S3, E7 | Abrasion

\ Realm of Reality /

Their hands coupled together at their lap, Scarlett and Vic stand beside each other in silence, their eyes held toward the ground where two fresh, unmarked graves reside. Refusing to utter a word, Vic’s eyes peer toward Scarlett, looking at the woman briefly before her stare returns to the ground. In the near distance, a fleet of helicopters soar through the air, monitoring the ground for activity they find intriguing.

As the sky darkens, Scarlett’s period of mourning ends, her quiet turn away from the grave allowing her to retreat toward safer pastures. “When did you find out about all of this?” Vic inquires, a few steps taken away from the burial ground, though not enough to match Scarlett’s pace. “A few days ago” Scarlett answers, able to notice the distance between herself and Vic grow as the woman’s voice raises another question, continuing to leave the plot behind.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” Vic wonders aloud, still greatly lacking behind Scarlett’s stride. “Sure” Scarlett responds, her reply purposefully brief and simplistic as she marches on, stepping through the remnants of Praireville’s natural landscape. Removing one hand from her pocket, Vic snaps herself directly into Scarlett’s path, returning the hand to its jacket-side pouch as her questions persist.

“When were you going to tell me?” Vic queries, Scarlett continuing to approach with little intention of stopping. “In a few days, I guess- I didn’t give it much thought” Scarlett responds, directing her head toward Vic’s side before following that path, stepping around the woman as she proceeds forward.

“Can you stop walking away?” Vic inquires, rolling her eyes as she spins around, looking at Scarlett’s back as she slows, additional helicopters passing in the distance. “Do I really need to walk you through this process?” Vic inquires, visibly aggravated at the woman’s nonchalant demeanour.

Sighing, Scarlett spins just as Vic had, her eyes meeting the woman’s own as her head drifts to the side. “I’m not avoiding you like before, Vic” Scarlett remarks, a statement her other half agrees with. “I know that. I also know you’re trying to avoid talking about what happened in the realm” Vic responds, a declaration Scarlett has little argument against.

“What do you want me to say?” Scarlett queries, her own hands falling into the pockets of a light jacket, “what you saw is what happened. Is there something I can tell you that your own two eyes couldn’t?” Forced to squint as her face aims toward the sun, Vic’s eyes take toward the distance, raising the questions that begin to mount.

“How did you know to do that?” Vic first wonders aloud, her right knee bent as her foot stands outward, imprinting the pattern beneath her shoe into soft dirt. “I honestly didn’t” Scarlett responds, speaking with no reason to conceal secrets, “I was furious, I’d lost too many people to keep my mind right, and I took it out on her.”

“Hold on” Vic calmly interrupts, her squinted eyes pressing closer together as she leans back slightly, “what do you mean by that?”

“By what?” Scarlett responds, the look in Vic’s face implying a realisation Scarlett’s yet to find a source for. “You’d lost too many people” Vic replies, watching Scarlett’s eyes drop slightly as her question is finished, “what do you mean by that?”

Taking in a deep breath, Scarlett’s face pulls away, the field they stand within ending just as asphalt begins, its surface covered in the thick overgrowth abandoned cities inevitably find themselves consumed by. Hands kept in her pockets, Scarlett steps through the tree line, Vic following the woman in silence as they emerge from their hiding, returning home if only for a moment.

Catching up to her friend, Vic rejoins Scarlett’s side, their hands tucked into pockets as they come to a stop at the weathered walkway. “My mom died” Scarlett groans, her face shining beneath Praireville’s sunlight as Vic’s head turns toward her, looking at her with apologetic eyes.

“Something about heart failure or- whatever it was- that’s what was on her obit” Scarlett explains, her head hanging as the tip of her boot kicks the small pebbles scattered along the side passage. “It’s just a lot of loss to process in so little time” Scarlett murmurs, a passing glance taken toward the broken skyline she’d previously had the ability to recognise by heart.

“I’m so sorry, Scar” Vic responds, aware of how empty the response is, but unable to offer much else in the way of encouraging words. “I am too” Scarlett replies, nodding her head as she lowers herself to the ground, her legs crossed as her hands rest atop her thighs. “I’m starting to think we’re doing a lot more harm up here than good” the blonde confesses, able to feel the warmth of the burning star that stands out from the rest of the sky.

“If we didn’t make it out of that plane crash, there’d be so many people alive right now” Scarlett continues, her seated stance eventually shared by Vic, who lowers herself to the ground just the same. “Even if we tried to do something about that now, it’d already be too late” Scarlett concludes, looking Vic in the eyes as she finishes her thought, “-everyone we loved is already dead.”

Discomforted at the macabre sentiment, Vic sees the truth and irony behind it nonetheless, her spirit beginning to dwindle just as Scarlett’s seemingly has. “Don’t you think that’s part of the realm’s plan?” Vic responds, watching Scarlett’s head dip as she lets out a sigh, “even with Lincoln and Suzie around, I feel like there’s been too much that’s happened for it not to be.”

Rubbing her calves silently, Scarlett stares ahead, intentionally refusing to look Vic in the eyes as she answers with silence. “What aren’t you telling me?” Vic wonders aloud, the look of guilt stretching across Scarlett’s face as her eyes slowly make their way back, looking Vic in the eyes.

“She- Mother- She told me” Scarlett admits, a genuine worry held within her remark, Vic’s head pulling back as Scarlett’s thought concludes. “This is all supposed to make us stronger” Scarlett explains, Vic’s eyes taking to the same distance her own had when trying to avoid the conversation, “it ends with you and me.”

= Dream Sequence is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 Media from the start of Season 1 onwards =

\ Realm Beyond /

“Is Vic not with you?” Esotera wonders aloud, entering a vast, open space littered with empty desks as she walks ahead of Scarlett, the ceiling no less than four stories above their head. “No, she- uh- she needed some air” Scarlett replies, the tone in her voice making the blatant vagueness in her answer obvious, “with no more Suzie around, it’s not too dangerous coming in here on my own, is it?”

“It’s as dangerous as anything you experience in the realm above” Esotera quickly replies, passing a glance to the light-haired woman following in her shadow, “you don’t hold her hand when you cross the street, do you?”

“Not unless there’s an ice cream truck passing by” Scarlett quickly jokes, stepping through the large, ample bureau, “for the sake of her wallet, she needs to hold me back from spending a few thousand dollars on the driver’s inventory.”

Each of their steps tapping loudly along the ground, Scarlett’s eyes begin to wander, the interior architecture inspired by the same brutalist craft as the rest of the office, though strangely feeling disassociated from it. Lining the walls, tall, concrete columns lift from the ground and toward the ceiling, their strange carvings unintelligible and cold to the unflattered eye.

“Where are we?” Scarlett inquires, her voice carried throughout the spacious internal sanctum as the pair step forward. “The executive sector” Esotera replies, offering very little elaboration as if the room were second nature, “have you not been here?”

“No, I haven’t- when have you?” Scarlett replies, following the spirit’s ascent with little other choice. “The realm continues to live its life with or without you here” Esotera replies, an eyebrow lifting as she glances over her shoulder once more, finally reaching the staircase’s peak, “you’re aware of that, right?”

Hushed for a moment, Scarlett watches Esotera step through an already-open doorway, vanishing around the corner to a fate Scarlett has yet to join her in. “Yeah” Scarlett answers half-heartedly, never having asked herself the question that would have guided her toward such an answer.

Continuing her progress forward, Scarlett joins her spiritual counsel down an equally-large flight of stairs, their concrete design comparable to the one she’d climbed minutes earlier. “And this place is the-?” Scarlett begins to inquire, her voice falling as her head turns toward Esotera’s direction, confused at what sits before her.

“Is there something on your mind, Scarlett?” Esotera inquires, her back turned toward a large array of desks, faceless apparitions sat at desks whilst mimicking work, not a single thing atop their empty workstations to occupy their time. “Yeah” Scarlett replies, yet to pay any mind to the blank slates that line the room before her, sights instead set on an ominous display off to the room’s side.

“What the fuck is that!?” Scarlett queries, wanting to step toward the crevasse sat across the room from her, though she refuses to do so. “Just how much of this realm have you seen thus far?” Esotera inquires, departing her stance near the vast office’s forefront in favour of the eyesore Scarlett’s attention has centred upon.

“Not a whole ton apparently” Scarlett responds, watching Esotera venture closer toward the splinter whilst she slowly musters up the courage to do the same.

Her face gradually coated in the glow of a bright, red light, Scarlett’s chin tilts upward, her eyes gazing at the impossibly deep gash carved into the room’s wall. “If this is the executive sector- what’s that!?” Scarlett asks for a second time, her arms hung by her sides as Esotera replies, unable to pull her focus away from the luminescent tower standing before her.

“This is the Abrasion” Esotera replies, her hands coupled behind her back as she, too, stands in the deep, red glow of what lies beside her. Stretching a seemingly infinite number of stories through the air, a large, ninety-degree angle tear rips through the concrete facade, its limits reaching unfathomable depths.

“The abrasion?” Scarlett repeats, peering through the wall’s breakage with her eyebrows furrowed, “you have names for all the other rooms, and this one’s called ‘the abrasion’?”

“This isn’t meant to be here” Esotera quickly replies, her expression unchanged as if the sight were of no immediate worry. “If it’s not meant to be here, why is it here?” Scarlett questions with equal speed, the question she asks one Esotera had already come to anticipate.

“I don’t know” Esotera returns, an answer that brings satisfaction to neither of the female figures, “but I’m sure it’s more than obvious that it doesn’t belong.” Stepping past Scarlett, Esotera returns to the post she’d occupied moments prior, leaving the blonde woman to stand beneath the abrasion’s glow.

“My question still remains, Scarlett” Esotera remarks, guiding the woman’s face back toward her general vicinity, “you’ve come down here for a reason, haven’t you?” Subduing her intrigue at the striking sight behind her, Scarlett returns to Esotera, her eyes narrowing as she continues to fight her interest in the unnatural anomaly.

“I wanted to figure out why I-” Scarlett begins, pausing as she makes peace with having to admit to her actions aloud, “-why I did what I did to Suzie.” Her hands still clasped behind her back, Esotera nods, turning away from the woman in order to peer out at the sea of nondescript employees behind her.

“Do you regret what you did?” Esotera inquires, turning her back to Scarlett as she proceeds forward, eyes set on the workspace’s rear. “Of course not. She deserved every last second of her- well, of her last second” Scarlett replies, adamant in her stance, “I don’t know what I’d do to live that all over again.”

“Well, there’s your answer” Esotera retorts, passing each desk, one at a time, whilst Scarlett begins to follow. “But that doesn’t tell me why I did it” Scarlett counters, hands swaying by her sides as she continues to pass a few momentary glances at the distant abrasion.

“That’s because you don’t want to know why you did it- you want to know how” Esotera remarks, spinning around to look Scarlett in the eyes, aware of her correct assessment with a simple look into the woman’s eyes. “Okay, yeah- my apologies for using the wrong word” Scarlett mocks, rolling her eyes as she, too, stops stepping forward, “I still need help figuring it out.”

“Of course you do!” Esotera responds, flashing Scarlett a smile before turning away, resuming her progression through the room without another word. Pulling her head back, Scarlett waits a few moments before replying, the follow-up she slightly anticipates not arriving as hoped for.

“That’s it?” Scarlett calls out, refusing to follow the woman any further than she already had, “aren’t you going to help me?” Her mouth forming a smile, Esotera continues her departure, no longer offering Scarlett any help further than what she’s already offered her. “You shouldn’t need me to answer these questions for you anymore, Scarlett” Esotera responds, descending upon the next room without her blonde-haired shadow, “it’s time you answer your own questions.”

|

\ Realm of Reality /

A pair of sunglasses worn over a dejected expression, Vic sits on a park bench with her hands in her lap, her dark hair shining beneath the sunlight as it floats across her face, carried by gentle winds passing by. A pair of earbuds resting upon each side of her head, Vic rests her back against the metal bench, its black coat of paint somewhat fitting for the trail her thoughts have recently taken to.

Closing her eyes, Vic lets her head fall back, the back of her scalp resting against the curled bars the bench’s support is composed of, beginning to lose herself in the moment’s serenity. Paying little mind to the joggers that pass by, Vic’s awareness begins to dip, her eyes pressing closer together as her breath steadies, the expression on her face falling flat.

“Ope!” a random civilian exclaims, tripping over her own shoe just as she begins to pass, leading her collapse directly into Vic’s line of presence. Jolted from her near-slumber, Vic catches the girl at the final moment, saving her head from meeting the unwelcoming railing she sits just beside, a fate worse than a concussion not unlikely without her intervention.

Falling into Vic’s lap, the embarrassed woman can’t help herself from profusely apologising, gradually removing herself from the young woman’s body as she returns to her feet. “I’m so sorry! I don’t even know what I tripped on!” the woman exclaims, temporarily stationing herself on the open side of Vic’s seat as she calms herself.

“It’s fine. Seriously, you’re alright” Vic responds, readjusting the glasses the woman had knocked off her face, the muffled music she’d been listening to now played to no one as the buds rest beside her.

“Are you sure? Nothing’s broken?” the woman replies, brushing off her palms as she persists, wanting to ensure Vic’s reply isn’t out of sympathy. “Really, it’s fine. I’m okay, are you?” Vic promises, brushing a sand stain from the woman’s pant leg as she replies, silencing her music as the woman speaks.

“Yeah, I think I’ll make it” the woman jokes, visibly flustered and ashamed at the incident’s occurrence. “Well I’m glad falling into me isn’t fatal” Vic quips back, sharing a laugh with the woman as she extends her hand, slightly relieved to see an unfamiliar face sport such familiar decency, “I’m Victoria.”

Reciprocating the gesture, the woman takes Vic’s hand into her own, gently shaking it as she leans back in her seat. “Priscilla” the woman responds, undoing her hair tie as she fixes the strands of red hair that flow over her shoulders, knocked free from their restraint. “My friends call me Prissy ‘cause let’s be honest with ourselves-” the woman remarks, letting out a sigh of comedic relief as her thought finishes, “-what better shortname is there for Priscilla?”

Parting her lips, Vic begins to voice her alternative aloud, her voice falling the moment second thoughts come over her. “Yeah, I see your point” Vic replies, allowing the question to fade off with her non-answer, “my friends call- my friend calls me Vic.”

“Really? Not Vikki or Tori?” Prissy responds, watching the chuckle emerge from her new acquaintance as their conversation continues. “No. Well, my mom used to call me Tori. But, I don’t like people using it anymore, so it’s just a natural next-step, y’know?” Vic speaks, tucking the buds into her back pocket, “I’d rather go by Vic than Vikki.”

Nodding, Prissy finishes returning her hair to the bind it had been pulled toward the top of her head with, “why don’t you like being called ‘Tori’ anymore?” she qualms, watching Vic’s face begin to fall. “Well, it’s a long story” Vic responds, fiddling with her hands as they rest in her lap, her back pressed into the bench’s corner to provide her with a better view of Prissy, “but at some point, she stopped calling me Tori. Ever since then, I’ve gone by Victoria or Vic.”

Correctly assuming Vic’s privacy has influence in not delving further, Prissy respects the woman’s departure from openness, allowing her indistinct, open-ended response to prove a satisfying answer.

“What about you?” Vic posits, redirecting the conversation’s focus to fulfil her need for reprieve, “does anyone else have a different nickname for you?” Appearing to shake her head in refusal for a moment, Prissy’s face soon drops just as Vic’s had, her eyes lowering as a change in demeanour presents itself.

“Well, my fiance used to call me ‘Meadow’ instead. He used to think ‘Prissy’ was sort of rude, so he just went with something else” the woman responds, her smile less genuine than it had been before. “Did he start calling you ‘Cilia instead or something?” Vic queries, yet to truly recognise the disappointment in Prissy’s face until the question had already been asked.

“He, uh- he died a few months ago” the woman answers, nodding her head as she tries with all she can manage to fill her grin with joy as it had been before. “Yeah, he got caught up in that stuff out in Praireville” Prissy continues, allowing herself to speak freely without worrying over the consequences, not feeling like there’s much reason to concern herself with them, “yeah, it’s been- it’s been tough.”

“I’m so- so sorry” Vic replies, her stomach knotting at the town’s mention, her eyes steering away with a sensation of sheer guilt. “It’s okay! I’m- I’m kinda making peace with it” Prissy hastily assures, worried that the shift she’d sent upon the conversation’s mood had put Vic off. “It’s hard, sure- but it’s getting easier to stomach” Prissy explains, again trying to hide the pain-ridden expression that threatens to present itself, “I’m just waiting for the day they get the thing that did it.”

Eyes pressing somewhat closely together, Vic’s face takes away from the sunlit asphalt, returning to Prissy as a sudden thought reaches her mind. “I- I’ve been out of the loop” Vic responds, choosing her words with great care, “I know something big happened out there, but I’m- I’m not sure what it was. Could you elaborate?”

Surprised, Prissy answers the question, speaking from whatever recollection she can muster. “I mean, yeah- there was an attack on the place. Police said there were bombs and an army of sort, and that the city was pretty much levelled” Prissy continues, her left arm pressing into the low-setting armrest beside her. “They evacuated everyone and said the guy had gotten away. They told people to look for him and that was it” Prissy continues, “the national guard went in and he’s still on the loose.”

Putting on a dismayed face, Vic nods her head and glances away, her eyes taking toward the sky as it begins to cloud, a further question springing to mind. “Are there any videos of this happening?” Vic posits, struggling to clarify the inquiry she makes, “like, is there any footage of what happened or is it just word-of-mouth?”

“Well, people made a big fuss about a helicopter going down, but the cops said it didn’t have a camera on it” Prissy responds, her remarks giving Vic a better understanding of what’s occurred. “So that’s what everyone accepts? A big attack happened and the people that did it just- just what? Got away?” Vic furthers, noticing the hesitation behind Prissy’s eyes as she responds, reluctant to take any of the opinion’s she denotes as credible.

“Well, of course not! There’s always people that think something’s a conspiracy, or aliens, or whatever” Prissy replies, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow as it begins falling. “They think it was some monster- like a space creature or something” the red-haired woman furthers, trying to make sense of what she says whilst speaking it, “apparently, a few survivors said they saw something in the sky. They were so spiked on adrenaline, though. I can’t believe people take it seriously.”

Offering little more than an unauthentic scoff at the remarks, Vic nods in feigned agreement, her sunglasses returning to her face as she digests what’s been said.

|

\ Realm of Reality /

Returned to the realm above, Scarlett’s face immediately takes to the heavens above, daylight having begun to pass as the evening sets in. Trees surrounding her in every direction, Scarlett’s face soon sets upon the unmarked graves she and Vic had dug hours prior, her chest growing tight as she stands at the foot of Rachel’s burial ground.

“You guys deserved so much better” Scarlett mutters beneath her breath as she drops to her knee, the palm of her hand resting against the raised plot of dirt. “I’m sorry I got you guys into this mess” Scarlett confesses, her opposite hand taking to Jared’s empty gravesite as her voice grows stiff, flushed with guilt over her friends’ demise, “and I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out of it.”

Her goodbye’s offered, Scarlett pulls away, another round of helicopters flying overhead in the distance, surveilling the ground as Scarlett’s senses begin to strengthen. “Scar!” Vic calls out, stepping through the thick flora they’d concealed the illegal crypt within as she takes notice of the flowing blonde locks she’d grown to know so well.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were taking the day to yourself?” Scarlett questions, watching the woman draw near with a look of great concern. “They’re covering everything up” Vic responds, paying no mind to the woman’s prior two questions, her attention taken elsewhere, “they said it was a bomb and terrorists or something like that. They’re covering it all up!”

“Or, alternatively, they don’t want to put people in a frenzy” Scarlett replies, again forced to speak over another fleet of helicopters that pass through the airspace, “would you want to be the person to tell people we have super powers?”

“Well, boy oh boy! I’ve got something to show you!” Vic exclaims, taking Scarlett by the arm and snapping themselves away from Praireville’s outskirts. “Where the fuck are we!?” Scarlett exclaims, nearly falling to the ground as she’s thrown off-balance, her wrist taken into Vic’s grasp before she can meet the dirt.

“Old Jefferson” Vic answers, climbing the hill she’d transported them to, the bridge above concealing their entrance as a horde of angry citizens scream at Praireville’s entrance. Without a sound, Scarlett follows Vic to the road above, her eyes dawning upon the quiet town’s raucous border, a swarm of helicopters circling above in an effort to provide assistance to the large military unit patrolling the ground.

“This is a fucking warzone!” Scarlett exclaims, watching a plethora of men and women step over the bridge they’d emerged beneath, their faces mostly covered with masks, their bodies largely adorned with heavy sweatshirts.

“I think everyone’s already in a frenzy” Vic explains, her finger pointing in the direction of a nearby group of young adults, the video they watch on their computer immediately raising concern. “I think every already knows too” Scarlett responds, the recording their eyes take to presenting little more than Lincoln’s enraged pose beneath the backdrop of a night they know all too well.

“The cat’s out of the bag” Vic responds, her hands seeking refuge in the pockets of her jacket as she and Scarlett stand by, watching the video unfold before cutting off as the helicopter is rendered immobile. “What the fuck do we do now?” Scarlett grumbles, her head shaking as her eyes take to the rapid crowd, their hostilities proving difficult for the country’s forces to hold for long.

== Dream Sequence ==