echidna: (❀ goodbye to everything i thought i knew)
Jade Harley ✿ gardenGnostic ([personal profile] echidna) wrote2011-11-27 06:57 pm

❄ twelfth reminder

[ highway ; early morning ; open ]

[ As far as awakenings go, this one is definitely ranks up there for most unpleasant. If the sound of trucks rumbling by weren't enough, the dull pain from the previous day has turned intense. She's quiet, temporarily uninterested by investigation by looking for somewhere to hind, finding a little hole in some nearby rubble to crawl into. The crawling is far more literal than she would like, and when she pulls up the legs of her pants she can see quite clearly why that is.

The swelling has increased significantly, her legs looking some horrible mess of black and purple. She pokes at them, like the two dead things they are, and barely feels it. ]


Oh no...

[ streets ; evening ; closed ]

[ She's not even sure how she's made it this long, or this far. Her legs barely work, and it takes everything she has to keep moving, to get from hiding place to hiding place. She's breathing heavily, and it seems like she won't be making it to her next one. All she can do is hold her breath and hope those things don't notice her. Maybe she'll get lucky. Maybe. ]

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Won't even be a motherfuckin' option.

[He smiles at her and gets back up, wrapping her arm around his shoulder and his own around her waist to support her.] Yeah, you're right. We'll be just fine, I ain't worried in the least.

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
[He keeps a careful eye on her - his powers of observation have gotten better with the sopor wearing off, and it's obvious how much pain she's in, even if she's trying to hide it. After a few minutes, he can't stop himself from speaking up.]

Come on, hivesis, just hop on a ride on my back like a one-wheeled device. It'll all what be a lot motherfuckin' easier for you and faster. 'Sides, we probably ain't too far from a safe place now.

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
[He has no intention of running off without Jade if - if, dammit - something happens. But he can't read her mind either, so he just nods and sends a quick prayer up to the messiahs for a miracle.

The hair on the back of his neck rises and unconsciously, he starts trying to walk faster.]

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
[He shakes his head, his arm tightening around her. He's not scared yet or even nervous, still confident they'll somehow get out of this, but the fact that his body is tense at all instead of in its usual relaxed pose says quite a lot about the situation they're in.]

Soooooorry, but like you all done said, it's only a little further. Just try to hold on a bit longer, yeah? If you be needing to rest, I can still carry you.

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
[He immediately drops to her side when she does, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight.] I'm right here, hivesis. I ain't going nowhere.

[Like all trolls, his night vision's always been pretty damn good, so he can make out the shapes starting to congregate around them. By now, he knows full well how dangerous they are, having seen them in action from the sidelines. He doesn't have his strife specibus or any of his weapons or even any pie to offer them, and he knows Jade's in the same condition. Their only option is to run.

...or maybe a miracle will happen and somehow strike them all dead, but for now, he hoists Jade onto his back, hooking her legs around his arms. It's difficult standing up with her weight on him and he staggers momentarily, but manages to clamber to his feet and make a break for it, adrenaline pushing him the entire way and giving him an extra boost of energy.

Even so, he currently only has all the strength of a thirteen-year old boy, and they are far, far too slow.]
Edited 2011-11-28 04:51 (UTC)

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Maybe this would be easier if he was less optimistic, less hopeful, put less faith in his miracles and his messiahs and his own immortality. As it is, he still thinks they have a chance, even as the cannibals surround them. He murmurs back a love you too, but it's meant as a reassurance, not a good-bye. Then, louder:]

Don't let go.

[He clutches Jade to him tighter, lowering his head and attempting to charge out of the throng. It's a stupid move, a hopeless one, but since when have any of his ideas been anything but?]

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
No, no -- motherfucker!

[He turns back instantly when he hears her scream, diving into the onslaught and reaching out desperately for her hand. He ignores the descending cannibals, the agony of his flesh being torn away, snarling and trying to shove the ones separating them away, only one thing on his mind.]

Jade!

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
[He grips her hand hard, still fighting and struggling to get them out of there. The situaion's turned him into little more than a bundle of survival instincts, sheer rage and terror driving him into a frenzy of bloodlust. With his free hand, he brings his claws into play, raking them down anything he can reach; he gores a cannibal's eye with his horn and sinks his own fangs into another's jugular, trying to do anything, anything, that'll help them make it out alive.

It's not enough. Without the speed and strength his blood gives him, his rage is nothing more than a dying boy's last resistance against the inevitable - for the few he's managed to take out, another two or three replace, bearing him down to the ground as his howls of fury turn into screams of pain.]
Edited 2011-11-28 07:14 (UTC)

[identity profile] miraculls.livejournal.com 2011-11-28 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't go out quietly, still fighting, still hoping until the very end. The pain, at this point, is beyond excruciating, overwhelming even the rage until his entire world is white-hot agony and he can't remember anything before it. His struggling has turned into little more than weak, pathetic pushes, helpless attempts to try to somehow dislodge the cannibals pinning him down. He can see slivers of white poke through on his arms where they've torn the flesh off straight down to the bone, and he wonders hysterically as much as he can wonder anything in this state how it is he's still alive, if it counts as a miracle if he doesn't want it, and maybe the fact that he is is a sign that they'll somehow get out of this after all--

The only thing worse than the pain is having to watch Jade endure the same and being powerless to stop it. Maybe he would have accepted his death more easily if she hadn't been there, would have just closed his eyes and prayed for it to be over soon - but he said they'd be fine, he can't let her down now, and it isn't fair that she has to go through this, that she has to die again while he can't do a goddamn motherfucking thing to stop it, and it's not until she lets go that he realizes that there isn't going to be a last-second miracle this time around.

He's still screaming her name when one of them finally rips out his throat.]