Yay!! Part 2!! Hope you guys enjoy!! :D
Wichita's eyes widened when she saw Tallahassee run out of the grocery store, Columbus slumped over one shoulder. What was worse, the younger man appeared to be unconscious. "What the hell happened?!" She cried as the back door was flung open and Tallahassee swung in, dragging the limp young man with him.
"Just drive." He all but growled, slamming the door closed behind him and gathering Columbus in his lap.
Wichita didn't argue, she simply gunned the ignition, threw the Hummer into drive and sped out of the parking lot. Once the grocery store had faded in the rear-view mirror, she looked back, her eyes narrowing on the older man. "You wanna tell me what's going?" She demanded, glancing back between the road and him. Her eyes fell on Columbus once again, a nervous flutter rising in her stomach. They all knew the dangers of Zombieland and they all had the same rule: if you got bit, you were toast. No if ands or buts about it. There was an unspoken agreement with all of them, someone would always be there to pull the trigger. She just hoped it wouldn't happen today.
Tallahassee looked up from the unconscious young man in his lap to meet her nervous gaze in the mirror. "He didn't get bit." He said simply, alleviating that concern instantly. Little Rock sighed in relief and Wichita let out a breath as well. Columbus was trembling slightly, his eyes closed and face relaxed, almost as if he were sleeping. If it weren't for the raging fever that was causing him to shake, Tallahassee would have almost been able to convince himself that the kid was fine. Blood was dripping off the seat beneath his knee, staining the carpet dark and leaving crimson rivulets on the leather.
"So what happened?" Little Rock asked, her eyes never leaving Columbus' shivering form. She chewed on her lip, a nervous habit she'd developed since Pacific Playland and had never managed to get rid of.
"Dumb-fuck here got hurt a few days ago and didn't tell anyone! Now he's got an infection." Tallahassee growled, his eyes falling on the angry wound above Columbus' knee.
"What?!" Wichita snapped from the front. "He didn't tell us?! Why?!"
"Fuck if I know." Tallahassee snapped back. Despite his gruff tone and outward irritation, he was worried. A drawback of Zombieland was there were no hospitals, no ambulances, nothing to help when you needed it. He frowned, looking down at the shivering ex-college student again. He was sweating, hair damp and clinging to his pale face. Dark, bruise-like circles had formed under his eyes and he was breathing rapidly. "Find a drug store."
"What?"
"A drug store. A Pharmacy. A fucking walk-in clinic, I don't care! Just find something!" He growled, shrugging out of his jacket and tucking it around Columbus.
Wichita didn't say anything and simply drove deeper into the town. Normally she would have snapped back at him, cursed or something along those lines, she and Tallahassee had never exactly seen eye-to-eye. But this was different; one of their own was hurt and in need of medical attention so she let the attitude she normally reserved specifically for the older man go and drove faster.
They found an abandoned Walgreen's a few blocks up the road and pulled in, parking directly in front of the door. Tallahassee slid out in front of the doorway, keeping Columbus laying across the seat. He grabbed a gun from the back of the car, cocking it absently. "What him." He said just before he closed the door and walked into the darkened building.
While Wichita kept an eye on the door, Little Rock slid into the back seat, sitting on her knees next to Columbus. He was still shivering, completely unresponsive due to the fever that raged through him. Rummaging around under the seat, she found a wad of napkins that had been there for God-knows how long. Folding them, she dabbed at his face carefully, gently wiping away the sheen of sweat that coated his skin.
Suddenly, Columbus' hand swung out, catching her wrist in a surprisingly tight grip. He struggled, pushing her away with a gasp and swinging wildly at anything around him.
Little Rock yelped, pulled away by her sister just in time to avoid being hit in the face by a flailing arm. "What's happening to him?!" She cried, her voice shrill with panic.
"It's the fever!" Wichita said, hopping over the seat and landing on the floorboards next to Columbus. She caught his arms and pinned them to the seat, nearly sitting on top of him to keep him still. "He's hallucinating!" She gasped, tightening her hold a bit as he thrashed more violently.
The back door was jerked open and she looked back to see Tallahassee climb back into the Hummer, his eyes widening a bit at the scene. "What the fuck-?"
One of Columbus' arms got loose, smacking Wichita across the side of the head. She winced, reminding herself to repay the favor later when he was better, and grabbed his arm again. "He's hallucinating...!" She said again, trying desperately to keep the younger man from getting loose again.
Tallahassee didn't say anything, he was busy with something else. "Hold him still." He said, crawling in beside her.
"What do you think I've been trying to do?!" She grumbled, dodging a leg.
Once again, the older man didn't answer, he simply grabbed One of Columbus' arms and locked it against his side. Pulling a glass bottle out of his pocket and an unopened syringe, he ripped open the package and inserted the tip into the top of the bottle. He measured an amount of the contents into the syringe and then shoved the needle into the crook of Columbus' arm.
Feeling the pinch of the needle, Columbus began to struggle even more, his eyes squeezed closed and teeth clenched. "N-No...! Get off...!" He cried weakly, struggling with every ounce of strength he had.
Grabbing the kid from under Wichita, Tallahassee wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly to his chest. "Hey! Columbus!" He called, keeping the struggling young man pressed against him tightly. "Jesus, kid! Calm down!"
As if hearing his voice through the fever driven panic, Columbus stilled, his muscles tight like a spring. "Tall...?" He gasped, glassy, unfocused eyes opening slightly.
"Yeah, kid, it's me." The older man said, his voice softening a bit. "I gotcha. You're safe..."
"I'm...?" Columbus started, struggling just slightly once more before he relaxed against Tallahassee's chest. He blinked a few times, fighting to stay conscious, but the fever was quickly winning that battle. Unable to fight it anymore, he slumped against the warm body behind him and fell into the swirling darkness again.
Once Columbus had stopped struggling and slipped back into unconsciousness, Wichita let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "What did you give him?" She asked, looking at Tallahassee and the empty syring on the seat.
Tallahassee wasn't looking at her, his eyes were glued on the limp young man in his lap. "Penicillan. My ex-wife worked in a pharmacy so I know my way around the medicine cabinet." With careful, gentle fingers, he brushed the damp hair away from Columbus' face. He could feel the younger man's heart pounding against his arms, the rhythm fast and uneven. The infection was taking its toll on him. "We need to find a place to stop for the night."
OOOOO
The house was small, most of the windows broken and glass littering the front yard, but it didn't matter. They hadn't seen any zombies on this entire block so it seemed like a perfect place to stop. They went through the process of boarding up the windows and any other entrance a zombie could come through and then turned their attention back to the injured member of their group.
With Wichita's help, Tallahassee managed to get Columbus into one of the back bedrooms and laid him out on the bed. While she stepped out to retrieve the bag of bandages and supplies he'd swiped from the drug store, Tallahassee went to work on removing the rest of Columbus' clothes. One pants leg was already shredded so he continued the trend, slicing through the thick denim with his pocket knife and peeling the fabric away from the younger man's body. He left him in his boxers to preserve some sense of modesty but the shirt was removed in a similar fashion as the pants, the ruined clothes falling to the floor in a messy heap.
Columbus had stopped shivering but it didn't do anything to ease Tallahassee's concerns. He was still unconscious and his skin was still flushed with fever, his cheeks scarlet and burning in contrast to the paleness of the rest of his skin. The wound on his leg looked terrible, the broken skin raised and and swollen. Fresh and dried blood clung to the wound, giving it an even more garish appearance. Tallahassee hissed between his teeth and looked at the unconscious young man. "Jesus Christ kid, you can't do anything halfway can you?"
"I don't think "half-way" is in his vocabulary." Wichita sighed, walking in and setting an armful of supplies and bowl of water with a washcloth on the beside table. She winced when she saw the wound, letting out a slow breath. "Do you want some help?" She asked, knowing the answer even before the older man answered.
"No, I got him."
She nodded, standing slowly and making her way toward the door. She wasn't offended, it was just a fact; Little Rock was her territory and Columbus was Tallahassee's. It was an unspoken rule but it was enforced through their actions: as long as Tallahassee was around, no one touched Columbus.
Once the door closed, Tallahassee began sifting through the supplies on the table, sorting out the things he needed at the moment. He grabbed the washcloth from the bowl, wringing it out and using it to wipe away the blood from the injury. He dipped it back in the bowl, the water turning a dull pinkish color as he rinsed it. The wound still looked awful but without all the blood around it, it looked slightly better. It was deep though and was going to need stitches. With a sigh, Tallahassee looked at Columbus, brushing the hair away from his face gently. "Sorry kiddo, this is going to hurt..."
He found a packaged suture set in the the heap of supplies and opened it, taking a deep breath to steady himself for the work he was going to have to do. He'd had stitches before, he'd watched people get stitches before, but he's never done them himself. Taking another deep breath, he steadied his hand on Columbus' uninjured leg and whispered another apology.
He worked a quickly and carefully as he could, noticing the way Columbus shifted and whimpered each time the needle passed through his skin. Tallahassee mumbled soft words of encouragement, shushing and comforting him as best he could. Occasionally he stop, reaching up to rest his hand against the younger man's face, calloused thumb brushing over a flushed cheekbone. He said the kid's name, his real name, the one he'd only heard once in the entire time they'd been together, and the younger man relaxed, the pain lines smoothing a bit from his face. Tallahassee kept his voice soft, a tone he couldn't remember using for anyone other than Buck, and finished the last stitch. They were uneven and a bit sloppy but it was better than letting the wound stay open. "All done." He mumbled, though he was pretty sure Columbus wasn't conscious enough to hear it.
He cleaned the wound with peroxide and wrapped it tightly; the last thing the kid needed was a secondary infection. Moving the unused supplies out of the way, he crawled onto the bed next to him, pulling Columbus into his lap and gently dabbing his face with the washcloth. The fabric was an odd reddish color thanks to the blood but he didn't care, all he was worried about was getting Columbus' fever down.
The younger man shifted restlessly against his shoulder and he shushed him softly, letting one hand drag through the sweat-damp hair. Columbus stilled once more, his body melting into the older man's chest with a soft breath. Tallahassee kept up his ministrations, dragging the damp cloth over the kid's face and neck, down to his chest and over his arms. Moving his hand away from his hair, he let his fingers travel down, resting against Columbus' neck for a second. The younger man's pulse was still a little too fast for his liking but he didn't seem to be in any immediate danger so he let it go. With a soft sigh, Tallahassee leaned back against the headboard and blinked up at the ceiling. "It's a full time job takin' care of you, you know?" He said to no one in particular though, truth be told, he wouldn't have it any other way.
OOOOO
Columbus came to slowly, fighting his way through the murky darkness of unconsciousness and blinking slowly. He felt drained, like he'd just run a marathon, and his whole body hurt. He frowned slightly, trying to piece together the events of the past few...hours? Days? Jesus, how long had he been out?
He tried to sit up but stopped when he noticed an arm wrapped around his chest like an iron bar, holding him still. "Sorry kid, you're not moving until I say so." A deep voice grumbled from behind him. To anyone else, it might have been terrifying but to him, it was like coming home.
Columbus leaned back, turning his head to see Tallahassee looking down at him. The older man didn't smile but the relief was evident in his voice. "Welcome back."
The younger man frowned, still unsure of what had happened to land him in this position. He was mostly naked, save for the flimsy boxers clinging to his hips, and he was pressed against Tallahassee like he had Velcro taped to his back. Granted, this wasn't the most intimate position he'd ever been in with the older zombie hunter, but it was close. "What happened?" He asked, frowning at how weak his voice sounded in his ears.
"What happened was you didn't tell us about an injury and it got infected." Tallahassee growled next to him and Columbus felt himself shrink back ever so slightly. "By the time we figured out about it, you were about a handful of white blood cells away from blood poisoning." He sounded angry but the grip he had on the younger man was gentle. "Mind tellin' me why you didn't say anything?"
Columbus was silent for a second, letting the words sink in. He didn't think the wound was that bad, at least not that he could remember. His knee throbbed as if to remind him and he winced slightly, biting his lip. The last thing he was remembered was being in the grocery store and running from the zombies and then-
"I have all night kid."
He swallowed, blinking up to the dark ceiling. "I didn't think it was a big deal." He mumbled honestly.
"A big deal?!" Tallahassee snapped incredulously from behind him. "News flash dip-shit! You were running a fever that could have fried an egg! Your heart rate got up to 140 at one point! Trust me, I kept count!" The older man growled irritably. "It was a pretty big fucking deal!"
Columbus winced a bit and shrunk back again. "I'm sorry...its just..."
"Just what?" Tallahassee snapped. He wasn't trying to sound as angry as he did but he'd been worried sick about the kid and he didn't like that feeling; it pissed him off.
"I didn't want to worry you guy or make you think I was weak..." The ex-college student looked down again, trying to ignore the older man's intense gaze. "When I was younger and got sick or hurt, I never told my parents because I knew they wouldn't do anything. They were agoraphobic, shut-ins who wouldn't go outside even if their house was on fire. They didn't trust doctors or hospitals or anything so anytime there was something wrong with me I just had to deal with it on my own. Its always been that way..."
There was a long silence, a tension that filled the room like nothing he'd ever felt, but finally Tallahassee sighed behind him. "Listen kid, I don't know much about your parents or your life before this, but things have changed. The whole fucking world has gone to hell in a hand-basket and right now we're the only ones left. You can tell us when you're hurt, sick, whatever; the point is you don't have to go through this alone anymore. We're all in this together, kid."
Columbus nodded slightly, suddenly upset with himself for putting the others through this. "I'm sorry..." He whispered again.
Tallahassee chuckled softly, brushing his lips against the younger man's temple. "Don't apologize to me, I just didn't want to hear Wichita bitch if you died. Besides, it would have made Little Rock cry."
Columbus smiled softly and snuggled a little deeper against the older man's chest. He wouldn't say anything but he knew that Tallahassee had been worried about him as well.
"So no more hiding injuries, got it?"
"Got it."
"Good, now go to sleep. I'll keep an eye on you." Another kiss was pressed to his temple and Columbus found himself relaxing back into the older man's embrace. He let out a breath slowly, his eyes slipping shut as he fell into a deep dreamless sleep, wrapped in the arms of his fellow survivor.
Okay, so I'm really not sure if they sell Penicillan at a drug store but it helped with the plot so...there ya go =P