BODYS ; M. MUNROE

CHAPTER SEVEN

★彡

A QUESTION had been lying dormant in the back of Cassandra's mind, one that now, as the two walked in a nervous silence, gnawed at the tip of her tongue. She looked over to Mike, who was inspecting a turned over framed picture, from where she stood, she could barely make out the words Miracle Men.

"Mike? Can I ask you something?"

Surprised, Mike dropped the photo onto its front, he stood tall and subtly stretched his back, all before looking at her. "What's up?"

The two made their way to a large set of descending stairs in the middle of the room, Mike extended his arm out, illuminating their surroundings as much as he could with the soft glow of flickering orange.

Cassandra rested her arms wrapped around her hips. "Why did you come after me?"

"Seriously? Cassandra you were being kidnapped I had no other ch-"

She waved her hand, brushing his sentence to a stop. "No, I meant before, when I stormed out the lodge. You followed me, why?"

For a moment, Mike didn't speak, his head remained forward, eyes darting about their surroundings. "You uh," He looked back at her. "you looked sad, I didn't— we didn't want you to be alone, I was closest to the door so... I followed you." He forced a casual shrug as they reached the bottom of the steps.

Mike continued to walk, while Cassandra stayed put on the bottom step, she thought about what he'd said, if his reasoning made sense — out of everyone in the lodge Mike was the last person she would've expected to follow her; perhaps it was just because he was closest to the door. Her thoughts were put on hold, however when she noticed the dull gleaming of a machete hanging on his jeans.

"Is that a machete?" She spoke before she realised what she was saying, Mike turned to her, pulling out the item, inspecting its rusted edges.

"Yeah, found it in the morgue, along with this weird trap thing," He walked back over to her. "was this hand, mechanically rocking side to side, didn't trust it at all so I just left it alone." He turned it so the machete's handle was facing Cassandra.

Cassandra stared down at the weapon, then at Mike. "Really?"

Mike frowned, tilting his head, the machete still offered to her. "What? We don't know what's down here, if that guy comes back, the guy that killed Jess- that kidnapped you I-"

Silently, she took the machete, her fingers brushing over Mike's hand in the process; she gripped the handle tightly, and noticed Mike's shoulders mildly relax; she looked down at the machete, getting used to it in her hand.

When she looked up, Mike was watching her, he blinked his gaze away from her and turned, walking to a small opening in the right corner, they were met with another door. "Of course... Locked." He grimaced, noting the rusted padlock.

"Think this is the right way?" Cassandra asked nervously, from the little she'd seen, the place was a maze, a part of her wondered if wherever this went, could lead them back where they'd started.

Mike blew out a breath as he pulled an empty barrel to the floor, it fell easily, its contents emptied out prior and pooling at their feet. "Sure hope so, stand back." He took a step back, pointing the revolver steadily at the lock, Cassandra nodded, and moved away, covering her ears once more.

The lock fell with a thud, a scattering of sparks caught Cassandra's attention, eyes widening as she watched them land into the puddle of black, a fire igniting before she had time to speak. Mike pushed the gate open, eyes landing on barrels labelled Flammable liquid, he looked back to the growing fire, then to Cassandra. His eyes widened as he jumped backwards, the fire growing. An explosion separated them further, a wall of flame growing and splitting the two apart.

"Mike!" Cassandra yelled through the flames, stumbling backwards, tripping over her own feet and onto the floor, the machete clattering against the ground and out of her grip. The last she'd seen of Mike was his back, leaping away from the inferno, she couldn't see him now, nor hear him. A thick heat hounded the girl, leaving her momentarily stiff on the floor. "Michael!" The yell tore at her throat, a desperate plea for him to respond. But there was still no answer.

Slowly, Cassandra pushed herself to her feet, snatching the the machete from the ground before she fully stood, she took a step, getting as close to the flames as she could, her breathing faltered, barely able to make out the figure of Mike; unmoving on the floor, her brows furrowed. He couldn't be dead, she wouldn't accept it, he had to be okay. The fire, so close to her, had become suffocating, and she moved back into the dingy, sparse room. There had to be something she could do, something she could use to put the fire out, to get to Mike.

Cassandra looked down at her coat and winced, emptying the little she had in her pockets, her phone way back in the lodge in her bag, and shook it off of herself, leaving her in her white fleece, jeans, and boots.

"Mike!?" She yelled one more time, his body behind the flames remained unmoving, and she scrunched her eyes tightly, readying herself, the coat and machete in her hands.

With each swat of her coat against the flames, Cassandra let out a worried yelp, her coat was disintegrating before her eyes, but there was a small gap of fire beginning to die down, she kept hitting the flames, batting them down until she felt safe enough to leap through, she looked down at the ruins of her coat and sighed, throwing it behind her and into the rest of the fire.

"Mike!" Cassandra whisper yelled, hurrying to his side, she moved onto her knees, pushing him onto his back; letting out sigh of relief seeing he was still breathing. She moved his head onto her lap, brushing the loose strands of hair away from his face, and wiping the dirt from his cheek.

Quietly Mike groaned, his body shifted and he slowly opened his eyes. "Cassandra?" He coughed out, staring up at her, feeling her hand on his face, he moved his hand up to rest on top of hers. "Where'd your coat go?" He asked, moving his head to look at the white sleeve of her fleece.

Cassandra rolled her eyes, letting out a baffled laugh. "You just nearly got blown up and you're asking about my coat?" She looked down at their hands, and froze, chalking his actions to still being in shock.

"Well yeah, it's cold in here." He smiled up at her, head still on her lap.

"You're an idiot," She couldn't help but smile back. "come on, we need to head back to the lodge."

Mike nodded and closed his eyes, hand slipping from off of Cassandra's, he pushed himself up onto his feet, leaning against the wall as he watched the fire behind them shrink, but not die down completely. He then pointed to the pile of mush that was once her coat.

"I used it to get to you." She said quietly, standing up herself, machete loose in her hand.

"Really?" He smiled, stepping toward her. "Well thank you, seems like we have a habit of getting knocked out, hm?"

Cassandra snickered, swatting his arm gently, before looking over her shoulder, letting out a shuddered sigh. "Let's just get back to the lodge, back to somewhere normal."

Brave: Increased
Charitable: Increased

Relationship with Mike: Increased