AU Fic: Hellfire, Part 4
Title: HELLFIRE
Fandom: American Idol (Season 7)
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Death of some minor characters; swear words - lots of them
Read DISCLAIMER
Masterpost | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
4 -
I burn on the flame
It was like a switch had been flicked.
One week was filled with seismic activities, erratic change in temperature, reports of animals moving from their habitat, steam rising from the small vents around the Fuller’s Peak, among other things.
Then the next week there was nothing.
It was unreal that the climate had suddenly become stable and the other signs they had devotedly kept their eyes on had slipped back into normalcy.
Simon called for everyone in the team one night after a week of nothing but silence. They were all at the den. Other than the occasional murmurs, the only sound that filled the room while they waited for Simon to hang up the phone was the constant beeping from their equipment. Cook took notice of the long intervals that stretched between high-pitched bleeps, which was an indication that -
“Alright team.” Simon’s voice sliced through Cook’s contemplation. “The seismologists from our facility has just confirmed that there hasn’t been any activity for a week. The mountain has been silent. It looks like it has fallen back to sleep.”
“So what do we do now?” Michael carefully lowered his leg - the one that had been in a cast since the accident.
Without so much as a glance at the rest of the team, Simon kept his eyes on the computer screen. “Since we have installed monitoring devices all over the area, we can watch from our headquarters in L.A.” When each of them ground out their concerns and complaints, Simon said, “I’m sorry, guys. I know you were anticipating a show. But apparently, God seemed to have other plans.”
After some nonsensical speech, Simon had ordered everyone to pack up. “We leave tomorrow at noon.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Despite the lack of recorded activity, Cook still felt that it would be a huge mistake on their part to leave. But Cook didn’t bother telling Simon because he knew that the man would refuse to listen.
That night, instead of drowning himself in beer and alcohol like he usually did when he was exasperated, Cook ended up in Archie’s bedroom, lying face down. He might be stupid when it came to challenging Simon’s decisions as Carly had claimed earlier, but he wasn’t dumb to decline when Archie offered to give him a massage.
Every inch of skin that Archie’s fingers came in contact with burned, the heat piercing through Cook’s flesh, sending a rush of blood through his veins and straight down his groin. Cook heard some sort of a strangled moan and wondered if the sound came from his own throat.
Cook felt Archie bend over, could feel Archie’s breath against the back of his ear. “Did that hurt?” Archie’s voice, all husky and soft, sent chills down Cook’s spine.
“No. Felt good” were the only coherent words Cook could enunciate. The loss of Archie’s warmth on his naked back made Cook whimper or some other weird noise might have made it past his lips that had Archie giggling. Then he gasped out a sound that was ripped from his chest, something between pain and pleasure, when he felt the heel of Archie’s palm press hard against his shoulder blades. Prickling sensation shot throughout his body when Archie’s long fingers crept around the sides where Cook’s neck met his shoulders, kneading expertly and giving more pressure on the right spots.
Something cool pressed against the back of Cook’s neck and Cook soon realized it was Archie’s lips grazing along his hairline. Cook shivered when Archie’s tongue licked a path toward Cook’s ear, and Cook grumbled lowly when he felt his earlobe caught lightly between Archie’s teeth.
The jeans Cook wore tightened against his crotch and couldn’t hold back the expletive that threatened to burst forth from his chest. “Fuuuuuck.” It came out guttural, like a tortured animal’s cry.
The pain on Cook’s shoulder was forgotten when he felt Archie’s hard-on press against his hip. Cook shoved the remaining thread of morals aside and twisted his body until he lay on his back then pulled Archie on top of him, his arms snaking around Archie’s waist.
“Hmm… This is quite uncomfortable.” Archie wiggled against Cook’s hold.
“Yeah?” Cook challenged, his voice might have held a level of confidence but he was actually nervous. His whole body trembled with want, the spot just beneath his belly aching with need. He wanted Archie and he only hoped he hadn’t read Archie wrong, hoped he was right about thinking that Archie wanted this too.
“Mhmm.,” Archie hummed while he shifted, one leg slid over Cook’s thigh. Archie lifted himself up, hands propped on either side of Cook’s head. Then Archie’s knees bumped against his hips when Archie moved to straddle him.
When Archie swooped down to capture his lips, their erections brushed, urging a desperate whimper out of both men.
Soon, Cook rolled them over and he hovered on top of Archie for a while, tracing the contours of Archie’s face with his finger. “You’re so beautiful,” he said before leaning in to press his lips against Archie’s already swollen ones.
No words were spoken for a while. Once they had stripped their clothes off and were left with only their boxer briefs on, Cook let his hands roam all over Archie’s body, his fingers memorizing every slope, every dent, every hard muscle he came in contact with and sometimes… sometimes his lips would follow the invisible trail that his fingers had left.
The sounds Archie made nearly drove Cook out of his fucking mind. He had his mouth gliding down Archie’s torso when-
“Archie?” Syesha’s voice rang out, followed by a loud rapping against Archie’s door.
“Omigosh.” Archie sat up abruptly, almost knocking Cook off the bed. He had his arms crossed in front of him in a lame attempt to cover up his nakedness. “I’m coming!” he called out when Syesha’s insistent knocking came once more and hurriedly slide out of bed but lost his footing and ended up falling on the floor.
Cook swung his feet at the edge just as Archie was getting back on his feet. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
Soft chuckles ruffled in Cook’s chest while he watched Archie collect his clothes from the floor and couldn’t help but be amazed with how fast Archie slipped his jeans on.
“Oh my gosh. Stop laughing and get dressed.” Archie pushed his shirt through his head as he was scurrying out to his tiny receiving room.
Cook shook his head and pressed his palm on his softening penis, a speck of disappointment tainting his mood. Damn, that was close. He got dressed half as quickly as Archie did, straining to hear Archie and Syesha’s conversation.
It wasn’t a difficult task since Syesha’s voice resounded across the quarters. “I think we’ve got a problem with the plumbing.”
Archie’s “excuse me?” quickly followed.
“The water’s all dirty, like rusty? And it smells weird” was what Syesha said next and Cook found her standing at the doorway when he stepped out of the bedroom, t-shirt still in his hand. “Oh.” A grin spread across Syesha’s face when her eyes landed on Cook and then wiggled her eyebrows at Archie, who rolled his eyes and took the glass filled with colored liquid from Syesha’s hand.
Archie brought the glass close to his nose but pulled it away immediately, his nose scrunched and eyebrows furrowed. “Eeww. That’s gross.”
“Here let me,” Cook said. After Archie handed Cook the glass, Cook also brought it up to his nose and a landslide of dread came crushing down on him the moment the smell grazed his nostrils. He was prompted to ask Syesha. “Where did you get this?”
“From the kitchen” was Syesha’s reply.
Cook darted to Archie’s private bathroom and turned on the faucet from the sink. The water that spilled out had the same rusty color. Cook scooped some of it in his hand and bent over the sink to smell it. “Fuck.” He turned to Archie, who was right outside the bathroom door with Syesha. “Where do you get your water supply?”
Lines appeared on Archie’s face but he didn’t falter when he said, “From a reservoir up at the mountains.”
“Can we go up there and check?” Cook had a bad feeling about this, but ironically, he tried to convince himself that he could be wrong. He might have tried to force Simon to trust his instincts, but this time, he hoped Simon was right and that Cook’s theories were inaccurate.
“I’ll have to call mom,” Archie said, “she has the keys to the facility,” and dashed back to his bedroom.
“Tell her to meet us there,” Cook called after him then turned to Syesha. “Don’t say a word to anyone. Just pack whatever you can and get yourself and your family out of town.”
“Why? What’s going on?” There was no doubt Syesha did her best to stay calm. But her eyes were clouded with worry and fear. Cook reached out and rubbed her shoulder reassuringly.
“I can’t say for sure, Sy,” Cook said and then pulled his hand away to pinch at the bridge of his nose. “You don’t need to go that far. You should be safe in the city. Or maybe head down to Riverton.” Cook glanced up when Archie came out of his room before returning his gaze back to Syesha. “But please, don’t tell anyone. Not yet. We don’t want to start a panic. Chances are we might have another false alarm on our laps.”
Syesha nodded. She turned half way, paused a while, then pivoted back and threw her arms around Cook. “Thank you.”
Archie grabbed their jackets as Syesha was rushing out of the quarters. “We need to pick up mom. She can’t drive well through the mountains when it’s dark.”
“Okay.” Cook followed Archie out the door. He debated whether to call Simon or anyone from the team, wondered if they were all still out sweeping the town and getting drunk. Knowing what Simon would say, Cook decided against notifying anyone else. He needed to be certain.
=0=
They soon reached the reservoir, which was only a ten-minute-drive away from Lupe’s place. The keys Lupe held jingled while she tried to find the right one to open the gates. When she did, they hurried inside and walked across a clearing, stones crunching underneath their shoes.
Cook could hear it now, the deep rumbling from within the earth as if it was… snoring.
There were several buildings in the compound but Lupe led them to one in particular. “This is where the town’s water supply comes from,” she explained before pushing on the large steel door. Then a strong odor greeted them moment the door cracked open. It was the same smell they caught from the water at the inn.
Cook followed the trickling sound with Archie and Lupe right behind him. He could hear Lupe mumbling, “There’s a switch here somewhere,” and presumed that she meant a switch to turn the lights on.
But Cook didn’t want to waste a second so he held the flashlight up and moved further inside. He had reached the edge of the tank when lights finally flooded the entirety of the building. Lupe stepped up beside him and when he looked back, he saw Archie by the wall, hand still on a lever.
When Cook finally caught sight of the water in the tank, the last thread of hope that he could be wrong snapped, his theory rebuilding fast inside his head. “Fuck.” He couldn’t help it. But Lupe and Archie were too busy observing the water to even mind the curse he let slip.
“Oh. My. Gosh. What is it?” Lupe took a step back, as if she was expecting something would jump out of the tank. “It smells like… like…”
“Sulfur.” Cook finished for her while his hand disappeared into the water only to reemerge with little of the rust-colored liquid, which Cook had to smell. “Sulfur dioxide, to be more specific.” Cook’s arm shot out to his side, his palm splayed over Archie’s chest when Archie attempted to lean forward, perhaps to get a closer look.
“What does it mean?” Curiosity burned in Archie’s eyes and his forehead creased.
“Means we have to head back to town to bring bad news” was the only reply Cook could offer. He didn’t mean to sound pessimistic, but this was the fucking evidence that Simon had been waiting for.
“Oh gosh. A-are you su-sure about this, Dave?” Lupe’s words were entwined with fear and worry, her hands visibly trembling when she lifted them to cover her mouth.
Moving his head up and down in a single nod proved difficult for Cook. “Exactly the same thing that happened at Mount Cimehtna back in twenty-ten before she blew up. And I remember my dad telling me about a similar situation in the Philippines during the early nineties before Mt. Pinatubo erupted.”
“What are we going to do?” Lupe sounded helpless.
“Let’s head back.”
Cook spent the ride back to the inn trying to call Simon but he kept getting Simon’s voice mail. “Fuck. Turn on the god-damn phone,” he muttered under his breath.
When they reached the inn, Cook saw the vehicles that his teammates used parked in front, including Simon’s truck. Relieved and agitated at the same time, Cook rushed upstairs and rapped violently against Simon’s door. “Simon! Open up!”
It took a while before Simon poked his head through the door with his hair all messy and eyes squinted, probably because of the light streaming from the hallway. He looked disgruntled but Cook couldn’t bring himself to care.
Simon’s protest of “what the-do you have any fucking idea what time it is?” when Cook pushed past him was ignored.
“I have the fucking evidence you need,” Cook spat as he went straight to the bathroom, grabbed the glass from the sink and turned on the faucet.
“What in the world are you talking about?” Simon followed, rubbing the sleep off of his eyes.
“This.” Cook held up the glass now filled with rusty-colored liquid. When Simon took it, Cook declared, “Sulfur dioxide. We’ve just been to the town’s water supply and the water’s been contaminated.”
“Fuck.” Simon ran a hand through his hair. “Get the team. Meet me downstairs.”
“Wait. What do I do?” Lupe was standing in the middle of the room, looking misplaced.
Cook didn’t want to call the shots so he looked at Simon imploringly, whose shoulders sank and told Lupe, “Call for a town meeting. As soon as possible. This could get ugly.”
“What about me?” Archie eyed everyone with an air of resolve framing his entire body.
“Stick with Dave. He’ll need all the help he could get” was Simon’s suggestion.
=0=
=0=
Archie did what he was told - to stick with Cook. And he wasn’t about to complain. The next few hours left a blur of motions and raised voices and Archie could feel the exhaustion creeping in.
It was dawn when he fell back on the couch and drifted off, barely remembering Cook’s soft whispers, the feeling of Cook’s stubble against the side of his face and the weight of Cook’s arm around his middle.
When Archie woke up, Cook was no longer beside him. He was about to sit up when he saw Cook through the corner of his eye and heard him calling out to someone - Jason perhaps. Then Cook came back to the living room, said, “Morning, babe. Your mom called, asked if we could go over to her place. Something about your dad,” and handed Archie a cup of, what Archie presumed, hot chocolate.
His mom was on the phone when they arrived. And judging from the rise and fall of her tone, Archie had a feeling that she was talking to his dad. When his mom said, “Jeff, please. Don’t be stubborn. Not this time,” Archie knew what the conversation was about in an instant even before his mom groaned and said, “Your dad refuses to leave the cottage. Dang, he’s such a stubborn, stubborn man.“
“Let me try, mom.” Archie pulled his phone out of his pant pocket and pressed the key that was assigned to ‘speed-dial’ his dad’s number.
“If your mom asked you to call…” were the words that greeted Archie, “I’m giving you the same response, Son. I’m not going anywhere. This mountain is harmless.”
“Dad, please.” Archie breathed deeply, feeling wiped out as if he’d been talking to his dad for hours.
“I’m not leaving here, David” were Jeff’s last words before Archie heard a soft click followed by the tone that clearly meant, dang it, his dad had hang up on him.
It was a futile attempt, Archie knew it before he even offered to try and call his father. The cottage meant a lot to his dad. It was one of the few things that Archie’s grandfather left for Jeff when Archie’s grandpa passed away. And it held so many memories, which Jeff often shared to him and his brother and sisters.
Getting Jeff off the mountain would be like peeling a sleeping koala from a tree.
“Dang it!” Archie snapped out of his trance and glanced around just in time to see his mom slam the phone down, bury her face in her hands, mumbling, “He’s not picking up.” Then she glanced at her watch. “The meeting is set to start in half an hour.”
“I thought it was scheduled at four in the afternoon?” Cook asked.
Archie watched his mom get up, grab her car key while saying, “Dr. Abdul suggested we do it earlier since this is an emergency.” She barely made it to the door when Cook stopped her.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of people there, traffic might not look good, so I suggest we car pool and drive there in Archie’s Hybrid” was what Cook suggested.
“Alright.” Archie was glad his mom acquiesced, but his heart sank when she added, “But I need David to stay here and help his brother and sisters pack.”
It felt really, really bad when Archie blurted, “No way, Mom. I’m going with you,” which made Lupe look wounded because Archie, sort of, said that in a raised pitch.
Then Cook came to his rescue, said something like, “I actually need Archie there to form an evacuation committee,” and explained further that it was Simon’s idea to get Archie involved in the first place.
The defeated look on his mom’s face was tearing through Archie’s heart. He wished- hoped his mom would understand. Relief flooded through him when she said, “Okay,” a small but genuine smile graced her lips. But before she turned to leave, she asked Daniel to “pack whatever you can, I’ll come back for you in an hour.”
Cook was right. There were several cars stuck in traffic along South State Street - the lengthy stretch where Murray High School sat. Lupe told them that Randy Jackson, the school principal, suggested that they hold the meeting at the school gym
It was a good thing Archie still knew his way around town. He took a sharp turn into an alley and drove along the back streets until he saw the familiar roof of the building where he went to school for four years.
Archie let his mom and Cook off once they had reached the parking lot because… because... It was quite a struggle to get through all the cars (there seemed to be like thousands), and every driver was obviously trying to find a spot to park. After about fifteen minutes or so - oh my heck! - Archie finally got his car into an empty space near the back entrance and rushed inside.
Noises floated along the empty hallway, which Archie could clearly hear as he hurried over to the gym. Several people were talking at the same time, arguing, or debating or whatever. But Archie chose to ignore them. His eyes swept through the crowd before landing on his mom and Cook, who were both sitting at a high table that was set on one end of the gym.
After Lupe had cited some kind of instructions, which Archie guessed might have something to do with the evacuation plans, she made a hand gesture toward Cook while she introduced him to the uhm… audience. “I’m sure Mr. Cook here will love to answer any questions you might have about the volcano.”
Without giving Cook time to breathe, someone from the audience asked, “How long do you think it is before the volcano erupts?”
Cook went through the process of explaining how eruption differed, depending on the depth of a volcano and so on, same things Archie had learned from either Cook or any of his teammates.
Archie was making his way toward Cook and his mom when someone asked, “What if you’re wrong? What if we do leave town but then the volcano doesn’t erupt?”
The way Cook straightened up from his seat, his face veiled with a shadow of certainty Archie had never seen, made Cook seem like he was fully armed with a response. So Cook started with some technical facts and was in the middle of recounting what they had discovered the night before when the ground shook.
A few heartbeats of nothing but stillness followed.
Then there was a rumbling sound coming from… from everywhere, like dozens of bowling ball rolling down from the mountain. When the sound became louder, closer, the ground started to shake again.
People started scurrying out of the room. Archie saw Cook spring to his feet, bellowing, “Don’t panic!” but then… but then Cook’s voice were drowned by the screams when another quake hit. This time it was stronger and longer in duration.
Archie gasped when he felt someone grabbed him from behind but quickly relaxed upon seeing Cook, his mom right behind him.
“We’ll slip through the back door,” Randy Jackson suggested and that was how they all got out unscathed.
“Oh my gosh, the kids!” Lupe exclaimed as they were running across the parking lot, and she started to panic a little, her face turning pale.
When Cook laid a hand on her shoulder, said, “Don’t worry, I’ll go get them. You and Archie should go ahead and get out of town now,” something within Archie ruptured and he felt a rush of fear surging through his nervous system. He was afraid he might not see Cook again.
As much as Archie loved his mom, would want to spend the last few hours of his life with her, if he were to die that day, he still couldn’t bear the thought of parting with Cook. So he grabbed Cook by the sleeve of his shirt and said, “I’m going with you.”
Cook opened his mouth, started to say, “But Archie-“
“I’m going with you, Cook. Mom can go with Mr. Jackson,” Archie insisted, heard the strong perseverance in his own voice.
Mr. Jackson must have heard his name because he stepped up, gently wrapped a hand around Lupe’s arm and said, “Come, Lupe, we’ll follow the trail that the sheriff had cleared leading to North Salt Lake.”
“We’ll see you there, Mom.” The crack in Archie’s voice betrayed him and he could feel the prickling behind his eyes. He fell willingly into his mother’s open arms and he might have clung to her longer than he intended, only letting go when he felt Cook’s hand, warm and soothing, against his back.
“We have to go Arch,” Cook said at the same time Mr. Jackson tugged on Lupe’s arm, saying, “Let’s go Lupe.”
continued on Part 5