Summary: Tori and Andrew’s afternoon out begins with fake identities, fake relationships, and a trip to Andrew’s apartment. Unfortunately, some things become very real, very quickly, and by the time they head home, they’ll have a LOT more than Jack’s questions to answer for.
TW/CW: 18+ MDNI, Sexual Content, Violence, physical aggression, stalking/surveillance, trauma responses, references to past abuse/kidnapping, suicide/self-destructive thoughts, hallucinations, self-injurious behavior, blood/injury, reopened wound, infidelity/cheating themes.
Note: This one took a while and I scrapped and re-started it so many times. Then a hurricane hit and I had other things on my mind. I think it’s over 5k words so it’s a long one but a lot happens. Hope you like it!
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Tori and Andrew got out of Jack’s apartment building with no problems, which was a relief. Seeing Andrew in the light of day might have made it a bit easier to tell that he wasn’t Jack and Tori didn’t know if she could take another run-in with Ethan or Payton the Cobbler Goblin.
They had discussed with Jack earlier that taking his car would be better than taking public transport, but that Tori should drive in case they got pulled over.
Andrew protested at first, but ultimately conceded.
Tori, who hadn’t driven in a few months, also had her doubts about this plan, and when she got behind the wheel of Jack’s Jeep Grand Cherokee she felt nervous at first. She wasn’t sure if Andrew had sensed it.
“This is Jack’s car?” he asked.
“Just thought he’d drive something…better.”
Tori began to reverse out of the parking spot.
“What do you mean by ‘better’?” she asked.
“Like a truck,” Andrew said flatly.
“Well, mid-size SUVs still afford a lot of leg room without having to struggle to get in or out,” Tori said, somewhat defensive, as they pulled out of the parking structure and onto the street.
Andrew just nodded his head in understanding and Tori wondered if he had made the comment to distract her from her anxiety.
Andrew guided her to the neighborhood where he worked. It was an area she was slightly familiar with. Jack had brought her here to visit some second-hand record shop which was close to an army surplus store he frequented.
“Park here,” he said pointing to a parking lot at the end of the street. “I’ll walk the rest of the way. Stay here,” he said.
“Um, Andrew, I think I should come with you,” Tori said, and Andrew noted the nervous tone in her voice.
“It’ll be easier if I don’t have to make up a lie about who you are,” Andrew answered as he pulled his baseball cap on and put on sunglasses.
“It’s just that,” Tori undid her seat belt. “I get really nervous waiting in cars.”
Andrew looked at her face and knew she wasn’t lying to try and keep tabs on him.
“Okay. Let’s go. You’re my girlfriend. Your name is still Tori. I’m telling him I was in an accident and have been laid up and that’s why I’ve been out. You’ve been taking care of me.”
Tori digested the information and nodded.
“Talk as little as possible. To them, my name is Mark Thomas,” he said.
“Mark,” she repeated as they started walking. “Got it.”
They were almost to the garage when Tori asked, “What kind of accident?”
“I’ll just tell him I got hit in a crosswalk,” Andrew said.
“Okay. And Andrew?” Tori said grabbing the sleeve of the black hoodie he was wearing. “How long have we been together? In case anyone asks.”
Andrew looked into Tori’s eyes. “Maybe…six months? Long enough for it to be believable that you’d take care of me if I was hurt.”
The garage was called Alejandro’s Auto Repair. It looked old, but well loved.
Tori and Andrew made their way to the office. It was full of old carbon copy invoices and calendars. The office was warm. Either the AC wasn’t working at all or it was very weak and the little white fan in the corner was trying its best to make up the difference, but was only really succeeding in making a racket.
Behind the desk sat an older man, maybe in his late 60s. His hair was shock white and slicked back. His white goatee was very well manicured and his aged olive-toned skin made his light green eyes pop.
“Mark! Oh my god, where have you been?” the old man said looking up from his computer screen.
“Hey Mr. Alejandro,” Andrew said shyly.
“It’s Kevin! How many times do I have to tell you?” he said standing up.
“Kevin,” Andrew said quietly, smiling.
“You okay? I’ve been worried!”
“Getting better. I actually had an accident.”
“What happened?” Mr. Alejandro asked with genuine concern. It made Tori happy to see Andrew had someone else in his corner.
“Got hit in a crosswalk,” Andrew said.
Tori could tell Kevin was waiting for more information.
“Someone turned right on a red light when Mark had the walk signal,” Tori said. Andrew shot her a look of anger. “The guy didn’t even stop.” Tori rubbed Andrew’s shoulder and to Kevin it might have looked like she did so in sympathy for “Mark’s” accident, but in reality she did so as an apology for talking when Andrew asked her not to.
“My phone broke in the accident or I would’ve called,” Andrew added, and he rubbed his face in the same way that Jack always did when he was stressed.
“Were you hurt bad?” Kevin asked.
“Pretty bad. Luckily I had help getting better,” Andrew said, smiling at Tori.
“And who is this angel?” Kevin asked, putting his hands on Tori’s shoulders.
Tori knew the gesture wasn’t done in a malicious or creepy way, but the contact made her a little bit nervous.
Andrew, always watchful, picked up on the small change in her face and the way her muscles tensed. He pulled her to him and hugged her from behind, pressing his body to hers and kissing her cheek.
Tori’s face turned red, but it got Kevin’s hands off of her and it also helped to sell their story.
“This is my girlfriend, Tori.”
“Girlfriend? Wow nice to meet you. Mark doesn’t talk much about his personal life,” Kevin said as he grabbed Tori’s hand to shake.
Tori felt Andrew tense this time, maybe upset that Kevin was touching her again. She shook the old man’s hand and smiled. When he released her hand she placed it on Andrew’s forearm which was still holding her tightly.
“Thank you for taking care of Mark. He’s one of my best mechanics. Also the garage has never been cleaner or more organized. It’s become a bit of a mess since he’s been out though.”
Kevin sat back down and Andrew finally let go of Tori.
“You’re going to have a hell of a time getting it back up to your standards.”
Andrew stood still. “You mean…I still have a job?”
“Of course! Whenever you feel well enough to come back, just give me a call. No rush.”
Tori smiled at Andrew who was relieved.
“Thank you Mr. Alej- Kevin.”
“Of course, Mark. Just keep in touch.”
“Will do,” Andrew replied.
“It was nice meeting you finally,” Tori said and she turned to exit the office, assuming they were done.
Andrew’s voice surprised Tori and she turned back towards him.
“Has a detective come by?”
Tori froze and her pulse quickened. She almost said “what are you doing?” out loud but she managed to keep it in.
“Detective?” Kevin asked.
“The detective who was investigating my hit and run said he might come by to get a statement from me since I don’t have a phone. I didn’t realize how long I’d be out.”
“No, no one has come by,” Kevin answered.
“Okay. I’ll keep in touch,” Andrew said.
Kevin said goodbye to the pair and they headed out.
When they were out of the garage’s parking lot and back on the street, Tori grabbed Andrew’s arm.
“Fucking hell, Columbo, I almost died when you asked about the detective!” Tori said, trying to still keep her voice low.
Andrew just shrugged and said, “Now we know Raines hasn’t been here.”
Tori unlocked the Jeep and Andrew opened her door for her.
“Columbo?” he asked her as she sat in the driver’s seat.
“One more thing,” she said in an accent that was somewhere between Jersey and Boston.
Andrew’s face did not change.
“It’s something he says,” Tori answered, somewhat defeated.
“Never watched it,” Andrew said before shutting her door.
Once Andrew was seated, they headed to his apartment which was only a few blocks away.
Andrew told Tori to wait at the end of the hall. She watched him walk very slowly and when he got to his front door he stood there, studying it for what seemed like a long time.
He finally unlocked the door and went in. A minute or so later he stuck his head out of the door and waved Tori over and she hurried down the hall.
When Tori stepped into Andrew’s apartment, she was pleasantly surprised to find it was pretty much exactly what she imagined it would be.
Sparse, was the first word that came to mind. Neat, was the second.
The small living room had an old recliner and a TV tray, but no TV.
The small kitchen was on the other side of the room. Even though the appliances were old and had signs of wear and tear, they were spotless. Nestled in one of the corners were three cereal boxes, all facing the same way. The kitchen had a small window and Tori smiled when she saw a dried-out sponge sitting on the sill.
There was a very small round table in the corner of the kitchen with one chair tucked underneath it.
While Andrew walked into a door that Tori assumed led to his bedroom, she wandered over to his fridge and opened it. It was empty.
“I was out of groceries,” he said, making her jump.
“What?” she asked, trying to downplay how much he had just scared her.
“I was out of groceries and I was too tired to go to the store. That’s why I was eating in the diner that night.”
Andrew dropped a duffel bag onto the recliner and put some very neatly folded pants and jeans into it. He went back into the room and put in some shirts, folds just as crisp, followed by boxers, socks, even towels.
“Jack doesn’t mind if you use his towels, Andrew,” Tori said.
Andrew stared blankly at her and then replied, “I like mine.”
After all of the clothes and linens were tightly packed into the bag, Andrew grabbed the only chair he had at the kitchen table and carried it into his bedroom. Curious, Tori followed him in this time.
He was standing on the chair, using a pocket knife to undo the screws for a vent near the ceiling. He removed the vent cover and tucked it under his arm.
Andrew reached into the vent and pulled out two guns, two boxes of ammo, a stack of cash, something that looked like a belt, and an envelope.
“What’s the belt for?” she asked.
Andrew’s head snapped around, his expression something of a glower.
“Not a belt,” he muttered, as he bent down and placed the items on his perfectly made bed.
Tori walked over and looked at the haul as Andrew replaced the vent cover.
She knew a little about guns from her time with Darren and Jack also taught her a little more. The large gun was definitely a semi-automatic.
She didn’t pick it up, but she pointed at it as Andrew got off the chair and stood next to her.
“Not really,” Andrew said as he picked it up, checked the safety, then tucked the gun into the back of his pants.
Next he picked up what Tori thought was a belt from afar, but was actually an ankle holster. He strapped it on and tucked the smaller gun down into it before pulling his pant leg down to conceal it.
While Andrew was doing that Tori picked up the brick of cash that was wrapped in plastic wrap. She could make out the amounts on the cash straps and she determined there was about $10,000 in a mix of 100s, 50s, and 20s.
She was about to ask Andrew where the cash came from, but then the manila envelope caught her eye. Tori picked it up and unwound the red string from the two buttons that were keeping the envelope closed.
The first thing that she pulled out of the envelope was a printout of Jack’s PTMC picture, pulled off of their website. Then there were some printed articles that mentioned Jack’s name, one about their handling of the Pitt Fest mass casualty event. The other was a mention about him volunteering for The Wounded Warriors project.
The last thing in the envelope was a small notebook. Inside, the hand-written notes each started with a date. Then each entry had a time and Tori quickly pieced together what it was.
Tori was so busy reading that she didn’t notice Andrew walk up behind her.
He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. It wasn’t gentle. Tori yelped and Andrew snatched the notebook from her hand. He threw it across the room, the yellow pages fluttering as it flew.
Tori looked at Andrew bewildered and he stared back, chin down, eyes staring from beneath his brow.
“That fucking hurt,” Tori said, grabbing her shoulder.
“That’s private,” Andrew said, his voice low and even as if he didn’t hear her words.
He stepped closer to her.
Tori’s eyes widened and her eyebrows tilted in an expression of fear. Andrew saw her big brown eyes dart back and forth, calculating an escape route in case he crowded her, anything she could use as weapons.
Andrew had seen this look a hundred times in his life, in and out of prison. He’d never seen it on Tori’s face, and definitely not because of him.
Andrew’s shoulders dropped and he lifted his chin. He lifted his hands and took a slow step back.
“I wasn’t going to hurt you,” he said, his voice still deep, but full of remorse instead of anger.
“You already did,” Tori said, rubbing her shoulder again. She visibly relaxed.
She looked over the notebook lying on the floor, splayed open.
“How long were you following Jack? How long were you watching us?” she asked quietly.
Andrew put his hands down slowly and looked down at Tori’s feet, unable to make eye contact with her.
“For the first week I was just watching him coming and going from work, figuring out his shifts before I followed him home.”Andrew shifted his weight and rubbed his hands together nervously. “I saw him hook up with SWAT one day and just decided I’d never talk to him.”
Andrew paused, still looking down at his feet.
“But then…I don’t know why. I went back again. Stood below his window. Watched him leave. Looked up and saw you. Then I went back again the next day. I watched the windows all night, trying to get a glimpse.”
“Of what?” Tori asked, ducking her head down, forcing Andrew to look at her face, a move Jack had pulled on her many times.
“Of you,” he said as he finally met her gaze.
Tori’s face softened and she took a step towards Andrew.
“One of the nights while Jack was at work,” he continued, “I walked to the apartment door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear you singing as you did your chores. I stood there all night.”
Tori thought again about how scared and confused she had been those few days. Feeling like she was being watched.
“I wish you had just knocked,” she said. The regretful tone in her voice hit Andrew hard.
“I…I couldn’t,” was all he could bring himself to say.
Tori reached out and touched his forearm, letting her hand rest there for a moment before slowly moving her hand up to his bicep.
They looked at each other, both of them seeming lost. Tori stepped closer and put her arms around Andrew’s neck.
He put his hands on her waist and then took them away quickly.
Tori tilted her head and looked at Andrew’s lips as she played with the curls just at the nape of his neck.
Andrew put his hands back on her hips and gripped them tightly.
Then her perfume hit him. He wasn’t even entirely sure it was perfume, he just knew it was her and he couldn’t hold back anymore.
Andrew pulled her against him and pressed his lips to hers.
He ran his hands into her hair and gripped it as she parted her lips to let him in. She felt so warm, so soft.
Tori ran her fingers up into Andrew’s curls. They felt familiar, but everything else about Andrew was different. He kissed more desperately, everything was more raw, less controlled than Jack.
She moaned into his mouth and Andrew lifted her up and then he bent over, her legs wrapped tightly around him, to gently set her down on the bed, careful to not hurt her again.
“Are you okay?” he asked with a worried look on his face.
“My shoulder? Yeah I’m fine,” she answered.
“Well…I mean…with everything,” he said looking down at her legs wrapped around him.
Tori hesitated for a second and that was enough for Andrew. He stood up and started straightening out his clothes.
Tori wasn’t sure exactly what she felt. Part relief, part disappointment, part guilt. She let her head fall back on the mattress and covered her face with her hands as she sighed.
When she removed them from her eyes, she saw Andrew’s hand, offering to help her up off the bed. She took it and stood up. Andrew couldn’t look her in the eye and just quickly grabbed the rest of his things and headed to the living room.
“Hey,” she said softly as she walked up behind him. “We gonna talk about what just happened?”
Andrew kept his back to her, violently shoving things into his bag.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your shoulder,” he said.
“I’m not talking about that.”
“Nothing else to talk about,” Andrew said, still not looking at her. “You’re Jack’s.”
Tori put a hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “Actually, since my kidnapping, I promised myself I wouldn’t be anyone’s property ever again,” Tori let out a small laugh.
“You shouldn’t joke about that. And you know what I meant,” Andrew said, walking to the kitchen to grab a Ziplock bag.
“Could you please stop for a second?”
Andrew stopped, still facing away from her.
“You’re Jack’s girl. He’s my brother. You love him. It’s wrong.”
Tori walked in front of Andrew, forcing him to look at her.
“I do love Jack. He’s helped me heal in so many ways. But sometimes I feel like, to him, I’m just a placeholder between his wife and…whatever it is he’s waiting for.”
“What do you think he’s waiting for?” Andrew asked softly.
“I don’t know. Some days I think it’s just someone better…or different from me,” tears welled up in her eyes. “Other days I think…something worse.”
Andrew could tell Tori had a hard time continuing. He grabbed her hand and held it and she managed to speak.
“An accident on one of his SWAT raids maybe?” She looked down. “Or…I don’t know. He spends a lot of time on the roof at his work.”
He looked down at her hands holding his. Andrew wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss her again, comfort her and tell her everything would be okay, but he thought about Jack.
He thought about how hurt he had been when Cath chose Baz. How he had stood by and watched them get married and have Lena, enduring the pain, jealousy and humiliation.
Andrew couldn’t do that to Jack. Especially if he had the inclinations Tori was talking about. He pulled his hand out of Tori’s grasp.
“We need to get going,” he said. He walked to the duffel bag and put the strap over him.
Tori stood in the middle of the living room, stunned. She wiped her tears on the backs of her hands.
Andrew opened the front door and stood there, waiting for her. Tori let out a small laugh of disbelief and then walked to the door, shaking her head.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, making their way back to Jack’s apartment.
Tori dropped her phone onto Andrew’s lap.
“It’s unlocked. Can you please text Jack and tell him we’re on our way home?” she said, her voice devoid of any feeling.
Andrew opened up her messages with Jack and typed “Heading home.”
He hit send and tried to hand the phone back to Tori.
“Just put it in the cupholder,” was all she said.
Andrew did as she asked and the two resumed their awkward ride.
Tori made a sudden right turn which caused Andrew to grab the handle above the door.
“What are you doing?” he asked, angrily. “This isn’t the way.”
“I’m hungry,” Tori said, pulling into the drive-thru of an ancient burger joint.
Andrew looked at her face in the glow of the restaurant’s neon signage and he could see her puffy eyes and red nose. He felt terrible for so many reasons.
The voice of a worker crackled through the old speaker. Tori asked for a double cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake.
“Want anything?” she turned to Andrew and asked.
He didn’t say anything so he was surprised when she turned back and said,
“Just make that two of the same.”
After she pulled forward and got the food, she reversed into one of the parking spots facing the restaurant, but not directly up against it.
“What are we doing?” Andrew asked.
“I can’t eat and drive. Hand me my burger.”
Andrew took one of the burgers out and handed it to her, using a napkin to shield his hand from the grease-soaked wrapper.
After he watched Tori take a bite and close her eyes, savoring the taste, Andrew decided he would try his.
It was messier than he would’ve liked, but the taste was delicious. He hadn’t realized how hungry he actually was.
They ate in silence watching people walk in and out of the restaurant. Tori and Andrew both became especially still as they watched a young couple get out of their car with their little girl. They each held a little hand of hers between them as they walked towards the restaurant. They lifted her, letting her kick her feet up and swing between them. Her laughs could be heard throughout the parking lot.
“I want to. I just don’t want to betray Jack,” Andrew said, still watching the family through the glass windows.
“I know,” Tori replied. She took a drink of her shake and then said as she looked forward, “I told Jack I loved him last night.”
Andrew paused and then said, “I know. I heard.”
Tori nodded, not surprised.
Andrew took a sip of his milkshake. “He didn’t say it back.”
Tori nodded again. “I know,” she said, taking the last sip of her shake.
She gathered up all their rubbish back into the bag.
“I’ll throw this away,” she said, getting out of the car. Before Andrew could protest she was already almost to the garbage can near the restaurant’s entrance.
At the same time, a group of three, obviously inebriated, male twenty-somethings were exiting the burger joint.
Andrew assessed the situation and had his hand already on the door handle.
One of them approached Tori, a crumpled bag in his hand. She was maneuvering her own rubbish in the can, when the young man bumped her hard.
He said sorry, but he was laughing as he threw his rubbish away.
“Move bitch, get out the way,” one of his drunk cronies sang as Tori rubbed her shoulder.
“The fuck is wrong with you?” she said, the slight pidgin accent of her home coming out.
Neither of them saw Andrew coming.
He body-checked the kid hard enough to send him flying into the wall of the restaurant. Tori heard something crunch and the guy yelped.
Andrew’s face, although barely visible with his hat pulled down and the hood of his jacket pulled up, looked like a wolf about to make a kill.
The kid was in pain, looking more crumpled than the bag he threw away. Andrew grabbed his throat and stood him up straight.
Tori knew better than to call out his name so all she said was, “Enough!” but Andrew couldn’t hear her. She pulled her own hoodie up and tried again with no response.
He did hear the guy’s friends start to say something and he turned and looked at them. That was it. Just looked. They all froze and didn’t say anything else.
“Say you’re sorry,” Andrew said to the punk whose throat he was still holding.
“S-s-sorry,” he stammered.
“I’m calling the fucking cops!” one of his friends said.
Andrew let go of the guy’s throat and he fell to the concrete. He walked slowly over to the others and Tori remembered that Andrew was carrying two weapons. She started to panic.
But Andrew never reached for either of his weapons. Didn’t have to. The one who was threatening to call the cops shoved his phone back in his pocket.
Another one of them ran past Andrew and he helped his hurt friend up before all of them ran to their red SUV and left quickly.
“Andrew, we need to go,” Tori said, pulling his arm.
“Are you okay?” he asked as they walked quickly back to Jack’s Jeep.
“Yeah we just need to get the fuck out of here!”
They got in and Tori pulled out quickly and turned onto the street.
“Slow down,” Andrew said calmly.
He saw her hands tightly clutching the wheel. She was shaking.
“Turn up here,” he said. “There’s a park.”
The park was empty and there wasn’t much to it besides a run-down-looking tennis court, some bathrooms, and a few benches.
Tori’s breathing was becoming erratic but she managed to park in a space under a tree, hoping it would shield them somewhat from anyone looking for the Jeep.
“It’s okay,” Andrew said as he pressed the button to turn off the car.
He ran his hand slowly over hers.
“You can let go. It’s okay,” he said.
She loosened her grip on the wheel. She looked at Andrew who had removed his hood and hat. Her breathing was still erratic, but it was starting to ease.
Tori looked at Andrew’s face, so different now than the wolf in the parking lot.
Her heart was still pounding as Andrew undid her seat belt.
She shrugged it off of her, pain shooting through her shoulder, but she didn’t let it show. She just kept staring at Andrew.
Tori didn’t know what came over her. Maybe the adrenaline. Maybe the way he defended her.
She jumped over the center console, pushing Andrew back in his seat. She straddled him and kissed him almost violently. She reached down on the side and lifted the lever to make his seat fall back.
Tori grinded against him and Andrew grunted against her lips.
“Tori,” he said, muffled. “Are you sure this is okay?”
She stopped and pulled back. “Yes,” she answered with no hesitation, out of breath. “Is it okay with you?”
Andrew nodded rapidly and they kissed again.
Tori reached down and felt him hard in his jeans. Andrew moaned.
He reached a hand up under her shirt and squeezed her breast.
She put her hands on his chest and grinded against him harder.
Tori looked into his eyes. “Andrew, I’m gonna cum!” she said, her voice full of lust.
Andrew watched as her brow furrowed. He put his hand on the side of her face, so beautiful to him, as her eyes rolled back and she moaned. She twitched and Andrew pinched her nipple.
“Andrew,” she moaned and that was it.
He felt himself throb and he began his own orgasm. He moved his hands down to her hips and grabbed the soft flesh there as he moaned and whimpered.
When he was able to, he opened his eyes and looked up at her, beholding her with a reverence Tori had never seen before.
She still moved against him, but much slower now. She lowered her face until their foreheads were touching, getting close enough to feel each other’s breaths against their lips, but not kissing.
They stayed like this until their hearts calmed and their breaths returned to normal.
Tori kissed Andrew one more time before she awkwardly climbed back over the console and into the driver’s seat.
Andrew put his seat back up and looked down at his lap.
“Oh…uh…I think there’s napkins in the glove compartment,” she said.
Andrew shook his head. “Bathroom,” was all he said.
He reached back and grabbed his duffel bag. Tori didn’t say anything as he got out and walked to the park’s bathroom building.
Once inside, Andrew locked the door and placed his gun on the sink. He took off his pants and his boxers and cleaned himself with some wet paper towels.
When he was satisfied, he pulled boxers and jeans out of his duffel and got dressed. He looked at his boxers and jeans draped over the paper towel dispenser.
The jeans he grabbed and rolled carefully so the wet spot was concealed and wouldn’t touch anything else in the bag. The boxers he stared at for a moment before he grabbed them and threw them in the trash.
He tucked his gun away and splashed some water on his face. He dabbed himself dry with another paper towel and stared into the dirty mirror.
Andrew thought about how beautiful Tori looked on top of him. He remembered the feeling of her flesh in his grasp.
Then Andrew saw something in the mirror. He saw Jack. A wave of guilt and shame washed over him. He looked down into the sink and clenched his hands into fists.
He looked back up and was relieved to see his own face again, but he quickly noticed something over his shoulder. Another face.
“No,” he muttered. “You’re not here.”
The face smiled, that sly, teasing grin.
“You’re not here, Baz,” Andrew whispered.
“Up to your old tricks?” the face said. “What is it with you and your brother’s girlfriends? It's such a specific, niche, kink.”
“You’re not here!” Andrew yelled and he ripped the mirror off the wall and threw it across the bathroom.
Outside, Tori had stepped outside of the car to get some air and she heard the sound of shattering glass. She ran to the bathroom and tried to open the door.
“Andrew!” she yelled through the door.
Inside Andrew had his forehead pressed against the wall.
“You going to kill this one too?” he heard Baz’s voice whisper into his ear.
Andrew slammed his fist into the wall. He thought about how he had betrayed Jack. He thought about how much he loved Tori and how she probably didn’t love him back.
He thought about how good they were before he came and infected them with himself. How everything he touches goes bad. How he should’ve just bled out in the street and never bothered Jack and Tori.
With every thought, he slammed his fist into the wall again, unaware of the blood streaks he was leaving on the tile.
“Andrew, please,” he heard Tori cry through the door.
He felt a sharp pain in his side.
As he fell to the floor he looked up and saw Baz there, holding a knife.
Andrew saw, through his blurred vision, the door bursting open somehow and Tori running in.
“Andrew! Fuck! I got you. Hold on!”
He smiled at Tori and then looked at Baz, still standing there holding the bloody knife.
“At least I didn’t stab you in the back. I leave that shit to you,” Baz said, as he walked out of Andrew’s view.
“You’re not real,” Andrew muttered.
“Andrew! You re-opened your wound I think. We gotta go. We’re gonna walk, but you gotta help me, okay?” she said as she put his duffel bag over her shoulder.
Somehow she found the strength, put his arm over her shoulders (her right one screaming in pain), and they walked out of the bathroom, over the broken shards of glass.
Andrew looked at the door as they passed through it and deduced that she must have kicked it in based on the splintering.
“Columbo,” was the last thing he said before he passed out.
“Fuck. No. Wake up!” Tori said through gritted teeth. She managed to get him to the Jeep and lean him against it. She had to press her body to his to hold him upright as she opened the back door.
Tori was able to roll Andrew to the opening. He slumped over, face down onto the backseat. She used the last of her strength to lift his legs and push him all the way in.
She flipped him over and saw a red stain spreading on his shirt.
“Shit!” she yelled as she set Andrew’s duffel bag on the floor of the car.
She remembered Jack kept a large first-aid kit in the back. She grabbed it and lifted Andrew’s shirt.
Tori put on gloves and removed the soaked bandage and then she opened a package of sterile gauze and put pressure on the wound. She added more gauze and maintained pressure until the bleeding slowed a bit.
Lastly, she put a large, sterile pad over it, followed by more gauze and a ridiculous amount of medical tape.
“Hold on,” she said, trying not to cry.
She took the gloves off and threw them on the floor with the rest of the rubbish and ran to the driver’s seat.
Tori’s whole body was shaking, but she looked in the mirror and told herself to keep it the fuck together for Andrew.
They weren’t too far from home now anyway and Jack would be able to patch him up right.
She did her best to concentrate on the road.
Tori’s phone was in the center console. She put it in there when they stopped for food and she couldn’t hear it buzzing over the sound of the engine and her own heartbeat.
In the console the phone lit up, revealing missed calls and unanswered texts from Jack.
The phone lit up again, the last message preview showing:
Where are you? ROBBY IS HERE
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