Project S.T.A.T.I.C. Part 5: The Asylum

Sam sat on the bar trying to keep her composure and calm. Bruce was standing behind the bar polishing a glass with a heavy frown while Zoey drummed her fingers on the mahogany bar top. Beth and Pam sat beside one another at a table near the bar. Meanwhile Rebecca stood off to the side with her arms crossed and eyes closed. “It’s been two friggin’ days,” Sam sighed as Jake typed away on the keyboard, “I get you guys have some sort of protocol, or whatever, but do you really think hanging around doing nothing is the best course of action?”

“She has a point, Jake,” Pam frowned, “We just got three of our people back, and I don’t think its wise for us to risk losing one.”

“We don’t know that anything has happened,” Rebecca pointed out from her place in the corner.

“That’s part of the problem, though,” Beth sighed, “We don’t know anything, so let’s focus on what we do know. Spoiler alert, it isn’t much. We know Jay left about forty-eight hours ago for a supply run. We know he hasn’t come back, and we know it’s not like him to be gone this long.”

“So what are we gonna do about this?” Sam asked, looking around the room, “Are we gonna sit around here with our thumbs up our asses, or are we gonna figure out what happened to him?”

“Give me a minute,” Jake sighed.

“How much more time do you want to waste?” Sam frowned.

Rebecca was about to say something when she stopped and frowned. She looked down for a moment before standing up straight and excusing herself, “Pardon me, I’ll rejoin you all shortly.”

“What is her deal?” Sam asked as Rebecca disappeared down the hall.

“Don’t bother trying to figure her out,” Zoey shook her head, “All we need to know is that she’s on our side. She’s got a lot going on right now from what I understand.”

“Yeah, I guess coming back from the dead leaves you screwier than usual in the head,” Sam scoffed.

“Ms. Samantha, I think you might be misplacing your frustrations and directing them at  Ms. Rebecca,” Bruce said in a calm tone, “I can certainly understand your anger, but Ms. Rebecca isn’t our enemy this time. Do not let what we’ve been through cloud your judgment and distort the reality. She isn’t the one that wronged us.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Sam sighed and crossed her arms.

“Your concern is shifting to anger,” Pam pointed out.

“I don’t need a therapist, Pam,” Sam rolled her eyes.

“Samantha, she’s not attacking you,” Zoey said before Beth or Pam could cut in, “She’s just stating a fact.”

Sam frowned and closed her eyes. She bit her tongue and chewed on the more furious thoughts running through her head. “I know you’re right,” she finally sighed, “I just know what kind of bullshit that we went through not that long ago. We’re still missing our friends, and I don’t like the idea of Jason being subjected to some sort of fucked up torture. What if Amelia got a hold of him?”

“I don’t think that’s too likely,” Jake shook his head without looking up from the monitor, “Amelia was likely pushed into hiding after what happened with us. Eva and Emily wouldn’t have taken kindly to her and the twins failing them. Come on, you piece of junk, work for me…”

“What are you doing?” Sam asked, getting up to look over Jake’s shoulder, “And if you’re right, what do you think happened?”

“That big ass freak could be involved,” Beth shook her head, “Whatever the case, I think you’re right, Sam. We can’t keep sitting around doing nothing, but-”

“I’m in,” Jake interrupted with a triumphant clap, “I don’t know how long it’ll last, but I’ve managed to break through Ingrid’s security and get access to some of the CCTV cameras around the city!”

“Really?” Beth asked, hurrying to her feet and joining Jake at the desk, “Son of a bitch, we need to take advantage of this while we have a minute. Where was Jay heading again? Did he say?”

“I don’t know,” Sam admitted, joining Beth and Jake to scan the monitors, “This is neat and all, but how is this gonna help us if we don’t have a clue where to start.”

“Start with the north eastern section of the city,” Rebecca said as she walked back into the room, “See if you can find an abandoned semi with a trailer. Look for any signs of those little robots or the undead wandering the street.”

“That’s strangely specific,” Zoey frowned.

“Indeed it is,” Pam agreed, “Rebecca, why, pray tell, do you want Jake to look for those in particular?”

“Trust me,” Rebecca replied, moving to take a seat at the bar.

“Can you rewind?” Beth asked as Jake shifted between different cameras.

“Gimme a minute,” Jake said, “There, I think that’s it. Alright, let’s see if I press this  then I think that it should…there we go. What the hell?”

Jake, Beth, and Sam watched as Jason landed in front of the truck and made his way to the back. He was gone for a few minutes before things started to escalate. They saw a mob of Courtney’s infected making their way towards where Jason had disappeared to. It looked like an undead patrol was making their rounds at first, but things quickly began to escalate. In a matter of a few short minutes, a wave of Ingrid’s automatons could be seen making their way across the cityscape just before Jason reappeared in a frantic rush. He was running and being chased by a number of smaller, far stranger looking drones. 

The infected shifted and changed direction as Jason took off in a mad dash to escape. Rebecca and the others joined them in watching the events unfold. They watched together as it appeared as though Jason was being herded and directed towards specific areas of the city. Jake had to switch cameras multiple times to find him. There were more than a few times where he nearly lost sight of him, and they had to rely on tracking the growing horde. The chase continued on until eventually they watched as a black SUV pulled up at an intersection and an all too familiar and chilling woman stepped out: Anna Murray.

They didn’t have audio on the cameras, but they could see that Murray was clearly in control of the strange situation. The hundreds of infected seemed to obey her commands, as did the flock of airborne drones hovering overhead with their guns trained on them. Jason dropped his weapons and fell to his knees after a minute. Dr. Murray strode over to him with a confidence that was as infuriating as it was disarming. She injected him with something and looked up at the cameras with a sinister smile before a handful of the infected grabbed Jason’s body and threw him into the back of the SUV.

Pam had watched the last minutes with intrigue and apprehension. It could have been her mind playing tricks on her, but she swore that she saw Murray wink at the camera. Was this deliberate? She wondered that as they watched the psychotic doctor climb into her car and drive off. Jake cycled through different cameras trying to keep up with the SUV. It was difficult, but he managed to track it. Jake’s heart sank and a feeling of dread washed over him as the SUV crossed a bridge to an island that his great grandfather had helped establish long ago: Emmerson Memorial Hospital. 

While it was called a hospital, it was primarily in name only. Years before Jake and Beth had taken up the mantle of heroes, the hospital had been converted into an asylum by the City Council. The hope had been using the old building as a way to reform criminals, house the criminally insane, and to study the growing trend in super powered abnormalities. At the time, those incidents were far and few between, but the trend had started well before Jake donned his first bird mask and suit. Unfortunately, it had been an endeavor that hadn’t panned out well for the residents or the city.

The asylum had been running for over five years before the truth about what was happening finally broke. There had been stories of abuse, misconduct, and malpractice that surrounded the place, but most people wrote it off as unsubstantiated. It wasn’t until a reporter went missing while seeking an interview with the head doctors that the truth came out. The reporter and his guards were attacked by a group of inmates, and in the chaos that followed the reporter was mistaken for an escapee. They were processed for intake and held against their will for two months before they were finally discovered.

It had been a family member of the reporter that had come looking for him. Even with the confirmation from the papers that he’d been assigned to Emmerson, the guards and doctors had been far from cooperative. It had taken a subpoena from the city to get them to agree to a search. They found him in a cell stuffed away at the basement level barely a shell of the person he was. He’d been selected for experimentation and observation despite his psyche evaluation passing with flying colors, and his identity being verified. The doctors seemed more keen on having somebody sane to experiment and toy with than another one of their usual inmates. 

The reports that were on record were compiled of broken and fragmented interviews with the reporter. Jake had read up on as much as he could stomach, but the stories had been enough to keep him up into the wee hours of the night. The types of things that went on behind the gates of the asylum were the stuff that people wrote horror stories and movies about. It made almost perfect sense that this was where Murray had chosen to set up shop. The site had been shuttered, abandoned, and all but condemned since then. It had been a project that even Jake’s team hadn’t felt comfortable taking on and trying to rebuild. Of course, Eva and her family would have made it a priority to reopen it.

As they watched the SUV pull through the gates of the asylum, the camera feed cut once again. Their window of opportunity was gone to see what was happening. The image on the feed had been replaced by Ingrid’s insignia. The cliche evil eye that Ingrid used as both a moniker and symbol flashed on screen in a mocking manner. They’d lost control of the cameras, but they’d managed to find something close to a lead. 

“Shit,” Beth sighed, walking away, “What are we gonna do?”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked, looking over her shoulder, “We’re going to attack that place and get Jason back, duh.”

“One, that’s half-cocked and suicidal at best,” Beth rolled her eyes and held up a finger, “Two, this doesn’t seem the least bit fishy to you? We suddenly get access to the CCTV cameras just long enough for us to see what happened before we lose them. This right after Jason is abducted. I’ve done this song and dance enough times to recognize a trap when I see one, Sam.”

“Elizabeth is right,” Rebecca sighed, “Hmph, this week is just full of firsts for me…”

“Get to the point,” Beth frowned, “Unless the point is to be a dick, in which case please continue.”

Rebecca blinked for a moment before she seemed to realize that she’d again said something offensive without thinking. “Right, my mistake,” she shook her head, “I have laid enough traps and snares like this using tactics that are all too similar to what we’re seeing here. This is a trail of breadcrumbs that is so painfully obvious that even a naive child can spot it.”

“Why do I get the feeling that’s another jab at me?” Beth mumbled, stopping when she felt Pam’s hand on her shoulder.

“Calm yourself and breathe, pet,” Pam spoke softly, “Whether she did or didn’t is entirely irrelevant. Let her speak so that we can concentrate on what’s important.”

“They are purposefully playing on your emotions, dear,” Rebecca continued, “It’s simple psychology, really. Think of it like a carrot on a stick. They are giving you false hope with the mindset that you’ll give into those baser instincts and chase after the treat. In this case it is our supposed leader’s life and the whereabouts of the rest of our allies. They expect us to run into the fire like rats chasing cheese in a maze.”

“So we just stand around doing nothing?” Sam asked, “What do you propose we do, huh? They have Jason, and the rest of our friends could very well be there too! We are not leaving them there to suffer and die!”

“They won’t die, girl,” Rebecca argued, crossing her arms, “They, especially Jason, are worth far more alive than they are dead. Jason more so than the others, I’m afraid, but they need him to ensure that we follow suit. Now suffering is something that is, sadly, all too likely-”

“Which is why we can’t just stand around here!” Sam snapped, slamming her fist down on the table, “What if Sal is in there, or Kait, or Addy?! Beth, back me up on this!”

“I don’t like it either,” Beth shrugged, “But we’re strained on resources, supplies, and manpower right now, Sam. We can’t really afford to do anything rash and without considering some of the possibilities. This is Murray we’re talking about here.”

“Yeah, and that woman is something straight out of a fucking horror novel!” Sam said.

Jake had been listening to his sister and friends argue and bicker back and forth. Their fighting was background noise, though. He was busy thinking and playing out different scenarios pertaining to what-ifs. Everything he’d read about the asylum and Murray’s background were overlapping in a perfect storm of terror and horror. He stood up from his spot in front of the monitor and shook his head. Ashley appeared in the chair he’d been sitting in only a moment ago. She continued looking at the screen and the insignia that kept flashing.

“What’s your gut telling you, Jake?” she asked without looking up.

“Nothing good,” Jake sighed, “That Murray has been hiding out in that fucking place since she resurfaced back when Courtney first showed up. Which means that she’s likely been working almost around the clock to stock it, fortify it, and turn it into her personal playground. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that she’s got a billionaire backing her that was stealing money from me and my company for who knows how long beforehand.”

“So all bad,” Ashley surmised, shaking her head, “What about our friends? We know Jason is there, but what about the others? Do you think that’s where Eva and her lovely sister moved them?”

“I’d say that the odds are higher than I’d like,” he shook his head, “Murray is a psychopath with a penchant for torture and mutilation. She earned her moniker of Babydoll because she was conducting experiments on unwilling subjects through surgeries, not her looks. Kait, Addy, and Sally were the more vocal and outspoken of us, next to Sam and Beth that is. If Amelia got to keep Sam and the others, then why wouldn’t Murray get some for herself?”

“Placate your more vicious, sadistic, and volatile enforcers,” Ashley nodded, knowing the tactic well enough from her time leading legions of murderous patrols and squads, “Then we may need to prepare for the worst.”

“Ash, not now,” Jake warned, “We don’t know that they’re dead, and I will not suggest that to-”

“You think false hope is a better alternative?” Ashley asked.

“I won’t jump to any conclusions until I know for sure,” Jake argued, “Until I can be sure that they’re gone, then we hold onto the spark that they might still be here.”

“Jake, what you’re thinking is insane,” Ashley sighed, already knowing where his mind was going.

“Then I guess it fits the billing,” he shrugged, turning his attention back to the argument that had been steadily escalating while he spoke with his better half.

“This is bullshit!” Sam stomped her foot.

“Sam, you need to take a step back,” Zoey said, putting a hand on her girlfriend’s forearm only to have her rip it away.

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Zo!” Sam snapped, surprising everyone with her hostility, “Sally might be in that fucking nuthouse, along with the rest of our friends. That lunatic doctor could be doing who knows what to them. We were getting used and abused like a living sex-toys by those evil bitches, but they could have been operated on, experimented on, or used as fodder for her games!”

“Ms. Samantha, I urge you to think this through,” Bruce tried to chime in, “All that they are suggesting is that we cannot run into the fire.”

“That’s what Sal would do for me!” Sam exclaimed, a single tear rolling down her cheek, “She’d do it for me, and she’d do it for Beth. Look, you can stand around plotting and planning, but we are talking about a woman that has been my family for years. She’s my ride or die, literally more than once. I cannot and will not just sit on the sidelines while she’s getting abused.”

“Would you stop and think for a moment, girl?” Pam finally snapped, having held her tongue throughout the bulk of Sam’s combative stance, “We don’t even know if they’re alive. Have you stopped to consider that possibility, Samantha?”

“Pam,” Beth said in a hushed tone trying to reign her beloved in.

“No, she needs to hear this,” Pam shook her head, “You are proposing running headlong into what we know is obviously a trap. All the while, you are leaving out and ignoring the possibility that our friends may not even still be alive. The woman that is running that place is a sociopathic monster masquerading as a nurse. She might appear like a human being, but she is little more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing! Who's to say that she hasn’t dissected our friends for her own amusement, hmm? Why would she show them any shred of mercy or decency? Doing so implies that there is some shred of humanity hidden behind those lifeless eyes.”

“Pamela!” Rebecca barked, her tone reminiscent of the authoritative one she used to command cities with, “That is enough.”

“Do not take that tone with me, Rebecca,” Pam arned, leveling a glare at her friend and former mentor, “I will allow it once simply because of our shared history. However, I am not the same scared girl you found in an alleyway years ago. We may be friends, but we are equals.”

“Dear, Pamela, is that what you think this is?” Rebecca chuckled, walking closer to Pam and inadvertently causing the others to step back, “Do you think this is me trying to take some sort of walk down memory lane? That this is me attempting to rekindle a piece of what once was? Do not be ridiculous. For the record, you can save your bluster and bravado for somebody who cannot sense the emotions behind the mask.”

“What was that?” Pam asked, a brief flicker of crimson smoke trailing out from her arm as she furiously clenched her fist.

“I don’t believe I stuttered,” Rebecca closed her eyes, “You can stand there and pretend that you’re not afraid, but we both know that’s a lie. There is nothing wrong with a hint of fear, Pamela. All of us are afraid of something, after all. Your fear just happens to be modern medicine and doctors.”

“My personal bias has nothing to do with this being a stupid and reckless plan,” Pam frowned, “Furthermore, I don’t appreciate you bringing up things you know next to nothing about.”

“You think that they’re…” Sam trailed off, finally regaining her voice after Pam’s frustrated tirade.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes at Pam and frowned before closing them and stepping away. “I merely wanted to pose the very real possibility,” Pam defended herself, “The fact  is that there are more unknowns than you are considering.”

“Which is why we’re going to have to play this smart,” Jake said, stepping into the center of the room, “We aren’t assuming that our friends are dead. We’ve seen too much to take anything on faith without proof.”

“Jake, we need to prepare for the worst,” Pam sighed.

“See, there is still some with sense in this underground nest,” Ashley scoffed, glaring at Rebecca, “As sad as it is to admit, I had thought the witch would be more reasonable than this.”

“I’m not saying we don’t need to be prepared,” Jake said, addressing both Pam and Ashley in one go, “I’m saying that two things can be true at once.”

“They can’t be alive and dead, dumbass,” Beth rolled her eyes.

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about,” Jake shook his head, “We can prepare for the worst while finding proper cause and evidence. Look, we’ve been dealt a shit hand here, guys, there’s no denying that. Our city has been overtaken by a couple of powerful, methodical, women. We were separated for over a year while they worked to divide the city amongst themselves, and we’re operating on minimum resources and missing most of our group. Yet we are still here, we are still fighting, and we still have a chance as long as we have some hope. However, if we let go of and lose that hope, even by the smallest margin, then our enemies gain more ground.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Pam scoffed, crossing her arms, “Facing reality is not the same thing as giving into hopelessness and despair.”

“Again, that’s not what I’m saying,” Jake shook his head, “Look, I’m a pragmatist. It’s part of what’s made me successful in business and as an investigator. We have to be smart about this. We cannot assume that our friends are dead until we have physical proof, and we cannot get that proof unless we go into the belly of the beast.”

“Finally, someone that agrees with me!” Sam exclaimed, “Let’s arm up and get going!”

“Hold up, Sam,” Jake said, stopping his sister before she could rush out, “You’re overlooking part of what I said. We are down on resources and people. Yeah, we need to get in there, save everyone we can, and stop Murray, but we can’t waste what we have on a full frontal assault. This is one battle in a war that is far from over.”

Sam frowned as she turned around and sighed, “Fine, so what are you suggesting then?”

“We divide and conquer,” Jake replied, “Beth, me, and Pam will sneak into the asylum to find and save Jason and the others. We can figure out what’s going on and maybe we can take down Murray while we’re in there.”

“There’s no question that if we’re going in, we’re going after her,” Beth pointed out, “There’s no point in going in and getting that close if we’re not going to make a move against her.”

“That’s more like it,” Sam nodded, “What about the rest of us? If we’re stuck here then what do we need to be focusing on? Do not tell me to sit around and clean either because I won’t fucking do that.”

“Relax, that wasn’t what I was gonna say,” Jake said, “Keep working on inventorying our stockpile of arms and munitions. Start plotting out areas of the city that we can hit up to rearm and regroup, but do not make any moves outside of our base here. They’re right about this being a trap. They’re hoping that this is going to flush us out either into the open or towards the asylum. They’re going to be watching for any signs of life and seize a chance to split us further apart.”

“Alright, so sit around planning,” Sam huffed, crossing her arms, “Basically keep sitting around doing nothing like I’ve been doing. Come on, Jake, let me go with you on this.”

“Sam, I need somebody here in case things take a turn for the worse,” Jake tried to reason with his sister, “Please, just be patient a little longer. Build your strength up, work on your reflexes, and be ready to move when the time comes.”

“I’m going with you,” Rebecca said, leaving little to no room for argument.

“Three is already a crowd,” Beth pointed out, not particularly fond of the idea of having the woman that had tortured and hated her accompanying them into the den of a sociopath.

“This isn’t a matter of debate,” Rebecca shook her head, “If you think that I am going to stand by and let Jake waltz into any place where that mad doctor is, you are crazier than she is.”

“Please don’t tell me that we are actually entertaining bringing this tiresome and irksome hag along,” Ashley groaned in Jake’s ear, “It’s bad enough that I’ve been forced to endure her in an alternate reality for an extended period. Make her stay behind, Jake. There is no reason why we need to have her tagging along and slowing us down.”

Jake rolled his eyes at Ashley’s comment. He knew better than anyone that there was no way he was going to be able to make Rebecca do anything she didn’t want to do. Still, he had to admit that he wasn’t sure about having her accompany them. “Rebecca, I don’t know if this is the best idea,” he began, “I have no doubt that you can be an asset, but we also don’t need to risk having all of us out in the open. If something happens to us, we need an ace up our sleeves.”

“Would you ask Pamela to lag behind?” Rebecca countered.

“You’re misunderstanding me,” Jake sighed, “THe Brunswick sisters and the rest of their little army think that you’re dead and gone. We can use that to our advantage.”

“You are putting a lot of stake in hypotheticals, Jake,” Rebecca frowned, earning a confused look from both Jake and Beth, “You forget that we assaulted your old manor together. Isley has her little robots and cameras everywhere, and I have been out more than once. Your assumption is that those cameras never landed on me, and that Amelia, the she-devil that she is, failed to report in. Now, the latter I will grant you is entirely plausible. The woman is little more than a pathetic shill of a coward, after all, and an egotistical one at that. However, I think it incredibly foolish to think that nary a single camera has spotted me a time or two. The odds are not in our favor that I haven’t been spotted within their technological web.”

“She’s got a point, Master Jake,” Bruce said, “While we were locked away, I noticed a few things here and there when our tormentors were otherwise occupied, or believed us to be too broken to pay attention. The network of cameras that we relied on when our city was ours belongs to their organization now, and it has had several modifications thanks to Ms. Isley and her technological prowess.”

“Those cameras didn’t catch Jason,” Jake pointed out, “There are blindspots and weak points that can easily be exploited.”

“Or ignored,” Beth crossed her arms, sighing when everyone turned to look at her, “Look, I know this isn’t the most popular opinion, but there is still a chance that Ingrid might not be reporting everything she sees.”

“Here we go,” Pam scoffed, rolling her eyes, “Must you continue to defend the woman who kidnapped you and stole you away? Not everybody deserves to be redeemed.”

“Back off,” Beth warned, surprising everyone again with her forceful tone.

“Are you speaking out of bias or belief, Pamela?” Rebecca asked.

“Remind me how you feel about women that stand between you and Jake, Rebecca,” Pam said.

“Oh, we both know that I have an extreme bias when it comes to that,” Rebecca admitted, “However, this is where we differ. I have absolutely no problems admitting my bias in situations like this.”

“All I am saying,” Beth spoke up, raising her voice to try to steer the conversation away from another argument, “Is that I think it’s possible that Ingrid might not be telling them everything she sees. That or she might be overlooking us. Either way, there’s still a chance that Eva and Emily don’t know how many of us there are. They haven’t found us here yet, so that’s gotta say something, right?”

“Your little pet makes a fair point,” Rebecca admitted, “However, it makes no difference in the end. I am going with you three and that is final.”

“For the love of all that is holy,” Ashley sighed, “Jake, tell her-”

“What do you think, Sam?” Jake asked, deciding to leave the final vote to his sister.

“Me?” Sam asked, looking between Jake and Rebecca, “I guess that all depends on whether or not she’s gonna actually help get our friends back or not. If she is, then I say go for it.”

“If we are going to win this war, then we need everybody at our disposal,” Rebecca said, “While my intention is to keep Jake safe, I also aim to save the others. Did I forsake you and the others at the manor?”

“No, I guess not,” Sam shrugged, nodding to herself, “You’ve got that weird ESP thing like Pam, right? The one where you can sense people and shit.”

“I believe what you’re referring to is empathy,” Rebecca said, fighting to keep from rolling her eyes, “Yes, dear, that is one of my abilities.”

“You can use it to track Sal and the others?” Sam asked.

“Yes and no,” Rebecca replied, “It’s not like a homing beacon, but more like a means of detecting strong emotions. I cannot use it to lock in on them, but it can certainly help us locate them and avoid trouble along the way.”

“Then, I guess, I don’t see the harm,” Sam said, looking at Zoey, “We can hold down the fort here while you four break into the madhouse. It’s still a longshot, but maybe with there being four of you there’s a chance you can save them and kill that psycho.”

“Ugh, this was already going to be miserable, but now it’s going to be unbearable,” Ashley scoffed, “Fine, take the witch. It’s not like I have much say in the matter…”

“We’re gonna have to be careful about getting in,” Beth said, “Whether I’m right about Ingrid or not, we can’t afford to get spotted right from the get-go.”

“I think I can pull up some old plans from archives on the computer,” Zoey offered, “Ingrid might have a lock on the bulk of the data systems and security, but she can’t have locked every back door. The odds are that she’s left a few open to exposure, and if you’re right it might be deliberate.”

“Don’t encourage this nonsense,” Pam huffed, turning to leave, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to collect a few things for our journey…”

Beth stood and watched as her girlfriend practically stomped out of the main hall. “Go after her,  Elizabeth,” Rebecca said once she was sure that Pam was out of earshot, “Don’t just stand there looking like a fool.”

Beth glared at Rebecca for a moment before sighing, “I hate when you’re right about shit…fine. How long do you think it’ll take?”

“A few hours, maybe?” Zoey replied, “Maybe less with Jake’s help.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jake said, “We can plan it out and move either tonight or tomorrow morning. I’ll come get you when we’re ready to move.”

“I have a few things I need to finish up,” Rebecca said, turning to take her leave as well, “I’ll be waiting for your signal, Jake.”