A/N: Yeah. This one's taken a bit of time, but it's hard to work a concept like JUSTICE into the zombie apocalypse. Pretty short, but you should be expecting that. IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON, AND I DON'T MEAN THAT AMERICAN SHIT! Yes, I am a soccer fan and watching the English Premier League. Get over it. I'm following FOUR teams this year (Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal), and I'm following a little more closely this year (which may come into play in future updates). And I mean close. Like how Chelsea just bought Tores from Liverpool for 50 million pounds. After the Reds turned down the offer of 35 million. X_x Anyway...
Vithian: No, I don't believe Wichita and Columbus go well together either, and I wouldn't put it by Wichita to ditch her sister either. Besides, with an age-gap like that and the way they act towards one another, they don't really seem to be sisters and crafted the story for the convenience of it. Yes, JtHM was ammaaaaaaazzzzzing. And maybe the reason I couldn't remember "I Feel Sick" was because I didn't really like Devi at all. I kinda think Nny shoulda killed her. XD
Taisi: I personally think all of the Virtues are tricky in their own way, especially given how morals and virtues are likely to be forgotten during an apocalypse. -nodnod-
Ninny: Glad you like it dear. :)
"There are all kinds of justice; Man's, God's, and even the Devil's."
"He's right you know." Columbus murmured, his eyes still fixed on the screen.
"Right about what?" Tallahassee asked. He reached for the lukewarm bottle of soda on the coffee table, still watching the film. After the first time Columbus had watched Silent Hill and gotten over his whole new terror of the dark, he had decided that the film intrigued him and he'd taken it with them for their adventures, closely studying the plot line, losing his fear and gaining interest each time it played.
"There's all kinds of justice."
Tallahassee just nodded and continued watching the familiar plot unfold. He knew that Columbus would continue that thought regardless of if he were prompted or not. Tallahassee couldn't call it the kid's most endearing quality, but at least it wasn't as annoying as his habit of throwing out the most useless and unnerving facts and statistics at the most inappropriate times.
"But the zombies have got justice down so much better than we do." He continues just as Florida knew he would.
"And how's that?" The southerner asked.
"Well think about it. Up until the Civil Rights movements in the sixties, Jim Crow laws were deemed perfectly Constitutional and the general societal consensus was that the laws were just. They were 'fair enough'. Completely partial and discriminant."Columbus shoved popcorn into his mouth.
"And how does that bring zombies into things?"
"Well... Zombies are perfectly self-sufficient anarchists with a complete lack of conformity to any kind of ideal. It's a completely fair system they're operating on, and it's all revolving around chance. Zombies don't care if you're male or female or black or white or any of that. It's useless. Food is food and they don't care where it comes from. They don't care if your a Democrat or Republican or a Communist or a Marxist. It's a perfect system. No bias, just fairness."
Tallahassee didn't say anything for a few scenes, operating under the pretense of paying attention to the movie so an immediate answer wasn't expected.
"It ain't a 'perfect system'. Their system ain't justified. Their system is just as fuckin' random as any other system out there. You cain't justify killin' a kid as easy as you can justify killin' a serial killer. They ain't just. They're just better at not givin' a damn."
Columbus thought about the argument for a second. He was looking at it from a point of view in which the system offered no outlet or room or possibility for bias, thereby making it completely just. But how could a just system allow such horrors to happen? Was justice so simple a concept it revolved only around sheer and blind luck? Or was justice ensuring only those who deserved punishment got it?
"Hey!"
Columbus's attention snapped away from the damaged and abused wood of the coffee table with the gaping hole where a glass piece used to be. He frowned at Tallahassee, who seemed rather concerned.
"Huh?" Columbus almost winced at how ineloquent he sounded.
"Movie's over, spit-fuck. Don't tell me I fucked with your morals again." Despite his words, Tallahassee seemed more than a little pleased with the notion of having completely derailed Ohio's preferred methods of thinking.
"You'd only gloat if I did." Columbus pointed out.
"Silence is affirmation, kid. So what part of it got you all doom-and-gloom?" Florida asked. He let the movie credits play through and propped his feet up on the half-shattered table by the foot of the couch.
"There can't ever be perfect justice, can there? I mean, it would literally require a utopian society to pull that off, and even then it wouldn't be justice because anyone not holding to the ideals, no matter how constricting or ridiculous, would be killed for going against the thoughts and ideals of the society. So there can't ever be justice can there?" Columbus was toying with the strings to his hoodie again, and Tallahassee knew that it was only a matter of time before he started chewing on them in agitation. He had an oral fixation problem, but it got worse when he was nervous or anxious, so it was typically a constant problem. Tallahassee swatted the younger man's hands away from the ties and Columbus smiled apologetically.
"Somethin's always gonna be unfair, Collie. Don't matter how hard we try. More we try though, the closer we come. But you gotta point. Zombies ain't exactly partial to where their food comes from, and I guess that's more'n can be said for anyone still livin'. Hell, even that bitch you were so obsessed with was a damn vegetarian. Ain't nothin' more annoyin' than a woman who won't eat what's available in the middle of a damn apocalypse. So I guess they're just as fair 'bout things as anything humanoid can be." Tallahassee shruged.
"Now you're just trying to make me feel better about it all." Columbus pouted a little more.
"I never said you weren't right to an extent. You just ain't completely right. That's the shitty thing about that 'virtue' bullshit; humanity just ain't equipped for it, not in any capacity."
"Wow. Thanks for making me feel better." Columbus rolled his eyes as he spoke, the sarcasm practically drowning his words.
"You wanna talk about bein' fair? You ain't even takin' my apology seriously." Tallahassee feigned hurt rather poorly, but it was enough to make Columbus smile.
"You're a real jackass, you know that?"
"Yep. Had it printed up on business cards and everything."
Columbus only laughed at the though. After a few minutes, he sobered up a bit and his thoughts began running in circles and chasing themselves around and around again, making him feel the slightest bit dizzy.
"You ever think that maybe we're the most just people left?" He eventually asked. He studied Tallahassee's face carefully and tried to figure out what his companion was going to say before he said it.
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it ain't like the zombies are killin' each other for eatin' our families and such." Florida shrugged. They both fell silent for a moment. Outside of each other, they had no one left. Their families were dead, either really dead or undead didn't really matter, and Wichita and Little Rock had fled up to Canada to find one of the Witch's ex-boyfriends who, supposedly, could protect them. But did the fact that the zombies were indiscriminately killing and eating anyone they came across make the "murders" committed by the survivors justified for stopping what would likely be an endless reign of terror.
But... If killing a killer was all it took for a murder to be justified, then why were there laws against vigilantes and taking the law into your own hands? Was it because the killings weren't truly justified? Or was it fear that the vigilantes would let the power over human life to to their heads and kill just as mercilessly as those they would kill? Perhaps because the punishment of death didn't always fit the crime? There were so many thoughts racing through Columbus's head that they were beginning to trip over one another and he was giving himself a headache. He closed his eyes and reminded himself that this was why he hated talking philosophy with Tallahassee; because the southerner would usually say something to remind Columbus that he wasn't as uneducated as people liked to believe.
"You ain't thinkin' yourself to death again, are ya?" Tallahassee asked.
"Yes." Columbus groaned. He toppled over dramatically and ended up draped over his lover's lap.
"I don't know why you bother thinkin' over stuff that don't amount to shit anyway. Unless the zombies develop a conscience over night, there ain't no need to be thinkin' about "justice" or any of that other shit that only living people can bother understanding." Tallahassee berated him.
"Yeah. I know. But these deep-thinking questions tend to make things feel a little more... normal, you know?"
Tallahassee nodded, but didn't comment on Ohio's almost lost tone of voice. The former student had told him that he'd been involved in all sorts of philosophy circles at the university, simply because he liked the notion of thinking bout complex things. The problem was, even if someone said something to rattle him or shake his train of thought, he always had normal life to distract him so he could think about it a little at a time and at his leisure. Now there was no real world to save him from the turns his thoughts took. He rubbed at his eyes and sighed. These abstract concepts were what distracted him from the zombies when they weren't around to fight. Problem was, then he needed a distraction from his thoughts.
"I don't know why you gotta think about this stupid shit at times like this anyway." Tallahassee muttered.
Columbus didn't answer. He chose instead to just shrug and dig the heels of his hands into his eyes with another irritated mumble.
"Hey."
Ohio opened his eyes and looked up at the Southerner staring down at him.
"Yeah?"
"Stop thinkin' so hard. We're all the justice left in the world, killin' things that don't care what they eat. Justice ain't just somethin' completely random and unbiased. Justice is settin' shit right. And shit ain't gonna be right as long as they're runnin' around and we're runnin' scared."
"Yeah. I guess."
"Don't fuckin' guess. I know what I'm talking about. Now get your ass up. Might as well get some sleep while we got a bed." Tallahassee ordered. Columbus smiled and did as he was told. Trust Tallahassee to be right and smug. On the other hand, he gave it about five minutes before his headache went away, and he was no longer concerned with philosophical paradoxes or zombies...