lied to me!" Mary whined and struggled to break free. "The bitch lied to me! Ahhh!"

"How did she register into a streaming site? Fake ID?" Sara wondered, already worried she'd found more child porn. "Didn't they check that shit?"

Mary stopped thrashing in Sara's arms. She slumped. "No. Pamela was held back a year. The whore would turn nineteen in January."

"Why do you believe she lied to you?"

Mary glared as if Sara had crawled out of a hole she'd lived in her whole life. "She made a point to wear one of those purity rings as Miley and Selena did! Pamela slut-shamed anyone in our group who even thought of dating a boy! She even slut-shamed you, when she set that party prank to stop you from playing with Simon and the guys. She told me you would..." Mary trailed off, embarrassed.

"Do naughty stuff with the boys?" Sara guessed.

"Yeah. She said something like that. I can't believe she shoved— " What came next was a stream of words that should never grace the lips of a lady.

Sara nodded in agreement.

"It's your fault, why did you talk me into watching that!"

"I don't mind taking the blame, peace," Sara begged, waving both hands. "Mary, how about we agree to never talk about that again? Pamela is dead, whatever she did or failed to do doesn't matter anymore. Even if her ghost appeared here, she wouldn't either suffer or care for what she did while alive. I saw many like that."

Mary nodded slowly, "Can I at least break the computer?"

Sara shook her head, "Sorry, no. I already promised the recording equipment to Kelly. We can delete the files, though."

"And burn all those filthy rods. OMG, I can't believe I touched one of them. They were... they were... inside..." Mary started to retch again.

Sara shushed the other girl and rubbed her back, "No, they were clean. At least that, she kept them squeaky clean. But I agree, we should burn Pamela's toys. The pyre downstairs is still burning."

"And the toys too," Mary kicked the bear's head.

"Nah, leave the... others alive. They are innocent, I doubt she... Goodness, no."

"What?"

"Do you think she... did that to all those toys?"

"Eek!" Mary jumped away from the dead bear and its disemboweled stuffing.

"Leave the toys alone," Sara suggested.

"Leave the toys alone. Burn the... toys and never talk about that again," Mary sealed the pact.

They searched the apartment, found a large plastic bag, and gathered the iniquitous toys.

*

*

Lake Stonecrest Promenade, Panthersville, DeKalb County, Georgia. Wednesday, October 30th, 2019. 04:30.

A short elevator ride later and a few blocks south, they joined the hotel guests and workers in the pyre.

"You should've joined the softball team," watching the latex 'dowels' melt, Mary commented on Sara's pitching power.

"Nah, I used to throw like a girl, but then I gained superpowers. Wanna see me flip a car?"

"No. What I want to do..." Mary sighed deeply, "I don't know. I'm still so angry!"

"Wanna go to Pamela's house and check if she's really dead? Maybe we can loot her wardrobe or something."

"Can I shove her purity ring up her ass?"

"No. That's desecrating the dead. We do not do that."

"Sara?"

"Yes."

"Is it weird that I'm getting hungry from smelling people burn?"

"No, not weird at all, unless you want to eat them." Mary shook her head vehemently, "And you need to put some weight. Let's go back, I'll make you breakfast. I have bacon without mold."

[1]: The English pronunciation is a lewd pun in Portuguese.