Manhunt

16. Emerge

     Sapphire's POV

"Where are they?" I paced around, watching as the police made their barricades and positioned the SWAT team, the red and blue flashing in the distance.

     "Dan and Kyle are stronger than they look, trust me," Will placed a hand on my shoulder in reassurance. "Besides, are you aware of this scratch on your back?"

     "Yeah...but I don't feel anything," I muttered. "That was inflicted on my back a few hours ago."

     "How?"

     "Jason's axe narrowly missed my back, so I have this as a reminder of how close I was to death."

     "Mmm...I see," Will hugged me closer to him with one arm. "Let's go and sit inside a squad car while we wait, alright?"

     I sighed, reluctantly accepting the musician's offer, letting his hand take mine, gently pulling me off the stool by the counter. "Fine."

     "We're safe," he assured. "Now let's go and wait for the others to get out."

"But I'm worried, Will," I huffed as we walked out into the humid, late night air. "What if those three got-"

"Try not to think about that alternative," he brushed strands of hair out of my face. "Think of how happy Dan will be when he sees you."

"Alright," I rolled my eyes at Will's soothing message of positivity.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Let's see how these SWAT people do their badass jobs," he chuckled, dragging me over to one of the squad cars, with a bored officer leaning against his door.

"Officer!" Will waved to the man as we jogged over to the black and white marked vehicle.

"Aren't you two the survivors?" he raised an eyebrow. "You shouldn't be here, it's not safe." 'Wow, thanks a lot Farquarson...now we're being told off by this cop.'

"We wanted to hear if there was any update on our friends?" he nervously fiddled with his hands as the officer straightened his posture.

"Well, we do have a helicopter scanning the area, and so far, we've found eleven bodies, including one that's currently being pulled from the lake," he adjusted his cap.

     "Eleven..." Will mumbled, doing mental math in his head. "That means either Dan, Kyle, or Adrian got killed last time we saw them," he frowned.

     "Oh no," I raised a hand over my mouth in fear of who the body belonged to. "Dan..."

     "Miss, I suggest you go back to that gas station if you don't want to be devastated by any updates."

     "No, we can't," Will stepped in. "Our band has learned one thing these past seven years, and it's to stick together no matter what."

     "Sir-"

     "And my friend here doesn't want to hear anything about her boyfriend," he heavily implied Dan, "being dead and all, because we, as a band, have written way too many depressing songs for the world to hear, so please, make sure that Dan and Kyle make it our safe, alright?" Will squeezed me closer to him.

     "Wait. Aren't you Bastille?" he raised an eyebrow.

     "Yes," Will became embarrassed, his cheeks flushing red.

     "My two daughters are huge fans of you guys!" he grinned, suddenly changing his demeanour.

     "Oh, uh, t-thanks," Will brushed his neck. "So, are we allowed to stay here or not? I mean, I didn't rant for nothing," he smiled.