Warnings: it's not explicit but there's talk of blood and gore and a little bit of implied violence. I don't actually describe it, but if you need to know exactly you can PM me and I'll tell you no questions asked!
Chapter 27: Zero to Oh Shit in 60 Seconds
The trek from the main building to the garage where Brittany's Boss waits takes her less than a minute. After opening the garage door, Brittany grabs the Mustang key off the key wall and jumps into the car, firing it up and making burn out marks on the concrete as she peels out of the shop and into the dead of early morning darkness.
A million and one thoughts are racing through her mind, and she doesn't know where the fuck to start with any of them.
But she does know what the most important thing she's worried about at the moment is. Brittany shifts around in the seat until she retrieves her phone from her back pocket and scrolls down to the most beautiful name on the contact list. She presses 'Call' and holds the phone to her ear.
"Come on Santana, pick up baby pick up." Brittany mumbles into the phone as the line continues to ring. Something in her heart tenses in fear when Santana's voicemail comes up on the sixth ring.
"Shit!" Brittany exclaims, throwing the phone to the passenger seat. Santana not answering in this moment is not a good sign to Brittany. She steps on the gas pedal, hoping to get herself to Mike's destination, wherever that may be quicker than she's ever driven. The sooner she makes sure Mike is okay, the sooner she can go and make sure that Santana is okay.
Because if Santana is not okay then Brittany doesn't really care about much else but destroying and burying the person responsible for any wrong doing.
She's turning onto the main highway, headed in the direction of the last area that she, Mike and Puck cased the planned boost out when her phone suddenly goes off. In a scramble to reach over and grab it, Brittany accidentally jerks the car into the wrong lane for a second and the loud blaring of a Mack truck is all that brings her back quick enough to correct it.
Letting out a relieved sigh that she's not dead, and still clutching her phone tightly in her hand, Brittany brings it to her ear without even looking at the caller.
"Santana!?" She calls into the phone her heartbeat pausing in the second it takes the other person on the line to say anything.
"No boss, I'm sorry…it's Rory."
Brittany's heart sinks a little, but she clears that feeling for a moment knowing there are other things she has to handle out right now too, "Did you get the trace on Mike yet? I'm headed towards 582, towards where we were last casing."
She hears clicking noises coming from Rory's end, "Yeah I've got the last known location of the car. I'll text you the address, and boss we'll keep you posted on anything we hear about Santana and how Puck's doing."
There's a pause before Brittany is able to reply, "Thanks Rory, make sure everyone stays together. As soon as I get Mike and Santana back, we'll regroup and tear Jesse St. James down." She doesn't need a verbal response to know that Rory understands the severity of everything that's going on. It'd be hard not to understand that, so with a swipe of her finger, Brittany ends the call and puts all her concentration into the road.
A few seconds go by and she receives the address she was waiting on. It's not far from where she, Mike and Puck last did their reconnaissance, and with a few corrections in course, Brittany is speeding off in the direction of where she hopes Mike is.
#################
"Ah, so very nice of you to finally join us…Ms. Lopez."
Santana doesn't immediately register the direct nature of the words that come out of Jesse's mouth, but when she does her knees almost give out in fear because, he knows. She tries to gather her wits and remain calm but every nerve in her body is screaming to turn around and run as fast as she can. To get out of there.
But she knows it would be pointless, and she wouldn't make it very far.
Jesse also knows it's pointless as he proceeds to indicate, "No need to try and run Santana. You'd be dead before you got to the end of the hall, and frankly at this point of execution in my plan, that wouldn't be a very good situation, for either of us." He says as he stands from his desk and walks around to lean against the front of it, crossing his hands over each other and holding them loosely in front of him.
"Now, Ms. Lopez, why don't you turn around and come back and sit down, that way I can explain a few things to you so that you don't do anything else that might get yourself, or your protective little girlfriend, into any more trouble."
Santana's frozen at the door for a solid 30 seconds before she swallows down the fear in her throat and manages to turn around and face the evil asshole responsible for so much shitty stuff happening in her life. She takes careful steps over to the chair set out in front of Jesse and sits down daintily crossing one leg over the other before she glares up at him, hoping the fire she feels in her body is reflected in her eyes.
If she gets the chance, he'll wish he'd never messed with her, her family, or the woman she's in love with.
Suddenly the sound of her phone ringing makes Santana jump a little, her heart starts racing as she considers who it might be and how much Santana really hopes that Brittany calling her won't put the woman's life in even more peril. She glances in Jesse's direction and sees him watching her intently.
He nods to her, "Well well, I wonder who that could be. Go ahead and check, but don't even think of answering it."
His words are somehow calm and completely terrifying at the same time, but Santana pulls her phone out and looks at the screen. Jesse gestures for her to show him. Santana leans up and out of her chair with reluctance to do so, showing Jesse the screen and he smirks as he reads the name displayed.
"My you two really have gotten disgustingly cozy." He declares and Santana's chest burns with a different kind of anger, like something along the lines of a fierce sense of protection. She pulls the phone back from Jesse's face.
"She's got nothing to do with anything. If you know my name, obviously you have me here because of my brother. So you can leave Brittany and her crew out of it."
With a click of his tongue, Jesse leans closer to Santana with that sadistic menacing glare still covering his face.
"Oh but I disagree. Brittany Pierce and her family in fact have everything to do with it. Now sit back down Ms. Lopez, or I can have Brody make you sit down. Either way, you're going to sit here and listen to what I have to say. You're going to sit here and listen to me tell you just how much the Fati Manus crew is involved in things."
She tries not to show how much she's shaking. With anger? With fear? With humiliation for letting this happen? Santana's not sure what she can do at this point, but she knows that she has to stay alive and do what she's told for the time being, if only to be able to get to Brittany and try to save her.
As she takes a seat again, something in the corner catches her eye and she watches as a blue uniformed police officer of the Henderson Police Department shifts around in his spot and refolds his arms over his chest. He looks entirely indifferent to the whole situation and doesn't appear to care for a minute that he's dealing with an extremely dangerous and law breaking man.
Something about the fact that Santana doesn't even feel safe with a police officer in the vicinity really pisses her off.
"Aren't you an officer of the law? Isn't it your duty to protect and serve?" She suddenly begins to shout at him from her spot, glad to see the Officer at the very least flinch at her words. Santana doesn't stop there however, and with a raised finger pointing at Jesse, she expels some more of her anger and frustration, "He's obviously a lunatic who's threatening to hurt innocent people and you're just letting him get away with it!"
A hint of remorse flashes in the Officer's dull blue eyes, but then he straightens up and with a roll of his shoulders, flashes Santana an unimpressed smirk.
"Mr. St. James, my partner, and I have a business agreement, and he's agreed to help us with our problem if we help him with his. We all have a mutual hatred for a particular set of people, and can greatly benefit from our intended actions." He explains, his voice as revolting and dismal as his personality seems to be. Santana grits her teeth as she listens. "Right now, I can look the other way if it means getting rid of my captain…eight years on the force with him and that asshole still won't promote me and I swear-"
"Dustin," Jesse suddenly cuts off the fuming man with a click of his tongue and a shake of his head, "We'll get more into that later. But for right now Ms. Lopez has the right to know a little bit more about how and why we have a business arrangement and what that means for her little crew and that of her pestering, incredibly problematic, and disposable girlfriend and her crew." He says with a sneer and Santana's sees red for a moment hearing him talk about Brittany's crew, but mostly the woman herself, like that.
She refrains herself from acting out, she knows it won't do much good at this time and could possibly put the crews and Brittany in even more danger.
Jesse's smile becomes wickeder as his hand waves in Santana's direction, "Ahh struck another nerve did I? Well let me tell you something, Santana, you and your family and your silly friends have been complicating my life for a very long time, and I'm more than done with that."
Santana's hold on the arms of the chair she's sitting in becomes even more desperate, to the point that her knuckles are turning white. She can feel the way her blood is pumping profusely through her veins, her heart is hammering against the confines of her ribcage. Jesse merely considers her with superior regard, raising his nose at her like some pretentious holier than thou individual.
"As it turns out, I'm not the only one with a grudge against the Pierce's or the Lopez'. And you are right in the sense that I do have an issue with your brother, and in extension you."" Jesse then says.
Without even really skipping a beat, or being prompted by Santana, Jesse continues his speech, "There's a reason Officer Goolsby and I have a few things in common with his lovely Captain. And well…let's just say it all started twelve years ago when my wonderful father left my hard working mother for a particular blonde stripper in Vegas."
Santana tenses up at these words, even as Jesse continues.
"Of course, good ole pops never told me that's why he was leaving. In fact, he never said much of anything. I just woke up one day to see him packing things into his truck. Then after patting me on the head he simply climbed into the truck and drove off. Can you imagine what it's like, being ten years old and watching your father drive away like that without any explanation in the world. I never understood it. Nothing made sense to me." Jesse pauses for a moment as a far away look crosses his face, almost as if he's gotten lost in the memory of the whole situation.
He shakes his head and turns his gaze back to Santana, his eyes dark and unforgiving. "I managed to cut him out of my life just like he had to me and move on with things. I became a better man than he ever will be, and everything was going perfectly fine until a few years ago when dear old daddy decided to pay a visit to Miami in attempt to reconcile with his long lost son." Jesse scoffs at his own words, finding something repulsive in them that Santana has no clue about.
A hand runs through his thick curly hair, and for a moment Santana almost thinks she's seen someone like that once with similar hair. She can't place it though, and soon enough, Jesse is speaking again.
"I wanted nothing to do with him, but the visit did shed some light on a few things. For one, I finally discovered who the woman that had tugged him away from his family was. And then she somehow stumbled upon my operations and quickly fled from Miami and me. My father followed soon after. Of course, at the time I paid no mind to any of it. It wasn't until your brother Hector joined my crew a few years later and started sticking his nose into places it didn't belong."
Another sneer crosses Jesse's face as he recalls the memory, Santana remains holding her breath.
"Your brother almost screwed up my entire operation in Miami, and then he fled as well."
Santana perks up at this information and she speaks before she realizes what she's doing, "Hector's in jail though, isn't that good enough for you?"
Jesse's eyes slant to her and narrow in hatred and anger, "He tricked me for a while, until my associates here in Vegas informed me they'd spotted him with the very woman responsible for pulling my family apart. He staged a good cover and managed to disappear but he underestimated my reach, and there's the fact that the very crew he sent his darling sister to is the one I've been waiting to take down. With the help of Officer Goolsby and a few other keys associates, who you will no doubt meet very soon, I finally have everyone just where I want them."
Santana catches the appalling 'Officer' nod his head to Jesse out of the corner of her eye as he takes a step closer to the two of them. Jesse briefly waves his hand in the man's direction.
"It seems the time has come for our very first act of the plan," He says without taking his eyes off of Santana.
"I just got confirmation," Officer Goolsby informs Jesse as he finally looks towards the other man. "Do you want us to drop off the…package now?"
With a slight incline of his head, Jesse replies "Yes Dustin. Go grab your partner and deliver the package, and I will set everything else in motion."
Officer Goolsby nods once before her traipses out of the office. Santana hears his muffled voice call out something a little ways down the hall but she is pulled back into the conversation with Jesse before she can even make sense of anything.
"Now Ms. Lopez," Jesse begins, and waits until Santana makes eye contact with him again, "Why don't you get out your phone and call that lovely girlfriend of yours. You will tell her nothing that's going on or I can promise you that you will never see her again. Tell her that you're fine. She'll probably tell you that you're unsafe, if she's as good of a crew leader as everyone keeps claiming her to be. You'll tell her you're fine and that you will see her soon."
Santana swallows the lump that rests in her throat, her lungs suddenly stripped of oxygen as her body catches up with the severity of the situation. Her hand is shaking when she reaches for her phone again, and for a moment she considers defying the man in front of her. Sacrificing herself to save the woman she loves.
Jesse clicks his tongue at her again and shakes his head. With a snap of his fingers he calls over his shoulder, "Brody, would you help our dear Santana out. She seems to be having trouble following orders."
Brody, still standing in the corner, nods and walks towards Santana who glares at him with all the hatred she can muster, "Don't touch me you bastard." She spits at him and swings her fist at him as he attempts to lean in and grab her hand. Even though she manages to get a good shot in, it only angers Brody and he roughly pins her hand to the chair and grips the hand holding her phone hard enough that it will easily leave a bruise.
He forces her to open her phone and select Brittany's number, pressing the call button for her. She sucks in a sharp breath as he jerks her hand to her ear and firmly holds it in place.
Santana bites back tears of frustration as the line begins to ring, and she prays that Brittany is safe and that she will remain so.
#################
Brittany hears her phone ringing from the passenger seat. She almost doesn't answer it but then decides it might be a good idea. Relief washes through her when she sees Santana's name on the screen.
She immediately swipes to answer and brings it to her ear, "Santana?"
"Yeah Brittany it's me."
"Shit San, baby, thank god. Are you okay?" Brittany almost chokes in relief at hearing her girlfriend's voice on the other end. Santana sounds a bit shaky, but Brittany supposes that's probably because of everything that's going on.
"I'm okay Britt," Santana breathes out down the line, her voice cracking slightly as she says Brittany's name. "Are you okay babe?"
Another breath is released and Brittany squeezes the phone tighter, realizing some of her tension has dissipated just knowing that Santana's still alive and okay. She nods, even though she knows her girl can't see her, "Yeah, I'm okay." She says and then takes a sharp right turn, her voice changing solemn as she informs Santana vaguely about some of the things she's missed.
"I'm okay, but some of the guys aren't. San, I don't know what's going on but I need you to be safe. I need you to get Jake and get away from Jesse as quickly as you can. Okay baby? Promise me."
There's a long moment of silence, and Brittany's heart rate increases dramatically. When Santana speaks, her voice is strained almost as if she's holding back tears, "Okay, I will, I promise. You too Britt, stay safe and be careful." She murmurs and Brittany wants to question what's wrong but she doesn't get the chance.
"I will." She says hoping Santana knows how much she means it. How much she will do anything to see her again, but right now she's got something else she has to take care of, "I gotta go babe, okay?"
There's another pause before Santana breathes out slowly into the phone, "Okay Britt, but I'll see you soon right?"
Brittany smiles and nods, even though Santana can't see her, as her heart flutters a little as she imagine having Santana in her arms again. Just then, her headlights flash down the road at the carnage of wrecked cars being barely illuminated by the highway roadside lights. It's very close to Brittany's intended destination.
"You will, real soon. I love you Santana."
"Love you too Brittany."
And with that, Brittany's line goes dead. She determines that the second she gets Mike to safety she's calling Santana and going after her. Something is not right. She speeds up a little until she's closer to the wreckage and swerves the car off to the right of the pile of smashed metal and burnt rubber.
She counts one, two, three cars in a makeshift pileup just off the beaten path she had driven her own car down. Brittany instantly recognizes the area as that of her, Mike and Puck's original selected point of action for the boost that they were preparing to partake in the following evening. It's the perfect area from the downtown convention center, just off the highway and with mountains backing both sides of the road and offering superior coverage to the booster who is fleeing in the intended stolen.
As she steps out of the car Brittany surveys the surrounding area for signs of anyone else. She sees nothing but the steam from the cars rising up into the dry darkness. She recognizes the vehicle that appears to be the target of the other two as the one of the cars that Brittany's boosting crew uses for recon missions. It would be the car that Mike and Puck drove out here.
Her eyes narrow, "What the hell?" She speaks aloud to herself as she climbs from the Boss, stepping towards the smashed cars and leaving her car door open and her headlights on.
The closer she gets the more her gut sinks, she recognizes that the car smashed into the backside of the recon car is the same golden Audi a8 that she saw Samuel Paul Evans III arrive in at the motorcycle race they had not too long ago. She notices, as she gets closer, that the one responsible for t-boning her crew's car was also present during the race against the Evans crew, but she never got a look at who had driven it.
Anger boils inside of Brittany as she slowly pieces together what might have happened based on the way the cars are positioned in the crash.
It would appear that the car that Mike and Puck were driving was blindsided from the left by one of the Evans' crew cars and then rear ended by Paul's own car. That must mean that Puck was the one driving the car, judging by his arm and other injuries, because the area of the car just in front of the driver's side is completely smashed in and could be the cause of Puck's shoulder dislocation and the impalement of his stomach.
Brittany's heart skips a beat as she considers what that means. If Puck got the majority of the blow, how was it that he was able to make it out of the wreck? Unless he wasn't driving the car? But then how did he get the injuries he sustained, and where the hell is Mike? She's racking her brain for a logical explanation when she rounds the wreckage and suddenly sees a figure lifeless on the ground.
"Mike!" She exclaims and rushes to his side, dropping down onto the ground next to him where he looks like he just barely managed to climb out the passenger side of the wrecked recon car. She reaches out hesitantly and presses her fingers against his neck in an attempt to feel a pulse and then jumps slightly when a groan is released from him and he shifts around to lie on his back.
"Boss?" He asks tiredly, his voice heavy with pain as his dark brown eyes blink up at Brittany.
"Hey Mike, I'm going to get you out of here okay?" She says to him, careful not to touch him or jostle him and injure him further. "Can you move or…?" She trails off, terrified of the answer but he manages a nod before he slowly sits up. He grits his teeth and sucks in a sharp breath, clutching at his left side and Brittany glances at the limp form of his entire left arm and the way his shirt is bloodied and mangled.
She's not a doctor, but she guesses that his arm is severely broken.
Brittany's gentle as she reaches out and picks out a few tiny glass shards from Mike's neck and the left side of his face before she stands up and walks to the other side of her friend.
"What happened Mike? Puck barely made it back to the building before passing out. How are you still alive?"
Mike lifts his right hand in a shrugging type action and lets out a ragged breath, "I don't know, one second Puck and I were reconning just like you asked us to and we get into the car and start driving away and the next thing I know, we're getting hit from all ends. I didn't even have time to try and maneuver the car in a way out."
"So you were driving?"
He nods, "Yeah, I had the window almost all the way down or else my body would probably be shredded to pieces. I managed to turn the car away from a lot of the first t-bone impact. When we realized what was happening, Puck jumped from the car and I shifted further into the passenger seat before the car was hit again on all three sides."
"Wait, three sides?" Brittany asks, now a little more confused.
Her friend nods again, "Yeah there was a third car that hit us from the front." He explains and Brittany glances over to the front of the car and sees the damage done to the front end, that couldn't have been from anything else but another car bashing into it.
"I didn't see much of what Puck did but I know he attacked the guy in the car that smashed into the front of us. I heard grunting and fighting but by the time I'd climbed out of the car, Paul Evans was shouting at his crew that they'd done their part and it was time to get out of there. They didn't even stop to check if I was dead or alive." Mike then says letting out a heavy pained sigh.
Brittany kneels down and wraps Mike's right arm over her shoulder, "On three okay." He nods to her and they count it off until she heaves him to his feet, holding him steady as he grits through the pain and tries his best to keep his injured arm rigid.
"So Puck must have gotten injured in the fight before he stole the car and drove off to find us, and Paul must not have been hired to do much more than shake you two up and injury you. The guy's too much of a pussy to follow through anyway." Brittany jeers as she and Mike shuffle slowly back to her car.
"Well for once I'm kind of glad for that, I was acting dead but if they'd been ordered to make sure we were dead and had actually checked me out, I probably really would be."
The mood is solemn as Brittany manages to get Mike back into the car, hearing the sound of faint sirens in the distance. She's quick to shift the Boss into gear and get the hell out of there, taking a back roads route away from the sound of the cops as she heads back to the Pierce building.
She's more than thankful that Mike's okay, but now she's also more scared than before of what kind of danger Santana might be in.
##############
Santana hangs up the phone and tears stain her cheeks. She wants to lash out and hit everyone in sight, but she also wants to curl up in a ball and sob for years because she doesn't know what the hell is going to happen now, and she doesn't know if she'll actually get to keep that promise to Brittany.
"Very good, Ms. Lopez. You sounded convincing enough, but no bother, if Ms. Pierce decides to show up looking for you, it just means I will get to carry out my plans a little quicker than intended." Jesse says from her left as he slides from the desk and motions to Brody. The other man nods and loosens his grip on Santana enough that when she gets the chance she rips her hand from him and spits in his direction.
Brody's face colors in anger and he raises his hand to hit her but is stopped by Brooke stepping in front of Santana and basically shielding her.
"That's enough I think." She says sternly to Brody before glancing in Jesse's direction, "I assume that's all you'll need from her then. Do you plan on locking her up with everyone else now?" She asks, her tone remaining as neutral as possible, even if Santana deciphers the slightest bit of sharpness in the words.
Jesse's eyes slant back to Brooke's, "Done with her? Oh no, I've only just begun having her around. I have much more in mind for her, but for now, I'm going to need her to retrieve a few things for me that I know Brittany Pierce has stashed at her place of residence." He informs Brooke before his eyes turn to Santana's, "And I know that you've been sharing a bed with Brittany Pierce for some time now, so I know that you'll be capable of finding what I'm looking for and bringing it safely back to me."
"What makes you think that?" Santana bites back and Jesse merely offers her a look of boredom.
"Because, if you don't then things will just get worse for your girlfriend. Can you bear being the one responsible for that?"
Santana shudders at the inclination of the words, swallowing the panic she feels, if only for a moment, but remaining silent.
"That's what I suspected," Jesse patronizes Santana before he takes a few steps towards the door, "Now, I think it's about time you meet the man who made it a possibility for me to know your true identity, as well as the person who will be escorting you back to the Pierce residence and keeping an eye on you to make sure you don't do anything that would prematurely foil my plans."
Scoffing to herself at the fact that this evil 'genius' and clearly lunatic of a man actually just used the word 'foil' when referring to his plans, Santana watches as Jesse opens the door and another man steps through it.
If her blood rain cold earlier at the revelations she was enlightened to, then it's damn near ice cold now.
He steps into the room with a blank look on his face, his eyes unblinking. He stands taller than everyone else in the room but his presence is not imposing. Santana can't believe that she's actually seeing him again. She didn't think that was actually a possibility, and now she's kind of pissed that she is.
Because here he stands next to one of the most dangerous people she's ever met, glancing her way as if waiting for her to say the first words.
So she does, with barely contained anger.
"You."
#################
"You going to be okay buddy?" Brittany asks as she passes Mike off to the hands of David and Lauren who will help him to the hospital. He nods.
"Yeah, thanks for coming back for me Boss."
Brittany smiles, "I would never leave you behind Mike, you're like a brother to me."
They share one more look before the others help Mike hobble off. Brittany turns to walk back towards the main building intent on getting Rory to check into a few more things for her when she's confronted with the broad chest of Noah Puckerman.
"Wow, easy on the body Pierce. I'm tough but I did also almost just die." The taller man says with his signature smirk and Brittany rolls her eyes as she takes in his bruised face and arm in a sling attire.
"If you almost died Puck, what the hell are you doing back here so quickly?"
Puck's smugness vanishes and is replaced with genuine concern, "My injuries aren't that bad, and I wanted to know that Mike was okay." He says lifting his shirt to reveal a bandaged stomach.
Brittany nods, "He's okay. David and Lauren are taking him to the hospital right now. He's got a pretty banged up left arm and a few lacerations from the glass, but he's breathing and talking okay. Thanks to you Puck." She says and holds her hand out. Puck looks at it for a second before reaching out with his uninjured hand and shaking it, "Thank you Noah, you saved one of my closest friends."
He gives a one-shouldered shrug, "I just wish I could have done more. We didn't even know what was happening until Evans and his crew were practically running with their tails between their legs."
"Yeah, Mike told me and it doesn't settle well with me that Paul Evans and his crew would just do something like that."
"Maybe he was pissed that you and your girlfriend kicked his ass in that race."
"I always kick his ass," Brittany says, her brow creasing as she considers that. She and the Evans crew have been at it for the past few years, and not once has he retaliated against a loss this badly. "I think it's more than personal, and that's why I've got to figure out where Santana is and get her out of this mess. I don't trust Jesse anymore, and I don't care if this ruins the plans, I'm not leaving her in his hands."
Puck nods, "I hear you, I don't like it either. Just tell me what I can do."
Brittany is about to answer Puck when another voice cuts in and interrupts her before she gets the chance.
"Actually, if you don't mind Puckerman. We have a few things to say to Brittany first."
Whipping around at the voice, Brittany's eyes widen at the sight of two familiar blondes walking her way.
"Holly, Quinn." Brittany says to them, relieved that they appear to be uninjured and okay. They nod to her.
"We're sorry we were gone without telling you Cherry Chapstick, but we definitely have a good reason for it." Holly says, accompanied by a nod by Quinn.
Again Brittany is on the precipice of replying when a blood-curdling scream can be heard coming from the front of her shop.
Eight pairs of eyes go wide before Brittany leads the sprint around the corner to the source of the sound. There, she finds Rachel with her hands covering her gapping mouth as she glances off towards the shop door.
Brittany briefly registers a pair of taillights speeding off into the darkness before her eyes shift to a figure slumped against her garage door.
Her mouth gaps open but no sounds come out, though Quinn and Holly next to her do manage to release a surprised and slightly terrified gasp.
A "Holy fuck" escapes Puck's lips as they all step closer to the figure and take in the general beaten and battered nature of it. The body is covered in torn and shredded clothes, doused with a mixture of dry and fresh blood. Hands show off mangled and dirtied fingers. There's a slow rise and fall coming from the figures chest as they expel a labored breath.
Their face is barely recognizable under cuts, black eyes, and bloodied lips. Brittany kneels in front of them and slowly reaches her hand out to steady them but eyelids flutter open and give way to piercing eyes.
Brittany sucks in a breath as she recognizes them.
"Oh shit."
Thus the chapter title! Does anybody know who Santana and Brittany are face to face with right now? I know it kind of sucks that I keep leaving it hanging, but there's so much happening in the story that the best place to stop it ends up being right before something else big goes down!
If it makes you feel any better, I have a nice Halloween two-shot smut piece called "Coming Out of My Shell" that I will post Sunday, and then there's another There's No One Else Like Me update that should happen sometime in the next few days! Does that help? (shameless plug for your benefit!)
I hope you all are still enjoying the action! And thanks as always!