Oh crap oh jeez oh heck oh no.
Jesse was having what was probably the quietest panicking session of all time, sitting and staring at the little blinking red dot above them. They could hear footsteps- some panicked and rushed, some slow and steady and light- undoubtedly Magnus's.
Jesse's eyes flicked around rapidly as some of the panicked footsteps came close. They reached up and pried at the bomb desperately, trying to pull it off and hopefully throw it away as far as possible.
To their surprise, it came detached with barely even a tap and landed square in their lap. They could feel every little blip as the seconds counted down.
To say that that gave them a heart attack was a gross understatement.
Jesse frantically picked up the bomb and looked around furiously. The other part of the desk had a small slat where it no longer matched up perfectly with the floor, so if they threw it from there they could probably get it as far away from them as possible.
Probably.
Jesse worked up their hiding place, bumping their shoulder frantically but lightly against the wooden board so they could nudge it open and throw the bomb away-
And came face-to-face with another griefer.
The griefer's eyes bulged in surprise. Jesse hushed him hastily and held up the blinking bomb.
Hopefully they were telepathically communicating "If you don't rat me out right now I'll throw this away and you can have another minute to hide" and not "please don't kill me with this bomb."
Actually, both messages were okay to telepathically communicate.
The griefer glanced from the bomb to Jesse, apparently decided that the tiny figure with a dripping nose was less threatening than the bomb literally ticking down to zero, and nodded and made little furious flailing motions at Jesse- presumably to communicate "throw this thing away from us right now."
Jesse agreed wholeheartedly on this point.
The slat was narrow but not too narrow; Jesse could probably fit the bomb under if they aimed right. They pressed their face to the musty floor (trying not to sneeze), and stared out. They couldn't see any shadows on this side, so it'd probably be okay.
They laid the bomb on the floor with as much carefulness as they could. Backed it up with one hand slowly.
(The other griefer whispered an indignant "hey!" as Jesse almost brushed against their foot by accident with the bomb.)
Jesse slid it as fast as possible.
Which resulted in a slight dilemma. Yes, the bomb slid out from under the slat in the desk fairly nicely- minus the loud clattering- but it also flipped and landed not ten feet away.
... it couldn't be like a nuke, right? That'd just vaporize everyone in the building, including Magnus... so it was like... a stick of dynamite.
Well, the desk might be their best bet. At least it gave them some semblance of cover...
The griefer abruptly hauled them out of their hiding spot and pulled themselves into it, heaving the board back in place. Jesse whispered a little "hey!" but it was too late- there were footsteps ringing in the echoing walls of the building. Probably Magnus, with how slow and deliberate they were.
Three minutes until it exploded.
Jesse crawled out a bit, tapping on the floor to make sure it wasn't just elevated or rotting. Admittedly the carpet was rotting, but-
Jesse struck a board that felt hollow.
They paused, then felt on the floor.
A loose board came up and off the floor, revealing a mess of dirt, support structures, cement, wires, generators and water tanks and who knew what else below it.
Jesse hesitated only a second.
Then the footsteps grew a hair louder and Jesse dove under the board, yanked it back into place the best they could (getting splinters and a pinch to their fingers), and began to essentially army-crawl through the tiny space under the floor.
It smelled horrific. Leaking water and the smell of rotting wool and wood and who knew what else, but Jesse just pulled their shirt up over their nose, listening to the sounds of beeping get fainter as they wormed towards what was hopefully safety.
A loud, loud creak right above their head.
Jesse very nearly jumped out of their skin and bit their lip to keep from yelping, hard enough that they could taste blood. They weren't heavy footsteps, so it had to be Magnus- he was one of the lighter-set griefers. They swallowed the taste of blood and scrabbled to get further away.
"Huh."
Magnus's voice was muffled through the thick floorboards and the creaking boards and the cracks, but it was still audible and it took all of Jesse's experience with not waking up their guardian slumped on a couch and snoring, dead to the world with a bottle dangling in his fingers, not waking him up when he gave a louder snore or when he jerked and grumbled in his sleep- it took all of that experience to not give a little squeak.
"Bomb's been displaced..."
His footsteps sped up, but grew more and more distant.
Jesse kept slowly army-crawling along the floor, trying not to breathe in the fumes of scent that made their eyes water a little bit. It couldn't be good for their health.
And only some god out there knew how much they needed something good for their health.
A loud yelp, and some boisterous laughter from Magnus, burst out behind them. He'd been found.
They supposed it was a good thing that they'd been forced out of that hiding spot, then; the displacement of the bomb probably had given them away.
Then again, Magnus had hidden the bomb, so he knew the right hiding spots-
"Anyone down here?"
Jesse immediately put their head down and went stock-still as Magnus's voice echoed in the crawl space behind them, a bit faint but the echoes making it practically crystal-clear.
A beam of light shone over their head and into the space in front of them, illuminating the darkness only a bit farther, but dissolving into pure blackness further along. A few dust motes hovered in the tiny space.
Jesse didn't dare move. Magnus hadn't seen them moving before he'd turned the light on, and with how dark it was and the fact that they were wearing their black fuzzy jacket and black pants- they would really have to thank the October Children and Petra for giving them that tip- there was a good chance that Magnus hadn't seen them.
The beam scanned the space.
"... huh. I guess not many people can fit in there."
The beam vanished.
Jesse resisted heaving a sigh of relief.
It would be quite disgusting to do so, down here.
A/N: ahhhh this chapter took a while, I'm sorry T^T
this chapter is the apple of my eye. orange you glad i didn't have jesse get caught immediately? oh, lettuce be serious, jesse wasn't going to get caught anyway, but pear with me for a few chapters longer.
please wash your hands and stay safe from the coronavirus. just basically exercise the same precautions you would if there was a nasty flu going around.
x.X. A.L. X.x
"Noooo, they won't get hurt, you said," Mevia quietly growled at Hadrian. "'They'll be fine', they said."
Hadrian arched his eyebrow at her. "I don't think I ever said that."
"Be quiet before I rip your head off and feed it to the zombies."
"You wish you could."
"I have an axe."
"So do I. You're not special."
Gill and Maya watched the two snarl at each other.
"... this is just uncomfortable."
"Yeah..."
"I don't think you two usually shoot death threats at each other casually," Radar mumbled.
Despite the snarling, there was a sort of camaderie or bantering undertone to it. Radar got the feeling that neither of them would actually kill each other, given the chance.
"I could tear your throat out right now, Hadrian."
"With those nails? I don't doubt it."
That didn't mean listening to them didn't make Radar nervous, though.
