LIABILITY ━━ until dawn.

chapter xi.

chapter eleven – explosions.

Sage peers into circular window overlooking the Chapel from over Mike's shoulder, having to get on her tippy-toes to be able to even see over his shoulder and thanked the gods that she had taken ballet as a kid, hoping that the wolf wasn't going to jump out of nowhere at them again. The brunette lets out a sigh as she ignores her aching shoulder in favor of pulling away from Mike.

" Isn't this a quaint little psycho crib. " Mike mutters bitterly as he continues to examine the Chapel before pulling away. He immediately grabs Sage's hand and squeezes it lightly to comfort her as he leads the way down the steps outside of the room and pauses at the sight of the broken stairs leading to the main floor. " I'll jump down first and then I'll help you. Okay? "

" Okay. " Sage nods quickly as she rubs her hand together hoping to create some warmth for her body. She was freezing cold, the grey sweater from Rue Twenty-One that she wore was doing nothing to keep her warm in the snow or the abandoned Sanitorium. Watching Mike jump down and place the still lit lantern next to his feet, Sage inhales sharply as the ache in her arm worsens for a split second as she sits down on the piece of broken cement.

" I got you. " Mike reassures Sage, who was obviously nervous as she had continued to stare at the drop like it was her biggest fear. " I always got you, S. "

Sighing, Sage could only take a deep breath and held back the scream that wanted to escape her as she jumped into Mike's arms once again from a dangerous height. She lets out a silent cheer when she feels Mike catch her  before putting her down on her feet.

" Thanks, Mikey. " Sage smiles slightly as she looks up at him thankfully. She misses the sharp inhale from Mike as he hears her longterm nickname for him for the first time in a while and the starry-eyed look he gives her as she turns to head towards the Chapel that they still needed to enter.

The duo walks quietly across the main floor of the large building, only stopping as they finally found the brown doors that were the entrance for the Chapel. Mike pulls the keycard that was needed out of his pocket and quickly gets the door unlocked and pushes the door open, the wolf from earlier jumping out of nowhere and barking viciously at the two intruders in his home.

" Holy fuck! " Sage yelps as Mike lets out a scream of surprise before going to hit the wolf to get it to back away. " Mike! No! He's just scared! "

" What the fuck do you mean? " Mike rushes out as he stares warily at the still barking wolf. " This isn't exactly the right time for a conversation! "

Sage chooses to ignore Mike, who was obviously panicking, and places her attention on the wolf. " Hey. . Easy boy. . Easy. . " Sage talks to the wolf quietly as she slowly inches forward, " Easy. . " The wolf starts to quiet down after a few attempts from Sage as Mike watches without saying a thing.

She kneels down infront of the now quiet wolf before starting to pet him, Mike slowly starting to walking towards her making Sage turn her head and gesture from him to pet the wolf too which Mike agrees too as soon as he sees the wolf not look at Sage with any violent intention.

" See, Mikey? " Sage smirks as the wolf runs off after a minute of being Sage and Mike's center of attention. " Not all dogs are evil. "

" Shut up, Wolfe. " Mike mutters while rolling his eyes fondly as he stands back and starts to wonder around the room, stopping to examine a pinboard covered in clippings as Sage finds a chest in the middle of the room.

Opening the chest, Sage smiles slightly as she finds that it's full of bones for the multiple wolves that the stranger had. She grabs one of the bones and closes the chest back up.

" This'll keep the wolf happy with us. " Sage guesses as she approaches where she saw the wolf last before whistling sharply making the wolf immediately get up and stop infront of her. She hands the bone to the wolf, him taking it and walking the other way with it in his mouth, as she turns to see what Mike was doing.

Mike had found a green army jacket somewhere in the room, Sage had no idea, and was trying to get something from a room that he was struggling to reach from the hole inside the fence. Sage approaches Mike as she raises an eyebrow before immediately noticing a solution to his struggle.

She pulls the leg of the makeshift table away and a gun comes tumbling down the shelf that it laid down. Sage turns her head and shakes her at Mike as he grabs the gun and she notices the black jacket in his other hand.

" Is that for me? " Sage gestures to jacket before looking up at Mike. " It wouldn't exactly be fair if you had two jackets on, Mike. "

" Yeah. " Mike nods as he holds the jacket out to Sage before putting his hand back down. Rather than handing her the jacket, Mike helps her put her one good arm through the jacket and lays the other sleeve over her bad arm.

" Thanks. " Sage says quietly as she welcomes the new warmth and looks up at Mike, suddenly realizing how close the two stood to each other. Mike clears his throat awkwardly before stepping back, Sage feeling just as awkward as he looked.

The two then head towards the exit and approach the door as Sage sighs noticing the lock on the door. Mike immediately pulls the gun out of his makeshift holster of a belt loop and quickly shoots the lock off the door. They make their way down to the next floor, Mike pausing to examine a picture of 'The Miracle Men' before heading towards the exit that had a locked gate infront of it.

Sage and Mike move a empty barrel out of the way, Sage adamant to help even if she was injured, before Mike moves to shoot the lock off the gate and creating sparks and a small fire because of it.

Mike opens the gate and accidentally leads the fire to the barrels filled with flammable liquid as the two watch in shock before realizing what's about to happen. The two then start to run from the fire that was quickly about to turn into something bad.

A explosion erupts behind them and sends to the two back a few feet, knocking out Sage just as quickly as the explosion happend.

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authors note.

oop! ya'll get a present next chapter tho so don't be that triggered! gotta tease before you recieve the good stuff (;