Chapter 13: Drunken Love
"For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream." ~Vincent Van Gogh
Chris watched as Piers slowly walked back to their room. Piers stopped in the doorway, glancing back at Chris while raising an eyebrow at him in questioning. Chris just smiled back and waved for him to go inside the room. Piers did so, and closed the door as quietly as he could so as to not disturb his parents in the room across the hall. Chris remained sitting on the couch, still staring at the door for a moment before turning forward.
Chris picked up his phone and started thumbing through contacts figuring out who he could talk to. "Sherry… Jill… Claire… Quentin… Barry…*
Chris smacked a hand to his forehead as his sight reached a more recent contact. V, earlier that day he had mentioned something about needing to see Piers. Chris tapped a few icons to send him a message and he hoped that nine P.M. wasn't too late.
Sliding his huge figures across the screen, Chris had to try a few times to get the message to come out right. *Hey, V.*
Chris waited a few minutes, almost putting his phone down before he felt it buzz in his hand.
*Is this Cpt. Redfield? Whatcha need sir?*
Chris ran a hand through his hair for a moment. *Not much, just wondering what you needed Piers for? Just got done having dinner with his parents.*
It took a long minute before Chris received a reply. "Really now Captain, haven't even gone on a proper date yet and his parents are already eating at your house? ;)*
Chris turned red for a moment even though there was nobody there to see it. *Uh… not really… they just came to visit and things were a little choppy at first.*
*Haha ok big guy I gotcha ;) But on the Q you had, I just needed to check the batteries in his stuff, why?
*No real reason, I was just going through contacts and saw you, completely forgot what you needed earlier.*
*Alright. Hope you don't want me to come over and do it now Cpt. Redfield, kind of late and had a long day.*
Chris chuckled to himself, he knew all about having long days. *Nah no rush. Going to surprise Piers with a trip to the shooting range I think, mind meeting us there tomorrow?*
*Yeah sure thing. :) Now I'm going to head to sleep, see you tomorrow Cpt. Redfield.*
*Cya.* and with that the conversation was over.
Chris decided to text Sherry next and give her an update on things.
*Hey Sherry, it's Chris.*
Chris received a response back so quickly he had to blink to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. *Hey Chris, what's up?*
Chris chuckled to himself at Sherry's apparent eagerness. *Not much, just wanted to give you guys an update on Piers.*
*Really? How's he doing, you guys getting along ok?*
*Sherry, Sherry, calm down and breathe. We are fine.*
*:) That's good to hear Chris, so how has he been holding up himself?*
Chris scratched his chin in thought for a moment. *Well, he has had his ups and downs which I am sure you would probably suspect he would have. His parents are leaving in the morning and dinner was probably an up and down like no other.*
*o.o really Chris?*
*Yeah… let's just say that one of my hands isn't that good right now…*
*I'm taking everything breakable out of your house Chris…*
*Hey! I don't want to be homeless Sherry!*
*I didn't say I was taking the house Chris…*
*Oh uh… night Sherry.*
*Lol, night Chris.*
Chris sat the phone down and laid back on the couch to think for a moment. That was a bad idea but those seemed to follow Chris like white on rice. His eyelids started to fight himself to close the second his head touched a pillow.
When Chris opened his eyes it was as if he wasn't really in his body. He was following Piers but it didn't seem like Piers knew he was there. Piers was running in what seemed like giant circles. His mutated arm hung limp at his side. As he moved the arm seemed to move more and more. Suddenly, Piers stopped and looked around as if searching for someone.
"C-Chris! The a-arm is breaking! Chris, where are you, Chris?!"
Chris tried to step forward but was rooted in place. His voice and body wouldn't work for him. He watched as Piers continued to look around frantically.
"Chris, where are you?!"
Silence. Nothing answered Piers' desperate calls for Chris except for the sound of crickets and an increasing roar of thunder.
"Chris?! Chrissss!"
Chris was suddenly awakened to find a cold cloth on his forehead. First, he opened his eyes, looking around slowly to see if anyone was in the room. His head was elevated and there was an icepack wrapped under the cloth on his head. Vision falling on the digital clock on the other side of the room, Chris saw that it was almost noon; Piers' parents had probably left already. Chris tried to get up but felt a sharp pain in his neck. He quickly fell back down with a groan.
Chris felt a shuffling below his feet. He shifted his gaze down and saw Hope's head pointed towards him, watching, almost knowingly as if there was something Chris wasn't aware of. Chris smiled weakly while his eyes closed slightly.
"Hey girl…"
Chris reached forward to scratch her behind the ears but as soon as he tried he pulled back, feeling a sharp sting of pain in his neck again as he moved it. Chris groaned and just decided to lay there staring at the ceiling. He wasn't sure how long it had been but he could always feel the rhythmic breathing of Hope who stayed nestled under his feet.
Eventually a sound came at the door and Hope got up off the couch to go sit in front of the door and wait. Chris didn't try to move his head, just tried to shift his vision towards the door, the icepack and cloth from earlier was now getting a little warmer albeit it was still cold and mostly frozen. After a few moments of hearing noises and some keys jingling Chris saw the door open and Piers stepped through. Piers smiled down at Hope and scratched her behind her ears, whom leaned her head forward in appreciation.
Piers smiled and laugh a little bit at Hope and Chris noticed Piers was carrying something in his other arm. He had a plastic bag hooked around the very end of his clawed arm and wondered what was in it. Piers walked over to the couch Chris was on and his eyes widened in surprise at first as he noticed Chris had his open but hadn't said a word. Piers reached down and felt the cloth and icepack, noticing that they weren't as cold as they could be he quickly got another cloth and icepack to replace the ones that were already on Chris' head. He came back in and switched them out, hurriedly putting the old cloth in the kitchen and the icepack in the freezer before returning to where Chris was.
"So Chris… how are you feeling?"
Chris swallowed thickly; his throat was feeling extremely dry. "Like I got run over by a fucking truck… what happened?"
Piers shrugged. "Don't know. Parents went to leave and mom noticed you had some kind of fever going on in your sleep. She let me know and I came out here to get you taken care of and I grabbed some stuff from a drug store to give you to hopefully make you feel better."
Chris smiled weakly. "Thanks Piers."
Piers laughed at Chris. "Don't mention it, Captain."
Chris narrowed his eyebrows for a moment. "Stop that."
Piers' own eyebrows narrowed in confusion. "… Stop what, Captain?"
"That, stop calling me Captain, just call me Chris."
Piers gained a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Really, or do you want me to call you Captain Bearfield? Or would you want me to call you one of our other little names?"
Piers finished that statement with a wink as he got another weak smile and chuckle from Chris. Piers started pulling out some supplies from the bag he had and got them ready for Chris. He pulled out some ibuprofen and cold medicines. Chris continued laying there as Piers got everything ready but felt like trying to start some kind of a conversation.
"So… how did you get this stuff?"
Piers looked at Chris in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"How'd you get this stuff?"
Piers frowned slightly, not understanding where Chris was going with this. "Umm… I walked out of the house and down the street to get it?"
Chris rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant Piers. I mean did you get someone to go with you?"
Piers formed an *o* with his mouth, realizing what Chris had meant. "Yeah, I got V to go with me."
Chris raised an eyebrow. "Really now, did he ask you anything?"
Piers frowned in curiosity. "Not really… just asked what was going on and I told him that you had some kind of fever going on, why?
Chris cleared his throat nervously, hoping to not reveal anything too important. "Nothing really… just curious."
Piers smiled, seemingly satisfied with that answer. "Ok then, takes your meds and let's go out a little bit later ok? I really just feel like getting out and doing something today, being cramped up in this house sucks."
Chris chuckled. "Oh really, we won't have to drag you out this time?"
Piers chuckled himself. "No not this time Daddy Bear. You thinking of any place in particular we could go to maybe?"
Chris shrugged and downed his medications before continuing. "Not really…" Chris feigned a thinking gesture which Piers seemed to believe. "… how about the shooting range at the base? Does that sound good to you, Piers?"
Piers smiled and glanced over to where his rifle case was resting. "Sounds good to me Chris! When are we going to head on over to the base?"
Chris smiled and moved up off the couch, groaning slightly which had Piers reacting by somewhat rushing forward in case Chris needed help. "I'm fine Piers really, I'm fine. We can head on out now just grab your rifle while I get the keys."
Piers pursed his lips for a moment but made no move to argue with Chris. Piers walked on over to his resting rifle case while Chris grabbed the keys and quickly headed on out of the door. Piers grabbed the case and slung it over his shoulder, relishing in the familiar feel that he used to miss before they had found him in that cave. He turned around towards the door and saw Hope looking at him quizzically. Piers walked over and scratched her behind the ears which earned him the satisfaction of her leaning her head forward in pleasure. Piers chuckled and moved away to fill her food and water dish before they left.
Filling it up and turning around again Piers saw Hope sitting by the doorway with her head tilted to the side. Piers smiled walking over to her. He scratched her behind the ears again and bent down to give her a small hug.
"Sorry girl, you can't come with us but maybe another time ok?"
Piers chuckled to himself again as Hope's ears dropped slightly and she almost sulked over and hopped up on the couch while he left, locking the door behind him. He took the steps down from the house to the driveway where Chris was waiting for him, smiling and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel of the truck. Piers went around the side and hopped into the passenger seat, resting the rifle case between his legs as he heard a familiar tune playing from the stereo.
*You're crashing into me like waves on the coast.
Every time we talk, you move in close.
I don't want you to stop; I don't want you to stop tonight.
We got the last two glasses on a straw hook bar.
Trying to remember what number we are
String of white lights making your eyes shine tonight…*
Piers shut the door and glanced at Chris with a mischievous smirk playing at his lips. Piers saw Chris trying to look away rolling his eyes in amusement. Piers smiled and moved his left hand on over to Chris' right that was rested in between their seats. Chris finally turned to look at Piers with a gleam in his eye and started to back out of the driveway and head over to the base.
"Well then Chris, you remember this one now, don't you?"
Chris grinned stupidly. "Oh yeah definitely, how could I forget that this was playing when I found you in the bar before you joined up?"
Pier snickered. "Oh please Chris, you cannot tell me you didn't enjoy that."
Chris shook his head in amusement. "On the contrary I enjoyed it quite a lot Piers, even seeing how stupidly silly you can be when you're drunk."
Piers scoffed. "Oh please, I have NO idea what you could be referring to."
Chris raised an eyebrow and made a sweeping gesture with his free hand. "Oh really Piers? So then what happened to that little drunken conversation you were having? *Mary, Mary, where are we going Mary? I'm drunk off my ass we should stay here for the night.* I still can't believe you were so drunk you thought I was someone named Mary!"
Piers' face turned several shades of red. "Ok truth be told Chris, you already know that I really was there with someone named Mary. She just happened to know that I hate wimping out on bets and that I can be kind of crazy silly when I'm drunk and yeah… look where she got us huh?"
Chris laughed warmly while clapping a hand to Piers' shoulder. "Definitely, where on Earth would we be if you hadn't made that drunken bet of marksmanship with me eh?"
Piers rolled his eyes. "Oh I don't know, maybe I would be your Captain since I was pretty damn close to you while I was probably four times the legal limit drunk off my ass maybe?"
Chris gave another toothy grin. "Oh please, I was going easy on you because you were drunk as hell."
Piers winked at him. "Oh and look what I still did while I was drunk Chris. What would you say to us having another little marksmanship contest today?"
Chris raised an eyebrow while pulling into the base's parking lot. "Oh really then? You're on, Ace."
Piers grinned while hopping out of the truck. "Race ya over to the shooting range Bearfield!"