[for Marcus]

[fifthbeatle]

Sam no-showed to their hang yesterday. Today, texts to his phone won't go through. Lisbeth's, either.

Viktor knows. He has to see it for himself.

He walks, giving himself ample time to talk himself out of believing it's true. What are the odds they'd disappear together? Surely he'll walk into the bunker and look up into Lisbeth's camera, and he'll be let in.

But in his bones, he knows well before he can see the door open wide. When he looks up at the camera, he can feel that there's no one on the other side.

A wicked wind whips up. Viktor swaths himself in one last whisp of denial to soothe away the storm as he descends to the bunker below. Someone else is down there. He can feel it.

"Sam?" he calls, his voice small.

Comments

[fifthbeatle]

A wet laugh, half-sob from Viktor. There is something about hearing someone else admit they're as lost as he is that eases his panic. He nods. Company. Alcohol. A final evening in the bunker with someone he respects, someone who understands.

"Inventory." He barely realizes he's said it. The word bounces around in his brain a bit, an echo with a pull. He's suddenly on his feet.

"There's gotta be something here. Like a will -- maybe a letter." Viktor thinks -- really fucking thinks. His eye lands on the first book Sam ever let him borrow. Nothing, but in that row, he does find an envelope. It's heavier than he anticipated. A key falls onto the floor -- a big fucker with a large Chevy logo. Nearly trembling fingers reach into the fold and grab a piece of paper. Viktor reads it, then he passes it to Marcus.

It doesn't say much but has a brief message of affection and a few parting wishes. The Impala is Viktor's. Viktor watches Marcus' face closely as he reads.

[pushbackthedarkness]

Marcus reads the letter, one he’s not at all surprised Viktor has found, because it’s just like Sam to have covered all his bases.

The car is Viktor’s. The bunker keys are left to him, the bunker itself in the care of himself and Sabrina. That makes sense, he thinks, to keep everyone safe. God only knows what Sam has down here.

“Of course he was prepared,” he says when he looks up at Viktor again.

[fifthbeatle]

A truly unwelcome tear slips down Viktor's cheek. He swipes it away quickly, well-practiced.

If Sam isn't here to be prepared, who is meant to do it in his absence? Is that what inheriting the bunker and his car means? That it's packaged with a larger responsibility? And if there are dangerous things in the bunker, what sort of maintenance would they require in Sam's absence?

From the look in his eyes, Marcus is thinking about it, too.

"Are there things that need to be... contained down here?"

[pushbackthedarkness]

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Marcus says. “There could be. Sam was careful about wanting to keep anything truly dangerous out of the hands of someone who might use it, intentionally or not.”

He pauses, considering, then says, “I’ll bring Sabrina down. She’ll be able to help us out with that, both with finding anything dangerous and containing it.”

That’s what Sam would want from them. To keep Darrow and themselves safe.