"Can you tell me if a bus arrived from Pontiac last night?" He asked.
"Sure did." The clerk nodded, "Are you looking for someone?"
"Thank you." Tommy moved away, ignoring the odd look the clerk gave him. He sat in a random telephone booth, trying to figure out where Jamie could have gone while she was here. He looked down and froze.
There were drops of blood on the floor.
What the hell? Why hadn't anyone noticed this? Now that he was paying attention he could see every once three or four feet there would be a small cluster of crimson circles. Tommy followed them, slipping into the empty women's bathroom. The trail stopped there. He stood there for a while until a noise broke his thoughts.
The sound of a baby starting to cry.
While Wynn stayed back at Smith's Grove, Loomis headed to where they said Jamie's body had been discovered. He arrived just as they were exiting the barn, a teenage girl wearing all white laying cold and grey on a gurney. A dark crimson splotch covered her entire stomach. From listening to the reports of the officers and paramedics around him the former doctor gathered that she'd been impaled on a corn thresher. Burned onto the hay was a symbol. A symbol that Loomis had seen before….
It was during the first few months that he was put in charge of Jinx. She'd wake up at odd hours of the night, screaming that 'they' were going to come and get her. That Seth was one of them, as well as Amanda and her boyfriend. She was never able to specify who 'they' were but she kept drawing a certain symbol over and over.
A straight line with a triangle pointed to the right.
A thorn.
"Took you long enough, old man." A voice from behind him startled him from his reverie. Loomis twisted around and saw a teenage girl with fluffy brown hair wearing a familiar mask. She wore a light pink sweatshirt with long sleeves, a brown skirt that went down to her thighs, and long black leggings that disappeared into a pair of shin high boots. Everything appeared slightly damp, like she'd been out in the rain a few hours earlier and had yet to change out of her soaked clothes. The girl reached up and took off the mask, her dark brown eyes revealed in the morning light.
"Jinx..?" Loomis hobbled towards her as she tucked the mask somewhere behind her back, "Is that you?"
"Nah I'm a figment of your imagination." She scoffed, "Of course it's me Loomis."
"What are you doing here? Where have you been? Where's Michael?" He took a step forward for each question. She put a finger to her lips, glancing around almost nervously. Jinx took a few steps back, peering around the side of the barn. Then she motioned for him to follow her. Once hidden from view she slumped against the barn and slid down to the ground.
"God my feet hurt." She hissed, "I hate running, can't believe some people do this for a living."
"Jinx," Loomis released a breath as he sat down next to her against the building, "What happened?"
"What happened….to me?" Jinx frowned, "Or Dad? Or...or Jamie?"
"All of you." The former doctor said softly.
"I don't know. The same people that took me when I was five did it again. But this time they took Dad and Jamie too." She brought her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, "I...I don't want to talk about it. We're out now, that's all that matters."
"Those people, who are they?" Before the girl could answer footsteps began approaching the corner. Jinx jumped to her feet and backed away.
"I can't tell you here." She whispered harshly, "Meet me at that stupid festival that the college students are putting on. The one that idiot on Back Talk is going to."
Then she was gone, running into the nearby cornfield.
Tommy brought the baby, tucked away in a cupboard, to a nearby hospital. What he was doing there he had no idea. He entered at a brisk walk, going straight to the front desk.
"I need to see a doctor." He demanded.
"What seems to the problem?" The tired looking nurse stared up at him, an annoyed expression on her face.
"It's my baby, it's...there's been an accident…" He was stumbling over his words. The nurse, seeing through his obvious lie asked,
"What kind of accident?"
Tommy didn't know why but that pissed him off. He snapped yelling, "Get me a doctor now!" And then storming off. The baby in his arms didn't seem to react or care, just peacefully sleeping. Didn't wake up even when he shouted. He entered a hallway and stopped in his tracks. He recognized the doctor...or former doctor at this point, standing near the door.
"Dr. Loomis?"
"Yeah?" Loomis turned around slowly. His expression grew puzzled as Tommy drew nearer.
"Dr. Loomis…thank god you're here."
"I'm sorry I don't know you...do I..?"
"Tommy. Tommy Doyle. Laurie Strode, Jamie's mother was...babysitting me the night.."
"Tommy Doyle...what are you doing here?"
"Please I need to know the truth. You heard her last night didn't you? Michael's come home hasn't he? Jinx has come home too, hasn't she?"
"Jinx is the last of his bloodline."
"No Dr. Loomis." He looked down at the baby, who by now had awakened and was beginning to squirm, "She's not the last." Suddenly something dawned on him, "Oh god. There's a family, relatives of the family that adopted Laurie. The Strodes. They're living in the Myers house." He swallowed hard, "Dr. Loomis, about Michael, it's just a theory of mine but-" He was cut off by the nurse from earlier followed by two security officers entering the room. Ugh, really? Was that necessary? Either way it didn't matter he had to get out of here, "Meet me, 9:00, at the campus rally." Without waiting for the former doctor's reply Tommy turned and fast tracked his way out of the hospital.