Chapter Text
Wendy woke with a scream. The last thing she could remember she was bleeding and trapped on the tracks of a subway tunnel with an oncoming train heading straight for her, certain that she was going to die. Immediately she wondered if this was the afterlife. The screaming pain from her broken leg was gone, and all around her was pitch black. She reached out a hand, wondering if she could touch the inky darkness around her. Before she could even fully extend her arm she hit a wall.
A box. She was trapped inside a box. She was somehow alive, and trapped inside a box. Wendy sucked in a shallow breath, both amazed and terrified. She reached out to see how far the box expanded, striking the cold, rough walls confining her. After more exploration with her hands she discovered that she wasn’t actually in a box. The walls encasing her were textured and crumbling. She was surrounded by brick.
Wendy screamed again, realising that there was no way she could possibly push her way through a brick wall. She kicked and scrambled frantically as a claustrophobic wave of terror encompassed her. If she couldn’t get out of here, she was going to die again. She was somehow miraculously alive, and she was going to waste that second chance rotting away in a prison of brick. She couldn’t let that happen. An overwhelming sense of powerlessness viciously ate at her, accompanied by a raw and feral need to escape. She had to get out. On one of her kicks, Wendy’s foot struck something that sounded hollow. She gasped as the vibrations from the kick echoed through her brick enclosure. Wendy laughed to in amazement. This was her way out.
She channelled all of her energy into kicking at the hollow point at her feet, which she had deciphered was metal due to the tinny sounds bouncing back whenever she pounded her feet against it. After what felt like forever, the metal plate by Wendy’s feet came away from the brick surrounding her. It fell to the ground with a heavy crash, the light that filtered through the hole almost blinding her.
Wendy almost cried with relief as she shimmied her way out through the hole, marvelling at the site that met her when her feet hit the ground. She was in some kind of crypt, only this one wasn’t old and dirty. The walls and floor were a fine marble, and there was a concrete bench right in front of her. She looked down, locating the metal plate she’d kicked out in order to free herself. It looked like a safe door; a thick metal reinforcement embedded into the wall, in order to hold the face of the plate in place. Wendy rolled the metal plate onto its side. It was heavy, but she was now able to read what it said. The plate was a memorial plaque with her name on it.
She fell to her knees, staring at her name and the year of her death solidified in front of her. What the hell had happened? She had definitely died. There was irrefutable evidence of it, and yet here she was. Alive. Breathing. Seeing and hearing and feeling. Wendy was just about to reach out and trace her fingers along her name when the metal plaque in the wall not even a foot next to her fell to the ground with an almighty thud.
Wendy scrambled to her feet, the gust of impact wind sending shivers over her skin in a way that was so familiar and viscerally uncomfortable for her that she was immediately drawn back to the emotional terror of the last time wind had surrounded her like that. She moved tentatively towards the hole, curious to see who or what would come out of it. A pair of shoes came through the hole first, followed by jeans, until the familiar frame of Kevin Fischer stood right next to where the second plaque had fallen. Any sense of dread drained out of Wendy the moment she saw him, and before she even knew her feet were moving she had thrown herself into his arms.
“Kevin!”
“Wendy!” he replied, holding her tightly as she clung to him for dear life. Wendy didn’t think she’d ever been this happy to see anyone in her life.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Kevin once he’d released Wendy. She shook her head.
“I have no idea,” she explained, gesturing with her hands. “I woke up in there.” She pointed to the hole in the wall running parallel to the one Kevin had just created. “And I just kicked myself out. Kevin, we were dead. We were dead and now we’re not and I don’t even know where the hell we are.”
“Well lets calm down and try and find out, okay,” Kevin replied, glancing down the long marble hallway they were in. Wendy nodded, for once thankful for his laid back attitude.
They both started to scan their surroundings, taking in more details of the plaques on the walls. They figured out that everyone who had gotten off the Devil’s Flight rollercoaster had a plaque here. Maybe it was some kind of special memorial because of what happened to them. Kevin had said it wasn’t the first time something like that had happened. The room they were currently in was connected to another room via a marble arch, and there was a third room further down, with what looked like the exit at the end of it. Just as Kevin was about to suggest heading out there, a muffled scream came from inside the walls. Wendy’s heart almost stopped. She would have recognised that scream anywhere.
“Julie!”
Wendy and Kevin both ran over to Julie’s plaque, trying and failing to get a grip on the photo frame like edges in order to pull it away from the wall quicker. Kevin pushed as hard as he could to dislodge the metal plate while Wendy ordered Julie to kick it, hoping that her sister could hear her through the brick wall separating them. Eventually Julie managed to kick it loose. Kevin pulled her out by her ankles, and as soon as Julie was steadily out of the hole Wendy pulled her into a bone crushing hug.
“Oh my god, Julie. I’m so happy to see you,” Wendy sobbed into her sister’s hair.
“Where am I? What happened?” Julie stammered in response, clinging desperately to her sister as memories of their subway car crashing flooded back to her. She could still feel the terror clawing through her chest.
“We don’t know where we are,” Wendy began to explain after releasing her sister, giving her more time to get her bearings. “But we do know that we were dead, and now we aren’t.”
“What?”
“We don’t know.”
“We’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on,” Kevin added from beside Wendy. Julie turned to look at him, smiling as she remembered how he had saved her from being dragged into spikes by a horse. Even though she didn’t have a clue what was going on or where she was, she was glad that Wendy and Kevin were there to figure it out.
“So far we’ve figured out that this is some kind of memorial for what happened to us,” Wendy began to explain. “There are other rooms like this one. We think that the people who had premonitions and saved people before I did it might be in there.”
“But it’s just us that are alive?” asked Julie, staring uncomfortably at the memorial plaques lining the walls.
“So far,” said Kevin. Julie gave an acknowledging nod.
“I got out first. Then Kevin, then Julie,” Wendy mumbled, more to herself than to Kevin or Julie. She was staring at the floor and pacing slightly as she talked, theories brewing in her head.
“What is it?” asked Kevin, slipping next to her and placing his hand on her shoulder.
“Reverse order,” she answered, less absently this time. “We’re waking up in these holes in the reverse of the order we died after the accident.”
“That makes sense,” Kevin nodded, stepping around so he and Wendy were face to face. “So who’s gonna be breaking out of the wall next?” Wendy’s stomach dropped.
“McKinley,” Kevin muttered, noticing the flash of fear in Wendy’s eyes as soon as he asked the question.
“You can deal with him,” she said, hastily backing away from the plaque on the wall next to the hole Julie made.
“Wendy, none of us know what’s happening here, we might have to all stick together until we find out what’s going on,” Kevin responded. As much as he had no love for the guy, they were all in the same boat right now, and in fighting was not an issue they needed. And besides, their circumstances had drastically changed, Kevin doubted that Ian would still pose a threat.
“He was all too happy to have me die the last time we saw him,” argued Wendy, anxiety heavy in her words.
“Well it happened anyway and he was long gone by then,” Kevin replied, hoping that his rationale wasn’t winding her up further, they were all already on edge.
“We all died once and came back,” Julie chimed in, placing an arm around her sister. “Things are different now. And if he tries anything, he’ll have me to deal with.” Wendy smiled at that, leaning into her sister’s grip. A second of silence passed before a thudding sound echoed from the wall.
Wendy and Julie stood back as Kevin tried to jam the plate loose, succeeding after a few minutes. Kevin pulled Ian out of the hole by his ankles, backing away slightly once he was upright and completely out of the hole. Wendy reflexively grabbed Julie, her breath hitching in her throat. Even though things were different and this whole situation was bizarre, she couldn’t shake the unease of knowing that one of her classmates had wanted her dead so much that he had been willing to do the job himself.
“So,” Ian began, seemingly unbothered by what had happened. “Which one of you two has the explanation for why I woke up in a fucking wall?” He pointed at Wendy and Kevin. “Because the last thing I remember, a cherry picker was coming down on my head.”
“We don’t know,” answered Kevin, trying not to roll his eyes at the mocking tone of Ian’s voice. “We all woke up in holes in the wall and had to kick our way out.” Ian raised his eyebrows contemplatively.
“So I guess that means you three bit it too, huh?”
“Yup,” Kevin confirmed.
“And now we’re all here,” Ian continued, resting his hand on his chin as he studied the marble crypt. He noticed Wendy and her sister both stood glaring at him and fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Just when you thought this shit couldn’t get any weirder.”
“You think that’s weird? We don’t even know where here is,” Kevin explained.
“Well maybe you two should go and find out,” Wendy suggested quietly. Ian and Kevin both turned towards the two sisters.
“None of us know what’s out there, you might be able to find out,” she continued to explain. “Me and Julie can stay here to get people out of the walls. You might even find something that could help us get the plaques off quicker.”
“Good idea Wendy,” said Kevin, shooting Ian a suspicious glance in order to discern whether he would co-operate. He shrugged, which was about as much co-operation as Kevin knew he was going to get.
“Okay, let’s go,” Kevin stated, moving towards Ian and clapping him on the shoulder to guide him towards the door, but before Kevin could take another step forward Ian had collapsed in two vertical halves on the floor.
Wendy screamed, Julie gasped, Kevin lost his breath. What they were looking at wasn’t physically possible. Kevin knew he had a heavy hand but he wasn’t strong enough to split a person in half, unless being dead had somehow given him hulk-like strength, which he doubted. The situation got even more impossible when Ian spoke.
“What the fuck just happened?” the side of his body that still had his head attached asked. Kevin tried to answer, but burst into incredulous laughter. This shit was like something out of a horror movie.
“I don’t know man,” Kevin said between bouts of laughter. “You just fucking split.” At that, Ian started laughing too.
“You think this is funny?” Wendy asked Kevin, completely disgusted.
“Dude, your insides are like elastic,” said Kevin, noticing the two halves of Ian’s body slowly moving back towards each other, being pulled inwards like a stretched wad of chewing gum relaxing back into shape. He looked away from Wendy’s disapproving stare.
“This isn’t just funny,” Ian added from the floor. “This is fucking hilarious. Now help put me back together.” Kevin bent down to ease the two halves back together.
“Boys,” Wendy muttered to Julie, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Only they could find becoming a human horror effect funny. Wendy was also frustrated by how relaxed and nice Kevin was being to Ian. The last time they saw him Kevin was protecting her from him, and now they were laughing together like old friends. Once Ian was back in one piece however, the two of them disappeared, which allowed Wendy to let her guard down just as more thumping and knocking started up from behind the plaque for Julie’s friend Perry.
Julie and Wendy worked together to push the metal plate loose as much as they could. Perry was only small so Wendy wasn’t sure how strong she would be able to kick. They shouted at the plate in the hope that Perry would hear them and listen, kicking as hard as she could. It seemed to take them much longer than it took Kevin. Both Wendy and Julie had broken a sweat, their clammy hands slipping against the metal plate.
Eventually they freed Perry, bringing her up to speed with what was happening. Perry was very confused. She’d had no idea that a flagpole was going to shoot right through her when she stood up to declare herself the final mystery Devil’s Flight survivor. Julie sat Perry down on the concrete bench to tell her everything, and Wendy was just preparing to join them, when a piercing scream echoed out from the wall behind them.
“Erin!” gasped Wendy, recognising the scream from when she and Kevin startled her in the Build It garden area. She immediately ran over to the other wall, Julie and Perry quickly following behind. The three of them worked together to loosen the slab while instructing Erin to kick as hard as she could. This plate took less time to come away from the wall, Wendy pulling Erin out of the hole by her ankles as soon as it was off. Erin straightened herself out once she was steady on her feet, her eyes wide and panicked as she stared at the group who had freed her.
“Where am I?” she stammered, reaching up and desperately touching her face. Wendy winced as she thought of how much pain Erin must have been in as she died.
Erin continued trying to splutter sentences out, but she could barely manage it. Her hands were trembling as they patted down her cheeks, unable to believe there were no longer nails protruding from her face, her own blood no longer choking her as it flooded her mouth and nose. She almost didn’t recognise Wendy’s younger sister stood beside her, shooting her a concerned glance, and she definitely didn’t recognise the other girl.
She wanted to push them all away from her, to scream and shout, rip their eyes out so they could no longer look at her like that. She wanted to know what the hell was happening and she wanted to find somebody she trusted. She was so anxious her whole body felt like a live wire.
“Erin,” Wendy said tentatively, reaching out and placing a hand on Erin’s shoulder. The contact made her jump.
“Don’t touch me,” she spat, lashing out like she often did when she felt like this. “Tell me what’s happening.” Her voice now pleading instead of barbed.
“Julie,” Wendy turned to her sister. “Can you and Perry try and break out the next person, I think Erin needs some air.” Julie nodded in agreement, and Erin reluctantly let Wendy take her arm and guide her towards the exit of the crypt like structure they were in.
The air outside was bitingly cold as it surrounded them, causing Erin to fold her arms over her chest, her breath appearing in a foggy plume in front of her. Wherever they were, it certainly wasn’t the start of summer anymore.
“Hey Erin, I think you might be having a panic attack,” Wendy said calmly, her arm still resting on Erin’s.
“Yeah no shit,” Erin snarled back, unable to stop herself. “I’ve had them since I was like ten. I know what they feel like.” She immediately felt guilty about snapping at Wendy, but her chest was too tight for her to care. She could taste her own blood in her mouth, remembering the feeling of it trickling down her throat and into her lungs. Wendy kept trying to soothe her, telling her to breathe, but she still felt on guard. Erin barely knew Wendy, and while she didn’t doubt that Wendy was probably a nice person Erin really didn’t trust people, and right now she was scared and very confused. The last thing she’d known was agony and the terrifying knowledge she was dying, and now she was all of a sudden fine. She couldn’t make sense of it.
“I still think that stick could have worked,” argued Kevin as he and Ian walked through the field surrounding the crypt they’d woken up in, heading back towards the building with a crowbar they’d found discarded near the road. Ian scoffed.
“It was too thin, it would’ve snapped on impact,” Ian replied dismissively. Kevin rolled his eyes, thankful that they were approaching the gravel parking lot that they’d found directly outside of the building they’d woken up in. They had clearly been in some small memorial exhibit on the outskirts of a woodland park. It was trees and fields for miles, and one main road cutting through.
“Do you have to be so negative about everything?”
“Only when it’s fucking stupid,” Ian argued. “Like did you honestly think a twig would be able to leverage a metal plate?”
“We could have tried to jam it between the wall and the plaque, create a gap,” Kevin replied, impatiently justifying his suggestion.
“Like I said, it was too thin. It would’ve…” Ian stopped mid sentence, frozen in place with his mouth hanging open. Kevin stopped too, unsure of what he was reacting to until he saw Wendy and Erin stood by the crypt entrance.
“Erin,” Ian whispered, his voice breaking. Kevin was suddenly brought back to that night in Build It, how devastated Ian had been watching Erin die.
“Go, man,” said Kevin, nudging Ian forward since he seemed to have forgotten how to move. Ian stumbled forwards, heading straight for Erin and Wendy, Kevin following behind. Wendy noticed them coming first, since Erin was currently stood with her back to them, so Kevin brought his finger up to his lips, warning her not to ruin the surprise.
Erin noticed Wendy’s eyes widen in recognition in the middle of their conversation. Now that she was calm and had some understanding of what was going on, she was more attuned to her surroundings. Panic attacks tended to give Erin tunnel vision, but now she could concentrate on the woodland they were in, admiring the vast crop of trees and the ancient architecture of their crypt. It was the kind of place she would have liked to come and sketch. She was just about to turn around to see what Wendy was looking at when arms snaked around her waist and somebody pulled her flush against them.
The contact made her jump, gasping in surprise, although after half a second she knew exactly who it was. Erin closed her eyes as she caught her breath, leaning back into the familiar weight of her boyfriend’s body as he breathed a desperate sigh of relief into her hair.
“I’m sorry I scared you,” Ian said quietly.
“It’s okay,” Erin whispered, almost unable to talk from how tight her smile was. She noticed Wendy backing a few steps away, drawing her gaze to the floor. Erin rested her hands on top of Ian’s arms where they circled her waist, eager to turn around and see his face.
“Before you turn around I really should warn not to touch my right shoulder,” said Ian, almost as if he’d read her thoughts. “I’ve already had one accident with that thing today and trust me, you don’t need to see a second.” He guided Erin gently around so they were facing each other.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” laughed Erin, shaking her head at the absurdity of what he’d just said. She kept her hands resting on his biceps though, just in case what he was saying did somehow make sense.
“Long story,” Ian replied, now smiling as widely as Erin was as he took in the sight of her face. “I’ll explain later.” Before she could even say okay he kissed her.
Erin kept the hand resting on his right bicep steady, but moved the other one up into his hair as she kissed him back, feeling and sharing every inch of desperation. Usually she would have felt incredibly self conscious kissing him this passionately in front of Wendy and Kevin, but she didn’t have the energy to care. She’d been aching to see him ever since Wendy pulled her out of that hole in the wall, and could only imagine that he felt that ache twice as strongly as she did since he’d had to watch her die. He must have been traumatised.
She could feel the relief radiating from him as he kissed her, him smiling against her lips. Erin could barely catch her breath until they slowly drew apart and he pulled her into a hug. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been stood there until Kevin cleared his throat and reminded Ian that they needed to give the crowbar he was holding to Julie and her friend. Ian let go and left Erin alone with Wendy, promising to be back as soon as possible. Erin’s face felt incredibly hot as she made fleeting eye contact with Wendy, now very aware of how long she and Kevin had been standing there.
“I…” Wendy started to say something, but stopped awkwardly, causing Erin to laugh nervously. She realised that neither of them knew how to fill the awkward silence. Wendy had always felt a little uncomfortable watching other people’s private moments, especially when she knew the people in question would have much preferred to have that private moment without an audience. Wendy could tell that Erin felt just as uncomfortable as she did, she was blushing furiously and staring at the floor. Wendy found herself staring at the floor too, partially wishing it would swallow her.
“Hey,” Erin said quietly, eventually breaking the silence. Wendy looked up from the blades of grass sticking up through the gravel that she was pretending to study intently and encouraged Erin to continue talking with a gentle nod. It was becoming clear to Wendy that under all of Erin’s snark and bravado, she was very self conscious.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry we didn’t believe you,” said Erin, folding her arms over her chest again. Wendy’s mouth fell open.
After all of the stress and frustration of not being believed by anyone, the trauma of watching them all subsequently die and knowing that her time was getting closer and closer, she had no idea how much she’d needed to hear those words. The words both soothed her and made her feel like her heart had been ripped from her chest. Wendy was barely able to stammer a thank you.
“I mean, you did at least know that it sounded totally crazy, right?” Erin continued, sounding a little more like the Erin Wendy recognised from high school.
“We did, but we had to try,” Wendy replied, the uncomfortable memory of the night she and Kevin had gone to speak to Ian and Erin forcing its way into her head. A shiver moved down Wendy’s spine. Erin had no idea of anything that had happened after that.
“I’m sorry I was such a bitch,” said Erin, nervously playing with a lock of her hair. “But I guess it was just easier to laugh at you guys than consider that you might have actually been telling the truth.” Wendy smiled, almost impressed by her honesty.
“Feel free to say I told you so,” Erin added, smiling slightly. “I would be obnoxious as hell about it if I were you.” Her words sent a sourness spreading through Wendy’s stomach. Being proved right after Erin’s death had been anything but vindicating for Wendy, and had almost led to her death given how badly Ian had reacted to it. The thought of being smug about it made her skin crawl.
“I’m not going to say I told you so,” Wendy explained, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in Erin’s presence. She tried to shrug the feeling away, knowing that it wasn’t Erin’s fault, but before she could give the thought much attention Kevin called out to her.
“Wendy! Wendy, I need your coat.”
“My coat?” she questioned.
“Yeah, your coat,” explained Ashlyn, appearing from behind Kevin wearing nothing but the heavy jacket Kevin had on when he crawled out of his hole, burn scars marking her all over. “And if you happen to have a spare pair of shoes too, that would be awesome.”
Wendy and Erin exchanged concerned glances. They’d all woken up in the same clothes that they’d died in. It hadn’t even occurred to her that some of them died wearing no clothes at all. Wendy immediately began shrugging off her coat, assuming that the other one must be for Ashley. They all decided to head back inside the crypt, to give Ashley the coat and to see how many more people had been freed from the walls. Just as they reached the entrance Frankie Cheeks came hurtling out of the door, stumbling awkwardly before falling to the ground. Erin and Ashlyn audibly laughed.
“And you’re gonna fucking stay out here, perv!” yelled Lewis, who had clearly thrown Frankie out of the building.
“Oh yeah?” challenged Frankie from the floor. “What are you gonna do to keep me out here?”
“I’ll kill your ass if I have to,” argued Lewis, “As long as it keeps you the fuck away from Ashley.” Lewis then turned his attention to Wendy. “You better get that coat to Ashley quick, she’s getting cold.”
Wendy, Kevin, Ashlyn and Erin headed inside while Lewis guarded the door. Wendy and Ashlyn headed immediately to the furthest room where Ashley was stood in nothing but a thong and Julie’s jacket, Julie and Perry stood like bodyguards on each side of her.
“Here you go Ashley,” said Wendy once they reached her, handing her the winter coat.
“Thanks,” Ashley replied sweetly before shucking off Julie’s jacket and pulling on Wendy’s coat, which was thankfully longer and covered her ass. Wendy felt herself blushing again, avoiding looking at Ashley as she changed coats.
“Frankie wouldn’t leave us alone,” Ashley complained once Wendy’s coat was buttoned up. “Poor Lyn woke up totally naked and he kept trying to look at her and touch her.” Wendy rolled her eyes at the predictability.
“Well maybe some of the others in here who we don’t know might have some more layers they could give to you guys,” Wendy suggested, knowing the thought was an optimistic one but wanting to reassure the girls that they wouldn’t have to spend however long they were here in nothing but coats.
Over in the middle room of the crypt, Ian and Kevin had managed to free two more people with the crowbar. The man they’d released, who had introduced himself as Thomas Burke, was currently using the crowbar to crack off one of the plates in the first room, while the woman they had freed, Kimberly, was standing beside him and shouting instructions at whoever was in there. Erin and Kevin stopped in the middle room where Ian was leaning against a wall while Wendy went to cover Ashley.
“He any good with the crowbar?” asked Kevin as he stopped in front of Ian, turning his attention towards Burke.
“I should think so, he’s a cop,” Ian answered, tilting his head so he was now looking at Kevin. “So we can finally take a break.”
“Been having fun playing with crowbars have we?” Erin said playfully. Ian smiled at her, shaking his head.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it fun,” he replied, which caused Kevin to quietly smirk. Kevin had actually been enjoying the work and effort of breaking people out of the walls. The ache in his arms and the sweat on his brow made him feel accomplished, important. It didn’t surprise him at all that Ian did not share that sentiment.
“Hey,” Kevin interjected, still smirking. “Considering you’re built like a twig you didn’t do too bad.” Ian flipped him off in response, but didn’t seem genuinely offended.
“Well at least I didn’t think a twig would be strong enough to break these things off the wall like this genius,” Ian replied, speaking to Erin but pointing at Kevin.
Kevin scoffed, but appreciated the banter. He was still wary of the guy, but felt that tension in the group would just create more obstacles in an already complicated situation. He was making an effort to keep some sense of group cohesion, and was finding Ian less resistant to those efforts than he’d expected him to be. Sure, he was pessimistic and frustratingly stubborn, as Kevin had found when they were searching the surrounding area, but he hadn’t been needlessly hostile yet. Kevin doubted he would be too, now that Erin was with them.
“Dare I ask?” said Erin, shooting them both a suspicious look.
“It was just a suggestion,” Kevin explained.
“A terrible one,” added Ian. Erin rolled her eyes, but was smiling.
“Okay,” she said slowly, glancing over at Kimberly and Burke in the other room. “So if they’re out there on crowbar duty, what are you doing?”
“Listening,” Ian answered, pointing to the wall.
“Exciting,” Erin replied, an exaggerated expression of feigned interest on her face.
“Oh yeah, it’s very technical,” said Ian, continuing the joke. “Come here, I’ll show you my technique.” Erin laughed, moving closer to him. Kevin looked at the opposite wall, an ache in his chest.
He missed Carrie, and Jason. A part of him wished that they had gotten off the ride too so he could be reunited with them both like this, but they hadn’t so they were not coming back. Their deaths were final. He wondered how many more people he would watch reunite with lovers and friends, knowing that he wouldn’t get that chance. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy to see Wendy, he was, but seeing others get to reunite when the two people he desperately wanted to be with were permanently gone stung. He would smile through that pain, he always did, but it was still there.
“We’ve got a live one,” Ian shouted, snapping Kevin out of his own head and back into the moment. The thudding sounds registered to him then, and before he knew it Kimberly, Burke and the blonde woman they’d rescued from the first room came rushing over.
The three newcomers immediately sprung into action; Burke lodging the crowbar between the wall and the plaque, Kimberly communicating with whoever was in there, and the blonde girl pushing at the plate on the opposite side to Burke. By now, Wendy and the others had come in from the other room, Ashley and Ashlyn now suitably covered up. Kevin backed over to the opposite end of the room to check in with Wendy.
“Hey, how’s everything going?” he asked.
“Okay,” she answered, not taking her eyes off of the unfamiliar trio who now had the crowbar.
“Except for the fact that we have no shoes,” added Ashlyn. Kevin looked down at Ashley and Ashlyn’s bare feet and grimaced.
“I could give one of you my socks,” he suggested, amazed that nobody else had thought to offer up their own socks to the girls. Both of them shot Kevin an unimpressed look.
“No offence Kevin,” began Ashlyn, turning to look at him. “But I’m not wearing your socks.”
“Yeah, I don’t trust jock socks,” added Ashley. “I’d trust Wendy’s socks though.”
“Oh sure, take them,” blurted Wendy, already bending down to take her shoe off, gripping Kevin’s arm for balance.
“That wasn’t a hint, but thank you,” Ashley replied, almost awkwardly.
“No, you’ll need them,” argued Wendy, handing Ashley a white sock with purple polka dots before moving onto the other shoe. “It’s freezing out.”
“She’s right Ley,” Ashlyn confirmed. Ashley nodded once before putting the sock on. Julie and Perry exchanged a glance, realising that one of them was going to have to offer their socks to Ashlyn. It was Perry who eventually offered hers up, which Ashlyn took with a quiet thank you.
“Looks like you girls aren’t the only ones needing clothes,” said Kevin after a period of silence, looking over at the man in a hospital gown that had just been freed from the wall. It struck him as odd, that someone had died in one of death’s ‘accidents’ in the hospital. It almost seemed like a natural, normal way to go. Kevin was curious to find out the actual story behind the new stranger among them.
Burke gave the man in the hospital gown his jacket before moving on to the next plaque with the crowbar, while the blonde woman began talking to the man in the hospital gown, an apologetic expression on her face. Eventually, Wendy and Kevin agreed to clear out of the middle room and let Kimberly and Burke reunite with their friends without an audience. All of the McKinley high students, except Lewis, who was still blocking Frankie from entering the building, were now sat around the room they’d woken up in, patiently waiting for the rest of the people in this crypt to be broken out.
With no way to tell the time, Wendy was unsure how much time passed before the banging and thumping and shouting stopped completely. She had spent most of that time talking with Kevin, Julie and Perry as they tried to plan what their next move would be, their only interruption a woman’s desperate wailing from the other room when her teenage son was pulled from the wall. Wendy almost shed a tear as she watched the woman pull her son into a hug and nearly fall to the floor as she sobbed. Whatever was going on here, she no longer felt scared. She actually felt like something might be going right for once.
The footsteps of people entering the back room of the crypt startled Wendy, and the surge of people that had filtered in made her immediately get up off the floor. She after all, had been the first one to get out, and she felt responsible for leading this whole effort into getting people out and finding out what the hell was going on. She studied the group in front of her, the mix of adults and other high school kids, now looking to her for guidance. The blonde girl who had been the first person freed from the first room stepped forwards, holding hands with a nervous looking blonde guy in a dark blue jacket. People shuffled to let them through.
“I hear you were the first one out,” said the blonde girl.
“I was,” Wendy answered.
“Are you and your gang ready to go find out where the hell we are?” Wendy looked around, checking for approval. a universal look of ‘hell yes’ answering her question.
“We are.”
“Right,” said the blonde girl, turning back to the crowd behind her. “Let’s get out of here.”