"Fuck," Mark cursed, limping into the room and sitting down on the bench. "Fuck fuck fuck!" He took several deep breaths, the throbbing in his knees and hips so bad that he felt like he was about to throw up at any second. "Jeff?" he called out, so consumed by his pain that he couldn't even see his lover.

"I'm here," Jeff assured him, wrapping his arms around Mark and hugging him tightly. "I'm right here baby."

"Pills," Mark said, waving his hand in the general direction that his bag was in. "Get me my pills."

"Okay," Jeff said. He let go of Mark and hurried over to the bag, grabbing the pain killers Mark had in there and bringing them over to their owner. "Here, take them with this," he said," grabbing his bottle of Mountain Dew and handing that over too.

Mark quickly chased three pills down with the drink, not caring that his prescription wasn't all the way cleared with the Wellness Policy people yet. If he didn't get relief soon, he was going to be tempted to blow his own brains out just to escape the pain. "Fuck me," he muttered, panting for breath after he had swallowed the pills.

Jeff winced and sat down next to Mark. "You should let the trainer look you over," he suggested timidly.

Mark just shook his head. "What would be the point? There's nothing that he can do for me. My body's giving out on me." It pained him to admit it, but it was the truth. He had come back too soon from his latest knee surgery because Vince had said he was needed and now he was paying for it big time. If this was the kind of pain he was in after wrestling on TV for just ten minutes, he hated to think how he was going to feel a few weeks down the line.

Jeff kissed his cheek softly. "You need to tell McMahon that you need to go back to your sabbatical," he said gently. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. Something's going to blow out completely if you're not careful."

"I know." Mark carefully laid himself down and rested his head on Jeff's lap. He knew that he needed to change out of his ring gear so they could go back to the hotel and check on James and the boys, but it felt nice just to lay there because it was so peaceful. Being around James had been anything but peaceful lately and Mark was really starting to think that he needed to talk to Jeff about James killing again. This whole getting him to stop thing…it was a disaster basically. Sure it had seemed necessary given the fact that Matt seemed to be eager as hell to turn James into the cops, but James was turning into a rabid animal without his kills. That was undeniable.

"Mark?" Jeff said suddenly, gently running his fingers through Mark's hair.

"Yeah?" Mark said, grabbing Jeff's hand and lightly kissing it.

"I tried calling James when you were out wrestling and I didn't get an answer." Jeff sounded really apprehensive now. "That's not a good sign, is it?"

Mark almost lied just to try to put Jeff at ease. Over the years he had learned that the people he worked with tended to freak out about shit so it was easier to lie and deal with the shit himself. But in the end, he ended up nodding because he could not bring himself to insult Jeff's intelligence by lying. "Yeah, it's not good."

"That's what I thought." Jeff sighed and leaned down so he could kiss Mark's forehead. "We should go looking for him."

Mark nodded, even though he much rather lay down and sleep until the pain was gone. "Yeah. We really should."

…

James moved through the empty streets, keeping to the shadows that had hid him for his entire life. He was aware that he was moving faster than even Cooper and Connor could keep up with, but he really did not care. His knife was once again in his possession and he was on the hunt. It had been so long…way way too long. It had been so long that almost every part of his mind had shut down. The only part still active was the most basic, primal part of him. Victims…itty bitty victims…where are you? Come out come out wherever you are…. He turned into a dark alley and started walking up it, stopping when he heard a bottle drop on the cement. Here we go…

About five feet in front of him was a blind homeless man who was staring right at him from inside the giant TV box that was serving as his shelter for the night. James got down to his knees and stared at the man, staring at him for the longest time before he began to chuckle madly.

"Who's there?" the man asked, his useless eyes staring holes right through James. He reached out and began trying to make contact. "I know you're there…I'm not stupid."

James chuckled more, not really knowing what the fuck it was that he found so funny. "No…I guess you're not." He pulled his knife out from his pocket and jammed it right into the man's gut, ignoring the fact that a small scream came from the guy's mouth just seconds later. He was too focused on the blood rushing out of the wound, covering his hand and triggering a rage that he hadn't felt in years. He yanked the knife out before grabbing the man by the ankle and dragging him out of the box so he could have free reign to stab his victim where ever he wanted.

"I don't think you'll be needing these anymore," he said with a smirk, driving his blade into the each of the man's eye sockets. "I don't see why you didn't just get rid of them earlier…it wasn't like they were useful." He took what was left of the eyeballs and put them into the pocket on his shirt before taking his knife and using it to split the guy open from his throat to his belly button, actually sticking his hand into the corpse and touching the still warm organs inside.

"Oh my God!" Cooper groaned as he and Connor finally caught up with James. "Dad…Jesus Christ what the fuck are you doing?"

"Nothing," James said innocently. He pulled his hand off and examined the blood that was on it. It was all warm and gooey…he needed more of it.

"Daddy where are you going?" Connor asked as James got up and started walking away.

"Hunting," James replied without looking back.

"But what about…you know?" Cooper did not sound pleased that he and Connor were being left to clean up the mess.

James ignored that question and kept walking. He knew Cooper and Connor would be good boys and take care of the mess for him. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to hunt to go," he sang softly under his breath. "Hi ho hi ho hi-" He began to laugh giddily when he saw another homeless person not too far away from him. Yeah baby, I'm fucking back in business.

…

Cody threw back another shot, coughing as the alcohol burned his throat. He had lost track of how much he had drank so far. That was alright though. Counting was for losers. Take Evan for example. He had been drinking with him and Ted for a little bit but then decided that he better stop before he got too wasted. Fucking little pussy was what he was. Oh well, more for me, Cody thought as he grabbed the bottle of whiskey and started drinking right out of it.

Ted blinked at him several times, slowly shaking his head. "Jesus Christ Code Man. Slow down a little bit."

Cody took three large gulps of the whiskey before slamming the bottle down on to the table. "It's not fair Teddy," he complained. "I love him. I love him so much."

"I know you do," Ted said, moving his chair that he could sit right next to Cody. "I know."

"No, you don't know," Cody said defiantly, the alcohol causing anger and petulance. "Nobody knows. Everyone says "Oh I understand" but then they tell me to get over it barely two minutes later. And I wish it WAS that easy. I'd be happy as a pig in shit if it was that easy. But it's not! It's not and you can't keep telling me to get over because it HURTS right in here!" He started smacking his chest to emphasize his point. "That's where it hurts and it hurts bad Teddy."

Ted let out a long sigh. He obviously didn't know what the hell to do to make things better for Cody. "Look, I-"

"Son of a bitch," Cody cursed, turning out Ted completely. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. When he confirmed that it was Hunter that was walking into the bar, he got out of his chair and began making his way over to the blonde man. In his mind, Randy hurting him was Hunter's fault. Hunter had emotionally damaged Randy so badly that it seemed that he was beyond repair. If Hunter hadn't felt the need to be such a fucking jackass, this whole mess could have been avoided. "You!" he called out, barely avoiding Ted's attempts to grab him and reel him in. "Hunter!"

"Oh Jesus," Hunter muttered under his breath. He gave Cody an annoyed look. "What do you want Rhodes?"

"You…" Cody tried desperately to think of something mean and witty to say. "….are stupid."

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Riiiiiight." He shook his head, clearly not amused by this. "Look Rhodes, whatever it is, it's going to have to wait. I am NOT in the mood to-"

"I dun care," Cody slurred out defiantly. He began pushing Hunter as hard as he could, barely making the larger man flinch while almost falling on his own ass. "You are mean and not nice and…fucking jackass is what you are. You fucking broke Randy and now he broke me and it's all your fault."

"Cody come on," Ted said, doing his best to pull Cody out of the situation.

Cody elbowed Ted in the ribs before getting right into Hunter's face. "You'z a jerk face," he declared before slapping the taste of Hunter's mouth. Delivering the blow felt really good, but what happened next didn't. One minute everything was fine and the next minute a large fist was hitting his jaw, dropping him right down to the floor and making him see stars. ….Owie….that hurted really bad….