"There's been a report of an accident-"
"Damn that was fast." Jaxon said, preventing Rob from hearing the rest of the reporter's sentence.
"Hush." Rob held a finger towards Jaxon.
"There are no signs of any bodies, but witnesses say that there were two men in the truck and they had been firing at a van, the whereabouts of the van and the passengers conditions of that vehicle are unknown."
"Another unsolved case that we caused." Haley said, taking a bite of her cookie.
"Don't talk so loud, someone could overhear you." Lance snapped in a whisper.
"It's Waffle House, everyone's really cool here." JJ said, holding his cup out while the waitress refilled it with some cola.
"What are you doing?" Vickii asked as Sammy took the lemon slice from her cup. Sammy ignored her and shoved the lemon into her mouth, having the peel stick out as she smiled at a little boy. The child had been crying, but stopped and giggled when he saw Sammy's face. The father followed his son's stare and made eye-contact with Sammy. Sammy kept smiling and waved at the man. The man smiled back and mouthed 'thank you'. Lance grabbed Sammy's arm and made her spin around in her bar stool, having her face the counter again.
"Jealous, much?" Sammy chuckled as she took the lemon slice out of her mouth.
"Never." Lance stated with a straight face and ate a forkful of eggs.
"So we never figured out sleeping arrangements." Tori said. "We checked out three rooms, tossed everything in one of them and headed straight here. Who's sleeping where?"
"I got this." JJ grabbed a napkin and a pen. He drew three boxes and started to write down names. "We'll put Tori, Fabian, Rob, and Haley in one room. Jaxon, Vickii, Hope and myself in another and that leaves Lance and Sammy with the third one." JJ let out an 'oh' and started scribbling out names. "Or we could put all of the girls in one room, the boys in the other and use the third as a storage unit."
"What's wrong with Sam-Sam and Lance having their own room..." Hope put her hands over her mouth and giggled when she got it.
"Would all of you grow up?" Lance scoffed. "We'll talk more about this when we get back and knowing how this group works, we will all end up in the same room anyways with half of us on the floor, two people actually using the beds, someone in the closest, another in the bathtub and one on the couch."
"That sounds pretty accurate." Fabian admitted.
"Dibs on the bathtub." Sammy chuckled and finished her milk.
"You are not sleeping in the bathroom!" Lance snapped lowering himself in embarrassment when he noticed that half of the diner was staring at him.
"Don't be so loud, someone might overhear you." Haley said, a smirk on her face.
"Shut up." Lance growled.
"Anything else I could get you lovely people this evening?" The waitress asked.
"The check please." Lance put a hand over Sammy's mouth, knowing that she was going to ask for yet another cup of milk.
"Do you think the bodies faded away?" Jaxon asked as everyone cleaned up.
"I thought bodies only did that when killed by a weapon." Hope said.
"And if they do that without a weapon, wouldn't the souls be left behind?" JJ added.
"They most likely just made a mistake, you know how unreliable the media can be sometimes." Lance stated as he handed money to the cashier.
"Give me the keys, I'll drive us back." JJ said. Lance didn't bother with arguing and handed the younger man the keys as he signed the receipt.
"Shotgun!" Jaxon yelled and ran out of the diner.
The group was now sorting through the bags after getting back to the hotel. They left almost everything in their bags, ready for having to leave in a hurry at any moment. They figured that when they were tired, they'd separate or settle down for bed, no longer caring where anyone went anymore. They were playing a very lazy game of Truth or Dare, which was mostly just truths with the occasional dare, the dare usual being making someone get up and grabbing a snack or a drink.
"Gotta pee!" Sammy announced and hopped up, running into the bathroom without another word.
"It's probably from the six cups of milk that you drank." Lance called.
"Don't judge me!" Sammy called back.
"My turn, Fabian, truth or dare?" Hope asked.
"Truth."
"Shocker." Vickii chuckled.
"Alright, who's worse at driving, Tori or JJ?" Hope asked.
"Neither of them are terrible, Tori just gets angry and JJ's...scary." Fabian answered.
"Scary? What do you mean scary?" JJ asked.
"Do you even know what a speed limit is?" Rob said. Sammy came out of the bathroom, drying her hands off with a towel and felt as if there was a sudden change in the air. Something felt thicker and harsher than what it was just a moment ago.
"Do you even know what a gas pedal is?" JJ snapped.
"He's just trying not to get us all killed." Vickii said harshly.
"Shut up, you bitch!"
"At least I can admit that I'm a bitch you fucking whore!"
"Neither of you are getting anything done by yelling!" Hope snapped.
"Look who finally has a voice!" Tori scoffed.
"I've always had a voice! Mine's just not as annoying as yours!"
"I wouldn't mind if you didn't have a voice sometimes." Haley said to Tori.
"Pretty sure everyone thinks the same of you!" Tori shoved Haley away from her.
"Don't shove her!" Jaxon pushed Tori.
"Don't shove her!" Fabian pushed Jaxon as well.
"I love that the only time you show that you have balls is when your girlfriend is involved!" Jaxon mocked. "What about the rest of us!?"
"He's too much of a chicken to worry about us." Rob said.
"I'll show you who the chicken is!" Fabian tackled Rob and was about to punch him when Sammy screamed.
"Stop!" Everyone looked up at Sammy and saw that she was about to cry. "What is wrong with you!? What is wrong with all of you!?"
"Sam-"
"Why weren't you trying to stop them? Why did you just sit there?" Sammy yelled at Lance. "We were just fine a moment ago and suddenly everyone's pissed off for no reason!" Sammy stormed through the room. "Call me when you're all done being assholes." She said before slamming the door shut behind her.
Sammy sniffed and wiped at her eyes. Why was she crying over this? Her friends are probably just testy. It's been a long drive with little sleep and the all need some sleep, everything will be fine in the morning. Right?
"Everyone yelling at each other?" Sammy turned around and saw herself staring at Gwen. Sammy only huffed and turned her arm into weapon form, ready to attack. "I don't think that's a good idea." Gwen warned before stepping to the side, avoiding Sammy's attack. "You're a little weak at the moment."
"Fuck off." Sammy tried to attack again but didn't have enough energy to keep her arm in weapon form. "I don't need my ax to fight you." Sammy lunged forward and landed face-first onto the ground when Gwen avoided her again.
"Stay." Gwen said and stepped on Sammy's back when she tried to get up. "Ethan, Liam, cut the spell." Sammy looked up and saw the two men that were in the truck walk away from the side of the hotel building. "By the time they recover and will look for her, we'll be long gone."
"You're taking me away, again?" Sammy asked.
"Yes, but this time it's different. I don't want them to find you so quickly this time, I need to make sure you're ready to see them. There's a couple little things I need to do to you this time. Lisa made you weaker and I needed you to settle a bit before casting the rest of my spells."
"Like hell I'm letting you do that." Sammy pushed against the ground and rolled away from Gwen. Sammy was about to take off, but the men grabbed her. She took in a deep breath to scream, but a hand cut her off.
"Guess I'll cast the first one now. I've been working on this for a while, made it especially for you." Gwen put a hand on Sammy's forehead. "This spell will make you do whatever I say and you'll do anything to accomplish what I tell you to do. You'd call it brainwashing I guess. You've felt this before, right? With my mother? But this time, there will be no going back. There will be no making you return to normal with a few words. No, the only way to break this spell, is for you or I to die." Gwen chuckled as she felt Sammy's struggle get weaker and weaker. "So, enjoy the last few moments of your freedom, cause when this is done, there will be no more of your morals. No more of your dreams or your desires. No more jokes. No more sarcasm. No more Sam." Gwen jerked Sammy's head back and the girl went limp.