my name is death. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tehplagues) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sixpercent2015-12-23 01:23 pm
tehplagues) wrote in sixpercent2015-12-23 01:23 pm
i. my name is death and the end is near.
what has been left after the plagues is a constellation of ghost towns.
the lone survivors walk the streets of an emptied world, one that alternates swiftly between discomfortingly eerie silence and chaotic brutality. it doesn't seem to understand moderation, the pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other in the space of a heartbeat. there are times when it feels like you are the only person left in the ruins - like you will be driven mad by the nightmares and the grievous silence that follows. and there are other times. times when you know you are not alone in the darkness, not with the rift opening up one last time to pour into the cracks every monster it has in its arsenal; you must protect yourself.
careful where you step. you might stumble on rotting bodies across desolate lawns. you might stumble on rioters fueled by flagg's nightmares until they committed to his deadly causes - believing you to be the enemy. if you're lucky, you'll cross paths with those who, like you, are trying to find a place to lay their weary heads. if you're not, pray to what gods you believe in that someone hears you.
prayer may be all you have left.
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he doesn't know who is alive or who isn't of his family except most of them are dead like everybody else, and somehow jake's still here, walking through the many bodies lining the streets. there's a gun in his hand, because you can't- you can't move without one in this world without one anymore. you'll be killed by monsters. he hides from the rioters as he doesn't want to put a bullet through scared, desperate people, but-
he sees the young woman in the middle of the street over the crumpled body behind her, and ain't that just familiar as hell? it is. it strikes him through the chord in that real unshakable way, right down to his bones, right into his heart. she could put a bullet in him right now or just tear him to pieces if he got too close. he doesn't know who the other woman is behind her, but she ain't ready to leave her yet.
jake stops a few feet away from her, lifting up his hands as if to say he isn't gonna shoot or come closer than she wants him to.]
...hey there.
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she's been trapped inside of her own head for hours, if only to ward off that voice - the one that threatens to leak into her thoughts and dreams when she least suspects it. she doesn't like admitting it, but she's terrified of him. not because of what he tempts her with, but because the things he says sometimes ring true. she was trying to get gina to go to boulder with her, but gina was refusing. she'd insisted on going to las vegas instead, that that's where they both belong, and now that doesn't matter.
she has been trained to assess when someone is a threat, and she can tell this person is doing his best to not appear as one. but she is not working with logic. ]
I'm not leaving her. [ he isn't the first person to stumble on them. ]
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his voice is soft when he speaks.]
I know you're not. I ain't here to try and force you. [he plays with the straps of his backpack, looking through it quietly for a time before he speaks again]
What's her name?
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her gaze drifts to his backpack, swallowing past the tightness in her throat so she can answer. ]
Gina.
[ she blinks back tears. ] Her name's Georgina but she hates that, so everyone - I - call her Gina.
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[jake asks as he pulls the water bottle out from his backpack and then closes it back up, holding it in his hand for a second before he looks across at her. he can see the way some of that tension has drained from her shoulders though her hands remain tight on the rifle.
not like he can blame her. world's gone to hell. never know when someone will attack you, and she's clearly been through hell and back, clinging hold of what she can. it tears him apart to see her like this, and they've only just met but it's true.]
Thankfully, I got a real boring name. Jake.
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she doesn't think it's boring. he has a kind face, is the first thing she notices. kindness was a currency not many were willing to pay in the world she and gina lived in. they were thieves from the time they understood what it meant to take what was not yours to take. lena knows how to survive. she will survive this, too.
but it hurts all the same. ]
I'm Leonora. Never liked it much, either. [ she and gina have that in common. ] They call me Lena.
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feels like a little victory to pull a smile out of her in the middle of this destroyed place with all the grief and the hell she's been through recently. he still has the water bottle in his hand as he takes in a breath. his gaze lifts up to meet her own.]
You look like a Lena. [it's said with a genuine warmth to it in a cracked sounding voice.] Look I ain't the type to poke my nose into somebody else's business, but... you look thirsty and I got an unopened bottle of water here. [he lifts it up for her to see.]
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they can go a long time without eating before it really starts to be a problem. hydration, however -
it's possibly strange, that she is so wary in response to an act of kindness, but it isn't terribly familiar to her. her thirst wins out, however, as she takes the water bottle from his hands. at first she constrains herself to sips, but eventually she's gulping it down artlessly.
wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she looks over at him again. ] Why are you being so nice? You don't even know me.
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jake shakes his head slightly with a tiny smile, ducking it and looking down at his own two hands]
Don't have to. I know what it's like to guard someone you love so fiercely you end up hurting yourself. I know what it's like to lose and to grieve... and to not be ready to do either of those things cause like hell are they gone.
[his hand tightens at the strap of his backpack before he looks over at her, grateful she does gulp down that water. she clearly needs it]
We've gotta stick together out here.
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[ it's arguable whether that's true, but it's the first thing that shoots out of her mouth, almost defensively. she's been trained to hide vulnerabilities, because those are used against you. and he may seem like a nice man, but in her experience, there's no such animal. her eyes prick with stupid tears. he mentions grief and that means loss.
and she knows gina is dead.
her grip on the rifle tightens, and she swallows sharply through the pain, studying him quietly now that her hackles are no longer rising. ] Are you on your own?
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[jake doesn't call her on the truth either way. he can tell it's a defensive thing, and it's not like he can tell for certain from here if she's hurt or not. it's just the way she drank that water- he doubts she's had anything to eat in all that time either
and he's worried about a monster coming along.
she's got her rifle. she can handle herself, but- his gaze meets her own before he nods] Yeah. Haven't found another soul for miles.
Everyone I was with is gone.