Chapter 18: Where are we going?
"AHHHHHHH—HAHAHA!"
Rapunzel's screams dissolved into giggles as she reached up to let her fingers weave through the air, the wind pushing her hair back to billow behind her in a golden streamer. Her toes curled into the upholstery of the center backseat of the truck, the edge of the open sunroof digging into her stomach as she leaned forward over the roof of the car. She closed her eyes, the biggest grin spread across her face as she felt everything rush through her veins. Feeling that summer breeze and the way it was calling her. Feeling like she could fly, like she could do anything. For like the first time ever, she was completely free.
Rapunzel came back inside the cab of the truck, plopping down on to the middle seat with a giggle as the wind whistled overhead.
"Well," Bunny said with a smirk as he looked in the rearview mirror at her, he and Flynn having switched seats since their early start. "Sounds like someone's having fun."
Rapunzel simply let out another laugh, her eyes lighting up as she rolled back into her seat situated behind the passenger's side.
They'd been on the road for hours and still weren't out of the backwater country part of the state. Even though they were the only ones out on the road, they were taking it slow. It wasn't like they were in a rush or on a time table, anyways. For the most part, they'd stuck to the back roads, the main ones having apparently been choked up with abandoned cars littering the highways and interstates. Even still, they found themselves maneuvering around tractors and trailers and other cars left on these barely traveled backroads, forcing them to move even slower. And then, every once in a while, they'd have a stretch of uninterrupted road, where they could floor it and stick their heads and hands out the windows and sunroof, enjoying the rush of air.
"So how did you guys find each other?" Rapunzel asked, excitement and energy coursing through her. She needed a distraction, or else she was sure she'd start bouncing off the walls. Not to mention, she still knew very little about these thieves of hers that had whisked her away from everything she'd ever known. She leaned forward between the two front seats, chin resting on the back of Flynn's seat.
"I'm sure that's a question for Flynn, over here," Bunny said with a nod towards the brunette.
Rapunzel turned her large green eyes on him expectantly, her smile managing to draw a chuckle form him.
"Alright, alright," he said. "I guess the beginning was when I was making my way across the country, trying to get the hell out of Indiana and towards these refugee camps I'd heard about in D.C.. When, suddenly, I come across this abandoned university. And I thought, hey, college kids gotta have some food stashed away in dorms and what not. So I make my way onto the campus only to find one very jumpy and very violent Australian that hadn't left with all the other students."
"Bunny, you were at university?" Rapunzel asked, curious only because she'd never seen a college campus before.
"Yeah, nah. Came over here to study at a good 'American' school, and next thing I know, they've shut down the borders, everyone's sick, and they've evacuated the school. I had nowhere else to go, so I set up camp," the Australian said with a shrug.
"And so after that almost deadly run in," Flynn continued. "Bunny decided he'd run with me to the East Coast so he could find a boat to get back to his family in Australia."
"Do you think they're still alive?" Rapunzel asked.
"No way to say for sure, love," Bunny said, keeping his eyes on the road. "I'm hoping for the best, and right now, that's all I've got. Figured it's at least worth the shot."
After another moment, Flynn picked up again with his story.
"And so after I team up with Out Back here, we're making our way through Kentucky, when we run into this idiot," he jerked his thumb in Jack's direction, "that's wondering around, like he's so lost he can't tell which way is up. Anyways, we pick him up and a few weeks later, we find you."
"Jack," she asked turning to the other boy riding in the back with her. "I thought you were from Maine, what were you doing in Kentucky?"
He shrugged, nonchalant, that confident smile constantly on his face, as if that was his default.
"Like Flynn said, I got turned around, ended up far from where I wanted to be."
"When did you leave?" she asked.
"Near the beginning of the outbreak. My adoptive family caught the virus pretty quick and I decided to leave home not long after."
"And you were all by yourself when you left?"
Jack paused, his smile faltering only just slightly. He adjusted his grip on his staff that was propped up vertical, its end resting on the floor of the car. He turned away from Rapunzel to look at the other two sitting up front, his smile a bit too stiff.
"Yeah," he said. "It was just me until I met these two knuckle-heads," he finished with a nod towards Bunny and Flynn.
"Wow," she said quietly. "I can't imagine being alone for so long."
"Yeah," he said with a sigh, leaning back into his seat. He turned away from her completely then to look out the window, so she couldn't see his face. She could hardly hear what he said next. "Wasn't much fun."
The car grew quiet and Rapunzel could feel as the mood changed. She felt as her heart sank slightly at the sight of Jack turning away from her. From what she knew of Jack, he seemed like a lively person, always laughing or cracking jokes with his wide smile. But now…he was suddenly distant. Removed. Rapunzel turned back to face the front, fingers twisting around her hair as she bit her lip. She knew enough to know not to push the subject any more.
"How about you Flynn?" she asked, trying to change topics.
"What about me?"
"Where'd you come from?" she asked leaning forward between the two seats again. "What were you doing when the virus hit? What was you're life like before HSE?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he defended, throwing up his hands and pulling away so that his back pressed into the car door. "Sorry, Blondie. I don't do backstory, however I am becoming very interested in yours. How do you know so much about concussions and sewing up wounds?"
Rapunzel crinkled her nose slightly. What was it with these people? Ask them to talk about themselves and all of a sudden, they clam up. Except for Bunny, of course. But again, Rapunzel didn't push it and leaned back in her seat to answer.
"Mother never took me to any hospitals or doctors. She didn't like them. So, whenever I would hurt myself from playing in the woods, or whenever I'd get sick, Mother would take care of me. She taught me to set a broken bone and how to stitch up a cut in case anything happened when she wasn't there. I also know the names and uses of different medicines."
"Looks like we've got our very own medic on the team, then," Bunny said with a smile.
Rapunzel giggled and leaned forward again to ask another question.
Jack didn't hear what Rapunzel asked next. He'd tuned them out, their conversations fading into the distance as he continued to look out the window. Trees flashed by them, one by one, turning into a blur of greens and browns as they continued down the road. He let out a sigh and leaned his head against the cool window, the conversations in the car continuing around him without him even hearing a word of them.
—
A couple of hours and a few pit stops and seat exchanges later, the four of them had pulled up outside a fire station on the edge of small town that was practically in the middle of nowhere. A single garage door stood open in front of them, showing only an enormously empty garage that would've once held an actual fire truck. As it was, the open garage was rather bare, a few spare hoses and other supplies strewn about as cracked and faded pictures of smiling firemen lined the walls. The group of four had pulled the truck into the garage and then pilled out, limbs stretching and joints popping as they moved around.
Bunny and Flynn were the ones that had managed to break open the station door while Jack circled around back to find a generator that was still hooked up. Jack managed to get it started up with a roar, causing all the lights in the station to come on. Once they'd situated themselves inside, Rapunzel immediately dashed to the kitchen. She flitted about it, humming as she went through all the cupboards to find a couple of cans and other non-perishables that had been left behind. She set to cooking a meal for all of them, Flynn having been her recruit to help her in the kitchen. The two joked and nudged at each other as they cooked, Flynn scowling at Rapunzel's teasing once she'd figured out that he didn't know how to cook.
Meanwhile, Bunny sat at the kitchen table, a map laid out before him as he tracked their course. The Australian had told Jack to bugger off out of the kitchen for being "a bloody obnoxious drongo," leaving the skinny brunette to explore the fire station and mess with numerous amounts of gadgets and things.
By the time they all had sat down to a rather satisfying dinner, the sun had already begun to set and had almost disappeared by the time they'd finished. In the midst of cleaning up their leftovers and dishes, Jack had apparently managed to find a stereo system in an open, living-room-like room on the second floor. This lead the next hour or so to being filled with music and laughter as Rapunzel and Jack danced in the middle of the fire station, spinning and twirling. Golden hair streaked behind her as the skinny brunette playfully chased her around the station, up the stairs and down the fireman's pole. Jack had even made a very poor attempt at pole dancing, much to the amusement and laughter of everyone else.
"Come on! Dance with us!" Rapunzel called out, a smile lighting up her face as she reached towards the two that had chosen to sit out amongst all the dancing and chasing. She'd broken away from Jack, leaving the boy to do his own jerky sort of jig in the middle of the living area, and had come over to where Flynn and Bunny were, watching the festivities from the sidelines. Flynn was leaning against a railing that lined a side of the room, the other side of it over looking the first floor of the station down below, a lazy smile on his face. Meanwhile, Bunny was perched atop the rail above the first, his abnormally long feet bouncing against the bars in time with the rhythm.
An upbeat tune was playing. One Rapunzel had never heard before about revolutions and waking up to a new age. She could feel the rhythm of the song down to her core and her face was flushed from dancing, stray hairs sticking to her forehead from the sweat and exertion.
"I'm not one for dancin' sheila," Bunny said with a shake of his head. He nodded towards Flynn. "This one might be, though."
Rapunzel's expectant and excited gaze landed on the unsuspecting brunette.
"Oh, no, blonde," the younger of the two men started, raising his hands in protest as he backpedalled. "I don't dance."
"'Course yah do," Bunny interrupted. "All yah need is a push."
And with that, the Australian gave Flynn a good shove in the back with his foot, sending him to stumble forward. In the next moment, Rapunzel had him by the hand and had dragged him to the middle of the floor, encouraging him and laughing all the way. Before Flynn even had a chance to protest, he was dancing with the blonde, twirling her around and swaying with her as her green eyes lit up, a wide smile stretching her face as she looked up at him.
Bunny simply laughed when he caught the accusing look from the shorter man, now being spun around the open living room. It was obvious Flynn wasn't really that upset about Bunny's move considering all three of them continued to dance late into the night, laughter and music ringing out to bounce between the thick, brick walls of the station.
Screams rang through the house, yelling and cursing barreling down hallways, only to get caught and ricochet inside rooms.
"I've just about had enough of you, lass!"
"You walk around tellin' me what teh do, what not teh do! Trying teh make me be like you! Well, Aye'm not going teh be like you!"
"Ach! You're acting like a child!"
"If yeh'd just listen—!"
"I am your mother! You listen to me!"
The screams and hollers and yells kept coming. The cacophony wasn't made any easier with Fergus banging on the door Merida and Elinor were fighting behind, ordering to be let in. Not to mention the giggles and playful fights the triplets were now instigating among themselves, the sounds of the screaming match having inspired them. Hiccup sat with Toothless curled up next to him on the couch in the living room, the brunette bent over a book. The words on the page went unheeded as he strained his ears to listen to the fighting in the other room and waited for the outcome. The fights and yelling between the two DunBroch women were not a new experience for Hiccup. The pair were always clashing heads. This one seemed worse than all the other fights he'd heard, though.
It had all started when Merida had come in late again after leaving the house to hunt on her own. She'd come back to a worried Elinor, the questions of where she'd been and what she'd been doing soon escalating into a screaming match. Only instead of the whole thing blowing over in a few short minutes, the yelling and arguments and accusations raged on for over ten minutes, before Hiccup heard one last holler of frustration and a bang.
The next thing Hiccup knew, a flurry of red hair rushed by him.
"Hey, where are you—?"
Before he could even finish, the Scotts girl was through the front door, leaving it to swing shut with a bang. Shouts and protests of "Merida!" followed after her, completely ignored.
Without thinking twice, Hiccup stood up from the couch, only to stumble and topple over to the ground with his still unsteady leg. He scrambled to his feet again, using Toothless to help push himself up and wobble as quickly as he could out the door after the hot-headed teen.
He stumbled out onto the street, Toothless lopping along beside him. Spinning around, Hiccup quickly found a blotch of orange among the gray and washed out landscape of abandoned homes. She was storming down the street to his right, her bow slung around her shoulder as she walked away from the house, grumbling something to herself.
"Hey!" Hiccup called as he started hobbling towards the escaping teen.
She gave a short pause to turn over her shoulder. When she saw who it was, Merida turned back around with a disapproving snort and continued walking away from the house.
"Wha' do you want?"
"I want to help!"
Hiccup stumbled, catching himself on Toothless before standing upright again.
"Ay, well yeh can stop bumpin, yer gums an' leave me alone," Merida scoffed as she kept walking. "Aye don' need yer help!"
"How do you know that if you haven't given me a chance!"
"Leave me alone!"
"Look, could you please just listen to me?!"
Merida froze. She stood there in the middle of the street, fists clenched, shoulders tense. After a moment, she whipped her head around, casting a scathing look at Hiccup over her shoulder, before turning and walking up the steps of a nearby house to sit on the front porch with her arms crossed. It took him some time, but Hiccup eventually managed to wobble his way over to the house Merida was pouting in front of with Toothless trotting along behind him. Hiccup sank down at the the top of the steps on the other end of where Merida sat hunched over her lap with her arms crossed. He let out a sigh and angled himself to lean back against a porch post as Toothless sat on his hunches at the foot of the stairs, diligently keeping watch.
There were a few silent moments filled with Toothless's quiet panting and glaring glances cast towards Hiccup by Merida.
"So," the brunette started. "Just what happened in there?"
"'Wha' happened'?" Merida scoffed. "Wha' happened is mai mum's a stark raving lunatic. She's alway tellin' me wha' teh do, how teh do it. How teh behave. How Aye needed teh be in school. Who Aye could an' couldn't date. An' now, it's all, 'Don' leave the house. Stay were we can see ye, lass.' Aye'm a prisoner in mai own house!" she finished with a huff, face slightly red in her anger, her hair a bit frizzier than normal.
"Well, technically, it's not even your house."
Merida let out a frustrated groan and threw her hands up, red curls flying everywhere. She made to stand up, apparently already fed up with him.
"No, no, wait," Hiccup said with a small chuckle, rather amused by how easy it was to rile her up.
"Yeh blastid nob," she grumbled. As she made it to the bottom of the steps, she swung around, pointing a finger at the older boy. "Aye'm tryin' teh be serious an' yer–yer jus'—"
"No, wait, I'm sorry," Hiccup said while trying to suppress his laughter. "Come back," he urged, waving his hands to tell her to come back to the porch. "I'll be serious."
Merida gave another dubious glare at him, contemplating whether or not the risk of being made fun of was worth coming back to the porch. After a couple more seconds of her refusing to move, Hiccup broke the silence.
"Look, your mom's a control freak," he said, his palms open and upwards as he leaned forward. "I get it, I do. But running away from something like that isn't going to help anyone."
The redhead scoffed, her curls bouncing around her face as she folded her arms.
"Ay, an' how would ye know?"
"Because my dad was the same way."
Hiccup could see as his words hit her. It wasn't like a blow to the chest or anything so drastic. It was much more subtle, but the effect was still noticeable. Her gaze froze as it fell to land on him. And it was then, for what was probably the first time in all the weeks Hiccup had known her, that the redhead looked at him. As in, actually looked at him. No one-sided glares or harsh glances. She met his eyes and looked at him, contemplating, observing, learning.
She finally gave a scoff. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, offering only one word in response.
"How?"
Hiccup blinked, having not expected that response. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it hadn't been that. He leaned back slightly, swallowing as he thought of a response.
"Well," he started, eyes darting to the ground, "he always tried to make me into something I'm not. When I was younger, he'd always take me camping and hunting with him. It was like our thing. Dad and son stuff, you know? Then, sometime after my mom left, he'd try to convince me to stay behind. He'd say I wasn't cut out for it. He'd leave on his own, bags weighed down with guns and tents," Hiccup paused, memories flicking through his mind as he stared at the ground. "And vodka," he said in a low voice, almost like he hadn't realized he'd said it. "He never knew I knew, but I'd always catch a glimpse of it. The three or so handles in his bag that would always be gone when he came back."
Hiccup let out a sigh, glancing up at Merida to see if she was still listening. Her gaze hadn't moved from him. He looked away again, hoping she hadn't noticed.
"And as I got older," Hiccup continued, "he'd try to get me into all sorts of things. Sports, mostly. But there was carpentry or sharpshooting, too. Anything he thought 'a man should be doing.' But I wasn't that kind of person. I wan't the kind of person to do those sorts of things. I wasn't like him. I guess he couldn't see that," Hiccup said as he bent his head to stare at his hands. "He never could understand me."
The brunette's words trickled off into silence, a noiseless air hanging between the two in front of that abandoned house on that abandoned street of an entire world that seemed to have been abandoned. Hiccup continued to stare at his hands, rubbing his thumbs together as his thoughts continued to churn on.
Without looking up, Hiccup heard a sigh and the old, wooden front steps creak as a weight was settled on them. He looked up to find a orange cloud of curls. Merida had sat herself on the other side of the stairs, a few steps below him so he couldn't see her face. Two not quite teens and not yet adults, sat on the front porch steps as they looked out at an empty world.
"She never listens teh me," she started, leaning forward to rest her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm. "She's always tellin' meh wha' teh do. How teh act. She does nit get it. Aye need freedom. Aye need teh be on my own sometimes. Aye need teh be how Aye am with out anyone tellin' me Aye'm wrong."
"Yeah," Hiccup agreed as he leaned sideways against his porch post, looking out over the empty, rubble filled street. "I know what that's like."
Time spiraled on, the two sitting there in each other's silence, not bothering to feel uncomfortable or unsettled by it in the least. At some point, Toothless had given a small whine and had laid down, his head resting on his front paws as he waited for his master.
"Yer dah'd," Merida said finally in the quietest voice Hiccup had ever heard from her. A slight breeze swirled around them to stir her hair, no doubt blowing a few strands past her face. "How'd he die?"
Hiccup leaned his head against the post, letting his whole weight rest against it now. Yet another unexpected question. Maybe this fiery tempered Scotts girl with too much hair than she knew what to do with was a bit more complicated than he thought. Hiccup let out a sigh and stretched his left leg out on the step below him, a numb ache having started to creep up his leg. He really shouldn't have run out as fast as he had, especially since he hadn't completely healed yet.
"He caught the virus," he finally answered, his voice tired. "Just like everyone else."
He paused then, wondering if he should continue. Wondering if this was something he wanted to remember right now. His next words were hesitant.
"Only, he—he didn't want to go like everyone else….He asked me to kill him. So he wouldn't become some mindless, murdering 'sicko.' Only I couldn't. I…For whatever reason, I couldn't bring myself to do it. He begged. He pleaded and asked over and over, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. It wasn't long before he passed into the coma. I watched as he faded away, a picture of my mom still in his hands. And I thought that was it. I thought it was over and I wouldn't have to think about killing him. But I was wrong. He came back. My dad came back and attacked me in the kitchen when I was making dinner. Toothless came barking in like mad before I even realized what had been going on. The next thing I knew, I was fighting off my own dad with a kitchen knife, trying not to get bit. And I remember…his eyes. He had these bright blue, soulless dead eyes that I thought could look right through me. And that was when it really hit me: I had to kill my dad."
Hiccup paused there, having to swallow and take a second before continuing. Merida waited patently without sparing a glance back.
"So I used the knife," Hiccup said, trying his best not to choke on his own words. "I used the knife and I, I just…left him there. In the kitchen. I looked at his body like I couldn't believe what I'd done and then I just left him. I ran upstairs to pack a few bags for me and Toothless and when I came back downstairs, my dad—he-he was on fire. He'd fallen onto the stove after I—after I, you know, and I'd left the burner on. He'd caught fire and suddenly the whole kitchen was in flames, and then, the house. Toothless and I barely made it out before the entire house came down."
Hiccup left the story there as he tried to reign in his emotions. He heard as Toothless gave a whine and sat up on his haunches, looking up at him with large, worried eyes. He absent-mindedly reached down to give the mutt a reassuring pat on the head as he tried to blink back the stinging in his own eyes.
After a few moments, Merida broke the silence.
"Sounds like a viking funeral teh me."
Hiccup couldn't help but let out a small laugh at that, a smile breaching his face. His dad would've loved to hear that. To hear that he'd gone out in a blaze of glory.
"Yeah," he said. "Guess it does.
The redhead gave one last sigh then and hefted herself to her feet, brushing off her cut-offs and the plaid shirt tied around her waist.
"Come on," she said as she turned around and held a hand out to Hiccup to help him to his feet. "Let's get home."
Rapunzel's consciousness floated to the surface as she heard a sudden noise. She blinked a few times and then planted her hands on the bed to lift her upper body with her arms, her back arching as she let out a yawn and looked around.
They were on the second floor of the fire station, in the sleeping quarters. It large room dedicated to allowing firefighters a good night's rest with the beds all lined up in a row and their headboards against a wall.
As Rapunzel looked around, she saw that Jack was awake, sitting up in his bed next to hers and breathing heavily. Though their wasn't much light to see by, Rapunzel could see his face shining with sweat. Before she could say anything, Jack suddenly stood up. Rapunzel watched as he marched out of the room towards the stairs without giving any sign that he'd noticed her.
"He's alright, sheila. Don't worry about him."
Rapunzel turned to find Bunny in the bed on her other side, bright green eyes awake and glinting in the darkness.
"Boy's a pain in the ass, but it's nothing he can't handle."
"What's wrong with him?" Rapunzel asked, casting a concerned look at the door Jack had just disappeared through.
"It's just night terrors. We all get them, love. You will too… eventually."
Rapunzel glanced at Bunny as he rolled over to get back to sleep. She held back the urge to jump out of bed and follow Jack. If Bunny said he was fine, then he was fine. Reluctantly, Rapunzel snuggled back under her covers, only this time turned on her side so she could continue to stare at the door of the room. She lay there, waiting for Jack to come back so that she'd know he was alright.
—
He was high. Very high. He was at the top of some pillar. He was so high up, he could see a floor of clouds collected below him. When he tried to see the ground below, all he could make out was a hazy color, all the details washed away by distance.
"Jack!"
He spun around, a voice coming at him from nowhere and everywhere all at once. A gust of wind whirled around him, clawing at his hair and clothes, trying to pull him over the edge.
"Jack!"
Jack turned around again, looking desperately for the source of the voice calling out to him. His heart thudded in his throat as adrenaline pumped through his veins. He had to find that voice. He didn't know why. But it needed him. Whoever they were, he had to save them.
Another gust of wind billowed past him, forcing him to crouch down and grip at the edges of his platform to keep from being swept off it. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth against the pull of the wind. The top of the pillar wasn't very big. It was maybe two feet wide, at most. He didn't have a whole lot of room for error.
"Jack, I'm scared."
Jack's eyes snapped open. He whipped his head around from side to side as he continued to hold onto his ledge. His eyes went wild, straining to see anything that might tell him where the voice was coming from. All he found was the sky stretching endlessly on in front of him.
"Where are you!" he screamed as tears streamed down his face.
He had to find them. He had to. He had to help them. Save them. Jack could feel as panic seeped into him, his mind going mad. His breaths were fast. He couldn't think straight. He didn't know what to do. He had to find that voice. He had to save them. He had to.
The wind picked up speed, twirling around him in a hurricane, whipping his hair into his eyes and catching his overly large brown coat like a sail.
"Jack! Help me!"
Jacks squeezed his eyes tight as he tried to hang on to his ledge. The wind continued to pull at him, the tips of his fingers being the only thing to keep him from flying off the pillar.
"Jack! Save me!"
Jack felt like his chest was tearing in two. His head hurt and tears continued to stream down his face. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do. He had to save that voice but he didn't know how. He felt so helpless. Panic sung in his veins as the wind continued to tear and grab at him. His fingernails gripped at the edge of the pillar.
"Jack!"
Jack's eyes snapped open and widened in horror as he felt his fingers slip off the edge of his platform. He felt as the wind picked him up and sent him flying off the pillar, leaving him to free fall as he reached towards the sky, still searching for the source of that voice.
No, he thought. No, I couldn't save them.
A scream ripped from his throat as he fell to his death.
"EMMA!"
—
Jack sat bolt upright as a cold sweat soaked through his clothes, his breaths ragged and uncontrolled. His heart was racing, the panic from the dream still evident in the tightness of his chest.
Unable to take it anymore, Jack threw off his covers and climbed out of bed. He stumbled through the dark towards the door and made his way downstairs. His mind was racing as he tried not to think about his dream. The panic it gave him. The fear. He had to stop it. Stop thinking about Emma and that image of her falling from that skyscraper over and over and over playing on repeat in his head like some kind of fucked up video. Jack squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, trying the scatter the images flashing across his mind. He had to get ahold of himself. He had to forget about it. It had already happened. He'd failed to protect his sister and now she was dead. Nothing he could do now could change that. So he had to stop thinking about it. Had to forget about it. It hurt too much.
Jack was thankful they'd left the generator running, so he could have some light as he made his way towards the kitchen. In twenty minutes, he was sitting at the kitchen table, a cup if instant coffee cupped in his hands, the steam floating in front of his face. It was hot. It burned his palms, but Jack still held onto the coffee cup. The pain was good. It helped distract from his thoughts.
Jack let out a sigh and leaned over his mug, letting the steam float into his face. He couldn't go back to sleep now. Not with knowing that dream was waiting for him. It'd been nearly four months and the dreams still hadn't stopped. There would be periods where they would seem to have gone away. A reprieve from the nightmares and the terrors. But they always came back. Always. The dreams weren't always the same, either. Sometimes, he was back on those cross beams of a building with Emma, looking at her, waiting for her to jump. Waiting for her to fall, because she always fell. In every dream. It was either him or her. But every time, someone fell. And every time, Jack couldn't save her.
After that day on the skyscraper, Jack had been in a state of shock. He was alone. Completely and utterly alone. The only thing he'd cared about was gone, and now he was alone. He'd wandered around afterwards, with no real purpose or plan. What was the point, anyways? He had nothing to live for. Not any more.
His only goal had been to survive. He'd eat when he could and slept when it was possible. He'd found a good, solid, steal staff that he'd used to fight off the zombies (calling them sickies had only reminded him of Emma) and bash their skulls in. And he kept moving. He kept moving forward, trying to put as much distance between him and that construction cite, the image of blood splattered across the sidewalk still fresh in his mind.
That was how he'd ended up in Kentucky, of all places. Rapunzel had asked about that, hadn't she? About how he'd ended up there? It was because he hadn't been paying attention. After he'd lost Emma, his only goal was to keep moving forward, and he hadn't much cared where. And so he'd wandered his way a few hundred miles in the wrong direction.
That was when Flynn and Bunny had found him. They had snapped him out of his daze and told him where he was. They had dragged him along with them, told him their names, where they were going, how Flynn had found Bunny in the first place. Jack went along, partly because he really had nowhere better to go, mostly because he didn't think he could handle being alone anymore.
So, he'd changed his last name, giving them something out of a fairytale he used to read as a kid. He'd plastered a smile on his face and never mentioned Emma, never told them that he'd had a sister. He kept it swept under the rug, locked inside, forcing his playful personality to show through and pretending to be a happy to at least help numb the pain. He didn't want them to know. He didn't want to have anything that could make him remember. It was better that way.
Jack looked up as he heard the sound of the station door opening and closing. Before he'd had time to panic or prepare himself for a fight with the intruder, a large figure filled the entryway of the kitchen. They froze when they saw Jack seated at the table, a now cold cup of coffee in his hands.
"Jack?"
It was then that Jack realized that the intruder wasn't an intruder at all.
"Flynn?"
The tall brunette stepped forward into the light of the kitchen, the look of surprise still on his face. He came up to the side of the table across from Jack, swinging two duffle bags off his shoulder to land on the table with a thud as he did so.
"What're you doing up?" he asked, situating his duffle bags side-by side on the kitchen table.
"I could ask you the same question," Jack muttered, still surprised by the sudden apparition. "Where've you been?"
Jack could see as a small smile flitted to Flynn's face, barely noticeable as he looked down at the bags he was still fiddling with. He looked…proud.
"Just picking up supplies. Good haul, if I do say so myself."
Jack looked at the bag Flynn still had his hands on. He glanced up at the taller man, that self-satisfied smile still beaming on his face as he stood on the other side of the table. Something was off. What was Flynn doing going for a supply run on his own at five in the morning?
"Yeah?" he asked. "What kind of supplies?"
"Uh, you know, just some basics," Flynn said as he ran a hand through his hair and looked up, his gaze landing everywhere but Jack.
"Where'd you get them?"
"Around," Flynn said with a shrug as he stared at the ceiling.
Yup, something was definitely wrong. With one more concerned glance, Jack shot to his feet and grabbed one of the duffle bags. Flynn reacted just as fast, his hand seizing hold of the duffle, stopping it from sliding across the table to Jack.
"Flynn, what's in here?" Jack asked, his tone uncharacteristically dark.
"I already said: supplies."
"What kind of supplies?"
"I told you. Just some—"
"If they're really 'just some basics,' then let me see them."
Flynn finally looked at Jack, his mouth opening and closing as Jack continued to stare at him with a cold look. After a moment longer of this Mexican standoff, Flynn let out a sigh and let go of the bag. Still glaring at Flynn, Jack yanked the bag towards him. He ripped open the zipper, looked down, and froze. The bag was stuffed full to bursting. And it was, by no means, a small bag at that. Jack stared at the contents.
Inside were more than a dozen army ration packs, containing enough protein and nutrients to feed— well, an army. After the outbreak, ration packs were hard to come by, especially with everyone realizing how valuable they could be. The rules were to get them if you could and only use them when you needed. Seeing so many at once was a hardly imaginable sight. But that wasn't what surprised Jack. Oh, no. What had surprised him was the fourteen or so rifles and semi-automatics stuffed into the bag among the meal packs. All military grade.
"Flynn," Jack asked, his tone cautious as he continued to look at the contents of the duffle, not sure that he wanted to know the answer of what he was about to ask. "Where did you get all of this?"
It was storming. Raging, more like. Rain pounded at the house, creating a white-noised din. The sky was dark, nearly pitch black as clouds blocked out all outside light, leaving only a few scattered candles to light the way inside, their jumping flames casting a eerie atmosphere. The wind whistled and howled outside, rattling the windows and doors as it ripped away side panelling and roofing from the house. Bright flashes of lightning illuminated the sky outside, soon followed by rolling rumbles loud enough to rattle Hiccup's teeth.
The whole house shook as five of the DunBrochs sat huddled around the lit fireplace once more. A beautiful song rang throughout the house. Above the sound of the storm and the wind and the rain. Above the feeling of the slight fear and nervousness one might normally find in the middle of a raging tempest. Above it all was an ancient language that rang out with such a clarity, it seemed to make everything else melt away.
A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth
Mise ri d' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhàn
A mother sat in front of the fireplace, a gentle and willowy figure bent over the three, small children collected in her lap, all curled up in her protection as the storm raged on outside. A father sat behind her, large and powerful, a symbol of protection with his arm around his noble maiden fair. Her song continued to sing through the air, the clear and beautiful notes of it burrowing beep to the soul as it washed away the torment that was the outside world.
Ar rìbhinn òg, fàs a's faic
Do thìr, dìleas féin
"She used teh sing tha' teh me when Aye was wee."
Hiccup turned around to find that Merida had materialized behind him, the firelight flashing in her eyes as she looked out at her family. Hiccup turned back around, leaning against the wall of the hallway once more as he watched the family and listened to the melody that seemed to carry the very highlands with it.
"It's beautiful," he said quietly.
"Ay," came the equally quiet response.
A ghrian a's a ghealach, stiùir sinn
Gu uair ar cliù 's ar glòir
"Your mother has a wonderful voice," Hiccup said, breaking the silence between the two adolescents as they continued to watch the family huddled around the fire. He glanced at the redhead.
"I bet you do, too."
Merida scoffed.
"As if Aye'm a Disney princess. Aye don't sing. Besides," she said as she turned away from the fire and its warmth. "It's not mai song teh sing."
Hiccup watched as she walked back down the hallway and into the darkness on her own, the storm raging ever harder outside.
Naoidhean bhig, ar rìbhinn òg
Maighdean uasal bhàn
"Hey, Blondie."
"Hmmmm?" Rapunzel asked, feeling consciousness at the edges of her sleep.
"Is she up yet?"
"No, I'm trying. Hey."
Rapunzel felt a hand on her shoulder as voices filtered through her sleep into her head.
"Come on, Blondie, wake up."
Rapunzel felt as the hand shook her gently. She rolled over, her dreams scattering as she tried to pull herself out of her sleepy stupor. She blinked a few times, looking up as she waited for the fog of having just woken up to clear. She must've fallen asleep while waiting for Jack to come back. A face came into focus in front of her, bright hazel eyes looking earnestly at her, concern etched into a slightly scruffy face.
"Hmmm. Flynn?"
"Hey, she awake yet?"
A head of ruffled, chocolate brown hair suddenly came into focus behind Flynn. It was Jack, a worried look stretching his features, his normal smile nowhere in sight.
Rapuzel blinked a few times as she looked at them and was suddenly wide-awake. There was something off. Something very, very wrong. It was in Jack and Flynn's voices, in the way they looked at her and the way they fidgeted as if they were nervous about something. She glanced over to find that Bunny wasn't in the bed next to hers anymore. She suddenly heard the roar of an engine coming to life downstairs.
"Come on, Blondie," Flynn ordered, grabbing her hand and hauling her to her feet. "We have to get going."
Flynn pulled her out of the room and down the stairs by her hand, Jack quick to follow behind them. Rapunzel could feel her heart pounding a mile a minute, even though she'd only just woken. What was going on? Why was everyone so worried? She had no clue what was happening, but the way the boys were acting was enough to send her into a panic.
"Going?" she asked as they burst out of the front doors of the station to find the truck pulled out of the garage and sitting out front, its engine humming. "Going where?"
"Anywhere but here!" Jack called as Flynn hauled her into the already running truck, jumping in after her as Jack climbed into the front seat, Bunny riding in the driver's side. Before the doors had even closed all the way, Bunny floored it, making the engine scream as they pealed out of the asphalt in front of the station. Rapunzel turned to look out the back window as the fire station shrank away in the distance, everything she'd brought with her left behind in her bag. She hadn't even had a chance to grab her shoes. She glanced at Jack in the front seat. He was barefoot, too. Whatever was going on, none of them had had any chance to prepare for it.
"Guys, what's going on? What's happening?" Rapunzel asked, leaning forward with both hands on either of the two front seats as she tried to balance herself in the midst of Bunny's erratic driving. He was swerving and bumping over debris and potholes as if he were aiming for them as he floored the accelerator. Rapunzel was finding it difficult to keep on her feet.
"Well," Jack started, bracing himself on the passenger door as Bunny took a sharp turn to avoid hitting a mini van parked out on the road. "It seems Flynn here thought it would be a fantastic idea to steal supplies from a gang of murderous thieves!"
There was a loud bump! and clunk! as all four of them lifted into the air, the car momentarily air born as they ran over a stray log that had been left in the road. The truck landed heavily, toppling Rapunzel over as Flynn fell into the passenger seat in front of him. Jack nearly went through the front windshield.
"What?" Rapunzel asked as she clambered back to her feet in the back of the truck.
"And now, apparently, they're out to get their stuff back at any cost. Including," Jack spun around in his seat to glare at Flynn in the seat behind him, "killing each and every one of us."
"Hey," Flynn started in, leaning forward from the back. "I was getting the supplies I thought we needed!"
"By jacking them from a gang!" Jack yelled back. "What do we even need that many guns for!?"
"For protection!"
"Anything loud enough to attract the zeds like that is useless!"
"Oi, oi, oi!"
Bunny's arm suddenly shot out, connecting with Jack's cheek first, then swinging back to knock Flynn in the face, forcing him to sink back into the back seat, holding his nose with a groan.
"Pull ya heads in, ya bloody show ponies!" Bunny hollered as he gripped the steering wheel and spun it to avoid running them off the road. "I can't bloody drive with ya yellin' like that! What matters is that we get as far away from those bushrangers as possible, so shut you're holes!"
There was a sudden roar, and Rapunzel spun back around to find another car materialize around the corner, its engine a din of noise as it raced towards them, headlights flashing like a demon come to swallow them whole.
Hiccup jolted awake, consciousness flooding his senses before he even opened his eyes. He sat up in bed, blinking through the darkness as he felt Toothless stir awake besides him, a whine or two reaching his ears. Hiccup's hand automatically went to his friend's head, scratching gently between the ears as he sat stock still, senses on alert. Something had woken him up. Whatever it was, it had woken him before it had woken Toothless, so he was doubtful that whatever it was was dangerous. But still, there had been something. Something out of the ordinary that had ripped Hiccup out of his sleep.
So, very carefully, the brunette swung his legs over the side of the mattress and grabbed his prosthetic that was propped up against the wall next to his bed. Working as quietly as he could, Hiccup strapped on his leg and got to his feet. It'd been just over a week and a half since the major fall out between Merida and her mother. Since then, not only had Hiccup's wounds all but disappeared, but he and the Scotts girl had been on better terms. Not great, but they could at least be in the same room together without Hiccup feeling death glares boring into the back of his skull. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the mother/daughter duo. The fights and arguments continued with no sign of letting up anytime soon. Hiccup couldn't help but wonder if they had any chance what-so-ever of making amends and getting along.
Creeping as quietly as possible, the adolescent made his way to his door as he heard the sound of Toothless slinking out of bed to follow him, paws padding softly on carpet. Hiccup slowly pushed open his door, the muffled sounds of scuffling and cursing reaching his ears as he cast his eyes about, looking for the source of the noises. It was only when he'd opened the door a bit wider and stuck his head out a bit further that he could see what was happening.
It was Merida. She was awake. But that was no surprise, she was usually on the night watch at around this time. What was surprising was that she was in the house, on the living room couch, mussing around with the contents of a backpack before swinging it onto her shoulders, followed quickly by the strap of a quiver and the string of her bow. In the next two seconds, she was on her feet and out the door, closing it quietly behind her without even noticing Hiccup.
Hiccup stood there in a daze. He hadn't really just seen that, had he? It was one thing to storm out of the house in a rage, but another thing completely to pack up and leave your family in the middle of the night. He couldn't believe that Merida, of all people, would just abandon her kin like that. Or maybe she didn't? Maybe Hiccup was missing something completely. Maybe this whole situation had nothing to do with abandonment at all. But if that were the case, what had just happened? Why had Merida left? Where was she going?
Hiccup was pulled from his musings as he heard a whine from around his knee area as Toothless tried to nose his snout further between the small gap between Hiccup's legs and the door jam. Hiccup looked down and let a small smile flit to his face.
"Yeah, Bud, alright, alright," he whispered, pushing the mutt away from the door with his foot.
As his faithful companion waited rather impatiently, Hiccup quickly got dressed and shoved a few essentials into a bag that he then swung onto his shoulders. Gripping a sword lent to him by Fergus tight in one hand and a flashlight in another, Hiccup then quietly led Toothless out of the house and through the front door, following the feisty redhead into the night.
A/N: Ayyyyyyyy. It's a long one. Also, mostly character developement.