Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

East Highland, Massachusetts , 1994 

The fluorescent lights buzz softly above Heather as she makes her way down the aisles of B. Dalton Booksellers, tracing a finger along the spines of the glossy new covers.  The quietness coming from the East Highland Mall is comforting, she loves these few minutes after the mall doors have closed for the night. Virgil is still closing up Spencer’s, three stores down, she’ll take her time getting the bookshop closed up.  

A chime echoes from the front of the store, pulling Heather’s attention. She blinks, confused. B. Daltons is empty, save for her and the rows of books stretching out like endless corridors.

A shiver runs down her spine. It’s probably just the security guard, making his last rounds around the mall before turning off all the lights.  

Bring!

Heather let’s out a gasp, jumping. Her shoulders slump as she lets out a weak laugh at her own nerves as she answers the phone. "B. Dalton Booksellers, how can I help you?"

Silence on the other end. Just faint breathing, heavy and slow.

“Hello?” Heather’s voice wavers slightly.

More silence, then a click as the call disconnects. Heather stares at the receiver, her heart pounding in her chest. Probably just a prank, she thinks. Or maybe Virgil is messing with her.

She hangs up, trying to shake the growing sense of dread. The mall is eerily quiet now, the usual hum of life gone. Heather throws the rest of the books she’d been shelving in a messy stack under the counter. She’s ready to get the fuck out of here. She’ll wait for Virgil in Spencer’s.

A shadow flits in her peripheral vision. Heather whirls around, eyes wide, but again, nothing. The store is as empty as before, but now it feels sinister, the shelves towering over her like dark sentinels.

Her breath quickens as she exits, reaching up to grasp the metal grate and tug it down. It falls with a clang and Heather turns — and freezes — a figure in black, a skull mask concealing its face, standing in the middle of the walk way.

Heather’s scream dies in her throat as she stumbles backward. The figure steps towards her, slow and deliberate, a glinting blade in hand. 

Heather turns and flees, sprinting away towards the exit of the mall, the masked figure following in relentless pursuit. Her sneakers squeak on the polished floor as she darts through the food court, knocking over a display and nearly running smack into a kiosk. She trips as she swerves to avoid it — and screams when she sees what she’d fallen over. Bradly, the guy who’s run that kiosk since she’d started at B. Dalton’s is sprawled face up in a pool of deep red blood, throat slashed.  

She scrambles to her feet, trying to keep her feet moving as they slip and slide in the blood. The figure is right behind her now. Heather lunges towards the door again…With a swift, brutal motion, the blade slices through the air.

Heather's vision blurs as pain surges through her, each breath growing weaker. The figure in the skull mask stands over her, blade gleaming in the harsh fluorescent light. She reaches up, weakly, pulling at the mask, tugging it off.

Virgil.

Heather’s eyes widen in shock. 

No. 

Her mind struggles to make sense of it, lips moving, trying to plead with her friend. Virgil’s eyes stare down at her — cold and empty.  

He raises the blade again, and with one swift motion, the world goes dark.

—

Fezco maneuvers his inherited vintage Caddy up to the curb to where Rue’s sprawled out in the overgrown grass of the small, shabby white house, her long legs spread out in a V-shape as she leans lazily back on one elbow. The early October afternoon sun illuminates her messy curls and the dried brown grass she’s lounging on. He sees her spot him and grin, taking one last desperate drag on the small stump of a joint.  

“Yo” She calls out, stubbing it out in the dirt next to her. She scrambles to her knees and stands, swaying slightly as she shoulders her ratty, army-green messenger bag. 

She bounces up the car, ducking her head to peer into the front seat, lips curling at the sight that awaits her. Ash, clad in the royal blue uniform of the East Highland marching band, gives her a look that would sear the flesh off of bone. 

“Cute outfit.”

His look grows even more withering. 

“Shut the fuck up.”

Rue’s grin deepens. She opens the back door and throws herself across the backseat. “Imma need to come by your place after.” She declares to the car.

Fez nods nonchalantly, as he pulls away, steering the gold car down the worn asphalt towards the singular main street that ran through downtown East Highland. Ash, however, narrows his eyes at Rue's annoucement. 

“The fuck you are. You know how expensive AOL is?” 

“C’mon…” Rue whines. “I had detention today and didn’t get to the library. I’ve had two extensions on this essay. If I don’t finish it by Monday, my English teacher is going to pull a Virgil Torres. 

“Rue!” Fez throws her a glare in the rearview mirror. 

Rue holds up both hands. “Too soon?” 

“Fuckin’ morbid.” 

“Dude only went fuckin’ stab happy through the mall last night .” Ash agrees. 

“You never know when Sarah Fier is gonna come back.” Rue throws an ominous tone into her voice  She spots Fez rolling his eyes in the rearview. She leans forward, grinning. 

"She reaches from beyond the grave

to make good men her wicked slaves!"  

She chants gleefully.

“Fuckin’ Christ.” Fez mutters. 

"She'll take your blood!"

She'll take your head.

She'll follow you until you're dead!"  

The slightest hint of a smile dances across Ash’s face at her over over the top delivery of the oft entoned poem. 

“You a dick.” Fez says over his shoulder.

“It's just fun.”

“It's sick. The dude was wearing a fuckin’ Halloween skull mask!”

Rue shrugs. “How is that not fun?”

“People died, Rue. Wasn’t one of ‘em some girl at yo’ school?”

Rue shrugs. Fez watches as she bounces in the backseat. It’s not the first tragedy she’s seen in her life, her own father’s death stands out among them. Fez can’t blame her for her blase take on mass murder. 

“The guy was probably just some sad sack who hated his life, who decided, "Hey, why don't I get out of here for good?"  And, "Hey, why don't I take a buncha other people with me? There's no angry dead witch who made him go postal.”

“Again—you’re no fun.” Rue pouts. She stares out the window at the dingy, dirty windows of the businesses of Main Street East Highland as they pass.“You’re aware we don't believe this witch shit, right? It's just, like, fucked-up Santa Claus or something.”

Fez snorts and throws a look at Ash, who stiffens when he feels his brother’s glace. Fez grins. “I mean, they’re some believers out there.” 

Rue leans forward again, a shit eating smile breaking out across her face. “Really?” She sounds delighted. 

“I’m just doin’ fuckin’ research!” Ash snaps. 

“Aw, Ash — you scared of the witch?” Rue cranes her head over the edge of the seat.

“No.” Ash shoots back. “There’s fucked up stuff goin’ on in this town. I’m just lookin’ into it.”

Rue clucks her tongue. “This internet bullshit is exactly why you have no friends.”

“It's not bullshit!”

Rue is practically vibrating to answer, but something else occurs to her. “You know, I think it’s actually very interesting, Ash. I’d love to see what you’ve been up to, Nancy Drew.”

Ash grits his teeth. 

“In fact, I could come over af–”

“You ain’t comin’ over and you ain’t stealin’ our AOL.”

Rue and Ash dissolve into squabbles, sniping at each other over the seat.

Fez watches out the window as the houses grow bigger and newer, all fresh painted with neatly manicured lawns. The grass is greener here; vibrant orange and red leaves swirl across the smoothly paved roads and bright, perfectly round pumpkins line the clean bricked paths up to each picture-perfect mini mansion. 

The news that another East Highlander had taken a dive into crazy and killed six people at the mall before being shot down by Sheriff Jacobs was riling up the youth of the town. Kids had been streaming in the Dairy all day, laughing and singing that stupid fucking rhyme at each other. 

The legend of Sarah Fier. 

The witch who’d chopped off her hand and swore a curse on all those who lived in East Highland, before meeting her end at the hands of the town's puritanical founders. 

Before the witch's final breath,

She found a way to cheat her death

By cutting off her wicked hand,

She kept her grip upon our land

She reaches out from beyond the grave,

To make good men her wicked slaves

She'll take your blood, she'll take your head,

She'll follow you until you're dead!

A rhyme told in shrieking laughs by school children, adopted by adults to pass off the exorbitant amount of tragedy and suffering shouldered by the people of East Highland.

Get into a car accident and subsequently addicted to painkillers, causing you to leave your family and live on the streets? Sarah Fier. 

Father diagnosed with cancer, dies slowly before your eyes, and you turn to stealing his medication to numb your own pain? Sarah Fier.

Grandma gets hit with a stroke, falls into a comma, lingers for years until she finally passes? Sarah Fier. 

An East Highland resident going insane and taking out a slew of people in increasingly horrifying and brutal ways? Sarah Fier. 

The witch had become the emblem of all the shitty, horrible things that had plagued East Highland since its founding, over three hundred years ago. 

Ash had given Fez a run down this morning.

“Sixteen years ago. That’s the last time an East Highlander went crazy and killed a bunch of kids. A camp counselor at Camp Nightwing back in ‘78. Chopped a bunch of campers up with an axe.”

“Fuck.” Fez had said, sipping coffee in the small kitchen while his brother had ranted, waving pages he’d printed off his computer. 

“And back in the 50’s – Ruby Lane. She invited all her friends to her birthday party then attacked ‘em with a fuckin’ straight razor. Then slashed her own wrists.”

Fez’s stomach had turned while he listened to his brother ramble about the series of mass murderers and brutal, violent slayings in their town's twisted history.  

“‘Is like fuckin’ clockwork! Every fifteen to twenty years, an East Highlander goes nuts and slaughters a whole bunch of people. Then themselves. Or they get killed.” 

It was the witch. Or so the theory went. 

And, okay, yeah, Fezco’s pretty religious himself – he prays and touches his St. Christopher pendant as he’s walking into deals. Where most people, like Ash and Rue, scoff at the idea of a higher power – after all, can you really believe someone’s looking out for you when your life is falling down around you? – Fez’s always been the type to look for something bigger than himself. But witches and curses? It was too fucking much. A way of trying to blame something for the shitty world around them because it’s better than the alternative. 

And Ash’s obsession with researching the curse and the witch was starting to grow worrisome. He’d found a chatroom online where he’d started exchanging theories and ideas, delving into the dark history of their town and spending his time reading about the horrible, gruesome deaths that marked their history. 

Fez knows he has no reason to talk – what with the drugs that pass through their family’s Dairy not exactly providing the safest or most stable home environment to begin with – but all that witch shit can’t be good for the kid, right? 

Neither Ash nor Rue seemed shaken by the grizzly murder that had taken place last night, when Virgil Torres had finished his late night shift at the Spencer’s in East Highland Mall, closed down the register, cleaned the counter, then put on a skull mask and stabbed the other handful of closing shift Mall employees to death.

Just another fuckin’ day in East Highland. 

Fezco pulls into the parking lot of West Highland High. The large brick building looks like something out of a magazine. Autumnal leaf garlands decorate the shiny wooden doors, the red facade of the structure looks crisp and clean. It has fucking flowers lining the cobblestone pathways to the entrance. 

Coming to West Highland was like a fucking stab to the gut. The opulence and wealth that oozed from the cookie cutter community was oppressive, like the stench that couldn't be removed. 

Rue hops out of the car behind Fezco and Ash, the younger O’Neill starting for the football stadium, lugging his drum equipment behind him. West Highland was hosting a candlelight vigil for the victims of the massacre, all player, band, and cheer attendance had been made mandatory by both schools, making the parking lot of the school more packed than normal. 

Fez posts himself on the hood of his car. Tonight, teenagers from both towns will make their way to the parking lot to slip him crumpled up bills in exchange for the small baggies he’s got stuffed in the black duffle at his side. Rue climbs up next to him. 

“You sure you good to be here?” He asks. Rue’s mess of a love life had been dangerous during her first year of sobrity. She’d tried to stay sober for Jules, a delicate, uphill  battle that had nearly been lost when they’d broken up for good. Rue’d floundered and their friendship had nearly shattered when Fez had cut her off in an effort to keep her from falling completely over the edge. He can still remember the night she’d shown up at his place, desperate and scared and feeling the first pangs of withdrawal. It was the worst fight they’d had when he’d found her pilfering bottles in his grandmother’s bedroom. He’d kicked her out, terrified for her, for his grandmother. Rue’d ended up in rehab again, emerging with a desire to actually get better. Fez isn’t sure if hanging around her former drug dealer is the best thing for a baby sober addict, but he missed the kid too much when she was gone.

The sky is darkening over the parking lot, stars beginning to emerge in the blue velvet sky. They always looked brighter here. It’s something that he acknowledges with a bitter twist to his stomach. He thinks of Ash, the violence and the darkness and the fucking horror show that Fez’d forced the kid to grow up in. Would Ash be so fuckin angry if he’d been raised here, among the beautiful houses and the clean streets? 

As the parking lot grows fuller, kids begin making their way over to him. It’s business as usual, West Highland kids with their designer clothing and expensive cars strolling up with their familiar looks of derision. Fez ain’t give a shit about that, he’d had worse than rich kids thinking they were better than him. It’s never bothered him. 

A car parks a few places down, a shiny red BMW. Fez takes another hit, watching disinterestedly as the doors pop open and several teens emerge. Fez clocks the tall, pale blonde in a baby blue dress and glances down at Rue. She’s seen Jules too. 

On the other side of the car, Nate Jacobs climbs out. Rue lets out a scoffing noise. “Fucking typical.” 

Fez takes a drag and eyes her, watching to see how she’s taking the sight of them together. Jules’ burgeoning relationship with Jacobs is bound to smart, and Fez knows she’s not going to deal well with seeing her ex with a new guy. 

The driver of the flashy car is leaning over the hood, saying something to Nate, a red and white letterman’s jacket on his broad shoulders. Fez frowns, knocking his foot against the bumper of his car. Tucker Blake is even more annoyin’ than Nate Jacobs, in Fezco’s opinion. 

The final teenanger, a slender brunette girl in a cheerleading uniform, something red and white and peppy, that makes her look like a candy cane, reveals herself, shouldering a duffle bag as she shuts the passenger’s side door. 

Lexi Howard.

Her walnut-cinnamon hair is shiny in the late afternoon sun, pulled up in a crisp red ribbon and, even from this distance he can make out the small WH painted on one delicate cheekbone. Gorgeously long, slender legs flash under the criminally short cheerleading skirt as she makes her way around the fancy car to where Tucker is waiting for her. 

He hadn’t really known her, back when she’d lived in East Highland – a shy, quiet girl, always hovering behind Rue like a pretty, dark shadow. The two of them had been thick as thieves back then, best friends all their lives – since pre-school even. But she’d become a total bitch ever since her mother had remarried a West Highland lawyer and moved their family out of her childhood home. At least, according to Rue. 

Tucker throws his arm around her shoulders and steers her towards the stadium. Fezco’s eyes linger for only a second before he looks away, making himself take a drag and let a stream of smoke escape his lungs into the twilight air. 

“Hey, man…” Fez looks over. Nate Jacobs. 

“Sup?” He slides off the hood of his car, reaching out to slap his hand against Nate’s. Nate was a fuckin’ dick, but he was a Jacobs, one of the oldest and most connected families in the area, being the son of the county Sheriff and nephew of the West Highland Mayor was a pretty powerful customer. He leans back against the car, “whatchu lookin for?”

“Gimme an eight.” 

“I gotchu.” Fez reaches for his duffle, riffling around for the baggie. “It’s three-fifty, playboy.” 

Nate smiles, pulling out his wallet and making a show of slipping three crisp hundred dollar bills and a fifty from its contents. He’s got several more in there – over three hundred bucks for drugs is nothing. Fez reaches out in a smooth motion, halfway between a handshake and a high five, slipping the bag into Nate’s palm. 

“Pleasure doing business with you, Fezco.” Nate says, like a total fucking loser. 

He turns and joins the group of sycophants waiting for him at the edge of the parking lot, Jules among them. 

The rest of the night runs smoothly. Fez sells to the students who straggle into the game. He can hear the distant and almost unintelligible voice of Mayor Jacobs from the stadium, as he works, entoning his wish for an end to the horrific violence. Both schools had called for a moment of peace between their feuding student bodies, insisting that a candlelight vigil be held that night before the biggest game of the Fall between the West Highland Devils and the East Highland Witches, an attempt at honoring the victims of Virgil’s massacre. West Highland’s best belaboring East Highland’s worst. 

Fez manages to make it into the stadium at halftime to see the band perform. His chest swells with pride at the sight of Ash, tense with concentration as he drums out the rhythm of Smells Like Teen Spirit in time with the rest of the East Highland Band. 

Business slows enough during the third quarter for him to find Rue in the stands and spend the rest of the game letting her steal nachos from the paper container of gooey, vibrantly yellow cheese and tortilla chips he buys from the concession stand and watching her pretend not to be staring at Jules, who’s sitting in the stands across from them, cheering everytime Jacobs gets knocked on his ass. 

The game ends and Fez makes his way down to where Ash is packing up his drums. Rue’s eyes are on Jules who’s hugging Nate on the sidelines. 

“You comin’?” He asks. Rue drags her gaze away from Jules. 

“Gimme a sec…gotta run to the bathroom.” 

Fez snorts. “C’mon, Kid.”

Rue glares. “You gonna have issues with me having to piss now?”

“Yeah, okay. Tell Jules I said hi.”

“Fuck off.”

Fez shakes his head and makes his way down to meet Ash as Rue heads in the opposite direction towards the area where the West Highland kids are streaming out of the stadium. 

“Sup, Dave Grohl?” He says, grinning. Ash throws him a furious look. 

“You ready?”

“Yeah, you wanna meet me at the car? Imma check on Rue…”

Ash nods, shouldering his drum case. “Yeah, okay.”

Fez ducks back into the throng of people moving out of the stands. He weaves his way towards the West Highland side, through the long dark tunnels that wrap around the stadium. At the very end, tucked back behind a thick concrete post, he spots a familiar lanky frame swaddled in an oversized cargo jacket. Rue’s animated, curls bouncing as she talks. Jules is leaning against the wall, arms crossed, shaking her head at whatever Rue is adamantly saying. 

He hangs back, awkward. Rue doesn’t look like she’s being subtle with her dialogue, but he’s hesitant to interrupt. 

“Jules?” A voice calls out from behind Fezco. “Is everything okay?”

Fez’s head snaps to look over his shoulder as Rue spins around in surprise. 

Lexi Howard is standing under the archway in that lil cheerleading uniform of hers, frowning at Rue and Jules. She steps forward hesitantly, like she’s unsure what she’s walking into. 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Jules says, but her voice is a little wobbly, like she’s trying to hold back tears. 

“Are you sure?” 

“We’re just talking , Jesus , Howard,” Rue snaps at her. 

Lexi reels back. 

“I wasn’t talking to you, Rue,” she says sharply. 

“Yo, Howard,” he interrupts, “give ‘em a minute.”

Lexi's head snaps towards him, her eyes narrowed as she crosses her arms over her chest stubbornly. “I wasn’t talking to you either.” 

“Lexi…” Jules pipes up. She nods at her. “It’ll be okay.” 

Lexi turns from Fezco just enough to eye her friend warily. “You sure?” 

Jules nods. “I just need a minute.”

“C’mon,” Fez jerks his head to the side, urging her to step back into the shadowy area of the stadium. “Let ‘em talk.” 

Lexi’s ridiculously big doe eyes are narrowed, and for a second, Fezco holds his breath, bracing himself for a protest, but, instead, she turns and stalks into the alcove. Fezco follows, watching her curls sway across her back as she walks.

(He does not look at the way her stupidly short skirt swishes with each stride of those pretty legs).

Before, back in East Highland, he’d only had a fleeting handful of encounters with her. She’d come in with Rue, hovering in the aisles of his store or watching through dusty windows while Rue made her transactions in the back with Ash. He’d offered her candy, ice cream, soda – anything to make her stiff, nervous posture relax, to ease that anxious look on her face. She’d never accepted, shaking her head and ducking away shyly. They’d never spoken beyond those few, futile exchanges. 

Except once. 

Rue’d brought her to his house, and he’d gotten her high on his sofa. He’d sat with her, watching as she became increasingly more glassy-eyed and chatty, much more talkative than she’d been in his store, until she’d passed out, right there on his couch. She’d been sweet then, and cute, and pretty. So pretty. 

Over the last three years, however, their interactions and grown steadily less sweet, and much more hostile.  Since she’d moved to West Highland, Fez’d run into her at parties, games, sometimes she’d come through the Dairy with a group of West Highlander friends or that asshole of a boyfriend o’ hers – and, of course, the times when he’d run into her and Rue screamin’ at each other. 

The deterioration of the girls’ relationship over was still somethin’ of a mystery to Fez; they’d gone from being best friends to barely being able to stand one another. Rue was convinced that Lexi’d become a stuck up, know-it-all rich bitch who liked to pretend that she was better than where she’d come from. 

When he’d catch the two of them at parties yelling and throwing insults, he’d intervene and pull them away from each other, sending Rue off to fume in a corner. Lexi does have a mouth on her, sharp as anythin.’ And Fezco hates when it’s directed at Rue, so he’s pretty happy to step in and let her aim her barbs at him instead. 

She’d never liked him anyways, as far as he could tell – ergo, it makes no difference to him if he’s the one taking on her withering ire. Plus, she’s kind of fun to get all riled up — like teasing a kitten with a piece of string until her claws come out. 

Lexi stops in the alcove, spins on her heel to face him. Her eyes are still narrowed, she’s itching for a fight.

“C’mon Howard.” He says quickly, rushing to get in there first. “I promise. If they get to fightin’ each other, I’ll let you run in to the rescue.”

Lexi’s cheeks turn a delicious shade of pink. “Rue needs to let it go. Jules is moving on, she doesn’t need Rue stirring up stuff.”

Fez refrains from rolling his eyes at the mention of Jules and Nate Jacobs. “Maybe. But maybe they both got shit they been needin’ to say fo’ a while”

Lexi snorts. “Jules is fine! She doesn’t have anything left to say to Rue. And if Rue wanted to say anything to her she should before have done it when she dumped her –”

“I ain’t gonna get into they shit,“ Fez says firmly. “It ain’t my business to say who was doin’ what..”

Lexi’s pretty chocolate colored eyes blaze. “Jules is my friend. If she’s going to be hurt, that is my business.” 

“Yeah, but you ain’t be needing to butt into they shit when they workin’ it out.” He says, exasperated. 

He wonders if Lexi Howard knows about how bad Rue got after she left. And how much more she’d spiraled after Jules left. “It’s nice thatchu worried ‘bout yo’ friend, but you ain’t gotta be there to chaperone.”

“I'm not trying to chaperone.” Lexi snaps. Her pink cheeks grow even pinker. Fez forces himself not to focus on that. 

“Then let ‘m talk. They been needin’ to say this shit to each other fo’ a while.” 

“But Rue–” 

“Jesus, Howard.” Fez groans. “I know you ain’t so good at sittin’ back ‘n watchin,’ but you can at least give Rue a chance to fuck it up before you go runnin in, tryna protect Jewel from her.” 

He’s seen it in her before, running after Rue when they were still friends, ‘n then her sister and her West Highland friends afterwards. It’s obvious from the way that she constantly hovers behind everyone, checking people’s drinks and making sure everyone hasn’t had too much. She’s the type to jump in and try to solve everyone’s problems. 

God knows he’s got the same Achilles heel. 

“You ain’t gotta save Jewel. She gonna be fine.” His tone is softer, a bit more registered. He really does get it. 

Lexi sniffs and looks away, frowning.  She’s doing the haughty thing again, the one that sets his teeth on edge. Or it would, if the turn of her neck didn’t draw his fuckin’ attention to her collarbone, showed off by the wide V of her cheerleading top. 

“Rue can be…” Lexi says, her voice a bit strained. “Rue’s not the most tactful. When she’s upset.”

Fez’s shoulders lose a bit of the tension he was holding. “I mean, you ain’t wrong about that.” 

Lexi’s lips twitch for a second. Fez shoves his hands into his pockets, fumbling for a lighter and the joint he’d been carrying, trying to avoid looking at her mouth.

He lights up, pauses, then offers it to Lexi. Her cheeks go even redder. “No thanks.” She says stiffly. He shrugs and takes a drag. 

“Rue can be a fuckin’ dick,” he admits. “But she’s tryin’ her best. Wit’ Jewel especially.” 

Something flickers in Lexi’s face, but she doesn’t say anything.

“She wants to set things right. As best she can.” Fez can’t  really promise anything more than that. He’s only about half sure that Rue isn’t fucking things up even worse as they speak. 

“As much good as that’s going to do…” Lexi says stiffly. Fez knows he could take offense on Rue’s behalf, but he chooses to ignore it. 

“I mean, it might not do any good. Pro’lly won’t, if I’m bein’ honest.”

“I just don’t want Rue doing any more damage to Jules.” Lexi says, staring at her shoes. 

“Me neither, ma,” he says, shaking his head. “Ion want her doin’ anymore damage to anyone. Herself included.” 

Lexi frowns. Fez watches her curiously, as she wrestles something inside herself. She loses. 

“Is she still…bad?” 

Fez searches her face, looking to see how sincere the question is. 

Jesus, she’s fuckin’ pretty. It’s almost stupid how much. 

“She’s better.” He shifts, uncomfortable. The details of Rue’s overdose had been the talk of East Highland for weeks, but he’s not sure how much Rue would be comfortable with Lexi knowing the gorier details. 

“That’s good.” Lexi says quietly. Fez marvels at how quickly her demeanor switches from furious to meek. He feels slightly dizzy. 

“I know we don’t really get along.” She continues. “But I don’t want anything bad to happen to her.” 

“I know you don’t.” Fezco says. “Nothin’ bad is gonna happen to her. She’s back on her feet now ‘n she’s makin’ it through.” He wonders if that’s true Rue’s sobriety is hanging by a thread. Believing that Rue’s gonna turn herself around sometimes feels like believing that a witch curse is causing yo’ life to turn to shit. Fuckin’ insane. 

Lexi still looks sad and Fez realizes she doesn’t believe him.

“I mean, Imma look out for her as much as I can.” 

“That’s nice.” Lexi says. “It’s good that she has someone looking out for her. She needs it.” 

“She’s a good kid.” 

Something flickers in Lexi’s face, the old animosity. Fezco steels himself. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.”

“Nah, what?”

Lexi straightens her shoulders and squares herself off to him. “Are you selling to her?”

“The fuck?”

“It’s just a question.”

Fez sighs. It’s a valid one, but still. 

“No, Howard, I ain’t sellin to her.”

Lexi’s watching him suspiciously. Like she doesn’t believe him.

“You wanna ask for a receipt or somethin’? Check my books to make sure?”

Lexi’s arms come across her chest. “Excuse me for caring. It’s not like it isnt’ weird. Being best friends with your dealer when you’re in recovery isn’t the most prudent idea.”

Fezco’s stomach tightens. “Well, is kinda hard to keep yo’ regular friends when they keep runnin’ away.”

Lexi’s mouth falls open. “I am half an hour away. My mom got married! I didn’t have a choice!” 

“You seem real fuckin’ okay with the all the choices you ain’t be makin’.”

“Stop being mad at me for wanting a better future!”

“‘Is not yo’ future, if yo’ pretending to be someone else.”

Lexi reels back, shock in her big eyes. 

“Lexi?” They both spin in surprise. Jules is peering into the alcove, Rue behind her. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” Lexi’s voice is quiet. Fez feels a twinge of remorse at being so harsh. 

“Ready to go?” She’s looking curiously between them. 

“Yes,” Lexi says without hesitation. She walks away quickly, joining her friend. Fez watches her go. 

“Yo,” Rue says, her voice defeated and quiet as she steps into the alcove. 

“How’d it go?”

“Awesome.” She says flatly. Clearly her conversation with Jules was about as effective as Fez’s had been with Lexi. 

“Shit. Sorry, kid.”

“‘S okay.” It clearly wasn’t. She looks crushed. 

“C’mon.” He tugs on the edge of her jacket, “Ash’ll be waiting. Plus, you gotta get that fuckin’ paper done.”

Rue’s lips quirk up in the shadow of a smile. “Yeah, ‘kay.” She lets him tug her towards the parking lot. 

***

Lexi climbs into Tucker’s BMW, glancing over the headrest of the front seat at Jules, who’s staring out the window. Her face is shrouded in the darkness of the dimly lit car, Lexi can just make out the expression on her friend’s face. She hadn’t known how deep Jules’ fling with Rue had been; the few times Lexi’s asked about it, Jules had shrugged it off. 

Rue had been cruelest when she’d been deep in the throes of her addiction, using words like arrows to attack and needle. The sharpness of her viciousness and the guilt of her desperation had been too much for Lexi. When Suze had married Ron and he’d moved the Howards out of East Highland, Lexi’d felt guilty for the relief she’d felt of leaving Rue behind. 

She faces the front, buckling her seatbelt in with a click , hands a bit unsteady. She’s still rattled by her fight with Fezco. 

As good as Rue is at getting under her skin, Fezco has her beat. 

It was mystifying, the way that he seemed to know exactly how to rankle Lexi in the ways that kept her fuming. And tonight, the insinuation that she was trying too hard and butting into where she wasn’t wanted was grating, striking a deeply sensitive nerve. 

“You ain’t be needing to butt into they shit,” Lexi mimics to herself. Sue her for caring.

She clenches and unclenches her fists in her lap. 

Fezco O’Neil always seems to know exactly how to press her buttons in the worst way. 

She’d been intimidated by him, back when she’d lived in East Highland. His notoriety had been cemented by the time she was in middle school. A drug dealer by the age of ten, dangerous and menacing – she’d been shocked when Rue started hanging out with him. Lexi’d been so shy when she’d come by the store. For his credit, he’d actually been nice back then, offering her treats while she’d waited for Rue. Nowadays, the tension between them is even more antagonistic than hers is with Rue — at least she and Rue try to avoid each other. Lexi’s pretty sure that Fezco goes out of his way to be annoying, almost like he enjoys baiting her.  

He’d been especially infuriating tonight, managing, as usual, to hit her right where it hurt. The comments that drew attention to how Lexi was always running after her friends – whether she was wanted or not – but also, those infuriating insinuations about her pretending to be someone she’s not. Another sore spot. She runs her hands over her skirt, smoothing it down, still annoyed.

However, for all his faults, Fezco seems to have a soft spot for Rue. Despite the anger that had been sizzling her nerves as they’d bickered and despite the animosity between herself and Rue, Lexi couldn’t help the rush of gratitude she’d felt when Fezco’d told her that he was looking out for her. 

Because, no matter what happens, Lexi doesn’t think she’ll ever let out the deep breath she’d taken in that first morning she’d ridden her bike to Rue’s house and found her friend eagle spread on her bed, giddy off the handful of pills she’d stolen from her father’s medicine stash. As much as Rue seemed to hate her, Lexi thinks she’s never going to get off the roller coaster  that is Rue's struggle for sobriety. 

But Fezco always acted like he really cared about her. And no matter what changed between them, there’s always going to be some part of Lexi that’s relieved that Rue still has someone who’s watching over her.  

And then, right on the heels of that pang of gratitude, something else had twinged in her chest, a twist of unexpected jealousy that had surprised her with its sharpness. 

Because Lexi’s never had anyone like that, someone looking out for her, except for maybe Cassie, in her own way, but she’s gone now. 

And as much as Lexi hates Fezco, right then the idea of someone looking out for her the same way that he does for Rue, had her embarrassingly wistful. 

It was bitter and stupid and there’s a little part of Lexi that hates herself for wanting it. 

 “Babe, hand me the bottle,” Tucker commands. 

Lexi tenses, she hates when he drinks when he drives. Memories of a backseat, an ice cream cone melting over a clenched fist send a wave of nausea over Lexi, but she’s learned that trying to curb Tucker’s habits only result in nasty fights and tantrums. She puts her hand under the passenger seat closing her fingers around the bottle of vodka Tucker keeps stashed under it. She hesitates only for a second, then hands it over to her boyfriend, her heart pounding in her chest, the protest she wants to make dying on her tongue. 

Two years of living in West Highland, reinventing herself as something other than meek, mousey Little Howard and she’s the same girl she always was. 

Cassie had adjusted better to the new fancy house, the nice car Ron had bought them to share as a welcome present, the shopping sprees in the West Highland mall. She’d loved their new school, the shiny, waxed floors and the clean walls were so unfamiliar to the unpolished walls of East Highland High. She’d thrived, immediately falling into the rhythm of the popular, wealthy girl in the fancy school –  cheerleading captain, homecoming queen. 

It had taken Lexi longer. Without Rue and the friends she’d made in grade school, she’d floundered. She’s naturally shy, the nerdy, bookish type, self-conscious and hesitant to put herself out there. 

She’s envied Cassie for a lot over the years – her looks, her charm, the confidence that makes her the natural center of attention of any room she stands in, but most of all – the ability to continually throw herself into situations without hesitation. She puts herself out there in a way that Lexi’s never figured out how to. She’d ended up curling in on herself, trying to find something to latch onto to find a way through the upheaval her life had undertaken, lonelier than ever. 

Cassie, for all her faults, had been the one to take pity on her. 

She’d taken Lexi into her fold of popular, pretty girls. She’d dressed her up like a doll and carved out out a space for her on the cheerleading squad. After years of snide remarks and derision, Lexi finally gave into her sister’s demands to ditch the librarian-coded pleated skirts and plaid dresses, trading them in for trendier, sexier pieces and swapping the classic red lipstick she’d loved for shiny, neutral glosses. She felt unlike herself, trading her quirks and personality to fit in, but it was worth it, to finally feel like she had a place to belong with her sister, among her new peers. 

Cassie was dating Nate at the time – a volatile, fucking mess of a relationship that sputtered out in a series of break ups and reconciliations. She’d pushed Lexi into Tucker, Nate’s best friend. He was handsome and popular, rich and cocky — someone who would never have talked to Lexi back in East Highland. But he seemed to like her, or at least the version of herself that Cassie had created out of mascara and push up bras. 

Lexi and Tucker had lasted longer than Cassie and Nate had, and then Cassie graduated and moved on to college, leaving Lexi with an inheritance of cheerleading and popular-girl friendships that she didn’t know how to navigate on her own. She misses Rue even more now – the old Rue, how effortless it felt to spend time together, goofing off, eating snacks and snarking at reruns of The Real World. 

She hangs out with Tucker now even more, even though it meant spending more time with Nate Jacobs than she wanted to. After everything that had happened between Nate and Cassie, it felt like betraying her sister — but he was Tucker’s friend and Tucker refused to stop hanging out with his friends, just because Lexi couldn’t stop holding a grudge. 

She looks at her boyfriend now, his face as handsome as ever, though twisted into an unattractive grimace as he takes a swig from the bottle. He puts it down and leans over to press a kiss against her mouth. “You look so hot tonight, babe,” he says, his hand finding her knee. Lexi looks away, uncomfortable, pressing her legs together and angling them away from him. She can hear Nate chuckling in the back. The smell of weed is already permeating in the car. Tucker gets handsy when he’s crossfaded or wants sex or both. She’s exhausted from the game, bouncing along the sidelines and turning cartwheels. Cheerleading is a sport, goddamn it, no matter what Tucker says, and she’s wiped out. 

Tucker’s hand falls to her knee as he peels out of the parking lot, music is pulsing out of the speakers and Lexi’s headache is getting worse as the bass thrums loudly. Tucker’s speeding up, weaving his car through traffic. Lexi’s knuckles whiten as she keeps her eyes on the dashboard, refusing to look at the rush of white and yellow lines on the road in front of her. Tucker scares her when he does this; the reckless driving, the drinking, the drugs. 

“Hey…” Nate says suddenly, leaning forward between the seats, “is that that fucking weirdo chick? That friend of yours, Lexi?”

Lexi’s eyes focus on the car in front of her. A gold Cadillac, classic, from maybe the seventies. Fezco’s car. 

But Nate leaning over her shoulder like that, the wicked smile on his lips, and just past him, the gleam in Tucker’s eyes make Lexi’s stomach drop. “No, I don’t think so,” she says quickly. 

Nate laughs in her ear, a wash of alcohol-stained breath on her face. “That’s definitely her. Little junkie whore.” Lexi’s fists tighten, a tight bolt of anger shooting through her. Tucker pushes on the gas, throwing Lexi back against the seat, pushing the words she wants to snap back into her chest. The BMW surges forward, revving up till it’s right behind the Caddy. Lexi can see the face in the back snap around and sees a young, round face glaring at them. Beyond him, she sees the wild mess of curls swirl as Rue in the front swivels to look back. 

Tucker revs again, pulling closer to the car in front. Red lights flash on the back of the Caddy and Tucker swears loudly as he immediately jerks his car to the right to avoid crashing. “Fucking asshole!” Lexi grabs onto the door, frozen and heart pounding. Oh my god. 

“What the fuck!” Jules, from behind Lexi, shoves at Nate, “Fucking stop!”

“Fuck,” Nate growls. “Get that asshole.”

“Tucker..” Lexi’s voice won’t rise higher than a whimper, she chokes, trying to push out a sound. “Tucker, stop…” 

Tucker’s muttering under his breath as he pulls his car up again, pressing the gas viciously to jerk them forward as he speeds towards the Cadillac again. The breaks slam on again and Tucker has to swerve away violently, “fuck!”

“Tucker, stop,” Lexi begs. Her hands are gripping the hand of the door so hard that they’re cramping. 

Nate’s seething, shoving at Tucker, “speed up.” He orders. Tucker swerves the car back on to the road and pulls into the left lane  and throws on the gas again. He pulls up next to the Cadillac this time, throwing on the horn and cursing loudly. Lexi looks over, terrified, meeting a pair of blue eyes wide with surprise. She bites her lip, wanting to scream. Right behind Fezco, Rue pulls herself up, out of the open passenger window and screams across the roof of the Caddy. “Fuck off asshole!” heaving a bottle towards Tucker’s car. It explodes on the hood and Tucker slams on the breaks again. The kid in the backseat has taken on Rue’s assault and is leaning out of his window, throwing his own bottle back at them as Tucker tries to keep the swerving car steady. The second bottle explodes against the windshield, sending a crack through the glass. Tucker jerks the wheel hard, shrieking. 

Lexi screams as the car is sent spinning and careening off the side of the road and into the trees. 

It feels like the car wont stop moving – it just keeps going on and on – then suddenly, with a slam everything stops. Lexi’s thrown forward, her head hitting the frame of the door as the airbags slam her in the face. She can’t tell if she’s screaming still, a high pitched noise is blaring in her ears but her lungs don’t seem to be moving enough to make the sound. She fumbles with the latch of the door. I need to get out. I need to get out. 

She scrambles to get out of her seat belt and manages to get her shaking hand to curl around the door handle. She pulls on it, throwing her weight against the door to make it open. It gives, and Lexi tumbles out onto the earthen floor of the forest. She’s going to be sick. She’s going to die. She crawls forward, panting, trying to see past the tears in her eyes. The ground is thick with red moss, giving off a damp, musty odor. Her hands feel along the rocks and sticks beneath – then, they hit something. Something old, and dry. Her fingers curl around it. 

Lights explode in her eyes. 

Lexi goes rigid. 

Sharp visions pounding her brain – twisting black snakes, red hot fires burning on pikes, animals bloody and rotting on stone altars, ancient symbols, older than time, carving into rock face, a hanging body, writhing and jerking in the air, a severed hand falling to the floor – and then, a face, young and ancient at once, dark eyes burning with venom and anger – assaulting her with horrifying, overwhelming violence. A voice – two voices? A thousand? Whisper and hiss in her head…

Lexi…

“Lexi!”

She’s jerked back – away from the images, away from the voice – and her vision clears. She’s been pulled away, off the moss and the icy grip that held her frozen fades. She stares up, up into Fezco’s face. 

“Did you..” She says faintly, confused, “did you see?” His hands curl around her face. 

“Are you okay?” She tries to nod but her head hurts, so she just lets out a noise that she hopes means the affirmative. 

“What the fuck…” He’s swiping his hands across her face, wiping at her mouth and nose. 

“Oh,” Lexi says, she lifts her hands to touch her face. She’s bleeding. Badly by the look of it. She can’t tell where it’s coming from. 

“‘’S okay, You okay.” he says, his voice is soothing and stable, reaching through the virulent static of her mind. She closes her eyes trying to focus on what he’s saying. It’s okay. It’s okay.  

Lexi opens her eyes. They’re on the ground, deep in that dark red moss. The car is a few yards away; headlights lighting up enough of this small cove of forest to let Lexi see the deep woods, dark and ancient surrounding them. She shudders and looks back up at Fezco. He’s kneeling next to her, his face clouded as he peers into her face. “You hurt any where?” He asks again. 

“Ion think so…” her voice hurts as it comes out, her chest feels like it’s been jumped on. 

“Think you can walk?” He asks. 

“Yeah,” She says. She wobbles as she stands, trying to make her legs obey. Fez’s arm is around her, a steadying anchor. 

“Yo, you good?” He stands with her for a second as she tries to test out her balance. 

“Yeah, yeah, I think so…” She looks around. 

Jules is standing by the car, Rue next to her. She’s holding her head, a panicked, terrified look on her face. Rue is crowding in, trying to see the damage. Beyond them, back on the highway, the Caddy has been pulled over, she can see figures up along the road, dark silhouettes. 

They make their way across the moss, Fezco’s arm is against her back. Lexi’s grateful for it, every few steps she needs to stop and regain her balance. By the time they’ve made it to the road, red and blue lights are flashing, lighting up the scene. 

Tucker looks over at Lexi, almost startled. “Lexi…are you okay?” He jogs over to where she and Fez have stopped. He snaps his eyes over at Fezco. “The fuck…” He looks back at her. “Are you okay?” He repeats.

Lexi would laugh if she could. “What the fuck, Tucker?” She hates how it comes out – weak and trembling. 

“Come here,” he reaches out and wraps his around her shoulder pulling her away from Fez. Lexi tries to pull back.

“Stop,” she says weakly. Her head is aching, pounding. She thinks she can smell smoke. And earth. And blood. She sways slightly, nausea rising. 

“Yo, stop pullin’ on her like that,” Fez’s low drawl sounds even lower, more gravelly. 

“Back–” 

“Stop fuckin’ grabbin’ her,”’ Fez snaps. “Let her sit the fuck down, asshole.” His hand is at her back again, guiding her towards his car. Lexi lets him, still woozy. He leans her against the back of his car. More lights, red and white approach. An ambulance. More cars are pulling off the road to help. Another police car shows up and Cal Jacobs gets out, walking slowly along the path that Tucker’s car had taken. A paramedic approaches her. 

“I’m fine,” she says. 

“Think she hit her head,” Fezco tells him. “Her nose was bleedin’ when I found her.” 

The paramedic shines a light in her eyes, tells her to follow his finger. 

Then tells her she needs to go to the hospital. 

“I’m fine,” she says again. But her voice sounds funny to her own ears, slurred. Then – “Jules!”

She looks around wildly for her friend. Jules is climbing into the ambulance, Rue is standing alone in the street, watching her with an anguished look on her face. 

“Is she okay?” She asks desperately. Everything feels weird and wildly out of focus. 

“She’s okay, but we need her to come down to the hospital to get checked out more, same as you.” Lexi nods again and groans as the movement makes her head feel like it's about to wobble off her shoulders. 

Rue approaches, her dark eyes wide. “Lexi? Lexi, I’m so fucking sorry. Oh my god, are you okay? I’m so sorry.” She’s rambling, her voice tight and scared and Lexi’s chest tightens at the sound. 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” she knows her own voice is wobbly and teary. 

“She’s gotta go to the hospital,” Fezco says next to her. Rue looks devastated. 

The smell of blood and earth is stronger than ever. Lexi feels like the earth is swaying under her feet. 

Lexi…

She freezes at the sound, whispered in the wind. Or just in her head. She shudders. 

“Are you okay?”

“You good?” 

Fez and Rue both notice at the same time. 

“Yeah, I just…I think maybe I do need to go to the hospital after all…”

***

Fezco watches as the ambulance pulls away, Lexi tucked safely in the back. He’s still so fuckin’ pissed at Rue for pullin’ that shit in the car. She could have killed somebody. But more than that, he’s fuckin’ pissed at Lexi’s asshole boyfriend. What the fuck kind of shit was he pulling, driving like an asshole like that. Fuckin fuck. 

He looks over at Tucker, sitting on the hood of a cop car. He looks perfect, not a scratch on his ugly ass face;  even his hair is still perfectly in place. He thinks of Lexi on her knees in the woods, blood running down her face. Anger boils down his spine. He moves towards Tucker, seething, tension taught in his frame.

Tucker sees him coming and jumps up. “Hey, asshole, you totaled my fucking car.” He’s looking much braver than he had before, cowering back when Fez told him to get away from Lexi. Now that Jacobs’ daddy is running around the woods nearby, he’s looking less scared. 

“I’m sure daddy can buy you a new one,” he spits out. They’re nose to nose, narrowed gazes eyeing each other. 

“Fucking East Highland trash,” Tucker spits. “Stay in your fucking trash town –”

“You boys okay?” Cal Jacobs’ voice booms out from the edge of the woods. He’s looking between the two teenagers, eyes narrowed at their tense stances. 

“We’re good, Mr Jacobs.” Tucker calls back, his eyes still focused on Fezco. Fez wants to fuckin’ laugh in his face. Tucker’s a fucking pussy – all talk – and only when he knows Fezco can’t touch him. 

Tucker smiles serenely at Cal and sits back on the hood of the car, looking for all intents and purposes, like a fuckin’ choir boy. 

But the Sheriff is still looking at them. “Learn to fuckin’ drive, dick,” Fez warns lowly as he starts to turn back to Rue.

“I mean it,” Tucker calls out, “stay in your shitstain of a town. And stay the fuck away from Lexi.” 

Fez freezes for half a second and turns back to Tucker. He takes a step, a sharp, half-pantomimed motion towards the boy on the car. Tucker jerks hard, half throwing himself backwards, flinching away. Fez snorts. Fuckin’ pussy. 

He turns and makes his way back to where Rue and Ash are waiting for him. 

“Yo, man…” Ash lets out a low laugh. “You good? You lookin’ real fucked up over there.” 

Fez looks down in surprise. Blood is smeared across his pale blue polo. “Shit…” Lexi’s blood, from when he’d been helping her in the woods. His chest tightens at the sight. He doesn’t think he can stop thinking about it, how small she’d felt, how desperately she’d clung to him. Fuck.

*** 

The wait in the hospital is brutal. After a nurse gives her a preliminary check, Lexi is left alone in the ward, Jules has been carted away for stitches

Lexi is nothing, if not extremely logical – sometimes to a fault. She knows she needs to think about Tucker, how he’s an idiot who crashed a car while acting like tool, how he’d fucking left her out in the woods to run away after the wreck – but her mind keeps going back to the visions she’d had in the forest, on her knees in the moss. It was some kind of traumatic brain spasm, her mind pulling out all sorts of awful, horrifying images while she was panicking in the midst of a disturbing trauma. She’s sure that’s a thing. 

Closing her eyes she can still see the images, see the twisting dark figures and glowing red lights. The small, gray face flashes in front of her again, eyes black with rage. 

Lexi…

Her eyes snap open.

The ward is still empty. Harsh overhead lights casting deep shadows in the far reaching corners. Her mind is playing tricks on her. She shivers, tightening the hand she has on the thin blanket around her shoulders. 

She’s hearing things, that’s all. Her brain got scrambled up and now she’s having auditory delusions. That’s definitely a thing. 

She watches the shadows, shrinking back slightly. Does it look like they’re moving ? No, Lexi. You’re freaking yourself out…

She stares deep into the darkness. She can almost see the black figures…swooping, writhing. The hissing, wailing sounds…

Lexi…

The door to the ward bangs open and Lexi jumps in the air like a startled cat. 

“Lexi!”

“Mom!” She sinks back against the hospital bed in relief, her heart pounding. “You scared me…” she says weakly.

“Oh, baby…” Suze cups her face. “Are you okay, honey…” 

Lexi nods. “Just a headache…”

“What the fuck was that boy thinking?” Suze is shaking her head. “He was out of his mind…”

“Mom, come on…” Lexi doesn’t want to play the advocate for Tucker right now, not when she’s also furious. Suze’s anger is just going to make her defensive. 

Suze finds a doctor, pulls her in to look over Lexi and give her the all clear to go home. “She should probably stay overnight.” The doctor frowns at Suze, who looks to Lexi. 

“It’s your call, Lex. How are you feeling?” 

Lexi shakes her head, thinking of the shadows in the corner. She’s freaked out and wants to be in her own room, warm and pink and familiar. 

Suze bundles her up, wrapping a jacket around her shoulders and ushers her out to Ron’s Escalade. “Hey, kiddo, how you doing?” Her stepfather  is a nice guy, a little standoffish, not really sure of where he stands in the lives of the two nearly adult girls who’d come into his life along Suze, but he seemed to genuinely care for her mother and she liked that. 

“I’m fine,” she says. She wants to take the painkillers and curl up in bed. She can’t sleep, because of the concussion, but getting comfy in a familiar place is what she needs now more than anything to settle her nerves. 

“What do you need?” Suze asks as they walk inside. Ron’s big house feels huge and dark and empty. Lexi shivers slightly. “Drink? Food? Painkillers?”

“I’ve got it.” Lexi feels awkward with her mothers full attention, she’s not sure what to do with it. “I’m just going to make some cocoa and go to bed.” 

“Are you sure? I can do it for you if you want me to…” Lexi waves her mother off. Suze has never been great in the kitchen, and Lexi knows the offer might end in another disaster that Lexi has to clean up and she’s too tired to deal with it tonight. 

“I’ve got it. I’ll be fine!” 

She takes her hot chocolate upstairs, and strips off her cheerleading uniform pulling on her comfiest, rattiest pajamas…she should shower, but she cant stand the thought of standing for another minute. She pulls the ribbon from her messy curls, combing out the snarls. Her eyes stray to her reflection in the small mirror above her vanity – and she jumps. She still has a streak of dried blood against her cheek. She whimpers slightly, the images from the woods flashing back in her head – hooded figures and snakes – she wipes at the dried mark, grabbing a makeup wipe to help, then climbs into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. She can almost hear it again – the whispering, the hissing…

She tries to think of anything else – Cassie, her upcoming French exam, her shaky back handspring – and then her brain sets on Fezco. His voice, calm and steady, telling her she was going to be okay, springs back into her mind. His blue eyes were so deep as he’d gazed down at her – she’s read before that colors can have an effect on psychosis – blues are supposed to make you calm or something. 

She breathes deeply, in and out, watching the shadows on the wall.

Chapter Text

Rue shows up the next morning at the Dairy, looking tense and pale.

“I can’t reach Jules,” she announces,  climbing on the counter to sit cross-legged, dragging her dirty sneakers across the surface. “Her dad said she’s “unavailable”’ Rue’s fingers make quote marks next to her head. “I just want to know if she’s okay, Jesus fuck.”

Fez pauses from where he’s been loading sodas in the freezers and looks over at her. “Maybe she just sleeping or somethin.’ She was in an accident yesterday, pro’ly needs to sleep it off.” 

“If she’s got a concussion, she wouldn’t be sleeping,” Rue grumbles. She grabs a candy bar from the rack next to her. “I left a message but I dont think her dad is going to pass it on.”

Fez stares into the rack of colorful aluminum cans. “What about, uh, Lexi?” He asks lowly. 

“Lexi? That’s a good idea – she’s probably heard from Jules…” 

Fez snaps his head back to Rue to see if she’s kidding. “I meant, how is she? ”

“Oh, yeah…” Rue frowns, “right.”

Fez shakes his head, annoyed. He doesn’t want to be runnin’ around worrin’ about Lexi Howard. He thinks about her in the woods, clinging to him as she shook with fear. Fuck. His stomach tightens uncomfortably. 

“Can I use your phone?” He raises his eyebrows at Rue. “So I can call Lexi?” She’s looking up at him, eyes widening. 

Last night after he’d gotten home, he’d thrown himself on his sofa and chainsmoked while Rue and Ash kept talking about how fucking gnarly the accident had been.

The whole scene had been fucked up. When he’d seen Tucker’s car swerve off the side of the road, the thought his heart had stopped. He’d slammed on the breaks and torn out of the car, practically sprinting down the slick hill to where the BMW had come to a sudden and violent stop. 

Jesus, even now, his heart is in his throat thinking about how bad that could have been. And, even through he’s still pretty fuckin’ sure that Rue is gonna try to call Lexi for info about Jules, he’s still fuckin’ anxious over how bad she’d looked last night. 

He grabs the phone from next to the register and sets it next Rue. Rue lifts the receiver, thumbing in the number and holds it to her ear, twisting the cord around her fingers. 

“Hey, Mrs Howard…is Lexi there? It’s Rue…yeah, I’m good…yeah, real scary…okay…” She makes a motion with her hand, indicating she’s waiting. Fez watches, half apprehensive. Lexi ‘n Rue aint exactly friends ‘nymore and yeah, Lexi’d kind of had a point last night when she’d said that Rue wasn’t always the most tactful…

“Lexi?” Rue says. “It’s Rue.” Fez holds his breath, leaning forward slightly, straining to hear her voice. 

“I was just wanting to check and see how you were doing this morning.” Rue says, awkwardly pleasant. Lexi apparently answers, because Rue nods, “oh good…good…” There’s an awkward silence and Fez realizes that Lexi isn’t talking either. He punches Rue’s thigh. 

“No, that’s good.” Rue jumps back in immediately. “That was so fucking crazy last night. The way that the car went off like that – I never fucking thought that was going to happen, I swear! You know that I’d never fucking try to do anything like that on purpose – not to you. Or Jules. Maybe to Nate. But, that’s just–” Fez punches her thigh again. Rue jerks. “Sorry.” 

Fez can hear the sound of Lexi’s soft voice through the receiver and raises his eyebrows at Rue pointedly. Is she okay? 

“But, yeah, just mostly wondering if you were okay, and like, didn’t have any brain damage or anything?” Fez groans to himself. 

“That’s good…” Rue says, more sincerely. “No concussion, that’s great. And you got to go home last night.” She’s speaking pointedly, exaggerating for Fezco. He rolls his eyes. “That’s great, Lexi. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Lexi says something else. Fez sighs in frustration, still not able to make out her response. 

“Hey, uh, how’s Jules doing?” Rue asks. Her brows furrow in response. “Oh…do you know if she…right. Well, thanks. I appreciate the info.” Rue hesitates for a second, then adds. “I really am glad you’re okay, Lex. Really. And – I really am sorry.” She nods into the phone. “Yeah, okay. I will. Thanks. Bye.” She hangs up. 

“What’d she say?” Fezco demands, bracing himself against the counter. 

“Weren’t you listening?” Rue asks, eyes crinkling at him. 

“Rue…” He says, annoyed. 

“Dude, she’s fine. Bumped her head, but there wasn’t any damage. They let her go home last night and she’s fine.” 

Fez sighs, leaning back against the counter. She’s home and she’s fine. There. He can stop fuckin’ worryin’ so much. The urge to break something, preferably Tucker Blake’s face, is still taught within his shoulders. 

Rue’s eyeing him from the counter. “You gonna ask about Jules?” 

“Huh?” 

“I mean you were asking about Lexi…you gonna ask how Jules is doing?”

Fez freezes. “I mean, uh, yeah. Sure.”

Rue stares at him, eyes crinkling suspiciously. Fez stares back, his palms sweating slightly. “Dude…what are you–”

“How’s Jules?” He cuts in. 

Rue continues watching him through narrowed eyes for a moment, but relents. “She’s still in the hospital. Lexi said she had to stay overnight.”

“Fuck, man.” Fez says, immediately feeling like a piece of shit. “She good?” 

“Lexi thinks she’s okay. They just wanted to keep her for observation.” 

Fez’s brow crinkles  slightly, “They aint need to observe Lexi?

“Dude, what?”

“You know…” he mumbles, “you saw her last night, she was all fucked up.”

“Yeah…” Rue ponders for a moment, then brightens, shrugging. “Well, she said she was fine.”

Fez rolls his eyes, annoyed. “She was way fucked up last night, just cause she said she was cool…” He stops. He does not need to be this worked up over Lexi Howard. 

“I'm sure she’s fine.” Rue says, oblivious to Fez’s inner turmoil. “Lexi’s really good at dealing with this kinda stuff. She’s like, super tough and everything.”

Fez looks at Rue in surprise. That had to be one of the nicest things he’s ever heard from Rue about Lexi since Lexi moved to West Highland. Rue’s nodding. “If anyone’s going to walk away from a car, like, literally flipping over and nearly falling off a mountain, it’s gonna be Lexi. If she needs help she’ll ask for it.” She says it matter-of-factly, but Fez still has to push the tension that’s building along his spine down. 

“Yeah, okay.” He mutters. He grabs a carton of sodas from where it’s sitting next to the counter and carries it over to the refrigerators where he’s been stocking all morning. 

Rue jumps off the counter. “Imma run…”

“Yeah?” Fez glances back. “You sure? Imma smoke in a bit if you wanna…”

Rue shakes her head, backing towards the door with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her huge hoodie. “I’m gonna…uh…” She looks for a second like she’s trying to search for an answer. “Just go hang out with…”

Fez frowns. “What?”

“I’m gonna…” She’s floundering. She sighs and glares at Fezco. “I’m gonna go to the hospital.”

“Are you serious?” Fez lets out a surprised laugh.

Rue nods. 

“You ain’t get her dad to even tell you that she’s there. You think you gonna get past her parents to see her in person?”

“I mean, I’ll just go down and see if I can find anything out.”

“Rue…” He warns.

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna be stealthy. In and out.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ dare.”

“And if Beddy’s there…”

“Don’t you fuckin’ dare ! ”

“I’ll just ask if he knows anything about any of the kids who were brought into the hospital last night ”

“Fuck…” Fez groans. 

Beddy was a full-time nurse and part-time supplier he used to occasionally buy off of when he had had some extra cash and extra parties to make money at. The fucker was a terrible nurse and a worse supplier, sloppy and high off his supply way too much. Fez ain’t fuck with him that much anymore. The dude wasn’t dangerous, but he was hella stupid.

Rue had bought directly from him a couple of times, behind Fezco’s back, back when she was trying to act like her addiction wasn’t that bad. It had spawned pretty fucking awful fights between them. And Fez had had to step in and end things for her. He’d pulled Beddy aside one night as he was leaving the hospital and had to convince him that selling to Rue anymore would be his own fuckin’ health risk. 

“I’m just gonna ask, Fez. Jeez. ”

“Bad fuckin’ idea.”

“It’ll be fine.” Rue’s still backing out the door. 

“Don’t fuckin’ do anything, Rue.”

“I won’t!”

“I mean it!”

And she’s out the door. 

“Fuckin…” Fez turns back to the refrigerator. He can see Ash inside the freezer, hunched over a book. More of the witch shit. Fez sighs. At least he’s not in his fucking chat rooms – the kid’d been begging Fez another computer to keep in the back of the store.

He sighs, exhausted. 

—

Lexi hangs up the pink plastic receiver. 

The hyperactive, quasi-incoherent rambling had been so strangely reminiscent of old Rue that Lexi’d almost asked if Rue had meant to call her. When she’d mentioned Jules, though, everything was a tad clearer: Rue probably couldn’t get in touch with her and had resorted to calling Lexi, instead. Lexi would have been insulted…except for the deep sense of sincerity in her voice when she’d told Lexi that she really was sorry.

Lexi didn’t blame her — honestly, the whole thing had been way more of Tucker’s fault anyways. Suze had told her when she’d stumbled downstairs after a long night of tossing and turning that Tucker had called that morning. Lexi’d taken the message with a noncommittal hum. Honestly, the last thing she wants to do is call Tucker back right now. 

She pads back into the kitchen from the den. 

“Hey, Kiddo, how you feeling this morning?” Ron is pouring a cup of coffee.

“I’m good,” Lexi lies. She’s fucking sore, every muscle in her body feels like it’s been run through a cement truck. Plus the ache in her head still hasn’t faded, despite the pharmaceutical strength painkillers she’d been taking. 

And she’s exhausted. She reaches out and takes the cup that Ron offered. “Thanks.”

“Want eggs?” Ron gestures to the pan sitting by the stove. He and her mom have obviously already eaten. 

“Hon? We gotta…” Suze is shaking her head towards the door, signaling that they’re late and need to leave. They have a standing tennis date at the West Highland Country Club every weekend. Lexi had never seen her mother pick up a tennis racket before she’d met Ron. But she supposes its more to do with the myriad Bloody Marys Suze likes to suck down with the other rich housewives that keep her going back every Saturday.

“I’m good,” Lexi reassures him. “You guys can go.”

“You sure?” Suze asks from where she’s tossing her keys in her bag. “You sure you’re feeling okay, Sweetie?” She looks over Lexi’s head to Ron. “We can skip today if…?” Ron nods.

“No, I’m fine.” Lexi reassures them. “I’m just going to rest today. Watch TV and maybe take a nap. Go, it’ll be fine.”

A few more reassurances to a reluctant Suze and Ron, and her mom and stepdad eventually make their way out. Lexi sighs at the quiet. Last night was rough. Nightmares, the images and phantoms that she’d hallucinated last night, wouldn’t stop plaguing her all night.

Lexi pours milk in her coffee and pops an Eggo in the toaster. She leans against the white granite counter rubbing her eyes. She needs to do research. Find out if concussions can cause visual and auditory hallucinations…

Lexi…

Lexi gasps, eyes springing open. That was…real. There’s no way that voice was only in her head, right? Her heart pounds as she listens for anything—any sound of breathing or footsteps…

Pop!

The toaster goes off, shooting waffles into the air. Lexi lets out a stifled shriek, nearly falling over, her hand on her chest. 

She pants, trying to even out her breath. Fuck. She really is losing her mind.

The house is still so quiet. Dark and cavernous. A chill runs down Lexi’s neck. She suddenly wants to run out of there, follow her mom and Ron on her bike, catch them and beg them to come back. 

She hurries upstairs to get dressed. She can’t go running after her mom, but suddenly she needs to leave this house and get out. In her room, she dresses quickly, a red baby doll dress and docs, grabs a denim jacket for the cooling autumn air.

The shivery feeling follows her, the idea that she’s someone is there, the voice in the dark, whispering at her…

Lexi grabs her bag, rushes down the grand staircase across the foyer. She’s being stupid, logically, she knows that she’s alone. No one’s there for fucks sake…

Lexi…

Lexi slams the front door behind her, locking it and rushing down to where she’s left her bike on the front lawn. She throws her a leg over the frame and pushes off, peddling hard down the road as fast as she can. 

—--

As soon as Rue spots Maddy, she grins. 

“Sup, Perez?”

She folds her arms on the counter. Maddy frowns at her. “I’m not giving you drugs, Rue.” She snaps. Her red and white candy striper uniform looks bright under the nauseatingly bright hospital light. Her nails, painted brilliant red, stand out against the white clipboard she’s checking off. 

Rue blinks, taken aback. Has she ever tried to get drugs from Maddy? 

…no.

She’s pretty sure.  

She had only been slightly aware that Maddy was working at the hospital. Maddy Perez had been childhood best friends with Cassie Howard, Lexi’s older sister, before the Howards had moved. It had been a group of them, Maddy-Cassie-Lexi-Rue-Kat, close like sisters for years. 

Everything kind of fell apart when the Howards left. Rue’d barely seen Maddy around school for the last year that she’d been in East HIghland High. She was at community college, or maybe she’s working and waiting to go away to college? Rue frowns. One or the other. 

But she’s definitely working in the hospital. And if Rue had realized she had such a perfect in, she never would have gotten Fez so worked up over Beddy. 

“I’m not after drugs.” She announces. “I’m here to see someone.” 

Maddy snorts. She walks around the counter and hangs the clipboard on the wall. “Anyone you’re here to see is locked up in a cabinet, and, no, I don’t have the keys.”

“Uh, no. I’m serious, I’m here to see someone. She was brought in last night.” 

Maddy’s sardonic brown eyes narrow, moving over her – from her messy, disheveled curls, down over her oversized, wrinkled Tupac t-shirt and baggy jeans to her dirty sneakers. It’s meant to be cutting, Rue tries not to cringe under her gaze, but she can't stop herself from squirming – she shifts slightly, using the toe of one converse to scrub at a particularly large unidentifiable brown blob on the other. 

At the end of her look Maddy lets out a particularly sarcastic, “Uh huh – who?” She obviously doesn’t believe her. Rue tries not to look offended. 

“Um, you remember Jules?” 

Surprise shows in Maddy’s face, for just a second. “Are you serious?”

“She was in an accident. Last night. With Lexi.” 

That really gets Maddy’s attention. “Lexi? Is she okay?”

Rue bobs her head vigorously. “She’s good. Went home last night.” 

“Well fuck…” Maddy mumbles. She walks over the desk, plopping in the chair in front of the compter. She leans forward as she types into the keyboard, frowning at the screen. Rue leans over the counter, trying to get a glimpse. 

“Rue!” Maddy glares. 

Rue straightens sighing. “Is she here?” 

Maddy’s still frowning at the computer. “You can’t see her”

“Oh, c’mon! You can break policy. For me.” 

“No, there’s a note in her file. She’s on a strict No Visiter’s policy. Security is keeping an eye on her.”

“Whaaa…” Rue gapes. Well, that’s fucking rude. 

“C’mon, Maddy, please?”

“No, Rue.”

“But–”

“I love you Rue, but I’m not fucking up this opportunity so you can hook up with your girlfriend. I need this fucking job.”

“I’m not trying to hook up with her!” Rue glares. “And she’s not my girlfriend.” 

“Sorry.” Maddy doesn’t sound sorry. 

Rue sighs to herself. She didn’t want to have to come to this but…she pulls on every ounce of acting skills she’d learned from Lexi, schooling her features into something truly pleading. 

Surely Maddy is going to remember everything they’d been through together…how close they’d been as kids…

“Please, Maddy? For old times sake?” She looks up at the older girl, sticking out her lower lip, eyes wide…

—

“Nurse Beddy!” Rue calls out, as she steps behind the wall of the parking lot. The balding, middle aged smoker spots her and pales. “I’ve been looking for you!”

—

Lexi knocks on the glossy wooden door of Tucker’s house, praying he’s home. 

She’d ridden her bike down her street as fast as she’d could, heart pounding, trying to outrace the disembodied voice that she could still hear in her head. The idea that she’s being watched, being followed, chased her down the pretty, tree-lined streets of West Highland, she’d nearly fallen off her bike twice as she’d snapped her head to look for the shadow that she thinks she can just see right there…

“Hey…” Tucker opens the door, “What’s up, babe?

“I think…I think…” Lexi can’t make out the words, she’s still shaking from adrenaline. “I’m sorry, I just, I’m really messed up from yesterday, I can’t…”

Tucker is staring at her…”You don’t look so good, Lex.” 

Lexi swallows. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” He steps back and swings the door open to let her walk inside. “My parents aren’t home.”

“Oh…” She licks her lips. “Can I get some water?”

Tucker nods and leads her into the kitchen. “You want a beer instead?”

Lexi sighs to herself. “No, Tucker.” He pulls a face and she glares. “I’m still on painkillers from last night.” She says, trying not to sound accusatory. 

Tucker offers her the glass with an eye roll and Lexi takes it with a “thanks.” She follows her boyfriend upstairs to his room and drops on his beanbag chair next his bed, taking a deep sip of water. Tucker drops into his desk chair and grabs the controller for his Sega Genesis. Lexi watches the tv as it comes to life, the little pixelated figures on the white and yellow screen jumping up and down as they start to fight each other. 

She sighs, takes another sip of water. Her heartbeat is starting to regulate and she feels more tired than ever. Tucker lets out a stream of frustrated curses at the screen, making her wince.

Most of the time she brings something to read while Tucker plays, but she hadn’t even really expected to come by here. She lets her head rest back on the back of the beanbag. 

“Lexi…” She says, looming over her, pale blue eyes and dark, scraggly hair; blood trickling down her forehead. 

Lexi sits up with a scream, slashing at the figure in front of her with her glass. 

“What the fuck?!” Tucker yells. “Why the fuck did you do that?”

“I did – she was – she was right there?” Lexi swivels her head frantically, looking for the figure that had just been there, bending over her.

“Goddamn it!” Tucker’s wiping at his West Highland Devils hoodie. “It got all over me…”

“Did you see her?” Lexi demands. “She was right here!”

“What are you talking about?” Tucker demands, still pissed. 

“I’m – I –” 

Lexi looks around helplessly. The room is empty, save for herself and Tucker. She presses her hands against her face, digging her fingers into her eyes. “What the fuck…” she mumbles to herself

Tucker is staring at her, “Hey…is there something wrong with you?”

Lexi sighs. “I’m fine…” waving him away.

Tucker grabs a towel from his ensuite bathroom and drops it over the spill, grumbling to himself. Lexi sits on his bed, nervously twisting her hands together, trying to get her thoughts in order. The voices and images had started right after the accident – that had to be her hitting her head, right? 

Tucker sits next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “You’re just still a little messed up from last night arent you? I almost beat his ass last night, for real.”

Lexi frowns at the mention of Fezco. “It wasn’t his fault. You were the one who was driving like a maniac!” 

Plus, Fez had actually helped her afterwards. 

She thinks about how he’d guided her through the woods, his arm a solid weight steering her. She shrugs slightly, trying to hint to Tucker she doesn’t want to be touched. He tightens his arm around her as his face darkens.

“It was his fucking freak friends who were throwing stuff at me!” Lexi folds her arms over her chest. “Are you serious?! It wasn’t my fault! I can’t believe you’re blaming me –”

Lexi presses a hand to her head. “Stop yelling – please?” She begs. She can feel a headache coming on. 

Tucker glares. “I can’t believe that you –”

“I don’t want to fight.” She pleads. She’s pissed at him, but she’s not feeling up to a fight. 

Tucker, to her slight surprise, doesn’t argue, through he still looks pissed. 

“I’m not feeling well, I was kind of hoping that I could take a nap or something.”

Tucker looks slightly less pissed. “Yeah?” He says a grin starting to spread across his face. 

Lexi’s confused, her forehead crinkling slightly, until Tucker’s arm slides around her waist again, pulling himself closer to her…

“Tucker, come on…” she twists slightly, trying to pull away. “I really don’t feel good. I don’t feel like doing anything…”

Tucker lets out an exasperated sound. “Why are you being such a bitch today?”

“I’m not. I don’t feel good.”

“Why’d you even come over if you “don’t feel good?”” He mimics the last few words with a high-pitched mockery that pinches Lexi’s chest. 

She shakes back her hair, trying not to show her hurt feelings. “I don’t feel well. And my mom and Ron are at the club. I don’t want to be by myself when I’m not feeling good.”

“Why not? If all you wanna do is fucking sleep?” Tucker snaps, annoyed. “Might as well be alone.”

Lexi scrambles to get off his bed and marches to where she’d shrugged off her jacket. “Fine. If you want me to be alone, I’ll be alone.” 

“Oh my god,” Tucker groans, rolling his eyes. You’re going to make this a fucking thing aren’t you?”

“Nope. It’s not a thing.” Lexi snaps. She pulls her jacket over her shoulders. “I’m just ready to start being alone – for good.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Tucker sneers. “Don’t be so fucking dramatic, Lexi.”

“I’m not being dramatic.” Lexi glares at him. “I’m tired. I’m hurt. And I want some space.”

“Space?” Tucker scoffs. 

“Yes! I just wanted some support from my boyfriend – but this is so exhausting—”

“ This is exhausting?” Tucker spits, his mouth twisted into an ugly jeer. You’re exhausting, Lexi ! You’re so fucking exhausting and –”

Lexi spins on her heel and marches towards the door. 

“Lexi?” She hears him running after her. She sprints down the stairs, slamming her feet angrily on the carpeted steps. “Lexi!” Tucker shouts. 

“Come on, Lexi,” He catches her arm, halfway down the staircase. “Don’t leave. I didn’t fucking mean that.” 

Lexi tries to pull her arm away. “Tucker, let go!” His hand tightens. 

“C’mon, babe don’t leave…” He pleads. Lexi grinds her teeth together. 

“Stop!” She pulls harder. He doesn't let go. “Please? Let go?” 

“Babe…you know I didn’t mean that, right?”

Lexi sighs, swallowing back her anger. “Yes. I know.” His hand loosens. She pulls her arm out of his grasp. 

“Don’t leave. Please.” 

Lexi takes a step back. “I told you I want space, Tucker.”

“Are you serious?”

Lexi nods slowly. 

Tucker gapes at her. “I didn’t mean it, Lexi.”

“I know you didn’t,” Her heart is pounding, eyes darting around nervously. 

Tucker’s face darkens, studying her. He straightens.  “Fine.” He spits.

“Just for a little while, Tucker.”

“Whatever you want, Lexi.” 

She grinds her teeth together. 

“Tucker–” 

“Just fucking go,” he snaps. Lexi’s stomach aches. She hates this. She opens her mouth, but her cuts her off. “Fucking leave, Lexi.”

She nods and turns, rushing down the staircase and across the foyer to the door. She can hear Tucker muttering and fuming behind her. 

She opens the door and slips out. 

Lexi…

Her eyes go wide, shocked as she stands next to her bike, looking around frantically. She can feel something watching her. The memory of those images from last night, the angry, grimacing faces and ancient symbols carved into rock. The body swaying from a tree…

Lexi grabs her bike and jumps on, peddling down the road as fast as she can. 

—

Rue pokes her nose into the hospital room. Jules is in sweats, sitting on the bed cross legged, her sketch pad on her lap. It had taken a while to get Beddy to agree to sneak her back. 

When Beddy had immediately clocked her outside, he’d tried to make a break for the hospital doors when she’d appeared in the back. Rue had scurried after him, pleading for a quick favor. The nurse had tried to shake her off, but Rue’d had enough practice with various maneuvers of that sort over the years and was able to quickly head him off at the door. 

He’d flat out refused, muttering something about her psycho boyfriend – a very confusing statement, and then she’d realized he’d meant Fezco, which was even more confusing, but it had at least given her an idea –

“If you don’t help, I’ll tell Fez you offered to sell to me.” 

A low trick, but Rue was desperate. Beddy had gone red, then pale, then red again. He’d spat out something about Rue being a fucking bitch – okay, fair – then given in, and ushered her down the dark hallway of the hospital. 

“Jules?”

Jules’ mouth walls open. “ Rue? What are you doing here?” 

“Oh, you know, in the neighborhood. Just checking in.”

“I’m feeling better,” Jules tells her. She looks paler than usual. Her hair is limp and unwashed. Rue feels a lump in her stomach looking at her. 

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am.”

“I know you are, Rue.” Jules says, almost sadly. 

Rue swallows. “I tried to call you. Your dad wouldn’t tell me how you were.”

“He’s pretty upset.”

“With me?”

Jules shrugs. 

“Oh.” Rue bites her lip. “I never meant for this to happen, you know.”

Jules lets out a breath, “Rue…”

Something about the way she says her name makes Rue’s stomach hurt. She swallows. “Do you hate me?” She asks. 

Jules looks surprised. “No, of course not.” She hesitates. “But Rue, all of this, the accident – it’s chaos. I just can’t keep–”

“I’m chaos?!” Rue’s shocked. “This was all your dumbass boyfriend and his dumbass friend! They were the ones who were driving all psycho–”

“I’m not saying you’re chaos – but I just can’t do this –”

“Oh, but you can “do” Nate Jacobs?”

“Rue!”

“Rue?!”

Oh shit.

“What the fuck, Rue?!” Maddy marches into Jules’ room. 

Kat Hernandez is behind her, wearing her own candy striper outfit, carrying a lunch bag. She looks slightly surprised as she peers around Maddy’s angry form. “Hey Rue…Jules?”

“Hey Kat.”

“What happened?”

“There was a car accident last night–”

“Nate Jacobs–”

Kat makes a face looking between them.

“Stop it, Rue.”  Jules says, sounding tired. 

“Oh sorry, you’re right. Tucker Blake had a lot to do with–”

“ Rue– ”

“ Rue! ” Maddy interrupts, snapping. “I told you to stay the fuck out. Security is doing sweeps of this floor every twenty minutes and if you get caught, I’m not letting your coked out ass get me in trouble–” 

“You’re not going to get in trouble! You didn’t even let me in – I got in myself.” Rue says. “Plus, I’d never rat anybody out–” She adds, offended at the thought.

“Who let you in?”

“Beddy.” There’s a beat of silence and then she slaps a hand over her mouth. Oops. 

“Uh huh, you’re definitely a vault of secrets.” Maddy rolls her eyes. “Get out. Now.”

Rue looks back at Jules, who’s watching her silently. There’s quiet in the room for a second and then Rue sighs, her shoulders slumping. “Alright, alright…I can–”

A bloodcurdling scream cuts her off, echoing down the hallway of the hospital.

—

Lexi’s been peddling for what feels like hours. Her lungs burning in her chest as she tries to outrace her own thoughts. 

“Lexi…”

It’s getting worse. The images that keep flashing through her brain. The horrible visions of gore and terror from last night’s episode. The feeling that she’s being watched…

Her bike skids to a stop and she leans over the handlebars panting. 

She looks up. She’s at the intersection of the main road that turns into East Highland. Fuck…

She doesn’t want to go home,  doesn’t feel like trying to go to any of her cheerleading friends houses, and Jules is still in the hospital…

She tightens her hands on the handlebars, trying to picture where to go…

Lexi straightens, frowning. A figure is walking towards her, lumbering across the field catty-cornered from where she’s standing…goosebumps break out across her arms. She can’t make him out – she’s pretty sure it’s at least a him, wearing blue coveralls – but she’s instantly on edge. Her heart beats faster. He’s still moving slowly, and it looks like he’s coming right towards her…She doesn’t hesitate. Instantly, kicking her bike into gear, she’s peddling as fast as she can. Away from the figure, away from town, directly into East Highland. 

She’s a good few miles down the road when she looks back over her shoulder. The figure is still following her. Slowly, but surely, he’s coming after her. Panic is starting to claw up her back and she peddles even harder, blindly steering down the streets of East Highland. She grew up here, she knows this area – where can she go – what – 

She takes a corner, hard. And goes skidding off her bike, tumbling across the pavement, while her bike flips into the ditch. She lets out a yelp of pain, instantly grabbing her knee. She rolls up, trying  to inspect the damage. She’s bleeding, a long scrape up her shin and into the bend of her knee. Lexi throws a glance towards the direction she came from. She can’t see the man, but she’s not sticking around to see. She scrambles to her feet and limps to the ditch to see the front wheel of her bike bent at an angle that instantly tells her it’s no good. Fuck…

Lexi looks around, trying to figure out where she is. The Elementary school isn't too far, she realizes, but it’s Saturday and they probably wouldn't let a seventeen-year-old girl come inside anyways. She spins looking around – a huge MILK sign, perched on top of a small building, catches her eye. Oh.

She hurries towards it, still limping slightly. Fezco had been so kind to her last night, maybe she’ll get lucky and he’ll still be in a generous mood, and let her use his phone. Not that she’s got anyone to call. 

She crosses the parking lot and turns the corner of the building – lets out a low gasp when she walks almost directly into Fezco, who’s leaning against the wall, holding a joint. 

“Yo,’ watch – Howard?”

“Oh, um, hi–” She shifts on her feet slightly, suddenly unsure of herself. 

‘Yo,’ what the fuck – are you okay?” He’s staring at her legs, where she’s dribbling blood. 

“Oh, no, I’m fine –” She starts. 

“The fuck…” He stubs out his joint. “C’mere – that looks bad.”

“It isn’t,” she argues lightly, “just a scrape. I fell off my bike.”

“Nah,” Fez says, with a shake of his head. For a second, an irrational flicker of indignation flares up, her natural reaction at Fez trying to test her. “Need to clean that, ma. C’mon.” Lexi glances back over her shoulder. The figure is nowhere to be seen. 

“C’mon, Howard.” Fezco gestures to her. She obeys.

“Do you think that I could borrow your phone for a minute? I need to call my mom.” 

Fez nods. “If you let me take care o’ that leg first.” 

Lexi’s cheeks pink, but she doesn’t argue.

She climbs up onto the counter at Fezco’s direction. He reaches behind the counter and pulls out a first aid kit. He approaches her slowly, eyes on her legs. Lexi can feel her cheeks heating up and prays that he doesn’t notice. Her leg shakes slightly as he bends slightly to examine the wound. His hand touches her calf, fingers warm and calloused, and Lexi jerks. Fez glances up at her, eyebrows raised. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. I just…” The heat in her cheeks is spreading across her face. Fez, mercifully doesn’t mention it, just ducks his head back down and proceeds to swipe the scrape with cotton balls soaked in peroxide. Lexi forces herself to hold still, despite the sting. She watches as he gently cleans the cuts, she can see the fan of his long lashes against his cheek and it’s making her feel even warmer. What the fuck is wrong with her? 

Fez gently adds a few extra large Band-Aids to the wound. 

“How's that?” His voice sounds deeper than usual, throatier. 

Her stomach flips. “Um, good. Thank you.” 

Fez straightens, hand coming up to rub at the back of his head. “You said you rode yo’ bike here?”

“Yeah, um. I’ve just been a little on edge today. Thought a bike ride would calm me down. I didn’t even realize how far I’d ridden until I was practically here.” She lets out a laugh, trying to play it off. 

Fez’s eyes are narrowing at her. “You good?”

“Oh, yeah, just a little shaken up. You know, from yesterday?”

“Yo’ head still hurtin’?”

“Oh, no, just a little bit, but I’m doing so much better.” She shakes her head. “I’m fine.” She adds determinedly. Fezco’s eyes are still narrowed. 

“Maybe you should go back to the hospital or somethin’.”

She lets out a low laugh. “I’m not gonna go to the hospital for a headache!”

“If it’s comin’ from gettin’ yo’ head smacked into a windshield, you should.”

“They said it was normal to have a headache for a few days.”

Fez scowls. “If you in pain, that’s not normal. Shouldn’ta left the hospital if you was still hurtin.’” 

“I’m fine!” She insists, scowling right back. 

Fez gives her a look that tells her he doesn’t believe that. Lexi knows she looks like shit, so she quickly evades, “I’m just tired, should probably get home and take a nap.” She laughs a little, trying to convince him. 

“I can give you a ride.”

Lexi blinks. “Oh, no, I’m okay. I can just call…” Her voice trails off. She doesn't know who to call.

“If you wanna use the phone you can.” 

Lexi nods but she doesn’t move. 

“Yo…” Fez steps a bit closer to her, ducking his head down to look at her more closely. “You sure you good?”

“I…don’t know,” Lexi says. Her head is hurting. 

Lexi…

She can’t tell if it’s real or in her head. 

She shivers. 

“I’ve just been…” Going crazy.  

A frown is stretching across Fezco’s face as he peers down at her. “Why don’t you come sit down fo’ a bit?”

“I should go–” 

Fezco doesn’t protest. He’s looking over her shoulder. Lexi glances back. 

The figure has appeared, walking towards the Dairy slowly.

Her heart drops. 

“Ash,” Fez calls out sharply and a second later, the door to the freezers has swung open and Ashtray is  stepping out, a pistol in hand. 

“The fuck?”  Fez glances at his brother and nods towards the man in dirty coveralls. 

That’s when Lexi sees it. In his hand. A large, curving knife, dirty and dull, but glinting with malice. She lets out a shuddery gasp. 

“Lexi,” Fezco says, his voice still tense. “Go back in the freezer.” He keeps his eyes on the man still making his way down the street towards the Diary, but jerks his head towards the door that Ash had just emerged from. 

“That’s – that’s –”

“Go, Lexi.” Fez says again, eyes narrowed. 

“He was following me,” She whispers. 

“Yo, what?” Ash takes his eyes off the man to throw her a surprised look. “You know this fucker?”

“No! But he was – I saw him a few blocks away – it looked like he was following me – I was scared so I came –”

“You brought him the fuck here?” Ash spits.

“Shut up, Ash,” Fez orders. “Gimme that.” He takes the gun from Ashtray and steps out of the store. 

“Fez, don’t!” Lexi hears herself yelp. She presses her fists against her mouth. Her heart is pounding a mile a minute. Oh my god. Oh my god. 

“Yo!” Fezco calls out. The man has made it to the edge of the parking lot, and is starting to make his way across. Knife in hand. Lexi thinks she’s going to puke. 

“Get back,” she tries to yell to Fezco, but the words come out as a low murmur. Ash has ducked back into the freezer and he pops out again, another gun in hand. 

“Yo, man, you aint comin’ up in here like that…” She hears Fezco say. She sees him flex the gun in his hand. 

She grabs the door frame with one tight hand. 

She can see the man’s face for the first time – it’s almost gruesome, waxy and gray, eyes blank – and it’s focused directly on her. He’s coming at her. 

“Man you fuckin’ hear me?” The man is right at Fezco now, but doesn’t acknowledge him, he’s stepping right by him to –

Fez steps to the side, grabbing at the guy’s shoulder, “What you fuckin’--” The man seems to notice Fezco for the first time, pushing him away as he lifts his knife. Lexi covers her mouth to stifle the scream of terror that explodes from her chest. Fez grabs his arm, shoves him hard– The man goes stumbling back, knife slashing the air. 

“What the fuck, man, get the fuck back–” The man is on his feet again, but his head has turned back towards the door of the Dairy. Lexi’s heart stops as her eyes meet his. She wants to run, wants to sprint, but she can't move. The man moves towards her. Fez lunges, hooking one arm around the arm with the knife and heaves the guy back, tossing him on the ground again. He presses the gun towards the man’s face. “I said get the fuck back , motherfucker. Ash!” Ash scrambles past Lexi, his own gun brandished. 

The man doesn’t even look at Fezco or Ash, instead tries to rise again to his feet. “Stay the fuck down!” Fez orders, kicking him back. “Can you get the knife?”

Ash nods and starts to reach for it, but the man makes another fucking attempt to get to his feet, still watching Lexi through their legs, his face is dark and twisted, snarled with anger. Fezco kicks him again, “I will beat the fuckin shit outta you if you don’t –” 

It all happens very quickly. 

Ash tries to grab the knife. 

The man realizes he’s about to grab his wrist and tries instead to make an attempt to bring the knife into Ashtray’s skull.

BANG!

The sound of a gun going off in the middle of the parking lot is so loud that for a second Lexi thinks she’s gone deaf. 

Fezco and Ash are staring at one another, shock on their features. Lexi slowly slides down until she’s in a crouched position. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…

“You good?” She hears Fezco ask Ash.

“Yeah – yeah man,” Ash’s voice sounds shaken. 

“What the fuck – who the fuck is this guy?”

“Fuckin’ asshole creep…”

Lexi buries her face in her arms, trying to stop shaking.  

She can hear the boys arguing over what to do next. Call the cops seems to be the last thing they want to do – she can hear something about a tarp and a field being discussed and she grips her arms even tighter than before, nails digging into her skin. 

“Lexi?” She looks up, Fezco is crouched in front of her. His blue eyes are so soft as they look  into hers, narrowed with concern. “Lexi, you okay?” She nods, swallowing hard. 

“No, you ain’t,” Fez says. Lexi can feel something sharp and watery stinging the sides of her eyes. 

“No, I’m not.”

“C’mere…” He stands, pulling her to her feet. “You can sit in the back for a bit.” Lexi nods, letting him guide her. This feels exactly like last night, she thinks, as his arm wraps around her. It’s nice. 

“He was followin’ you?” He asks as they make their way back into store. 

“I noticed him back at the edge of West Highland…”

“He followed you from there? ” Ash calls out. He’s still standing by the – by the body. 

“Yes.”

“You sure you ain’t know him?” Fez asks.

Lexi shakes her head, tears starting to swim. “I’ve never seen him before – I swear.”  

“Hey, Howard, don’t worry – I believe ya.” 

Lexi lets out a low breath, leaning slightly into him. 

Ash bends over the body slightly, frowning as he examines the corpse. 

“C’mon, Howard. You can rest in the back while we take care o’ this.” His arm tightens around her, urging her to turn with him, but something grabs Lexi’s attention. She stares. Frowns.

“C’mon, Howard.” He says again, his eyes on her face. 

Lexi’s heart is pounding again. Her eyes widening as her mouth falls open. 

“Fezco?” She chokes out. 

Fez is frowning down at her then glances back to see what she’s staring at. Ash has stepped away from the body, frowning to himself. The body is in a pool of deep red liquid, limp. 

Except for one foot. 

Which is jerking. 

Lexi and Fez stare, watching as the jerking foot grows more erratic, spreading up the body’s leg, until the entire body is twitching. Lexi watches as the hand slowly wraps around the handle of the knife. 

The man’s eyes snap open. 

Lexi lets out a strangled scream as Fezco darts forward. “Ash!” 

Ashtray spins. Spots it. “What the fuck?! ” He screams, fumbling in his waistband for the gun he’s stashed there. 

The man sits up, his face a mess of blood and gore from Fezco’s bullet, but slowly, the grayed skin is smoothing away, rolling back, the hole is closing. His eyes are still on Lexi in the store and he starts to roll to his feet. 

BANG!

For the second time in ten minutes a gunshot rings out across the parking lot of the Dairy. The man flops back against the pavement. 

Fezco is standing in the middle of the doorway, both hands tucked behind his head as he stares at the scene in front of him. Ash stares down at the body, eyes wide, gun still smoking. Lexi stares at both of them. 

Lexi…

—

“What the fuck was that?” Maddy peers down the hallway. 

Another scream. 

“Ion know but that doesn’t…sound good.” 

Maddy marches back across the room and grabs the phone off of the table next to Jules’ bed. She dials and listens, but doesn’t seem to get a response. Her frown deepens. 

“Okay, security isn’t answering…”

Alarm bells are starting to ring in Rue’s head. “Maybe we should leave?”

“Protocall says that we stay put in place of an emergency.” Ethan chimes in. 

“Emergency?!” Rue yelps. “This is an emergency?”

“I don’t know what it is, Rue.” Maddy snaps. “But we’re staying put until security gives the all clear.” She peers through the glass window pane into the hallway. 

“Uh, I don’t think I’m good with that…” Rue says. Her skin feels like it’s crawling. “I, uh, I think I probably need to go…”

“Shh…” Maddy snaps. 

The sound of more screaming and yelling comes down the hall. 

“I think we should all go, actually.”

“Maybe she’s right, Maddy.” Kat says. She crowds up behind Maddy to try and look over the shorter girl’s shoulder. 

Maddy pulls away. “If something’s going on, I don’t want to be out there.”

“It sounds like it’s getting closer.” Jules says. Her face is white. Rue reaches for her hand. Jules, to her shock, grasps it, lacing their fingers together tightly. 

Maddy looks back towards the rest of them, eyes darting like she’s trying to make up her mind. Then she nods. “Okay, we’ll go. But stay quiet. Go to the left and make a right at the end of the hall. That’s the exit.”

They nod. 

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

She opens the door slowly, slipping into the hallway. It’s eerily quiet as the group slowly tiptoes down the hall. 

Behind them, the heavy metal doors to the hospital wing slam open. They freeze in unison, all looking back over their shoulders. 

A figure is standing in the middle of the doorway. A black hood covers most of his face, but what can be seen – the fucker’s wearing a skull mask, one of those cheap Halloween ones. 

Rue’s mouth falls open in shock. 

Behind him, a body lays on the linoleum floor, in a widening pool of blood. He’s carrying a large knife, dripping with red. 

Kat screams. 

“What the fuck?!”  Maddy yells. 

“Run!” Rue screeches. 

They turn and sprint, running as fast as they can down the hallway. They barely make the turn, shoes skidding across the shiny floor. 

The Exit sign glows red at the end of the hall. Rue’s heart sags in relief… Maddy hits it first, hands shoving at the metal bar. It doesn't budge. 

“What the fuck?!” Maddy yells again. “Who the fuck would lock an exit?”

She spins, looking around desperately. 

“Ambulance entrance!” Kat yells, pointing back down the way they came. 

“C’mon –” Maddy takes off again, the rest behind her. 

Skull Mask isn’t behind them, Rue’s kind of surprised that he hadn’t been right on their tail – when all of a sudden he turns the corner. He’s walking slowly, almost ambling down the hall, his knife still brandished. 

Maddy hesitates, trying to determine if she can make it to the hall with the sign that reads Ambulance halfway between the group and the knife wielding maniac. 

But Skull Mask isn’t running at them, just walking, bloody knife in outstretched hand, dark red viscera dripping from the blade. 

Maddy looks back and forth between him and the other hallway – and rushes forward. The guy doesn’t even glance in her direction as she darts towards him  and – he’s still a good fifteen yards away – turns down the hall towards the Ambulance bay.

WIth Maddy’s success, the rest follow, both Kat and Jules running and slipping down the hallway after her – Rue is right behind them, but Skull Mask suddenly makes his move as she reaches the corner. 

He lunges towards her, lifting his knife. Rue shrieks and throws herself to the side, slipping and falling, rolling across the floor. 

“Rue!”’

Skull Mask scrambles for her, his knife making ear-piercingly high-pitched scraping noises as it slashes across the ground. His hand finds her ankle, grabbing at her shoe, and panic explodes in Rue’s chest. She pulls back her other foot and kicks Skull Mask in the face. His head snaps back, but his hand doesn’t loosen. 

He’s trying to get a hand on the knife again, trying to lift it when a white-sneakered leg comes stomping down on his wrist. 

“Let go of her, motherfucker!” Maddy screams. She stomps again and again. “Let go!”

Rue reaches forward, grabbing at the hand that’s holding her ankle. She digs her nails into his flesh, prying his fingers back. “Asshole!”

His hand is loosened enough for Rue to yank her foot back. He lunges for her again and this time she strikes back, punching at his head as hard as she can. Her fist slips into the fabric of his hood, tangling into the material, she hangs back as she scrambles away, and his hood comes off with her. 

Her eyes land on his face. 

What the fuck?!

She only gapes for a second and then she’s scrambling to her feet, Maddy’s arm is tucked under hers as she drags her away. 

“What the fuck?!”

Maddy and Rue reach the ambulance bay, sprinting through the automatic doors. Kat and Jules are huddled in the back of an ambulance, peeking through the door. 

Maddy and Rue scramble into the ambulance. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Maddy yells. 

“What?” Kat’s voice is panicked, “how?” 

“Keys are above the visor. Let’s go!”

“We can’t steal an ambulance–” Jules cuts in. 

“The fuck we can’t. Kat, go!”

Kat obeys and a moment later, the ambulance is pulling away from the hospital. Rue watches as Skull Mask walks out through the sliding doors, just as they turn into traffic. 

“What the fuck? Did you fucking see –”

“Yes, I saw.” Maddy says, teeth clenched. 

“It was – it was –”

“I saw. Drive, Kat!”

“Who was it?” Jules demands, grabbing at Rue’s sweatshirt. 

Rue lets out a breath, sinking on the bench in the back as the ambulance takes a turn and drives further into night. 

She hadn't known him well, only seen him a few times around the mall or at school. In fact, she might not have instantly picked up on who he was if it wasn’t for the fact that his face had been on the news every night for the past two days. 

“It was Virgil Torres.”

Chapter Text

Fez stares down at the body between himself and his brother, mouth agape.  

“What the fuck? !” Ash is hunched over, one hand on his knee, the other, grasping the gun he’d just used to kill the fucker – for the second time – is shaking. 

Fezco forces slow breaths, trying to calm the panic, the urge to join his brother in the mini meltdown he’s having next to the – thankfully still – body on the pavement.

His mind flips through the scenario, trying to find some sense in this, some logic– he’d just shot that fucker in the head – seen his brains blown out on the pavement – nd then he’d seen him sit up and reach for his knife again. 

That shit just didn’t fuckin’ happen. 

It’s unsatisfying; the way he can’t reason out the sight of a man comin’ back to fuckin’ life on the ground infront of him – but his muddled brain is finally able to piece together one very absolute state of action – he needs to fuckin’ move. 

Whatever the fuck is going on here – he needs to get himself and Ash – and Lexi – away from it. Right now. 

“C’mon.” He says. He’s flipping himself back into survival mode, swallowing down the static in his chest; forcing himself back into his body and into ready action. “Ash–” Fez’s voice is sharp. 

His brother looks up at him, eyes wide and panicked. 

“We gotta go.” 

He turns back into the store. Lexi’s standing in the middle of the store, pale and shocked, big eyes blinking at the fucker out there on the ground. 

She’d been acting strangely since she ran in here and it’s lowkey freaking him out. The scrape on her leg had startled him, seeing blood on her set his instincts on edge, made his adrenaline spike. She’d been so rattled.  

His offer to clean her up was an effort to tend to the nasty looking abrasion, as much as it had been an attempt to hold her still long enough to get her to chill. She’d been twitchy and squirmy under his hands as he’d gently cleaned the laceration – he could feel her eyes on his face and it made him fuckin’ nervous. 

Almost as nervous as he’d been at feeling the smooth texture of her skin under his palms.

“Howard,” He says, reaching to cup her arm and pull her to the side, trying to draw her attention away from the body on the ground outside. . 

“Lexi…” He murmurs. She doesn’t respond. “Lexi!” She shakes herself. “C’mon. We gotta go.”

“I…” Lexi blinks, still lost, like she’s underwater. “I don’t…”

“‘S okay,” He tells her, trying to keep his voice low and soothing. Ash is grabbing a duffle bag from behind one of the shelves in the freezer, the one they keep ready for emergencies, he shoves the book he’d been reading into it and zips it. 

“We can’t stay here, Lexi.” He drops his hand to hers and sighs with relief as she lets him lace his fingers through hers. Her hand is small in his, delicate and soft, fingers trembling slightly. 

“Got it?” He asks Ashtray, who tosses him a second duffel. He shoulders it and leads Lexi out of the store. He waits while Ash pulls down the security gate and locks the padlock, his eyes on the still body. It’s not moving, but he ain’t fuckin’ gonna wait for it to deicide to get up ‘n walk around. 

Fez tucks Lexi into the backseat of the car, while Ash loads the duffle bags in the trunk. She still hasn’t said anything and she’s starting to freak him out. His gaze moves over her pale face and for a second he wants to reach in and squeeze her hand – tell her everything’s gonna be okay – but the sound of Ash slamming the trunk brings him back to reality. He shuts the back door and slides into the front seat, just as Ash jumps into the front seat.

He starts the engine and backs it up, swerving the wheel to readjust the car and pull out. 

“Fez!” Ash says, low and panicked. Fez looks over his shoulder to where Ash is pressed against the glass of the passenger window. He sees immediately what Ash is looking at. The body on the ground is starting to twitch and shake. 

Fez throws the Caddy into Drive and peels out of the Dairy parking lot, tires squealing. 

---

“I'm telling you, it was him!”

“The dead kid?” The blue-uniformed officer leans back in the creaky brown chair, the wheels slipping slightly under the movement. His narrowed gaze flicks back and forth, darting between the girls crowded in front of him.

“Yes!” Rue exclaims. “Virgil Torres. It was him! ”

The officer sighs. “The one the sheriff shot? ”

Rue growls in frustration. 

Their escape from the hospital had been desperate. Kat had speed through the local neighborhoods recklessly, taking turns randomly and haphazardly, while the rest of the girls held on as best they could in the back of the ambulance.

“What do you mean, it was Virgil?” Jules had shrieked in response to Rue’s pronouncement.

“It was the fucking psycho killer! The one who sliced all those people up in the mall!”

He’s dead!” Jules had been clutching the railing of the bench she’d been crouched on, staring in shock. 

“No fucking duh!” 

Now, the girls are piled into the police station, desperately trying to convince the bored-looking small town cop that there was really a dead psycho running around and had killed multiple people at the hospital. 

“Yes!” Maddy snaps. “What’s not clicking?”

A figure appears next to them suddenly, making the entire group jump in unison. Cal Jacobs leans over the desk and picks up a folder, frowning. He flips it open to reveal a photograph, turning it to show them the image: Virgil, lying on a metal surface, eyes closed: obviously dead. “ This kid is the one you saw?”

“Yes!” 

He stares at them then slowly exchanges a look with the cop at the desk. 

“Okay,” He says slowly. He takes a seat at another desk opposite them. “Okay, girls.” 

He pulls a sheet of paper out of the stack next to him. “I can try to get this down.” He holds his pen above the paper. “Would you say he was more Dawn of the Dead or Night of the Living Dead? 

“Mr. Jacobs–” Jules starts. 

“You don’t believe us?” Rue gapes. 

“Look, girls.” Cal says, in a condescending tone that makes Rue grit her teeth. “We’ve had reports of copycats running around in masks all weekend. We just got a call from the hospital, the lady sounded all worked up–”

“Yeah – we were there! ” Maddy insists. “We saw him. There were bodies! ”

Cal smiles again in that smug way that makes Rue want to scratch it off his face. “Everyone’s been on edge since the mall stabbings, but, I promise girls, we’re taking care of it. Everything’s under control.”

“Mr. Jacobs, we’re telling the truth!”

Sheriff Jacobs looks at Jules. “I think the best idea for you girls is to go home and get some rest. You’ve all had a stressful couple of days and –”

“This is bullshit!” Rue snaps, standing quickly. “People are dying! ”

“And we have your report, right here.”

“Fuck –”

“Hey, young lady!” The other officer sputters. “Do not test us–”

“So sorry,” Rue seethes. “I don’t know what came over me.” She turns and marches out, the other girls rise one by one and follow her. 

Outside, the autumn air has taken on a stinging chill. It’s growing dark, the late October sun slinking low enough that the streetlamps have blinked on. The group huddles by the ambulance. “What the fuck do we do now?” Kat demands. 

“I don’t know,” Jules says. “They didn’t believe us – the cops didn’t believe us!” 

“Your boyfriend’s daddy basically called us crazy and told us to fuck off –”

“That’s not fucking helpful right now, Rue!”

“We need to go,” Maddy says. “Get the fuck out of here.”

Jules shakes her head. “We should stay! We’ll be safer closer to the police station. What if that psycho shows up again?”

Maddy holds up a revolver. “Then we’ll be ready.”

“What the fuck?!”

“Did you – did you steal a cop’s gun?!” Rue stares at Maddy, stunned and slightly impressed.

“Are you out of your mind?” Kat gasps. 

“They didn’t believe us. We’re on our own.” Maddy says, folding her arms across her chest, gun dangling from her fingers. 

Rue closes her eyes, wrapping her hands around the back of her neck. Insane…

A soft humming drifts down the road. Rue’s eyes blink open. What the fuck? She looks around.

“You always hurt the one you love…” 

There’s a girl sitting on the curb, head down, singing to herself. Rue frowns. It’s dark, and there’s a psycho running around. She glances at the other girls, who are still arguing. Kat and Jules demand that Maddy take the gun back, who is adamant that she’ll do no such thing. Rue crosses the road, approaching the girl. 

“You always hurt the one you love”

“Hey,” she calls out, “hey, are you okay?”

“The one you shouldn’t hurt”

It’s an unfamiliar song, something that sounds like it’s from a long time ago, something off an oldies station. “Look, there’s a psycho dude out tonight, you should probably not be wandering around.” She reaches the girl's side. “Hey…” The girl looks up. Her eyes are dark, landing on Rue with an intensity that is immediately alarming. A slow smile slowly curls her mouth. 

The girl's arm lashes out towards Rue’s feet, something sharp glinting in the light. 

Rue feels the sting across her the back of her ankle before she realizes what’s happening. She stumbles back and the girl throws herself at her. “What the fuck?” She screams. She grabs at the girl’s arms just before she can bring down – a fucking razor? – on her face. “Get off of me, you fucking fuck!”

The bitch is flailing, struggling to get her arm free. Rue brings her feet up and kicks her back. The psycho grabs at Rue’s shoe, slashing hard. “Fucking bitch!” Rue tries to kick her off again. 

“Bang!”

The psycho sways slightly, the slumps over, falling across Rue’s knees. She scrambles back, kicking at the body. “What the fuck – what the fuck!”

She stares across the street. Jules is standing there, holding the gun that Maddy had stolen, staring at Rue with shocked eyes. 

“What the fuck?”

Rue clambers to her feet and runs back to the group. She throws her arms around Jules. “Fuck…Fuck…thank you.’

“Yeah…you’re welcome.” Jules says faintly. 

“Okay, we gotta get the fuck outta here.” Maddy says frantically. 

“Fez.” Rue says, faintly. She’s eyeing the gun in Jules’ hand. “We gotta go to Fezco’s.”

Maddy looks at her. “ Fez? ”

Rue nods. “He’s got, like, a shit load of guns. We can get armed and protect ourselves.”

Jules pulls away, “but the cops…” She says weekly. 

“You always hurt the one you love.”  

All four girls freeze.  

“ The one you shouldn’t hurt… ”

Across the road, the girl is climbing to her feet, holding the razor outstretched in her hand. A smile slowly spreads across her face. 

“Go!” Maddy yells. They turn, running and scrambling to get back into the ambulance. Kat starts it up and slams on the gas. 

“Go, go, go, go!” Rue yells, crouching in front of the door, watching as the girl makes her way down the road after them, twirling the razor in her hand, singing to herself. 

---

Ash slams into the house first, gun in hand, duffle over his shoulder. Fezco brings up the rear behind Lexi, making sure they’re both safely inside before he gives a quick sweep of his empty front lawn and shuts the door firmly. He spends a few extra seconds locking and double checking the various deadbolts.

As soon as he’s inside, Ash rushes to the laundry room. Fez doesn’t have to guess to know that little brother is going for his favorite shotgun. He hears the dryer open and Ash begin to root around for the shells. 

Lexi is waiting awkwardly in the doorway of the living room, looking between the hallway Ash had disappeared down and Fez as he chains up the front door. “Hey,” He says. “You can, uh, grab a seat.” He directs her to the sofa. The same one she’d sat on, years back, the first and only time she’d been there. He wonders if she remembers it. 

“You good?” He asks. She is still so pale, Fezco’s starting to wonder if she’s in shock or something. “You want some water?”

Lexi glances up at him, then shakes her head. “I’m okay.”

Fez looks away for a second, pushing down the rush of frustration. She’d been doin’ that shit when she’d first shown up at the store earlier too. She isn’t okay. That’s really fucking obvious. And it’s starting to really piss him off that she won’t stop insisting that she is.

“Yo, for real…” He crouches down in front of her. “You ain’t doin’ so good right now.” 

Her big bambi eyes meet his. She bites her lip and Fez’s gut tightens at the gesture, idiotically distracted for a second. He refocuses, trying to convey openness on his face. 

“It’s just…everything’s been so strange since last night.” she whispers, her dark eyes are watching him closely. 

Fezco’s brow furrows. “Your head?” He reaches out, brushing his fingertips against her forehead, stroking her bangs away from her face. 

Color tinges her cheeks. Fez’s pulse spikes.

“Yeah,” she says, her voice still low, barely above a whisper. “I think–”

“Fez!” A shriek comes from the door, combined with a series of banging. “Fezco!”

Fez stands, eyes snapping to Ashtray, who’s rushed back down the hallway, shotgun in hand. 

He shakes his head at Ash, pulls his pistol from his waistband. It’s definitely Rue, but he’s not taking any fucking chances right now. 

“Fezco!” She yells again. More furious pounding comes from the door. “Fezco?! You have to be home right now – I am not fucking around – let us in! ” She sounds desperate. 

Fez places his hand on the lock, peering through the hole “Rue?”

“Of course it’s fucking me!” She shrieks. “Fez, I swear to god, you’ve got to let us in!”

He can see them clearly now – Rue and Jules, and then Maddy and Kat. He throws a look back at Ash, who cocks his gun. He undoes the lock and opens the door. 

“Fucking thank you –” 

Rue pushes past him – “Yo, what the fuc–” – the other girls stream in after her. “Rue, what the fuck are you–” He blinks. “Is that an ambulance?”

“Dude – you guys are never going to fucking believe what is happening right now–”

“Did you steal a fucking ambulance? ”

“You guys need to listen to me–” Rue stumbles through the foyer, ignoring Ash who is still holding his gun at the ready. The other girls are looking around, eyes widening with shock when they spot the guns both boys are sporting. 

“Yo, just calm–”

“Nooo, man, you gotta hear what’s been – Lexi?”

Lexi is looking back over the back of the sofa. “Hey Rue.” She says softly.

Rue stares at her ex-best friend like she’s an apparition. “What are you doing here?”

“I was –” 

“Yo, there’s no time for that shit.” Ash interrupts. “We got some real ass fucking problems.’

“But how did she–” Rue looks around, confused.

“Rue!” Fez snaps. “I ain’t fucking playin’ with you.There’s some shit goin’ down and we ain’t gonna –”

“Oh right!” Rue bounces back to her original train of thought. “Dude, there are fucking zombies everywhere!” She looks back and forth between Fezco and Ash. “I’m not fucking lying! We just saw, like, two of them!”

She starts pacing. “Sheriff Jacobs doesn't believe us. But we’ve got to start making provisions. I figured the store would be the best place, but here’s good to store up too–”

“Rue–” Fez interrupts. 

“I’m not lying, Fez, I swear to god–”

“I believe you.”

Rue stops pacing. “You do?”

The other girls have crowded into the living room. Maddy drops down on the sofa next to Lexi. Kat on her other side. Jules settles into an armchair, watching Rue rant. 

“Yeah, fuck, just calm down. I told you there’s some shit going down.”

Rue stares, then looks back at Ash. “You too?”

“Yeah, just shot a guy in the fuckin’ head twice ‘n he’s still runnin’ around out there.”

Rue gapes at him. “Holy shit.”

“Just take a seat. We still figurin’ shit out right now.” He looks at Lexi again. 

Ash comes in and drops on the sofa across from them, balancing his shotgun across his knees. “Tell us what happened.” 

The girls set in, immediately talking over each other as they start telling how they’d been attacked in the hospital. 

“I was kicking the shit out of him–” Maddy sneers. 

“And I pulled his fucking mask off – it was Virgil Torres.”  

Lexi lets out a gasp. “What?”

Rue nods. She’s obviously terrified, but her eyes take on a distinctive sparkle at getting a reaction to her big reveal.

“Yep!”

“But he’s–”

“Yep!”

“He’s dead! Like, in the morgue, dead. He had an autopsy!”

“I know!” Rue crows. Fez kicks her ankle. “I mean, I know. It’s insane.”

“This is – this is impossible… ” Lexi mumbles, shaking her head. 

“Oh, and then there was the girl! ” Rue continues, the horrified look taking over her face once again. She goes on to describe their futile efforts at the police station. The attack by the creepy girl – “She was fucking trying to murder me with a fucking razor” – and how Jules had shot her to save Rue – before watching the girl climb to her feet after getting a hole blasted through her chest. 

Fez’s feeling of dread burrows deeper the more they talk. This fuckin’ shit– he’s already so fuckin’ done with the undead. 

“Was she singing?” 

Everyone turns to Ash, who’s still seated on the sofa. He’s been listening to the girls as they tell their story with a darkening look on his face. 

“Uh…yeah? How’d you know?” Rue stares at him. 

“It was, like, an old song?”

Rue nods. 

Something about the way Ash is asking the questions sends a shiver down Fezco’s spine. His brother is thinking about something – and from the looks of things, whatever idea he’s chasing is going to be something he’s not going to want to hear. 

“Yeah, it was, like an oldie. Something my grandma would listen to.” 

Ash stands, walks out of the room. He’s gone only for a second before he reappears with a book. He slams it on the coffee table. 

“Was it her?”

Everyone crowds around it. The book is a scrapbook. A newspaper article is pasted to the open page. 

Rue leans in to take a look – and gasps. “What the fuck?”

“Is it her?”

She nods, eyes wide. “Who is that?”

“That,” Ash says, “is Ruby Lane.”

“Who the fuck is Ruby Lane?” Maddy asks, eyes wide on the book, craning her neck to try and read the headline. 

“She murdered her boyfriend, her friends, then killed herself. Slashed her wrists. While singing.“

“What the fuck…” Maddy gasps as Fezco cringes.

“Jesus fuck…”

“Why didn’t I see this on the news?” Lexi asks, leaning over the scrapbook again, eyes wide.

“Because it happened years ago.”  Ash says. He looks around. “Ruby is one of East Highland’s killers. Along with Virgil.”

He opens the book to another section. “Look. Sixteen years ago. Camp Nightwing.” 

“I remember that.” Lexi says softly. 

“My mom’s sister was there that day…” Kat adds. “It messed up my family for years.”

Ash nods. “And here–” he flips to another page. He points to the newspaper clipping taped inside. Local Milkman Slashes Housewives.

Fezco’s stomach drops as his eyes land on the blurry black and white photograph on the yellowed page. Lexi gasps, lifting a hand to cover her mouth in shock. 

It was that fucker from the store. 

Staring blankly at them from underneath the headline proclaiming the psycho’s murders. He clocks the date on the page. 1948.

What the fuck? 

Ash looks to make sure that his brother has gotten the importance of this one before he continues flipping through the book. 

The Humpty Dumpty k*ller.  

Billy Barker, an 8-year-old kid who killed his family with a baseball bat while they slept.

A gifter who stabbed a group of girls to death. 

A man who’d drowned a bunch of kids in a lake one day.  

More and more and more death and destruction. 

“It happens in East Highland over and over. Normal people turn into psychos. It’s been happening for centuries.”  

He opens on a page ripped from a history book, a drawing of a man in pilgrim clothing. “Here’s the pastor, Cyrus Miller. He was the first one recorded. Back in 1666.”

“I know him,” Jules says. “He killed kids, right? And, um, cut out their eyes.”

Lexi stands. Fez can see the shiver that passes through her. She pushes past the others crowded around Ash’s book and heads towards the kitchen. Fez rises and follows. 

“Yo, you okay?”

Lexi stops in the kitchen and turns, a forced, tight smile on her face. 

“Yeah, I’m fine–”

“You don’t have to say that. If it ain’t true.” Fez tells her, trying to hold back his frustration. “This is all fucked up, Howard. It’s okay if you ain’t okay.”

Lexi smiles weakly, leaning back against the counter. “People are trying to kill us…” She says with a helpless shrug. 

“Undead people. If you believe my brother.”

“Do you believe it?”

“I mean…I seen some shit today that I’d never have believed before, so to be honest, I ain’t too sure what I believe.

Lexi nods, absorbing that. She’s still leaning back against the counter, a pensive look on her pretty face. Fez mirrors her posture next to her, leaning back, watches her as she turns over something in her mind, trying to figure out if he should push it. 

“Look, Howard. Whatever shit is goin’ on right now, it’s gonna be okay. I swear. You gonna be okay.” 

She looks up at him, something akin to surprise in those big eyes of hers. Fez suddenly realizes how close he’s gotten to her, a fraction closer and his denim clad leg would be touching her bare thigh. Fez remembers touching her leg earlier, how soft her skin had been. His heart beats faster. She’s so close she almost has to dip her head all the way back to meet his eye. She’s the perfect height to tuck under his chin. It’s a fucking weird thought and he’d be punching himself for it, if he could focus…

Something clouds over Lexi’s face. For a second her lip twitches, as if she wants to say something, but she just shrinks back into herself. Fez reaches out, unable to stop himself, gently touching her arm. “Hey, I mean it, Howard. I’m not gonna let anything happen to – to any of you.” Lexi goes still under his touch, lips parting slightly. 

His thumb gently strokes the soft skin of her arm, before he realizes what he’s doing. He drops his hand quickly, tucking it into the pocket of his jeans and straightens. Face flushing, he turns back towards the door to where he can see Ash and the girls still pouring over the scrapbook.

“It's Sarah Fier.  She's turning East Highlanders into killers.”“Are you serious?” Rue stares at Ash. “No one thinks that witch shit is real.” 

“Yeah, it's something babysitters make up to scare kids.” Maddy interjects. 

“Listen –” Ash says, frustration bleeding into his tone. “Sarah Fier was hanged for witchcraft and ever since she was executed, she's been possessing people,  turning them into killers to take revenge on the town.  

“Like the rhyme.” Fez calls back into the living room. 

Ash nods frantically. “Yeah, exactly:

"Before the witch's final breath,

she found a way to cheat her death."  

"By cutting off her cursed hand,  

she kept her grip upon our land."  

"She reaches from beyond the grave  

to make good men her wicked slaves."  

“This is real. This is what’s happening. East Highland isn’t just some hotbed for psychos. All these massacres are connected to Sarah Feir. The witch's curse is real.”

“Wait.” Fez steps forward into the doorway, frowning. “Let's assume that the witch

has been possessing people for some sort of messed-up vendetta.  This isn't the same as what happened at the mall. Something different is happening.”

“Something way worse,” Rue pipes up. 

“RIght,” Maddy says, she looks back and forth between Fez and Ash, “We have three of her killers coming after us. That’s different from the other times…” She looks at Ash, “right?”

Ash frowns, looking back at the book. 

“Right.” Rue says, nodding. “So why is she so mad at us?”

“I saw her.”

They all turn to look at Lexi. She’s so pale, her eyes are huge and dark as she looks back at them. Fez steps a little closer to her.

“What?”

“Last night.” She lets out a shuddery breath. “I saw the witch.” 

Ash is scrambling to his feet. “What happened?” He demands

“After the accident. I was in the woods and I was trying to get away from the car and I just saw…all kinds of things. I saw the witch. It was like a vision.”

Fez stares at her, mouth dropping open slightly. 

“A vision?” Ash asks, frowning. He’s obviously trying to come up with some kind of logic for that. “What did you see?” 

“I saw…” Lexi’s voice is trembling. She’s obviously shaken. “I saw her body, hanging from a tree. Her hand when she cut it off…other figures wearing robes…some writing? Symbols or something…” Fez bites his lip hard. Fuck…

“She was angry.” Lexi whispers to the quiet room.

Ash’s eyes are flickering. “Did you see anything before the vision? Hear anything?”

“I heard…I heard someone say my name.” She looks around. “I-I’ve been hearing that a lot actually.” 

“Like voices?” Rue asks, staring at her. Lexi blushes. Fez glares at Rue. 

“Yeah…I thought I was going crazy…”

“You ain’t crazy.” Fez snaps before Rue can get a word in.

“Okay…” Ash steps forward. “I think we gotta go back to the woods.”

“What?!” Six voices yelp in unison. 

“That’s where this fucking started. If we wanna do something about it, we need to go figure out what happened.”

“Are you serious?” Maddy yelps. 

“There ain’t no other way. Otherwise we just sit here and wait for those fuckers to show up.”

“Yo,” Fez says lowly. “Ion know if rushing off into the woods with a bunch of undead psychos after us is the best idea.” 

“He’s right.” Lexi says. Fez turns to her, eyebrows raised. “Something happened out in those woods. If we can figure it out, maybe we can stop it.”

“The fuck?”

Ash is nodding. “Okay, yes!” He drifts back to the sofa where he’s left his shotgun leaning against the wall. 

Lexi follows him. “Yo!” Fez says, exasperated. “You ain’t going. None of y’all are. Y’all gonna sit yo’ asses down and wait for us to go check it out.”

“No way!” Lexi throws him a startled glare. “I need to be there!”

Fezco’s eyebrows shoot up at her sudden ferocity. “There’s no way y’all are going.”

“Right!” Rue says. She flops down on the sofa. “Imma stay here.” 

“Fine.” Ash says. “Hope you guys have fun here by yo’selves when the psychos show up.”

This bit of information seems to be a new perspective for both Rue and Fez. Rue’s face drops, while Fez glowers.

“Fine,” he says eventually.

“If I’m coming, I get a gun.” Rue declares. 

“No!” Ash, Fez, and Lexi all turn in unison, glaring at her. She holds up her hands in surrender. 

“Jeez…”

---

One by one, each of the girls decide to join the others and head out towards the woods. The idea of holing up and hiding from the killers is pretty good, until they realize they’d be there by themselves.

Lexi can see Fezco getting more and more frustrated as they bicker over whether or not they should take the risk of splitting up the group or sticking together. Rue chimes in with some very unhelpful horror movie statistics on what happens when people choose to stay behind. 

In the end, they all pile out of the door. Fez and Ash are both strapped and Maddy still has the revolver she’d stolen from the Sheriff’s office, tucked into the back of her jeans. Once outside, another argument develops, because, obviously, they can’t all fit in the Caddy. Fezco isn’t about to be riding around town in a stolen car, especially not one as noticeable as an ambulance – eventually though, they all end up climbing into the back of the oversized vehicle. 

Lexi sits on the bench, curling her legs up to her chest as she watches Fezco talk to Ashtray, his head tilted as he listens to his brother explain something. 

Fezco keeps surprising her. 

Honestly, even twelve hours ago, Lexi would have fully expected him to abandon her at the Dairy, leaving her behind to flee with his brother. But he’d taken her with him – to his house, even. She doesn’t get it – why Fezco seems so concerned, why he keeps hovering, asking her if she’s okay –

The memory of Fez in the kitchen, his warm, calloused palm on her arm as his slow, rumbly voice tells her that nothing’s going to happen to her – 

Lexi’s cheeks bleed red and she ducks her head slightly, heartbeat picking up in her chest. 

Her eyes flick over Fezco, his blue eyes are narrowed in focus as he talks to Ash lowly. Her eyes trail along the tendons flexing in his hands as he runs his fingers along the silvery scar on his scalp; linger the easy posture of his broad shoulders as he leans back against the wall. 

She can feel more heat pouring into her cheeks and looks away quickly. 

The woods are pitch black when they reach the sight of the accident, they have to peer closely into the woods as they approach, looking for the spot where Tucker’s car had driven into the brush. When Kat pulls the truck over, Lexi jumps from the back, landing on the dark pavement. Moonlight spills down through the trees, the only source of light other than the harsh overhead fluorescents from the ambulance. Fez climbs out next to her. Lexi can’t stop herself from tucking herself as close to him as she can without making him aware of it. 

The woods are fucking scary, sue her. 

The group troops down the slope towards the area where Tucker’s BMW had crashed. Ash turns to Lexi. “Okay, retrace your steps. What happened?” He demands. 

Lexi looks around. “I was…here.” She says, walking a few feet to where she thinks she had climbed out of the car. “And I was…on my knees. Crawling. My nose was bleeding.” She looks back at the group. Fez nods, encouraging her. Lexi drops to her knees. Ash and Fez lean down too. “I – I felt something.” She remembers out loud. She presses her hands into the deep, soft moss. 

Fez sticks his hands into the plant matter as well…”Is that…chains?” He tugs on the metal. Ash and Lexi pull too. A long rope of mossy chain comes slowly out of the earth… A lock is hanging from the middle. Fez grasps it, turns it so that it can be seen in the light of Ash’s flashlight.

A name is etched into the metal in crude, rough writing.

Sarah Fier

“Holy shit!” 

“Lexi drops the chain and scrambles back. “Oh my god!”

She watches, frozen with terror as Fez and Ash frantically push more moss out of the way. A flash of white can be seen under the flashlight – a skull.

“What?” Rue demands from where she’s huddled with Jules a good ten feet away.

“It’s her. ” Ash says hoarsely. “The witch. It’s her grave.”

“Noooo…no no no no…” Maddy gapes from the side. “That is not good!”

“No wonder the witch is pissed at us!” Rue yelps. “I'd be pissed too!”  

“Lexi disturbed her grave.” Ash nods. “Now she's sending her henchmen after us.”

It’s you… The whisper comes out of nowhere. The witch’s voice. Lexi freezes. 

“Henchmen?” Fez asks. “As in every one of them fuckers in yo’ book is coming after us?” 

“Okay, look” Maddy drops to her knees next to them. “She “disturbed her grave” right? What if we…” un -disturb” it?” 

“That…might work…” Rue says, looking around. “We could put the bones back in the grave, bury it again, say we’re sorry?”

“Yeah, Ion think a “sorry” ‘s gonna cut it.”

It’s you! Lexi’s heart pounds, eyes sifting around frantically. 

“Do you have any better ideas?” Rue glares at Ash. “Quick! Get something to wrap her bones!”

“Guys…” Jules calls out. Lexi looks up at her. She’s still standing on the edge of the circle, almost out of the light. She’s staring into the woods. “I – I think there’s someone out there.”

“Here…” Maddy and Rue wrap up the bones, tucking it back down, pulling the moss over it . “There.” Rue leans down, her face near the covered body. 

“Sorry.” She whispers.

There is a long still beat of silence. 

“Did it work?” Fez asks, looking around. The group looks at each other. 

Jules lets out a scream. “Run!”

It’s you!  

She swoops down , her pale face right in Lexi’s. Lexi’s mouth opens in a silent scream, as her gaze locks into the witch’s eyes. 

They burn into hers, furious and dark. 

She’s paralyzed. 

---

“Run!”

Fez jumps to his feet, just as the hulkling figure bursts into the clearing. A dirty, bloodstained burlap sack covers his face, a huge, crude-looking ax held over his shoulder as he runs, poised to strike. The figure sprints past Jules and straight towards them –

The group is scattering, screaming as they flee. Fez turns to run, then jerks to a stop as he realizes that Lexi isn’t moving. His eyes fall on her face – she’s shaking – her body rigid and seizing, her eyes rolling back. Blood runs from her nose as her mouth drops in a silent scream. 

The masked man is headed straight for her. 

Fezco’s stomach drops in horror. 

“Lexi!” 

He dives for her, tackling her to the ground just as the ax swings through the air, right where her head had been. 

“Thwonk!”

The ax lands in the tree right above them. The masked figure grunts and struggles to unwedge it. 

Under him, Lexi gasps, blinking as she awakens from whatever spell she’d been under. “Fez-?”

“Come on!” He yells – he yanks her to her feet and drags her away as fast as he can. Lexi stumbles next to him, nearly falling, but he can’t slow down. They burst through the trees and sprint across the street to where the rest of the group is piled in the back of the ambulance.

Fezco grabs her by the waist and almost throws her inside. “Go!” He yells at Kat, who throws the ambulance into drive and peels away. The teenagers crowd around the back door, peering through the glass as the masked figure makes it to the top of the hill and to the street. He stops in the middle of the road, watching the ambulance drive off, holding the ax in both hands. 

A chill runs down Fez’s spine at the sight.

“That’s the Camp Nightwing killer!” Rue shrieks, eyes panicked.

“That was a fucking bust,” Maddy mutters. 

“Yeah, because it’s not as fucking easy as putting the bones to rest.” Ash snaps. “There’s gotta be more fucking too it.”

“Well, figure it out, witch-nerd!” Maddy yells. “How do we not fucking die?!”

“They’re not coming for us!” 

For the second time that night, the group turns to look at Lexi. She’s crouched by the door, shaking hard as she grips the handle. She looks from Fez to the rest of the group and back.

“They’re not coming for us. They’re coming for me.”

Chapter Text

Lexi  stares back at the confused faces that snapped towards her instantly after her whispered confession. The back of the ambulance is silent.

“I saw her again.” She says. “The witch. She...I disturbed her grave.”

She closes her eyes. The witch’s face – pale, angry, wisted with hate – flashes in her memory.

It's you.

Lexi shudders.

“She wants me.”

“She’s right.” Jules says slowly, she looks around. “Nightwing ran right by me.”

Next to her, Fez is watching her closely. “He went right for you. It’s like he didn’t even see the rest of us.”

“But wait – we got attacked,” Kat calls back from the driver’s seat. “The others came after us –”

“Wait,” Maddy says, “They were after Rue, not us, maybe–”

Ash’s head flips to Rue, a frown on his face. He studies Rue from head to toe, eyes narrowed. “…what’s that?”

Rue looks down at her feet, where Ash is glaring. “...My shoes?”

“Is that…blood?” Maddy asks, her voice rising.

A deep brown stain covers the toe of Rue’s shoe. She frowns, bending slightly to look at it.

Lexi remembers: blood on her face, running down her chin, Rue came running up to say she’s sorry…

“It’s mine.” She murmurs. Fez turns to her sharply.

“What?”

“It’s my blood. From last night.”

Rue gasps, “Holy shit…” She holds her foot out away from her, as far as she can get it.

Ash is nodding frantically. “You were bleeding — bad. You bled on the bones. And now the witch wants more of your blood.”

“They were following Lexi’s blood?” Maddy sounds horrified. “Like fucking Jaws or something?”

Lexi’s hand grips the railing of the ambulance so hard she thinks she might be able to bend the metal. She looks up at Fezco, his eyes are flicking around the back of the ambulance, from Ash to her frantically. She can’t read the expression on his face. His poster is stiff and his jaw set.

“What do we do?” He says.  “How the fuck do we stop it?”

“Yeah, what did they do in Jaws?” Rue asks.

“Well, for one, they probably didn’t go swimming with the fucking bait.” Maddy bites, gesturing to Lexi.

“She’s not fucking bait.” Fez snaps at her.

“Yeah, she is.” Ash speaks up. Lexi swallows, her eyes darting around the bed of the ambulance.

Fez narrows his eyes at his brother, mouth opening to argue.

 “Look,” Ash says, “I have an idea. If she’s the one they’re after…” he nods towards Lexi.

“Let’s give them what they want.”

—

They pull over at the one of the convenience stores that straddles the border between East and West Highland.

Ash’s plan involves gasoline, lots of it. He and Fezco fill up all the empty tanks they can buy, stacking them in the back of the ambulance.

Lexi breathes in the sweet, autumn air, leaning against the step of the ambulance as she gazes up at the starry night sky. Maddy and Kat disappear into the store and return with an armload of snacks – sugary and salty and Lexi’s stomach rumbles. It’s weird to be reminded of something as mundane as hunger.

A hand appears in her peripheral vision, offering a bag of mini powdered donuts. Lexi looks up. Fez is sitting down on the step next to her, two bottles of water placed between them.

She reaches inside the bag for a donut, slightly off center. She’s been feeling that a lot around him. He sits next to her on the step of the ambulance, lighting up a joint with a flicker of a flame that briefly lights up his face. Lexi’s stomach flutters at the sight of his profile in the dark.

“You think his plan is going to work?” She asks.

Fez lets out a low laugh. “Ion know. The kid can come up wit’ some crazy shit — but honestly, he’s probably the best chance we got.”

The best chance we got. She surreptitiously studies his face in the dim light of the store, her heart beating faster. He blows out smoke, Lexi watches as it curls around his face and drifts into the night air.

“Lexi?”

Her head snaps around, startled. “Tucker?”

He didn’t come to this area of town, ever. But there he is, ambling across the small, rundown parking lot, a scowl on his handsome face. Her stomach twists. “What are you doing here?”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Tucker snaps, his eyes are narrowed at Fezco. “Are you fucking serious? This piece of trash–?”

“Shut up, Tucker!” She hisses. “It’s none of your business – you need to leave!”

“No!” Tucker’s head jerks back to her.  “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Lexi, and you’re with this guy?” He spits, towering over her. “Nate said he saw you riding your bike around his place earlier…I told him there was no fucking way you’d stoop that low” he bares his teeth at her. “Guess he was right —  he always said you were a little East Highland slut–”

“Yo’” Fez had been sitting back, watching Tucker as he seethed, but he’s on his feet immediately. Yo’ need to be shuttin’ yo fuckin’ mouth, playboy”

The back of the ambulance opens. “Fez, you good?” Ash calls down.

Tucker laughs, his eyes are narrowed to slits at Fez. “I’m not going to shut my mouth about my fucking girlfriend —“

“I’m not your girlfriend!” Lexi snaps. She doesn’t miss the flick of Fezco’s eyes to hers, surprised.

Tucker lets out another laugh. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he spits, his voice dripping with mockery, “I thought all you wanted was a “break?” – Some “space,” right? Didn’t realize you were looking for an excuse to skip over to the slums and spread your legs for–”

Smack!

Tucker spins halfway around before he drops. Lexi blinks at his still body. Then looks over at Fezco, who’s shaking his hand out.

“Fuck ass pussy,” he mutters.

Lexi stares at him, mouth open.

“Okay, as much as I loved that –” Rue calls down from the ambulance, not bothering to fight off the smirk on her face. “We’ve got the plan worked out. And, um, we should really go before someone calls the cops. The last thing we need is to run into Sheriff Jacobs again tonight.”

—

Where Ash got the keys to East Highland High School, Fez doesn’t even want to know.

The empty halls echo with the sounds of their sneakers squeaking and clomping as they make their way through the building. They reach the office, where Ash slips inside and reappears  with his arms full of a box of clothing, a Lost & Found label printed neatly on the side. “We need to make sure we have no trace of Lexi’s blood on us. Not a drop.” He says as he lets the box fall to the floor.

“Oh, well there’s not much I can do about that,” Lexi mutters, wryly. She wraps her arms around her torso, leaning against the wall while they pull out various, mismatched pieces of clothing.

Fez grabs an oversized hoodie and sweatpants, eyeing her as she surveys the rest of them. He can’t tell if she’s pissed at him for knocking out her boyfriend — or ex-boyfriend? Maybe? He hates how fucking excited his stupid chest feels at the thought of Lexi dumping that loser. Tucker Blake was never fucking good enough for her, fuck ass bitch. 

Fez finds a room that looks like a science lab, rows of tables with important looking glass beakers and test tubes are visible in the dim light.

Lexi had bled in the woods, and had blood on her face when he’d tackled her. He can see the swipe of dark on the palms of his hands. He feels sick. He turns on the water, as hot as he can get it and scrubs, trying to remove the trace of blood from his skin. He examines the rest of his shirt. The navy long sleeve polo is almost too dark to see, but he’s pretty sure there’s a smear of dried blood on one sleeve.

His stomach turns. He grabs the back of his shirt and pulls it over his head, letting it fall to the floor.

Shit.

He scrubs his face with his hands.

“Oh, shit – sorry.”

His eyes snap to the door. Lexi is halfway inside, her mouth open. 

“Sorry,” she says again. “I didn’t–” she ducks her head, turning to leave.

“You good,” Fez says quickly. “Do you need to –”

“I don’t want to–”

“You ain’t,” he says firmly.

“I was just looking for somewhere to…

“You good,” he says. He grabs the hoodie and shrugs it on, zipping it quickly. He glances back at Lexi. Her eyes are wide, flicking from him to the floor, cheeks brilliantly red, even in the low lighting.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he says, rubbing the back of his head, his cheeks hot. 

“That’s okay.” Lexi’s voice is higher than he’s heard it before.

“You can, uh, if you need to…” He gestures for her to enter.

Lexi scurries inside, closing the door behind her.

“Sorry,” she says again.

“Nothin’ to be sorry for,” he mutters. His stomach is fluttering uncomfortably. Lexi’s carrying a little white first aid kit, which she rests on one of the tables and turns to him, shyly.

“I scraped my shoulder on the ground, I was just looking for some peroxide or something to clean it – I figured there might be some extra in the chem room.”

“Yeah, that’s good. That’s smart," he says. Lexi’s still looking at him, still with that slightly shy look on her face. Fez feels like he’s going crazy. He looks away, awkwardly.

He watches as she locates a bottle from one of the cabinets and pulls off the little denim jacket she’d been wearing and cranes her neck to examine the back of her shoulder.

“Do you need me to…” Fez asks. Lexi looks back at him, a bit uncertainly. “If you need help, I mean.”

“Oh, yeah, sure…” Lexi hesitates then turns, presenting her back to Fez. He swallows – this is the second time that day he’s had to steel himself at the thought of tending to Lexi Howard’s injuries. He grabs the bottle of peroxide and douses a cotton pad from the kit and gently presses it into the abrasion on her shoulder. She flinches slightly, but doesn’t shy away.

“Sorry about that,” He says, wincing.

“Not your fault,” she says, her voice slightly stilted.

“I mean, pretty this is from when I knocked you to the ground earlier, so, yeah, it kinda is.”

He hears Lexi let out a low laugh and smiles to himself.

“And, I, uh, also wanted to say sorry ‘bout the thing earlier, with your boyfriend.”

Lexi turns her head slightly, looking at him from the corner of her eye. “Ex..boyfriend.” She says quietly.

“Yeah?” He says, forcing himself to focus on plastering the Band-Aid over the scrape – and not on how impossibly soft her skin feels, or on the fact that Lexi was, seemingly, single. “He knows that?”

He can see Lexi make a face. “I should have been more direct with him – told him I didn’t want to see him anymore.”

A bolt of anger spikes through Fez’s blood. Annoyed, he takes a step back, letting his hands drop to his side. “Ain’t yo’ fault he need a fuckin’ notarized letter explainin’ that he gettin dumped.

Lexi smiles ruefully, shaking her head, “Really, I could have probably been clearer – I just told him all that bullshit about needing space and wanting to take a break –” She sighs. “That’s always been my problem with him, never telling him what I really want.”

Fez runs a hand over his head, raising his eyebrows slightly. “What?” She asks, cocking her head at him.

He hesitates, “I mean, that kinda seems like an issue wit’ you in general. Not saying what you want.”

For a second he braces himself, he can see Lexi’s temper flare – then she leans back against the table, sighing to herself.

“I guess…you’re not wrong.” She mutters.

“Ion mean it in a bad way.” Fez says. “You care a lot about other people, I seen that fo’ real. Sometimes it just seems like yo’ care too much. You put other people in front of yo’self too much. Never put yo’self first.”

Lexi’s looking at him, surprised. Fez can feel heat rising up the back of his neck. Now he’s fuckin’ done it – let her know that he been watchin’ her like a creep, following her with his eyes at parties as she’d trailed after her sister and her friends, always takin’ care of them. He cringes.

But Lexi’s looking at him, almost softly. “That’s always been…hard for me.” She admits; her voice is quiet.

“You gotta big heart, shorty.” he says, trying to inject some lightness into his voice, “you just gotta direct it atcho self more”

He watches her soft-looking lips twitch into a smirk, “You’re one to talk,” she says, teasingly, obviously relieved that he’d turned the tone of their conversation. “I’ve never seen anyone putting other people first more than you – with Ash and Rue –”

Fezco laughs, “Someone gotta be lookin’ after they messy asses. Both of ‘em be locked up by now.”

Lexi giggles and the sound of her laugh makes his heart clench in his chest. They’re standing close, nearly chest to chest. Fezco can smell her shampoo, sweet and warm and something heated and  heavy rolls through his chest. Lexi’s giggles subside and she tilts her head back, looking up at him. Fuck…

He can’t stop himself. He reaches out, hand brushing her waist. Lexi goes still, still looking up at him with those gorgeous dark eyes. He leans down, heart pounding. Lexi stretches up to him, raising herself on her toes sightly. His mouth brushes just so slightly against hers…

“Fez?!”

“Fuck!” He jerks his head back, eyes snapping to the door.

“Fez?” He can hear Ashtray yell again.

Lexi shrinks back, blushing hard. Fezco’s hand is still on her waist. “We should…”

“Yeah,” she agrees quickly, slipping back from him and grabbing the kit she’d left on the chemistry table. Fez follows her towards the door.

“Fez?” Ash is in the hall, his eyebrows shoot up when he sees them both emerge from the lab.

“We’re here.” He snaps, trying not to sound annoyed at his brother’s timing.

Ash smirks, “C’mon, we gotta get this show on the road.”

—

“Ready?” Ash asks. Ash, Fez, and Lexi kneeling on the floor of the Men’s Restroom. Around them, the girls are dumping gasoline around the bathroom, soaking the floor and sloshing it on the stalls and walls.

Lexi nods, straightening her shoulders. Fez’s jaw tightens. This is a fuckin’ insane plan and it’s way too fuckin’ dangerous for his liking.

Plus it’s gonna hurt Lexi. And he’s getting more and more pissed off with that idea.

Fez glances at Ashtray, who nods at him. He reaches out with his butterfly knife – carefully cleaned and sanitized with the peroxide from the chem lab – and drags it across her palm. Lexi gasps and winces. Fez cringes, his stomach turning. Blood blooms under the blade. Lexi pulls her hand back and makes a fist, watching as the viscous red liquid runs over her clenched fingers and into the bucket of water placed below.

“Perfect.” Ash says, peering into the metal container, where the dark red blood swirls in the water. He picks up a mop and sticks it inside, slowly stirring the mixture. “This is gonna work.”

They get to work, grabbing mops and slowly creating a bloody trail leading from the men’s room to the doors.

Fez kneels next to Lexi, gently wrapping up the wound he’d made on her hand. “Man…you havin’ a real tough day…”

Lexi stares at him, then bursts into giggles.

He bites his lip, trying not to smile. He looks up at her

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He says, his stomach twists. “You don’t have to, you know.  Don’t let the kid force you to do somethin’ you ain’t want to.”

“I can do it.” Lexi says, those big deer eyes o’ hers are narrowed. “I have to do it.”

He nods, trying to come up with the words that he wants to say to her–

“You should go,” She says, nodding towards the door. “It’s almost time.”

Fez hesitates. Lexi moves to the last stall, back in the corner next to the large central air vent. She pauses, hand on the door. “It’s gonna work,” she tells him, eyes still nervous. She shuts the door before he can say anything, locking the stall with a click. 

Fez hates this. He turns and leaves, slipping out of the bathroom, just as Ash comes running down the hallway.

“She’s here,” Ash whispers.

“Who?” Maddy asks.

“You always hurt the one you love…”

The voice echoes down the hallway. Fez freezes. He flattens himself against the wall, trying to peer around the corner enough to see the figure down the hall.

Heavy footsteps come from the other direction, the Psycho in the burlap sack and the ax is moving down the hall towards them. Nightwing.

Behind Ruby, the man in the blue coverall jumpsuit. The fucker who’d already been killed twice today. Jesus.&em>

And then from the other side, Skull Mask is also coming.

Every single one of those psychos are trudging down the hallway towards them. Fez throws a look at Ash. This better fucking work.&em>

His fingers tense on the lighter in his pocket, his heart pounding. Every single muscle in his body is taught with terror as Skull Mask walks right by him, slipping into the bathroom. He can’t fucking breathe –

Ruby slips in next, then Nightwing, then Coveralls…

They didn’t even glance at the teenagers that were stiffened against the wall in fear.

They were only after one thing.

Lexi.

He hears the door of one of the stalls slam open. Then another. Then another.

He’s paralyzed with fear – then –

Above them, the air vent grate slams open, falling to the floor. Lexi scrambles out, dropping to the floor, ‘Go, go, go, go!”

Rue slips a rope through the door handle, pulling a tight knot. Ash and Fez grab the bottles of gas and slosh the liquid on the floor, aiming for the crack under the door. Fez pulls out his lighter, flicking a flame to life then presses it into the wet tile flooring.

It catches instantly, spreading along the path of gas under the door where they lef the room soaking with the highly flammable liquid, Fez and Ash dash towards where the others are already pulling the rope tight, keeping it shut.

“Hold it!” Ash yells.

The fire has caught, Fez can hear screaming and banging on the other side of the door. He digs his palms into the rope pulling as hard as he can…

Whoosh!

He sees the flame shoot out from under the door as the pressure in the room explodes into a fireball. The rope grows slack.

“C’mon!” He grabs one of the fire extinguishers they’d raided from the hallways and heads into the bathroom.

Inside, it's a mess. Blood and gore splatters the walls and ceilings. Flames still flicker on pieces of flesh, lying in heaps on the floor. He aims the fire extinguisher at a few of the more healthy looking flames.

“Holy shit!” He says, looking around.

“I’d like to see those fuckers come back from this,” Rue cackles, spinning around, something between disgust and pride on her face.

Lexi stands in the doorway, relief on her face as she gazes at Fezco.  Fez’s lips curl up, smiling back. Thank fuck…

“Uh…” Fez looks over at Kat, following her gaze to a clump of blackish gore on the ground.

Which is moving.&em>

His stomach drops.

“No fuckin way…”

Ash stares at the walls, eyes wide, as pieces of burned flesh and tissue slowly start sliding across the wall, oozing together…

“This is not fuckin happening…”

The pieces bleed together slowly, growing larger as they stretch and form – into an arm. Fez jumps forward and grabs his brother just as a hand swipes out of the blob towards him. “C’mon!” He yells. He drags Ash out of the bathroom, grabbing Lexi’s arm with his other hand. They sprint down the hall after the others.

“What the fuck?!” Maddy screams at them.

“Go!” Rue shrieks, leading them into a classroom. Fez slams it shut behind him, locking the deadbolt.

“Help me!” Lexi’s pushing the heavy wooden desk to block the door, Ash rushes to help. “Hurry, they’re coming!”

“They’re just gonna keep coming.” Jules whimpers. “We’re fucked.”

“No,” Maddy says. “We’re not fucked. She is.” She’s looking at Lexi. Lexi stops, mid shove, mouth dropping.

“Maddy–” Rue starts.

“They’re coming for her – and they’re not going to stop coming.”

Fez blood runs cold.

Maddy looks around. “If we put her in the hallway right now, this ends.”

“That’s not fucking happening.” He glowers.

“You’re insane!” Rue yells, her hands are clenched into fists.

“I’m being reasonable!” Maddy glances around the group again. Kat crosses her arms, nodding slightly.

“We just tried to blow them up and it didn’t stop them.” Kat says she looks at Lexi then away.

“Oh fucking great –” Fez snaps. “You on her side?”

“We can’t stop them!” Kat cries, biting her lip.

“You would really let us die to protect her?” Maddy demands. She stomps over to Ash, who’s still carrying his duffle bag. She drags it off his shoulder, rummaging around to pull out the scrapbook.

“Look! Dead – dead – dead –” she flips it open, snapping pages to show the newspaper articles — all those gruesome, gristly deaths.

“You fuckin–”

“She’s right.” Lexi’s voice makes him freeze, mid threat.

She’s standing at the side of the desk, trembling, eyes big and fearful.

“I don’t want you guys to die for me.”

Fez stares at her, he can't seem to make his lungs work, his chest seizing. No…

“I’m going. I’m ending this.”

“No, you’re not.” He says, just as Rue gasps out, “Are you crazy?”

Lexi gives them both a watery, tearful look.

“Ash?!” Fez looks towards his brother, who’s grabbed his scrapbook back, holding it, his eyes flicking from the book to the rest of them. He shakes his head, looking lost.

Lexi backs away.

“No!” He tries to dash forward, Maddy jumps in front of him, Fez pushes her out of the way, but it’s too late. Kat has unlocked the door and opens it enough to let Lexi slip out of the room and into the darkness. Kat slams the door after her.

“Lexi!”

—

The red light of the Exit sign is the only  illumination in the dark hallway.

Lexi steps forward, shaking from head to toe.

She can hear voices from behind the door, Fez yelling and Rue’s high, angry tones. She takes a few deep, shuddery breaths, trying to steel herself.

Down at the end of the hallway, Nightwing appears. He’s still pulling himself together, clumps of tissue and fluids stringing themselves into place as he seems to see her from under the dirty burlap sack — and heads down the hall towards her.

Lexi braces herself. She tries to think of happy things – her sister brushing her hair, Rue’s laugh, Fezco’s eyes – but her mind goes blank as the massive figure lumbers towards her, lifting his ax over his head. She squeezes her eyes shut —

“Lexi!” Fez is there –

He grabs her arm, yanks her back. She goes stumbling backwards, tumbling into the classroom. She sees the swing of the ax, just as Jules slams the door shut and locks it.

A roar of anger is heard through the wall. Lexi grasps at Fezco’s arm, still wrapped around her torso.

“What?” She says weakly, looking around.

“You’re not doing this alone.” Rue pants, grabbing her arm. Her eyes are full of tears. Lexi bites her lip, her own filling.

“There’s another way,” Ash says. He’s holding a paper, ripped from the scrapbook. “D. Berman.”

Outside, Nightwing is banging his ax into the door, grunting with effort. Fez and Rue drag the wooden desk fully against the door, bracing it.

Lexi leans over Ash’s shoulder.

It’s a newspaper article. Lexi’s eyes fall on the headline: Nightwing Massacre!

She ducks her head, scanning the columns quickly. “Camp Nightwing,’78, a group of campers murdered…” She mutters. Then stops. Oh.

“There was one survivor.” Ash says. “Who claimed they saw the witch.”

Lexi looks up at him, mouth falling open. “Someone else saw her.” She whispers.

Ash nods. “And they survived.” His eyebrows rise. “And so can you.”

“I got it!” Rue yells from the floor,” Lexi’s head snaps to where she’s leaning over a phone book. “Derek Berman, 294-1998!”

Lexi dashes to the phone lashed to the wall. She pulls it from the jack and dials frantically, heart pounding. Please answer, please answer…

“We’re sorry!” The generic voice of an answering machine chirps “The party you have dialed is unavailable, please leave a message after the tone!”

Fuck!

“Fuck!” Fez yells, from where he’s been bracing himself against the door. The wood is beginning to splinter where Nightwing is hacking away it it. “This isn’t going to fucking hold–!”

“Hi – hello – my name is Lexi Howard!” Lexi rambles frantically, eyes on the door and Fez doing his best to hold it back. Kat and Jules rush over to press themselves against it. “I know you saw the witch! I need to know how you survived!”

Rue presses her face against Lexi’s, yelling into the receiver, “we’re being attacked! The killers are here!”

Another swing and the edge of the ax knocks through the wood of the door. “Please pick up!” Lexi yells, “Please!”

The phone beeps, the recording ending. Ash pulls the receiver from Lexi’s hand, dialing again frantically. “Fuck, fuck, fuck..” He mutters, watching as the hole in the door gets bigger and bigger. Lexi snatches the paper from his hand, eyes running over the article again… there had to be something, anything…

An arm shoves through the gap in the door, grabbing for Jules’ hair. A flash of metal and Fez stabs his butterfly knife into Nightwings arm. He howls and pulls it back.

Lexi runs her fingers across the text. Please, please, please…

She freezes, hand pausing under a single line, eyes widening.

That’s it.

She turns to Ash, who’s gritting his teeth at the sound of the answering machine coming on again.

“They died.”

“Who did?”

“D. Berman. He died.”

“No, he's alive.” Ash drops the phone, marching over to her. “He's alive, that’s the point–”

“No, he died first!” Lexi points to the article. “Look...'heart stopped and a local boy performed CPR to revive him – what if that’s it? What if that’s how he survived?”

More banging from outside.

Ash looks at her. “It’s the rhyme –”

“The fucking rhyme!” Lexi gasp, suddenly everything is clicking. “How does it go?” She yells, “She’ll take your–”

“She’ll take your blood,” Rue yells from where she’s couched, back to the door, helping Fez and the other girls hold it shut. “She’ll take your head–”

“She’ll follow you –”

“Until you’re dead.” Lexi finishes. Oh shit.

“Okay,” Ash says, voice shaking. “The witch wants you dead. So…we kill you.’

Lexi’s heart pounds.

“What?” Fez yells.

Ash looks back and forth between them. “And just like C. Berman, we bring you back.”

“Are you insane?!” Rue shrieks from her pose against the door.

Lexi looks at Fez. Then back to Ash. “Fuck it,” she says, “One way or another, I’m dying tonight.

—

Lexi runs to the window, peering down. The second floor isn’t that high off the ground. She unlatches it and pushes it open. “We can get out this way.” Ash jumps first. Kat and Maddy behind him. Jules goes next, while Rue and Fez keep holding the door. Nightwing keeps trying to get his hand inside – Fez keeps his knife ready to slash every attempt.

“C’mon, Rue!” Rue throws a look to Fez, then makes a break for it, dropping out of the window to the soft grass below.

“You next!”

Lexi shakes her head, “Not without you!”

Fez throws her an exasperated look, but nods. Nightwing has given up on trying to reach the lock inside and is back to chopping at the door, each thud sounds ferociously horrifying, sending a pit into Lexi’s stomach.

Fez takes a breath and lets go of the door, sprinting to the window where Lexi waits. “Jump, Howard.” He orders.

Lexi lets herself fall, landing on her knees. Then Fezco drops next to her. He grabs her hand and they both run across the lawn of East Highland High towards the parking lot, where the others have already jumped into the ambulance. Lexi throws back a look just as she climbs inside.

Nightwing is standing at the window, ax in hand, watching them leave.

She shudders.

—

Kat pulls the ambulance to a stop and Fez pop’s the back door open.

The Milk sign is off; the Dairy dark. Fezco takes Lexi’s hand in his, helping her jump out. She’s still pale and she curls her hand tightly around his.

They slip in the back. Ash directs the girls to start stacking empty chip racks from the back in front of the door, checking and rechecking the locks on the windows and doors, reassessing the strength of the security doors.

Fez heads towards the back and into the freezer. He drops to his knees by the cooler next to the safe, unlocking the padlocks. He rummages through the bags, pulling out baggies and pill canisters to examine them. He looks up as Ashtray enters the back room.

“This one,” he says,” tossing a bag at Ash, who snatches it out of the air. “Put ‘em on the desk.” His brother nods and obeys.

Once he’s gotten everything he needs, he grabs the chair, pulling himself up to the desk.

“Okay,” Fez says, arranging the piles in front of him. He looks at Lexi, sternly. “You need to take these in this order, exactly.” He watches her to make sure she’s realizing how important this is. “You need to take this one first.” He gestures to the first small pile of pills.

“That’s the good one,” Ashtray adds, “It’s gonna relax you. Make you feel like you got fucked by a unicorn.”

“This one,” Fez goes on, pointing to the next pile of pills. “This is gonna bring yo’ body temp way down. You gonna feel real sick on that one.”

Lexi nods, eyes wide.

“This is important. You need to wait a least five minutes before moving on to the next pile, okay. That’s real fuckin important.”

He keeps his eyes on her face. “This last pile, it’s gonna take you down and out, so you need to fuckin’ take those five minutes, got it?”

Lexi nods again. She’s so pale, Fez’s heart twists in his chest.

“You got ‘em?” He turns to Ash, who had been searching through the other cooler.

“Yep,” his brother drops a pile of syringes on the desk.

“Wha–?” Lexi asks, looking confusedly between the brothers.

“This” Fez says, “is Epinephrine. Adrenaline.” Lexi’s eyes widen.

“This is what brings you back.”

He holds up one of the syringes.

“This is Jesus.”

—

“Guys…” Kat calls out, from where she’s been stacking empty racks in front of the glass door at the back of the Diary. “We’ve got company.”

Rue rushes over. She can see Coveralls stalking his way towards the building. “Shit…”

“All we gotta do is keep the back door blocked. They ain’t getting through the security gate.” Ash says. Maddy nods. She’s handed off the gun to Kat and is wielding a baseball bat she’d found in the back. Ash is holding the shotgun. Rue’s really fucking wishing they’d give her a gun or something right about now. She swallows as she looks at the glass.

A hand slips into hers. She looks at Jules in surprise.

“Hey…”

“Hey,” Jules whispers, squeezing her fingers. “Rue…what I said at the hospital–”

“You were right, I am fucking chaos.” 

Jules shakes her head. “No, you’re not. Rue. When I left I felt like my life was ending. I had just got you and then I had to lose you. I tried so hard not to think about you – to just accept that it was over – but tonight, I can’t do it anymore. If we die tonight, I need you to know that you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Chaos or not.”

Rue’s heart lifts. “Really?”

Jules nods. “I’m sorry that I ran away. I’m done with it. I want this. With you.”

She can feel tears stinging the edges of her eyes. She blinks them back. “What about Nate?”

Jules shrugs. “Fuck him.”

Rue can’t fight the smile that spreads across her face.

“And you know what, fuck his dad too.”

Rue bursts out laughing. She reaches out and wraps her arms around Jules, pulling her close. She kisses her, slow and sweet. “Yeah, fuck them both.”

—

“What if we fuck up and just kill me?” Lexi says. She’s sitting next to Fezco on the little couch in the back, knees drawn to her chest as she eyes the piles of pills on the desk. “What if you can’t bring me back?”

Fez looks at her, seriously. “That is not gonna happen, Lexi.”

She watches him, doubt still in her eyes. Fez reaches out and places a hand on hers, lacing his fingers together.

“”Howard, I know you and I been at it over the years, and maybe it ain’t seem like it, but one thing I’ve always know aboutchu is that you one of the fuckin’ strongest people I ever seen.”

She starts to shake her head.

“Yeah you are, Howard. You always been tough, back dealing wit’ Rue’s shit, ‘n then you dad, ‘n yo’ sis…I never met anyone as fuckin’ fearless as you are.”

Lexi’s eyes look shiny in the dim light of the back room.

“I been watchin’ you kick this witch’s ass all day ‘n – if there’s anyone out there who can survive this, survive her – Imma be putting my money on you, Howard, bet.” He squeezes her hand. “You can do this.”

Lexi’s fingers tighten in his, squeezing back.

“I told you that I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, Howard.” And he means it. He’d die before he’d let that happen.

“Imma bring you back, I swear.”

—

Rue leans into Jules.

Bang!

“Fuck!” Rue shrieks. Nightwing is outside, slamming his ax against the door. The bullet proof glass is already splintering.

“You always hurt the one you love…”

Fuck that fucking bitch and that stupid fucking song.

“Come on!” She says, pulling Jules’ hand. They duck down in one of the aisles, eyes on the door, where the shadowy figures are starting to crowd together. Skull Mask runs his knife along the glass, a long screeching noise that makes Rue’s teeth ache.

The sound of Ash cocking his shotgun echoes in the dark room.

—

The sound of the banging from the door chills Lexi to the bone. She looks at Fezco, grim and determined, watching her closely.

She holds the first handful of pills in her palm, trying to work up her courage.

You the most fearless person I ever met.

She meets his eye again, and something settles over her. She narrows her eyes, and dumps the pills into her mouth.

—

The pounding gets harder, louder.

Rue squeezes Jules’s hand in the dark. She can see sparks as the ax hits the metal of the doorframe.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Rue looks around. Everyone else is hiding.

BANG!

The doorframe crunches. Rue covers her mouth with her hand to stop from screaming. She can hear a muffled shriek that sounds like it could be Kat coming from the otherside of the store.

Another Bang!  And the door falls apart. Nightwing shoves his way inside, the other killers behind him.

They spread out through the aisles, looking around slowly, making their way towards the back where Fez and Lexi are hidden in the freezer.

Fuck!

“Hey!” Ash yells. He jumps out, his shotgun in both hands. Nightwing looks towards him.

“BANG!”

Nightwing is blown back by the force of the shot, knocking into Ruby and Coveralls, who are crowded behind him, and falling right into the rack behind him.

Kat jumps out from behind it and sprints towards the other side of the store. Skull Mask, who’d been the last in through the door, runs after her.

—

Lexi’s obviously feeling it, swaying slightly. “Okay…okay…”

“You good?” Fez leans in front of her. She nods, eyes glazed. “I’m ready. Next one.”

Fez drops the piles into her hand.

—

Coveralls climbs to his feet, knife in hand.

“Hey, fuck face!” Maddy steps out of the back, baseball bat in hand. She smashes the bat across his face. Coveralls stumbles back. Maddy hits him again. “Fucker!”

She swings the bat for the third time, but this time Coveralls is waiting for it. His hand catches the bat in midair. Maddy tries to jerk it back, but Coveralls yanks her towards him. He grabs her by the throat. “Fuc–”

A flash of the knife as Coveralls shoves the blade into her torso. Once, twice. Maddy stumbles, and Coveralls shoves her all the way to the floor, arm rising and falling, over and over again, plunging his knife into her.

Rue claps her hands over her mouth, unable to stop the scream that comes out.

—

“Lexi–” Fez leans forward, catching her as she doubles over, groaning. “Lexi, c’mon…” She groans again. He tries to push the water bottle into her hand. She moans and pushes it away.

“C’mon, baby, just a few more.” He begs.

—

Nightwing stands, swaying slightly on his feet. Ash cocks the shotgun and sends another blast into his chest. He smiles to himself. Fucker.

He grins at the big man laid out on the floor. “Whoa!” he throws himself to the side, only just missing Ruby Lane’s razer flashing against his face. His shotgun goes skittering across the floor.

Fuck!

—

Fez gently pushes the last few pills into her mouth. “C’mon, baby,” his voice cracks, “you can do this.”

Lexi sways slightly, then drops forward. She heaves, gagging, vomiting.

Fez grabs her by the shoulders, “No, fuck!”

—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Rue’s head snaps towards Kat, who’s emptying the revolver towards Skull Mask. She can see his shoulders jerk back with each hit and he falls. Kat jumps over his body, running towards the other side of the store.

An ax swings down, hitting her in the back. Rue screams again, unable to muffle it this time. Nightwing  yanks the ax out of Kat and brings it down again.

“Rue!” Jules screams, pulling on her arm. Coveralls has straightened from where he was hunched over Maddy and has turned to them. “Come on!” Jules yells, pulling Rue. They sprint out of the aisle darting past Coveralls and out the door that Nightwing had smashed open. Coveralls follows.

—

Fezco can hear the screaming and banging.

Fez throws a glance at the gun on the table next to him, reassuring himself that it’s still there.

Through the glass of the freezer, he can see two figures struggling. He can’t tell who is who.

Fuck…

Fez checks Lexi’s pulse. It’s low. How much did she throw up? His eyes spin back to the pills left in the container. He can’t give her more – it might be too much and he can’t bring her back. If she threw up just enough to not kill her, they’re fucked.

“Bang!” Nightwing is outside the freezer, smashing his ax against the door.

—

Rue clambors over the side of the roof, sprawling against the metal surface. “Rue!” Jules pulls her to her feet. The sound of metal banging as Coveralls follows them up the ladder makes Rue’s heart stop.

She jumps to her feet, and sprints with Jules towards the large air conditioning unit. They squeeze down together, hands clasped, hiding behind it.

“Thump!” The sound of boots hitting the roof echoes across the silent space.

—

His eyes meet his brother’s as Ash struggles to keep Ruby off of him. Nightwing is almost through the door. He looks at Lexi, on her side on the sofa. Jesus.

Fuck, he doesn’t know what to do…

Fez breathes out a soft sob and grabs Lexi, pulling her against his chest. He wraps an arm around her torso, holding her close.

He covers her mouth with his hand.

—

Ash can feel Ruby’s blade brushing against his neck as he presses her fists away from him as hard as he can. He kicks at her, but his movements don’t have an effect on the undead girl pinning him down.

—

Rue can hear footsteps getting closer and closer, Coveralls approaching the AC unit. She grips Jules’ hand tighter.

—

C’mon c’mon c’mon! Lexi’s still twitching against him. He tightens his hand over her mouth and nose.

He watches through as Ruby’s blade inches closer to his brother’s throat.

The sound of glass shattering makes his heart stop. Nightwing shoves his torso through the busted security glass, and braces both hands against the inside of the door, dragging himself through.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck!

—

Ruby’s razor presses against Ash’s windpipe.

—

Coveralls rounds the corner of the unit. Rue sees his face, waxy and horrible, before the gleam of the knife thrusting towards her face. She squeezes her eyes shut.

—

Nightwing raises his ax above Fezco’s head, swinging it down…

Lexi goes limp in his arms.

Nightwing explodes into a burst of ash and flies.

—

The weight on top of Ash disappears, leaving nothing but a pile of dust and durt on his chest. Above the ringing in his ears, he can hear flies buzzing. 

—

Rue’s eyes spring open. There’s nothing in front of her. Just a few flies buzzing, swirling around themselves as they drift off into the night sky.

—

Fez stares at the spot where Nightwing had been, still stunned. Then –

“Lexi!” he screams, rolling her off of him.

She falls to the floor, eyes wide open.

“Lexi!” He grabs the syringe, stabs it into her thigh. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” He pushes the plunger. Lexi remains motionless, staring at the ceiling.

“Ash,” he screams. “Ash, I fuckin need you!” He hears his brother’s footsteps behind him. “Get more fuckin’ needles!”

He pulls Lexi to the side and grabs her face, tilting her head back. He leans down, covering her mouth with his own, pushing air into her lungs. “Fuck!”

He straightens, hands on her chest, pumping hard. “C’mon, baby, c’mon!” He breathes into her again. “C’mon!”

He pumps at her again. “Baby, please…please don’t…” He presses her chest. One, two, three, four. “Baby, please…” One, two, three, four. “Please!”

Lexi takes in a loud, shudder gasp, chest arching from the ground.

Fezco falls forward, nearly on top of her. Oh, thank fuck!” Thankyouthankyouthankyou…

She’s gasping for air, struggling to breathe. Fez sits up, dragging her off the ground, onto his lap. “Is okay, you okay.” Jesus. He presses his head against hers. “You okay.” He whispers it again and again, pressing kisses against the top of her head. “You’re okay, baby.”

“Fez?” She whispers, her voice hoarse and shaky.

“I gotchu, baby.”

—

They sit in the uncomfortable padded benches of the Sheriff's office waiting as officers milled about. They’d had their interviews, repeating the same made up story to Sheriff Jacobs, as well as several of his deputies. They’d been at Fezco’s hanging out, when someone tried to break in. They’d all hid – except for Maddy and Kat – and waited while the intruders robbed and murdered their friends.

Lexi feels sick to her stomach at the idea of those girls – girls she grew up with – dying so horrifically. She glances at Fezco. He hasn’t stopped holding on to her – except for their individual interviews with the cops, he’s had at least one arm around her at all times, pulling her close to him. She leans her head against his chest. He presses a kiss to the top of her head.

She can’t remember much. She can recall being in Fezco’s office, even remembering starting to take the pills, but her memory goes hazy and dark after that – all of a sudden she was waking up in Fezco’s arms, peppering her face with kisses and calling her “baby.”

It wasn’t the worst way to spend an evening.

“Lexi?” Suze is sticking her head in the door.

“Mom!” Lexi jumps to her feet, running across the room to throw her arms around her mother.

“Baby, what happened?” Suze says, rocking her in her arms. “What’s going on?” She pulls back, eyes running over her daughter’s face, “What happened to you?”

“I’m okay.” Lexi says, gripping her mom’s arms. “I’m fine, I promise.”

Ron slips by her mother, throwing her a concerned glance before walking up to one of the officers. “Come one, sweetheart, we’re going to take you home.”

Lexi nods – then glances back to where the others are watching her. Rue and Jules are holding hands. Ash is leaning back against the cement block wall, trying to look nonchalant, but obviously on the edge of falling asleep. And Fez is gazing at her with a look that makes her face heat up.

“I’ll be right there, I need to say something real quick.” She glances at her mom and then to Ron, who’s shaking one of the deputy’s hands.

She walks back to the others. Rue stands and wraps her arms around her neck. “I’m really glad you’re not dead.” She whispers into Lexi’s hair. Lexi giggles, squeezing her back. She gives Jules a quick hug, then glances as Ashtray, who narrows his eyes at her, a threat. She grins and turns to Fezco. He stands.

“Hi,” she whispers.

“Hi,” he says back.

She reaches out, takes his hand in hers. “Thank you.” She says softly.

“Ain’t gotta thank me.” He says, grinning. His eyes are so pretty. She stretches up, aiming for his cheek, then with a burst of courage, she darts her head and brushes her lips against his. She starts to pull away, but Fezco’s hand tightens on hers, his other hand coming up to grip the back of her head, kissing her softly. Lexi leans into him, melting under the softest kiss she’s ever received. She presses up on her toes, trying to make it last, make it stretch out forever…

A burst of laughter and catcalls makes her pull back, blushing.

“Yeah, okay,” Fezco swipes at Ash who’s jeering with a grin. “Fuckin’ asshole…” He mutters, grinning. Lexi giggles and leans back in – Fez swoops back down and kisses her again firmly.

“Imma see you again real soon, Lexi Howard.”

“You better.” She whispers.

She turns, blushing hard. Jesus, Suze was still there — she’d witnessed the whole thing with raised eyebrows. Lexi can see the gleam in her mother’s eyes and tries to rush ahead to avoid it.

She pauses as she starts to climb into the back of Ron’s SUV, glancing back into the police station where her friends are waiting to be released. She can see the girls, with their heads on each other’s shoulders. Fez is leaning back next to Ash, grinning to himself.

Lexi smiles and slides in all the way, shutting the door behind her.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

“Lexi…” Suze shakes her shoulder, rousing her from sleep. 

“Hmmm?” Lexi’d passed the fuck out as soon as she’d gotten home, around six am. She glances at her bedside clock. 11:30. She groans.

“Lexi, Rue’s on the phone…” Suze is leaning over her, the cordless phone pressed against her chest. 

“Whyyy?” Lexi whines. She was having such a good dream. Fezco’d been there.

“I told her you needed your rest, but she insisted, she said it was “urgent.””

Lexi freezes, one hand paused rubbing sleep from her eye. Her blood runs cold.

She reaches for the phone, heart pounding. 

“Rue?” She asks, terrified.

“What’s up, bitch?!” Rue shrieks through the receiver. Lexi lets out a sigh of relief, falling back onto her pillows. Suze tiptoes from the room.

“Why the fuck did you scare me like that? You said it was urgent — I thought something terrible had happened!”

Rue laughs and the sound is like pure joy sweeping over Lexi. “Sorry!” She doesn’t sound sorry. Lexi smiles to herself. 

“Look, I’m at Jules’s and we’re about to come get you!” 

Lexi shifts slightly in her comfy bed, frowning. “I’m so tired, Rue, maybe later—“

“No, now! We’re gonna go to Fezco’s and celebrate.” 

Lexi pauses, considering that. Her heart flutters, thinking about seeing him. 

“Is that a yes?” Rue asks into the silence, in a voice that is definitely combined with a shit eating grin that makes Lexi scowl. “I know you want to,” she sing-songs, taunting.

Lexi sighs, trying to sound put upon, “I guess…”

Rue let’s out whoop, causing Lexi to hold the phone away from her ear. “I’ll let you go primp. We’ll be there in fifteen.”

“I’m not going to primp.” Lexi says haughtily. Rue laughs and hangs up. Lexi mashes the button to end the call and scrambles out of bed and dashes for the bathroom.

She looks awful, her skin pale and waxy with mascara smeared in the hollows under eyes. Her curls, a frizzy rats nest. Literally looks like someone who died and was brought back to life. 

She turns on the shower as hot as she can get it, hoping to get color back in her skin. She scrubs herself until she’s red and shaves until she’s bare, letting the steam soak into her pores. Out of the shower, she washes her face with the fancy pineapple face wash Cassie got her and brushes her thick hair until it gleams. 

Lexi stands in front of her closet in a towel, scanning the rows of expensive fabrics — Fezco’s seen her at her absolute lowest and she needs to look absolutely perfect the next time he sees her — she ends up in a short, pale green plaid skirt and white baby tee — and suffers for it the second that Rue lays eyes on her.

Rue let’s out a low wolf whistle. “Damn Lexi, you look fine… ”

“Shut up,” Lexi tells her primly, settling into the back seat of Jules’ dad’s car. Rue’s head swivels around, eyes dropping to the top of Lexi’s thigh highs pointedly. Lexi blushes, pulling her skirt down to cover more of her bare legs…were the socks too much? Oh, god, was she too dressed up? Was Fezco going to think she was some kind of freak? 

Jules leans over and smacks Rue, “leave her alone, Rue. You look really pretty Lexi.”

“Thanks,” Lexi drops her head, smiling. Jules pulls away from her house and laces her hand with Rue’s. Rue cheeks go dark and Lexi grins to herself. Rue has a lot of nerve, teasing her about Fezco when she’s obviously just as smitten with Jules. Instead of mentioning it, she leans back against the smooth leather seat and watches the houses, all pretty and autumnal in the cool October sunshine. 

Jules pulls into Fezco’s driveway parking next to the Caddy. Lexi peers out towards his front door, the sight of it, weathered and slightly peeling, suddenly makes her stomach flip nervously. What if Fezco didn’t feel the same way, now that their ordeal was over?

Trauma bonding is a thing — she thinks. 

What if all the chemistry between them was the just result of adrenaline and fear? What if Fez changed his mind? What if he took a good look at her in the light of day and realized she was boring and exhausting? She hangs back behind the other two, scratching her clammy palm anxiously as Rue pounds on the front door.

It swings open and Fezco stands there glaring at them, bleary-eyed. He’s dressed sweatpants and a wifebeater, showing off some rather impressive biceps,  rubbing his fist into one eye sleepily.

“Yo,’ the fuck?” His voice is scratchy and rough with sleep and the timber sends shivers down Lexi’s spine.

“Hey, man, we came to celebrate!” And Lexi realizes, with an inward groan, that this celebration is even more of a surprise to their host than it had been to her.

“Yo…” Fez says, frowning, his voice will sleepy and annoyed as Rue pushes past him to dart inside. His eyes move from Rue and land on Lexi. His face changes, suddenly more awake. 

“Hey…” he says, a grin spreading across his face, “what’re you doin’ here?”

“Oh, you know…” Lexi says, stepping inside, a grin of her own starting on her face. She gestures to Rue. “Kidnapped.”

“Ah,” Fez says, shutting the door behind her. “Well, I’m glad you were.”

“Yeah?” She says, her heartbeat picking up.

“Yeah.” His gaze sweeps over her, his hand finding her waist. “You lookin real pretty this morning.”

Lexi feels her cheeks grow warm and fights to keep her eyes steady on his face. “Thanks.”

Fez leans in slightly, pausing for just a moment, as if to see if she’d pull away. She holds still, not breathing. His lips brush against hers softly. Lexi feels his other hand slide against the other side of her waist, fingers tightening, pulling her against him. His mouth slides over hers again, more firmly, his kiss growing deeper. 

Lexi melts into him, entwining her arms around his neck. He feels so good, strong and broad under her hands. His tongue slides against her mouth and Lexi opens hers immediately, a soft little gasp coming out of her as he licks into her. His grip on her waist tightens, pulling her closer. Heart pounding, Lexi presses herself into him, kissing him back…

“I know what you’re doing out there. And it’s disgusting!” Rue calls out. Fez and Lexi spring apart. 

Fez let’s out a laugh, “fuck off, Rue.” He throws Lexi a look as he leads her into the living room. Ash is sitting in his pajamas on the floor, the scrapbook of killers in front of him. He’s pretending to read through a page while sending glares at the girls on the couch. Rue’s flipping through channels with the remote, one arm across Jules, her head on her shoulder. 

“You guys have the rest of your lives to do that.” Rue declares, “we need to celebrate the fact that we kicked undead ass last night!” 

“Uh huh,” Fez swats her dirty sneakers off the coffee table.

“And do you know what the best form of celebration is?” Rue asks.

“Not givin you nothin.’” 

Rue throws Fezco an offended look. “I was talking about pancakes, man.”

Fez rolls his eyes. “You might find a box of cereal in there if you lucky.”

“Please, Fez?” Rue makes a face at him, lower lip pouting out. Fez stares at her, stone faced. She throws a look at Lexi, “you ask him, I bet he’ll do it.”

“Rue!” Lexi admonishes. She glances at Fezco, only to see him looking at her questioningly. She blushes, shrugging. “I like pancakes.” 

Fez lets out a sigh of defeat. Rue snickers, giving Lexi a thumbs up.

“You know how to make ‘em?”

Lexi looks at him in surprise. “Pancakes? No… I don’t know how to make anything.” Fez grins, and beckons her into the kitchen. Lexi follows, smiling.  

He cooks. And well too, from the looks of it. Lexi never would have expected that from him. Fezco throws a few pieces of bacon in a pan, filling the room with a delicious scent. He flips the strips at the stove, calling out instructions to mix together the pancake batter. She obeys, stirring the beige gloop together. “Like this?” She asks, holding up the bowl for him to peer inside. 

He smiles at her work, “that’s perfect, baby,” and rewards her efforts with a kiss.

That sends Lexi down a path of pure madness, jumping into the pancake-making effort with a vengeance, asking him for feedback after every task performed, eager to get his approval — and his kisses. Fez catches on to her scheme quickly and pushes her up against the refrigerator to give her a few more kisses, free of charge, while the cake she’d been working on singes black in the pan. 

They set the plates down on the coffee table, the others practically pounce on the food. Lexi curls up on one of the sofas next to Fezco, swirling bites of pancake through maple syrup. Rue’s channel surfing had landed on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and the sound of Rue’s guffaws over the laugh track is absurdly nostalgic. 

Lexi’s warm and safe and comfortable and after a while she starts to grow tired, her head against Fezco’s shoulder. 

Fez ducks his head towards her, “You tired?”

“Busy night,” she mutters into his arm. Fezco laughs. 

“Wanna go lay down in my room?” He asks, his voice dropping an octave. Lexi’s pulse spikes at the question, she looks up at him, suddenly not so sleepy anymore…She nods, wordlessly, heart pounding against her ribcage.

“C’mon,” he pulls her to her feet, ignoring the whoops from Rue and disgust from Ash. Lexi avoids Jules’ knowing look and Rue’s smirk as Fez leads her by the hand towards the hallway. Honestly, she was way too kind when she didn’t make fun of Rue and Jules earlier. 

He takes her to his bedroom. Lexi looks around curiously. It’s the same style as the rest of the house, at least twenty years old, but it’s refreshingly neat, his bed rumpled from where he had been sleeping when they’d showed up earlier. 

He notices her looking around, watching curiously as she takes in his space. She turns to face him, ‘it’s nice.” She says. Fezco’s lips twitch up in a smirk. 

“Thanks. You tired?”

Lexi looks at him, checking to see if she hadn’t misread this. She shakes her head. 

Fez’s grin grows bigger. He strides across the room, hands lifting to slide back into her hair. Swooping down, he covers her mouth with his. Lexi’s knees go weak, fingers clinging to his shoulders. His arms slide around her, pulling her firmly against him. He marches her backwards till she feels the side of his bed against the back of her legs. She falls back, Fezco on top of her, mouths still locked in a messy kiss.

 Fezco’s hand finds the back of her head, twisting into her hair. She gasps at the twinge, a throb between her legs. Fez licks into her mouth, hungrily, his arm under her waist living her up and sliding her more fully onto his bed, till her head is resting on his pillows. He slides himself fully on top of her, moaning as her thighs fall apart, letting him press himself against her.

He licks into mouth again, kissing her deeply, grinding himself against her. Lexi sees stars. Her nails dig into his shoulders, she can’t seem to make them loosen. His kisses become more frantic, more desperate and Lexi has to pull her mouth away to breathe, panting hard as Fezco’s head drops to her neck. He moans lowly against her and Lexi can’t stop the shiver that goes through her at the sound.

Fez’s mouth attaches to her neck, licking and sucking at her sensitive flesh, until she’s squirming and moaning beneath him. “Fuck, baby…” he groans into her skin. “So fuckin good fo me.” Lexi’s thighs clamp around his waist trying to drag him closer. She ducks her head to catch his mouth again, desperate for another taste. 

Their mouths work frantically against each other, kisses deepening and heating, their bodies writhing and grinding as they explore the feel of the other. Fezco’s hands are everywhere — along her sides, over her hips, sliding over her leg — one hand grasps her ass as her hips move over hers, palming one fleshy cheek, squeezing his fingers into the plump softness. Lexi lets out a strangled sound into his mouth as he groans — “fuck, baby…you feel so good..”

Lexi whines softly as he keeps on with his assault, stroking and squeezing her ass, she can feel him, hard through the soft sweatpants he wears, grinding himself against her core.

“You have no idea how long I been thinkin bout this,” he raspes, his voice is low in her ear, rumbly and rough, “dreamin’ about gettin you in my bed….”

He nips at her neck, making her gasp.

“Imagined you like this…what you’d feel like…” 

She nods dazedly, his mouth is doing incredible things to her…she can’t think…

His hand leaves her ass cheek, moving up to cup her tit, thumb brushing across the tip, instantly  finding her tight little nipple, stroking gently. Lexi makes another noise that would have embarrassed her if she’d had any sort of brain capacity. 

“…what you’d taste like…I know you just the sweetest fuckin thing, aren’t you?”

He’s asking her a question, she thinks, but with the way his hand won’t let up, thumb circling and stroking her nipple — she needs — needs — his hands on her bare skin now…she whimpers.

“Aren’t you baby?” Fez repeats, his teeth scrape against the curve of her throat, tongue swiping across the spot. 

Lexi nods, lashes fluttering, tilting her head away so that he can continue his work against her neck. “Can I find out?” He asks, kissing the spot again. Lexi head bobs, still unfocused. “Lexi, baby? You gonna let me see how sweet you are fo myself?” He pulls his mouth from her neck. Lexi blinks away the cobwebs of hazy pleasure he’d been building, trying to focus on what he’d asked her. 

“Oh…” she shivers, “oh, yes. Please.”

Fez leans back, his hands catching the hem of her top and tugs it up, Lexi raises her arms to help him pull in over her shoulders. Fezco goes still, mouth slack as his eyes fall on the little cotton bralette. His hand brushes her stomach and she jumps, already too worked up under his ministrations. His hand comes down to the skirt, tugging the elastic. “This too…” She lifts her hips to let him pull it off of her, leaving her only in her little bra and panties, ice blue, little rosettes decorating between her hips and breasts. His hands stroke along her hips as he lowers himself between her legs. Lexi shakes slightly as he presses her thighs open. 

She’s never done this before. And she feels oddly vulnerable like this, spread out under his hands. But so turned on, she’s never been this dripping wet, soaking through her panties. 

He presses gentle kisses against her sensitive flesh making her inhale sharply. His hand slides down her inner thigh till his thumb can gently stroke against her covered slit. Lexi’s hips jerk, but his hands thigh against her keep her open underneath him. Fez lets out a strangled groan. “Shit baby…”  his thumb strokes at her again, rubbing through the useless soaked cotton. Lexi whines. 

“Fez…Fez…” she pleads. The hand holding her thigh down grasps the band of her panties. 

“Off…” he rasps tugging them off with one singular gesture. His eyes are glued to her bare flesh “You got one fuckin gorgeous pussy, ma.” If Lexi was capable of getting redder, she would have. “Bet it tastes just as good as it looks, don’t it?” His thumbs stroke her outer lips, making her close her eyes tight and whine. She’s dripping, leaking everywhere and he hasn’t even touched her yet…

His head drops, tongue sliding through her wetness and a startled shout jumps out of her chest at the sensation. Oh my god…

She can feel, even more than hear the groan that Fez makes into her pussy and her hands immediately shoot down to clasp at his head, holding him against her. His tongue moves over her again and again, dragging her slickness through her folds, flicking into her slit, swirling into her, until Lexi’s babbling and begging, knuckles white.

His mouth moves up, and for a second Lexi is able to drag air into her useless lungs, but his tongue flicks against her clit and her whole body goes rigid. “Fuck!” He latches on to her, pressing her harder into the mattress, mouth closing around her swollen nub, refusing to let up. He swirls his tongue around her, sucking at her, and Lexi’s eyes roll back, her thighs shaking and quivering around his head. His own moans are matching hers, the sloppy sound of his mouth eating her out muffled slightly by their groans. His fingers are back to stoking her, slipping in and around her heated flesh. And Lexi’s suddenly and completely on the edge, desperate to fall over 

“Please, please, please, I’m gonna come. Please, oh my god.” She babbles, eyes screwed shut and body shaking. “Please, I’m gonna come. Please don’t stop don’t stop don’t—“

It’s too much, too good — and Lexi goes tumbling over the edge with a shallow cry. Lightning races down her limbs, tightening and electrifying her whole body as her vision whites out. She writhes under his mouth whimpering and sobbing, the heat is overwhelming, she can’t take it, it’s too good. The shaking slows eventually and Lexi sags back against the pillow weakly, trembly and limp. Fezco is pulling himself up, wiping his mouth. His crystal blue eyes are gone, the pretty irises are eaten up by black. Lexi wants to reach for him, pull him down on top of her, kiss him, but her limbs won’t work. All she can do is whimper slightly. 

She’s never come that hard before; she didn’t even know she could come that hard. 

“Fuckin right bout you,” he mutters, eyes dragging over her body, “you taste fuckin’ delicious, Howard.” 

Oh.

He leans over her nuzzling her neck, her cheek, and Lexi wraps and arm around his shoulders pulling him down against her. Her heart is pounding, she’s never felt so close to anyone. She wants him so badly. 

“Fez…” she pulls at his tank. “Off.” She orders, an imitation of his earlier demands. He obliges, stripping it off and settling on top of her. Lexi shivers at the press of his bare skin into her. She moans, running her hands over him, he’s warm and broad and perfect.

He’s groaning, grinding his hips into her. Lexi can feel his cock, heavy and solid and he ruts, rubbing himself firmly into her pussy. Her hand drops, reaching for him. He sees what she’s going for and helps, shrugging down his sweatpants. His hand moves back up and hesitates on his waistband, his eyes flicking back to her. 

Lexi grasps the band herself and pushes his boxers down,  answering the question he hasn’t asked. “Please,” she whimpers, “I want it so bad.” His cock is fully hard, bobbing against his abs. Lexi’s cheeks burn red as she reaches between them, shyly dragging her hand along him. Fezco hips jerk into her palm and his hand grabs her wrist, pulling her away. “Don’t,” he warns through gritted teeth, eyes shutting. “This gonna be over in like three seconds if you be all up on me like that.”  Lexi’s face flushes redder and she drops her hand, trembling slightly as Fez moans and sits up, breathing hard. He turns, leaning over his nightstand, rummaging, hand coming back with a condom.

She reaches for him, before he’s even fully turned back to her, yanking him hard, kissing him with a possessiveness and a desperation that she’s never felt for anyone before. 

—

Fez moans into Lexi’s mouth, licking inside hungrily. It’s everything he can do to stop himself from just rutting against her till he comes. She feels so good beneath him, soft and silky and warm — and she tastes even better. 

He hadnt been fucking lying when he’d told her that he was about to come. Eating her sweet little pussy till she was shaking and moaning had him practically humping the mattress, precome leaking out of his aching dick, so much of it for a second he thought maybe he had come without realizing it. He pulls of off her, he wants to make this last, wants to spend as much time exploring her body as he can — but if he doesn’t get inside of her right this fucking second — he’s pretty sure his brain is gonna fuckin melt. 

He rolls on the condom, trying not to notice Lexi staring at his cock — if he focuses too much on her expression, he’s gonna come without even touchin’ her. Condom on, he settles over her, letting his cock grind into her pussy bare for the first time. Lexi’s head falls back, moaning, and Fez can’t stop his eyes from rolling back. He glides his cock through her heat, panting. “Fuck baby.”

He notches his cock at her entrance, bracing himself on one forearm. His eyes lower as he slowly sinks into her.

“Fuck!” He lets out a shuddery rasp, “fuuuck.” She’s so tight. Like a fuckin’ vise, choking his dick. She’s burning hot and soaking. Fezco’s head drops into the curve of her neck. “Oh my god, baby, you feel so good.” He moans, rambling. “Tight lil pussy, you takin it so good, so fuckin’ good.”

Lexi’s breathing hard, her breath coming out in breathy little pants as she takes his cock. Her eyes are flickering under fluttery lashes. 

“Fuck…” she whispers, her voice high and strained. 

“‘S okay?” He asks, voice slurring slightly. He’s feelin’ fuckin drugged right now, high off Lexi Howard’s pussy. He grinds his teeth together, praying he ain’t gonna come before he even gets a chance to fuck her. 

She nods, throat working. “…so deep. ” She moans, whining. Fez’s hips grind into her a little more and he’s finding himself thinking back to yesterday, trying to picture any of them nasty ass undead fuckers — anything to clamp down on the orgasm that’s fighting to break through right now.

She moans again, wiggling her hips and Fez finally lets himself pull back. Her cunt is so tight, grippin him for dear life. His head drops back down again, his eyes falling shut as he pushes back into her. 

It’s so good, he’s never felt anything better. 

Greedily, he grabs one of her legs, hoisting her thigh around his waist, pushing himself deeper into her, they both cry out at the sensation. “Oh, my god!” Lexi wails, sweat is beading at her temples, her throat. Fez dips his head to lick at it. 

He’s fucking into her harder now, unable to slow himself. God, he wants this to be good for her, to  impress her — but he's not going to make it much longer — not with her beautiful face, all wrecked with pleasure and those gorgeous tits bouncing with every stroke. 

He twists himself till he can take the tip of one of those perfect little titties in his mouth and sucks. Hard. Lexi lets out a choking sound and Fez doubles down, desperately setting out to make her make that noise again — nibbling and licking at one tight, pretty nipple until Lexi is babbling and whining under him, scratching at his scalp and shoulders.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna — oh fuck, I’m gonna…”

Her cunt is going wild, fluttering and soaking his cock. Fez drops his hand between them, stroking her slippery folds. 

He needs to feel her comin on his cock, right now. 

“Fuck baby…” She’s so wet. “Yo feel so good on me right now. Yo hot lil pussy…so good.” She clenches down on him, eyes rolling back. “Yo pussy just takin this dick so good. Made to take my cock.” He thumbs at her clit, desperately. Lexi’s mouth drops open in a silent moan, hips arching up to feel him. “So fuckin good,  the way you takin it, betchu feel so good when you comin on my dick, bet you feel unbelievable, don’tchu.” He grinds his fingers harder against her. “Show me how good you are Lexi, show me how good you can be when you cum on my cock.” 

Lexi lets out strangled wail and shakes apart, writhing and trembling below him. He keeps his hand on her pussy, rubbing at her, trying to draw it out for her, even as he looses all sense of control and fucks into her wildly, desperate for his own orgasm. Her pussy is fluttering and clenching, trying to drag him into her and he lets it happen, furiously fucking into her.

“Jesus…fuck…” All he can mutter are a few grunts as he pounds into her. He’s forgotten how to speak, how to breathe, nothing exists except for Lexi Howard, her face all tense with her own orgasm, her cunt still milking him greedily. “Fuckfuckfuckfuck!”

His hand is still on her pussy, and she jerks her hips slightly — he can’t even register that she’s too sensitive, can’t even realize that it’s too much — just keeps grinding at her —- and then her pussy is clamping down again on his cock and Lexi lets out another desperate wail, her back arching as she comes again. 

Fezco’s orgasm hits him with the force of a fuckin’ train. He falls forward unable to hold himself up as he cums and cums and cums. His vision goes black and there’s nothing but the tight, wet feel of her and the white hot lightning racing though him, every limb going numb with it as he shakes with pleasure. He’s almost dead with how good it feels. His hips work into her as he fills her up, dragging out the sensations as much as he can…he never wants to stop, wants this for fuckin’ ever…

He doesn’t come down from it for a while, he’s pretty sure he blacked out for a second. When he finally manages to open his eyes, his face is buried in Lexi’s throat. He thinks he managed to not throw his full weight on top of her, but he can't be certain.

Lexi’s trembling underneath him, her limbs still locked around his torso. 

Holy shit…

He lifts his head slightly, brushes his lips across her cheek. “You ‘Kay baby?” He asks, his lungs feel raw. Everything feels raw, exposed. He shivers. Lexi nods, eyes still shut. 

“Yeah?” He peppers her face with kisses, breathing hard. He’s still shaking, blown over from coming so hard. 

Fez keeps kissing her, feeling almost delirious, almost dizzy. Her long lashes flutter open, looking up almost shyly — that’s real cute for a girl who’d made him cum so hard he’d seen god.

“You good?” He asks again, shifting himself so that he’s not putting his full weight on her body. She nods, a smile starting to stretch across her face. Fez rolls to his side, pulling her with him, unwilling to let go just yet.

He lets his head fall back on his pillow. “Holy shit!” He says, still a little in awe. Lexi giggles, wiggling close to him and rests her little head on his chest.

“Yeah?” She asks, and Fez can hear the eagerness in her voice, the want of approval.

He lets out a low sound. “Best of my fuckin’ life.”

He’s not lying. 

Lexi, with her gorgeous long limbs and curvy hips and perky little titties was one of the most gorgeous girls he’d ever seen. Having her like that, splayed out across his sheets, so beautiful and sexy, he’d nearly cum in his sweats like a fuckin preteen. 

But even without all that, even if he wasn’t so attracted to her he couldn’t think straight when she’d narrow her big brown eyes or toss her silky hair over her shoulder —

Lexi does something to him. Makes his heart pound and his brain turn to mush. It’s not just that he’s fucking the hottest girl in New England — getting close to Lexi, getting to know her like that, make her cum, see her vulnerable and open under his hands. 

It twists his heart in his chest, achingly tender.

He’s never felt closer to anyone.

Now, she’s blushing in his arms, looking pleased, even as her eyes dart away, shy. “Oh, no, I doubt that…” she makes an awkward little motion with her hands. 

Fez snorts, almost in disbelief at her attempts to doubt herself, even after the mind blowing sex they’d had. “Why would I lie?”

Lexi smiles to herself glancing up at him. Fez wants to pull her close again, kiss her till she’s sick of him.

“Hol up,” he says, rolling away a bit. She lets out a disgruntled noise. “Gimme a sec, baby.” He rolls the condom off and ties it. Lexi squeaks indignantly from his pillow, as opposed to her not being in his arms as he is. He tosses it towards the trash and slides back to her, gathering her up. He arranges her carefully, draping one shapely thigh over his hip, pressing himself against her soft body. 

He wants her as close to him as he can get her.

—

“They’ve been gone a while,” Rue says. “You think they’re really sleeping?” 

Ash throws her a look so disgusted she can almost feel the skin sliding off her bones.

“Rue, leave them alone.” Jules says, smirking at the tv. 

Rue cocks her head. Neither Lexi nor Fez have ever struck her as sexual, so she can’t imagine that whatever they’re getting up to back there would last longer than fifteen minutes. She’d be less surprised if she opened the door on them and Lexi was quizzing Fezco on the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs than doing anything truly nasty.

“I’m just saying, there’s a very good chance they went back there to fool around and then got bored and fell asleep.” She looks back and forth between Ash and Jules. Ash slams his feet on the ground and stomps to the kitchen.

“It’s not like they went back there to fuck or anything. Maybe just like, mutual handjobs or something.” Ash slams the cabinet door so hard the house rattles. “Lexi’s, like, a good girl. She’s not gonna give it up till, like, the third date or something.

Jules shakes her head. 

Rue pouts at being ignored. She clambers to her feet, bushing off her hands on her track pants and heads to the bathroom. She pees and washes her hands quickly, giving her messy curls a quick shake in the mirror, smiling at herself. 

She tiptoes down the hallway, slowing as she approaches Fezco’s door. There’s a chance they’re actually sleeping, but it would be too good if she overheard Lexi dorkily talking about her niche interests like Elizabethan era pagans or someshit about a king and his pee.

A low groan comes through the door. Rue freezes, staring at the wood in horror. A breath,  high pitched moan echoes it. Rue flattens her back against the wall, stricken. Another moan shakes Rue out of her disgust induced panic. She scuttles down the hall as fast as she can, trying not to vomit. 

—

Lexi runs her hand over Fezco’s jaw fingers raking over the shorn hair. “Hmmm…” 

She’s on her side, one leg draped around him, losing all sense of time as they kiss and kiss and kiss.  

The oversized shirt he’d handed her is slipping off one shoulder. Her heart had tripped over itself when he’d offered it to her casually after pulling his boxers back on. She’d embarrassed herself with how quickly and eagerly she’d snatched it from his hands.

She’d worn Tucker’s letterman jacket a few times. But it was more out of obligation on her part, and a cloying sense of ownership on his — he never offered it when she wasn’t going to be seen by other guys. And wearing the soft tee that Fezco’d worn against his own skin, in the privacy of his bedroom feels intimate. Intimate in a way that makes her heart pound and her thigh across his hip tighten. 

She rolls onto her back, pulling Fezco with her, still kissing him hungrily. As much as she loves this shirt, she’s about two seconds from ripping it off…

“Shit, Lex…” Fezco says. He pulls his mouth from hers to trail kisses down her jaw. Eyes closed she tilts her head to give him better access. “So good.”

Lexi shivers as he finds the place on her neck that he really seems to like. She’s going to be so bruised there. The thought makes her chest throb.The idea of hickeys had never appealed to her, she’d be so embarrassed at the thought of people thinking Tucker had left marks on her.

Fezco, however…

It’s different. It’s exciting, sending a thrill through her, another throb through her cunt.

“God, I can’t believe I get to have you like this,” Fezco murmurs, gently running his teeth over her pulse point. He’d said something like that before. Lexi’s heart beats faster.

“Really?” She asks.

“‘Course,” he says. “I’m not fuckin’ blind, Howard.”

He presses his thumb against her hickey, watching it bloom an even darker color under the pressure, gorgeous against her pale skin. He kisses the spot. “Been thinkin ‘bout it since that first time you came over wit Rue, remember?”

She nods. 

“Cute as fuck,” he nuzzles her cheek. “Couldn’t getchu outta my head after that. Would, like, fuckin’ dream aboutchu n shit.”

Lexi goes very still at his confession, pulse thrumming in her ears.  Then her brow crinkles, eyes narrowing as she frowns. “Liar…” she accuses.

He pauses, lips against the hinge of her jaw, stopping mid assault.

“You didn’t like me.” She argues, pouting slightly. “You hated me…” Fezco’s shoulders shake slightly under her arms.

“I mean…I still woulda hit.” He mumbles.

Giggles burst out of her chest, she can feel Fez snickering to himself, even as his face is still tucked against her throat.

He lifts his head slightly, his gaze meeting hers. God, his eyes were

 so beautiful it makes her weak.

“I never fuckin’ hated you, baby. You know that, right?” He cocks his head, looking down at her. “I mean, you kinda drove me crazy and you was really fuckin’ on my shit too much — but I ain’t never hated you.”

His fingers stroke the line of her jaw tenderly. Lexi bites her lip, heart fluttering at the soft look in his eyes. He keeps her gaze for a second, then leans down to press the softest kiss on her mouth. Lexi’s fluttering heart moves on to backflips…

“Did you hate me?” He asks, leaning back a bit, thumb still caressing her jaw. 

Lexi’s lashes flutter. “Yes…” she says, solemnly. “Fully. Completely.”

She watches Fezco’s lips twitch with laughter. Swallowing her own giggles, she leans forward, pressing a kiss to his jaw. 

“But I still woulda hit.” 

— 

Ash frowns at Jules and Rue, stomach turning as they laugh together, hands intertwined. At least Fez had been thoughtful enough to take his girl back to his room and not put of fuckin display right in the middle of of the living room.

Everyone in this house had gotten real fuckin’ disgusting. 

He leaves, stomping his feet extra hard so that they’re aware of how off-putting they are.

He starts up his computer, ready to hop online and make his big post where he updates the others in the chatroom on how he’d single handedly (basically) defeated an evil witch and her centuries old curse. 

He leans back in his seat while the computer dials into the internet, humming along with the familiar beeps and squawks.

He spies Rue heading back into the kitchen, probably looking for more snacks.

Bring!  

Sucking his teeth with annoyance, he picks up the phone.

“‘Ello?”

“So…you’re alive.”

He frowns.

“The fuck is this?” He demands.

“You called me. Wanted to know how I survived the Camp Nightwing Massacre”

It dawns on him. “D. Berman.”

“That’s right.”

“How’d you get this number?”

“How’d you survive?”

Ash sucks his teeth in annoyance. “The same way you did, asshole.”

The voice laughs. “Did you touch the bones? Did you see her face?”

“Look, thanks for your prompt reply and everything, but we got it handled. It’s over. 

“It’s never over.”

A chill runs through Ashtray. He narrows his eyes. “We did it okay?! We stopped her.”

In the living room, Jules stands up from the couch.

The voice on the phone lets out a bitter laugh. 

“You may have stopped them.”

Jules turns and walks into the kitchen after Rue.

“But you’ll never stop her. ”

—

Rue hears Jules come into the room behind her and holds up the bag of Doritos she’d found in the top of the cabinet. 

“Ash thought he could hide these,” she crows, jumping down from where she’s kneeling on the counter. She turns — and jumps, startled. Jules is right there, nose to nose. 

She opens her mouth, then stops, frowning.

She looks down.

Stares at the small blade stuck into her stomach. Jules pulls it back out, drives it forward again.

Rue screams.

—

Fez is wrapped up in Lexi’s arms, running his hands slowly down her thigh and hip, savoring the feel of her soft skin under his calloused palms.

He hums, licking hungrily into her mouth. God, it’s day one and he’s fuckin obsessed…

A scream from the other side of the house breaks through the haze he’s in…

His head snaps to the door. Another scream and he’s on his feet, sprinting to the hallway, Lexi’s right behind him.

He bursts into the kitchen, mouth falling open at the scene he finds.

Rue and Ash are on one side of the room, both sweaty and red-faced. Rue is clutching her side, blood blooming on her t-shirt. 

On the other side of the room Jules is on her knees, the telephone cord is wrapped around her torso, holding her arms tight. A kitchen towel is knotted around her wrists behind her. 

She’s snarling and screaming, snapping her teeth like a wild animal. Fez has seen the look in her eyes before. Dead and blank, full of emptiness.

His blood runs cold. 

“What the fuck?”