Boseman High School Shenanigans: Episode 1

Zach immediately straightens in the bed, pulling up the blanket to cover himself when the nurses lead Akins in without giving him time to prepare. He then, also immediately, regrets this action as his bruised side sends a wave of pain through him. The doctor reassured him that it's nothing too serious, but it still hurts like hell.

"Those were the same guys who already attacked me earlier this week," Zach replies. "Ask Officer Bentley. She was there." He really wishes his parents were here for this but apparently, they haven't arrived yet. And where is Rose? "They keep creeping on Emily. Emily Richardsen, that is. That's why they attacked us again today." He shifts a bit in bed again to get more comfortable, then he asks, "How is Fred? They shot him. Please tell me he's alright." He glances at the nurses as well at this.

Freddie's instincts are all wrong, all tied up. His hands vibrate with the feeling of a bat striking a person. The intent begins it, to harm to possibly kill, is something he lives with everyday. The nausea he feels as his insides chew themselves apart with anxiety was interpreted by the doctors as a part of his mild conclusion. He's on something powerful for that, and standing by the door to his room, he feels like he needs to either GO GO GO or lay down and die.

He opens the door and creeps down the hall, finding a spot on the floor outside Zach's room to wait for Akins, and to listen.

What were the nurses saying? Zach is a she? What kind of nutjobs work here? As he waits for Akins, he ponders the thought that his friend was a girl under there. The delicate features, slight build,... Nah, this isn't a movie. Still, it would be kind of sexy. He shakes his head in wry amusement and regrets it instantly.

Fred> Hey Deb. I b here at the H. Any word from B or Sarah? What room are you in?

"Yeah, and uh, sorry about that Officer Bently. You've been decent enough." Did she really say that to a cop? Whatever. It had been a trying day. She could cut herself some slack.

Outside, Emily texts her mom. At this point she has run out of emotions, exhausted as she is. She could use a shower too. Her mom would be livid but again, whatever.

Mom. I need to see you. Had to talk to some cops.

Fred>; I'll be up shortly. Talk then. ❤

Hormones?

Zach nods a thanks to the nurse. As uncomfortable as his current situation with Akins is, at least Fred is fine. "I'm, ah, I'd rather not talk about it," he tells the sheriff in response to the hormones question. "I don't think what happened outside has anything to do with... this. I'm a guy, sheriff. Can we leave it at that?"

He then swallows and says, "Well, I think I told you everything just now. Those creeps stopped me on a walk that day and showed me a picture of Emily and her brother, asking if I know them. I said no and they attacked me. Now, we were just leaving school and they followed us in a car. We stopped here by the hospital and they kept staring, so Lily took a photo of them to get them to leave but they just got mad and attacked her. And then I got knocked down and Fred got shot. You know that part."

"Because we found Priya hurt in the school. She was, uhm, lying unconscious in some weird goo and when she wouldn't wake up, we decided to take her to the hospital to be taken care of." To be honest, with everything else happening, he almost forgot about Priya. He turns to the nurses again. "Any news on her?" he asks before turning back to the sheriff. "Fred can probably tell you more about that." It's kind of a dick move, passing on having to explain it to Fred, but it also reduces their chances of saying something contradictory, so he hopes Akins will accept. "He and Priya used to be a thing."

Fred> I won't be back there for half an hour, but my car is there. If she wants to wait in there, I can unlock it from here when she's close.

He misses part of what Zach said but hears his name. He stands up and moves to the door. Peaking in he sees the sheriff and says, "Oh, sorry. Just wanted to check on Zach."

He steps back to other side of the hallway, leaning against the wall there.

Zach redoubles his efforts to cover up his chest when Fred suddenly appears in the door. "Hey," he says before the other boy disappears again. "I'm glad you're alright."

Outside, a Short Distance from the Hospital

Emily ignores the emotional girls and grits her teeth, waiting for her mother to text back. Hugging her shoulders, her phone finally vibrates into her arm.

"Ah fuck, what now."

Yeah, I can come get U. Have to go home to see mom.
Now what? This day has to end sometime...

Lily sinks into the hug for a moment, letting herself slump at the knees as the day weighs down on her.

"We were followed. I tried to get them to go away but they attacked me… us… And well, Fred got shot." Lily sees the girl’s eyes go wide so she immediately moves to calm the situation. "Everyone’s alright. Right?" she turns, asking Emily.

"Are you alright?"

Zach nods a thanks to the nurse, grateful for the interview to be over and for the sheriff to be gone before he could ask more uncomfortable questions about Zach's chest. "Did you hear anything from my parents?" Zach asks her. "Are they here yet?" He doesn't ask about Rose, as scared as he is by now about her safety. It's not like the nurse would know anything about her. Hopefully, she responded to Fred by now.
He then clears his throat before, unable to look her in the eyes, asking, "Did you tell Sheriff Akins anything about me..." He glances to the door to make sure it's closed. "...being trans?"

The Interrogation Hallway


Freddie's mind is working overtime. Should he enlist the sheriff in rescuing any others from the asylum? Does he do that, lead them to the tunnels and sacrifice Zach's future with the body of Gromn down there? All of them, they would be accessories or whatever, right? And if he doesn't enlist the police, is that sacrificing Belinda and maybe a bunch of others? If he doesn't, what can he even do on his own, him and maybe Emily and Lily? With that red alien floating around.

WHAT WAS THAT? In all the rescue and then getting shot in the head (don't even think about that right now), he hasn't had time to process that.

Then the sheriff is there.


"Hey sheriff. Sure, I don't know how to do this, give a statement I mean. We were bringing Priya, that's Priya Sunder, from the school. And this black SUV started following us. It's been driving around, and the guys in it attacked Zach a couple days ago. Then we got here and I got Priya into the hospital made sure she was taken care of, and came out and those perverts had been beating on my friends. I grabbed a bat from the van and started bashing. One of them drew a gun! I..."

He stops his recitation. The gun is there in his mind again, huge like a reaper's scythe, swinging toward him. Instinctively he attacked, too knock the guy out before the gun. but his muscles won't move. Too slow, trapped in a molasses of nightmare. He swings. The gun fires.

Another memory...

The wall of rock before him, impossibly fast, crashing, the air bag like a sab of bricks in his chest, impossibly loud sounds, he was going to die. But he didn't, exactly according to plan.

The reality hits him, and Fred wilts down the wall to the floor. "I could have died," he whispers.

Outside, a Short Distance from the Hospital

"Yeah, Yeah, Wendy, I'm fine, we're all fine considering the way this day went to shit. It's only going to get better when I see my mom later and now my idiot little brother needs a ride. Wait. Did someone say Freddie got shot? Is he going to be ok?"

Wrapped up in herself as usual she wasn't really thinking about her friends, if that's what they were, but she supposed they were and she really ought to pay better attention to all of them.