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Jax Is Really Alive
Chapter Recap 42 Jax gets a call Tara telling him that Abel will live but he's going to be in stasis for a couple of months while his heart repairs itself. Abel will not be returned to Charming for his recovery.
While on the phone to Tara, he tells her of his rough time with Opie. To his surprise, she takes Opie's side. Once more, Jax is forced to face the mistakes of his past.
Author's Note: This chapter contains a scene with a body that's pretty horrific. It's needed for the story, but if you don't want to read it, you can skip it and I'll catch everyone up in the summary before the next chapter. It's nothing any worse than some of the SOA stuff and there's no actual torture. It's also why I'm making this chapter so short.
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Chapter 43 What Skeeter Saw
Jax was shaken by his conversation with Opie and Tara. He hadn't seen it coming, but the more he thought about what Opie had said he knew that he had more wrongs to right.
He found his way down to the alien gym deep inside Hale's house. Opie was drenched in sweat and sitting on a weight bench.
"Tara wanted to tell me that Abel is going to be OK."
"I knew the boys were kidnapped, but that's all I know," Opie said.
"Hale got a call on the alien hotline leading him to Abel's body. His heart gave out and he was dead. Ryland put him in a medical drone and sent him to a doctor. They did some medical shit to him to try to bring him back to life. He's back, but he'll be in a kind of coma for a couple of months."
"I'm glad Abel's going to be OK."
"You're right about me. I should have been a better friend to you. You shoved me away after Donna died and I let you. It was easier to let you push me away than doing the hard thing and staying by your side and making you talk to me and actually helping you. Instead I focused on the MC. That's what I always did and that didn't turn out well."
"It's my fault too. I was weak. Instead of turning to my kids and trying to help them, I turned to the MC too."
"Sorry to interrupt," Hale's voice came from an intercom in the gym, "but we have some kind of alien emergency with Skeeter. He's not making much sense and Ryland needs us to respond."
"Where?" Opie and Jax said in unison.
"Back door of Skeeter's crematorium."
Jax and Opie exchanged looks. For something to stun Skeeter who was used to dealing with burning bodies for a living, they couldn't even begin to imagine what could have caused his reaction.
They met Hale. He was dressed in civilian clothes and driving his off duty vehicle, a Chevy pick-up.
Skeeter's face was drained completely of color. He was leaning against the wall of the building. Hale had his gun out.
"Won't need," Skeeter gasped. "Dead."
Hale took the lead and opened the door, Jax and Opie on his heels. The oven was still smoldering. Aranora was no longer missing. She was dressed in a bridal gown complete with veil. In her stomach was a note held in place by a knife that had been stabbed into her stomach. It said:
"Soon the troll will emerge and all will be revealed."
The knife to the stomach hadn't been what killed her. She had been slowly burned to death in inches starting with her bare toes. A fire extinguisher was on the floor. It had been used to put out the flames before she was put into the oven again. She had been burned over and over again in an unimaginably painful death.
She wasn't tortured for information. Her mouth was covered with duct tape.
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Author's Note: The need for this grisly death will become evident in future chapters.