Veronica
I know he's going to be okay. But sitting here by his bedside, I can't stop shaking. There were so many people injured or worse that I'm surprised they had room for him, but here we are, a curtain dividing us from the others who were hurt. This is the ward that they have classified as 'getting off easy'. Some are in intensive care. Some are in surgery. Some are in the morgue.
In the three hours I've been here, I managed to piece together what happened from stories from Wallace, witnesses and those who were brought in. An explosion on the main floor. Looked like it was the men's locker room. Blew the concrete walls clear into the weight room next door. I feel blessed and guilty that Logan and Wallace decided to take it easy and go for a jog around the track instead of using the punching bags, after finding the weight room packed with people.
Right now, they are exploring the possibility of a critical system failure in the gas line. That's what the news said. But I know. I know this wasn't a gas leak explosion. This was a bomb, set by C.H.A.D., and it terrifies me to my core.
Logan stirs and I jump from my thoughts, standing closer to his bed. Gently, I reach down and hold his hand, connected to tubes and monitors.
"Logan? Logan, can you hear me?"
His head lolls towards me as his eyes flutter open. I want to cry, I'm so happy, but I hold myself together as his senses rouse.
"Where am I?" he mutters, wincing as he moves his body.
"Hospital. They stitched up the gash on your head while you were unconscious and are monitoring you for a concussion. You got off lucky; it wasn't deep, but head wounds tend to bleed a lot so it looked scarier than it was."
His brow furrows and he nods slightly. "Wallace?"
I give his hand a squeeze. "Fine. Exhausted, but fine. I don't think Jackie's going to let him out of her sight for the rest of his life now."
For a second, Logan smirks before his lips form a tight line. "Ratner? Jeff?"
"I don't know." I shrug. "Last I saw, he was alive and being rushed to the hospital, but I haven't seen him since."
"Hmmmm…" he replies, his eyes looking around at his surroundings before focusing back on me. "Was it a bomb?"
Hesitating, I place his hand back down on the bed and walk over to the curtain. Peeking into the large room, I glance around for signs of life, but it seems that everyone around us is either sleeping or occupied. Pulling the curtain completely closed, I walk back to my chair and move it closer to his bed.
"The news isn't reporting it as such," I whisper, sitting down and leaning in so he can hear me. "But I think it may be."
Logan takes a slow, deep breath and exhales. His heart monitor beeps at the change in his blood pressure.
"Did you talk to any of the investigators about it? Anyone from the Security System?"
"No. Not yet." I drag my fingers through my dirty hair, realizing how utterly disgusting I feel. "I didn't want to leave you, and quite frankly, I'm not too sure what I would say. This is all just so wild that I'm still trying to wrap my head around the facts about who could be and could not be involved."
"So, Duncan…"
"I don't think he set the bomb," I murmur, glancing away. "Or maybe he did. I just don't know what to think anymore."
Pulling the sleeves of his hoodie down over my hands, I shove them into the front pocket. My wrists throb at the mention of Duncan and my face flushes. Suddenly, I can't look Logan in the eye as the events of my encounter with Duncan flash through my brain.
"Veronica," Logan says quietly. "What's wrong?"
My throat goes dry and I swallow, trying to lubricate it enough to speak. "Duncan was with me when it happened."
"Wait? What? Why? We were supposed to go and talk to him when I got home."
He manages to roll towards me and slides his free hand through the rungs of the bed rail. Slowly, I release one of my hands from the hoodie and raise it to place in his, and the over-sized sleeve slides back along my arm. I don't say a word and it takes him a moment to shift his gaze from my face down to our clasped hands. And that's when he sees the deep blue bruise circling around my wrist like an unwanted bracelet.
"Veronica. What happened?"
Digging deep down into myself, I steady my breathing as I look him in the eye. "Duncan came to our room. He was asking about Parker, but then he was in such a good mood that I…I decided to talk to him about C.H.A.D." I take in a shaky breath as he stares at me, his mouth dropping open slightly. "But his mood flipped like a switch, and he got angry and…."
It all replays in a flash through my brain and I feel like Logan can see it all in my mind because he sits himself up, grabbing the railing for support.
"What did he do?" he hisses, his eyes suddenly clear and focused.
"He grabbed me by the wrists and started yelling at me…" I glance over my shoulder to make sure no one is around us, listening on the other side of the curtain. I don't see feet under the draping, so I continue. "He was yelling about how we were taunting him with our affection and how it should have been us together. And we fought and he admitted that he called in the bomb threat to scare us but then…" I gasp, trying to catch my breath and keep my emotions in check. "He kissed me, and I couldn't get away but when we heard the explosion, he finally let go and I managed to escape."
That's when my body begins to vibrate again, my hands shaking like never before and I grip the edge of the bed, trying to keep myself steady. Logan's big palms cover mine and the warmth of them spreads over my whole body. And that's when it hits me exactly how horribly wrong my encounter with Duncan could have gone.
"Logan. I was so scared. I didn't know what he would do to me."
"Fuck." When I look back up, Logan's face is red with rage and his lip twitches before he speaks. "I'm going to kill him."
"Logan!"
His hands leave mine as he pulls the tape off his skin, releasing the IV before he slowly pulls it out, emitting a low hiss as he does. For a second, I'm in such shock at what he's doing that I can't stop him, but when he pulls the pulse meter off his finger and the machine screams in my ear, I jump from my seat.
"What are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" he parrots, rolling to the other side of the bed. He shakes the bed rail until it drops, and he tosses the blanket off himself before he swings his legs off the bed, attempting to stand. "I'm going to find Duncan and I'm going to kill him. Just like I said."
Racing around the other side, I grab his arm and instead of stopping him, he grabs my shoulder and pulls himself up using me as support. He's in a hospital gown and his underwear and I realized he has no clue that he's not dressed.
"You're not going to kill him!" I give him a little shove, trying to get him to sit back down but he doesn't move, and I realize the endorphins must have kicked in.
"Oh no. I'm going to kill him. Trust me."
Stepping around me, he grabs the curtain and pulls it back just as two burly nurses appear to check on the sounds coming from his bed.
"Mr. Echolls! What are you doing?"
"I'm getting the hell out of here, that's what I'm doing. Now give me my shoes and whatever you have for my clothes. Now!"
"You can't leave." The taller male nurse puts his hand on Logan's shoulder and Logan just pulls away.
"I can and I will."
I watch him storm from the room, the nurses giving each other a look of confusion before heading out after him down the hall and I quickly follow, trying to catch up with them.
This was not good. None of this was good. At all.
Logan
The ride back to campus is a quiet one, in the back of our neighbour's car. Kecia and Leslie sit in the front seats talking about what they did and didn't see of the blast while Veronica and I sit behind them, not saying a word. Leslie was playing basketball on the court below the jogging track when the explosion happened and was hit in the arm by some falling debris. Kecia was picking her up from the hospital when Veronica and I stumbled into the admitting area, still arguing about the fact that I had checked myself out and absconded with a pair of blue scrubs, an old torn jacket from the lost-and-found, and my salvaged sneakers I'd been wearing at the gym. Mercifully, our neighbours took pity on us and offered us a lift home when we realized we had no money for a taxi.
As we pulled through the main entrance to the campus, I leaned forward and patted Kecia on the shoulder. "Would you mind letting us out by the singles dorms? I need to see about getting some stuff for a friend that was injured."
Veronica throws me a look of concern and I decide to ignore it, still concocting my plan to beat the life out of Duncan. The image I have of him gripping Veronica's wrists, forcing his lips on hers, is egging me on. For years, I have internally fought with my own anger, set deep inside my gut by Aaron. But now, it feels pure, it feels right to be this angry over Duncan's treatment of Veronica. His behaviour went against everything that we were taught about relationships and love and commitment. It went against everything our world now stood for, based on equality of genders. This was pre-war misogynist behaviour, seeing Veronica as a possession or property. He didn't seek permission, he forced her into that kiss. Assaulted her. Psychologically scarred her. And it reminds me so much of Aaron that I can barely see straight.
The car rolls to a stop and across the quad, I can see the yellow caution tape making a wide gate around F.G. Joyner Centre and for a split second, I'm back in time by a few hours, reliving the nightmare of getting out of the building.
"You okay?" Veronica asks, her hand landing on mine.
"I'm fine." I give my head a gentle shake and it starts to throb again. With a nod to Kecia's reflection in the rear-view mirror, I open the back door. "Thanks for the lift. See you both later."
I slide out into the cool evening air and Veronica joins me, shivering. "Now what?"
"Now? We find Duncan." I trudge towards the front doors of the building and squeeze past the people coming up and down the concrete steps.
"And then what, Logan?" Veronica catches up to me and takes my arm, falling into step as we walk through the halls. "I'm scared that you actually may kill him."
"Don't worry. I'll stop hitting him before he stops breathing…" We come to Duncan and Piz's dorm room and I knock, hard and fast, holding my breath as I wait for a response.
When none comes, I knock again. Still no one. Looking down, I notice the light coming from under the door and it breaks a bit as whoever is on the other side walks near the doorway. Knocking again, I yell.
"Open the goddamn door, Duncan or I'll break it down! I know you're in there!"
All movement in the halls stop as eyes focus on me. My heart beats faster as Veronica tightens her grip on my arm and I watch the doorknob slowly turn. When it opens a crack, I see Duncan peek through, his dead eyes meeting mine.
"Whatdoyouwant?"
I give the door a shove, and Duncan staggers back as I burst into the room, followed by Veronica.
"Close the door." I wave back at Veronica and she does as Duncan retreats all the way to the furthest corner of the room.
The blinds are pulled shut and the room is nearly pitch black, except for the light on the computer screen, illuminating everything in a soft blue glow. Nothing says guilt like cowering in the darkness. The mark of a coward. I can smell the fear on him as I follow him around the bed and grab him by the sweatshirt collar. There's no hiding my anger as I face him, eye to eye.
"You fucking little shit! I should kill you for what you did to Veronica!"
"I didn't do anything!" he hollers back. "I didn't do anything to her!"
She gasps behind me and that's when I lose it, hauling off and punching Duncan in the face. He cries out in agony and I let him go, letting him drop to the bed as he grips his face, blood pouring from his nose. It feels so good deep down in my soul and so terrible as well.
"You fucking assaulted her, you asshole! You called in a prank bomb on us! And don't try and tell me you and Gory didn't plant an actual bomb at the fitness centre…"
"I didn't plant any bomb!" he yells as I grab him again by the collar. My fist pulls back and I deck him again, cringing at the sickening sound of crunching bone and the squish of blood and skin under my knuckles.
"Logan! Stop!" Veronica's at my side, pushing me away from Duncan and I move, falling against the desk and knocking over the computer as she holds me back.
"I didn't plant the bomb," Duncan whimpers from the bed. His hands are covering his face but I can still see the blood dripping from his palms.
"Someone in C.H.A.D. did!" I spit back. "So, don't play innocent with us. You already admitted to Veronica that you called in a fake bomb! What's stopping you from planting a real one?"
"It wasn't me! It was Piz!" Duncan barks, regaining his strength as he rises on the bed. "He made the bomb with Gory and planned to plant it on campus. I didn't do anything."
"But you knew," Veronica states, her voice rising strong between us. "You obviously knew, and you didn't stop it! Logan was almost killed! And what about all those other people who were killed today? You're an accomplice to murder, Duncan!"
Duncan slumps back on the bed, moaning in pain, as he covers his bloody face with his hands again. "I know…I know…" he mutters.
We stand in silence, watching Duncan crumble in front of us. We were supposed to be in this together. Stand up for each other. Protect each other. Look out for one another. How the hell did it all go so wrong?
With a heavy sigh, Veronica walks across the room and picks up the phone on the counter. "I'm ending this right here, right now. I'm calling the Regional Safety System and they can decide what to do with you, Duncan, because Logan and I are done trying to protect you."
"What are you going to tell them?" he moans. Duncan is curled into a ball on his side, more a lump of flesh than man right now. He takes the grey blanket from his bed and tries to press it to his face to stop the bleeding and his hands shake. My heart wants to hand the poor guy a tissue to blot the blood, but the rage in my belly keeps me from lifting a finger.
"That you attacked me. That you called in the bomb scare. That you have knowledge about the campus explosion."
As she begins to dial, the sound of the door unlocking catches all of our attention. The door swings open and Piz steps inside. He's merrily whistling off key, in his thick winter parka and snow boots, but he comes to an abrupt halt when he spies Veronica in front of him. At first, he smiles a great Cheshire grin, until his eye catches Duncan, laying bleeding on the bed. That's when his eyes shift to mine, and widen with terror. I can see it all compute in his head as he freezes.
"Hey Piz," I call out with a wry grin. "Duncan was just filling us in on your little bomb-making hobby."
And that's when he bolts, clear out of the door. Adrenaline rushes through me and I'm off after him in a flash, dodging past Veronica as she stays on the phone, and weaving past people as I pursue Piz down the hall. My head starts to throb, but I keep going, easily catching up to the out-of-shape DJ and tackling him near the front door. I get in one good punch to his face and he groans in agony, but continues to try and fight me, launching a half-hearted fist back at my head, which I dodge with ease. We begin to scuffle on the ground but large hands reach down and pull us apart as I flail.
"He set the bomb at the fitness centre! Don't let him go!" I yell, pointing at Piz as I try and wrench myself free from whoever has me in their grasp.
The one guy who is holding back Piz is suddenly joined by another, and another, the men holding Piz back against the wall. Whoever has me, lets me go and pats my back.
"Sorry, man. You sure?"
Veronica appears at my side, the cordless phone receiver at her ear and she nods. "Yes. It's true. Please send someone immediately. We have the two men involved. They aren't going anywhere."
She disconnects the call and wraps her arms around my waist. I can feel her body shaking and I pull her closer, kissing her forehead.
"The other guy's in room 110," I say to the tall white dude who was holding on to me. "Would you mind making sure he doesn't go anywhere?"
"Yeah. Sure." The lanky guy nods and jogs away, through the crowd of people who have gathered around.
My heart is racing. After all the bullshit, it's all come down to this. We've all made our choices. Some good. Some bad. It's now time we all face the consequences.