This chapter contains Annie Wuornos, who is basically an OC, as well as Rev. Driscoll and Garland Wuornos. Some Garland Wuornos/Annie Wuornos. Some gross details of a murder.
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Chapter 2: Annie Wuornos
Annie Wuornos knows as soon as she comes to that she is definitely involved in some sort of Trouble, because only divine intervention could possibly save her at this point.
She coughs and sits up. The forest looks about the same as it always has. She doesn't feel weak, even though the last thing she remembers is losing blood at a frighteningly quick pace.
Annie touches her abdomen. There's a hole in her jacket & shirt in the location she knows she was shot, but the skin beneath is smooth and unblemished.
Damn it, she is definitely dead.
It doesn't soothe the sting of how fucking dumb she is. The betrayal, the guilt (eleven bodies, oh god, how could she have missed this?), the anger all weigh on her, but she's dead, so what's the point of going on about it?
This is the place where she died, but not the time. The season is off, and the first body (she doesn't even know his name, the man she could have saved) is gone. Maybe this is the afterlife. She knows she fucked up large portions of her life, but she would have hoped for a better afterlife than eternal Haven.
She gets up and begins walking toward the town, lamenting her death and hoping that the blood on her boot gave Garland some solace, some proof that she tried.
Annie's interrupted from feeling sorry for herself by the sounds of someone else walking through the trees parallel to her. She stills, silently, listening. She pulls the gun out of her ankle holster (sparing barely a second to lament how quickly it had gone, how she hadn't had time to go for it) and carefully sneaks into the other person's path.
"Hello," she says loudly when she can see him.
He freezes. "Annabelle?" he says, incredulously.
"Don't call me that," Annie snaps at him. He's so familiar, but she doesn't know who he is. "My parents are morons," she adds under her breath, more out of habit than anything.
"Don't call your parents names, Annabelle."
And it clicks. "Holy shit, Rev?!" she exclaims.
Reverend Driscoll inclines his head. "Sadly, I too am among the dead now."
"Yeah, I'm all broken up. Do you know what's happening?" Annie demands.
He shakes his head slowly. "I'm afraid I do not. I was brought back once before, but this… is not that. I am corporeal, not simply a spirit. Besides which, Mr. Hopkins made the ultimate sacrifice so that his family would not be cursed."
Annie swears under her breath. "Duke Crocker?"
"Indeed."
"I knew he was gonna be a problem."
"He has been shown the path," the Rev says gravely. "It is such a shame that you were never able to see the truth."
"Well, your truth is that I should 'make the ultimate sacrifice' so that my family will be spared the terrible curse of being cold sometimes, so yeah. Not seeing it."
"And you did."
Annie swings around to stare at him. "Fuck you! I was murdered!"
"Annie?! Is that you?"
A grin blooms on her face. "It's me! Garland, over here! Uh, you should come to me. The Rev's here."
Not thirty seconds later a distinguished older Garland comes tearing through the undergrowth, picking her up and swinging her around before pulling her into a tight embrace.
"Wow, Gar. I didn't get this much emotion out of you on our wedding day."
"I lived without you for twenty-five years," he mumbles into her neck. "Missed you."
She clings to him. "Aw. I love you, you emotionally incompetent lout."
"Love you too, you irresponsible maniac."
"I'm so sorry."
"Me too." Garland clears his throat. "Don't go anywhere, you bastard. I'll shoot you if I have to."
The Rev stops in his tracks.
"I'll shoot you even if I don't have to," Annie says merrily. "I don't know if this is still relevant or anything, but it was totally on my bucket list. So, do you know what's going on?"
"Resurrection Trouble. Nathan sent me here to get you. You have to see him, Annie. He's doing this so much better than either of us."
"Never had a doubt." They finally peel apart, mostly, although Garland probably isn't going to relinquish her hand any time within the next few months.
"We should get back. Toss Driscoll in a cell, see what we can do to help," Garland says. They both ignore the Rev's persecuted sigh.
Annie nods. Garland gestures at the Rev with a gun and they all begin walking.
"So is he dead?" she asks finally, and damn it, she doesn't really like either answer.
Garland doesn't ask who she means. "He was. We'll see."
"A martyr," the Rev proclaims. "Killed by those who did not understand his mission."
"His mission was to kill people," Garland says, flatly.
"Sacrifices must be made for the greater good," the Rev says gravely.
Annie rolls her eyes and says, "You know what my Trouble is?" Was? She doesn't know what the rules are with resurrection. "When I get stressed, my body temperature drops. Electric blanket, hot chocolate. I'm not exactly a harbinger of the apocalypse here. Simon Crocker still killed me. He didn't do it to save my family or Haven."
"You saw him in the wake of another sacrifice. You never would have allowed him to continue his good work," the Rev says.
"True," Annie says. "He killed me to save himself. Oh, and my blood. My blood was a definite factor. You know he stuck his finger in the bullet wound to absorb as much as possible?"
She says this glibly, hoping to get a sign of revulsion from Driscoll, but it's Garland who shudders. Annie squeezes his hand apologetically.
"I didn't know that," Garland says quietly. "God, he was your friend. He was at our wedding."
"I was so sure it wasn't him," Annie replies. "I was so sure he wouldn't. Damn, I stopped the Guard from taking him out months ago." It takes a second to process that her timeline is way off, but she knows Garland gets it.
"We were all at fault. Any one of us could have stopped him," Garland says heavily just as they reach the squad car that Garland apparently drove out here. They push the Rev into the backseat, stop talking about the past and begin driving toward their place in the future.