The next day, Sam was outside the apartment building before work, in hers and Asami's usual spot for one last potty stop before bringing her in from her walk before work and not realizing just how much she had zoned out til a familiar voice caught her attention from behind her.

"Missing me?" Mandy teased.

Sam, though startled initially, just laughed it off when she saw who it was.

"Well, well, well….look who finally escaped the cult."

Mandy just rolled her eyes with a chuckle. "Very funny…..I'm just here to check up on how my dad's holding up against the she-devil that is Jax's sister."

"It's okay, I won't tell him if you won't." She teased with a chuckle. "That bad, though?"

"You're an asshole, has anyone ever told you that?" Mandy laughed, failing in her attempt to keep from showing he obvious amusement.

"Only all the time." Sam chuckled deviously. "I prefer to pick my battles though. Now, tell me about this alleged she-devil."

She chuckled some more at Sam's joke before letting out a sigh at the thought.

"Just that sheee is considerably worse than Colton about things. Conspiracy nut-ism, and all that. She's pretty much been all over Jax's ass, and mine, ever since she found out who we were moving down the hall from."

"Do I wanna know how she even knew that in the first place?" Sam asked, considerably more suspicious now.

"...shit, I did just make that sound a lot more stalkie than I meant to." She laughed. "No, no that was just something about Colton's sister and her being old high school friends or something, I guess she looked her up on Facebook or something."

"Right…." Sam scoffed. "So, I suppose she blames me for all that's happening then, huh?"

"Yeah, Jax was getting pretty fed up with it too." She sighed. "Say, I don't suppose you'd have a lighter on you, would you?"

Sam looked at her sympathetically, seeing that she probably knew what the answer was gonna be but was just as likely just looking for an excuse to change the subject.

She half smiled at her as she reached in her pocket til she grabbed a lighter that she'd, conveniently, found just the other day.

"Actually, I do." She chuckled, tossing it to her. "..must've dropped it right before you left."

"My spare!" She exclaimed when she caught it. "I've been looking everywhere for it, I set it down for like two seconds and it was gone.

"Sounds like that was just about two seconds too long." Sam teased.

"Apparently." Mandy chuckled, lighting up a cigarette she had just put in her mouth.

Sam chuckled and reached down to give Asami some pets.

"Well, I should probably get this one inside, if I'm gonna make it into work this morning."

"Right." Mandy chuckled, reaching down to give Asami some very eagerly received ear scratches. "See ya around then."

"Yeah, see ya."

—

—-

Almost as soon as Sam was out of sight, Colton came running up to sneak up on Mandy from behind and grabbed her around the waist.

She shrieked as he snuck his head up over her shoulder and growled playfully in her ear.

"Ahh! Colton!"

This earned an exceptionally proud snickering from him as he snuck a kiss on her neck.

"Heheh, gotcha!"

"Colton, you can't do that!" She scolded, letting slip a laugh at the antic.

"Mmm, I'm so glad I did though." He chuckled, leaving his head rested over her shoulder as he continued to hold her around the waist. "What'd your little psycho friend want?"

"She's not a psycho, Colton." She moved his hands off her waist to turn around and face him. "...i told you to stop calling her that."

"Alright, Psycho spawn then…" He reached to hold each of her hands in each of his.

"That better?"

"Her name is Sam, and I don't appreciate this." She scowled at him, but had to fight back a smile as he stared back at her, trying to look all cute like she normally loved.

"Puppy dog eyes will get you nowhere, Colton." She chuckled, staring back at him.

"Fiiiine…." He sighed. "What did Saaam want?"

She chuckled at the obvious play. "Almost better, we'll work on it."

"I'll take it."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. "What about you? Ever find out who slashed your tires?"

"No, not yet." He sighed. "Probably just some psycho podcast listener who didn't like some of my takes. It's not the first time it's happened."

"People need hobbies." She chuckled.

"Apparently." He chuckled, carefully placing his hands back around her waist. "Now, can I make it up to you by taking you out for breakfast?"

"Bribery, Colton Sear, will get you….." She sighed. "...absolutely everywhere with me but unfortunately I, too, am about to be late for work."

"Well, then how bout I drive you then and I'll cover Starbucks on the way?"

"Excuse me, I am a Dunkin girl, I'll have you know." She teased.

"You are an impossible girl, is what you are." He teased. "But, you've got a deal."

She kissed him. "That's what I like to hear!"

"To your chariot, then." He chuckled, letting her lead the way back to his car.

"...well, like I said you'll have to have Sam quote you when she comes in, she's the one who- " Mia was telling a potential client, just as Sam was walking in the door.

"There she is. Hey, Sam! Uh, when you get a chance- "

Sam looked up at her and put a hand up. "I got it."

Mia looked back at the guy and smiled. "I'll let her take over from here."

"Thank you."

Sam took a minute to set some stuff down and returned to talk with the guy.

He seemed relatively nice, considering what he was about to ask, and the Exorcist t shirt he was wearing under his button up gave Sam the impression he'd be one of her more chill clients of the day, especially if he got chatty…..which was just perfect for the kind of work day she was hoping for, what with all that was going on…..especially with the new Colton's slashed tire nonsense that Cori had ranted to her about the previous night.

"Hey, what can I do for you?" She offered. "Cool shirt."

"Thanks. Ah, I was just asking your friend over there how much you'd charge for something about that big…" He put his hand up to a spot that was right below his shoulder to indicate what he described to be a fairly small to medium sized piece.

Sam looked at the spot. "Well, you'd have to schedule a consultation to get an exact quote. What's the gist of what you had in mind?"

"Nothing too complicated, just like a Ghostface mask and the hood, you know?"

Sam nodded. "Well I will tell you right off the bat, that whatever I'd charge for a tattoo that size, it's gonna be extra for Ghostface. You cool with that?"

"I take it that's what your specialty is?" He chuckled,

"No, i just figure I was the one who had to suffer through all that, so why leave it to anyone else?"

"Through…" He started to question, til he took another good look at her and his eyes visibly widened a little more at his realization.

"Oh shit, you're the- "

"The Macher-Loomis girl…" She finished for him. "Yeah, unfortunately." She let slip a little smirk. "So, you want that consultation?"

"You know I think I'll actually think about it and come back."

"Are you sure?" She chuckled.

"Uh yeah." He chuckled nervously. "Have a good day."

"I thought so." She laughed, her smirk not leaving her face.

—

Mia, who had overheard the exchange was chuckling, too when she came back over.

"I think that was your quickest one yet."

"Didn't even try to play it off." Sam chuckled.

"That's too bad, he was cute too."

Sam rolled her eyes. "After you said that about Seth, when i told you he's picking me up tonight, that's not saying a whole lot."

"What? He is!" She laughed.

"I'm not even gonna dignify that with a proper response." Sam sighed.

"And yet, you dignified that guy's request with a full on conversation."

Sam sighed. "Guys like him are just gonna go and get their shit taste tattoos somewhere else, so I just figure that if someone's gonna be profiting off my family's misery, might as well be me."

"Touché." Mia chuckled, getting ready for her next scheduled client.

The rest of the workday was mostly uneventful apart from the usual scattered looks and whispers Sam got, that were only becoming more common with the more recent murders, right up til closing time.

"So, where's the motorcycle today, again?" Mia asked, just trying to make conversation while she got ready to lock up.

Sam shrugged. "I just have a few things to pick up on the way home that I don't really feel like trying to fit on the bike. Plus, I'm not exactly itching to stay next in line to get my tires slashed…..again."

"I thought Cori thought that was just some crazy fan of his that did that." Mia recalled, referring to the whole Colton incident.

"That probably was, though I'm not entirely convinced. Kinda just wanna play it safe for a bit you know."

"I get tha- "

She was interrupted by a noise in the back.

She and Sam both whipped their heads toward it and looked at each other.

Sam listened again and brought a finger to her lips as she reached for the knife in her pocket and stood up to go check it out.

She looked toward the front door, just before going to check out the back.

"Get by that door, stay there, and call the police."

"Are you kidding? I'll come with you!"

"NO, Mia!" Sam practically growled.

As she got closer, her knife held in front of her, the noise began to quiet down, as if whoever was there was anticipating her.

She took another couple of steps, til the costumed intruder stepped out and pulled out their own knife and started towards her.

Sam rammed her knife right into the intruder's side and tackled them, turning to yell at Mia, who was still struggling at the front door.

"MIA!" She shouted trying to hold the killer down, to no avail until she stabbed again...which even at that only worked for like half a second before the killer got the upper hand and knocked her back so that they had her pinned

"It's locked!" She cried out, shaking the door still as if that would do any good.

"Shit!" Sam shouted out in her struggle, striking a firm kick to the killers crotch subduing the killer just long enough to let her get up and run for the door to help Mia.

She got halfway there when the killer started chasing her again, at which point Mia gave up trying the door and grabbed a small trash can that was nearby at through it at them.

This only angered their assailant more, as they chased the girls back toward the back of the store.

"The back window!" Mia shouted.

"Yeah no shit!" Sam scoffed as they both ran for it.

—

—

Sam reached down briefly, to grab the knife she'd left in the chase and ran over to the window that Mia was opening.

"Sam!" She shrieked.

"I'm right behind you just go!" She ordered, whacking the killer with a nearby stool when they caught up to them. "NOW Mia!"

"Oh my God!" She whimpered, looking back at Sam just before side stepping out the window.

Sam raised her knife to stab the killer again but was distracted by the sound of Mia screaming again and the sight of what looked like another cloaked figure running by the window.

Sam, looking horrified at what she just saw, took just a minute too long to stop looking at the window, allowing the killer that was still inside to come up behind her and stab her in the back, bringing her to her knees.

The killer then took her by the shoulder and spun her around to stab her one more time before the sounds of rapid footsteps approaching scared them away and they took off, leaving her there to be found by Seth when he came running up, followed shortly by Cori who'd been near the area when she heard the sirens.

—

—

"Sam!" He shouted, looking throughout the rest of the shop, while Cori ran the other way, still calling her name.

"Sam! Sa- Oh God!" She blurted out, getting down to the floor when she found her in the back. "Sam, can you hear me?!"

Sam, who was barely conscious, just groaned in response, just as Seth had caught up.

"Sam?"

Cori whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. "Go get help now!"

He nodded, wasting no time to sprint back towards the front door which had been left open by the killer.

"You're gonna be okay." Cori promised, her voice now sounding increasingly filled with panic. "Seth went to get help, just stay with me! Stay with me, please."