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The People Make the Place


Guest LauraPhilly!!

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Story Title: The People Make the Place

Type of story: Short Fic

Main Characters: Sgt. Watson, Xavier and OC.

BTTB rating: G/T

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Does story include spoilers: No

Any warnings: No

Summary: The town are gathered to celebrate a charity event. The music plays loudly, couples dance on the dance floor and adults have a drink and chat at the bar. They are unaware of the sinister plan that is being concocted beyond the doors of the hall. The town will never be the same after this night ..

The People Make the Place

Chapter 1

The music played loudly over their heads as they twirled and danced on the dance floor. As Xavier held Sasha close, she looked over his shoulder and smiled as she saw Romeo and Indi dancing, him holding her close to his chest and her looking the happiest she had been in weeks.

Tonight was just what they needed. Catching Dex's eye, she grinned at him successfully, after all they were the ones who convinced her to go in the first place.

At the podium erected at the far end of the hall, Gina, John, Alf and Sid observed the large crowd, ensuring no trouble would break out.

At the bar, Brax and Heath were, without a raucous, managing to separate the over 18's and the fake ID'ers in two successful lines, determined to catch out every little sneak.

In the corner of the room, hidden from the light, Ruby and Casey were finally making up, after almost a year apart. Ruby knew now that she had been too hard on him. In her own grief over losing Charlie, she forgot that Brax was hurting and that, as his brother, Casey's allegiance was with him. But after a few rebellious months, Ruby and Casey fell back into each other's and now Ruby realised how much she truly loved him.

As Gina and John chatted happily on the podium, Sid alerted them to a worrying incident. In a matter of seconds, a large circle had formed around two people in the middle of the dance floor. But the students weren't encircling the people; they were backing away from them.

Stepping down from the podium, Gina walked confidently towards the two, suspecting trouble was around the corner.

"What is going on here?" she said, looking at the person on the right, who had a hood covering their face.

The girl looked up and removed the hood from the face. A frightening gasp echoed throughout the room as the students, and Gina, recognised the person.

Putting her hand inside their jacket, she slowly and threating pulled out a gun. There was squealing and screaming as she pointed the gun right into Gina's face.

"Mrs Palmer… surely you remember me?"

And then, she pulled the trigger…

……..

They smiled vindictively as they watched the building fall to the ground as the fire ate away as it. They could hear the faint sounds of screaming, but as the flames grew in height, the screams grew faint until it was almost quiet.

Turning their backs at the burning building, they smiled at each other in satisfaction. The girl even laughed. She had finally exacted their revenge. After months of planning.

She had vowed that those who had hurt them for pay, and regardless of who stood in their path, they would enact any plan necessary to punish them.

The darkness of the woods clouded their appearance, but even from miles away, they could still see the black smoke as it rose up into the dark sky.

Nobody would find them, those locked in the hall.

Not until morning

And then.

It would be too late…

…………..

As Sergeant Watson walked carefully into the still softly burning banquet hall, she stared in horror at the bodies on the floor, many of whom she recognised.

Closest to her lay Sasha and Xavier; Sasha lay with her eyes closed and mouth opened, blood running heavily from a large gash in her head. Georgina gasped slightly as she saw that Xavier's, who was lying in a similar position, hand was lying close to Sasha's, to show that they had been holding hands.

As she continued through the smoke filled room, ensuring that her oxygen masked was secured tightly over her mouth, she bent down in an attempt to identify the other bodies that lay in groups of two or three, or even by their own in the middle of the dance floor.

Gina lay in a crumpled heap in the middle of the dance floor. Georgina immediately saw the gunshot wound in between her eyes, and shock ran through her as she began to comprehend what must have happened here.

There was a large group of students lying close together by one of the intact buffet tables that stood at the edge of the dance floor. After ordering one of her colleagues to call the hospital and pathologists office, Georgina continued her inspection of the room, while the fire-fighters continued to extinguish the remaining fire that Watson feared had engulfed the building.

She gradually recognised familiar faces as she continued through the room; Indigo and Romeo Smith lay together in the corner of the dance floor, the latter appearing to be lying over his wife in a failed attempt to protect her.

The gravity of what this incident would have on the town suddenly became apparent to Georgina as she saw Alfred Stewart also lying on the floor, surrounded by his daughter and friends.

Her colleagues also approached her with news of the discovery of the bodies of Ruby Buckton, two of the Braxton brothers, Leah Patterson and Bianca Scott and Liam Murphy in the upstairs banquet hall. As she returned to stand with her colleagues outside, Georgina also recognised the faces also of Dr. Walker, Irene Roberts and even the town gossip Mrs. Smart.

She came to the inevitable conclusion that half the town had been present at this event and she knew not yet of how many, if any, had survived this catastrophe.

"Sergeant Watson?"

Georgina looked around as she saw one of her colleagues approach her; his uniform now covered with smoke and ash, as was with her and several other officers.

"It appears, at the moment, that there was some sort of altercation within the hall before the fire started."

"Do we know yet whether it was arson?"

"No, unfortunately not," replied the officer. "The pathologist team has now removed the body of Gina Palmer and, along with the forensic team, will try to establish her time of death and the cause of the fire."

Sergeant Watson sighed as looked back at the half fire ridden building, and thought of the countless lives that had been lost within it.

"No matter how long this investigation takes, we will find who is responsible for this. This crime will not be left go unpunished!"

She walked away, back towards her car determinedly. Her colleagues exchanged serious looks as they watched their superior officer drive away, following the long procession of ambulances.

This catastrophic event would haunt the town for years. It would potentially never be the same. The officers knew why Sergeant Watson felt so determined to catch those responsible; after all, they felt the same.

A saying went around the town that the people made the place. But now it seemed that half the people in the town were dead…

What would this mean for Summer Bay?...

Comments? :)

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Woah!Well, that was a pretty strong start, even though I'm wondering if anyone's actually still alive to appear in Chapter Two.Very intrigued as to who that pair were and hoping that some of the characters aren't as dead as they seem to be...(Although at least a few people who were present don't seem to be listed among the casualties and I'm pondering if that's significant...)Looking forward to more!

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Oh man that was a awesome start. It's doesn't sound that good for a load of the characters I wonder who hasn't died :unsure:I have no idea who the couple were who caused all this mayhem. Look forward to next chapter.

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I'm trying to cut down on the amount of fan fics I read so I was gonna pass on this one, when I saw that Watson was a main character which is so rare so it caught my attention, and I thought what the he'll it's only one more fic to add to the list and .......

WOW!!! what an amazingly strong start that was :o!!

Loved the little back story to all the characters that you wrote!!

Was thinking as Gina seemed to be the main target that it might have been the people from the smuggling ring that are behind it maybe :o!!

I agree with what Redranger said, doesn't sound like there's hardly anyone left alive for the next chapter!! Was cute that you wrote that Romeo had tried to protect indi and that Xavier and Sasha were holding hands :wub:!!

Seeing as you write that Xavier was a main character, I'm thinking that he might still be alive :)!!

Immensely looking forward to the next chapter, more soon please :D

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