Chapter 79
Insanity

Brushing a hand over his head, David let out a sigh as he left the building. He hadn't exactly meant to blow up like that… but what he said was exactly how he felt. The nerve of bringing all that back to the forefront… David shook his head. No point thinking about it now. David turned around the building, knowing that the others would likely be staying in for a bit more. If only to talk. Heading down the alley, David paused, noticing two figures leant close to a window. One was a small female while the other was a man rivaling his own size. No, scratch that, he's even bigger than me.

Suspicious about both of the strangers listening closely to the window, David approached the two slowly.

"I am sure he did not mean to sound like that…"

"He said his mind, Dorothy, that much is easy to figure out. It's fair enough, to be perfectly honest."

"I know I just… I do not want him to be in some kind of bad light."

"He won't be. David's just stressed out, just like the rest of us. He's… experienced more than the majority of us, actually. Losing his ex-wife and even you, well, it'd break a normal man I'm sure."

Derrick pulled away from the window, a nervous smile playing on his lips. "Well… I think I heard enough."

"I didn't understand…" Grace looked up at her brother. "Did you understand it?"

"I understood enough." Derrick stood up, still staring at the window. "This is definitely something bad, I'm certain." Picking up his mobile, Derrick slipped the device into his pocket. "And something the police ought to know."

"What're you two doing?"

At the sound of the voice, both Derrick and Grace turned around to see David approaching.

Derrick was even bigger than David had thought; only coming up to the man's chin. It was not often he felt dwarfed. "It tends to be suspicious when people are eaves-dropping." David said, crossing his arms.

"Get behind me, Gracie." Derrick lightly pushed Grace backwards, pushing her behind him. Derrick took a step forward, looking down at David. "I heard everything."

"…Everything? I doubt that." David cocked his head, confused. "What did you hear?"

"Enough." Derrick stood up straighter, aiming to intimidate David but David stood firm. "Some kind of rookie terrorists. Enough to get an easy recording of you."

"Der, leave it…" Grace murmured from behind Derrick. "We should just go."

"Oh no, Gracie, I have a feeling it's not going to be that simple." Derrick squeezed his fists. "This is a bad guy, Gracie. Bad guys don't let people go without a fight."

"I have to admit, I'm confused. Terrorists? Bad guy? What kind of conversation have you been listening to?" David raised an eyebrow only to be met with a sharp laugh.

"You can't act ignorant." Derrick pulled out his phone. "I recorded it all. I recognize your voice, with that grand speech. Sounded like you didn't want a part of it. Well you can't just draw out."

David, still confused, regarded Derrick with a small shake of his head. "So you were listening to that conversation were you? Now I'm certain you've got the wrong end of the stick. We aren't any kind of terrorists."

"Oh?" Derrick, not believing David, crossed his arms. "Why don't you explain how you aren't?"

"Der, come on, let's just go. He doesn't look bad… and if he is a… a t-terrorist, then what are you going to do?" Grace's bottom lip wobbled nervously.

"I'll do whatever I need to do. But I am intrigued and I want answers."

David just sighed. "I would love to explain it to you, really, I would, but it is far too complicated to expla-"

"Try me."

"I'd rather not."

"Then I'll get you arrested. It's simple." Derrick took another step forward but David pushed him back.

"No, I think you need to understand that this isn't anything bad. Going to the police would be a… let's say a bad idea."

"See, Gracie." Derrick braced his legs and shoulders, shielding Grace from view. "I told you he wouldn't let us go. So… what? Are you going to pull out some kind of gun? Shoot us dead? Hide our bodies?"

"Look, your imagination is a bit wild." David shook his head. "If you two really want to know then fine. I don't think it's any kind of secret anyway." David took a breath, before motioning to the window. "If you come in I'll get the other to expl-"

David was cut off by a sudden roaring like a beast from hell, sending vibrations through his body. The wall seemed to burst outwards, hot orange and red bursting in streams, covering both Grace and Derrick in a torrent of flame. The siblings were thrown backwards into the nearby wall, corpses charred and blackened. David himself was thrown off his feet, landing hard on his back.

The roaring had been replaced with an intense ringing, bouncing back and forth within his head. From simple shock he stared at the sky, taking in the black smoke pouring upwards. Slowly turning his head to the side, he noticed a good chunk of the building missing, bricks and mortar, glass and concrete smashed and in pieces.

That looks like… an explosion…? Dorothy!

With Dorothy in mind, David fought his way to his feet, noticing vaguely a hot liquid running down his eye. Ignoring the red haze, he stumbled forward to the hole in the wall and paused, his mind barely taking in the destruction that was once the room.

No furniture remained short of shards of wood and one lone standing chair. Rubble conquered the majority of the room but the thing which caused David to almost lose his stomach were the multiple bodies lying around the room, spread out. He could hardly recognise them. A silver ring glinted off one finger, a shredded faces of drama shirt was on another, another had an arm missing but whether this was due to the explosion or was from before David didn't know.

A pit seemed to rise up in his stomach and David looked wildly left and right, looking for her. He stepped forward into the smoke-filled room, his eyes streaming from both tears and the smoke. He could see, shielded by another charred corpse, the half-burnt Chloe, her eyes staring blankly at the sky.

"No… no, no…" David scanned the room again and again before he finally noticed a figure propped against the wall, still very faintly breathing. She was half-burnt, but one half of her face was clear enough that David felt as if everything had disappeared in his life. He stumbled without thought to Dorothy, falling to his knees and grasping her shoulders. Dorothy turned her head and her one good – but white – eye stared at David's. Her mouth twitched before her breathing ceased.

"Oh no… oh Dorothy please…" David grit his teeth, his hands tightening on her shoulders. "Please… don't do this to me…" David turned his head towards the corpse with the shredded shirt. Anger flared within his chest and he stumbled towards Joshua and slammed his fists into his chest. "You said you'd protect them! Everyone! Y-You said you would protect everyone! You fuck… fucking bastard… you…" David glanced back over to Dorothy. "…Dorothy… she… you should have… you promised…"

Hearing a crack, David instinctively looked up towards the remains of the ceiling. He didn't even try to move as the heavy concrete broke from the metal rebar, falling. David simply watch the concrete fall closer and closer, a stray piece of rebar heading straight for his eye.

"I got to admit… I'm confused…"

David's eyes shot open, sweat on his brow. He stared left and right, looking into the completely clean room, no sign of destruction.

"Are you saying that the last ten years were all attempts to get a survivor to replace him, because he knew one of the four previous survivors was a traitor and he couldn't trust any one of those four to replace him?"

"Yes." Richard nodded.

David took this in, not putting two and two together. The image of Dorothy was still fresh on his mind.

"Ten years is a damn long time. What took him so long?" David absently muttered.

"Ten years is a damn long – wait, what?" Joshua stopped as he heard David. "That was what I was about to say."

Looking up, David looked into Joshua's eyes and that's when it hit him. His eyes slowly widened. Joshua saw this and a foreboding hit his heart. "David, what's… did…"

"It happened… again… it…" David put a hand on his head.

"What did?" Lisa asked sharply, already standing up. Joshua followed suit with Detrikov regarding the two with narrowed eyes.

"David, what is wrong?" Dorothy asked gently, putting a hand on David's shoulder. David stood up, shaking the hand off.

"I… I just…" David grit his teeth and connected eyes with Joshua again. "…A vision."

Sudden silence filled the room. Joshua was standing stock-still, Lisa had one hand in her hair and Detrikov eyes flashed with what could have been pain or memories. Or both.

"…The hell?" Lukas stood up, his arm going around Dominika protectively. "No, you said it was over." Lukas pointed to Nick. "You told me it was over!"

"I… it…" Nick gulped. "I thought… Detrikov said that…"

"Myers was dead. Everything only made sense." Detrikov said slowly. "It should, by all rights, be over."

"Maybe he… maybe he just… just imagined it? A crazy daydream?" Dominika shakily suggest.

"I think we all know that to not be the case." Detrikov shook his head. "It's never simply that."

"Then what the hell are we standing about here for?" Joshua seemed to come to his senses and pointed at the door. "Everybody, get the hell out!"

At his word, everybody starting rushing out of the room, not knowing what was going to happen but knowing something was. Only David knew that it was an explosion. Lukas had scooped up Dominika since she was still in crutches, David guided Dorothy out with their hands clasped, Nick followed a shaky Chloe and Jeremy. Lisa turned back to Joshua, her eyes filled with questions. Joshua simply shrugged before lightly pushing his mother towards the door.

"Go." Detrikov said to Cray, sending the younger man ahead of him. Lastly Detrikov looked at the room before leaving.

Everyone gathered outside, away from the building, looking around.

"When will it happen?" Lukas asked, letting Dominika down from his arms and to lean on him.

"I-I had… I was angry in the vision and I had this stupid speech about how you," David shakily pointed to Richard. "Were telling us about Death and-and how you shouldn't… but that's not important." David shook his head. "I came outside and… oh!"

"What?" Joshua asked.

David took off for the alleyway at a brisk pace without a word.

"David?" Joshua took a step forward but was held back by Lisa. Turning towards his mother, Joshua was ready for sharp words but upon noticing his mother's expression he stopped. Her eyes were filled with both worry and fear; eyes wet. Of course… you were young enough to not be affected too bad, but this is the second time she's been on a list. Think about her, Joshua, she must be breaking down. Again. Joshua watched David disappear down the alley before turning to Lisa and pulling her into a hug, surprising his mother. "It'll be alright, mother, I'm sure. We've done it once. We'll do it again."

David saw both Grace and Derrick looking at each other at the window. They had obviously heard what David had said and were confused. Derrick caught sight of David and stood up but David didn't stop.

"Get out of here." David said sternly, finally stopping right in front of Derrick.

"Sorry… what?" Derrick shook his head. "It that some kind of stupid warning? Sounds like you've had a bit of an argument with your terrorist friends and you want to pull out."

"What?" David stood still for a moment, before shaking his head. "I have no idea what you're saying but you both need to get the hell away from this wall." David reached forward, grabbing Derrick's collar and pulling him. Derrick, surprised, didn't protest for a few moments before he reached up and grabbed David's wrist. "Get your hands off me!"

"Now is not the time!" David said through gritted teeth, tearing his arm away from Derrick. "This building is going to go up in flames and you two are going to get killed if you don't get away from this wall."

Derrick paused for a moment while Grace's eyes widened. "Der… I think we should do as he says…"

"Hah… some kind of trick…" Derrick shook his head. "Some kind of trick you're playing, isn't it? Are your friends waiting outside, ready to do who knows what to us for listening in on your plot? I think –"

Something seemed to snap inside David, from impatience and stress, and he lashed out with a fist. Derrick, sharp on his reflexes, moved his head to the side, dodging the blow. Instead the fist continued forward, snapping on the side of Grace's face. Grace fell to her rear in shock as a small drip of blood leaked down the side of her head from the sheer force of the blow. Looking at his sister, Derrick's eye twitched before he slowly turned on David. "Don't. You. Touch. My. Sister." Derrick gave a roar and charged, tackling David to the ground. Derrick lifted his fist and smashed it down towards David again and again, over-taken by fury.

"Hey! Get off of him!"

Derrick looked up to see a scruffy man and a one-armed man. Richard and Detrikov moved towards Derrick but Derrick was in a blood-rage. As Richard approached, Derrick swatted him to the side with one arm, knocking the former private eye backwards. Derrick turned towards Detrikov, muscles ribboning around his arms. Detrikov simply sighed and drove his fist hard into Derrick's throat, with enough force to incapacitate Derrick but not enough to damage anything permanently. Derrick swayed on his feet, coughing, and Richard grabbed his arms and starting pushing Derrick out of the alley.

Detrikov reached down and grabbed Grace's arm, picking her up from the floor. Her eyes were filled with fear and she was shaking like a leaf. Detrikov paused for a moment, staring at Grace. Her blonde hair. Those eyes. That frame. "Elena…" Detrikov muttered before realizing what he said and shaking his head. He pointed towards where Richard was still pushing Derrick away. "Follow them. Now."

Grace nodded, taking off after her brother and Richard from simple fear. Detrikov leaned down an offered his hand to David. David just slapped it away and got to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth. His lip was split and one eye was already swelling shut. David just shook his head for Detrikov not to say anything and limped out of the alley, his leg having been twisted awkwardly when Derrick tackled into him.

When the five appeared out of the alley, Joshua couldn't help a sigh. It would have been easier with people who knew what was going on. But Grace and Derrick were new. They'd have to listen to the whole story and actually realize the stakes.

"Are you sure?" Lukas approached David, who was holding his head in pain.

"…What?"

"Are you sure it's going to happen? Because nothing's happening." Lukas nervously chuckled. "If this is some kind of sick… sick joke then well done, well played, and-"

"…Not a joke." David said painfully. "Don't even… suggest that…"

"Okay, it's just." Lukas pointed at the building. "Nothing is even remotely happening. Nothing."

David turned towards the building, realizing that Lukas was right. What was the timing before? You had your blow up, you left the building, had an interaction with those two strangers, and then it happened. Has that same amount of time passed? Has-

David's thoughts were cut off by the huge roaring, flames gushing out from the exact room they were previously in. Walls flew from their foundations and a great ball of smoke burst into the air. David just stared, even as bits of debris cut his face even more. It actually happened… this… another list… isn't it…?

A throaty gargle filled the air and all heads turned from the wreckage to Cray, who was on his knees, a long piece of rebar having pierced the middle of his chest and come out his back. Cray loosely brushed bloody hands against the rebar but he was far too weak to actually do anything. He looked to Detrikov pleadingly, young eyes filled with a simple word, 'Help'. Detrikov slowly shook his head, knowing there was nothing he could do. The act had been done. The list had been started. Once the injury happened, there was no way of stopping it.

Cray's eyes teared up as he saw Detrikov shake his head before biting his lip and nodding slowly. He understood.

The survivors watched in silence – other than the crackling flames – as Cray collapsed to the side, signifying the first of many deaths to come.

In the distraction of Cray, Chloe had ran over to her car, getting into it rapidly, breathing hard. Jeremy followed, getting into the car and looking at her. Chloe just took a deep breath, before reversing the car.

At the sound of the engine, heads turned once more to see Chloe and Jeremy's car turning out of the parking lot and into the road.

"What are they doing?" Joshua said, one hand still on his head. "Fucking…" Joshua turned to David. "Who was the first!"

"What…?" David, still in relative shock, turned to Joshua.

"The first. In the list. You had the damn vision, who was first?!"

"I… don't know… I… when I looked in the room everyone… other than… well everyone was dead already…"

"Fuck… I feared that… fuck! Fuck!" Joshua looked to Richard. "I need your car!"

Knowing not to ask any questions, Richard threw the keys to Joshua, who caught them. He ran towards Richard's car but stopped as Lisa grabbed his shoulder.

"What?"

"I'm coming with you."

Joshua looked into his mother's eyes before nodding. "Fine. Fine, but we need to hurry. If one of those two are first, then we need to catch up to them before anything happens." Joshua climbing into the car as Lisa got into the passenger seat. Joshua poked his head out of the window. "Make sure you are watching each other! Anyone could be first!" With that, Joshua pressed the acceleration pedal, intent on following Chloe and Jeremy.

A/N: Happy New Years! Thanks to PrincezzShell101 for the review!

I told you things were going to happen. And things are still going to happen. Sometimes I don't like saying when people are going to die, but this time I want to up the anticipation.

Next chapter, at the very least, one person will die. Oh boy…

'Till then!