This is a shift day [see above]. There was another upload this morning: Parted in Reality.

"A Dish Best Served Cold"

8. Eighth

The room had been quiet for some time now. They were all too focused in trying not to think about how hungry they were – which inevitably led to them thinking about it too much – and on top of their fear over what was happening, they had all retreated into themselves.

So when the sound of a song emerged from somewhere, it brought them all out of their hunger daze and back into panic mode, especially as Matheson reacted to it. He turned to the piano, saw among the array of cell phones that one's screen was lit up. He went to it and picked it up, turning back to the gathered kids. "Whose phone is this?" he asked, and hands reached for hands, afraid for what might happen. "Whose… phone?" Matheson raised the gun to get them talking.

"Mine, it's mine," Brittany volunteered immediately, though the others closed in around her like a shield.

"Get over here," Matheson pointed to the ground next to him with the phone which continued to ring. Brittany looked to the others. She didn't want to go, they didn't want her to, but what other choice did they have? She looked to Quinn on one side, Mercedes on the other, and she pushed wobbly legs to raise herself up and carefully walk down from the group to stand where Matheson had told her to go, her eyes planted on the gun like if she didn't look away from it then it couldn't hurt her. He held out the phone to her and kept the gun pointed not at her but at her friends. "Answer it, put it on speaker." She saw on the screen the picture she had taken of her and Santana messing with the blue wigs from the Cheerios' Katy Perry number, and she felt a pang at her heart… All these hours she'd just wanted to get to talk to her, just not like this…

"San… Hi…" she couldn't think of more words.

"Britt…" Santana sounded so relieved, making her cry. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just hungry," she replied, looking to the group who hung to her every word, a life line to the outside. "All of us."

"Everything's going to be alright, okay? You're going to get out of there…" The more Santana spoke, the more something shifted in Matheson's face, like he understood something, and it wasn't good.

"You're one of them," he snatched the phone away from Brittany, who flinched and scurried back in the welcoming arms of the club.

"You bet your ass I'm one of them," Santana's voice showed all the strain of trying to keep her rage together, knowing if she wasn't careful she could get someone killed.

"What about the other three? The tall guy, the mohawk, and the big girl…"

"Standing right here with me," Santana told him, and there was a whimper from the club. "And they're not the only ones w…" Matheson disconnected the call, backpedalling, retreating in thought, and there were eleven pairs of eyes following his every move. Whatever he had in mind, they had a feeling they weren't going to like it.

X

Outside, when the tone had come to indicate the end of the call, Santana had flinched, looking down at the screen. "No, no no…" she shook her head, looking to the others. They all looked back to the school, afraid that they were about to hear a gunshot. But it didn't come. Instead, Santana's phone rang, a minute after the call had been disconnected. She was quick to answer it. "Brittany?"

"Alright, listen up, and if you don't want me to start shooting, you'll make sure to keep this to yourselves and not run to the cops," Matheson's voice came on, and Santana motioned for the other three to huddle in. She couldn't put it on speaker, but maybe they could still hear.

"I'm listening," she promised.

"You, what's your name?" he asked, and she was about to answer but then realized he wasn't talking to her when she heard Blaine's voice in the distance, providing his name. "And you there?" he asked again, and now she heard Sugar's voice. "Alright, it's very simple," now he was back talking to her. "My issue here is with the thirteen of you who got me thrown in jail. Thing is I'm missing four and I've got two extra. So here's what we'll do. The four of you come in here, give yourselves up, and I'll let Blaine and Sugar go." In the background she could hear a bit of a commotion and Santana was still just processing what Matheson had asked, but now she could hear what sounded like Blaine saying he wasn't leaving and Kurt telling him that, yes, he was going. Then she could hear voices telling the others not to come in. She could hear Brittany. Santana covered her mouth not to call right back to her, knowing they needed to keep from being heard.

"What's going on?" Puck asked, and Santana inhaled.

"If we go in, he'll let Blaine and Sugar out," she croaked out. The other three reacted about as she had.

"Silence!" Matheson's voice sounded, and all other voices silenced. "You will come in, and you won't tell the cops. If you don't, then I start shooting," he declared, and Santana could well imagine the club was doing their best to stay silent even as this threat had been placed on their heads. "You have ten minutes." And the line went dead.

X

He had been watching Beckett argue with the Lima cops for over five minutes, and it didn't look like they were getting anywhere. All these hours had gone by and still they couldn't give any sort of relief to the amassed families, as they had yet to make contact with Matheson. He wasn't sure what the holdup was, but Beckett didn't look happy about it. The officer she had been talking to had started off looking relatively commanding, but by the time she was done with him it was like he had shrunk a good six inches. From what he knew, Ryan and Esposito were supposed to arrive within the hour, so maybe things would evolve...

After a moment he thought of Alexis, still waiting at home, and he sighed. He had no real update to give her, but he knew he couldn't leave her hanging either. So he dialled again, got her on the fly like last time. "We're at McKinley now. Nothing much has changed, but we're going to get this sorted, you just… you hang in there," he had almost said 'you just wait,' but that just would have sounded wrong, knowing that was exactly what she had been doing.

"Dad, can you get your phone to Santana so I can talk to her?" she asked after a beat, and he let out a breath; she would be asking that right about now.

"Yeah, just give me a second," he told her, looking to Beckett for a moment. She was still dealing with the cops, so he moved through the crowd, encountering Will. "Where are the kids, my daughter wants to speak with Santana," he explained.

"She's friends with Brittany," he remembered the redhead from New York, nodding in understanding. "Uh, sure, they're over there," he pointed and looked… they weren't there. He frowned, looked in the surrounding area, but there was no sight of them. He moved closer to where they had been standing before, with Castle following. They walked about for a good minute or two before it was becoming clear the four kids couldn't be found. His eyes were on the teacher, and then he remembered the phone.

"Alexis, let me call you back."

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)