Where: Colony House When: Halloween Night Whom: @purgatored Cherry

RAFAEL SILVA

relatable

Lucas chuckles and walks around to the other side of the branch.

"Lucky for you, I'm a nice guy that loves to help."

He gets his hands into position.

"On three. One. Two. Three."

erin takes note of how it feels like she's just getting splinters in her fingers, and not making a lot of progress with moving this fallen tree branch out of the way. ears perked, still feeling the effects of the storm and how its put everyone on edge, she glances up and takes note of lucas walking towards her. "yeah," she says, pulling still on the heavy branch, "i don't think i'm doing much good alone with this one."

Lucas looks up and sees a girl standing at the front desk. She looks lost and scared.

"Hi," he greets, walking over and chuckling. "I am, and yes, we do. We even have a couple of deputies if you can believe it. But it's just me today. How can I help you?"

He stands with his hands behind him, polite and non-threatening, so he doesn't scare her.

nowhere county jail, lucas. @patroclusblossom

Catie steps in. The place feels wrong in ways she can't quite place, but it’s the sheriff’s office, she figures, and she has no idea what else to do. She’d been walking for what felt like hours, the streets of Oblitus starting to blur in her mind.

She’s about to turn around, maybe head back outside and try to wrap her head around any of this, when she sees Lucas.

He’s young, maybe a few years older than her, with dark hair that’s a little too messy for someone in law enforcement. Catie pauses, her thoughts scrambling to form a coherent sentence. 'You're the sheriff?' Her words come out a little sharper than she intends, and she realises she sounds like she’s questioning the whole damn idea. 'This place… actually has a sheriff?'

RAFAEL SILVA as CARLOS REYES 9-1-1: LONE STAR (2020-)

— Mary Kate Teske

"Trust me, Cher. There are much better things I'd rather do this morning."

They're still working on recovering from the storm. The only reason any of the sheriff's or deputies have gotten sleep is because the alternative is sleeping in their offices at night, and they all agree that that's almost as bad as facing one of the creatures in the middle of the night.

Lucas pulls out his note pad.

"Says here you stole some bottles from Lally's yesterday morning right before the town meeting."

He looks up and gives her an unimpressed expression.

STATUS : closed for @patroclusblossom ! LOCATION : the motel !

CHERRY BLINKS AT THE SIGHT OF HIM . once and then twice before her face scrunches in honest confusion . " the fuck did i do ?" cherry would say that the question was understandable all things considered . after all, she only ever really saw lucas for one reason and one reason only . but even know as cherry wracks her brain she can't imagine what he'd be bringing her in for . she tries to think back, trying to consider what she's done in the past few days that she might be getting caught out for now . she's coming up empty, but frankly, it's been a long couple of days . she can't be expected to remember all the shit she does . she's not a fuckin' computer . " i didn't do shit, luke ." a bewildered twist of her expression . " and haven't you got better things to do than hover over me ? aren't we in a crisis or whatever ?"

Lucas sighs, though he does raise his hands like he wants to help.

When he sees the face, he clenches his jaw. They're familiar, but he can't remember their name. Why can't he remember their name?

He looks back at Rae — his friend — clearly hurting.

"They're cruel," Lucas says in agreement. "It seems like they know how to hurt us in the worst ways."

He follows Rae as he pushes the cart toward the body storage.

"Let's me take you home," he insists. "You need to rest."

"no," is all that rae uttered before stepping away. wordlessly he brought the cart to the side of the table and pulled the white sheet under the body towards him, revealing more of it. the face, still intact, a reminder of the horror that unfolded during the storm. rae's breath caught in his throat, his mind replacing the stranger's face with kina's for a split second. but he pushed on. he rolled up the sheet, covering the body once more and made the final tug. the cart creaked as it took on the weight.

"they always leave the face, don't they? to taunt us. to remind us of what we've lost."

"Oh yeah. The tractors, the irrigation system, the heating, the A/C, the oven, the TV."

He straightens up, holding a metal panel. He examines it, wondering what it could be used for.

"I also worked at a T-Mobile store for a summer, so I learned a lot about cell phones, tablets, and smart watches."

He purses his lips, then shrugs and drops the panel back into the pile. He looks over at Muz and smiles again.

So the quote on quote joke didn't seem to land. Muz narrowly avoids disappointment, thinking he had been making good attempts at friendliness there. 'A farm?' he asks, tone a little more enthusiastic. He watches Adrien fiddle through that pile. 'You worked on the tractors and that there?'

Lucas shakes his head.

"There shouldn't be. We're all scattered about doing what we can. You looking for someone? We're having a town meeting later to check who all is missing or..."

He clears his throat, his meaning clear.

"Anyway, if you're not busy think you can help me with that?"

He tilts his to where a large tree branch is just sitting in the middle of the road. Definitely a two person job.

the air still feels damp when yasin steps out onto the road, surveying the aftermath of the previous night. he watches the townspeople already outside, helping each other clean up debris, repairing fences, patching up a town they can't even leave. it doesn't take long until someone pushes a broom into his hands, but every sweep feels pointless.

their first morning in town, his eye had caught onto a building tucked away off the main road, its sign barely readable -- county jail. it looked mostly abandoned, but yasin doesn't hesitate before dropping the broom on the ground and heading towards the building, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure nobody's watching. if the town has sheriffs, they have to have guns, and his gut tells him they're most likely kept in there.

he's not stupid enough to try anything in broad daylight, but he lingers at a distance, eyes flicking between the windows and the main entrance when a voice calls out from behind him, forcing him to pause and consider his next move. he turns around, gesturing towards the jail, "i thought i heard someone yelling for help. do you know if anyone's in there?"