Thank you for reading! Sorry about the unscheduled posting gap (summer!) - we should be good for a while now.
Major sank down in the metal chair and picked up the communicating phone, concern flooding him. Liv was pale, even for her. This extended incarceration with no brains wasn't good for her. But she made a game attempt to smile at him.
"Oh, baby," he said softly through the phone, wanting to break the glass and pick her up and carry her away from here. Wanting, strange as it sounded, to get her some fresh brains to eat so she wouldn't look so sick and exhausted. "We need to get you out of there."
"Twelve more hours," she breathed. "I can make it."
Big words, but he could practically see her vibrating with the effort of holding back her hunger. Damn boat party, he thought, for at least the millionth time.
"I worry about you," he told her.
"Well, I'm likely unemployed now, so … Silver lining—my inner stalker has left the building. You can invite some girls over tonight. Play some Twister. See if I care."
Tender as the subject still was—he hadn't really been able to get past the breach of trust, even reminding himself how little control she had—he couldn't help feeling for her, trying so hard to joke and be normal when it was clear she was hanging on to her patience, and her sanity … and possibly her humanity, by a thread.
"These girls I'm inviting over? I'm warning you, they're basically adult film stars." She gave him a faint smile, so he kept going. "And not even the under-contract ones; I'm talking 'anything goes' kind." Her smile widened a little, some warmth coming back to her eyes, and he smiled back at her. "I'll be here when they let you out."
There was a pause, and he could see her worrying if she could make it that long, which scared the daylights out of him, much as he tried to hide it. "I can't wait," she said softly, meaning every word.
"Me, neither. Love you, Liv."
"Me, too."
It was hard to hang up the phone, and harder still to get up and watch her being led from the room, seeing the way her body tensed as the guard pushed her shoulder.
Major left the jail and went straight home, standing between Ravi and the screen so he couldn't see the zombies he was shooting.
"Major."
"Ravi. What the hell?"
"Well, I just died, so I guess I'm about to find out." Ravi tossed the controller on the couch. "Something I can do for you?"
"You can do something! Anything!"
"Ah. You've just been to see Liv."
"She's hanging on by a thread, man. I don't—what if she can't make it through the night?"
Ravi got up off the couch, gripping Major's shoulders tightly. "She can. She's very strong."
"You didn't see her tonight. She was so tired …" Major shook his head. "I'm scared."
"I know. I have a special drink in the fridge, I'll take it to her when she's released first thing in the morning. She can make it."
"And if she can't? What happens when a zombie doesn't eat for too long, Ravi?" Something told him his roommate knew, and the way Ravi winced at the question confirmed it. "It's bad, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is, but that's not going to happen to Liv. We're not going to let it."
"She should—maybe she shouldn't be putting herself in these situations. She's only in jail because she was trying to get evidence. If she stopped working with Clive—"
"Major." There was alarm in Ravi's voice. "You can't do that to her."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, this is how she lives with it. After everything she lost, everything she can't be, at least she can do this, she can bring people to justice. You think she wouldn't rather have a scalpel in her hand? I've watched her work on autopsies—she loves it. She'd love to be cutting living flesh, saving people, but we both know she can't take that risk. So this is the next best thing. You know that as well as I do."
"I'm just—she keeps putting herself in harm's way. Someday …"
Ravi sighed and nodded. "I know. But she's got special powers now; she's stronger and faster than most people, and she can't be killed without a direct shot to the head, so she's safer than most people in her position would be. It just so happens that being incarcerated is worse for her than it would be for anyone else, and that doesn't happen that often."
"What if she scratches someone? She's never made someone else a zombie—I mean …" He trailed off, remembering all too vividly what that terrible gnawing hunger for brains had felt like. Liv must be feeling that times a thousand right now. It was a wonder she was still standing, much less holding on to her sanity.
"She won't. You have to trust her, Major. We both do. The way she trusts us."
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess so."
Ravi picked up the controller, holding it out to Major. "Care to take your mind off it for a while?"
"Only if we pick a different game." He couldn't handle zombie hunting, even virtually, right now. "Dance Dance Revolution?"
"You've seen my sweet moves. If you're sure you want to go up against them, I'll have no qualms about wiping the floor with you."
"Oh, you're on, Chakrabarti."