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Tom recoiled from the woman’s gnashing teeth and stood clumsily up, leaving the beer bottle as it was. He backed away from the sight of the bleeding psychotic, dimly aware of the tussle Rebecca and the boy were in, as well as Ton’yell’s intervention. He continued his slow retreat, his body on autopilot.

When he looked down at his hands, he saw the blood on them and déjà vu washed over him in a torrential wave. He was far away from the others now, drowned in shadow. Was he… was he blacking out?

Tom had felt the woman's teeth against his skin. She didn't have enough power to bite.
Luckily, she didn't break any skin.
The woman remained on the ground, breathing steadily as her blood spread across the floor.

The boy, falling down from Rebecca's sudden attack, took her blows, along with Ton'yell's with little notice. His wide eyes were fixated on his mother as Tom separated from her. His eyes trailed the blood as it ebbed slowly from his mother. Her breathing slowed, then stopped.

Rebecca was now off the boy, but he continued to stare, unmoving, until the woman stopped breathing. His own breathing quickened. He got to his feet and scrambled over to the woman

He touched her, tried to wake her.

The boy remained silent as he placed his hands in the woman's blood. He put his right hand to his mouth and tasted the blood from his hands. What the hell? His breathing continued to quicken.

Ton'yell could likely guess that it was a good idea to leave the boy alone.

Jesse had been effectively in a state of shock the whole time, watching the horrific scene unfold. Tom had stabbed someone; beating was okay, but stabbing? That didn't happen until it was down to the money. And then Rebecca exploded, and just as she seemed to be almost dealt with, the little boy noticed his "mom" was dead. When Ton'yell went to check, Jesse couldn't help but say in a quiet, nervous voice, "No... dude, Tony, he's is seriously messed up; we gotta blow this joint... Ms. Jordan..." He stayed behind her, and stayed close to her, looking over at Tom, who seemed to have gone pale at the sight of blood. "Dude, you comin'? Ms. Jordan, he don't look so good."

Ton'yell saw that Tom was out of it and then start running somewhere. She had no hopes of keeping up with him since she had two children to take care of. "Fool," she murmured. Rebecca in one arm and Jesse's hand in her own, she started to run away from the spot.

Even though she knew that shew wouldn't keep up, she tried running after Tom and in the direction that he'd gone. Unsurprisingly, the group had lost him, and she had started to feel the effects of holding on to Rebecca. She seems to have calmed down some, but that doesn't mean she won't run once I put her down. When Ton'yell looked around, she saw that they'd arrived in the dance room yet again. What do we do? She was scared - not for herself, but for the kids with her.

"Jesse," she turned to the boy, "In the backstage area, did you see a door or something that might lead us out of here?" We need weapons. She wanted the kids safe, and she'd damn well make sure that they would in the case that she wasn't able to help them. Don't think like that, girl. Calm down. "Were there props in the backstage area?" A bat would be useful. Jesse has his knife, but Rebecca has nothing.

Ton'yell followed Jesse to the backstage and set Rebecca down. The girl hadn't been making much fuss, and Ton'yell didn't think she'd run off. Weapons, weapons...wait! She remembered what she had in her purse - after all this, she'd forgotten that she even HAD a purse. Scrounging inside it, she pulled out a can of mace and handed it to Rebecca. "This is mace," she told the young girl, "and it has an 8 foot range. It's actually a bit stronger than the regular kind. All you have to do is aim and press this button," she showed Rebecca.

One child armed, one more to go. She saw that Jesse looking down, and walked over to him. "Jesse, I need you to do something for me," she looked at him with warm eyes. "I want you to take my knife," she passed him her personal Swiss army knife - even she didn't know how much stuff was packed in that thick thing. "I don't know what we're up against, but I'm going to protect you. I promise you that. You WILL be safe and you WILL get out of here. But if something should happen to me," she paused, "I want to make sure you have something that could help you anywhere you go. Something that could help both you and Rebecca."

She reached to give him a hug. Nothing's gonna happen. We're all gonna make it out of here alive and well. We'll be fine, and Alex and Chris and Jesse will return to their mother happily. She hugged him not only for his sake, but for hers. "You are incredibly brave, and I am very proud of you for being able to handle this." She let go of him, and subtly wiped away a tear. No time to cry, we need to keep looking for weapons.

Jesse had already started rummaging around before Ton'yell got to him and tried to pull away before he realized she had something important to say. She was looking at him the way she looked when he was Alex. It was disconcerting.

He started to take the knife from her, eyes widening in appreciation for its multitude of uses, then mumbled, "Nah, Miss Jordan, I got my own knife; ain't gonna take yours..." He pushed it back at her, ears reddening as she spoke. 's all weird, for her to be like this. And just when his heart rate had started to drop again.

She hugged him, and while he didn't return it, nor did he push her away. He turned around as soon as she released him, though, to keep searching and try to cool the flush all over his face. He grumbled quietly as he hunted, "No one frickin' gonna die in this God-damned house. 'cept maybe that whacky-a** Tom dude, all nuts already, ********, what's this?" He pulled out the box of flash powder, considered it, and grinned. "Hell, yeah." With this much, he probably could burn the place down, assuming he didn't blow his head off with it, first. Needed to get out of the house alive, too.

He started looking around the place. A fuse, a fuse, and something to hold it in. He ripped a few strips of material off one of the old costumes (to the tune of Chris screaming vulgarities at him) and said to the others, "Hey, couldya help me find some bags? Need to make some bombs with this stuff. Frickin' jackpot right here."