“Yeah. Just... gimmie a minute.”
“Alright.”
Xander looked at Sara for a long moment, smiling. “Hold that thought.”
“Dammit,” Grendel muttered to himself.
“What?” Cathy asked.
“I just remembered. I still didn’t find that Ragnarok CD.”
“The one with Old Maid in Alaska on it?”
“Yeah.”
“Darn,” she whined. “That’s my favorite.”
“You wanna go look for it?”
“Alright.”
Xander was busy at the cluttered computer. The keyboard was literally covered in papers.
“Geez, doesn’t he know how to take care of it? He’s got homework from last month on here, gum wrappers ... even his new Ragnarok CD...”
Mike and Sud dropped the stereo to the floor when they were half way to the door.
Mike stretched and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Sorry I can’t help more guys. My side still hurts.”
“S’alright,” replied Derek.
Mike glanced over into the house. Cathy wasn’t on the love seat anymore. She was going upstairs with Grendel. “Hey!” he shouted, but then fell to the ground as Derek punched him in the side.
The right side.
He could feel a stitch split as he went down onto his knees.
“What’d ya?” he started, then got kicked in the ribs by Tommy.
“Nothing personal,” Sud said in his stupid tone. He walked over and punched Mike in the back of the neck, sending him down for the count.
“It can’t be here,” Cathy said, lifting pillows and blankets around on Grendel’s unmade bed trying to find the CD.
“I’m pretty sure it is,” Grendel said as he looked around, hardly taking his eyes off Cathy.
“I’ll go down and check the CD rack.” She sighed as she walked over to the door and twisted the knob.
Nothing.
“It’s locked,” she said in a much lower tone. “Why would it be locked, Gren?”
She looked over at him.
“No way,” Grendel shrugged. “Let me see.”
He twisted the knob himself and got the same result. “Geez. How’d that happen?”
He turned to face her and she looked at him for a second, her eyes narrowing as she figured out what was going on. He put his hands on her hips and leaned in to kiss her. She jerked away.
“What the hell are you doing?” she screamed.
“Hey, don’t be like that.” He put his arms around her.
“Grendel, stop it!” She struggled against him, but he was much stronger than she was. He pushed her down onto his bed and got on top of her, kissing her forcibly.
“No!” she screamed.
He put his hand down onto her leg, the spot where she had been slashed. She winced, and he took the opportunity to begin to take off her shirt...
“See? It’s really very easy to get into Windows from dos mode,” Xander explained to the computer illiterate that had gathered around him. “All you have to do is type in ‘win’ and Windows should automatically start up, unless there’s something wrong with...”
“Grendel, no!” came a cry from upstairs. He’d have recognized that voice anywhere. There was something wrong with her. It was Cathy and there was something wrong with her.
“Cathy?” Xander shouted up the stairs, jumping away from the computer. “Cathy!? Are you alright? Grendel?”
He began to wander toward the stairs, picking up speed as he went.
“Hold it,” came a voice from behind him. He turned with a start and came face to face with Tommy.
“What’s going on? Where’s Mike?” Xander asked, staring him down. He knew something had to be wrong. He was getting that same feeling in his gut that Mike had had, but it was elating, overpowering everything else. It made his pulse quicken and his blood boil.
“Grendel, please stop...” came Cathy’s voice from upstairs again. This time it had become obvious that she was crying, and what Grendel was doing to her.
“I think you ought to leave those two alone,” Tommy said, giving Xander a little push.
Xander looked around, seeing the increasing amount of people gathering around. They were all staring at Xander, their brows furrowed.
Tommy folded his arms as more screams and sounds of a struggle came from upstairs.
Xander looked up the remaining stairs, then back at the people who had begun to move in on him. He broke out into an all out run for Grendel’s room and made it to the top of the stairs before Sud grabbed his pant leg, causing him to tumble and fall.
The crowd parted as Xander rolled down the stairs, landing with a thump at the bottom. The crowd formed a little circle around him and he tried to get up, but Derek kicked him in the side.
There was a loud, wet snap that Xander recognized as the breaking of a rib. His left hand went immediately to his side while the other propped him up until someone stepped on it, creating an ear-shattering crack. Xander grunted in pain and he could feel tears forming in his eyes. Somebody else from the circle punched down onto his neck and he felt blood rise up into his throat. It left a coppery taste he’d always hated. He looked up, blood smearing down his face and onto the floor.
“All you had to do was nothing,” Tommy scowled down at him, his arms folded.
“Go to hell,” he said bluntly, the sound of his voice muffled by the blood in his mouth.
Tommy gave Xander a hard kick, knocking his head back onto a coffee table, where he finally lost consciousness.
“Grendel, please...” Cathy pleaded. He already had her shirt off and now he had her jeans unbuttoned. “Please, just stop.”
“Shh. It’ll be alright,” he said, kissing her forcefully, pushing
