"That was," Leo slowly mumbles to himself, staring at the back of Damon's head rest as we speed out of town.
"Awesome!" Zeke interjects, jumping in his seat behind me. I turn around to glare at him, complete bewildered by his attitude.
"Awesome?" I challenge, shaking my head in disbelief.
"Yea awesome!" Zeke shouts, his hands pounding on the back of my seat, continuing to pump himself up. The vibrations rumble through my body doing little more than making my stomach roll. "Did you see that things head pop!"
"I think I am going to be sick" I moan, clutching my stomach. My eyes slide shut, but the disturbing image of brains oozing over the side walk makes them open once more. I can't escape the images, the feeling of that thing clawing at me. It replays in my mind over and over again, haunting me.
Damon notices my discomfort, glancing at me with such concern that I feel the need to try to smile, to try to dissuade his worry. It is of no use however, even with just a glance he is able to penetrate through my disguise, to see all I try to hide. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, he reaches for me with his other. Scooping my hand in his, he rubs me gently with his thumb, soothing me as much as is possible in such a situation.
"I call I get to stomp on the next one!" Zeke grins with excitement, completely oblivious to everyone's discomfort.
"There are more?" Leo, having been snapped out of his trance by the thought, gapes at us. He shakes his head in disbelief, in hope that this can not be our reality.
"Yes." I confirm in a whisper, even as my heart sinks in my chest at the affirmation.
"How did this happen?" Leo asks, leaning toward us with the need to know all that we can offer. Sadly, having no idea myself, I am left with only a shrug in response. "We have to warn everyone!" Leo's voice rises in panic, sitting up straight now that he has a new priority pushing him on.
"And say what?" I snap, instantly regretting my tone when his eyes cloud over with despair once more.
"We have to do something," He argues, but his conviction has faded. He sinks back into his seat, all fight deflating from him, losing himself in his thoughts.
"He is right though," I offer, Leo's comment infecting me with a guilt that I can not ignore. Tilting my head to Damon I try to catch his eye, to get his opinion, but he only clenches his jaw tight as he concentrates on the road. "We can't just leave everyone." I urge, but still am only met with his silence.
"Eh, we're surrounded by country bumpkins," Zeke shrugs carelessly, "everyone and their grandma has a hunting rifle. They should be fine."
"This isn't just some hypothetical situation!" I scold, turning in my seat to once again glare at him. How can he be making jokes in a time like this?
"I'm being serious," he counters, his brows knitting together in confusion at my outburst.
"People could get hurt!" I cringe, my words sinking deep within me, my guilt clawing at my heart.
"Have you seen some of these people shoot?" he teases, a wry grin pulling at his lips.
"This isn't funny!" I shriek, losing control of my nerves, anger, and fear all at once.
An eerie silence fills the car, only broken by the light dinging of stones hitting the undercarriage. The car shifts and jerks, the little used dirt path we are flying down doing its best to shake us off our course. Even as we are pushed and thrown by the momentum Zeke manages to tense, staring at me with wide eyes.
"If you were so worried, why didn't you go inside and warn Jim?" Zeke narrows his eyes, his voice low and challenging. His words dig into me life a knife as I imagine our old friend stepping out of his establishment to find the gruesome remains.
"We are in a bit of a rush." Damon barks, saving me from having to scramble for a response.
Still, I feel frozen, trapped by the accusation. What will happen to Jim, to everyone? Why didn't I try to tell them. If only I had listened to Damon! If I didn't insist on going for Zeke, then one of those things wouldn't have been dragged right in the center of town.
"Ugh!" I grunt, slamming myself back into my seat no longer able to stand looking at Zeke. "Why were you even there!" I whine, unfairly turning the blame over to him.
"We went to get coffee, sue me!" Zeke huffs. As if my emotions weren't already a complete mess, a sudden pang of jealousy ripples through me.
"You guys made plans to go to the coffee shop?" I asked quietly, peeking at the two men from over my seat. I had assumed that it was a coincidence that they were there together, a possessive part of me roars inside at not being included.
"Yea, Zeke invited me this morning." Leo mumbles, finally showing some sense of life after listening to our argument.
"You didn't invite me?" I ask, feeling stupid but unable to squelch the hurt. Zeke's posture softens under my searching eye, he sighs before shrugging.
"I saw you leave with him," he says, his voice dripping with resentment as he jerks his chin in Damon's direction. "Seems you guys went and found some adventure!" Zeke all but whines.
"It's not like this was fun!" I argue, but it does nothing to stop the pout that forms on Zeke's lips.
"Children!" Damon scolds, turning to the three of us with a stern expression, his eyes demanding silence. "This is not the time, now lets go!"
I stare out the window as the revelation that we are no longer moving hits me. How did I not even notice that!
"Where are we?" Zeke asks, also looking around at our new surroundings in awe.
"Paradise" Damon quips sarcastically, shoving open his door and stepping out in one swift motion. Zeke scowls, but rather than engage in another pointless argument he silently follows Damon's lead.
With a shaky breath I too step out of the car only to stop short, an eerie shiver coursing through my bones. The icy wind howls through the trees of the thick forest, nipping at my face bringing with it the chill of death. The setting sun casts shadows that reach out, threatening to drag you away into the approaching darkness. I tense, my hair standing on end, and watch with anticipation at the snap of a branch. Something scurries in the distance, the rustling of fallen leaves echoing their warning.
Something is out there....
I jump, just barely containing my scream, at the slam of Leo's car door. He notices and shrugs sheepishly, but doesn't bother to offer an apology. Not that he really needs to, I am just too on edge. Pushing down my paranoia I turn away from the woods, swinging my door shut behind me.
My breath catches in my throat and my stomach drops when I finally set eyes on our destination. The whole structure leans to one side, its old bones ready to give with one strong gust. The aged wood, graying and faded with time, is cracked and uneven, dangerously stabbing into the air with its splintered edges. The only sign of life within the haunted cabin is the glowing light that fights to escape through the dust covered glass of its windows.
"This is safety?" Zeke asks skeptically, taking a step back to distance himself from the unsettling sight before him.
"You guys are finally here!" Elena shouts, stepping into the door way. She stops, glancing between us, her eyes settling on Leo with confusion.
"Seriously," Zeke continues, not bothering with greetings, "this looks like someplace we would go to die!"
"Only if you don't shut up" Damon grumbles, pushing his way past Elena, who doesn't even spare him a glance. She rushes to my side, wrapping me up in a tight hug that makes me gasp.
"Are you okay? What happened?" She shoots her questions, her eyes darting over me wildly searching for any signs of upheaval.
"No one is hurt" I croak, struggling against her binding arms to breathe.
"Are you sure?" She releases me only to turn her attention to Zeke, who yelps as she nearly crushes him.
"Yes" Zeke wheezes, his eyes popping out as he wiggles in her grasp.
"We only saw the back half." Leo mumbles distracted, still distancing him self after all he has seen.
"The back half?" She asks Leo, pulling up short from hugging him, sensing his need for space.
"You mean the front!" Zeke corrects, referring to the torso that greeted him outside of the coffee shop rather than the situation as a whole.
Leo shutters in response, all color draining from his face, and turns away from us no longer wanting to be apart of the conversation. My stomach rolls at the memory, also not appreciating being reminded of the incident. Taking a shaky breath I step to his side.
"You doing okay?" I whisper to him, trying to keep our exchange private.
"No," Leo confesses, his voice quivering with emotion.
"Yea, me either" I agree with a sigh.
Slowly, Leo finally lifts his eyes from the ground and studies me. Without another word he reaches out, lacing his finger with mine, searching for comfort. His cold touch shocks me, but rather than pull away from his clammy grasp I return the sentiment with a gentle squeeze of my own.
"You guys going to stand there all night?" Damon calls, his voice sharp and irritated, from the doorway.
With a turn of my head I am made aware of our sudden aloneness, and with that even more aware of how close the two of us are standing to one another. Damon considers us, his mouth tight and eyes hard, before turning with a grunt and disappearing through the walkway.
"Come on," I encourage Leo with a final squeeze before releasing him and following Damon into the rickety cabin.
"What do you mean they just started rising?" Elena demands after listening to our bazaar explanation of todays events. The light cast from the fire place causing shadows to dance across her face as she paces in front of us.
"Exactly that," I shrug, leaning forward in my spot on the couch, resting my weight on my knees.
I am exhausted! After running for my life I had a brief moment of jittery energy, but after sitting in the car, and now on the couch, I feel completely and totally drained. Yet, even know this urgency inside me keeps building. What are we doing just sitting around talking!
"There was no chanting covens or foreboding cracks of lightning." Damon confirms, shifting in attempt to find a comfortable way of sitting on the arm rest beside me.
"There has to be something!" Zeke pipes in from my other side, practically jumping off the couch cushion.
"Yea, Reza, isn't this kind of your thing? What would make that happen?" Leo asks, leaning forward from his place at the end of the couch in order to see me better. I gape at him, my stomach clenching as all eyes fall on me.
"I don't know!" I exclaim, leaning back into the couch in hopes that someone else will take the floor.
"Come on!" Zeke chirps, "You have to have some ideas! A virus? A mutation?" Zeke starts listing, only stopping when I groan.
"Those are movies, and as we have recently discovered movies are not the best place to get our information from" I point out, ignoring the chuckle from Damon as he nods in agreement.
"You have to have some idea" Leo urges, not having any idea what I was referring to.
"No, I really don't," I argue, shaking my head in defeat, "It wouldn't make sense for it to be a virus, it would have started in a hospital or something not in a graveyard. Same thing goes for a mutation, that wouldn't make bodies just wake up." I mumble more to myself than anyone else as I grasp at any explanation I can.
"No," I announce louder, finally making my mind up, "none of it makes sense. Any plausible theory for the walking dead is shot down by the fact they were rising from their graves. Parasites, viruses, experimentation, or even neurotoxins would all affect the living not the already buried!"
"They always have those scenes in the movies though, you know where they burst from the ground" Leo points out, turning in his seat to face me as we discuss.
"Yea," I shrug, crinkling my nose in distaste, "but those are the stories that don't make sense. Always just happens for no reason or like Satan made it happen. You know rejecting the souls from hell or whatever."
"Isn't it a sign of the apocalypse or something?" Leo suggests.
A log in the fire shifts with a loud crackle, sending up a flair of flames and burning ash as if the devil himself agrees.
"What?" Stefan asks, his face twisting with doubt yet he steps closer with curiosity.
"Oh you know, the apocalypse, rapture, whatever!" Leo stumbles over his words, shrugging self-consciously under everyone's gaze. "It's been a long time since I was in church, but something like Death will rise on a pale horse....or something?"
"Sounds like an end to all end," Elena offers, stopping to consider the idea with her arms crossed over her chest.
"I would say." Stefan agrees, his whole body tensing as he shares a worried look with her.
"Does this have to do with," Zeke pauses, his mouth hanging open mid word as he glances at Leo who doesn't know the truth about the vampires or the cryptic quest they have been sent on.
"With what you've been looking for?" I jump in, finishing the train of thought for Zeke.
"What are you talking about?" Leo raises an eyebrow, glancing around the room for an explanation. Everyone averts their eyes, not willing to be the one to speak up.
"I'd say so," Damon scoffs, answering my question while completely ignoring Leo, "but if this is any sign, I'd say we failed to stop it."
"Stop what?" Leo asks, his voice rising with annoyance.
"But she mentioned darkness, maybe this was inevitable?" Elena theorizes, turning to Stefan for his opinion.
"Okay," Leo shouts, standing from the couch in a huff, "someone needs to tell me what the hell is going on!" He demands, glaring at Elena and Stefan, who stand in front of him.
"I am a bit curious too," Zeke interjects with a small wave of his hand. I elbow him in the side, trying to get him to shut up. He grunts, glowering at me while he rubs his bruised ribs. "What? Trying to say you don't want to know?"
"Well," I awkwardly glance to Damon who is, as always, watching me intently. A blush creeps into my cheeks, I quickly avert my eyes and offer a half shrug. "Well yea, but its not our place."
"If it has something to do with what's going on, then yea it is our place!" Leo argues, his gaze hardening and his jaw set in determination.
"We just don't want to get you all messed up in it," Elena answers softly, trying to make us understand.
"I just watched a half rotted corpse try to climb up Reza like she was a jungle gym!" Leo shouts, gesturing to me with a wave of his hand. I cringe away from the volume of his outburst, and even more so at the memory that is all to often being brought up. "I think we are in it!"
"We either need to tell them or get them the hell away from here" Damon agrees, reaching down and rubbing my shoulder gently. I lean into his warmth, suppressing the sigh that always wants to escape at his touch. "I personally vote for a vacation. I hear Vermont is beautiful this time of year."
"We can't just run!" I turn to him in disbelief, pulling out of his grasp while shaking my head vehemently.
"Not we, you. We should get you as far away from this mess as possible!" He argues, his eyes demanding me to listen.
"I can't just go! Our family is here, this is our home. If there is something we can do to fix this, we have to at least try!"
----------- Damon's POV -----------
My body tenses, eyes narrowing and jaw clenched, every instinct in me screaming to just grab her and run. To ignore her cries of protest and get her as far away from here as possible.
"Please," she whispers, "you have to understand."
The worst part is, I do. I understand the need to protect what's yours, to fight for what you care for. Problem is, it's their very reason that is urging me to scoop her up and leave everyone else to fend for themselves.
I close my eyes and sigh, forcing my body to relax as I give in to her. With a fine nod of my head I signal for the others to continue, to tell them about the ridiculous situation that led us here.
"There really isn't a lot to say," Elena warns as she begins to explain. " This woman, who is really well known in certain circles, called for us." She hesitates, looking to Stefan for help.
"She had a gift," Stefan continued, a nervous hint to his tone.
"A gift?" Leo questioned skeptically.
I narrow my eyes at the boy, annoyance flaring within me at the grinding I feel at the mere sound of his voice. Not for the first time I have to force myself to sit still while everything in me desires to rip his throat out.
"She had visions... of the future" Elena explains, cringing at the wall of doubt she is met with.
"Seriously? You expect me to believe that?" Leo raises an eyebrow, dismissing the notion straight out.
"We just saw a freaking zombie, and you're having a hard time believing in physics?" Zeke jumps to Elena's defense.
Leo purses his lip in disapproval, still not completely accepting the possibility. With a grunt he sits back down on the couch, resting on his knees content to hear the rest of the story.
"She sent word to us that we were needed. That it was extremely important we visited her right away." Stefan continues.
"Did she have a vision of you guys?" Zeke leans forward, totally enthralled by the tale.
"Yea, apparently a pretty awful one" Elena sighs, her shoulder slouching, weighed down with the knowledge.
She continues to speak, but I no longer care to listen. I've heard it before, hell, I was there.
No matter how many times I scoff at the crone's words, there is no denying that she believed them to be true. Considering someone desperately tried to silence her, I must admit she may have been onto something. Even as her house burned down around her, her stomach ripped open by a beast who fled before our arrival, she pleaded with us to listen. Spent her last moments trying to warn us, but of what we still aren't certain.
I admit, the look in her gray eyes still haunts me. How she peered at me as if seeing all that I am. Her gaze never leaving me, even as Stefan cradled her in his arms and brushed her wavy silver hair out of her face. Elena hovering around, asking her over and over who did this and frantically looking for a way to help her. Through it all she watched me.
"Salvatore," She croaked, a spray of blood emitted by her attempt to speak settled across her wrinkled skin. Elena tried to silence her, to make her save her strength, but the stubborn woman continued.
"Salvatore brothers, the saviors of life." She chuckled at her little joke even as she struggled to pull in breath. "It has been written, long before your time." She coughed, blood pooling on her chin, but she refused let that deter her. "It's all in the name!" She gasped, reaching out desperate for her point to be made.
"Find the key to the destruction of all," she wheezed, her eyes drifting shut, "to the end of ends..." Her words trailed together as her head began to lull to one side. "In the valley of peace," She struggled to continue, coughing after every other word. "Tame the darkness, save them all" She breathed, barely getting her words out before she sagged against Stefan, all her remaining strength lost at once.