Divulgence ✹ Septicgab

Eight

The following morning, we woke to discuss the plan again, but there were two people missing.

"Uh, guys?" I said, waking everyone. "Where's Seán and Evelien?"

"What are you talking about, Rae?" Christine yawned.

"I'm talking about our friends... they aren't here!" I snapped, but everyone recognised my panic. "What the hell happened?"

"What do we do?" Sykkuno asked. "Call the police?"

"I don't think they'd be able to help," Jeremy spoke up. "If they didn't know where we were before, they wouldn't be able to find them now."

"Are you saying... you think they're in Yharnam?" Marzia asked, and Jeremy nodded. "What makes you think that?" As the sun rose higher, a flash of light bounced off something small on the ground Seán and Evelien were laying on.

"Evelien wouldn't leave this behind," Christine bent over and picked up a small ring. "It's the ring Seán gave her in Yharnam." We all exchanged a look of pure shock.

"Okay, so what now?" Felix asked. "If they somehow made it back, what do we do here?"

"If Amelia is still on earth, we find her. If Reynolds is still on earth, we find her. We thwart any plan Reynolds may have had.. and we help in as many ways as we possibly can," I said. "When I worked as Dr. Tsu, I kept a journal of every note the patients told me. Do you still have your half?" I asked Sykkuno, and he reached into the pocket in his sweatshirt. "Awesome."

"Are we talking about the list?" He asked.

"What list?" Amy asked.

"The list of patients," I said. "All of who was there.. everyone who made it out, and how they made it out. If Seán and Evelien made it back after being together last night, there may be a way we can go back, too. Seán and Mark finished the final battle and made it out, but Evelien and Amy had died there. Ethan died there, too. Sykkuno made it out, and there were three others who made it out by finishing the final battle." I continued to go through the list until we made it to the unnamed patient. "I don't know how he got out."

"What were his injuries?" Christine asked.

"Third degree burns over half his face, a healed over gunshot wound on his right pec, and he had serious scarring from arm wounds," Sykkuno read. "He said someone killed him when he went through a lamp. The last thing he remembered hearing was the name.." He hesitated. "Gab."

"Wait, Gab?" Christine asked. "As in Evelien?" Sykkuno shrugged.

"It adds up with their timelines," I said. "When he arrived at the hospital, some of the nurses thought he was a DOA. He didn't speak to anyone, had barely any heartbeat, but when I went into his room alone, he grabbed my arm.. He didn't want the others to know he was alive."

"So he was basically... a corpse?" Mark asked, and I shrugged. "At least we have a name for him."

"I guess so. When the hospital went up in flames, Seán said he saw someone coming after us," I tried to remember, in detail, the person he referred all that time ago. "Dark hair... decently tall.."

"Well.." Jeremy teased, measuring how much shorter I was than everyone else. I slapped him, and he shut up. "Too soon. Not the time for jokes. I get it.."

~

Waking up here... again... was heart breaking. Everything we had been through was now much more devastating and had a better chance of killing us than we did of making it through.

"We're not gonna be able to get through the bonfire.. not if we tried clipping them off one by one," I listened to Seán explain his idea. "Last time, we killed a bunch of them, clearing a path. They're stronger now. We can't just slip by."

"Then what do we do?" I asked, clenching onto the handle of my sword. "I'm not leaving here without her." He nodded, supporting what I said.

"If we start another fire over there, some of the beasts will swarm it. When they do, you run through that space there..." He said.

"I'm not leaving you."

"I'm not saying you would be. After you get there, you throw a Molotov at this board, alerting the beasts and clearing the path for me. You just have to make sure you throw it hard enough and far enough so the beasts don't come after you instead." I nodded. "Ready?"

"For Amelia," I said.

"For Amelia..." Seán repeated me, gave me a quick kiss then scurried off to the position he needed to be in for the first fire. I watched as he started a flame that quickly ignited and drew all of the beasts in his direction. I ran to my next position, and as he said, I chucked a Molotov as hard and as far from me as I possibly could. Seán snuck behind the beasts, stabbing one in the neck as it heard him coming, but managed to keep quiet so none of the others heard. I smiled as he came over to me, proud of how much he had changed since we first met here. If it were like it was then, I would've been the one devising a plan to get through dangerous obstacles like this, and he panicked. "What?" He noticed me smiling.

"I'm just remembering... when we met.." I blushed. "You were so freaked out about being here. You would've never devised a plan like you just did." He rolled his eyes and chuckled as we continued on our journey.

-

An hour later, we made it to the familiar site. A bridge, nearly crumbled to pieces, but held up but barely any foundation.... a giant beast sitting at one end, ready to try and tear us to shreds.

"Close your mouth this time," I teased, remembering how Seán got a mouth full of beast blood when we first encounter the cleric beast together. He pulled up his coat to cover his mouth.

"I'm prepared this time."