Mutual (A TheSyndicateproject/Tom Cassel)

Picking Sides

"And that's it guys! PAX ends today and I'll be back home doing regular videos tomorrow." I smiled at my vlogging camera. "It was amazing meeting all of you and I can't wait to do it again. See ya" I waved at the camera. 

"Ashley!" I nearly dropped my camera as someone shouted by name. 

"What is with people sneaking up on me" I turned to see Ethan standing behind me, partially bent over and panting. "A simple 'hi' would be nice. The three of you should keep that in mind." 

"Three of us?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. 

"Nevermind" I sighed. "What's up?" 

"Have you seen Zoey?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"Um....no?" I said skeptically. Ethan's expression said he thought I had something to do with it. "I thought you guys had a panel.." 

"We did" He nodded. "Zoey didn't show. None of us has heard from her and everyone except for me and Nadia refuses to look." 

"And you think I did something?" I said sharply. "Just because I'm not going up in arms behind Erica doesn't mean I'm plotting against her, Ethan." 

"It just seemed weird that both of you skipped the panel" Ethan shot back. 

"I only do one panel and one meet up per convention. You know that" I glared back at him. 

"If you're not with Erica, then you are you with Ashley?" Ethan retorted. 

"No one! That's the entire point" I rubbed my temple, feeling a headache coming on. "Look. I'll text you if I see her okay?" 

"Fine" 

"Jackass" I muttered as he walked away, grabbing my phone from my pocket. The notifications were junk, all alerting me to hateful tweets and spam mail mixed in with a text from an unknown number. I shoved the phone in my bag, uninterested in seeing what new hate Twitter had for me. "Let's see....if I were a Zoey, where would I hide?" 

"If you were a Zoey you wouldn't be intensly staring at a support pillar" I jumped as a hand touched my shoulder. 

"Jesus Christ, Chilled!" I spun, glaring at him. "Why does everyone sneak up on me? Is the entire derp crew out to give me a aneurysm." 

"Sorry!" He held his hands up in defeat. "What's wrong?'

"I have to go find a missing person" I slung the strap of my camera case over my shoulder, adjusting it where it fell over my collarbone and chest. "What're you doing so far away from the group?" 

"With Smarty and Ze being all awkward, this PAX is without a group" He shrugged. "Add that to Tom being in a bad mood and the Derp Crew is nada" Chilled dragged his index finger over his throat. 

"Wanna help me find Zoey then?" I offered. "I mean, it's probably my fault Fawkes is so crabby" 

"He'll get over it" Chilled shrugged. "I think I saw Zoey over by Capcom's set up for the new Resident Evil" 

"Gotcha." I followed along as he lead the way toward the booth at the far end of the convention hall.  "So where are the others if you're not walking around together?"

"Ze is hanging out with Kootra and Sp00n. GaLm wanted to go watch a tournament for some fighting game. I have no clue where Tom and Smarty have wandered off to-whoa" 

"Ouch!" I ran into Chilled's back as he stopped short. "What the hell?" 

"Look" He stepped out of the way. 

"Where?" I scanned the crowd for whatever he was seeing. "If this is about some game ad I swear-" 

"It's not" Chilled shook his head. "Between the guy selling figurines and the t-shirt place. See them?" 

I followed his directions, squinting to see into the dark space between the two stands. "Wait a second....is that...." 

"Smarty and Erica" Chilled nodded. "Any idea what's going on with them?" 

I shook my head. "Not in the slightest.