So this is just my interpretation of what was going on in Lizzy & Darcy's minds during Wickham's revelation at the end of PP&Z, and a little bit of a continuation of the scenes.
I own no part of PP&Z, I simply enjoy writing :)
Lizzy's POV
My throat constricted as I saw Wickham in the distance holding Darcy by the throat. I pushed my horse to go faster, finally noticing the blade sticking out of Wickham's chest. My heart sank. He was a zombie? Why hadn't I seen it before?
I was so close, but still too far away when I watched in horror as Wickham pulled the blade out of his chest and held it above his head, preparing to let it fall down on Darcy's body. I just needed a few more seconds! I saw Darcy's scrabbling fingers become less and less persistent in trying to free his neck, and his body started to slacken. The glinting blade started descending right as I reached them, and I wasted no time in quite literally disarming Wickham. He yelled in pain, but as he released Darcy and turned to face me, I whirled my horse around and heard the sound of hooves stomping on flesh as he fell to the ground.
I paid him no mind as I stared down at Darcy, who was gripping at his throat and staring at me with a strange look in his eyes. I hopped off my horse and helped him stand, inwardly cursing as he wobbled unsteadily on his feet the moment I let go of him.
"Can you mount the horse?" I asked. He nodded shortly.
"Yes, I am fine," he insisted. He hoisted himself onto my horse, and I nimbly jumped on behind him, gripping the reins so that my arms were on either side of him should he start to fall. Without a backwards glance at the fallen lieutenant, I spurred the horse forward as I heard and saw another wave of zombies headed our way.
As we galloped towards Hingham Bridge, my heart beat at the same pace as my horse's hooves. Darcy was having a hard time staying upright; he kept slumping over onto the neck of the horse. We finally managed to get ahead of the horde of the living dead I had passed whilst going to find Mr. Darcy. Darcy lifted his head and looked towards the sky.
"First...Light…" he muttered, glancing back at me.
"What?" I asked, not sure I had heard him properly over the thundering sound of not only the horse's pounding hooves, but also those footsteps of the running zombies behind us.
"First light," he repeated. "The order to blow the bridge was to be given at first light," he explained. Fear gripped my heart as I realized that dawn was only a few moments away, and we were still several minutes away from Hingham Bridge. I once again pleaded with my horse to increase speed, outpacing the zombies only by a fraction more. We rode hard, and my heart was flooded with relief as I saw the bridge had not been destroyed yet.
"I can see the bridge!" I yelled over the sound of the rushing wind, looking at Mr. Darcy, who had once again slumped over. "Mr. Darcy?" I yelled in panic. I let go of one of the reins to gently shake his shoulder. I barely heard his groan as he shifted, but at least I knew he was still conscious. "We're almost there," I said, mostly to assure him, but also to assure myself.
I heard the horse's hoofbeats change sound as we transitioned from the grassy earth to the brick surface of the bridge, and my heart beat a little less frantically. Darcy sat up slightly and turned his head to face me as best as he could.
"Miss Bennett, I-" He barely got those three words out before the world around us exploded. I cried out as bits of flying brick hit my cheek, but I pushed the horse harder and harder as the bridge around us continued to explode. I saw the blasts get ahead of us, and realized that I had to act now or never. I urged the horse into a jump right as the ground underneath us gave way. The horse hit the ground right in front of where the last blast occurred, throwing Mr. Darcy and me off of it's back. I tried yelling out for the man, but lost track of all semblance of thought and time as I smacked my head on the bridge, instantly losing the fight for consciousness. My last thought was of Mr. Darcy, and how I never got to tell him thank you, or how I really felt.
/
I coughed and took in a great gulp of air, gasping as I tried to calm my breathing down. Ash drifted throughout the sky, and everything came rushing back; the zombies, Wickham, the bridge… I arched my back, looking upside down behind me, panic gripping my heart again as I saw Darcy lying on his stomach, unmoving. I fought my way to my hands and knees, crawling over to him. I had to pause as a fit of coughing overtook me, but I pushed on, needing to get to him.
I gently turned him over, noticing the bruises forming on his face and around his throat where Wickham had held him. I held back sobs as I moved my hands over his face, trying to get any sort of reaction from him. When that failed, I couldn't hold back the sobs any longer.
"Mr. Darcy?" I gasped as a few solitary tears made their way down my cheeks, forging a path through the dirt and grime that had come to rest on my face. I let out a little panicked sob, looking around to see if anyone was there to help me. Seeing no one, I turned my attention back to the man whom I had come to love.
I put my cheek against his mouth, and suddenly, my heart skipped a beat as I felt a trace of breath flutter across my cheek. I gasped as I looked down at the man. I forced myself to calm my breathing down, leaning down again to make sure that I hadn't imagined the breath. I took in a deep breath as I felt his breath touch my cheek again.
"The very first moment I beheld you, my heart was irrevocably gone," I confessed in a whisper as I leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips, wishing and praying that he would make it out of this so that I would be able to tell him that face to face. If I had the courage.
"LIZZIE!" I heard a shriek as Jane suddenly appeared in my vision. Tears were freely coursing down her face as she gripped me in a tight embrace.
"Jane!" I gasped out, returning the embrace.
"Lizzie, I was so worried. I saw you crossing the bridge, but I feared you had been killed in that last blast!"
"I feared it too," I admitted, burying my cheek into her shoulder. I looked up to see Bingley hurry over to us, a frantic Lydia close behind him. As our youngest sister joined in our embrace, Bingley knelt down next to his closest friend.
"Is he…" he trailed off, afraid of the answer to the question he didn't finish.
"He is still alive," I assured him, wiping the tears away from my face as I pulled out of the embrace, kneeling next to Mr. Darcy again. "But he is badly injured. He was in a fight with Mr. Wickham before all of this; I fear he is not doing well. He needs immediate care." Bingley nodded and picked Mr. Darcy up in a similar fashion to the way Darcy had picked him up back in Netherfield, after the zombie attack.
Jane helped Lydia to her feet and the three of us walked closely behind Bingley, clinging to each other as the cries of the undead behind us faded from my mind.
Darcy's POV
Wickham's grip on my throat tightened as I desperately clawed at his hands that were choking off the air I so desperately needed to breathe. Gasping for breath, I reached up towards his shirt, a sinking feeling in my stomach confirmed as I yanked his shirt apart and saw the bite mark on his right shoulder.
"No, it can't be!" I thought to myself in panic. How was it possible that none of us had realized it before now?
"You fool!" Wickham sneered as my eyes widened in surprise, glancing up at him wildly. "I've been one of them all along! If I had the living your father intended me, I would have never been in the army; I never would have been infected! This is your doing, Darcy!" Every word he said resulted in the pressure being increased on my neck, cutting off even more air than before.
"Suppressing my hunger was easy; they needed a god, I had my hatred of you to sustain me. The four horsemen have risen from Hell! The zombie apocalypse is here! I am the one the undead have been waiting for, the one to lead them!" He pulled my sword out of his chest, raising it high above his head as he continued. "Every life I take, every atrocity I commit is on your head!" The blackness creeped in on the edge of my vision, and my eyes started to roll back in my head as I saw the sword start its descent. Abruptly, the hold on my neck was relinquished at the same time I heard Wickham cry out in pain and anger.
I fell to my knees, gazing up at my savior. Elizabeth Bennet towered above me on a horse, looking rather imposing. I would have been terrified if I had been the intended target of her sword.
She dismounted and hurried over to me, helping me to my feet. I hated myself when she released me and my knees threatened to give out. "Can you mount the horse?" she asked, concern in her voice. I nodded.
"Yes, I am fine." I gripped the mane of the horse and hoisted myself up, feeling grateful when I felt the solidity of the horse underneath me. Miss Bennett mounted behind me and we took off, horse galloping wildly towards Hingham Bridge.
My head throbbed and my neck felt raw. I barely had the energy to keep my eyes open, and it showed as I failed to keep myself upright. I tried to stay sitting up, but even that task was proving to be too difficult. As I glanced up at the sky, my heart pounded. Dawn was mere moments away!
I slumped over on the horse once more, but I knew I had to let her know about the order I had given.
"First...Light…" I got out.
"What?"
"First light," I repeated a little bit louder, turning to look at her, wincing as talking louder scratched at my throat. I continued though; Lizzie needed to know. "The order to blow the bridge was to be given at first light." I sighed in relief as I felt the horse speed up, though I did not know if it would be fast enough to get us there in time.
Part of me hoped that Bingley kept his word and would blow the bridge at first light as he was ordered, but I knew him; would try to delay the order as long as he could. I knew though, if we were not able to make it there soon, we would be trapped on the wrong side of the bridge.
Once again, the energy it took to keep myself upright was too much, and I leaned against the neck of the horse once more. "I can see the bridge!" I heard Elizabeth yell as I continued to lay against the horse. I did not even have the strength to respond. "Mr. Darcy?" came her frantic voice when I did not respond. I felt her gently shake my shoulder, and I was surprised at the moan that escaped my lips. I detested the weakness that my body was showing, but I was unable to do anything except lay there. "We're almost there," she muttered in my ear.
Suddenly I felt the pounding of the hooves change from the softness of the earth to the hard solid surface of the bridge. I felt relief, but I also felt the sun on my face; I knew that I had little time. I forced myself to sit up and I turned as best I could to gaze at the woman I had come to love with all my heart.
"Miss Bennett, I-" was all I was able to get out before the explosion rocked our world. The blasts started out behind us, but quickly outpaced us. I felt the horse gather it's muscles and push off the ground right as it collapsed from under us. The horse connected with the ground again, but it wasn't a stable landing, and it threw Elizabeth and I off it's back.
The last thing I remember hearing was the outraged cries of the zombies as they realized their way across had been demolished, and I remember praying that we were on the opposite side of the bridge. Not for my own safety, but for the safety of Miss Elizabeth Bennett. After this thought, the blackness that had been haunting the edges of my vision since my fight with Wickham finally claimed me, and I sunk into oblivion.
/
I swam in and out of consciousness, coming to rest just barely below the surface. I felt a presence above me, but I could not even open my eyes to see what it was, let alone raise my arms to defend myself if I needed to. I felt myself being gently turned over, but I was too weak to even moan anymore. Gentle fingers caressed my face frantically, and I felt relief wash over me as I realized it was Elizabeth. She started sobbing softly, and I felt her warm breath on my face.
"Mr. Darcy?" she begged. How I longed to open my eyes, assure her that I was still alive, to tell her once again how I felt. She pulled away, and my heart started to accelerate. Was she going to leave me? I felt her hair brush my forehead as she leaned back down. I heard her take in a deep breath, then she started talking again, and my heart pounded harder and harder as I heard her words. "The very first moment I beheld you, my heart was irrevocably gone," she confessed in a whisper.
I felt something stir within me right then that I hadn't felt in an age: hope. I felt her lips press gently against mine, and if I had had the strength, I would have leapt up right then and taken her in my arms. I wanted to cry out as she pulled away, but I felt the blackness coming to claim me again. I fought against it as best I could, but the most I could do was drift in and out of awareness.
I heard another female voice, then I could have sworn I heard the voice of Charles Bingley. The next thing I remember feeling was that of being lifted up and carried off. That was when the blackness finally won the battle for my undivided attention.
The fight for consciousness was a hard-won battle, but I finally emerged victorious. My eyes opened slowly, but I found the sudden light to be too much and I was forced to close them again for a moment. I moaned as I suddenly felt an exquisite pain course through my body, and the blackness claimed me for itself again.
The next time I woke, I was able to keep my eyes open for longer, and I saw our family physician tinkering with something on the table next to my bed, his back toward me. I tried to speak, but all I got out was a muffled grunt. The doctor turned around with a start, hurrying towards my side. He tried speaking to me, but I could not understand what he was saying. I looked around, realizing I was in the room I stayed in whenever I visited my aunt. Once again though, my body succumbed to the blackness before I could do anything.
Finally, I woke and stayed awake. "Welcome back, Mr. Darcy," a soft voice said to my right. I glanced over and saw the physician again, and I was pleased that I could finally understand him. I opened my mouth, but he held up his hand. "Save your energy. You were injured quite severely in the explosion at Hingham Bridge; you still need time to recover." I ignored his instructions for one moment. I had to know.
"Miss...Miss Bennett? Elizabeth?" He placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Miss Elizabeth Bennett and her sisters are all doing well. They suffered very minor injuries, small scrapes being the worst that I treated. When Mr. Bingley rode in with you on his horse, they were close behind. They are here at Rosings, and Miss Elizabeth has been asking about you almost every hour. She will be pleased to know that you have woken and are coherent, even if you don't manage to stay awake until she gets here again," he explained. I felt a heavy burden lifted off my soul as the realization of his words sank in. Lizzie was alright, as were her sisters and Charles.
I closed my eyes as I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me, but this time as I gave into the blackness, I knew that it would be a more peaceful rest, knowing that those I cared about were safe.