"No! No! No!" Olivia screams as she digs her finger nails into the skin around his cuffs. The oils dripping onto her face and burning her flesh along with hers.
Detective Garcia picks her up and moves her to the side to peer down at her small frightened eyes, "You're only hurting yourself too. Think logically. There's got to be a way to help him down that doesn't involve killing yourself in the process."
"Isn't that Jigsaw's entire theme?" Asks Logan as he frantically looks around the lobby for something they can use.
Letters from a binder fall out onto the floor. A filing cabinet rips open and falls to crash into the counter top. Papers flutter every which way. A chipped mug that says '# 1 Mom' shatters as it hits the ground. Tears trail down Josh's face as the pain ensues.
Nick and Sabrina stand near one another examining their fallen friends with faces of defeat. Blood dried beneath their droopinh eyes and along the sides of their vein filled necks from their orepheuses. Together they ignored the loud chaos occurring behind them.
Sabrina looked down into Rowan's vat; a soft orange glow catching her eye. She sank her hand into the thick wax and burrowed her fingers until they latched on to the object. She unearthed the syringe. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was that was attached to it.
"I HAVE A KEY!" She shouts.
Logan runs over to the young girl and takes it from her with a kind nod, "You brilliant girl."
"There's more." Says Nick as Dr. Mitchell runs back over to test the lock.
Detective Garcia says, "We'll try them all if we have too."
Key after key they work through them. Desperation taking over. Nick, Sabrina, Olivia, and Carlos take turns pressing iron into iron as Joshua's light goes out. Dr. Mitchell ensured that the medication is given to him to prevent him from dying from the chemicals in the air.
He doesn't even feel the needle go in. His eyes roll to the back of his head as the boiling sensation reaches his chest. There's no shirt to soften the blow. It's just wax right? People use it all the time when playing dirty little games but this is different. It's hotter than it should be and he's so young he doesn't know what that kind of sensuality even is. He's played with girls hearts and yeah he's hurt them but this is so much more than that.
Does he deserve to die?
Does anyone deserve the sociopathic maze they've been thrown into? Carlos' husband is walking around here somewhere and for all Carlos knows he could be throwing up so much blood he's hemorrhaged in a bathroom on some random floor. His boys are here somewhere and they could be like these kids; bleeding from anywhere possible, dragging their feet, and forced to play sadistic games. Children have no business here.
Is that why he's so frantic? Why he's shoving Logan out of the way to try the keys in the lock? Because it terrifies him to see someone so young suffering so much? He just wants to be a father and a husband. He's a cop, a detective. This is going to be his life until he retires. It's the life he chose.
Joshua pulls in a sharp breath and he's not even sure it went into his lungs the way it flipped in his throat because the wax is hardening around his waist. It burns around his collar bone and he can't even feel his arms anymore. Blood spews out into the gauze between his lips and he shuts his eyes. He's so tired. So weak. Is this it? Is it over?
"This one's it!" Cries Nick, "It's the last one. It has to be it."
Sabrina wipes the sweat off her cheek and laughs, "Or it's a cruel joke and none of them fit."
"You never even loved him." Olivia whimpered as she fights the urge to slam Sabrina to the ground.
Sabrina shrugs, "We're kids, Liv. How can any of us love when we don't even know heart break?"
"There's so much wax in the way! It won't go in!" Cries Detective Garcia.
Joshua's head droops hard and bobs for a second. Olivia screams. There's a harsh chink!
Carlos twists the key and the cuffs fall into the soft goop of the vat. He and Logan, together, pull the young man out of the boiling drip and he falls out onto the floor. Nick and Sabrina take turns injecting themselves with the antidote.
Carlos and Logan step away for Olivia to kneel down beside Joshua and they take their needles into their veins. Carlos, when she's had a moment to console herself approaches softly.
He whispers, "Hey. We have to give you one too, okay?"
She nods and Dr. Mitchell administers it directly into her neck. She sighs as the fluids enter her system. Tears that fall from her face lighten from their crimson shade to a pale pink. The medicine works.
Sabrina crosses her arms over her chest as some of the color begins to return to her face, "Is he dead?"
"No." Says Olivia sternly.
