FALLEN ANGELS.
chapter four, introductions.
[ season three, episode three ]
THEODORE BLAKE WOUDLN'T GO as far as calling himself suicidal.
He just really fucking hated his dad. Phillip Blake was an asshole. In another life, he had two children and a wife. He was happy.
But now, after the Fall, he had no wife. All he had was a dead daughter and a son he hit the shit out of daily.
Theo currently rested on roof of his apartment complex. He lounged in his large beach chair with a radio and a cooler by his side. An umbrella shielded him the Senoia, Georgia sun.
He took a swig of his beer and leaned his head back. Then he heard the roar of trucks on the roads below. He stood from his spot and walked to the edge of the roof.
He watched as two women, one black and one white, were led from the trucks and into a building below. Another man was pulled out of the other truck on a gurney.
He huffed to himself. Would his father kill these people too and put their heads in fish tanks? Probably so.
He didn't bother to leave the roof. He stayed up there a lot. Sometimes Cole joined him.
Cole Tanner was the closest thing Theo had to a brother. Cole was four years older than Theo, making him twenty-two.
Cole had been at Woodbury for about seven months now. His mother was the kindest person Theo'd ever met. She baked cookies whenever someone new arrived at Woodbury. Would she make cookies for the two new women? She sang and she danced at parties. She read the children books and she played games with them. She visited the elderly who had no family.
Cole and his mom didn't like the Governor. All because of how he treated Theo. Cole even threatened him once and then the Governor threatened to throw him and his mom out for the biters.
As night settled, Theo returned home. He opened their front door silently but unbeknownst to him, his father sat in a chair in the dark living room.
As Theo shut the door, his father switched on the lamp. Theo let out a small shout of surprise before he held his chest in attempt to calm his ponding heart.
"Where you been, son?" His dad asked him.
"On the roof, as always," Theo replied. The Governor responded only by nodding. "Who're those women you brought in today?"
"If you joined us down here in the real world you would know," he said. Theo's fingers twitched into fists inside his jacket pockets.
"I like it up there better," Theo replied.
His father's lips twitched upwards into an angry smile. He pressed the palms of his hands against the arms of his chair and stood up.
Theo's fists clenched tighter as his father walked towards him one slow step at a time. When he finally reached his son, he looked down at him.
"I thought I raised you to be a man, not some daydreamin' pussy," he said. His voice was calm but Theo knew his father was fuming. He could see it in his eyes.
"You haven't raised me since the world went to shit," Theo hissed. As soon as the words left his mouth he felt a sting in his cheek.
Theo's head whipped to the side from the blow. He looked at his father, his eyes wide and blood gathering in his mouth.
Another strike. Theo was thrown back from the force of the punch. He fell into the counter, knives and bowls clattered onto the floor below.
Theo had blood trailing down his chin, blood stained his teeth and his lips, the taste of metal exploded in his mouth.
Theo scrambled backwards but his father kneeled in front of him and bunched Theo's shirt in his fist. "I've raised you since the day you were born, son."
Theo refused to let the tears that burned in his eyes fall. His father scared him. No, he terrified him. Theo was never scared of his father before the Fall. But then his mom died and then Penny died... and then so did his dad. He wasn't actually dead, unfortunately. But he was inside.
"If I ever, ever hear words like that leave your mouth again it'll be much worse next time. I promise you that. Do you understand, Theodore?" The Governor asked him, his eyes full of rage.
Theo nodded, "yes, I— I understand."
"Good," his dad let go of his shirt roughly before standing to his full height. He looked at the trashed kitchen before looking back at his son. "Clean this up."
So Theo cleaned it up.
As he did, he stopped on his knees in the middle of the small kitchen and stared at the knife in his hands. He'd never physically harmed himself before but he couldn't help but wonder what it felt like?
He eyed the knife for a little while long before he decided he wouldn't do it. He stood and put the knife back in the knife holder. Once the kitchen was clean, he showered and changed clothes.
He brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth with mouth wash until there was no more blood and the taste of blood was no longer there.
Once done, he left.
He returned to the roof of the apartment complex. He opened the umbrella, knowing the sun would be beaming before he ever woke up. He then wrapped his blanket around him as he settled in his lounge chair. He shut his eyes once he was comfortable and started to drift into a sleep.
Then he heard it.
"Are you asleep?"
Theo's eyes flew open at the sound of Cole's question. He looked at the older boy. "Yes," he responded flatly.
"Hope you're sleepin' good cause I can't." Cole sighed as he set his own chair up beside Theo's.
Cole couldn't sleep most nights. He was thankful for Woodbury and the safety it offered them but he'd grown up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. He was used to falling asleep to the sound of coyotes yipping somewhere in the woods and horses neighing.
Not dead silence.
That's what freaked him about Woodbury. Most nights it was so silent outside on the streets, Cole thought for sure everyone had disappeared from the world. Sometimes he even scared himself so bad he had to go check on his mother.
"You got new bruises," Cole finally said once he got comfortable with his own chair, pillow, and blanket.
"Yeah," Theo muttered. "I pissed Dad off pretty bad earlier."
Cole watched Theo for any sort of reaction but there was none. His brows furrowed, "why don't you just leave? Come stay with me and Mom, or go stay with Martinez. I know he offered you a spot at his place."
"I'm not leavin'. I don't want him to think I'm an even bigger pussy than he already does," Theo sighed.
"Who cares what he thinks? What matters is if you're safe or not. Which you obviously are not." Cole argued. "He's gonna kill you one day, Theo."
"Maybe," Theo shrugged. "Or maybe I'll kill him first."
______________________________
word count: 1,207
everyone meet theo and cole!!!! i would like to officially welcome my babies into the wastelands series. you guys are gonna love them so much.
i'm the leader of the 'theo blake deserves better' club. right after cole of course. i love them together so much.
so yes, theo is eighteen and cole is twenty-two. but guys, y'all are not ready for the cole, theo, and odessa trio that's coming. chaotic besties to say the least. y'all are gonna adore their little trio.
next chapter y'all... y'all are NOT prepared for all the heartbreak and emotions that's coming into this book. it's one of the saddest things in this entire book.
BUT GUYS!!! i wrote four and half chapters today. freaking insane. idk what happened. i got a random spur of motivation from an edit on tiktok and went to work.