Jackson would admit that he’d been on edge ever since the Policeman’s Ball weeks before because Ethan had walked away from that night with knowledge that could potentially ruin his life yet again. Of course his partner had taken to playing dumb, but he hadn’t bought it. The whole situation definitely had made some things strained and he’d kept it all to himself, wanting as few people as possible to know what he was dealing with on the off chance that one of them would make it worse in the name of helping. Still, it was becoming harder and harder to avoid the other man, especially with the way Ethan had taken on extra shifts and the other firefighters had started to notice things being off between them. So he’d sucked it up as best he could and at least tried to make it look like nothing was wrong.
That was how Jackson found himself on the couch playing video games with Ethan at two-something in the morning while most of the rest of the station was asleep. Of course he’d been unable to rest given the stress of everything and it seemed his partner had had his own reason. The time passed between them wordlessly, the only sounds the quiet ones coming from the lowered volume of the game because he wasn’t really stupid enough to invite more trouble by opening his mouth yet again.
Tagging: Ethan Bishop, Paige Westmore, Zoey Sinclair, and Kara Lansing
Date: May 5, 2017
Location: RIAP - Unclaimed Dorms
Notes: A fire is started in the unclaimed dorms by the hunters with students trapped inside of it. Not wanting to let anyone die, Ethan uses his air magic to try and help push down the flames while Zoey, Paige, and Kara work to get people outside to safety. Barbara Roth will be found dead in one of the dorms with from smoke inhalation with another unnamed student.
With hunters arriving all over the campus, all of the officers were scrambling to try and get the students to safety. Ethan had taken the dorms, knowing they needed to find any students remaining. However, one of his fears was realized as he closed in on the Unclaimed dorm and saw smoke billowing out from one of the windows and the sound of students inside. Not wasting a second he rushed inside and ran through the dorm until he found the source of the fire. It wasn't too large, but rapidly growing. "Is anyone in here?" He yelled, trying to make his way through the smoke that was quickly filling the room.
Paige smelled the fire before she saw it. She dropped her books and ran as quickly as she could. Outside the doors she paused, no, froze. She was unsure what to do. After a beat, she ran in and started checking dorms before closing the doors. No air. She gasped when she heard a voice behind her. She shook her head frantically. "Not that I've found yet... But they might be closer to the fire, trapped."
Zoey had been searching all over the campus for Kara. She'd heard that there was an attack and she'd been flying around trying to find her and she had. What she didn't think she'd find as well was the Unclaimed dorms on fire. "We have to help," she told her roommate. Though her mind was clouding and almost seemed like it was telling her not to go. For a split second, she was frozen trying to shake off what she wrote off as fear ran towards the dorm. Even if her mind seemed to be saying otherwise. She had an overwhelming sense of dread coming over her but shook it off. Now was not the time for a panic attack, she told herself. When she encountered Ethan and Paige, she asked, "How can I help?"
Kara hadn't been ready for any of this to happen. Maybe she'd gotten a little too used to things going well and being "normal" after she'd been dealing with the darkness she'd had inside of her that came with all the things that had happened. But now was not the time to dwell on all those things, now was the time to act. Following Zoey's lead, after her roommate had found her, they hurried to the Unclaimed dorms. "Shit. There's no time for that! We need to start getting students out. Zoey, Paige, we need to do sweeps of the floors. We need to get everyone that we can out. I just... Fuck. This whole place could burn down if we don't--" Kara watched in horror as the flames grew tenfold, sweeping up towards the ceiling. "What the hell did they do? Douse the place in gasoline?"
Ethan: continued to move through the room as he heard the voices. He was moving toward them until he came across the group of girls and paused for a moment as he listened to them. Planning how to keep everything continued, he was quiet before seeing the fire grow and realized best thing to do was control the fire and get people out as quickly as possibly. "Alright, we all need to stay calm. Otherwise, we will go down with this building." He told them, knowing they needed to keep this serious. "I'm going to hold this fire back you guys need to go through and make sure everyone is out of the dorm. I honestly don't care if you have to break down every door. Make sure no one is in any of these rooms." He spoke, keeping his words fast. "And be careful if you send them outside. Hunters are all over this place and we don't want to send them from a disaster to the next." Ethan added. "Sound good? You're welcome to leave and save yourself, but if you want to help, that's what we need to do."
Paige could barely focus on what he was saying. Her eyes kept darting around, her skin felt warm from the air. "Lock any rooms that are empty of people." She ran a hand through her hair. "If we can minimize the air that's spreading, non-magically, we can save our powers for bigger issues," she pointed out. She shook her head. "We need to know where is safe to send them. For all we know this is a smoke trap and getting them outside is going to get them killed faster than the fire." She looked to the girls beside her. "One of us could go with them if we find someone?"
Zoey nodded, knowing that this was going time. It was time to put fear aside, put on her big girl undies and keep people safe, but why did her mind seem like it was telling her to leave. “Okay, got it. We need to clear the first floor. And the students can trickle down from there. Because if we don’t clear the first then we could be sending someone to their deaths. I can clear the first and then move on to help on another floor. Someone want to direct people once we get them out?”
Kara knew that she couldn't let Zoey go alone, especially not with what the girl was going through lately. She was not about to let her best friend die on her watch during an attempt at heroism. "Paige, I'm going with Zoey to sweep the first floor and then I can go with you to sweep the second floor so Zoey can direct them out next. We can rotate." She nodded towards Ethan who she assumed was going to try and keep the fire under control, not that that was something that could be prevented much by now. Tugging on Zoey's hand, she headed towards the flight of stairs that would lead them up to the first floor. "Stay low." She reminded her best friend, remembering to have seen it in a movie once. She went up to the first door and moved her hand near the handle, seeing that it wasn't hot yet before using her magic to bust the door down. A girl was underneath the bed, cowering. "C'mon. Get up, you need to go down to the lobby and out. The damned building is on fire." Turning towards Zoey, she nodded at the door across the hallway just in time for flames to start climbing up the walls around them. "Shit. I don't think--" It was then that she heard someone's voice, someone that sounded angry, someone that sounded like they didn't belong. "Did you... Hear that?”
Ethan kept his eyes on the flames around them, making sure it didn't continue to grow anytime soon. He kept his listening focused on the girls, wanting to make sure he knew what their plans were exactly. Being the officer of the group, he thought it was important for him to know what they were doing. As they went to leave, he turned towards the group before speaking. "You guys be safe and stay together as much as possible." He told them before turning back to the fire. Fighting fire with air might not be the best of ideas, but he knew if he could do things right the fire could be control. Using the air around him, he slowly started to close the air in around the fire, very carefully pushing the fire back down as he waited for the dorm to get cleared out.
Paige nodded at Kara. "Sounds good," she paused and bit her lip before adding, "Stay safe. We don't know if any of them are hiding in the building looking for weak targets." Paige had been lucky enough to avoid hunters for the most part of her life. Her heart pound in her chest was a result of the adrenaline. New experiences weren't always good, she reminded herself. "I'll stay with," she gestured to Ethan, "this officer until you guys are done the first floor and we can swap." Paige then watched as Ethan managed with great diligence to slowly tame the fire. "If we can manage to get as much air away from the fire as possible, we might be able to snuff it out."
Zoey nodded when Kara said that she would come with her and they’d gotten a system together. “Yes, sir,” she said to Ethan. “You stay safe too.” She worried about them all and as she went to move along the first floor, she paused, not quite knowing why her feet had stopped. Or why there was a sense of dread. When she and Kara made their way up to the first floor, she stayed low as suggested, as they helped a student out of the room. When the fire started to climb the walls, everything in her was yelling flight, and she grabbed Kara’s hand, leading her out of the room and closing the door. She looked at Kara then. “Yes…someone could be in trouble, we should -“ She paused as she heard a voice in her head rock her to her very core in surprise. Don’t go inside. Get out of there. The voice was direct and Zoey stood there immobile for a moment unsure if she was losing her mind. “We have to help,” she breathed, fighting against the overwhelming sense to run.
Kara looked at Zoey as her best friend seemed to stop for a moment, the brunette coming closer. "Are you okay?" Before she could check her over, Zoey was saying they had to help and Kara nodded. As they went from room to room, no one seemed to be in them, Kara helping Zoey close each new dorm. However, when they made their way to the last door at the end of the first floor, Kara noticed the door was cracked open. Looking at Zoey, she motioned for her to get on the other side of the door-frame. From inside she could hear the sounds of someone fighting before a gunshot went off. Kara's head shot up and her blood ran cold as she heard footsteps begin to approach. "Zo. Use your magic to get that gun out of his hands... I'll take his air. Okay?"
Paige heard the gunshot from downstairs. She shot a look at Ethan before bolting to the staircase, not waiting for his approval. As she got closer, she slowed down to slink quietly. She paused at the top to take in the hall. It didn't look like the shot came from a hallway. She heard the girls planning and silently nodded with them. She could help as long as she stayed hidden. Peering through the hall door she tried to catch Kara or Zoey's attention before things escalated too much.
Zoey tried to listen out to make sure Paige and Ethan were okay as she and Kara made sure the rest of the rooms were clear. When she asked her if she was okay, she nodded. “Just a little…freaked but who isn’t?” she covered, knowing she couldn’t tell Kara right now about the voice. When she motioned for her to get on the other side of the door, Zoey took her position, preparing to enact the plan and in her mind, she felt as though Kara’s plan was solid. She looked up to see Paige, she held up a finger to her lips, letting her know to stay quiet. As soon as the hunter stepped out of the door, Zoey used the force of the air to knock the gun out of his hand and brought it towards her. In a sheer moment of panic, and because she heard the voice in her head say Shoot him. She aimed the gun low and shot his foot. That just seemed to anger him though. She scrambled backward, and he lurched forward. She felt as if something had pushed her out of the way because she fell to the floor and started to scramble backward towards Paige.
Kara felt her eyes go wide as soon as Zoey shot the hunter in the foot. Before she could even stop herself, she was reacting, which is exactly what the Hunter was also doing. He lunged towards Zoey and Kara pushed her out of the way. Her jaw connected with his fist and she felt her head snap to the side before watching as he began to move towards Paige and Zoey. "I'll kill them both and you'll get to watch, you stupid bitch." He sneered, or at least, he'd tried. Something was wrong. He was losing his breath. Behind him Kara was standing, right index finger twirling in a steady circle around his head. All the anger she'd felt from everything that had happened was being channeled through her in this moment, only brought out by him wanting to kill her friends. The Hunter turned to look at her, shaking his head as he struggled for breath. "Please... Please stop." Kara couldn't hear him beg, though, as the light slowly began to dim from his eyes. In the back of her mind, she heard Zoey screaming at her to stop. It was in that instant that she relinquished her hold on him, watching as he choked and started to catch his breath. Before she knew what was happening, he was smirking at her, reaching towards his side for a second firearm. Kara's reaction was almost instant, clenching her left hand into a fist as she pushed, effectively slamming him into a wall as she lifted her left hand, bringing him into the air and away from the wall as she used her right index finger to spin tight, fast circles. Within seconds, his body dropped to the floor, dead. Kara took a stumbling step backward, finally snapping out of her rage and looked up at Zoey and Paige, green eyes wide. "I..."
The instant after she started to see Zoey fall, ran to her to help. She was quick to throw herself in front of Zoey for defense. Paige even started moving her hands into positions, but before anything she did started to take effect, she noticed Kara's magic. Her head shook light to the side as he plead for his life, but Paige was unsure to whom she was shaking her head. Things only moved faster after that, Paige started to increase the pressure of the air to create a shield from the gun, but was stunned at Kara's even quicker, violent reaction. "Oh my god," Paige breathed. "Is he..." She looked back at Zoey to make sure she was already, then slowly approached the dead hunter. She nudged him with her boot. Paige immediately cringed backward. She ran a hand through her hair and started scanning the floor. "What if he wasn't alone?" She looked toward the other girls, eyes darting between them.
Zoey couldn’t believe her eyes as she watched Kara kill the hunter. She didn’t recognize her own voice when she was screaming for Kara to stop. Everything in her screamed to shut up. To let it happen. It was so overwhelming that she did shut up and let it happen. She looked from the hunter to Kara, and Kara to Paige, nodding. She didn’t know what compelled her to say it, but she said, “He was going to kill us…you had to.” Sighing, Zoey said, “You two need to go clear the next floor. Someone could be hurt or dying.” She held up the gun that was in her hold. “I’ll be fine. I’ll be in the lobby.” Except, when she ran off toward the lobby, she kept going to the third floor, figuring that she could do more by actually helping clear a floor than just waiting in the lobby with no one to direct.
Kara stared down at the dead body in stunned silence, her mouth slightly agape. She turned to look inside of the room that the Hunter had just left and found something that made her immediately sick. There was the body of a freshman, someone that she didn't know. "I don't... I don't know their name." She pointed at the dead body, before moving inside the room. She ignored the way Zoey told her to keep checking the second floor because all she saw was the dead body of some kid and... Oh God. Her throat felt tight as she saw the corpse of Professor Roth, a bullet-hole right between her eyes. Resisting the urge to vomit, Kara went to go and see if she could pick up their bodies because they didn't deserve to be here like this. "Paige!" She called out and waited for the girl to show up in front of the door. "We need to... We need to get them down to the lobby. I can't... We can't let them..." But as she went to reach for the student, the smoke and fire finally caught up to them. It was a lost cause. Tears burned her eyes as she stood up and went over to Paige. "Let's go clear the second floor..." Her voice was quiet as she walked out the door and headed towards the stairwell.
Paige couldn't deny that killing the hunter had been necessary, but she was still unnerved nonetheless. Before Paige could object to them splitting up, Zoey had gotten to the stairs and Kara into the room. She debated checking on Zoey, but her blood ran cold when she heard Kara call her name. She pushed her way into the room. Paige's hand went immediately to her mouth. "Oh God," she whispered. "There's nothing we can do," Paige's voice was steady. It was unsettling how calm she seemed. "I'm sorry," she watched Kara walk from the room. "I wish there was more that we could do for them." She bit her lip. Abruptly, Paige's head snapped up. She exited the room quickly and grabbed Kara's arm. "Did you hear that?" Her eyes drifted upwards. "There's definitely someone up there... but I'm not sure if they're..." her gaze flicked to the room they just left then back to Kara, "if we're going to be able to help them." The truth was hard, but Paige was ready to face it. They had to be for now. "We should go now, but we have to be careful." Paige tried to tip-toe up the stairs as much quickly as possible.
Zoey knew almost instantly that this wasn’t such a good idea. As soon as she stepped foot on the third floor, the sense of dread in her stomach came once more. She held tight to the gun in her hand, but the sheer fact that she was holding a gun made her want to vomit. Violent delights always had violent ends, and here she was in a war-like situation. She closed her eyes, trying to listen for movement. Opening first one door, ushering out students hidden up there, advising them to find the campus officer out front. She closed off the door, and just as she opened another checking the room, leaving the door ajar, her senses overwhelmed her and she realized that she was not alone when she turned back around. A gun went off in the hunter’s hold and this time she was knocked to the ground but no one was there to push. The bullet just missing her. Kill him. You have to kill him. Shoot him. Use the gun, Zoey. Don’t miss. Kill him. The voices in her head were loud, they overcrowded any disapproval she might have had. They were screaming, and it was as if she had no choice as the hunter aimed once more. She had to be faster or she would die. Zoey lifted the gun, and she shot, multiple times in many directions. She was frantic. Panting, crying but once she pulled the trigger she couldn’t stop shooting. She couldn’t stop until there was nothing left. And yet she continued to click the gun long after the hunter was riddled with bullets. Leave now the voice commanded, and she dropped the gun, picking up his instead, shaking as she shut the door. She hadn’t cleared the floor, but rather walked back to the lobby standing there almost lost, feeling sick to her stomach, reliving each shot she made even though she didn’t want to.
Kara froze as soon as Paige grabbed her arm, standing still as she listened to the sounds of someone moving around. Please don't be another hunter. Nodding, she followed Paige, ready to kill if the moment called for it. But God, she hoped that it wouldn't call for it. She hoped that it was just a student, or multiple students. Pointing at the door, she motioned for Paige to stay before counting down from three with her fingers. Slamming the door open with her magic, Kara stared at the horrified faces of five students, all huddled on the ground. "Oh thank God." She mumbled under her breath before going to help them up. "You need to get out of here. Take the stairwell and go out the lobby. It isn't saf--" Kara stopped immediately at the multiple gunshots that resounded throughout the building. Zoey. It was like everything in her was screaming to go find her best friend because she couldn't, no she wouldn't lose her. But the rational side of her, the one that knew she had to keep going, to keep helping, had won over. Gritting her jaw, she turned to Paige. "You take the right side of the hall. I'll take the left. We move quickly and thoroughly." So they did, moving from room to room and thankfully, no one else was there. When they reached the last room, Kara turned to Paige. "Go downstairs with Zoey. I'm going to see what those shots were." Her stare was firm, leveling. Kara usually had that way about her when she meant business and she felt kind of bad she had to use it on Paige but she wasn't about to have another person die on her watch. "I'll be right there. Promise." Without another word, Kara went up to the third floor. The smoke was billowing by now, the hallway glowing an angry orange. As she moved from room to room, Kara eventually took her button-up plaid shirt off, throwing it to the side. She was too hot, far too hot but she knew that there could be people here. Finally, she got to the middle of the hallway, heading towards the other stairwell that led up to it when all of the sudden, she was falling flat on her face. Kara groaned before she realized what exactly she had landed in, and what exactly she had tripped on. A scream tore from her throat before she could stop it, realizing that her torso and hands were covered in blood. A hunter's blood. Trying to compose herself she quickly stood up, moving from room to room once more in an almost daze. How had the hunter gotten that way? Who had killed him? Her questions went unanswered due to the fact that there was no one on the floor. Finally, she made her way down to the lobby, the smoke and flames making the building creak. "I don't... I don't know if we can make it to the fourth floor. The smoke is too thick." She spoke as if she hadn't just literally fell into a pool of another person's blood, like that very blood wasn't soaking her own clothes, into her hair, into her skin. Her eyes found Zoey's, then. "You're alive."
Ethan: knew that the there was no good way to keep this fire contained. Even if he could keep the flames down, the heat and smoke were still going to fill the building and make it hard for the girls to get this building cleared. Keeping his focus on the job he head, he started to cut off the air from the fire and watched as it started to dwindle down a little bit more. It wasn't long after the first two girls left that the third one had turned to him before leaving as well. It only made him worry that something wrong might be happening out there. However, he knew at this point he couldn't just leave to go check because the minute he stopped focusing on this fire, the faster this building was going to go up in flames. Keeping his focus on the fire and making sure he didn't get burned as some of the flames shot out and hit him. Even with the winces that came out, he was still able to keep it contained and give those girls sometimes. As he thought things would be okay, the sound of gunshots and something thumping against the ground made him distracted and the fire quickly grew once more, taking over even more of the area than it once did. "Shit!" He cursed before looking around as if he could see anything. With quick feet, he moved to the stairwell, thinking that was the best way they might be able to hear him if he was loud enough. He yelled with all the volume he had, "You have to get out. This building is going to go down quickly. Grab everyone you can and get back down here!" Once he finished, he moved back to the fire. He was going to need to control it again in order to give them enough time to get out. Using all the magic he could muster, he started pulling the air from the fire, trying and slowly succeeding at getting it controlled once more.
Paige followed Kara with ease. There was a strength to the other girl that made her easy to follow, something Paige admired rarely in people. Paige nodded with every finger Kara counted down with. She helped her usher the students out, but felt once again paralyzed by the sound of gunshots. She looked to meet Kara's eyes, but found impossible to connect. She nodded numbly in response then quickly checked the rest of the floor with Kara doing the same. Her lips pursed at Kara next instructions, but she made not verbal objections. As neared the first floor in the staircase she heard Ethan downstairs. She rushed to meet him. She hadn't noticed the sweat on her skin until she was back on the ground floor. The room itself felt like a sauna, only making her warmer. "We can't stop yet, Kara's upstairs!" She looked around quickly and noticed a lack of Zoey. "And where's—" Just like the devil, at the mention of her name Zoey descended the stairs. With a gun. "Oh my god, Zoey," Paige murmured. But the fire demanded more of her attention. She moved closer to Ethan and tried to help him with reducing the fire. "Kara's upstairs, we have to buy her as much time as possible," she explained. Paige hissed as the fire reached out and licked her wrist, but kept going best she could. Slowly she started coughing, not before long it started to impede her magic. "I don't know how much longer—" But she never finished. Kara finally came down, covered it blood. Between the sight of the blood and the coughing, Paige's concentration broke. She shrieked as the fire swelled again. "We have to get out of here!"
Zoey felt as if she was in a daze, but that made no difference because this whole thing seemed like one long, horrendous nightmare. She didn’t truly register Paige yelling for her or the building seeming to be on its last leg. She heard Ethan, she heard Paige, but their words seemed warped and under water as she kept hearing and seeing the scenes of what had transpired on the third floor. The only time she snapped out of it was when Paige said that Kara was upstairs. She heard a scream and she knew the voice it caused her heart to drop. Just when she was about to run back up the stairs, when she saw Kara. Zoey ran into Kara’s arms hugging her despite the blood. “You’re alive too!” she said stating the obvious. Once she heard Paige’s shrieks, Zoey realized that now was maybe not the time for hugs. “Let’s go,” she said. Making sure she didn’t let go of Kara’s hand as she started to leave the building.
Kara stumbled backwards slightly when Zoey ran into her, hugging her tightly. Her mind was numb but she knew one thing, they had to get out of there. "Yes..." She said in response to Zoey, blinking several times as if that would help her wake up from the horrible nightmare this day had turned into. It didn't work. She didn't even realize that they were out of the building until she felt the cool air. She was only in a tank top now after having thrown off her outer shirt and accompany that with the blood that was soaking her skin, she was so, so incredibly cold. Jaw clenched, she looked back towards the Unclaimed dorms, seeing how it was being completely engulfed in flames. There were dead bodies in there. Not just hunters... The thought made her sick as she leaned on Zoey for support, trying to hold herself together. As she looked around, she noticed that the campus looked like a damn tragedy. Smoke, destruction, and an overwhelming smell of death loomed around them. How could this have happened?
Ethan: continued to keep the flames at bay as much as he could. In this moment, the most important thing to him was giving the students as much time as they could to get out of the building. Seeing Paige help him, they were able to get the fire down a decent amount before the third girl showed back up and he at least knew they cleared as many halls as they could and if they stayed in this building any longer they were going to go down with it. As the girls continued to move out of the room and outside, Ethan waited a moment before following them outside, making it out in time before the fire completely took over the building. As he stood outside, he looked up at the building and could only think of how bad it really was. He had no idea if there were students still inside or what happened while the girls were gone. His gaze turned to the three of them for a moment and he paused before speaking. "Are you all alright? Injury wise..." He asked, knowing that mentally most at this school weren't going to be alright. "And what happened up there? I heard gun shots."
Paige wasn't sure how to react. When they all managed to get out of the building, the cool air was shocking compared to the sweltering heat of the building. Paige's fingers moved blindly to her wrist, then hissed as she touched where the fire had burned her. "I'm fine," she bit out. She turned to the other two girls. "We heard the gunshots, too. Are you both okay?" Paige swallowed the image of Professor Roth in her mind. She looked back at the building. So many dead. She looked back at the campus and wondered how many more there would be. "We have to tell someone what happened—we need to inform people that..." Paige was at a loss to explain things. There was so much carnage in one spot, how were they ever going to moved forward. "I know that some of those gunshots were for the hunter on the first floor," she explained, backtracking in conversation. "What happened upstairs?" she asked, turning specifically to Kara. "Was Zoey with you?"
Zoey wrapped her arms securely around Kara, not wanting to let her go. It was as if she did, Kara would just slip away from her. With all the death and destruction they were witnessing, with all of the screams and gunshots they’d heard, and the gunshots she’d fired, she didn’t want to think about letting go of her best friend. When Ethan asked if they were okay, she said, “I’m fine.” It wasn’t a lie, physically she was okay. She simply shrugged her shoulders when he asked about the gunshots. “I’m sure everyone’s a little busy right now staying alive. Who do we tell? Where do we even go that’s safe?” she wondered. Even now she wasn’t sure it was safe just standing out there. She felt almost sick the way she was almost instinctively reminded that she was still holding a gun, but she wouldn’t release it. “Nope, I wasn’t,” she answered quietly even though no one was speaking to her.
Kara didn't know what there to say, didn't really know what to feel. "I don't really know... There was just... He was dead. And I slipped and fell and..." She motioned to her body before shrugging. "I don't know. We just need to find a safe haven." Kara really didn't feel like doing anything other than getting out of there and finding someplace that they would all be safe. Looking at Ethan with a far-off look in her eyes, she nodded in his direction. "You lead, I'll follow."
Ethan: looked around the area, trying to see if there was somewhere they all could go. This whole school was in chaos and there really wasn't anywhere safe that they all could hide out. He noticed Kara looking at him and he nodded his head. "There probably isn't anywhere that the hunters haven't already hit, but we definitely can't just stand here." He commented. Ethan's eyes moved from building to building once more until he noticed the dining hall. "Let's head to the dining hall. There is probably some people there we can meet up with." He turned towards Zoey, noticing the gun still in her hands. "Either you can keep that gun or I can take it, it's your choice, but if you keep it make sure you don't fire it unless you have to. We need to keep as low a profile as possible." He told her, wanting to make sure she knew. "Make sure you guys stay close to me. Now let's head out." Ethan spoke before moving towards the dining hall.
Paige wasn't surprised to hear Zoey wasn't with Kara upstairs, but it did leave lingering questions (for later). She stood slightly apart from the group. Her eyes were shifting constantly about the area around them. At first, she wasn't even sure she heard what Ethan said. She blinked a few times then nodded. "Someone should be watching at each angle," she paused. "I'll make sure no one is following us." Her hands were poised, ready to defend herself. Paige wasn't sure that any place on campus was safe, but the dining hall seemed safe enough. Everything seemed to be crackling and crumbling under the decay of the hunter's attack. Every little noise spooked Paige into alertness.
Zoey followed Ethan’s lead. They could head to the dining hall, but when he mentioned the gun, she shook her head. “I’m keeping it. I know when to fire it. I’m not stupid.” She didn’t mean for it to come off the way it did, but she left that third floor a changed person. It was as if the good, the light, the innocence in her had been snuffed out, and she was upset that it had to come to this, upset that something spoke to her telling here to do this. As she walked, making sure that no one threatened her life, or anyone else’s, she knew she’d never get it back.
Ethan and Anali || Alien Girl and Stupid Boy Go Get Ice Cream
Ethan's house wasn't that far thankfully, just as he said. But Anali was excited to continue the conversation they were having a bit more than the idea of ice cream and a cute dog. The guy was charismatic, more charismatic than she would have assumed. But granted, he'd told her he had a reputation of doing well with the ladies. She wondered if this was just typical for him, and he was actually clumsy when he was alone or with friends.
"I hope it does work in your favor, it seems he loves you and you obviously love him, so why not?" She'd wished she spoke to her dad more before he left. But in time Anali came to realize the man didn't care too much for her anyways, so of course any planned but not gone through conversations were actually worthless. "You're so confident he'll love me, if he bites my hand off the ghost of my hand is going to kill you."
She wondered about him. He was a stranger of course, pretty much everyone in New Orleans was to her. But something sparked in Ethan that just flooded her with curiosity. His mentions of being a bad guy, being cocky, so on so forth had passed her. All Anali was seeing was a decent person when they spoke, but yet again, he warned her he wasn't always nice. But, she couldn't believe his words.
Anali rolled his eyes at his comments, "You should stop challenging me, I'm quite determined now to prove you wrong." Anali muttered nudging his shoulder. "But that's good though, who needs immature people in your life." She raised an eyebrow at him and his fearlessness with spider roulette, "Oh? Okay, well what are you scared of? I might make a new game for you. And in that case yes, I'm afraid of spiders. Mostly because you don't know which ones are actually poison. Thank you, I'm also glad you can still play. It would suck if you had to ultimately quit something you love. We should play tennis sometime, mostly because I've never played... Creepy. What if she's following you right now? "
Not intending to be mean, Anali still scoffed at his words pursing her lips together. "Well, what about when you are older and you've done nothing but be wasteful? Got you there." She said with a short laugh, forcing it out more but hoping it sounded at least somewhat natural. "Would you share your cookies with me? That is certainly not how you will die, we've established how you'll die and I was going to clean my basement when I got home... But that's not fair, I'm not creative either so what am I supposed to give? Yes it would, and you don't lose a car like you'd lose a ring. I think you'd be the best gift giver in regards to boyfriends."
Her eyes rolled again, and she shook her head pushing Ethan slightly still laughing. It felt nice to be able to joke with someone like they were. It'd been a long while. "I'm not a stalker, I swear. But I don't share my wake up look with people unless they're extremely special." She patted his shoulder looking around, before pointing out a house. "Is that your house?"
Azalea Hawthorne was completely, thoroughly, and undeniably miserable. The doctor at the free clinic told her it was a bad cold, but Azalea was convinced through and through that she had a new strain of the Bubonic Plague coursing through her system and it'd kill her at any moment. Then again, she'd always been one to exaggerate when she didn't feel well. It was seldom that the girl got so much as a sniffle, so when something finally latched on a took over her iron-clad immune system it left the tiny dancer miserable and whiny. She as a pitiful sight, small frame hidden beneath layer upon layer of sweatshirts and warm pj's, all wrapped in a cocoon of blankets and quilts despite the heat outside. She still shivered. Beside her was a waste basket filled with tissues and a bedside table piled high with medicines and unfinished books that were left by the wayside when she'd doze off.
A moan of protest parting her parched dry lips, Azalea rolled over, snuggling closer to the huge useless lump of a pit bull who was currently acting as her pillow and space heater. Bless him, Bear had been steadfast in his company all day, never leaving her side. He left her side then, though, sprinting off so fast at the knock on the door that Azalea was left to give a pained moaned again as her aching head unceremoniously was dropped back tot he pillows in the dog's wake. Ethan was here. Snatching up the ragged thread bear patched up raccoon stuffed animal in place of the dog that just ran away, Azalea called out, "Just let yourself and close the door, please. I'm in the first bedroom on the left." Her voice cracked, weakened from coughing, and she curled up further on her side, drawing the blanket up over her head in hopes of hiding her pale and pasty ill visage. "You shouldn't have come, Ethan.." Her voice cam muffled under the blankets, "I don't want you getting sick, too."
Slowly, but surely, paperwork was going to drive Brea insane. Figures were beginning to cross her eyes, creating a tension in her temples. It did not help that the man fluttering about the hotel suite was about to get a stiletto to his heart if he did not shut up.
"Out," she ordered at last, at her wits end. Glared into the wide, watery eyes of the portly young man. She shoved a list at him, two pages long. "I don't care how long it takes or what you have to do to accomplish all of this, but do not speak to me until it is complete. Understand."
When, at last, her hotel suite was quiet, she sighed and leaned back in the cushions. Fingers absently tapped over her healed hip, a reminder that physical therapy was still needed given in the absent ache, before straightening and slipping files into their folders and they tucked into a locked briefcase. Body melting into the cushions, she closed her eyes and stretched her torso, getting herself comfortable.
Brynn felt like she had been waiting for this moment for years, granted Ethan was only gone for a few months when he left she felt like she was sending a piece of herself away. He had a duty, she understood that but in the context that he left she wish he would have told her the truth. Maybe he was scared, maybe he didn't want to see that look on her face when he'd tell her he was leaving. She never really knew why he didn't tell her, neither did she ask. She strongly believed that what happens happens; there was never any point in looking back on the past. Snuggling into his chest as he slumbered, she looked up at him. Admiring how peaceful he looked. A simple moment like this probably wouldn't mean much to anyone else, but to her it meant the world. Because no matter how much hope she had in him there was always a possibility he wouldn't make it back.
It had been weeks since he had slept, she read about that. How hard life was for men who just came back from war. A lot of what she read explained how sometimes the person would come back, but not all of them. Sometimes she caught Ethan starring off into space, like he was thinking hard about something. He never talked about his time away or the things he saw. He always felt the need to shelter her, but truth was when he was away she had to toughen up be strong for both of them. Brushing her hand across his chest she squeezed him tight before starring down at the ring he had given her. He was home now and she promised herself it was her time to keep him safe.
Hollie repeated that word in her head over and over again as she sat on the porch of her family’s house. The soothing sound of Louise singing inside as she prepared their dinner made her smile and she sipped her tea as her toes nudged against the porch rail, making her swing gently to and fro.
Before everything had happened, she had avoided Savannah for so long, afraid that without her father’s presence it would no longer feel like the place she had loved so much growing up. Somehow, though, she was surprised to find that not much had changed. In fact, if anything, it made her feel closer to her father just being there.
The nightmares hadn’t gone away, and Louise had woken her up on more than one occasion kicking and screaming, but in her eyes, the waking world was a safe place once more. No one’s luck could be so poor as to illicit the attention of more than one psychopath in a lifetime.
Coming back to Savannah had been like coming up for air after being underwater for too long. It hurt at first, especially after her talk with Louise, but then the pain ebbed away and she could think clearly again, especially with her friends guidance and support.
Almost everything was perfect.
Almost.
Not one day had passed that Hollie hadn’t spent half of it thinking of Ethan. Of how he would’ve loved the Orchards, the waterfront once they moved further from the heart of the city. Somehow, she could picture him clear as day and not once did she doubt that he would love this place as much as she did. She should write him, she knew. Explain things. Apologize. Leaving had seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now she saw that it had simply been the easiest. On the one hand, it was good though, she didn’t want an inch of the limelight that was being cast on the victims of the Slasher, and here in Savannah, why, she was a nobody. It was perfect, it was peaceful, it was nearly everything she wanted.
She hated it.
Without his teasing jokes, booming laughter, and his animated explanations of all his grand schemes to make the Clinic all the more efficient, the peacefulness of her home had quickly become nearly unbearable.
"Your tea’s done gone cold again, child." Louise scolded, her arms folded over her chest as she leaned against the door frame.
"How long’ve you been standin’ there eyein’ me, Miss Thang?" Hollie teased, giving her a playful sidelong look.
"Enough to know that your mind ain’t anywhere near Georgia." The slightly older woman harrumphed.
"No, I don’t suppose it is."
"Your doctor again? Ethan? You ain't right to him yet?" Louise asked, moving and taking Hollie’s mug from her. She let out a long sigh and the dark skinned woman rolled her eyes.
"Well, how’s about you pine for him on your way to the store? We’re outta powdered milk, ‘n I need it for dessert. Go on then, you remember the way. Bring this slobberin’ mess with you as well, Virgil’s standing vigil beneath the table, funny ol’ dog." Louise chuckled as she shooed Hollie and Dante off the porch.
Hollie merely rolled her eyes before hoping off the porch and walking alongside the large Dog De Bordeaux, running before stopping suddenly every once in a while to play with him. Ethan had done a fine job of patching her up again, and save for a few bruises, she had mostly healed, lucky to have not been subjected to the same tortures she'd suffered the last time.
Once they reached the main road and turned, the sounds of a scuffle from the general store could be heard nearly a block away and with a gruff bark, Dante took off without warning.
"Dante!" Hollie quickly pursued him, until she was forced to skid to a halt as a tangle of men came crashing out of the open door of the store, Dante barking up a storm and jumping around them.
"Oh my- Stop that! BOYS! Henry Greene, you lay off that man this instant! Jeffery Morgan, what in the world-?"
Hollie rarely rose her voice much higher than a shout of surprise, and the men that she had grown up with were all too aware of what came when you ticked off the young southern woman. They quickly scrambled to their feet, the ginger Henry coming up first and gesturing back at the man whom he mostly blocked from view.
"Sorry Miss Hollie, didn’t mean for ya to see that. This fella came in askin’ directions to your place, and, well…We all know what ya just been through, but he wouldn’t tell us what business he had with ya, so we wouldn’t give him your information and he wouldn’t leave and-"
Hollie was so flustered, she barely registered what he was saying.
"Alright, okay, who-" Henry had finally moved aside and Hollie stopped mid sentence, staring blankly at the disheveled man that had just sat up on the ground in front of her, chest heaving before he caught sight of her as well.
Teddy had already gone out earlier that day for a small surfing session of her own, so she didn't have to change when she had decided to go for a swim with Ethan. Teddy grabbed her beach bag, heading out of her room. She made her way towards the elevator and pressing the lobby button. She waited patiently for the elevator to hit the ground floor as she hummed a small tune along with the elevator music. She was in an pretty good mood that day. She liked it though. Teddy made her way through the crowd of people as she found her way to the main entrance doors. She looked around for a moment, not seeing Ethan yet, so she leaned herself against the wall of the building, continuing to hum to herself.
