Quintessential | Joshua Washington

Bonds - IX

Quinn wasn't sure where she was, but it was very dark. No matter which direction she looked, the darkness that stretched out before her was seemingly endless and impermeable. It was cold too, so cold... "Hello? Earth to Quinn!" That voice...that voice!

"Stuart?!" Quinn turned to the source and saw the tall blond staring at her with a raised eyebrow. "Stu...where are we?" She looked around, the darkness was no longer as dark before, and now it looked familiar.

"We're in the Mines of course, are you alright Quinn?" He frowned at her and reached out to place a hand on her shoulder but paused before he made contact, "...did you hear that?" He asked, Quinn shook her head; she hadn't heard anything. "Come on!" He sent off running in a random direction away from her, leaving Quinn in his dust.

"Stuart...for fuck sake, stop running!" She wasn't certain why, but she knew he shouldn't be running; not there...running was a mistake. Quinn set off after him at a fast pace, but not quite a run; the tunnel was getting brighter and she could just make out Stuart ahead of her, and a black figure at the very end. "Stu!"

"We've done it, we found him!" Quinn was suddenly rooted to the spot she found herself no longer able to move forwards or call out to Stuart. 

As he approached the figure, dread settled in the pit of her stomach...something wasn't right here. This whole situation was wrong, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. What she did know, is that Stuart needed to keep away from the figure; but he carried on advancing with his arm outstretched. "Joshua Washington?" He placed his hand on the figures shoulder and for a few moments everything was completely calm and still...until a very non-human hand reached round from the figure and clamped down on top on Stuarts head and lifted him off the ground, "Q-Quinn...help me!" He screamed at her, their eyes locking across the cavern. 

Quinn was frozen, she couldn't move at all; all she could do was watch helplessly as Stuart thrashed about in mid-air. "Please Quinn!" His screaming was short lived, as the creature ripped his head from his shoulders and threw it in Quinn's direction.

Now she was able to move; she stumbled and scrambled back away from Stuart's head though his eyes followed her as it rolled forwards. "Oh crap...St-!" She pressed the back of her hand against her mouth to stop herself from retching. The creature then turned to face her, her scrambling having caught its attention; her wavering silvery gaze met with its own merciless clouded eyes. Once again, for a few moments everything was completely still and silent other than Quinn's heavy breathing; Quinn moved her hand backwards, wanting nothing more than to put space between her and Stuarts severed head. Seeing movement, suddenly the Wendigo screeched and leapt for her...

Sitting bolt upright in bed, Quinn clutched the covers and tried to get her bearings; sighing in relief, she realised she wasn't in the Mines after all. She flopped back onto the bed and wiped the sweat from her forehead; it was a nightmare, of course it was a nightmare – Stuart was dead.

"Bad dream?" 

Quinn yelped and jumped as she spied a certain Washington sat by the TV, flicking through channels absently.

"Damn, you're just everywhere aren't you?" She grumbled, granted it was his room but he said he rarely used it; she rubbed her eyes and noted it was daylight outside, "Time is it?"

"Around 3."

"...am or pm?"

"Pm." He clarified with a small smile.

"How...long have you been...there?" She squinted at him suspiciously and he held his hands up in his defence.

"Not long, I just got back it," He glanced at her, "Don't worry I've not been watching you thrash about in your sleep; I've got better things to do." Absolutely nothing about what he just said reassured her, firstly where would Mr Roboto even be going outside this house? Secondly, he said she'd been thrashing and he'd have to have been watching to know that, and finally...well, Quinn honestly just doubted that he really did have anything better to do.