Anna wadded up a handful of used gauze and, with an easy flick of her wrist, let the blood soaked material thump heavily to the floor. Doing so would have felt wrong had she taken a moment to think about it. Under normal conditions, she was much too fastidious to make a mess of her work station, but there was nothing normal about tonight.

Tonight, the patient was herself and she couldn't afford to waste precious time finding a trash can let alone get involved in whatever was happening on the second floor.

Not that she was completely unaware of what was going on outside. She had no choice but to hear the commotion coming from the second floor. But with little interest in what exactly was causing it, her door remained closed. The gaping wound along her cheek had to come before all else. So against the distracting backdrop of howling screams and running footsteps outside, she had maintained a steady hand, taking the hostile work environment in stride.

After leaving Bruce at the elevators, she'd locked herself away in a small bathroom on the second floor, a bag of supplies in hand, and set herself on the tedious job of fixing her face. Bruce, Irene, those damn girls in the elevator. Everything else would have to wait until she was finished.

Despite her disinterest though, she already had a few guesses as to what had happened as soon as she'd left Bruce alone, what usually happened anytime Bruce was allowed to do anything on his own.

She might have stayed to help like he'd told her to. Maybe. Had he not laughed at the wound on her face and made light of her righteous anger. Had he asked nicely instead of demanding her help. Maybe then she'd have stayed. Maybe then, she wouldn't have turned on the power to the elevators after he'd gone to all the trouble of shutting it off.

Maybe.

But whatever had happened, those girls were no longer on that elevator. Any fool would have realized that Bruce had immediately failed in securing their charges and even if she hadn't, light footsteps had scurried by her closed door enough times as she worked, accompanied by hushed, scared whispering that she'd have to be deaf to have not heard.

Those two girls of course. Alone. Bruce was either stuck in the elevator shaft or the girls had lost him.

Wherever he was, he wasn't chasing them around the second floor.

And while Bruce was blundering stupidly about in another part of the building, they'd been right here on the second floor looking for a hiding spot. Maybe it was because it blended in so well with the row of closets that they hadn't noticed the door to her bathroom. Or, maybe, as she'd thought earlier, they just really were that stupid and simply failed to notice.

Anna shrugged away the distracting thoughts and focused on her work. Katrin was up here somewhere. She could handle it herself. God knows, she didn't do a damn thing else around here.

There were far more important things to be done. All other thoughts pushed aside, Anna leaned forward, perched daintily on the sink like a porcelain gargoyle and squinted in concentration at her reflection in the mirror. She had hands from God, her father had once told her. Able to methodically knit, sew, and suture at any given time without missing a beat and, as was her duty, she put her Godly hands to use whenever the situation required an extra delicate touch. With the last of the dried blood wiped away, Anna's reached down, lifted her favorite tool with two delicate fingers and began the meticulous task of poking through her exposed flesh with a hooked needle, pushing coarse sutures through her skin, over and over again, trying and failing to ignore how many stitches her wound required. Disgust and hatred poured through her with every single tug of skin.

Curse the name of Jill Munroe.

After neatly tying the rest of her skin together, Anna gave her handiwork a critical inspection in the mirror before cutting down the sutures as closely as possible. No need to look as if there was a spider crawling on her cheek, as noticeable and ugly as the stitches already were. Bandaging would only draw more stares, and she decided to leave it as is, hoping the darkened hospital could be used to her advantage. She stared into the mirror, giving her entire face a once over, making a note of ever bruise caused by the hands of that blonde harlot.

Justice would be done, of course. Godly hands could destroy just as beautifully as they could create.

A presentable enough as she could be, the bathroom door finally opened and Anna stepped lightly into the hallway. Her absence would have undoubtedly been noticed and as much as she detested the idea of being seen at the moment, it was time to re-enter the hospital's main floor. No need to rush though. Anna decidedly kept a low profile, hoping a long solitary walk would be enough time to dispel her intense anger. Couldn't afford to lose her head again. This time it would be done right.

The second floor had fallen quiet since she'd reemerged. Humming to herself, she wandered down the hallway and turned toward the elevator doors.

Her humming stopped.

It was much more quiet than it had been earlier. Eerily so. Either Bruce had taken care of them after all or the chase had moved to another part of the hospital. Her face was unsure what to do. On one hand, their capture would put an end to all this running around. On the other it would mean Bruce had failed.

She headed toward the elevator, hoping now for the latter. The thought of Bruce being punished was almost as satisfying as the terrified looks that were no doubt on those two girls' faces. And such pretty faces they were. Fear suited them well. And there'd be much more of it once she got her chance to dole out judgment for their sins. These thoughts pleasing her, she turned the corner and stopped short as the elevator came into view.

For a few endless moments, even Anna could only stare in shock.

Blood. The blood was everywhere. In puddles on the floor, dripping thickly down the elevator walls and smeared across its gleaming silver doors.

So much blood.

Anna wandered closer, ignoring the soft spattering her stark white high heels were making in the pool of dark liquid beneath her. Up closer, she could see a human arm hanging limply, the fingers on its hand crushed and broken. And unmistakably male. Bruce?

A quick glance up into the shaft confirmed the arm was encased in a torn and stained white shirt. Most definitely Bruce. Or what was left of him.

She took a few steps back and noticed her favorite white shoes were covered in bloodstains. Still, that fact wasn't enough to stop the huge smile from spreading widely across her face.

"Going up, Bruce?" She whispered to herself.

When she'd turned on the elevators out of spite, she'd imagined her interference would only make Bruce's job that much harder. Add some additional chasing to his night. But this? Not even she could have planned this.

Her happy grin split open into a joyous giggle that quickly turned into uproarious laughter. Minutes later, Anna wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and composed herself. She could go downstairs and report this to Irene, but it would be much more fun to wait around until she discovered Bruce for herself. Or maybe Katrin would find him first.

Katrin's reaction alone would be worth any repercussions.

So those girls were more useful than they seemed. Perhaps she'd help apprehend them after all, God knew she was the only one competent enough to do so.

Yes, that's what she'd do. Maybe she wouldn't even punish the blonde after she was captured.

Mood lifted, Anna turned on her heels and headed down the stairs with renewed purpose, her white high heels tracking dots of blood behind her.

"I'm at a loss here," Kris' agitated tone didn't go unnoticed by Sabrina. "I can tell they're covering something up but I don't know how to barge in there demanding my sister."

Not at all put at ease by the nurse's behavior, Kris had wisely pulled out of sight upon entering her vehicle and hidden herself in the pitch darkness on the side of the road directly across from the hospital. She could now keep watch with hawk-like eyes, unseen by any nurse, the worry over Jill and Kelly heightening her senses to where even the tiniest bit of movement in the dark caught her attention. Her eyes were fixed intensely towards the hospital entrance when Sabrina's equally agitated voice came back.

"How long have you been doing this? You have a gun and a badge, now. Put them to use."

In the short time they had been communicating, Sabrina had forcibly gotten caught up on her younger friend's life at the worst possible moment. She'd learned Kris had not only skipped out on finishing college and become a police officer –but she'd done so with Jill's money and definitely not her permission or knowledge . The shock of that news would just have to wait until a more opportune time to be dealt with. For now, all personal feelings aside, that made Kris's presence infinitely more helpful to their situation.

Hopefully.

Kris scoffed into her radio. "Oh, yeah. Let's say I do that and I end up trapped like Kelly and Jill, that will bode well for all of us won't it?"

"At least I'm thinking of ideas!"

"I'm trying to! I'm just using my brain!"

Sabrina tore at the radio cord, grumbling obscenities Kris couldn't hear that made Maxwell flinch. He had twice offered to take over the conversation, but each time, a one of a kind glare from Sabrina made him creep back. "Then," Sabrina started, her voice a silky whisper that failed at concealing her anger, "What do you suggest, Officer Dropout?"

"Stealth."

"What?"

"It may be against the law to go in without a warrant, but as a sister I'm well within my rights to go searching for Jill. They just can't know I'm doing it."

Sabrina's general knowledge on the structure of hospitals made her wonder how on earth Kris could sneak inside. Windows weren't exactly ground level. "Do you have any idea on how you're going to do this?"

"Very quietly. There has to be some way inside, and I intend to find it." Kris said with the utmost confidence. Her confidence almost made Sabrina swell with relief that someone was there and was going to be coming to Kelly and Jill's rescue.

"If we're still here when you get here," Kris continued on a lighter note, "Please don't hit my car on the road. It's on loan."

The radio line went dead and Sabrina tried to contact her again but failed. Cop car on loan? She could inquire into just what the hell that meant later. The radio's silence made her anxious, but what was putting her off more was the mysterious look from Maxwell in the next seat.

"Do you have something you want to say?" she huffed at him.

He scratched the side of his scruffy face, not sure if he should ask or not.

"Busy Beaver?"

Sabrina clenched her teeth. "Another time!"

Kelly lurched down the empty hallway, the thudding echoes of her shoes like shrieking alarms to her ears. She turned a corner, forced herself to slow and was amazed that her footsteps had been the only noise in the hall.

Panting, Kelly fought down the hysteria that had made her bolt and gave her surroundings a quick once over. Where would Kris have parked? That empty field? Surely closer than where Gunther had brought them.

She quickly made a decision and headed where she guessed was towards the barren nothingness where they'd been dropped off. No one was following, Kelly realized. Not yet anyway. There was still time.

Moonlight was streaming into this section of the hallway from three rectangular windows set a few inches below the eight foot ceilings. Kelly stared at them, dumbfounded for a moment before determinedly setting her jaw.

Whether due to adrenaline or distraction, her right hand had been blessedly numb for a few minutes after the initial blast of pain hitting the nurse had caused. Now though, it was starting to throb, each pulse sending thumps of pain radiating all the way down to her elbow. She could feel the swelling getting worse. Trying to close her hand resulted in agony and making a fist to defend herself would be impossible.

Still though, there didn't seem to be another choice. The windows, as high up and inaccessible as they seemed, were the only way out. Ignoring the pain, Kelly ran towards them at full speed and without bothering to take a moment to either time her jump or judge for handholds, launched herself towards them.

Her depth perception and coordination were more skewed by the ever increasing haze in her head than she realized and her first attempt was completely off mark. The second came immediately afterwards and had her hanging for only a few seconds, her elbows and forearms wedging into the too narrow ledge before her weight dragged her back down. Her injured hand seared and her head pounded, but Kelly clenched her jaw and jumped again. Her third attempt was only slightly more successful, awarding her only a split second view of the outside before she dropped back down again.

Kelly swore under her breath as she shook out her sore and tingling arms. With her injured hand throbbing, it was easier to ignore the discomfort in her arms. The pain was making her nauseous now and she knew without looking that she'd probably just added several more bruises to her elbows and forearms. But if she could find a way to get that window open and get herself and Jill out, she'd take it and more.

Because that split second glance outside since she'd arrived told her that through that window, she'd end up not exactly into the dusty parking lot but close enough to it that she might be able to make it out to the open in time to flag down Kris.

But before Kelly could gather herself for a fourth jump, the footsteps she hadn't heard earlier echoed through the dark hallway she'd come from.

"You should know that it's only a matter of time before you can't hide anymore." A calm, disinterested voice floated to her.

Anna.

"You're only hurting the baby by doing this to yourself."

Kelly breathed a curse under her breath. The strange young woman was walking towards her through the shadows, in no hurry and the image of her strolling casually through the hallway, so confident in her capture that she wasn't even bothering to run sent a flash of rage through Kelly. She briefly toyed with the idea of attacking her, then deciding against it, turned and headed toward a section of the hallway so dark, nothing could be seen.

Anna's words had rattled her. The baby would be okay, she tried to convince herself despite fear of the contrary rising up in her chest. She'd find Kris soon, they'd all escape and everything would be fine.

With one final longing glance to the glow of the window, Kelly fixed her eyes on the darkness and ran. Hiding might keep her alive for the moment, but if Kris drove away, both she and Jill wouldn't stay that way for long. She'd have to find another way out. Another window, a fire escape, something, anything.

No longer caring if she could be heard, Kelly sprinted blindly through the dark hallway, willing her eyes to adapt. Her trek ended abruptly and loudly as she banged her shoulder into a large steel door at the end of the hall. She bounced off with a cry of surprise, reset herself, then barged her way through it.

Stairs again.

Kelly paused for a moment, panting loudly before deciding that was her best option.

She was halfway up the first flight when a blood curdling scream echoed loudly from somewhere above her on the second floor.

Kelly felt her stomach drop.

That could only mean that Bruce was no longer missing.

Another scream and a shrill woman's voice shouting out muffled orders.

Kelly fought down her panic and changed course.

The window was the only way and if she had to go through Anna to get to it and save herself, Jill, and her unborn baby, then she would.

"All of them had hair of gold like their mother, the youngest one in curls."

Kris sang softly to herself to ease her nerves as she worked her way as quickly and quietly as possible towards the shadows surrounding the half finished hospital she was about to break into.

Jill was a Munroe, through and through, traipsing on the fine lines of bravery and stupidity. It was the life their father had taught them – what Jill had passed down to Kris, and so it was an unhealthy
thirst for adventure that had caused both girls at times to throw themselves into unlikely situations.

But as her shoes shuffled against tiny pebbles beneath her and the shadows grew increasingly darker, she found her thirst for the wild life was quenched. Boring as it once seemed, all she longed for now was for herself, her sister, and her friends to be safely at home, watching television, playing cards, washing dishes, doing anything that didn't involve this godforsaken hospital in front of her.

"'Til the one day when the lady met this fellow. And they knew that it was much more than a hunch."

A flashlight was useless, Kris realized, fighting the urge to pull it out of her pocket. Drawing attention was the last thing she wanted. Heaving in a deep breath, she threw herself into the shield of the night.

The hospital's main lights were dim enough to keep from casting her shadow on the pavement. Slightly helpful, only the same darkness worked against her when it came to finding anything useful to get inside another way. The structure went up several stories and unfortunately none of the windows were ground level.

Keeping her eyes as fixed as possible for any movement, Kris slid down the side of the curvy building, wondering when she would run into the construction she'd spotted driving in with her car. The farther along she went, the more she noticed crumbled concrete slabs laying strewn on top of each other.

Metal wired around slabs of the concrete and the framing that had fallen apart. Kris knew there was no way to get past anything she was seeing and there were no doors that she could try to pick to let herself inside on the ground floor.

Options exhausted below, she looked up.

An excellent tree climber since the age of four, Kris grinned merrily to herself.

Jackpot, yet again.

With steady feet she quickly found herself balanced on a large pile of rubble. A metal frame seemed stacked on top for her convenience, allowing her a little more height as she chose which window she wanted to lunge for. Thank God for tree climbing – and for the architect who decided to give the hospital deep ledges in front of the thick glass windows.

With a running start, she jumped and grabbed on to the ledge, hoisting herself into the small space with every bit of upper body strength she had. The ledges were deep, but not deep enough for her to sit comfortably. So balanced precariously in the window ledge, Kris chanced a glance below her and was both surprised and mildly annoyed that it wasn't as high up as it felt while climbing.

No going back now.

Turning her neck at an awkward angle, she pressed her nose into the glass and kept one leg close to the ground, with her other shoved into the ledge to keep her from tumbling down the mangled blocks of concrete and rusted rebar.

Nervous now and her leg starting to fatigue, she lowered her singing to barely a whisper.

"That this group must somehow form a family."

There was no way to break glass without alerting anyone inside. And she couldn't go shining a flashlight. She squinted her eyes and pressed her face closer. If only she could see through the window a little better.

"And that's the way we all became the –"

"What the hell?" Kris blurted out in surprise.

Someone else had the same idea, as she was met with a pair of wide green eyes.