The squad car was eerily quiet with the exception of the rain softly coming down outside.
He couldn't even begin to put the pieces together…
It felt like the world was going in slow motion around him and he still couldn't keep up.
All he could do was watch the different police cars as they drove into the hospital; their red and blue lights were spinning, but every single one had their siren cut off. At the very least, they could keep the scene quiet and keep the news reporters at bay. He watched as officers ran from unit to unit- desperate for an update on the ongoing situation. And most of them were directed to the uncountable amount of ambulances that were crammed into the narrow, circular lot.
And that's where the situation really began to sink in for them.
Body bags came out one at a time.
They were carried out by two officers and were neatly arranged on the sidewalk for the next group to pick up and load into the awaiting ambulances. For every one ambulance that drove away with its cab filled, two more pulled in to take its place.
There was a brief look of hope every time a set of officers walked in- hope that maybe someone walked away from the massacre. But each look was dashed with every body bag that came out. And every now and again, a body bag would be brought out and be placed separate from the others. Those were the special ones; there were officers in those ones, people with nametags who were tearfully carried out by coworkers.
It was never ending.
And all he could do was watch…
He glanced away from the scene as the passenger door was pulled open and watched as his partner slipped into the car; Joseph looked even paler than he did when he left the first time- or the second time for that matter. He could hear him softly wheezing as he tried to catch his breath- or at least recover from puking for the third time in the past ten minutes.
Every time he had excused himself to the nearby bushes, there was always at least one paramedic who came over to ask if he was okay. He supposed they felt like they were useless in a situation like this; they were completely surrounded by the dead and of no help to anyone. They stood around and talked amongst each other, occasionally speaking with the crime scene clean up unit who was patiently awaiting their turn. Judging how half of the clean up crew were on their phones though, it looked like they were calling in other companies to assist with the mess. And they had a hell of a mess to clean up.
Joseph always brushed the paramedics off though, probably reassuring them that he was fine and that it was just a minor case of nausea. Although he had hastily wiped blood from his lips the second time he returned.
He watched him lean forward just enough to partly rest against the dashboard and wondered if the nausea had anything to do with the phantom pain that had burned his shoulder. Despite everyone seeing the bullet go through him, when he woke up in this world, there was everything but a bullet wound. He had the heavy bruising that came with the force of one and a burn where the bullet would've gone in, but nothing else. No blood, a little bit of pain, but... nothing that would've mimicked what it had been. Even the bullet that had gone through his side was little more than bruising.
He reached over and placed a hand on his back, but said nothing.
"I'm fine." Joseph whispered. "… I think I got the last of it."
That was some good news at least.
He looked up at the rearview mirror and briefly watched the brunette woman who was laid out in the back seat. She had her heels resting on the opposite door and was staring up at the roof of the car; the oversize police jacket pulled tightly around her. Like usual, her expression was withheld, which made it all the more difficult to read her. And right about now would've been a great time to figure out what the hell she was thinking.
After they had escaped from the basement of that asylum, they were greeted by three SWAT units who rushed into the scene. Looking back on it now, he supposed the SWAT guys might've been a little confused by their lack of disgust for the massacre around them. They had walked in on the bloody scene that morning... and after everything they had gone through, it had been the least of their issues. Either way, they were rushed out and immediately attended to by the paramedics on scene.
It was a rather extensive and awkward ordeal with them, with the paramedics not knowing what to ask and him not knowing how to answer them. He was still in this odd state of shock or something... he didn't even want to try to connect the pieces just yet. They were still scuffed up and bruised, but any major injuries they had before didn't exactly carry back over. He didn't have that gaping, open wound in his chest from his previous impalement- although it sure as hell felt like it. And just like with Joseph's bullet wounds, he had bruising where the cavity would've been.
Either way, they were given a change of clothes and ten minutes of privacy.
It didn't show it, but he could still smell the blood on his shirt, and he swore he could still pick off splattered brain matter from his vest. He could just smell the overwhelming horrors of that place still radiating from his skin and it drove him mad. And while changing into a spare uniform didn't take the memories away… at least he wasn't constantly aware of the scent of blood that followed him. And that was a start.
The paramedics had originally pushed to take the three of them to the hospital- at least until the SWAT team came back out. When the extensive body count was revealed, the paramedics quickly set about to calling in more units and called in the clean up crew as well.
And he was fine with how that had played out. It wasn't like he was looking forward to getting stuck at a hospital for who knows how long while doctors pondered his physical health. He had had enough of hospitals for now. All he wanted was to breathe in some fresh air while he could.
Since then, no one else had bothered them.
It had probably been an hour or two, maybe longer…
"So what do we do now?" Kidman asked, speaking for the first time since they had stepped out of that damned asylum. There was nothing in her tone or in her voice. It reminded him of Tatiana in a sense... just less empty sounding.
He looked out of the window and watched as yet another squad car pulled in.
How many more officers could they fit into this place? How many bodies were in there anyways? On second thought… maybe he didn't want the answer to that. Either way, at this rate, there weren't going to be any backup units back at the station for emergency calls.
"I could go for coffee." Sebastian answered.
He heard Joseph laugh briefly, a dry, empty kind of laugh, as he pushed himself away from the dashboard and slumped back in his seat; his fingers briefly removing his partly-broken glasses. "That doesn't sound too bad actually."
"… It sounds good to me." She remarked as she pushed herself up from her relaxed position.
"Although technically we shouldn't be leaving the scene of a crime." Joseph started, as he slipped his glasses back on. "Especially since we're involved with the case and serve as witnesses, but...you know what, fuck it."
At least they could all agree on that.
Starting the engine, he watched as the latest patrol car rolled in before he drove out- opening a spot for the newest unit.
Almost all of the connecting roads had been blocked off for the time being, hopeful to keep the media out for as long as possible. At least until they could get the forensic units and clean up crews in there. They certainly didn't need shit like this hitting the news just yet.
The officers holding the barricades didn't even look twice when they drove by. With all the squad cars and ambulances driving in and out of the place, they avoided drawing any unwanted attention. Traffic had been re-routed for the time being as well, which made it easier to leave the scene- working well into their favor.
The ride was made in silence, with an exception of a few calls that came over the radio before he disconnected it. The last thing they needed was to hear more about this whole situation. He had no clue what had happened in this world in the first place- asides from what he had seen that morning… if this was even the same damn day.
Any kind of rule book processing or debriefing could wait.
All he wanted was a good cup of coffee.
Hell, he would even settle for a shitty one.
With the recent disappearance cases, the three of them had a lot of late nights at the office, so they had gone to most of the coffee shops in the city. He decided to avoid the usual ones they went to due to the case going on right now. Not that the news could have gotten out, but on the off chance it did, they didn't need someone trying to pry information from them. So he drove to the small diner near the city line and hoped for the best.
The diner was pretty much empty, with the exception of a few cars sitting in the back- most likely belonging to the few people working inside.
He parked in the front and stepped out, feeling the coolness in the air from the rain. Had it been raining all day or… was this a different day?
He heard Kidman step out of the car behind him and felt her hand brush against his back as she walked past him and started towards the diner.
They walked in and placed their orders, paying for their coffee at the counter, before the three of them took a booth in the far corner. All he wanted was to keep out of everyone's way and avoid having attention drawn to them. Although the silent, yet obvious reaction from the waitress at the counter had told him that wouldn't really be as easy as he hoped for. Which made him glad that they were the only customers at the moment.
It might've been their police jackets that kept the waitress from saying or asking anything.
They still sat in silence for the most part and simply drank their coffee.
He looked down at his hands and noticed once more how most of the skin on his right knuckles had been shredded and torn away; most of the damage had been from running them into things and punching who knows what. It had taken this long for them to stop shaking... He could still hear the sound of bones crunching every time he sent his fist into one of those mutilated faces. Every punch had been necessary and well worth the pain, but he ended up dislocating two of his knuckles and had to remove a broken tooth from one of them.
It was odd how obvious, life-threatening injuries had their severities erased in this world, but somehow minor wounds carried over. They had evidence of a struggle, and yet... that wasn't even scraping the top of what had happened to them.
He briefly touched at the dried, bloody mess of his knuckles before he looked at the other two at the table- realizing just how scuffed up, bloodied and bruised they were as well.
Kidman was sporting a fresh black eye that was difficult to ignore; her left eye was heavily bruised, with different shades of red, purple and yellow coming in. The swelling had set in, forcing her eye closed, but it hardly seemed to be bothering her at the moment. Her left cheekbone was visibly broken as well, and only made the black eye seem even worse. And while the long cuffs of the jacket hid her knuckles for the most part, he remembered them being just as scrapped and bloody as his- except she was missing a fingernail or two on her right hand.
The right lens in Joseph's glasses was cracked and every now and again, he would pull them off to look at; it was odd, because in the other world, the lens had shattered and had nearly put his eye out. In fact, his right eye was still bloodied from ruptured veins- flooding the once white space with red. His lower lip was still busted and torn open from a nasty swing from one of those Haunted. And there was still blood evidence from when his right eardrum had ruptured under the pressure of that high-pitched ringing. There were obvious cuts along his jaw and his right cheek had been marked with long, deep scratches.
He probably looked about the same.
At this point, he had gotten around to ignoring the blurred vision in his right eye. It probably wasn't serious…
They should all be glad the police jackets could be pulled up to the neck, where the three of them all sported the same dark bruises. In fact, it was best that no one saw any injuries that could be avoided being seen- it would just be easier that way.
"How long do you think it will take for them to notice us missing?" Kidman asked, as she rotated her coffee cup around with her fingertips- carefully avoiding the fingertips that continued to throb on her right hand.
In any other situation, he would've found it odd that she was the one starting the conversations, but at this time, he didn't care. It was something to break the silence, which, as comforting as it was, needed to be broken right now.
"They probably thought we were already taken to the hospital." Sebastian answered.
Amidst all the chaos at the scene, it wouldn't be that hard to believe that they had simply rode away in the back of an ambulance. It wasn't like someone was keeping an eye on them anyways.
"You two should probably go." She remarked, as she briefly glanced up to them. "You both technically died in that world."
"Paramedic said it wasn't anything to worry about." He replied with a brief shrug.
"Are you sure?" Joseph questioned with a sense of disbelief. "I get the feeling he told you he couldn't figure out if it was anything serious and that you should go to the hospital for further testing just to be safe."
"Same thing."
He heard him give a disappointed sigh before he went back to his coffee.
For a moment, they sank back into the silence.
"Are we going to talk about anything we saw back there?" Joseph asked.
"No." Sebastian answered, as he took a sip of his coffee. "We're not going to talk about shit."
Again, he didn't even want to think about anything that had happened in the last few hours or days- whichever. He didn't want to think of how he saw Leslie, or what might've been an apparition of Leslie, leaving the hospital the moment they stepped outside. The other two hadn't said anything about it, which made him think he was the only one who saw him. Something about him wasn't right, but... he had neither the patience or energy to work it out right now.
"Sounds good to me." Joseph shrugged, his tone hinting that he had no intentions of repeating anything he had seen in that world in the first place. He was quiet as he set his cup down and removed his glasses for the second time; he slowly ran his thumb over the crack that splintered across his lens- careful not to shatter the lens further. "Can we talk about Kidman shooting me?"
He was surprised the man had held out this long before bringing the topic up; he hadn't said a word about it since it actually happened- or didn't happen, either or. And judging by his tone, he didn't sound vengeful about it- it was more like he just wanted to talk about it, maybe get an answer for it.
"Sure." Sebastian offered, willing to take the jump.
"No." Kidman quickly interrupted. And judging by her voice, she really didn't want to bring it up. At least, not now.
And in some way, he could understand that. They were still trying to deal with the aftermath of what had happened in that world- and they were no where close to figuring it out. Despite two conflicting interests here, it would be best to try and keep some situations from coming up- at least for now. They didn't need to add any more unnecessary stress.
He sighed, briefly regretting that he had put himself in the middle on this one. "Sorry, the lady said no."
"Fair enough."
Even Kidman seemed surprised that the conversation died as quickly as it did.
He didn't know why he was surprised that Joseph let the topic go as quickly as he did. Maybe he had expected him to push for it- after all, getting shot by your partner wasn't exactly something that could be brushed under the table. But he simply finished messing with his glasses and slipped them back on, before he went back to his coffee.
It didn't take long for him to notice that they were both staring at him.
"What?"
"How's your head doing?" Sebastian questioned.
"Better than yours." Joseph replied; his answer coming across as snarky.
He probably deserved that.
"I get it. In the heat of the moment, you pulled the trigger and I stepped in the way, that's it." he continued. "You can't stop a bullet."
It was a hell of a lot more than that, but... that was his partner, never sweating the small stuff.
"… In all seriousness though, Seb, you should really get that head injury checked out." Joseph insisted, sounding concerned this time around. "It might be a concussion, or a skull fracture- or you could have minor brain hemorrhaging."
"I'll be fine." Sebastian loosely assured, as he brushed off his concern once more. He briefly touched at the small open wound at the base of his head, aware that it had at least stopped bleeding for the time being. Oddly enough, it didn't hurt quite as badly as it looked like it should've- at least, the pain was no longer on the verge of causing him to black out. He thought the paramedic was going to pass out when he first examined it. "... Although it's going to be hell trying to figure out how I'm going to explain it."
It wasn't like he could tell a doctor that some giant guy with a hammer managed to catch him on the down swing. And that he was fucking lucky to still have his head intact.
"I'm sure neither of us are looking forward to the inevitable questioning that's going to follow this." Kidman spoke.
"Yeah, it's going to be difficult explaining the black eye." Sebastian started, perhaps coming off more sarcastic than he intended to.
"I'm telling them you did it." she replied, without missing a beat.
Joseph chuckled briefly. "I'd believe it."
Sebastian roughly elbowed the other man without thinking and heard him hiss in pain at the motion, before he grabbed at his right shoulder. Immediately, he realized his mistake with the gesture. "Shit-"
"Wrong shoulder." Joseph quickly replied as he dropped the pained act and went back to drinking.
He thought Kidman was going to choke on her coffee.
"You piece of shit." Sebastian muttered, before he caught himself laughing. "I should've left you with that Boxman."
"I wish you had."
Kidman shook her head at their short bantering; she was glad that they were at least talking again- or talking at all in that case. It had been a rough journey to get out of the STEM world and neither of them were willing to open up about it. Just as long as they were alive and back in this world, nothing else seemed to matter. At least, for the time being. It wouldn't take long before people would start asking questions and asking them to make sense of what had happened back at the Beacon mental hospital.
She would simply deal with that bridge when they came to it- if she decided to stick around for that long anyways.
"So what are your plans now?" Sebastian asked, directing the question towards her. She seemed deep in thought, not that it was uncommon right now, but... it seemed like something was picking at her. And after experiencing what they had, realizing that she had some part in it, he was curious as to where she was going to go now. Obviously, whatever company she was involved with was already gone, but for some reason she voluntarily stayed behind.
Kidman gave a light shrug as she leaned back against her chair; fingers still pushing at her cup. "I don't know. I'll probably stick around and do some damage control. After all, if I disappear now, that'll make me seem suspicious, won't it?"
"I couldn't possibly see why." Joseph dryly remarked.
"I guess I'll just have to see what my boss says." She continued, taking a sip of her coffee now. "He's a real stickler for the rules sometimes."
"Sounds like an asshole." Sebastian replied.
"Most of my bosses are."
It was Joseph's turn to nearly spit out his coffee as he tried to stifle back a short laugh. "Well... you're not wrong."
It was good to see them in somewhat high-spirits- at least they had enough life back in them to make short jokes at one another. Before any of this STEM shit had happened, they were on good terms but rarely did they go outside of their boxes; well, it was mostly Kidman who had seemed rather distant and stiff at times- although he couldn't push the blame off of himself either. He was just as guilty as being somewhat antisocial and cold.
But after a situation like that... it was nice to venture into a new kind of territory.
"You may think I'm an asshole, but just remember that I'm one of the only reasons you two are still standing here. You'll do well to keep that in mind." Sebastian reminded, although he knew damn well that they would. It wasn't something necessarily easy to forget- but he was damn glad he happened to be in the right place at the right time in some situations.
It was a cold thought imagining them not being here with him right now.
They both gave a nod and mockingly raised their cups to him.
He rolled his eyes in return.
For what it was worth, they were alive... and that meant something.
A/N: How many stories can I have solely based on different possible endings for TEW? Dozens, at this rate.