Waiting to Die

"I'm so sorry," Stefan whispered. Astarte stared into the middle distance with wide eyes.

L"(Let's just get to the house. We can figure out what to do then."

*Roatha, having returned to silently & despondently staring at the ground, simply nods & allows himself to be led off. Thiera follows, nervously looking around.*

*Tirea follows directly after Thiera, Eve making eye contact with Lilith first before following her into the house*

Astarte approached Stefan, who appeared to be silently imploring the ground for help, and dragged him to his feet before pushing him after the others and walking behind him, kicking at his heels to get him going.

*Roatha's house is kind of like a caricature of a house drawn by a child. Boxlike with a long isosceles triangle roof, it has a small extension on the side that contains the only door. There also aren't any windows, though that might be different at the front of the house, which all they can see of from this angle is a porch overlooking a winding gravel driveway. Lilith pushes Roatha forward.*

L"You go in first."

R"Okay."

*He opens the door, which makes an obnoxious creek. In the dim light, they can vaguely make out the shape of a car, signaling that it's a garage. He turns on the light, revealing that there are also shelves on the walls containing tools & a bench in the back corner, which Lilith eyes warily. The light is supplied by a hanging fixture. *

L"No offense, but if this is your house, maybe we should check it out."

R"You might be right."

*As she ducks to look under the car, the lights flick right back off.*

*Tirea freezes where she stood by the car, while Eve, who had been standing by Lilith, slowly moves her hand towards the zipper of her backpack. Both of them prepare to run at a moment's notice*

Stefan began to turn around in a panic but Astarte pulled back his arms to hold him in place- as much to act as a human shield as to keep him from making anything worse.

*Lilith runs to the switch & starts flicking it. Of course, nothing happens.*

R"We'll have to go to my fuse box in the basement."

Th"Couldn't we just go back outside? The sun IS rising, isn't it?"

L"Apparently not."

*She gestures out of the door, where they see that it's getting darker.*

Th"How is that--"

L"We ran into the Shadow, we're lucky we weren't dumped in a volcano, or something stupid like that."

*Eve gets her flashlight out of her backpack and flicks it on*

<We should have a few flashlights, so at least we won't have to stumble around in the dark.>

"This is not ending well," Astarte stated the obvious, suppressing panic from her voice. Stefan shivered uncontrollably.

Azuma: "Should doesn't mean we do."

*Thiers withdraws hers, as well as a hunting knife. Lilith brandishes her cell phone & gravity knife in her left hand, hunting knife in her right. The girls whisper.*

L"I had 1, but I lost it."

The"How?"

L"I don't remember! That's not important right now!"

Astarte extracted the pocket knife she took off of Nero's corpse, for all the good it would do her.

Eve:<I know some smart phones have flashlight apps built in, so we can use those if necessary.>

*Eve takes out her knife as well, then closes her backpack and looks at Roatha*

<Lead the way, I suppose.>

*Roatha leads them through a door to the side. The flashlight beams illuminate a kind of empty, tiled room with dirty, cheap rugs thrown down. A mud room. Beyond that, the hallway curves. Roatha starts to step forward, but Lilith grabs his shoulder.*

L("Hey! We don't know what's down there, what if this is a trap?)"

R"(It's just the kitchen. Mom didn't want it in view of the mud room.)"

Th"(I don't hear anyone down that way...or anything....)"

*Meanwhile, Lilith's phone buzzes. In the dead silence of the house, they can also hear an almost imperceptible clicking as the garage door closes. As the door is still open, Thiera whirls around, her flashlight just barely catching someone in dark clothing ducking behind the car.*

*Eve turns as well, shining her flashlight around the car. Meanwhile, Tirea cringes away from both Lilth and the figure, looking ready to run*

Eve:<We know you're there.>

Azuma: "So much for hoping to lead them to believe we don't."

*Senthose stands up.*

S"And you you were doing such a great job, I tried to contact you a million times, including just now."

R"Why did you cut my power?"

S"I didn't. Probably Schreiber & Vanessa. I've been tailing them."

"What are they doing?" Astarte demanded.

*Eve looks incredibly shocked*

<Why would they cut the power?>

S"Well, gee, what do YOU think they're doing here, at the home of the last known living relatives of Ira, at dusk?"

Azuma: "What we should have already done."

"Well if they're here, we should ask them face-to-face."

*Eve looks from Roatha to Senthose, then steps away from Roatha*

<They're here to kill him?>

S"I doubt she even knew he was here. But Ira has at least 1 other blood relative that we know of."

*Roatha's eyes widen with recognition & he steps forward.*

R"Which one--Mom or Dad?"

S"The only way to be sure is to kill them both."

R"Well, then, we have to stop her! Where is she?!"

S"You wanna speak up? I think there are some people in Baghdad who didn't hear you."

*After Roatha's voice is done echoing throughout the house, they hear movement upstairs.*

S"Great, I think you just woke your mother, & I don't really want to explain to her why there are a bunch of heavily armed college students hanging out in her mud room."