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I GUESS IT MAKES LOGICAL SENSE WHY LOPE AND MARS FEEL THE NEED TO BABY ME. Sleep is important. Obviously. I get it. But I've gone continuous nights without it, and it's different when I lose that kind of rest compared to when they do. They're still kids - to me at least.
It is good though. Shows that their humanity is still intact. That they're not going insane. I'm not sure if I'm insane yet. I mean I'm not...crazy. Just...used to it all. I lost a lot before this apocalypse - so this place may seem like hell to others, but I was already there.
I can admit though, that I feel like shit, and the first thing I'll be doing when we make it to ACE, is sleeping. At that point I don't care for keeping my eye out. We'll be secluded in a safe zone - and even if I decide not to trust any of them - I know damn well the lot of them won't try killing me.
"Usually we'd cut through here," Lope points straight ahead through a town's road with her arm, "But last time we went through we saw a bunch of widows."
"...widows?" Mars repeats.
Lope cringes before facing her, "Yeah...you never seen one?"
"Like a spider? Yeah, I've seen a spider before-"
"No, no, shit sorry," Lope quickly shakes her head, "They're zombies."
Oh. I know what she's talking about. Back at the safe camp I was stationed at we called them climbers. The kids at the camp referred to them as 'The Twisty Ones' - when really, they aren't twisty, they're broken. Physically detatched.
Now...the best way to explain one, in my opinion, would be a normal person - just their limbs turned backwards and their fingers grown incredibly long. Hence the nickname climbers. They usually stayed in tall buildings - the canopies of trees. Which is another reason I was awake most nights. In case any climbers were above us in the forest.
I also prefer the name widows. That actually makes more sense for them. I'm using it.
"They're like the wendigos from Until Dawn." Lope says.
What even does that mean-
"Oh shit." Mars' face immediately scrunches up, "Yeah fuck no - what long way are we taking instead?"
"That's the thing." Lope sighs, "It's widows...or the bikers."
"Bikers?" Mars repeats with a frown.
"Yep. To avoid the widows we'll have to sneak past where they've been reported around most frequently." Lope nods.
"I pick bikers." I say quickly. I've seen climbers - sorry, widows - before, and they're what nightmares are made out of.
"I pick widows." Mars counters with the shake of her head.
"Yeah, I'm team widows." Petra agrees.
"Well, I'm bikers." Nari walks over to stand by me. Clearly this one is smart then. I'm guessing he's also seen them.
"I'm bikers." Lope nods.
Rikki signs something and Lope groans, "He's widows."
"So we're all divided?" I raise a brow.
"We could split up." Nari shrugs, "If we're more comfortable with different routes."
Nope. No way. If Mars wants to go through the widows and I want to go through the bikers then I guess I'll have to change my mind. She's immune after all. We can't have the supposedly immune one go and die. And something tells me she's not arguing when it comes to the bikers.
"Widows, then." I mutter.
Lope turns and starts signing nonsense I can't understand to Rikki who signs back with equal attitude - and eventually, she turns to the group, "Fine. Mars, Rikki and Petra have to deal with any widows we go by then."
"I'd rather die from a widow than give the bikers the satisfaction of killing me." Mars shrugs, following the line Lope had previously pointed out.
"Something tells me it's not the bikers, but a specific biker." Petra raises a brow from beside me. Mars doesn't bother with a response.
"As long as we stay as far away from tall buildings as possible, we'll be fine." I roll my eyes, readjusting the bag on my back.
"That's the thing, there are a lot of tall buildings through this route." Lope plays with her thumb almost nervously.
"Then we stay in the centre of the road, the furthest point from any of them. If they decide to jump out of windows and down onto us - we'll have more notice." I decide, starting to walk in between the last set of abandoned cars we'll see for a while and further into the ghost town.
"Whatever, as long as Mars is up front and centre." Lope says.
"Guys, let's not-"
"Up here." I click at the front of the group, interrupting Mars and pointing to the space beside me. She grouchily stomps forward and starts walking beside me, arms crossed and pout firm.
"Oh, don't act like a child." I roll my eyes.
"I am a child."
"You're seventeen."
"Legally still a child."
"When do you turn eighteen then?" I ask.
"I don't even know what the date is dude. I just know it's been around a year since the apocalypse started." She scoffs.
"It should be mid May." I offer.
"Then in four months." She nods, "I'm the eleventh of September."
"That...is a very unfortunate birthday." I clear my throat.
She draws her eyebrows in at the comment before it seems to hit and she makes an 'o' shape with her mouth. I don't even know how having that birthday would work. Do you mourn that day or celebrate? I don't know. I would definitely celebrate. People in public, with no context, wouldn't understand why though.
"It's a good story though." Mars shrugs.
"I suppose."
"What?" She laughs lightly, "Did you lose anyone then?"
"Not then."
"Then there. We can have fun on that day instead of...whatever it is other people do." She shakes her head.
"Did you get bullied over that as well?" I ask.
She's silent.
"Fuck, Mars." I shake my head.
"It was mainly the frog thing though."
"At least you can't get bullied anymore I guess." I sigh.
"Hey, we don't know that yet." She makes a face, "Maybe I'll get bullied by the other kids at ACE."
"Don't jinx yourself."
"That's childish Finnegan. Only children believe in jinxes." Mars tuts, shaking her head.
"Coming from the most childish person I think I've ever met in my life." I roll my eyes.
"Here's the thing though Blake-y, I get to be childish, because I am still a child. You are not." She hums.
"Whatever. If anyone tries bullying you, come to me." I huff.
"You see, my father said the same thing - but even he couldn't do much. I just stopped telling him." Mars' voice quietens a little, maybe at the mention of her father or the memory of her bullying. Maybe both.
"Probably because parents aren't allowed to walk into school and deal with the brats themselves." I point out.
"Well, you're not my parent."
"Exactly. Meaning I can do whatever the fuck I want regarding little shits who fuck with you." I tighten my fists subconsciously.
"I don't think any adults would be allowed on school grounds, not just parents." Mars sounds amused.
"We aren't dealing with school grounds Mars, we're dealing with survivors." I step on a particularly crunchy leaf.
"Huh. Well then yeah. I suppose you can deal with anyone who decides to bully me." She pauses to think about it.
"Damn right." I scoff.
"Aww, Blake I knew you'd come around. I'm unbearable sure, but I'm insistent as well." Mars nudges me with her arm.
"Stop that."
"What's next? Friendship bracelets?"
"You know why I'm keeping you alive planet." I say.
She stops for a moment, smile faltering before she clears her throat, "Right."
"We'll need to find a way to make sure you don't get inspected underneath those two bandages." I add, talking quieter, making sure I can hear the rest of the group behind us so they don't overhear.
"I'll just ask her not to." Mars shrugs, "Problem solved."
"It's not that simple." I shake my head, "You think a camp - a rebel camp - as proactive and lasting as theirs is going to simply risk letting an infected person in because they don't want to show their arm?"
"...I didn't think about it that way."
"I know."
"Maybe I could say it's a dog bite?" She suggests, "Or a wolf? Bear?"
"She'll take one look at your bites and see that they're human teeth Mars." I debunk that theory quickly.
"Not human." She mutters.
"We'll figure it out." I sigh, the sigh feeling more tired than frustrated.
I keep on scanning high above ground every time we go past a regularly tall building. On look out for you-know-what. All infected have the same goal, the same strength, but their tactics and speed vary. Widows are by far the fastest I've come across. They can jump down on you, quietly, slit your throat with a claw before you even have a chance to scream. They're stealthy, quick, and quiet. All of the above make them the most frightening thing a zombie can be, and that is smart.
"What if I'm not human?" She asks suddenly, sounding somewhat startled by her own question.
I turn my head to look at her, the way her eyes are focused on the road ahead and drawn tightly on everything ahead. It's the first time that I actually imagine being put in her situation. When I first started believing it, I considered it a skill. A gift. I still do. But from her perspective it seems more like a burden. Like she doesn't want it.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I mean..." She trails off before restarting with a huff, "I've been bitten twice and nothing has happened. Maybe I have turned. Maybe I am one of them. Maybe I'm just lucky it hasn't gone to my brain. What if I'm not human, but my brain is tricking me into thinking I am?"
That's...dark. And sort of a reach. I roll my eyes and turn my head so I'm facing forward again, "You're human Mars."
"How are you so sure?"
Other than the fact that she is clearly living and breathing? That she eats like a human, hurts like one and has far too many emotions to be considered not one?
"So long as your brain is, you are." I say instead. That seems to be the only thing that will convince her.
"Okay." She lets out a breath.
"If you ever become one of them truly - you'll know - because I'll kill you." I add.
She huffs out a laugh, "My hero."
"Not joking."
"I know." She says in a tone that makes it sound like she really does. At least one of us is sure.
I'm about to make a comment - maybe say something to even out my threat, but my eyes catch on high. Above. An abandoned parking lot six stories high. Movement. Quiet movement and yet visible enough in the stillness of the area that I could latch onto it.
When I stop walking so does everyone around me. Mars starts to ask me something before trailing off, and I can already tell Lope and Nari are following my line of sight.
"There's one up there isn't there?" Lope sighs, voice quiet.
I nod.
"Well, shit." Nari mumbles, reaching behind his back to grab his splintered hockey stick.
"It's fine," Lope shakes her head, "As soon as we deal with this - as soon as we're done - the camp is only a ten minute walk to the outskirts of the town. We'll be fine."
I don't know how they've managed to survive this long if their camp is a ten minute walk away from where even only one widow remains. I'd be impressed if I wasn't busy dreading the inevitable sighting of the same one again or maybe more.
"Keep Rikki in the middle." I say.
"Wha-"
"He can't hear them coming. Quick. Everyone on the outside." I order. It takes them ten seconds to listen to me, scattering into some sort of defensive position.
"Has anyone here ever killed a widow before?" Mars asks shakily.
No one responds. Which is just dandy.
"I've run from them." Lope says before swallowing, "Nari and I both have."
"And I'm pretty sure all you can do is run from them." Nari adds, tone a bit worried.
Agreed. I've seen climbers before - seen them rip people to shreds who aren't looking. I've seen them shot but not killed. I've survived them by going wherever they aren't.
Unfortunately, right now, I don't know if that's an option. If they're stalking us right now, waiting for us to look down or even merely forward. Running seems like an instinct - but it also seems like the flight one. If you can't tell, I'm a fight person.
The only good thing about widows is actually how quick and dangerous they are. They don't turn people. Can't really afford to when they've already shredded your whole head off. There's nothing left to infect when the brain is gone - the control system.
Which means you don't have to really worry about getting infected. Their scratches don't work that way since they have boney claws that are basically so dead they don't carry any of the infection - and their bites can only turn you if you manage to escape which...doesn't happen a lot.
Widows are created from the few people who have ran away from them after a bite. But that's an odd and rare occurence. It doesn't matter. Widows also stick together. Unlike normal zombies that can remain isolated. So if what I saw up there was what I thought it was - there has to be more where it came from.
I think I'd rather the pack of normal ones from the highway over these fuckers up above. I'd pick running on top of cars and risking rope burn from a risky jump over looking to the sky for a face hugger any day.
Another blur of movement high in the parking lot.
"Fuck, that's definitely one of them." Nari breathes.
"Do we shield our faces?" Petra asks, voice frantic.
"You hold your knife out." I correct. She listens promptly.
She also has good timing because a shadow above us - the only thing that could alert us - starts to get bigger and bigger.
One of them has jumped. Right towards Petra.
Even though she has her knife out I still don't trust her luck. I push her away quickly, the widow's claw stabbing me in the arm but luckily too distracted to get a good angle on me. It screeches loudly - droplets of saliva flying out of its mouth as rotten and sharpened teeth present themselves.
I hate these things. They are literally nightmare fuel.
The one that landed is instantly bolting for me again. It takes it three seconds to push me to the ground and start clawing at me. It nicks me in the eyebrow before I push out my forearms that were already instinctively at my chest - and try to hold it away with an X formation.
It won't last though. Not another five seconds. It'll take these things only a moment to rip through my arms and then get to my brain. I may as well just put my arms down to make it quicker.
But none of that happens.
My arms don't bleed past one layer of skin. My head is intact and unmarked minus one scratch in my eyebrow that bleeds down past my eye. There's a stab wound from the claw in my arm from before, but it's definitely better than what I've seen happen regarding widows and-
Oh. Mars is there. She's heaving, blood splattered across her body as her eyes ring wide and clear searching me for any marks. The famous bat she's never used before is in her hands, and based off of the gunk falling from the nails battered into it - I'm guessing she's just properly used it for the first time.
Now would be a good moment to feel proud or acknowledge that she's managed to shred a layer of fear and replace it with violence - but I can't even comprehend those confusing feelings before the widow she just swung off me is back on it's twisted and unruly limbs, hissing and now turning it's attention to her.
From high up at the parking lot levels, more emerge, bending down and ready to lunge and jump down at us. I'm about to do something stupid like tackle the widow on the ground with us, tell the kids to run so I can stay behind and distract the ones high above - but luckily that doesn't have to happen. Luckily, there's a sound and the swivel of the decaying heads in that direction.
Down the road, engine whirring loudly - approaches a vehicle. Lucky for us, not a motorcycle. Instead a large truck with massive wheels and an even bigger tray on it's back. The truck beeps loudly, blinking it's headlights rapidly the closer it comes.
"Move!" Lope yells loudly, hopping backwards and out of the way with Rikki, Nari and Petra following Suit. I quickly duck and roll towards Mars on the other side of the road, seconds before the truck comes to a stop and people in variations of different clothing jump out - all armed.
It happens so quickly. The way one one of them pulls out a long gun with a barrel on top of it and pulls the trigger.
Except bullets don't fly out of it. No, fire does.
The woman holding the weapon unleashes the flames with ease, stepping back and firing at the widow that almost killed me and was bout to kill Mars. I pull Mars down by her arms so that she's underneath where the flames touch, heat licking at my arms from the waves of it.
Finally when the flames stop and all that I can hear is the silent and yet eerie sizzling of burning dead flesh, the woman holding the flame thrower grins at me and pulls up the goggles that were on her face.
"Did I get you?" She asks, stepping towards us.
"Up." Is all I say before she's pushing the goggles on quickly and aiming upwards just in time for another widow jumping down...and then another two after it.
I watch in what feels like slow motion when she is able to burn one of them mid air - it's body falling to the ground with a disgusting sounding splat as small embers disappear from it. The other one though is at a different angle, a different area. An area where she can't get her flames in time.
It jumps on her like it once did me - and so it feels like instinct when I instantly dive for this stranger and pull off the nightmare creature with adrenaline fuelled strength.
"Knife!" I say during the action, and Petra from across the road slides one across the road with her feet, the kick weirdly perfect.
I plummet that knife straight into the widows head, but not without bearing another claw to my arm, only an inch underneath my already bleeding one from before.
"Shit." Mars scrambles towards me as I stand up from the widow, taking my arm and looking at it.
"Are you okay?" She asks.
"We just killed three widows." Is all I can say. Because I've seen what these things can do. How fast they can be. And we just killed two of them with fire and another with a blade. That's not skill. That's pure, religious, luck.
"Well more like flame lady did." Mars scoffs, eyes still on the two gaping wounds in my arm.
"Ciao." Said lady emerges, standing up and dusting dirt off her pants.
"You bit?" I ask.
"No. You?"
I shake my head.
"Thanks then. Don't know what would have happened if you didn't act quick enough." She lets out a breath, removing her goggles entirely from her face now and limply letting them hang on her wrist.
"Who are you guys?" I ask, turning to the rest of them.
"They're ACE." Lope answers for me, stepping forward and slinging her arms around one of the truck participants roughly.
"Hello Penelope." The woman says, sharing Lope's (Penelope?) braided hair except hers is instead a dark brown unlike the blonde Lope has going on.
"Penelope?" Petra smirks, crossing her arms.
"Shut up." Lope mumbles, a flush creeping into her cheeks.
The woman goes to hug Rikki as well, with that same sort of comfort she did with Lope. It takes that moment for me to realise she's their mother. The features make it more obvious now when I compare the three of them.
The woman shares the same amber-brown eyes that Rikki and Lope have, as well as their umber coloured skin. Lope takes sharp features from her like her jawline whereas Rikki shares the same pointed nose. They're a family. The three of them. And from the way their mom ruffles Nari's hair, he might just be apart of that bubble as well.
"You're late." Is all she says.
"We know." Lope nods, "We uh...we couldn't find Jacob, but...we didn't find him dead either."
"Ah." Her mother frowns, "I see. We'll send out more parties for him later."
"I can-"
"No. You've done enough." She interrupts Lope with the shake of her head before facing Mars and I.
"I'm Anais." She introduces, "Part of the council at Ace - I'm sure my daughter has told you. That over there," She points to the flame thrower woman who just waves and smiles, "Is Sylvie. Zane is back at ACE, and Jacob...well, you've heard."
"Dead." I say with a simple shrug. Mars squeezes my arm tightly.
Anais seems to ignore me before turning to one of the people in her truck and ushering them out. There's about seven of them if I count - including Anais and Sylvie. The woman she's ushering out right now looks to be the same age as Lope, brown hair and brown eyes, a distinct nose piercing and dangling star earrings.
She's dressed differently than the rest. With white clothes on and her hair tied back, almost like she wasn't brought here for fighting.
"This is Ella." Anais tells us, "She's out doctor."
She is a child.
"Hi." She says simply, stepping forward and straight towards me. I instinctively take a step back, drawing my eyebrows together and glaring down at her.
She raises a careless brow, "Dude...you're arm."
Ah. Right.
I hesitantly put it out for her where she grabs it rather firmly and starts looking at it with undeserved comfortability. With no hesitation or faltering she uses her own hands to wipe away the dripping blood before sighing and pulling out a white towel from the pocket of her long white coat. She wipes away the blood, only for it to start spilling out again.
"Wow," Sylvie whistles from behind me, putting an elbow on my shoulder as she looks down at my arm, "You're showing no pain. In shock or something?"
"No." I grumble, shaking her off me.
"Stitches." Ella confirms with a nod, "I'll do a group check up on all of you when you get back to base."
"Thank you." Mars smiles, "I'm Mars. This is Blake. Um - that over there, that's Petra."
Anais smiles at the three of us, "Welcome to ACE then folks."
"Oh! Pierce." Lope steps forward towards the doctor at my arm, "I got you wool and stuff. From the indie store."
"Oh, score." Ella completely abandons my arm to start diving through Lope's bag at the items she's scavenged.
"Think you can last the drive without fainting pretty boy?" Sylvie raises a brow at me before crossing her arms.
"I'll manage." I squint at her, assessing the woman in front of me. She looks...fine. She's got long black hair and a fringe - darker than any colour I've seen and an incredibly clear face. No blood, no scars, nothing.
"You're oddly clean for someone in the apocalypse." I note.
"Huh?" She looks confused for a moment before she looks down at herself and back up at me, "Oh that's probably because I'm not an idiot and I'm careful."
"You carry a flame thrower."
"That should make it more impressive then, no?" She smirks, poking the inside of her cheek with her tongue.
"Whatever you say." I let out a sigh. God, she's sort of annoying. Frustrating even. What is it with all these confident and mocking women in my life right now?
First there was Mars who's her own story. Then Lope who challenges me every opportunity she can. Ella who basically manhandled me before - and now Sylvie, her name is, who has zero shame and zero filter.
Petra has been fine so far...and Anais hasn't given me a reason yet. But three is more than two.
"How did you guys find us?" Lope asks her mom mainly, readjusting the bow on her back. Anais sees this and takes the weapon from her, giving her room to relax.
"Binoculars." Anais answers, "Zane had seen something. I took a look and recognised my kids."
"Thank god." Mars mutters "Those things...wow."
"You're the one who picked them over the other route." I glare and cross my stained red arms.
"And I still would." She childishly crosses her own arms, "Bikers suck."
"Amen." Ella shakes her head, suddenly not looking at her wool anymore.
"You guys hungry?" Anais quickly reverts the topic of discussion, "We have soup and bread back at camp and it's a three minute drive."
Three minutes? I don't see their camp from here, if it were three minutes away by vehicle I think I would.
"We speed a lot." Lope answers with a shrug, almost like she could read my mind, "With no laws anymore and no traffic, driving is the quickest mode of transportation in history."
"That's concerning." Petra makes a face.
"Eh," Lope waves a hand, "There are more dangerous things out there now."
"Amen." Ella says again, seemingly distracted as she now plays with strings of green and purple coloured wool around her finger.
"Soup and bread?" Anais brings our attention back.
"Right." Mars says, "Yes. Please. Please."
"Don't sound so eager," Ella tuts as she walks back to her seat in the truck, the other four randoms they brought taking up all its seats, "You'll have to go through one of my check ups first. And drive in the back."
Mars flinches at the words check up before I send her a look that tells her we'll deal with it. Bloodshed included or not.
"The back?" I repeat.
"Oh boy are you in for a treat," Sylvie claps her hands together with a concerning smile, "And I'm driving."
Lope points to the tray on the back of the truck and it all clicks.
Right. The spares of us are riding in that.
"Fun." I say sarcastically.
"Unless you want to sit on laps?" Sylvie raises an expecting brow.
"Tray it is." I mutter, walking to the back of it.
I'll give these people one thing. Their annoyingness has at least distracted me from the numerous wounds bleeding and staining my arm. Other than that, I hate it so far. When I get to ACE, I'm minding my business and talking to no one.
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This actually was meant to be a double update like I promised but I ended up just compiling it into one big giant chapter so it was more flowy.
Also, ao3 is down and...I...I don't know what to do? the enemies to lovers just reached a point where she showed up at his doorstep wounded? GUYS?!
Belladonna news:
Belladonna has been entirely written! A prologue, ninety chapters, and an epilogue :) Just working out the kinks before I have it all for you out and published.
Blake meeting new people:
- Juana.