Keep Running [art]
Keep Running
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Four illustrations by xanax_n_wine
No one’s expecting it when Frank walks in. Gerard tries hard to wipe the shock off his face. It’s not like they thought he was dead-they’d hoped he wasn’t, but it had been early enough to still have hope-but they certainly didn’t think he’d just come waltzing back.
He’s not exactly waltzing, though. He’s gripping the doorframe tightly with one hand, and his other is curled protectively around his stomach. There’s blood smeared around his throat and matted in his hair, and bruises around his hooded eyes.
Gerard snaps out of his daze and goes to him. “Hey,” he says simply. He wants to ask if Frank’s okay-he obviously isn’t-but he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and make Frank angry, or hurt him even more. It’s no secret that Frank’s a proud man; they’ve all gotten used to skirting around issues like this.
Frank slowly raises his eyes to meet Gerard’s. He opens his mouth.
“Frank?”
“Help me,” he whispers. Frank takes a halting step into the building and almost immediately falls to his knees. Gerard catches him around the waist and slows his fall, lowering them both to the ground. Frank smells like blood and vomit, and like the sharp tang of electricity.
“Mikey? Ray?” Gerard calls.
Frank pillows his chin on his crossed arms as he leans out the window to watch Ray and Mikey walk away. Gerard crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the car beside him.
“This is a bad fucking idea,” Frank mutters.
“Tell me about it.”
Frank moves to the front passenger seat. Gerard spends several minutes checking, double-checking, and triple-checking their supplies, then loads up a few guns just in case before sliding into the driver’s seat.
An army of dracs climb out of the SUVs and spread out. There are at least fifteen that Gerard can see, and some of them stand still, like guards. Finally, Korse gets out of his car. He stands tall and proud, with a satisfied smirk on his face and a white gun hanging loosely from his hand. The bright sunlight gleams on his smooth head. He and two dracs, both with BL/ind cloth masks rather than monster masks-his own personal guard, Gerard suspects-come up to the front door. Korse knocks loudly.
“You aren’t going to leave me in this sweltering heat, are you, Gerard?” he calls.
Ahhhh, totally flailing. It's so amazing to see things that I wrote translated into images. I really love the coloring in these, so vivid and bright, especially the yellow of Frank's outfit and the red blood. I love the one of Frank in the car; his expression is so haunting. There's definitely a sense of foreboding there, and I love the contrast of his skin and his bright shirt with the black side of the car. And I love Korse, of course. :D So creepy. These are all so fantastic!! I flailed for quite a while when I opened up my email and saw these for the first time. And I was so spoiled with FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. Amazing. These are so great. Thank you so much. Everybody, leave xanax_n_wine some love. :)
[ mix]