A Bitter Pill To Swallow

Melissa bounces from the bed, scans the room for some clothes and Anna's purse as Dave motivates Brock to get dressed. Shuddering at the thought of anyone becoming like Belinda, she nods a greeting at Eva and puts a question to the group.

"Where are we going?" Rummaging through the dishes in the sink she looks for a knife to bring with her.

The bedroom is messy. There are worn clothes strewn around the floor, including something that still looks clean enough for Mel to pick it up for Anna to change into later. The situation in the kitchen is similar, with dirty dishes piled up high. She also manages to retrieve a rather sharp looking knife that should be able to serve as a reasonably functional weapon.

Brock is completely unresponsive. He appears to be unconscious and will probably need to be carried. Anna on the other hand manages to get to her feet with Augusta's help, though she then shakes off the woman's hand and refuses further assistance from her. She's dressed in old pajamas but slowly slips into a jacket, making her presentable enough to go outside without drawing too many weird looks, even though she's still weak on her feet and far too pale. She grabs a key ring and offers it to nobody in particular. "There's a backdoor," she mutters, her voice weak. "Brock's car."

"No time for niceties...." Dave slung Brock over his shoulder and waved everyone towards the door. "It's time to exit, like Stage Left even." he mimicked a passable impression of Snagglepuss as he made for the side door. "Who's in any condition to drive?"

"Yeah we should go. I can drive.... I think. The walk to the car will straighten me up. I'm just a little shaky." Melissa heads out, her legs feeling a little wobbly at first, then she is back to normal the more she walks ahead.

"Out of here, but other than that I don't know. Dave? Where should we go?"

Melissa drives nervously away from the cops and keeps her eyes peeled for more of them. She feels Anna's fear and it sets her nerves on end too, not that she needs any help with that after the surreal atmosphere and going-ons in the apartment.

"This is the same crap I experienced in the department store. Just saying...."

Augusta holds Anna's hand across Melissa's lap. "Let's go to the book store, Black Lips. A deep leather chair is just what I need, plus a soy latte with a shot of caramel."

Eva feels like she's out of her element again, like's she's along for the ride on a roller coast she didn't know she'd climbed into. Regardless, she helps Dave with the unconscious man and piles into the car when the time comes, happy to be out of the apartment and soon headed away from the building and the growing contingent of police. She's got Brock on her lap as Melissa pulls away and Augusta suggests they head for the book store.

"Uh, does this guy need a medic or something?" she asks, glancing out the window as best she can to see if the cops have made them.

When Augusta tries to reach for Anna's hand, she forcefully pulls it back, eyeing Augusta skeptically for a long moment before turning her attention to the front seat where Eva has her unconscious boyfriend in her lap. She glares in Eva's direction about as violently as someone who's barely half-conscious can glare and Eva feels goosebumps all over her body.
Brock still isn't moving, though it's hard to say whether he needs a medic or just some rest.

"Yeah, we can probably sneak him into Graybridge Memorial ER after we get the low-down on what just happened..." he shot Anna a hard look. "In the meantime, I got this handled. We'll just 'Weekend at Bernie's' Brock here until we can get some answers...and some coffee." Dave clumsily shed his coat in the crowded backseat of the car and handed it up to Eva. "Try putting this on him. It'll at least cover up the fact he's wearing boxers and a wife beater... And if anyone asks, he had a rough night at the club and needs some coffee for the hangover."

"Alright calm down, Anna. I can't drive with all the animosity in the air. How about a take-out bunch of coffees and maybe something sugary like cinnamon rolls?" Melissa offers, subconsciously flicking her tongue over her lips.

"I don't think we should go into any public places with him like that even with the party-hearty story."

"There's that," she nods, drumming a hand on the steering will, "but take a chill pill anyway, alright?"

Augusta sits back an thinks of their options. When Anna begins shooting off, and getting agitated, she once again feels the need to choke a bitch before they all start hallucinating again. Until, she mentions being drugged.

"Did you want to share what happened, Anna? How did you get drugged?"

"We should take this somewhere deserted in case things get out of control again... No sense in tempting fate a second time today.". Dave took a moment to get his bearings on where they were in Graybridge. "There's a bunch of warehouses out by the docks that'd be pretty deserted. No chance of spooking the neighbors out there." Also, there wouldn't be any witnesses in case Anna got really out of hand and things got messy. "What'd you say about Tanya being involved in this?"

"Tell me where you want to go, Dave. I don't know the dock area at all."

Melissa was trying to concentrate on driving. Anna was annoying and whiney and she had to avoid the temptation of telling the brunette to shut up, but then she didn't know her story and decided to leave her be.

GRAYBRIDGE, 5 NOV 2023
Empty Warehouse
After a stop at a coffeeshop on the way to stock up on to-go cups of coffee and some cheap pastries, Dave leads Melissa to drive them towards a section of abandoned warehouses by the waterfront of Graybridge, left behind by some bankrupted company. Breaking open a door is no problem and there don't appear to be any guards patrolling in this part, so they should have enough privacy here for now.

The aura of dread emanating from Anna is growing weaker and stronger, but generally trends towards the weaker side as she regains control of her powers. She also seems less dazed by this point. Brock is still out cold. Once Eva has carried the unconscious man inside, Anna immediately snatches him away from her, sitting by his unconscious body possessively.
She takes a sip from her large, sugar-filled cup of coffee, then turns to Dave's question. "You think Brock cooked up those fucking pills he gave me himself?" she asks. "He said your blondie gave him pills that were meant to suppress my powers. But you fucking saw what they did to me." Dave and Eva would both recall how sick Anna was during the last group meeting when she claimed to have no access to her powers. "I guess he felt bad about it so he told me yesterday and I stopped taking them." She shrugs. "You saw what happened next." Her eyes meet Dave's and for a moment, a smile plays around her lips. "Did you have any idea I was so fucking powerful? That was kind of amazing, right?"