Central City, Greenwich District, Greenwich Apartments, Apartment 310
November 3rd, 1915, 9:38 PM
'Spatter'
Loud laughter echoed up the deserted stairwell, followed soon by three women of differing heights, two of which were bent over in raucous laughter.
As they came upon the third floor, Major Thompson crowed, "And so I told this kid: I'm in the military, did you need something? And he goes as white as a sheet, but he says, 'I've interrupted something important, haven't I?' and I thought, well, duh, but what came out of my mouth was: 'Impossible. I work for the government.'"
Warrant Officer Wilson's laughter became shuddering breaths as her laughter descended to an almost painful level, so much so that she couldn't breathe. Sergeant Major Abernathy threw her head back and cackled like a banshee. Major Thompson seemed satisfied with her handiwork, grinning down at the two officers.
Her smile melted away as she looked down the corridor. Warrant Officer Wilson and the Sergeant Major became aware of the sudden change in atmosphere. They looked up at the Major, their laughter fading into confused smiles.
"What's wrong, Alex?" Sergeant Major Abernathy asked. She knew that look: furrowed eyebrows, darkened eyes, the works.
"Isabella's door is wide open." She stated. Her walking sped up to a jog, and a chorus of 'what!'s sounded behind her.
Running footsteps trailed off into cautious tip-toeing as the wooden door to Apartment 310 creaked further open.
Maude and Andromeda came into the room soon after Alex entered it. The dim lighting of the room sent the Major's back into harshly lit relief, though nothing could mask the trembling of her body.
Maude and Andromeda were fully alarmed now.
Alex turned slowly, her face as white as a sheet, a uniform jacket clutched in her sweating hands.
A rusty red substance was splashed across the front of the jacket. It seemed to have dried quite a while ago.
Cold terror bloomed in Maude and Andromeda's stomachs.
"When did you last see Isabella?" Alex whispered.
Maude and Andromeda made eye contact, and both shook their heads.
Alex's head perked up abruptly. She shoved the jacket into their hands, and ripped her gun out of her hidden hip holster, just as the bathroom door opened, spilling bright light into the dark room outside.
Isabella walked out of the bathroom, and heard the clack of a gun being cocked.
She paused in scrunching her wet hair with a white towel, and slowly looked up.
Maude and Andromeda were staring listlessly at her stained uniform jacket. Alex had her military-issue pistol aimed right between Isabella's blue eyes.
Alex groaned loudly and slapped a hand to her forehead, shoving her gun right back to the hip holster it had recently parted from.
The room went silent as Maude's scowl became deeper and deeper.
She took the jacket from Andromeda's hands and flung it at Isabella's face, which then smacked right into her nose. The jacket rustled to the floor.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"You scared the shit out of us! What is on your jacket?!" The three women shouted, though each with a slightly different choice of words.
Isabella scrunched her eyebrows together and grimaced. "Someone thought it would be funny to rig all of the ketchup bottles so they would explode when used at the dining hall. I'm glad I didn't get any glass stuck in my-"
Isabella blinked. Alex had flung herself over the back of a chair, Andromeda had fallen to her knees, her head in her hands, and she could see Maude walking down the hallway, hands flung into the air.