Bitter sweets

"We thought it was only an adventure to get the candy safely back home."

"We went too far.."

"We went too far to consider stepping back.."

"And if we turned around.."

"We all would have left with our heads."

Beginning

"Alright Albert, have you got you're backpack?" Celine asked, Albert grinned.

He continued putting his things away "almost mom." he replied cheerily "I can't wait! Now I know I'm doing something good with my time and for the hive!"

"That's the spirit Albert." Celine replied "Now, are you ready?"

"Yea, I have to catch the bus!" he replied, he gasped "I'm late darnit!"

"is it still at the bus stop?" she asked expectantly.

"I think it's here." he replied as he slapped his backpack over his legs. "now could you help with my homework until I get back?"

"Be back by midnight, you only have one shot at this."

-

Albert grinned, he looked at his four friends, Queenie, Jake, Samantha and Paul. He sighed "can you wait another second?!" Paul fumed at Samantha angrily "you know this is not the time to be all jittery, it's suspenseful enough!" Samantha was the youngest, she sighed gloomily. "don't ask me all these questions either!" Paul shouted, causing Samantha to float away in a snap.

Electric crackled as she laid on the seat and cried, Albert walked over to her and sat down. "Hey.." he greeted her awkwardly.

"H-hey.." she replied, her voice shaky.

"Albert Phantom, pleased to meet you." he introduced himself with a grin.

"Samantha Hive." she replied.

He showed a happy expression in his one eye, she did as well.

-

"Don't get touched." the trainer spoke "you will be fine if you're not touched and check twice if the animal dies."

Samantha chuckled "what does that mean?" she asked sweetly.

"making skin contact with another phantom.. or an animal.. either one." he replied with a giggle. She nodded. He was quite pleased, he was also excited for the event. She was excited as well, with the way she was bouncing around. She couldn't stay still, her pupil was large and she held onto the straps of her backpack with all of her arms.

Albert could tell Paul's heart was pounding, Queenie and Jake were chattering amongst themselves while other phantoms were listening. The trainer sighed "just run if you get touched, it's that simple." he explained "if you're touched, you're dead, is that clear?"

"Yes!" the all exclaimed, excluding Samantha.

She was silent, the trainer noticed but didn't peep a word.

--

Albert was sitting on the helicopter, he viewed the terrain which he flew above. The phantoms were huddled up together. The trainer sighed gloomily, he pressed a button, causing the helicopter to shake and the phantoms to fall out. Samantha screamed all the way, Albert couldn't find anyone. He landed face first, he was tired and the side of his face was already scratched.

It was dark, the phantoms began to spread out. Albert tried to find Samantha, instead he found his friends. "Paul, the rest of you!" he cried "I am so bad at names."

"It's fine." Queenie comforted him in her thick, Southern accent.

"What a way to start the day!" Jake exclaimed "look at us, a few friends making our way through it."

"Staying together is the solution, right?" Albert asked quietly, feeling like an idiot. "we uh... didn't cover it?"

"Hey!" Paul exclaimed "what is this?!"

It took the rest a minute to get over, the scarecrow blinked it's eye. "h-hello." Albert stammered "how are you?"

"Don't greet it!" Paul snapped.

"He's greeting it because it's a phantom too." Queenie stated "this gets us one step closer to world peace!"

"Yeah yeah whatever." Paul gave one big eye roll "but if you want peace so much, why don't you go-"

"Hey." Albert interjected "we are friends, not enemies."

-

They had two days to get to know the terrain, Albert sighted "are they watching us?" he asked Queenie, who was filing the end of her arm.

"no you idiot, it's not even here yet." she replied "but I can't even believe Paul would say that, oh my gosh."

"here." he said as he handed her a paper, she read it.

"So the animals are at the entrance?" she asked sternly "if so we need to split."

"I agree." Albert replied, having a bitter taste in his mouth. "but we need to protect the sweets."

-

"check the entrance!" a phantom cried as he raced off.

Samantha was confused and alone, she nodded and floated towards the entrance. There were a few animals there "are you the babies?" she asked sweetly, she adored them. Suddenly one began walking towards her, she looked happy once again. It didn't touch her, instead it hit a few others. She was traumatized, their skin slowly melted oozed into a puddle below them.

Their screams echoed around the woods, Samantha had witnessed the first blood. They attempted at crawling away with their melting limbs, it was truly torturous. Samantha headed off to find Albert, who was in the cave. He knew he had a way to escape the animals which would leap at him--so he thought. He suddenly watched Samantha enter the cave, she looked happy to see him.

"first blood!" she cried, she stumbled over a loose rock and fell.

Albert's eye widened, he looked around at his surroundings. There were no animals yet. He was relieved.