Survivalist Plot: We Wear Out All Our Prayers

[meat_mooks]

DAY 6

The break of the new day finds the crew members scattered. Clef and Maxine have made it to the radio tower; Cedric and Howard have woken up in an abandoned house and are making their way there to join them; and having been attacked, Diana has been separated from Karis and is somewhere in the town.

With their opponents growing more and more clever, the time to escape is now. They may be dead before they get another chance.

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[theboywhodied]

Cedric sits with his fist tightly wound around his wand for some time, praying to it, pleading with it. He wills any spark of magic out of himself that will save Howard, desperately wishing to get them more time. Hell---if he'd just had that Apparition training like he should have, they'd be in Med Bay right now.

But they're not. Finally, reality sets in. Howard---Cedric's opponent in battles of wits, his teacher, his realist, his...friend, if Howard would've ever allowed him to use the word, is dying.

The person he relies on most to get through the days is dying and it's all Cedric's fault. Here he sits, alone in a room with one dying Howard and two others he fears. They'll kill Cedric for this when they find out. He knows.

That knowledge draws forth a sob. Then another. He hates showing weakness around these two, knowing how dangerous that is, but what does that matter? Cedric's going to die soon anyway. They'll kill him.

Before he goes, though---Howard still seems to forgive him enough to want a goodbye. Numbly, weakly, Cedric crawls back to his position and slips his hand under Howard's chilled hand tentatively. His tears sink into the cold skin.

"Wanted you to be free---but not like this. Should've been me."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

It's all too much. Too much fear, too much pain, too much regret. The world is a mass of missed opportunities now, of things he'll never do, of the innumerable things and people and places he'll never be able to say goodbye to, and unanswered questions about what's going to happen next, to him and to the people he's leaving behind. The world around him, the people around him, Karis' sad little words, they all bleach out as if to make way for the sheer amount of missing he's doing now, in these last few seconds.

"You beat the FAYZ," Diana says to him. And she's right. He did. At least he isn't going back there. Maybe it's safe on the other side. Maybe this is the end of fear, along with everything else, but that's a fleeting thought, one that can't even compete with the avalanche of the life he'll never get to live.

Here he is, surrounded by people and still so alone knowing that he's dying and they are still so enviably, wonderfully alive. Even Karis. Even Karis isn't at the end yet. And Cedric's just been spared from it by Howard's own blood and life. It isn't fair.

There's too much, just too much, and then there's nothing at all. His body seizes a few more times as the nerves shut down and then is still.

[teethofneedles]

Karis wishes she was capable of crying. Of good, old-fashioned human sorrow. Because right now all she feels is numb and helpless and she hates it. There's just another feeling of loss and despair layered on everything else and there's no catharsis, no way of getting around it. It's just one more thing on her mind that's going to lurk there, gnawing at her psyche until the day she finally snaps (if she hasn't already). She holds Howard until the light is out of his eyes and his body is starting to cool. Then she eases him down and stands, staring at nothing in particular.

"...to Hell with everything."

For once, there's no strut or arrogance about her. Just twisted bitterness and sadness and an odd sense of vulnerability. At least until she squares her shoulders and stands up straight again.

"...Bye. Howie."

He's beyond hearing, but it helps. Just a little.

[bequiet_hescreamed]

It was like ripping off a blindfold after days spent in pitch darkness. Clef's mind hurt, and there was little he could do to shield his sixth sense from the sudden inpouring of information. It made him feel a little bit crazy - all of the sudden he felt things that weren't even remotely physically perceptible, things his brain would have filtered out if it weren't all suddenly so new. He could taste the approach of monsters, hear a single death. The products of centuries of training and discipline came back to him all at once, and there was no possible way he could have prepared for it.

So it hurts, just a bit.

On the positive side, his starved body now has magical energy to feed off of. The pain and hunger are still there, but it's as though extra energy has just appeared out of nowhere. Movement takes less effort, his thoughts feel more clear. There's a little more than just adrenaline and sheer force of will powering him now.

All that energy seems to leave him as soon as he enters the control room.

"No..."

Howard was just a child. No matter what happened, he was just starting out in life. Even if he had no sense of morality, he was redeemable. The last thing Clef should have done was condemn him to death, like Howard had done to Bridge. But that's exactly what he did, isn't it? He ran away because he just couldn't handle the situation like a responsible adult - just like with Zagato and Emeraude. And now Howard is dead, too.

It's too much. He sinks to his knees, shaking, gasping for breath. A few tears clear pathways through the dirt on his cheeks - undeniable proof that he's not as strong, nor as wise, nor as sensible as he pretends to be.

"Not again..."

[keep_surviving]

Closing Howard’s eyes with her palm, Diana looked over the body with a straight face. It wasn’t Howard anymore. It was just another corpse.

Another corpse with resources. Which is why, without any regard to those around her, she first released the flare gun from his tight hold, pocketing in with her own, then she began digging through his pockets.

A swiss army knife, a lighter, a pocketknife, a flashlight, some string and some small surgical scissors. A good haul. She should have known.

Standing up, she looked at the rest of them. “Any more news about our ride out of here?” She gestures to the window. “Because powers or no powers, we’re starting to look like a buffet.”

[theboywhodied]

Cedric is...beaten. Done. What's the point in going on? He's gone and gotten his closest friend killed. If he'd only been faster, tackled the monster, forced it to eat him instead...Howard would be here, making his way toward his new life like he's supposed to be.

But he's not, and Cedric's here, because Cedric didn't move in time.

He kneels next to Clef, openly sobbing. In his head, he can almost hear Howard complaining about how much water he's wasting on this.

But that doesn't matter. He clings to his friend's body one last time, whispering a goodbye that definitely sounds lifeless. It takes him some time to register the other voices and the other questions. Everything sounds so far away, so meaningless compared to the great loss.

"I'll fight them," Cedric whispers, his voice almost unintelligible through the sobs.

[windwitch]

When Maxine arrives, just behind Clef, she doesn't know how to react at first-- it's a mixture of fear and hurt. And maybe a little bit of that guilt, too. She doesn't know that there's anything she could have possibly done, but she's a hero, so it comes anyway. Even after what happened to Bridge. No one deserves to die, after all.

"Oh..." the red head is stunned into silence, covering her mouth with one hand. When she finally does manage to speak, it's quiet and meek. She squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, to try to compose herself. All she manages to say is "I'm sorry."

She knows they're right though-- they don't have a lot of time. She just wishes it weren't like this.

((ooc: sorry for the slow/fail tag sob))