Brittany's face showed no sign of physical pain. She had learned to keep that ability to herself. She may not have much control over whose face is in the mirror, but Brittany had her own ways of making Drake's life more difficult.
She could feel a slight tingling as the fire burnt her legs away, but nothing more. She continued screaming, happy that she could finally go to heaven with Tanner. Her real Tanner, not the imposter who had been trailing her since the Demon and her had become one.
"Sam!" Edilio yelled, running to his friend's aid.
Sam had been shot.
His knees buckled, the flame in his hands sputtering before finally dying. He collapsed on the ground. Brittany was still suspended in mid-air, watching the war unfold beneath her. Caine shot a worried look in his direction, but kept his composure. A handsome boy Brittany didn't know was smiling sadistically, a smoking gun held fiercely between his fingers.
And now, Brittany could feel herself regenerating.
No, she begged, please let me die.
Brittany began to cry. Crying for Edilio, who she had always admired. Crying for Sam, who still wasn't getting up. Crying for the sadistic boy who had shot him, and even for the Demon. And now, crying for the strange girl who ran screaming onto the dock, screaming out a boy's name.
Lance.
She hurled herself at him with such force he didn't have time to react. Neither of them had a gun now, as Lance's slid off of the dock. Both sides paused, not knowing what to make of it. The girl was clawing at his face, her hands coming away covered in blood.
As soon as Lance threw the first blow back, chaos ensued.
Brittany couldn't take it all in. Her entire body was good as new, and the repulsion she felt by that fact was stifled as she saw children—children—killing each other. Edilio was dragging Sam away, telling kids around him to keep fighting. Lance and the girl were rolling around on the dock, trying to kill each other. Many more were shooting at each other, some trying fruitlessly to shoot Brittany. And a few were rolling around on the ground screaming as a young girl stretched her hands out towards them.
Caine was still holding her in place. Brittany hated Caine, but it seemed as if he had switched sides. She smiled. She was glad he had changed his ways. She didn't struggle against him. In fact, Brittany turned towards him; their eyes meeting for an instant. Caine's eyes were hard, but Brittany tried to make hers say, "I trust you."
Astrid fell to the floor at Sam's feet, a trail of blood now pooling around her knees. Her hands wiped some of the splattered blood from Sam's face, all the while screaming at the top of her lungs for Lana, who was already pressing her hands into the gunshot wound in Sam Temple's side. Edilio cringed, only remembering bits and pieces of what Astrid said.
"Save him!"
"What the fuck happened down there, Edilio?"
"Oh God. No, no, no."
Eventually, when all Astrid could manage were silent screams and hoarse sobs, Edilio walked over to her, helping her off of the ground.
"Come on, Astrid. You don't want to watch." His words, though meant to be comforting, brought an entirely new wave of panic to Astrid.
"No! Lana, you can save him, I know you can! Try harder!" She kicked against Edilio, who grudgingly held her back, bringing her into a meeting room off of the Town Hall's foyer. In the dark, Edilio could barely see Astrid, who had suddenly gone limp. Oddly, this worried Edilio more than the hysterics of before. He grabbed Astrid's shoulders, shaking her slightly.
"Astrid, you need to calm down, okay? Be calm. Think." Her eyes looked through Edilio, her mind seemingly not understanding anything from the outside world. He brought her over to a bench, and she sat down, still not looking at anything in particular. Sitting down next to her, Edilio sighed.
It was the last sound either of them made for the rest of the night.
Much later in the morning, Edilio went down to the docks, finding them empty. He immediately ran to Orc's house, hoping that maybe Drake had been housed there again. Edilio saw Howard, and sprinted the rest of the distance between them.
"What happened? Where did everyone go?" Howard shook his head.
"I don't know. A lot of kids aren't okay. I'm not sure what happened, maybe you should go to John and Lil's place. That's where everyone is right now."
Edilio thanked Howard, a knot forming in his stomach. If Drake had been captured, surely Howard would have known about it by now. And what did he mean; a lot of kids weren't okay?
Edilio didn't want to know what he meant.
He was tired of always knowing.
The scene within Lil's house was not a pretty one. Children were lying wherever there was room, as Lana walked amongst them, trying to save the ones who were injured the worst. Lil noticed that the situation wasn't improving; the children who had been attacked by Drake were not healing. She had left the house shortly after the influx of children had arrived, sitting on the back porch that now held too many bad memories. Diana and Caine were not home, and Lil suspected they were now with Sam and Astrid, trying to figure out their next move.
Drake was captured. That was the good news. Zil and Penny, two people Lil hoped she would never see again, were dead. Lance had shot Sam. And Lil, who didn't think she could hate Lance any more than she already did, surprised even herself as a wave of fury washed over her for the millionth time that day. And he had been the one who lived. After shooting Sam, he had been swarmed by Edilio's soldiers.
Beaten senseless.
Lil could at least be grateful for that.
"Hey, you alive out here?" Brianna now stood in front of her, still covered in blood and sand from the night before.
"Barely," Lil replied, "but I'm doing a lot better than most." Brianna nodded solemnly, sitting on the ground next to Lil. She gave her little sister a curious look, which Brianna read instantly.
"They're figuring things out on their own, I guess. They don't need me." Brianna paused, her cheeks burning red for a moment.
"Lil, what the hell happened to you last night? One minute you're standing next to me at the beach, and the next you're being dragged into the water and flung into the air and-"
"Yeah, that was… not good. I still don't really remember what happened." Lil thought of Drake, and cringed. "What's wrong with the kids in there? Why can't Lana help them?" Now it was Brianna's turn to cringe.
"I have no idea. Caine… well, I don't like him, but at least he was trying. I guess Drake got too close to him though. He's got a pretty nasty gash on his arm. After he hit Caine, his arm… thing… did something weird. Whenever it whipped someone, it," Brianna stopped and furrowed her brow, unsure of how to continue. Lil wasn't sure whether or not she wanted her to.
"The cuts burned like they had been hit with acid. Kids were freaking out; they didn't know what to do. Caine eventually got him back under control, but this-" Brianna motioned to Lil's living room, where she could still hear people wailing in pain, "-is what he left behind."
Astrid held Sam's hand as he walked towards the outside of town. He really didn't want to do this, but Caine and the rest of the council had convinced him.
She wanted to die.
She wanted to.
He repeated the mantra in his mind, feeling a weight pressing down on him with each step. He didn't want to have more blood on his hands, especially someone who had done nothing wrong.
"Think of Drake," Astrid said, sensing his thoughts. Sam sighed.
"I don't want to be that angry with Brittany." He said, and Astrid squeezed his hand. Orc and Howard nodded in Sam's direction when they neared Caine and Diana's house. Diana was next door, refusing to be anywhere near Drake.
Sam didn't blame her.
He blocked out his hearing to the crying next door, and walked around to Caine's backyard. He waved to Brianna and her sister sitting on their porch, trying to seem relaxed.
He wasn't.
Sam walked in the back door of Caine's house, where his brother sat, exhausted, in a plush recliner.
"He's in the basement." Caine said rubbing his forehead. Sam nodded, and Caine's eyes shot open, boring into Sam's.
"I swear to God, brother. If you don't kill him, I will. And it sure as hell won't be as humane as whatever you have planned." Sam fought the urge to laugh. Even in the worst of times, Caine had to be the tough one. Instead, he opted for a small smile, and nodded again.
"Yeah, I know."
Sam descended the stairs, not taking Astrid's advice.
All he could think about was poor, poor Brittany.
When he walked into the basement, Brittany was sitting cross-legged in the corner, playing with a Rubik's cube someone had given her. She was filthy, covered in sweat, blood, and sand. Sam's shoulders sagged, but Brittany lifted her head expectantly.
"Sam!" She cried, almost excitedly. "Is it true what they've been saying?"
"What who has been saying?" Sam shot the two boys guarding her a look.
"Hey man, it's just as much her fault as… his." Sam motioned for them to leave the basement, and they did so hurriedly, sensing Sam's irritation.
"What exactly did they tell you?"
"They said today I get to see Tanner." Sam felt something build up in his throat, and he coughed.
"Uhm, yeah Brittany. You do." Brittany smiled, but it was a sad smile, and Sam could see that she almost pitied him.
"Well, I'm ready. Do it."
"Are you sure you're ready for… this? You just seem really upbeat, is all." Brittany nodded. Sam nodded in return, and raised his hands. Brittany's face lit up.
"Wait!" Sam lowered his hands, but kept them poised towards her.
"I can hear it—and him—in my head. He let the Healer go to send a message about Drake. She can't heal them… not when it's because of him. He said Drake will just get more powerful, and that you can't stop him. And," she added proudly, "he can feel pain now. I get to keep that power to myself."
Now it was Sam's turn to smile sadly. He thanked Brittany, and asked her if there was anything she wanted Sam to tell anybody. He hated this. He felt like an executioner.
Which, he had to admit, he kind of was.
"Yes. Two things, actually. Tell Edilio and Mickey that nothing that happened to me was their fault, and in the end, I got to be happy." Brittany paused now, seeming unsure as to how to continue.
"And tell Caine he did a good job today. He's not as bad as he thinks."
The finality of what was said hung in the air around them, pungent and depressing. Brittany turned suddenly to her left and smiled at someone who wasn't there. Sam cringed, turning his palms back towards Brittany.
"You ready?" Brittany nodded a final time, lying down on the cold pavement of the unfinished basement floor.
"Hell yeah."
The entire room exploded with light, and Brittany's feet disappeared. Sam still worried.
"Can you feel anything?" She shook her head, and motioned for him to keep going. He did.
He tried as hard as he could to ignore the sight of her, the smells and the sounds no body should ever make. He travelled up to her knees, and saw that her smile had grown, despite small tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. Just as he reached her chest, she laughed, an odd noise amongst the fire.
"Thank you, Sam Temple. You really are an angel."
And then she was gone.