Osara continued to shake violently, she closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm herself, she inhaled Beans scent and stayed like that way until she was calm enough to speak.
When she was finally able to speak, all she managed was a weak "please get me out of here, I can't stand this anymore" her body was still shaking, but not quite as violently.
Bean nodded and led her to another room. The room was empty. She was worried sick about the other girl and hoped this would help. She sat Aspen down on the floor and she sat next to her, holding her close.
Aspen shook her head, standing up so quickly she stumbled forward, she caught herself on the wall and turned towards Bean "no, I have to leave her, I cant be in this hospital anymore" she said quietly, walking away and out the doors, her breath hitched in her throat as she looked back and sighed "Przepraszam mama" she whispered.
Bean rushed after her. “Aspen, wait!” she cried. Tears welled up in her eyes as she grabbed the other girl’s wrist. “Y-You’ll die out there…” she choked out, tears freely falling.
Earl raised an eyebrow at the commotion Aspen and Bean were causing. Seemed like an emotional moment.
Too bad they didn't have time for that shit.
"Hey, girls. Whatever's bothering you, stop. You could attract some…" He paused for a moment, looking at Mori.
"Walkers."
Kas managed to push himself up out of Luka's arms, standing and leaning against the wall. "We should find somewhere to sleep. Somewhere safe from the zombies." Mori hiccuped weakly and held tighter to Lilac, a few tears rolling down his cheeks.
Levi half jogged to Tohru, "Have you been crying? Are you alright?" He naturally grabbed the edge of Tohru's sleeve. He was glad to have come back downstairs but seeing the red in Tohru's eyes worried him.
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Tohru bit his lip. He thought maybe he'd hidden it well enough, but clearly that wasn't the case.
He softly went to explain about the infected man they'd found, but he was unsure if he should bring anything else up unprompted. After all, he wasn't really looking for pity.
"So yeah, it's kind of upsetting, especially when you've seen people you knew turn as well. It's-it's not a big deal though, I'm just being too sensitive, aren't I?"
Lis followed everyone else downstairs and managed to collect a bit on what happened. What was important was that everyone was safe.
"We should be able to spend the night in a couple of the rooms here, right?" she said, "Usually exam rooms don't have windows or anything zombies would break into, for example. We'd be pretty secure in one of those. We'd just have to lay out our own bedding."
Aspen shook her head "you guys can, I think I-" she paused and then shook her head, as if banishing what she was about to say "we should probably stay on the second floor, incase we get walkers, we wont be trapped if they come from the roof or ground level, we'll have a clear escape. " she said shrugging her backpack onto her shoulders.
Bean nodded, pulling Aspen into a hug. Luka nodded, looking away. “We all need it…after everything…” he muttered quietly. Lilac fixed her and Mori’s positions so that Mori was sitting directly on the floor.
Kas started toward the stairs, trying to hide his limp so he wouldn't have to be carried again. He went up a few steps, holding his breath to help himself keep quiet. After a while, Mori's tears subsided and he fell silent again, appearing to have either passed out or fallen asleep.
Luka, meanwhile, walked over to the stairs as well. He stayed behind Kas, just in case the other boy fell. Lilac picked Mori up again and followed her brother. She tried to be careful so she wouldn’t wake him up.
Aspen stayed in front of bean, while they walked her eyes casted to the ground and nowhere else, the last thing she wanted to do was look at anyone else after that incident where she basically became the stereotypical over emotional teenage girl.
She hated that, she had always loved helping others through their emotions or emotional pain, yet could never extract her own for fear of becoming a burden.
Tohru bit his lip. He thought maybe he'd hidden it well enough, but clearly that wasn't the case.
He softly went to explain about the infected man they'd found, but he was unsure if he should bring anything else up unprompted. After all, he wasn't really looking for pity.
"So yeah, it's kind of upsetting, especially when you've seen people you knew turn as well. It's-it's not a big deal though, I'm just being too sensitive, aren't I?"
"You can't be too sensitive when the world is crumbling," Levi said, putting his hands on Tohru's shoulders with some difficulty. "You can cry as much as you want around me, I won't judge, I'll probably just join in." He gave Tohru a crooked, almost nervous smile. "C'mon, let's help the others."
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Tohru clenched his teeth and gave a slight nod.
"Yeah, it's just, we've all lost someone, haven't we? I'm not special."
He gave a shrug and tried to smile back.
"But yeah, let's go help. I'll sort it out later. Or I won't."
"You can always talk to us then," Levi said, looking up at the taller man. "We know how to help. I guess. Unless you don't wanna, then fair enough." He followed after the others and made sure to stay next to Tohru. He kept darting his eyes around the halls, every inch of him on edge.
Earl sat on one of the chairs upstairs. He had just…spilled it all out.
Told one of his deepest, darkest secrets.
"Rachel cannot find out I did that…" He muttered, fiddling with his thumbs.
I don't think she even remembers it. Blocked it out, He thought.
Rachel ran up the stairs humming a short tune. What a Wonderful World, to be exact.
"Anyone see some vendors? We could grab some chips and drinks. Or something." She added.
Honestly, all this talk was making her hungry for some Lays. "Damn. Cravings are a bitch."
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"I appreciate it. Really. I'm not sure I'm ready to confront all of the things that have happened, but not all of them were so long ago, so it could be quite some time."
He sighed softly and shook his head.
"When my grade school teachers asked where I pictured myself ten years from now, I can assure you this wasn't it."
Of course, he had no intentions of sharing Earl's secret. He didn't know whether Rachel knew about it or not, but he figured it would be a sore subject for both of them either way.
Lis glanced around.
"I haven't seen any vending machines yet, but there's a cafeteria on the first floor. They probably have canned goods if nothing else. But uh… I'm sure there's a vending machine somewhere. Junk food sounds good, not gonna lie. Even if it is stale."
Aspen opened her bookbag and threw multiple bags of mini chips on the floor
"I have some chips, for everyone." She said quietly, pushing the chips towards the others.
Bean opened her bag as well. “And I have some candy,” she smiled, looking up at everyone. Luka turned to face his sister. “Thanks,” he grinned as Lilac nodded. Lilac was still hugging Mori. She knew he was scared and she didn’t blame him.
Kas picked up a bag of chips and carefully lowered himself down to sit on the steps so he could eat. Mori, while still asleep, definitely didn't have much interest in eating at the moment. He wasn't convinced he could keep anything down.
Aspen waited for everyone else to grab food before she grabbed some for herself, she waited patiently on the steps, handing Kas a bottle of water, and picking at a thread on her pants.
"I appreciate it. Really. I'm not sure I'm ready to confront all of the things that have happened, but not all of them were so long ago, so it could be quite some time."
He sighed softly and shook his head.
"When my grade school teachers asked where I pictured myself ten years from now, I can assure you this wasn't it."
Of course, he had no intentions of sharing Earl's secret. He didn't know whether Rachel knew about it or not, but he figured it would be a sore subject for both of them either way.
"Fair enough. I get what you mean though. Things I could probably never get over." Levi said, he didn't want to push Tohru to share something he wasn't comfortable with. He almost laughed at Tohru's 'ten years' statement but he felt it wasn't the time and bit his tongue. "Well, I thought I'd be on the moon so there was no way that was gonna happen, Zombies or not."
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Tohru chuckled slightly at Levi's last statement.
"Okay, that's maybe a little more far-fetched than what I wanted to do at that age. I mean, sure I was damn convinced that I was going to be doing art for a living. And making lots of money doing it. You know what? Maybe going to the moon doesn't seem that outlandish after all," Tohru replied jokingly.
Levi was really lifting his spirits, even not fully knowing what was going on in his mind. He was certainly glad for that, though.
Lis grabbed a bag of chips as well, and she sat in one of the chairs, watching everyone else closely. Her gaze fell over to Mori and locked on.
"Oh, gods… That poor kid. What do I…?" she murmured to herself.
She shook her head a bit and approached Lilac, who had been looking after Mori the closest.
"Hey, do you know what we can do for the poor kid?" she asked, gesturing at Mori, "He looks pretty rough."
Lilac looked up at Lis and sighed. “I don’t know…I’ve been trying to get him to talk for a while now…” she muttered. “He won’t eat either…” she choked up, wiping her tearful eyes.
Kas ate his chips contentedly, looking around from where he was sitting. He kept his weight off of his injured leg, clearly still tender on it. Mori shifted a bit in his sleep, but didn't wake or make any sound.
"Oh, you do art?" Levi said, his curiosity getting the better of him. "I've tried before but it definitely isn't up to standard." He laughed at himself, memories of his dumb pictures of Lorelai and him and even Mori crossed his mind. They were all in a box, at his parent's house, halfway across the states behind them somewhere. He didn't want them back anyway. "What kind of things do you like doing?" He asked.
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"Oh, well, all I can do nowadays is traditional. Mostly just sketches, and if I find paints or something to make pigments with, that's always nice," Tohru replied, "But before, I was leaning towards digital graphic design shit so I could maybe make a living. Didn't like it as much as painting out a nice scene or self-indulgent fanart, but it's not like I can draw erotic art of Mario and Bowser for a living."
He stopped himself.
"That's a joke, by the way. I mean, I've taken commissions almost on par with that, but money's money, right?" he laughed, "When I say self-indulgent, I mean cute ship art mostly."
Lis nodded at Lilac.
"It's okay. We'll figure it out. He's at least resting right now, which is good. We can get him to eat when he's ready, and I'm sure eventually he'll get to talking again. It makes sense that he's scared speechless."
Lilac nodded. "I know…I just…" she looked away. "I miss his smile…"
Levi laughed, "I heard artists get weird commissions but I never thought they'd be-" He paused, trying to think of how to put it tastefully, "-that."
"You'll have to teach me, so I can draw more than a stick figure with scoliosis." He joked, giving Tohru a light nudge. "I definitely didn't have a stable income, I kept moving around. Between friends houses mostly. I could never keep a job for very long. I just thought I'd found one, and a place to stay, then everything turned to shit."
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