by Vale, Silas
It was a solid point, and Shaun knew that. He kept his hold on Aisling, and didn't let her go. He wouldn't as long as that man was in sight.
"Relationships are different than security." The woman shook her head. "Colby, stand down." She held out a hand, and the man accordingly receded, muttering something under his breath.
Ais sighed, and thumped her head against Shaun’s shoulder. "Thanks." She mumbled, and followed after the woman, making sure Shaun could keep up with her pace. "He's a dick. Sorry you had to deal with that."
The apocalypse hadn’t changed the town too much, truthfully. It was a small town, no doubt, and the buildings had some wear and tear here and there, with the occasional boarded up window on a building as they passed. But it seemed to be quite busy, and people of all ages, ethnicities, and builds stopped to watch them as they went by. It was certainly strange being around this many people after so long, and most seemed a little distrustful of newcomers into their society.
They weren't the only people who didn't trust others.
Shaun hadn't been much of a people person for the entirety of his life; he usually clung to only a few specific exceptions. So this large population, all gathered in one place, gave him a sort of anxiety that he didn't like. But he was also relieved, relieved that there were actually people still alive. Relieved that they weren't walkers, roaming the streets of the city. And what a city it was.
Even New York is pathetic when no one lives there, and this place beat it by a long shot. It was small, but the amount of bustling activity rivaled even that of a metropolis in his eye.
"I don't mind. I'll blow his brains out when I get the chance." Shaun responded, and though he said it jokingly, he actually meant it.
"Yeah, that seems to be a theme you've got going." She snorted and shook her head, looking around at all the people somewhat nervously before back up at Shaun. "I just hope I don't meet any other assholes I used to know." She shrugged, glancing down at the ground.
"In here." The woman led them up to a semi-large building and opened the door. "It's not a hospital, but we have the supplies to treat you." She tucked a stray lock of brown hair behind one ear. It seemed she was fairly important. "I'll let Evelyn know that you two are here, so go sit down."
Shaun hadn't even thought about the possibility of meeting anyone he used to know. He simply assumed that they had all been bitten, or had died somehow. It was a scary prospect; he was a very different person than he used to be.
"Who's Evelyn?" Shaun asked, a sort of morbid curiosity creeping over him. He had never had much of a problem with authority, but he had to know that she was respectable. If she was a cold-hearted military bitch, he could follow her, but he would never enjoy following her.
Shaun wanted someone who cared about the people, because that's the kind of leader he would be.
He looked over at Aisling, and felt bad for her. The guy seemed to have an effect on her, and it wasn't a good one. He honestly didn't want that guard anywhere near her; he had developed a sort of protectiveness.
It was odd. He wasn't a very protective person.
"She's the doctor. She's the only person we have running this place, but she's damn good at what she does." A smile crossed over her face, and she turned to go further into the makeshift hospital to find her. "I'll be back in just a second."
Aisling led Shaun over to the chairs on the other side of the room and sat him down, plopping herself down in the chair beside him. After a moment, she smiled. "We did it." She turned towards him with a grin. "We're in." She tried to keep a serious face, but it wasn’t long before a snicker broke through and she started laughing.
It hadn't really occurred to Shaun exactly where they were, due to the fog that laced his brain. Of course, he was aware that they were in the compound, but that thought hadn’t permanently settled in his mind yet. Though now that she said it, now that he looked around, he could see that they had actually done it. They had made it to the settlement.
After falling through ice and nearly freezing his leg solid. After shooting a man inside a gas station, simply because they had stumbled across his property. After finding a kid in the freezing cold, and then shooting the man who claimed to be his dad.
Oh, and after getting blown up, of course.
It all came in a rush to him; everything crashing into him at once, causing a few tears to fall. They had made it. They had actually made it. They were sitting in a heated room, with a doctor on the way, and warm food probably only a few doors down.
It made him giddy. It made him irrational. It made him…
Kiss her.
Ais tensed up with a squeak when their lips met, her eyes widening and unfocused as she tried to comprehend what exactly was going on. Her eyes flitted about his face for a couple seconds, and a red flush rose up to her cheeks rather abruptly.
After a moment, she managed a small "Mm?" of confusion, as she couldn't exactly talk since her lips were currently mushed against his. Her hand drifted to his cheek, and though she hadn't reciprocated with the same intensity, she hadn't pulled away either.
Oh god oh god her hot friend was kissing her oh my god what should she do oh no oh no-
Shaun had no idea what the hell he thought he was doing.
He didn't pull away for a second; he simply kissed her, softly, though alarms were going off in his head. What are you doing? She doesn't like you like that, what are you doing? You're a bloody fucking moron, you know you don't have long, you know the cancer-
Shaun pulled away.
"I'm… Sorry, I… Don't know what I was thinking…"
"I- no, uh-" She stammered, obviously flustered. She studied his face for a moment and withdrew slightly, glancing towards the ground bashfully before back up at him. "I- I think maybe we should ta-"
"Hello?" A blond woman walked into the room. She was tall, pale-skinned, and had a warm smile plastered across her face. "Let's get you patched up, yes? Come with me." She beckoned Shaun over with one hand. Ais stood up accordingly, and turned to help Shaun up. "Oh, love, maybe you should stay here." The woman said, frowning at Aisling somewhat.
"Please, I should speak with you anyways." The brown-haired woman from before stepped past Evelyn and smiled at Aisling. "Could you come with me?"
"I- I guess-?" Aisling furrowed her brows and glanced to Shaun, worry evident on her face.
"I'll be fine." He wanted to know what she was going to say, more than he had ever wanted to know anything. Take things slow? Take another shot? He had no idea what the sentence that had briefly graced her lips could have ended in, but he was dying to know.
He followed the doctor, while Aisling was separated from him and sent in another direction. He was regretful of this, but also glad he could talk to a doctor. He looked up to the woman; she seemed trustworthy, but he didn't know anyone in this place.
Then again, he didn't have much of a choice.
"The chemical burns hurt, but they aren't the worst." He said, turning to the doctor and taking a deep breath. He’d never told this to Aisling, because he’d never thought that she’d be with him long enough for it to be a problem.
"I have a brain tumor; it's pressing against my frontal lobe. I was given a year to live, and well… That was a few weeks before everything went to hell." He only said this once he was positive that Aisling was out of earshot. He didn't want her worrying about this. He didn't want her to know until it was time to go.
"I don't know what kind of treatment there is out here, but doctor, if there's anything… I don't want to leave her alone."
The doctor stared at him for a moment, the warm smile slowly melting off of her face as a look of concern took it over instead. "Well, I…" She trailed off, and led him into another room. She leaned on the counter a little ways away and sighed. "I mean, obviously we don't have chemotherapy or anything available here. But there are some options I could look into to try and shrink the tumor or give you more time." She turned towards him again.
"But for
now, the burns are most important. What injuries did you sustain in the… Explosion? It was a bomb, wasn’t it?" She raised an eyebrow and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Sit down." She gestured to the cot on the other side of the room.
He sat down where she indicated, and began to explain.
"There was a boy we found outside of where we were staying. We took him in, but it turned out-" He stopped talking. He recalled what Ais had said, about information regarding the terrorist cell being valuable.
"Well, certain events happened, and a chemical bomb was used against me. I'm just glad none of it hit Aisling." He realized that what he said was very true; he would take another bomb if it meant keeping her safe.
He pulled up the still-charred shirt to show her the extent of the damage. The skin was red and chaffed, and multiple tiny scabs had formed where the debris had been picked out. Most of it was bandaged, but… They’d only had one roll, and the burns were extensive.
But what she said before asking about the explosion was what got to him.
"You think you could really get me more time?" He had never dared to hope for something like that. Especially after the world went to shit.
"There are treatments that could work. Specifically high doses of vitamin C or vitamin K are shown to increase the effectiveness of the immune system’s assault on the cancer. No guarantee of survival, but…" She sighed, looking him over with furrowed brows. "More time, especially if it works." She put a hand beneath his chin to tilt his head from side to side. "Ruptured eardrum…" She murmured, mostly to herself.
"I suggest you get yourself situated here after I've treated you, and then come back in a day or two and I'll see what I can do." She lifted her blue eyes to meet his. "This will probably hurt, so I'll get you some pain meds." She stood up straight and took a step back to leave the room.
A New Home
Aisling sighed, biting the inside of her lip as she followed the brown-haired woman, whose name she found to be Kristen, through the small town. Her mind was only on one thing; Shaun. It was hard to think of anything else, especially after-
"Do you think you can fix this?" Kristen had stopped in front of her, and Aisling dug her heels into the ground to quickly stop before she smacked right into her. That's what she got for not paying attention.
Kristen turned around and pointed to a small jeep that was parked behind a building, the hood propped up with a piece of plywood.
"Uh… Probably." She furrowed her brows as she examined the car. "Do you know what's wrong with it?" She looked towards Kristen, who sighed and shrugged her shoulders in response.
"Thinkin' it's something with the engine." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Just broke down one day and wouldn't work after that. We don't have many vehicles, so we really need this thing in service."
Aisling nodded in understanding, and walked up to the car as she pushed the hood up all the way to take a look at what was beneath. "Just give me some time and the tools to do it." She looked over at Kristen. "I'll get it done."
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Ughhhh.
Aisling stared up at the ceiling, hands pressed to her temples. This sucked.
Of course, the bed beneath her, heating, food, and safety was amazing, and she wouldn't trade it for the world, but…
It was so quiet.
An interesting thing happens after you've been in the presence of someone else every day for a long time. When that person is gone, well… It gets awfully boring and awfully quiet.
Aisling rolled onto her side, looking around the old motel room she was in. It was a temporary stay, of course. A sort of second screening once one actually got into the safezone. Any newcomers were given a room in an old motel, and were expected to stay there until proper housing could be set up if they planned to stay within the walls for a long time. She had fixed the old jeep, and as such Kristen had brought her there and told her that she'd let Shaun know where she was.
God, she really hoped she would. She wasn't sure if she could handle the silence much longer.
She looked out the window. She could see the stars already, as it got awfully dark out during the Canadian winter. It had been quite a while, though she expected that it'd take a long time for Shaun to get fully patched up as well. Her mind drifted off again, and she silently raised a hand to her lips as she looked back up towards the ceiling.
She had to talk to him.
---------------
There wasn't particularly a moment when Shaun began to wake. It was more like all of a sudden, he realized that he was aware. That was disconcerting, but he tried to sit anyway.
That was a mistake.
Immediately, pinpricks of pain began to make their way up his stomach. He gasped, falling back, and pulled the white cotton blanket from his body. His wound was wrapped in bandages, with tiny specks of blood coming through the cloth. There was obviously some sort of solvent coating the wound, because he felt the pulsing pain of cleanliness pushing through his veins. The wound had been cleaned, this time thoroughly, and Shaun could only think about how much more it hurt.
He noticed an IV in his arm, and pulled that out right away; he might have accepted their medical help, but he certainly didn't trust the place. The doctor had seemed nice, but he never knew with people these days. In his hand, there was a crumpled piece of paper, which he had clenched onto in his sleep. Unfurling it, he read the words aloud.
"Aisling's in the old motel, room 106. There's a map on the wall." After consulting said map, Shaun thought that he had a fairly good idea of where he was going. He opened the door to the room, and made his way down the wing. There were many doors closed and locked, and as he peeked into the windows, he saw people confined to beds with injuries much worse than his own.
He finally made his way out of the hospital, and found that he was in the middle of a cobblestone street. People didn't mill about as much as before, due to the fact that the sun was setting. The chill of the evening settled into his bones, as he wore only a simple cloth t-shirt and loose-fitting jeans. They weren't his clothes, and he hated the thought that he was undressed as he slept, but he couldn't do much about it.
Making his way through the streets, he saw what reminded him of movies from the old days. People trading commodities, children on the streets much happier than outside the walls, and people with warm homes. It was, in fact, just like the old days, except for the scent of fear that hung heavy in the air.
Shaun couldn't get his mind off of what had happened. Aisling… She was the only person he had. If she started to hate him before he could fix this, nothing would be the same. He didn’t want to think about that.
He finally found the motel, and then it didn't take him long to find the room. Resting his hand on the handle, he hoped and prayed that he wasn't too late to make it up to her. He would take it back, if she would let him, or maybe… Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he would see where this went. Because as much as he wanted to hate it, as much as he wished he hadn’t enjoyed that kiss… He had. He had liked kissing her.
With that terrifying, paralyzing thought, Shaun threw open the door.
Aisling jumped, and sat bolt upright on the bed, flicking her head towards the door. Her eyes were wide, and it took her a moment to process that yes, that was Shaun standing in the doorway, and not some other weird guy who was there to murder her.
"… Hey."
What a good conversationalist.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. Her hair was loose, and she accordingly tucked it behind her ears. "How are you feeling?" She frowned and walked over to him, resting her hands on his cheeks and tilting his head back and forth to examine his face.
"Hm." She pursed her lips, pressing a hand lightly to his chest and inspecting the rest of his wounds. "You're okay?" She looked back up to meet his gaze with those stunning purple eyes.
Her hand on his chest made his breath hitch.
Since when did that happen?
"I'm… Fine. They took c
are of me." He said, lifting his shirt to show the entirety of the bandage. The few pinpricks of blood showing through the thin cloth were barely noticeable, and he knew the wounds would be closed by then anyway.
He kept her gaze, not wanting to look away, before finally tearing his eyes from her to look at the other side of the room. It was small, that much was an understatement, but it was warm. It felt like it was at least seventy degrees in there, and after the hellish cold they’d been through… That was fine with him. He did notice, however, that there was only one bed.
"So, uh… I'll take the floor?" He said, his voice shaking a bit with nerves. He didn't know why, but it felt odd to bring up such a subject. He laughed shakily, and made his way around the room.
"A bit drab, but I guess it'll do."
"It’s only temporary." She shrugged and turned to face the rest of the room. "She said once she figures out housing and shit, we can get something a little more permanent." She locked the door, and walked over to flop down on the bed, before flipping over onto her back to look up at the ceiling. "You can have the bed or we can just share. You're injured anyways." She rolled her head to look at him. "There's no way you're sleeping on the floor."
She paused, and then sat up, tucking her legs underneath herself. "I think the shower in here works anyways, so I'll probably wash off all this dirt and blood." She pursed her lips as she examined her forearms. Nobody was clean in the apocalypse, so a shower… It sounded amazing.
Shaun looked up and down her form, taking in for the first time just how dirty they both were. Most of the dirt had been scrubbed from his torso area, because of the wound, but elsewhere he was completely filthy. He sighed and looked toward the shower in despair.
"I'm bandaged, so I can't. I'd offer to join you." He winked, and he made sure it was in a joking sort of way. He had to approach the subject lightly, because at that moment, it seemed like she didn't have much to say about what had happened.
"I suppose we can share the bed, then. Because there's no way I'm letting you sleep on the floor after how much you've saved my ass today." He said, and then walked over to the mirror in front of the sink. Peeling off his shirt, he picked up a rag near the sink and wet it with the faucet.
