𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬, 𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫. ►

CHAPTER FOUR: THE SAUNA TEST

"Which one?" Max smiled, holding up two comics as River leaned her head on her shoulder, yawning while El sat on the bed.

"I don't know." El quietly responded, staring off as Max set them down, sighing.

"Hey, there's nothing to worry about anymore, okay?" The redhead reassured them both, causing River to lift her head off of her shoulder and lean forward.

"No, trust me, this is weird." River muttered, as El nodded in response.

"Well, how do you know that?" Max questioned with a shrug, causing River to sigh, grabbing a comic book.

"Look, I just know, alright? We've dealt with this kind of stuff before, twice, at that. A-and, it's just weird." River quickly responded, shaking her head. "First of all, the blood, and the ice, Max. The ice. Nothing about this seems normal."

"Alright, Heather had a fever, so she took a cold bath, but she's better now." Max shrugged, sitting back against her headboard. "That has to be it. I don't know where they blood came from, but..we saw her. We all saw her, she's totally fine."

"What about Billy?" El softly spoke up, as the other two looked at her.

"What about him?" Max furrowed her brows, as River sighed, glancing around.

"He seemed wrong." El shrugged, sharing an uneasy look with River, who was currently only playing with the bottom of her shirt nervously.

"Wrong is kind of like his default." Max giggled, "But it's nice to know he's not a murderer, cause that would've totally sucked." Max joked, nudging them both as El forced a smile, and River sat back, keeping a blank expression.

"Who..is that?" El asked before leaning forward and pointing to the Wonder Woman comics, as Max smiled.

"See, this is why you can't just hang out with Mike all the time. This is wonder woman, AKA Princess Diana." Max started to explain as El leaned onto her.

River rubbed her eyes quickly before looking to the comic books, and sighing. Maybe this would all be over soon, the suspense. But River was sure this wasn't normal. They needed to stop brushing everything off.

˗ˏˋ✦ ✦ ✦'ˎ˗

"Do you copy? This is a code red! I repeat, this is a code red. Max, do you copy?" Lucas had woken them all up, and River reached down from the edge of the bed, grabbing Max's Walkie Talkie and handing it to the aggravated girl.

"Shut..Up." Max firmly stated, handing it back to River who's eyes were still shut. She was barely hearing anything, only Lucas muffled voice. Placing it back down, River shot back up once she heard the phone ring.

"Shit. I-I got it, don't worry." The girl had muttered after groaning, practically sliding off of the bed as she rubbed her eyes, walking over slowly.

She picked up the phone, yawning again before coughing and speaking up, "Hey, we're all pretty tired-"

"River." Mike's voice had been heard, causing the girl to pause. He said her name in a tone of relief, but then proceeded to speak. "Please don't hang up. Something happened, something bad. Our very lives can be at stake." He quickly finished, causing the girl to stand there in shock for a few seconds. She was paranoid for a reason last night.

"What?" She stammered, shifting in her place nervously.

"Just please come over. We'll explain it all. Hurry." Mike stated simply before hanging up, causing River to lower the phone slowly, glancing back when she heard El.