RJRMovieFan: I have not changed my mind about Triple Treble, no.
Pixie1913: It'll all add up soon. I can't believe how close to the end of this part we are.
FromTumblr: Can you imagine if it is Chloe?
Joanshea: That's part of the murder mystery - killing all of you guys too.
SunDanceQT: God has no hand in this anymore.
96itadakimasu96: Let's all just blame Luke.
Guest: For being almost like 'the other woman'.
EagleSenior: Need a defibrillator?
Surreal: God can't help now.
Malexfaith: It's okay, I accept sighs too.
Bechloe-bible-49: -maniacalcackling-
Trixxalexx: Part one may be ending, but this is actually going to be a very lengthy story, so...
Andiclauds: I agree. Aubrey would never forgive herself if something happened to Chloe. I am not ditching TT.
Vickstik: Man, imagine if Chloe did just kill the killers and end all of this.
Guest: Sorry, I have been extremely sick. Here's your update.
Guest: Omg, I totally understand all this code! Can you imagine the TRAUMA Aubrey would endure if Chloe was H? She would never recover from that. Even Beca would never recover from that - unless Chloe is H and Beca is in on it with her. What if they're both H, or Chloe is H and Beca is A and Aubrey is T? Some food for thought there.
Arrhythmia
I'm sending a raven,
Black bird in the sky;
Sending a signal that I'm here,
Some sign of life.
I'm sending a message,
Of feathers and bone.
Just let me know I'm not forgotten,
Out here alone.
- Sam Tinnesz
Aubrey grabs Beca's shoulder, and uses her to push herself back up to her feet. Luke is probably still within shooting distance if she were to open the door and pull out her gun. She flashes a pained glance in that direction, then grabs the nearest pew and stumbles down the aisle, back toward the office. "Chloe!" This isn't happening. It can't be happening. Why the hell didn't Aubrey stay directly by her side? "Chloe!"
"Where the hell did she go?" Beca jogs after her, then stops in the office doorway, "Chloe?"
The flashlight is still on the desk. Aubrey picks it up and frantically shines it around.
"Aubrey, that's a door."
Aubrey looks at Beca, then points the light in the direction she's facing – at the busy, floral wallpaper that has been torn from the wall. It makes sense that they missed it – the room being dark, the two of them so focused on each other, the paper only torn off just enough so that the hidden door could be accessed. She bolts around the desk and hooks her fingers through the crack between the door and the wall, flinging it open with ease.
A pitch black set of stairs stare up at her, and her dread snowballs.
She has seen something like this before – in one of the churches she attended while growing up. The pastor had built a tunnel between the church and his house next door, so he could easily travel back and forth between the two. But these stairs don't lead to any pastor's house.
"Is this to the tunnels?" Beca whispers – her fingertips coming to rest on Aubrey's arm.
Of course. Who, during the Prohibition, would suspect a Protestant church of smuggling alcohol?
No one.
Aubrey runs down the stairs with Beca only a few steps behind. Every step is agonizing. "Chloe!" She can't stop screaming her name; she doesn't even have to think about it in order to yell it again. "Chloe!" She's a broken record on repeat. And Beca is yelling right along with her. "Chloe!"
Aubrey stops on the last step, hands on her knees, gasping for air through the pain. The tunnel isn't a straight shot, but rather turns at a ninety degree angle a few feet ahead – preventing her from seeing much of anything. This is her fault. People are dying, everyone is dying, and she left Chloe's side. She left Chloe's side. If Chloe dies, this one is on her. She stands up straight and keeps going – moving as quickly as she can down the dark tunnel, around the corner, not checking to see if Beca is keeping up.
Chloe screams.
A high-pitched, muffled shriek like something (or someone) is covering her mouth.
Aubrey's feet keep going, but her heart stops dead in its tracks.
The next scream is farther away.
"I hear you, Chloe, keep yelling!" Aubrey yells back to her.
Silence.
The tunnel forks.
"No." Aubrey stops so quickly, she nearly topples forward. "No, no, no, no." She takes a step back and alternates shining the light down both paths. Keep screaming, Chloe. "Chloe!" she yells down one side, as Beca shouts down the other. Their voices echo back at them. "We have to split up."
"Aubrey, no." Beca reaches to grab her arm, missing as Aubrey backs up to the tunnel closest to her.
It's the only way.
Aubrey looks behind her down the dark tunnel, and then at Beca again – questioning whether or not Beca will chase her if she runs or realize she's right and choose the other path.
"Okay, wait." Beca puts her hands up. "Just wait, okay?" She looks up and exhales a long breath. "Inner Chloe, inner Chloe," she mumbles.
Aubrey has no idea what she's talking about.
They're wasting time.
Beca takes another breath.
"If Chloe dies, it's going to be your fault, because you just want to stand here," Aubrey lashes out on her, trying to dig herself out from under the weight of it, to convince Beca to want to split up, to do something other than just stand there uselessly, "This is all your fault. If you hadn't wanted to get married here…" She takes another step.
"Aubrey." Beca places her hands together in front of her mouth, and completely ignores the accusation being launched at her, "We have one flashlight, and we have one gun, and you have both of them. If you send me down that tunnel, I'm not going to find Chloe. I'm not going to come back." She wipes her eyes then wraps her arm around herself. "And you're going to be alone. Do you want to be alone?"
Aubrey looks up at Beca without lifting her head.
In the moment, she didn't consider the flashlight or the gun.
Just finding Chloe.
Because, without Chloe, Aubrey already is alone.
"We're the only ones left," Beca points out.
Aubrey doesn't know what could possibly be worse than how alone she is without Chloe, but she does realize that without Beca, she'll find out.
Beca extends an arm out to her. "I don't know what to do," she admits, "But I do know splitting up down here? This isn't it. Do you still have the map of the tunnels?"
The map? The map is pointless. "We don't know where they're taking her." It could be anywhere – back to the Candlewick, to the room with the rest of their friends' bodies…
"But we can at least know where we're going," Beca replies. She reaches her arm out farther. "We have to keep working together."
Aubrey is suddenly the reason they're losing time now. Aubrey can't be the reason they're losing time. She steps forward and lets Beca grab her by the sleeve. "I think it's in one of the bags." Nothing is as organized as she needs it to be, and everything is starting to blur together – objects, locations, memories. She kneels down and tears through their things with Beca until she finds the map of the tunnels. "Here."
Beca takes it and spreads it out on the ground.
Aubrey pulls out one of the island maps, and spreads it out above the tunnel map.
"Okay, so where are we?" Beca asks, "These tunnels go everywhere."
Aubrey locates the church on the island map then lines it up with where they must be underground. "This is the fork." She places her finger on the center of it.
"Okay." Beca sits up straight on her knees. "So, this one," she says, motioning to the tunnel on her side, "takes us into town."
Aubrey nods.
"What about the other way?"
Aubrey looks behind her. "It has to be into the woods."
This doesn't help her decide which direction they should be choosing to go in at all.
If anything, she just feels more lost.
"We're going to find her," Beca says, and starts to fold up the tunnel map.
Aubrey nods.
Of course, they will. She has no doubt of that.
"Alive," Beca assures her.
Aubrey nods again. "I know." She sees what's happening now. Everyone has been taken from her – leaving her with only Beca. Soon, she'll be alone. Then they'll kill her too. Or, worse, they won't. She folds up the island map and tucks it back into one of the bags. That would be the ultimate conclusion, wouldn't it? To slaughter everyone, and force her to live with it? To keep her alive while Chloe is dead?
Only even if that does happen, Aubrey is going to rip their throats out first – Luke's and whoever else's.
It gives her some peace of mind to know that not only is she going to make sure they die, she's going to make sure they suffer.
Beca turns on her knees and looks back and forth between their options. "You're not going to like this," she says, "But we're gonna have to flip a coin here."