The Incident

Chapter 5 (Woods' POV)

As the car ride went on, my concern only grew, so much so I couldn't even move. I stared at Sam, her crumpled form clutching her arm, softly sobbing as she endured the pain. I couldn't bear the sight of it. A wave of guilt washed over me. I froze up...I screwed up. I could've stopped it...but I didn't. She's going through this crap ton of pain because of me.

I slowly put my hand on her arm, trying to give her comfort. She flinched slightly, but gave me a warm, thankful glance. I glanced at Matt, a concerned look on his face, clearly distraught by everything that had just unfolded. He seemed unusually tense, as if the sinister phantom were in the car with us, haunting us.

As we pulled up to the studio, I felt a rush of anxiety shoot through me. Something was off... Matt and I got out of the car, helping Sam, and shuffling into Blue Base. Matt pulled out his key fob, although the door did not click, indicating that the door was already unlocked. We both glanced at each other, clearly alarmed. Maybe whoever left last just forgot to lock it? I opened the door, Matt helping San inside.

Before closing the door, I glanced behind me, checking for any potential predators lurking, stalking. Something was off, I just had to figure out what. As Matt and I helped Sam over to the commons, it hit me. The antidote! Sam still has hers, and as far as I know Matt still has his. T-this could end it all!

Matt seemed to be ahead of me, rushing up the stairs. I quickly followed in suit, eager to finally cut Sam free of the serum. Matt entered the combination on the number pad, each ding ringing out, heightening my anxiety. The vault door swung open, revealing the room in shambles. My heart dropped, w-what happened here?

The once secure vault was left completely destroyed, files littered on the ground, serum containers shattered. I glanced over to the glass container, where Sam's antidote was stored. My blood turned cold as I stared in horror at the remnants of the scene. The glass container was empty...I glanced down to see the antidote cartridges completely shattered on the ground, scattered everywhere.

Red spray paint outlined the scene, reading a message, "Strike 3" with a smiley face with x'ed out eyes.

"No-no-no-no-no..." Matt said, giving a nervous, and heartbroken, chuckle as we both stared at the carnage. Wha- no, no this can't- I- NO! Rage seared through me, filling me with adrenaline, heightening my senses. That freak ruined our ONE chance of ending this! Anger fogged my mind.

I rushed out of the vault, bolting down the stairs. Matt called after me, on my heels. I slammed into the door, running out of Blue Base towards my car. Matt caught up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder and turning me around.

"What's going on with you dude? Like t-this is ridiculous! Running out of the studio? What's going on?" Matt questioned angrily.

"This guy broke in again, again! And at the worst possible time, too! He ruined our ONE chance of curing Sam!" I retorted, "I'm done with all of this! He's hurt us for the last time."

"Okay dude, take a breath, we will find another way, but right now, that is our top priority, not getting even with the phantom. I wanna take him down just as bad as you do, okay? But right now, Sam is our focus. Just trust me, we will find a way to cure her."

"Why should I trust you?"

"What?"

"You split up the antidote. You split up the team. You left your antidote in the vault, and now it's smashed. This entire thing is all your fault!"

"I get it, I know we never should have split up. What I did was wrong, and I apologize for it, but you have to trust me with this, please."

I paused for a second. "Y'know what? This is stupid! That phantom is gonna pay!" I pushed myself past Matt, storming towards my car when Matt rushed ahead of me, placing himself between me and my car. Oh come on!

"Come on dude, quit it!" Matt snapped. I was gonna get even with that, that freak one way or another.

"Get out of my way." Without thinking I swung at Matt, hitting him square in the jaw. He staggered backwards, pure shock painted on his face. I swung again, aimed at his ribs.

"WOODS!" Matt shouted in protest. You asked for this! This is your fault, YOUR FAULT! I glanced up at his face, a pained expression shown. A wave of guilt washed over me, nearly drowning me. W-what am I doing? How did we get to this point? I-*sigh* this isn't Matt's fault...it's mine. I put my head in my hands, ashamed.

"Look dude, we're all scared for what's to come now, but we need to stay strong for Sam. We can't keep fighting like this, okay?"

"O-okay" I responded, holding back tears. "I-I'm sorry," I muttered.

"It's alright man," Matt responded. We both walked back into Blue Base in silence, seeing Quinn watching over Sam. What now?