"Nothing Stops this Train"

[Jessica's POV]

Following Mary's instructions, Catherine and Jessica park a mile from the house Mary gave them, and walk through the woods towards it. Mary had said to meet her around the back, that she had found a way into the basement through a window. The night is eerily silent.

"I feel kind of...queasy" Jessica says, rubbing her stomach. She is surprised at the very human sensation.

"Stop being a baby" Catherine says, as they trundle through the woods together. Walking in silence, Jessica realizes that she knows nothing about Catherine. Who was she before she turned? Where was she from? What was she like? Was she always a stone-cold bitch, or is that Elizabeth's doing? Jessica wonders. She chuckles to herself: Catherine & Jessica: The worst buddy-cop movie of all time!

Through the trees, the large house comes into view.

"There, towards the back Mary said" Catherine says, pointing to the dimly lit backyard. "She should be meeting us there." Jessica feels a wave of anxiety wash over her. She isn't sure if something is legitimately wrong, or if it is just her nerves acting up. Catherine stops abruptly, and turns to face Jessica. She takes Jessica's hands in her own.

"Jessica. Whatever happens tonight... I'm impressed with what you've done... charting an independent path" Catherine says, looking a little uncomfortable. She doesn't say stuff like this often Jessica thinks. "Just promise me that you have my back!"

"I promise" Jessica says. Catherine's words mean a lot to her, for a reason she can't articulate.

"I think that's Mary up there" Catherine says, pointing to a figure crouching in the shadows on the lawn behind the house. The figure is clothed in a large hooded cloak. It's hard for Jessica to tell. Jessica's phone buzzes.

Mary: I see you guys. Be careful approaching!

"Mary sees us" Jessica says. Why isn't she waving? Out of the corner of her eye, Jessica thinks she sees movement in the woods around them, but can't be sure. Jessica: focus! she thinks.

"Catherine...does this feel right to you?" Jessica says. A cold sweat has broken out over her whole body. What is even our plan? Jessica thinks, a mild panic setting in. Where the fuck is Mary?

"Jessica, come on. Let's just finish this" Catherine says, but Jessica can see that she is also beginning to sweat. The cross from the trees onto the lawn. It's dark, but not so dark that a vampire couldn't make them. Keeping their bodies low, they jog to the crouching figure next to the house's foundation. It looks like Mary, but why isn't she moving? Jessica thinks.

"Something is wrong Catherine!" Jessica says. Catherine doesn't even answer, her jog has broken into stumbling. Jessica feels her vision starting to blur, as her stomach cramps and seizes. Catherine falls to her knees, panting, holding her stomach. Jessica forces herself onward. Coming to the crouching figure, she fights the spasms in her muscles and pushes the hood back.

_Oh. No. No. Jessica thinks, falling to her knees. It is Mary, but her head has been severed and placed on top of her neck. When Jessica moves the hood, the head tumbles to the wet grass. "RACE TRAITOR" is carved into her forehead.

"Catherine...Cath...." Jessica calls, but Catherine is laying face down in the grass.

A moment of realization dawns darkly on Jessica. The "survivor" in the basement. Elizabeth left her for us. She knew. She knew that we couldn't resist our addiction.

Oh, how I've failed she laments.

Jessica falls to her side, her whole body gripped by spasms. She sees dozens of figures rushing out of the woods, out of the house. Hybrids she thinks, waiting for us. Jessica hears a figure approaching, but is too weak to lift her head. She only sees a pair of legs in black leather pants. One of the feet at the end of those leather-clad legs kicks Jessica in the stomach, rolling her over on to her back. Jessica looks up and sees the last person that she wanted to see. A merciless face looks down at her, with dead eyes.

"You stupid girl" Elizabeth sneers, throwing Mary's phone down at Jessica. "Nothing stops this train. Nothing."

Jessica feels herself being lifted by the arms and legs, just as she loses consciousness.