The world could end and it would feel no worse than this...

[shotofdumbidea]

[Forward-dated to the end of the Rift Tales plot...]

When Georgia woke up this morning, all the puppies she hadn't managed to give away had thankfully vanished - except for one, which she has a sneaking suspicion might be the very first one that woke her up when this all started a week ago.

She knows simply shoving it out the door won't work. She

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[badplanchaser]

Shaun doesn't have the best luck these days. So it's not too surprising when he crashes George's bike on the way to Dr. Abbey's new lab, or when he's surrounded by zombies. And when his kevlar rips and one of the bastards sinks its teeth into his arm... well, okay, that's a little more surprising but not entirely unexpected

[shotofdumbidea]

Georgia jumps a little at the thud on the grass behind her, and takes several steps forward as she spins around to put a little distance between herself and whatever just fell from the sky or through the Rift or whatever. It's instinct, automatic and unthinking, especially here in the park where her brain keeps translating the surroundings to "in the field" - she's been expecting a pack of zombies to try sneaking up on her since she hit the grass, honestly, and her hand's on the grip of her gun where it's shoved into the back of her pants by the time she finishes turning around.

She doesn't pull it. Her eyes go wide behind her sunglasses as she sees who just landed on the grass, like the universe decided to drop him into her lap as an apology for the past couple weeks. Or months. The puppy's yapping is drilling into her temples, making her headache ratchet up another level or two on the pain scale, and she doesn't care.

"Shaun?" Any other time, she'd notice the blood on his arm. Just now, she's too startled and relieved to see him,

[badplanchaser]

Shaun's brain is a bit muddled from the sudden shift in location plus the stress he's been under and the fact that his brain is full of the fact that he's bleeding, that he was bitten, so he doesn't register the voice as George's initially. He does register both "voice" and "familiar voice", though, which, when he realises that the owner of said voice is moving towards him, gets him on his feet and moving away as quickly as he can move.

"I'm bleeding!" he shouts as he backpedals. "Don't touch me, I'm--"

And then he registers the voice, and the woman standing in front of him, and the fact that he can still hear the George in his head cursing quietly and quite creatively. "Georgia?"

[shotofdumbidea]

Georgia skids to a halt at the word 'bleeding'. That's instinct too, drilled into her since she was old enough to understand - even if it's her brother, and she's been missing him like hell since she got here, and all she wants to do is hug him just to reassure herself he's really here.

"Yes, Georgia, you idiot," she snaps, like she didn't just ask his name in almost exactly that tone. With fear comes insults, and Shaun knows better than anyone not to take it personally.

She swallows hard, eyes flicking over him - it's not hard to spot the blood, though she can't see the wound clearly. Fuck. This can't be happening. "Show me."