Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness Ch.36
Title: Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness
By: Pink Rabbit Productions
Chapter: 36
Date: 22 October, 2010
Rating: R (for sex and violence)
Disclaimer: Hmmm, characters, not mine, situation, mine, though with the proviso that certain scenarios owe a major debt of gratitude to George Romero. Sex? Likely. Genders involved? Likely all female (at least anything on camera). Also there are likely to be very bad things in this story. I'm not one for prodigious amounts of gore, but this is horror and there is likely to be ickiness and things that might disturb some folks. Seriously. If it's gonna bother you, move along.
Summary: When the dead rise, civilization falls.
Author's Notes: Awhile back, just for fun, I did a faux movie poster that set Otalia in a horror setting and used some elements from an idea I've had running around for ages (what can I say---it was the Halloween season). See the poster here: http://altfic.com/artgallery/otalia/glafterworld01b.htm . Sooo, at some point, it seemed like fun to take a gander at writing them in that universe. I've quite deliberately tried to break away from my usual style and make it a bit faster moving, with frequent chapter breaks, deliberate cliffhangers, shorter scenes and more directed pov. We'll see if I can keep to one pov per chapter (well, they are short chapters...lol).
Dedicated to: My mom. Seriously. All of my growing up years, she would constantly throw me these what-if scenarios and press me to figure out logical ways to survive/get out of various emergency situations. Now, she never mentioned the zombie apocalypse, but I'm sure that was just an oversight or a desire not to scare a little kid (because, really, I grew up as the daughter of a top secret type during the cold war...I already had enough fear issues), but really, that odd little game was the genesis of...well...not just this story, but a lot of my love of writing. So, thanks mom.
Previous Chapters: | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 | Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 | Chapter 34 | Chapter 35 |
Afterworld:
Into the Arms of Darkness
Chapter 36
That Olivia. Olivia snorted at the phrase. "I'm guessing there were a lot more expletives in Reva's version," she muttered.
Natalia's flushed cheeks confirmed her suspicion.
"Bitch, slut, whore, homewrecker," Olivia rattled off a few of the choice terms Reva had thrown at her over the years as she felt the heat of ages old combat rush over her, adding a little heat to her chilled, shivering world. Actually, it kinda felt good.
"I...uh..." Natalia's flush deepened several notches as she stammered uncomfortably.
"Yeah, that's Reva." Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was kinda cute when she blushed, but Olivia had to tamp down the urge to growl resentfully because even dead, Reva was still finding ways to make trouble in her life, though she supposed she oughta give her a few points for killing Jeffrey. "Let me guess. In her version, I was the horrible, vicious bitch who broke up her marriage, and plotted to steal Josh's company."
"Ah...well...ummm," Natalia stammered uneasily.
"I'll bet she left out the part where Josh divorced her because she ran off with another man," Olivia bit out, tired of the fiction that she'd had anything to do with that breakup. "Or that we weren't even seeing each other then."
"Um, I'm really not sure that-" Natalia said hesitantly, sounding uncomfortable and like she really wished she'd kept her mouth shut.
"Don't bother denying it," Olivia said bitterly. She'd heard enough of Reva's version of events to have a pretty good idea how the tale went. "The irony is Josh cheated all right," Olivia added, the fury still with her. "With her...in our bed...a whole six weeks after he stood with me before a minister and promised to love, honor, and cherish." She stared at her reflection in dark eyes. Her jaw was gritted, her eyes hard. She almost felt good, didn't even shiver for a moment. The adrenaline in her veins seemed to be heating things up a bit.
"I'm sorry," Natalia whispered.
"Yeah...well, silly me...I thought Josh would be thrilled I managed to sneak home a day early from a business meeting."
Little Miss Sunshine looked profoundly embarrassed. Well, why not? It was an embarrassing bit of history.
"Not so much as it turned out," Olivia snarked, hating the memory of that moment when she'd realized that despite all of his reassurances and dismissal of her fears, he'd never really loved her. Oh, he'd tried to put things back together, make peace, assure her it was just a one-time thing brought about by the emotional stress of dealing with a family emergency. Reva had just smirked in her triumph.
Olivia was startled to feel a hand land gently on her shoulder and rub lightly, even more shocked to feel the anger abate somewhat.
"What happened?" Natalia asked very gently, offering no words of judgment, just sympathy.
"Josh promised it would never happen again...he got that part right. I filed for divorce the next day...took him to the cleaners." She smiled a feral smile and laughed grimly. "Reva wasn't smirking when I got most of his company and sold it to Alan Spaulding for four times what it was worth." That had been a nice bit of revenge. Alan and Josh hated each other. Tying them together in business had guaranteed making both of their lives miserable.
That hand was still gently massaging. It shouldn't have been soothing. Nothing had been in more years than Olivia could count. But all the same, she felt a little of the fury drain away.
"After that," Olivia said very softly, "let's just say I made it very difficult for his business to get any traction." She'd kept him on the verge of bankruptcy for years with financial tricks and sleight of hand. Josh was a hell of a contractor, but a fourth-rate businessman on his best day.
Natalia was silent for a long moment and Olivia couldn't think of anything else to say while she waited for the other woman to hurl some kind of insult for daring to have tormented Springfield's golden couple.
"And yet you called Josh and warned him not to go when we got the evacuation order," Natalia said very softly when she finally spoke.
Tension slid through Olivia, knotting her muscles. That wasn't at all what she expected and she felt vaguely accused of something.
"Why?"
Olivia let out a sharp gasp of air as though she'd been struck. She'd hated Josh for years, but at the same time, there remained a part of her that remembered the early times, when he'd still been sweet and caring. Despite everything, when Sam had called her with the truth, his name had been on the short list of people she'd warned. Shrugging, she shook her head. "I just...did," she muttered, not wanting to think about that last call or the things she might have said if she'd accepted there would be no more contact, angry or otherwise.
"Reva and Josh fought about it...a real knockdown, drag out..." Natalia explained, her voice soft and soothing, "but in the end, when they saw how things were going, they realized you were right...that the evacuation centers were likely to turn into a slaughter."
Which was more or less what had happened. Olivia had driven by enough of them to see the results, though only through binoculars. That much death devoured everything that got too close.
"That's why we all moved here," Natalia continued, unaware of Olivia's thoughts. "So we support each other and be close...but quiet...under the radar. Josh's company had purchased the houses in this area, intending to completely upgrade them and resell for a profit...so he had a place and the materials standing by. But the improvement, the well, everything was because Josh had time to plan. If you hadn't warned him...we would have gone along and died when the relocation centers fell."
It was on the tip of Olivia's tongue to point out that apparently everyone had died anyway, but concluded she already had enough emotional turmoil to deal with. Adding more wasn't likely to help things. That last call had been rough, with Josh suspicious of her motives and inclined to think she was pulling one more stunt. It was only when she'd mentioned that the information came from Sam and what he'd seen in Florida that her ex-husband had backed down a little. "Did Josh realize that I...I was just trying to help?" she asked, then wished she hadn't. She wasn't sure she was ready to hear that Josh's final words on her had been as angry as some that had passed between them.
"Reva thought you were trying to get them killed," Natalia admitted, "but Josh said you'd never do that...that despite everything, you were basically decent."
Feeling the burn of unwanted tears, Olivia snapped her eyes shut and swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. "Am I?" she whispered very softly, suddenly overwhelmed by the news that he could still say anything decent about her after everything that had happened between them."Sometimes I don't think so," she breathed, suddenly feeling sad and broken. "I've hurt people..." She suddenly wished she'd just walked away from Josh and let it go, but there was no taking back all the damage she'd done now. It was much too late.
For so many things.
The hand on her shoulder was still massaging gently.
Peering at the other woman, she wondered how she could be so kind, especially after...
She flinched from the memory, the horror made even worse by the encounter with Jeffrey. It reminded her that she knew exactly what that threat meant, just like she knew the fear, the shame, and the self loathing the act left in its wake. Her stomach rolled until she wasn't sure it was going to stay down. "I'm sorry," she whispered raggedly. "...what I threatened to do to you...I...had no right..." Her voice cracked and she couldn't continue. She didn't even know the last time she'd apologized for anything, but this was too important to ignore.
Natalia tensed, her breathing slowing as though she was controlling it tightly. "You were scared...for Emma-" she breathed, her voice sounding strangled and rough.
"Don't," Olivia bit out and shook her head. "Don't excuse it...ever." She heard her voice crack with emotion. Some crimes didn't deserve to be forgiven.
Natalia was silent for a long moment as she peered at Olivia, searching her face for something. "Jeffrey," she said at last, dawning comprehension in her eyes. "You already knew him." It was a statement, not a question. "You knew what he'd threaten...what he'd do...to me..." She sounded increasingly ill as she said the words and began to see the puzzle in front of her.
Unable to bear the scrutiny, Olivia looked away.
"He called out something...'for Ava'..." Natalia was so still she bare seemed to breathe. "Emma said her older sister's name was Ava..."
Olivia could almost feel the other woman working it out. She wanted to scream at her to stop, wanted to push it away and make it not true, and escape before she heard the words that would slash and burn and destroy the fragile peace she'd found in the last few minutes.
She was amazed when instead of being pushed away, she felt the arms wrapped around her body tighten their hold, the grip protective, not punishing. Then she felt the press of Natalia's cheek against her hair and the warmth of her breath.
"Oh...Olivia," Natalia breathed almost inaudibly. "I'm so sorry." She sounded like she was crying. Maybe she was.
Softhearted idiot. How could she cry for someone who'd threatened to...
Swallowing hard, Olivia tried to will her own tears away. A tiny shudder shook her frame, but it was nothing like the random muscle spasms she'd experienced before. This one had a clear-cut cause. "You shouldn't be saying those words," she whispered when she could finally force the words past the tightness in her throat. "Especially not to me."
"I'd say them to anyone who..." Natalia trailed off and was silent for a moment before simply saying, "Anyone."
Shaking with a harsh sob that refused to be contained, Olivia sank into the arms that held her. Even knowing she had no right to ask this woman for anything, she was profoundly grateful for the comfort that was offered. She felt the palm still spread against her chest shift ever so slightly and reached up, covering Natalia's hand with her own, suddenly uncertain.
"It's still beating," Natalia assured her. Settling into the couch, she smoothed Olivia's hair back from her face with a gentle hand, then laid her inner wrist against her forehead. "Your fever's still rising." She seemed to recognize that they needed a subject change. "How do you feel?"
"Bitch of a headache," Olivia admitted as it occurred to her that her skull was throbbing. She hadn't really noticed the sensation mostly because the rest of her was hurting so badly, including her emotions. Maybe being dead was easier in its way because living sure as hell was painful. "Some body ache...a few bruises..." She offered an overly bright smile as she fought the encroaching arms of depression. "Not as cold as I was."
"That's good." Natalia frowned ever so slightly. "I wish I could give you something for the pain, but it would probably lower the fever-"
"Right...fever good," Olivia drawled, then laughed grimly. "Mind you, I don't think the last guy who told me I was hot meant it quite this way."
"I'm sure he didn't," Natalia confirmed, a touch of humor threaded through her voice.
That was good. Humor helped. Which was especially important because outside the world was growing darker, throwing the room into ever deeper shadows.
It felt like a slow constriction of life from the world.
"Maybe you should go up with Emma," Olivia whispered abruptly. She didn't deserve all of this. Emma wasn't generally afraid of the dark, but in a strange place, with everything that had happened, it was hard to imagine she wouldn't be and Olivia couldn't bear the idea of her little girl alone and scared.
"I'm not leaving you," Natalia said softly. "Emma will be okay. I showed where the lights were last night and she seemed okay...and when we spoke, the most important thing to her was that you get better."
"I know you don't trust me completely..." Olivia whispered, thinking that was what was holding the other woman back. "But you could tie me or do...whatever...I just-" She hated the idea, but if it would make things easier on her daughter, she would hold out her hands like a good girl and suffer through it.
"I'm not tying you up," Natalia cut her off. "Not after what I..." She muttered a mild curse under her breath. "I should be begging for forgiveness just as much as you for what I..." She trailed off, then tried again. "I didn't know...didn't think..."
"You were trying to protect yourself and Emma. You didn't know if I-"
"Don't excuse it," Natalia repeated Olivia's command, then paused to take a deep breath. "Neither one of us has much to be proud there for a while." She lifted her hand from Olivia's chest, moving it to her cheek to draw her head around until their eyes met. "I dunno about you, but I don't really want to keep going over every mistake we both made." She took a deep breath. "There aren't a lot of opportunities for friendship under these circumstances and I don't know about you...but I could really use a friend."
Olivia nodded slowly. Yeah, a friend. One of those would be nice.
"So maybe we could start over?" Then Natalia dropped her hand, holding it out as if to shake. "I'm Natalia Rivera...and you are?" she prompted when Olivia didn't immediately answer.
"Olivia Spencer," Olivia responded after a long beat. Her hand met the other woman's in a firm shake.
"Pleased to meet you, Olivia..."
* * * * * * *
TBC