moonfaerie

The Dead and the Dying

That's actually a pretty cool feature though I usually write my posts in a word doc. I like playing around with pretty fonts when I type.

The Dead and the Dying

It was hard to focus on whatever was happening around her with the overwhelming splitting headache she felt at first. Feeling the pressure of something pressing down on top of her, she groaned as she tried to fight through the cloudy haze fogging her mind to shove the weight away. There was resistance as she could barely make out a voice. The weight suddenly lifting, Elizabeth caressed her throbbing head with one hand while struggling to sit up. She could feel the blood dried on the side of her face. Vision slowly starting to focus, she became more aware of her surroundings almost wishing that she hadn't when she saw the disheveled state of both her and the man in front of her.

Not wanting to think about what might have happened while she was unconscious or what would have happened if the conflict in the hall hadn't momentarily distracted Private Cole, Elizabeth couldn't help where her mind wandered and found herself fueled by a careless rage. The woman yelled, shrieking as she managed to pick herself off the ground and charged directly towards him, her fingernails digging into his flesh so deep and tearing his skin as she dragged them down. He yelled, slinging her off of him and throwing her against the wall like a ragdoll followed by a misogynistic string of profanity. In his arrogance he ignored Elizabeth's presence, even when she threatened him by saying, “I'm going to kill you,” and tried to examine the injuries she'd left on his shoulders dragging down his back.

His underestimation of her working in her favor, it gave Elizabeth the precious few seconds she needed for her gaze to survey her surroundings. Eyes landing on a long blunt object in the corner, she ran to pick it up. Private Cole aimed the gun at her commanding that she put it down. Taking the risk of getting shot, a decision he hadn't expected her to make, he fired at the last second and clipped her shoulder. The adrenaline numbing the pain for now, she managed to take the swing and hit him in the jaw causing a dent in the metal. Both of them dropping their weapons on impact, they clattered against the floor. Both of them went scrambling for the gun at the same time.

Hearing the scuffle on the other side of the door, Erin closed an eye trying to peak through one of the holes left by one of the bullets. She could see Elizabeth and Private Cole on the floor. Though the woman was putting up a fight, the man was stronger and managed to pin her down beneath him. “Hurry!” she yelled to the others with a frantic wave to usher them on. “Lizzy, we're coming!”

The sound of Erin's voice catching her attention, Elizabeth's gaze flickered towards the door. Her defense down for a few brief seconds, he took advantage of this to overpower her. Feeling his strong hands grip around her neck, she tried to pry his hands away and gasp for air that wasn't coming. There was a panic in her eyes as she thought for a moment his sinister face snarling down at her would be the last thing she ever saw.

Suddenly able to gasp for air in her burning lungs, she coughed as she rolled over onto her side. Erin knelt beside her, hugging her in her arms. It looked like she was about to cry. Elizabeth hadn't seen what happened, but she noticed the splintered broken door and the others in the room squaring off against Private Cole. Lifting a shaking arm, she enveloped Erin in her arms. “It's okay,” she said, her voice wavering slightly. She could see the doubt and concern on Erin's face and she wondered if lying to her was the best thing—because nothing was okay anymore.

The Dead and the Dying

Before Ethan could get them out, the soldiers who'd locked them up had come back for them. Elizabeth scowled at them and while she had many things she wanted to say to them, she kept quiet for the time being; she had a feeling their threat wasn't one to be taken lightly. The man appeared to be overly excited about the prospect of explaining this to them via visual aides to the point Elizabeth had to roll her eyes; he acted more like a child than Erin did. Afraid to move very far from her original spot, she could see that she took to standing close to Ethan. The girl was practically his shadow for now.

Disgusted as she looked over at Private Cole, he was exactly the type of person she'd always hated. She'd become accustomed to assholes like him whenever she was with her ex. He wasn't American. In fact, he'd been with the British Armed Forces. His four year enlistment contract had ended a months before they'd met. As difficult and tumultuous as their relationship had been, it was thanks to him and his teachings that she was able to survive right now—and she only hoped that he was out there keeping their son safe as well.

Elizabeth's mouth fell open at the revelation. Even with them telling her their motives behind everything, she still couldn't understand why it mattered so much to them. What did it matter that the President was shutting them down? Was this a matter of greed and job security? A bunch of elitist nationalistic assholes that just wanted to see the rest of the world destroyed for no other reason? This was evil. There was no other word to describe it.

Staring at the screen when Tyler's picture showed up, she tried not to show any emotion. Even though she hadn't liked the guy, he was a jerk, that didn't mean she wanted anything bad to happen to him. He'd helped even when he didn't have to, like when he'd gone with them to save Erin. She glanced down at the little girl who looked horrified to see the man's image on the screen. She remembered him too. The image changed to a picture of his corpse and Erin squeaked, covering her mouth and looking away. Elizabeth clinched her fist so tight that she could feel her fingernails digging into the palms of her hands.

“This whole thing is bullshit,” Elizabeth finally snapped. “It's all pointless! You're just a bunch of power hungry egomaniacs on a power trip.” Held back only by the pastor from doing something she'd regret, she glared at the General as he walked by her. Even if she didn't really know the person he'd picked, she'd never spoken to him before, Elizabeth was livid at the thought of anyone dying. “You son of a bitch-” she yelled, moving to lunge forward. The soldiers descended on them all as she kicked and thrashed against them, plunging her teeth into the soft spot on his hand as he forced her back into the small cage.

Even when the lights were off and they had been sitting in the dark calming down after what they'd just seen, she was still fuming. “We need to get the hell out of here,” she said, even if she didn't need to.

“Lizzy,” Erin said, her voice shaking. It was obvious she was scared, but what surprised Elizabeth more was what she said next. “Don't make them mad.” She was worried that she might provoke them into doing something to her next.

She hadn't meant to scare her with her outburst. “I'm sorry, sweetie,” she told her. “It's just...what they're doing is wrong. I couldn't stay quiet.” Frowning with a grimace as she realized that probably wasn't a good apology, Erin was quiet as she seemed to contemplate what she'd said and take it to heart. She only hoped that the girl didn't hate her for speaking her mind—even if it meant she might get in trouble for it.

Not knowing how long it had been since their last visit, it was Private Cole who came back into the room this time with a couple other goons. One of the soldiers tapped on the cages, barking and mocking them as they passed by, before arriving at Elizabeth's cage. “This one,” he said, a lecherous grin on his face that made her stomach churn.

“No,” she stated, shirking back in her small cage, but they reached in to grab her by her feet and dragged her out. “No!” she yelled, trying to fight them off, but they were too strong. They dragged her through their comrade's blood streaking the floor and staining her clothes. Her desperate pleas for them to let her go echoed through the hallway until they'd finally had enough and, to make sure she was quiet, knocked her out.

The Dead and the Dying

Elizabeth had no idea what was going on, but the cage they had her locked in was uncomfortable. Fingers poking out of the space between the metal bars, she took a look around to find everyone else was locked in a cage too. At least she had more room in her cage due to her smaller stature than some of the bulkier men like that asshole Blake. She caught sight of Erin sitting on one side of the cage with her knees pulled up to her chest rocking back and forth. Catching her gaze the girl paused before she moved to crawl towards the front of the cage. The woman offered her a reassuring smile.

Though she was just as afraid as everyone else, Elizabeth knew that she had a little girl watching her every move; she had to remain an outward calm appearance even if Ethan spoke her thoughts. If she'd known that she was going to be locked up then she would have kept a bobby pin with her.

“So you're just going to give up?” she asked, looking over at Dallen's cage. These people obviously weren't friendly if they were keeping them locked up like this. The man seemed almost resigned to his fate, but Elizabeth didn't want to sit and wait around for whoever had captured them to come back and do something worse. They needed to get out of there fast and figure out what the hell was going on.

The Dead and the Dying

It had been chaos. Both Gwen and Lucy were dead. Running on pure adrenaline, there hadn't been a window of opportunity to process what had happened. With a moment to breathe and the horde somewhere behind, only now could they feel the weight of their most recent loss. Sitting between the men, she could tell the women's deaths hit them hard. It put Elizabeth in an uncomfortable position since she didn't what to say—if anything at all—to console them. Keeping an eye on Dallen as he buried his head in his hands, she hesitantly reached out for him to show some type of support before withdrawing her hand and letting it fall back in her lap. She barely knew him.

Whether she'd done the right thing by letting him be or not, she didn't have much time to think about it as a new problem was quick to arise. Leaning forward, she craned her neck to peer out the window. Lightning flickered across the sky as the fog slowly enveloped the area. Having witness the effects of the fog first hand in Mecha city, she could feel a knot of dread twisting in the pit of her stomach. It was just one bad thing after the other. Elizabeth had been hoping to catch a break from all of the fighting and running to sit down with Erin.

With a loud gasp, she suddenly reached to clasp her hand on Dallen's shoulder. “Erin,” she said. “We need to find Erin!” Maybe it made her a worse person, but she could have cared less about anyone else at the ranger station. Right now, that little girl was her main priority and those people weren't anything other than strangers. Getting everyone out alive on such short notice would be impossible. The best they could hope to do was escape before people started dying and turning into whatever those things were.

As soon as the ambulance stopped at the ranger station, Elizabeth had already reached over Dallen to open the door and was clamoring over him to get out first. The abnormal change in weather had people curious more than anything as to what was happening. They gathered around outside, pointing at the sky marveling at the anomaly. None of them were prepared for the horror and devastation that were soon to follow.

Cupping her hand to the side of her mouth to amply her voice, she yelled, “Erin!” Her eyes scanned the area for the little girl hoping to find her before things got worse. Unable to see her anywhere, she called again. “Erin!”

“Lizzy!” A small high-pitched voice called behind her. Elizabeth whirled around, kneeling down with her arms open. The girl ran into them, allowing her to pick her up in her arms. They hugged each other tightly. As she pulled back, she could see the look of fear etched on Erin's face. “The sky,” she said. Her voice wavered as she tilted her head back to look at the streaks of lightning brightening the darkness brought on by the clouds. “It's like it was at home.”

“I know,” Elizabeth said. “That's why we're gonna get the hell out of here before things get any worse.” Erin gave an understanding nod before Elizabeth sat her back on the ground. Following closely behind, Erin suddenly found herself frozen as one by one the people around them began succumbing to the fog. Erin cowered in fear, whimpering, while Elizabeth held her arms out trying to shield her as they stood in the middle of the crowd.

The Dead and the Dying

Ugh. Fine. There. Just for you.

The Dead and the Dying

I know. It's all my fault. ; ;

The Dead and the Dying

Everyone adjourned to their own corners in the room for the night. Elizabeth used a couple of the extra sheets she'd brought as a blanket and her arm as a pillow, but despite being more comfortable than she had been since all of this had begun, she still had trouble getting to sleep. The images of people being ripped to shreds were vivid in her mind preventing her from getting ample rest. The sounds of moaning and light breathing from those surrounding the building was also distracting. Expecting for this to be a quick run for supplies, her mind drifted to Erin. She hoped the little girl wasn't too worried about them. Though Elizabeth didn't know if they would make it out of here alive, she knew she was going to do her best to get back in one piece.

Unable to get much sleep, Elizabeth was one of the first ones up. Browsing the back of the cafeteria, though it looked like people had left in a hurry, they'd managed to take some of the more important essentials with them. There wasn't much food left behind, most of it going bad as the refrigerator had lost power days ago. The only thing she could find that was edible were a few bulk sized cans of beans, mixed fruit, and collard greens. It must have been more than they could carry to take it with them. Glancing back towards the doors to the cafeteria where she could hear the dead shambling around, she wondered if they'd managed to use the supplies they'd taken or if they'd turned before managing to do so.

Opening one of the cans, she ate enough to keep her fueled hopefully until they made it out and got back to the ranger station. With the amount of those things outside the door, she didn't think they'd be able to take the few cans they'd found without drawing attention. Though Dallen said they could sneak by unnoticed by covering themselves with their stench—and she'd been there when he'd found it out, so she knew he was telling the truth—they didn't know just how much it would camouflage them. Doing anything out of the ordinary, like carrying large cans of food, might draw unwanted attention. Which was a shame considering every little bit they found would be useful.

Preparing for the trek into the fray, she slipped the sheet over her head in the hole she'd cut out and tested the fit. It was long enough to dangle down to her ankles which would give a decent amount of coverage without posing the danger of tripping. The plan was to lather themselves, or more accurately cover the sheets, in gore and guts to make it through the crowd without drawing attention to themselves. Then she planned to beat the shit out of Blake for leaving them stranded when they got back.

Seeing other people start to wake up, she offered them a greeting. Arms crossed in front of her as she leaned with her back against the wall, she was ready to high-tail it out of there as fast as she could. But with everyone just waking up, she knew she was going to have to wait for them while they prepared. Not saying a word, she was silently rushing. Her eyes focused on the cadaver as if to tell them to hurry so they could get on with it.

The Dead and the Dying

Since she was only begrudgingly tagging along because Erin had asked her to, Elizabeth didn't have any objections. Her mind was elsewhere as Kenjen broke down the plan, but she'd managed to catch just enough so she wouldn't have to ask any questions. After handing out weapons to protect themselves with, they piled inside the van. Kenjen and Gwen took the front seat with Dallen and Lucy next. That left her in the back with Blake who shamelessly kept his eyes on the woman in the front the entire time. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

Arriving at the hospital they broke up into their groups and went their separate ways. Leaves littered the entrance to the hospital where the doors had been propped open. The only light in the building came from the windows which made the hallway in front of them pitch black. It gave her the creeps. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as every little sound managed to alert her. A squirrel stood on one of the tables eating a nut before scurrying away. “Why am I always going into the dark and scary places?” she muttered to herself. From hiding out in the sewers, trekking in the tunnels beneath the church, and now an abandoned hospital—her life had somehow turned into every bad horror movie ever made within the last four days.

Glancing over when Kenjen said her name, she felt herself relax a little when he mentioned Erin. “No,” she replied. A smile gracing her face when he mentioned that the girl trusted her, she said, “She just likes everyone.” There wasn't a person they'd come across yet that the girl hadn't taking a liking or a trust to—which was a bit concerning if they ever came across the wrong people. Fortunately, she was a good listener and, so far, the little girl seemed to respect her authority and listen when she told her to do something. She only hoped it would stay that way. “I do have a son though,” she admitted, refusing to use the past tense. “Maybe it's my maternal instincts.”

Though a thought occurred to her that hadn't before. What about Erin? Since the little girl had lost both of her parents, Elizabeth had been the one taking care of her. Being trapped together, the two had developed a bond. But she couldn't in good conscience take her away from the safety of a place like the ranger station to drag her along on a mission that Elizabeth would probably never even finish. Then again, she couldn't just leave her there either.

A loud shriek echoing in the distance from the other side of the building interrupted her thoughts and sent a chill down her spine. “Shit,” she hissed. Under the impression that the hospital was empty, she knew with how fast those things were they didn't have a lot of time. Since Lucy was busy packing up supplies in her own bag, Elizabeth tossed her own in her direction so the woman could keep the momentum going. Pulling out the weapon, she pointed it towards the ground as she readied herself for anything. Moving towards one of the widows, she peered out through the blinds just in time to see Blake scrambling to get in the van. “Why is he-” she started to say only for it to suddenly dawn on her what was happening. “That mother-!” she yelled out, her voice echoing through the empty hallways. The dead right on his heels, the large group was close enough to the hospital to engulf it.

As fast as she could, Elizabeth ran towards the open doors and shut them, pushing the lock up to keep it secured although it wouldn't hold for long if they decided to press against the door due to the sheer amount of them out there. With no sign of Dallen or Gwen anywhere, she hoped they were somehow still alive. Without any time to dwell on it, she went back to her own team. “We gotta go,” she told them, looking back towards the doors as they started to bow from the weight on the other side.

The Dead and the Dying

Spotting the phone sitting on the front desk, Elizabeth rushed to grab the receiver. Holding it up to her hear, the only thing she heard on the other end was silence. “No,” she muttered, reaching out to repeatedly press the switchhook. “Work. Fucking work!” With no dial tone, Elizabeth angrily slammed it down in frustration before she leaned back against the wall. Warm tears left streaks down her cheeks as she slid down to the floor. Bringing her knees to her chest, she sobbed as she buried her face in her hands. The uncertainty of her son's fate mixed with recent events left her completely devastated; she stayed there like that for a while.

Kenjen eventually called a group meeting. Everyone starting to gather in the front near where Elizabeth was, she had little choice but to pick herself up and join in. Reunited with Erin, the girl ran to her and proudly held up a page from a coloring book to show her. Her choice of color was unique and while she didn't remain in between the lines all the time, she did for the majority. “It's for you,” she said shyly. She looked nervous, almost afraid of Elizabeth's opinion.

“I love it,” she praised the girl, taking her into a one armed hug. She lit up and hugged her back. “I wish I had somewhere to put it where I could show it off.”

The smile on Erin's face briefly faltered and her voice wavered as she said, “Mommy used to hang them on the fridge.” Glancing down, she could see the sadness etched on her features. She wiped her eyes with a balled up fist before looking up at Elizabeth and forcing a smile on her face—something Elizabeth wished she wouldn't do. She was just a little girl and she was sad. They should have been the ones being strong for her, not the other way around.

Wanting to say something to make her feel better, Elizabeth didn't get the chance as the meeting started. Erin instantly went quiet, paying close attention to what everyone was saying. For the first half of it, Elizabeth paid more attention to the little girl before she finally tuned in to what everyone else was saying.

This place seemed more reasonable than the courthouse and, for anyone else, she could see the appeal of staying behind. But Elizabeth had somewhere she needed to be—even if she didn't quite know where that was. She hadn't spoken much to her ex since they moved away as every conversation she had with him seemed to turn into an argument. If she had to, she would search the entire world.

As people started volunteering to help look for supplies, she could feel something tugging on the hem of her skirt. She arched a curious brow at Erin. “You should help,” she whispered.

The woman scoffed in response which made Erin frown. Seeing the disapproving look the little girl gave her made her shift uneasily before she finally asked, “Why me?” Like Briggs had said, they only needed a small group and it looked like they had plenty of volunteers.

Pleased that she was being listened to, Erin said, “'Cause.” It wasn't the best defense, but it was all she needed. “What if they need it?” Feeling as if that was all the more reason why Elizabeth should elect to stay behind, she was almost frustrated that she couldn't bring herself to say no to that face.

“Well, what about you?” she countered. “I can't just leave you here by yourself.”

“I can color with Pastor Book!” Erin exclaimed. Looking over at the people who had already volunteered, she added, “And Dallen looks really sad, too. He needs someone with him.”

“Dallen?” Since when was she on a first name basis with the lawyer? And what did he have anything to do with either of them? Though the excuses were flimsy, Elizabeth had already seen that it meant a lot to Erin for her to offer her help for some reason. That little girl had a lot of faith in her for some reason that she couldn't pinpoint. While she may have managed to get them out of a handful of scenarios already, she truthfully had no idea what the hell she was doing. Right now her main focus was to keep both of them alive and find her son. Everything else was an inconvenience, but until she had a more stable plan to execute she needed to make herself useful somehow if she was going to stay there—though she'd would have rather been gutting fish or helping the security team. Still, she joined the runner group.

With Kenjen giving them an hour to prepare, Elizabeth used that time to take a shower and change her clothes into something more suitable. Glad to escape the skirt and high heels she'd been sporting since her court-date, she was relieved to be back in tennis shoes and blue jeans. Once she was dressed she met with the others, Erin there with her new coloring book in order to see her off. Leaning down to give her a hug, Erin said, “Keep 'em safe,” in her ear.

“I'll do my best,” Elizabeth told her though if shit really hit the fan then there wouldn't be anything she could do. Satisfied with that, Erin waved goodbye to the others before running over to Leroy until they returned.