Chapter Text
Violet leaned against the door, drawing a sigh of relief.
“Was it them?”
She looked at Chris, standing in front of the stairs, where the others had woken up and stood, peering over the staircase.
“Yeah, yeah it was.”
She held both the cards in her hand, looking at the names, the organization, their place and job description. As well as their phone numbers.
“They said they were looking for Miles,” she stated, walking into the kitchen.
She put the cards down, glancing over them once more.
“Who’s hungry?”
Violet made breakfast, something small that would accommodate for their skinny frames, probably from lack of food from however long they had been in the asylum. Trager especially.
The clothes he had given her were baggy, even on his skinny frame.
“Here, eat something. You need it,” Violet said to him.
She made a plate of eggs, bacon and toast. She gave off the others their plates as she handed them silverware. She cleaned up, wiping the counters and putting the dishes away in the sink.
“What is this?” One of the twins asked, poking at his food.
“It’s…food; eggs, bacon, and toast,” Violet replied, slightly confused.
Walker scoffed, continuing to eat his own plate.
“Forgive us, but we are not used to this,” the other twin answered.
“Well what did they give you to eat? In the asylum?”
They both glanced towards each other, and then looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“We feasted upon the orderlies and doctors.”
Violet grimaced, holding back a gag.
“Ew,” she muttered.
“Not so bad after a while,” Trager commented.
Eddie was quiet.
“That’s cannibalism,” Violet corrected. “You…were cannibals.”
“You make us out to be bad.”
“A little liver and tongue never hurt anyone.”
Both of the twins' nonchalance and deadpan expressions were starting to get annoying, but she relented.
“Probably not the worst thing I’ve seen so far,” she muttered, wiping down the counter.
A click of the doorknob caught her attention, walking to the door to see her mother walking in. Violet opened her mouth to speak, but her mother caught sight of the men at the table. She didn’t make a sound, but just stared. Mainly at Walker, but glancing between the others.
“Mom, I can explain, please,” Violet spoke.
She looked at her, noticing her appearance.
“What the hell happened to you? Why do you have bruises?” She asked, concern crossing her face.
She put on a hand on her cheek.
“What did you do?” She whispered, furrowing her brow between anger and concern.
“I, uh, did some things last night,” Violet said.
“‘Did some things’? Is that why there are men in my house?” Amber said, her tone becoming angry.
“Mom, please, can we talk somewhere private? I just want to explain,” Violet pleaded.
“Ma’am, if I may interject, your daughter here has done remarkable work. She helped us,” Eddie replied, getting up from his seat. “Without her, we’d be dead right now.”
Her mother looked at him.
“The hell she did! What kind of relationship do you have with my daughter? Why are you even in my house?” She yelled, walking up to him. “I should call the police right now!”
“Mom, no, please! I can explain!” Violet interjected.
“Then explain!” Her mother yelled back, turning on Violet now.
She flinched.
“Can we talk somewhere more private? Please?” She asked, her voice a whisper.
Her mother reared back. She huffed, gesturing for Violet to follow her upstairs to her mother’s bedroom. After shutting the door, she looked at Violet.
“What the hell were you thinking? Where did you even go?” She whispered and yelled at the same time.
“...Mount Massive Asylum…?” Violet winced as she gave a nervous smile.
Her mother looked furious.
“You did what ?” She said, gritting through her teeth.
“I don’t know, I just wanted…to help.”
“And how did you manage to just think of going up there?”
Violet opened her mouth, and then closed it. She swallowed.
“I got an email from someone, asking me for help. And then I went.”
Her mother shook her head, muttering under her breath in Spanish.
“So did you drive up there?” She asked.
“Yes.”
“And then you just happened to find some other people, and took them with you?”
“Yes.”
“Violet, that place is dangerous. The few times I had gotten cases from there–” She stopped and shook her head. “I only saw half of what they did to those people, and they are dangerous .”
“Hostile…”
“What about them? The others in the kitchen? Are they dangerous?” Violet pressed, gesturing her hand out into the kitchen.
“Yes! Yes they are! Who knows what they could’ve done to you. They would have hurt you, killed you even.”
“Intent to kill…”
Violet screwed her brow, flexing her jaw.
“But they didn’t. Mom, they helped me. They saved me, and I helped them in return.”
Violet explained further.
“I don’t…know what I saw inside that place, but it’s so much worse than you can imagine. Mom, they experimented on them, used them as test subjects. I’ve seen the things they did.”
“Does that explain the bruises on your neck?”
Violet winced at that. She didn’t want to tell her that it was because of Walker. He didn’t know, he was just following his own protocol.
“...Yes.”
Her mother sighed, putting her hands on her hips.
“Violet…”
“I know what I did was wrong, or stupid, but I felt like I had to do something.”
Her mother looked at her.
“Do you know that I got stopped at work? By agents? They asked me all these questions regarding the patients from the asylum, and then about if I had seen a ‘Miles Upshur’.”
“They're onto you…”
Violet’s eyes widened.
“Miles?”
“Oh, so you know him? You’re affiliated with a criminal now?”
“No! No, it’s not like that! He emailed me, asking for my help, and I went there and tried to hel–”
“Tried to?”
“He died! He’s dead! I saw his body inside of there.”
Her mother recoiled.
“ How ?”
Violet shook her head.
“What do you mean how?”
“Because those agents told me he was living in hiding. And if I had seen him I would call.”
“No! No, no, no, no! You can’t trust them.”
She walked up to her mother, gripping her hands in hers.
Violet was scared, scared for her life, scared for her mother’s life, and the others.
“Why not?”
“Because they could hurt us. T-They would cover it up and kill us if they had to.”
“Why would they do that?”
“To cover their tracks, cover up any accidents without a trace. That’s why the agents were there, to track him down so they could kill him.”
Her mother looked perplexed, shocked.
“What…What did you see in that place, Violet?” She slowly asked.
“Murder…death…rape…”
She shook her head, trying to quiet her head.
“Quiet,” she whispered.
Violet took a breath, recollecting herself.
“Blood. So many bodies, dead on the floor. Decapitated heads, murder, torture,” she replied as she shook her head. “I saw a man, pinned to a cross, burning to death.” Her voice broke at the last part, but continued on. “I watched a man die in my arms. I was nearly choked to death-my finger was cut off. Do you understand what I went through?” She said, trying not to cry in front of her mother.
Her mother looked at her in horror, seeing her so distraught, so destroyed from the experience.
“Oh my god,” her mother replied and hugged her. “My poor baby.”
Violet returned the hug, leaning her head on her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Mom,” she muttered.
She pulled back, taking her by the shoulders.
“No, it’s not. No child should have to see those things. Never. And the fact you made it out alive–”
Her mother covered her mouth, on the verge of tears.
“Mama…”
Violet hugged her, swaying back and forth as she held her. She cried into her, her body shaking and lurching as she cried.
“You’re all I have left,” she muttered.
She knew she was talking about him . He was a touchy subject, even if he wasn’t there.
Leaving after a one night stand, without a phone call or a note, not even a letter. She found out he went to Afghanistan, and then he was never heard from again. She didn’t have any pictures, not a single one to remember him by. Not even a name. Or if her mother did, she kept it close to her, not bothering to tell Violet so she wouldn’t go looking for him to find him. Or find out if he was dead. But he was here now. Sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast, like it was a normal day.
Once her mother recollected herself, she wiped her eyes.
“I’m…I need to see the damage for myself from these people, make sure they’re not a threat to you or me.”
“Mom, they’re not,” she retorted.
Amber opened the door, walking back downstairs into the kitchen.
Eddie was the first to stand, greeting the woman with a smile.
“I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Eddie Gluskin,” he said, holding out his hand.
Violet’s mother looked down at his hand, and then up at him.
“I’m Amber Gonzalez. I remember you,” she said, shaking his hand.
“You do?”
“You were in our psych ward before being transferred to Mount Massive. I was one of the nurses that cared for you.”
“Well, I couldn’t thank you enough, much less your daughter here,” Eddie replied, smiling at Violet.
“Oh really? I’d love to hear all about it,” Amber replied, giving a glare back at her.
Violet winced, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Walker glanced at her for a moment, before crossing his arms over the table.
Amber passed by, setting her purse down.
“Well, it’s a long story,” Eddie replied cautiously.
“I have time. I don't have another shift until tonight,” Amber replied matter-of-factly.
Her mother ran a tight ship, chores needed to be done, homework done, things like that. She wasn’t strict, but she had her moments.
Eddie glanced at Violet, silently asking for help.
“Well, uh, after I got an email from Miles I went to the asylum, and then I met…these two,” Violet said for him, gesturing towards the twins.
“And you are…?” Amber asked, looking at them both.
“Friends.”
“Protecting your daughter from harm.”
They both answered, getting a perplexed and judgmental look from her.
“Alright. Go on.”
“I had to go through the asylum, to find…Miles.”
Amber turned her head to face her.
“As in, the man that those agents were looking for?”
“Yeah, yeah, they were here this morning,” Violet replied.
“Go on,” her mother replied, her face set in a hard stare.
Violet swallowed.
“Miles was already dead by the time I got to him.”
Violet glanced at Walker, remembering the events vividly.
“He told me to get as many people out as possible, so I did.”
“She was our saving grace.”
“Our savior.”
Both the twins answered.
Amber screwed her brow further, noticing the twins' odd behavior.
“Okay,” she muttered, breathing a sigh.
She took off her coat, showing her nurse scrubs.
“I have to take a shower, and go to bed. Violet, I expect your chores to be done, and…” She glossed over the men in the room.
“Get them set up for the night. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I can at least provide shelter. I don’t expect everyone to be lounging around though, so your chores apply to them.”
“Yes ma’am,” Violet murmured.
“Good. Now…”
Her mother took out a small flashlight from her purse, walking over to Trager.
“Do you know the last time you ate?” She asked him, shining the flashlight in his eyes.
“Just this morning.”
“I see.”
She put the flashlight down, turning his face to see the damage.
“Minimal scarring and malnutrition. We’ll get you fixed up in no time, but it would be best if we took you to a hospital.”
“What about the people looking for us?” Walker asked.
“What about them?”
“As long as we keep our cover low they’ll think we died. We need a way to disguise ourselves, and build everything back up,” Trager answered.
“And how do you manage to do that? As far as I know, you all could be criminals,” Amber said.
They all didn’t say anything, looking down or glancing off.
Amber looked around them, and then glanced up at Walker once more.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, and sighed. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call the police right now.”
“Because they’ll label you as an accessory to our aid; a criminal, like you said.”
Walker got up from the table, walking over and standing in front of Amber, his height towering over her. Violet watched, holding her breath, looking between him and her mother. She looked at the difference between the two, their body language, their faces, as they stared each other down.
“And why would they do that?” Amber asked, her voice low.
“Because look at what they did to me. I was part of their security, I was responsible for the Hatbox murders, and for that they covered their own asses so they wouldn’t be at fault for my mistakes,” Chris proceeded to say, getting up close to Amber’s face.
She kept her stare, staring him in the eye.
Trager stood up from his chair.
“I was one of their executives,” he claimed. “Once they realized that I wasn’t no use anymore, they used me. Covered up the whole thing, no questions asked.”
“And what about me? Didn’t you ever wonder what happened once I was transferred? Did they even say anything to you at all?” Eddie added.
Amber looked at them, and then directed her stare at the twins.
“What about you two?” She asked.
“We lived in the place for as long as we can remember.”
“We were failed experiments in other words.”
Amber looked back at Violet, her hard staring directed into her soul.
“And you said this…Murkoff would kill us off? Just for being involved?” She asked.
“Y-Yes,” Violet answered quickly.
Amber thought long and hard, the anticipation from the others growing.
“Fine.”
She walked away, going upstairs.
It was silent, just for a moment, the click of Amber’s door closing behind her.
“Well that went well,” Trager said.
Walker huffed, sitting back down at the table.
“Your mother is very…” Eddie trailed.
“Stubborn? Strict?”
“Idiotically stupid. Sorry, kid,” Walker replied.
“She’s always been that way, can’t really change her. She has her good moments…sometimes,” Violet replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“She is very…”
“Scary.”
Both the twins finished each other’s sentences.
“Scary? All it takes is one woman to scare you two?” Trager asked.
“It’s not the fear of her that scares us.”
“It’s the implications of what she will do against us.”
“They make a good point; she doesn’t trust us, and she might try to call those agents on us,” Walker replied. “She’s not easily intimidated.”
“If she’s scared of what they’ll do, it’ll give her a reason to not send Murkoff after us,” Eddie added.
“She knows she’s an accessory to our escape.”
“As well as hiding out while the situation at hand dies.”
Violet stared at the kitchen table, silent.
“If Mom chooses to call them, then it’ll be all over,” she thought.
“Don’t look so disappointed.”
“You did the hard part already.”
Both the twins reassured her.
She looked up at them, a thought crossing her mind.
“So what happened while I was out? I mean, passed out?” She asked.
“We just watched over you.”
“Made sure you were safe.”
“And then the Walrider came and took you as a new host,” Trager added, getting a shove from Walker.
He had a warning look on his face, shutting him up.
Walrider
The name seemed to trigger something in her memory, and she went rigid, remembering that empty, haunting face, and that static buzz in her ears. Everyone’s voices seemed to just fade out, muffled as she recalled the memories she had seen from before ever seeing the Walrider.
“Violet?”
Her thoughts were interrupted, seeing the others staring at her.
She swallowed, inhaling sharply through her nose.
“What?” She asked.
“We were asking if you had any more information from Miles?”
“Any possible leads to help us?”
“Waylon Park, Simon Peacock, Paul Marion.”
“I do,” she replied. “I don’t know how I’d get in contact with them though.”
“Well who?” Trager asked.
“One of them…was Paul Marion, but I don’t know if we can trust him or not,” she answered softly.
Walker scoffed, leaning back in his chair.
“I’d doubt he’d help any of us,” he muttered.
“I don’t know. He seemed more sympathetic to me when I lied about the bruises,” she replied, lightly touching them around her neck.
Walker was silent, looking over her before turning his head away.
“What did you tell him?” Eddie asked.
“Just some…incident that may or may not have happened to me; bullying incident,” Violet replied, tossing and turning her head.
“Bullying?”
“School?”
Violet looked at the twins for a moment.
“Yeah, school. A place where you go to learn?” She questioned.
They glanced at each other.
“Oh yeah, that’s right,” Violet said upon realizing they had never been outside the asylum.
“Forgive us for not being so acclimated to the real world,” The bald twin replied.
Violet pursed her lip, nodding.
“You get picked on in school? You?” Trager questioned, pointing his finger at her.
“Yeah…? Why is that such a revelation?”
Trager scoffed, lifting a brow.
“Listen, kid, I don’t remember much, but I remember you kicking me in the balls and then punching my face in before I blacked out,” he answered.
“And I’m sorry for that,” she replied, leaning in closer and whispering, “but you cut off my fucking finger. So I think we’re even.”
Trager held his hands up in mock-defense.
“Payback, then,” he merely replied.
Violet sighed.
“It’s not something I would like to talk about, but to spare any details, yes I get bullied. No, I don’t fight back. It gets me in trouble…a lot,” she explained briefly.
“Why’s that?” Walker questioned.
“Getting into fights apparently gets me in trouble, so I just grit my teeth and take it. School is phony as it is, picking one side over the other because of how much of a reputation I have.”
She got up from the table, walking into the kitchen area adjacent to the table, setting to washing the dishes.
“I don’t understand.”
“How could you possibly not stand up for yourself.”
“Because that’s just how I am, okay?” She exclaimed.
Walker widened his eyes for a second, before setting them again in a narrowed stare. She quieted herself, so as not to wake her mother. She cleared her throat, going back to washing the dishes.
They were quiet for a while, not saying much. She coordinated them on how to clean the floors, mop, clean the bathrooms and clean the showers. Soon, the others went to bed early, exhausted from just doing chores.
“Mom’s room is off limits, but I’ll go in later and clean it, after she wakes up.”
“My, you really do all of this? All this work?” Eddie asked, helping her fold the laundry.
“I do. She works nights a lot, so I usually pick up the slack if she doesn’t do it on her one day off,” Violet replied, picking up her jacket to lay out flat.
“I don’t remember her, but she said she worked as a nurse.”
“Yep. Went to college and got her nurse’s certification, while she had me.”
She didn’t say much more, but it was a longing and a hate she had developed for the man who had left them. And now he was here. But she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
He looked at some of the clothes, noticing holes that lingered on some of them. He looked fondly at them, as if remembering something.
“You know, I remember some parts of my life from before the asylum,” he said.
“Really?”
“Yes, but I grew up very different from what you’re used to,” he said, looking at a hole in a shirt.
Violet sat down next to him, continuing to fold the laundry.
“Tell me about it,” she replied.
“Well, from what I remember, my father was a horrible man, even much more than my uncle.”
He stopped for a second, continuing on.
“They would…hurt me, let’s just say. And then take pictures of it. And I was just a boy, I didn’t know that it was wrong, that it just hurt me.”
Violet listened intently, nodding along.
“When I got older, I…did some horrible things.”
“What kind of things?”
“I would…target women, and hurt them, kill them. Remembering it now, it pains me to even say it now,” Eddie continued on.
She was empathetic, listening to it.
“They would show me the pictures, my pictures, and the pictures of the women I had killed.”
He shook his head, taking a shaky breath.
“I don’t know why I didn’t bring myself to admit it, or say anything, but in that moment I felt angry, and humiliated, just from the photographs.”
He looked distraught.
She wanted to test how he was, seeing if his mood would change at the drop of a dime. She gently placed a hand on top of his, squeezing. She smiled, trying to reassure him.
“You don’t have to go through that anymore,” Violet whispered.
Eddie looked surprised, pulling a smile.
“Look at me, getting so worked up over the past,” he said, and quickly wiped at his eyes.
Violet went back to folding clothes, taking notice of her jacket. She tsked, looking at the tear from her time in the asylum.
“Shoot, I’m gonna have to grab a sewing needle and thread for this,” she muttered.
“Needle and thread?”
Eddie offered his hand, taking the jacket from her.
“I could certainly repair this,” he said, poking a finger through the hole.
“Really?”
“Absolutely! I learned how to sew from a young age, nothing is too much of a difficult job for me,” he said.
“Well, gee, thanks. Maybe you can repair all our clothes, or even make new ones.”
“Oh yes, before all of this, and that wretched place, I had a talent and an eye for fashion. I wanted to be a dress designer,” Eddie replied.
He held the jacket close as he looked off, remembering a different kind of life for himself.
“That’s nice. Maybe I can help. I have some experience sewing.”
“Oh really? Did your mother teach you?”
“She did, and a lot of times it helped me when I needed to fix my jeans or for things like this.”
Eddie nodded, looking over the jacket.
“I’ll fix it up, first thing tomorrow,” he said.
He went to bed, leaving the jacket hanging over the couch.
Violet sighed, looking over the blood stains that she wasn’t able to get out from that night. She lingered on it for a moment, before a knock at the door startled her.
“Who could be up this late?”
She walked up to the door, opening it to peek outside.
“Ms. Gonzalez?”
She just stared at the man at the front door, seeing his familiar face.
“Mr. Marion,” she replied.