The sleek metal cuff ratcheted tightly around Gunther's wrist just as the big man began to come around.
Sabrina dared to check the other cuff, locked down tight around the metal grate of Kris's car before she jumped back. Together with Kris and Max, the group watched as Gunther's eyes rolled around listlessly in his head. But, just as it seemed he was about to come to, his eyes slid shut again. Predictably, Max lost his patience first.
He snatched up Gunther by the front of his shirt and gave him a rough shake. "What'd you do with them?" he demanded.
In response, Gunther's head lolled forward.
"Hey!" Max shouted gruffly. "Hey, wake up!"
Gunther began to snore and the sound of it made Sabrina realize that, for the time being, they'd lost what could possibly be their only key to finding Kelly and Jill. She laid an impatient hand on Max's shoulder. "He's not gonna answer any questions, right now." She sighed.
Kris made a noise in the back of her throat. "We don't need him to. I bet they're inside. They're sure as hell not out here. There's nowhere to hide."
To her surprise, Sabrina nodded her agreement and gave Max's sleeve a tug. "Kris is right. Look, he came in from that building, if we're gonna find the girls, we need to start there."
Max eyed her stubbornly for a moment before giving Gunther one last, resentful shove that sent him slumping backwards into the back seat. The handcuffs kept his left arm raised high, as if saluting.
"Then let's go." Max snapped impatiently. He pushed himself up to his feet and began stalking towards the broken window again.
It was a better idea than entering through whatever door Gunther had come through and so Sabrina gave Kris a nudge and both women followed him across the yard, up the pile of concrete and through the broken window for a second time. It was easier going than it had been before and this time, when Sabrina wriggled through the window and her feet finally hit the floor inside Divinity's Reach, there was no standing around.
With Sabrina hanging onto the lead, the group boldly headed back down the hallway and towards the lit room they'd seen through the set of double doors. Now, Sabrina did stop and thankfully, Max and Kris followed suit.
Motioning for her companions to stay out of sight, Sabrina carefully edged herself up to the doors and peeked inside. Unlike Max had half an hour before, she didn't see anyone. She frowned, unsure what to think of that. No nurses in sight, but no Kelly or Jill either. Silently, she lowered herself into a crouch and motioned Max and Kris forward.
"I think it's empty." She whispered when they had made their way to her. "We're gonna go inside, but we need to stay together and stay quiet."
"What if we see someone?" Kris asked. Her blue eyes were big and wide in the half light right beneath the double door windows. If she was as scared as she looked, she was trying hard not to act like it.
"We make sure they don't see us." Sabrina answered. She caught the protest in Max's eyes before he had time to voice it and laid a hand on his arm. "Just until we know what we're up against. Just to be safe. We're no good to them if we do something stupid and get killed. You gotta follow my lead, okay? Max?"
Max shot a look at Kris and realized that he was the only recipient of Sabrina's lecture. "What are you looking at me for?"
Sabrina didn't need to answer. Kris barked out a sarcastic laugh for her and he got the point. "I get it." He sighed, pushing himself to his feet. "Lead on."
"Thank you." Sabrina sighed wearily. She put a finger to her lips and then rose and silently pushed the door open. The trio hung back for a moment, as if awaiting an alarm for their trespassing. Sabrina, her gun raised, checked every shadow of the large, dimly lit lobby before deciding it was safe. She waved her friends forward and the group made their way into the empty lobby.
It was very quiet inside, Sabrina noted to herself, much too quiet. This certainly was no ordinary hospital. The situation last night must have been dire for her two friends to accept help from this place. Just seeing it from outside was enough to give her creeps. She shuddered and weaved her way through the lobby, past a curtained area that proved, after a brief moment of anticipation, to be just as empty as the rest of the room.
A tap to her shoulder nearly made her jump out of her skin. She whirled around to see Kris right behind her. Any harsh words she had for her vanished though as she noticed what Kris wanted.
"Look." The shorter blonde was pointing out a filing cabinet just past the curtained area.
That was where Kelly said Jill's gun would be.
The group changed course, drifting slowly and quietly to the filing cabinet. For some reason , Max and Kris silently nominated Sabrina to try the drawers and she did so as cautiously as possible, not wanting to make a noise, one after another, revealing what might be important information had they had time to go over it.
But no gun.
"Damn." Sabrina muttered to herself as she rummaged through the final drawer. "In and out, she said. I shoulda known."
Max had nominated himself as lookout. His back was to both women as he scouted each of the many hallways where someone could appear. "It's not there? Now what?"
Sabrina sighed wearily. "Now, I guess we-"
A distant shout made the three of them jump.
There was a person coming from the set of double doors in front of them. Maybe more.
"Shit!" Sabrina quickly slid shut the drawer and ducked around behind the cabinet, snatching at her friends as she did. She threw an arm out toward the hallway opposite of where they'd come in. "There, go! Hurry!"
With the voices growing both louder and closer, the trio managed to scurry toward the hallway. Kris, limping on her bad leg, was pulling up the rear and just managed to slip out of sight as the double door banged open. They could hear two women arguing loudly with each other, their voices loud and angry.
Kris checked her speed. Two voices but more than two sets of footsteps.
Jill? Were her sister and Kelly among them?
She was just about to sate her curiosity when a hand slammed onto her shoulder. Kris whirled, but it was only Sabrina, urgently waving her forward.
"What are you doing?! Come on!" Sabrina hissed. With that, she turned and with Max ahead of her, bolted through the dark hallways as lightly as she could, following the vague form of Max in front of her and didn't stop until they were in the middle of the hallway, out of reach and hopefully out of earshot of whoever it was that had come in.
Panting, Sabrina groped about until she felt her hand brush against something. Her fist closed on the tail of Max's shirt.
He jerked. "Sabrina?" came his worried voice.
"It's me." Sabrina whispered quickly. Her other hand was still groping for Kris. "Kris? You ok?"
For some reason, she already knew something had gone terribly wrong. When there was no immediate answer from the young blonde, Max knew it too.
"Kris?" his voice called out softly. "Kris, where are you?"
Sabrina felt her stomach drop. "Kris!" she called, a bit louder. But there was no answer, no footsteps, no voices.
Kris was gone.
"Son of a bitch." Sabrina muttered. "Kris!"
She felt Max bump into her from behind. "Where could she have gone? Do you think they…"
"How?" came Sabrina's frustrated answer. Her leg, she remembered with a groan. Kris couldn't keep up. "We need to double back." She reached out, bumped Max's arm, felt for his hand, and grasped it firmly. "And we can't get separated."
Max had no argument. He felt the pull on his arm and followed Sabrina through the darkness, until faint light revealed the corner where they'd taken a turn. They slowed as they approached, looking desperately around for Kris. But no such luck.
"Because I said so!"
The same angry voice boomed from just beyond their sight. Max and Sabrina immediately backpedaled around the corner to the protective darkness. The voice was louder now, much, much closer. Just around the corner.
"Now go and make yourself useful."
"As you say, Irina." Another, softer, younger voice sneered back. "Give my father all my love."
Sabrina couldn't help herself, she had to know. She motioned Max away and nervously stepped forward to peek around the corner. She caught a brief flash of someone disappearing from her line of sight, leaving only an older woman in a nurse's outfit, her beady eyes narrowed, her face flushed in anger.
And a familiar looking pistol in her right hand.
The woman was walking away from her, but there was no mistaking her. Irene Stone.
Hazel in a nurse outfit, she mused, Jill was spot on.
And in front of nurse Hazel were two very familiar forms. She didn't have a long look, the three of them quickly disappeared through a door on the opposite side of the room, but she'd recognize Kelly and Jill anywhere. Their stiff gaits made it very clear that wherever Irene was taking them, they weren't going willingly.
There was a tough decision to make in that split second and Sabrina made it quickly. She whirled back around and bumped into Max's chest.
"Wha-" he started, but there wasn't time to waste.
"You're not gonna like this, but I need for you to trust me." Sabrina whispered quickly.
He looked like a little boy again, pale of face and blue eyes full of fear. "What? What's going on?"
The look on Max's face told her that this might be a mistake.
But, this might be her only chance to get them back alive. Jill and Kelly were in trouble and she'd just have to pray to God that Kris wasn't.
"There now, isn't this better?" Irene said, her tone sweet and patronizing as they walked.
Kelly couldn't have shook her head if she wanted to, the old woman's iron grip was wrenching her head back so hard that any movement at all was impossible. "Much." She answered sarcastically. Blood was still running unchecked down her chin, dripping onto the front of her shirt, her neck and the floor below. Her right hand was aching, throbbing worse with each footstep she took. Still, her injuries were the least of her worries.
"You poor dear. Anna gets carried away sometimes, doesn't she?" Irene kept up her sugary sweet, grandmotherly tone even as her fingertips dug harder into the younger woman's arm. "That could have been avoided,you know. And had you and your friend cooperated last night, we could have been spared all of that additional…" She twisted Kelly's left arm even more, forcing Kelly to arch her back to keep her from breaking it. "…unpleasantness. I don't know why, this was inevitable, don't you see, dear?"
"You're crazy." Kelly muttered darkly.
That had Irene chuckling merrily to herself. "You may not understand now, but you will soon. It's fate, don't you see?"
"Not our fate."
Irene let up a bit on her arm. "Oh? Then why come back?"
"Because the cops needed someone to follow here." Kelly bluffed, without missing a beat. "Once me and Jill don't come out, they'll swarm the place."
Before Irene could respond, Jill cried out from behind them. Kelly managed to use the distraction to jerk her head out of Irene's grip and look behind her. Anna was smiling in satisfaction. In front of her, Jill stumbled on, looking furious. Anna had hit her or pulled her hair or something petty.
"Enough, Anna!" Irene shouted loudly. She pulled Kelly's head back around before she could catch her friend's eye, but she could still hear Jill's voice, weak, but full of venom.
"The police are probably already inside." Jill spat at Anna. "I hope they shoot you first."
As dire as their situation was, that made Kelly smile.
"Oh, I doubt that, girls." Irene spoke up over Anna's reply, preventing Kelly from hearing it. The old woman pushed her hip up against one of the double doors and hustled Kelly through. They were in the lobby now, Kelly noticed. Flashes of memories scattered through her mind. The lobby. They'd been here. The window where Sabrina, Max, and Kris had entered was to the left, wasn't it? Or was it the right?
Wherever it was, they were running out of time. Desperate, Kelly changed tactics. "Listen-" she whispered so only Irene could hear her. "Jill….you know she can't get pregnant, don't you? She's got some kind of imbalance, had surgery a few years ago and now she can't have kids. You're wasting your time with her."
Irene chuckled again.
"I'm already pregnant. I won't fight you…I'll do anything you ask me to, just let her go. She can't tell anybody. Who's gonna believe her?"
"Oh, Kelly." Irene sighed, as if scolding a small child. "Enough of this. All will be made clear when you speak to the doctor."
Kelly gritted her teeth in frustration. She was running out of ideas. Her green eyes darted around the room as much as she could with Irene holding her head back. There didn't seem to be anyone else in this place. Just Irene and Anna. Irene had the gun, but if she could throw herself backwards and knock her down, maybe…just maybe…
Behind her Jill cried out again and this time Irene spun around, taking Kelly with her.
"I said that was enough, Anna!" Irene bellowed.
Her grip had gone slack in Kelly's hair and, finally, she was able to pull away to check on her friend. The scene didn't answer many questions. Jill was doubled over in front of Anna, her face screwed up in pain, the shoulder and sleeve of her shirt stained red with blood, but no fresh wounds or additional damage Kelly could see.
This time, Anna stood her ground. "I heard what you said." She countered back.
"Your father will hear of this."
Anna's face went red. "From you." She sneered. "He hears everything from you, doesn't he? Tell me, do you enjoy tattling or is it just an excuse to talk to my father?"
"That's enough, Anna." Irene warned.
"He doesn't love you, you know." Anna continued, her cool and collected façade once again lost. "I know how you feel about him. He loves only his work. You see everything else, tell me, why can't you see that, Irina?"
Irene's face turned a deep shade of crimson and Kelly took the brunt of her anger. She felt Irene's fingers twist harder in her hair, tugging her head sideways, until Kelly was forced to her knees. Despite that, she managed to catch Jill's eye and saw the self-satisfied smirk on her best friend's face.
So, Jill hadn't just been taking a stroll. She'd caught on and appeared to be behind Anna's bad behavior and this ensuing argument.
"I'll not hear another word of this, Anna!" Irene snapped. "You ungrateful child! Do you forget what you owe me? Should your father hear of that as well?"
"If you'd like to tell him." Anna countered.
Both women fell silent, Irene's heaving breaths the loudest noise in the entire room.
Kelly shot Jill a look. "Tell him what, Anna?" Kelly asked innocently.
In response, Irene yanked her up to her feet and shoved her hard, sending Kelly stumbling away a few steps. When she turned back around, Irene was holding the gun on her. Somehow, it was preferable to having her arm twisted. Kelly raised her hands in surrender.
"Don't think I can't see what you're doing! On your knees." Irene hissed, her beady eyes sweeping between both Kelly and Jill, then back up at Anna. "Anna, I don't need you at the moment. You may go."
She waited until Kelly had sunk to her knees before whirling on Jill. "You! Get up! Beside her, now!"
Because the gun was still pointed at Kelly, Jill had no choice but to obey. She managed a gleaming smile for Anna as she passed her. "See you later, Anna." She tossed over her shoulder in a playful, lilting voice.
Anna scowled at her, but didn't dare retaliate. Instead, her cool brown eyes fixed themselves on Irene. "This isn't so difficult a task, that I couldn't handle this myself. I don't see why I-"
"Because I said so!"
Irene had lost her cool and her voice echoed loudly in the quiet room, bouncing off the walls and in Kelly's skull until it seemed it was all she'd ever hear again.
There was a tense moment of silence before finally, Anna raised her eyebrows and spun on her heel to walk away.
Irene rubbed her face with her free hand. "Now, go make yourself useful."
Anna looked back over her shoulder as she sauntered away, a cold smirk on her face. "As you say, Irina. Give my father all my love."
Kelly and Jill had watched the entire show in silence. They watched Anna go, not daring to keep up their game or try something foolish for fear that Irene, in her rage, would shoot. And they were right to think so. A moment later, Irene tore her attention away from Anna's retreating form and pushed the barrel of Jill's gun right up to the injured blonde's forehead. Both women froze.
"Now-" she whispered softly. "Both of you will walk in front of me and through that door." She jerked her head to gesture to the set of double doors that Kelly thought led to the broken window.
Just maybe…
Irene continued and Kelly's eyes darted back to her. "If either of you says a word, I will kill the other. Don't test me."
The two girls shared a quick look. What else could they do? Wordlessly, they rose to their feet and, side by side now, walked forward through the rest of the lobby where Jill had escaped from Bruce just last night. Neither would risk trying to communicate with the other and so the girls walked through the set of double doors, back through the stairwell where they'd made their escape last night, and found themselves back on the second floor.
Kelly felt her blood run cold. This was where Katrin had died, this is where she'd killed Bruce. And yet…it was all so clean, sparkling white and sanitary, not a drop of blood or a single stain marred the second floor hallway, as if the nightmare last night had been just that.
Another difference was a thin sliver of light coming from underneath one of the doors in the middle of the hallway. It wasn't a surprise when Irene led them right to it. She rapped on the door frame once with her knuckles before pulling the door open and, with Jill's gun, motioning them inside.
It was just like any other office she'd seen, making Kelly wonder why she'd expected stainless steel, white lab coats, and smoking test tubes in the first place. There was a plain wooden desk, strewn with paper and notebooks, a coffee cup full of pens and pencils. A matching bookshelf stood behind the desk, messy and spilling over with books, binders, and even more notebooks.
"Doctor?" Irene started and both Kelly and Jill stopped their exploration of the office to exchange a look at the distinct change in the tone of her voice. Interesting though it was, footsteps from the right side of the room caught their attention. There was the stainless steel table Kelly had expected, though not much more. A cart of supplies, a few more books, a few hard back chairs.
And the doctor.
He turned from whatever he'd been doing at the table to face them.
"Yes, Irina?" he asked pleasantly.
Kelly sucked in a slow breath. She'd seen his picture in the photo Sabrina had showed them, yet seeing him now, older and in person, was a surreal thing. He was a small man, maybe only an inch or two taller than herself and slightly built, yet his face was stern and hard. An older man with white hair, probably nearing seventy, but commanding nonetheless. He perched a pair of wire framed eyeglasses on his nose and then stepped forward with a genial smile.
"I've brought the girls. They came back." Was Irene's meek response.
"I see that." The doctor looked at both girls as if unimpressed and then casually crossed the room. The girls watched as he took a chair in each hand, carried them easily to his desk and then gestured politely towards them. "Please, ladies, sit." He smiled a cold, unfeeling smile at them.
Anna's smile.
"We have much to discuss."
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Kris groped her way along a wall, following it to God only knew where. How in the hell had she managed to get herself separated from Sabrina and Max in such a short amount of time? She should have just stopped, she berated herself, stopped and huddled against the wall to wait for them. Why in hell had she kept moving?
They couldn't be too far off, but knowing that she could neither call out to them nor turn on her flashlight to see just how far off they were was killing her.
It was dark as pitch where she was and, deciding that she needed a moment to compose herself, Kris forced herself to stop. She paused, leaning against the wall, and stared into the darkness in either direction. The sound of her breathless panting seemed loud in her ears and she tried her best to stay quiet. Her heart was thudding in her chest and surely that was loud enough without adding any more noise.
After her breathing had calmed, Kris forced herself to take a deep breath and calm herself. She gingerly flexed her injured leg. It was aching, but right now she needed it to do its job.
Her friends were around here somewhere, she told herself. And wherever they were, they'd heard that arguing.
It was that woman. Irene Stone. That voice was unmistakable. That voice had been in the back of her mind all day as her brain punished her over and over again, replaying that scene in the moonlit hallway with Irene and Kelly and Jill, that scene that could have gone a million different ways.
She could have ended it right there if she had been able to aim worth a damn.
Or, alternatively, she could have gotten herself, Kelly, and Jill all killed.
Thinking of Jill made her sick. Her poor sister.
For months she'd been avoiding telling Jill the truth about the force and now she couldn't think of anything she wanted to do more, if only because it meant they would be out of here and safe.
Get it together, Kris, she told herself firmly.
The young blonde took a few deep, calming breaths and then decided to double back the way she came. There were no more voices she could hear and if she couldn't hear them then odds are Max and Sabrina couldn't either. They'd come out from wherever they'd been hiding, she'd find them, and then together they'd rescue Jill and Kelly and get the hell out of here.
She decided to use the silence to her advantage. She'd wait and listen for them, that's what she'd do.
Resolved, she slunk quietly through the dark hallway, straining her ears for any sign of Sabrina or Max. She'd just bumped into a wall when she heard a faint scuffling noise to her right.
She turned towards it with wide blue eyes. Fighting the urge to call out, she froze and listened again.
Footsteps.
Kris bit her lip. It could be Sabrina or Max.
Or it could be someone else.
Only one way to find out.
She followed the sound, pleased to hear it getting more distinct and even more pleased to see a literal light at the end of her tunnel. Whoever it was, at least they'd led her out of the dark.
The footsteps had stopped, but Kris, motivated by the light, kept on her way. Finally, the end of the hall came into sight. The light was brighter here than it had been, illuminating a new hallway. Darkness to the left and light to the right. A right turn must lead to the lobby, she decided.
Peeking around the brighter corner proved her wrong, however. The hallway she'd wandered into didn't lead into a lobby, but was lit to the right by dim overhead lights. Just as she was mulling over which direction to proceed, the footsteps started up again, this time to her left.
Kris fumbled for moment before gathering her nerve.
The hallway grew darker the farther she went and just before she ventured beyond any light, she paused.
Desperation suddenly got the better of her.
"Sabrina?" she called as softly as she could.
It was too soft, no one could hear her, she decided, her frazzled mind fighting panic. She limped farther into the hallway, noting that there were doors. One of them to her left was open and just when she decided that she wouldn't dare pass it, a flash of movement caught her eye.
Kris rushed forward, grabbed the doorway with one hand and peeked inside. She very nearly ran into someone and jumped back with a cry of surprise.
"Sabrina?!" she whispered, but before her friend's name was out of her mouth she knew she was wrong. A young woman stepped out from the room, dressed in a nurse's outfit, long dark hair and a face that would have been beautiful had it not been for the coarse stitches running up half of her face.
Kris stood her ground. "W-who are you?" she demanded. Her hand gripped the handle of her flashlight tightly, ready to swing it if she had to.
The young woman in front of her smiled. "You're very pretty." She whispered in an odd silky voice. "My father would like you. He would like you very much."
Kris had only a split second to ponder over what that meant. In the dark, she couldn't see the scalpel in the young woman's hand. The darkness also hid the flash of movement that Kris could have reacted to before the nurse's fist drove itself into her stomach, once, twice, then a third time in lightning fast succession.
She was falling backwards before she'd realized she'd been stabbed at all.
A white hot pain tore through Kris's system as her back slammed against the wall behind her. Panicked, she screamed and swung her flashlight blindly, whipping the heavy tool through the air and connecting with nothing. She found herself too weak to hold it and it clattered heavily to the floor and rolled out of her sight. Gasping for air, she sank down with it.
The nurse stepped toward her and Kris stared at her, blue eyes wild with panic.
"Oh my." The young woman said quietly, impassively.
Kris's trembling hand went to her belt for her gun and came up short. Sabrina had it, she realized in horror. She'd given her gun away and now she was going to die. In shock, her hands flew to her gut, where her shirt was already soaked through with blood. Her fingertips could feel even more of it, bubbling up from inside of her, draining her life away.
She'd given her gun away and now she was going to die.
Anna stood quietly and watched the young blonde panic, watched the horror in her face as she tried in vain to scoot away from her, to kick at her, to do anything but lay there and die. She would fail though, they always did.
She watched until the girl finally slid to the floor and went still. Pleased with herself, Anna knelt down beside her. The fear was still on her face. Even in death, she was lovely. Humming to herself, Anna wiped the bloody scalpel on the blonde's shirt, then ran her fingers through the girl's hair.
"Yes, he would have liked you a lot." She said, almost sadly. She separated a lock of blonde hair and sawed it off with her scalpel.
It felt nice in her hand.
She raised it to her face and inhaled deeply. Lovely. Something to remember her by, she thought to herself as she sauntered down the darkened hallway. A few feet down, her foot struck something heavy. It rolled and thudded into the wall.
A flashlight, Anna noted as she picked it up with long, elegant fingers. She flicked it on and swept the bright beam of light up and down the hall, resting it on the girl's motionless form before clicking it off and tucking it safely in her pocket.
Two somethings to remember her by.
She was feeling better already.