Quintessential | Joshua Washington

Goals - XIV

It was colder than Quinn remembered it being, she supposed that was the price she had to pay for spending the past few weeks in a considerably warmer climate. As she trudged back up that god forsaken mountain two things crossed her mind; one, she hoped that it wasn't a wasted journey and two, she really hoped she had enough ammo. Granted the number of wendigo's should have been considerably depleted after all their not-so-accidental deaths, but she knew there were at least three still kicking about in the mines. Although the mines wasn't where she was heading; there was nothing in the mines worth going back for. "Hopefully all the police should be gone by now..." There wasn't much reason for them to still be there...other than all the ones who must still be considered missing - if they hadn't found their corpses already. That was sure to raise more questions.

Her journey up was unimpeded, other than the wildlife the mountain was deserted; much to her relief. Quinn's state of mind still wasn't quite as it should be and the last thing she needed was the added stress of having to dodge and duck around officials...she idly wondered how Josh was doing without her, if Sam had told him where she was and if he was worried...

"No, no, no, no! No Josh, No Sam, no distractions." She shook her head viciously and took a deep breath, "Focus Willow...Quinn...ugh." Groaning, she leaned against a nearby tree and attempted to compose herself by repeated hitting her forehead on the bark. She had done so well living in denial for the past few hours, then one stray thought about Josh and POW, it was all for nothing. "Stupid crazy git." She muttered angrily. 'Y'know...talking to yourself is the first sign of madness?' Quinn snorted in laughter for a moment before she remembered where she was and why she was there. "Well if talking to myself isn't a sure sign I've lost it, then hearing fucking voices probably is...especially yours." She shook her head lightly, a bitter smile tugging at her lips, "Oh dear Quinn, what happened to you?"

But she soldiered on, as she always did; such were the trials of a hunter.

*

Furious.

Joshua Washington had gone from confused, to distressed, to annoyed, to downright furious. His own mother had been using Quinn as some sort of surrogate for his sisters? It was just wrong! Never once had he thought of her like that! Thinking of her as his sister...well, that would have been even more wrong. But why wouldn't she speak to him? He could understand her being upset having overheard that but...what had he done?! It was just so damn frustrating.

"Umm...excuse me, Mr Washington?" A soft voice called out to him and pulled him from his thoughts; he recognised the owner of the voice, it was Dr Hills secretary, Alex. "Are you going to come inside? You've been stood there looking rather ah – vexed for a little while now." Josh finally looked at his surroundings and found himself stood outside Dr Hills office. Unbeknownst to him, his feet had led him to the one place in the city he was adamant he wouldn't go. "Mr Washington?"

"Ah, er...Umm..." He didn't know what to say. 'If Quinn were here...' he groaned inwardly at Sam's words; Quinn wasn't even present and she was still somehow managing to boss him around. "Yeah, sure I'm coming." Stuffing his hands into his pockets he awkwardly shuffled past Alex and into the waiting room. The clock on the wall opposite where he chose to slouch read 5:45; how long had he been walking? He quickly checked his phone, no missed calls; there was just a lone text from Chris that read 'I'm here when you need me.' "Cochise..." He sighed softly; Quinn would never realise how much she'd done for him by pushing him into repairing that particular relationship.

"Did you say something Mr Washington?" He jumped; the young secretary was gazing at him from above a tray of paper work in concern.

"N-no Alex - well yes. Just talking to myself." Inwardly Josh cringed at how he fumbled over his words. Luckily for him Alex could see that the young Washington had a lot on his mind, and after one brief smile she left him alone with his thoughts...though that might not have been the best call since his thoughts were more scattered than the pieces of corpses stuck in the mines. Immediately he paled; what a fucking macabre thought. Quinn was up there and he was thinking about corpses; well he might not see her again, those mountains were dangerous and she was – according to Sam – in a fairly distressed state. What if it affected her aim? Or her guts? Though this was Quinn, he knew she was ballsy as fuck; was there anything that could affect her guts?