Who: Cole, Sam and (sort of) Jude What: Jude falls apart, Cole freaks out, and Sam has to deal. Where: P5 When: Immediately after Jude shows up at his door Warnings: Swearing, decomposition, death?
Cole was about ten minutes away from gathering his resolve and going to see Jude when he heard the knock at his door. He barely had time to turn around before it became a banging, and he could hear the sound of someone crying, muffled by the thick wood. Jude was his first thought, and he nearly tripped over himself in his haste to get to the door, the chain around his fingers slipping and the ring hitting the floor with a light cling.
As soon as he opened the door a cat raced in, and he barely caught a glimpse of black fur before it vanished underneath his couch. Confused, he turned back towards the doorway, and what he saw made his blood turn cold.
"Jude?" She looked terrible, her lank hair barely shrouding the mottled skin of her face, and her fingers - how the hell was this possible - were slowly turning black. He heard her say Sam, but that was the last coherent word he got from her - she was crying heavily, senseless whimpers falling from her lips. He took her by the shoulders and tried to get her to look at him, but her eyes were dull and clouded and he knew she couldn't focus on him.
"Jesus, what happened? Are you okay? Please, talk to me." Cole practically begged her, but when he tried to tuck her hair behind her ears it simply came out, snagging on his fingers. He stared in horror, bringing a hand to her face and flinching when the skin simply flaked away. Something was very, very wrong here, and he could feel a distinct pressure building behind his eyes. His hands began to shake as he pulled her close to him, his eyes roving around his apartment in desperation.
Sam. Sam liked science, Sam might know what to do - and she'd asked for him, after all. Sam would understand better than anyone else, and there wasn't time to call an ambulance and wait. Jude needed help now.
"Hold on," he told her, trying to keep his voice from breaking. "I'm going to get you help, okay? You're going to be fine... just fine. I promise you, you're going to be fine."
Jude didn't answer, just cried and screamed like she was in some sort of invisible pain. Desperation clawed at his lungs as he lifted her as gingerly as he could into his arms, backing out of his apartment and pulling the door shut behind him. Up the stairs he ran, his own mindless babbling mixed with her wordless cries and the thudding of his own heart. It seemed to take an eternity to get to the penthouse floor, but when he did he didn't bother knocking - he kicked the door to P5, over and over and over.
"Sam! Sam, open the goddamn door! SAM, I NEED YOUR HELP! OPEN THE DOOR!"