Seren crashes into the ground of the dirty room and winces. She had been feeling slightly better but being shoved into the ground isn’t fucking helping. She bites back a comment though, dark paths telling her it would be a bad idea. Common sense too.

The monster clomps out of the dark room lazily and slams the door behind. There is the sound of a lock and then, silence. That makes it all the more surprising when soft hands help her up.

This time she cannot help it, she yelps and kicks herself back only to look in the dirty face of another blond woman.

She is dressed in running gear and filthy. Tear tracks run down her cheeks, clearing a path in the grime. Seren realizes she must look the same, except, you know, paler and with darker eyes, courtesy of the concussion. The woman looks sideways at the caked blood running covering the side of her head. Yeah, that too.

“Who are those people?”

The sobbing voice comes from behind the first woman. She can see a dark haired girl, wait no, woman. Her small stature and elfin trait make her look younger somehow, that and the fact that she looks so miserable.

She sniffs. Seren cannot believe her ears.

People?

Those are clearly monsters. They even look the part. Is she insane?

There is a look of surprise on the blond woman’s face. She opens her mouth, hesitates then assents.

"I c-couldn’t believe it at first…"

Upon closer inspection this woman is… Clearly not what Seren expected. Not that she expected much. But still. Where the dark haired girl and Seren are young women, this one is clearly in her early fifties. It is obvious she takes good care of herself though: slim and strong, with skin untouched by tobacco or alcohol. Fit. Age only has a tenuous grip on her face. She is beautiful in a dignified kind of way but what is striking are her eyes. They are a rich, deep blue and so… Innocent. On a hunch, Seren switches the paths to her and almost gasps in surprise. All white, the most positive hit she has had of anyone, ever. She feels instantly that this person would not betray her, would not use her, would not fight back. In most people, Seren has to get a general feeling and then could only use the paths with any degree of accuracy if she focused on a very specific aspect. Not her. The woman is Good with a capital G. Not stupid good. Good.

She is looking at Seren a bit nervously and playing with a crucifix on her necklace. Who keeps this to go running anyway? But then Seren notices a wedding ring. Apparently people go sweat wearing jewels nowadays. Oh well.

“Hum hi, I’m P-P-Patience, uh Patience Willow…Smith. Uh, nice to m-m-meet you, although the circum….stances are not g-good.”

“Yeah they suck, they really do”. Says the other woman with a sob.

Patience winces at the rude term and Seren feels an instant feeling of sympathy toward Patience’s possible children. That was both cute and super annoying. Seren likes her curse words extra spicy, extra personal and stringed together.

"I’m Seren. I think I was kidnapped a day ago, uh, what day is it?"

The dark haired woman sniffs again and manages to say “Sunday Morning, I’m Sarah by the way” before being wracked by another sob. Poor thing.

No sarcasm here. She really is a poor thing. They all are.

"Right, I was kidnapped on Friday evening. I was with…"

Milo.

Seren does not finish her sentence and instead gulps back the overwhelming grief. She will cry later, when she has the time. She swallows one more time and regroups

"… Someone else."

Patience blinks in sympathy and Seren hates her for it. She hates it that she sees her weak. She doesn’t want the blond woman’s kind words because she cannot understand. She cannot get it, how could she? This stranger? She cannot comprehend the sanctity of the pain caused by the loss of half her world.

Patience wisely withholds her hand and Seren blinks, surprised by the woman’s sensibiliy. She is not just Good but tactful too? Has Seren just met the dream housewife?

“I don’t know who they-they are. They t-took me when I was …jogging. Hum. Yesterday and-and huh. I s-saw them… run af-after my friend, huh, Vero...nica. I think she g-got away.”

Seren regrets her previous anger. There is no telling what that woman has been through and she still has sympathy left. Well she is Good so obviously. But yes, no reason to be angry.

“I’m sure she did.”

Seren hears the empty words leave her mouth and hopes Patience will take them as they are intended. She does. A sad smile crosses Patience’s lips and her face changes, she looks almost… Angelic.

"Yes. Thankfully I am a believer. It helps."

She laughs. It sounds hollow. All the while, she is still fingering the cross on her neck. So that’s what true courage is. Dominating an overwhelming fear.

Seren finds that she is no longer annoyed by the woman.

She finds a measure of peace.

Behind her, the door bangs open with a heart stopping clash and bumps against the wall. Seren does not turn but her paths shift again, giving her a slight headache, She knows she should not shift so fast but she simply cannot help it.

It’s white.

The thing is not here to hurt her. She almost breath in relief when she hears mumbling. The approaching monster is saying something under his breath, repeating it like a mantra.

As the thing comes close enough and the two other women recoil in terror Seren blanches. She finally hears a full sentence.

"Not the blond ones."

The creature reaches down and grabs Sarah’s wrist and the woman screeches. Then her face turns up and she starts screaming in anger. Seren is paralyzed by fear and by something else, something that she knows and hates above all else: helplessness.

She knows what is coming.

The monster opens its maw to a row of yellow fangs, rotten yet serrated. Sarah’s eyes focus and it is as if she its seeing the thing for the first time.

Her screech is absolutely deafening.

Seren jumps on the monster tries to push it away, an instant later Patience joins her. They pull. They might as well have tried to pull a boulder.

The monster chomps down on Sarah’s arm, just under her elbow. The screech of fear turns to pure agony. Seren keeps pushing the thing away, her eyes blur and she want to retch, The monster pulls as well and with a disgusting noise, leaves behind a bloody stump, then stands up and casually walks away.

Seren is stunned. Shocked. There are now words. She hears a voice call her name.

Something light slaps her face and forces her to refocus. Patience has removed her top leaving full breasts to the cold air, and is using what appears to be her sports bra around Sarah’s arm.

What’s left of it.

Oh my god.

Patience ’s calm voice finally pierces through the fog around Seren’s brain.

A stick. Right. She glances around.

They are in a sort of small storage areas in a long abandoned factory. She stands up too quickly and almost faints. There, on the ground, a plastic straight thing that looks like it was part of a widow or a wall.

She grabs it and turn around.

That will do says Patience. Gone is the hesitation on the pure face. It has been replaced by a calm face, serene in its focus.

Seren rushes back and hands the woman the piece of plastic. She works tirelessly and the improvised tourniquet slows down the blood flow to a trickle. Patience hands her shirt to Seren and tell her

"Put this on her wound."

The screams have mercifully stopped. But it’s not good right? Or is it? Seren would prefer to faint when it happens to… Oh god.

Patience glances at Seren and sees her eyes on the tourniquet. She mistakes her intentions.

"Yes. Thankfully, I am also a registered nurse. It helps."

But this time she is not smiling. This time, Seren can see her own despair mirrored on the woman’s crying face and in the distance, they can hear the horrific sounds of snapping bones and mastication.