CAROLINE WAS SETTING up the basement for the people who would be staying with the Liu's due to the incident at Colony House. So, now Caroline was also permanently staying here. When Caroline finished she went outside to see Kenny and the other people

"I just finished" She said

"That's great. Um, feel free to go in guys. Colony House should be back up and running pretty soon, so.." Kenny said

"What the fuck is this?" Jade asked as he turned. He was sitting in a chair on the porch

"Uh, we're gonna have a few more house guests for a little while" Kenny explained

"And how long is a little while?" Jade asked

"Aren't you the guy that thought this was a giant escape room?" Clara asked

"Yes, yes he is" Caroline laughed

"Fuck off" Jade said

"Okay" Kenny said as Jade got up

"All right, this is bullshit, okay? They chose the flower. They don't belong here" Jade said

"Dude, why don't you just-" Kenny said

"Caroline, where's Victor?" Jade asked

"He's probably with Annie at the Diner right now" Caroline said. Jade then left just like that. Kenny looked at Caroline with a sigh at Jade's behavior. "I need to head to the clinic and help out Kristi. You are on RJ duty"

"Understood, Captain" Kenny saluted before laughing. Caroline laughed as well before she went off to the clinic. When she arrived, she was shocked by how many people were there. "Holy shit"

"Oh, good you're here. Devin needs stitches on his arm. He's not bleeding at the moment thank God" Kristi said. Caroline nodded and went over to Devin. His arm was bandaged up

"Had a fun night last night?" Caroline asked as she removed the bandage to see that he had begun bleeding again

"So much fun" Devin said sarcastically as Caroline began cleaning his wound causing him to hiss. She then began stitching him up

"This is gonna leave a nasty ass scar, you know that?" Caroline asked

"Better a scar then be dead by those smiling fuckers" Devin replied making Caroline chuckled

"True that.. true that" She said

☆♡☆

CAROLINE WAS IN the Sheriff's Office talking with Kenny when Boyd came in with a bag and began unpacking it

"Can't go, not now" Boyd said

"You were leaving?" Caroline asked to which Boyd nodded

"Damn near had a riot at the Diner" Boyd said

"But this is exactly why you said you had to go. Things are coming apart. It's already starting to happen" Kenny said

"We lost over a dozen people last night" Boyd said. Caroline didn't really know what was going on and why Boyd was supposed to leave but if him leaving would end up benefitting everyone else she wanted to help

"If you leaving is important for everyone else.. to help us.. then me and Kenny can stand up to keep the peace.." Caroline said

"I appreciate that but it's not your job, Care" Boyd said

"We're gonna lose more if.. if they start to panic. At least if you-" Kenny was cut off

"Kenny, enough. I'll stay until things settle down" Boyd said

"And what if they don't?" Kenny asked as Donna walked in

"What if they don't?" Boyd repeated

"Am I interrupting?" Donna asked

"No, come on in" Boyd said. Donna walked over besides Caroline

"Sheriff, please-" Kenny was cut off again

"Kenny, we're done. Okay?" Boyd asked

"We're not done" Kenny said. Boyd was flabbergasted that Kenny spoke up. "I said, we're not done. You told me you had to go. You told me that I had to step up and be strong while you were gone. You told me we were running out of time, and what part of that's changed? Huh? We've all been sitting around the last few months, acting like those talismans were a solution. Like they made us safe? Well, guess what. We were never safe. Those talismans were a Band-Aid, a-a temporary reprieve. Things were never okay here, and things are never going to be okay here. We need to find a way home or else every single person here is gonna end up exactly like Father Khatri. There are answers out there, and you're going to find them"

"And in the meantime, you need to get over what happened last night. You need to get your shit together and be the scary hard-ass that you've always been because that's who people need you to be right now. And if we're not gonna fight like hell to go home, then we might as well swallow a fucking bullet right now" Kenny said as he dispatched his gun. "Is that what you want?"

Kenny then walked off and Caroline just stood there shocked. She had never seen him talk back to Boyd let alone gag his ass. She couldn't lie, Kenny was spitting the truth

"I didn't know the little bastard had that in him" Donna said

"No, kidding. I never thought I'd see the day when he spoke back to you, Boyd" Caroline said. Boyd had a proud and amused smile on his face

"Now, how about you explain what the fuck he was talking about? Where exactly are you going?" Donna asked

"No kidding, I wanna know too" Caroline said

"Let's take a walk, you two. I'll explain on the way" Boyd said

☆♡☆

KENNY HAD CALLED A meeting for everyone to talk due to the members of Colony House being forced into town. He was standing on the porch of the Diner. Caroline was in the audience staring up at him, holding RJ

"Look, we're in a tight spot. No one's gonna pretend otherwise. But Sheriff Boyd is risking everything for us out there in the forest. The least we can do is.. keep ourselves together while he does. So that means that we're gonna do things a little differently going forwards. No more Colony House, no more town. We're a community, so.. we do this together" Kenny said before he turned and looked at Donna

"All you Colony House folk, I don't want any of you being shitty houseguests. Now, we're gonna get the house put back together, but first of all Jim here has an idea about a way we might be able to get a signal to folks back in the world. So we can either put our energy towards boarding up a bunch of broken windows, or we can help build something that gets us all out of this shithole. Jim?" Donna asked. Caroline couldn't believe it. A real chance at getting home? Jim got onto the patio

"Well, we're gonna need supplies, anything we can get our hands on. We're gonna need batteries, anything with a charge. But most of all, we're gonna need people. The sooner we get this built, the sooner we can all go home" Jim explained

"Hell yeah!" Caroline cheered causing everyone else to cheer with her

(1160 words)
11/06/24