"So,uh. Run this by your buddy again, to make sure I'm hearing you right."
Skyler reclined back on the queen-sized bed, radio in hand and feet up in the air. The roof access had led down into a hotel, as it turned out, which while not a safe house was pretty cushy diggings even if it wasn't as secure as she would have liked. From the looks of it, the place had been used as a holdover for people crossing through on their way to evac. Signs of traffic were heavy, as were signs of it having been abandoned for some time now. Most importantly, though, was the discovery she'd made some time after showing up; the place had a goddamn gas generator with at least a little bit of juice left in it. Now that was certainly interesting.
"Oooh my god, it was badass. An entire fucking pack of leapers behind us, man. You know those movies when there's the chase sequence and they've got to make a big jump? That's what it felt like. I was all like, "nooo", but we totally made it. Fucking adrenaline rush."
"I thought the dude with you was hurt? Like, stabbed or something?"
"He'll get over it. Probably."
"Right, right. That's, uh, cool? Anyways. So, like, you're saying there was another survivor out there? The one who scared them off?"
Her nose wrinkled at the memory of the girl, still clueless what to make of the whole thing. "Mmh. Said her name was Cat. Seemed happy enough to be off doing her own thing. You know… weirdly so. Not sure what kind of vibe I'm getting from her."
"I'm, uh, gonna be straight with you, Skyler. Everything you're telling me keeps getting weirder and weirder."
She groaned softly, raising her head a bit to look across the room at her conked-out "companion". There were still a couple of very minor details that she'd left out, mostly about his… state. "It's so weird. You don't know half of it."
"Sure I don't. Listen, though, you're doing good. Still being alive? Definitely a perk. Keep on keeping on, you hear? You'll be out of there soon enough."
Skyler was still laying there contemplating just what to say and how much she should tell him when Adrian abruptly sat up with a gasping snarl, swiping vaguely in the direction of her and the radio. The way that he looked around gave weight to her assumption that he had no idea where the hell they were. She was hardly shaken by the implied violence by now, but alerted by the fact that he was actually awake. He'd stirred several times since collapsing on the rooftop which had been the only way she'd managed to get him inside of the building with her, but he'd seemed to be almost sleepwalking, thoroughly dazed and unaware of what was going on.
"...I'll get back to you. Thanks, Four Dog."
"Peace be with you, sister."
Skyler powered off the radio. In all seriousness, the way Adrian acted, it was like he was compelled to destroy even the hint of an uninfected person, which made her wonder how safe she actually was in their apparent truce. There was a weird dissonance between that and the fact that mere hours before, she'd witnessed him smiling and laughing. Yeesh. That was almost more jarring than him being capable of tears.
She hauled herself back up into a sitting position, waving down at the confused Hunter, who by now was shifting uncomfortably and plucking at his clothes, likely realizing that something had been messed with while he'd been out of it. "'Sup."
After a moment she shook her head in disbelief. "For real, though. Can hardly believe you actually got that far. Didn't you feel that?" From the look she'd taken while rebandaging, all of the activity had more than certainly made a damn mess of his larger gut injury. Still held together, at least, but quite a few of the stitches were popped. Hopefully the cursory tending-to would be enough to hold him over, because she wasn't sure she was willing to go through having to sew him back up just yet.
It was unsettling that there'd hardly been an indication until he'd literally collapsed, either. The infected really earned their reputation for being relentless. It also raised questions about exactly how near to death he'd come, and if she was going to have to keep an eye on this kid to make sure he didn't kill himself doing some shit like running a marathon while bleeding to death.
All of this was something she would have time to think about later, though. For now, she was totally going to take advantage of these five-star accommodations that afforded her the luxury of being able to clean up beyond wiping her face with a dirty rag. She slipped behind him on her way to the bathroom while he was still getting his bearings.
Now that Skyler was a little more settled, she was so eager to get out of her ripped-up, bloodied, soot-encrusted clothes that she started stripping out of her gear before she even reached the door. It was only when she was about to toss her shirt up and over her head that she really recalled there was someone else there. When she looked back over her shoulder, he was indeed watching her, too, though he looked more baffled than anything. Frankly, it hadn't even occurred to her that he might care. She snorted a little.
"What, kid? You forget these come off or something? No wonder you're still wearing those rags."
With that, she resumed what she was doing, baring her back to the occupied bedroom. If he was going to gape that was his problem, but she couldn't give less of a shit. In any case, he went skittering under cover of the bed with a rattling hiss as soon as she flipped the bathroom light on anyway. Her chuckle was cut short, though, as she got a good, illuminated view of the shallow cuts on her chest and cringed. Between those, her face, and everything else, this was going to be… a project.
"Ugh. I am an entire mess to clean up," Skyler groaned, before turning on the shower.
It wasn't anything unusual for Adrian to wake up confused. More often than not, it took him a while to sort out exactly where he was and what was happening. This time, though, was especially jarring. He had vague memories of running and jumping, gleefully so. That was good. Except no, there had also been Others. Now they were gone, and he'd woken up someplace strange with voices that were there but not there again, and… and something was seriously, seriously wrong with the monster.
That was the most bizarre part in all of this. She couldn't possibly feel safe enough to bare herself, could she? She was vulnerable. Did she not feel the same way he did at the thought of being uncovered? Panicked, like every eye nearby was going to hunt him down, wanting to squirm out of his skin and be done with it as quickly as possible? It was nerve-wracking enough trying to find somewhere hidden to partially uncover to relieve himself. He could hardly believe she felt this safe around him; he hadn't killed her, yet, but…
He couldn't deny that he was starting to feel more secure with her presence at the same time though, bit by bit. At the very least, the drive telling him that he had to stay alert because she could decide to attack him at any moment was quieting. Did that mean he could kill her now? As usual, excitement rose at the thought of it, urging him onward. But, no. Hesitation still weighed him down, keeping him in place. Things would be so much simpler if whatever this thing was would go away; It was unsettling in ways he couldn't quite explain to have his instinct pulled in different directions.
After a while of hiding in his small, dim spot, he snorted and edged out just far enough to try to get a look into the other room. What was she doing, anyways? He'd lost sight of her, and then bright light and some sort of sudden hissing sound had startled him. Strange things seemed to follow her, and he didn't begin to understand most of what she did in general. Still, it did make him curious.
Maybe unwisely, he continued to creep out farther until he was crouched in the open again. It smelled… wet in there. Like when water fell from the sky, but indoors was usually sheltered from that, wasn't it? He smacked his dry lips, realizing then just how thirsty he was. Water would be good.
Maybe he really should investigate this more closely.
Skyler had only bothered to shut the shower curtain out of ingrained habit, and yet it still sent a shudder up her spine when a shadowed outline came into view from the other side of it. Ack. Creepy creepy creepy. Thankfully she had one of her knives sitting in the soap tray, just in case.
"I see you really are trying for every horror movie cliche in the book besides being a fucking zombie," she grumbled, pausing after she rinsed what she was fairly sure was a chunk of gristle out of her cropped hair. She poked her head out from behind the curtain to see what he'd gotten himself up to.
Adrian was crouched on the tile floor, nose close to her strewn clothes, before lifting his head to stare openly at her.
She arched her brows and snorted, which melted into a cringe when a bit of soap got washed into a cut. "Listen, you're in for some tough luck if you think you can make me blush. You know what we've got back at camp? Like, YMCA showers. For everyone." To prove her point, she left the curtain open a crack and turned her butt-ass naked self around in a circle. "Woo."
By the time she looked back, he'd gathered up most of her clothes into a wad. What? What was he- "Hey wait no, no-!"
Skyler held up her arms, but it was too late, and they were messily flung into the tub with her. Despite her best efforts, they still got a good soaking before she could get them back out. Great. Not that her clothes had been in fantastic shape at this point, but she'd really rather not have to put them on soaking wet. She threw him a flat look of disapproval. "Oh come on, kid. I can't possibly look that bad."
Still though, his posture was oddly nervous as he lingered there. He shifted, sort of rocking on his feet and rubbing at his own clothes as if trying to hold them to him. For a second, she really did have to stop and think about how weird this might look to someone who had no idea what she was doing and she frowned in thought. Then, with all of the modesty that she was known for, she pulled the curtain wide.
"See? Nothing nightmarish going on here. Just me getting clean. Thrill a minute."
There was another pause of a few moments before, slowly, he crept towards the tub. His stare was intent, but she wasn't too worried about it; aside from her belief that she was attractive to a narrow subset of people which included an even smaller number of guys, she wouldn't doubt that wasn't exactly the first thing on his mind. One clawed, shaky hand rested on the rim of the bathtub as he slunk close to the floor like a skittish animal. She couldn't resist snorting at the thought of this Hunter, this creature known for being the bane of lone survivors, being half-petrified of a damn bathtub, and then again when he practically jumped out of his skin when she flicked a few droplets of water his way.
"You're a weird kid, you know that?"
There wasn't much sign of apparent violence yet though, so she made the decision that she could continue to let this fly. For now.
Pink and the brackish color of accumulated grime tinged the water as it ran in streams off of the monster. It swirled around and around by her feet before vanishing as he stared, fixated by the motion even as his poor frazzled brain tried to make some sense of this. It seemed… not right for her to be washing the blood off herself. Blood was something prized, especially blood not your own. It was a sign of your kills, your fights, and sometimes a reminder of the rush of good feelings that came with it. The more blood, the better. To be uncovered, and to be willingly cleaning it off was inviting attack, and despite it not being him, it somehow gave him the nervous twitches anyways.
In everything that she did, the question kept coming up, though; was she really so unafraid? It was hard to imagine just not being afraid for all that long. A pang of… something rose up as his claws flexed on the smooth surface they rested on. Jealousy, maybe? It was similar to the feeling when an other had something that he wanted.
Finally he managed to shake himself from the lull he'd fallen under and huffed, instead looking up at the monster, a little more irritable than before for reasons he couldn't quite place. She wasn't even drinking this water, so she couldn't get all that defensive if he took some. Maybe.
Watching her carefully for a reaction, he reached out, but all she really seemed to do was watch him with the same amount of caution. The sensation when the falling water ran over his hand was stunning, enough so that he stumbled backward and let out a rumble of sheer surprise. It took him a few seconds to catch up with the fact that the feeling hadn't been bad. It was… warm? He blinked hard, ignoring the monster's snort of amusement before putting his hand back under the stream. Yes. Strangely enough, it was warm as blood. Very much unlike the frigid, drenching water that came from the sky. Pleasant. Maybe that was why she was doing this to herself.
A low, continuous "purr" began to leave him and he swayed on his feet, only shaking himself a moment later when he realized he'd been about to lapse back into sleep. Yes, he liked this. Driven by a dazed want for more of this nice feeling, he climbed about halfway over the low wall before he gave much thought to what he was doing. He froze, head jerking up to make sure he wasn't being attacked. No aggression readily came, though the monster's fingers drummed by her stabbing thing, ready to strike even now.
This was incredible. It was a very different kind of enjoyment than what came with the killing and wasn't nearly as intense, but it was nice in its own way. In fact it was sort of opposite, soothing rather than biting and manic. He felt less ready to explode on the inside. His coverings were soaked through and heavy within seconds, but he didn't mind much. All but the ever-vigilant back of his mind nearly forgot about the monster for the moment. That was, at least, until she rapped sharply on the wall, drawing his attention.
"Adrian!"
What? What did she want? She was rubbing her own bare skin on her arms, obviously trying to get something across. Not understanding, he plucked at his own fabric, before the thought came that… Wait, she didn't expect him to expose his skin too, did she?
Trap, whispered a wordless voice in his consciousness, and that was the idea he immediately latched onto. What else would it be? His layers of coverings were often the only thing that stopped claws from breaking through to his skin. No, he… he couldn't.
The monster began to crouch down beside him, only giving a low sound of mild anger (if that) and pausing briefly when he swatted out at her and didn't even manage to graze her with claws. And then she was reaching- trying to get her hands on-
His heart thudded wildly and he gave a rattling hiss, eyes darting rapidly enough as he scrambled backwards that there was a terrifying moment of something catching his eye and convincing him for a split-second that there was something else lurking around the edges of the room with them.
Not real, he did his best to assure himself, and it was almost reflexive at that point that he reached for the shiny thing in his pocket, fidgeting nervously. It was grounding, somewhat. Took the edge off the panic at least.
But… she hadn't brought harm to him the last time she'd touched him, even though she could have. In fact, she'd helped him, hadn't she? Maybe, if he could just make himself be still…
His muscles strained. He physically ached with the urge to strike out, and by now that almost-voice was shrieking at him. Don't. Stop. BAD. NO. And yet somehow, he managed to keep himself rooted to the spot, even as one of her hands closed around his shoulder and his skin jumped.
He could only hope that this wasn't an awful mistake.
Well, this was arguably already going a bit better than Skyler had expected it to. As it turned out, there was no problem at all getting this kid into the bathtub. Apparently, that only came with trying to get his filthy ass out of his clothes. But fuck, they had to come off somehow. For one, she wasn't going to have him hanging around in this state if he did in fact plan on hanging around. Secondly, all that grime in healing wounds was just asking for infection. And last but not least, sweaty, bloody, soggy clothes smelled like Satan's musty ballsack.
Adrian's entire body was quivering like a tuning fork under her fingers, but no strike came, yet, anyways. She nodded, honestly impressed. "Restraint" wasn't exactly a quality she was expecting to see in one of the infected, considering the frequency with which they rushed directly into situations that were sure to get them killed.
"Alright, liking where this is going. Let's continue this whole "not trying to murder me" trend. Looks pretty good on you. Now let's, uh…"
Awkwardly, she started to tug and shift at his sweatshirt first. A sharp growl did indeed rip from him when it caught over his head, blinding him, which fortunately prevented him from catching her with his flailing. When she finally managed to get him free, he looked downright baleful, and wouldn't luck have it that he had another shirt on underneath it so she had to do it all over again?
It was only when she got to the compression top underneath that she remembered that she might be kind of an idiot. Ah. Right. There was some extra reason that he might be particularly skittish and cranky about nudity. Ohh fuck, she kicks herself. Now she feels pretty bad about the teasing.
For a minute or so, she doesn't go any further, before getting a good whiff and deciding ultimately that it had to be done. Skyler sighed, setting aside all pondering about whether or not this dude had any subconscious memory of shitty body experiences and taking it as a given just in case. "Sorry, man. If it makes you feel any better, at least we're working with the same hardware."
Jeez though. She started to really get an idea of the kind of beating he'd taken out there, from the fact that he had at least a few gashes going all the way through the final layer of this ratty clothing onion. She'd seen that being infected wasn't enough to stop you from being attacked by other infected, but wow. Aside from that, nearly every inch of him looked cut, bruised, or otherwise marred by sores which she was willing to bet were about half from the infection, half from never taking a damn bath.
A weird half-laugh left her, and she couldn't help looking down at her own collection of gnarly scars, most of them far older than the mauling she'd taken from the Hunter right in front of her and some predating even the whole apocalypse. "Look at us, kid. We sure as fuck ain't pretty, but we're alive, aren't we? What a goddamn pair."
Again, the chances of him knowing what she was actually saying were slim to none. And yet, the way he looked at her would almost imply otherwise. Maybe not a true understanding, but a kind of thoughtful look that was suggestive of at least something going on in his head. Of course, she still nearly slipped and busted her ass on the bathtub when he actually reached out and trailed clawed fingers over a jagged white mark from her neck to chest and then near to the shallow gashes that he'd put there himself, but the touch still remained more questioning than violent, even if it was weird to have him more or less touching her titty. She supposed it was only fair though, given how she'd just had her hands all up on his.
"Uh… yeah. Not so bad, is it? Just… don't freak when I go for your pants."
There was something both soothing and frightening about the motions he and the monster were going through. At the same time that his heart raced knowing how entirely and utterly exposed that he was, he actually did feel considerably better. His muscles relaxed in a way that he'd never had them do before, and he hadn't even realized the chafe of his coverings against him until it was removed. The ragged purr that was coaxed out of him was nearly against his will.
Maybe the most surprising part of it all was how much, up close and without her own coverings, the monster looked so much like… him. Not him specifically, but a bit familiar, recognizable. Like Sister, marked by the wounds of too many fights to count. From something like her, part of him had been expecting they'd been hiding something terrifying, like they'd peel back and reveal the same sort of formless, shadowy creature from his delusions and restless dreams. He didn't know what a monster was supposed to look like, but he didn't think this was how he imagined it. Really, even the way he saw her was starting to shift as he became accustomed to it, which was unsettling. If that wasn't certain, then what was?
Just… don't think about that right now. At least it was easy enough to lose himself in the soft drizzle of water. Surprisingly, even the monster's touches felt nice. Even around his injuries, she was unexpectedly gentle. Apparently she was capable of inflicting something other than pain, though he knew well that could change at any second. Occasionally his hands still absently roamed over her in return, taking in details in his own way while uncomfortably doing his best not to look too long at his own body. She didn't seem to protest this, other than a few senseless noises.
Eventually the water came to a sudden stop, nothing more than a few drops hitting his upturned face before it was just gone. He whined at the loss, scratched around some in search of it, but it wasn't a surprise. Good things rarely seemed to last for very long. He sighed through his nose and set his chin down on the edge of the basin defeatedly, to which the monster snorted as she stepped back out into the too-bright room. After some shuffling around, she tossed a soft bit of fabric at him. It was nice enough, but not his coverings, which by now were soaked entirely through. He snatched it up and huddled himself in it anyways, at least until his weren't so wet and heavy, messily wrapping it so that his eyes were partially shaded.
The monster lingered outside in the little room, closely examining something out of sight. There was something in that one spot that had her attention. Of course, soon he had to wonder what was so interesting there. Still keeping at least a little distance, he slunk up and out after her. Now what was-?
Movement. Instantly he was tensed and ready to go, shoulders rolled back and snarling in anticipation of an attack that never came. An Other? Another Clean One? There. By the entrance. Something that looked very much like the monster, face to face with her. And…
Something whispered at the back of his head, up until he reached out a shaking hand and swatted lightly at the image. Not there, not really. Just a picture of the monster, and…
Ice shot down his spine. In the grip of something nameless, numb fingers shakingly brushed his own cheek. He watched as the image before him copied the motions even as on some forgotten habit he tugged the cloth to cover his chest, and deliriously tried to mesh this together. Someone dark-haired and exhausted stared back, but it just wasn't right. Inside he screamed against accepting that this was- was him. No matter how he looked at it, it felt wrong. Nothing seemed to belong. Both him and a stranger at the same time.
Frantically the thought arose that he was changing. He barely understood the meaning behind it, but the feeling it brought up was raw. Panic, choking panic and the vague but almost physical memory of tremendous pain. No, he- he didn't want that. Changing was bad.
He fumbled for his shiny thing, only to gasp at the renewed realization that he was naked and it wasn't there, and scrambled desperately for his discarded coverings to dig it out. The feeling of it in his hand was steadying as he squeezed it and shut his eyes tight. His heart thudded audibly and his breath came hard and fast, almost wishing the rage hadn't abandoned him then because it was just so much easier to deal with than feeling lost. Fresh alarm sparked through him when something touched his back, but it was only the monster.
The… monster. Was that what she was? It was certainly what she'd seemed like, especially covered in the blood of Others and radiating danger. Even now though, vulnerable as they both were, her hands didn't bring further harm. If she wasn't simply something to be killed, though, and she wasn't exactly a monster, then what else was she?
Slowly his manic pulse eased as the irrational fear did. Once he felt sure enough that whatever pain he'd been expecting wasn't coming, he opened his eyes. Despite him knowing enough to tell that the monster looked uncertain herself, she stayed where she was. He drew a deep, bracing breath, in and then out.
Maybe he really was changing again, or maybe this was something else entirely. Either way, he wasn't sure he was ready for it at all. At the same time though, part of him knew that it was already too late to turn and flee from it. He gave the shiny thing one more squeeze.
Whatever did happen, he got the feeling that there was no stopping it now.
