Apocalypse
Craig X Tweek
Written by JEL
Third person P.O.V.
"Guillaume, how's our perimeter?" Mira put a hand on his shoulder.
"Pas terrible… mais… pas agréable. Uh, Comme ci comme ça…" Guillaume said with his eyes in the binoculars. He shook his hand sideways, showing that it was shaky.
"Okay. Tweek, are you ready?"
"Yes, ma'am. I'm ready." Tweek clutched the axe handle, his hands shaking.
Mira gently held his hands. "Tweek, it's okay if you don't want to. We'd understand."
"No… it's fine… Not doing this would be stupid…"
"Yeah, speaking of stupid, where's Kenneth run off to? Don't tell me he ditched already?"
"I'm sure he's around here somewhere… Kenny likes to disappear sometimes…"
"Uh, Mira… we're not doing too good up here…" Latch held a broken crank in his hand.
"Imbécile… Il destroy le machine…" Guillaume smacked his hand to his forehead. "Nous sommes perdus…"
"We're not done for, Tweek's about to go out there and bust some empty heads, right? We'll be fine!" Latch laughed nervously. "Right, Tweek? We'll be fine, right?"
Tweek put a hand on the ledge. "Yeah. We'll be fine."
"Tweek… you don't have to go if you don't want to." Mira said again.
"And then what? I just sit here? I don't think so, Mira." Tweek stood on the ledge. "I can't sit by wait until one of you die."
"Bonne vivre, mon ami. Vous êtes très courageux, je me souviendrai de vous."
"Eh, merci, Guillaume…"
"Oui. Ouvrez la porte?"
"Non." Tweek stared out over the outside wall.
"No? What do you mean you don't want us to open the gate?" Mira asked, almost scared of the answer.
"It's too much of a risk, the walkers will get in too easy. The gate won't be able to open and close fast enough for no walkers to get in."
"Then… how the hell are you going to get out there?" Latch glance over the edge of the wall.
Tweek looked down off the ledge. "I'm gonna jump."
"What?! Don't be crazy, you'll never make it that far down! You'll break your legs, man!"
"… I'll be fine. Get Sierra to fix the crank, if we can fix the guns, that'll make my job easier."
Latch nodded hesitantly. "A-alright, dude… You know, heh, heh… I won't forgive you if you die out there. You know I get your axe if you do, right? Heh, heh…"
Tweek smile. "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll try."
"Uh, yeah… yeah…" Latch picked up the crank, and went off to find Sierra.
"Tweek, I know I don't usually question you when you're like this… But, jumping off a two and a half story ledge… no one can do that unscathed." Mira looked up with a worried stare.
"… Trust me, I've done crazier things. This is nothing, I'll be fine."
"Il ira bien. Probablement… Meh, pas de promesses."
"Guillaume, tais-toi."
"Mes excuses." He smiled and returned to his binoculars. "Je ne taquine."
"As I was saying, it's too risky. You could seriously get hurt, just let Guillaume open the gate. We'll handle any walkers that come in."
"NO, Mira." Tweek snapped his head down at her. "This is how it's going to be. I've decided, and that's final."
She crossed her arms. "… If you think it's best… Just be careful, that's all I ask of you."
"I'll try… Man, that's a lot of undead…"
"If you think it's too much…"
"No, of course not. I'm doing this for them, after all…" He looked back at the inside camp. "You guys are all I have left."
Mira's eyes soften. "Tweek…"
"LET ME FUCKING GO!" A voice boomed from the stairs. It was Craig, being held back by Aaron.
"Just go back to the camp, you'll just get in the way up here!" Aaron yelled back at him.
"Aaron, it's okay. Let him up." Tweek's voice seemed so gently compared to the loud and angrier ones.
Aaron gave him a death stare as he released Craig's collar, and stepped to the side. Craig dusted off his jacket, and flipped him off as he walk by.
"Fucker…"
"Craig, what are you doing? I told you and Ruby to stay in the camp." Tweek didn't act angry, more neutral, really.
"Yeah, and we were. Until I heard Latch talking to Sierra. You're not ACTUALLY gonna jump off this ledge, are you?"
Tweek sighed. "I'll be fine, I promise."
Craig grabbed his arm immediately. "No, you fucking won't! Don't be stupid!"
Tweek tried to pull his arm away. "Craig! Let go!"
"Not until you SWEAR to me that you won't jump! SWEAR to me!"
"I'll be fi-!"
"TWEEK!" Mira yelled. "Be caref-!"
Tweek's foot slip off the edge, causing him to fall forward, right off the side of the wall. His arm yanked out of Craig's grip, tearing off part of Tweek's green sleeve. Tweek instinctively threw the axe away from himself as he fell to the ground. He jerked his body mid air, trying to land on his shoulder, or anything harder than his face or ribs.
Tweek landed halfway on his back, hitting the shoulder blade. No sound came from his mouth but desperate gasps, the drop had knocked the air out of him. He writhed in silent agony, praying to god that the walkers nearby wouldn't notice him. Tweek finally caught his breath in choking air, tears running from the sharp pain. He clawed painfully at the dirt under him, biting his own lip so hard, that blood ran. How much he wanted to scream in misery.
Mira run to the edge, looking off it in horror. "SHIT! SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" She 180 towards the stairs. "Guillaume, open that fucking gate! NOW!"
Aaron stop her. "No, don't open the gate!"
"What?! Are you joking?! He just fucking fell off the ledge! We have to go get him! Guillaume, I'm not hearing that gate!"
"DON'T open that gate! He's injured, with a sea of walkers out there, he's not gonna live two minutes!"
"Like I fucking believe that?! GUILLAUME, IF I DON'T SEE THAT GATE OPEN IN THE NEXT FIVE SECONDS, I'M GONNA SHOVE A BAGUETTE SOMEWHERE IT SHOULD NEVER BE!"
Guillaume jumped a little. "O-oui, Madame! Tout de suite!"
Tweek hear a sound erupt near him. The sound of simple pulley chains. He dart his eyes to his right.
"N-no..! DON'T RAISE THE GATE!" Tweek scream as loud as he could, hoping Guillaume could hear.
The gate instantly stopped.
Guillaume look off the ledge. "Mon Dieu! Il est vivant!"
Mira snapped at him. "WHO SAID TO STOP?!"
"Tweek! Il a dit d'arrêter!" He pointed down.
Tweek heard the familiar sound of a low gargled growl. Sure enough, there was one walker that he could see, b-lining right for him. He rolled to his left shoulder, as much as it hurt him to move. His right arm was completely limp, couldn't move a muscle in it. And it seemed that stumbling to his feet wasn't an option. He wasn't strong enough. All he could do was kick behind himself as he crawled to where his thrown axe lay, lamely dragging his right arm for the ride. His bruised fingers dug into the ground like mad, as he could hear the growling get closer and closer in spite of his tortured desperation. With every outstretch of his hand, Tweek tried to grab the axe, no matter how far he was from it. Pain gripped that horrible shoulder mercilessly with every movement his body permitted.
Tweek found himself crying. The tears almost burned with his passion to live. He wanted to live. He needed to live. And he wasn't going to die like this. No way.
He smacked his left hand on the axe handle, the force unnoticeably stinging his palm. Tweek turned on his back, chopping the first thing he could see. The walker fell to the ground, one leg snapped off. Tweek felt his inner rage as he brought the axe back up, smashing it right in the center of the walker's head. Blood spattered everywhere as the zombie ceased moving.
Tweek huffed. "… Ten points, headshot…"
Tweek felt a pull on his lame shoulder. It hurt like hell.
"F-FUCK!" He cried at the pain.
Craig covered his mouth. "Shhh! Come on!"
Tweek felt his own weight almost disappear as Craig picked him up with ease. He carried him that classic "knight and princess" way.
"Wait! My axe!"
"Fuck the axe! It's not important!"
Craig suddenly jerked to a halt, nearly tripping and dropping Tweek. Walkers were getting in the gate, despite how low it was.
"Fuck..! Fuck, fuck, fuucckk! Me and my brilliant fucking ideas!" Craig cursed to himself.
"How're we gonna get in..?!"
"Simple answer: We're not!" He almost looked like he was… going to cry. "I'm so sorry, Tweek! This is all my fault!"
"Well, I mean… yeah, it kinda is…" Tweek admitted. "But, don't think we're done just yet..!"
Craig looked down at him. "… What do you mean..?"
"Craig, put me down."
"What? No!"
"TRUST me. Please."
"… Fine… I trust you…" He reluctantly let Tweek stumble on his unsteady limbs.
Tweek quickly went back for the axe, pulling it out stiffly.
As he returned, Craig's eyes drifted to his limp arm.
"Tweek… your arm…"
"Craig, on five, run as fast as you can towards the gate. No matter what happens, you don't stop until you're inside. Okay?"
"… What the hell are you thinking?"
"… one… two…" Tweek took the blade, and set it to his right forearm. "… three…" He sliced the fragile skin, it bleeding profusely. "… four…!"
"Tweek, the fuck are you doing?!"
"… FIVE! Run, Craig!" Tweek sliced himself again. "HEY, ZOMBIE FUCKERS! OVER HERE!"
"Tweek, don't do this!"
"I SAID RUN!"
And with burning regret, Craig ran for the gate as fast as his legs would let him. Craig rolled under the gate, all the walkers nearby ignoring his very presence. They were being lead away by the injured, bleeding blonde kid that Craig would probably never see again. He looked back, seeing Tweek staring right at him. Tweek was smiling.
"Incroyable! Ils s'en vont!" Guillaume took off his hat, placing it over his chest. "Merci, mon héro! Je t'aime!"
Craig bolted up the stairs, and looked out over the wall. Tweek had disappeared. His heart jumped into his throat.
"Where'd he go?!" Craig turned to Guillaume.
Guillaume blinked a couple times. He shrugged. "Uh… do not know."
"What do you mean you don't know?! You were watching out there, weren't you?!"
"Poof." Guillaume opened both his hands. "Run fast. Disappear."
"He… ran? Towards the camp, or to the town?"
"Uh…" He paused, then laughed. "Turn."
"… What the hell does that mean?"
"Turn body, imbécile." Guillaume pointed towards the stairs.
Craig turned, and there Tweek was, stumbling up the stairs. Mira gently helped him get up the steps. Guillaume put his hat on Tweek's head. "Merci, Tweek! Merci, merci, merci!"
Tweek smiled weakly.
Craig pretty much pushed Mira aside as he dove in to hug Tweek. "Don't ever fucking scare me like that again…"
Tweek winced. "I won't but… geh… my arm really hurts…"
Mira pushed Craig aside. "We'll get Madison to look at-… Jesus, the hell did you do to it?!"
She examined his self inflicted cuts.
"I… cut myself with the blade, to get the zombies' attention… so Craig could run away safely…"
Mira snapped her head at him. "Are you insane?! Why would you do that?!"
"I didn't want… Craig to get hurt…"
"Do you know what kind of permanent damage you could have? Plus the injury in your shoulder! You can't even MOVE your whole arm!"
Tweek remained silent, staring at the floor.
Mira pointed at Craig. "You! This is all your fault! I KNEW you'd only be trouble!"
"Hey, don't go pointing fingers! You're just looking for a fucking excuse to blame me for something! I will admit I feel at fault for Tweek falling, but I didn't do anything else! I went out there to fucking SAVE him! What did YOU do?"
"It's YOUR fault he fell, it's YOUR fault he has these gashes, and it's YOUR fault that some walkers got in! You're nothing but trouble! You're lucky I haven't ALREADY thrown your ass out!"
Tweek gritted his teeth. "You are NOT throwing him out!"
Mira did the same. "It's not your choice, Tweek!"
"Who the fuck says so?!" Tweek got right in her face. They were both roughly the same height, so their eyes met directly, burning, daring the other to say something wrong.
"I do! You're not going to intimidate me, Tweek, so step down!"
Craig was astonished at how angry Tweek had gotten.
"You're NOT throwing Craig out." Tweek repeated.
Mira glanced around at the faces staring at them. "We'll discuss this later in private. For now, Madison - take Tweek to get fixed up."
Madison nodded shyly. "Yes, ma'am…"
Madison walked out of the tent. She shook her head.
"It's not good… Tweek dislocated his shoulder, and his cuts are really deep. I'd stitch the lacerations, but they'd get infected. And we don't have any more peroxide, alcohol, or even something as simple as Neosporin, so I can't properly sanitize the wounds. If it gets infected, I'd have to cut off his whole arm, so he doesn't turn."
Mira rubbed the brim of her nose. "What if we salvage a pharmacy and find some peroxide? Would that work?"
"I suppose it would… until then, I guess I could just run some water on his wounds to keep it clean…"
"Alright… Guillaume."
"Oui?"
"Find some volunteers. We're going on a field trip into town."
"Oui, Madame. Tout de suite."
Craig turned to Mira. "Let me go with you."
"Are you crazy? Like I'm letting you come out there with us." Mira crossed her arms. "Tweek would murder me if anything happened to you. He would of killed me if I'd thrown you out, there's no way in hell I'm putting YOU in peril."
"He's going to die."
"He's not going to DIE, just get his arm chopped off."
Madison returned to the tent. Tweek sat on a gurnee, making faces at his pain.
"Okay, Tweek. Could you take off your shirt, please, I just want to see if you have any more injuries."
Tweek promptly unbuttoned his shirt. "I don't think there's anything else…"
"You could be right, but I just wanna make sure. Goodness, you still have those old bruises?"
"Yeah… Aaron hits pretty hard."
"Oh, I know that all too well. Although, the kids I get in here after a scrap with YOU are a lot worse."
"… Sorry, for that…"
"Oh, you don't have to apologize, I-" She gasped, and pointed at a mark on Tweek's neck. "Tweek, y-you..! You have a bite..! But… it's not bleeding, and… it looks… old…"
Tweek put a hand to his neck. "WH-WHAT?!"
Madison carefully examined it. "It… it IS old… Like, about three days old… but, you'd be a walker by now… So, it must not be a zombie bite…"
Then it hit him. When Tweek and Craig we're in the tent the other night, Craig must of bit him. Goddamnit, Craig..!
Tweek blushed. "Y-yeah… I think I remember how I got it now…"
"… Okay, good…" She put a hand over her heart and breathe a sigh of relief. "I got scared there, for a minute…"
"Me, too…"
"So, how'd you get it?"
"Wh-what?"
"The bite, how'd you get it?"
"O-oh, uh… I was, uh… playing with Ruby, and she… bit me. She didn't mean to, she was just playing."
"Aw, how cute." Madison carefully carried a small bowl of water. "You really care for that kid, huh?"
"Of course I do." Tweek said. "What're you doing?"
Madison squeezed the sponge. "We're gonna clean up your wounds. If you don't mind, that is."
"I'd welcome it, actually."
Madison gently started to clean the blood and dirt from Tweek's forearm. "If it hurts too much, let me know."
"I will…" Tweek held in a scream.
Ruby ran in. "Tweek! Tweek!"
She hopped up on the gurnee, and wrapped her arms around him. Tweek smiled and embraced her.
Craig stood at the entrance. "She wanted to see you, so… I slipped past Mira to get her in."
"I heard what you did. You're so brave!"
"Thanks, Ruby. Nngn- ow, ow!" Tweek shouted.
Madison stopped. "Sorry, I have to clean this up. It's really filthy."
Tweek gritted his teeth. "Fffuck, Madi! That stings like a bitch-!"
"I know, I know. Bear with me."
Ruby gasped. "Did you… actually SWEAR, Tweek?!"
"Oh, s-sorry, Ruby! Won't happen - nngn - again…"
Madison shook her head, picking up a small bucket. "You boys get so dirty. I'm gonna go get some more water to clean with. Stay here."
Craig nudged his sister. "Hey, Ruby, why don't you go help her."
"Okay! Be right back, Tweek!" She jumped down and followed Madison out of the tent.
Craig sat next to Tweek on the stretcher.
Tweek looked over to him. "What you do that fo-"
Craig forced their lips together, pressing them so tight, there was barely any room to breathe. Tweek's brain flat lined, unsure what to do. He found himself leaning into the kiss without regret.
Tweek pulled away suddenly. He covered his mouth, looking away.
Craig got annoyed. "What?"
"… It's not real…"
He rolled his eyes. "Goddamnit, not this again. Look at me, Tweek."
Tweek did as told.
Craig kissed him again, softly this time. He slowly pulled back, holding Tweek's cheek in his hand.
"How much more 'real' do I have to be?"
Tweek opened his mouth to say something, but quickly looked away, a terrified look in his eyes.
Craig turned around, seeing Mira standing there.
Mira had that angry stare. "Tweek. A word, if you would."
Tweek looked up at her. "M-Mira, it-it's not what you think..!"
"A WORD, Tweek." She repeated, and turned to Craig. "Exit. NOW."
Craig was about to retort back, but Tweek grabbed his shoulder. "Craig, just go, please..!"
"… If you do ANYTHING-"
"I'm sorry, that doesn't look like leaving. Should I reiterate?" Mira glare.
He left the tent without another word.
END PT8
DRAMA BOMB~!
