❝THAT HEART OF YOURS WILL NEVER CHANGE.❞
In which Freja Barrett, an enthusiast for all things supernatural, makes the life-altering decision of reconnecting with an old friend in the midst of her mission to prove the existence of zombies.
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"WHO DID YOU tell about the brains?"
For a while, Freja thought the repeated words to be a figment of her imagination, nothing more than a part of the throbbing nightmare aching throughout her head, but when the ugly gravity of reality finally weighed in and a pained groan rumbled in the back of her throat before she even realized it, she was proven awfully wrong. The heavy air in the Lilywhite-Chakrabarti residence felt like a chokehold, leaving her struggling to breathe as she forced her eyes open and tried to make a move despite not even knowing where to exactly — not that it mattered, because the jerk forward only resulted in uncomfortable strain against her wrists, and the attempt to gasp for air was shot down by the piece of tape slapped onto her mouth.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time. Who have you told about the brains?" Maybe it was the gruffly spoken question or the inability to move that washed over Freja like a bucket of cold water, but at that moment, the haze of unconsciousness snapped away and she began to thrash back and forth on the chair she had been seated on with her hands taped behind her back. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but certainly not the Candyman — or whoever the tall man with Jerome's shoes was in Blaine's grand plan — with Major in a violent grasp and a sledgehammer waiting to be swung at the Lilywhite right in front of her.
The muffled screams she released against the stripe of duct tape were enough for the Candyman to tear his stare away from Major for a second, one that he spent laughing at Freja's desperate writhing. "Looks like your little girlfriend finally woke up. Just in time for the guided tour through a world of pain", he announced sarcastically, lifting the sledgehammer in his grasp, a blink of an eye away from bringing it down onto Major's hands on the kitchen table, "first stop: Hand Francisco!"
That movie cliché about letting adrenaline take over and push you beyond your limits was one that Freja now confirmed to be true — that wasn't to say it gave her superpowers or made her a skilled fighter, but the pure urge to protect Major and give the Candyman a taste of his own medicine did encourage her to break her usual pattern and erupt in violence. The silenced roar rising from her throat didn't do much in intimidation, but she managed to swing her free leg at the Candyman, effectively kicking him down and giving Major the time to dart a worried stare to her direction.
As the zombie toppled over, Major scrambled over to Freja with his knees dragging against the floor, and using his keys, he rushed to saw the duct tape around her wrists apart. "I got you", he muttered quietly, partly to reassure himself but Freja still appreciated the comfort, especially when the pressure on her hands relieved and Major leaned away with a sigh — though, neither of them got to enjoy the small victory for long, when the Candyman was already rising from the floor, his amused puns replaced by a guttural growl as he lunged for them.
Both Freja and Major reacted with their best efforts, and while the man opted for stabbing him in the leg with his keys, the Barrett reached for the brick the Candyman had foolishly carried to the kitchen table, and smacked him across the head as harshly as she could. The giant man fell back to the floor with a shout, and only when the brick slipped from Freja's hands, she exhaled with what resembled panic. The temporary courage was fading into nothingness, but rather than letting her wallow in the sheer horror growing bigger and bigger in her chest, Major was snatching the tape off of her mouth and taking her hand to yank her off of the chair.
