@fazzgory | continued from here.
He can hear his heartbeat thudding like some kind of morbid, off-beat drum in his ears.
He can see that they’re safe—they’re in one of those security offices that looks disturbingly like one he’d been in, once—but Alexander can barely process that they’re no longer in danger. One hand still has his crowbar gripped tight, ready to swing again at a moment’s notice, the other holding Gregory close to his chest. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was shaking, with how it seemed like his heart was currently attempting a grand escape from his chest cavity.
This franchise was going to be the fucking death of him, one way or another.
He’d only been gone for thirty seconds. Thirty seconds and it had all gone to shit. All he can remember thinking when he saw that damn bot was not again. Too many kids have vanished. Too many kids have died. Not another one. He wouldn’t take another missing child. That’s what brought him here in the first place—and he wasn’t about to allow more tragedy in his presence. Not if he could help it, not if he could stop it.
Alex could only hazily recall whacking that chicken hard enough to get her head spinning before he’d scooped up Gregory in one arm and made a run for it—and, really, he was paying for that now. His arms and legs ached, throbbing dully with pain—he had to force them to relax, to accept that there wasn’t any need to run, not now.
“ It’s okay, ” he mutters, releasing a shaky breath, “ ‘ve got ya’. You’re safe. We’re—we’re safe. ‘s okay, we’re gonna be okay. ”
He hates how it half sounds like he’s trying to convince himself of it too.
But then Gregory is speaking—thanking him and Alex lets out a chuckle that resembles more of a wheeze than anything, looking downward at the child.
“ I did too, for a minute, ” he admits, “ ‘s nothin’ kiddo. Thankfully fer you, Chica was never my favorite. Did y’see how fast ‘er head was spinnin’ when I whacked her? Like a fuckin’ merry-go-round. ”
He hopes that his attempt to lighten the mood works.