Aaayyy. Haha an update so soon? How unlike me. Yep I'm a roll. Zombie aus always have a speacial in my heart.
I'm debating on doing character sketches for them? Lemme know if I should.
Anyway, enjoy Flippy musing on things and Splendid being a medication addled babe for a good half of the story
He felt a strong, solid hand grasping at his good arm, the one that wasn't burning in pain and hauling him to his feet. The world turned and his vision blurred as he was swept into the veteran's arms with almost no effort on the others part. He blinked, trying to focus his vision on the strained face of the veteran. Splendid winced, and screwed his eyes shut at the pain shooting through his body with every jolt caused by Flippy running at breakneck speed in slight zig-zag patterns. The rough, uneven strides causing Splendid to bounce slightly in his grip. "…Flippy." He managed to wheeze out, receiving a sound that he could only describe as a snarl and a curt "Fuck you." in return. The smell of rot surrounding them, mixed with the scent of his own blood and the strange tobacco-gunpowder smell that he associated with Flippy was making his head spin, and not in the good way.
Every breath he took vaguely hurt, and he could feel his heart beating erratically, sending waves of pain through his body. He heard the sound of gunshots ringing out, and realized Flippy was shooting at something, Splendid couldn't tell what it was, and he couldn't crane his head far enough to look. He could only hope that the veteran knew what the hell he was doing. Tears of frustration pricked at the corners of his eyes as he began to see black spots eating away at the corners of his vision. His last thoughts came in a hysterical burst, and he could feel his mouth moving but couldn't quite focus enough to hear them. I can't afford to pass out, I have to help, I don't want to die here!
Flippy pushed the panic back to the back of his mind, he could have his panic attack later, when both of them made it out of the city alive. He let out a groan as he felt the fucking brat go limp in his arms, still startled from the scream of terror that had wrenched itself from Splendid's throat beforehand. Adjusting his grip on the younger man he continued running, dodging smashed wrecks of cars and jumping over the occasional corpse with one goal in mind, to get them the fuck out of there. His free hand was wielding his gun, keeping the dead at bay with precise aim and maybe a bit of luck.
Skidding slightly as he rounded a corner, narrowly avoiding bashing Splendid's head against a street pole. He cursed softly, hurriedly reloading his gun, fully aware that every second the unconscious kid in his arms lost a bit more blood, and the more blood he lost, the stronger the scent was, and the more zombies it would attract.
Shouldering Splendid so he was in a secure, fireman's hold instead of the risky bridal style he had been in Flippy continued on, following the markers he had made when he had first entered the city, so, so many hours ago. Chewing his bottom lip, he fired a quick shot into the head of a curious zombie and let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his truck, the vague outline only visible to his trained eye. Flippy could hear the blood rushing in his ears and he surged forward, a well-placed kick sending a zombie toppling to the ground as he made his way over the hastily placed sandbag barricade someone had tried to set up.
He reached his truck, a battered old thing, the paint peeling in places and the metal rusting in others but it was strong and gotten him through this mess in mostly one piece. Throwing his pack in the bed of the truck and securing the tarp over it, he wrenched the passenger door open and carefully arranged the younger boy in the bench seat. Buckling the seatbelt over Splendid and counting his lucky stars that it was his right shoulder that had gotten shot and not his left.
Flippy would've liked to give him medical attention right then and there but it was too big of a risk to take, so close to the infected city and it being too close to night fall, the sun sinking lower with every passing minute. With a newer sense of urgency he quickly shut the door and hurried to the driver's side sliding into the car and jamming his key in the ignition. Glancing back over his left shoulder briefly, he pulled out of his parking spot and with a screech of burning rubber, he sped away from the hellhole of a city. He had a mostly full tank of gas, and if he could get the kid to wake up, then Splendid could give him exact directions to his base of operations. He took his eyes off the road for a few seconds to look over the younger man.
He didn't look good, pale under the healthy shade of brown his skin was. His skin gleamed with sweat his dark blue was plastered to his forehead. Part of his jacket was absolutely soaked with blood, it looked like he had stopped bleeding by this point which was good, and Splendid didn't need to be losing any more blood, not with the lack of transfusions available. Flippy scowled at the sight of the sight of blood encrusting the other man's cheek, and if he tilted his head just the right way we could see the source of it. The kid had a nasty scrape running across part of his forehead, probably from when he'd hit the pavement.
Shit.
Flippy could only hope he didn't have a concussion.
Turning his attention back to the empty, blood smeared road in front of him, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, it might sound kind of stupid, but the thing he found himself missing more than he thought he would was music. The radios were long dead, the preset tracks had run out after the first few weeks, and there was always the possibility of infected hearing the music and coming after the source. Even so, he still had a mess of CDs in the glove box of his truck, some in jewel cases, others simply held in plastic sleeves. It was almost always a temptation to slide one of them into his cd player and have it on the lowest volume setting possible.
He resisted this urge, and instead gave into another temptation, his cigarettes. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, he deftly opened the glove box with his other, being careful not to disturb the unconscious kid and with withdrew a small, square package. Flipping the lid off, he pulled one out with his teeth. Tossing the pack onto the seat, glancing to make sure it didn't land on Splendid, but on the space between them. Flippy fished around in his pocket for his lighter, a battered zippo, beginning to show tarnish from its age and wear.
After a few tries it finally lit, a flame appearing as reward for his efforts. Grinning in satisfaction, he lit the cancer stick and paused to stow his lighter back in his pocket before taking a long drag, rolling down the window to halfway before exhaling. Almost immediately he felt himself begin to calm down as the nicotine worked its way into his system, the edge of panic still there, but it was never truly gone. Still, it was almost back to the constant of vigilance that had saved his ass on more than on occasion.
He tapped the cigarette against the cool glass of the window, letting ashes and embers fly from the tip, only to cool almost immediately in the harsh wind. He laughed softly to himself as he took another drag, before this whole apocalypse, he had been trying to cut back. Then he figured, to hell with it. In this world, lung cancer was the least of his worries.
A weak cough tore him out of his thoughts and Flippy jumped slightly, his grip tightening instinctively on the steering wheel as he glanced over at the boy from the corner of his eye. The kid would probably be waking up soon, and be in a helluva lot of pain. Getting shot was never any fun, he knew from experience. He felt a twinge of pain come from a puckered mess of scar tissue that marred the upper left part of his chest. An old wound from his days in the army, the one where the bullet had exploded and he'd had to dig out the shrapnel with his own knife.
Shaking his head and rubbing absentmindedly at the scar, Flippy scanned the road for a good place to pull over. He'd need to tend to Splendid as soon as he woke up, he might as well prepare for the inevitable shitstorm now. He pulled into the lot of a forgotten ice cream shop, its cheery colors looking far out of place in this bleak situation. Killing the engine, he carefully unbuckled the younger man. Gently pushing him forward in order to get his backpack off of him. Letting him rest back to his original position, Flippy unzipped the main pocket, rummaging around until he found one of the bottles of painkillers they'd scavenged earlier and a bottle of water, already half empty as they'd both shared it after the grocery store incident.
He opened the door of his truck slowly and carefully, trying to be as quiet as possible. He didn't think there would be any infected lurking around, if there were though, he sure as hell wanted to have the upper hand. Gripping his knife tightly in his left hand he shut the door and made his way to the bed of his truck, shoving aside the packages of water bottles and grabbing the backpack he had thrown there in a panic a few hours ago.
Moving quickly, he secured the tarp once more and hopped back into the truck, starting it once more and pulled out of the old lot, anxious to get out of there, staying out in the open or sometimes even staying in the same place made him nervous. Anything could happen after all. Once he was on the road he let himself relax, just a tad.
He had a good idea of the general direction to go to get to the mountains, almost everyone did, they were a pretty big landmark. It was the tangled, sprawling mass of forest that he would need Splendid's help to get through. Once he made sure he was on the right road to take him to dense forest he pulled another cigarette out of the pack and lit it up, he could feel the stress coming back ten-fold as the magnitude of the situation began to fully sink in. He quickly pulled over at a viewpoint, if he was going to have a panic attack, it sure as hell wasn't going to be in a moving vehicle.
Fuck.
I fucked it up.
Splendid got shot.
I mean, it wasn't by me.
It was by some fucking sniper stationed in the city.
But he got hurt.
He got hurt at my expense and his older brother isn't going to be happy with this.
I wouldn't even have the right to put up a fight against him though, even if I wanted to.
Letting out a shaky breath, smoke curling idly from his mouth at the exhale. Flippy unclenched his trembling hands from the steering wheel, flexing his stiff fingers as he willed himself to calm down. He steeled his nerves with another long, drag from the cancer stick. He was a solider, dammit! A fucking sergeant at that. Everything would be fine, he wouldn't fuck up again. He'd be fine, the kid would heal from his injuries, and both of their groups would have a much needed supply refill.
Flicking the buildup of ash away, he let it dangle between his lips as he took his hat off, noting with a pleased hum that his hands had stopped shaking. Shaking his head, Flippy combed his fingers through his vibrant green hair, sweeping back the stubborn part of his bangs that always seemed to want to flop into his eyes. Placing his hat back on his head, he took another drag and slowly exhaled, letting his head thump back against the headrest.
The veteran turned his head to look at the kid and then glanced at the truck's digital clock. It was 8:26 p.m. quite a ways away from sunrise. He turned his attention back to Splendid and worried his bottom lip between his teeth. He had to make a decision. He could either wake the kid up right now get the process of dressing and cleaning the wound over with. He could try to let him sleep through him patching up, which would be nearly impossible. Or he could wait until they made it to his brother, which would be stupid.
He choose the first option.
Sighing and taking one last drag from the cigarette, he stubbed it out in the ash tray and left the butt there, still smoldering slightly. Flippy took a good look at the sleeping figure of the younger man in the dim light. The moon was waxing, it'd be full in a few days' time and the moonlight was bright, giving a bit of light to the otherwise pitch black darkness of night. This little bit of illumination crept through the smudged windows of the truck, letting just enough in to allow Flippy to see Splendid, his features washed out and silvery in the moonlight.
He reached out and lightly brushed the younger man's disheveled, navy hair out of his eyes, pulling the fingerless glove off his other hand to feel Splendid's forehead. It was clammy and slightly sticky from sweat that hadn't completely dried, but it wasn't burning with a fever, and it wasn't icy cold. Good. This was a very good thing. He let his gloveless hand slip down to cup his companion's cheek. He felt his heart clench at the sight of the energetic boy limp and motionless, his brow furrowed in slight discomfort, sleep obviously wasn't completely muting the pain.
If he was being honest with himself, he actually found the damn kid pretty attractive. Wide blue eyes, tan skin, and an ever-present, cocky grin. It was a pity those pretty, chapped lips never fucking stopped moving. But maybe, that was part of the charm. But Flippy was rarely completely honest with himself, it was a rule of thumb.
His hand lingered on the smooth skin for a few seconds too long before letting it fall to the boy's good shoulder and gently shaking him until the boy awoke with a gasp and low moan of pain. He watched, moving back slightly to give Splendid room, he'd learned from experience that it was entirely possible for a squad mate to jump you and try to beat the shit out of you after waking up scared, confused and in pain.
Splendid did neither, instead looked around in a sort of daze, clutching faintly at the blood-soaked sleeve of his jacket with his good arm. The navy-haired man licked at his dry lips and managed a soft "It reeks like cigarettes in here. Gross." his voice rough and raspy from sleeping for the better part of three or so hours.
Flippy's eyes widened in surprise and he let out an astonished bark of laughter, shaking his head in exasperation and wonder at the younger man's comment. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting from the boy, but certainly not that. He shrugged once his laughing fit subsided, and shot a crooked grin in Splendid's direction. "I just put one out. After smoking two while you were dead asleep in my car." He explained, unscrewing the cap off the bottle of painkillers and pulling out two, offering them, along with the bottled water to the younger man.
He watched as Splendid popped the little white pills into his mouth and with some help from Flippy, worked the cap off the bottle and drained it in huge gulps. The veteran wasn't all that surprised by it, the kid had lost a lot of fluids. Wordlessly, he offered a second bottle to the younger man who took it with a grateful smile.
For a few minutes, the only sounds in the car were the soft sounds of plastic crackling and Splendid's slightly labored breathing. Flippy waited until the younger man was finished getting his fill of water before breaking it. He bit his lip, choosing his words carefully. "Kid, I gotta see your shoulder. It's happening whether you want it to or not." He watched the expression on Splendid's face turn from confused, to a look of realization and finally a look of reluctant acceptance. He bit back laughter when he noticed the tinge of pink coloring his cheeks in the dim light.
The navy-haired man shrugged, wincing when he unconsciously rolled his injured shoulder, a pained whine escaping his mouth along with a strained "Fucking go for it, dude. Jus' uh. Wear a pair of rubber gloves when you do it, I don't want zombie blood in me, no thank you." He babbled, tugging the zipper of his jacket down and shrugging his good arm out of the jacket before setting to work on carefully peeling the now rusty red fabric away from his arm with a few strained gasps of pain.
Flippy blinked a few times, reaching out to stop Splendid from trying to peel his blood encrusted t-shirt off, laying a gentle hand on the navy-haired man's wrist. "No. Don't do that. I'll cut your shirt off. It's probably clotted to the wound." He paused, to dig a battered first-aid kit out of his own pack, popping the lid open and pulling out a pair of gleaming, silver scissors. His tone softened as he noticed Splendid's nervous grin and wide eyes. "C'mon, kid. You think I'd risk my ass getting you outta there only to stab you with a pair of scissors? No."
Flippy shifted so he was facing Splendid entirely, and made a beckoning motion with the hand not holding the scissors. "Face the window, put your back to me." He coaxed, noticing Splendid's slight hesitation. Eventually, the younger man slumped slightly, the tension visibly draining from his shoulders as he gingerly maneuvered himself so he was staring out the window, its glass slightly fogged over from the heat emanating from them. Flippy hummed in approval, reaching up to flick the overhead lights on, providing a dim light from the old bulbs, casting the cabin of the truck in a soft yellow glow. It wasn't very good light, but it was better than just moonlight. He snagged a pair of standard, blue rubber gloves from the first aid kit and pulled them on, a soft snap resounding through the small space.
Splendid tensed at the feeling of cool metal against his skin, wincing as the ruined fabric came away, pulling fine hair and irritating skin. He still felt kind of woozy, but the pain meds were starting to kick in and the pain in his shoulder was reduced to a dull throb by the time he felt the blades of Flippy's scissors snip through the rest of his shirt. He screwed his eyes shut and bit his lip as the veteran cut through the seam on his good shoulder. Gently pushing the fabric so it fell away with little resistance. He tensed for a completely different reason as he felt Flippy shift closer, laying a firm hand on the back of Splendid's neck and guiding him so that his forehead was pressed against the cool glass of the window.
He felt his face start to burn at the touch, the texture of the rubber glove was foreign and strange on his skin, but his hand was warm and comforting. "Sorry, I need more light for this part." He heard the veteran murmur, breath hot against his skin and Splendid could only nod and manage a faint "Yep." Wincing at how breathless he sounded. This was most certainly not the time for his body to react to being touched. Especially not after he'd been shot, and especially because it was Flippy who was touching him.
What happened next completely killed off any sparks of arousal that had begun to curl down his spine at the strange sense of intimacy between them. He jolted, biting down hard on his lower lip to muffle the whimper of pain that escaped when Flippy peeled away the rest of his shirt, taking away with it the fresh scab and clotting blood that had formed over the bullet hole.
He shuddered, back arching away from the slight sting of air on the open wound. He could feel the hand on his neck slip away and grasp for something out of his line of sight. The meds were really kicking in now, and he felt muddled and a bit slow. Shaking his head a little and letting his eyes close, he tried to rid himself of the sense of drowsiness. Splendid vaguely registered the veteran's deep baritone in his ear and he could only manage a strained "Whh." Before his eyes snapped open in shock and a cry of pain bubbled up, only to be muffled by Flippy clamping a hand over his mouth. His chest heaved as his back arched in a useless attempt to escape the pain caused by the disinfectant that the veteran poured over his injury. Tears sprang to his eyes as his bucking motions caused a dull wave of pain to course through him at moving his bad shoulder.
He spluttered as Flippy moved his hand away from his mouth, letting out a shaky breath as he composed himself, the strange taste of chemical from the rubber glove still on his tongue. "Flippy-" he paused, taking a deep, steadying breath. "Flippy 'm gonna fucking kill you." He twisted his head around as best as he could in his current position to glare at the older man. "That was a dick move yanno, you could at least give me some warning when you're gonna dump hydrogen peroxide on it." He let out an irritated huff when Flippy only shrugged at him in return, his lips turned down in a slight scowl and green eyes full of concern. "Sorry kid, I told you what I was going to do and you just wheezed at me."
Splendid had no reply to that, so he simply slumped back against the window, letting his forehead thunk softly against the glass, the cool temperature making him shiver slightly. He was wide awake now, and in minimal pain. He swiped his tongue over his teeth in a last attempt to get the horrid taste out of his mouth and sighed when his efforts were in vain. "I'm alright now. Bandage it or whatever, man." He muttered, hearing the soft whhhsh of gauze unraveling andshifting obligingly when the veteran's hands returned to his skin. He let out a soft grunt of discomfort as Flippy pressed a thick layer of padding onto the wound, securing it with medical tape.
Splendid squirmed under the gentle pressure as the veteran wiped up the mess left from the disinfectant. He let out a sigh of relief when Flippy informed him that he did the best he could do at the moment, and that he could move around. Splendid braced himself, gingerly shifting so his back was once more against the cracked leather seat and noted with a pleased hum that he could barely feel the pain from his shoulder. Only a dull, throbbing ache remained, and that could be ignored for the most part.
He blinked a few times in confusion when Flippy snapped his fingers in front of his face once or twice and turned to face him, letting out a soft hiss when a penlight was shone into his eyes. "What the hell're you doing that for, dude?" Splendid asked, tensing up as the older man surged forward, the penlight clenched between his teeth. "Checkin' you for concussion symptoms." Came the slightly muffled reply, and then Flippy loomed above him, grabbing his goggles and with a surprising amount of gentleness, pulled them away from his face and letting them dangle around his neck. Splendid rubbed at his eyes, it always felt weird taking his goggles off after wearing them for so long. When he removed his hands Flippy was rooting through the first aid kit again and his stomach knotted in apprehension, what did he need it for? His shoulder was taken care of, wasn't it?
Flippy looked up and met his gaze with a slight scowl. "I almost forgot about your head wound. You had quite the fall back there, kiddo." Splendid grimaced, feeling the dried blood crack as he opened his mouth to talk, how had he not noticed that before? "Ew. I'm not concussed, I can tell that much. I feel completely fine, aside from the background radiation pain from my shoulder." He watched as Flippy shoved the first aid kit aside and moved closer to him, rubber gloves discarded to the matting at their feet. "Even so, I still have to take care of the cut, don't I?" After a brief pause while he wetted a cotton ball with disinfectant. "C'mere kid. After that shoulder, this'll be a breeze." Splendid couldn't argue with that, so he complied, shifting closer to the veteran and congratulated himself on not flinching when the older man placed a steady hand on the back of his neck, dragging him closer still.
Splendid swallowed hard, he was close enough that he could see the faint smattering of freckles across the bridge of the veteran's nose, and feel his breath ghosting across his skin. Flippy's eyes flickered to meet his own and the hand fell away from his neck, coming up to sweep Splendid's hair back and away from his face. Splendid could feel himself flushing in embarrassment as the older man started scrubbing at the dried blood with the cotton swab. Flippy's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration, with his lower lip caught between slightly sharp teeth. Splendid's hands fluttered uselessly, he didn't know where the fuck to put them. After maybe a minute or two, he hesitantly fisted them in stiff material of the veteran's military jacket. He felt intensely bare, hyper aware of the hand tangled in his hair, the dizzying scent of tobacco, blood, gunpowder and hydrogen peroxide. His shoulder vaguely ached and the leather seats were sticking to his bare skin. A prickle of discomfort and maybe something else crawled down his spine as goosebumps rose on his skin. It was official, he was completely fucked.
Time for aftercare and Splendid having the horrible realization that he finds Flippy attractive.
Uh. Anyway let me know if you want anything in particular to happen, I'm always up for beating the shit out of characters I love. c:
Reviews would be totally rad, I like to know if you guys are reading and or enjoying this little AU.
