Seeking Sanctuary.

The black SUV finally came within sight of the huge, battered structure that was rumored to be the place where the colony resided. Had it been a mall, or some kind of warehouse complex? Now, it was nearly impossible to tell, though the given address seemed right... if the old street signs were anywhere near correct. But all was eerily quiet, and still... weeds flicking as small animal life moved about. A mutant howled in the distance like some vile-sounding dying creature. Maybe it is.

Josh sighs, checking the ammo in his guns before slowly exiting the vehicle, gesturing for the rest to wait.

Sebastian unbuckles Marta's collar, and opens the door. "Guard Josh, Marta," he commands. Within a flash, she's heeling by Josh's side, sniffing the air quietly.

Zack frowns. "I hate this part," he whispers.

"He'd be safer if he just let one of us go with him," Lia mumbles from the back seat. "But no...."

Sebastian sighs. "Marta's someone, at least. Better than most."

"He says it's too hard to keep an eye on us and on what's out there," Zack explains.

The blind man leans back and stretches. "Makes me wonder why he has to keep an eye on us. Are we that mischievous?"

Zack laughs a little. "Depends on the day, I guess." Sobering, he clarifies, "It's more about keeping us safe. If we're out there, we're easier targets. He can't fight every battle at once."

"He realizes he'll have to start trusting us to watch out for ourselves at some point?" Lia says, biting at a hangnail. "I've managed fine enough on my own this long... it's not like I can't handle myself. It'd make his life much easier to just acknowledge that."

"He trusts us just fine. It's the slavers and mutants and dark things out here he doesn't trust." Zack sighs. "And he doesn't take losing well enough to just leave us to our own. Sorry. He's protective like that."

Seabay chuckles and holds up his hands. "Don't look at me--I admit right out I'm not good at managing out there. Without Marta--or someone... I'm pretty much dinner with a ribbon." Trying to lighten their mood, Seb adds with morbid humor, "I'd like to think I'm filet minion... but to be honest, I suspect I'm something like old soup bones these days."

"Yeah, well, some people really like soup. I can fight pretty good, but we've already found out the hard way I'm still kind of an easy target." Zack sighs.

Sebastian gestures at the back with a thumb. "Maybe you should wield the bazooka next time. I wouldn’t call you an easy target then."

Lia made a choked off sound at Seabay's quip and her face contorts into a strange grimace before being placed back together into an unreadable mask. "Not funny," she simply says, opening the door to the SUV and quickly exiting, ignoring Josh's earlier instructions to stay put.

Confused, Seabay looks after Lia. "What'd I say?" he asks, surprised. "I was just trying to lighten it up a bit..."

"I'm not sure, but this isn't gonna go over well. Josh doesn't like it when his instructions are ignored," Zack groans.

------------------------

Josh moves swiftly and silently toward the building, listening close to the sound of the wailing creature nearby. Weapon drawn, he sidles up to the side of the structure.

Marta sweeps ahead and to one side, keeping close to the wall... much like a professional SWAT team member would do.

Josh shifts to the other side of the door and glances at Marta before pushing it open, then dodging back in case anything should dart through it.

Marta darts through the door swiftly, doing a quick sniff and scan to make sure all is clear, then returns to Josh's side, tail wagging slightly.

Josh enters and begins scanning... for people... for food or useful items... for danger. He doesn't dare drop his guard. Not yet.

Marta, meanwhile, flows beside and around Josh as he moves around. Her guard isn't down--she's sniffing the floor, the air, reading what was there and gone and what may remain. After a bit, she returns to Josh's side and nudges his leg. A soft whine from the dog. She found something she doesn’t like--dead people.

-----------------------

Needing to escape the sudden onslaught of memories, Lia walks briskly away from the SUV, working hard to control her trembling and trying to keep from sobbing out loud. Sebastian didn't know, couldn't know, but still, his words had rattled her deeply. Flinching, she covers her ears with her hands, as if trying to block out some unheard sound, though she continues walking.

"Where did she go?" Seb wonders, unable to tell. He'd love to follow her, even apologize, but... without Marta, he can't. One step outside the car, and he'd be lost.

"She's outside," Zack answers, considering following her. "I don't think her alone is a good idea, but I don't want Josh mad at me, either."

"We can't just leave her out there," Sebastian groans, shoving open his door and listening carefully a moment... "I don't want to draw attention to us, but if we can't go after her--gotta call her back, then."

Lia struggles to shut the door in her mind again, to put the locks back on it and bar it shut. She can't think about this, not if she wants to survive. Letting what was behind it escape will likely make her crumble into nothingness. And yet, the demons behind it were pushing back. "STOP IT!" She yells, heedless of who or what might hear her as she falls to a crouching position, still covering her ears.

Zack, hearing Lia's cry, exits the SUV with his weapon drawn as well. "Lia?" he calls...

-----------------------

Josh hesitates, glancing at Marta questioningly, keeping his back to the wall, and he peers into the darkness when he hears the cry from outside. Flinching, Josh glances at Marta again, then does the only thing he can think of to do - "Protect Lia," he tells Marta, hoping she'll follow his order. He heads that way as well, but knows without question Marta can get there faster than he can.

Marta whines again at Josh, reluctant a moment... then bares teeth silently at a certain direction in a snarl, backing up. By the door, she whines at Josh again, then turns and dashes for Lia. She can't protect both.

Josh notes the direction of Marta's growl, nodding. He'll check that out ...after they're sure Lia and the others were safe.

-----------------------

Sebastian sighs, running a hand through his hair. Left here alone... is disconcerting. He decides this can't be good--and feels his way about within the SUV, making sure the keys are in the ignition, all items are secured and not in the way of a hasty entry and departure...

After a bit, "Zack...?" Seb calls cautiously into the darkness of his surroundings, as silence awaits...

-----------------------

Amelia fights to steady herself, the door slowly closing. She doesn't hear Zack calling her, though, with her hands over her ears. She moves instead to clutch at her stomach, trying some old relaxation exercises. She has to get herself under control. Having a panic attack here, with others to see... She hates the idea of being made to be vulnerable in front of them. She forces herself to stand upright, and ceremoniously tuckes some stray hair behind her ears.

Marta bounds up to Lia, and doesn't stop for hugs. The large dog darts behind the girl and tries to grip her clothing carefully--and pulls towards the car urgently.

"Hey, what…?" Lia protests as Marta suddenly grips her shirt and begins pulling on her. "What, now you're on his side?" she asks the dog, incredulous, tremor still evident in her voice. "Et tu Brute? I need a minute," she informs the dog stubbornly, pulling back on her shirt.

The dog growls, yanking harder, urgently, digging her feet in. When Lia still refuses, Marta resorts to shaking side to side, threatening to rip the cloth apart.

Lia grabs at her shirt indignantly. "Stop, Marta," she protests, though the dog is making some headway in pulling her back to the car. "I said, I just need a minute," she says, tumbling another few steps toward the car. She has been rather preoccupied with her own thoughts, though she suddenly had a new intruding thought. Alarmed, Lia begins scanning the area nearby for possible threats....

"Lia?" Zack calls again, arriving in time to note Marta's desperation. "Come on... please..."

Josh appears abruptly and moves past Lia and Marta. "Car... now...!" he yells, aiming at something in the distance.

Marta releases Lia's shirt then circles both the girl and Zack, a herding motion, trying to drive them the right way... When Josh passes, however, she turns to face the oncoming threat beside him, growling low with teeth bared, backing towards the car--occasionally turning to dash a bit back before facing it again.

The tone in Josh's voice startles Lia. She's never heard him be quite this forceful. The door now firmly shut in her mind, the dancer quickly complies, grabbing Zack's sleeve and dragging him with her back toward the SUV.

Zack looks from Lia to Seb, who's waiting sitting with his car door open. Trusting Marta, he moves quickly to Seb. "Get in and buckle, Seb," he tells him, the urgency in his voice all too clear. The boy moves to the back of the car, grabbing weapons. "Lia, come on, we're distracting them... that doesn't help... please, get back in the car now."

"Guessed as much," Seabay answers, relieved to have them back, though a bit concerned by the urgency in their voices.

The mutants start pouring out of the tree line, one after another, lurching with surprising speed toward then.

Josh fires once... twice... backing back toward the car, but some are closing in on it before he can get back to it.

"Oh hell," Lia says, seeing the creatures suddenly emerge. "Josh, I don't think we should wait," Lia says, still backing up toward the SUV.

The sudden rustling makes Sebastian pale. "Oh hell--that can't be good!" He draws his gun and braces himself.

Taking off at a run, Lia opens her passenger rear seat door and pulls for her bag blindly, drawing the weapon again. She has two bullets left, and she means to make them count.

Marta darts for the nearest creature and leaps for its throat, bowling it over with a snarl that turns the creature's roar into a gurgle. Three other monsters pile on the dog, who yelps in pain before managing to rip free and dash back towards the humans.

"Get away from the window, you maggot!" Lia cries out at one of the mutants suddenly trying to attach itself to the window nearest Zack.

Zack starts to roll down his window, thinking to fire out of it, when Josh yells, "Lock up!" and begins firing at the mutants closest to the vehicle, determined not to let them get anywhere near his brother and the rest.

Keeping her eyes open this time, she squeezes the trigger twice in quick succession, sending it reeling backwards.

Sebastian hears the gravel crunch by his door, and lets the air have it, firing twice. Something splatters and yelps...

Josh fires again as one of the mutants reaches him, grabbing a fistful of curls and yanking him backwards by his hair.

Her bullets now spent, Amelia throws the gun at another approaching mutant, trying to dissuade it from following her as she slams her door then makes a mad dash around the car, narrowly avoiding several grasping hands.

Marta leaps for one of the mutants assailing the car, snarling as she latches onto an arm and uses her weight to drag the creature off and back.

Zack fires across Sebastian, and still they keep coming!

The mutant flings Marta aside, but the dog is back like a wound spring, this time tearing deep wounds out of the mutant before turning on another one by the car.

Blindly, Lia tears open Josh's customary door, climbing quickly into the driver's seat. Cursing, she fights with the seats a few seconds to move it toward the steering wheel. "Why the hell are you so tall?" she grumbles cantankerously. "Close the doors!" she yells at Zack and Sebastian as the engine roars to life. She's spotted both Marta and Josh, and both are in deep trouble. This was the only thing she could think of to get to them. "Get ready to fling the doors open for them," she informs Zack and Seabay.

Josh twists, kicking hard at the creature now dragging him backwards until its grip loosens... along with that fistful of hair. Twisting and firing into it, he scrambles forward, only to find another now upon him, teeth sinking deep into his shoulder.

Seabay fires a few more rounds--blind or not, they can only attack from one direction after all! He grimaces as a slap sends warm wetness running down his leg, and he slams the door on something soft, then opens it--kicks the moving item out before it can claw him again, and slams the door firmly shut this time.

Zack follows orders without question, knowing that this was not the time for argument.

Marta turns from the car--and lunges at Josh's attacker, latching onto its shoulder with a snarl.
Josh cries as the mutant falls away, taking a large mouthful of flesh with him.

The other mutants smell blood and begin to converge upon Josh and Marta. Josh fires swiftly, emptying one gun after another in a desperate attempt to keep him and Marta alive.

With the car fully sealed, Lia puts it into drive and places a heavy foot on the accelerator. She admittedly isn't the best driver ever, but she's had her license before, and she still remembers how to drive. As the car lurches forward, the air fills with the sickening shrieks and crunch of bones being broken as mutants splay across the front grill and get crushed under the car's wheels.

In a moment of panic, Lia thinks she had perhaps lost Josh and Marta, though with a breath of relief she sees a flash of light brown, black, and red--presumably Marta making another attack. Aiming for that, Lia yanks the steering wheel hard, hitting several more mutants on the way, stopping the vehicle as close to them as she dares for fear of hurting them. "NOW!" she yells as she slams on the brakes.

The mutant Marta had pulled off Josh managed to strike a few times at her ribs, making her whine now in pain. She stays by Josh's side, however, tearing at claws reaching for them, though one rips her rear leg badly, leaving her limping heavily.

Seabay flings open the back door. "GET IN! MARTA--COME!" he yells at the pair desperately.

Josh heard the car start to move and hoped they'd have the sense enough to get somewhere safe as he fires the last round into the head of the nearest mutant and begins backing away as quickly as he can from the remaining four mutants. At Seabay's cry, he moves as quickly as he can with the world spinning dizzily, diving into the car behind Marta and pulling the car door closed behind them. The front of his shirt is covered with blood from the wide open wound in his shoulder. Josh looks deathly pale and his breathing is coming in short ragged gasps as he weakly reaches for his pack, thinking to reload in case the mutants managed to stop the car's forward progress.

"GO!" the blind man calls to Lia, once the pair are inside. He squirms and struggles to get the three of them sorted out--Josh on the back seats and the dog safely flat on the floor--hearing Marta whine as she moves, listening carefully to Josh's groans. "How bad--and where?" he asks Josh quickly, even as he tries climbing into the back area to hunt for supplies to deal with the injuries.

The doors now closed and their friends in the back seat, Lia guns it. "Woah," she breathes in a moment of awe at the SUV's power under her. "I can see why you'd have this, Seabay," she says shakily, though her voice is hardly enough to drown out the crunching and crying from the mutants outside. Thankfully, it doesn't take long to clear the encroaching group, and the next thing she knows, they’re back on relatively open road. "How are they?" she asks, driving likely too quickly but not quite caring. At least they’re going away from whatever that attack has been.

Josh blinks dazedly against the encroaching darkness, bright flashes of light playing at the edge of his vision.

"It's bad," Zack answers for his brother, his voice full of barely contained panic. He scrambles into the back and presses his hands hard against his brother's shoulder, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. Josh gasps, but didn't cry out, even as he struggles to remain conscious.

"Which way do I go?" Lia asks, trying to maintain some composure as much for Zack's sake as for the sake of their lives as she drives.

"I don't know," Zack answers, his voice thick with emotion. "Josh knows the maps. He always knows the maps. I don't..."

"Wait... no, I know this," she says, catching sight of a badly deteriorated but still readable sign. "Where was the colony, exactly?" she asks Zack.

"The mall... it was in a mall at a hotel... North Boston... that's where we're supposed to be going," Zack sobs as his brother's blood seeps between his fingers.

Her foot lets off the accelerator a little, slowing the pace so that she can think a moment.

"Damn..." Seabay mutters, whipping out some of the bandage-rags from one bag he recognizes the fee of, and handing them towards Zack's voice. "Here..."

The hotel mall.... that isn't too far away. "We'll make it," she says, hoping she isn't lying. They have to make it. And, more importantly, the colony has to be there. And has to be friendly. There is no time for caution, not when Josh is in this state... not to mention Marta.

"Is it deep?" Seb asks, hunting around again... Ah, the lighter. If they have to... But damn, that's primitive...

Zack takes them with one blood covered hand, the other still pressing hard upon the wound. "She's hurt too, Seabay. Her leg's all gashed open."

Josh's ragged gasps become more staccato as his pale blue eyes roll back. "Josh...!" Zack cries out, the panic starting to take over. "JOSH...!"

Seb grimaces and pales a bit at the news, but just nods with a grunt. No time to be emotional now. "Zack!" he snaps, to try and get through the boy’s shock. "C'mon, help out here! Tell me his injuries! I can't see them, you know. Marta'll wait." Much as he hates to wait, a human comes first.

Lia drives as fast as she dares, knowing taking any turns too quickly would be detrimental to the patients in the back seat. She hasn't been lying about one thing - the hotel mall is relatively nearby, and without traffic to impede their progress, it only takes a few minutes to reach it. Trying to think logically, she chooses one of the more secluded entrances placed under the parking structure. Crashing through several gates that are obviously meant to keep intruders out, she drives them right up to the elevator doors, relieved to see someone standing by. Almost before the car stops, Lia’s out of the vehicle and running, arms flailing wildly at the man. "HELP!" she yells.

"His shoulder," Zack sobs. "It’s torn open. It's like one of them just bit a chunk out of it..." He sounds both very young and very frightened, as if his world is crashing in as he adds, "I can't stop the bleeding. He's got other scrapes and things, but they're just... you know… the usual... but his shoulder." He draws a ragged breath. "Wake up, Josh... please... don't do this..."

Seabay whips out his switchblade and the lighter, and thumbs the lighter to maximum flame, grimacing again at the description. "Okay, well, in that case, I need one hand--take the blade, and when I hit the fire, hold it in there until it's glowing. Got it? I mean seriously glowing... We're going to stop that bleeding somehow. Just you got to do this, okay?"

"Okay," Zack says, latching onto any hope Seabay might offer the way a drowning man would to a life raft.

The man at the building’s entrance looks at Lia suspiciously a few moments, as though this might be some ruse.

"Please," she asks, now playing up the part of being the 'scared little girl,' as tears well up in her eyes. "He's hurt. Badly. We were attacked by a group of mutants, and he's hurt," she begs, pointing to the obviously damaged SUV. As if to confirm her story, what must have been one of the mutant's arms is still stuck in the front grille. To intensify the effect, she darts towards the side of the SUV and opens the back door to show the man the scene within.

The blind man flicked the lighter--and a good five inches of flame burst from it, holding. "Now! And hold it glowing a moment... But this next bit's vital. If you want to help him, you HAVE to do this, Zack--you have to press the flat of that hot blade in the worst of the bleeding--and keep it there NO MATTER WHAT."

"What?" Zack asks, looking at Seabay as if he'd lost his mind. "Burn him? You want me to burn him?"

Bile rose to Lia's throat as she realized what’s going on. She turns her back to the scene, pale and unable to stomach it, though it seems to have spurred the man from the colony into action.

Quote :

Robert stared suspiciously at the girl, noting her injuries plus the damage to the car. He got a good look at the injured within the car and blanched some. "Drive down into the garage, hang a left, find a spot near the elevators. They should be working right now; the power's running fine. I'll go rouse help, meet you up in the lobby. If... that is... if you can move them upstairs. Otherwise I'll bring help down to the garage." Robert waited until they'd driven past the gate, then closed it again, dashing up the flight of stairs from his guard post into the hotel's lobby to start rousing help, specifically Kaitlyn's help.

Hopping into the car again, Lia starts it up to drive where directed. "Help's on the way," she says over her shoulder to her friends, hoping to reassure them of this fact, even though she isn't so sure of it herself.

The two within don’t have much time to absorb the news--or hope--of help. "It'll cauterize the blood vessels--Zack, it's the only way! We don't have a trauma surgeon here--do you want him to bleed to death?" Seabay demands, keeping the flame going. He can only hope Zack's still heating the knife. "What the heck do you think helped the Indians when they got mauled?"

"His leg... he did this before on his leg," Zack says, more to himself than Seabay as he remembers. Nodding then, he does as he was told, pressing the heated blade to the wound as he'd been instructed, tears streaming down his cheeks. "It's working," Zack whispers through his tears, sounding relieved. That relief died quickly, however, as Josh’s short ragged gasps cease all at once.

"What's happening?" Lia asks as she brings the car to a halt finally, now daring to venture a look into the back seat.

"No," Zack whispers, though his voice begins to rise quickly as true terror sets in. "No, no, NO... BREATHE...!"

Seabay clambers back over from the trunk area, and reaches to cautiously look--listen--feel (the latter two being his specialty), dreading that he may have to do CPR. If so... this doesn't look good. "C'mon, Josh," he whispers...

A panicked lump rises in Lia's throat. "He's stopped breathing?" she asks in a bit of a shrill voice... Yes, they all leave her in the end, whether it’s voluntarily or through death. Why should she have assumed this would be any different? Still, tears threaten and her heart constricts at the thought.

"Please..." Zack sobs, his voice barely above a whisper. "Please...."

The slightest rise and fall of his chest tells Seabay that Josh isn't gone yet. Seb breathes a sigh of relief, though his brow's still pinched in worry. "He's breathing, Josh... He's okay for the moment, I think." But he keeps his hand there to monitor, not sure which way Josh is about to go. "Hey, see if you can wrap up Marta's leg, can you? I'll keep tabs on Josh."

Zack nods, reaching into Josh's bag for hydrogen peroxide, knowing that it was always best to clean the wounds before wrapping them, especially when the wounds are caused by mutants. "Easy girl," he whispers to the dog, still sobbing. "You're going to be okay…"

Marta whines sharply, painfully as Zack begins to administer to her wounds, making her master wince.

"What in the world is taking them so long?" Lia asks thickly as she sets off in search of the man to give him a piece of her mind.

.

kaitlyn wrote:

The choice was taken out of his hands when Lia came charging up the stairs, obviously in look of him or someone else. "Where are the others?" He asked her, reaching for her arm to try to help calm her down. "I've got help coming, but they're all upstairs, it's going to take a few minutes to get them down here."

Kaitlyn threw on a pair of pants and a shirt and pulled her hair back out of her face into a messy ponytail, ignoring her shoes for the time being as she ran out the door, going for the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator. She arrived down in the lobby a few minutes later, meeting Tom and a group of others. "Where are the injured?"

"Don't touch me," Lia said instinctively withdrawing her arm from the man's proximity. "The car's where you told me to move it," she said, a touch of pleading moving into her voice. "And they're still in it," she continued, fidgeting in anticipation and anxiety. "Tell them to hurry!" she said, dashing back out toward the SUV, obviously on the verge of panicking. These were the only people she had left in this world, and one of them was fighting for his life.

.

kaitlyn wrote:

"Kaitlyn's clinic is upstairs, just off from the lobby in one of the old conference rooms. She's coming down right now, so are some others to help. Can you carry him upstairs? The elevators are working right now, so we can get him up to the lobby without jouncing him on the stairs." The smell of burnt flesh wafted out and caused him to choke some, and he had to keep from gagging at the scent.

Lia gritted her teeth at the man's question. In her anxiety, she was far from patient, and her retort came out rather biting as she gestured to the scene inside the car. "I'm 5 foot 3, and /he/ is over six feet tall. Do you THINK I can carry him upstairs?" She took a few steadying breaths, though the irritation didn't completely leave her tone. "There's me, Pipsqueak who's, like, 10," she said, perhaps exaggerating a little even though Zack was within earshot, "Sebastian who's blind, and an injured /dog/. No, we can't carry Josh upstairs ourselves," she said, waving a scraped, bleeding arm in his face.

The feisty blonde was about to start in on a tirade about the inefficiency of this whole system when a group of people appeared, seemingly armed with a makeshift stretcher.

"Well it's /about/ time!" she huffed. "Quick! Over here," she said, needlessly, trying to get the group to get a move on.

"Help's here," she said to the SUV's occupants, her voice a bit more gentle. "I think we need to move out of the way so that they can get him out... and Marta," she said, hoping Zack would be reasonable enough to let the group work.

Sebastian nodded at Lia's words, but reached out to Marta, to pet the dog's bloodied head, feeling a rough tongue lap his hand in return.

God, it broke his heart to hear her whining like this--crying, really.

"Stand down, Marta," he whispered softly, feeling her relax in response. "Vet."

Those commands would leave them both defenseless... but they had no choice but to trust in these strangers. Marta desperately needed the help, and without her, Seabay was helpless. Useless, even to his friends.

Dead meat.

"I'm coming out," he warned Lia, crawling backward out the SUV's back door and getting to his feet. He hung onto the side of the car as he stepped out of the way of the rescuers, limping a bit on his clawed leg. "You'll need to carry Marta, too," he told them quietly, knuckles white where his one hand gripped the luggage rack on top of the car--his only guide in the darkness his eyes show him.

Zack moved reluctantly from the car, his eyes wide as saucers and filled with tears. Carefully, he took Seabay's hand. "I'll guide you until she can," he offered quietly.

.

Lia stood back and placed guiding hands on first Seabay then Zack as they exited the vehicle, as much to comfort herself with their presence as to comfort them with hers. She watched apprehensively as they removed Josh from the car, a lump forming in her throat at the sight of him. He was even paler in this light than he had seemed in the dim overhead light of the SUV, then as they approached Marta.

"He'll be okay," she assured Zack, who was now holding Seabay's hand protectively. "They'll both be okay," she amended for the blind teenager's sake. She longed to be the one to have an excuse to hold on to Seabay (or heck, even to Zack for that matter), just to have a form of connection with reality and with a warm body, but that excuse was gone with the two of them holding to each other. Lia instead found herself struggling to keep from running after Josh or crumbling on the spot from exhaustion and crying, or some combination of both.

Those urges were firmly held in grasp as one of the two women approached her, encouraging her to follow her upstairs.

"I just have some scratches," she said bitterly to Amy. It wasn't strictly untrue, though those "scratches," were likely more categorized as gashes along, the worst of them along her legs and a few on her arms. They certainly stung now that the initial adrenaline had worn off, and they could easily get infected if left untreated. Still, she was in better shape than Josh and Marta, and she didn't really know how Zack and Seabay had fared. "Make sure you look after /them/ first." With Josh gone, she felt somehow like the reins had been passed to her to keep their little group safe. That was, as long as they remained a little group. "Come on, guys," she said with unusual gentleness in Zack's direction. "Let's follow them up. They can look after us, too," she suggested with a pointed look in Amy's direction.

Putting on an air of confidence that she didn't quite feel, Lia nudged Zack to move.

Seabay nodded to Zack--but started in surprise when Tess put a hand on his shoulder. "Ah... sure, thanks," he told her uncertainly. He was so used to Marta that this felt very awkward.

At Robert's question, Seabay nodded blindly again. "She'll let you do whatever you have to," he told the man.

At Lia's urging, they headed for the elevator, Sebastian limping a bit heavier than normal with his left leg, feeling the pants sticking to him down to his shin--must be a decent slash to bleed that much. He wove a bit on his feet, feeling lightheaded and somewhat turned about, using Zack's hand and Tess's support to stay upright and find the right direction to go. He set his feet gingerly with every step, feeling his way along and using each pause to balance himself again.

Marta sniffed Robert's hand, then whined pitifully.

Zack swallowed hard and reached back, grasping Lia's hand too. He knew she'd probably egg him for it later, but right now he didn't care. He needed them to stay close to him.

He was terrified of being alone.

For as many times as Josh had been hurt scouting ahead, it had never been more than the two of them could handle. They'd always been able to patch him up or stitch him up. He'd had to burn a wound closed once on his leg to stop the bleeding, but he hadn't lost consciousness or anything that time. He'd been able to handle it.

Josh could handle anything.

Except now he was unconscious and covered in blood. Now he was pale, even for him. Now he was threatening to leave him. Except he couldn't do that. He'd promised he wouldn't leave him.

They'd both known, though, that nobody could keep that promise.

Zack choked back a sob, struggling to keep himself somewhat in check...struggling not to fall apart...
and failing miserably...

.

Poor Zack. The kid might be loud and obnoxious, but Lia still liked him, despite outward experiences. She squeezed his hand, hoping to give him some small measure of comfort as she led him and Sebastian up after Josh and Marta toward what must have been this lady's "clinic."

The rest happened quickly, and the teenaged girl found herself rather numbly following directions first as someone tended to her wounds, then as she was told to clean herself up. Still, through the entire process she kept a close eye on her companions, making sure that they weren't led astray or separated too far from each other. She particularly watched Zack, who had seemed on the edge of a meltdown earlier, not that she could blame him, and she occasionally offered him words of comfort to assure him that she was still there and that they were in good hands, and mostly that Josh would be just fine.

Her usual outspoken ways were much subdued, though she did snap at a few of the medical helpers once or twice when they hurt her or seemed to be taking too long helping either Seabay or Zack. She couldn't help herself. Thankfully, none seemed to be too offended by it, and she eventually found herself led to a cot adjacent to Josh and Zack, with Seabay and Marta nearby as well.

She mumbled a few thanks to those who had helped them, trying to remain awake through the exhaustion, still not quite sure what to make of this place. Yes, they had taken them in and brought them directly up to care for them medically, but from what Zack and Josh had said, this could still be some sort of slave camp or something. Surely, slaves would fetch a higher price when healthy...

"What do you think?" she asked Seabay quietly after ensuring that Kaitlyn had indeed left. "I mean... can we really trust them?"

Zack watched as the doctor lady whispered to the others then cut away Josh's shirt, exposing everything... the new injury, all the scars, the hasty and somewhat uneven stitches they'd only recently done, the Med-Alert dog tag announcing a penicillin allergy, and the large branded "O" on his hip. His brother lay there covered in blood and dirt and a myriad of scars that would likely never fade, helpless to move or even protest.

He'd have hated that. Zack thought. Josh didn't like feeling weak or exposed.

He wanted to say something. To shout at her. To tell her how he hated to be touched, and got cold too easily and didn't have another shirt that still fit right...

He wanted to do something. To run... to scream... to do SOMETHING. Anything. He could feel himself starting to shake, as he started to hyperventilate.

Someone was cleaning him up, and he wondered why they were bothering. He wasn't hurt. He was fine. Why were they fussing with him? He handing him something. A ceramic cup full of aromatic warm liquid. She said something to him, but he couldn't quite catch it around the buzzing in his ears. He sipped it obediently, noting the direction she gestured.

A cot. She thought he could sleep after all of this? He sipped more of the tea, savoring the warmth in spite of everything.

Oddly enough, he started to calm. His eyelids grew heavy. He moved toward the cot, thinking perhaps he'd just lay there a moment. Just until they were done with Josh. He'd stay awake, though. He had to. Someone had to keep watch.

He thought all those things even as his eyes closed and slumber stole him away...

Seabay was used to following the orders of medical personnel. He moved where asked, sat when told to, and simply shrugged when informed they'd have to cut up his pants to help him, dignity be hanged.

"Cut all the way around--may as well make them into shorts, then," he told them at the time. May as well be practical about the loss, after all.

An offer of painkillers, he shook his head at, refusing, his eyes staring through his benefactors as if they weren't there. It was easy for them to guess he was blind--so there was no worry about him being squeamish from the sight of them sewing the cuts. And it didn't hurt much... well, by Sebastian's standards, anyway.

He'd known worse on a regular basis.

The blind boy murmured thanks when they made to leave and listened to the lights being turned off, footsteps departing... and the soft silence broken by breathing alone...

Seabay felt helpless... depressed...

To think, less then five years before, he was snorkling in underwater caves, and hang-gliding with the best daredevils, mountain-bike racing along trails with friends, even just got his flying license for small private planes.

<Now look--can't even find the damn bathroom without help...>

Sitting up in the cot, he simply listened to his surroundings... hoping to make sense of them as best his ears could.

Lia wrote:

"What do you think?" she asked Seabay quietly after ensuring that Kaitlyn had indeed left. "I mean... can we really trust them?"

"I don't think we have a choice," Sebastian admitted wryly. "Josh is in too bad shape to try anything else. I'm useless without Marta--a hindrance, really, if we want to do anything now. We're kind of at their mercy for now. Once they're better, we maybe can surprise them and get out, but until then, all we can do is try to stick together and quietly stay on guard... try to stay as mere 'kids' in their eyes."

A hand patted the gun still holstered against his ribs. "We still have some surprises, but they don't need to know that. If they turn out okay, it won't matter... but for now, well... If you want to rest, go ahead. I'm going to still be awake a while. I don't think they're going to bother us for a bit, though. They know we aren't going anywhere, too."

Lia glanced quickly at Zack, who's breaths were now coming steadily. He was obviously asleep, and the dancer was thankful at least for that.

She laid down in her cot and shifted to her side, curling into something of a fetal position. "On guard... right," Lia murmured, her exhaustion starting to win out.

"See you soon, Seb," she said even more quietly before following Zack into sleep.

The next morning, Seabay opened his eyes--for what little good it ever did for him--and sat up, hands clenching on the cot beneath him. Unfamiliar surroundings... the sharp hospital antiseptic smell... He could hear Zack's soft snores by where Josh was laid up--or, well, so he /thought/. But no Marta to greet him. True, she was resting here as well... somewhere... but he felt extremely lost... helpless... without her. Vulnerable, even...

"I feel like I'm in a hospital," Lia's voice spoke up, as she noted Seb's awakening. "I hate hospitals," she complained tartly.

The blind boy jumped at Lia's voice, then relaxed visibly. "Yeah... tell me about it," he murmured. Well, at least this time, he wasn't stuck in a hospital gown, though his long pants had involuntarily become shorts for access to his cuts.

"Then be glad this is just a clinic, not a hospital," Kaitlyn said softly as she entered the room, flipping on one bank of lights. "I'm not so fond of hospitals myself, with all their cold sterility..." Kaitlyn moved first to Seabay's side. "Marta is resting on the cot to your right, though she may still be asleep for a while yet." She had hardly slept herself, mostly due to her anxiety over the day's events, despite her exhaustion.

Lia blinked against the light Kaitlyn had turned on, scratching absently at her legs where the wounds were. "How's Josh?" she asked.

Seabay flashes Kaitlyn a hesitant smile of gratitude for that information. It took a load off his mind--though he made no move towards his dog. He didn't want her to wake and try shifting, even to sniff his hand. "Yeah, how's he doing?"

Now, let me make sure I have your names right. I know Marta is the dog, you're Lia, this is Seabay....and Josh and...Zack?"

"Yup," Lia answered, still fidgeting with her legs. "And you're Kaitlyn."

Kaitlyn moved to pull a low stool over to sit down near them. Lia would be able to note the dark circles under her eyes. "Josh is doing as well as he can be, considering how much blood he lost, but he will recover. That was good thinking to cauterize his wound." Kaitlyn rubbed some at her head, feeling a mild headache behind her eyes. "I gave Zack a mild sedative so that he would rest easy."

"No wonder the Pipsqueak's still asleep, then," Lia commented. "So... what exactly /is/ this place?" she then asked Kaitlyn. It wasn't as though they had gotten much of a view of the place during their arrival the previous night.

"Cauterizing it was the only thing I could think of," Seb admitted ruefully. "But Zack had to do it--it needed someone who could see. But I think that traumatized the kid a bit... Good thing he's out." His ears perked at Lia's question. He wanted to know, too.

Kaitlyn managed a bit of a smile. "Yes, I'm Kaitlyn. I've extensive medical knowledge, but I lean more toward using natural herbs and such to cure. Though I do have some traditional medicines as well." Kaitlyn rubbed at her head some more. "This used to be a fancy hotel, complete with an underground mall. Now though, it's a colony. We all share in the work needed to keep this place running, so each of you will be expected to help out. The mall is used more for storage and greenhouses now, with the restaurant serving as our communal kitchen."

"Guess Josh and Zack finally found their fabled colony," Lia observed with a hint of fondness in her voice before she remembered herself. "I don't really know what good I can be for you, though, unless you'd like a cruise director and entertainer," she grimaced. It seemed that Josh would be the most useful person out of their group.

Seabay seemed to perk at the description, until it came to the part on everyone helping out. His unblinking gaze shifted to his hands at that news, dispirited. After all, what good would he be, here? His legs weren't reliable to start with... Josh, Zack--they'd fit in easily, with their ingenuity and manual skills. Lia could learn to do things to help...

"Well, the kitchen can always use help. There's helping in the greenhouse, or cleaning out the unclaimed rooms, making them fit for people to move in to...I know Anna would eventually like to have a school started for the younger kids...there's even trips out to the local market to do trading for what supplies we need."

Lia shrugged. She supposed they would figure something out, when it came to it. That hardly seemed to be the pressing matter at the moment, with Josh and Marta laid up. "Guess we got lucky we made it here at all," she said aloud, scratching at her legs. Gosh they itched.

"It almost sounds like this place is growing, then?" Seabay tried, taking his mind off his uselessness. If there was a task for him, he'd find out... and if not, well, he'd take Marta and... well... he'd figure out what to do then.

"Don't scratch your legs Lia, you don't want to break open the scabs and risk infection." Kaitlyn got up and moved to her cabinets, unlocking one to fetch some cream. She brought it back over and handed it to Lia. "Use this, it'll calm the itching." She looked back over at Seabay, almost able to tell what he was thinking "We will not kick anyone out of here if they're not able to help. I'm sure you'd be able to find something, just give it time."

Lia looked a bit embarrassedly at the cream. She hadn't realized she was being so obvious about it. She mumbled a quick thanks as she listened in. "Well, whatever chore they set us to, it's better than going back out there," she said to Seb. "And at worst, I'll help you do whatever you have to do, too." She'd carry the weight of his work too, if it meant keeping him around.

"Yeah, well... we'll see, I guess," Seabay returned, shrugging a bit. He wasn't about to reveal to her all the burdens his poisoning had left him with. He hadn't revealed that to his new friends, either--and the fact that they'd ridden in the car so much had helped hide it. But here, that was not so easy to hide. He flashed Lia a bit of a smile. Well, at least his new friends were not so likely to let him go when they figured it out. "No way to find out without trying, I guess."

"You won't be expected to do something you can't do... though occasionally you may have to do something you don't want to do." Kaitlyn looked them both over, then looked over at Josh and Zack still sleeping. "I actually came in here to see how you were feeling. How are you two feeling?"

"Something we don't want to do?" Lia asked dubiously. That sounded rather ominous, and she suddenly wondered if they hadn't indeed stepped into one of the slave camps Josh and Zack had run across before. "Look, lady, don't expect me to... I bite," she warned.

"A bit sore to move, but otherwise okay," Seabay answered with a dismissive shrug. He was used to pain. He arched a brow at Lia's answer, and stiffened. Surely this wasn't... /that/ kind of place?

Kaitlyn looked puzzled for a moment, then shook her head, laughing softly. "No… no... nothing like that." She then sobered. "Just, there are some tasks that are less than pleasant. Such as the sewer plant. There's a small independent plant here in the hotel, in the basement closed off from the public. It needs maintenance every so often, clearing out clogs...." She wrinkled her nose. "Then there's working in the greenhouse too, though personally I love working in mine. Not everyone likes the smell of the fertilizers..."

Seabay chuckled. "Is there a big difference between the two? You still deal with the same crap."


Lia watched Kaitlyn warily a few moments before giving a curt nod. Seabay's quip, however, broke some of her tension and she laughed. "Well, I'm short enough that I think I'd end up in over my head in it if I had to work at the plant, so I might be safe there. You, though..." she said, eyeing him. “You might only be eye-ball deep."


"There's also the scraps from the kitchen. I've started a composting bin out where the dumpsters were located, but there's a lot that we use that can't go in there... the meat and bone scraps for one..." Kaitlyn smiled again and chuckled at Seabay's comment. "Well, yes, but one is sterilized, one is not."

Seabay snorted. "It'll depend on Marta. If she refuses going in there, no dice. Though I don't know... she might like some of the smelly stuff... maybe even too well."

Lia started massaging the offered cream on her legs, starting with the scratches lower down and eventually working her way up. One scratch was on her leg, and as she revealed her thigh, a large, bite-mark-shaped scar could be seen on the thigh in question. She pointedly avoided looking at it. "Maybe we'd be better off going on shopping excursions," she mused aloud. "I'm a teenaged girl," she said wryly. "I'm good at shopping.

"I should let you two get some more rest. It's still early yet, around 7am. Do either of you need anything to help you rest? I do still have some more of the mild sedative tea that I gave Zack." Kaitlyn looked at them both. "You can also reach over and pet Marta. I'm sure she'd like to make sure you're okay. Her leg is stitched up and I put a wrap around her ribcage. I didn't find any broken ribs, but she's bruised up pretty badly."

Lia had half-expected the healer to start questioning them intensely about how they had gotten to the colony in the first place. Most adults seemed to think they were still too young to look out for themselves. She was mildly grateful at the fact that she'd left well enough alone.

"Well, that's a relief... Thanks, Miss Kait." Seabay nodded, shifting to swing his feet off the side of the cot, and carefully lean over towards Marta's... hand seeking blindly. "I'm okay. I don't need anything." A slight tightening of his mouth is his only sign of pain, and clearly an unconscious one now--he really doesn't notice one more ache among many.

"I'm fine," Lia concurred, indicating the jar of ointment she held. "This should do it."

"Alright. I'll come back in a few hours to check in on you again, and bring some food for all of you then as well," Kaitlyn informed them.

"Sure thing, boss lady," Lia tittered back with a wave. "And let us know if Josh changes or anything?" she requested.

Seabay finally found something furry, and worked his way to rub behind an ear. 'Yeah... I think we'll be here," he chuckled.

Kaitlyn smiled. "I just want you to all stay here for at least the day, perhaps one more night, then you'll be able to pick out what rooms you want." Kaitlyn crossed back over to the door and flipped off all but a few of the lights, enough to cast the room into shadow but still see to maneuver. "If you need me before I come back in a few hours, just dial 414 on the phone. That's my room. I'll come straight down."

"You mean I have to sit here doing nothing for a whole day?" Lia asked, incredulous. "Where's the TV when you need one?" she grumbled, though she lay back down in her bed with a huff. "Four-fourteen. Got it."

Seabay laughed. "What, my company's boring?" he teased Lia. He nodded to Kaitlyn. He knew where the numbers were on the pad--even he could dial it, if need be. But... "Where's the phone?"

"Oh, sorry, you do need to know that." Kaitlyn blushed some. "If you get out on the left side of your bed, turn right and walk until you reach the door. The phone is on the right, about shoulder-height."

Then, the rag-tag teenage group was left alone again.

.

"It's weird," Lia spoke up in the dark after a few moments of silence in Kaitlyn's wake. "I've gotten so used to being on my own, to being responsible for myself," she said thoughtfully, a bit hesitantly, "that this whole being treated like a kid thing... I'm not really liking it."

She shifted restlessly, staring up at the ceiling. "Well... I guess I've hit that rebellious teenager stage," she quipped. "Maybe it's just natural that I don't want someone lording over me. Expressing my individuality and all that." She gave a wry laugh, then, not sure if either Zack or Sebastian were even listening to her reverie. "Maybe I should get something pierced. Like my tongue or my nose or something. Or I could dye my hair blue."

Seabay shifted back to his own cot, leaving Marta chewing on a few of the bones Kaitlyn had brought for the dog. He stretched out on it, sighing, lacing his fingers together behind his head. "Can't say I mind... not in a place I don't know, with Marta down. I'm not independent without her. Besides, aybe we let them think that about all of us--that we're just kids pretending at being independent. Miss Kait may be friendly, but we haven't met any of the others yet. They might be nice--they might not. Better to just play along and see what we think before we make any ripples. But you go ahead and become a Smurf if you like..." He grinned slyly at the ceiling. "Hey, wouldn't that then make you Smurfette? After all, Gumby was green..."

"Well.. what color do green and blue mixed together make?" Lia asked thoughtfully.

"Teal?" Seabay suggested.

"I guess I'd be some cool mermaid color... so Gumby plus Smurf equals mermaid?" Lia retorted with an amused snort.. "Well, just as long as I'm not forced to give up my voice and get the guy to kiss me in three days or else I turn into seafoam or something."

"Yeah, I always wondered... what if someone else kissed her? Would she get part of the bargain, then?" Sebastian mused. "A croaky voice and tentacles nstead of legs?"

"Keep her legs but not her voice, maybe?" Lia laughed. "Or have half-formed legs?"

"Hey, maybe that's what happened to teh witch to start with!" Sebastian surmised.

Lia laughed even harder at Sebastian's suggestion, trying to stifle it not to wake Josh. "No wonder she's bitter. The wrong guy kissed her and she ends up looking like /that/. I'm glad you've got the whole thing figured out, though Seabay. I'd love to have you tell me Cinderella sometime. For the time being, though, I guess that just means I'd better make sure the /right/ guy kisses me."

"Glass shoes sound like borrowing trouble to start with..." Seabay said. "They might break easily, and if they do... well, talk about mincemeat. Ouch."

"Yeah, well, I wear ballet slippers and pointe shoes. Glass shoes don't sound all that awful," the dancer answered back.

"They do to me," Zack yawned.

"I'll let you borrow my pointe shoes sometime, Zack," Lia laughed.

"Don' like shoes," Zack grumbled. "Miss my boots." He looked nervously over at his older brother, frowning. Josh never slept this soundly. In fact, he couldn't remember a time when he was awake and Josh wasn't...

"I vote for comfort," Seabay laughed.

"Mmhmm," Zack replied absently, still looking at his brother.

"Yeah, which these beds certainly aren't," Lia shifted again, now moving to lay on her stomach. "/How/ long did she say we needed to stay here?"

"After lunch she said she'd help move us upstairs..." Seabay returned.

"Don't like her dosin' people, " Zack complained, still watching his brother. "How do you just do that?"

"Just do what?" Seabay yawned.

"I think they might have tried to warn you," Lia answered, "You were just out of it."

"Wasn't out of it. Worried, not out of it...and it with good cause. And who warned Josh? He don't like stuff like that," Zack argued.

"I didn't say you didn't have good cause to worry," Lia answered gently. "And you're right, she should have made sure you knew... and Josh knew." The dancer sighed, hoping Sebastian could offer some better words of encouragement for him. He seemed good at that.

"She didn't dose Josh, Zack--painkillers naturally make you sleepy, and his blood's low, so that does it, too," Seabay explained.

"She gave him painkillers, but didn't say nothing until after he drank the tea. That's the same as dosing," Zack grumbled. He knew it was for his brother's own good, but he was feeling penned up and his brother was so still and it was just wrong. This was all wrong...

Lia sat up and peered at Zack, even through the dimmed lights. "So next time we'll just ask her. She probably didn't mean anything wrong by it," she soothed, though she really couldn't blame him for this reaction. He /had/ to be raw at seeing his brother like this, if nothing else. "Hey, at least he gets to sleep through the pain now, and when he wakes up, he'll feel better."

"Yeah, whatever makes Josh feel better right now--and get better... though you're right, we'll have to watch what she does next time. Maybe she's used to peple trusting her to give the right stuff, but /we/ don't know her..." Seabay agreed.

He doesn't sleep like this," Zack said, knowing she probably wouldn't understand, but he did. "He moves...even in his sleep...and he hears...he'd have been awake the minute you moved...He doesn't sleep through things. He just...he's not ...vulnerable, like that..."

"It's unnatural for him," Lia summed up for Zack. "I know, Pipsqueak, it's scary, but if he /doesn't/ get sleep, then he won't get better."

"I just want him to wake up and be okay," Zack whispered, knowing he couldn't have it. "What if she gave him the wrong stuff. He's allergic to stuff. It's on the tag. I don't remember what, but it's on there. If she gave him the wrong one, it could make his throat close. If she made it so he won't wake up..." The panic was building again as he began to run through all that could go wrong. "They did that once, after my dad cu ..." he stopped suddenly, realizing he was talking about things he wasn't supposed to.

It never happened. Those people didn't exist anymore. he reminded himself. They started over. Left and started over and no looking back. Except he did look back. He looked back all the time. He remembered every cut, every burn, every welt, every drop of blood, every tear, every scar. He remembered it all.

It wasn't right. He thought, looking at his brother, his eyes filling with tears that wouldn't be denied. Josh was the one with the eidetic memory. So why was he the one who couldn't forget?

Seabay closed his useless eyes. "She said she wasn't giving him penicillin, and a lot of folk are allergic to that... so I'm guessing that's what his tag says. So she knows, Zack. And she's being careful with him... Promise you what, though--if there's anything to go on that shows anyone here's trying to hurt him, we're out of here. Like that." He took a hand from behind his head and snapped his fingers.

"After all, we're a family. Holds true for you, too, or Lia--even Marta. One sign they're against us, and we move on. All for one and one for all, eh? Like the Three Musketeers--only they always had a fourth, so the name's silly..." He tucked his hand back behind his head. "So he'll wake up... but then we have to start thinking of what we're going to do. Does the SUV need fixing? Do we even want to stay? I'm sure he'll feel happier if we can fill him in on what this place is like, until he's back on his feet to see for himself... if only so we can get a jump on whatever plans we decide on..."

"yeah, that's it. Penicillin. Fights infection." Zack grabbed hold of that, then nodded as Seabay continued. "Okay. He'll want to fix the SUV. Either way he'll want that. He don't like broken. Can't leave it like that. And he'll want to pay back. If someone does something for you, you pay back. You don't leave owing. Josh's rules."

"Well, it sounds like Miss Kait's got that whole allergy part under control. She's a healer, I would think she deals with that a lot," Lia soothed Zack, hoping to calm him further. She gave Seabay a grateful look for getting Zack calmer before realizing that even if it weren't for the darkness in the room, he wouldn't see it.

She laid back down in a restless huff again, consciously refraining from scratching at her legs, even though the itching was less than it had been. "So we'll need parts for the SUV, probably... And she made it sound like there was a market of sorts. So, first order of business, other than exploring this place, will be getting there and getting what we need, then." She realized they were getting way ahead of themselves, but Sebastian was right. This whole thinking ahead thing was great for keeping their (and Zack's) brains busy, to keep them from worrying overmuch.