The Nutcracker

Hi, my name is Nathan.

JOEY: Nathan, are you okay?

I don't remember much.

When I woke up, I was being carried by Joey across what looked like a small river.

ELI: Is he awake yet?

Eli was right behind us. That's when I remembered--

ME: Carter! That guy Adam took him!
JOEY: So that's where he went!
ME: Where are we going?
ELI: The roof of Prisms was full, so Joey went upstairs, grabbed you, and we floated down the block on a cardboard cut-out of Sheila E that somebody had left over from 80's night.
JOEY: We hit dry land a few blocks ago.
ME: Hang on! We have to go back and get Carter.
ELI: No way! He can handle himself. It's not like he's going anywhere.
JOEY: Not unless he can find a cardboard cut-out of Cyndi Lauper.

I shrugged Joey off of me and started walking back towards Prisms.

ELI: Nathan! Why are you doing this? You don't even like Carter that much!

The truth is, I really don't. But after the year I've had, I haven't been feeling too good about myself as a person, and I thought this might be an opportunity to do something good.

I ran so that Joey and Eli wouldn't follow me, but when I got near Prisms, I was stuck. All the streets leading to it were downhill, which meant that water was pretty much being poured on top of it. The roof was filled with people waiting for rescue.

That's when I saw Carter--dangling over the edge.

Adam was holding him by his legs, and was screaming something at him. People kept trying to grab at Adam, but it looked like he had a knife or something, so they weren't able to get too close.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do until I noticed the water was flowing right by the fire escape attached to the building.

Then--still not sure this wasn't going to get me killed--I jumped into the water and started wading towards the club. Pretty soon, I was taken away with the current, and managed to get close enough to the fire escape to grab the bottom end of the ladder and pull myself up.

I knew I was going to end up right behind Adam, and he was busy looking at the people on the other side of him. I didn't know if it was a smart idea to just bumrush him, so I pulled a Nutcracker.

I took off shoe and threw it at his head.

It probably wouldn't have done much damage if he had been expecting it, but it clocked him right in the eye, and he dropped his knife--and Carter.

A few guys ran to the edge and grabbed Carter's legs. I ran right at Adam and plowed into him--knocking him off the roof, and into the water two stories down.

Carter was a bit shaken up, but someone was at least nice enough to loan him some clothes.

CARTER: I think maybe I should ask to wear a uniform from now on.
ME: You're a shotboy, Carter. You're in your uniform.

He laughed.

CARTER: Nathan, you saved my life.
ME: Yeah, I was going to be humble about it, but I really did.
CARTER: And I think you killed Adam.
ME: As long as he landed the right way, he'll be fine. He probably just got swept away to South Providence or something.
CARTER: Or the jewelry district.

Little did we know, he hadn't wound up in either place, and that wasn't the last we were going to be hearing of Mr. Setter.