Haven, Maine, Saturday Fandom time
Oct. 17th, 2020 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
betterthanaplanDuke lay sprawled on the couch, his arm pressed over his eyes. Nathan had, in fact, managed to give him a concussion during the lockdown at the station, and while he wasn't the sort to let something like a head injury stop him from going back to business as usual, that didn't mean he was above taking some small bits of comfort here and there where he could. When it was safe.
"So. . . . Yeah. That's what's been —" He cut off when his phone rang, and lifted his arm just enough to check the caller ID. "Sorry." He held it up. "I should take this." He pressed the phone to his ear, and his arm back over his eyes. "Officer Parker. How can I help you today?"
He listened as Audrey detailed what she and Nathan had been investigating. The probably-troubled serial killer that had been mutilating people up and down the coast. The missing teenager and his angry father. The plan to search the woods, just her and Nathan, and Dwight the "cleaner" and the angry ex-military father of the missing teen. And, she hoped, Duke.
"I would just like to point out the irony here," Duke said. "That the newly recrowned Chief of Police and his best detective are refusing to trust other cops on a manhunt."
"We don't know who's on our side —"
"No, no, I'm not arguing," Duke said. "And I'm honored that you've chosen to place your trust in me instead." He let out a long sigh. "But — I don't know if you should."
The potential for getting splattered with troubled blood was too high. And with everything that had happened since he left Fandom last, he was pretty sure his self-control was in the toilet.
"Listen," Audrey said. "I know you're trying to deal with what happened to Evi. And — whatever went down between you and Octavia. But I just thought, you know, chasing a serial killer might take your mind off things."
Did she listen to herself when she talked?
"While I appreciate the generous offer," Duke said. "I don't think that's going to work. Good luck."
He hung up and slipped his phone back into his pocket, then dropped his other arm to the couch with a heavy sigh.
"You sure that was the right plan?" Claire asked. "Audrey actually reached out to you. That doesn't happen that often, does it?"
Duke swung his legs off the couch and sat up. "Audrey wants me to help hunt down a troubled serial killer in the woods."
"Does she know about your trouble?"
"No." Duke rubbed his hands down his face. "And I'd like to keep it that way."
"Why do you think that is?" Claire asked. "You clearly care about her. Are you afraid it'll change her opinion of you?"
"Audrey cares about troubled people. I'm supposed to be the troubled-people hunter. You do the math."
Claire nodded. "And you've already lost two women you love this month."
"I didn't love Evi," Duke said quickly. Then, off Claire's raised eyebrow, he added "Anymore."
"You were passionate about her," Claire said. "Love or hate, but never indifferent. You're still in love with Octavia and Nathan." Duke opened his mouth to object, but she shot him down. "And I'm pretty sure you have feelings for Audrey, too. You love people, Duke. Even when they've hurt you. Even when the side of yourself you consider rational tells you you shouldn't. That's not a weakness."
Duke let out a weak sounding laugh. "You sure about that? Because I'm not."
"Yes," Claire said simply. "What are you afraid of, going on this manhunt? That someone will bleed on you? That you'll lose control?"
Duke looked around the room. "Yes," he said. "Obviously."
"What about Nathan and Audrey? Aren't you afraid they could get hurt, too?"
"I thought I wasn't supposed to run around trying to save people anymore."
"That'd be like asking you not to swim," Claire said. "Or breathe. Or fall for half the people you meet."
Duke winced, ducking his head.
"You're working on knowing when you reasonably can help people. And how not to take it as a personal failing when you can't. So . . . who's trouble are you more worried about? Your own, or this serial killer's?"
Duke looked up at her, rubbing his hand across his face.
"I really don't know."
When the Rev called, offering Duke a chance to "prove his worth" in the woods, Duke knew Claire was right. He had to weigh the risk of his trouble going off with the risk to Nathan and Audrey, and Dwight and the kid and the kid's dad and any other potentially troubled people running around in those woods. The Rev's men wouldn't hesitate to shoot to kill, even their own people. Evi was proof of that. And Nathan and Audrey would have no idea he was heading out there.
Fine then. Duke would be their double agent. He agreed to meet up with the Rev and his crew.
"You're making the right choice, son," the Rev said. Duke bit back the response that he wasn't the man's son. "Be sure to bring a weapon. There are dangerous creatures out in those woods."
Yeah. And Duke and the Rev were maybe some of the most dangerous of all of them.
He played his part well, smiling when he saw the Rev and not visibly wincing or glaring at the anti-troubled rhetoric he and his groupies threw around. He split off ahead of them when he could, trying to use the reminders of Fandom's preserve to ease his jangling nerves.
Then he swung around a tree following a noise, rifle first, and found himself staring down the barrel of Nathan Wuornos's gun.
"Lower your weapon, Nathan," the Rev ordered. He and his men were behind Nathan on the trail, each of them aiming at his back. "Easy, son."
"I don't know what the hell you're doing here, Reverend," Nathan said. "But you and your men better stand down." He turned slowly and aimed his gun back at them, not even flinching at turning his back on Duke's own rifle still pointed at him.
Maybe he noticed Duke never cocked it.
"You first," the Rev said, smiling faintly.
"Actually," Audrey said, stepping out from between some tall ferns. She had her police issue pistol out and aimed. "We're all going to do this at the same time."
She counted to three. No one lowered their weapon. Nathan turned to aim back at Duke.
"Play nice boys," Audrey said. "I can take out two of you before anyone gets off a shot."
Duke believed her. And he was really tired of seeing people get shot in front of him. He aimed his rifle towards the sky. Nathan slowly lowered his in response.
The Rev smirked harder, even as he and his men lowered their own weapons.
"You all just committed a felony," Nathan said.
"Protecting one of our own, Nathan," the Rev said. "You should understand that."
"What are you doing here?" Audrey asked Duke plaintively. "And what the hell are you doing with the Rev?"
Duke swallowed a sigh and pulled on a smile instead. "Just some concerned citizens trying to protect our town."
Audrey shook her head at him, looking betrayed. Duke tried not to read anything into it. He was standing in front of the Rev and a bunch of men with high powered weapons, what did she expect him to say, that he was playing the long game? Trying to be her mole?
Did she know him at all?
"We're trying to find that boy," the Rev said, cradling his rifle like a baby. "And the killer who took him."
"Killer's dead." Nathan approached the Rev to stare him down. "You have no idea what we're dealing with. And you've got no authority to be here."
"We know how to hunt down evil," the Rev said. "And we know what to do when we find it. Unlike you."
Fuck, that man was creepy.
The Rev continued, pointing to a man just approaching, the only person not currently brandishing his weapon. "You ask the boy's father if he wants us to leave."
Nathan glanced at the man. The man looked around. "We need the numbers."
The Rev and his men all turned to set off. Duke tucked his rifle into his pack and started after them, only to get grabbed by Nathan as he went by.
"What, are you insane?!" Nathan demanded.
Duke let himself sigh this time. "Insane is doing the same thing over and over again when it gets you nowhere."
"So you make a date with the Rev?" Nathan leaned in, voice low. "Is this just about Evi?"
Seriously. Did none of these people know him?!
Duke could use Nathan's animosity, at least, to get himself embedded a little deeper with the Rev. Prove himself a little more 'worthy' and get some answers. So even though the Rev wasn't around to hear just now, Duke jerked out of Nathan's grip and stared him down."Evi's dead. And for the first time, I am seeing things clearly. Now stay out of my way."
Dave was spouting his Miꞌkmaq tribal legend bullshit at anyone who would listen. Duke usually preferred him over his brother, but he had to agree with Vince's glares and hisses to shut up, this time.
Troubles weren't legendary creatures. If someone was out here eating people — and Duke really really hoped there wasn't someone out here eating people, why did everything have to keep coming back to cannibalism or getting locked in places? — that didn't make them a w*ndigo.
It did probably make them a prime candidate for exactly what his own trouble had been designed for, though.
The suspected serial killer was dead — chewed on — and the kid he'd been chasing, Rory, was alive and well, but clearly not the chewer. They could hear whoever that was in the woods around them from time to time, shrieking. It was damned uncanny, and everyone's nerves were frayed by the time Nathan announced that they should make camp for the night and try again in the morning. They settled down on the edge of a lake, and after watching his so-called teammates struggle to light a fire for a good twenty minutes, Duke used the pretext of asking for advice to go have a proper talk with Audrey.
"I, uh." He flashed her an uncomfortable grin as he set himself down by her roaring fire. "I guess we're out of matches."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Audrey asked, glaring. "You lie to me. You threaten Nathan. And then you come over here and ask for fire tips? No. Get out of my face, Duke."
Duke stared at her. She refused to look back. "Fine," he said, and stood. Then stopped.
She was pissed? Well. So was he.
"Dammit, Audrey." He leaned in, voice low. "I came over here to tell you you could trust me."
"What?!"
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
"Getting in bed with the Rev? You do realize one of those guys killed Evi. Don't act like you don't care about that."
Duke scowled. "The Rev killed Evi. One way or another, it goes back to him. He used her to get Nathan fired. To get rid of Octavia. All to get to me. So yeah, I'm playing along. I'm trying to find out what his damned game is, so he can't use me, too. Or you, or Nathan."
Audrey looked away, her lips pressed tight together. Duke lowered himself back into a crouch. "Audrey. Audrey." She finally looked over and he pressed his hand to his chest. "It's me. I'm in the middle of this, whether I want to be or not."
Audrey sighed, the scowl slipping off her face, leaving behind something sad. "Welcome to the club."
"You know I want answers too. I'm trying to get them. For both of us."
Audrey looked away, picking up something next to her seat and holding it up. "Dried grass, packed with animal dung." She tossed it onto the fire. "Burns forever."
"Thanks." Duke offered her a tiny, real smile, taking it for the olive branch it was. "The FBI teach you that?"
Audrey shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know where I learned it. I don't know who I was when I learned it. Can you believe that?"
Duke looked into the fire. "You know, with you, Audrey? There's nothing I don't believe."
Audrey looked down and swallowed, then met his gaze again. "Okay, listen. You know that I'm the last person to tell anyone how to lead their life. But just know that some doors you kick open — you can never close again."
Yeah. Duke had already learned that lesson. A couple times over. He opened his mouth to say so when he heard something moving in the woods past the beach. "You hear that?"
"Hear what?"
The same horrible screeching they'd been hearing all day came out of the woods. Much, much too close to their camp. "That."
Duke ran to get his gun as everyone else stood up, shining flashlights against the trees. Rory's father edged closer and closer, his weapon up and aimed.
"Where are you going?" Nathan asked him.
"Taking the fight to the enemy."
"We're with you," the Rev said, and started after him.
This was a bad plan. This was a very bad plan. How did Duke get himself tangled up in this? The Rev flicked a look back at him, and Duke laid it on thick. "Amen, Reverend!"
Maybe a little too thick.
"Duke's going to get himself killed," Nathan said, and jogged after him. Duke barely held back his smile.
Nathan might claim to hate him, but he seemed very invested in keeping Duke alive.
They got split up in the dark. Because of course they did. Nathan and Audrey managed to get some information, which they shared in hushed tones with Dwight and the Teagues when they got back to camp, but Duke didn't get the chance to head over there again and find out what it was. All he knew was that they were heading for a ranger's station at first light, and the Rev had no intention of letting them do it alone.
"You made a fine choice, joining us," the Rev said, as they hiked through the woods. "It took a long time." He and Duke were bringing up the rear of the group, Duke keeping an eye out for anything he could use to slow them all down.
"I think you're right on both counts," Duke said, the lie coming easily, even though the Rev's voice left a greasy feeling down the back of Duke's neck.
"As men we're defined by our moral boundaries," the Rev intoned. Duke stopped and turned to look at him, just barely managing to keep the incredulity off his face. "And if we allow them to be compromised in even the smallest way, you live a false life. Some men never learn that."
He was so full of shit. Duke could sling that shit too. "Well, I guess I've just got an old soul."
"You've been through a great deal," the Rev said, leaning closer. Duke tried not to flinch back. "You and I gotta sit down and have a long conversation after all this is over. You have the opportunity to succeed in Haven where your father so tragically failed."
"Failed at what, exactly?"
"Saving our town. I believe it's your destiny, son."
He wanted Duke to be his weapon. That was what was happening right now, the Rev was trying to prime Duke, aim him at the troubled, and fire. Just as he apparently had with Duke's father.
"That's a conversation I look forward to." So was the one he hoped to someday have with Lucifer, about all the different ways the Rev got tortured in Hell.
The Rev smiled. "So do I."
Duke flicked a smile back at him, and headed off down the trail again. He needed to talk to Audrey.
Maybe it was time to let her know about his own big Haven secret.
The troubled cannibals turned out to be a trio of sisters, just kids, who'd been triggered when their parents died in a plane crash. They'd taken to the woods to eat wildlife and avoid the scent of human flesh, but the middle sister, Amelia, was in full, tragic, teenage love with Rory, the teen who had launched this whole manhunt, and the two of them had hatched a plan to lure the serial killer into the woods for her to feed on.
Their new plan, it turned out, was for Amelia to eat the Rev next.
God help him, but it actually sounded like a reasonable plan to Duke.
Amelia hadn't been able to go through with it, though. She cut the Rev's ropes, setting him free, only for him to turn on her. He didn't believe she could control herself, which was a riot, considering what he himself had turned Duke's father into. What he wanted to turn Duke into in turn. Luckily for Amelia, her older sister, Frankie, managed to lead Nathan and Audrey right to them before the Rev could do the deed.
Audrey took the Rev down with a single shot, center mass.
And it was over.
Duke watched Dwight load the girls into his truck. The plan was to relocate them to an old slaughterhouse where they could feed on pigs to their hearts' content. Duke nodded to Dwight's leg before the man could climb into the truck himself.
"You seriously carried that kid all the way back here. With a bear trap on your leg."
Dwight shrugged. "I did what I had to do."
Duke looked down with a nod. "Let me guess: Navy SEAL?"
Dwight didn't even blink. "Army Ranger." He hopped into his truck and headed out.
Duke saw Audrey staring at the coroner's van and headed over. He was no longer certain about telling her about his trouble. She'd taken out the Rev without hesitating. If she knew he was the supposed trouble killer, would she take him down, too?
He had no intention of dying before he could see Octavia again.
"There's going to be an inquiry into the shooting," she said, when she saw him standing there. "I'm going to have to explain why I didn't aim for his leg."
"That's a good question," Duke said. "Why didn't you?"
"Are you serious?" Audrey frowned.
"Look, you're — you're not going to see me crying at the Rev's funeral. But your timing, Audrey. . . ." He looked over at the van. "All those men who came out here with them, you just gave them a martyr."
"If you were with the Rev," Audrey asked. "And he was about to kill that little girl. Would you have stopped him?"
Duke looked away. He thought about Amelia and Rory's plan. About Amelia and her sisters eating people to survive.
About Octavia in the bunker, not just eating people, but forcing others to do the same under the threat of death.
If he had been there with the Rev, would he have stopped him? Or would he have taken out Amelia, ended her trouble for her sisters? If he'd been in the bunker, would he have resisted Octavia? Or would he have ended up right where she dreamed of him, silver-eyed and vicious, dominating her fighting pit?
"Honestly, Audrey. . . ." He shook his head. "I don't know."
She didn't know any of that, though. All Audrey saw was Duke siding with a man willing to murder a teenage girl. A man who'd spoken gleefully of wiping out the troubled once and for all.
"Well. You need to figure that out, Duke. Because while you're busy looking for answers? The rest of us are fighting a war." She stared him down. "I did what I had to do."
She stormed off. Duke wrapped his hands over the back of his neck and headed in the opposite direction. And wondered why "what they had to do" always seemed to end in killing.
He wasn't getting out of this with clean hands. If he managed to get out of it at all.
[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from 2x10, "Who What Where W*ndigo"]
"So. . . . Yeah. That's what's been —" He cut off when his phone rang, and lifted his arm just enough to check the caller ID. "Sorry." He held it up. "I should take this." He pressed the phone to his ear, and his arm back over his eyes. "Officer Parker. How can I help you today?"
He listened as Audrey detailed what she and Nathan had been investigating. The probably-troubled serial killer that had been mutilating people up and down the coast. The missing teenager and his angry father. The plan to search the woods, just her and Nathan, and Dwight the "cleaner" and the angry ex-military father of the missing teen. And, she hoped, Duke.
"I would just like to point out the irony here," Duke said. "That the newly recrowned Chief of Police and his best detective are refusing to trust other cops on a manhunt."
"We don't know who's on our side —"
"No, no, I'm not arguing," Duke said. "And I'm honored that you've chosen to place your trust in me instead." He let out a long sigh. "But — I don't know if you should."
The potential for getting splattered with troubled blood was too high. And with everything that had happened since he left Fandom last, he was pretty sure his self-control was in the toilet.
"Listen," Audrey said. "I know you're trying to deal with what happened to Evi. And — whatever went down between you and Octavia. But I just thought, you know, chasing a serial killer might take your mind off things."
Did she listen to herself when she talked?
"While I appreciate the generous offer," Duke said. "I don't think that's going to work. Good luck."
He hung up and slipped his phone back into his pocket, then dropped his other arm to the couch with a heavy sigh.
"You sure that was the right plan?" Claire asked. "Audrey actually reached out to you. That doesn't happen that often, does it?"
Duke swung his legs off the couch and sat up. "Audrey wants me to help hunt down a troubled serial killer in the woods."
"Does she know about your trouble?"
"No." Duke rubbed his hands down his face. "And I'd like to keep it that way."
"Why do you think that is?" Claire asked. "You clearly care about her. Are you afraid it'll change her opinion of you?"
"Audrey cares about troubled people. I'm supposed to be the troubled-people hunter. You do the math."
Claire nodded. "And you've already lost two women you love this month."
"I didn't love Evi," Duke said quickly. Then, off Claire's raised eyebrow, he added "Anymore."
"You were passionate about her," Claire said. "Love or hate, but never indifferent. You're still in love with Octavia and Nathan." Duke opened his mouth to object, but she shot him down. "And I'm pretty sure you have feelings for Audrey, too. You love people, Duke. Even when they've hurt you. Even when the side of yourself you consider rational tells you you shouldn't. That's not a weakness."
Duke let out a weak sounding laugh. "You sure about that? Because I'm not."
"Yes," Claire said simply. "What are you afraid of, going on this manhunt? That someone will bleed on you? That you'll lose control?"
Duke looked around the room. "Yes," he said. "Obviously."
"What about Nathan and Audrey? Aren't you afraid they could get hurt, too?"
"I thought I wasn't supposed to run around trying to save people anymore."
"That'd be like asking you not to swim," Claire said. "Or breathe. Or fall for half the people you meet."
Duke winced, ducking his head.
"You're working on knowing when you reasonably can help people. And how not to take it as a personal failing when you can't. So . . . who's trouble are you more worried about? Your own, or this serial killer's?"
Duke looked up at her, rubbing his hand across his face.
"I really don't know."
When the Rev called, offering Duke a chance to "prove his worth" in the woods, Duke knew Claire was right. He had to weigh the risk of his trouble going off with the risk to Nathan and Audrey, and Dwight and the kid and the kid's dad and any other potentially troubled people running around in those woods. The Rev's men wouldn't hesitate to shoot to kill, even their own people. Evi was proof of that. And Nathan and Audrey would have no idea he was heading out there.
Fine then. Duke would be their double agent. He agreed to meet up with the Rev and his crew.
"You're making the right choice, son," the Rev said. Duke bit back the response that he wasn't the man's son. "Be sure to bring a weapon. There are dangerous creatures out in those woods."
Yeah. And Duke and the Rev were maybe some of the most dangerous of all of them.
He played his part well, smiling when he saw the Rev and not visibly wincing or glaring at the anti-troubled rhetoric he and his groupies threw around. He split off ahead of them when he could, trying to use the reminders of Fandom's preserve to ease his jangling nerves.
Then he swung around a tree following a noise, rifle first, and found himself staring down the barrel of Nathan Wuornos's gun.
"Lower your weapon, Nathan," the Rev ordered. He and his men were behind Nathan on the trail, each of them aiming at his back. "Easy, son."
"I don't know what the hell you're doing here, Reverend," Nathan said. "But you and your men better stand down." He turned slowly and aimed his gun back at them, not even flinching at turning his back on Duke's own rifle still pointed at him.
Maybe he noticed Duke never cocked it.
"You first," the Rev said, smiling faintly.
"Actually," Audrey said, stepping out from between some tall ferns. She had her police issue pistol out and aimed. "We're all going to do this at the same time."
She counted to three. No one lowered their weapon. Nathan turned to aim back at Duke.
"Play nice boys," Audrey said. "I can take out two of you before anyone gets off a shot."
Duke believed her. And he was really tired of seeing people get shot in front of him. He aimed his rifle towards the sky. Nathan slowly lowered his in response.
The Rev smirked harder, even as he and his men lowered their own weapons.
"You all just committed a felony," Nathan said.
"Protecting one of our own, Nathan," the Rev said. "You should understand that."
"What are you doing here?" Audrey asked Duke plaintively. "And what the hell are you doing with the Rev?"
Duke swallowed a sigh and pulled on a smile instead. "Just some concerned citizens trying to protect our town."
Audrey shook her head at him, looking betrayed. Duke tried not to read anything into it. He was standing in front of the Rev and a bunch of men with high powered weapons, what did she expect him to say, that he was playing the long game? Trying to be her mole?
Did she know him at all?
"We're trying to find that boy," the Rev said, cradling his rifle like a baby. "And the killer who took him."
"Killer's dead." Nathan approached the Rev to stare him down. "You have no idea what we're dealing with. And you've got no authority to be here."
"We know how to hunt down evil," the Rev said. "And we know what to do when we find it. Unlike you."
Fuck, that man was creepy.
The Rev continued, pointing to a man just approaching, the only person not currently brandishing his weapon. "You ask the boy's father if he wants us to leave."
Nathan glanced at the man. The man looked around. "We need the numbers."
The Rev and his men all turned to set off. Duke tucked his rifle into his pack and started after them, only to get grabbed by Nathan as he went by.
"What, are you insane?!" Nathan demanded.
Duke let himself sigh this time. "Insane is doing the same thing over and over again when it gets you nowhere."
"So you make a date with the Rev?" Nathan leaned in, voice low. "Is this just about Evi?"
Seriously. Did none of these people know him?!
Duke could use Nathan's animosity, at least, to get himself embedded a little deeper with the Rev. Prove himself a little more 'worthy' and get some answers. So even though the Rev wasn't around to hear just now, Duke jerked out of Nathan's grip and stared him down."Evi's dead. And for the first time, I am seeing things clearly. Now stay out of my way."
Dave was spouting his Miꞌkmaq tribal legend bullshit at anyone who would listen. Duke usually preferred him over his brother, but he had to agree with Vince's glares and hisses to shut up, this time.
Troubles weren't legendary creatures. If someone was out here eating people — and Duke really really hoped there wasn't someone out here eating people, why did everything have to keep coming back to cannibalism or getting locked in places? — that didn't make them a w*ndigo.
It did probably make them a prime candidate for exactly what his own trouble had been designed for, though.
The suspected serial killer was dead — chewed on — and the kid he'd been chasing, Rory, was alive and well, but clearly not the chewer. They could hear whoever that was in the woods around them from time to time, shrieking. It was damned uncanny, and everyone's nerves were frayed by the time Nathan announced that they should make camp for the night and try again in the morning. They settled down on the edge of a lake, and after watching his so-called teammates struggle to light a fire for a good twenty minutes, Duke used the pretext of asking for advice to go have a proper talk with Audrey.
"I, uh." He flashed her an uncomfortable grin as he set himself down by her roaring fire. "I guess we're out of matches."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Audrey asked, glaring. "You lie to me. You threaten Nathan. And then you come over here and ask for fire tips? No. Get out of my face, Duke."
Duke stared at her. She refused to look back. "Fine," he said, and stood. Then stopped.
She was pissed? Well. So was he.
"Dammit, Audrey." He leaned in, voice low. "I came over here to tell you you could trust me."
"What?!"
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
"Getting in bed with the Rev? You do realize one of those guys killed Evi. Don't act like you don't care about that."
Duke scowled. "The Rev killed Evi. One way or another, it goes back to him. He used her to get Nathan fired. To get rid of Octavia. All to get to me. So yeah, I'm playing along. I'm trying to find out what his damned game is, so he can't use me, too. Or you, or Nathan."
Audrey looked away, her lips pressed tight together. Duke lowered himself back into a crouch. "Audrey. Audrey." She finally looked over and he pressed his hand to his chest. "It's me. I'm in the middle of this, whether I want to be or not."
Audrey sighed, the scowl slipping off her face, leaving behind something sad. "Welcome to the club."
"You know I want answers too. I'm trying to get them. For both of us."
Audrey looked away, picking up something next to her seat and holding it up. "Dried grass, packed with animal dung." She tossed it onto the fire. "Burns forever."
"Thanks." Duke offered her a tiny, real smile, taking it for the olive branch it was. "The FBI teach you that?"
Audrey shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck. "I don't know where I learned it. I don't know who I was when I learned it. Can you believe that?"
Duke looked into the fire. "You know, with you, Audrey? There's nothing I don't believe."
Audrey looked down and swallowed, then met his gaze again. "Okay, listen. You know that I'm the last person to tell anyone how to lead their life. But just know that some doors you kick open — you can never close again."
Yeah. Duke had already learned that lesson. A couple times over. He opened his mouth to say so when he heard something moving in the woods past the beach. "You hear that?"
"Hear what?"
The same horrible screeching they'd been hearing all day came out of the woods. Much, much too close to their camp. "That."
Duke ran to get his gun as everyone else stood up, shining flashlights against the trees. Rory's father edged closer and closer, his weapon up and aimed.
"Where are you going?" Nathan asked him.
"Taking the fight to the enemy."
"We're with you," the Rev said, and started after him.
This was a bad plan. This was a very bad plan. How did Duke get himself tangled up in this? The Rev flicked a look back at him, and Duke laid it on thick. "Amen, Reverend!"
Maybe a little too thick.
"Duke's going to get himself killed," Nathan said, and jogged after him. Duke barely held back his smile.
Nathan might claim to hate him, but he seemed very invested in keeping Duke alive.
They got split up in the dark. Because of course they did. Nathan and Audrey managed to get some information, which they shared in hushed tones with Dwight and the Teagues when they got back to camp, but Duke didn't get the chance to head over there again and find out what it was. All he knew was that they were heading for a ranger's station at first light, and the Rev had no intention of letting them do it alone.
"You made a fine choice, joining us," the Rev said, as they hiked through the woods. "It took a long time." He and Duke were bringing up the rear of the group, Duke keeping an eye out for anything he could use to slow them all down.
"I think you're right on both counts," Duke said, the lie coming easily, even though the Rev's voice left a greasy feeling down the back of Duke's neck.
"As men we're defined by our moral boundaries," the Rev intoned. Duke stopped and turned to look at him, just barely managing to keep the incredulity off his face. "And if we allow them to be compromised in even the smallest way, you live a false life. Some men never learn that."
He was so full of shit. Duke could sling that shit too. "Well, I guess I've just got an old soul."
"You've been through a great deal," the Rev said, leaning closer. Duke tried not to flinch back. "You and I gotta sit down and have a long conversation after all this is over. You have the opportunity to succeed in Haven where your father so tragically failed."
"Failed at what, exactly?"
"Saving our town. I believe it's your destiny, son."
He wanted Duke to be his weapon. That was what was happening right now, the Rev was trying to prime Duke, aim him at the troubled, and fire. Just as he apparently had with Duke's father.
"That's a conversation I look forward to." So was the one he hoped to someday have with Lucifer, about all the different ways the Rev got tortured in Hell.
The Rev smiled. "So do I."
Duke flicked a smile back at him, and headed off down the trail again. He needed to talk to Audrey.
Maybe it was time to let her know about his own big Haven secret.
The troubled cannibals turned out to be a trio of sisters, just kids, who'd been triggered when their parents died in a plane crash. They'd taken to the woods to eat wildlife and avoid the scent of human flesh, but the middle sister, Amelia, was in full, tragic, teenage love with Rory, the teen who had launched this whole manhunt, and the two of them had hatched a plan to lure the serial killer into the woods for her to feed on.
Their new plan, it turned out, was for Amelia to eat the Rev next.
God help him, but it actually sounded like a reasonable plan to Duke.
Amelia hadn't been able to go through with it, though. She cut the Rev's ropes, setting him free, only for him to turn on her. He didn't believe she could control herself, which was a riot, considering what he himself had turned Duke's father into. What he wanted to turn Duke into in turn. Luckily for Amelia, her older sister, Frankie, managed to lead Nathan and Audrey right to them before the Rev could do the deed.
Audrey took the Rev down with a single shot, center mass.
And it was over.
Duke watched Dwight load the girls into his truck. The plan was to relocate them to an old slaughterhouse where they could feed on pigs to their hearts' content. Duke nodded to Dwight's leg before the man could climb into the truck himself.
"You seriously carried that kid all the way back here. With a bear trap on your leg."
Dwight shrugged. "I did what I had to do."
Duke looked down with a nod. "Let me guess: Navy SEAL?"
Dwight didn't even blink. "Army Ranger." He hopped into his truck and headed out.
Duke saw Audrey staring at the coroner's van and headed over. He was no longer certain about telling her about his trouble. She'd taken out the Rev without hesitating. If she knew he was the supposed trouble killer, would she take him down, too?
He had no intention of dying before he could see Octavia again.
"There's going to be an inquiry into the shooting," she said, when she saw him standing there. "I'm going to have to explain why I didn't aim for his leg."
"That's a good question," Duke said. "Why didn't you?"
"Are you serious?" Audrey frowned.
"Look, you're — you're not going to see me crying at the Rev's funeral. But your timing, Audrey. . . ." He looked over at the van. "All those men who came out here with them, you just gave them a martyr."
"If you were with the Rev," Audrey asked. "And he was about to kill that little girl. Would you have stopped him?"
Duke looked away. He thought about Amelia and Rory's plan. About Amelia and her sisters eating people to survive.
About Octavia in the bunker, not just eating people, but forcing others to do the same under the threat of death.
If he had been there with the Rev, would he have stopped him? Or would he have taken out Amelia, ended her trouble for her sisters? If he'd been in the bunker, would he have resisted Octavia? Or would he have ended up right where she dreamed of him, silver-eyed and vicious, dominating her fighting pit?
"Honestly, Audrey. . . ." He shook his head. "I don't know."
She didn't know any of that, though. All Audrey saw was Duke siding with a man willing to murder a teenage girl. A man who'd spoken gleefully of wiping out the troubled once and for all.
"Well. You need to figure that out, Duke. Because while you're busy looking for answers? The rest of us are fighting a war." She stared him down. "I did what I had to do."
She stormed off. Duke wrapped his hands over the back of his neck and headed in the opposite direction. And wondered why "what they had to do" always seemed to end in killing.
He wasn't getting out of this with clean hands. If he managed to get out of it at all.
[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from 2x10, "Who What Where W*ndigo"]