One more chapter of this ending.

Sorry for the delay.

--

"For crying out fucking loud, Pete, just drink the damned stuff!" Joe grabbed his thick head of hair in frustration.

"Let's count again. On three. Okay?" Andy tried, softening his voice even more in hope of compensating for Joe raising his.

"No, wait," Pete murmured to Andy. He was staring at the chunky mixture, which had been transferred to an old water jug.

"One… two…"

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME I SAID WAIT."

Andy sighed.

Patrick sat on the dry, dirty ground, staring at Pete. His cheek rested on his hand, his mouth hanging open in boredom. A little notepad rested at his feet that he had gotten out to take notes on the whole process, but it appeared to have come to a standstill. They were all hanging around outside, trying to prep Pete into drinking what (they thought) he had been working desperately towards for so long.

"Pete, if you just get it over with in one quick gulp, it won't be so bad," Andy put on his caring tone, like a parent trying to coax a little kid into sitting still for a shot. "Like a band-aid."

Pete put the cure down at his side. "That's how you pull off band-aids? Ouch, dude. You're crazy."

Joe jumped forward. "Drink it!! What the hell are you so afraid of? This is what you've been waiting for!"

Pete pouted and looked at the elixir with worried brown eyes. "But what if it hurts?"

"Of course it's gonna hurt, you idiot, this liquid is bringing you back to life."

"Thanks for the kind words."

"Do it."

"I'm gonna do it. I'm totally gonna do it." He held it out and sighed, closing his eyes briefly, getting in the zone (oh, you know what I mean). "Okay."

Patrick reached for his notepad and scribbled something.

Pete looked at him. "What are you writing?!"

Joe let out a weird yelp/shout/gag/something of pure frustration – "Gghhg! WHAT THE FUCK, DRINK IT ALREADY!!"

"Raaah!" He poured it down his throat.

Joe's mouth dropped. Andy leaned in closer to see what would happen (not really a good reaction to practice for this kind of thing). Patrick scrambled up to his feet.

There was a loud growling noise from Pete's stomach. "That's interesting."

Then a pause.

"Is that all that's gonna happen?"

Patrick looked at his notepad, then back to Pete. "I… I guess… maybe. Give it a minute."

"…Hold on. Hold on. Hold on, shit!" Pete collapsed on the ground, shaking.

"What's wrong?!"

"I think I'm gonna puke."

"Don't puke it up!!" Andy insisted. "You may, I dunno, undo it or something?!"

Pete made a string of pained noises. Patrick just stared, forgetting all about his notebook. Andy tried to shout at Pete, and Joe freaked out.

"PETE! Stay calm! Don't worry! It'll all be over soon! It's for your own good! Transport yourself to a different place!" Andy squealed. "Hold on, maaaan!"

Retching in response. "Uuuh, fuck, I think my head is going to explode or somethiiing. Fuck. AHCK. Get away!"

"What?"

"GO AWAY!" Pete spat a dark fluid.

Andy looked around. "Go where?!" But Joe grabbed him and dragged him behind the nearest large boulder, not even realizing in his panic that the RV was closer.

--

Patrick had run inside the RV. He lay on the cramped, dirty carpet, with his limbs all curled up into himself. he held his head desperately, trying to catch his breath, feeling embarassed at how close to tears he was. He didn't know what happened to Joe or Andy... or Pete, for that matter. I'm horrible. Horrible horrible person. He sighed and got up onto his knees. He rubbed his eyes. Okay. Nervous breakdown, kind of needed that, get it out of my system. No sweat. He got up and took a breath, inhaling composure and courage and exhaling guilt and a plethora of other soul-blackening feelings. Wow. Feels like a much better philosophy than what I- or, we've been thinking for a while now. Uh, PETE!

Patrick threw open the door and jumped out. "Sorry! Sorry, Pete! Sorry, guys! I'm back!" He grabbed his notebook, which was no kind of dirty. He had ditched it when he ran to the RV. "Guys?"

Behind a nearby, oddly singular chunk of rocky, elevated terrain was Joe and Andy. Joe had his back against the rock and was covering his eyes with his hands like he was a youngster cowering from a monster in a movie. Andy was getting up and looking over the boulder at Pete. Pete was lying on the ground with a couple of limbs curled at odd, limp angles.

Andy rubbed his hands together nervously. "Pete?" He said it quietly so that even if Pete was awake he couldn't have heard it from where he was). He stepped tentatively closer to Pete. "Pete?" He leaned over Pete. "Are you okay?"

"Is he unresponsive?" Patrick came up.

Joe was last to join the circle. "Whoa. Ohmygod. Whoa."

Pause.

Silence.

Until Joe asked, "Now what?"

"Is he okay?" Andy's voice cracked.

Joe took a deep breath, crouched down, and touched Pete's shoulder. "Hey, are you conscious? Can you hear us?"

No answer.

"Pete..." Joe carefully turned him over. "Ew!"

"What's that?" Andy looked too shocked and confused to be disgusted.

"Dark stuff," Patrick said.

Crickets chirped from fairly far away.

"Well, no shit..." Joe murmured. "It's coming out of... his face."

"Maybe it's blood," Andy said.

Patrick replied, "It could be that... and something else, though."

"Well, what?"

"I don't know."

"You're the smart one," Joe's remark sounded accusatory.

"It could be..." Patrick paused. "Liquid... vampirism. I don't know."

"Gross. Don't get any on you."

Silence.

Andy again. "Let's take him back inside."

"How?"

"It doesn't matter, anyhow!" Andy stopped fiddling with his hands. "I don't want to sit here and look at him with goo on his face, all unconscious-like. It's not okay. I want to go back inside. I want to wait for him to wake up, and he's gonna be human, and... yeah, it's all gonna be uphill from there. We can deal with new problems. And get over these old, horrible people like Sorel and The Baron." Andy took a breath and thought about it. "And that's it."

Joe started clapping. He ignored the sounds of wheels puling up near them.

Andy man-giggled. "Thank you, thank you."

"Heyyy," was a new voice.

"Shit," Patrick said aloud.

"What happened to him?" Claire pointed at Pete and looked very worried.

"He looks like he'll be fine," Braids said.

"Owwch!" Noodles said. She inexplicably made it sound foreign.

"What are you guys doing here?" Patrick sighed for the whole sentence.

"We came because we heard there was going to be a biggie fight. A showdown of epic proportions!" Claire carefully pronounced 'epic proportions'. "A big shindig."

"You heard that? Really?" Joe laughed. "What is that, vampire gossip?"

Andy poked Pete.

"I didn't really hear that," Claire said.

"...What?" Patrick rubbed his face. "...Okay..."

"But I could tell it was gonna happen."

"Oh, really?" Patrick laughed but didn't seem to think it was very somehow. "That apparent?"

"YAH," Claire nodded. Suddenly she stuck her foot out. "OH! Look at my boots! They're all platform and leather and goth-ish! I got them at HOT TOPIC!" She said that like it was the greatest thing in the world, like, you don't even know how great it is, you can't even comprehend! She squealed, smiled, and bounced up and down a bit. "Don't I look like a whore?!"

"Yeah," Patrick nodded and smiled politely. Andy and Joe carried Pete into the RV. Patrick acknowledged this, but then turned back to Claire and her gang.

"So did we miss something?" Claire asked.

Patrick motioned for them to come closer. They didn't waste a moment doing so. Patrick leaned in and reached into his hoodie pocket. "I have something I want you guys to do for me."

"Sure!" Claire said without bothering to find out what it was first.

"Even though we have tons of stuff to do," Braids lied.

"I have a quest for you guys."

Group gasp. Claire repeated, her blue eyes shining, "A quest?! WOWIE!"

Patrick nodded again and took the recipe for the cure out of his pocket. "A mission..."

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