xixixix
3. Chasing Ghosts
xixixix
"This place is heaven!"
Cordelia squealed in an entirely undignified manner as she held up a gorgeous purple blouse against the light. It was genuine silk and shimmered against the faint morning light. She hugged the soft silk against her chest. This was the real deal. No more cheap Walmart crap for her.
"Not that I don't enjoy a good scavenge like the next guy, but shouldn't we be on the look out for any big nasties?" Gunn complained. He stepped over the shattered glass from the shop door they had broken and peered out on the street.
Cordelia paid him no mind. The shop looked as abandoned as the rest of the town, but for some reason all the shelves and racks were filled with brand new clothes that were only moderately dusty. She couldn't believe her luck.
But Kate was eyeing the shop dubiously.
"This doesn't feel right. The owners could come back for these things. We shouldn't take anything," Kate said. She was clearly disapproving of Cordelia's idea of a free shopping spree.
"Are you kidding?" Cordelia snorted. "Who's going to return to this hell hole? I bet we could burn this place down to the ground and no one would notice a thing. They might even set up a parade for us."
"Didn't you just say this place was heaven?" Kate frowned.
"I only meant that in the most shallow, materialistic sense there is." Cordelia smiled sweetly.
"You mean in the sense that you get to steal expensive clothes without consequences?"
"Ladies, enough with the yammering." Gunn turned to them. "I'm betting no demon within five mile radius is gonna come anywhere near us if you keep making so much damn noise."
"Well, aren't you lucky you got stuck with us then." Cordelia grinned at him. Gunn rolled his eyes.
"I have to agree with Cordelia - reluctantly," Kate added as she saw Cordelia's satisfied expression. "It's better if we drive them away from us rather than towards us."
"Yeah, well, one of them's definitely keeping watch on us," Gunn said grimly. He was eyeing a foggy alleyway on the opposite side of the street.
"What?" Cordelia whispered and crouched beneath the shop window. She poked out her head, just enough to see the street. "Did you see one of them?"
"I saw movement there and I'm betting it wasn't a raccoon. At least not if Angel was telling the truth that there are no animals here."
Kate came to stand by Gunn's shoulder, weapon at ready. "Should we check it out?"
Cordelia was still looking towards the alley. "Are you sure you weren't just imagining it? It's so foggy out there I can't see squat. Let's see, there's white, white, more white, and then - oh, wait!"
Gunn crouched down next to her. "What is it?"
"There," Cordelia pointed. Seeing her own shaking hand unnerved her, and she quickly put it down. "It looks like - a human, maybe?" The form she had seen started moving and Cordelia jumped back, crashing right into Kate.
"Ow! What the hell -"
"Kate, shush!" Gunn said. Cordelia looked over at his tense features. So, he had seen it too.
"That thing ain't no human..."
They watched in silence as the gray human shaped blob distinguished from the misty surroundings. It was hunched over and trashing from side to side, as if struggling to get free.
And as it got closer, Cordelia realized, it really *was* struggling to get free.
Its skin was wrapped around it like a straitjacket.
"What the hell is that?" Kate whispered.
Gunn squared his shoulders and stood up. "Let's go find out."
"What? Are you crazy? Get down!" Cordelia hissed.
"It doesn't seem to be moving that fast. If it's dangerous it's best we get it first than let it hunt us down when we're not looking."
Kate stood up as well and nodded. "I'm ready."
"Kate!"
Kate looked down at Cordelia. "You can stay here, if you want, but Gunn's right. We can take it."
Cordelia bit her lip and dared a look at the creepy creature making its way down the road. The way it was moving sent shivers down her spine. But, it hadn't seem to have noticed them yet. They could take it down caught unaware, if they moved quickly.
"Okay, I'm coming too. No way I'm staying here alone."
Cordelia grabbed her sword and tiptoed after Gunn and Kate.
Gunn and Kate were already moving like experts, giving each other hand signals and poising their weapons. The creature still continued moving down the street making its jerky, writhing movements and it seemed entirely oblivious to their presence.
But as Gunn edged closer to it and poised his axe for attack, the creature suddenly turned around and swung its body straight at him like some sort of blunt missile. Gunn let out a cry of surprise and quickly ducked out of the creature's reach. It had no weapons other than it's own body, but it was unnaturally fast and strong. And disturbing as hell.
Then, as it turned towards Cordelia and Kate, Cordelia realized with dawning horror one other thing wrong about the creature. It had no face.
"Holy shit!" Kate yelled next to her. "What the hell is that?"
"I don't know, but it's coming right at us!" Cordelia shouted. She started retreating, holding her sword high with shaking hands.
Kate seemed to have steadier hands than Cordelia did, as she carefully took aim with her gun and shot the creature several times. The creature started trashing even more at the impact of the bullets, but they didn't stop it from proceeding towards them.
Then suddenly, Gunn appeared behind the creature with a war cry and sunk his axe in its skull. It twitched for a moment and then unceremoniously fell down on the ground. A large pool of dark blood formed around its head.
"Oh thank god..." Cordelia breathed out.
But she didn't have much of a break.
"Guys -" Kate said, looking over Gunn's shoulder. "I think it brought friends..."
Cordelia lifted her head and saw several more creatures appearing from the mist. And sure enough, they belonged to the same clan of straitjacket-skin wearing monstrosities as the first one.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Cordelia shouted.
"This ain't no joke," Gunn said, "I say we run!"
"I concur!"
Cordelia sprinted off to a side street that she remembered they had passed by earlier. The street seemed to go uphill and she saw a sign with a red cross ahead.
She glanced behind her shoulder and saw that Gunn and Kate were following her. While the creatures were definitely on the list of creepiest uglies she'd seen so far, they didn't win points for running speed. They were still trashing their merry way on the main street.
Cordelia looked to the side and saw a door that was slightly ajar. It seemed to lead to some kind of a grocery store. Great, she thought, a hiding place *and* food!
"Guys!" she called out to Gunn and Kate. "In here!"
Yet more creatures appeared from an alleyway nearby and Kate started shooting towards them.
Cordelia went to the open door and peeked inside. It was clean and smelled of bread and fresh fruit. She didn't know how that was possible, but at this point she didn't care. She took one more step inside and looked around. There was a back door and more importantly, no creepy crawlies.
She turned back to the door, to yell for Gunn and Kate, and then froze.
There was no door.
Panicked she looked around. There was no window either.
In fact, now that she blinked, it was suddenly pitch black as well.
"Oh crap..." she whispered, her heart pounding. "I'm totally trapped here, aren't I."
I'm totally trapped in the dark and all alone.
xixixix
Wesley left the living room, utterly confused.
He walked back down the hallway, clutching yet another Unabridged History of Silent Hill in his hands. There seemed to be several of them in the bookshelf he had found. 12 identical copies, in fact. Most of the rest of the books in the shelf were old, leather bound and worn at the edges. They were also all filled with blank pages.
The only books that seemed to have any text in them at all were those about various histories of the town. Mining operations, history of agriculture in the region and so on... All very normal and common enough topics.
All written by the same man; the publishing dates spanning over a period of 150 years.
The last records about the town were written about 30 years ago. After that the town did not seem to have had any inhabitants. A true ghost town.
Wesley glanced at the book he was holding. Unabridged History of Silent Hill by Thomas William Gate.
Mr. Gate had been quite a prolific man during his 200 odd years of living.
Wesley shook his head. It was ridiculous. Would it kill them to find one normal location for once? Yes, he supposed it might. After all, it was Angel who had led them here, unknowingly perhaps, but still drawn towards a place shrouded in mystery and - no doubt - death. And now Wesley had volunteered to spent more awkward time watching over Angel, instead of joining the others in finding a way out of the place. He hoped Angel would at least have had the decency to have fallen asleep by now. Wesley couldn't quite decide whether to be touched or annoyed by Angel's pathetic attempts at reconciliation with him. His gut reaction was to be derisive more than anything, he supposed.
Then sometimes, when he felt like challenging himself, he wondered why was it so important for him to resist in the first place.
Wesley didn't get far in that line of thinking, as he stopped and stared suspiciously at the bedroom door. It was ajar.
"Angel?"
Cautiously, he opened it and saw that Angel wasn't lying on the bed anymore. There was a blood stain on the covers, where his wound had bled. Angel was nowhere to be seen.
Wesley frowned and looked around the room. It was a small bedroom with one bed, very few pieces of furniture and an en-suite bathroom, not many places to hide. He retreated back to the hallway. He considered for a moment calling out for Angel, but thought better of it. Instead, he went back to the room, took his crossbow and picked up a flashlight.
He had barely started walking down the hallway, when he saw movement in the shadows ahead.
A woman.
She was staring at him. Her wet hair dripping water on the floor.
Wesley held up the crossbow and took a step closer. The woman took a step back, right in the beam of light coming from a small window.
Wesley's eyes widened in shock.
"Justine?" he said hoarsely, "What -"
The woman shook her head, turned around and started walking away. Wesley ran after her, his mind stuck between disbelief and utter shock. He rounded a corner and saw that she was already descending the stairs to the lower levels.
Wesley clicked on the flashlight and went after her. The flashlight bounced across walls and furniture in a dizzying spin, as Wesley chased the woman. Her form kept coming in and out of view in the narrow beam of light. She was turning corners, running through dark hallways, always just out of reach. Wesley hadn't realized that the building was this large from the outside. The hallways seemed to go on forever.
Then he saw Justine's hand disappear behind a corner, leading to yet another dark hallway. Now she was nearly within his grasp; he rounded the corner and reached for her -
And ran straight into someone. They both let out a surprised cry and stumbled down on the floor. Wesley landed on top of the other person, his breath knocked out of him.
He raised himself on his elbows and looked at the person lying under him.
"Angel?"
"Wesley? What are you doing here?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing."
Wesley squinted at him. He could barely make out Angel's features in the dim corridor. The flashlight had rolled further away, just out of his reach.
"I think I saw someone -" Angel started, then shook his head. "No, it couldn't be. It'd be impossible -"
"Who did you see?"
"Holtz."
Wesley frowned. "Holtz? That's -"
"Yeah, I know. I was probably just imagining it."
"Maybe you weren't..." Wesley said quietly, considering the improbable coincidence of them both seeing apparitions of Holtz and Justine in the same place.
"Wesley..."
"Yes?"
"You're still there."
Wesley looked at him blankly for a moment, before realization hit and he tried to get up. He didn't get far. Angel had placed his hands over Wesley's waist and kept him in place.
"Angel?"
"Hmm?" Angel brought his face closer to Wesley's, tracing Wesley's jaw lightly with his lips. Not kissing, barely even touching, but close enough that it brought chills down Wesley's back.
Wesley held still, he didn't know what Angel was playing at now, but he didn't move either. He just waited.
He didn't have to wait for long. Angel turned his face so that their lips brushed against each other and that at least was a clear sign. It was just them in a dark corridor - well, two can play this game, Wesley thought. He took hold of Angel's shirt with his hand and pulled him up, their lips crashing against each other. Angel spared no force in kissing him back, and Wesley knew exactly how to respond to that. He pushed Angel down against the floor, moved himself into a better position, and bit down on Angel's neck.
Angel threw back his head in pleasure and lifted up his knee, so that it ground straight against Wesley's crotch. Wesley lifted his head up at that, panting heavily.
In a dizzy haze, he looked back down only to realize that Angel had gone oddly still under him. Still - and completely quiet. Frowning, Wesley pushed himself up on his hands again, and blinked his eyes until he made out the form beneath him, outlined by the faint beam of the flashlight that was lying on its side, further away.
Realization hit and he cried out in shock, scrambling to his feet so fast he nearly lost his balance. Shaking in helpless repulsion, he closed his eyes and then quickly opened them again.
No, it was still there.
He stared at the rotting corpse on the floor in front of him.
The corpse's skin was mostly gone, revealing a grinning skeleton beneath. Its clothes were torn and faded, most of them lying in shreds on the floor. It was clear that the corpse had been there for quite some time.
Wesley leaned his shoulder against the wall, still shaken to the core. He looked around the hallway, but there was absolutely no sign of Angel or anyone else.
It was just him and the corpse on the floor.
Then the vile smell of decomposing flesh hit him and he nearly retched. Wesley didn't even dare to look down what might have gotten on his clothes. He grabbed his flashlight and the crossbow and made his way back to the apartment, and the small bedroom as fast as he could.
Without pause, he tore open the bathroom door and started stripping off his clothes.
The water from the old creaky pipes came up in a narrow lazy stream that barely constituted a shower, but at the moment Wesley didn't care about anything except ridding himself off from all traces of the dead body.
xixixix
Fred was looking at the shopping list in her hand.
Matches, batteries, bullets, blankets, warm clothes, water, bread, cans of fruit, tuna cans, just any cans, any fruit, or any food... any food at all really. Well, actually, she had stopped writing at 'tuna cans' and then just underlined the word 'food' three times.
She sighed.
And so far there had been none.
What did they expect really? This town had obviously been abandoned for years. She doubted they would find any edible food here at all, aside from expired cans of anchovies maybe.
She looked up and saw another store window across the street.
"Hey, that looks promising!" She ran up to the window and her face fell.
"Oh, look, you found another hardware store, well done you," Faith said. She patted Fred on the back.
"No need to be sarcastic," Fred scowled. "I seem to be the only one here who remembers that we need to eat sometimes as well. To do that, we need to find food, and so far you two haven't been very helpful at that."
"Hey, food's not a problem since we've got Master Huntsman at our service," Faith laughed and pointed at Connor.
Connor walked over to them, looking annoyed. "That wasn't a joke. I could really hunt something for you, if you want."
"Sure thing, honey, I got it." Faith grinned at Connor. "Except didn't Angel say that there were no animals in these parts? You picking up that too?"
Both Fred and Faith looked at Connor curiously. Connor seemed uncomfortable under their scrutiny. "I don't know. My senses aren't as strong as his," he finally admitted.
Faith flung her arm around his shoulders. "Don't worry, you're still young. I'm sure you'll pick it up later."
Connor pushed her arm away and walked to the store window next to Fred. "We could still take some supplies from here. These places sell tools, matches... that kind of thing, right?"
"Yeah," Fred nodded. "We should take a look and see if there's anything we need."
"What about food then? We've got enough for a couple of days, haven't we?" Faith asked.
"Yes, but seven people consume food at a faster rate than we have been able to keep up with, especially when some of them -" Fred eyed Faith pointedly, "tend to repeatedly exceed the rationed portions. We're going to need to restock sooner rather than later. And every time we do that where there are people... well, the bigger the risk is that Jasmine is going to catch us."
"So, better stick to the outskirts then," Faith said. "And hey, once we get out of this hellhole, we could find a nice little hunting patch for Junior here."
Connor scoffed at her. He went to the store door and was about to reach for the handle, when he froze. He looked up and turned his head towards the road where the buildings disappeared into thick fog.
"I heard voices. Someone was shouting," he turned to look at Fred. "I think it was Gunn."
Fred paled. She knew it. She had known something bad would happen if they went out...
But not to Charles, she thought furiously, not here and not now.
"Something must have gotten to them," she said bitterly. She looked at Connor, resolve in her voice. "Where is he? Can you tell?"
"Maybe on the other side of those buildings, I'm not sure... But if we get closer I can track them down."
"Lead the way, kid." Faith raised her crossbow and nudged Fred. "Get armed and ready, girlfriend, we're going to rescue your guy."
Fred didn't hesitate. She held the gun Wesley had given to her at ready and when Connor sprinted into a run, tracking the voices, she and Faith followed right behind him. But when they had ran down the street only for a minute or so, Connor came to a halt.
Fred looked up and saw what had stopped him.
A man was standing in the middle of the street, just barely visible in the ever-present fog swirling around him. Fred could see that he was tall and wore dark clothes. Maybe a long black coat?
"Is that Angel?" she asked Faith in a low voice.
Faith pointed up at the sky. "How could he be? It's the middle of the day, Fred."
Fred squinted up at the sky where she could see the faint light circle of the sun behind the clouds. But the clouds were heavy and dark, and it looked like it was going to rain.
"But maybe the clouds are dark enough..."
Faith shook her head. "It doesn't work that way. Daylight is daylight for a vampire."
"So, who is that then?" Fred whispered. She looked over at Connor. He was staring at the man, his whole body tense and poised for defense or attack.
"No idea, but I'm getting a real bad feeling about this," Faith said. She lifted her crossbow slightly, so that it was resting against her arm at the ready.
"Dad?" Connor called out.
No sooner had Connor said that when the man moved suddenly sideways and disappeared into an alleyway. Connor was on his tracks in a second.
"I'm going to check it out," he called out to Faith and Fred.
"Dammit!" Faith said, and ran after Connor.
Fred wasn't sure what to do, she could hardly keep up with Faith and Connor, but she was certainly not going to stay standing alone in the middle of the street and do nothing. And Charles might be in trouble, but she didn't know where...
She ran after Faith and Connor.
But before she entered the alleyway where the man had disappeared, she hesitated, then turned around and yelled, "Charles! Charles, where are you?"
Not hearing any reply, she reluctantly turned back to the alley and started to follow Faith and Connor's echoing footsteps.
"Wait for me!"
xixixix
Wesley had been surprised to find clean clothes in the bedroom wardrobe.
They were plain cotton clothes, old and worn and most half-eaten by moths, but they fit well enough. Wesley had left his only change of clothes in the car and he sure as hell wasn't going to wear the ones he had just taken off.
He was just pulling on a coarse gray cotton shirt, when the door opened. Wesley immediately reached for the crossbow, but froze when he saw Angel standing by the door.
Angel looked at him for a moment and then closed the door behind him.
"Why are you changing your clothes?"
Wesley's throat felt dry, he had to make an effort to keep his voice steady. "I had to take a shower."
"So, I guess the pipes work then?" Wesley could only nod in response. Angel gave him a small smile. "That's good. I'm sure the others will be pleased."
Wesley said nothing, he had trouble keeping his voice - or his racing pulse - in check, still helplessly consumed by the memory of Angel underneath him.
He watched as Angel walked over to the bed and laid down.
"Where were you?" Wesley managed to ask after a moment.
Angel shrugged. "I went out."
Wesley frowned at that. He looked at the window, and the light coming from behind the curtains. "In the middle of the day?"
Angel closed his eyes. "I kept to the shadows."
Angel looked like he was going to fall asleep. Wesley felt the same dread and suspicion he had felt earlier starting to creep back and settle in his bones. Barely repressing a shudder, he took a few steps closer to Angel.
As far as he could tell, this Angel seemed solid and real enough - but so had the apparition he had met earlier.
This Angel looked the same as the one - the real one - whom Wesley had last seen sitting on that bed, asking if he could help. But now, there was something odd about Angel lying there... Wesley's eyes were drawn towards Angel's chest. And after a moment he realized; he couldn't see any blood on his shirt. In fact, there was no arrow hole in his shirt at all.
"Did you change your clothes as well?" he asked Angel, although he already knew the answer.
"No," Angel said, without opening his eyes.
Wesley stepped back. There was that same naked horror he had experienced when he had seen Justine staring at him in the dark hallway.
He closed his eyes briefly and when he opened them he expected to see that rotting corpse lying on the bed instead of Angel. He didn't.
Angel was still there.
Wesley backed to the door, he grabbed the bag he had left on the armchair.
"I'll go and see where the others are," he said hastily.
Angel didn't respond, he seemed to be asleep.
Or maybe he wasn't there at all.
Wesley took his gun from the bag and left to find the others.
xixixix
Kate ran up the street, Gunn trailing right behind her.
They were leaving the ever growing numbers of faceless creatures behind them, but now they were facing a new problem.
"Cordy!" Gunn was yelling. "Cordelia! Where the hell did she go?"
Kate shook her head. "I didn't see her. One minute she was there and then she was just - gone."
Kate had holstered her gun. She had ran out of bullets soon, but she still had the crossbow strapped to her back. But she doubted that arrows would work on the creatures, if bullets didn't even slow them down. So far, only Gunn's hubcap axe seemed to have done the trick.
"I think I saw her going up the hill," Gunn said, then pointed ahead. "Hey, see that? A hospital sign."
Kate squinted up the road and saw a large sign with a red cross in it. As they ran past the sign, the road started becoming steeper and the buildings were farther apart. They were going up a hill leading away from the town center.
Kate glanced behind her and didn't see the creatures anymore.
"I think we can slow down now, they don't seem to be following us up here."
Gunn stopped and hunched over. He held his hands on his knees and panted heavily. Kate pulled to stop too, out of breath herself.
"I can't see them anymore," she said.
She turned to look ahead and saw a large building on top of the hill. The hospital, she assumed. The grounds around the hospital had less buildings and more greenery; the area was littered with grand old oak trees, ornamental park benches and there were even some idyllic willow trees creating leafy arcs over small pathways. It would have been a nice place, if not for the ominous white fog hanging above the ground like a shroud. That, and the high possibility of a gruesome death by nightmarish creatures, obviously.
Gunn seemed to have gathered his bearings again. He was looking around with a concerned frown.
"So, now we just gotta find Cordelia before those ugly ass beasts find her."
If they haven't already, Kate thought grimly.
"Are you sure she ran up this way?" Kate asked Gunn.
"No, I heard her yelling for us, but I didn't see where she went. But I don't think she went back down there anyway." Gunn fell silent. "At least I hope not."
Kate wanted to reassure him that they would find Cordelia. But if she wasn't up on the hill, her chances weren't good back in the town.
Kate studied the profile of the hospital, which wasn't much more than a looming dark rectangle obscured by the fog. It didn't look any more welcoming than the rest of the town. Who knew what kind of horrors an abandoned hospital could hide inside.
Kate nodded toward the hospital. "You think she went there?"
Gunn frowned at the building with the same apprehension that Kate felt. "Well, I wouldn't go there. But since we're kind of short on options, let's just go and check it out." He looked at Kate. "Better take your crossbow."
Kate didn't feel as safe with the crossbow as she did with the gun, but she held it at ready when they started approaching the hospital.
She thought back on the last few weeks, on the run from Jasmine's minions. They had slept in warehouses, in cars, any kind of cramped place they could find, and they were constantly out of supplies and food. They had to take turns to steal whatever they needed in the dark of night, breaking into shops and unoccupied houses. Kate had thought her life had been pretty short on luxuries before, but it was nothing compared to this.
She laughed softly to herself and Gunn gave her an odd look. "If you thought of something funny, please share. I could use a laugh right about now."
Kate just shook her head. "I was just thinking how ridiculous all this is. We drove all the way from LA, escaping from a mad peace goddess, and ended up *here*? Do you guys do this on purpose?"
An amused smile spread on Gunn's face as well. "I've been asking myself the same thing for the past three years. Or maybe I should have been asking that from Angel. I swear the guy has made finding trouble into an art form. If we had ended up in a nice, normal town that serves at least three fast food chains and has zero population of hellhounds trying to kill us, I'd have thought we'd entered an alternate reality." He frowned. "And in our line of work, that's actually a possibility."
Kate grinned. "Yeah, I'm getting that."
"On the other hand, we're not mindless zombies in Jasmine's happy fun land, so I guess we did something right," Gunn shrugged.
Kate thought about that. Would it have been better to just stay behind, enjoy the warm fuzzy brainwashing as long as it lasted and just ignore the implications of everything that entailed. Because the alternative was that she was now running for her life from faceless monsters in a town made of nightmares. Compared to that, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad to just embrace the cult of Jasmine.
Hell, who was she kidding. She hated that touchy-feely Kumbaya crap. Reminded her of that disaster of a sensitivity training she had gone through with Angel. She shuddered.
They had arrived at what appeared to be the hospital main entrance.
Written in large rusty letters on top of the entrance alcove was the name "BROOKHAVEN HOSPITAL".
The hospital wasn't much more than a huge gray block of concrete. Kate didn't think it would look any more inviting even if it were in function. Right now, it was as abandoned as the rest of the town and all the more off-putting.
"You really think Cordelia would have come here?" Kate said.
"Yeah... no shortage of gloomy here."
Kate snorted. "Well, gloomy's one word for it."
Kate started towards the entrance, but Gunn held her back. "Might not be a good idea to go in there."
"We should at least check if there's anyone there, right?"
Gunn's mouth was set in a tight line. "I'm thinking we might find something else than Cordelia there..."
Suddenly Gunn let go of Kate's arm and stepped a few steps back towards the town.
"Did you hear that?"
"What?"
"Someone's - Shit, that's Fred's voice!" Gunn swirled around to face Kate. "Hurry, we've got to -"
Gunn let out a loud cry and his face twisted in horror.
Kate was immediately on alert. "What is it?"
"Oh god, Kate. No..." Gunn closed his eyes and grimaced, then looked over her shoulder. "What the hell -"
"What do you mean? I don't -"
"I'm - I'm so sorry, Kate..." Gunn's features were stricken. He started slowly backing away. He took one last look at Kate, then turned around and started running back to the town.
Kate couldn't understand what the hell had happened. She lost a precious few minutes just standing there confused. When she finally made a move to run after Gunn, he had already disappeared into the fog.
Kate looked behind her, trying to see what had spooked Gunn so badly. But she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.
Instead she saw something wonderful. There was someone inside the hospital entrance.
A man in a blue police uniform.
Disregarding all fears about facing Jasmine's minions, she ran to the entrance.
Finally, there was at least something normal and familiar about this place.