“Helena!” The call came from the stairwell, muffled by distance and the cement walls of the basement. She’d meandered her way down into the depths of Casa Loma after waking with a rumbling gut. But, even after she’d found her way into Lancaster’s rather impressive stores of junk food and rations, she could barely eat a bite. So instead she sat alone with her lantern in the dark at the disregarded cellar cafe tables, munching halfheartedly on a bag of stale potato chips.

“What?” she yelled back without getting up from her seat.

No answer.

Helena sighed and grabbed another chip. It was the furthest from healthy, empty calories at best, but she’d taken one look at the military rations Lancaster had somehow obtained and her rumbling gut flipped. The thought of wieners and beans in a lukewarm sauce made her want to retch on the spot. Heaven forbid, she get a whiff of it.

“Helena?” A different voice called from the top of the stairs. She looked past the cafe windows in the dark, seeking a shape plopping down but no one came. Even the shadows remained still from her battery-powered lantern.

“I’m down here!” She rubbed the chip dust off her fingers and smeared them from her lips. The indulgent part of her wanted another and the opened box she’d left on the counter stuffed with the expired junk called to her.

“The radio,” Eric said, his voice clear and booming. He hadn’t been the first, or second for that matter, to shout for her from somewhere on the first level, but he had been smart enough to actually look. He started down the stairs, stopping halfway. “You should probably get up here.”

With no attempt to hide her sigh, she agreed, grabbed her lantern and started up for the first floor. She left the chip bags behind.

Fatigue tugged at her limbs while she climbed, apparently having a shouting match with her gut on which made her more uncomfortable. Each step felt more sluggish than the last, like weights dragged behind her. But she pushed on as though unburdened, hopping up the steps as fast as she could manage.

“I said back up, asshole.” Tish spat the words as she pushed Monte away from the radio. He wore a smug grin and seemed nonplussed by Tish’s shove. All together, Helena guessed everyone was in the room except Lancaster, Shannon, Reid and Ashley.

“I’m sorry,” Brendan said to Helena but she had no idea why. She looked between him and Eric, as a curse danced from his lips.

“You responded?” Eric asked.

Helena frowned. “What do you mean you responded? Responded to what?”

“Monte said I should before they shut off! I… I said to wait but-” Brendan looked between Tish and Monte, eyes practically bulging from his head. “I’m sorry. I just... He said we had to.”

Brendan motioned to the radio as Greg squared up to Eric. Gabriel right behind. The room grew tense, the air thick, and Helena wasn’t sure who would throw the first blow. Without Shannon and Reid, Helena wasn’t sure Eric and Tish could handle the other three.

“Did they answer?” she asked Brendan.

He shook his head.

“What did you tell them?” she pressed. “Tell me exactly what you said.”

“What they needed to know,” Monte answered, though the question wasn’t for him. “We’ve got their precious cargo. Alive and kicking. We want our people from the college to get airlifted out. ASAP. You telling me you’d have said something different?”

“Fuck…” Helena swore and slammed her fist into the desk. “Yeah. Jonas and Evelyn gave me specific instructions what to say and not to say. Goddamn it, Monte! They could think we’re some idiots who don’t know anything. And what the fuck does ‘our people’ even mean?” The words tumbled from her in a flurry without caution or care. “How dumb do you need to be to think you, the sick fuck who likes to cut up women, can speak for all of us? Do you have any idea how much you could have screwed this for-“

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The radio crackled and a voice cut Helena short.

“Victoria College: Contact received. EVAC available after confirmation of cargo identity. DNA confirmation required. To verify cargo, obtain DNA sample and meet at Pearson International Airport terminal three in eighteen hours from the time of this transmission. Transmission will repeat at one-hour intervals with updated ETA. To confirm, respond on this frequency. Escort One, out.”

It was clinical, or militant she thought. It made no mention of rescue preparations, no questions about how many people, where they were holed up. No details, nothing they would need to know for a real evacuation and worse, they said “Victoria College”. Ashley and Jonas’s concern twisted with her gut. Don’t tell them where we are, they’d said. And now it was too late.

Tish paced the room. “Eighteen hours? That’s it? How the hell are we supposed to cross half the city in that time? With the roads and wendigos, that’s nuts. And reckless. What the fuck do they think? That we have cars just hanging around?”

Helena looked up and met Eric’s eyes. He stared at her, his face locked in that look. That worried look. Not fear, no, just a knowing. He stepped closer to Helena, his voice low. “They don’t mention how many-“

“I know,” she said quickly. “But just… give me a minute to think.”

“What’s there to think about?” Monte pushed forward, pushing Eric and Helena aside. His hand smashed down on the radio opening the signal. “This is Vic college confirming-“

The room erupted again. Eric shoved Monte across the room. Greg grabbed Eric by the shoulders. Tish kicked the back of Greg’s shins and brought both him and Eric to the floor. Gabriel gripped Tish’s arm and tugged her away. All Helena and Brendan could do was get out of the way as Eric and Greg clamoured into the radio table sending the equipment flying across the floor.

For a moment they stilled, the radio flickering until a sound cut through. “Victoria College: Confirmation received. Transmission will repeat at one-hour intervals with updated ETA. Escort One, out.”

“Goddamit it, Monte!” Helena shouted as more footsteps sounded on the stairs of the tower.

“The fuck is going on?” Shannon said, but at seeing the scuffle he entered the fray. Reid followed only a moment later. In seconds, they had Greg, Gabriel and Monte subdued enough to usher them out of the room.

Brendan bent to the radio. It wasn’t destroyed but as he pressed the receiver nothing happened. “It’s gonna take time to figure out what’s dislodged or needs repair.” He looked fearfully between Tish and Helena. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let Monte convince me-“

“No shit,” Tish snapped. “But you can fix it, right?”

Brendan nodded. “I think so. We’re still receiving which is good.”

“Can we get a message out to the college? Can we try and contact Escort One to change the time?” Helena asked, her voice strained. She tried to control her emotions, to push the panic down, but eighteen hours seemed an impossible deadline. It made her hands shake.

“I need to work on it,” he said.

“Well, do it!” Tish shrugged. “I’ll go keep Monte company,” she said cracking her knuckles.

Helena sighed and tried to flex the tension from her fingers. “Just… call for me if you get it running again. If it looks like you can’t, let us know as soon as you do and we’ll send someone back to the college.”

Brenda’s eyes went wide. “On their own?”

Helena exhaled a controlled breath. “If we have to.”

She left the tower to find the room below empty. Monte’s voice clamoured down the hall a bit, Shannon’s with him and Tish’s shouts trailing after. Outside the tower stairs, she found Eric and Reid waiting.

“What did we miss?” Reid asked.

Helena sighed. “They want DNA confirmation in eighteen hours. We’re to meet at the airport.”

“How are we going to get there?”

“I don’t know but for now, we keep a guard on the tower. No Monte, no Greg, no Gabe. Can you tell the others?”

Reid nodded. He started down the hall but stopped. “By DNA confirmation-“

“I don’t know right now, Reid. Please, just go tell the others about the radio and tower arrangement.”

He scoffed and backed away, cutting words she guessed dancing from his lips.

“The radio,” Eric said as he stepped beside her. He kept his voice quiet for just the two of them.

“Brendan’s working on it. If we can’t get word back to the college beforehand we’ll need to send someone.”

He nodded, solemnly. “They didn’t ask how many we need to move.”

“I know.”

“They didn’t bother with a timeline or location details.”

“I know, Eric.”

He shook his head and crossed his arms. “I don’t like it, Helena.”

The shake came back to her fingers, trembling through her arms. “Neither do I.”

“What do we do then?” He turned to her, his eyes kind but insistent. “Without the college, we’ll have to make the call.” But she knew what he meant.

I’ll have to make the call. Helena swallowed hard and clenched her fists. This whole trip had been her plan, for better or worse she’d arranged most of the chips to fall in this way. When had the plan changed? When did I lose my resolve?

Bile threatened to claw up her throat and she shook it aside. Her fists unclenched, and she placed a single hand on her stomach. “We cover our bases and we give them exactly what they asked for.” A calm came over her as she relaxed her shoulders. “I need to talk to Lancaster. Can you keep an eye on Brendan and come get me if we get the radio back up?”

He nodded, his brow furrowed and wanting for explanation. She gave none as she took off down the hall.