The Cardinal Directive: Mission Log #53

Final Rest

[Start of Season 2]
[Previous]

---

>> ...
>> Confirmed.
>> Now playing Mission Log #53...

The footage shudders and flickers into view, in front of a door, into a hallway, into a stairwell, another hallway, another stairwell, on and on as Sebastian and Solena traversed higher and higher into the dilapidated apartment building. The majority of the rooms they pass have X’s on the doors, but not all of them. It seems they did their best to scope the place out before they moved.

At long last, they got to the door. Taking a deep breath, Sebastian pulled out a key and unlocked it. His hand grabbed the doorknob and twisted… but hesitated to open.

“…Before you come in. Just let me talk to Alison for a second, okay? I don’t know if sh—”

Before he could finish his sentence, there was a sharp cry of pain and a dull, clattering thud of something falling inside the room. Solena took off like a shot, slamming her shoulder into his arm and the door to force it open and rush inside.

---

The door swings open to what was once a sparsely furnished bedroom. A bedframe and mattress are tucked into one corner, with a desk beneath the window and a dresser adorned with what little supplies it seemed the two had taken with them.

A sleeping bag has been rolled out on the floor next to the bed, taking up the majority of the floorspace within the room.

The window is closed and the curtains — sheer, black fabric — are pulled over them, obscuring any visual outside or in.

And there’s… Alison.

She’s tucked in the corner between the wall and the bedframe, apparently not making it all the way there before she collapsed. Her suit has been abandoned at some point, leaving her in just her tank top and a pair of cargo pants. There are several clear tears in both, but no blood on them, and they’ve both been sewn back to working order.

Her blackened arm is blatantly visible, clutched tightly in her other hand’s grasp as she writhes in pain, breathing through clenched teeth with her eyes squeezed shut.

---

Solena all but slid into place next to her, immediately reaching for Alison’s arm and looking her over for injuries. The burn didn’t seem to bother her much, assuming she had even realized what it was in the heat of the moment.

Sebastian was close behind, closing the door and locking it behind them before making his way over.

“What’s wrong with her?” Solena asked, her eyes flitting quickly — almost accusatorily — between the two. “What’s going on?”

Sebastian kept his tone even, even if watching these episodes never failed to put a pit in his stomach. “It’ll pass. Help me get her onto the bed.”

Despite this blatant non-answer, Solena acted quickly, helping him heave Alison onto the mattress. It was a threadbare comfort to provide, but there wasn’t much else they could do for her.

“How long?” Solena asked, her voice a hushed whisper as she sat on the bed next to Alison. “How long has this been happening? How long until it passes?”

“It’ll take a few minutes,” he murmured. “The first one was a few days… maybe a week ago. That one was the worst of it. But the aftershocks haven’t been much better.”

She’d stopped screaming during them. He wasn’t sure if that was a sign of less pain or just that she was getting used to it.

“What is it? What’s happening?”