This chapter contains a character death and some religious folks using their religion to be terrible.
At first, it goes well.
The Revlings are clearly surprised and alarmed regarding the dinosaurs, and react mostly by trying to shoot them. The bullets go sideways, not harming any of the reptiles but injuring several of their own. While they fall over themselves, yelling, Vince points out Jordan stealing more weapons from the beds of their trucks during the distraction. Chris rubs Mitch's shoulders and mumbles nonsense in a reassuring tone. The Revlings continue trying to shoot, but mostly shoot each other or nothing at all.
"How you doing in there, Dwight?" Vince asks into his radio.
"Loud and unpleasant but it's holding," Dwight replies. "Out there?"
"Good, so far," Vince says.
And this is true. The Revlings are unable to fight their way past the dinosaurs. They throw at least one grenade toward the school, but nothing actually explodes. There's a minor fire near the bike rack that doesn't accomplish much.
There are people- Guard, cops, volunteers- standing by the entrances with various non-gun weapons, but they're just standing, watching. The Revlings were not at all prepared for dinosaurs, and the raptors attacking them at the knees and the pterodactyls diving in above them are taking up all of their attention. They can't use guns, they can't use the grenades in close combat, and the grenades that they're trying to use have clearly been sabotaged.
For a moment, Audrey thinks they didn't need to be so worried after all. But only for a moment.
In the end, the downfall does not come from gun or grenade. The downfall comes from a megaphone. One of the Revlings grabs one and stands on the roof of a truck to yell at them. Even on the roof, Audrey can hear it clearly.
"The Lord has looked upon you and he has judged you harshly!" the Revling booms toward them. "You have been deemed abominations and Cursed. If you repent of your heinous sins you might yet be saved. Those of you who continue to repel God and spit upon nature will in turn be repelled and spit upon!" A small vibration runs under Audrey's feet at his words.
"Don't listen to him. Just keep focused," Chris says soothingly to Mitch. "Thank Darwin we're atheists."
"Ignore him, Jordan," Vince orders into his radio.
"You are Cursed! Deformed! Forsaken, unless you repent your sins and ask for forgiveness! If you do not turn away from your filth, you will surely perish!"
Another tremor runs through the building, and this time, Audrey knows it's not her imagination. "You feel that?" she asks them.
With the exception of Nathan, who just winces a bit, they all give her small nods.
"Okay, Mitch, think you can get some of the pterodactyls to take him out?" Audrey asks.
Mitch gives her an alarmed look. "I'm not supposed to have to hurt anyone! You told me that I don't have to be a killer!"
"You don't have to, Mitch," Chris says, shooting Audrey a rather disgusted look.
Vince pulls out his crossbow and fires a bolt at the preacher. It flies toward him before abruptly bouncing backward and dropping harmlessly to the ground. Vince tries twice more, with the same result.
"Force fields!" Chris exclaims. "Hypocrites."
Audrey pulls out her phone and calls Charlotte.
"Someone's panicking down there," she says.
"We know," Charlotte replies. "Earthquake Trouble? Honestly, Mara?"
Audrey ignores this. "Check for Caldwells." It could be Marion Caldwell, or a relative, doing this. Then again, it could be at least a dozen other Troubles, and Audrey no longer knows the names associated with those.
The man- the new preacher, she supposes- is still spewing hatred into his megaphone. Another shudder runs through the building. Nathan careens sideways a couple steps and is caught by Duke.
"That's strange," Nathan comments, clutching Duke. They're both too pale now.
"How quickly can we evacuate?" Audrey asks.
"We can't," Charlotte replies succinctly. "Not without massive losses."
Of course. It's a makeshift hospital- Audrey's seen for herself that many of the Troubled within are unconscious, sedated, or otherwise immobile.
"Find whoever's Trouble is acting up and then find someone emotionally competent enough to calm them down," Audrey orders.
"We're working on it," Charlotte says, and hangs up.
Audrey stows her phone. "We're waiting it out. Nathan, how's the balance?"
"Unnecessary," Chris quips, as Duke and Nathan are still grasping at each other. Audrey notes, distantly, that this is really par for the course for them. They are so prone to manhandling each other during danger that even in her reality it has become a running joke among the rest of Haven PD.
"-abominable filth unto the Lord! You have abandoned God, and so God will abandon you to your putrid rot. Your Curses, your deformities, will doom you to suffer eternally-"
The next tremor is intense enough that Vince falls to his hands and knees, curly hair swinging. Audrey hears something shatter from below and barely stays upright herself.
Vince pulls himself to his feet, trying to disguise the difficulty in the motion. The rumbling takes longer to subside than before. Audrey can hear some unpleasant groaning and splintering sounds from the building, paired with some shouting. Duke's coughing from the dust.
"Is this building earthquake-proofed?" Audrey asks suddenly.
"This is Maine," Nathan says.
"This is Haven," Audrey retorts.
"Point," he concedes. "I doubt it. Building's too old."
The juddering has stopped, for now, but the building beneath them is still making alarming noises.
The Revling is still talking, working himself into a furor, but she tunes him out. Audrey wonders if this was the plan all along- to stress the Troubled in the building until they destroy themselves. It's sick, and Audrey feels the old rage rising toward the surface. She takes a few breaths, pushes it back down.
"Okay, Mitch, let's try to shut this guy up before something cataclysmic happens," Chris says nervously. "If it's not him doing the force field…"
"You want me to attack them?" Mitch asks, horrified, and Audrey remembers that hurting others was the fear that cost him control last time.
"I know, man, I know," Chris says gently. "But if he keeps talking… I know this isn't your responsibility, but we are standing on top of this fragile building full of fragile people in this fragile fucking town-"
"His point is, we can't just let this happen and you're the one with the power right now," Audrey interrupts, giving Chris a stern look.
Mitch takes a breath and shakes his head. "I think I'll lose control."
Audrey sighs. "Right. Duke…?"
Duke clearly saw this request coming. "Since the Trouble-bomb, any number of them could be Troubled, right? It's probably not just that one?"
"I don't know," Audrey says, impatiently. "We don't have an abundance of options."
"Well, this still isn't one of them," Duke says as another tremor hits the building.
Vince falls over again, and this time Audrey goes too, scraping her palms against the concrete. She stays down until the shaking dies down, then hauls herself to her feet before pulling Vince up.
The shouting from below lasts longer this time.
Vince's radio crackles. "Power's out," the voice on the other end says. "There are probably generators, but we don't know where they are. Still haven't found the shaking Trouble."
"Keep looking," Vince barks back.
The dinosaurs are still keeping the Revlings away from the building, but their movements are growing increasingly erratic.
"It's okay, Mitch, you don't need to hurt anyone," Audrey says hastily. "You're not hurting anyone. You're just protecting all the people in here who need it, and that's good. You don't have to be dangerous to be strong. I know this is scary. Hang in there."
"I'm not sure this is working," Mitch says, voice strained.
"Don't let him get to you," Nathan adds, voice low. "He's wrong. About everything."
The preacher's still going on, but Audrey's trying hard not to listen. Her worst instincts want to find him, reach into him, and turn him into his own worst nightmares. She longs to turn him into the kind of monster he's describing into a megaphone, to let him wallow in his shame and hypocrisy for the rest of his short life.
The building shakes again, violently, and more alarming sounds- shattering, crunching, groaning, crumbling- come from below as Audrey's thrown to her knees again. Vince has retreated to the roof entrance, where there's a railing for him to hold onto. Audrey climbs back onto her feet before the shaking subsides.
"Somebody do something!" she shouts.
It takes a longer time for the building to still again, and when it does, Audrey can only see the silhouettes of the Revlings and dinosaurs due to all the dust in the air.
"Can you hold on?" Chris is asking, a sharp focus in his voice.
"No," Mitch chokes. "It's slipping. I'm gonna lose the control."
"Stay calm. Don't panic," Audrey says, perfectly aware of how incredibly unhelpful the advice is. "Breathe and focus."
Chris ignores Audrey completely. "Mitch. If you can't hold on, get rid of it. Send them away. Better to lose the defense than to have the dinosaurs attacking our people too. Okay?"
"They'll attack," Mitch says pitifully. "I'm all we have."
"No, you're not," Chris replies. "You're just doing your part. This isn't on your shoulders."
The preacher is still screaming and another quake hits the building. Everyone falls but Vince, still clutching his railing. Audrey manages to do a controlled fall and turns to look at Nathan, who is clearly baffled by the oddities of balance without feeling. He looks disoriented, but he landed on top of Duke and neither of them appear to be injured.
When the building stills and she stands again, the dinosaurs begin viciously attacking the Revlings and then vanish abruptly. Audrey tries not to swear.
"-the Cursed who have died from their unnatural afflictions were smited by the Lord for their transgressions and burn in punishment for eternity! Repent or you too-"
A loud, sudden siren pierces the air and forces them all to clap hands over their ears.
"Fire alarm," Audrey says, unable to hear her own voice.
The first one to react to this development is Duke, who jumps to his feet, scoops up a startled Nathan in a bridal carry, and sprints down the stairs and out of sight.
Hands still on her ears, Audrey follows them, with Mitch and Chris right behind her and Vince presumably right behind them. She concedes one hand to a railing in case more quaking, wincing at the painful volume of the shrieks.
The stairwells are packed with panicking people. Audrey stops to haul up a familiar-looking woman who'd fallen and was at risk of being trampled. People are carrying others, and visible Troubles are manifesting all around her. It's chaos.
The building starts shaking violently again and Audrey grabs the handrail for dear life. It's the most violent one yet and an enormous rumbling crash comes from the other side of the building, abruptly cutting off the alarm.
Chris grabs her arm and pulls her forward. His other hand is pushing Mitch along. "We have to keep moving!" he shouts over the din.
After what feels like an hour, but is probably less than thirty seconds, Audrey stumbles out the door into the open, but filthy, air. People are calling for each other frantically. Some are trying to fight their way back into the building, but are being held back.
"Get back! It's coming down! Get back!" someone with a Guard tattoo is yelling.
Audrey's savior instincts kick in and she starts pulling people back, waving them away from the building. Chris joins in beside her, a very reluctant look on his face.
The shaking starts back up, loud and violent sounding, and a young woman darts under the arm of a Guard man and rushes toward the building. Chris sprints after her, yelling.
A large section of the wall groans and collapses.
As soon as the shaking starts to settle, Audrey's running.
The dust hasn't cleared, but she locates him by his coughing. He's sprawled on the ground with a large piece of debris across his abdomen to his thighs and a dumbstruck expression on his face.
"Chris!" she says, dropping to her knees beside him. "Can you hear me?"
He nods weakly at her. "Don't move it," he tells her. "There's a pipe or something- it's in me."
Audrey nods. "Rescue's on the way," she says, even though rescue might very well be tied up with something else. "Is there a doctor?" she hollers.
An older woman yells, "Coming!" and jogs over. "Oh, dear, that looks- oh." She stops talking to gaze at Chris. "Oh, what a world, that something like this would happen to a great man like Chris Brody."
Chris's whole face seems to crumple. "No," he whispers. "No, don't-"
Mitch runs up, panic on his face until he looks at his cousin and his expression is instantly glazed over by vapid adoration. "It's such an honor to be related to you, Chris."
"Oh, Chris!" says someone in the crowd.
"You're the best of us, Chris," calls another.
"No!" Chris groans. His teeth are stained grotesquely with blood. "Mitch, please don't."
Mitch is too foggy with insipid worship to realize what's happening. "I wish I were just like you, Chris. You're the best."
"Back off!" Audrey shouts. "Give him some space! Get back!" She turns to Chris, grabbing a hand. "Now listen here, you dick, you're not going to give up here. You're going to hold on until some people show up with a crane to rescue your pathetic, whimpering self- are you paying attention, you ass-clown?"
Chris is coughing again, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he smiles at her for a moment before his head tilts back limply.
"Good! So listen up, you stubborn, misanthropic loser, because you don't get to quit on me again! Hey! Stay with me, douchebag! Dammit, cocksucker- nincompoop! Moron! Shithead! Dew-beater! Idiot-pants! Twat-scab!"
"Chris!" Mitch yells, suddenly panicked. He runs over and drops to his knees. "Oh no, oh god, Chris!"
The glassy, stupid worship is gone, replaced by plain horror. Chris Brody's Trouble is gone. Audrey drops his hand by his side, feeling suddenly sick.
"Mitch. Mitch, he's gone," Audrey says.
"No. No, dammit!" Mitch exclaims. "No, I was right there, and I couldn't- I couldn't do anything but…"
Audrey checks to make sure her hands aren't shaking, then reaches out to close Chris' eyes. "I'll give you a minute."
She stands and walks away from the collapsed building, unsure if the burning in her eyes comes from grief or dust.
Nathan and Duke are standing a few yards away, looking horrified. Duke is still carrying Nathan, bridal-style. Nathan appears to have forgotten.
"Chris Brody is dead," Audrey tells them.
"Damn," Duke says. "Sorry. I know you two were… close, once."
Audrey shakes her head. "Yeah, but it's not about that. He didn't deserve this. He just wanted to help."
"I know," Nathan says. "And I know we should take time, but are the Revlings still here?"
Audrey closes her eyes for a brief moment. "Probably. I'll talk to Mitch for a second and then we can go try to deal with them."
"Back to work," Nathan sighs. "Duke, put me down." Duke makes a face and kisses him on the forehead before complying.
Audrey walks over to Mitch, lying a hand on his shoulder. "I'm going to go deal with the Revlings, all right? And then I'll come back."
Mitch stands suddenly, a ferocity in his eyes contrary to the meek nerdiness she's become used to in him. "The Revlings," he spits, hate in his voice. "They did this." He takes off sprinting around the side of the fallen building.
Audrey sighs to herself and chases after him, for no other reason than that there might be survivors- and Jordan- in the vicinity.
As soon as she rounds the corner, she sees the horde of dinosaurs- still just raptors and pterodactyls, thankfully, but dozens of them- attacking the Revlings. She can't see clearly through the chaos, but it's clear that many of them are being torn apart limb from limb. The noise is horrific. She can't bring herself to care. They all appear to be Revlings, and that's all that matters to her.
The preacher is crouched, terrified, still on the roof of the truck. His force fields appear to be holding- dinosaurs keep bouncing off the invisible barrier. Jordan, a few yards away, is kneeling in the bed of one of the trucks, crossbow aimed steadily at the preacher.
Audrey does nothing.
In the face of this kind of rage, there's little she can do- she could kill Mitch to save the Revlings, but frankly, she doesn't really care. In the face of the kind of carnage caused by the collapse, the retribution strikes her as fair.
Nathan and Duke step up behind her. Nathan makes a horrified sound, but doesn't make a move to do anything either.
"Yeah, I still have too many nightmares about them kidnapping Nathan that one time to care about this," Duke says frankly. "You White Hats want to take care of this?"
"Kind of no," Audrey replies casually. There's no way she could admit something like that in front of them in her world, not now. They wouldn't think of the hatemongering or the lives crushed underneath the building- only of the monster they're afraid she is.
"What about the one with the megaphone?" Nathan asks.
Duke shrugs. "Either Mitch or Jordan will outlast the force field. Come on, we should go try to help with the rescue efforts."
"M-Audrey!" Charlotte calls, jogging up to them. Her normally pristine hair is mussed and her hands and face are scratched. "You're all right."
"Yeah," Audrey says. "Did you find the Troubled person?"
Charlotte nods. "A man whose wife and child both succumbed to their Trouble before the Barn. He took the megaphone man's words rather personally. We tried to talk to him, but were unable to calm him down sufficiently. Officer Rafferty told me to run and pull the alarm. She stayed behind." Charlotte punctuates this with a long look to the remnants of the building.
"Damn," Nathan swears softly. "Rafferty…"
Charlotte sighs. "Did Vince make it out? Dwight- who is unharmed, by the way, and still in the bunker- says he isn't responding to his radio."
Audrey freezes, backtracking.
Duke's eyes are wide. "I was focused on getting Nate and me out. I haven't seen him since the roof."
"He was behind me," Audrey says slowly. "When I left the roof, he was coming too, but the stairwell was a stampede and I haven't seen him since."
"He's a tough old bastard," Duke says slowly. "But we should have seen him by now if he made it out. Damn."
"We should go back and help with the rescue efforts- there'll be some survivors under the wreckage," Nathan says. He sounds exhausted, and is listing against Duke slightly.
"Not many of them," Charlotte says bluntly. "Not compared to the dead and dying. And the dying, and the family members- I'll be shocked if another destructive Trouble doesn't go off here within the hour, and there are Troubles this bad or worse all over town. It's too late. We've failed. Don't lie to yourself." This last part is directed at Audrey.
Audrey shudders. "You think we should undo it." She's been trying so hard not to think of the possibility, but she slips a hand into her pocket, and Mario Burns' contact information brushes her fingers. She doesn't want to. She so desperately doesn't want to. But she's known for hours, maybe a day now, that she would have to.
"Undo the Trouble? The one that brought Audrey back- or brought her here?" Nathan asks, glancing between them, alarmed.
"Not precisely," Charlotte says clearly. "The Trouble in question created an alternate timeline, in which-"
"We know," Duke interrupts rudely. He's pale, and clutching at Nathan in a way that would probably hurt if he could feel it.
"If you undo it, Duke and I, we won't… We won't be…" Nathan trails off, and Audrey nods. Nathan grimaces. "You know I'd do anything for you, for this town, but what you're asking…"
Duke's shaking slightly. "It's really that bad?" he asks, voice low. "That's really the best thing for Haven? You're sure?" He's looking at Audrey, wanting the answer from her.
The eye contact burns and she looks away. "It's not better for me. Or either of you. But Haven isn't… We're struggling and it's bad, everything's different, but we're not falling apart like this."
"The people were prepared in ways they aren't now. It was awful, especially the first few days, but the false hope here is pulling everything apart," Charlotte says. "I don't think it's done getting worse. Our Haven is recovering, coping, right now, and yours is collapsing. We tried, but this isn't going to work."
Duke winces, long and deep. "Okay," he finally whispers hoarsely.
Nathan stares at Audrey. "One condition," he finally says.
Audrey raises her eyebrows. "Anything."
"Tell me the truth," Nathan says. "The other me. Tell me about Duke, that it works. That I'm happy. Tell me everything." He's staring at her intently, fiercely.
Audrey nods, even though the very thought makes her uncomfortable. "Okay. Look, I think I can carry things back with me. If you want to write letters, to yourselves or each other, I'll carry them back with me."
Nathan nods slowly. "And you'll deliver them?"
"Yes," Audrey says.
"Promise me," Nathan replies.
Audrey sighs and looks at the man she still loves. "I promise." Nathan nods.
The moment is broken along with the preacher's force field. They all turn to dispassionately watch him die screaming.
When that's done, Audrey says, "If we're gonna do this, I need to call Claire. Give her a chance to… I dunno, prepare. Write her own notes if she wants."
"Claire," Duke says, a little brokenly. "Damn. Anyone else?"
Audrey's eyes flicker to where Jordan is still sitting in the bed of a Revling's pickup.
"Jordan?" Duke asks. "Shame. She's helpful. And snarky. And O-neg."
Audrey closes her eyes, rubs her brow. "Okay. You go and write letters. I'll talk to Claire and Jordan. When I'm done, I'll text you the address of the man whose Trouble this is. We'll meet there and do it. Okay?"
"You're sure?" Nathan asks quietly.
Audrey shrugs miserably. "I don't want to do this to you. You- you look so much better here. You're content, you're… I dunno, happier. You too, Duke, but Nathan… But yeah. Yeah, I think we have to. Sacrifices, and all that." After all the sacrifices she's made, this should be easier, but it's not.
Nathan looks at the ground, nods. "Okay. I don't want this either, but I trust you."
Audrey winces again, because he shouldn't. "Okay. I'm so sorry about this. See you soon." She pauses, then adds, "Duke, you should call Evi… and Wade."
Duke's jaw drops open slightly. "No," he says immediately. "What? No, they're not even from Haven. This isn't their fight." Audrey just gives him the most sympathetic look she can muster. "No, that's not- that's not fair. I can't even call Evi, she's underground…"
"What? Isn't she in prison?" Nathan asks.
Duke shakes his head. "No, she got out, I was gonna surprise you when we signed the divorce papers- it doesn't even matter now. Fuck, and Wade?" He sounds about an inch away from tears.
"I know," she says, but she can't offer him anything else.
She turns away from them, pulling out her phone. She pulls up Claire's contact information and stares at it for a few seconds before making herself push the button.
Claire answers immediately. "I heard about the high school," she says grimly. "Is it time?" Claire's voice is so calm that Audrey assumes she must be referring to something else.
"Claire, we have to undo the timeline change. We- we have to go back. I'm so sorry," Audrey says. Her voice cracks toward the end, but she's had a lot of practice holding herself together.
"All right," Claire says. "How long?"
"Today, soon, but I can give you time to prepare," Audrey says. "And I'll carry back any letters you write, if you want, and deliver them."
Claire sighs. "In your timeline, how long has it been since I died?"
Audrey bites her lip and does the math. "A little over a year."
"And you said my clients are taken care of?"
Audrey nods. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure."
Claire's quiet for a long moment. "My job is my passion. It's what I do, it's who I am. There's very little else. I have no one to write to." She pauses. "But there is something I need to give you. Can I see you before it happens?"
"Yes," Audrey says. "Yes, I'd like that. I'll text you the address."
"Okay. How are you holding up?"
Audrey considers the question. She's done a lot of things in her life that would nearly rip most people in two. She's made a lot of impossible decisions and learned to live with that.
"This is hard and terrible, but I've dealt with worse," she says. "Though now I get to go tell Jordan that she's dead, and that's gonna suck."
Claire inhales a sharp breath. "Try to be gentle with her. Lie to her, if you have to. Don't traumatize her any more than you have to, particularly if she's not activated yet. She should be able to hold someone's hand at the end, if she wants to."
Audrey agrees with the sentiment, even if the thought of lying to Jordan alarms her a bit.
"Okay," she says. "I'll do what I can."
"Good luck. Try not to beat yourself up- it's what has to be done," Claire says gently.
Audrey takes a deep breath, postponing the crying jag that she's definitely gonna have later. "Thanks, Claire."
"See you soon," Claire says, and hangs up. Audrey steels herself and glances back. Duke and Nathan have left, but Charlotte is still standing there, watching impassively. Mitch and his dinosaurs are gone now too, leaving nothing but a pile of shredded men behind.
Audrey turns back and walks up to Jordan.
"I know I should be helping with the rescue efforts," Jordan snaps as Audrey approaches the truck. "I just needed a moment." She looks exhausted, like they all do, and Audrey remembers that she almost certainly got even less sleep last night than the rest of them.
"It's okay," Audrey says, hoisting herself up into the bed beside her. "You don't owe me anything." She pauses, then asks bluntly, "How's your Trouble?"
Jordan shrugs. "Still in remission. Probably not for long. Who told you?"
Audrey ignores this. "You know how I'm immune? To the Troubles?"
Jordan gives her a sideways look. "I'm aware. Why bring it up now?"
"Because this whole reality is a Trouble," Audrey says slowly. "A man named Mario Burns tried to give someone a gift, in my reality, and it changed things going back a few years. In my reality, the Barn was destroyed. The Troubles never stopped. I'm still there, which is why I'm here- my immunity."
Jordan blinks at her. "Wow," she says dryly. "The whole world is a lie and I'm not even surprised anymore. I guess that explains a lot. New Troubles were contained in the Barn or some shit?"
"Not exactly," Audrey says. "It doesn't matter now. It's getting too bad here, so I have to undo it. I don't have a choice."
"No, you sure as fuck don't," Jordan says bluntly. "You went into the Barn to save us from this kind of disaster- or at least, you did here. You have for a while now. You know how many people have died in the past few days? It's only gonna get worse. So yeah, if shit like this isn't happening there, then you'd better take it back. I'm just glad it's your problem and not mine."
Audrey swallows and says it simply. "You died there."
Jordan goes very still, eyes freezing on the torn corpses of the Revlings. "How?"
"You got in the way of someone's out-of-control Trouble," Audrey says, honestly enough. "It was quick."
Jordan grimaces in an angry way that shows all her teeth. "Fuck. All I wanted was to live to be normal again, and I couldn't- fuck."
"And we have to go back there," Audrey says gently. "I'm sorry." It occurs to her that she's apologized, and meant it, more times in the past ten minutes than the previous few months.
"And I was still Troubled when it happened," Jordan says brusquely, staring angrily at her own bare hands. Her pretty manicure is wrecked. "I never got-"
Audrey sighs. "These past months that you've had, this last year- it's real, and it matters. Even if it's not going to stick." Jordan doesn't react to this, just keeps glaring. Her eyes are stretched wide, trying not to let the tears fall. Audrey's familiar with the trick. "Is there anyone you want to write to? I can deliver a note."
Jordan abruptly jumps to the ground and begins marching toward one of the sections of the school still standing. She yanks open a door and goes into a near classroom- math- and finds a blank piece of graph paper. Audrey stands respectfully back while Jordan scribbles a long message, folds up the paper, folds up another piece of paper to tape into a makeshift envelope, and seals the thing.
"Grady Moore," she says suddenly, scribbling his name on the envelope and pushing it at Audrey. "My Guard partner."
Grady Moore, who was killed, skinned, and worn by Arla Cogan. Audrey doesn't say it, remembering Claire's advice. She nods, sliding the envelope into a pocket inside her jacket.
"Anyone else?" Audrey asks, then prods, "I'm sure Dwight would love to hear from you."
Jordan blinks, looking down at the paper. Eventually she just says, "Tell Dwight I said hi."
Audrey nods. "Will do." They walk into the hallway.
A man in a hard hat gives them a startled look. "Hey! You gotta get out of here. Structurally unstable- more of it could come down at any second."
Jordan marches up to him and pokes his bare arm. He steps away, giving her a tired look- this is clearly not the only strange behavior he's seen today- but he doesn't shout.
"Come on," Audrey says quietly, gesturing Jordan toward the door.
"I'm gonna go," Jordan says rather distantly when they're outside. "I need to… I'm gonna go."
"Goodbye," Audrey says quietly. "Thanks for the help. You've been kind of a champion." Jordan gives her a surprised look followed by a watery smile and walks away.
Audrey finds Charlotte, who hasn't moved. She pulls out the scrap of paper in her pocket and her phone, dialing the number.
"Hello?"
"Mario Burns?" Audrey asks.
"Officer Parker," he says, sounding resigned. "I figured you'd be calling."
"Are you at home?" she asks.
Mario sighs. "'Fraid it's not safe to be anywhere else. Do you want me to do it now?"
"No!" Audrey says quickly. "No, not just yet. Stay where you are and I'll come to you. If anyone else shows up- Chief Wuornos, Duke Crocker, or Dr. Callahan- just let them in. They know what's going on. I'm on my way."
"All right. Officer Parker? I'm very sorry about all of this."
Audrey sighs. "Yeah, me too." She hangs up and turns to Charlotte. "Ready to go?"
Charlotte arches an eyebrow. "Of course. You're the one who actually cares about all this."
Audrey grits her teeth. "Great, Mother. You want to help me steal a car?"
As it turns out, the Revlings left their keys in the ignitions, so the car procuration is the easiest part of the process. Figuring out how to navigate the town, which is basically in bizarre ruins, is more difficult, but Audrey lets Charlotte handle it while staring at her own scratched up hands. Every time she looks out the window, she sees some new horror, more dead or dying, one more reason she has to do what she's about to do.
She'd thought this was her chance for everything to be okay, but it's never going to be that easy for her.
Eventually, and after some damage to the truck, they pull up to a modest house on the south end of the town.
Audrey gets out of the truck and walks toward the house and it feels like the Barn all over again. She takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.
Mario opens it. "You're the first one to show up. Come on in." He offers a hand to Charlotte. "I'm Mario Burns; this is all my fault."
Charlotte shakes it. "Dr. Charlotte Cross; no, it's not."
They walk into his house. "Can I get you anything?" Mario asks.
"Coffee!" Audrey and Charlotte say simultaneously. Audrey appends a, "Please."
Mario smiles at them. "Coffee I can do. I'm sure it's been a long few days for those of you on the front lines."
"Absolutely," Audrey says emphatically. She's barely slept.
"Do you want to lie down? I'll get you when the others arrive," Mario offers.
Audrey shakes her head. "No, I'll take a nap when I get back." The statement hits her a second after she says it. She's really doing this.
Mario bustles off to make coffee.
"I wondered how long it would take you to do this," Charlotte comments. "I honestly thought it would have to get worse."
"What, because Nathan's happier here?" Audrey asks.
Charlotte blinks. "What? No, because you are."
"Oh," Audrey says. She considers the matter. "Yeah. I suppose I am. You didn't think I'd just stay, then?"
"No. That's not who you are anymore," Charlotte states. "However much of your rage might be left, you won't doom the town. Intentionally, anyway. At least until they anger you terribly again."
"Your faith in me is touching," Audrey mutters, but she thinks there might be a trace of pride behind her mother's usual blasé indifference.
There's a knock at the door. Audrey opens it to find Claire. She looks shaken, rather pale, but still remarkably put-together. There's a plastic bag with a box inside hanging from her arm.
"Come on," Audrey says, gesturing Claire into the room.
Claire enters, shutting the door behind her, and proffers the bag at Audrey. "It's for you. Don't open it until you get back."
Audrey takes it, glancing curiously at it. "Okay. Thanks?" She hesitates. "Claire, I'm so sor-"
"No," Claire says firmly. "No more apologizing. This, right here, this is the right thing to do and we both know it."
Mario returns. "How do you take your coffee?" He smiles thinly at Claire.
They all tell him and he begins delivering mugs. Audrey drinks it in gulps, probably burning her tongue but not caring. Charlotte and Claire aren't far behind.
"Who else is meeting us here?" Claire asks.
"Nathan and Duke," Audrey says.
Claire nods. "And they're prepared to do this? To sacrifice their relationship to give Haven a chance?"
"Prepared is probably not the right word," Audrey sighs. "But yes, they've agreed. Now I get to deliver their love letters."
"I see. That's an uncomfortable position for you."
"If we get into that therapy session, it'll take longer than we have," Audrey says firmly. She tips the mug into her mouth only to find that she's already finished her coffee.
Claire reluctantly lets the subject drop. "How did Jordan handle the news?"
"Better than I expected. She didn't activate or attack anyone," Audrey says. "She wrote a letter to a dead man and I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it."
Claire smiles sympathetically. "Fortunately, you have experience in the field of having too much responsibility for other people."
There's a slightly stilted knock at the door. Audrey opens it and gestures Nathan inside. He walks- well, honestly, he walks like a very drunk man trying to pass a sobriety test.
He offers her two envelopes. "You promised," he reminds her quietly.
"I know," she says, taking them and sliding them into her jacket. "Look, I'm not gonna try to hijack this. I do actually want you to be happy."
Nathan flinches slightly. "Sorry. I know. I just… I really hate this."
"Oh, me too. In a matter of hours, I'm gonna have to break up with you. God, you're gonna be so annoying about it," Audrey sighs.
Nathan's mouth twitches in what might qualify as a fraction of a smile. "Sorry? But thanks. I… I hope sometime we manage to just be friends and partners again."
Audrey hugs him, careful not to touch any skin, and mumbles, "Me too. You're kinda my favorite." She pulls back and smiles sadly at him. "I'm afraid we've already messed everything up."
Nathan clearly doesn't know what to say, and the silence rapidly becomes awkward.
"Is Duke with you?" Claire asks to break it, even though he clearly isn't.
Nathan shakes his head. "He stopped off at home. Wanted to send himself some photos of Jean."
"Did you drive here?" Audrey asks suddenly.
Nathan shakes his head. "Called Rachel from Accounting- she owed me a favor. Wouldn't do that to my brakes."
"Well, make yourselves comfortable," Mario says. "I'll make more coffee. You all look exhausted."
Audrey's eyeing a comfortable-looking brown armchair, but she's slightly afraid that if she sinks into it, she won't be able to get back up. "More coffee would be appreciated."
Nathan sits down carefully, still not moving comfortably in his body.
"How're you holding up, Nathan?" Claire asks kindly, sitting across from him. He gives her an incredulous look and says nothing. Claire gives him a sympathetic look. "All right. Fair enough."
"I can't lose him," Nathan says finally. "I just really can't lose him."
Mario brings more coffee, and this time, Audrey makes herself sip it slowly. None of them say anything, all listening to the bizarre and chaotic sounds from outside the house.
A few minutes later, Duke opens the door without knocking and walks in, nodding at them. He hands Audrey a normal white envelope and a large, padded manila envelope.
"Did you write me a novel?" Nathan asks, amused.
"That one's for me," Duke says. "Some photos, and yes, I'm wordy. What about it?"
Something about this rings hollow to Audrey- the balance is off, one corner of the manila envelope feels heavier than the others- but she frankly doesn't want to know. She drops the envelopes into the bag beside Claire's box.
Duke turns to Mario. "What's your Trouble exactly?"
Mario makes a strange face. "I don't know everything about it, to be honest, but my family can give people gifts. Change things for them, a little- it always has to be done with good intentions, but I've heard we've done some pretty awful things in the past. I work at Haven Clinic as a lab tech, and I know Detective Wuornos. You've always seemed like a good guy, a civil servant and all, and that Trouble… It just sounded like such crap. I ran into you on the road- you were fixing a young lady's car- and I decided you deserved better than that. I know retroactive Troubles are the most dangerous, but it was only a self-contained sensory Trouble, so I just took away the activation… I really wasn't expecting all this."
"My Trouble?" Nathan asks, alarmed. "This is just my Trouble? Claire- Wade- Jordan- my Trouble?!"
"Indirectly," Audrey says quickly. "Very indirectly. None of them were your fault." Jordan's may have been a little bit his fault, but she decides not to say that.
"Just the Trouble?" Duke has a look of terrified hope on his face that makes him look eight again. (Lucy Ripley, who protected him as well as she could before she went away too.)
Mario nods. "Really, I didn't- well, I didn't think anything like this would happen. It was just a little gift."
"These things are complicated," Charlotte says quietly. "Apparently there were strings attached."
There's a long silence. "Should we do this, then?" Claire finally asks. She's pale, and her gentle resolve is finally starting to crack.
"Claire," Duke says, a crease appearing in his forehead. He turns to Audrey. "If you hold her hand or something, could you bring her back with you? Save her life?"
Audrey shakes her head. "I wish I could. It's not how it works. I can carry over items, but not people. I don't know why." (Sister Catherine, who once attempted and failed to save Joanne Rasmussen by this route.)
"It's all right," Claire says softly, but she's wringing her hands. "If it's the right thing for Haven, then I'll do it." She looks at Audrey. "I was there when you went into the Barn, when you gave up everything to save Haven. Now I suppose it's my turn." She hugs Audrey tightly, then Nathan and Duke. "I don't want to… I'll go wait for it in the kitchen. It's okay, Audrey. I'm okay. Goodbye." With that, she turns and walks with remarkable poise out of sight.
"I really don't want to be doing this," Nathan says quietly to Duke. "I want to be at home, petting Freckles and bitching about paperwork and having dumb arguments about the waffle iron. I hate that I might be losing you."
"Nathan, if you could get rid of me, you would have. Years ago," Duke replies.
"Okay, no," Audrey says impatiently. "Go canoodle in the foyer if you must." They obediently walk out of earshot.
"Are you ready?" Charlotte asks.
Audrey checks her jacket pocket for the correct number of envelopes, cradles the plastic bag with Claire's box and Duke's letters to her chest. "I guess." Nathan and Duke are whispering to each other, foreheads touching, saying whatever it is they have to say to each other at the end.
"Are you sure?" Mario asks. "There's no re-doing it."
Audrey swallows. "I'm sure. Do it."
There will be one more chapter and an epilogue.