Blood Sonata

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Chase said, looking dejectedly at her ruined jacket. "I'll just wash it later, I guess." She draped the jacket around her shoulders and glanced at Sophie. Her face slowly twisted into a look of complete dumbfoundedness as the girl's speech went on and on, words going in one ear and flying out the other. The confused look on her face that came with Sophie's apology was hysterical. "Okay...? What...the fuck?" She backed away slowly, unsure of exactly how to react. She saw Alex move in the corner of her eye and quickly moved to follow him, rejecting Sophie's Kleenex offer. "What the actual fuck was that."

 

Sophie giggled. "Murderous rampage? You're funny. I won't kill you. I'll only murder Van Skank and then my asshole of a boyfriend-- oops, I mean ex-boyfriend. Then I'm sure I can find a boy who would learn to appreciate me. I'll be just fine. Chase, are you sure you don't want this? I'm sure that coffee will get sticky soon." she offered once more as she started following Alex.

It wasn't until after a few steps that she stumbled in her heels and into a hole. Sophie fell over, landing on her hands and knees. "Ow..." she whined, pulling her ankle out. It was already swelling. She tried to move it, and couldn't. "Alex! Be a man and carry me! I think I broke my ankle!" she choked out through the tears she was working on holding back.

 

Raven watched as Helena continued to walk past them with a look of concern and confusion, then looked up at Nate and shrugged. "I think she's right about being more concerned about the searching, but we cant just forget about each others wellbeing, either. If something happens to any of us, we should probably take it easy, or just stop if it gets bad enough. No use trying to go on searching if we're unable." She smiled slightly at Nate, then continued on, following behind Helena. "If anything does happen though, Helena, don't hesitate to tell us. It's why we're in a group, rather than each of us going our own way." She chuckled a bit, then looked back at Nate. "Come on, Nate. Let's get movin'. You'll turn into a Nate popsicle if you stand there long enough." Again, with another chuckle, she turned on her heel and followed Helena.

 

Raven simply rolled her eyes with a shake of her head and a giggle. "Oh, Nate! You're so brave!" she mewed sarcasticly, batting her eyes at him, laughing merrily. "I don't think I'd turn into a popsicle if I keep moving. Though, you would think that my jacket and pants would keep me warm, but no. Even with my sensible clothing, I'm still cold. You'd think I was a frog or somethin'." She did a realistic croak like a frog, then laughed at herself. Her laugh died down after a while, as did her smile as she looked along the shore and up in the trees nearby. They looked almost black against the gray sky. A shiver ran up her spine and she shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself to try and keep warm. "I hope those kids aren't as cold as I am. It couldn't be healthy," she murmured.

Raven looked back over to Nate with a concerned expression. "Do you know anything about where the kid was abducted from this year? Or is there any other information about the disappearances besides names and dates?" she asked quietly.

 

Helena appreciated Nate's concern for her well-being and for the others, but she knew that this would be to a fault. She had to make sure that there wasn't anything that was going to keep them away from the search. She preferred something a bit more remote than what she was currently experiencing, but she also knew that to some degree a live search could be even more effective. She looked behind her, and she decided that whoever kidnapped this boy would not have stayed near the city. Listening to Raven mimic a frog behind her, she was pretty sure that she was out of focus, and when she was about to turn around and bite her head off, she heard some serious conversation.

"Do you know anything about where the kid was abducted from this year? Or is there any other information about the disappearances besides names and dates?"

She paused before going into the mouth of the forest behind the guard rail. There wasn't really any kind of information other than who the kids were. No backgrounds, no habits, not a single thing that Helena could use to trace back the kids' origins to maybe get a starting point. That indeed hindered their search for this most recent victim, but she had to digress. They needed to get this search started sooner rather than later. "I don't believe we know anything, Raven. It would most certainly help if we did, but we just had to accept the fact that this kidnapper wanted to make sure that his victims appeared more ambiguous than anything. This is why we need to fan and search everywhere quite thoroughly, or else we may face some dire consequences." She shivered and looked into Raven's eyes. "So let's go." With that, Helena began to step over the guard rail, taking care not to break her thin heel, and she began to stubbornly march into the line of trees that made most of the daylight disappear. If the kidnapper wanted to make someone vanish from sight, this forest would be the perfect place.

 

Sophie grunted a little as she was picked up by Alex, clinging onto his shoulders to keep herself from falling off. She carefully arranged herself so nothing showed from behind, and so her ankle wasn't bouncing very much if he walked. "I'll live, I guess. God it hurts. I hate heels sometimes. I read an article in a magazine once about how they were originally invented for butchers so they didn't have to step in animal blood. It was a weird fact. Now I imagine those butchers who bring the meat by for my cook in high heels and it's a bit disturbing. They always seem to fall over in my head." She sighed, and seemed to relax a little. "Thanks."