With A Whimper (Part 23)
Dec. 28th, 2006 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missmara13Title: With A Whimper (Part Twenty Three)
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, death, language, blood. Did I mention violence and death? And Blood? lol
Summary: Most of the world is either dead or Crazy, but in California a group of survivors tries to find a way to avoid both fates.
Note: It's short, but it seemed like a good place to end it.
PART TWENTY THREE
Ryan and Summer were sitting on the end of the dock, watching happily as dozens of people moved around the grounds of the compound, it's twelve foot high fence keeping out any attackers. There are children running around, and on the back porch of the lodge Ryan could see Kirsten playing with her daughter, a little girl with the same blonde hair as her mother but with a smile just like her father's, and as he watched Kirsten let the little girl run to join the other children. It had taken a long time to get to a place where it was safe to have the kids running loose in the grass within the fence, but they were here.
They were safe.
No one could get them.
And right about then was when the hand reached out of the water and grabbed Summer's ankle, yanking her off the dock and down into the suddenly murky water. He screamed her name, wanting to dive in after her but finding his body frozen in place as the sky turned dark and all noise ceased. He whipped his head around and saw that everyone was gone, the cabins ringing the lake in various states of destruction, some of them nothing but burnt out shells. When he turned back to the water, a pair of arms reached up and Summer pulled herself up out of the water, blood pouring down her chin, and her eyes bloodshot and oozing blood from the corners.
"Congratulations, Ryan," she said. "You killed us all."
Ryan let out a ragged gasp as he sat straight up in bed. After a moment to re-orient himself and realize he was in he and Summer's room in the lodge, he whipped his head around to look at the girl laying beside him, still peaceful asleep despite his movements. He slowly reached out and smoothed Summer's hair off her face, relief washing over him when he saw there wasn't a mark on her, no bleed seeping from her eyes and gushing down her chin. After watching her for a moment longer, he slowly climbed out of bed, foregoing the crutches because of the noise they made, and limped to the door.
He slid out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him, and limped towards Kirsten's room, wanting to check on her next. As he neared the door, it opened and Caleb stepped out. "Is she okay?" Ryan asked softly.
"She's fine, fast asleep," Caleb replied. "Is everything alright?"
"I just wanted to check, make rounds..."
"On that leg?" Caleb questioned, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
"You try having a nightmare where everyone's dead and your told it's your fault and see if you wanna go back to sleep," Ryan replied darkly as he continued towards the balcony that overlooked the lake.
"No one can get in here without us knowing," Caleb said as he followed the teenager. "All the shutters are closed, and Alex is on watch at the front..."
"No one's in back," Ryan said as they stepped outside and he leaned against the railing to peer through the darkness. "Someone or something could come through the woods."
"What do you think we should do more long term?" Caleb asked, sitting down and gesturing for Ryan to do the same. "How do we stay safe?"
Ryan sighed and propped his bad leg up on a third chair. "Ideally, we'd put a big fence around the whole area, use the cabins as our entrances and exits. But there's no way we can do that when there's so few of us who can physically do the work."
"We could do it bit by bit, get the section between here and the next cabin over done, then between there and the next one, and so on. Do it in the sections."
"It's still a lot of work," Ryan said. "And we'd need to fortify each and every cabin as we went around, so they would be safe..."
"We could turn each one into an additional store house, keep extra supplies there."
"We've gotta get enough supplies to justify that, first," Ryan replied.
Caleb nodded. "About your brother."
"What about him?" Ryan asked, frowning.
"What sort of person is he?"
Ryan shrugged. "He's.. he's Trey. He's a good guy, overall. A good brother... he practically raised me while our mom was drunk or high."
"Do you think Lindsay's safe with him?" Caleb asked bluntly.
"Excuse me?" Ryan asked.
"She's younger than him, and..."
"In case you haven't noticed, there's not a lot of guys to chose from," Ryan said. "And Trey... Trey was out to protect Lindsay from Volchak. He's not gonna do anything to hurt her." He paused and eyed Caleb carefully. "Why do you care?"
Caleb waved away the question and changed the subject. "What else do you think we should do to stay safe?"
Ryan sighed. "I'm gonna talk to Lindsay tomorrow about figuring out a way to get an antenna on the roof, and the list we sent out with the team included radio equipment. I want to try and get ahold of some other people, maybe there's still some remenants of the military, or the police, someone who might know more about this shit than we do. Someone who might have more information."
"That sounds like a good idea," Caleb said, nodding slowly.
"I have had a few," Ryan replied, raising an eyebrow.
"The impression I've gotten is you were the driving force behind everyone surviving this long," Caleb replied. "Kaitlin told me what you did to the woman who kill Neil Roberts..."
"She was going after Kaitlin and Jimmy, I didn't have a choice," Ryan said, a little defensively.
"I'm not saying you did," Caleb replied quickly. "It's... somewhat admirable that you did what you had to do without hesitating."
"I'd already lost 5 people, and Summer had just lost her father," Ryan said, staring back out into the night. "I didn't want anyone else to die."
"Well, you've done a good job."
"Are you drunk?" Ryan asked, turning to look at Caleb incredulously.
"Why would you ask that?" Caleb replied, frowning.
"Because you're not acting like I'm some delinquent, you're complimenting me, you're... you're praising me."
"I'm most certainly not drunk," Caleb said firmly. "I'm just seeing a glimmer of why Kiki cares about you."
Ryan kept staring for a moment then looked away again. "Yeah, well, you're not so bad yourself," he finally said with a slight smile.
To Be Continued...
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, death, language, blood. Did I mention violence and death? And Blood? lol
Summary: Most of the world is either dead or Crazy, but in California a group of survivors tries to find a way to avoid both fates.
Note: It's short, but it seemed like a good place to end it.
PART TWENTY THREE
Ryan and Summer were sitting on the end of the dock, watching happily as dozens of people moved around the grounds of the compound, it's twelve foot high fence keeping out any attackers. There are children running around, and on the back porch of the lodge Ryan could see Kirsten playing with her daughter, a little girl with the same blonde hair as her mother but with a smile just like her father's, and as he watched Kirsten let the little girl run to join the other children. It had taken a long time to get to a place where it was safe to have the kids running loose in the grass within the fence, but they were here.
They were safe.
No one could get them.
And right about then was when the hand reached out of the water and grabbed Summer's ankle, yanking her off the dock and down into the suddenly murky water. He screamed her name, wanting to dive in after her but finding his body frozen in place as the sky turned dark and all noise ceased. He whipped his head around and saw that everyone was gone, the cabins ringing the lake in various states of destruction, some of them nothing but burnt out shells. When he turned back to the water, a pair of arms reached up and Summer pulled herself up out of the water, blood pouring down her chin, and her eyes bloodshot and oozing blood from the corners.
"Congratulations, Ryan," she said. "You killed us all."
Ryan let out a ragged gasp as he sat straight up in bed. After a moment to re-orient himself and realize he was in he and Summer's room in the lodge, he whipped his head around to look at the girl laying beside him, still peaceful asleep despite his movements. He slowly reached out and smoothed Summer's hair off her face, relief washing over him when he saw there wasn't a mark on her, no bleed seeping from her eyes and gushing down her chin. After watching her for a moment longer, he slowly climbed out of bed, foregoing the crutches because of the noise they made, and limped to the door.
He slid out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him, and limped towards Kirsten's room, wanting to check on her next. As he neared the door, it opened and Caleb stepped out. "Is she okay?" Ryan asked softly.
"She's fine, fast asleep," Caleb replied. "Is everything alright?"
"I just wanted to check, make rounds..."
"On that leg?" Caleb questioned, a hint of disapproval in his voice.
"You try having a nightmare where everyone's dead and your told it's your fault and see if you wanna go back to sleep," Ryan replied darkly as he continued towards the balcony that overlooked the lake.
"No one can get in here without us knowing," Caleb said as he followed the teenager. "All the shutters are closed, and Alex is on watch at the front..."
"No one's in back," Ryan said as they stepped outside and he leaned against the railing to peer through the darkness. "Someone or something could come through the woods."
"What do you think we should do more long term?" Caleb asked, sitting down and gesturing for Ryan to do the same. "How do we stay safe?"
Ryan sighed and propped his bad leg up on a third chair. "Ideally, we'd put a big fence around the whole area, use the cabins as our entrances and exits. But there's no way we can do that when there's so few of us who can physically do the work."
"We could do it bit by bit, get the section between here and the next cabin over done, then between there and the next one, and so on. Do it in the sections."
"It's still a lot of work," Ryan said. "And we'd need to fortify each and every cabin as we went around, so they would be safe..."
"We could turn each one into an additional store house, keep extra supplies there."
"We've gotta get enough supplies to justify that, first," Ryan replied.
Caleb nodded. "About your brother."
"What about him?" Ryan asked, frowning.
"What sort of person is he?"
Ryan shrugged. "He's.. he's Trey. He's a good guy, overall. A good brother... he practically raised me while our mom was drunk or high."
"Do you think Lindsay's safe with him?" Caleb asked bluntly.
"Excuse me?" Ryan asked.
"She's younger than him, and..."
"In case you haven't noticed, there's not a lot of guys to chose from," Ryan said. "And Trey... Trey was out to protect Lindsay from Volchak. He's not gonna do anything to hurt her." He paused and eyed Caleb carefully. "Why do you care?"
Caleb waved away the question and changed the subject. "What else do you think we should do to stay safe?"
Ryan sighed. "I'm gonna talk to Lindsay tomorrow about figuring out a way to get an antenna on the roof, and the list we sent out with the team included radio equipment. I want to try and get ahold of some other people, maybe there's still some remenants of the military, or the police, someone who might know more about this shit than we do. Someone who might have more information."
"That sounds like a good idea," Caleb said, nodding slowly.
"I have had a few," Ryan replied, raising an eyebrow.
"The impression I've gotten is you were the driving force behind everyone surviving this long," Caleb replied. "Kaitlin told me what you did to the woman who kill Neil Roberts..."
"She was going after Kaitlin and Jimmy, I didn't have a choice," Ryan said, a little defensively.
"I'm not saying you did," Caleb replied quickly. "It's... somewhat admirable that you did what you had to do without hesitating."
"I'd already lost 5 people, and Summer had just lost her father," Ryan said, staring back out into the night. "I didn't want anyone else to die."
"Well, you've done a good job."
"Are you drunk?" Ryan asked, turning to look at Caleb incredulously.
"Why would you ask that?" Caleb replied, frowning.
"Because you're not acting like I'm some delinquent, you're complimenting me, you're... you're praising me."
"I'm most certainly not drunk," Caleb said firmly. "I'm just seeing a glimmer of why Kiki cares about you."
Ryan kept staring for a moment then looked away again. "Yeah, well, you're not so bad yourself," he finally said with a slight smile.
To Be Continued...
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