Running
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, or any products or songs mentioned.
Chapter 3: Aftermath
After an hour and a half of decapitating what used to be Cardin. Russell dragged its bloody thick corpse and chunky head to the balcony saying a silent sad speech about his pathetic jock life and then throwing em down the three stories of the complex. He watched mournfully with a tear stained face as it hit the hood of a brand new gray charger that belonged to his next door neighbor junior, who must have either fled the city for a safe zone or turning into the undead population of Atlas like so many others who were clueless of the deadly virus. The beefy body and head landed with a thud and splattered everywhere when it made the annoying alarm go off, luring a large group of the walking dead to the loud obnoxious noises of said vehicle. They began to eat at the corpse ripping off its flesh and innards not even in a minute but a few seconds what felt like hours to the young grief stricken man.
Russell only just turned eighteen and fresh out of high school. Never before had he seen or touched a dead person, blood or witnessed a killing until now. He never even went to a funeral or wake in his whole life. It kinda bothered Russell deeply that a cute sweet innocent looking Woman could easily kill Cardin when he couldn't even bring himself to do it when his life was on the line. Russell owed Neo his very life for saving him from being zombie prey.
The images of the whole ordeal came back in an instant, Russell was completely disgusted walking back inside locking the sliding door behind him. He could still hear the faint noises of zombies from the outside but it lessened thanks to the alarm distraction two floors below. Running for the bathroom his throat was raw while he vomited his breakfast in the toilet and took a big glass of water to drink afterwards trying to calm his on edge nerves. Neither of the two seemed to help the young paranoid man at the moment.
Going back into the bed room, Russell started to freak out, he completely forgot Neo was still laying in the same spot, out cold on the floor where he'd left her while cutting. Her small body was stiff and messy with blood stains all over his borrowed night clothes and her pretty face. The little ladies complexion was paler than usual and lips parted and swollen with black zombie venom stains from the new ability she killed Cardin with.
Russell was desperately wondering why he didn't just kill Neo the very moment she bit Cardin and turned him into a zombie. Russell almost did end her life when he threw the knife aiming it at her forehead but changed his mind and threw it near her. He should have taken into consideration that the little lady had a death wish to begin with, but of course he ignored it, his brave heroic nature stubbornly taking charge of the situation. Russell could honestly see past Neos false hatred of life and stubbornness of the negative moments, he knew deep down In his soul that the woman was much more kinder than she was let on.
Cuddling Neos sleeping Form for a few minutes Russell felt her neck with two shaky fingers, to his relief there was the faint feeling of a pulse thumping in and out. He smiled pushing a small strand of the pink half of her silky smooth hair and pinned it behind her small earring covered ear. Picking Neo up bridal style carefully, Russell carried her small body to his full sized bed setting her down gently trying not to hurt her if she was injured. Taking another look at the little lady for the umpteenth time, Russell finally admitted to himself that he really did like her, even before the zombie apocalypse. The young man always admired Neo from afar when he would pass her in the hall, seeing her expressionless face after coming home from a long day of work in the baggy security uniform half asleep or getting back with bags of groceries from Walmart or Smart and Final ,wishing he could offer a hand but he was scared of those intimidating pink and brown eyes and the stunning spit fire attitude he discovered when she told off the apartment manger after complaining about a pluming problem.
Russell was to afraid of rejection, she was the first woman he ever took to fancying. Cardin would always complain that he needed to find a girlfriend, always trying to set him up, but Russell would always brush it off with the excuse of school work or chores. He wasn't ready to admit aloud that he really liked Neo just ye, he couldn't even say it to her face without worrying about passing out. And also another factor Being that the timing wasn't right at all and his now deceased roommate probably made a bad gash on his chances of romantic interests in her disturbed mind.
He climbed out of the massive hole of pitiful thoughts within the depths of his brain and proceeded into the kitchen grabbing a big glass mixing bowl from the dishwasher that Cardin usually used for popcorn and filled it up with warm soapy water in the sink. Russell then proceeded to grab two large mint green towels, a wash cloth and a pair of latex cleaning gloves from the small hallway closet, heading straight back into the bedroom.
Russell trotted over to his bed putting the bowl down on the nightstand, swishing the washcloth around the warm comforting soapy water. Neo was still in the bed and still completely out of it to his dismay. He was hoping she was awake because now he had to grow some balls quickly and clean her wounds, changing the seeping bloody bandages and to his horror clean her body and change the soiled sleep wear. It scared the crap out of him thinking of what she looked like underneath the clothes. He had never seen a real naked woman in his eighteen years of life unless you counted museum art and portraits of naked greek men and women all over each other.
Putting on the pair of rubber gloves Russell started with pulling off the soiled tee shirt trying his best not to let it touch his skin or clothing. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally touch the black gunk and become a flesh eating Zombie. Finally taking off the article of the shirt completely off of Neo, Russell's face turned red as a tomato with unintentional embarrassment. This was the first time he ever set eyes on an unclothed torso of a woman. She was pale and evenly skinny and what made him feel dirty and disgusting was that the little lady had a rockin goddess body. Her breasts were large and perky from the cold air hitting them, her stomach was flat ,knitted tightly together with a gorgeous six pack. He was trying so desperately not to get a mAjor hard on.
He quickly tore his eyes away not wanting to over step boundaries, especially because she wasn't awake. Russell proceeded to removing the nasty bandages on her shoulder, cringing at sight of the vile bodily liquids sticking on the cloths like slime as he pulled them off ,quickly disposing of them into the small half full trash can in between the bed and nightstand to his relief. Never before had he seen a wound that looked as bad as the one he was looking at. Yellowish Pus and thick black and red liquid was poring out the bite mark still and after five days. Was he doing something wrong when cleaning it? Or was the nasty wound immune to alcohol and cleaning items?
This the young man didn't know, but he did his best to clean it with alcohol, cotton balls and disinfectant spray from the first aid kit under his bed. Russell then bandaged the bite site as best as he possibly could because he was running out of bandages and he'd have to use gauze with medical tape the next time around. Or when the time was right rade the apartment units for supplies and food. Maybe if he was lucky he'd find someone survivors with the same mindset of wanting to live.
Once he was finished patching her up Russell scrubbed Neos messy torso clean with the wash cloth and soap removing all of the blood and black stuff, then deciding against taking the boxers off of her and left them on because they weren't completely soiled like the shirt was. He slipped an old grey Jurassic park shirt on the little lady and was finally finished taking care of her to his relief feeling good about himself for once through the whole rescuing Neopolitan deal.
Russell took his shower for an hour trying to relax because he was exhausted and changing into a plan cotton tee shirt and old high school gym shorts and then Fixed his light green hair into his signature Mohawk with the hair gel. Looking at himself in the mirror his face was handsome but tired with purple bags under his expressionless blue eyes from the stress of the apocalypse he received two weeks ago. The poor man was stuck in the beginning stages of the outbreak at the university. Ever since then he was paranoid and couldn't sleep at night still having nightmares from it.
Before Russell went to bed he checked the hole through the blinds and saw three zombies in bloody black business suits and a little boy dressed in a school uniform who was missing an arm and eye. The undead crowded at the door groaning and hissing at each other trying to get inside in vain. Too Russell's displeasure, Neo and his sorry ass might not have a hiding spot any longer, the undead must have known they were present after the days tragic and noisy events that drew a whole crowd of them hours before.
Tiptoeing into the bedroom Russell pushed Neo over to the side and laid next to her. His sensitive body couldn't take sleeping on the floor for another day he already had back problems since a young age and the floor was making it worse during waking hours, he just never complained it wasn't in his nature. Russell sucked up his fears of Neo and choose the dangerous route of sleeping next to the half zombie if that's what you would call her. He really didn't know what other abilities Neo had in store for him but Russell promised himself he would desperately trying not to piss her off, especially if she was on that lovely time of the month. He valued living more then anything now that he escaped death twice thus far into the apocalypse. He really didn't want to think about dying.
Russell snuggled into the cozy covers breathing in the smell of pine and dish soap from the little ladies hair as her backside was turned to him. It was almost comforting to the young man that he was not completely alone in the destroyed world. Russell thought long and hard about how he would try starting a peaceful conversation when Neo woke up, if she woke up that was. He had no idea if she was in a comatose state. A big part of him wished she would just wake up already, but the other small portion wished she would stay asleep. Once Russell's brain relaxed some he fell into a deep dreamless sleep since the start of the Outbreak.
Hopefully this chapter wasn't too boring lol. Until next time :)