Beyond The Sea Blue Light

The Kerosene Is Gone

The explosion jolts me awake, the force of it shaking the entire house. I hear the squawking of birds as I blink, looking around. Bright light is streaming in through the window as I sit up, the blankets falling off of me. It's past noon already, the sun high in the sky. Vic's already awake, hurriedly pulling on a shirt from the other side of the room. He gives me a little smile as he sees that I'm awake. I quickly dress, rushing after him to see what the noise was all about.

It's quite evident where the explosion came from as we head down the hallway. Smoke hangs heavily in the air as we push through, reaching the doorway of the bedroom where Andy was. Jack is kneeling on the ground, Alex beside him. The door to the bedroom is wide open and empty, the entire bedroom covered in a fine layer of charcoal.

Alex looks up at us. "Andy's gone," he says simply.

"What?" Vic asks. "How?"

"Thank god and good riddance," Jack mutters. The cut above his eye is still dripping blood, even as he presses the towel against it. He waves me off when I move to heal him, the guilt still evident in his eyes. Last time was too taxing on me, we all know what came out of that.

"No, that's not good," Alex says. "That means he went to kill them all." He runs his hand through his hair. "How the hell did he escape? We should have been more careful."

"The dose might have worn off quicker," Jack sighs. "He might have been pretending, biding his time until he could break free."

"We have to stop him," Alex says, frustrated. "I can't believe he beat us so easily."

"What do we do?" Vic asks. "Go after him? He's had at least a ten minute headstart."

Alex shakes his head. "We'll never catch up to him," he sighs. "But we can find out where he's going, right?"

Vic nods. "We need to warn Frank's team." He looks over at Alex. "Can you call them?"

"I did," Alex sighs. "They aren't responding. Knowing our luck, they're in trouble, aren't they?"

"Keep trying," Vic says. "We need to tell them that Andy's probably heading in their direction. Who knows what he'll do? He's quite pissed off, I assume."

"Should we go after Andy or stay here?" Jack muses.

"We have to stop Andy," Alex says. "That's final. We can't have him killing people."

"There's something else," I cut in. My palms are sweating so I wipe them on my jeans. I take a deep breath before continuing. "I—there's something about Andy that you should know."

Vic reaches over, putting his hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"Well I started getting these dreams a while ago. I saw part of Andy's childhood. Andy—he caused the Attack."

"How am I not surprised?" Alex mumbles. "Continue."

"That's not all. He—he's Styles' son."

"The one that he lost?"

"Well, it turns out that he's not quite dead," Jack mutters.

"Jack, he's also—" I hesitate, knowing what his reaction will be. "He—your brother dated him."

Jack stares at me for so long, I'm almost scared that he's forgotten to react.

"Oh, ew!" Jack screams, at last, making the three of us jump. "No! No way!"

"Jack," Alex reaches out to hold him.

"There is no way he is Styles' son! And my brother—ew! No!" Jack yells. "It's impossible."

"So he's got a personal stake in this too," Vic mutters. "It's not just for us. It's a grudge."

"It's still gross," Jack groans.

"Why didn't he say anything?" Alex wonders. "I mean, I would if the person putting us through hell was my father."

"I don't think he knew," Vic says softly. "Until a few days ago—when Kellin—"

"We have to warn Frank," Jack sighs. "This just got more complicated."

"They're not responding," Alex groans, thoroughly frustrated. "Should we go after them?"

"We might have to. If they've been captured, we have to."

"What about Andy?"

The four of us stare at each other, caught in a standstill.

"Do we split up?" Alex asks. "Two of us go after Andy, the other two find Frank's team. The meeting is in two days. It should give us enough time to catch up with him and stop him."

"I'm hesitant to do that," Vic says. "We're stronger together, that's been proven. Andy could overpower two of us easily. Not to mention, if Frank's team has been captured, we're going to need a lot more than two of us to fight."

"Then what do we do?"

Alex sighs. "Wait to see if we can get a response," he says. "If not, splitting up may be the best option." Though we are all skeptical, we agree. It's the best course of action, especially when so much is at stake.