Case File 2017.10.16
The wind unfortunately kicked up the snow too much for her to follow that blood trail, and it'd threatened to cover her own tracks leading back to the lodge. She didn't like that this was forcing her to head back to the main lodge, but the concern an worry was quickly replaced with shock and alarm as Liam ran into her yelling they needed to get inside...pale as a ghost and with blood on his left hand. She hurried back inside with him, asking what happened. Apparently he'd seen that same fire and had gone to investigate when he'd been attacked, someone had slashed him with a knife...a shallow enough cut but it still bleed plenty. Gwen walked in a moment later and put a towel over Liam's injury while Rhea dug out a first aid kit from one of the kitchen drawers. She stated that she'd seen the fire too...but it had been put out shortly before she'd found it-- two jackets and Delilah's white scarf. The commotion in the kitchen had reached even Monty, as he came into the kitchen demanding answers as noticed Liam bleeding and catching the tail end of Rhea's explanation of seeing Delilah's burned clothing.
Liam didn't get a good look at the assailant but with the power off, they weren't likely to get a call out for help. Though there was the old radio tower...once the fire tower to the area in the past... they could possibly get a call out from if things still worked. Though it wouldn't hurt to try and get the generator going to bring power back to the place. Monty didn't seem to care much for planning and was already heading out when Gwen called out for him, to make him pause before suggesting he and Rhea make their way to the radio to try and call for help. Gwen and Liam would head to the generator house to try and get it going. There really wasn't much of a better plan, and if anyone saw anything while out there...the best any of them could do was to shout to alert the others. The generator itself wasn't too far away...but somehow between the distance of the main lodge to there, Gwen had lost track of Liam in the cold and snow.
Rhea had been working to keep up with Monty, as they headed up to the old radio tower, still keeping an eye out for any signs of Delilah along the way. He brought up the question she hadn't dared to ask...who would be up there with them...because there shouldn't be...and if there wasn't could it be-- Rhea didn't let her thoughts dwell on the question long as they reached the tower where in prior times a Warden would have been on duty, E. Drake. It should have been cluttered with collecting cobwebs and dust, but it was surprisingly clean. Well...clean except for the table filled with newspaper clippings about the fire, her family members that perished...and close by tacked to the wall and circled in red was Rhea's picture. Painted above it were the words 'All your fault.' Monty turned to her, to demand an explanation, but she didn't have one to give. Her blood ran gold and she couldn't move for a moment...there was a hand held radio also on the table...and someone was talking, but it couldn't clearly be made out-- Monty took it outside to get a clear signal, and it was Jac's voice. It kept saying 'You did it' over and over again...it made him hopeful his friend was still alive as he tried to speak into the radio-- then an arrow found its mark in Monty's chest, taking the breath from him as he plummeted from the tower to the ground below...where Rhea saw a shadowy figure with a bow retreating from Monty's corpse into the woods.
She managed to keep from screaming in her denial of seeing Monty killed before her eyes as she ran back towards the lodge, hoping to find Gwen and Liam. In her frantic retreat, she tripped over Alex's half frozen body. He made a slight moan as she'd stumbled over him, and realizing it was Alex...she did her best to pick him up and bring him back to the fireplace and draping a blanket over him to try and help warm him back up from the cold. She asked what happened...and that's when things changed-- he straightened up and no longer shivered from the cold. His eyes blazed like gold from the firelight as he looked at her and stood. Blaming her for the fire that burned him. Her heart caught in her throat...Alex had never been around the lodge, he was new-- Jac's name slipped past her lips. Even as Rhea tried to dismiss it as a poor joke on Alex's part as she backed away from him. Alex continued to move forward, picking a poker up from the fireplace. Blaming her for their parent's decision to sell the resort, and changing their Will so he'd receive nothing-- it was all going to go to Rhea. He didn't make it out fully from the blaze that destroyed his face. Filling in details that only Jac could know-- he'd cut the gas line and she'd managed to escape by not being inside when the blaze took hold...she'd gone to get wood for the fireplace.
Rhea shoved a chair in his way as she ran back outside, to head out towards the generator and calling out for Gwen and Liam. She knew Alex...no...Jac...wouldn't be far behind...she kept moving and as she got turned around in the snow found herself just outside the old Walsh Estate. She moved to run inside to hide, but somehow was caught and that hot iron slashed into her arm for a fiery cut that by some chance didn't stick or catch full into her arm. She picked up a brick to hurl at him and retreat further into the old house, blindly moving through it until by chance she'd ducked into one room thinking he'd heard Jac...and ended up finding Gwen mostly working away the bonds that'd held her. Rhea also noticed the bodies of Liam and Delilah not far off, and did her best to hold back the wave of sickness as she untied her friend. There wasn't much time to explain as broken words of Jac not being dead tumbled out...only to have it punctuated by the makeshift poker javelin he'd tossed at Rhea. She'd moved aside to avoid the projectile, pushing Gwen aside, but unfortunately ending up in Jac's grasp as he started to choke her. Gwen lifted that chair she'd been tied to prior and struck him over the head to force him to release Rhea...seeming hurt more by seeing who did the action over the physical injury itself.
Jac slapped Gwen across the face to stun her before turning his attention back to his sister. Rhea had taken the moment to scramble back to her feet and grab that discarded iron poker, turning it back against him as she plunged it into Jac and into the wall. She'd let the past hang over her for some time and wasn't going to let it continue...it'd cost too many lives already. Gwen found a can of gasoline in the room and doused Jac as she tossed the box of flares over to Rhea. He was like a wild animal thrashing and pinned to the wall as the flame started to consume him. She looked to her friend, Gwen, stating they needed to go and working to carry Delilah's lifeless body away...leaving Gwen to take Liam's. She didn't want to leave them in there...they deserved better. Rhea watched as the blaze started to take hold of the old Walsh Estate...hopefully to burn to the ground and taking the last of the past with it...
