Fic: Take It With Me (2/?)
Title: Take it With Me (2/?)
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan
Disclaimer: LotS, the characters, names and places do not belong to me.
A/N: Written as a series to entertain browneyed813, otherwise known as my muse and at the same time my girl. The two things she loves are LotS and Zombies, so I thought I'd combine them, just for her. And here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Slowly make my way back. Return to base. Leave the abandoned apartment building behind. Step into the street. Sweep it. No Lights. Electricity long gone.
Move silently. Stop every few paces. Listen. Scan for movement. Gun stored. Knife in hand. Stealth important. Cannot bring the hordes forth. All it takes is the slightest noise.
Become the shadows. One block. Two. Fifteen. And it takes hours. Don’t encounter anyone. Or anything. Today’s my lucky day. Well night. I guess. Not a sound. Normally terrifying. Alone at night. No lights. No sound. But now. A relief. Fear filled, but safe.
Up ahead it looms. My final destination. For tonight at least. Tomorrow. Who knows. So far from home. From life. From love.
Check the perimeter. Quick. But thorough. Signal Richard. Shoot first. Don’t ask questions. Helps to know I am coming. Cannot surprise people. Not anymore. Hear the reply. As if through water.
Enter through the gym. A sad liturgy. Desks and chairs strewn across the floor. Pick my way through slowly. Not a sound. Tread of my boots softened. Each footstep lands on papers. Exam papers. The tragedy. Kids came in to find their futures. Instead, the future found them. And it had teeth.
Remember a time. When I sat somewhere similar. The tick of the clock. Interspersed only with the resounding tock. Pencils scribble on paper. Drowned out by the hum of my own mind. Trying to find answers to questions I had never contemplated. Distracted by the cascade of black hair. The young woman a few rows forward.
And as I leave this gym I contemplate the irony. That now, years removed, I still do not have the answer. To questions I never thought I would need consider.
Shake my head. No time for philosophical debates. No time for anything anymore. And yet that’s all we have. Time. Minutes. Hours. A passage of time leading to the inevitable. The mistake. To the moment when it all ends. When the future finds you too.
Clear such thoughts. Close my mind. See only the dark corridor I’m walking down. Ceiling half collapsed. Desks upturned. Misplaced. Everything misplaced. In disorder. Chaos.
Find the room. Same as all the others. Except it’s not. The silence floods out of the room. A silent roar. Amazing what modern military technology can do.
Do not knock. Simply enter. Find Richard pouring over a map. Half a dozen others sitting. Staring. At the middle distance. And I know. They too are remembering. Some days it is all we have left. To keep us sane within this insanity.
Dump the bag full of supplies. The reason for leaving. The excuse I grasped. To escape for a day.
Ignore Richard. Slide down the wall. Knees pulled up. And I breath. Close my eyes. Just for a second.
Open them. Gloom gone. Sunlight pours through the windows. For a second I think I have slept too long. Panic. Until I notice. The windows. Such a small thing. But clear when you have spent so long in a single room. The sunlight comes in unhindered. Unfiltered. There is no dirt. No boards.
And then the sound filters through to me. Laughter. Ringing. Raging. So alien. Unexpected. Like an upper cut to the face. Blink and open my eyes again. And the room is full. Twenty people. No, not people. Teenagers. Milling around. Sitting at desks. Smiling. Talking. Without restraint. Not whispering. Carefree. Worry free. Far from death. Destruction. Unknowing. Not wanting to know.
Take in the scene. Feel warmth. Seep through my skin. Been cold for so long. Too long. Eyes flicker. Settle. On her. They always do. Or did. Then. Now. Shake my head. Whatever. Tenses are unimportant. Only this. A moment from another life.
Catch sight of myself. Younger. Blonder. Naïver. Eyes forward. Staring. To anyone else, into the middle distance. But I know. I’m staring at her. The girl with the black hair. That I long to touch. I remember the feeling. Empathise.
She turns. Eyes flashing. And suddenly I remember this scene. This moment. This day. Know what’s coming. As surely as the girl that resembles me does not.
She stands. Walks towards you. Me. Whatever. She’s getting closer. And your throat's constricting. Mouth dry. I remember how my heart was pounding. Blood draining from my brain.
She’s there. Standing beside you. And she’s on you. Straddling you. Like she knows you love. The world stands still. But you know the silence is real. Know everyone is staring. Do not care. Focus only on the press of her tight jeans. The curve of her hips. The softness of her lips against yours.
Try to force words. Try to form them. Fail. Your brain is out of order right now. Be back in five minutes. Random string of noises escape instead.
Know why she’s doing this. Simply cannot believe it. That she would be so brazen. No that’s wrong. You know just how brazen she can be. But right now she is tired of pretending. Of hiding this. Tired of being afraid.
As that thought enters your mind, cannot help but chuckle. To yourself. No one else is listening. At the idea of being scared. Back then. At this. The stupidity of it. That such a thing was really important.
Eyes jump open. Of their own accord. And I’m back. In the here and now. Can see Richard. Still staring at the map. As though it might change. As though it ever could.
Blink. Rub the sleep from my eyes. Try to wipe the memory away with it. But it lingers. With the smell of her perfume. Still fresh in my nose. As though she has just left. As if it really just happened. Though you know that was years ago. In another school. In another city. In another world.
Eyes fall closed again. Let them. Let sleep take over. Succumb to the dreams. Let them come to life. At least for tonight. Until they are real again. Until I can hold her in my arms once more. Until this nightmare ends. At least until tomorrow.
Pairing: Cara/Kahlan
Disclaimer: LotS, the characters, names and places do not belong to me.
A/N: Written as a series to entertain browneyed813, otherwise known as my muse and at the same time my girl. The two things she loves are LotS and Zombies, so I thought I'd combine them, just for her. And here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Slowly make my way back. Return to base. Leave the abandoned apartment building behind. Step into the street. Sweep it. No Lights. Electricity long gone.
Move silently. Stop every few paces. Listen. Scan for movement. Gun stored. Knife in hand. Stealth important. Cannot bring the hordes forth. All it takes is the slightest noise.
Become the shadows. One block. Two. Fifteen. And it takes hours. Don’t encounter anyone. Or anything. Today’s my lucky day. Well night. I guess. Not a sound. Normally terrifying. Alone at night. No lights. No sound. But now. A relief. Fear filled, but safe.
Up ahead it looms. My final destination. For tonight at least. Tomorrow. Who knows. So far from home. From life. From love.
Check the perimeter. Quick. But thorough. Signal Richard. Shoot first. Don’t ask questions. Helps to know I am coming. Cannot surprise people. Not anymore. Hear the reply. As if through water.
Enter through the gym. A sad liturgy. Desks and chairs strewn across the floor. Pick my way through slowly. Not a sound. Tread of my boots softened. Each footstep lands on papers. Exam papers. The tragedy. Kids came in to find their futures. Instead, the future found them. And it had teeth.
Remember a time. When I sat somewhere similar. The tick of the clock. Interspersed only with the resounding tock. Pencils scribble on paper. Drowned out by the hum of my own mind. Trying to find answers to questions I had never contemplated. Distracted by the cascade of black hair. The young woman a few rows forward.
And as I leave this gym I contemplate the irony. That now, years removed, I still do not have the answer. To questions I never thought I would need consider.
Shake my head. No time for philosophical debates. No time for anything anymore. And yet that’s all we have. Time. Minutes. Hours. A passage of time leading to the inevitable. The mistake. To the moment when it all ends. When the future finds you too.
Clear such thoughts. Close my mind. See only the dark corridor I’m walking down. Ceiling half collapsed. Desks upturned. Misplaced. Everything misplaced. In disorder. Chaos.
Find the room. Same as all the others. Except it’s not. The silence floods out of the room. A silent roar. Amazing what modern military technology can do.
Do not knock. Simply enter. Find Richard pouring over a map. Half a dozen others sitting. Staring. At the middle distance. And I know. They too are remembering. Some days it is all we have left. To keep us sane within this insanity.
Dump the bag full of supplies. The reason for leaving. The excuse I grasped. To escape for a day.
Ignore Richard. Slide down the wall. Knees pulled up. And I breath. Close my eyes. Just for a second.
Open them. Gloom gone. Sunlight pours through the windows. For a second I think I have slept too long. Panic. Until I notice. The windows. Such a small thing. But clear when you have spent so long in a single room. The sunlight comes in unhindered. Unfiltered. There is no dirt. No boards.
And then the sound filters through to me. Laughter. Ringing. Raging. So alien. Unexpected. Like an upper cut to the face. Blink and open my eyes again. And the room is full. Twenty people. No, not people. Teenagers. Milling around. Sitting at desks. Smiling. Talking. Without restraint. Not whispering. Carefree. Worry free. Far from death. Destruction. Unknowing. Not wanting to know.
Take in the scene. Feel warmth. Seep through my skin. Been cold for so long. Too long. Eyes flicker. Settle. On her. They always do. Or did. Then. Now. Shake my head. Whatever. Tenses are unimportant. Only this. A moment from another life.
Catch sight of myself. Younger. Blonder. Naïver. Eyes forward. Staring. To anyone else, into the middle distance. But I know. I’m staring at her. The girl with the black hair. That I long to touch. I remember the feeling. Empathise.
She turns. Eyes flashing. And suddenly I remember this scene. This moment. This day. Know what’s coming. As surely as the girl that resembles me does not.
She stands. Walks towards you. Me. Whatever. She’s getting closer. And your throat's constricting. Mouth dry. I remember how my heart was pounding. Blood draining from my brain.
She’s there. Standing beside you. And she’s on you. Straddling you. Like she knows you love. The world stands still. But you know the silence is real. Know everyone is staring. Do not care. Focus only on the press of her tight jeans. The curve of her hips. The softness of her lips against yours.
Try to force words. Try to form them. Fail. Your brain is out of order right now. Be back in five minutes. Random string of noises escape instead.
Know why she’s doing this. Simply cannot believe it. That she would be so brazen. No that’s wrong. You know just how brazen she can be. But right now she is tired of pretending. Of hiding this. Tired of being afraid.
As that thought enters your mind, cannot help but chuckle. To yourself. No one else is listening. At the idea of being scared. Back then. At this. The stupidity of it. That such a thing was really important.
Eyes jump open. Of their own accord. And I’m back. In the here and now. Can see Richard. Still staring at the map. As though it might change. As though it ever could.
Blink. Rub the sleep from my eyes. Try to wipe the memory away with it. But it lingers. With the smell of her perfume. Still fresh in my nose. As though she has just left. As if it really just happened. Though you know that was years ago. In another school. In another city. In another world.
Eyes fall closed again. Let them. Let sleep take over. Succumb to the dreams. Let them come to life. At least for tonight. Until they are real again. Until I can hold her in my arms once more. Until this nightmare ends. At least until tomorrow.