AHS // 1984// Xavier Plympton

Red Dawn

As we all silently looked into the flames together, Xavier suddenly walked up and stood close to the burning car, pulling us all from our long stare.

"It's not big enough. No one can see it. We need to build a signal fire. Big enough for a plane to see! The cabins, the trees... we have to burn it all!" He shouts, pointing at the forest around us.

"We're not burning shit, okay? We need to find an exit plan," Montana hisses at Xavier.

"Yeah, she's right. Xavier, you need to relax. Just breathe," Brooke adds.

"You want me to breathe? We have breathed the fire of a thousand white-hot suns!" He shouts, pulling my arm to show remind our friends of our appearance.

He drops my body and cries to himself as he grabs a nearby stick from the forest floor, sticking it in the flames and creating a torch.

"Dude, stop!" Chet tries to calm his friend as we all watch in fear.

Xavier swings around, putting the flame near our faces. I cry as the flame comes near my face, reminding me of the hot oven.

"Xavier, put that down!" Brooke shouts, grabbing my arm as I cry.

"Get back! Get out of the way!" He shouts, pushing us back with the torch. "Don't you see? It all has to burn."

All of a sudden, Xavier gets pelted in the head with something and falls to the ground, revealing Margaret behind him with her gun in hand.

"Forgive me, but I had to stop him before he hurt someone," she explained in a panicky voice.

I run over to Xavier and drop to the ground beside him, pulling his head into my lap and stroking his blonde hair lightly.

"Let's get him to a cabin," I say, looking up at my friends.

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Margaret shuts the door as I sit on the bed with Xavier's head in my lap, continuing to brush his fluffy blonde hair with my fingers.

"We can't stay here. We have to rally, go through the woods, we'll find help eventually," Montana says, standing in the middle of the cabin.

"No. Those woods are a maze, and in this dark we'll be walking around in circles. And don't forget about the traps," Margaret explains.

"She's right. I mean, Jingles could have this whole place booby-trapped, for all we know," I agree as everyone turns to look at me.

"Xavier and Saylor can't even walk. We should just stay here till sunrise. There is safety in numbers. And we have a gun," Brooke points to the small revolver in Margaret's hand.

"Some bad news on that front," Margaret shows us the empty chamber and I let out a sigh. "I used all my bullets trying to protect Trevor from Jingles. I wish I could have done more. But there is another option. Yesterday I saw two people camping on the other side of the lake. Two of us could take a boat across."

"Maybe they have a car," I add, throwing that idea onto the table.

"God willing."

"Good idea. Chet'll go with you," Montana offers causing Chet to shoot her a glare.

"Sure," Chet sighs as Montana shrugs her shoulders as a reaction to his glare, "I love boats."

"You're very brave. God bless you," Margaret smiles.

"Be careful, you guys," Brooke says as the two walk out of the cabin together.

I move Xavier's head onto the pillow under my legs and lay next to him, wrapping an arm around his waist and closing my eyes as we wait on Margaret and Chet. I quickly fall into a sorta deep sleep as Montana and Brooke's conversation fades farther and farther away.