Hey! *Dodges tomatoes* I know I've been gone forever, and I appreciate each and every one of you if you're still with me! I am grateful for your endless patience! However, you will be delighted to know that I am officially back, and I will once again be updating every Friday, just like I used to.
I hope you'll stick with me, and just known that I am forever grateful! (Responses to ch. 12's reviews are at the end of the chapter :) )
As if it wasn't enough knowing that the Dread Doctors were homicidal maniacs, discovering they were super old and death-defying scientists made them that much more terrifying. Rebecca tried not to think about it too much as she sprinted for her life, her various cuts and bruises stinging against a cold breeze.
At one point Ren stumbled. Since their hands were still firmly intertwined, he threatened to drag Rebecca down with him. She skidded to halt and hastily extended her arm to try and catch him.
Unfortunately he hit the pavement, and Rebecca lurched forward, but managed to stay on her feet. The whirring of the Dread Doctors became ever louder in her ears, making panic flood out any other thought.
"C'mon!" Rebecca urged, grabbing Ren's shoulder. "Hurry up!"
Ren winced and his hand strayed to his kneecaps, but he swallowed the pain and forced himself to keep running.
Rebecca tugged Ren down a side path, lined with a fence and dense shrubbery. Until then, she had been hoping someone would come out of their house and help them. However, fear of a serial killer had caused people to lock their doors tightly, and there was no light in any window they had passed.
Rebecca and Ren were halfway down the path when Ren dug his heels into the ground and stopped their escape.
"Wait! Rebecca, wait." She turned to look at him, irritation making her eyes flash. Ren released her hand and bent over, wheezing. His fingers touched his knees gingerly, and Rebecca finally noticed that his jeans had torn and blood was gushing from the nasty looking scrapes he had acquired from falling earlier.
"Oh my god," Rebecca covered her mouth, squeezing her cheeks slightly. "Oh my god, Ren. Are you okay? Of course you're not okay ... oh my god."
Ren plucked a piece of asphalt out of his wounds and bit back his disgust. "I think I'm good for now."
Rebecca ran her fingers through her hair and exhaled deeply. "What the hell do we do, Ren? I don't know what to do... what do we do?"
"I don't know," Ren whispered. He watched as Rebecca rubbed her eyes furiously, as if trying to wake up from a bad nightmare. "We could circle back and go to your car ..."
"Electrical based stuff doesn't really work around them," Rebecca stated bitterly. "We wouldn't get far."
"Okay, well, if you have your phone we could run a bit farther and try to call your mom-"
"My phone's dead back at your place, remember?" Rebecca shook her head, crossing then uncrossing her arms. "Do you have yours? Wait - shit. Yours is dead too?"
Ren nodded and gasped as his knees throbbed. His fingers were covered in blood, and rubbing them off on his jeans wasn't working very well.
"Ren," Rebecca murmured hoarsely as her ears strained to catch any sounds of pursuit. "Where are they?"
They stopped breathing for a second, but the few moments of silence were broken by Rebecca groaning in frustration. When she spoke, her voice was tight and shaky.
"Ren, the librarian's dead." Ren looked up, and watched as her brown eyes became watery. "Ren ... the librarian ... we just left him..."
"Stop it," Ren commanded, reaching out and grabbing her elbow. He swayed slightly because of the sudden weight shift, and Rebecca leaned in to support him. "Stop beating yourself up over this, Becks. We couldn't do anything."
"Ren, I can't do this," Rebecca said, sounding strangled. She began to hyperventilate, and Ren's eyes widened in horror as she doubled over. "Ren ... I can't watch ... I can't do ... Ren ... I can't watch another person die ... I can't ... can't ..."
Ren knelt down, flinching as his open wound touched the filthy cement. He placed his hand on her upper back while wiping a few stray hairs away from her face with the other.
"Listen to me, Becks. C'mon, you're strong enough, just listen to me for five seconds," Ren coached, remembering the last time Rebecca had a panic attack. "I'll count. Okay, ready?"
Rebecca pursed her mouth and plugged her nose. The only noise she allowed herself to hear was Ren's voice.
"...Three, four ... and five!"
Rebecca took a deep breath and stood up abruptly, placing her hands on her neck, while her elbows rested loosely beside her head. Ren staggered to his feet as well, biting his tongue to stop himself from crying out in pain.
Rebecca's hair framed her face in messy clumps, but she was too busy trying to steady her breathing to care. Ren allowed her to take a few steps away from him, so she could clear her head.
There was a mark on Rebecca's back, made of an unsettling red colour. Ren glanced at his hand, noticing that all of the blood on it had been transferred to her shirt. He opted not to tell her, for fear of awakening more emotions.
"We need to call my mom," Rebecca said. Her voice was uneven and soft, but she was trying. Turning to Ren, she extended her hand. "Are you okay?"
Ren nodded, not exactly voicing the truth. He took her hand.
"We'll find a payphone," she declared. "I'll call my mom. She'll come get us."
Ren held her hand tighter, signifying he was ready to run. So they did.
With the Dread Doctors nowhere in sight, Rebecca's strides became less shaky, and more fueled with purpose. They ran by one street, then two, but they found no sign of any payphone. Ren swore he could hear the faint grinding and clicking of their attackers, but then again the entire world seemed to be in sharp focus as they searched for help.
"There!" Rebecca muttered, afraid to raise her voice. Ren released her hand and slowed to a walk as his friend sprinted to the old phone box, whipping the door open and patting her pockets for a coin.
Ren leaned against the small rectangular booth as Rebecca dialed her mother's number. He looked down the street where they had just come from, the feeling of being watched making the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight. They weren't alone, that was for sure.
"Mom?" Rebecca practically shouted into the phone. Her voice made Ren cringe. His eyes watered. He looked at his shaking hands curiously - what was going on? The blood on the tips of his fingers seemed to change colours.
"Rebecca?" Myriam Virk hollered through the line. Rebecca nearly collapsed from relief. "Rebecca, where the hell are you-"
"Mom, me and Ren are downtown, at least seven blocks from the library." Rebecca's words rushed out of her mouth like water from a running tap. "Mom, the Dread Doctors are here. I'm so sorry I didn't stay at home, mom. I'm so sorry..."
"Rebecca, slow down," Myriam commanded, causing Rebecca to bite her tongue in frustration. "Seven blocks from the what? We'll come and get you."
"The library, mom, the library! Hurry, the Doctors are coming ... Mom?" Rebecca called, the other line fizzing out to static. "Mom?!"
Rebecca waited a few moments before hanging up the phone numbly. Had her mom heard? She looked at the numbers for a few seconds, cursing herself for not being more calm.
She stepped outside. When she couldn't immediately see Ren, her heart stopped.
"Ren?" Rebecca's voice was taut with fear.
"Here," Ren murmured, his voice not strong enough to expell anything louder. Rebecca turned on her heel and gasped loudly at the sight of him on his knees, his arms limply by his side. He looked completely defeated.
"Ren?" Rebecca said as she held his round face in her hands. His neck lolled, and she winced. His eyes were vacant, but his nose was twitching, like a feral animal. "What the hell is happening?"
Ren was too busy focusing on someone behind Rebecca. He ignored his friend's cries and her desperation. He looked past her large brown eyes, full of sadness and loss. He noticed something else.
Rebecca heard Ren whispering something under his breath, but despite her straining to catch his words, she simply could not understand him. She shook her head, trying to get Ren to slow down, to make more sense.
"Ren, I don't … I don't understand," Rebecca said.
Ren stared right at the movement beyond Rebecca's shoulder. He made eye contact with the thing that was trying to creep up on them. He could … feel it. Even though the thing was shrouded by darkness and quite a bit away, he somehow knew what it was feeling.
Rebecca's bottom lip trembled. She didn't know what to do. Should she haul Ren to his feet? When she tried, he refused to move, pushing her off of him. She pulled her hair and watched him sit in the middle of the road, confused.
The thing wasn't a thing after all. It was … its name was …
Ren's lips were cracked and his mouth was dry, so when he loudly uttered a name, Rebecca was too startled to comprehend it.
"What?" Rebecca asked, leaning in and looking her friend dead in the eye.
Ren focused on her so suddenly, she wanted to recoil. He said in a raspy voice: "Connor MonHeim."
Rebecca was confused. What about Connor? Finally, she followed Ren's gaze, just as her old friend stepped out into the street.
Rebecca rose to her feet quickly, but could do nothing more than gawk. It was Connor alright. He still had his upturned nose, his brown hair, and his signature towering height. Yet he looked awful: as if the devil had come and dragged him through hell on the back of a pickup truck.
Rebecca looked at his bloody and bruised face and felt her lungs tighten. He staggered towards her, and even from far away she could see that he was limping.
She took a step towards him, just as a power surge made the street light explode. It just so happened to be the one that illuminated Connor.
As quickly as he had come, he was gone. Connor ran at the sudden explosion, and Rebecca couldn't hope to catch up to him. She called out his name, but her voice just echoed to nothingness.
She looked dejectedly at the spot where she saw him, listening to her echoes reverberate through the street.
She could almost feel the world spinning underneath her. Rebecca turned around, her mind buzzing with words she couldn't say.
Ren groaned, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hand. She looked at him, shoulders slumped, as he slurred: "Wha …?" He tried to move his limbs, but they were sluggish, and his head felt like it was splitting open.
Rebecca's mouth twitched as the colours in Ren's eyes drained away. He could barely see in the near darkness, and Rebecca was just a vague silhouette. Why was she standing so far away?
He squinted, and the longer he looked, the more he could make out her crestfallen expression. The bracelet on her wrist shone as well, because as the seconds went by, Rebecca was lighting up.
Was this it? Had Ren complrtely lost his mind? Was his best friend glowing?
"Look out!" Rebecca yelled, springing too life and bounding towards him. Ren twisted around awkwardly to see what had caused Rebecca to panic: turns out it was a huge black van ripping down the road at extreme speed.
Ren, who just so happened to be in the middle of the street, swore loudly.
Rebecca flung her body over Ren's at the last second, as if that would somehow help either of them.
The van screeched to a halt far away enough to spare Rebecca and Ren's lives, but close enough to make their heart's stop.
Ren poked Rebecca's shoulder to rouse her from the no doubt uncomfortable position she was in. The passenger's door opened and a short woman hopped out of the vehicle. There was no point in hiding, since the two of them were clearly illuminated by the car's headlights.
The woman stomped over to them, bending down and grabbing Rebecca by the ear so she sat up properly.
"Ow!" Rebecca whined, grabbing the woman's hand in protest as all the life drained out of Ren. He knew exactly who had come and 'saved' them.
"Mom?" Ren whispered hoarsely as she grabbed his ear as well. Mrs. Otsuka looked thunderous as she forced the two teenagers to stand upright. She looked between the two of them, hissing her disgust.
"You ignorant children. How dare you run away like that? You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Ren's mother kept a firm grip on both of their ears as she forced them to look into her raging black eyes. "Going off without permission, running around like idiots, you could have got yourself killed, you know that?"
Rebecca and Ren knew better than to interrupt her, but her prolonged pause made them believe that she actually wanted a response.
"Mrs. Otsuka, we didn't mean-" Rebecca started, but her voice was drowned out by the woman's shrill words.
"REBECCA RIM VIRK YOUR MOTHER WAS WORRIED SICK." Rebecca pursed her lips together and looked at the ground. "How dare you put her in that situation? That was selfish and stupid, plain and simple.
"And you," Mrs. Otsuka growled, pinching her son's ear even tighter. "You better get ready for nothing but punishment for the rest of your sorry life, Ren Otsuka."
"Shimako, get them in the car," Mr. Otsuka demanded, rolling down the window of the driver's seat and waving to get his wife's attention.
Shimako paused, then released the two kids, jerking her thumb at the Otsuka's van, as she scowled at her husband.
"It's a good thing they're still alive, with your reckless speeding, Kyou," Shimako groused. "Get out of the driver's seat. I want us all to remain intact."
"Really?" Mr. Otsuka sighed, shaking his head. "There's no time!"
"There's enough time for me to walk over there and pull you out of the car; which means there's enough time for you to get your cute ass up and let me drive," Mrs. Otsuka fired back. The two bickered for a few more seconds, but after the little dispute was over they were on their way, with Shimako at the wheel.
Rebecca and Ren stayed silent, not bothering to ask where they were going, but Rebecca deduced it was her house. They wouldn't go to the Otsuka household, because Meiko was there, and Gus' place was too small.
Rebecca reached out, and Ren hesitated before taking her hand.
It's going to be okay, Rebecca thought, and Ren sighed out loud.
We can't be sure.
Rebecca blinked, looking at Ren. She had never heard his thoughts in her head so loudly before. Granted, it sounded as if he was yelling at top volume, but she let him know that he was making some progress. His happy screeches in her mind were worth the pain that bounced around her head.
Rebecca and Ren sat side by side on the couch of the Virk House as Myriam practically kicked down the door to get in. They had been waiting for under twenty minutes, after Mr. Otsuka had called both Gus and Myriam. Ren's parents were torn between scolding them vicariously and treating their various wounds.
Myriam charged into the house and called out for Rebecca. Rebecca stood up as Myriam came into her line of sight. For a second, the strawberry blond girl thought Myriam was about to pull out her gun and shoot her own daughter with it; that's how angry she looked.
A heartbeat later, Myriam was standing in front of Rebecca, pulling her into a breathtaking hug. Rebecca wrapped her arms around her mom as the poor Deputy shook slightly.
"When the phone line went out, I thought something had happened to you," Myriam whispered, a few tears leaking out of her eyes. She squeezed her daughter tighter, as the teenage girl buried her face into her mom's shoulder. "Thank god …"
"I'm sorry, mom," Rebecca croaked, feeling her own emotions overflowing. Myriam held her little girl in her arms for a few more moments before they separated. Myriam touched her daughter's face gingerly, then turned to Ren.
"And you too," Myriam said, her eyes focused on Ren's bandaged knees. "You went and got yourself hurt."
"It's nothing, Miss Virk," Ren murmured, but took Myriam's hand when she offered it. He stood up and welcomed the Deputy's hug warmly.
The Otsuka's watched Myriam rub Ren's back soothingly. The young Satori swallowed hard and struggled to stay composed.
"I'm glad you're safe," Myriam admitted, allowing another tear to escape from her eyes. Ren could only offer a thin lipped smile in response.
After they let go, Myriam cleared her throat loudly, looking over the pair of teens carefully. "Now … what on Earth were you two thinking?!"
Another ten minutes of Myriam and The Otsuka's teaming up to yell at the ensued, and Rebecca and Ren allowed it to happen with bowed heads. Then came an intense interrogation, where Myriam and the Otsuka's demanded to know why the hell their children were out there in the first place, and what overcame them to do such a thing in the first place.
Rebecca and Ren explained their predicament, and the what the librarian told them. Mr. Otsuka shook his head when they got to the part where Rebecca tackled the poor man to the ground. The two teens told them everything.
However, when they were concluding their thrilling tale, Ren began to explain that he saw something while he was in a trance. Rebecca, who wasn't ready to share any information pertaining to Connor MonHeim, silenced him with a touch of her hand.
"I went to see what it was, but I didn't notice anything. That's when Mr. and Mrs. Otsuka arrived," Rebecca explained. Ren stayed steady, his expression not betraying his true confusion. Did Rebecca know something he didn't about Connor?
Mr. Otsuka seemed wary, and Rebecca held his gaze as best as she could manage. Lying to Ren's father always was painstaking.
Saved by Gus bursting through the door, Rebecca averted her eyes. She nodded at Theo, who trailed him into the house.
"Finished?" Myriam asked her fellow officer, her voice sharp. She was thinking over Rebecca's story, and anything else in her mind was an over complicated distraction.
"Yeah, we finished about an hour ago," Gus said, glancing at Theo proudly. "We dropped Kamilla off before her curfew."
Shimako whispered to her husband, then turned to Gus, obvious disdain in her eyes. "You … toted around kids all day? I thought you were rounding up civilians?"
Gus, with an equal amount of disgust, looked back at Mrs. Otsuka after wiping his nose on his sleeve. "They can handle it, Shimako. Relax."
Myriam and Shimako exchanged incredulous looks, and Mr. Otsuka observed the situation quietly. Rebecca wished she could tell what he was thinking.
Ren leaned into Rebecca and whispered, knowing full well that Gus could hear what he was saying. "They put all of the victims in one place? What a nice way for the Doctors to hand-pick who they want."
Rebecca looked at Gus, who swelled up in agitation at Ren's criticism. He leaned in, an intimidation technique, and looked Ren dead in the eye: "No, smart ass. We put in a probation system. We're not stupid, we want these people alive."
Ren bit his tongue, not wanting to curse in front of his mother. Rebecca scowled at Gus, and for the first time in a long time, she understood why Ren and his mother were so disgusted by him.
"Ren wasn't talking to you, Gus," Rebecca stated, her tone dry.
Gus scoffed, shaking his head and looking back at Myriam. Yet his discomfort was obvious. Rebecca felt a bit of satisfaction at watching him squirm under everyone's critical gaze.
"Anyway, everything is dealt with."
"Not everything," Myriam corrected, turning back to Ren and Rebecca. The venom in her eyes still made them shift uncomfortably. "You two are like magnets, you know that? Bad things happen when you two are around."
Rebecca touched Ren's hand so he knew that she wasn't a fan of her mom passively blaming them. However, Mr. Otsuka caught the motion, and grinned wryly at her.
"So, I think I speak for all of us," Myriam said, turning to check if Mrs. Otsuka was nodding along, "when I say it's best if you don't go alone. Anywhere."
Ren and Rebecca started to speak, but it was cut off by a deadly glare from Shimako. Ren shifted, unhappy.
"Theo and Kamilla will be with you at school, and an adult will be with you everywhere else. This is not debatable, so don't flap your jaws like that, you're not fish," Myriam ordered, causing Rebecca to shut her jaw so tightly, pain sparked in her temples.
"Mom," Rebecca hissed through her teeth. "Don't do this. Without me and Ren, we wouldn't know half the things we do about the Dread Doctors-"
"If it weren't for you, Rebecca," Myriam shouted, glaring at her daughter. "That librarian might still be alive."
That remark shut Rebecca up quickly, as she turned hr gaze to the floor. She was too angry to cry, but she felt her guts twist as the furniture rattled.
There was a breath of silence, where everyone in the room looked over at Rebecca as she tried to calm herself down. Rebecca felt her abilities unfurl from her body as a framed picture of her and her mom fell off of a shelf and hit the ground with a startling crash.
Rebecca's fists were clenched so tightly they shook, but she refused to try and remove herself from the company she was in. The crimson in the edge of her eyes made her want to scream. The wind outside howled, and the lights in the room flickered. The house groaned.
The fear of everyone else in the room was palpable. Myriam had struck a nerve with Rebecca, and she was seconds away from exploding.
Ren put his hand on Rebecca's back, touching the bloody handprint that he had put on her shirt earlier. As soon as Ren touched Rebecca, the rattled ceased. Rebecca closed her eyes and Ren patted her shoulders soothingly.
Theo, who was silent up until now, watching the transaction unfold carefully. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that Ren was Rebecca's anchor …
Rebecca's shohlders wilted, and she looked up at the people in the room. She avoided her mother altogether. "Leave me alone."
The room was emptied in a matter of seconds, with only Ren lingering for a second longer. Myriam exited to the kitchen, and Rebecca knew she should be apologizing, but she couldn't bring herself to.
Rebecca looked at the framed picture that fell. There was an ugly crack, splitting the image into two. On one side was Rebecca, separated from her mother, who was on the other side.
Rebecca's hands shook as she picked up the picture. She thought of the librarian, but didn't cry.
"It's not my fault," Rebecca assured herself, her voice quaking. "It can't be my fault."
But that's what he said these abilities would mean; that she had the ability to stop these things. Therefore, if she didn't stop them, they became yet another drip onto her ledger.
Rebecca hated her father with all of her might, but she couldn't disagree with that statement.
Wolftear1 - You wrote this way back in March, but thank you! I made you wait a long time, but here's the next chapter! You stay awesome too, and your English is great! You're not creepy either, I hope this was a good enough chapter for you lol :)
Lisieux Selwyn - Yay! Thanks so much for commenting again, and I'm glad you like it! Tha k you so much for your nice words. I promise, next Friday I will have a lot of Theocca just for you :)
Guest - Here I am!
Guest - I was really bummed when Theo died, and I was wondering if anyone would still even read this story ... but I'm back, don't worry!
XxRikela-chanxX - You were 100% correct, it was her dad! *creepy music* I guess we'll have to wait and see what she is ... now you won't have to wait so long! The suspense won't kill you (hopefully) :)
