smokeSCREEN : bookpHOR

WHAM.

We're all just staring at the door, together in that black hallway.

WHAM.

"…is he just psychotic?" Brie asks.

BROOM!! A section of the door pocks out, like a huge iron pimple – but it holds.

BROOM!! Pimple.

"Actually, he's known as our most logical thinker," I tell her. The gunman nods, double-checking the lock.

"How'd you get away?" I ask her. She stares at me – crazy grey eyes. And when I say grey eyes, I know you're thinking 'plain eyes'.

This isn't like that.

The most spectacular grey eyes I've ever seen stare back at me. Ancient and sharp and wholesome.

"He looked away," she says. "He looked away when you called his name."

"But he must have looked away from you before – when he killed the others," the gunman says. But Brie shakes her head.

"He never looked away," she says. "Never looked away."

"Oh come on – not even when he shot the first guy?" Saku says. "Twice in the head?"

Brie's already pushing past the gunman. "The first guy's name was Thomas – and no."

Past me. Stepping over Jessie, pushing past Martha and Saku. "He didn't look," she says. "He just pointed the gun."

Walking away down the hall.

"What about when he kicked the shotgun away, caught it and shot the guy? Did he look then" Saku calls after her.

"Shut up!" Martha hisses, but an answer comes;

"No."

And Brie leaves to gather a more effective force of old ones. .

And soon, so do we.

And I never got to talk to him.

While Jessie goes off to nurse his pinprick, the gunman leads us out a quiet way, and we don't bump into any men. Apparantly they're all in the mall section – that's where the old liquor store is. He opens a big access door and we finally step out into the night.

"Pretty dark already," he says as he lights a cigarette.

As I get my bearings, I discover he's deposited us nowhere near the Forks development, but on the other side of the tracks.

"How did we…? How far was…?" I stare back at the buildings, that now look to be a hundred years behind us.

"Old access tunnels – used to be sewers," he says.

We pass out smokes and sit on the roof, staring back at the would-be battleground.

The Tower is a short jog away.

"Why do this?" I ask, but he shrugs.

"Well, if I were to put a reason to it," he says, and I can't help but grin, "I guess any friend of Cypress is a friend of mine, eh?"

Hm. Good answer.

"You're coming, then?" I ask.

He shrugs again.

"Sure."

He doesn't say much.

"I'm Michelle – this is Saku and Martha."

He nods,

"Richard."

and re-checks the clips on his twin irons.

"Should someone go back, and tell the Terminal wazzup?" Martha says. I nod.

"Probably," I say. "Doesn't take four to deliver a message. Volunteer?"

"You should – someone needs to lead back there. Who's left – Nikki?"

"The Betas will follow Crow if need be, and she can bang together a decent offensive – she'll know what to do."

They stare at me.

"…Crow?" Martha peaks an eyebrow.

"Martha, you just volunteered to go back. How many field years you got?"

"Two."

"Put Crow in charge – I'll see you in an hour."

"She's a Beta," Martha huffs, but I spin on her.

"Do you have any wish do lead? Do you want to see Nikki lead the charge, if it comes to that?"

"Well, no…" Saku stammers. "You should go back to the Terminal."

"Ah," I nod. "Then you two want to be the one who tells Phoebe she has to mobilize the entire Tower in fifteen minute?"

So Martha and Saku head back to the Terminal, and the two of us start north.

Richard's on his third smoke by the time I reach for my second, and he finally brings up a line of conversation;

"So Cypress's really gone psycho, huh?"

I shake my head.

"He's been through quite a bit," I say.

"Yeah, but… what do you think's wrong with him?" Richard asks.

"I've seen no proof that anything is."

* * *

* * *

i can try to get away / but i've strapped myself in / i can try to scratch away / the sound in my ears / i can see it killing away / all of my bad parts / i don't want to listen / but it's all too clear

hiding / backwards inside of me i feel / so unafraid / annie / hold a little tighter / i might / just slip away

it won't give up // it wants me dead // goddamn this noise inside my head

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