Talker – Chapter Twenty-Two: Shit Out of Luck
Author's Note: Okay, I know I've been slow on updating lately. Just haven't had much time to revise. Thank you for the reviews.
"What was that?" Kenneth looked up and froze in mid-prod of the growing fire. Terry had previously been asleep near him until it was heard, his head jerking up and his eyes straining to a dizzy focus. Some form of yell. And…barking? They all went on immediate alert, Terry shaking the sleep quickly from his senses and Ana snapping out of her numb trance that she had mysteriously been in ever since she had come back. Kenneth threw the stick aside and jumped up, almost reaching for his gun out of mere instinct before remembering it was not there. Despite it, he made haste out of the camp towards the spot they had heard the disturbance, Terry in tow and Nicole and Ana fast on following.
"Chips?" Nicole called out, having initially heard the barking. "Chips, where are you?" she yelled.
"Tyler!" Kenneth look around, voice bellowing out over Nicole.
Ana was already moving forward, knowing where it was she had last seen Tyler. Kenneth and the others followed questioningly, but made no move to protest as they frantically listened for whatever it was that they heard. As they at last came upon the source after much furious searching, none of them were prepared for what it was they saw.
Tyler was on his knees, one hand to his stomach and the other to his head, both covered in blood. A few scant feet away, Chips lay, dead and bleeding profuse gushes into the now copper sand like he'd been hit by a truck. His jaw was broken open and his neck was resting in a very awkward position, throat must have being torn in the process of the bones breaking and thus producing such a large amount of blood.
"Holy shit…" was all Kenneth offered at the sight, taking a step back.
"Chips!" Nicole shrieked, moments after her shock dwindled. Terry snatched her back to stop her screaming fit, doing all but gagging her to stop her panic. Tyler was shaking his head, looking at the dead animal in horror and muttering things quickly under his breath.
"Oh God, oh God, I didn't mean to…" he pulled back a hand and stared at the red smear dripping through his fingers.
"Tyler…" Ana gaped in bafflement, unable to tear her eyes away from their poor slaughtered dog.
"Son of a bitch, what is wrong with you!?" Kenneth sudddenly roared, and Tyler felt himself being hoisted to his feet by his shirt. He stared at Kenneth in a daze, gripping the hand that was holding him up with bloody palms.
"I-I didn't!" he cried out desperately as his daze fizzled out. "No, I didn't want to-"
"What the hell did you do it for?" Kenneth demanded.
"You murdering bastard!!" Nicole sobbed out, struggling wildly against Terry's grip.
"No, you don't understand!" Tyler yelled back, pulling slightly from Kenneth's hand but receiving no release from it. "He-he-"
"Yeah, it was a big fucking accident, well which one of us is next?!" Nicole spat bitterly, Terry trying to quiet her.
"Nicole, stop!" Terry said harshly, gentle hands defying his tone as he embraced her tightly against him.
"It wasn't like that, please-" his eyes crossed Nicole with the deepest regret. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, he-I-I didn't-"
"Tell us what happened." Kenneth ordered again with a little less venom, but his grip didn't relax.
Tyler fought his sudden dizziness and opened his mouth, pasuing for a moment. "He attacked me, I didn't have any other-"
"Attacked you?!" Nicole broke in incredulously through her tears. "That's a lie! It's a lie, he never attacked anyone!"
"But he was-" Tyler tried, but was cut off again.
"Unless he thought you were a threat! Which in that case I guess he would be right! And you killed him for it!" she continued, an unhealthy mix of rage and despair punctuating each word.
"You don't understand!" he repeated, his eyes suddenly catching a stupified Ana. His panicking struggle came to a steady halt, eyes filling with sorrow in place of fear and desparation. "Ana…please…you have to believe me…" he said quietly, seeming to forget about the others for the moment.
She stared at him in mild terror before her senses came back to her and she mentally kicked herself. "Kenneth, put him the fuck down!" she snarled suddenly, turning to Kenneth. "This is not a God damn witch hunt, he's not a monster! Don't be so gung-ho to crucify someone, damn it!"
Kenneth dropped Tyler in a bit of shock, both at Ana's outburst and the way things did indeed look. Tyler stumbled a little back from them, rubbing a hand through his hair in exasperation before realizing that he'd just streaked blood through it. "He was sick…that's the only reason he came at me…"
"Bullshit!" Nicole seethed. "He can't get the disease, those things wouldn't attack him!"
"They didn't have to." Came Terry's voice. They turned to see he had somehow slipped past them and was now crouching next to the corpse. He gently lifted the edge of the dog's jaw, exposing a dripping white gather that marked the clearest sign of his sickness. "Zombification doesn't make you foam at the mouth like this…"
They all stopped and fell silent for a moment, a wave of scattered confusion making them all stop and think. "Those things…those rodents that he was chasing." Ana said quietly, the conclusion that they were all eventually coming to. They all just stared blankly at the scene in disbelief, unwilling and unable to accpet another death. After a long while of silence, save for Nicole's unconscious sobbing, Kenneth shook his trance off and turned away, swallowing hard.
"Come on, let's…let's get out of here." he said dismally, waving a hand at the group. With a pained sigh, Terry stood and Ana followed, all making their way past Kenneth but Tyler, who stood still, staring down at his hands. He came to attention only when he realized that the others were gone accept for Kenneth, who was looking at him with an unreadable expression. "…You go on and clean up…then come back to camp." He ordered.
Tyler paused, offering a nervous nod of agreement as he looked back at the corpse. "…Yeah, I…"
Kenneth turned to follow the others, but stopped, a long sigh heaving in his chest. He tossed a glance back over his shoulder. "Did you have to kill him?"
Tyler blanched inwardly and dropped his hands to his sides, lowering his head. "He would've died anyway…"
"But did you have to kill him first?" he repeated, more accusation this time.
"He…would've killed me." Tyler shook his head, looking back up at Kenneth with confusion and mild hurt.
"You don't know that…same as we didn't." he threw a wayward gesture at Tyler's bitten arm.
He mentally fell back a step, hand self-consciously covering the wound and biting his lip. Aha. Now he understood…"…I'm sorry…" he murmured unhappily. There was nothing else to say…What could he have done…?
"Come on." Kenneth looked away, feeling a little uneasy about what he had just said. One of those things that just kind of came out without censorship. "We all gotta figure out what the hell we're gonna do about our supplies."
Author's Note: Ahh! I know, I know, I killed him, I'm sorry. Before you grab your torches an pitchforks, remember that I didn't REALLY kill him. In the fanverse he's still livin' it up….uheh…uhm.