Every inch of Skyler was in pain. The single flickering light overhead glared down into her face, seeming far too bright as Lauren laid her out over the discarded sleeping bag on the floor. She gasped and clenched at the fabric in shock at just how much even that hurt.
She hardly even remembered much more than flashes of what had happened. They'd been fending off a horde back-to-back when she'd felt something loop around her chest and yank. Suddenly she'd been being dragged off away from her sister, through the waiting crowd of infected. Then the fists and the teeth and the stomping feet had come. She'd been choking, she'd never been more badly beaten in her life, and then the last thing she could really recall was being dragged face to chest with the tongued thing pulling her. When she'd finally passed out, it had probably been from the lack of air.
"Lauren?" she gasped out fearfully, still trying to orient herself and wheezing in breath through crushed ribs.
Her sister paused in unpacking the contents of the first aid kit that she bore to nod, her expression still somehow managing to give off "cool and collected". Of course, Lauren was an emergency nurse, so maybe that wasn't entirely surprising.
"Yeah, Theo," she assured, carefully pressing her hand to the back of her own briefly. "We're alright. They got you pretty good, but we got out of there. I'm going to get you fixed up."
Despite the calming tone, Skyler's heart was stuck fluttering unevenly, every beat of her pulse seemingly driving in the ache more. She let out a single short sound that could have been a laugh, but wound up more as a cough. It tasted coppery.
"I-I'm dying, aren't I?" she gasped out. She had to be. It certainly felt that way, anyways. "I'm really… really gonna die." God, no. Not like this.
Lauren shook her head, frowning down at her with a length of gauze uncoiled between her hands.
"You're not going to die, Theo. I promise you I've seen worse. Knowing you, you'll be back on your feet in maybe… three days tops. Promise." She reached down, swiping a lock of hair off of Skyler's forehead. "Right now all I need is for you to breathe. Alright? Just… deep breaths so that I can hear."
That was easier said than done. Between the panic still gripping her and the fact that her lungs felt fit to burst into flame every time she took in too much air, she was left gasping for a bit. Gradually though under her sister's steady hand she began to settle some, taking in the situation more. She… she probably wasn't going to die after all. It hurt, it hurt more than anything she could remember in her life, but she thought she'd pull through. Her breath came easier and Lauren smiled.
"See? What'd I tell you."
Eventually she was able to return the smile, even if it was shaky and through a split lip.
"Y-yeah, sis. Guess you were right. And… thanks."
At some point during her fitful sleep, Skyler had lost the couch pillow that she'd been using. A few rays of wintery sunlight filtered through and hit her directly over her remaining eye. She groaned miserably and shoved the pillow back over her face. She felt hungover but hey, that was blood loss for you.
"Just five more minutes," she grumbled, but the throbbing occupying the entire side of her face reminded her that she was probably going to have to get up eventually and clean this train wreck. Uuugh.
She hauled herself into an upright position on the couch. As her sleepy brain slowly cleared itself though, her gaze caught on the deep gouge marks scored right through the carpet and into the floorboards, and all of the memories of the previous night came flooding back.
Shit.
Well, despite her decision making skills being in serious question for evacuating the nice, secure bedroom so that an actual Hunter who had tried to murder her could have his damned pillow fort, she'd made it until morning more or less "fine". Or… hadn't woken up to her insides being shredded, anyways. That was something.
She'd already made it halfway to the bathroom before she realized that her pack was still dumped beside the bed and suddenly it seemed like something that could be put off for a little bit longer. Shaking her head with a bitter scowl she turned instead for the little kitchen. Since it didn't look like this place had been inhabited by any non-rabid person since any of this had hit, maybe there was a chance of something nonperishable being left in there. Hell, maybe the infected that had taken up roost would have scared off anyone looking too.
The row of cans that greeted her when she pulled herself up onto the counter and swung open the cabinet looked like a holy grail. There were five of them and she read off fruit cocktail, evaporated milk, green beans, and a couple cans of cocktail weenies. She barked out a short laugh and clapped her hands together.
"Now would you look at that. A balanced breakfast."
Excited by the prospect of a meal that wasn't the shitty crackers that were all that she had in her pack she didn't bother looking for a can opener and drew out her combat knife, wiping the day-old leaper blood off on her leg before stabbing into the fruit cocktail and prying the lid off. At least she could enjoy this now that she wasn't about to throw up again.
She'd finished a good portion of the can before, without her even knowing it, her sight gradually came back to rest on the tracks in the floor. It was a moment still until she noticed that she'd forgotten entirely about eating. Huh. She wondered if he was still alive in there… Surprised at the intrusion of the sudden thought, she nearly gagged on the cherry still in her mouth. The fuck was she worrying about that for? She'd shoved him in there thinking he was going to die anyways.
Still though. She wound up leaning in the general direction of the bedroom door, listening for any sign of an angry infected on the other side. Nothing followed except total silence. It dragged on for a couple of minutes before she cursed under her breath.
Hell. If she wanted to do anything about her face or, besides that, have any of her supplies, she was going to have to go in there.
She was going to find out one way or the other.
He was… he was still alive. The thought came in a slow trickle as alertness returned to him and didn't bring any real relief. At first he couldn't find it in him to even make a sound, but as he was drawn back to the pain coming like a wave over him again he clenched the soft things around him and his body shook in a low moan. The persistent voice of his instinct hissed that it hurt because he was still alive and all he had to do was keep surviving, but it was quieter than normal.
He hadn't slept, not really. Only spent an amount of time that he couldn't tell slipping in and out of awareness, trying to hold it off. He… he couldn't sleep. Couldn't. She would kill him if he did. She…?
There was a rattling noise at the entrance to his nest room. He startled so hard that he nearly hit the solid frame above him. Woman prey! That sound clicked into place every memory of what had happened and how he'd gotten back here.
The entrance cracked open and he could see the shadow of her stepping in like it was nothing. Before she was even in, her scent saturated the place. Exactly on cue the anger and bloodlust welled up fresh in his gut. Despite the fact that he felt absolutely sick, he was starving. It was so hard not to make a sound, not to move a muscle, but maybe she would forget that he was even there.
That hope disappeared as he watched her feet come closer and closer. This time, he couldn't stop the snarl that tore its way past his teeth. It sounded surprisingly convincing, for the state that he was in. She even stopped in her tracks for a few seconds. But he just didn't have the strength to keep it up.
The next thing that he saw was a pair of boots directly in front of his pile and he gasped. Had he really not noticed her coming this close? He was so dazed still. The growl that came from him was more reflex than anything even when she lowered herself to stare into the crawlspace. Studying him. Discomfort made him squirm, but not quite as much as before, when he'd attacked her. Panting, he shifted himself the best he could to cover himself with the soft things.
He had… to stay awake.
Whines started to escape, before he roughly bit into his lip. He couldn't do that. Letting her hear that was to show weakness and it would cost him his life.
Her stance… wasn't aggressive though. She didn't look angry, or make any move to… to stab him again or attack him with her firestick, or anything like that at all. Slowly, at the lack of immediate danger that he could see, his guard began to ease, just a little.
She was so close, though. So, so close. Had to be an arm's length at most. He was sure that he could simply reach out, sink his claws deep into her and drag her in. His mind was bringing up beautiful, vivid images of it already. How her blood would spill from her, bright and red and warm.
Need it. Need to kill, need her blood. Need it now-
No. He… he couldn't. The primal need in him screamed why, that he had to have it. But with the bare shred of ration left in him knew that it… it wasn't time yet. It felt wrong to pull back the hand that he'd gradually started reaching out without realizing. His claws caught on something as he did, but it hardly registered. Until, that was, the woman prey visibly startled and, with a sharp muttering sound, yanked back.
The abrupt, violent motion sparked the aggression right back into him. A snarl issued and, reacting the first way his scattered thoughts said to, he pulled back on whatever this thing was. He might not be able to hurt her but he can at least take this thing that she wanted! His blood started to race as that infuriating muttering of hers intensified and she struggled for the… the strap that he'd caught back. His teeth bared and he latched onto the thing as hard as he could in his state. He… he had to have this! There wasn't much sense in it but it made him angry, desperate, other things that he didn't quite understand, all wrapped up in an overwhelming mix.
She screamed. He shrieked right back.
HE HATED THIS! Hated that he couldn't satisfy the hunger threatening to tear him apart, hated that even after he'd hurt her this prey was still somehow stronger, hated that he couldn't even take this thing, hated that… he was dying, hated… hated…
He was choking. He felt like he was choking. That only panicked him more and he drew in a sharp breath that came in a strange sound. Something pricked at the corners of his eyes. Oh. Oh no oh no oh-
The woman prey actually paused, for only a second, before yanking forward so hard that it actually dragged him partway out from his nest while he was too exhausted to resist. NO! Why couldn't he stop this, why was this happening, why, why, WHY?! He screamed again, bared his teeth up at her, swiped out and missed but none of it could even stop the tears streaming down his face. He could taste salt even as he turned his face up and showed her his teeth. She saw, he knew she could see.
And she recoiled. Like she'd been struck he watched her stumble over her feet backwards and he could see what looked like shock register over her face. For the first time since he'd seen her, he thought that she might actually look afraid.
He was left furious and bewildered as she continued backing up until she was nearly in the entrance, clutching tight the thing that she'd managed to free from him. He panted raggedly, struggled with a soft thing wrapped around him to look up at her again.
He shrieked. She staggered the rest of the way out and slammed the entrance.
The Hunter could have his shitty apartment. Skyler was getting the fuck out of here.
On her way storming through the living room, she stopped only to retrieve her assault rifle and give the World's Shittiest Couch a firm kick as she did so, just because she hated it so much. She slung her pack over her shoulder as she walked, hardly pausing for five seconds just to make sure the little asshole's claws hadn't damaged it too badly, and cursed out the other heavy piece of furniture she'd shoved up against the door as she put her shoulder into it.
She was not ready to accept that she'd just witnessed the leaper crying. She'd only seen Witches doing that and even then she'd assumed it was a goddamned trap! But that had very clearly been the last thing she'd seen before she'd hightailed it out of there; the kid staring up at her with what was visible of his hooded face a mess of filth and tears. That was… that was just bullshit and she sure as hell didn't want to think about what it meant.
Just about the second that she got the door open she was greeted by a squalling common that had been snooping around out there. Almost immediately, she destroyed most of its face with a short burst from her clip. The sound drew two others meandering the alley, but she hardly cared and dispatched them in similarly sloppy fashion. Well. At least she knew she could still handle this. Leaper hadn't changed her ability to do her job.
She took up a fast jog down the alley, farther away from the main road. She remembered that red arrow, and that safe room couldn't be that far. Or hell, a secure cardboard box would have been good enough right then. As long as it got her the fuck away from what she'd left in the flat so that she could stop and think. She felt like she was going to scream if she couldn't.
It seemed like today was just her lucky day, because towards where the alley came to a bend on another side street, she caught sight of another blessed red arrow directing her towards her door. "Well. Maybe I used up all the shitty luck yesterday," she grumbled to herself, bitterly. She could hope, anyways.
Any infected down that stretch that were unlucky enough to cross her path found out that she was being generous with her ammo that day, although one did manage to get in close enough to meet the butt of her gun. She bashed it in until she was sure that it was dead, ignoring the throb in her injured hand.
Skyler was doing great. She was doing just fine, and she was most definitely not feeling fucking sorry for the brain-fried infected that had given her the mauling of her lifetime and had taken her goddamned eye. And… that she'd then left there bleeding to death. What the hell else was she supposed to do?! He was a murder machine that had tried to kill her and would again given a chance and two seconds!
Maybe fifteen minutes passed. Fifteen minutes of freezing in the damp December wind before she realized that, following the last arrow, she was staring down a narrow corridor at a secure steel door just up a small flight of stairs. After a moment of balking, she had to laugh, harsh and humorless. That? That was as far as she would have had to go to get to safety. Who really knew, though. Hunters were infamous for being persistent stalkers, and she doubted that the kid was any different.
Will you stop. Thinking about that?
Whatever, all that mattered was that she'd finally found it. She practically tore the door open and rushed inside, doing a quick visual scan to check for anything lurking before slamming it shut with a massive groan of relief. She let herself sag down against the inside until she was sitting down on the floor with her head back. Her heart pounded and she was feeling fit to pass out again. Christ. All the running around in this shape was going to be the end of her.
It took a while before she could actually be assed to take a look around. She might not have been entirely wrong about the "cardboard box" thing, this place was so small. It looked like it had probably been converted from a storage unit built onto the building. There was room to sleep maybe four if they were packed in pretty tight, but the important part was that it had a door on it, and the table along the wall looked like it even had a box with some ammunition left over.
"Goodie," she "enthused" exhaustedly, finally hauling herself up to check it out. It looked to be mostly shells that she couldn't use but, didn't her luck just keep getting better, at least one box of the caliber that she needed and a singular, full, first aid kit. She could sure as hell use that. The out-of-the-way location had probably ensured that not many people had passed through here, so it hadn't been picked entirely clean.
As she stuffed the boxes of bullets into her own pack along with the medical supplies, her gaze drifted over the bits of graffiti left by whoever had passed through here before. It appeared to have been mostly students from the campus, some of them writing down names of companions who hadn't made it which was depressing, others seemingly writing just to pass the time.
"THEY'RE BURNING THE STUDENT LOAN RECORDS", she read, and couldn't help but smirk. A couple of replies were scrawled out under it, to the tune of, "WE ARE FREE", and "Praise all that is holy".
"RIP Professor Alexander. I'll always remember your sociology class. :(", she read further, signed by a "Molly McLellan".
"I'm going to miss this place. Feel like I just got here and am already leaving. Goodbye UNH, and good luck to all of the friends that I've made! I hope we meet again soon." "A."...
…"Lamb". Holy shit.
Okay. Okay, so she was definitely thinking about it. Skyler let out a low groan of frustration and thudded her fists ineffectually against the table.
Well, let's think about it a little more then. As much as the thought sucked, she was feeling pretty shitty. It wouldn't have been bothering her now if she wasn't. These were… these were supposed to be brainless things that did nothing but slaughter people and didn't stop for anything, and… and didn't fucking cry when they were hurt or afraid. That was how he'd looked; he'd looked hurt, and he'd looked scared, and she'd left him there like that. She wasn't sure she would have treated dogs that way. She meant. Dogs were pretty great, but her point still stood. She could have at least killed him and made sure he wouldn't be stuck slowly dying like that after she left.
After a while of just standing there staring at the wall of messages, Skyler let out a long sigh before turning back for the door.
For fuck's sake.
Looked like she was trudging back through the cold to either shoot a Hunter in the head or… something else. She didn't know. She guessed she could decide on the way.
