"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Valerie snapped at Clark as she punched him in the arm.
"What the fuck, Valerie?" Clark grumbled, rubbing his arm.
"You can't just go running at full speed into someone in the middle of the night while shining a dim flashlight in their face!" Valerie scolded, glancing down at Xavier who had let out a loud scream and fell to the floor.
"I saw someone walking and thought it'd be her." Clark explained quietly.
Valerie frowned. After getting more help, they managed to search the whole town in groups but had no sight of Charlotte. It made Helena break into tears and Kyla to lose her shit on Lexie. The two ended up yelling at each other in the cafeteria, where Kyla demanded for a meeting to be formed so they could discuss who would be in charge, but Lexie said it wasn't possible as her and Campbell and the Guard were already in charge.
"You lied about Allie stealing the election and you know it! If anything, you fucking stole it you cheaters!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Lexie glared, "We're in charge for now!"
"No! I demand a new election to be formed!"
"What? The election already happened! If you wanted to run, you should've done that in the first place!"
"I didn't see any purpose of running until I found out that there's land and food, and Char is missing! I don't need an airhead to manage how I live!"
Kyla noticed Harry muttering something to Jason and Clark. The two large dudes came toward Kyla but she quickly glared at them, making them halt.
She looked at Harry, "Oh, so you're gonna arrest me, Harry? For what?! For speaking the truth?!"
Harry frowned, "No.. But you're causing a scene. Take her to Allie and Will."
"Bullshit!" Kyla snapped, as Jason and Clark advanced toward her. They gently grabbed her arms but she yanked it from their grasp.
"I can walk myself," As they made their way out of the cafeteria, Kyla threw Harry the nastiest glare.
"Fuck you, Harry."
Kyla had been arrested for about twenty minutes until Campbell released her, finding amusement in Kyla's anger. She hadn't really done anything wrong and told the others to not make any silly arrests, just because they were in charge. It would make them look bad.
When Lexie told him that Kyla would be a problem to their leadership, he reassured her that nothing will happen.
"We stopped searching when the sun set," Valerie pointed out, "You can't even see a thing, and that flashlight is doing you no justice."
Clark looked down at the ground, "I know, but.."
Xavier raised an eyebrow, "Didn't Campbell order the Guard to go search in the woods early in the morning? At least until where she stopped and turned around."
Clark nodded as Valerie's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Damn, Campbell ordered that?"
"I know, I guess he actually liked Char.." Xavier chuckled under his breath.
Clark glanced between the two, "Are you two.. Still on our side?"
Valerie slowly nodded, glancing at Xavier. "Yeah, of course, but I hope Lexie makes the right decision."
"What do you mean?"
"Grizz coming back and confirming that there was land and food, it made Lexie look bad." Valerie shrugged her shoulders, "The way the expedition crew reacted to you guys and the situation with Allie, it showed the crowd that Lexie wasn't exactly being honest with the crowd. We want a leader that we can entrust and rely on, not one that creates empty promises."
Clark thought about it, and as he did, Xavier patted Clark on the arm. "Why don't you go get some rest? You're gonna be up early for that search."
Clark slowly nodded. He stayed quiet, making the two wait for him to say something.
"What will happen if we don't find her?"
Valerie frowned, "We will," even she sounded hesitant, "Maybe she just fell asleep in the woods.."
Xavier nodded, "This is Char we're talking about, she'll be fine."
Clark looked at Xavier with conflict behind his eyes, "What if she's not?"
"Ah, let's not think negatively here man—"
"How else could you go missing here?" Clark whispered harshly, "something definitely happened to her and.." Clark clenched his jaw. "I didn't say anything to her.."
Valerie frowned, watching Clark have a mental battle with himself. She shook her head, "Don't think like that, big guy. Just focus on getting some rest so you can go and find Char, then you can say whatever you want to her, yeah?"
Clark slowly nodded and the three headed back to their homes.
➖
Kyla never liked Campbell's face. Ever since they were young, he was always wicked and cruel, and she always had the itch to just punch him in the face. She remembered the time her and Harry were playing on the swings and Campbell had come and pushed Harry off his seat. Harry went flying and scrapped his elbows. Seeing Harry cry, her good friend, made little Kyla hate Campbell ever since.
But when he came to meet her, Helena, and the rest that were awaiting on the news about Charlotte, his expression made her heart sink.
Nobody wanted to admit that Charlotte was gone, but by the way the Guard and Campbell came back with dejected expressions, they knew she was gone.
The guys looked to be in disbelief, like they were having a hard time processing the situation themselves.
Helena came forward with slightly shaking hands. She looked at Luke, "Did you guys find her?"
Luke clenched his jaw and glanced at Campbell, who seemed to be in discomfort by the news.
Xavier felt his mouth dry. He glanced at Miles whose head was dropped and his eyes were buried in his hand. He looked over at Valerie who was murmuring things under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Someone say something," Kyla muttered, glancing between Clark and Jason. Clark was busy staring at the ground, his eyes never blinking. Jason was biting at the inside of his lips, his eyes showing disappointment and grief.
"We couldn't find her," Grizz came up from behind the group. He seemed lost but furious at the same time. "We—We retracted her steps, then we split and searched the forest, but there's still no sight of her.."
Gordie shook his head, "That can't be true.. Maybe we need to check further—"
"Further where?" Harry asked, a frown on his face. "Where else could she have gone?"
Campbell looked at Helena and the members of the Pentagon, "Did she say anything to you guys that seemed off?"
The bunch shook their heads. Campbell noticed Jason's troubled expression and called out to him. "What did she say to you?"
Jason remembered what Charlotte had said to him the day they left for the expedition. It felt like she was saying goodbye to him, but she simply chuckled it off.
"It's been a long journey in the new town, thank you for sticking by my side."
"Why would she say that?" Luke questioned.
Jason furrowed his eyebrows, "How am I supposed to know?" He snapped but he quickly backed down once he realized what he did. "I.. I didn't think much of it but now she's gone.."
"Where could she have gone though?" Kelly asked, worry displayed all over her face.
Kyla buried her face in her hands as she let out a loud sigh. When she brought her face away from her hands, the others could see the stress and worry on her face. "Fuck.. Even if something was bothering Char, she wouldn't pull a stunt like this.."
"What if she told no one?" Harry asked.
Kyla threw him a sharp look, making him look away and at the ground. He knew she was still pissed at him for arresting her.
"Even if she told no one, Char wouldn't pull a stunt like that,"
"Char's our friend," Jason started, "But she has secrets, and she's good at keeping them." Everyone remembered about her finally sharing her past to them. She had kept it in for a long time, and nobody suspected it.
Miles looked at Helena, "You would know Char best.. Would she do something like this?"
Helena frowned and shook her head. "No matter what, Char's a very strong minded person. She wouldn't. I just know it."
Xavier suddenly looked up, "You don't think.." Everyone looked at Xavier, waiting for him to finish. Horror appeared on his face as he glanced around at the others. "Someone killed her?"
Everyone froze. Gordie felt himself tense as Cassandra filled his mind.
"I know Char had a.. way, with her words, but who had an actual grudge against her?" Valerie mumbled, her eyebrows furrowed. "I know people would have a grudge against me."
Clark noticed Kelly and Gordie looking at him. He furrowed his eyebrows at them. "What? You really think I would do something like that?"
Gordie gulped. "I-I mean, every time that her and Grizz enter the room, you look like you want to murder them.. I don't know what happened between you two but there's clearly some huge tension between you guys.."
Clark made eye contact with Grizz, but looked away with a scowl. "Yeah, Char and I got into a fight but how dare you even think that I would ever commit a crime like that, and especially to her." He glared at Gordie, "You know how much she means to me, you little—"
Kyla quickly placed a hand on Clark's chest to push him back while standing in front of Gordie. Gordie stepped back in fear as Clark tried to keep advancing toward him. Jason and Luke quickly held him by the arms to hold him back once Kyla shot them a look.
"I don't think anyone had a grudge on her, like enough to kill her," Valerie muttered, glancing between Clark and Gordie uneasily.
"What about Dewey?" Harry brought up, making everyone glance at each other. Miles quickly shook his head in disagreement.
"It couldn't be. Char spared his life."
"She cut his arm off," Harry pointed out.
"Allie was going to put a bullet through his head," Valerie crossed her arms, "If anything, she would've been next after Cassandra."
The others shifted a bit on their feet at the mention of their late friend but Valerie held her ground. Campbell slowly nodded with a slight grin on his lips, agreeing with Valerie.
"She's right, literally everyone has a grudge against her in town. But I mean, it would have been hard to catch her alone so he targeted Charlotte, knowing she could have been alone."
"Dewey only has one arm and he's built like a toothpick," Kyla raised an eyebrow, "Char would've been the one to kill him no doubt."
"Even if it wasn't Dewey, which I'm a hundred percent sure isn't.." Xavier slowly started, seeming to be thinking of something, "We still need to interrogate him."
"What do you mean?" Lexie asked, finally speaking up after listening to the whole situation in silence. She was in utter shock at the fact that Charlotte, of all people, had suddenly disappeared. She felt fear crawl through her but she tried her best to ignore it, also hearing Allie's taunt at the back of her head.
Xavier glanced at Lexie. He knew the word 'interrogation' reminded her of a dark time. He glanced at Jason and Clark who seemed to ignore it.
"We need to ask him about the day Cassandra died."
"He already told us everything," Luke told.
Xavier raised his eyebrow, "Did he?"
Kyla nodded along with Xavier's words, "Wait, yeah, you're right.." Eyes turned to her, "Yeah, he said shit, but how would we know he told us everything? We performed the punishment and called it a day. There has to be more to Cassandra's death."
Campbell raised an eyebrow, "What are you two going on about? He killed my cousin and Charlotte cut his arm off in return. He also told Charlotte everything, from why he did it to how he was feeling. What else would he be hiding?"
"I believe Dewey didn't kill Cassandra." Xavier stated.
"But he did." Gordie frowned.
"I know he said he did but I don't think he did,"
"He confessed that he did, Xavier," Kelly reminded.
"I know he 'confessed' but I just know he didn't do it."
"How would you know?" Luke questioned.
Xavier glanced around, "Look, the Pentagon had suspected that Dewey didn't actually commit the crime. He's a bit fucked in the head so that's why he 'confessed', you know, 'cause he thought it would be funny, so that's why Char spared his life but cut his arm, for being a lunatic. Since that happened, the situation faded and we didn't bother looking into who could've been Cassandra's real killer, but we know it wasn't anyone here."
"Now you're just sounding ridiculous, man," Jason sighed.
"Yeah, why would he confess to murder? Why would he want to face punishment?" Clark questioned.
"It's 'cause he's fucked up,"
Harry glanced between the four members of the Pentagon who were spread out. "You guys all thought this and never bothered to tell anyone?"
Kyla looked at him, "Why would we do that? We had no evidence to back up our claim and didn't need to panic everyone with the thought that Dewey wasn't the killer and the killer was on the loose."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows, "Cassandra was killed, we had a chance to find out who actually killed her and make them face consequences. You're telling us that Dewey's arm was cut off for no reason."
"It wasn't for 'no reason' dipshit," Valerie snapped, "That jackass treated Cassandra's death like it was a joke. Did you think her death was a joke?"
Something flashed behind Harry's eyes as he stared at Valerie. She was taken back by the look in his eye as he clenched his jaw. "You know damn well I didn't think it was a joke."
Miles quickly spoke up, "We have no clue on who it could be, but we know it couldn't have been Dewey."
Before anyone could say anything else, Kelly looked at Grizz. "Grizz.. You were there when Charlotte was on call with Cassandra.."
Grizz looked up from the ground. He was too busy worrying and thinking of where Charlotte could have been, to even contribute into the conversation that the others were having.
"Yes, I was,"
"Did you manage to hear what Cassandra was saying? How did she sound when she was talking to Charlotte?"
Grizz nodded his head. "I heard their conversation loud and clear.. The last few moments before the incident, she sounded shocked.. Like.. In disbelief.."
"Why are we doing this now? Why didn't we do this when it happened? Which was six months ago," Gordie questioned, his eyebrows furrowed with slight annoyance.
Kelly frowned. "We know a bit more than before.. I just thought maybe I could come to a conclusion for something.."
"Like what?" Lexie asked.
Kelly shook her head, "Nothing.. I'm just thinking nonsense."
Kyla glanced at Kelly. She knew Kelly wanted to say something but by the way she looked at Lexie, Harry, Campbell, and the Guard, she knew she wanted to keep it a secret from them.
"So what's the plan?" Jason asked quietly. He was extremely worried for Charlotte but he had to keep calm. Clark looked like he was going to lose his mind, so one of them had to be sane at least. He had to keep calm for his friend.
Helena looked up with pink eyes. She had been silently trying to hold back tears as she listened to the others talk. Her eyes were starting to get strain from trying to hold back tears.
"We find Dewey, and then we find Charlotte."