trans_9 | From Dusk Till Dawn...

Says you, Sherry thought back at Loren and didn't move. She bit her lower lip to keep from moaning, breathing through her nose as her stitches reminded her how dumb it was to run full-tilt across what felt like a football field and then climb up a marble monument. Her hands hurt, her stomach hurt, her legs burned with fatigue.

Very, very carefully, Sherry looked out at Loren from the base of Pope Benedict XIV and was glad that it was dark behind him. It made her that much harder to see. "No."

O.K., that was from above her. Loren looked up and...

Alright, how the hell did one girl get up there (http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Monuments/BenedictXIV/BenedictXIV-a.jpg)?

Loren took hold of one of the statues, testing it out before she started climbing.

"I won't let anyone hurt you. I promise."

She'd heard that promise before. It was one delivered to her by any number of adults when she'd been in the precinct. To date, exactly two people had delivered on it.

"I'm staying up here. If... If you come up, I will kick you in the face." Sherry murmured. She would! She would! Really!

Loren was still climbing. Hopefully she could get Sherry to calm down before she reached her. "I'm not making you go back to the medbay but I need you to stay with an adult. I can't leave you alone. Do you understand that?"

Was it bad to hope that the stranger would fall, thus leaving Sherry alone. "I'm staying up here," she replied stubbornly. She didn't want to be stuck with some stranger. She wanted her parents.

Not only that, Sherry was sure she'd be okay. She'd hidden in stranger places than this before.

Loren stopped climbing, resting on one of the statue's laps. "All right. You can stay up here. But if I come up can you not kick me down?"

"I'll think about it," Sherry replied peevishly. She ducked back behind the pope so she could tenderly examine her stitches.

Doctor Sera was going to be so mad at her. Not to mention her parents. She was supposed to be taking things easy, but... there wasn't the time for that now. She planted her elbows on her thighs and her face against her forearms, to curl into the most pathetic, small body she could manage. Worse still, she'd completely left her friends behind. Sherry only hoped that they weren't being eaten by that creepy old lady.

"...Sherry?" Loren started climbing again. "Are you O.K.?

"My stitches hurt," she said quietly. At least she didn't have to raise her voice when the little area behind the pope did all the amplifying for her. "And I hope my friends aren't dead."

But other than that, I'm fine. Really.

"Your stitches- have you looked at them? Are you bleeding?" She could comfort her about her friends later. Loren needed to make sure Sherry was all right.

She pulled herself up onto the same level as Sherry, at least if the girl would let her.

"I don't know, I don't think I am." They just hurt. Sherry moved over slightly, trying to keep from Loren's grasp. She might be hurting now, but woe to the adult that picked her up without permission.

"It just hurts."

Loren didn't move for Sherry, not yet. "Can I look?"

"No." It was like a magic word for this kid, really. She tugged slightly on her suit to open it up and feel around inside. Nope, everything was intact, at least as far as she could tell. "I'm okay."

"All right." Loren crouched down and kept close watch on the girl. "You can stay there but I'm not leaving until you are."

"That isn't very smart, you know." Sherry told Loren. "You have things to do, don't you? Go and do them. I'm fine here without you attracting attention."

"I guess I'm not very smart then." Loren sat down.

Sorry Sherry, looks like Loren's here to stay.

"I guess you aren't," Sherry agreed and leaned her head back against the cool marble of Benedict's throne. Adults, honestly. How were they supposed to be a good example if they didn't even do what they needed to despite a child being involved?

~~Sherry Eileen, your Birkin is showing.~~ The little girl rubbed her legs. "If we have to run away, though, I won't stop. I hope you know that."

"If you have to run away then as long as you get to a safe place, I won't stop you. I can't give you a gun but," Loren reached into one of her plantsuit pockets and pulled out her baseball bat. She held it out to Sherry. "You can have this if it makes you feel any safer."

Sherry gave Loren a long, long look, trying to judge her appropriately. She was a stupid adult, but this was unexpectedly nice of her. She took the baseball bat. "Okay."

It didn't make her feel safer, exactly, but at least it was... useful. Remember your manners! "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." She didn't really care if the kid thought she was stupid so long as she stayed in one place. And in one piece. "And I have a gun so..." She wanted to say they'd be safe but that was tempting fate.

"I won't." Sherry murmured and was silent for a while. She spoke up, "Do you know what happened to my friends?"

"Everyone was all right last I saw." If by all right you mean not dead. "There were a lot of people fighting whatever that thing was. I'm sure they're O.K."

Then maybe they'd be all right. Sherry trusted them -- Yuri's tentahat seemed particularly ~~creepy~~ capable when it came right down to it. Roxie could probably stop a mack truck if she had to. Vega...

...Well, Vega was probably unkillable. He was Vega. "The last time I went through this," she murmured, "I had to run all the time. I just wasn't hurt like I am now." She hugged the bat to her and told herself again that her friends would be okay. But really, shouldn't this lady be telling the person in charge that something was trying to eat everyone in the medbay?

Loren happened to have a (possibly misplaced) trust that the people with guns could handle the old lady zombie creature. Besides, she was always a sucker for cute kids.

"Well, if you do have to run, be careful. You don't want to run into zombies or whatever else is out there." She looked down.

From Dusk Till Dawn...

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