Urban Dead: The Price of the Oath

[Josh]

"No sashes, not ours or Guard," the sentry said.

Murphy, who was commanding the watch for the night, ventured to lean over the wall.

"What's your business here?" he called out.

[Hedgecore]

“Oh, you know, ah’m lookin’ fer new fall fashionsâ€Â

[Josh]

"I'm going down," Murphy said. The sentry looked at him.

"You sure?" he asked, dubious.

"Man might need help. We don't turn people who need help away. That's how we got in here, right?"

The sentry pressed on. "Yeah, well... okay. I'll check in with upstairs while you're going down."

"You do that."

Murphy hooked himself to the rappel line. They'd been a lot more paranoid of late, thanks to the recently deceased Jaycee. He hit the ground, knees flexing with practiced ease. "Alright, let's see about this," he said.

[Caz]

Melanie crouched between them, lightly shaking her head.

"You're both acting like fucking nutters," she said with a grumble, checking them both over for anything serious. Of course they weren't hurt too badly, because Petro somehow managed to avoid the kind of nastiness like missing parts and all, but she was more concerned with Silver at the moment.

"You're okay," she said to both of them. At least regarding their bodies.

And when she looked back to Petro, he'd see how truly /tired/ she was. Every movement appeared pained, and her face looked older. Like a Melanie from ten years in the future who'd simply given up. After both were proven to be okay, she stood and simply wandered off, like a balloon that had snapped its tether.

[Josh]

He lurched up to go after her. As he staggered in that direction, FM followed along for a moment.

"That was fucking stupid," the Marine said quietly.

"I'd do the same for you," Petro said.

The Marine shrugged. "If you say so. Sir." He trotted away.

Petro glanced that direction. Every time FM called him 'sir', he felt like he was being insulted somehow.

[Ace Pace]

With heavy feet made heavier still by the metaphorical weight on her back, the redhead trudged into the infirmary without a sound. The blood on her palms from inspecting Jaycee's wounds was wiped onto her pants with flippant disregard, and she wiped her hands with a wet cloth, then pulled her hair behind her ears and tied it back at the nape of her neck.

"Ace?" she called, looking for the doctor. "Anything I can help with? I'm tired of feeling useless."

Ace was working over some supply issues and looked up at the sudden intrusion. "Sure, if you know where I can find more morphine or how we can create another type of painkiller, otherwise, sit around, we didn't have any injured we didn't sign out in 5"

She paused, having been ready to dive straight into work to lose herself. That was how she'd escaped before, after all...

"Oh," was her reply, looking inherently uncomfortable all of a sudden.

Ace Pace: "But come in, I recently got as a present 2 vintage pre-plague coke cans and I'm ready to celebrate."

She chuckled, folding her arms across her chest and offering a lopsided grin. "Been holdin' out on us, huh?"

But she entered anyway, desperate for some company that wasn't going off the bloody deep end.

"Me? Never, but coke is as precious as booze, in a pinch we can even use it to clean. You don't look so well, drink up or I'll have to examine you and I havn't examined anyone properly in quite a few months."

She followed him into the makeshift office and rested upon the side of the cot--Mike had set it up for quick naps between shifts before he and Sherry had decided to share her hammock--with a pained look.

"Aint a damn thing wrong with me," she said bitterly. "It's everyone else that's acting like a damn loon."

Ace Pace: "No shit sherlock, what is it now?"

"Who the hell knows," she said with a heavy sigh.

He saw that it was going to be as hard as trying to feed a baby. "Come on, you don't just declear the obvious for no good reason."

"It's Silver and Petro," she grumbled.

"Ah.." That one had been brewing for a while. "So they finnaly decided to act like the enviorment?"

Ace was trying to remain calm, it wasn't unexpected but neither was it something to be happy about.

She shook her head. "They don't fucking get it," she said with some pained desperation in her voice. "We can't fucking survive if they're going to rip each other's throats out... We're the leaders here."

"They just went at each other? Jesus Melanie, for all I know they got injured to hell and back. Where the fuck are they now?" Now there was something Ace could affect.

"Nah, they're fine," she said dismissively. "I gave 'em both a glance-over afterward."

"So neither of them admitted to issues, fine." Ace leant back and took a sip. "So what the heck are you doing here?"

"I mean, after putting off the coke and all, we're kinda on thin ground"

"I just had to get away," she said. "I tried to get them to stop, I tried to do a lot of shit and none of it seems to work..." She took a few moments to pause and collect herself. "I wanted to come here to see if there was anyone I could help. It's better to throw myself into work than anything."

[Caz]

She and Ace shared a few more minutes, grumbling and joking in equal proportions, and she cracked a smile.

"Thanks," she said quietly, "I needed to vent, there."

But she shouldn't be bothering him... After all, while she was more of an independent contractor, Ace was expected to do his job. She set the unopened cola on his desk and commented that he'd need the caffeine more than she would, then gave him a friendly one-armed hug. "I'll see you around," she said, then waved and headed back to...

... Where?

She stood in the commons area, realising she was utterly aimless.

[Josh]

He might be fine, but he was going to have spectacular bruises for days. If Darek really had been pulling his punches, he didn't even want to think about what the cocksucker could do going all out.

Nah, Darek was full of shit. Had to be.

For all the aches, though, it felt good just to have a clean fight, get in, see what was there, and know that Darek was still in control. He'd have to keep an eye on him, but all the same, he hadn't lost him yet.

And damn, it'd been satisfying to just get to haul off and punch somebody. He almost felt like whistling as he limped down the stairs into the mall proper, pretending like he hadn't just gone two rounds with fucking Goliath.

He spotted Melanie and waved. "Hey! Mel!"

[Caz]

She turned a few seconds later, as though running on a slower clock than his.

Didn't say a word.

[Josh]

Grinning broadly, he strolled up to her side and spoke in a low voice out of the corner of his mouth. "Wanna head back to our place? I'm about to fall over again."

[Caz]

As though distrated: "Yeah... sure..."

Perhaps she should have agreed to the caffeine, after all. But she had a feeling that wasn't the cause for her discomfort; she'd slept fine the night before.

[Josh]

He draped his arm over her, smiling for the general viewing public. Again with the image and the PR. At least he was fairly sure he hadn't busted any ribs, by now.

It was turning out to be one hell of a peachy day.

[Caz]

And they continued in that fashion, nodding when appropriate and keeping their damn mouths shut. After all, his teeth were filmed over with blood. And as for her, she just wasn't sure she could say anything without shouting.

Staying together for the kids, indeed.

[Josh]

Finally, the endless journey back to the import shop he called home was done. He staggered straight for the bed and flopped down.

"Oh fucking christ," he moaned.

[Caz]

She'd never felt more awkward in her whole life than in that moment. Torn between gathering him up in her arms and shooshing him into as gentle a sleep as he could manage and smacking him upside the head... but even moreso than that, the nausea hadn't faded, nor had the utter wrongness of what she'd writnessed between he and Silver.

Whatever the Hell was the matter with him wasn't just nerves, like she'd thought before.

But there wasn't a thing she could do for it, was there?

And both of them were so damn stubborn...

[Josh]

"Go ahead and shout," he said. He knew this one by heart. He'd heard it with every marriage.

Would it be 'adolescent macho mindset' or 'neolithic caveman'? Whichever, he'd rather just get it over with.

[Caz]

If she had the energy, she would have. Instead, she slumped to the floor, resting her back against te side of the bed and taking his hand in hers. There was nothing she could say. Not a goddamn word.

Another fine mess you've gotten us into, she thought.

[Josh]

"Oh christ," he muttered again. With a grunt he rolled over onto his side, putting his other hand on her shoulder. "The only other thing I could've done is shoot him," he said. "I had to go at him and see if he could control it."

[Caz]

"I know," she whispered, more to herself than to him. Conversation with the woman was sometimes impossible. So deep were the worry and regret that they could swallow him whole.

Just think about the consequences next time, she pleaded silently.

[Josh]

"You want to carefully climb up in here in such a fashion so as to not bump into any bruised portions of my carcass?" he asked. "Which consists of... well, the left side of my face and the top of my head. So... a little bumpage would be forgivable."

[Caz]

She did so, but as opposed to not bumping him, she kept from touching him at all.

[Josh]

Ah crap. Not the silent treatment.

Well, two could play at that game. He rolled away and looked in the opposite direction.

In perhaps the strongest display of fortitude in his adult life, he managed to hold out for a full minute.

As if silence had ever been a viable option for him. He rolled back toward her with another series of grunts.

"Talk to me," he said. "Get pissed off. Whatever."

[Caz]

"I... can't," she finished lamely, her back to him. Because I'm drained, because I'm exhausted, and because you and Silver going at it like kids in a goddamn empty lot isn't worth my energy.

[Josh]

"We won, god damn it," he snarled, suddenly angry. "Silver's still in one piece, Jaycee is fucking dead, and what the hell else do you want?"

[Caz]

"Sometimes it isn't about winning," she said, her voice barely audible even in the silent room. "You may have 'won,' but you nearly drew a goddamn gun on your ally."