Beach Day

55: Tesseract

"Oh, are we finally leaving the stupid dead person cave?" Drew snaps, when Tiff puts the sword at her hip and gestures for them to follow her.

"Yeah. We got what we needed. We can go now. And then it'll be over once we're gone."

"I know you're going to launch into an explanation of what the two of you planned." Matt steps up to walk next to her while Drew lags behind a little, feet dragging through the water. He lowers his voice to a near-whisper— a conspiratorial gesture that isn't very much like Matt at all. "Before you do, I think you should know. Something's up with Drew on a physical level and he won't admit it or let me see. I think we need to make him and Andy head back to the road or the motel while the two of us and Kepler continue."

"That's a good idea, I think. Plus, they have less experience, and this— This is comb— com— it's a lot of things."

"Complicated?"

"Yeah. That." She raises her voice like she's having a normal conversation. "My veins fucking hurt. It's like getting acid in a cut."

"Even with the antidote you made?" Matt asks, weaving into the cover perfectly.

"Yeah, even with the antidote." She scratches some of the green veins up her wrists. Maybe it'll fade soon. "How are we feeling?"

"Fine," Drew grunts. It is, evidently, a lie.

Matt gives her a look. She shrugs. Pushing it isn't going to make it any better. She's tried before. It didn't end well.

"So— I'm going to the chapel. You're all welcome to come with me. But— this is something I have to do." She has to wait until they're out of earshot of Priscilla and Butterscotch before she continues. "I know what happened. He decapitated her, burned her body, put her skull in the chapel, and tossed the rest of her bones here. I don't know why he did it like that. I just know he did. So we need to get her head— but the issue is that he's there. He's the one leading the orchestra, even if he isn't the one who tuned them to A by the oboe. He's erased so much of the past— and all to make himself look better."

Realization and understanding dawn, then set in steel in Matt's eyes. "I'm going to put that man in the ground."

"He would deserve it. After everything he's done? After everything he's inspired this family to do? The atrocities he's pushed the believers to?"

"I knew he wasn't good a long time ago. I just thought..."

She picks up where he trails off. "I know. If you can make him happy— then maybe all of it is worth it."

"None of it was ever worth it." Matt decides that when they're stepping up to the ladder.

Without another word, Tiff starts the climb. Or— she tries. Three things happen in quick succession that immediately botch that plan. (So much for being prepared.) The first is that she remembers the state of her arm. There's no way in hell that she's going to be able to climb this with only one hand. The second is that she spots a spider on the wall that immediately decides that that little fuck is the one she wants to capture; she reaches for the jar as a first step.

The third is that Drew collapses to the ground behind her, and Matt curses.

Tiff screws the lid onto the jar and ignores the legs tapping at the glass. Whirling around is so much easier when you ignore the sound of bone on any surface. Matt's already kneeling there, hands undoing the armor and lifting the hem of Drew's shirt.

"God absolutely damn it." Matt leans the shotgun against the wall and crouches down to kneel at Drew's side. Tiff drops down from the wall in the same way, splashing water up on the three of them by accident. While Tiff uses her one good hand (sans sword, since it's at her side) to flip Drew over and keep his face out of the stagnant water, Matt starts undoing the breastplate over his shirt. The bottom of the leather is shredded; the bottom of his shirt is stained with blood. Tiff supposes that she didn't notice because the fabric is black.