Chapter 65b - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Time definitely feels like it has frozen.

Nobody moves or speaks.  I doubt anyone in the room is breathing right now.  I for one am nervously holding my breath again, waiting for some kind of reaction from Alpine.

Alpine just stands there glaring at all of us.  I presume his brain is trying to process the reminder that Ruby has stupidly and spitefully just given him.

I seriously don't understand Ruby.  She knows that reminding Alpine about Cinnamon being faded is going to set him off.  So why do it?!  Even I am not that stupid!! 

Suddenly, and not unexpectedly ... Alpine explodes into a violent rage.

           "Shit!"  Granite snaps  "He should be sedated.  How has he even managed to get out of Neurology?"  he mumbles I think more to himself as he quickly pulls out his phone.  I presume to phone my Dad, Forrest or someone on Neurology.

Alpine starts to storm into the room, towards Ruby raring about Gravel.   Bay, Coal and Crimson quickly jump in front of him, to block his path.  Turmeric pulls Ruby out of Alpines way, while Granite tries to protect Mel, even though he is now on his phone, talking to my Dad.

I am really glad that I am standing towards the back of the room.  I glance down at the baby in my arms who is starting to grizzle.  He is reacting to the sudden loud noise of Alpine shouting.

As I stand rocking the baby, trying to stop him from crying, I watch nervously as Bay tries to calm Alpine down with Crimson and Coals help, but it does not seem to be helping.  The more they are talking to him, the more he seems to be getting angrier.  Bay is trying to talk him down, but it is not working.

I watch in horror as Alpine completely loses it, and one by one, he knocks all three of them flying away from him and across the room.  He grabs a closeby chair and throws it, then totally explodes and starts to smash the room up.

Every single one of us in this room, I now know is in trouble.

I am holding the baby, and all I can think is that I need to get him and Scarlet out of here.  I quickly hand Scarlet the baby, put my arm around her and start to lead them towards the door.  Things are starting to fly around the room, so I am trying to protect her and the baby from being hit by anything that Alpine is throwing.

There is total chaos going on in the room now.  All we can hear is things smashing, Alpine raring and lots of shouting.  This sets the baby off and he starts screaming loudly, just to add to the commotion.

Alpine comes pretty close to us as he is throwing another chair across the room.  The chair bounces off Granite's head, hard enough to knock him off his feet.  The chair leg hits me in the face as it bounces off Granite and flies past me before smashes into the wall.  My eyes start stinging and my nose throbs as it starts bleeding.  I watch Turmeric through blurred vision, trying to drag Granite out of the room.

Alpine is now right in front of me, and he glares at us angrily.  I think the baby crying has attracted his attention and for a moment he seems distracted by it.  I have to stand in front of Scarlet to protect her and the baby, who is now constantly wailing, probably because of all the noises going on around him.  I doubt that Alpine would deliberately hurt either Scarlet or the baby.  However, he has lost his head and is not in his right mind, so he probably would not know what he is doing.

Before Alpine can do anything, Crimson and Bay jump on him, which distracts him away from me, Scarlet and the baby.  They knocking him flying and try to wrestle him to the ground.  This gives me the chance to get Scarlet and the baby safely out of the room.

I hear a load crashing noise and screaming behind me as I push Scarlet through the door.

Shale, who was in the doorway trying to get into the room, grabs a now very frightened and upset Scarlet and takes her and the baby over to the couch.

Out in the corridor, I stand frozen while I watch Turmeric holding a struggling Granite down, who has blood pouring down his face, from a cut on his forehead.  I can see my Dad and River running down the corridor towards us.  Forrest is with them, being pushed at speed in a wheelchair.

Slate is crouched down in front of me, doing something to Maize who is riling around on the floor in agony.  He is also covered in blood, but I don't know where it has come from, or what has happened to him.

        "T let me go idiot!!  Mel, Bay and Coal are still in there.  I need to get Mel out!!"  Granite yells at Turmeric.
        "No Gran!!"  T yells at him  "Bay and Coal will look after her!!  You can not afford to get any blows to the stomach it could fade you and I'm not letting you back in there!!  I'll go!!"

I can hear Bay screaming for help behind me

        "I'll help you get Mel."  I shout at him as I turn to run back into the room.

I hear River and Dad frantically shouting at me.  They are trying to stop me from going back into the room, but I ignore them.

At first, I freeze, I'm not sure what I'm looking at when I run back into the room.  It takes my mind a few seconds to catch up with the scene in front of me, that my eyes are taking in but my brain is not processing properly.  The room now is total carnage.    T is stood beside me and I hear him swearing.

Bay and Crimson are wresting with Alpine.  Alpine who has totally lost the plot!!

        "The filing cabinet."  Mel mumbles
        "Tap help me!!"  T yells at me as he tries to lift the filing cabinet.

Until she mentioned it, even though I was seeing it, it had not really registered with me that the filing cabinet is now tipped over and lying on its side on top of both Coal and Ruby.  Mel's legs are trapped under Coal, but she is mostly free of the filing cabinet.  The bed and desk have also been turned upside down.  From what I can see of them, Ruby and Coal seem to both be out cold on the floor.  Neither of them are making any sound or moving, and there is blood everywhere ... way too much blood!!

Both me and T manage to lift the metal cabinet and roll it away from the unconscious bodies trapped underneath it.  T is down on his knees checking on both Coal and Ruby.  I see him checking for pulses but he doesn't move either of them.

I crouch down to help Caramel free her legs from underneath Coal, trying not to move Coal too much.

         "Are you hurt?"  I ask Caramel
         "I don't think so?"
         "We need doctors in here!!"  T choke.  He is sat on the floor a hand on both Coal and Ruby.  I can see he is starting to get upset, but dare not ask him what is exactly wrong.

I help Caramel get up and onto her feet, and we start to make our way towards the door .  I can see she has a nasty cut on her head and face. Another chair comes flying in our direction and we have to duck to avoid it hitting one of us.  I literately fall out into the corridor trying to open the door behind me, pulling Caramel with me.

Forrest and Dad grab her and pull her away from the door, and straight away start to check her over.
I glance at Shale who is holding Scarlet and Mint has now appeared and is holding the baby.

        "We need medical help in here.  The filing cabinet fell on them .... Coal and Ruby are out cold ... one of them is bleeding badly!!"
         "Where is Bay?"  Forrest shouts at me
         "With Crimson, they are still struggling with Alpine."

I run back into the room Slate and Granite follow me.  Granite and Slate are down on their knees straight away trying to sort out Coal and Ruby.  Turmeric stands up and looks at me miserably.

     "We are going to have to try and help them!" he mumbles

Even with four of us trying to hold Alpine down, we are struggling.  He is like a wild feral animal, lashing out, trying to get free.  We are all getting thumped as well as thrown across the room quite frequently.

I can not help but think that we are doing completely the wrong thing, trying to calm him down.  I know from experience that the more I am touched and shouted at while I am having an outburst, the worse I get.  Really we need to step back and just leave him to run the course of his outburst.

Dad and River appear in the doorway, I laugh quietly noticing they are both armed with a syringe each, which are probably loaded with sedative.  We carry on struggling, trying to hold Alpine down, so that he can be sedated.  At one point I thought we had him, for a moment he seemed to give up struggling.  Suddenly he seemed to find some strength from somewhere as he sprang back into action.  He literally throws Crimson and Bay off him.  They fly at Dad and River and all four of them land in a jumbled heap on the floor.

Me and T, are not as strong as Bay and Crimson, and we have no chance of holding Alpine on our own.  After only a short struggle, we both go flying, which set's Alpine free.  I hit the filing cabinet pretty hard which knocks the wind out of me.

I get back up on my feet just in time to watch Alpine go tearing out of the room ... he has got away.
I just hope he does not continue his rampage out in the corridor.

         "Shit!!"  River snaps  "I think Bay has just copped a dose of sedative.  He fell onto the syringe I was holding in the fall."  Slate is down on his knees checking Bay over, who is now spark out on the floor.
            
Forrest comes in and starts to freak out seeing Bay out cold, until Slate explains that Bay has only accidentally had a dose of sedation in the struggle.  In amongst all of this horror, I find what has happened to Bay pretty funny.  No doubt we will have a good laugh about this in the future, but not right now.

         "We should chase after Alpine."  I mumble
         "No Tap!!  Leave him, he is too dangerous in this mood."  Forrest snaps as he stares around at the mess of the room a little wide eyed.  "Security have phoned the police, we are just going to have to let them deal with him.  Hopefully he will just wander off home or to the cemetery and calm himself down.  That's what he normally does."
         "How did he get out of Neurology?"
         "Mint and Fudge took me down to see Saffron."  Forrest mumbles  "River was watching him."
         "He woke up very angry."  River mumbles quietly  "When I tried to give him another dose of sedation ... he socked me one, knocked me out and did a runner."
         "One of the nurses found River spark out on the floor."  Forrest chuckles

I stare at River and notice he has the start of a black eye and a row of stitches on his forehead.

I watch Granite, as he interrupts us, pulling River and Dad over to Ruby.  They all crouch down while River and Dad both check her over.  They sit whispering before they all get up.  I notice Coal is no longer in the room, they must have taken him out.  Turmeric is not in here either.

I wander why they are just leaving Ruby lying there ... but I don't have to wander for long.

          "Is Mom okay?"  Crimson mumbles as he picks himself up off the floor, after Slate has treated the cuts on his hands and face.
         "I'm sorry Crimson ..."  Dad mumbles.

I notice that River Dad and Granite are all stood between Ruby and Crimson, like they are trying to stop him from going to her.

          "I'm sorry, there is nothing that we can do for you ... she has gone."

   
             "What?!"  he chokes
             "When we came in, she had already faded.  While I was checking on Coal, Slate tried to revive her, but it was already too late.  I'm sorry!!"  Granite mumble.
             "Mel told us outside that the filing cabinet hit Ruby first.  Until she is examined properly we can't say what damage her body sustained."  Dad mumbles  "However, we can see that a major vein in her leg has been severed.  So she would have bled out within minutes, and that is more than likely what faded her." 

Granite pulls a sheet off the bed and covers Ruby's body.
     
           "Dr  Muffin they are waiting for you in theatre three"  a nurse shouts him from the doorway
           "Granite you go ... I am needed here."  he mumbles
           "He is my Nephew.  Are you sure?"  he frowns at him
           "Yes .. Go!!"

Granite smiles at him weakly and takes off running.  I'm just stood there numb, staring at where Ruby's covered body lies, not knowing what to think.  It must have been her screaming when I bundled Scarlet and the baby out of the room.  It is her blood all over the floor.  I can't help but wander if I had tried to pull her out first, if they could have saved her.

I also can't help but think, Ruby and Caramel were right behind us, trying to get out of the room.  If we had been a minute slower, it could have been Scarlet, the baby or even me lying there.  I am really grateful now that I sent Crystal and the kids home and they weren't here or in the room when it all kicked off.

       "Tap .. "  Dad snaps me out of my daze pulling me over to one side, out of every ones earshot and starts to try and clean the blood off my face.  I can see he is getting really upset, probably because of Ruby.  I can hear a commotion going on behind me, Crimson has cracked up and River and Slate are trying to comfort him.
        "Are you okay?"  he frowns at me as he starts to inspect me like I'm a child.
        "I'm fine, stop fussing!"  I snap at him as I slap his hands off me.  "I've just had the shit kicked out of me, otherwise I am fine."

       "Are there any spirits here?"  he mumbles quietly
       "No, not at the moment, why?"
       "Give me your phone."  he mumbles, so I numbly pull it out of my pocket.  He goes through my contact list and pulls up a number  "I need you to get outside - speak to Jazz - get him and the spirits out .. they need to find Alpine before the police do."
        "Are you joking?"
        "No ... tell Jazz about Alpine fading Ruby, and tell him that he needs to hide Alpine in the Den.  If he doesn't Alpine is probably looking at a murder or manslaughter charge, and that is just for starters, which will have him locked up for the rest of his life."
         "Is everyone okay apart from Ruby?"
          "Maize and Coal are on there way to theatre."
          "Why?"  I snap
          "Maize has pieces of glass and metal in his body and legs, he fell onto the smashed monitor.  Coal we think has a fractures skull and possibly some internal bleeding."
          "Where is Poppy?"
          "Mo has taken her home with him for tonight.  He will bring her round to ours tomorrow."
          "Is Mel okay?"
          "Yeah she's okay, she has just had the wind knocked out of her.  Apparently he knocked them flying when he sent the desk flying at them, They were already on the floor when he tipped the filing cabinet over.  Coal protected Mel from being hit directly by the filing cabinet.  He like Ruby took the full force of it.  Forrest is taking her for a CAT scan just to be on the safe side, after they have checked on the babies."
            "Everyone else is okay?"
            "Yeah as far as I can see.  Just cuts and bruises."  he smiles at me  "Now go and make that phone call!!"  he mumbles  "Run!!"

So I run.

After speaking to Jazz, I sneak off to the den to spend some time with Shadow.

I can not face going back into the hospital, and I don't want to go home just yet.  Crystal is upset enough already without having to learn about Ruby fading or that Maize and Coal are in theatre, undergoing surgery for their injuries.  I am hoping that she is asleep and won't hear about what has happened until tomorrow.

I find Shadow sat watching television on his own, amusingly he is watching a programme or documentary about cats.  I don't say anything, I just down next to him.  He grins at me before he scoots across the couch and sits his cold backside on me.

                 "You don't look very happy!"  he mumbles
                 "I'm not really, today hasn't been the best!"

Shadow puts his hand on my face.  I know what he is doing, scouring my memories, to look at my day.   Normally I would stop him, but right now I would rather he saw it for himself.  It will save me from having to explain everything to him, and no doubt before the day is over he will know what has happened anyway.  There is nothing that we can hide from Shadow.
                

I glance at Jazz who walks into the room laughing at something Lime has just shouted at him.

                "I thought you and Omri would be out and helping to look for Alpine." 
                "Our spirits have it covered.  There is no point us vamp's running around town right now, it's not safe."  he smiles at me  "We are more likely to be seen, especially if the police or anyone else is out looking for him."
                "Yeah, I guess, I didn't think about that."  I mumble
                "Besides, I have your little monster to look after and Omri is on heart beat watch."
                "How are Lime and the baby?"
                "As you probably just heard, Lime is constantly moaning at me for making her fat.  Other than that, she is fine ..."  he grins at me  "So far so good, the baby, still has a beating heart beat." 
                "She is mortal that is why!!"  Shadow mumbles without taking his eyes off the television screen.  "I have told you, she is like Vanilla, I can hear and smell her!  She has no venom in her."  he tuts  "You are watching and suffocating Mommy for no reason now.  That babies heart is not going to stop beating.  Not until she is old and wrinkly and old age gets her like it gets most mortals!"
                "So you keep saying Mr know it all ..."  Jazz laughs at Shadow  "As much as I want to believe you, I can not just take your word for it, can I!?"
                "I am right ... you will see!!"  Shadow sniggers  "And don't forget, I am chosing the babies name!!"
                "Oh fudge!"  I laugh thinking about the name he has given his new kitten.
                "We will see!"  Jazz laughs at Shadow
               

 
                "So ..."  Jazz mumbles as he looks at me and I watch his face turn serious  "What is this I hear about Vanilla.  She is projecting spirit sight and sound to you mortals."
                 "Who told you?"
                 "Who do you think!  Sunny."  he chuckles
                 "Yeah, I should have known it would be him!!"  I snap  "He's an idiot!!"
                 "Tap you know, you seriously need to be telling me these sort of things about Vanilla!"
                 "Why?  So you have an excuse to drag her into your world ... well you can forget it!!  It is not happening!!  I hope she never has to see this place, or even learn that you cold blood suckers exist!!"
                 "The way things are going with Vanilla ... it might have to happen."  he smiles at me
                 "Seriously it doesn't!!"  I snap  "It is bad enough knowing Shadow is in constant danger, without putting her into it too!!"
                 "I have been told that she is starting to do things on a level with Shadow.  I seriously need to have some contact with her, so I can assess how much vampire she has in her."
                 "Don't you start!!  She doesn't have any vampire in her!!"  I snap  "She is completely moral, you heard Shadow, Vanilla has no venom in her."
                 "Shadow is a vampberry, but still he is doing a lot of mortal things that no other vampire or vampberry can do!!"  he smiles at me "I'm worried she might be a mirror of Shadow, a mortal with vampire abilities.  River is right, when he says she had the venom running through her, even if it was only for a short time, and it could have affected her in some way.  We have to know what we are dealing with to help keep her safe!!"

I jump up when I hear Cosmic and Storms voices in the room.  Anything to avoid having this conversation and argument with Jazz.  The same conversation and argument that River likes to keep having with me.

             "Have you found Alpine?"  I ask
             "Yeah, he is sleeping it off in the cage.  Maizie has had to sedate him."  Cosmic smiles at me
             "Man he put up a right fight ... he was yelling at a tree when we found him!"  Storm laughs   
             "What happened Tap?  How did he fade Ruby?"  Cosmic is frowning at me.
             "It was an accident, he lost it at the hospital. The Gravel bomb obviously unhinged him.  Forrest also had to tell Alpine he is a mixed berry and about his parents unpleasant history.  His head went and he smashed the place up. "  I mumble  "He tipped a metal cabinet over on top of Coal, Mel and Ruby."
             "Mel and Coal are okay aren't they?"
             "I think Mel is okay.  Coals in theatre, fractured skull and internal bleeding Dad says.  Maize also got hurt enough to need surgery."
             "Alpine is seriously going to hate himself when he calms down."  Cosmic mumbles
             "So what are you planning to do with Alpine?"  I laugh  "Keep him away from the police, by hiding him in the den forever?"
             "Kind of."  Jazz chuckles  "We are waiting for your Dad to turn up, so we can sort it all out."
             "Yeah I guess if he is staying here, he will need his meds and other stuff."
             "Alpine won't need his medication for much longer."  he laughs quietly  "We are going to be either fading or turning Alpine."
             "WHAT?!"  I choke

               "His life, as he knows it, is over now he has faded someone, even if he didn't mean to.  Prison or a mental institute is all he has to look forward to, if the police get a hold of him."  Cosmic smiles at me  "Here he can exist either in vampberry or spirit form and be free."
               "Can't you just keep him here as he is, WITHOUT fading or turning him??"
               "Not really!!  You know it is not safe here for you mortals, it is bad enough that we have Lime here and you three visiting.  It is also not fair to keep him here as a mortal and leave him suffering with his brain damage when we can free him from it completely."
               "Are you saying, by fading or turning him, you can rid him of his brain damage?" I frown at Cosmic
               "Yes.  Omri for example, he had cancer and was close to fading when Jazz turned him.  Alpine can live free of his problems in an immortal form."  he smiles at me
               "Becoming immortal he won't have any more contact with his family.  What about if he doesn't want one of your immortal lives ... are you just going to force him?"
               "Hell no!!"  Cosmic laughs  "When he has calmed down, he will have a choice.  He will decide how he wants to live the rest of his life.  As a mortal, vampire or spirit.  If he wants to avoid the consequences of what has happened today, then he can join us.  However, like you said, that comes with a price, no contact with his family and also we have to take Lime into consideration.  If he can't accept and be civil with Lime because of Jazz's involvement with her and the baby, then unfortunately he can't stay and join us.
               "So what if he doesn't want to become an immortal or he can't accept Lime being here." 
               "Then unfortunately we will just have to wipe his memory, of his visit here, and let him go back to the life he knows.  We will just have to wait until he is ready to join us, whether that be through choice or when his mortal life ends."
            

       
               "You sound like you have already thought this all out."
               "We have.  We have a dream.  We would like all ten of us here together in the end in either spirit or vampberry form."  Jazz laughs  "However, I'm not sure that can happen realistically.  Us boys yes, I am sure Alpine will want to join us and the five of us will be here together eventually. 
              "Does Dad know that you have an immortal life planned for him!"  I laugh
              "Yes he does, and he is all for it."  he smiles "He has chosen the spirit route when it is his time."
              "Seriously!?"  I choke
              "The girls joining us, that is going to be a little more difficult we think."  Jazz mumbles
              "Talking of which, me and Storm should go and help Sunshine sort out our first difficult problem!!"  Cosmic laughs at Jazz  "Do we let her stay or do we make her pass over?"
              "Who?"  I frown at Cosmic
              "Ruby.  Sunny and Saffy are waiting for her to wake up."
              "Oh heck!! I never gave a thought to her not passing over and her spirit wandering around."  I mumble  "That is not good - she is nothing but trouble!!  Oh boy, her and Sunny are going to be constantly fighting, especially now she knows about his gay status!!  She will hit the roof when she finds out the truth about Honey and Shadow."  I mumble as I stare at Shadow for a moment
              "Yeah we know!!  We are going to be getting a fireworks display"  Cosmic chuckles  "That is why the decision is going to be difficult."

I glance at Storm who is quietly laughing

Suddenly I feel very sick!!

The thought of Ruby staying, learning the truth and wandering around with the other spirits makes me very uncomfortable and nervous!!
 
              

~~~~~~~~~~~~