Chapter 3
The room was dimly lit by a temporary construction light. It made Nicole think of an interrogation room. She wondered what all the strange carvings on the floor meant. Her thoughts strolled through each nook and cranny of the eerie basement. She lost all reference of time in her cell. She couldn't even guess how many days or hours she sat in that chair. It stood in a puddle of blood and looked like a prop from a Horror movie. Nicole shook her head trying to get rid of the fog around her brain. She needed to get out. Maybe I can use the chair as a walking frame, she thought to herself. Nicole started to cry just thinking of getting up and walking all the way back to the chair. What was her other option? Crawling on all fours out of this hellhole, or getting back in the chair waiting for the right time to catch the widow of guard? This seemingly simple choice might mean life or death for her and she couldn’t make up her mind. Time was ticking by and the possibility of surviving this hell was shrinking. After finally choosing the chair she realized that she won't be able to get up. Her legs were awkwardly folded underneath her body, a result of her earlier collapse, 2 feet from the door. She got on all fours and crawled over to the chair. When she finally made it to the chair she was out of breath and her hair was plastered against her face. It felt like she was crawling through a desert or over hot coals. Nicole grabbed onto the chair, took a deep breath and pulled herself up. She might have just lost her one and only chance to escape. Now she could only sit and wait.
Waverly looked at the photo, but it was as if she didn't register what she was looking at, or that was, how it seemed, to Wynonna. Waverly did not collapse onto the floor, she didn't scream or cry, she didn't even make a sound. Yes, Waverly realized that it was Nicole, her Nicole, but she didn't recognize her baby's eyes. She stared at the broken body of her girlfriend but didn't recognize any of the features she loved. She ran the tip of her finger along Nicole's face, down to the stab wound at her side and stopped at the capital W burnt marks. Rage was building up inside of her, like champagne bubbles, it slowly crept up from the dark imperfections of her soul. She was willing to sell her soul and sacrifice her body. She would kill for Nicole. She would die for Nicole.
She turned the frame in her hands. On the back was written.
BRING THE THIRD SEAL OR I'LL START SENDING YOUR GIRLFRIEND BACK TO YOU IN BITE SIZES
Doc walked up to Waverly, he looked down to see what was going on. He took the frame from her and read the message out loud. Doc looked at Wynonna; she wore his ring on a chain around her neck. The silence in the room started to become uncomfortable, they had to start doing something, anything, who knew what the Widow's timeline was. Doll's walked into his office and started emptying the gun safe into a black duffel bag. Jeremy went to his lab and got the freeze breath guards he was busy fine tuning. Doc gently placed the frame back into Waverly's hands. He had to find more hands to join the fight. They left the talking to Wynonna. Waverly still stood frozen in the middle of the room, she completely zoned out, and she was reliving every kiss and every touch from Nicole. She had to use these memories to power through. She tried to keep the rage in but thinking of losing Nicole forever shook her to her core. She took the frame and threw it against the nearest wall, shattering it into pieces that scattered across the floor. Wynonna walked over to Waverly. She took off the chain around her neck and gave it to Waverly.
"Here's the seal baby girl"
It was clear from the photo that Nicole was being held in the Old Catholic school chapel under the creepy crawly condos. They needed to move fast. Wynonna grabbed Wave's hand and dragged her behind her. "We go no!" she yelled over her shoulder.
Nicole was dozing off, or was she slipping away. Her body was stiff, and it hurt all over. She sat up straight trying to get her mind to focus on the now. The stab wound to her side pulled and blood started to seep through the blisters, the witch’s barbaric attempt at cauterizing the stab wound was becoming infected and Nicole’s movement undone the witch's work.
The sudden pain released enough adrenaline to snap her out of her dazed and confused state. Nicole knew her body was shutting down. She knew she had a dangerously high fever and lost allot of blood. If she could keep her mind going, keep looking for ways to get out, keep solving problems, she knew she would make it, even if it was only enough to say goodbye.
When the team arrived on the site, the fire department, aka the order, gave the signal confirming that all the exits were covered. The plan was that the team would infiltrate the building from 2 opposite sides and make their way to the basement. Doc and Dolls would start from the back entrance and the Earp sisters would move in from the front that left Jeremy to run comms and surveillance from the SUV. The order will take a defensive position around the building. According to Sheriff Nedley, nobody entered or exited the building since they began staking out the area. Dolls gave the sign, and off they went.
"Waverly it is going to be fine. Nicole is a tough cookie" Wynonna couldn't decide if she said it to comfort Waverly or if she said it to calm herself. If it turned out not be fine, like she promised a second ago, Waverly would die of a broken heart.
Waverly didn't say anything she just pumped her shotgun in reply. Waverly didn't waste any time. She knew the way to the chapel and a brisk walk turned into a full out sprint.
Voices drifted through the dark passage to meet her. Words laced with irritation and panic was coming closer and closer. Widow Mercedes was clearly no longer operating on her own.
"You are going to ruin everything. Look at you. You've got blood all over your clothes. Why couldn't you just forget about Tucker? I need your help to break the last seal. I had to get everything ready on my own."
"Wave stop...slow down. I can't keep up.”
“Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck" echoed off the walls as Wynonna tried to catch up with her baby sis, peace maker waving like a flag in the air.
"Shut up" Widow Beth clamped her hand over her sister wife's mouth. "Do you hear that?"
"They're here" Widow Mercedes whispered.
"Move! Go! Go! I'll meet you in the chapel!" Beth pulled out a pistol.
"Where did you get that?"
"Off Tucker," she said with a big smile.
Nicole hooked her feet around the legs of the chair, in the same positioned the widow tied them. She moved her arms behind her back holding the rope in her hands. She hoped that the bad lighting in the room would hide the fact that she did not have any ropes wrapped around her ankles.
The widow stormed into the room with a wild look in her eyes. She pulled out the same dagger still painted red with Nicole’s blood.
Widow Beth ran up the stairs, thrilled to be able to take a few shots at the Earp girls. She flung open the door and stepped into the passage searching for a target.
Waverly saw a black figure stepping into view. She planted her feet, pressed the shotgun against her shoulder and fired.
The Buck shot almost missed its target. Widow Beth's shoulder and upper arm turned into mincemeat. She gave a blood-curdling cry and stumbled back.
Widow Mercedes froze mid stride a few feet away from Nicole, dagger glinting in the sliver of light coming from the passage, tilting her head to the side taking in the cry from her sister wife. Nicole was her only ticket out of here. They had to stay in control of the situation.
Widow Beth returned fire, her injured arm swung like a piece of meat in a butcher’s cold room, tendons and muscles clearly visible.
Doc and Dolls ran as fast as they could in the direction of the gun shots, hoping that their girls were unharmed.
Nicole had to act now. She launched herself of the chair slamming hard into the witch. Using her momentum Nicole pushed the witch into the floor. She hooked the rope around the witch’s neck and pulled tight. She planted her knee between the witch’s shoulder blades and pulled hard on the ropes.
Beth came running down the stairs. She slammed into the railing and lost her balance sending her tumbling down.
Wave stood at the door peering around the corner searching for the widow. Wynonna finally caught up with her. "We got them trapped down there, let’s wait for the boys" she said out of breath.
"Fuck Wynonna! They have Nicole with them, or did you forget?"
Nicole tied the rope around Widow Mercede’s neck tight enough to cut off just enough oxygen but not too tight to kill her. The witch laid unconscious on the floor. Nicole picked up the dagger and stood up. The pain was unbearable, but she wanted to kiss Waverly again, she wanted to hold her again, she wanted to tell her how much she loved her. The hallway was dark, but she could see light ahead where the passage turned left. Nicole had to focus hard on getting one leg in front of the other, shuffling down the passage tightly gripping the dagger in one hand and pushing hard into the wall with the other.
The passage opened into a large boiler room. It was filled with building equipment. Nicole hid behind a tarp that was draped over scaffolding. She needed a moment to steady her breath.
Widow Beth was already on her feet and pointing her gun at the top of the stairs. Nicole realized that she had to disarm the widow before her rescuers came through the door. She could barely move, but she had to do something. Nicole struggled to stay awake, the blood loss taking its toll.
She tried to pull the tarp out of the way to get a better look but miscalculated the distance to the tarp and lost her balance. She fell forward, bringing the tarp with her. Her body loudly crashed into the floor. Nicole cried out and her vision blurred. She saw a black figure awkwardly stalking over to her.
It did not take Waverly a split second to react to Nicole’s cry.
A shit load of stuff happened all at ones. Waverly shot widow Beth before she could shoot Nicole, and all this happened while 4 women screamed at each other like banshees.
And within seconds everything was over, and silence returned to the boiler room.
Waverly knelt beside Nicole's body. She finally surrendered to her emotions and started crying. She cradled Nicole's head in her lap and kept chanting "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry" as her tears washed over her lover's face.
"It's okay baby" Nicole whispered as she slipped out of consciousness.