Headcount

Blair entered the chapel, panting and coughing a bit still as she went to sit down. She placed her personal items in the pockets of her silk robe and reached up to push her hair from her face. She wanted a bottle of Evian. And her things back. And comfortable shoes. And goddamn, she needed a cigarette.

Andre leaned against the church wall. He'd run all out to make it to the chapel before most of the group, in case they needed him to help, but right now he wasn't feeling his best. A stitch in his side, sore feet, and a slight heaviness in his chest. Breathe, man. You ain't gonna do nobody no good if you have a heart attack. He looked around. The doc and the preacherman seemed to be taking charge inside, so he decided he'd stay by the door in case anyone needed help getting in.

Tisi came inside the building, blanket wrapped around her form as she looked around and appeared miserable. Miserable, shocked, and lost. She tried to find anyone she felt comfortable talking to, and spotted Dave. Walking over, she kind of half waited to see that she wasn't interrupting or anything. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked, voice sort of low as if she were trying to be unobtrusive.

Joy had finally made it to the chapel. Once the little deaf girl had found her boyfriend, Joy had sped up and made it to the chapel. But rather than going right in, she took a moment to head to the side of the chapel. She checked the pockets of her pants... YES! Joy giggled like a little schoolgirl when she found that she still had about half a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in her pocket. She knew she better make them last, but right now, she needed something to calm her nerves. Trembling, she put one of the little wrapped pieces of heaven in her mouth, then, sheltering the lighter's flame from the wind, lit it.

There was an explosion of happy inside her. That first drag was always the best, but never more so than right now. Of course, that and the smoke from the fire had built up in her lungs, causing her to start hacking, which didn't stop until she'd thrown up a little bit. She managed to hold on to her little piece of burning gold, however- she'd had plenty of practice puking while not dropping anything. She took another drag, then leaned up against the side of the chapel and closed her eyes. All she wanted was a few minutes to herself, then she'd worry about what happened next.

Kaylin had finally gotten Ben to go with her to the chapel and arrived looking a little bedraggled, clutching her knit shrug, knees of her pajama pants grass-stained, palms scraped up, burn throbbing dully on her shoulder and arm. She looked around, not seeing anyone she was really familiar with, but she hadn't gotten a chance to take a good look at the group outside so there was a good chance her friends were out there. Still, people might need help, so before she could just flop down or go looking, she needed to check in.

She spotted Dave setting up and headed for him, trying hard to get a deep enough breath. "Dave," she said, "what can I do to help?"

Caél had made a beeline for the chapel after escaping from the house of hellfire. Not that he was excited to be going to a place worship. Oh no, not in the least. He just had to get away from the smoke and all the toxins in it. Carbon monoxide, cyanide, ammonia, hydrogen chloride...chemicals popped in and out of his head as he walked along, coughing every few seconds and spitting out dark phlegm. He'd be an asthmatic for awhile and the thought brought the first pricklings of rage. "Get off you," he grumbled, tugging at the suffocating snake on his neck who, thanks to the less than habitable enironment he had been exposed to, was grumpy enough to bite him. Caél swore loudly, though it came out in a wheeze and sent him into a coughing fit. Claude began to slither away and he grabbed him by his midsection and shoved him into the shirt that had once been around his neck. If worse came to worse and they were out there for a substantial amount of time he'd be decent food.

It took longer then he would've liked to get to the chapel, but when he did he took a spot outside it and began to put on his soot covered pants and jacket. Claude stayed in the shirt. When Caél began to put on his shoes he realized not only were they different shoes, but both were also left shoes. He going to be fucking barefoot. Peachy. With a disgruntled noise and obligatory cough he took the shoelaces from them and tied up the open sections of the shirt. Now useless, Caél threw the shoes off to the side leaned up against the chapel wall. It was going to be a damn long morning.

Davis had seen people streaming toward the Chapel, and heard the bellowed orders to go there - if only barely, over the roar of the fire and the crackle of breaking timber. It was a sensible place - far enough away that if the fire spread they should be safe, and if it spread REALLY far, they'd have time to move. All else failed, they could always fall back to the other side of the lake, dive in if they had to. The problem with a fire was that they were surrounded by fucking trees. Someone had to come to put the damn thing out though, right? Wherever they were, a fire got big enough it'd show up on some kind of satellite, people would smell the smoke on the wind - they'd look for it.

Or so he hoped, because money or not, if a fire engine showed up, he was hitching a ride the hell out of here, he didn't care how much they said no. He didn't care if he had to blow the fire chief or knock him out and steal his hat and hose.

He walked into the chapel, keeping within sight of a window so he would keep an eye on the fire, and taking absent survey of all the people there. This was, he supposed, one way to finally see everyone that hadn't been at the meeting.

Bob glanced at his wrist for probably the tenth time, annoyed that he hadn't thought to retrieve his watch. It felt as if maybe ten, fifteen minutes had gone by, but he couldn't tell. He ran down the list in his hand, mentally reviewing the names that hadn't been checked off yet, as if somehow he could make them appear in the chapel doors. Then he glanced around.

The doctor was the obvious leadership choice, as he was the only official here so far. Bob didn't expect to see Lina until the last stragglers had been rounded up. Meanwhile, Dave was busy--and unless a miracle occurred, likely to be even more busy soon. Bob no longer believed in miracles. Andre Washington was the next best thing. The big guy was easily recognizable, though they'd only 'met' through the computer journals. The fact that, golly, he was wearing a shiny satin ring robe embroidered with his stage name helped. Bob approached him.

"Mr. Washington. Would you mind doing a roll call? Here are the people who might still be missing." He held out his notes and pen, hoping the guy would be willing to take over.

"I'll, er, just check outside, see if anyone on the list is at least nearby."

It had taken Adam longer to get from the house to the chapel, but he'd gotten there, carrying the still-unconscious Rebekah. He ignored everyone that was milling around, heading straight for the front of the chapel where he could see the doctor.

Dave immediately took Rebekah off him, laying her on the blanket which Tisi had given him earlier on and starting to check her over. He didn't say much to Adam, but he was aware that the other man lingered, hovering nervously in the background. He stayed out of the way though, so Dave could largely ignore him.

Cortez and Hannah had both taken longer than most to arrive, due to both their late waking and Hannah's reticence to abandon her cello. But they'd made it, an unignorable fact that made itself clear as Cortez moved into the chapel, glancing around at the myriad faces, mostly unfamiliar, and moved to find somewhere clear to settle Hannah.

As he entered the chapel, Nic let go of Zhen in search of Dan. Finding him was all that mattered. His boyfriend had been ahead of him on the stairs, but he'd stopped to pick up Sarah, and he had no idea who long that might have taken. If Izzy hadn't been leading him, he wasn't even all that sure Dan would be there, but he had to hope. If Dan was still back at the house... No, that wasn't an option. "Find Dan, Izzy," Nic said, reminding her as if she'd forgotten, though she seemed to have taken up the mission completely. He'd only be reassured when Dan was there before him, safe.

Dan had been dragged out of the house and somehow ended up in the chapel. He didn't remember a whole lot about the whole experience. He knew he was having trouble with his breathing - he'd taken in too much smoke. He vaguely remembered throwing up somewhere and crying. He wasn't crying any more, instead he was looking. He didn't know how many circuits of the crowded chapel he'd done, looking for Nic, for Zhen - he had to find them and no matter how ill he felt, he wasn't going to stop until he did.

Izzy saw Dan before Nic did and she barked once, continuing to lead the way. Her lead gave Nic direction, and a second later he was running, his arms wrapping around Dan as he tried not to tackle them both to the ground. He didn't know what to say, didn't care who saw, and was just glad that they were both out alive. Izzy sat beside them, wagging her tail, and eventually Nic lowered one hand to pat her on the head. "Good girl," he said softly, a small smile forming on his lips.

Dan heard the bark and turned in that direction moments before he was tackled by a running Nic, all arms and hugs and Dan's lips found his boyfriend's with no thought for the consequences, he just needed to hold him, kiss him, know he was alive and unhurt, that he was alright. The kiss wasn't long, but it was there and he drew back as Nic bent to pat Izzy and Dan let him, a silly smile on his face as he realised that everything was going to be alright now, no matter what.

Nic wasn't in the mood to care about being seen. In fact, he was pretty sure that everyone else was otherwise occupied and could care less about their outward displays of affection. He was glad for the kiss, wanted it, even if he couldn't have initiated it himself. "I was worried about you," Nic said, his voice hoarse as he stated the obvious. "Is Sarah okay? Ya'll made it down unhurt?" He might not have been overly fond of the girl, but he knew she meant a lot to Dan.

Dan nodded. "She's okay - we got out together. I was so worried about you - I..." He suddenly realised that admitting that he'd nearly gone back for him probably wouldn't be the wisest of things. 'Yes honey, I nearly got myself killed looking for you. Wasn't that smart?' "We got out okay," he amended after a moment. "Zhen? Where... Is she okay?" he asked, jumping right on that. He knew that Nic woudl ahve looked after their friend, but he needed to be told that she was definitely okay.

"She's fine. We both got out. She-- She's somewhere," Nic said, not exactly sure when he'd left Zhen, but positive it had been once they'd gotten outside the house. Once he knew she was safe, Nic had taken off in search of Dan, everything else set aside. "But she's okay. And you're okay," he said, taking a deep breath. His hand trailed down Dan's arm till his fingers linked with Dan's. Everything was going to be okay.

Dan squeezed his hand, before leaning in and closing his eyes as he rested his head on Nic's smoky-smelling shoulder. Like he could give a damn right now. He didn't care about anything, other than the fast that they were all safe. He just needed a few minutes, of calm, of quiet, of Nic and being here. Then - then whatever came next, came next. It wasn't important right now.