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ACT 2: Morning
"The car's not far." Kris grunted, trying to lift Jill back up. Her sister sagged against her body, throwing her off balance and making it difficult to keep an eye on Kelly. She was trying to hurry and place them as far away as the hospital as humanly possible, but Jill's dead weight was making it difficult. "It's parked right... c'mon Jill," She urged, finally getting the blonde to her feet. "... right on the road."
Kelly tore her eyes away from the window as she climbed down the jagged concrete blocks, secure enough in the fact that if Irene were to follow them, she'd have to use the door. She scanned her surroundings, now a bit clearer in the pale light of the upcoming dawn.
"I see it." Kelly panted "How did you get-"
She finally caught a glimpse of Kris in the better lighting and stopped.
"Why are you dressed like that?"
Wondering if Kelly's brain had collapsed from exhaustion, Kris stood for a split second, dumbfounded and was sure she looked the part of a fool. There she was, slouched over from the weight of Jill bearing down on her shoulders, and Kelly was asking about her uniform. "What?" She screeched. "Are you seriously asking me this right now? Can we get to my car first!?"
This snapped Kelly out of her dazed state of peace and momentary confusion. Without a word, she hopped next to Jill's side and slid her friend's arm around her shoulders, helping Kris to slide them down the remainder of the concrete wreckage.
With Jill dangling between them, the two girls tripped and stumbled their way across the construction debris to the borrowed police cruiser going as fast as their situation would allow. Kelly turned and looked over her shoulder. No sign of any of the two remaining nurses, but that could change at any second. Now that escape was in sight, the panic she'd been fighting all night surged, pushing her faster.
"Kelly..." A dismal voice came from Jill, her energy long sapped away. She felt her body being dragged, her feet tripping up every few steps. But they were outside. There was a cool breeze, and the beautiful light in the sky that she thought she would never witness again.
Her mind was foggy, her body numb to any sensation. She briefly thought about Kris, unaware the blonde female next to her was her younger sister. Kris would be okay without her, she was stronger than she knew. But there was so much she would miss. She would miss her girls. She would miss the baby she had fought so dearly to protect. She looked to the horizon, and knew she would miss the vibrant orange and red shades of sunrise on the beach, how dazzling the reflection looked on a calm ocean below.
"Kelly," Jill repeated again, the mere act of speaking sounding as if it caused her great pain. "You okay?"
"Yeah, Jill." Kelly smiled down at her. It was less of a lie than she intended it to be. Despite blood streaming down half of her face from the laceration on her head and the possibility of having broken several knuckles in her right hand, at the moment she really did feel okay.
She didn't want to think about the baby.
"We're all okay." Kelly said again, assuring Jill and herself.
"Holy shit, back up!"
Once again, Kris' loud voice broke into her thoughts and when Kelly lifted her head to see what was wrong, bright car lights blinded her eyes. The angry squeal of braking tires that followed it a split second later had all three girls shrieking in terror. Just before they ended up like Jill's deer however, the headlights whipped away from them as the vehicle swerved violently to their left.
As the trio watched in dumbfounded silence, an orange Pinto bounced up onto the grass and, spraying dirt behind it, screeched to a halt a few yards away from them.
Engine still running, the front door of the familiar Pinto blew open and Sabrina tumbled out, tripping over herself in her hurry to get to her friends.
"Jesus Christ, are you two okay?!" She blurted out in a cracked, frightened voice. "What the hell is going on and what the fuck happened to you?"
"Do they look okay?" Kris practically bounced where she stood, her face turning a bright shade of red. "Do you want to run them over or can we get them into my car and somewhere safe?"
Taken aback by the scolding words, Sabrina chose to ignore the young police officer and ran over to Jill and Kelly, picking their injuries apart with her worried eyes. "Shit, you guys. Kelly is the-"
"Yes!" She replied quickly. "Everything, so far... it's fine."
Sabrina could hear the doubt etched in her words, and didn't press further. She crouched down and gingerly touched Jill's face, bringing it up so she could get a better look. Bruises patterned along her nose and cheek, and her skin was clammy to the touch. "Damn, I'm so sorry I didn't go with you. I should have gone wi-"
"Oh my God, can we discuss this in the car!?" Kris stomped down on one foot, making Sabrina and Kelly both jump. "That woman will be squeezing her fat ass out of that window any second with a gun in her fat hand so why are we still standing here!?"
Sabrina blinked. "What? A woman?"
The stalling drove to Kris into a frenzy. "Someone is coming after us, can we get them in the car and get the fuck out of here?!"
"I am!" Sabrina snapped back just as angrily. "Just shut up and help me!"
Completely fine with the yelling as long as it led to something productive, Kris heaved up her older sister and, with Sabrina and Kelly's help, began tugging her in the direction of her Pinto.
They were nearly there when Kelly suddenly withdrew her help.
"Why is he here?" She blurted out in confusion.
Sabrina followed her gaze to the Pinto and realized Kelly had spotted Max, who had jumped out of the car and was rushing over to help.
"He knew the way."
Kelly shook her head and, as if Maxwell didn't exist, began tugging Jill toward the police car. "We need to go in the cop car so Kris can use the siren." She said quickly.
"I can drive someone." Maxwell offered as he reached them, feeling out of place and helpless. His gaze found a battered Kelly, and despite knowing his eyes were upon her, she refused to look his way. "I mean, there are two cars here."
"I'm not leaving Jill." Kelly responded flippantly to the air, trying not to draw attention toward him.
"Well, I'm not going to leave you guys alone again... ever again." In the matter-of-fact way Sabrina was speaking, they knew not to argue with her.
"Here, let me help." Maxwell said hastily, scooping Jill up into his arms. His presence sent Kelly skittering away and though they were in a hurry, her behavior made Sabrina raise a puzzled brow.
With Jill taken care of, Kris rushed around to the driver's seat, started the engine and, and hoping it would keep the crazy nurse away, brought the loud siren to life.
Sabrina ushered Kelly in next to Jill, and upon seeing there was no more room to be had for her, closed the door. "I'm riding with Kris." She threw her car keys at Maxwell and gave him a nod. "Follow us!"
"Yeah." Maxwell snatched the keys out of the air and hurried back into the pinto as Sabrina took her place in the police cruiser.
With its siren blaring, the cruiser peeled out of its spot and onto the freeway, leaving the Pinto in a thick cloud of dust. Inside, Max turned the ignition with shaking hands and followed behind.
It was a relief to find Kelly and Jill safe and the fear that had been eating at him since Sabrina's midnight call was gone. In its place though was something very different. Just what in the hell had happened in there? Why was Kelly acting that way? He'd never expected her to come running to his arms, but it almost scared him the way she'd refused to even acknowledge his presence. Something had to have happened in there, he fretted.
Later, he told himself. Right now there were more important things to worry about than brooding like a teenager.
Inside the cruiser, Jill topped over into Kelly's lap, inadvertently pressing down on her injured hand. She yelped, squeezing it free from underneath Jill's weight. Adrenaline had finally run its course. Pain began to wrack her body, even in places she was sure she hadn't injured. Being on the run for nearly six hours had tensed every muscle in her body, something she only realized once she was able to breathe outside.
She shook Jill, and didn't find it at all surprising that she did not awaken. If this experience had taken a toll on anyone, it was her.
Sabrina's head shot around, wishing to release a verbal assault upon the two for making her feel near a heart attack for the past four hours. But seeing Jill's unconscious body taking in shallow breaths, and the sticky blood covering Kelly's face, the words became lost to her. "Shit," Sabrina reached over and forcefully nudged Jill's shoulder, then stopped herself from prodding further. "She's out cold."
"What?" Kris piped up, looking back and forth between Jill and the road. "Jill! Is she okay?"
Resting her hands over Jill to warm her chilled skin, Kelly gave a small nod Kris didn't catch. "They gave her something inside, some kind of injection. I don't know what it was, but she's been doing this on and off all night."
Sabrina's head snapped up. "Injection? What kind of injection? What did it look like?"
Kelly groaned. "Bri, I don't know. I didn't see it, I was locked in a room."
This bit of news only increased the worry in Sabrina's tone. "What? Why? Why did they-?"
"I don't know!" Kelly proclaimed, flailing out the one arm that wasn't causing her agony. "Don't ask me anything, because I don't know what the fuck happened in there! I don't know what they wanted from us, they..." She paused, catching her breath. "I really don't know."
Having never heard Kelly quite so disturbed over something, Sabrina searched her face for more clues. Kelly was deceptively good at hiding her true feelings, and she was more than certain Kelly had to have an inkling on why things happened the way they did. "Okay, stay calm." She urged, moving a comforting hand to lay on Kelly's knee. It made her stomach churn knowing the baby Kelly was carrying had been under distress all night. "Did they hurt you? Did you... fall, or..."
Kelly couldn't meet her eyes and looked out the window. "They wanted to, and tried. We hid. Jill..." Her dark eyes looked down as she swept through Jill's matted hair with her uninjured hand. "She took care of me as best as she could."
Sabrina and Kris both smiled.
"She was so worried about the baby," Kelly continued, although reluctant to reveal the gruesome details that were hidden inside the hellish hospital. "Even I-"
"What!?" Kris snapped, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Baby? There's a baby? No, Jill would have told me -"
"Slow down!" Sabrina interrupted the youngest Munroe. So much for keeping that cat in the bag. Kelly's face showed instant remorse, as she had forgotten in the moment that only three occupants of the car knew about her pregnancy. "Kelly's pregnant, not Jill."
"You're pregnant!?" She squealed with a mixture of emotions, but her face soon blanched. "Wait... then, I was pulling you through a window and you were... how could you not tell me this?!"
"You didn't tell us you were a cop!" Kelly shot back, as if Kris's secret was any worse than hers. But she was grasping at straws. "Neither did Jill, and when she wakes I'm going to..." Her words trailed off, and it became suddenly clear as to why Jill had acted like she didn't recognize her own sister earlier. The uniform. "... and let me guess, she doesn't know either?"
Huffing indignantly Kris ignored Kelly and was careful to avoid Sabrina's pointed look. "Wait…why are we making this about me? Had I known, I wouldn't have let you carry Jill around!"
"Then that fat bitch would have shot us and we'd all be dead!"
Her argument was valid, Kris noted with a look of displeasure. No use in beating a dead horse. Kelly was pregnant and she was a cop. All of it was out in the open, and she was more grateful than she thought she'd be. Keeping it secret had been ridiculously problematic with the amount of lies she had to tell to keep her sister in the dark.
When Jill was awake, as soon as she was stable, Kris would tell her. She made that promise to herself.
"Again with this woman!" Sabrina pressed on, noting the mere mention of her made Kelly look extremely uncomfortable. "You really have to clue me in because when I call the police I'll need a descrip-"
"No!" Kelly shouted, lunging forward at Sabrina and snatching her hand. "No! You can't! Kris knows, that's enough isn't it!?" She pleaded, desperation in her voice that Sabrina had never been privy to hear from her before.
Kelly's usual stoic and composed demeanor was lost.
"What the hell, Kelly? The police have to know about this! My God they could have killed you!"
With each threat of the police looming over her head, Kelly's voice cracked more under pressure. "You don't understand! Please, Sabrina! Please, please, please!" She gripped Sabrina's hand tightly and laid her forehead down on it, the closest position she could get in to beg. "Nobody will believe what happened in there. Charlie wouldn't even believe us! If you tell the police it'll only make things worse for me and Jill."
"What? How?"
"Please! Don't ask me to explain, please trust me!"
Never having seen the look of horror inflicted on Kelly's pleading, nearly tearful face before, Sabrina slowly backed away and turned to look at Kris. The blonde had stayed oddly quiet while Kelly rambled, but bounced her eyes over to Sabrina and nodded her head.
"Okay," Sabrina whispered to placate her. She caressed the side of her friend's face, hoping to soothe her. "It'll be okay, me and Kris won't tell anyone."
"No," Kris echoed. "We'll figure it out. Just relax, okay Kelly? I'll get you guys to a hospital in no time."
Again, Kelly's green eyes lit up in an urgency that Sabrina could not explain. What had happened inside there? "Kelly, relax! We're going to be there! This one isn't going to hurt you!"
It did little to ease her, and Kelly could only slump back in to her seat, clutching Jill tightly. Dawn had now broken through the once night sky and light streamed in through the windows.
Looking at Sabrina's now blurry face, Kelly's head drifted off to the side and she eventually closed her eyes to the tune of her friend calling her name. For a few seconds, she felt herself sway slightly as a hand pushed against her shoulder. But all sensations soon faded away as her body finally gave way to darkness.
The scream was shrill, vibrating Anna straight to her bones. Her game of cat and mouse with Kelly Garrett came to an abrupt stop. Pity. She had been looking forward to running her down the stairs, giving her just a hard enough push to make her fall, fingers crossed that she would land on her stomach as she bounced down each and every step. Then her body would be a crumpled mess of broken bones and blood.
The closer to death, the better it would be.
Anna licked her lips, feeling heated from her vision as she grew moist between her legs. The scream had only enhanced it, though she knew it had not come from Kelly Garrett. A disturbing grin broadened along her lips, stretching her stitches just to the point where they felt they might pluck from her skin.
Not wanting to give away her position, she held back the squeal of laughter she wanted so much to let escape. Her feet carried her across to the opposite stairwell, and she started up the steps like a child running to the foot of the tree on Christmas morning. This was the fastest way to the elevator which would lead her to Katrin's harrowing sobs.
It was a sad thing that she had missed Katrin's initial reaction.
Slipping through the door, as quiet as a fox stalking its prey, she took a stance behind a corner wall. From her angle she was able to get a decent look at Irene and Katrin. There was no sign of Kelly Garrett or that cursed Jill Munroe. Maybe they had escaped already. If so, it would be a shame. She wanted to end their lives with as much suffering as one could endure.
Her face had been marked.
It was only fair that Jill Munroe's skin be slowly peeled away from her face, so she could feel the exact pain she had caused her.
But that could happen later, right now was her only chance at bearing witness to Katrin's hysterical cries and the impatient rage pressing into Irene's expression.
There was a slap.
Amusing, she thought as she tapped her fingers in rhythm along her bottom lip, to a song Bruce often sang. Thinking about him flattened out on top of the elevator made the song suddenly stick in her memory, and she couldn't help but find its lyrics fitting given the circumstances.
Irene called for Kelly Garrett to reveal herself, Anna recognizing her tone as it transitioned into the tone one of her more biblical moods. Dangerous. Irene was always at her deadliest when she assumed she was a working agent from God. If Anna had to pretend the same for the sake of their operation, then so be it.
She could help Irene, she suppposed, but then she would miss being an audience member to the show she was witnessing. And such a show Katrin was putting on with her wailing and sniveling. Surely, she didn't think Irene would really hurt somebody. No, Irene would want to keep the two women, unharmed, use them for all their worth. The doctor would be so pleased with her. Everything Irene did pleased him. With that thought shrouding her mind, her lip curled in disdain for a brief second.
And a loud gunshot was all it took to change that.
Her hands flung over her mouth to stop the astonished laughter that threatened to emerge. A gun?! Wherever had she gotten a gun? Off of one of the detectives, possibly? It would make sense. They didn't carry such weapons here at Divinity. Anna tapped her nails against her teeth, impatiently waiting for the now only living nurse to remove herself from the room. The second she lost sight of her, Anna practically skipped over to the massacre.
Katrin's head was in bits and pieces all over the floor, on the wall, on the door. Anna looked down, noticing that for the second time that night, she'd gotten her white shoes soaked in blood. She drew her foot away. "As usual, only good for decoration." She whispered to Katrin's corpse, lazily dragging her foot in a figure eight pattern to her side, tracing the shape in her former colleague's fresh blood.
A sudden bout of yelling distracted Anna from her art. From the echoes, they had to be in the stairwell. Diffferent voices now, higher pitched, frantic.
Another gunshot.
She gasped, wondering if Irene had finally been put down like the dog she was. If so, she was going to mentally kick herself for weeks to come if she'd missed it. Still though, missing the show was better than being shot and so Anna waited patiently in the hallway.
Her dark eyes wandered the floor until she found a piece of delicate brain matter next to Katrin's body. Her fingers once again tapped in rhythm against her hip. "Oh my, look at this." She laughed, and then squished the remains underneath her shoe. "You had more brain than I gave you credit for."
She entertained herself with the grisly scene for a few minutes longer, until footsteps stomped up the stairwell and the double doors blew open. Anna didn't bother to see who it was. Neither of the young women they'd been chasing were that heavy.
"What are you doing here?"
Anna didn't hide her disappointed sigh when she heard the familiar voice.
"Well…" Her eyes stayed glued on the ever expanding pool of blood under Katrin's body. "I am wondering since when do we use guns?"
In a frustrated huff, Irene Stone circled her, the gun firmly placed in her gloved hands. "When lessons must be taught to those too ignorant to listen."
Anna tried to stifle herself, mocking a serious expression. "What a shame. At least with their intelligence combined, it's only like losing a single person instead of two."
Irene growled and angrily flung the gun down the hallway. It skittered along the floor until it vanished in the darkness. Anna let her head loll backwards in exasperation as Irene trumped through the blood and grabbed her arm. "Do you think this is a joke?" The older woman growled. "Do you know who else didn't take this seriously?"
Anna narrowed her dark eyes. "I have a feeling you want me to say Katrin."
"Smart girl, you are." Irene sneered, tapping the younger woman's cheek in a patronizing congratulations. But Anna quickly reacted by hissing in pain, smacking away her hand.
With fresh eyes, Irene realized why. "Oh?" She inquired, now noticing the markings that covered her pale skin. "What's this? Your lovely face seems to have a... nick."
"Good thing your old age hasn't affected your eyesight," Anna snapped back, brushing her hair furiously in front of her face to mask the scar as much as she could. She glanced behind the woman and once again saw Katrin's corpse. "Nor your aim as luck would have it."
Irene scoffed. "I'd just like to know where the hell you were during this… regrettable encounter?"
"I bet you would," Anna said, walking towards the stairs. Her tone became just as patronizing as Irene's had been earlier. "Besides, those two were handicapped and alone, yet they still got away from you. Just imagine how I'd fair, Irene."
"Don't you dare assume this is my fault! Had you -" Irene stopped herself, feeling her blood boiling amongst the carnage. "Just look at this mess! All of this... sauerei!"
Only half listening to Irene's ranting, Anna simply turned on her heel and began to stare at the elevator with a vacant smile. "Well, no matter now. They're gone. Do you think we will need to go into hiding again?"
"Of course not, the Lord will provide as He has always done for us!" Irene snapped, not filling her in on the fact that it had been a young police woman that had broken out Jill and Kelly. "But... I will make arrangements with Gunther to do something about the police. He will need to know about all of this." She sighed, her voice lowering. "And the doctor as well."
"Yes. You needn't mention my injury." But Anna was sure by the look on Irene's face, who was still gobsmacked over the amount of blood covering her hospital floor, it fell on deaf ears. "Irene?" She spoke up.
The older nurse looked.
"I have a feeling they'll be back."
Silence occupied them for several seconds, and then Irene nodded thoughtfully. "Yes... if not for anything else but answers." Her eyes swept to the hallway the gun had disappeared into, remembering well how scared Kelly Garrett had been when she'd mentioned the police. She smiled a relieved smile. "And that gun, perhaps. But do not despair, the Lord will protect us as He protected Cain. It's his work we are doing here, remember? This incident was merely to test our unshakeable faith. His work will continue on."
Anna was unaware that Irene caught her annoyed expression.
"Oh, and Anna?"
There was no reply.
"Clean up this mess."