A/N: Don't own Gone, well. I do. Just my copy of it, but other than that, all props go to Mr. Grant.
Rated M for a reason, kiddies. Well, actually, it's just M because I'm not too sure and want to be careful. This won't be worse than a CSI episode... I hope.
"Edilio–I don't think I need to say this... but this better be good," Sam muttered drowsily. He pulled Astrid a little closer to him as she shivered. He'd never admit that it wasn't just because she looked cold, it was also because he was really cold too.
Edilio's soldier that had escorted them froze in front on them, eyes ripe with terror. How old was this kid? Twelve? Sam took a few steps forward with Astrid, uncertain why he'd stopped a good ten feet away from where Edilio was.
"Are you OK?" Sam asked, looking back. The girl soldier shook her head rapidly. In the glow of his ball of light that floated beside him Sam could see the tears that glistened in her eyes. She stumbled backwards a step, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I-I found it–her. I don't want to see it–it's scary," she hiccuped loudly.
Sam was grateful when Astrid stepped in. He wasn't good at comforting people, wasn't articulate with his speech like Astrid was. She had always comforted Little Pete, she had tutored half the school, including the fearsome Orc.
"It's OK, look, we'll go over there and do what we need to do, and we'll talk to Edilio–you can go home and go to sleep. It's late," she explained calmly, putting a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. She sobbed again, but nodded.
It was late, that was true. Sam realized that for the first time as they walked the rest of the way to Edilio's. It was too late, or possibly too early, for them to be woken up for just anything. Especially since Sam had gotten to sleep, for once. Astrid had practically had to strap him down to the bed so that he wasn't off patrolling the beach, keeping it as safe as safe could be.
Unfortunately, being confined to a bed wasn't as nearly as erotic as it sounded.
"This better be good, Edilio," Sam repeated, this time loud enough for the boy to hear him.
Edilio turned and grimaced. "Not good, not even close. I don't even..."
Sam was awake now. Edilio didn't look so good. They walked closer, Astrid and Sam, until they were level with Edilio. They looked down at the ditch he was looking at, in horror.
"What is it?" Astrid asked. "Who was it?"
Below them was a body. It couldn't have been there for long, the animals hadn't gotten at it. A girl's form was covered with male and female clothes–not unusual in these days. People wore what they could get, what was clean. Her hair was sprawled everywhere, matted down with blood and dirt.
Her neck was the more eye-catching than any other part of her. A red ring ran around it, blood stained her light flesh, making it look like a strange necklace. The deepest ring ran in the middle of the blood, between the double rings on the front of her neck. There were two lines running horizontally up and down her collarbone area. Her hands, fingers to be exact were covered in similar rings, and Sam couldn't make sense of the horrible picture before him.
"Oh God," Astrid breathed. "Somebody... garroted her. How old is she?"
Garroted. Fantastic. Sam made a mental note to ask exactly what that was, later. He wanted to know how old this girl was too, she didn't look much older than ten. She had piercing, one nose piercing and multiple ear piercing, but her face was so sweet, so innocent... so dead.
"Twelve, her name is–was, Andi. She was a bit punk, a rebel, but really harmless. She was a cool kid. I-I--" Edilio faltered, looking away. "I think I should go send Emily home, she tripped over Andi's body, scared her. God, it sounds so wrong saying her name. Look, I'm gonna walk Emily home." Edilio muttered, shaking his head in disgust. Whether he was talking about Emily or Andi was unclear to Sam.
So then, he and Astrid were alone. Alone. No police, no CSI, not even a security guard that could help them out. It was ridiculous. Astrid bent down and examined the girl's neck.
Sam was transfixed on the two furious bright red lines running across the girl's neck.
"She was garroted," Astrid repeated.
"Say it twice, say it eight times, still won't make me know what that word means," Sam tried to joke, to lighten the mood up, to make her happy, but it fell flat.
"It means somebody came up behind her... I'm guessing with some type of wire, and strangled her. It's a pretty painful way to die. It used to be an effective way of execution in Southern countries, but it's pretty scarcely used. It used to be the wire in conjunction with a screw being drilled into the back of the prisoner's skull, cutting off the nervous system and the br–" Astrid began.
"Woah, woah," Sam took a step back. "I'm looking at a dead girl and I have no clue what to do. Brains being destroyed and people being strangled or executed is the last thing I want to think about."
Astrid didn't apologize, but she nodded understandingly. "Believe me, I don't want to think about this either. Unfortunately, my brain doesn't listen when I tell it to shut up," she smiled wryly. Sam fought back a smile, this wasn't the time to think about how witty she was. Or how beautiful the full moon was on her soft, creamy skin. Or how her hair looked like if gold was spun into smooth strands–no, something better than gold, gold wasn't soft enough to be Astrid's hair.
Yeah, very inappropriate time to be thinking about all of those things. Sam chided himself mentally. "Can you step aside for a moment, your beauty is distracting me," Sam said smoothly. It was like something out of a CSI episode, Astrid examining a body. It seemed surreal.
"You know something's wrong with the world when the most appropriate time to flirt is when your girlfriend is looking at a dead preteen," Astrid noted dryly.
"Yes," Sam confirmed. Then frowned. "Wait, what?"
"Hi," Brianna said.
Sam and Astrid jumped. As was her norm, Brianna had appeared out of nowhere. She noticed their fright-filled faces with an expression of confusion.
"Bit jumpy? Me too. Edilio sent me with a message for you," she explained, all very quickly.
Sam frowned, looking up at the moon. His watch had run on batteries, and those were no longer in supply. He could only guess the time. "He couldn't have left more than five minutes ago."
"I guess. He came and got me because he was nearer to my house than he was to you. Oh hey, what's that over there?"
"No, Brianna," Sam began, but, of course, he was too slow. She'd already zipped over behind Astrid and seen Andi. In her traditional speed, her expression changed in the blink of an eye.
"That's Andi." She didn't seem too affected, but neither of them were fooled. They'd seen a lot over the months they'd been trapped in this dome, but you never got over the shock of learning somebody you knew was dead. It just didn't happen, not in this world, and not in the real one.
"You knew her?" Astrid asked casually. Brianna nodded.
"Yeah. We hung around sometimes. She was a Coates kid too, got out early, went to Perdido as soon as she could." Her tone hinted she wished she had had that idea too. Her normally upbeat face was dark, morbid.
"What was Edilio's message?" Sam asked abruptly, hoping to change the subject. He trusted Brianna with his life, but he didn't want a preteen having to deal with a murder. It wasn't her fault, it wasn't her problem.
But it wasn't supposed to be his, either.
"He said there was another one. Said he found another girl, older this time. That he didn't know who she was. I hadn't known what he'd meant, but he said you'd understand," she explained dryly.
Sam did understand. There were two murders this night. Astrid understood too, and so did Brianna.
Astrid spoke up, "Brianna you know... for now this has to be a secret. Everybody deserves to know, and they will know, but we've got to keep this between us for now."
Brianna shook her head numbly. "Somebody's gotta tell her little brother. I'd lie to anybody, but not her little brother."
Sam looked up in shock, and Astrid's eyes met his. While his resonated with surprise, hers were just a sad acceptance. Of course, she was the genius. She'd already considered that Andi, or the other girl, might have had siblings left behind. Friends, at the very least would need to be told.
Sam rubbed his eyes sleepily. This was all insanity. He lived and breathed insanity, and before the night was done, he'd be looking at another murder victim, garroted and strangled, dumped to the side. He was only fifteen, he didn't want to deal with this.
"Go to sleep Brianna," Astrid offered softly. "It's going to be a rough few days, you should get some rest."
Sam wished he had that luxury too.
Brianna snorted. "Yeah, right. It's going to be a few rough lifetimes in the FAYZ, Astrid."
And she was gone.