Party Four.
Title: Oh So Quiet (Pt. 4)
Pairing: C/Z
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis: A look back and forth into the investigations; four days after, four days before.
People had lined around the fences and police tape the day large trucks and fire engines were pulling into Herrington High; everyone knew why they were there. It had been four days after the attacks and agents were swarming all over town. No matter the secrecy on the issue, people were still catching snippets of information about the source of the invasion.
“I heard it’s in the gym; me and my buddies are gonna try to sneak through the barracks tonight to see it!”
“That guy in the coffee shop, I heard him say it was at LEAST the size of the football field,”
“What was it that took the damned thing down, anyways??”
“It was living in the school’s pool??”
So much misinformation from what people thought were actual ‘facts’. Two agents had been fired two days into the investigation for sneaking some of the parasites they’d found in the fields during searching, hoping to show them off on national television. That would have given them a good load of cash; some people acted disgusted by this, while others were still trying to sneak around the school to make their own bounties.
It had been a good three hours that Casey, Zeke and Stokely had stayed in that locker room before they were found. During that time news vans and crowds had started to form around the epicenter of the invasion, and when the officials and investigators had gotten them out, large shirts had been thrown over their heads while wheeling them out on gurneys. It had been a surreal event for all three of them; the cool, damp night air had hit them first, flashbulbs second. It all came as white blobs through the shirts, hiding them from view. They’d been grateful.
They were taken to the town’s hospital, still hidden and watched over by armed police as they went in. Government officials had swarmed the waiting room, ushering anyone around to other parts of the hospital to keep everything quiet and covert. It was doubtful anyone would know what was going on anyways; any one of the three could have walked up to anyone there, introduced themselves and stated everything that had gone on, and no one would remember ten minutes later. Even the doctors and nurses were bewildered; luckily the government had thought of that too.
A few doctors who didn’t state their names saw all three of them, keeping them seperated from each other. Stokely had been shaken but was all right; she’d gotten the lesser of MaryBeth’s blow, taken late and unharmed. Zeke was treated for two broken ribs and a fractured nose, caused by him being tossed over three rows of lockers and into the fourth. With Casey’s situation, he was inspected with great scrutiny; the wounds on his face were fading but were obviously caused by the alien. He’d gotten a close examination, the doctors trying to see if anything had been left behind. No matter how many times he’d stated that the parasites had fallen out complete, they still probed and prodded at his sore cheeks until he was crying.
Despite the fact that Stokely appeared fine and anyone with the injuries Casey and Zeke had sustained would be released soon after treatment, they were kept -separate still- in locked hospital rooms overnight. Uncountable police men and women, agents, federal investigators passed through, all with pads and pens and walkie talkies that would go off randomly, making the three of them jump when a loud, scratchy voice would come through. At the end of the long questioning and instructions, the three of them refused sedatives and demanded to go home.
“Not until we’ve done a full investigation,” they’d said. They then demanded to see each other to make sure the others were all right. “Not until we’ve done a full investigation,” they’d said.
After one very long night with barely any sleep, they were finally allowed to leave in the morning. Once out of their rooms, Casey found Zeke walking lopsided in the hall, going to the waiting room to leave. He called out to him, making Zeke stop and turn. His eyes were droopy with dark circles surrounding them, but he still managed a weak smile. Casey stopped short after seeing gauze bandages crawling over Zeke’s shoulder, peeking out from his shirt. He swallowed hard; Zeke rolled his eyes.
“I’ve been through worse, Case- so have you,”
It was the truth, in a way; Zeke’s way, but still… a way. Casey began to cry, so shaken by the events of the last forty-eight hours to be able to hold back. Zeke had sighed and taken Casey’s face in his hands, leaning down a little to meet his eyes. “Anyone thanked you yet?”
“N-no…”
“Thanks, Casey. You got balls of steel,”
And Casey laughed.
No one knew after that; scat was never mentioned in news reports, their names were kept out of headlines... and they liked it that way.