Anderson couldn't recall when she'd lost total feeling in her legs. It might have been the moment the perps knife ripped through her defenseless uniform and stabbed her in the back. Or from the massive blood loss she'd sustained following the next two stabbings. Not that it made much difference now. She couldn't move her legs, much less walk or run to safety. And the excessive amount of blood she'd been lying in before being recovered, was simply a confirmation to what she already knew. She was dying. She could feel it coming on. She was ready for the pain to end. But the man whom she deemed it an honor to call her partner, he refused to accept it.
"Dredd." she gasped. "Stop."
"Can't." he answered with his usual sharp tone. "Ten levels to the atrium."
Anderson shook her head against his armor. "I won't make the next level." She swallowed painfully. "Please, stop."
Dredd was never one to comply when people were brought so low as to beg. But this was not a low-life perp begging for his life or freedom. This was a victim asking for a moments rest, but even more than that, this was a fellow Judge. A damn good Judge who had committed countless judgments in the name of justice to maintain the peace throughout the city. An unwanted partner...and unneeded friend. A young woman who fought with all she had to bring criminals to justice...and give him something he never imagined. It was the pleading in her frail voice, that brought him to a halt on the stairs. It was her quiet request that stopped him from moving further. He crouched slowly, taking care in settling Anderson on the floor. His uniform was drenched in her blood, despite the field dressings he'd applied. He eased open her uniform, inspecting the wounds. Even sealed, they still continued to bleed.
Anderson leaned her head back against the concrete railing, breathing shallow. Her chest barely managed to rise a few centimeters. Her face, though splattered with blood, was deathly pale. The blonde locks of her short hair clung to her face by the sweat and blood. Her eyes were closed, giving the illusion of sleep.
"Stay awake, rookie!" Dredd orders. He lifts her chin, trying to rouse her. "Anderson! I didn't risk my ass to save yours, just to have you bleed out."
Anderson groaned as her eyes flutter for a moment. "Should've...left me there."
An unfamiliar-unnecessary-emotion past through him as he watched Anderson grow still. Years ago he'd blocked out everything but anger. But as he watched Anderson's life slip through his fingers, not even he could deny the tiny spark of fear that came from watching her. his rage quickly extinguished the spark of fear. He tears the helmet from his head, drooping it beside him. It's holding him back. Keeping him from seeing her. "DAMNIT ANDERSON, LOOK AT ME!"
His fury and rage temporarily roused Anderson. Her eyes fluttered opened and remained open for a few seconds. She looked up at Dredd. Her eyes closed quickly, but reopened slowly. Her dark eyes stared long at Dredd. From their first meeting a lingering question of his appearance peaked her curiosity. Yet through the years, the question seemed to matter less and fall into the back of her thoughts. Looking at him without his helmet, it felt as if he'd opened his mind to her. Like he'd lowered his shield. She mused at the reality of why he'd done it now, after years of their partnership. Guess she really was screwed.
Anderson swallowed slowly, bidding back the blood that had started to crawl up her throat. Her right hand shook as it lifted from the concrete. Her gloved finger traced the jagged scar running over the right side of his face. It was so easily hidden beneath his helmet, no one would be the wiser. Her eyes drew from his jagged scar to his eyes. The eyes that no longer hid from her. The irony was almost too much not to be humorous. She chuckled lightly, choking on her blood.
"What the fuck are you laughing at rookie?" he demanded.
"Just the...reality, sir." Anderson managed a half smile before it faded. "If not...today...then tomorrow, right? Guess my day's...today."
"That's it. We're moving." Dredd said. He reached for her body, only to have Anderson latch onto his arm. Despite the need to keep moving to the atrium, Dredd found himself unable to let go of her hand.
"I know why...you wear the helmet." she gasped. Her breathing grew weaker.
"We're wasting time here." Dredd replied.
"You hold...so much...anger. You use it...you hide...behind it. Like a shield." Anderson swallowed with difficulty. Several drops of blood trickled from her lips. "because...you-"
"Quit wasting your strength Anderson." he orders, knowing she wouldn't listen to him now. At this point, there was no stopping her, just like there was no way to save her. He was going to lose her.
"You can't hide...what you feel. Not in your eyes." she finished. She closes her eyes, tipping her head back against the concrete. The numbness was spreading higher, taking her arms out of her control. Dredd's grasp on her hand was nothing more than a ghost. Not long now. "I never thanked you."
"For what?"
"The pass." her voice grew quieter. "You...gave me...a chance."
Her grasp grew completely slack in his. Her chest rose one final time with her weakest, shortest breath. In the silence that followed, Dredd swore he heard Anderson's heart stop altogether. Like every other Judge who was lost to the streets. Killed in the line of duty, trying to make a difference. She was gone. Dredd lowered her still hand against her body and leaned toward her. Showing more emotion in one silent gesture than in his whole existence, he placed a kiss on her forehead. He retrieved his helmet and hid-in Anderson's words-behind the fury raging inside of him. He gathered her body into his arms and continued down the stairwell.
As Dredd comes down the final well into the atrium, the doors open in a fury of medics and Judges. They pass him by, moving to further secure the block. One of the medics step in front of him. Dredd barely register's the medics request to take Anderson from him. He walks around the medic. They could do nothing for her now. Why give her to them after the fact? He emerges out of the block. The blazing sun searing him as he steps out into its reach. More medical personnel and Judges patrol the block. As he walks toward one of the medical vehicles, he recognizes the Chief Judge standing nearby. He says nothing as he passes. There was no need. He could see it in her face as he walked by carrying Anderson. He could see the shock, the pain, everything he couldn't afford to reveal. Yet Anderson had known it was all in him. He reaches the medic vehicle and lays Anderson's body onto the gurney. He should have walked away right there. Done what he always had after an accomplished situation. But something pulls him back, something tells him to look at her one last time.
Even after death, covered in blood, pale from blood loss and shock, Anderson holds an illusion of peace within her face. Ironic really. The work of a Judge was never peaceful, and Anderson's life was just the same. She had been dealt drawbacks that would have otherwise crippled any other human in the dead world. Her shield resides in his pocket, picked up when he rescued her. He should leave it with her body. Leave it to be melted for another Judge. He shouldn't have cared for her. But he had, he did, he does.
"You made a difference, Cassandra." he whispered gruffly. "You gave me a chance."
okay I have no idea where this came from. all I knew what that I wanted one where Anderson died. I know dredd is basically emotionless and some of the responses don't seem like something he would do. oh well deal with it!