American nurse playing hero.Jesus Christ. They’ve been watching. How long have they been watching?
I grabbed the notepad, scribbling fast.
Trying to scare us. May not know exact location.
She read it. Laughed, sharp and bitter. “Oh, well, as long as they don’t know our exact GPS coordinates, we’re totally fine. What a relief.”
Sarcasm as armor. But underneath, pure terror.
Her breathing still too fast. Hyperventilating.
I wrote again.
We’re still alive.
“For now.” She gestured at the screen. “Until they decide alive is less convenient than dead.”
I reached for her hand. She yanked it away.
“Don’t.” Sharp. “Don’t try to comfort me when someone casually mentioned putting me on a table and doing... whatever the fuck they did to you.”
Fair.
I let my hand drop.
Waited.
She paced to the window. Back. To the door. Back. Hands fisting and relaxing.
Trying to burn off the adrenaline.
She scrubbed her face with both palms, breathing hard through her fingers. When she lowered them, some of the panic had crystallized into something colder.
Focus. Clinical mode engaging.
“Okay. Okay. Let’s think.” She pulled the laptop closer. “They want us to delete the post. Why?”
I tilted my head. Because they’re hunting us?
“No. I mean yes, obviously. But if they already know who we are, what difference does deleting the post make? The damage is done. We already asked the question. Already showed the X-rays. Taking it down doesn’t un-ring that bell.”
She leaned closer to the screen, reading again.
You’re waving a neon sign that says COME KILL US to people who are very, very good at killing. Her finger traced theline. “Not ‘I’m coming to kill you.’ Not ‘they’re on their way.’ It’s a warning. About other people.”
Smart. She was so damn smart.
I grabbed the pad.
Wants us to hide. Not threatening. Warning.
She nodded slowly. “This reads more... protective? In a really aggressive, asshole kind of way. Like someone trying to scare us into safety.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Wait. V_Actual_87. The forum troll. Same tone. Same aggressive energy. Same caps-lock rage.”
She switched tabs, pulling up the forum. Found the user’s posts.
This is false information. Remove immediately.Demanding we take it down. Getting angrier when we didn’t.
