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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,900 Views)
Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Brandon was sent sprawling as the humvee took off. He looked up to see it break through the barrier and threaten to fall. For a moment he dreaded that it might tip forward and pull itself back up. A single bullet was what took out that beast in the end. As it tipped and slid from sight Brandon collapsed, exhausted.

Willow's voice brought him back. He opened his eyes and was glad that at least one of them was working. He nodded his head with a faint smile.

"Hear you. See you. Feel you." he said with a heavy sigh.

She was really there. Not like before. She was there and he was safe. He reached out and kissed her. His lip stung fiercely but he didn't let up for a long time. Achingly he got his feet with Willow's help.

"The others?" he asked as he limped back toward the van.

...

Emily stirred, lifting herself off the wheel. Her vision was blurry. As the situation came back to her she looked around in a panic. There was no humvee.

"What the f... is everyone okay?" she asked.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Jimmy made sure Nolan had a gun as they rolled to a slow stop behind the broken down Honda. He told him to be ready, because he recognized the car from his earlier surveillance of Green River. It was the vehicle that had shot the flare asking for his help – the one Eli eventually hopped aboard and escaped town in.

Eli wasn’t there now, however. The other guy was. The Asian dude. The driver.

Jimmy had a gun too – his Desert Eagle pistol. He pointed it out the window at that driver.

Hola,” Jimmy said, waving the weapon at him. “I’m guessing you’ve got a hell of a story to tell me.”

Jimmy had passed the burnt-out husk of a 18-wheeler a while back on the road. He hoped this guy – the driver, he immediately liked that nickname – would start with what the hell happened there.

* * *

“I… I think so…” Annie managed.

If she had said it with any more confidence, she would be lying. She had been buckled up as the car was thrashed around, though, and hadn’t suffered anything more than some sore muscles. She had been spared from the bullet holes and the other more serious consequences.

She leaned over to look at Connor and Kelsey – for about the millionth time in the last minute. It seemed they had been spared that pain as well. Both were fastened in, and looked fine if not a little shaken. They were banged up more mentally than physically, Annie suspected.

“I’m okay too,” Connor eventually said, backing up her suspicious.

The same couldn’t be said for everyone, though, and that thought instantly brought Annie down from the relief she felt at being alive. It instantly erased any hint of satisfaction she might have gleaned from Cory’s death.

Jen, she thought, and just the name was enough to make her heart sink.

Nolan, Emmett, Antonio…

She looked to Eli in the front seat. His hands were gripping a rifle, and he looked surprised – more than surprised, really, dazed if anything. Annie could guess at his mental state. He was surprised the fight was over, and that they had won. He was taking a minute to really grasp that fact.

Fortunately, at least, his appearance answered Emily’s question. Outside of a sweltering black eye, he looked okay.
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Make-7-Up-Yours
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Is that so?
Oh thank God! I couldn't lose him, too.

A weight was lifted off Willow's shoulders when he opened his eye and spoke to her. With all the hits he had taken, she was starting to fear the worst. He may not have liked it, but she forced him to take a seat once they reached the van. It wasn't moving anywhere anytime soon, but there was no way in hell she was going to let him keep walking. He was losing a lot of blood. He wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Where's Nolan?" Kelsey asked innocently as she jumped out of the car.

Willow couldn't even process that question right now. She could barely process what had just happened. How many were dead? How many were injured? How many were going to die? Just what, exactly, had Green River taken from them? And even beyond that, now they were in the middle of a desert in the middle of the night with no working vehicles.

"You're gonna be okay, B." She ran a hand through Brandon's hair as she tried her best to assure him. "We'll get this sorted out."

* * * * *

Nolan recognized the man that Jimmy had approached. He was the same guy that had kidnapped Brandon and tried to kill him earlier. But despite that history, he had helped Eli with whatever the fuck had happened in Green River. And Nolan didn't feel anything toward him. He was weighed down by everything that had happened.

Jen...

Just the name itself sent pain through his chest. It was like rubbing salt in a wound -- just something to remind you that it was already there. Even for her last day on earth... he couldn't just be a decent guy about everything. He had to snap at her that morning. He had to make things weird. He couldn't just accept the companionship for what it was. And now that had been taken from him too. He was plagued not only with guilt and worry, but anger. If Brandon hadn't wanted that stupid ring or if Eli hadn't stirred that fight with Green River, then maybe this never would have happened. They knew that it was trouble and they still got involved. And Jen paid the price for it. Maybe others too. God only knew if Eli, Brandon, Emily, and the others were still alive. And that was before even considering Kelsey.

"... you guys aren't from Green River, are you?" The Asian man asked.

He was carrying a small handgun, but Nolan couldn't identify it in the dark. And even if he could, he didn't particularly care to right now.

"No, we are with Eli." Antonio cut in. "If you are a friend of his, than you are a friend of ours."

The man seemed to recognize Antonio from before He visibly relaxed a little bit at Antonio's reassurance.

"We don't have time for this." Nolan interrupted darkly. "We need to find the others. Catch up to them. They might need our help."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
As far as Brandon was concerned he already was okay. He had his friends and his woman. He noted with relief that everyone seemed to at least be alive. He was tired and sore beyond words. Even so he wasn't ready to rest. This wasn't over until he saw Cory dead with his own eyes. He reached into the back and retrieved the ditch blade he took from Walmart and unbuckled the sheath. With his right leg practically dragging along he began making his way back along the bridge toward the bank of the creek.

"We're not done. Not yet." he said.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli couldn’t really digest what had just happened. He still couldn’t feel much just yet beyond a tinge of shame. For a second there, he had just about given up. Against all his better instincts, he had come so close to thinking it was over.

Then Brandon started moving, and Eli focused. He noticed for the first time just how messed up his stay in Green River had left him. In the thick of the fight, he had hardly been more than a blur. Now, up close, Eli could see one of his eyes had practically swollen shut. He could see how the other flinched with every movement. He must have been hurting all over.

Suddenly, Eli could feel again – anger.

Wordlessly, he followed Brandon, gun in hand.

* * *

Jimmy lowered the pistol. He was getting the feeling that this wasn’t a hostile encounter to the rest of the group.

“Alright then,” he conceded, then nodded to the driver. “Come on in, I guess.”

The man’s own car was a wreck, and Jimmy couldn’t imagine him wanting to stay out here in the dark alone, so far from Green River. He doubted the man was about to decline his offer.

Jimmy raised his eyebrow, however, when he noticed a very familiar object nearby. A familiar radio. It was enough to get him out of the car, much to – he was sure without even looking – Nolan’s chagrin.

He brushed past the stranger and grabbed the radio. He pressed down on the button.

“Guys?” he asked. “You still out there somewhere? Jimmy here.”

* * *

Annie frowned, but didn’t object, as Brandon and Eli headed down into the creek. Instead, she focused her attention on Willow. The young girl was quietly distraught, recognizably numb.

Annie had just finished hugging Connor before exiting the van. Now she headed to Willow, and drew her into a maternal hug it looked like she needed.
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Is that so?
Willow accepted Annie's hug. Even though she was still probably technically high, she could barely feel it anymore. The reality of everything that had just happened had hit her pretty hard. Everything was just... so fucked up. She didn't even know what to do now. What could they do?

"Thanks." She whispered to Annie mid-hug. "You need to look at Brandon. He's in bad-"

She turned around. Brandon was already walking down the bridge with Eli. Though 'walking' was a strong word to use right now. He looked almost like a rotter.

"No, no, no, no." She repeated the word like someone who was watching their kid stick a knife in an electrical socket.

She broke away from Annie and quickly cut off her boyfriend and snatched the ditch blade out of his hand. It felt like she was babysitting, she couldn't even take her eyes off of him for a second without something like this happening.

"No." She flatly repeated with a stern tone. "Remember what happened the last time you ventured off without thinking? You are in no shape to be walking right now, forget scaling a creek bed and killing someone. You are going to sit your ass and down until Annie has a chance to look you over."

She knew he wasn't going to accept that. He needed to make sure Cory was dead. And frankly, she didn't disagree with the idea. But Brandon was already halfway to dead himself.

"I never thought I would say this, but even I'm more capable in a fight than you are right now."
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Strompy
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"I have to see it. I have to see it." Brandon mumbled wearily.

He doubted she meant it but some of her words hurt. Badly. He remembered what happened last time, it's the reason they were in this. She was right. He could barely stand. The head trauma and blood loss were making it hard to even see straight.

"Eli. I need to see." he said holding the ditch blade out for him to take.

Brandon turned back to face Willow. He was being selfish. He wanted to punish himself. She just lost her friend, maybe several. Nolan could be dead. Kelsey's only family. He may have killed them all just like he did Jen. Jen and he hadn't been close really, but he remembered she was there when five people decended into that hell hole of a lab. She'd climbed back out with him only to die here, and for what? More people dead? She was a friend to Willow and that her all the more important. He'd killed her. The one time he failed to take things seriously and she rnded up dead. If it had just been him that paid he could have lived with it, but not this.

"Willow, I'm sorry. Jen was... This is my fault. I'm so sorry. I did this. I did this!" he declared remorsefully, his eyes welling with tears.
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Is that so?
"No, don't." Willow shook her head and put a hand on her chest -- she strained her face to hold back the welling tears. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault."

She meant it too. Jen was dead and it was like a cold knife in her gut. Nolan, Antonio, and Emmett were all also unaccounted for as well. As was Jimmy. The uncertainty was almost more brutal than just knowing the truth. There was so much going through her that she felt like she was in danger of just shutting down all over again. And if anything happened to Brandon, then she just might. But she also knew she couldn't stop him from going to see the body, even as dangerous as it was.

"Here, lean on me." She offered him her shoulder. "If you're going to be stubborn about this, then at least let me help you."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"No. I'm done." Brandon said turning back toward the van.

He thought about the house and the family he imagined when he was tied to that chair. This had to end. They needed to get to San Francisco if there was going to be any chance of having that.

"I want to go home..."

...

"Jimmy. We're on a bridge. The van is completely totalled but we're all still alive." Emily answered.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli stared back at Brandon when he offered him the ditch blade, and accepted it without words. He continued on his own. He was grim-faced as h descending into the creek, towards the crash. Towards Cory. The man responsible for more suffering than he could possibly answer for.

Soon, Eli reached his destination. He found the Humvee was flipped over. The windows that hadn’t been ripped apart by the bullets exchanged in the fight had been destroyed in the final crash.

Eli counted three dead bodies among the wreck, their eyes open but glazed over in a way Eli had become grimly familiar with. None of them were Cory. They were the men who had foolishly followed him to their deaths, fighting for no good cause. They deserved worse than they got.

Eli’s eyes went to the front seat, and quickly identified a thick trail of fresh blood. He followed it – visually and physically – about ten feet.

There was Cory.

“Cory,” Eli said, his voice ice. “Look at me.”

* * *

“Got it,” Jimmy reported back into the radio.

He was glad they were all still alive. All meant Eli, too. He’d have to ask him how he ended up not in the Honda, where Jimmy had last seen him. That must have been quite the stunt.

“On my way,” he said. “With some friendly faces.”

He put his truck back into ‘drive.’
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
"Jimmy's on his way." Emily reported as she leaned against the buckled van.

Her head was pounding, and she could feel that she was bleeding. She moved over to Brandon and Willow, helping her support him. He could barely walk and if it weren't for the angry bruising he'd have no color left in his face. He gratefully accepted her help, putting his other arm around her. He made a strange noise as they lowered him down into the back of the van like he wanted to shout, he was like a doll now just doing what every they wanted. She wondered if he could even so much as make a fist he seemed so limp. He looked toward Kelsey and Connor and managed a smile that made him look kind of drunk.

"Hey guys, how are you holding up?" he asked.
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Is that so?
Cory rolled onto his back to face the voice. The Hispanic man he had fought with earlier was looking down at him. Blood ran down Cory's face; his hand was pressed against his abdomen, but his shirt was still stained crimson. Even the now visible armor he wore under his shirt had been unable to stop the bullet that tore through him. He tried not to show it, but he was grimacing with pain. A gun was in his free hand, but he made no attempt to raise it. It was his way of admitting defeat.

"You." Cory huffed painfully but still managed a smile. "Here to finish the job then, huh?"

* * * * *

"A-are you okay?" Kelsey asked Brandon.

"He'll be fine." Willow assured her -- she didn't want Brandon to talk any more than he had to right now. "He just needs to have Annie take a look at him is all."

She sighed. Had she looked this bad? She probably had. Somehow Brandon was still conscious, but he was losing a lot of blood. Shit, he was really losing a lot of blood. Had she looked this bad after she was shot? She probably looked worse. Brandon probably looked worse than he actually was thanks to Cory's beating. His crooked nose and swollen eye. He would probably never look the same again. And that was okay. As long as he pulled through this alive. And she already knew that he would pull through this. He was tougher than all of this. They all were.

"You're gonna be okay." Willow leaned forward and kissed Brandon's forehead gently. "We're gonna be okay."

Willow paused and glanced at Emily. She didn't look too hot either.

"You should be sitting down too."
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Cory didn’t deserve another single word. Just seeing the hate in Eli’s eyes was too much consideration– too much of what he must have wanted out of all this. It made Eli’s hate grow, just knowing he was letting Cory see it.

It was necessary, though. Because he needed to see Cory’s eyes. After all this, he needed to see the defeat in them as the lights went out.

Eli kicked the gun out of Cory’s hand, then raised the ditch blade. He smiled back at him – a mirthless smile, an angry smile, if that was possible.

He stood over Cory, and brought the blade down into Cory’s mouth. He saw – and felt – his teeth shatter upon impact.

He wasn’t smiling anymore. And he was done with his taunts now – forever.

Eli raised the blade again. He was still smiling that joyless smile, smiling it wide enough for both of them.
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Is that so?
The impact shook Cory's core. His head spun to the side and a spray of blood and teeth poured from his mouth. That was a shame. Before this ended, he had a few things he really wanted to tell this guy. This guy whose name he didn't even know. Now it was impossible; between the blood and viscera that filled his mouth and poured from the slice across his face, there was no way he could speak. All he could do was look back up at this man and try to return his smile.

That is the smile right there. He mused to himself -- the last thoughts he would probably have before this man finished him off. I see it now. You and I aren't so different after all, kid. You hide behind your self-righteousness, but you are just as bloodthirsty as me. Even if I die today, my legacy will continue with every person you kill.

Cory wanted to laugh in glee, but the only sound that escape from his mangled mouth was something between a gargled laugh and scream.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Eli ignored the cry. He shuffled in place, and then brought the blade down again, this time into Cory’s wrist. He didn’t make it all the way through the bone so he had to raise the blade and bring it down again. Second time was the charm.

Eli took his eyes off Cory’s suffering face long enough to bend down and examine the hand he was now missing. There was a ring on his middle finger. A simple one, surprisingly not flashy. Gray and brown, with an uneven texture.

Brandon must have gotten familiar with it over the course of his interrogation. The thought made Eli nod grimly. Brandon said he needed to see. This was how.

He stood again. His attention drifted slowly, lackadaisically back to Cory’s face. He raised the ditch-blade for a final time.

* * *

“She’s right,” Annie said to Emily, as she shouldered past her to retrieve her medical bag.

She wasn’t sure yet what she could do for Brandon – and whatever it was she decided, she already knew the back of this van wasn’t the ideal place to get it done. A thorough examination was the first step, however, and she needed to get started. First on him, then on the others. This would take a long time.

Her shoulder tensed when she heard a garbled scream from below. Her eyes squeezed shut. It didn’t sound like Eli. She knew what that must have meant.

Cory is still alive, she figured. And that’s about to change.

She took a breath.

Good.

This one – just this once, she insisted to herself – she’d take pleasure in death. Just this once.

* * *

Eli returned to the bridge. His pant legs were splattered with new blood stains, none of it belonging to himself. He moved slowly – he was no longer in a rush, and too tired emotionally and physically to pretend otherwise.

He reached the van, where Brandon was laid out, Annie hovering over him, examining his injuries and stopping the flow of blood. He overheard her say something about bullets still in his leg – there were entry wounds and no exit wounds – and how they’d have to stay there for now.

“You’ve lost enough blood as it is,” she explained. “We can’t afford to perform any surgery at the moment.”

Eli dug into his pocket as he got close, and removed the ring finger he had stored in it. It was Cory’s. Earlier, he had sawed it off with his ka-bar. Now, he placed it in Brandon’s hand and gave him a solemn nod.

Then he heard a vehicle approaching, and he drew his Supergrade. He took a few steps back and pointed it at the road. He was ready to open fire at any face he didn’t recognize.

He recognized the truck, though, as it appeared in the horizon. He would know its tinted windows, chromed rims, and purple paint job anywhere. He felt some relief.

He lowered his gun, waited for a smiling Jimmy – and of course he was smiling – to pull up before holstering it entirely.

Jimmy hopped out the front seat. That’s when Eli realized he wasn’t alone. Nolan hopped out the passenger’s side. Eli was hit with some more relief.

“So,” Jimmy said, clapping his hands. “What’d I miss?”
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