She needed rest. She needed to be home with Will, after having spent so much time apart. Rachel felt like she was falling asleep walking. Natalie and her wolf padded along behind her through the town streets. Natalie too looked exhausted from her efforts with both the golems and the forest fire. She was laying down on Gwen, small enough to rest on her back while they walked.
"Thank you for helping," Rachel told her honestly.
She shrugged. "You promised, I promised. I'm still waiting."
Rachel sighed. "Soon, Natalie. We need to sleep."
She paused, thinking for a moment. Rachel could tell she was fighting off sleep. "Okay."
As they rounded the corner to her apartment complex, she was surprised to find Ryan casually leaning up against the wall by her door. She'd forgotten all about him, even while discussing the Summit meeting earlier. Technically, he was a member.
"Hi," she said weakly, wanting nothing more than to just fall asleep right away. While her ability to go without sleep was great, it also meant that when she needed to crash, she really needed to crash.
"Hello to you too," he said. "About time you got home."
"Some of us were out dealing with actual problems."
"Oh la-de-dah, I'm Rachel and I'm in charge of the world's problems. Fuck off, I wasn't going up against Omega in a fistfight. I'd be dead by now."
"I came out okay."
He looked her up and down. "...Yeah, you did." As Natalie and Gwen padded around the corner, he stepped back involuntarily. "Holy shit. Still not used to that."
Natalie glared at him. "Don't be mean."
"Sorry." Ryan glanced back at Rachel. "You guys okay?"
"We are, but Rika isn't. Neither is Zack, or Hailey, or Cinza's people, or a whole bunch of other people in town," Rachel snapped. "We've been through a lot tonight. Can you just get out of the way so I can go to sleep?"
"Fuck me, sorry," Ryan muttered. He stood aside and let her clumsily unlock the door. "I really am sorry, you know," he added.
"Don't worry about it," Rachel sighed. "I was terrified too."
"Yeah, but you still went in." Ryan followed her over the threshold. Natalie took one glance at the door, then at Gwen, and decided she'd rather stay out on the walkway. Gwen curled up in the grass nearby. Natalie leaned up against her chest, closing her eyes and snuggling in comfortably.
Rachel set down her bag and took off her coat, feeling the aches beginning to set in on every muscle and bone in her body. She just wanted to collapse into Will's arms.
"I'm home," she called out. There was no response.
Her heart stopped.
Will hadn't texted her once. They hadn't spoken since the phone call in the woods, long before she'd rushed in to confront Omega. She hadn't checked in, too busy between all the commotion and carnage. She'd been too busy, she hadn't remembered what was waiting back at home. She hadn't realized what was staring her in the face. The livestream shouldn't have been possible with Will watching the network.
Omega knew who she was and who she was close with. His ally was her landlord. He'd been there from the start, and seen the first few times she'd been elected to the council. Tonight she'd declared herself his enemy defiantly to his face. He'd responded in kind, with a parting shot on his way out of town.
The window was shattered. Will was lying face-up on the couch, struggling to force air through his broken jaw. His limbs were twisted and broken. His chest looked like it had been caved in. His face was a mess of dark bruises. He was like a broken doll.
Ryan shouted something, but Rachel didn't hear him. She was at Will's side. She was sobbing over him. She was petrified.
Will croaked out a sound, but she couldn't understand him. She begged him to repeat it, but he could only croak out the same terrible sound.
Ryan picked up a piece of paper laying near him that she'd missed. He read it, and let out another stream of curses. Rachel grabbed it from his hands. She could barely see it a foot in front of her. Trembling, with tears streaming down her cheeks, she read the brief handwritten note.
You shouldn't have tried to stop me.