Helena froze. Her palms sweat. Her mouth opened but she didn’t speak a word as she stared at the barrel of Lancaster’s gun. But all around her everyone shouted as pandemonium broke out. His hands, and the gun, shook and all Helena could do was watch. From this range, Tish would suffer severe injuries if it’s birdshot. Death if it’s a slug. Her inexperience with firearms formed as nagging regret as she waited, paralyzed.
Still, Tish stood firm in her spot, her rifle pointed in Lancaster’s direction. “You’re nuts if you think I’m putting this gun down.” She sounded defiant, almost eager for the confrontation.
“Tish, cut it out!” Reid hissed.
Beside him, Shannon retrieved his own weapon from the floor and aimed it down the hall at the spindly man. “You put the gun down!”
Back and forth they called, their voices rising in a calamitous dance of “put it down” that rang in Helena’s ears. Who will fire first? The unknowing twisted her gut in anticipation as her eyes darted between the guns.
Eric’s hands raised defensively and remained motionless. He spoke, trying to sound calm, but Helena had come to know the strain in his voice. The worry that tugged at his throat, closing it ever so slightly. Beside Eric, Monte reached down for Eric’s gun and the bearded man’s motionlessness ended in a scramble for the weapon.
Helena’s fingers twitched. Her hand settled over her belly. A tremble shuddered through her frame. It's not supposed to happen like this...
“Enough!” Ashley called out as she stepped in front of Helena. Another step and she stood next to Tish. Reid reached out for Ashley, a panicked motion she shrugged off.
Another step and she stood in front of Tish’s rifle. “You're not going to shoot.”
Helena thought, in part, she spoke to Lancaster but a twinge from Tish told her Ashley was talking to each of them in the corridor.
“Stop. Do not come any closer!” The frail-looking doctor uttered the words, his voice shaking, his gun now trained on Ashley’s chest.
She didn’t balk. She didn’t show an ounce of fear. “You're not going to shoot because the sound would echo. It would draw them.” Her voice remained calm, almost soothing as she continued to approach Lancaster. “That wouldn't be smart and you seem like a smart man.”
“I said do not come any closer!”
But she did and behind her Reid raised his rifle, taking steps after Ashley.
“You invited us.” She paused, glancing back at Reid, and her gaze hardened as if in warning. What is she thinking? Helena wondered but didn’t dare move from where she stood.
Ashley turned back to the doctor in a slow movement. “You invited me,” she said with her hand outstretched. “So why don't you put down the gun before you accidentally shoot one of your guests.”
Lancaster tried to back away as she reached for him, but his foot caught on one of the barricade sandbags on the floor.
The world slowed and each movement seemed precise and superfluous at the same time. Eric wrestled the gun from Monte. Shannon grabbed Tish and yanked her back. Reid raised his rifle aiming it at the doctor. Though Ashley’s reflexes were quick, and she lunged for the gun, she didn’t grab it before the single shot went off.
Helena gasped and snapped her eyes shut. It wasn't supposed to happen like this! It should have gone smoothly... we had a plan. We had a good plan! Oh god… Move! Someone could be hurt. She could be hurt. If she's hurt it's all for nothing. I need to move. I'm not protecting anyone by just standing here doing fuck all!
Her eyes opened slowly as bodies rushed forward towards Lancaster and Ashley. Reid had shouted out, but Helena couldn't be sure what he'd said as he knocked the gun away from Lancaster.
“I'm fine,” Ashley said with a sigh as Reid helped her to her feet. Buckshot speckled the plaster and oiled wall paneling on her left. The whole gaggle had rushed forward and Greg and Monte did what they did best. They pinned Lancaster to the wall.
“It's just a graze, I'm fine. Really.” Ashley's arm bled, a graze as she said, nothing serious.
Helena still couldn’t move. Why am I so scared?
Eric touched her arm gently, snapping her from the frozen daze. “You alright?” His quiet question barely reached her and did nothing to sate the tremble in her digits.
Am I alright? Are we alright? Her stomach churned with nausea and her head twisted in an unmoving dizzy spell. Shaking fingers gripped at her gut.
“Yes. I’m fine. Sorry.” Brushing off the uneasy feelings, Helena approached Ashley. She pulled on her arm without word or warning. “Nothing serious, like she said. ” She swung her backpack off her shoulders and pulled out a quick bandage wrap. In seconds, she had it tied tight around Ashley’s bicep, hiding the wound before it healed in front of them all.
But while her attention had diverted a small scuffle started as Greg and Monte roughed up the doctor.
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“Hey!” Helena shouted. “Put him down.” Finding a bit of her confidence had taken her a moment but it solidified by the time she reached Lancaster. “We need him to cooperate.”
He didn't look any worse for wear as Monte and Greg backed off. A red cheek, a scratch, and a few popped buttons.
“Are you... Doctor Black?” He seemed more sheepish than she thought at first. Though anyone holding a gun can seem tough. His shaggy hair was speckled grey amidst light blond. From a distance, he had seemed spindly and thin, but upon closer inspection, it was the oversized sweaters that dwarfed his shape in layers. Despite the rest of his shaggy appearance, his green eyes were keen, focused, and intense.
“Yes. But just call me Helena.”
“Ah, of course, if you so wish.” Lancaster stood taller and fixed the buttons of his shirt. “I hope you understand why I may have greeted you all under less… appealing terms. Guns rarely lead to anything good, yes, but are a necessity of our times. I had wanted you to leave them by the door, out of sight out of mind, so to speak. I hoped, or hope, we can still conduct our business in a more civilized way.” Like night and day, the doctor collected and brushed off the slight humiliation. “And I'd appreciate you keeping your... friends away from me.” He settled a glare on Monte and Greg.
“Well Doctor, you and the people here have nothing to worry about us. We will honour our original agreement.” As she said the words Helena felt an odd sense of emptiness around her. Despite the commotion, no one had come running to Lancaster’s aid. The building was still, eerily quiet.
“Yes, well... to business then,” he muttered and motioned for them to follow.
Reid huffed as he passed Helena. “Yeah, totally not a crazy guy.”
“The radio is in the tower.” Lancaster led them through the hall to the main entrance. For how early it was in the day, the dark seemed to swallow them as all the boarded windows hid the daylight. It was only when Lancaster lit an oil lantern that the room came to life.
Helena had never visited the manor before. The entrance had an unremarkable staircase that twisted at a mezzanine before it led to the second floor. Limited light bounced off the hanging chandeliers casting strange shadows on the walls. When they reached the top, they were greeted by a long hallway stretching in both directions. Dozens of carpets layered the floor.
“As you can imagine, the tower is the best place to send and receive signals,” Lancaster mumbled and he continued to lead the group, the last of them straggling by the balcony that overlooked the great hall.
And still no one else? Helena peaked in the doorways that they passed to see light streaming in through the windows. No barricades or boards blocked the day and the rooms looked to be filled with furniture, debris, antiquities, and junk. She saw no sign of anyone else.
Following Lancaster to the left, they entered the hallway directly above where they had come into the manor. He disappeared through a door and as Helena followed it led to another stairwell. An “EXIT” sign pointed down, but as she’d seen from the first floor, the stairwell was blocked. For a moment she wondered why the extra steps. Why make them use the main stairs and come all the way around to take the second set? But the longer she thought about it, the more clear it became.
Harder to find. Harder to climb. More time to run if the wendigos break through.
And so they climbed. Again. The stairwell was much narrower and the walls closed in tighter. On the third floor, display cases filled with historical artifacts and old weapons lined the hall while informative plaques adorned the walls. In the near dark, only the lantern shone as they passed the closed doors. Each silent.
Lancaster popped into a large room, its walls bricked, and bracing wood beams stretched along the length of it. A wooden staircase stood at the center and at its base and it was here that Lancaster stopped to take a breath.
“Only a few more,” he said, his shoes thumping on the wood.
They climbed. The next room held what looked to be the bulk of the radio set up. Three tables stood together, and to Helena, they were covered in electronic junk. It didn’t look like the radio they had at the college, and from it protruded misshapen and multicoloured wires. The wires trailed along the floor and up yet another set of stairs. Twisting narrow metal rail stairs wound with wires turned towards the ceiling and as Helena stared up at it she sighed and took a deep breath. Being a tighter fit, most of them waited at the bottom of the stairs. Only Helena and Reid, stepped up to follow.
“You should go too,” Greg nudged Brendan forward. “You know this shit.”
Brendan looked to Helena and she gave him a slight nod as the rest waited behind.
“You’ve constructed a long-range antenna?” Brendan asked as he examined the setup. “How far does the signal reach?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” Lancaster said. “Not trans-continental, of course. I imagine there’s an operational station within…. 1500 kilometers that bounces the signal. So far not many have answered.”
“We’ve only been able to get signals from the GTA right now.”
“So I’ve heard.” Lancaster looked to Helena with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, the parts we need are on this list.” Brendan rummaged through his pocket. “Saul wrote it out in case you lost yours and said if you don’t recognize anything, I can probably help to-“
“I am not dismantling my communications system,” Lancaster announced. “I have spent too much time getting this device to function. Cannibalizing it on the off-chance the parts might be compatible with your currently defunct radio sounds akin to gambling and the currency, in this case, is our ability to communicate with the outside world. Quite frankly, I’m not the kind of man that’s interested at such dismal prospects.”
“That's not what we agreed upon,” Helena hurried the words out. Words she’d practiced.
“You will make your call, I assure you. But it will be from this station and you can then relay back to your encampment at the university. That way I will know I've not been... forgotten.”
Brendan looked ready to argue but Helena shook her head.
“Fine,” she said. “That will have to do, for now.”
“But we’re supposed to head back and-“
“You can radio Evelyn,” Reid said and Lancaster visibly cringed at the name. “And tell them what’s going on.”
“I suppose that would be acceptable.” Lancaster nodded as if he’d been asked for permission.
“Good. Brendan, you do that while I discuss our bunking situation with the doctor here.” Helena motioned Lancaster to the other side of the room as Brendan slipped down the iron stairwell.
“That was her, wasn’t it?” Lancaster whispered. “Ashley Cazalla. I recognized her from the posters and I have to say I’m rather shocked the likeness was so striking.” Scratching the stubble on his chin, Lancaster’s eyes lit with what she guessed was dangerous curiosity. “She looks a picture of health.”
“The others don’t know about the deal. The others don’t get to know until we’re sure.” She did her best to ignore Reid but Helena could feel the contempt of his gaze level on her back. “She’ll answer your questions and I’ve got your sample. Once we get everyone settled we’ll discuss more. Does that sound good, Doctor?”
Lancaster mulled it over and nodded solemnly. Then, as though nothing had occurred, he popped down the stairwell to join the rest of them.