14A/N: And tadah! I uploaded another one today because I got tired of going to the document manager... I'm so lazy. Enjoy, and I apologize if the ending seems a bit abrupt. I had planned to have this story be a brief one-shot at first. Didn't think it'd get as long as it did.
IV: Victory
They won. They made it to her room. Her brother's footsteps clattered past the door, and the two snails turned to one another in pride.
"Now the rest is easy. Allow me to do the honors." Gary bowed his head at Leanna then began making his way up a desk leg.
"Haha, be my guest, but be quick. There's probably, at most, ten minutes left before the sun's down… …Gary? Gary? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired out from the climb up. I'll just drink my share first, then push it down to you, okay?"
"Sure, whatever floats your boat." Leanna squirmed nervously. Gary was taking an awfully long time. Time was running out.
"Okay. I've got the pouch to the edge of the table. I'm going to push it down now, okay?"
"Okay, but hurry up a little. I'm getting worried."
"And Leanna?"
"Yes?" Leanna tapped her foot impatiently.
"I love you."
She laughed at his joke. "Right. Just push the pouch down already. We can talk about how much you love me after we're not slimy little creeps anymore."
The pouch descended, and she sipped.
She felt funny. She felt queasy. Then she didn't feel anything but good.
"Gary? I'm back! Have you turned back yet?!" Leanna dusted herself off and picked herself up. Stretching joyfully, she glanced at the table, expecting to see her nerdy ecology comrade, and her grin froze.
Her table was sprinkled thickly with salt.
In a panic, her eyes trailed a thin brown trail to where she had placed the pouch to the edge of the table where Gary had knocked over the pouch to her.
A shriveled brown glop.
"Gary?" Leanna's voice barely crept out. The fact he was gone did not register at first. Then, she blinked over her blank eyes and tried to remember what a person did when a friend died.
A burial. That's what he needed. A proper burial. Silently and tenderly, she scooped what she could of the mess into a small dish and gulped as she wiped the rest off with a sheet of tissue.
Then she carried the carcass to his neighbor's yard. As she crossed the threshold, she met with Gary's sister.
"Wow! Are you entering that into the contest?!" The middle school student giggled gleefully as she picked up a stick and poked the shell, cracking it in two. Before she could jab it once more, Leanna slapped her hand away and snarled. The kid looked at her in confusion, but shrugged it off and left her in isolation.
Leanna dug carefully, and poured the contents into a small hole, objecting to her initial thought of leaving his body in a box. Knowing him, he wouldn't want to disrupt the environment with any unnatural objects. The job done, she leaned on the tire swing's rope, tired.
Leanna, taking care not to squish any snails, sat on the tire swing and began sobbing.
And she never killed another snail.