Thanks everyone for sticking with me - this is the chapter I've been most excited to write so far. I've been a bit waylaid with Inktober and other commitments so it took a little longer than planned, but here it is. I hope you like it.
*Trigger Warning* - I'm never sure what requires a trigger warning, but this chapter does include a reasonably graphic description of an attack.
What the hell are you doing Haught?
Nicole sighed to herself for the thousandth time, gripping the wheel of her cruiser tightly as she drove down the highway. She was getting closer to the Earp homestead with each passing minute, hoping against hope that she wouldn't regret her possibly rash decision to trust Wynonna Earp.
She hadn't called Nedley. By all accounts she should have, but she hadn't. She'd phoned Lonnie, who was on call, and told him that she was following up an incident that Wynonna had reported at her homestead, and that she'd call it in proper when she got there and knew what she was dealing with. Lonnie would man the precinct in the meantime. No need to disturb Nedley until they knew what they were looking at. Which was all true and quite reasonable. Apart from the apparent dead people that she had neglected to mention.
She fully intended to follow all protocols to the letter as soon as she arrived at the scene. She had just elected to act like she knew no details until she got there. Like Wynonna hadn't even mentioned bodies.
And she'd already made the call to Lonnie and committed to the lie before the horrifying reality of what she was doing hit her. She wished she could blame it on the sleep deprivation, or the trauma of the incident in the morgue or, helleven the whiskey. It had been a long night for sure, full of weird shit and running around the basement of the municipal building like scared teenagers because something went bump in the night. And with all the frustrating and confounding mysteries surrounding half of the goings-on in Purgatory she was more than overdue some momentarily questionable thinking.
But she knew it was a decision she'd made consciously to break protocols. To manipulate the truth and cover up a crime, even temporarily. To deviate from everything she stood for. To maybe even hamper justice. And why? Because Wynonna Earp had asked for a favour. A favour that she didn't deserve at all and a level of trust that she had no right to ask for given the way she'd behaved that night.
In what world had she suddenly decided to trust Wynonna Earp?
A world in which something bad happened at the Earp Homestead, and there are bodies, and you need to know Waverly is OK, she told herself.
Nicole tried and failed once again to push thoughts of the younger Earp aside. In reality, Waverly had occupied most of her thinking since Wynonna had put the phone down. She had a good deal to do with the reason Nicole dialed Lonnie's number, and not Nedley's. Regardless of Wynonna's unsubstantiated request to specifically keep the Sheriff out of the loop, if she'd called Nedley then there was a good chance he'd have benched her again. She'd have been told to hold down the fort back at the precinct and he'd have called Tate or Phelps to support at the scene. She wouldn't have been able to make sure for herself that nothing bad had happened to Waverly, and she simply couldn't handle the thought of that. It was impulsive, definitely, but still somewhat calculated.
When had she become the kind of cop that made an assessment as to whether or not the rules were worth following based on her personal agendas? Whether or not the rules applied to her? Was it the product of more on-the-job experience and understanding what real small-town police work involved? Was it the result of seeing so many other people disregard protocols and procedures like they were nothing? Was this the kind of cop she wanted to be?
Nicole felt an exotic cocktail of emotions as she turned off the highway to approach the Earp homestead. Some of it wasn't even to do with her crisis of principles. She'd never been out to the homestead before and Wynonna had been less than precise about the situation, so she had next to no idea what she was walking into. With the mention of an 'incident' and bodies to deal with, that was enough to make anyone a little jittery.
But it was also the Earp homestead, and she was more nervous than she was proud to admit about going to Waverly's home. She didn't even have a decent reason why. It was just that same excited nervousness that always presented itself when she came into proximity with the young Earp. This was not the time or situation though to entertain her crush, so she tried valiantly once again to be professional and stop swooning over Waverly.
She pulled up to the front of the old, rickety-looking house that the Earps called home. Wynonna was stood on the porch, waiting. She looked as apprehensive as Nicole felt. It crossed her mind that Wynonna had probably never had to deal with a situation like this before, and was still representing Black Badge solo in Dolls' absence. Perhaps they were both in uncharted territory here.
The thought was fleeting though, because Nicole could also see the bodies.
No denying it now, she thought. It's time to call it in.
There were two, maybe three, bodies lying in the dirt outside the house. Nicole looked from them to Wynonna, who was watching her carefully.
Waiting to see how I'll react, Nicole thought. She killed the engine and stepped out of the car, setting her stetson carefully on her head. She took a deep breath and started forward. Wynonna walked over to meet her halfway.
"Anyone need medical assistance?" Nicole asked immediately. Wynonna shook her head. "OK. Now tell me now why I shouldn't have called Nedley?" Nicole demanded sternly, nodding towards the bodies.
"Because his daughter is inside and he would have freaked," Wynonna replied. She saw Nicole's eyes widen and added, "oh she's totally fine, but there's no way Nedley would have taken my word on that."
"What is it exactly you're expecting me to do here?" Nicole asked, folding her arms. "Create some big cover up and help you stash some dead bodies away for the spooks to clear up? I've already gone out on a helluva limb here by not calling it in to the Sheriff immediately. You've got two minutes to tell me exactly what's happened and who these people are. I'm calling Nedley either way."
Wynonna growled exasperatedly. "Haught, I called you out here because I figured you'd be smart about this. It's not a freakin' conspiracy, I just didn't need to make a scene."
Nicole pulled her cell phone from her pocket, never breaking eye contact.
"Ugh fine! Look, a couple of these guys tried to force their way into the house."
"Why?"
"I don't… It's… It's need to know."
Nicole glared.
Wynonna rolled her eyes. "OK well, it's not super clear right now. But it's to do with a Black Badge case. Anyway, they didn't get what they were after, but they did get…" Wynonna paused cautiously and looked over at the body closest, a young woman in a glitzy party dress. "Stephanie Jones."
Nicole looked over, her breath leaving her body in an involuntary gasp. The phrase 'murder house' floated across her thoughts briefly. Stephanie was face down in the dust.
"One of them got in the house but Waverly took care of him."
Nicole whirled back to face the Earp, her eyes wide with panic that she couldn't hide, her heart racing.
"Chill officer do-good, it was self-defence and it was necessary," Wynonna said, misreading Nicole's expression. Nicole didn't care yet whether it was justified, just that Waverly had been in danger. Waverly had had to 'deal with it'. Had the attacker hurt her? Had she killed them? Had she really had to take a life? What kind of effect would that have on her? Nicole hadn't ever had to take a life before, but it had been covered at the academy enough for her to know the weight it left on a human soul.
Nicole's insides twisted uncomfortably as Wynonna continued - because of course there was more.
"Mattie, the blacksmith from outside town, is dead too. She wasn't in on it or anything. I uh… I guess they killed her too."
Nicole swallowed and tried to steady her heartbeat. "So what happened to the attackers? Who were they?"
"Don't know. To both those things. Uh, cause of death unknown." Wynonna waved her hand in the air dramatically, like she was casting some kind of spell. Like these people had dropped dead as a result of magic or something. Could she really not take this seriously? Did she really not care that people were dead?
"And you've still not heard from Dolls?" Nicole asked, trying to ignore her frustration. Wynonna shook her head.
It was at that moment that John Henry appeared around the corner of the house… Dragging a body. He froze when he saw them. Then stood up straight and tipped his hat.
"Officer Haught," he said courteously.
"Seriously? He's moving a body?" Nicole said exasperatedly.
"Well it's not like we don't know how he died," Wynonna shrugged.
"Did you at least photograph the scene before you started moving things around?" Nicole asked, pinching the bridge of her nose and taking a deep breath.
"Well yeah, duh," Wynonna scoffed unconvincingly. "What do you think this is my first day?"
Nicole didn't believe her for a second. She rolled her eyes and pushed past the Earp towards the bodies out front, as John Henry dragged the other body to an empty patch of yard. She used her phone to take as many photos as she could before these idiots disturbed any more evidence. Even if this was going to be absorbed into the ongoing question mark that was the BBD, there was no way she was going to let them skip any more due diligence.
When she was done she looked back to where Wynonna was deep in a muttered conversation with Henry that she couldn't quite hear.
"I won't assume it goes without saying that I'll need everyone to stay at the scene until I take statements," she called over to them. For once Wynonna didn't seem primed to argue, giving her a short nod in response.
Nicole turned to the house. She wasn't about to wait for an invitation from Wynonna so she marched up the porch steps and opened the front door.
It was quiet inside, but she could hear a gentle conversation from around the corner. The house itself was nothing fancy, but it was adorned with bunting and throw cushions that Nicole suspected had been part of Waverly's recent decoration efforts. Nicole pressed on, down the hall and rounding the corner to the sound of the voices.
She came to the kitchen, where Waverly and Chrissy sat opposite each other at the table. Nicole's chest tightened when she saw the Earp, relieved to confirm with her own eyes that she had come to no physical harm. They looked up as Nicole entered, Waverly's eyes in particular widening when she saw her.
"Nicole," she murmured. "Wynonna called you?"
Nicole nodded. "Are you OK?" she asked softly, remembering at the last minute to look at Chrissy too, addressing the question to both of them.
Chrissy nodded quietly and Waverly sighed heavily. "As OK as we can be," she said.
Nicole swallowed hard, fighting the urge to reach forward and comfort Waverly. To touch her arm the way she did when Shorty died. She dipped her head, breaking the eye contact and clearing her throat a little.
"I'm gonna check the house over and then I'm gonna call the Sheriff." Chrissy looked up at the mention of her dad. "Does he know you're here?" Nicole asked.
"I don't think so," Chrissy said meekly.
Nicole nodded, trying to mentally prepare for telling Nedley his daughter had been involved in a multiple-homicide home invasion incident.
"Right. I'll be nearby, and then I'll need to speak to both of you for a statement."
She didn't know if she imagined it, but for a moment Nicole thought she saw a flicker of relief on Waverly's face. Maybe she was glad that Nicole was staying close.
This isn't the time, Haught.
A quick scan of the house later and Nicole stepped back outside, pulling her phone from her pocket once again. She took a deep breath and brought up Nedley's number.
The phone rang long enough that Nicole knew the Sheriff had obviously had to come round from a deep sleep to answer. She almost hoped that he wouldn't.
She heard the receiver pick up and Nedley's gruff voice on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Sir, it's Haught."
"It's the middle of the night officer Haught, this had better be good."
She took a deep breath.
"Sir, I'm at the Earp homestead. Wynonna Earp called in an incident.
"Ah hell…"
"Sir, I'm gonna need to call the coroner's team. There was some sort of attempted home invasion that went awry and there are casualties."
"Jesus H Christ."
"It's all contained now, and Wynonna is saying it's connected to a Black Badge case so-"
"So it's their rodeo, they just want us to do the legwork," Nedley said irritability. "Is anyone hurt?"
"The attackers are dead. Mattie Perley was here, although apparently not part of the attack. She's dead too. And Stephanie Jones."
There was a pause.
"That's one of Chrissy's friends."
"I know sir." Deep breath Haught. "Chrissy is here too, but she's totally fine."
"Haught, tell me what happened right now."
The phone call went on longer than Nicole would have preferred, but by the time it was done she had successfully convinced Nedley that there was no further danger and that she would be happy to stick around and see the incident through. Nedley agreed to call the coroner and his team to one and collect the bodies, and Nicole was to take statements and process the scene. Nedley would receive the bodies at the station, and call Stephanie and Mattie's families. As soon as the call was over she worked like a machine: calm, methodical and detached.
She took more photos of the whole scene, roughly drew out a floor plan of the homestead and marked the locations of each body. She took as official a statement as she could from John Henry, who had settled on a level of vague in his answers that was clearly a result of being vetted by Wynonna first. The coroner's team arrived and collected the bodies, Nicole and Wynonna confirming to them Nedley's instructions that the investigation was being conducted by Black Badge. As Nicole signed over custody of the evidence to the coroner the sun was starting to peek over the horizon.
She stifled a yawn.
"OK. I'm gonna need to get statements from Chrissy and your sister, and then we're done."
Wynonna nodded. "I'll do my part. You take Chrissy and I'll speak to Waves. It's a BBD case after all, right?"
Nicole grit her teeth and felt a disappointed tug in her stomach. Maybe it was for the best that she wouldn't be speaking to Waverly. Much as she wanted to scoop the petite woman up in her arms and tell her that she wish she'd been here to protect her, she wasn't just Nicole right now. She was a cop, and this wasn't a personal visit. It was hard enough trying to focus on her job knowing the young Earp was even close by.
"I'll send Chrissy out to you," Wynonna called over her shoulder as she headed into the house.
Nicole wondered if that was deliberate: Wynonna keeping Nicole outside. Out of her home and away from her family. Nicole felt a stab of annoyance at that. Hadn't she more than earned the Earp's trust?
John Henry had started slowly walking the perimeter of the homestead buildings, glancing anxiously out over the empty rolling landscape, his hand resting on the butt of his pistol. What was his connection to the Earps? Why had he been here at all? Nicole was grateful, in a way, that he was. According to his admittedly vague rerun of events he'd offered a level of protection for the girls - for Waverly. Part of Nicole couldn't help but feel grateful for that, but there was still a big question mark above his head. Maybe one question too many for her liking. It was time for Wynonna to give some answers.
Chrissy joined her outside after a couple of minutes, wrapped tightly in her coat. She looked apprehensive as Nicole flipped over to a clean page on her notepad.
"Hi Chrissy," Nicole said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "How are you doing?"
"Ok I guess," Chrissy replied somewhat hollowly.
"Well I'm gonna try and make this as quick as possible, but if it's too much and you need to stop then just let me know."
"It's ok, really. I know you've got to ask questions. My Dad called and said you'd need to speak to me."
Nicole gave her another smile and a nod.
"Ok, well can you first tell me in your own words what happened last night?"
Chrissy took a deep breath.
"Waves was throwing a party for Steph. She just got engaged. It was only me and Steph that went in the end. It was pretty quiet with just the three of us, but Waves' friend Henry joined us after a bit. We were playing poker and there were some noises outside. Henry went to check and said it was the barn door, I think. And then… Maybe he popped back out to check again? I don't know…" Chrissy paused to think carefully. "Yes, he definitely went out again. Maybe he heard another noise."
Nicole scribbled away at her notepad, capturing every detail.
"And then the stripper arrived."
Here, Nicole looked up. Thankfully, Chrissy was gazing off into the distance while she recollected the night's events and didn't notice the Deputy's surprised expression.
"Things were fine to start and then suddenly he was trying to attack Waverly and he had her by the throat," Chrissy's hand went to her own throat as she spoke and Nicole tried to bury the sick lurch in her stomach at the description of the attack. "And then Waverly had the scissors and she… She scissored him in the ear!"
A very small, very quiet part of Nicole's brain couldn't suppress a laugh.
"I thought he was dead but he got back up and Henry shot him out the door."
The story had the same flavour of nuts as everything else that had happened to Nicole that night. Chrissy was telling it as if she, like Nicole, was out of the loop on some critical piece of information that would fundamentally change the tone of things.
"I hid upstairs until it was all over," Chrissy continued, a little too hurriedly for Nicole's liking. "When I came down Waves and Henry said everyone was dead."
Obviously Nicole had questions, lots of them, but up until Chrissy started breezing through the details and skipping to the end she did at least feel like the young Nedley was telling her the truth. Now it felt like Chrissy was leaving something out. Nicole tried to look her in the eye, but Chrissy kept her face downcast. She cleared her throat.
"Did the uh… stripper, say anything? Give any clue about what he was after?"
Chrissy shook her head silently. Nicole chewed her cheek for a moment and noticed Wynonna emerging from the house over Chrissy's shoulder. She knew this girl wasn't telling her everything and she had a theory as to who might have asked her to leave certain details out. Sure, she could keep trying to press Chrissy for the full story, or she could go right to the source.
"I think that's probably everything for now, Chrissy," Nicole said warmly. "I'll let you get back inside but if you think of anything else then make sure you call me, or let your dad know."
Chrissy nodded and headed back towards the house where Waverly had emerged onto the porch, wrapped in a blanket. As always the sight of her set Nicole's heart beating harder than it should.
She turned to Wynonna as she approached Nicole's cruiser. Right. Time to get those answers.
"Your sister OK?" she asked first, unable to go any further without some additional assurance that Waverly was alright.
"Yeah, well, she's being Waverly." It was a non-answer, but at least it wasn't some ridiculous lie. That was a good start.
"Yeah, well," Nicole chose her words carefully. "Chrissy says she scissored a stripper."
There was a twinkle in Wynonna's eye that resembled something like pride, but she didn't say anything. Nicole looked over to the porch as Waverly pulled Chrissy into a comforting hug. She was being a rock for Chrissy, like she herself hadn't gone through something equally traumatic. Nicole turned back to Wynonna.
"So? Any idea why your homestead was targeted? I mean, besides the fact that it's yours?"
It was the million-dollar question and Nicole wanted to settle for nothing less than a million-dollar answer. She wasn't expecting the casual suggestion of food.
"You know what, we should get some breakfast. I could murder a sack of pancakes." Wynonna looked her in the eye, unblinking. "Then we'll talk, really talk."
Really talk? But about what? Wynonna had made her feelings about trusting Nicole very clear that night and seemed to be forgetting that that was how things had been left.
"OK, you're gonna help me understand why some of these cases are a little too complex for local flatfoots?"
"I'll do my best."
It certainly wasn't an apology and perhaps when the time was right, Nicole would remind Wynonna of that. For now, the promise of some honesty would have to do.
"Your boss gonna be OK with that?"
"My boss isn't here," Wynonna shrugged.
Nicole nodded, knowing this wasn't going to be an official conversation. But then, that fit perfectly with her unofficial investigation. "OK."
"Guess you're my ride." Wynonna headed for the passenger seat of the car.
Nicole felt a disappointed tug at her stomach. She had hoped for the chance to speak to Waverly again in a more… friendly capacity. She'd been one hundred percent cop, taking photos and notes and processing the scene and she hadn't once had a moment to offer her condolences for Stephanie, or demonstrate even an ounce of the supposed friendship she'd been working on with the young Earp.
She turned towards the driver's door of her car and chanced a quick glance back at the house. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Waverly was already watching her. She looked away shyly as she was caught staring, and then back again, their eyes locking across the yard and a small smile gracing her lips as she gave Nicole a tiny wave. Nicole smiled faintly in a dazed sort of way and for a moment everything else that had happened just peeled away.
She heard Wynonna close the car door and forced herself to tear her eyes away, making a mental promise to herself to call in on Waverly later. After she'd found out from Wynonna what was really happening, that is.
Wynonna was fiddling with the stereo as she got into the car. As she pulled out of the yard towards the highway she could just see Waverly in the rear view mirror, leading Chrissy back inside the house. She sighed. There would be time to think about Waverly later.
For now she found herself distracted by Wynonna-sitting once again.
"Dude, how do you work your heater, I'm freezin' my boobs off here," Wynonna said irritably, continuing to fiddle with the dials on the dashboard.
Nicole rolled her eyes and twirled the appropriate knob, sending a waft of warm air out of the grill.
They sat in silence for a few moments, the stereo playing an old-fashioned tune that Nicole didn't recognise. She glanced over at Wynonna who was picking at her fingernails. She sighed.
"So are you gonna start explaining things or do I really have to put breakfast in front of you first?"
Wynonna sucked the air noisily through her teeth as she took a deep breath.
"Where to start," she sighed.
"Well, you could always start with something simple like what the hell really happened at Waverly's party tonight," Nicole said with more than a little bite to her tone.
"You saw for yourself," Wynonna said plainly. "House invasion gone uber wrong."
"This is your idea of 'really talking'?"
"Geeze, just gimme a second to get into it, would you?"
"Ok, so start with something even simpler. Why do you work for the BBD?"
Wynonna did the teeth sucking noise thing again and Nicole's eye roll extended to her entire head.
"Earp, seriously?"
"Ok, so gimme more than a second."
Nicole was rolling her eyes so much she was starting to feel dizzy. Her grip on the wheel tightened and she sighed frustratedly at the road ahead. She squinted. There was someone up ahead. A man, wrapped tight in a heavy over coat with the collar turned up, waving and flagging them down. Probably a Purgatonian in need of a ride back to town. She sighed and began to slow the car. A cop's work was never done, apparently. She really couldn't wait for her next day off.
"Well look, you can't expect me to start divulging classified government intel if you're gonna stuff a hitchhiker in the back seat," Wynonna said flatly.
Nicole turned and gave Wynonna a withering look as she pulled the car to a stop, winding the window down. "Can you please just act for a moment like you care about other people?"
She made to turn back to the window, her 'excuse me sir are you in need of assistance' on the tip of her tongue. She didn't get that far.
She didn't see what hit her. It was heavy and solid and it felt like her head had exploded above her left eye. She reeled from the hit, blinded, clawing at the dashboard for support, like it would stop the world from spinning.
"Shit! Nicole!" Wynonna's voice seemed further away than it should have been. She was sat right beside her in the car wasn't she? Why did she sound like she was on the other side of a pillow?
Her hands felt warm, sticky. She blinked. It was blood. Her blood. On her hands. She blinked again and her instincts kicked in. Her hand closed around her handgun, but Wynonna already had hers drawn and pointed towards the man at Nicole's window.
If the blow to the head hadn't rocked Nicole's senses, the close proximity to the gunshot certainly did. What little she could hear before had now gone entirely, replaced with a persistent ringing.
The man had vanished from Nicole's window, Wynonna's shot sailing into the field beside the road. A second later and the passenger side door was wrenched open and Wynonna pulled violently from her seat.
Nicole flung her seatbelt away and launched herself out of the car, gun drawn and aimed. The man had Wynonna by the throat, lifted off her feet into the air. Nicole didn't hesitate. She fired four quick rounds into his back.
He barely flinched. He turned and look over his shoulder and Nicole gasped. His eye sockets were dark and deep, his pupils glowing. What. The. Hell.
In a blink he'd thrown Wynonna to the ground and sped around the car. He was fast. Inhumanly fast and she didn't get a chance to look at his face as he moved. Nicole barely had time to turn and lift her gun again before he was upon her. His hand lashed out at the gun.
Nicole screamed as a searing hot pain erupted across her hand and wrist, and the gun fell apart, the pieces glowing red hot at the edges. Her mind whirled. Did he have some kind of hot-bladed weapon? The phrase 'lightsabre hot' ran across her mind and she felt a sickening sinking feeling in her stomach. Was this the man who had murdered Joyce Arbour? The serial killer?
Before she'd had a chance to process anything further his hand was around her throat, slamming her back against the car and lifting her off her feet. Her vision started to blur and darken at the edges. She knew she was about to pass out. Time to make those precious few seconds count. She put all her weight behind her good hand and threw a punch at his head. His grip loosened momentarily and Nicole tried to wrestle free. She caught a glimpse of his face but it looked…
She had to be hallucinating because it looked like his face was on fire, his eyes burning and his skin cracking open to reveal a red hot glow beneath. As if his blood was made of lava. She gasped for air, adrenaline turning to panic as his hand tightened around her throat once more.
Another gunshot rang out and the attacker finally staggered and released his grip of her throat. She dropped to the ground heavily, feeling a sting in her shins as they absorbed the impact of her sudden descent. As she crumpled to the ground, gasping and coughing she saw the attack speed around the car once again, a blur before her eyes.
He's going after Wynonna, she thought weakly. Clutching her bleeding right hand she rolled over and looked underneath the car to see the Earp's boots standing on the other side. She turned on her heel, presumably to face the attacker as he approached around the front of the car.
Another gun shot. And then suddenly there was a third set of boots beside Wynonna. Behind Wynonna. Nicole tried to call out, but her voice was hoarse and weak, not making it past her recently throttled throat. It was over in seconds. The owner of the new set of boots stepped right up behind Wynonna and a heartbeat later she was on the floor.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
Nicole grit her teeth through the pain and pushed herself up into the car once again, reaching for the dispatch radio. Her fingers had barely closed around it before she felt a hand grab at the back of her shirt, wrenching her back out of the car, ripping the radio clean from its cable.
Nicole thrust out a foot wildly and felt it connect with something solid she hoped was bone. The attacker's grip on her shirt didn't falter though, and he slammed her into the side of the car, knocking the wind from her. She crumpled to the floor again.
The world was spinning. Everything hurt. It felt like someone had stuffed cotton wool into her ears and down her throat.
This isn't over Haught, you gotta move. Now.
She tried to push herself upright again, aware that the attacker - attackers - were still right there. She didn't know if Wynonna was still alive. She had to get away. She had to get help. Had to tell someone that it wasn't just one man working alone. That there were two of them. They didn't seem too concerned as she propped herself up onto her elbows and tried to crawl away from the car, pushing past the nausea as her vision swam in front of her eyes.
She was maybe three or four feet away when she felt the boot on her back, pressing her roughly to the ground. She fought against the hysterical tears that tried to force their way out and lunged out blindly with her elbow. A heavy hand pinned her arm to the ground too, and her field of view darkened as the attacker leant over her. The weight of his body on her back shifted from a boot to a knee. He was leaning in close.
She thought she could hear his voice. He was saying something. His voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. What was he saying? Something about a doctor. That the doctor would fix her.
And then there was a sharp pinch in her neck that she guessed was a needle. Within seconds, the spinning in front of her eyes turned into an absolute kaleidoscope of swirling colour and shadows. There was no more fighting it now. This was it. Game over.
Had she blacked out? Did she just blink? How much time had passed?
It felt like her eyes were open, but all she could see were dark shadows. Her face felt numb and distant, like she was getting all her senses second-hand. She wanted to throw up. She'd never felt so dizzy and sick in her life. She felt the rhythmic motion of being carried. Someone had an arm around her middle, their hand digging into her side.
There was the crackling of leaves and twigs underfoot and she realised most of her hearing had returned. The ringing persisted. She tried to look around but every movement was a new adventure in pain and dizziness. It was like the worst kind of being drunk - times a thousand. She thought she glimpsed the shape of trees amongst the blur. They were in the woods.
The woods. Where they would probably never be found.
Because this was the serial killer. The killer that had cut open Joyce Arbour and rearranged her organs while she was still alive. Nicole would have cried, but she could barely even feel her own face. Hell, she could well have been crying already.
Suddenly they stopped and she was turned over. She felt the hand, a grip like iron, grab a fistful of the front of her uniform and she was lifted what she assumed was upright. The shadows in her vision were intermingled with shafts of light. Light between trees maybe?
"Hmm. No, no, no, this won't do I'm afraid," said a voice. It was different to the first one she'd heard. It was soft and sinister and the speaker annunciated with surgical precision. And he was close. Nicole could practically feel his breath on her face. This man, who had murdered three women already. Had they gone through the same thing before they died?
"Doctor?" There was the familiar voice. Fearful. Subservient.
"No, won't do at all. She's entirely the wrong kind."
With that he cast her aside - threw her as if she weighed nothing. She landed on her side, felt something in her ribcage crack, and cried out. The ground beneath her was wet, cold and covered in rocks and branches. It had to be the woods.
"See to it she's dealt with, please."
As she wept she heard footsteps walking away, and another set approach her. A shadow loomed over her in the fog of her vision.
"I guess some people can't be fixed," said the familiar voice.
The kick came out of nowhere - an agonising blow to her chest, and for a moment she thought her heart might have stopped completely. She barely noticed the second attacker leave. Leave her there, in the dirt. Broken.
She didn't know how long she lay there like that. She tried a few times to call out, her voice meek and hoarse. She knew it wouldn't carry far. They'd been pretty far from civilisation when the attack began and it was unlikely the abductors would have opted to leave her somewhere deliberately conspicuous. She tried to concentrate on breathing, but every intake of air felt like a stab in the chest. She tried to move, but whatever drugs were in her system seemed to have disconnected her limbs from her brain. She gazed up at the hazy light of the sky above as the bitter cold cut into her skin, exhausted and every inch of her throbbing with pain. The chilling reality was sinking in.
She was going to die here. She'd be lucky if anyone ever found her body.
She thought about Calamity Jane; had she left enough food in her bowl last night? Would she manage long enough before someone went to check on her? Nedley would probably take care of it. Nedley would be the one to arrange everything. Nedley would call Shae. Would she come to Purgatory to identify her body? Would she call Nicole's family?
Nicole thought of her family, of all the things left unresolved. She wondered who would be there at her funeral. Would Justine brave the small town world to come pay her respects? She wished she'd called her again this week, like she'd meant to. She didn't know she'd never get another chance.
And she thought of Waverly. The smile that could light up the world. A beacon of sunshine in a town-full of shit and darkness. What would happen to her now? Her sister was likely dead. Who would be there now to protect her from the inexplicable… the other-worldly goings-on in Purgatory? Because Nicole knew now without a shadow of a doubt that there had to be something supernatural going on in this town. She couldn't even believe it really, but it was plain as day. Not that it mattered now. Not that she could warn Waverly - assuming she didn't already know. Which, in hindsight, she probably did. Would she forgive Nicole for not figuring it all out sooner, and for not being able to protect Wynonna? Would she shed a tear for for the fallen Officer Haught?
Nicole's body was starting to feel less cold now. She could almost fool herself into thinking she was getting comfier or that the pain was subsiding, but she knew better. Why fight it? Why fight any of it anymore?
She closed her eyes and let her memory drift back again to the beautiful woman stood on the porch of the Earp homestead - and Waverly's smile was the last thing she saw before everything went black.
I was very keen with this chapter to come up with some reasonably legit explanations of some of the details that are just breezed past - like where all the bodies went after Clootie's attack on the homestead, and why Nicole would end up there by herself rather than the whole police cavalry coming in. I know there's a reasonable amount of artistic license here in terms of correct police procedure, but I figured that after a whole night of breaking police procedures and all the weird shit she finds herself in the middle of, she'd be more open to bending the rules to get to the truth. I hope you guys agree!
As always, your feedback is most welcome, so please R&R!