[The Purge]

[didntrun]

This is bullshit.

Darrow can be dangerous, Eddie is well aware of that, but most of the danger can be avoided if one is careful. Eddie is careful, most of the time anyway, and maybe one could argue that his friendship with Lestat isn't careful, but he doesn't see it that way. He takes care not to put himself in situations where he might end up dead or even maimed, because he very much likes being alive and having all his parts. He likes his life in Darrow.

It's probably his fault he and Chrissy are stuck in this situation now. The Purge had sort of seemed like a joke. He knows Will and a bunch of others are holed up in a bunker, which had honestly seemed kind of dramatic to him, and while Eddie loves a good bit of drama, he also hadn't wanted to freak Chrissy out.

And it had sounded too insane to be real. A night where all crime is just suddenly legal? That's fucked up.

But people are howling in the halls of their building and Eddie can hear other people screaming amidst the sound of breaking glass and pounding fists on doors. At one point, he's pretty sure he even hears a gunshot and now he's freaking out.

"We should try to get to the bunker," he says to Chrissy, wishing he had some kind of a weapon besides a shitty pocket knife. It isn't going to do much against a gun.

Comments

[didntrun]

Eddie squeezes Chrissy's hand in response, gives her a grateful smile. It's a reminder of all they've been through, both together and separately. A reminder of what he'd done, how he had shown himself and others he could be brave, especially when it came to the people he loved.
 
He was brave for Dustin. He had given his life to help stop the thing that ended Chrissy's. He's not about to let all of that be a waste.
 
They move as fast as they can, as quietly as they can, the sounds of their shoes scuffling on the pavement. Eddie turns toward the boardwalk and then sucks in a sharp breath and pulls Chrissy back against the wall of a building.
 
A block away, a group of people with baseball bats are approaching.

[queenofhawkinshigh]

As quickly as it had appeared, Chrissy's hesitant smile vanishes, replaced with a look of wide-eyed worry as Eddie pulls her back against the nearest building. She has to bite down hard on her lower lip to stifle the frightened sound that threatens to escape her, struck again by the horrible feeling, however irrational, that they shouldn't be out here. It isn't as if they would have been any safer in their apartment. If anything, maybe that illusion of safety would have been worse in the long run. She just hates it — hates that they didn't adequately plan ahead, hates that this is happening at all, hates that there are people so willing to take such advantage of it.

Hates, too, that that part doesn't entirely surprise her.

With wide eyes, she looks up at Eddie, an unspoken question there. How long they wait here, what they do, where they go, she doesn't know, and it comes easily to trust him with those decisions, to follow his lead.

[didntrun]

He has no idea what to do. The people are in their way, exactly the direction they need to go and Eddie is trying to reroute internally, figuring out what streets they should take instead. He closes his eyes for a second, trying to see the layout of the city in his head, knowing he can't let himself become paralyzed by the fear he's feeling.
 
It almost happens. He almost freezes, but then he drags his attention back to Chrissy's warm hand in his and knows he can’t.
 
The idea occurs to him suddenly and his eyes spring open.
 
"This way," he whispers, tugging Chrissy in the opposite direction. "Black Elm. Alex is there."

[queenofhawkinshigh]

Given the way she currently feels, small and scared and so utterly out of her depth, Chrissy thinks she would probably follow Eddie anywhere. He's scared, too, she knows him well enough to be certain he is, but if he can come up with any ideas or start moving at all, then he's better off than she is. It is a good idea, too, one that wouldn't have occurred to her but that makes total sense now that he's said it. Black Elm will be safe. There's no way Alex won't have gotten that place protected.

They just have to get there.

"Okay," she agrees, her voice equally hushed, as she hurries along with him. "Good idea."

[didntrun]

Black Elm is further away than the bunker, but Eddie doesn't see any other possible way for them to get to safety. The streets that lead in the direction of the bunker are just too busy, too full of people who definitely want to hurt them if they were to get their hands on them.
 
He can't let that happen. Even if it means stashing Chrissy somewhere safe, hiding her, and then leading people away if he has to.
 
It's what he's done before, in a different world, and he'll do it again.
 
"Here," he whispers, pulling her down a different street. They're the only ones there and he tries to keep their footsteps from echoing. "Do you have your phone? Can you call Alex?"

[queenofhawkinshigh]

"Yeah," Chrissy whispers, her eyes wide as she looks up at Eddie. She hadn't thought much about it back in the apartment, except to make sure she put it on silent mode before the sirens began sounding. Carrying it has become strangely second-nature, though, a fact she spares just a second to be quietly grateful for as she pulls it out of her pocket.

Scrolling through her contacts, she taps on Alex's name, then almost presses the button to call her. She quickly thinks better of it, though. "I'll text her," she decides instead, shaking her head slightly. "Less noise."

Even that is easier said than done. As she begins typing out a message, she can't stop her hands from shaking.