A/N: You can follow my brand-new Twitter account for updates on my writing and also for the random nonsense that bounces around in my brain. http: / / twitter . com / # ! / Duck_Life22 (without spaces)
Ashley helped Ryan put the bookshelf back into its original position behind them, and then the four runaways began trekking down the dark tunnel, following the beam of Detective Ryan's flashlight. "There's some old subway tunnels leading out of here," said Jenny as they picked their way through the rat skeletons and assorted debris on the ground. "Good way to get around the city."
Ashley had been using a hand braced on the wall to keep from falling or bumping into something or someone, until he came across something lumpy, wet, and slimy attached to it. He jerked his hand back from the wall and retracted it to his side, deciding to keep his focus on Ryan's light to lead him.
"Everyone who knows about this place," said Ryan, "except for us, and now you, is dead." The epitome of safety, one might think, but his statement had two separate possible meanings- it was a good thing, that nobody knew about the tunnel, and it was a bad thing that people who knew about it tended to end up dead.
They made their way down the passageway until they came to a wide room- more of a cavern, really- with electric lanterns mounted in four corners. Jenny lit the lights while Ashley and Alexis surveyed the room in awe. Huge shelves stocked with food were pressed up against the walls, two air mattresses were pressed up against each other in one corner. Murals and patterns were painted along the walls, presumably by Jenny in an attempt to make the dungeon-esque chamber more friendly. A whiteboard hung on one wall covered with information about the murders of Kate Beckett, Rick Castle, and too many others.
"And you're really the only people that know where this is?" said Ashley, turning to the detective, who was pulling out lunch trappings.
"Yeah," said Ryan, taking a carton of milk out of an icebox in the corner. "Way I hear it, Castle didn't give a thing, not even the location of his favorite hideout." Jenny shot a glance at him, but it was too late, the words were out. Alexis felt herself stumble and grabbed at the wall to stop herself from falling.
"Wh-what?" she stuttered, playing what he'd said over again in her mind as she began to derive some sense of it.
"Sorry," muttered Ryan, eyes darting away from her as he busied himself with the sandwiches.
"My dad was tortured?" she said. Ashley let out an inaudible gasp- he hadn't yet reached this conclusion. The room was spinning, and Alexis twisted at the ends of her hair as if to stop it. She'd had to deal with the loss of her father, and that had been more than enough trauma, but now, finding out about this…
"They never broke him," said Ryan, like it would help. "He went out spirit intact." Stuffy cavern air rushed in and out of Alexis as she tried to take in both oxygen and the situation.
"How?" she said finally.
"No," said Jenny abruptly, surprising the other three with her firm tone. "Never ask that question." The truth was, Jenny wished there had been someone there to stop her from asking "how" after her fiancé had been tortured. She did what she could for the girl who'd lost both her parents. She didn't even know the extent of what had been done to Castle, she just knew that she didn't want to know and didn't want Alexis to know.
"Lunchtime," said Ryan, holding out a tray laden with four turkey and cheese sandwiches. His attempt to reduce the tension was incredibly see-through, but they were all very hungry and didn't mind. He set the tray in the middle of the floor and pulled up yoga mats for them to sit on.
"This is really good," said Ashley around a mouthful of turkey, more content now that they were off the subject of torture. Alexis nodded in agreement, but she was still torn up about the news.
"Alright," she said as they neared the last bites of their sandwiches, "if I can't ask how, I at least want to know what. What happened after I left? Who else is gone?" She'd kept up with the news after running away, but it was hard to keep an eye on everything and keep on the run the whole time.
Ryan gulped his milk, caught between his own desire to not discuss painful events of the past and the fact that Alexis deserved to know. "You went into hiding after Martha Rodgers' death, right?" he said, knowing he was right. She nodded. Martha's had been the fourth murder after Captain Montgomery's funeral. Before she died, there had been the double-shooting of Beckett and her boyfriend Josh in the hospital, and also Castle's abduction, inquisition, and eventual death. "They went for her best friend next," said Ryan, trying to think in facts and news stories and not dipping into actual memories. "Medical Examiner. Lanie. She was home, asleep, and somehow the shooter got through the patrol, up to her apartment." An unexpected shudder ripped through him, and Jenny took one of his hands. She knew the next part of the story and hated that he had to tell it.
"My partner," said Ryan, "he'd been dating Lanie. He was with her that night… they said he must've been standing in front of her when…" He didn't finish the sentence, and he didn't need to. "Anyway," he said, clearing his throat, "I knew I was next. I got paranoid, careful- that's how you survive, you know. Always kept my gun on me, never let Jenny out of my sight." He put an arm around Jenny, as if to accentuate his point. "I found the bomb in the venting system- like I said, paranoid incessant checking. My first thought was to get rid of it, but then I realized: this could be our chance at getting off the grid. I went back to the precinct and talked to the other ME, Perlmutter- shot walking home that night- and he gave me the bodies."
Alexis hadn't realized until now that she was clutching Ashley's arm so hard that her knuckles were white. She relaxed her grip and saw reddish crescent marks where her fingernails had dug into him. Apparently he hadn't even noticed, as caught up in the story as she was. "Thirty-seven," said Ryan. "Thirty-seven people including the Captain have died because of this man. Maybe more, it's hard to tell, he covers his tracks. Hires people to kill other people in the region and then shoot the detective assigned to the case. And then those people always get shanked in prison." He laughed- bitterly, without joy. "Some people say the Twelfth Precinct is cursed."
It wasn't the 12th, though, and Alexis knew it. It was Kate Beckett and anyone who had known her. A tiny apocalypse had exploded around her and endangered everyone she'd ever come in contact with. And how could you stop an apocalypse?
