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Dead Men Walking
Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,978 Views)
Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Julie looked over at the candle again. It was shorter than before. She couldn't guess how late it was. She lay on her back looking over at it, Eli lying beside her. Her body had started hurting worse and her head pounded and burned. The bite on her shoulder had gone from angry to sad, almost all color had faded from it except for blue and green hues, like her body had given up on it or something. She hated looking at it but couldn't help herself. It was the thing that killed her, how could she not indulge her morbid fascination with it?

Sleep was so insistent but she resisted it for so long now. Like Willow had said, she had reached a point where not even the pain was a match for her weariness. It terrified her. She didn't want to sleep. As if fighting for consciousness were fighting for life, she railed against the peace it could bring like it was a yawning grave that would swallow her. She couldn't let go, there was still too much left for her to die now. Life was good and she wanted more, even if it was horrific and painful it was better than death, it had to be.

Every effort to go out on a good note was hopeless. Good note or bad it was an end. She just wanted more time. She shuddered and placed her hands over her face as she began crying again. She rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball next to Eli. It wasn't fair to put him in this situation but her fear overrode all considerations.

"Eli. I'm scared." she sobbed.

There was nothing to do or say that could make it better. She only needed to be heard, and to be held. Eventually the tears stopped and sleep took her. She died a few hours later in the small hours.
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Is that so?
It was early when Randall woke up. Beside him, Kelsey was resting, unaware that her father had awoken. He couldn't tell how early it really was, but he didn't hear any movement outside. Between the utter darkness and the eerie quiet, it sent a shiver down Randall's spine. Normally the silence was good, but his thoughts were stuck on Julie. He didn't know how long he had been out; was it over for her or was she still hanging on?

Better go see how she is doing.

He wasn't going to get any sleep until he found out for sure; he carefully peeled himself out of the bed, taking care not to disturb his daughter before slowly feeling his way to the door. In the hallway, the dim light of the early morning was already seeping into the complex. It was just before dawn by the feel of it. Randall made his way down the hallway to the room where he knew Julie and Eli had been staying. He knocked on the door first, but there was no answer. Were they asleep? Or...?

His heart was pounding in his chest by this point. His hand barely felt steady as he brought his key to the door and opened it from the outside. Fear and worry had taken hold of him at full force. He took a deep breath, gulped nervously, and swung the door open. He readied himself for a fight; but no rotter came for him. No moans or groans were present. Dead silence. Slowly, he entered.

In the dimly lit room, Julie lay relined on the bed. Her eyes were closed and her hands folded over her stomach. Her skin was deathly pale and her chest still. Blood seeped from a stab wound on the side of her head and soaked the pillow beneath her a darkened crimson. Eli sat on the floor nearby, propped up against the wall. There were heavy bags under his bloodshut eyes that stared blankly towards the woman on the bed.

Randall had no words. There was nothing he could say. He simply grit his teeth, inhaled sharply, and let his own tears flow.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
The sun was up and Eli was on the move. He had never really gotten any sleep. The first half of the night, there was too much on his mind. And he had to be ready – he had to watch her, wait for her breathing to stop, for the life to exit her body. And then he had to make sure she didn’t come back.

After that, he didn’t feel like sleeping anyway. He didn’t want to know what kind of dreams awaited him.

By morning, everyone had heard the news. Externally, he had levelled out. The color was gone from his eyes, was back in his face, and his hands were steady. Internally, he still felt like his heart had been squeezed like a lemon. He didn’t have a lot left to go on. What little there was, he made himself grab on tight and hold on.

There was still work to do. There was time to dig a hole – it took him two hours as the sun was rising, using a metal scoop he found in the kitchen to dig through the cold ground dirt the hotel – but there wasn’t time to mourn.

Mourning would come later, he resolved. Mourning for her and for her child-that-never-was. Not that anyone else knew about that.

Eli remembered saying his goodbyes to her back in Flint, after he found out. Those goodbyes had turned out to be temporary then. He wished they had been permanent. He should have made sure they were. He shouldn’t have let her come with them in her condition, she shouldn’t have let her face down the rotters in the warehouse, he shouldn’t have…

“We gotta get moving,” he yelled coldly, cutting off his own thoughts when he couldn’t take them anymore. “Five minutes and we’re out of here.”

He announced it from the lobby to the hotel. He had just finished hiding the food and water they had smuggled from the back of the broken trailer. They couldn’t take it with them, and the lab was close, so they’d just have to come back for them when they were done.

Come back for that and for Julie, he reminded himself, even though he wished he hadn’t.

He looked out the glass window into the parking lot, and the sheet of white powder that covered it. He clenched and unclenched his fist.

The snow had stopped, but the city had gotten colder.
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Is that so?
"... it just didn't seem... I dunno... important? Like it needed to be said? I just kind of assumed you knew."

Willow sighed sadly. She sat by Julie's freshly dug grave, protected by the cold morning air by only a couple of layers of clothing and a scarf. She wished she had tears left in her eyes to cry, but she didn't have much left in her after yesterday. She could only stand there and look at the pile of dirt that was Julie's new resting place. There had been no grave marker and no ceremony to mark her passing. The general consensus was that they would do that after they got the cure to Argonne Lab. The cure that she helped give her life for. In Willow's right hand, she held onto Julie's kukri. She didn't have any sort of melee weapon to her name; but carrying Julie's kukri felt like she was symbolically carrying a piece of her on with them. It sounded stupid, but it gave her a little comfort during a time when her heart had been repeatedly shredded by everything around her.

"But you know... you were the only woman around my age for a while there. I know we didn't really talk much, but I liked you. I... I considered you a friend. And I know that you know that already... that's why I never told you to your face or anything... but you were a damn good friend. And a damn good person... you didn't deserve any of this shit... you know that, right?"

Willow was interrupted by Randall placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Five minutes." He told her solemnly. "Then we're out of here."

Willow nodded wordlessly. Once he was out of hearing range, she painfully continued. "Listen, Julie... we gotta go deliver the cure now. I've got your kukri, so watch over me, okay? And after we're done, we'll be back for you, I promise. And we'll make sure Eli comes back with us, so don't worry about him. So... I guess this is it for now... goodbye."

With those words, Willow turned her back on Julie's grave and left to rejoin the others. Her stuff was already packed up and ready to go, but she had been running out of stuff to say to Julie anyway. Even though Julie couldn't hear her... it did make Willow feel a little better.
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Strompy
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Knowing it was coming did nothing to lessen the impact. How much more did they have to suffer for this? Three friends gone. Two in as many days. How many more friends would they have to lose? Who would be next? Emmett? Eli? Randall? What about Kelsey? Or Willow? Brandon was angry.

"Where the fuck is it!?" he growled as he crawled around on his hands and knees in their suite.

It must have fallen out when he took his shirt off last night. They were leaving in five minutes and he couldn't leave without it. It could be anywhere. He had the others in his pocket but one was missing. He looked under the chairs, under the desk, in all the corners. He went through all the sheets on the bed and couldn't find it. He checked under the cushions on the chairs. Finally flipping the bed over to look under it. It wasn't there either.

"FUCK!" he bellowed, picking up a lamp and throwing it across the room, putting a hole in the wall.

He wasn't angry he couldn't find it. There was nothing they could have done for Mac, or for Glenda, they died so suddenly. Thi was different. They should have made for the lab last night. They never should have stopped. They kept going through the night when Willow was in trouble, why couldn't they have done the same for Julie. He should have made a run for it in the night. At least checked the place out. If it was still standing and there were signs of life he could have brought help if there was any. It was a chance they didn't even try for.

"WE DIDN'T EVEN TRY!" he yelled at the emptiness.

He sank to his knees in defeat. Then he saw it, as the light caught it at the right angle. He snatched it off the ground like a starving animal snatched at scraps. He held it tight in his closed fist, pressing his fist to his mouth. The anger subsided a little bit, losing its edge but not going away. He might not have any reason to regret his inaction if there really was nobody at the lab, or if they couldn't do anything about the infection. If they could though... he'd never forgive himself.

He opened his hand and looked at the little copper bullet resting in his palm. Its two siblings were in his breast pocket as always.
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Is that so?
"H-hey, Willow..."

A small and familiar voice caught Willow's attention before she could rejoin the others. She sheathed Julie's kukri and knelt down beside her. Despite looking like she had slept well, she still looked worn out. Not that she could blame her.

"What's up, Kels?" Willow brushed a few pink hairs out of her own eyes to get a better look at her.

Willow resisted the urge to ruffle Kelsey's hair. Jen's little pep talk about everyone wanting to be treated like adults still rung with her; especially in light of her epic failure with Connor last night. She decided it might be time to try a different approach with the kids. It might be different if she was their mother, but she wasn't. Maybe that was why Brandon was so much better with them than she was.

"I'm tired of people getting hurt and dying." Kelsey looked up at her with heavy eyes.

"I... I know." Willow frowned and fought back a few tears she didn't know she still had. "Me too, kiddo."

"But... but what if dad..."

"Nothing is happening to your dad." Willow quickly cut her off.

"Or... or you? Why... why was Brandon hurting you?"

"H-hurting me?" Willow was taken aback by the young girl's accusation. "Brandon has never hurt me, what are you talking about?"

Kelsey was looking at her hesitantly. Contemplatively. Willow couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she got the feeling the young girl didn't fully believe her.

"But... yesterday... you were screaming after those guys attacked us." Kelsey started recalling. "I got scared and came into your room to see what was going on... and- and there was blood. And you and Brandon were naked and he was sticking his-"

"You saw that!?" Willow's jaw dropped and her face turned beet red; she instantly looked around to make sure nobody else heard that before leaning in close to Kelsey. "No, no, no... Brandon wasn't hurting me, sweetie. He was... helping me feel better. And you can't tell anyone else you saw that."

"It... helps you feel better?" Kelsey furled her brow before a look of realization swept her face. "Wait, were you and Brandon having se-"

"Yes!" Willow sharply interrupted Kelsey for the third time in a single conversation.

"... I expected something different..."

"When I was your age, so did I." Willow let out a tired sigh and prepared to shift this conversation back on topic. "But see, Kels... he wasn't hurting me. And don't worry about me and Brandon, okay? We're tough, we can handle ourselves. So can everyone else here, especially your dad."

"Julie was tough too. So was Glenda. And you almost died too before that. It was... really scary."

Kelsey's words struck Willow in the heart. Even evoking the memory of both of them right now sent a wave of regret and pain through her. It made her recent brush with death seem even crueler by comparison; why had she survived when others hadn't?

"Yeah... yeah, you're right." Willow reminisced with a nod. "They were tough, too, weren't they...?"

She didn't know what to say anymore. She had no more reassurance left. Kelsey was absolutely right. Julie had been tough. Glenda was probably the toughest of them all. And they had both died within 24 hours of each other. In this world, it didn't matter how tough you were. One stray bullet or one bite and you could be done. There was nothing she could say to Kelsey that would take away that danger. And no way that she could convince her it didn't exist.

Kelsey looked at Willow hesitantly for a moment, but eventually took a step forward and wrapped her tiny arms around her. Willow cringed as one of her hands put pressure against the gunshot wound on her back, but she didn't have the heart or the strength left to stop her. Even less so as she dug her face into Willow's shoulder and started crying. Not just whimpering or tearing up. Crying. Willow closed her eyes and hugged Kelsey back, placing one hand on the back of her head. Even though Willow thought she had no tears left, she found herself fighting back another wave of them.

"We're gonna make this right, Kels. I promise."
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Strompy
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More posts, more Busey.
Annie and Connor stood out the front with the ease and comfort you would expect from a person witness to grief but not a party to it. He felt the same way back at Mount Kisco. He decided to approach and let them know that it was business as usual for the time being.

"Hey, Connor. That was solid work you did in practice yesterday. I have something for you." he said producing his knife and handing it sheath and all to Connor.

"That's yours now."

Connor showed promise during their training session. He wasn't ready for a gun of his own just yet. Once they were back in a less populace area and didn't have to worry about the noise they were making quite so much he'd show him how to shoot and give him the 22 he had especially for him. Leaving him completely without a weapon was unacceptable now more than ever.

Brandon reached into his bag and brought out Glenda's knife. That was Brandon's knife now. He had plans for that knife that he still intended to follow, it just meant that some of the surprise would bd gone. He secured the sheath to his belt and gave Connor and his new blade an approving nod.
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DoctorYerishi
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
Annie led Connor out of the hotel and into the cold light of day. Once outside, he wrapped his slightly oversized sweater around him tightly – it was the best they could scrounge up from the laundry left behind at the hotel. Annie did the same with her new, not-very-stylish hot pink jacket. She had found it in the closet of the room she and Connor ended up taking.

The mood was heavy, and understandably so. Annie was grateful when Brandon interrupted their wallowing in it.

“Thank you,” Connor said.

His eyes were on his new weapon. He drew the knife from his sheath and weighed it in his hand.

Annie looked Brandon in the eye, meanwhile. “Thank you,” she repeated, more meaningfully.

Then she looked around – almost everyone was outside now. Randall and Jen had been for a while, and Willow and Kelsey had just emerged from the lobby.

Ahead, Eli was pacing up and down the parking lot, leaving boot-prints in the snow as he went. He looked tired but far away from sleep. There was an angry restlessness to his demeanour and visage. As if sensing her staring, he looked to Annie. She looked away.

“Good,” he said, in her direction. “Let’s move.”

She looked behind her, finding that Emmett had appeared unbeknownst to her. In his leather jacket and gloves, he seemed unfazed by the weather. As he silently walked past her to help take the lead, she studied him.

With his beard and grim eyes, he looked even more intimidating than Eli. His vibe was different, though. Previously, she would have thought sadder, but now Eli had that going for him too. She wondered what his story was. She would have to ask Randall next time they stopped.

“Come on, honey,” she said, turning to Connor as the others started following Eli and Emmett west. “Time to go.”

* * *

They walked along the interstate for almost an hour, according to Eli’s watch. They had spotted two rotters along the way, and Emmett had volunteered to run ahead and dispatch them. Eli wished they had a more effective way of doing that at a long range.

Maybe if we had a bow, he theorized. Julie was apparently good with those. Before she broke her wrist… and before she died.

He scowled at himself for calling up the memory, and redirected his mental energy to the exit they were approaching. The scowl remained as he led the group down it and onto South Cass Avenue, a quiet two-lane street flanked by snow-dusted trees.

Before and after digging the hole out back, he had studied the hotel’s brochures carefully. A couple of them had maps of the area and pointed out areas of interest nearby. Argonne had been one of them. If they were to be believed, the street leading up to it would be just ahead to their right.

We’re gonna be there soon, he told himself. And then we’re gonna find out what all this was worth.
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Is that so?
Randall cautiously rested his hand on his bag. They were almost there. Almost to Argonne. In a few short minutes, he would know if this entire trip had been worth it or nothing than a fading glimmer of false hope. He hoped more than anything that it was the former. But there were a lot of factors. The cure could be a hoax. The lab could be overrun. Maybe something had gone wrong.

No.

Randall strictly stopped himself from going down that path. Not now. Not when they were so close. He just focused on the right here and right now. And if nothing else, he would be glad to be out of the cold, his arm stump could feel the biting of the cold vividly despite being inside his sweater. At his side, Kelsey marched next to him. He had to stay strong for her. If there was one person in this entire group he had made this trip for it, it had been for her. So she could live in a world free of all this.

"So, do you guys know anything about this lab? What it specializes in or anything?" Jen asked curiously, breaking the uneasy tension in the air. "You've come all this way and I haven't really heard anything other than the name of it."

"We don't really know." Willow answered the question first flatly. "We just have a name and a location."

"Believe it or not, we don't have much to go off of." Randall added. "Just a wing and a prayer."

"You guys are nuts. You know that right?" Jennifer responded lightly with a soft smile.

"We'll find out for sure in a few minutes."

Randall's eyes fell on the turn that they were slowly approaching. They were almost there. He could feel his heart pounding away in his chest; he couldn't help it anymore. This trip had cost them Mac, Glenda, and Julie. Now he was going to find out of their sacrifices had been worth the cost.
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Strompy
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If it weren't so cold Brandon's palms would be sweating. He held his C8 like a child might squeeze a teddy bear. They had suffered through so much to get here. He almost didn't want to see for himself.

Their most recent loss, Julie, felt like some of the precious little joy left in the world had gone with her. She helped to keep him sane through their ordeal. When Willow had been hurt Julie kept him from despair. She was good for everybody, even if it was just providing a song or some normal conversation to keep people's minds from dark thoughts, which was an easy trap to fall into.

One that he was falling into at that very moment. Doubt ate at him as they drew closer and closer. He didn't know what he wanted to find. If it was abandoned or overrun than they had come all this way and lost so much for nothing. If they were there... they may have been able to help Julie.

As horrible as their losses had been he couldn't allow himself to regret coming. He'd made great friends because of it. Friends and much more, he reflected as he looked ahead at Willow. Even if it proved to be for nothing, it was something they had to try for. Even if it all their efforts ended in failure, trying was in itself a worthy thing. How would Julie keep those other darker thoughts at bay? She'd probably sing. Brandon couldn't hold a tune so well, but even so, he quietly began with one of his mom's favorites.

"We were born before the wind, also younger than the sun, ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic..." he sang quietly in his very modest singing voice.
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Is that so?
Willow noticed Brandon lagging a little bit behind everyone else. Ever since Julie had died, he hadn't said much. She slowed her pace to wait for him and although she hated to interrupt his cute singing, she did anyway. She fell into step beside him and wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled herself close, avoiding his gunshot wound as best she could.

"How are you holding up, babe?"

Her tone with him was soft but serious.
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Strompy
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Things always seemed better when Willow was with him. She made him feel safe, wanted, important and bold. He was indestructible with her. It also made him afraid. He sighed heavily, grateful for her comfort and lost for an answer.

"I don't know." he said unhelpfully.

Willow deserved something a little more than that. He should figure it out and tell her. Or fugure it out with her. He sighed again and tried to find the words to explain, and maybe make sense if things for himself.

"When you were shot, I was scared. Really scared. I was afraid you'd die. When Randall got bitten I was afraid he'd die. When Julie and Kelsey were taken and we had no idea by who or why, I was afraid. Everytime I knew what I was afraid of and why." he explained as he puzzeled it out.

"Mac died and there was no warning. Max killed Glenda right in front if me. Julie got bitten. She must have been so... I'm afraid. I try really hard to stay hopeful but I'm terrified. I'm afraid of what we're going to find or not find at this lab. I'm afraid of what could happen today, and tomorrow and the day after. I'm afraid of losing more people. Most of all I'm afraid of losing you." he admitted to them both.
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Is that so?
Willow awkwardly gave Brandon a quick peck in the cheek as they walked. She wished she had some magical solution for his fear, but the truth of the matter was that she was just as terrified if not more so. In an ironic twist, Willow was learning that her anxiety and fear from life before helped teach her a lot of ways to cope with the fear she was feeling now.

"I'm scared too, you know? When I was dying, I kept thinking of you and it kept me going. It kept my eyes open and my lungs breathing. I should have died, but you gave me the strength to keep fighting. You still give me that strength. Whatever happens, we'll look out for each other. I promise." Willow tried to assure him. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I have no intention of letting that go."
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Strompy
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Thank God I found you.

"Thank you for reminding me." Brandon said squeezing her gently.

He buried his face in her pink hair, smelling her with a contented smile.

"I'm all yours. Every piece." he whispered.

To the end.
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Is that so?
Julie's last decree to Willow echoed in her mind: "Take every opportunity you can with Brandon, okay? Don't ever second guess yourself."

"Right back at you." She whispered contently. "Every piece."

She wanted to take him right here and now. Pin him to the ground and have her way with him. But for countless reasons, she couldn't. This wasn't a bad consolation though.

"Get a room, you two." One of the aforementioned reasons, Jen, teased them from ahead. "Or better yet, find one in the lab. We're almost there."
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