Time frame: February
Rating: M (for swearing and mentions of rape)
Description: The guys found survivors
The following morning, the two renewed their effort in finding any other survivors. Before heading back to the burned down zone, Ellis took a second to scribble:
"Went to look for you. Wait here, Nick. -Ellis"
On the bathroom door before following Keith into the woods.
"Do ya think we're gonna find anybody today?" Keith asked, trying his best to be optimistic.
He missed Jared, but didn't want to let on because absolutely nobody was privy to their relationship. He hoped with every fiber of his being for Ellis, though. He wanted to find Nick, for him. Wanted Nick to be alive, but he also braced himself for the very real possibility that they'd find him dead and Keith would have to take care of Ellis when his entire soul broke. Being in love did that to a person, especially when one partner left the Earth too early.
"I hope so, buddy. We need our friends back. I'm worried, especially for the girls. I just hope they all stuck with Evie. She'll keep the other girls safe, I have no doubt about that."
Ellis was avoiding talking about Nick at all, afraid that if he mentioned his name, Keith would want to talk about what "happened" the night before. Ellis had a nightmare and woke up from a dead sleep, sobbing himself back into darkness. Keith knew the nightmare was about Nick, but the situation was uncomfortable for both of them. He was in no hurry to mention it.
The zone was still a mess, still burned, but this time, Ellis instructed Keith to climb up to the top floor of the motel, just to see if there were any bodies left in the rooms. Keith was lighter and thinner. He had a better chance of not caving the floor in.
Ellis boosted the lanky redhead up to grab onto the landing area outside the doors, arms straining as Keith climbed his body, standing on his shoulders and then repositioning his feet in Ellis's hands, pulling himself up the rest of the way.
"Careful, buddy." Ellis warned.
He waited several minutes, before his friend returned, sooty but otherwise unharmed.
"I found four." He said sadly. "One of them is Bud."
Ellis sighed, that was awful news.
"Could ya identify any others?" He asked.
Keith shook his head.
"No, but the other three were also men. And none of them were Nick, so there's that." Keith patted his friend's shoulder, trying to reassure him that things were not as dark as they seemed.
"Should we say something?" Ellis asked, referring to the dead bodies upstairs.
Keith shrugged.
"I don't know how to perform a funeral, man. Just pray for them like we was taught in church."
The two paused for a moment, saying a silent prayer before continuing their exploration.
They stopped by the supply shed to grab more food and water, having been unable to remove everything the day before.
"Wasn't there a bit more yesterday?" Ellis asked, sticking some dried seaweed packs into the ratty old backpack Keith brought along.
"Coulda swore there was." Keith replied.
They decided to scan the forest nearby, thinking maybe other teammates were held up just like they were, though Keith stated before that he was unsure as to whether or not there were any other structures nearby except the old donut shop.
The two moved along quietly, having only scavenged hand-to-hand weapons from the fire. Keith had a hunting knife, and Ellis found a steel baseball bat. The last thing they wanted was to make a lot of noise and draw any zombies to them. With only two exhausted men, they didn't stand much of a chance against a hoard.
After two hours of scanning the first mile west of the camp, the two headed back. Luckily they'd found no more bodies, but no more living people as well. They couldn't call out, couldn't draw attention to themselves. Their rescue effort was made by peering into the woods for any sign of movement.
When alas, they returned to the camp, Ellis happened to check his wall and see if Nick possibly saw his note. No, nothing on that wall, but on a wall around the corner, Ellis spotted:
"Dad, I'm alive and alone. I'm heading straight North. Love, Danny."
He must not have seen Ellis's note.
"Hey, Keith. We got one." He mentioned, pointing to the note.
Keith read it and agreed that they had enough time to explore one mile north, but he wanted to be in shelter by the time the sun set.
About 1/8 of the way in, Keith happened across an old outhouse.
"Great, I need to shit pretty bad." He noted, pulling the door open and screaming.
His scream was followed by another scream. Ellis quickly covered his friend's mouth and peered inside.
There was Coach, alive but very shook up.
"Coach, what the hell are ya doin in this shithouse?" Ellis whispered.
"I didn't want the dead folks to get me. I been up all night." Coach replied, standing up and hugging the two very surprised southerners.
"Glad you boys made it. You find anybody else?" Coach asked.
"Nobody alive." Keith replied.
"That's a damn shame."
"Coach, you okay?" Came a loud whisper from the edge of the trees.
The two rednecks looked in the direction the sound came from, seeing nothing, but preparing themselves to fight nonetheless.
"Yea, kid. I'm fine. Come on out and meet my boys." Coach assured.
Slowly, a very thin man with a dark, scraggly beard made his presence known. He walked with his head down for the most-part, eyes up enough to watch his surroundings.
"Ellis?" The skinny man whispered.
The youngest of the group was incredibly confused.
"Yea, that's me." He answered hesitantly.
"You don't recognize me?" The guy asked, voice very raspy, like he'd been smoking cigarettes for the past 30 years, even though he didn't look much over 30, aside from being thin and sickly.
Ellis scanned the man, hoping that some detail would crop up. He hated forgetting a face, being the polite and social person he was.
He looked at the man's hands, the only exposed skin below his neck. He had tattoos on his left fingers spelling E-V-I-L. He looked up past thin shoulders, into wild black eyes that didn't match his light skin.
"Derek?"
He looked haggard and sick, but those eyes were the same as they'd always been, deep and empty.
Keith's eyes widened to the size of saucers, focusing quickly on the ground.
"Yeah, buddy. Bring it here." Derek replied, opening his arms for a hug that Ellis accommodated.
Ellis never had a reason to dislike Derek, other than Keith constantly saying that he was a "psychopath" and that he was "dangerous". Every experience Ellis had with the guy was always a pleasant one. Derek was very polite to him, even though he was incredibly odd. He'd given Ellis a ride home once when his truck was broken down.
"Good to see ya, man. Glad you made it." Derek said, patting Ellis on the back.
Those black eyes looked at his companion, trying to see past the burns and scars and deep red beard that now covered much of the other man's face.
"Keith." Derek recognized him.
"Go fuck yourself, Derek." The younger replied.
"Keith, goddamn it." Ellis sighed.
Coach looked puzzled.
"Nah, no. It's okay Ellis. Keith and I have a past." Derek waved Keith's comment off like it was expected.
"I found this kid in the woods. Just sittin on a tree-stump. He was kinda out of it for a while." Coach explained.
"That CEDA is a lie, guys." Derek explained, "I was there because of them. And I was out of it because they drugged me."
"CEDA? You been to CEDA? Like CEDA itself and not just a zone?" Ellis asked.
Keith remained quiet, shivering and pretending that it was because he was cold.
"Zip up your coat, boy." Coach advised.
"Yeah, those CEDA motherfuckers had me on day 1. I was on one of the helicopters that were supposed to rescue people. They aint though. They're killing people. I escaped that compound three times. They were…experimentin' on me. They said they had a cure. For all this." Derek motioned around the woods, even though no dead were present.
"He's been going on about it since I found him, though he's acting a whole lot saner than he was." Coach mentioned.
"Well, buddy. You're welcome to stay with us if you're okay to do so. You're not still all…" Ellis started, but stopped because he was suddenly embarrassed to actually say it.
"Addicted to meth? No, not anymore. I been clean for 9 months. I kinda had to when all this shit happened."
Keith held back a noise of irritation from escaping his throat, now annoyed that his best friend was such a sweet guy. He didn't want Derek around, not in the least. He hadn't seen him since he was 18, when Derek was arrested at 22 for aggravated assault and manufacturing drugs in his garage. He went to prison for it and Keith hoped that they threw away the key, but here he was. Alive and well, when so many good people were dead.
Why wasn't anybody, especially Ellis, noticing how uncomfortable he felt? Was he hiding it that well? Ellis never did take Keith's worry seriously, but that was because he didn't know the truth, nobody did aside from Derek and Keith, because the only person he told, Jared, might be dead.
Derek was a clinically diagnosed psychopath, and as such he was charming and friendly, able to fool everyone. Ellis and Coach already seemed fine with him, as they finished their search for Danny, coming up empty.
"We didn't see him around." Coach offered, as they headed back to the donut shop.
"I'll help y'all look for him tomorrow." Derek agreed, earning the respect of two of his three companions. "I have this…thing, where I find people."
Nobody asked what that meant, but Ellis was clearly interested, staring at the strange man in his company.
While Ellis and Coach were trying to make use of the men's bathroom, now much smaller with two extra people, Keith found himself being pulled into the women's bathroom, with a dirty hand over his mouth. The door locked with a loud CLACK and there was still enough light in the room for Keith's gaze to meet those terrifying black eyes.
"Remain calm." Derek whispered, far too close to Keith's face.
He let go of the redhead's mouth, stepping back a pace.
"Let me out." Keith grunted, angry already.
"We need to talk."
"No, we don't. I don't…wanna be alone with you." Keith's angry voice trembled, trying to keep fear from presenting itself. He didn't want to appear scared of Derek, but he was.
"I know. I know you don't but listen." Derek started.
Even his voice was psychotic. His very presence made the world feel darker. For Keith, it was like being face to face with Satan. Derek's words felt like a magnet pulling his heart out.
"No…" Keith whispered, unable to come up with anything further, tears started to prick at his eyes.
"I'm not that guy anymore. Keith, I'm so sorry, about back then. About what went down between you and me. I was… in a bad place. I know it don't excuse what I did, but I changed. I went to prison and... well, karma dealt with me there." The way those eyes looked at him, it was invading, almost like they looked through his clothes, at his bare body again, like that fateful night when he actually did.
"Not quite, you got to live through it." Keith hissed, wanting to be brave.
Derek paused.
"You're scared."
He wasn't asking.
Keith didn't answer. Of course he was scared. He was the only person alive that knew what Derek was capable of, and nobody else would ever understand unless Keith told them.
Fuck that, I'd rather die.
"I'm not gonna bite." Derek smiled, trying to lighten a mood that was inappropriate to even attempt to lighten.
"I'm not afraid of being bit." Keith's voice was shaking like he was riding a motorcycle and trying to talk at the same time.
"I'm not gonna rape you again, either."
Finally the first tear fell, only to have that same dirty, uninvited hand wipe it away.
"I know there aint a thing I can do to make it up to you. But you got my word-"
"No, you got MY word, Derek. I'm gonna fucking kill you the first chance I get." Keith didn't sound intimidating at all, though he certainly tried.
"Keith, you're gonna find that killin me is a lot harder than it would have been if you took me out a year ago." Derek was smiling that creepy smile again.
Keith blinked, as if blinking enough times would make this go away, would make Derek just one of many nightmares.
Derek sighed, unzipping his coat. Under it was a very thin button-down work shirt. It might have been black at one point, but now it was a greyish brown. The name embroidered into it said "David".
His blunt fingers began working open the buttons of his shirt, before letting it fall open, exposing his torso, a very different torso than what Keith remembered.
His skin was so sallow, almost grey. There were several slash marks across his chest, and what looked like human bite marks scattered about his abdomen. The deepest scar was at the base of his neck, just under his left jawline, almost hidden by the collar of his shirt, and that shitty beard he had.
"Touch me." He whispered, taking Keith's hand into his and placing a flat palm against his chest, holding it there.
He was cold, almost room temperature, and his heart was…vibrating. It didn't beat like a person's heart should. It felt more like there was a small motor inside, whirring away quietly as a hummingbird's wings. The right side of his neck had a mark on it, just at the collarbone. It looked like a small, ring-shaped bruise and his veins were dilated around it.
"I'm not even a man anymore. CEDA did things to me. Can't tell ya, Keith, how many times I should be dead."
He let his coat and shirt slip all the way to the floor, letting the redhead have his hand back. He held up his bare arms, presenting very scarred wrists, painted with no less than 4-5 slash marks a piece.
"I can't sleep."
"I haven't eaten in…a while."
"If I can't end me, you can't either, sweetheart."
Derek opened his mouth. His tongue and gums were black, and though his teeth looked okay, it looked like the spaced between them were also quite dark.
The whites of his eyes were not white, they were jaundice yellow. The inner rims of his lids were pink and irritated, and the dark circles under them appeared to be permanent.
He leaned in, running that cold, black tongue from the burn scar traveling up Keith's neck, all the way up to his cheek before pausing at his ear.
"You're so beautiful…I wish I would have kept you." He whispered against a tattered ear.
Keith let out a shuddering sob, trying to hold it back as much as he could.
"You're so beautiful..." Derek whispered these same words to him all those years ago, while he was buried deep into the younger man's body in the moonlight, as his hands dug painfully into Keith's bare thighs. He leaned in to whisper it, so that the five other men watching wouldn't hear.
The younger of the two felt unable to move, as his arms were held firmly by Derek's hands, strong as they'd ever been, even with such a thin, malnourished body.
"But maybe…I'll try with your boyfriend."
He let go, and hurriedly redressed himself.
"I'm not going to tell them, not if you don't." He said, leaving the bathroom, letting the door slowly whoosh closed.
"Hey, help me with this box." Ellis was asking.
Keith could hear Derek's charming voice replying something before he sunk onto the floor and sobbed for a good ten minutes, stuffing his face as deeply into his coat as he could, muffling any sounds that might alert the others of his plight.
Derek's a real monster now.
What even IS he?
How am I going to get out of this?
How can I protect Ellis?
Where is Nick?
He needs to be here. He's always kept El safe.
I'm gonna find him, no matter what it takes.