[2] Warnings in text

It took a few more minutes before she finally finished and brought me in a loose hug, crying on my shoulder.

We couldn't exchange any more words as another glass exploded from somewhere in the restaurant. This time it was closer.

Elizabeth pulled away from me as she peaked over the fallen table. The panic was back in her movements as she gathered all of her things around us and shouldered her backpack.

"We need to get out of here." Her phone pinged just in time as she checked something on it.

I had no energy to ask what happened anymore. My mind was a mess of fear and worry for my mother. I was only sure of one thing, however, and it was the vow that I would kill whoever it was that did such a thing to my mother.

Elizabeth must have noticed my frowning because she placed her warm hand on top of mine and the worried look came back to her face.

"Hey, we're going to find your mom."

I chuckled, ignoring the flaring from my ribs, "You really are a Psychic, you know?"

She sighed, "How can you joke around after you..."

"If I'm still living and breathing, nothing should change about how I interact with y'all." I squeeze her hand, "What happened after I passed out?"

She looked shaken, her eyes flickering to the table behind her. Her voice lowered even more than it did, "It was a dog. Err... coyote would be a better word? Whatever it was, it destroyed the bus when it... fell."

That much I knew.

"We went closer to find out what was happening and a few more fell out of the sky- it was brutal. You tried to check go into the bus to get our stuff but that thing was alive."

"Where are the others?" I tried to redirect, she was panting too heavily to focus. I'm not sure if I have any special candies on my person to give to her if she goes through a panic attack.

"The others fought it off. Th-then... Target was gone."

"Gone?" Did Target die? The question was unsaid but it was there.

She wiped away her eyes even though there weren't any apparent tears that started to surface. "She was the first one to reach you and kick the thing away while you were down. I went to grab you but then it screamed at her, the next thing I knew she was gone. Everyone was gone. Even the coyote."

Huh? "Are we the only ones here?"

"I haven't seen anyone else, but there's something out there that's breaking all the glass." She carefully adjusted the table that hid us to make room for her to sit by my side, "We're in the manager's office. I dragged us here in hopes that I could mend you and you'd be alright. The glass breaking started when I placed you here and I had to barricade the doors. It's coming closer, though. It won't be long before it gets here."

I couldn't see her face with the position we were in, she must be worried.

The situation sounded similar to what I went through just moments ago. If that were true then was the explanation about the situation false? She said a coyote attacked me. I vaguely recall that there was a tire involved before that.

I groaned when I tried to sit up. Elizabeth was quick to assist me when I did so, making sure that I didn't irritate my wound too much.

"This doesn't make any sense..."

"What doesn't?"

Her phone pinged again. I watched her check it before her eyes filled with horror at the image.

"What is it?" I asked, "Are the authorities coming?"

"Hey... you asked if I was a Psychic earlier right?"

"Yes. What about it?"

Her breathing hitched as she angled her phone toward me, "What does this mean?"

Her phone was locked, showing off the wallpaper of an edited picture of the whole team. That wasn't the main point, however, it was the two unopened notifications that were on her phone.

[ Aren't you worried about your mom, Teressa? ]

Was what the first one read.

"I-I don't think I saved anyone in my contacts as Nyx Quinn. I was going to ask you about it when you're a bit better but..."

I could feel her shake at my side, no doubt rereading the message that came after. I couldn't help but understand why she was horrified.

[ You have 48 hours to save your mom, Teressa. This time there won't be any second chances. Her brains would paint the walls of your apartment. Tick tock. ]

"We need to leave." I said, standing up, ignoring the pain of how sudden I moved. Elizabeth only shifted to help me stabilise myself.

The room was quite empty, I realised that the reason it was quite empty was because most of the furniture that used to stand around the room was moved to barricade the door. How long did she say I was out? How did she manage to do all this without looking tired?

I'll avoid teasing Elizabeth in the near future.

I would have praised her on how well she barricaded the door when the window at the side of the room broke.

I moved on instinct, tackling Elizabeth to the ground and shielding her from the shards following the break.

"Are you alright?" I tried to hide the pain from moving so much but with how she looked at me, I must have failed miserably. I can't tell, my head was pounding and I was starting to see black spots in my vision.

She glared firmly, the tears once again threatening to spill, "Are you alright?! You aren't supposed to be moving—"

"Elizabeth?! Teressa?! Are you in there?"

Elizabeth gently helped me up to my feet again. She didn't complain when I leaned most of my body weight on her, balancing us easily.

The voice came from the window they just broke. A voice the both of us easily recognized.

"Target?!"

No doubt, it was Target that entered through the shattered window. The worry in her eyes melted into relief when she saw us and brought Elizabeth into a hug.

"Oh goodness, I was so worried!" She checked over Elizabeth, "One second I was kicking the coyote off of Tess and the next I was a block away from the restaurant! Oh, Tess!"

Her eyes immediately glued to my torso. Was I wearing anything on my upper body? Other than my bra and the patched up wound, there was nothing else.

Target was more concerned about how big the wound is and grabbed one of my hands to squeeze tightly, conveying her concern, "I saw it bite you. Are you okay? You cleaned the wound right, Liz? We need to get that treated."