Bilbo was startled awake as something hit the side of his face. He blinked, breathing in the smell of blueberries and brown sugar. "What the hell?" he mumbled.
"They're giving us food," Víli's voice came from the door. "Are you planning on waking up?"
He propped himself up on one elbow, finally managing to keep his eyes open, and realized it was a muffin that had been launched at his face. "What is...What?"
"We're in the creepy research facility, remember?" Víli said, smiling as Bilbo sat up and rubbed at his face. "We decided to let you sleep in, but most of the others are in the cafeteria right now."
He looked around at the plainly furnished room, memories of the previous night rushing back. "How long was I asleep?"
"Not sure." Víli glanced at the window, where gray, cloudy sunlight glowed. "But we saved some food for you."
"I noticed." Bilbo picked up the muffin and put it on the tiny bedside table, so it would stop shedding crumbs all over the sheets. "I'm going to take a shower. I'll meet you there."
"Roger that."
Once Víli had left and closed the door behind him, Bilbo stood up and crossed the room to the bathroom door. It was a small space, with only a shower, sink, and a toilet. The hot water was lovely, enough that he didn't mind too much having to put on his dirty clothes afterwards. Few of them had any real changes of clothing, since there wasn't exactly a variety of choices in post-apocalyptic stores.
The day was cool and cloudy as he stepped outside, finishing the muffin and wiping crumbs from his mouth. Low-hanging clouds obscured the peaks of the mountains on either side. Now that it was daytime, he could see the facility better. Despite its rundown appearance, it looked much cleaner and more intact than a lot of the buildings they'd passed. It looked...livable.
He spotted Thorin standing outside one of the larger buildings, and assumed this was where everyone else was. He seemed to just be smoking (apparently he'd asked someone else for a lighter this time, Bilbo thought with a slight frown), though one hand hovered near his gun as he scanned the area. Bilbo passed him in silence, figuring he was still pissed about last night.
The cafeteria wasn't hard to find once he was inside, what with the energetic chatter echoing down the hall. The majority of the group was seated around two round tables, passing around plates of bagels and hot potatoes and eggs. The smell hit his nose, and Bilbo felt his stomach give a loud, angry growl.
Bombur pulled out a chair for him, and Bofur spooned an ungodly amount of scrambled eggs onto his plate. Bilbo snatched up a fork and shoved the first bite into his mouth savoring the taste of fresh, hot food for the first time in weeks.
"Lindir said this was mostly frozen or premade stuff, but it's not bad, eh?" Bofur said.
Bilbo swallowed and looked around. "Is he here?"
"Nah. He and a few others brought out the food, but they left after."
There was no one else in the large room except for them, so Bilbo turned back to his meal. "I still wonder what they're researching here."
"They've got to be using human test subjects for something," Nori said from across the table. "They'll probably all lock us in a basement before we can leave so they can have a fresh supply of lab rats."
Dori pinched his brow. "I seriously don't know where you get these ideas."
Bilbo pulled a face, hoping Nori was joking. "That, or they're genuinely nice people who want to help us."
"There's no nice in this world. You think they'd give us all this food for free just to send us on our way? They're buttering us up." As if to punctuate his point, Nori spread a thick layer of butter onto his bagel.
A tense silence fell across the table. Nori bringing up his slightly paranoid theories was nothing new, but they'd all grown a little more wary over the past few months.
Bilbo looked up in time to see Brana walk into the cafeteria. She made it halfway across the room before she froze, put a hand over her mouth, and hurried back towards the door. Glóin pushed back her chair and went after her.
Oh, no. He pushed the remainder of his eggs around his plate, worry boiling through his gut, then stood up and muttered an excuse to Bofur. Once he'd left the room, it took him only a few minutes to find the women's bathroom. Low voices were coming from behind it, but he debated for a long moment before knocking.
Glóin opened it only wide enough for her to lean through and glare at him. "The men's room is the next one over."
"I-I know, I was just coming to see—"
"It's okay," Brana's voice sounded from inside. "He can come in."
She regarded him for another moment, then stepped back to let him pass. Bilbo hesitated for a moment, feeling as though he was about to breach some unspoken rule, then decided it was the end of the world and that he could forgive himself for this one.
Brana was leaning against the counter where the sinks were, arms crossed over her stomach. She nodded to him with a slight grimace as he walked inside.
"He was the one who got me the test," she said to Glóin.
"And…?" Bilbo asked, though he was afraid he already knew the answer.
"It's positive."
"Oh." He leaned against the stall, feeling a bit lightheaded. "You're sure?"
She gave a small shrug. "It's getting pretty obvious at this point, anyway." Glóin walked over and put an arm around her shoulders.
"What are you going to do?"
"We haven't decided yet." Brana leaned against her wife, and Bilbo noticed for the first time the dark circles under her eyes. "Maybe things would be easier if we had a safe place to stay, but if we're still on the road in six, seven months…"
"We're not telling anyone yet, either," Glóin said with a warning glance in his direction.
"When would you start, um…" Bilbo made a rounded gesture over his stomach.
"In the next month or so. I just need some time to figure out what I'm going to do."
"Well, my lips are sealed," Bilbo said. "I wish there was more I could do."
"You've already been so helpful," Brana said with a smile. "But we'll let you know."
Glóin gave him a nod that was somehow both grateful and dismissive at the same time, and Bilbo knew the conversation was over. He showed himself out of the bathroom, but instead of heading back to the cafeteria, he began walking in the other direction. He needed to be alone, clear his head for a while.
The dimly-lit halls were white, unadorned, and only provided a contrast for the thoughts buzzing in his mind. It was possible they would have a baby on the way. And that was assuming nothing went wrong with the pregnancy—if Brana chose to go through with it at all.
He passed a set of floor-to-ceiling windows and realized it was pouring outside. The rain created a flashing gray haze, making everything in the distance practically invisible. But part of the chaos was calming, with a layer of glass between him and the rest of the world.
"Not with the rest of your group?"
Bilbo started and turned to see Elrond walking towards him from the end of the hallway. He still walked with a straight posture and steady movements, but in the light of day there was a friendly slant to his expression.
"Oh, I just needed a moment alone." He gave him a slight, inviting nod.
"Your group has been more...defensive than I expected." Elrond joined him at the window. "Not that we really knew what to expect. None of us have been outside the facility in months."
"I-If you don't mind me asking, what is it that you research here?"
He glanced at him, one brow arching. "I'll show you." He began walking down the hallway and gestured for Bilbo to follow.
He fell into step slightly behind him, feeling a prickle of foreboding beneath his skin. There was no evidence that Elrond had any sinister intentions, but Nori's words had stuck with him. He rubbed the back of his neck, hoping the doctor didn't have any sedative-filled syringes hidden in his white coat.
Elrond stepped into a well-lit lab room, complete with various centrifuges and microscopes and other tools Bilbo didn't recognize on sanitized counters. The whiteboard on the back of the room displayed a projection of the human brain. The shelves were crowded with various labeled containers and papers.
"This was originally a facility meant for studying plant life in the valley," Elrond said, stopping next to one of the microscopes. "When the outbreak happened, a few biomedical engineers and other doctors were shipped down here. This facility has a wide range of equipment and is far from any urban centers—it was a safeguard in case the cities were overrun."
And they had been indeed. Bilbo scratched at his forearm. It made sense now why the facility had been self-sustaining for so long, if the government had equipped it with rations and a generator in case things went south.
"We've made some headway, learning how the virus works, but we have yet to find a cure."
"How did you…" Bilbo paused, unsure how to phrase his question without sounding overly suspicious. "Where did you get the, um…"
"You're asking where we obtained our test subjects," Elrond said, one brow quirking upward. But in the next moment, a shadow fell across his expression. "One of the last doctors to arrive was infected. Whether she was unaware or simply hiding it, we never found out. But we were unprepared, and she turned and killed several others in the middle of the night."
"Oh my god." Bilbo's mouth fell open. "That's horrible."
"Those that survived but were bitten gave permission for their bodies to be studied. We…" His mouth fell into a flat line. "We gained valuable information from the three that we examined."
Bilbo finally realized the expression on his face was one of grief. "That...That must have been very difficult."
Elrond nodded stiffly. "We can only hope that their untimely deaths will save other lives in the future."
He realized that the doctor probably didn't want to have an emotional heart-to-heart with someone he barely knew, and decided to change the subject. "So do you think a vaccine might be possible?"
"A vaccine?"
"I mean, so that a person might get bit but not turn into a, um, walker."
Elrond searched his face for a moment. "Ah," he said finally. "So you don't know."
A chill raced down his spine. "Know what?"
"The infection from the bite only causes a deadly fever." He tapped the microscope with one long finger. "The virus, the one that resurrects the dead, is present in every living person."
"What?" He took a step back, his pulse thundering in his ears. "What do you mean?"
"Death itself is the cause of resurrection," Elrond explained calmly. "If one were to die from blood loss or pneumonia, for instance, without having been bitten, they would still come back as a walker, as you call them."
"Oh." His head spun with the implications of that statement. As if the world wasn't already screwed up enough, now any one of them had the potential to turn into a walking, soulless corpse. Another, awful thought entered his mind, and he began speaking before he knew what he was doing. "If...I-If, let's say, a fetus were to die inside the mother, would it…?"
"That, I do not know. We have not had the chance to study something like that." Elrond searched his face. "Is one of your group pregnant?"
Bilbo cleared his throat. He really shouldn't have said anything. But now that he thought about it, he sensed an opportunity, one that could potentially benefit the whole group. "If that were the case, hypothetically…you would have doctors here, right? Ones that would be able to help her?"
His lips pursed a fraction. "We would not be able to let everyone stay. It would put too great a strain on our resources."
He nodded. Seventeen people was a lot to take on. "If I could convince two of them to stay…?"
"I would certainly consider it."
"Thank you." He huffed out a relieved sigh. Despite his earlier suspicion, it seemed to him now that Elrond had a good heart, despite his slightly strange mannerisms. "I, um, I'd better get going. I don't want to take up too much of your time."
Elrond nodded as Bilbo turned to leave. "Tell your group they are welcome to stay another night. With this rain, I doubt we'll be able to help you get through the valley."
"I will. Thank you." He left the room, grateful that they had more time to stay, though his brow furrowed at the terrible fact that Elrond had shared with him.
"No." Brana shook her head and leaned against the wall. "I'm not staying here."
"You wouldn't have to worry." Bilbo spread his hands. "About any of the health aspects, or about raising your child in a safe place." He looked to Glóin, who was seated on the bed in their shared room, but she only glanced at her wife.
"Look, I understand your concern. Practically, it makes sense. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself letting you guys continue on, not knowing what was happening to you while I was safe."
Glóin gave a short nod. "Family first."
"But what about when you tell the others? They would want you to stay behind."
Brana crossed her arms. "It doesn't matter what they'd want. It's my decision."
"Well, of course. I only meant…"
"I know you're just trying to look out for me, Bilbo." She gave him a slight smile. "Just trust that I know what I'm doing. I've been thinking about this nonstop."
Bilbo nodded. "Like I said before, if you—"
They all froze at a knock on the door. Glóin stood and opened it, revealing Dís on the other side.
"Is Bilbo here?" She peered inside and found him. "Ah. Can I borrow you for a second?"
"Uh, sure." He glanced at Brana and Glóin and stepped outside. "What is it?"
"I'm hiring you as a babysitter." She clapped him on the shoulder as they began walking down the hallway. "Do you think you could watch Fíli and Kíli tonight? Víli and I wanted some…time by ourselves, and I just wanted to make sure the boys have someone to go to if they need anything."
"I'd be happy to." He smiled. "Where are they now?"
"I think their room is on the first floor, one of the doors on the right." She stopped at the stairs before they could head down. "What were you talking to Glóin and Brana about?"
"Um." His cheeks heated. He hadn't thought to come up with some sort of excuse before heading into their room. "We were just chatting. You know."
Dís nodded slowly, and he inwardly cursed. "Well, if you ever need any relationship advice, you can always ask me. I might be in a straight relationship, but that doesn't mean I don't have things to share."
His mental panic screeched to a halt. "Wait, what?"
She gave him a knowing smirk. "I know Thorin better than anyone here. So if you need any advice…"
"That's—That's not—no." Bilbo shook his head, his face burning. "I-I wasn't asking for—"
Dís only chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "I hear you." She started off towards her room. "Loud and clear."
He could still feel his heart thumping as he made his way down to Fíli and Kíli's room. But before he could begin to ponder who exactly knew about his feelings for Thorin, his attention was drawn to the angry voices on the other side of the door.
"Why don't you listen to me?" Fíli was shouting when he walked in. Kíli was seated on his bed, facing the wall with his hands clapped over his ears and shouting gibberish.
"What's going on here?" Bilbo asked, causing Fíli to turn to him. Kíli continued to yell, but he elected to ignore that for the moment.
"Kíli's being mean," Fíli said, his face screwed up in anger. He made to stalk past him, but Bilbo blocked his path.
"Now, hang on a second. Just tell me what—Kíli, could you please…" He waited until the younger boy had quieted, then continued. "What's the problem, then? Storming off isn't going to help anything."
"I was telling Kíli to pack his bag since we're leaving tomorrow." Fíli crossed his arms and scowled down at the mess of clothes and other supplies on the floor. Bilbo hadn't thought anything of it at first, since they'd both been rather messy when living in his apartment. "But he just made a mess. He won't listen to me."
Bilbo glanced back at Kíli, who had flopped down onto his side and was still facing the wall. It wasn't like him, hyperactive as he sometimes was, to be so belligerent.
"I'm telling mom." Fíli tried to push past him again, but Bilbo put a hand on his shoulder.
"Your mom is, um…" He scrunched his mouth to the side, trying to choose his words carefully. "She's a bit busy right now. She asked me to watch you." He ushered Fíli back into the room and closed the door. "So let's figure out what the problem is. Kíli, why don't you want to pack up your things?"
All he received was an exaggerated shrug.
"See?" Fíli jabbed a finger at his brother. "I asked him that too, and he wouldn't answer me. 'Cause he doesn't want to—"
This set Kíli off again, and Bilbo pinched his nose as Fíli tried to shout over him. "Alright! Alright, that's enough!" When they still didn't quiet down, he reached over and flipped the light switch, which was enough to shock them into silence. He turned it back on and said, "Since the both of you can't talk this out without getting angry, we're going to try something else. On your feet, Kíli."
After a moment, he rolled out of bed, not meeting their eyes.
"Come on, then." Bilbo patted Fíli's shoulder and led them both out of the bedroom and down the hall.
Ori looked up from his paperback as they passed by the lounge area. "Everything all right?"
"I think I have it under control," Bilbo said with a slight grimace, and led them outside.
The grass was still damp from the day's rain, and the rising moon cast a silvery sheen over the lawn as they walked. Both brothers made a point of walking on either side of him, but he was willing to let it slide. Whenever he was feeling frustrated or restless, taking a walk usually did him some good, and he hoped it would help the boys as well.
After a lap around the facility, both of them were still in a sullen silence, so Bilbo took them inside the main building. It was eerily silent, but a few of the labs still had their lights on. A dark-haired woman passed them in the hallway, and before he could even ask, she pointed back the way she'd come and said, "The rec room's that way."
"Thanks." Bilbo nodded to her and led the boys in that direction.
Clearly most of the facility's budget had gone towards equipment and the like, since the room was rather plainly furnished. There was an air hockey table against one wall next to a couch. On the opposite side was a TV and a bookshelf. Fíli and Kíli made a beeline for the former, while Bilbo went to check the latter. There were a few board games stacked near the bottom, along with some well-worn paperbacks. Bilbo selected one at random, which featured a pretty woman wearing a lab coat and not much else, titled The Test Subject. He decided to give that a pass and put it back in his place.
Fíli had pried open the cabinet beside the TV and pulled out one of the titles within. "Crash Bandicoot? I love this game!"
Kíli was repeatedly pressing the power button on the TV, but the screen remained dark. Bilbo walked over and looked behind. The plug had been pulled out of the outlet, which was covered with black tape.
"Ah." He gestured for Kíli to stop. "They must have unplugged it to save power." He shot the boys a sympathetic grimace. "I'm afraid we're going to have to find something else to do."
Fíli put the game back with a sigh and trudged over to the bookshelf. Bilbo made to follow him, both to help him pick out a board game and make sure he didn't pick up the wrong book, but stopped as a loud sniffle came from Kíli.
He was standing in front of the TV, shoulders sagging as tears streamed down his face. Bilbo's heart broke at his forlorn expression, and he rushed over and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It's all right. I'm sure we'll find something fun to do." He frowned. Kíli was usually in a good enough mood to take his disappointments in stride. He looked over at Fíli for support, but he was staring stonily at the board game boxes as though they held the very secrets to the universe. He turned back to Kíli and knelt down. "What's the matter, then?"
"I don't wanna leave." Kíli sniffled again and wiped his face, smearing snot all over his sleeve. "I don't wanna sleep in the car again."
"Oh." Bilbo sat back on his heels. It was certainly something he should have considered before, that after all the strain and danger the apocalypse had put on such a young boy, he'd want to cling to the first safe place they stayed at.
"Why can't we just stay here?" Kíli asked, his little chest trembling with sobs.
"I know." He pulled him into a hug, silently winced at the growing wet patch on his shoulder as Kíli continued crying. "I wish we could stay, too. And it certainly isn't fair. But you must remember," he pulled back to look him in the eye, "even if we are back on the road and sleeping in our cars, you will still be surrounded by people who love you and want to protect you."
Kíli's lip trembled, and he still looked rather unconvinced.
"Look, Elrond wouldn't let all of us stay behind. There are too many of us, and if you did want to stay, that would mean the rest of us leaving you behind." Kíli looked rather stricken at this, and Bilbo quickly added, "Not—Not that any of us would ever do that." He bit his tongue. He shouldn't have said that, especially after what had happened at the motel. "Tomorrow, we're all going to leave this place together, and everything will be fine."
"How do you know?"
"Because you're uncle is a good man," Bilbo said, surprising himself. He didn't know where that particular thought had come from, but he knew it was true. "And he knows how to keep all of us safe. There is nothing I or any of the others wouldn't do for you. And one day, we'll find a place where we can all live together and you'll be able to sleep in your own bed and play as many video games as you want. Does that sound good?"
Kíli nodded and sniffled again. Bilbo pulled him close again and held him until his sobs subsided.
"Hey." Fíli rattled the board game box in his hand. "Can we play this?"
Bilbo let go and turned to see which game he was talking about. He nearly jumped as he realized Thorin was standing in the doorway. His cheeks heated as he wondered how long he'd been standing there.
"I'll help you set it up." Kíli wiped his face and made his way towards his brother.
Fíli evidently considered this enough of an apology for his earlier behavior and smiled. He turned to Thorin as his brother opened the box. "Do you want to play with us, Uncle Thorin?"
"Sure." He nodded and walked into the room, and Bilbo had to remind himself to stop staring at the length of his body.
He said very little as they sat on the floor in front of the TV, letting the brothers chatter away as they tried to decipher the directions for the game. Apparently they were playing the Game of Life, which seemed grotesquely ironic given their situation, but the boys seemed cheerful enough.
He still felt awkward around Thorin after their confrontation the previous day. On his part, Thorin was also rather quiet, though his gaze was filled with quiet affection as he watched his nephews set up the board.
The boys were more than happy to fill up the silence as they played. Kíli made a face as he picked his career card. "What's an accountant?"
"Well—" Bilbo and Thorin both said at the same time, and Thorin gave a short nod, deferring to him. He cleared his throat and said, "An accountant is someone who helps a person or a business decide how to spend their money."
"That sounds boring."
"That's just 'cause you're bad at math," Fíli said, flicking his stack of paper money. "When I grow up, I wanna be a soldier like Uncle Thorin."
"No, you don't," Thorin said lowly.
"But then I could keep everyone safe."
Bilbo glanced at the line of tension growing on Thorin's brow and said, "What about being a librarian, like me? You could read all the books you want."
"I already know how to be a librarian," Kíli said, then turned to his brother and shushed him loudly. Fíli burst into laughter, and even Thorin cracked a smile.
"Oh, very funny." Bilbo rolled his eyes, trying not to let his lips twitch. "I think it's my turn, yes?"
Thorin was the first to get married, and Bilbo didn't pay much attention until he realized he'd placed a little blue figurine next to his own in the plastic car. His pulse picked up, and he quickly set about organizing the little stack of cards in front of him. Certainly it didn't mean anything. This was just a game, after all. Perhaps blue was just his favorite color.
All the same, Bilbo placed a blue figurine in his own car when he landed on the marriage spot, and Fíli and Kíli did the same, though whether it was of their own preference or they were just copying them, he wasn't sure.
The rest of the game went mostly uneventfully, with Fíli surprisingly taking the lead income-wise, while Kíli did rather poorly due to some unwise purchases and Thorin occasionally grumbled about the inaccurate costs of different products and services.
"Don't worry," Fíli said as he smugly paid for the mansion card. "I'll let you guys come visit my giant house."
Kíli, who was still stuck with the cheap trailer home, picked up his plastic car. "I can just put my house inside your house." He rammed the car into one of the plastic houses on the board.
"Then I'm gonna park my car inside your house." Fíli took his vehicle and smashed it into Kíli's. The small figurines went flying.
Soon, they were involved in an all-out battle that sent most of the pieces skittering from the board. Bilbo extracted his family of four before it could become a casualty.
"Seems the apocalypse came early," Thorin said, putting his own family out of the danger zone.
Bilbo hummed in agreement and placed his own car next to Thorin's. "Looks like we're back on the road."
Thorin smiled at him, blue eyes bright, and Bilbo felt his heart skip a beat. He looked down at their cars, parked next to each other on the linoleum floor, and couldn't help the answering grin that spread across his face.
I hope that scene in the lab didn't make it too obvious that I'm a liberal arts major... I'm not sure if the "we're all infected" thing was a twist for anyone, since that's established pretty early on in the show. Kind of sucks already that there's zombies at all, but it's useful to know!
Speaking of sciencey things, The Test Subject is a real book...I do not have the rights to that book, nor have I ever read it, I just wanted a title and to spend the least amount of time looking at mad scientist erotica (which is a thing apparently...)
Two important things:
Earlier I was stressing about keeping all the plot points/continuity in order (like sometimes I forget that there's supposed to be walkers around...lmao), so if you guys see anything missing or feel like I should be giving more attention to something, please let me know!
Also, I bumped the rating up to M because of something that happens in Chapter 13. No spoilers, but it is violence-related, not sexual (sorry).