Leon Smith (dangerous_mind) wrote in humanity_lost, @ 2008-04-07 19:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | liz, sparky |
Reunions
Who: Sparky and Liz
When: Week 1, Tuesday Evening.
Where: Licolnwood Town Center Mall in Chicago
What: After being separated for a few years, fate throws Sparky and Liz back together. Things...don't go so well.
Liz had been locked up in her apartment for a couple weeks now, avoiding the virus but more so avoiding the people who were dying from it. Their thoughts had beat at her mind, causing her to pass out a few times. Then the thoughts had stopped. Still Liz stayed inside until her food supply ran out and she knew she was going to have to journey out into the world. Packing a duffle bag of what she wanted to hang on to the most, the former thief known as Deadly Desire headed out into the world. A very quiet world. She made it to the mall on her bike before it dead out, much like everything else. The power was still running there...for now anyway. Who knew how long it would last though. For now it meant there was running water in the bathrooms and the kitchens in the food court would be working. It seemed like the perfect place to hole up. Over the next week Liz made herself a nice little nest inside of the mall. One of the smaller stores had been cleared out so she could start moving a bed and other items in there. With the power working for the time being she had tv. Or rather she had a tv with a dvd placer and every movie she could want. Still it was odd. Not just odd because she was holed up in a mall, but because there wasn't a single living soul in the whole building besides herself. For the first time in years she was able to lower her shields without having the thoughts of another come banging into her mind. Outside the mall a large SUV rolled to a halt in the parking lot. The fact that it had managed to maneuver through around vehicles parked haphazardly while pulling a large camper was a feet of impressive skill. Or sheer luck. Sitting behind the wheel Mark, or Sparky as he preferred to be called, surveyed the area while he kept the engine running. He didn’t know why he was being so cautious, it wasn’t like there was anybody left to attack him and besides he could handle himself. Finally turning off the engine Sparky turned so he could dig out his shopping list from where he had stuffed it into a backpack. Both the SUV and camper were nearly stuffed to the max with supplies already. He had raided small town stores as he drove up from Alabama, sticking to back roads as he did, just in case. Apparently he didn’t have to worry. He was sure he had the necessities for survival; toiletries, canned food, bottled water, fuel, lots and lots of batteries, but it didn’t hurt to check for more and maybe find things he might not know he needs. Like booze. Besides if he was going to be making Chicago his home again he’d better gather as much as he could while he could. Finding his list Sparky hopped out of his SUV, okay it was stolen but who was going to arrest him, and strolled towards the mall, picking up a wayward shopping cart as he did. He halted outside one of the main entrances and places his head close to the glass so he could look around inside. Apparently power was still working in most of the area for now and he would be glad when it finally gave out, then he wouldn’t have to keep stopping at red lights. He tried to ignore the empty clothes that laid about near the entrance. Thankfully wind and rain had washed away most of the dust but it was hard to forget that people had died a few feet away. Deciding it was okay Sparky opened the door and pushed the cart inside the mall. “C’mon zombies, where are ya,” he mumbled to himself. All those years perfecting his zombie survival plan and when the end of the world comes nobody has the decency to turn into a zombie. Nope, just dust. Kind of anti-climactic. Wandering around the mall Sparky gazed about looking through the fronts of shops as his cart squealed and one wheel rattled uncontrollably. He always got one with a bad wheel, it never failed. The sound of the squealing wheel was missed but the sudden arrival of someone else's thoughts in her head was not. Zombies? Yeah, those were not her thoughts. The odd thing was that the thought waves actually felt familiar. It had been a while since she had felt them though and so she couldn't pin point just who's they were. All she knew right now was that someone was in her mall. Yes, her mall. She had laid claim to it first and Liz didn't do well with the sharing. Grabbing a nearby gun, she crept from out of the store she was in. Circling around because the intruder, Liz never got a good look at him. The person was clearly male and clearly a little crazy what with the thoughts and plans of a zombie apocalypse. Currently she was only reading the surface thoughts, not wanting to dig deeper. She had meet enough painful thoughts lately. Who knew what this person held. A safe distance away, she trained the gun on the guy before giving him a mental poke. "How about you turn around and leave the way you came in," Liz called out through the empty mall. The mind poking made Sparky stumble a bit but surprisingly he didn’t stop, or even turn in the direction he had heard the voice come from. “There’s nobody there. Just my mind playing tricks on me is all,” he almost chanted to himself. “So who is it this time? I’ve already seen my parents and a couple of others. Even poor little nearly naked Mr. Bojangles. If you’re going to keep playing tricks on me mind then at least come up with a good hallucination. Like Ms. Thompson my 9th grade math teacher. Man did I have a crush on her and her big bazooms,” Sparky rambled on as he kept walking. Needless to say after the past few week his grip on his sanity was a bit shaky. Not that it had ever been that firm to begin with. The more the guy rambled on the more Liz started to figure out who was in her mall. No, it couldn't be. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her. She had oftened wondered the weeks she was locked away in her apartment if he had made it through or not. After she had stepped outside and seen everything she had figured he hadn't. But here he was, rambling on about big bazooms. "Oh my god. You're alive," Liz finally said out load. She came closer before stepping around him to see with her eyes what her mind was telling her. "It is you!" A second later she jumped up on him, circling her legs around his waist, and planting a kiss on his lips. Screaming was something Sparky didn’t do on a regular basis but when he did it was always memorable. This was one of those times. After not so gently shoving Liz off his body he let out the mother of all girly screams. “Freaky deaky touchy hallucination! My mind has finally taken the long walk of that short pier of life,” he hollered while his eyes bugged out before suddenly seeming to calm down. “Oh, it was nice seeing you again, Liz.” Seconds later he was running through the mall screaming incoherently. Now sitting on the hard floor with a sore butt, Liz remembered that she was mad at Sparky. It was great that he was alive cause now she could let him know just how mad she was. Especially when he was running away from her. Yeah, really made a girl feel loved. Picking herself up off the floor she decided against running after him. Instead she headed to the food court and sat down at a table. If he wasn't planning on leaving her mall then he'd make his way there sooner or later. Sparky wasn’t sure how long he ran screaming through the mall but once he stopped he did know several things. First of all he was lost, second his throat was really sore now and third that hallucination kissed like a pro. “Okay that was just a little too freaky. Maybe I should pick up a few mannequins while I’m here so that I have someone to talk to. Hey! Tools!” His brain abruptly sidetracked Sparky wandered into a hardware store where he started to play with all the power tools, taking special notice of a nail gun. A short while later Sparky was pushing another cart, again with a bad wheel, laded with all kinds of fun tools through the mall. His encounter with Liz apparently forgotten. At least until he rolled into the food court and spotted her sitting at one of the tables. “Right, just have to close my eyes and count to three,” he told himself and then followed his own instructions. When he opened his eyes again Liz was still there. “Maybe it was thirty.” And a few seconds later she was standing in front of him. She stared at him, trying to pay no mind to any flutters in her stomach, before hauling off and punching him in the face. "Tell me, does that feel real?" It was hard for Sparky to give Liz an answer considering he was currently flat on his bag and staring up at the ceiling while making gurgling sounds. “Wow, imaginary Liz isn‘t very nice,” was all he managed to groan out. "Gee, I wonder why," Liz said, rolling her eyes before looking over to the cart he had filled. "I'm gonna get even less nice if you don't stop picking through my mall you vulture!" Staring down at him she gave him another mental poke. It was clear he had lost his mind. “You’re mall? The sign outside said Licolnwood Town Center,” Sparky retorted as he managed to get himself to a sitting position. Once there he openly stared at Liz for a good, long minute before suddenly reaching out and giving her a hard poke. “Either you’re the most real hallucination ever or you’re real. And if you’re real then you could be all sicky and if you’re sick then I’m gonna be sick and then we’re both gonna be dust. Which would suck. Anyway, how you been, Liz?” Yes, at times it took a road map to try and follow Sparky’s train of thought. Unless it’s already derailed and wiped out his higher brain functions. "I'm real, I'm not sick, I've been holed up away from everyone. And yes, my mall! I found it first." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at Sparky. Punching him again sounded like a fun idea but she held back. "Why do you care how I been? I should turn what you have left for a brain into goo!" Well, she was pretty sure it was all ready goo. Trying to follow his thoughts was giving her a headache. “Well since we might very well be the last two people on the planet I figured I’d start with a little small talk before working up to repopulating the human race,” Sparky nonchalantly commented while sitting up. “Oh and dibs. If you didn’t call dibs on the mall when you found it then by dibs law it and all it’s contents now belong to me. Neener neener neener.” Apparently that somehow all made sense in Sparky’s mind and he didn’t explain things further as he stood up and dusted himself off. Liz's arms had feel back to her sides and she was standing there with her mouth hanging open a bit. Had he been this annoying five years ago or was it just because she was mad at him that made her want to punch his lights out. Instead a chair came flying across the floor at him. "I don't care if we are the last two people on the planet, I am so not repopulating the world with you." The flutter in her stomach as she said that could go away any time now. Sparky managed to sidestep the flying chair which continued on its way across the food court. “You say that now but I’ll slow wear you down.” If Sparky was acting nuttier than normal it probably had something to do with not talking to or even seeing anyone for a good while. Then again he could just be insane. Deciding that irritating Liz more might end with his head shoved up his own backside Sparky decided to get something to eat. He walked over to one of the eateries and banged on the counter. “Hey, hey, hey! Can I get some service here?” After the sudden outburst Sparky leapt over the counter and out of sight. Moments later he popped back up wearing a paper hat in the shape of a hotdog typically worn by one of the employees. “Sorry, sir, what can I get for you.” Yanking off the hat Sparky bounced back over the counter. “Gimme two, no three chili dogs with everything, onion rings and a diet coke.” And back over the counter. “That comes to $5.20.” And yet once more he went over the counter where he started to pat at his pockets. “Aw damn. Hey Liz! Got any money I forgot my wallet!” The odds of Sparky being insane were looking much better. "Oooookay," Liz whistled out. Going over she grabbed ahold of Sparky's arm and lead him over to a chair. "Sit." Standing infront of him she just stared at him for a moment. Some rest might fix things but she couldn't be sure. Right now it seemed like he might snap at any moment. "Just so you know, this is gonna hurt me more than it's gonna hurt you." With that said, Liz placed her hands on Sparky's temples and drove into his messed up mind. “No diving without your bathing suit,” Sparky snapped before breaking into a giggle fit. What Liz got when she peeked at his mind were his most resent memories. Memories of him wandering through dead towns littered with dusty clothes, of him running from a house after seeing that a man had shot his family and himself rather then letting them die from the virus. Memory upon memory of death and loneliness and beneath it all a deep sense of guilt along with the image of a clown which seemed to pop up everywhere. Oddly enough the clown was the most disturbing thing of all. Pulling out of his mind, Liz sat down in a chair across from Sparky. She could block the memories off, and get one hell of a migraine in the process, but there was no telling if it would do any good or not. "Is there anything of the old Sparky left in there," she asked more to herself than the man sitting across from her. For the first time since they’re odds defying meeting Sparky appeared to calm down. “The old Sparky has kind of taken a bit of a pounding after we, uh, went our separate ways,” he explained as he looked at his hands which he rubbed together on his lap. “I guess that makes me the new and slightly deranged Sparky. Do you like the new model,” he asked as he looked up at Liz with a hint of a smile. You mean after you stomped on my heart and left it in the dirt, Liz thought and was going to say outload but thought better of it. Instead she just stared at him, not returning the smile. "Frankly, the new model is a bit disturbing." Yeah, that was the way to sugar coat it. "I hope you didn't pay much for this new model." “Nope, traded in the old one with some of my sanity and got a nifty microchip sewn into the back of my neck as an added bonus,” Sparky explained as his eyes seemed to go out of focus for am minute as he recalled his brief time in the meta army. He’d rather take a month of daily kicks to the nads than go through that again. Well since everybody is dead he supposed he wouldn’t go through it again. Though he was sure Liz would supply the kicks if he asked nicely. “So, you didn’t really say what you’ve been up to lately. And I called dibs, just so you don’t forget.” Liz glared at him when he brought up the dibs thing. Yeah, she'd see who called dibs later. She had a nice little setup going on here and see didn't need Sparky butting into it. "Oh you know. The normal evil stealing I do. Then I tried my hand at saving some folks only for them to end up dead anyway so I've been holed up before coming here." She made sure to put some extra oomph into evil stealing when she said it. “Well I seem to have joined in the evil stealing,” Sparky said as he swept a hand towards the shopping cart loaded with power tools. “And besides I don’t think anyone you stole from is still wanting their property back. But is was good of you to try and help people,” he quietly added. “Of course kind of hard to do when they keep dying anyway. On the plus side none of them will sue us for breaking one of their fingernails while saving them.” Maybe his attempt at morbid humor was a little too morbid Sparky decided. "True. Of course most of the so called heroes were too busy killing each other off to notice the people dying," Liz pointed out. If it wasn't for all those so called heroes they probably wouldn't be here now. It was hard to blame the normal humans over all this. If the metas that called themselves heroes hadn't stopped being heroes things might have been okay. “Yep, those horrible heroes that got jolts of unimaginable pain if they didn’t do what their human masters ordered,” Sparky said sadly. He knew only too well that many in the meta army didn’t want to be there and that many were much to young to be sent off to kill. "Some of them got what they had coming," Liz pointed out. "Most didn't." She could only imagine what it had been like in the army. "I hid," she admitted. "I'm not stroking my own ego here but we both know what they would have done with a mind like mine if they had gotten a hold of it." Sparky could only nod in understanding. If the government had gotten their hands on Liz she most likely would have been turned into a psychic assassin. Able to slip in and take out a target without ever being spotted. Or possibly made her snoops around in the head of foreign heads of state ot possibly even wipe the minds of people and that was just the tip of the iceberg. “I hid too,” he admitted. “Hid for a long time actually.” "Didn't hide soon enough," Liz suggested if he had spent sometime in the service of the wonderful US of A's grand meta army. After that she got silent, not knowing what else to say. Oh sure there was plenty of things she could have said, but they were all things she knew she wouldn't be able to. The last thing she was going to do was admit she still cared. Kissing him before had been a mistake. A gut reaction she had gone with. “Wow these awkward silences are going to be even more awkward.” Trying to make small talk of any kind would undoubtedly sound pretty horrid given the situation. What was he supposed to say? Hey sorry for running you off and breaking your heart but it was for your own good, and hey congratulations on surviving the end of the world. How about them Cubbies! Yeah that’d be smooth. Liz always had this small problem of what some would call eavesdropping. Just because she could hear the thoughts of others meant, well she was going to damn well do it. Other telepaths might be willing to shut their minds off completely when around others but not Liz. "That would be a start. Though I might argue the for my own good thing." “If you keep snooping in my noggin I’m going to make you leave my mall,” Sparky warned. “And yes it was for your own good. Do you have any idea what some of the freaks in my super group would have done to you if they’d found out you were not only a thief but ripping off casinos? I’m sorry but I wasn’t going to be the one to accidentally tip them off by saying the wrong thing in front of them at the wrong time. I know what you’re going to say, that you can take care of yourself. Yeah, yeah I know that but could you handle a couple super powered ‘roid freaks willing to destroy half the strip to take you done. And most likely permanently?” There was a bit of emotion creepy into Sparky’s voice by the end of his spiel but at least his reasons for his past actions were finally out there. The whole time Sparky went on Liz just stared at him, trying to process what he was saying. Once he stopped she was quiet for a few more moments before speaking. "Of course I'm going to say I can take care of myself. I always have. Sure it might have gotten sticky but I would have made. But that aside there's other things I can say. Like you could have left them if you loved me and worried about them hurting me. Don't even say I could have gave up what I do, because we both know it wouldn't have mattered to them whether I reformed or not." Liz snorted. "Like what I did for a living was so much worse. At least I never killed anyone." Okay so she may have shot a few people when she didn't have a chance to use her powers but it had never been a killing shot. “Hey you never killed anyone, good on ya,” Sparky retorted as he leaned back in his chair and stuck his hands behind his head. “Well on the other hand some of my teammates did and would have wracked up a body count to make serial killers envious if someone hadn’t been around to distract them with his insane shenanigans. Look, Liz, you’re a tough gal, part of the reason I fell for you, and you might have even managed to hold your own but during all that time would you have considered what they might do to me? Would you have been able to fight if one of them punted my decapitated head your way?” And no doubt if they had found out he had been dating a criminal the more extreme heroes would have probably killed him. Even though some were more villain then hero themselves. For the next few moments Liz's mouth opened and closed as she tried to find a way to argue with that. All the ones she was coming up with were other too weak or just something that sounded like it shouldn't be said. "Are we arguing? This sure sounds like arguing. Why is it that you're not even a few hours in my and we're arguing?" Yeah, it was a good way to avoid answering the questions he had thrown at her. “We could make out instead,” Sparky suggested as he held his arms out towards Liz while puckering up his lips and making kissing sounds. “And the dibs law is still in effect.” "I have a whole Victoria's Secret to myself. It's my mall, damn your dibs to hell," Liz shoot back while raising an eyebrow at the puckering lips and kissing sounds. "That's not doing a thing for me." “How about a strip tease then? And when I say that I mean you doing the stripping of course.” Sparky was smiling and realized for the first time in a long time he was genuinely happy. It was nice knowing that you weren’t the last person on the planet. Doubly so when the other person is someone you know. "Well it's just no fun if I have to do the stripping. I'm betting all the Chip 'n' Dales are gone, not to mention porn will be gone once the power goes out for good so what am I supposed to watch," Liz asked, turning her big blue eyes on Sparky. "And we still have the matter of who's mall it is to settle." “Aren’t you forgetting something,” Sparky asked as he held his index fingers out in front of his face as electricity arced between them. “I’m a walking battery. Besides you can’t be seriously thinking about living here. Sure it’s nice, roomy, has plenty of bathrooms but it’s going to be a bitch to heat in the middle of winter. Now me, I’m going to find me a nice little house. Something with a fireplace, independent water supply and can handle having a gas powered generator hooked up to it. Plus has at least twenty foot, concrete walls surrounding it and possibly on it’s own island.” The last bit Sparky read off of a piece of paper he had pulled from his pocket. “Of course those last features are kind of pointless with no zombies around. And I‘ve already established ownership of the mall with the dibs law which overrules the finders keepers law.” "But if you're not going to stay here then you don't been ownership of the mall. And yeah, I plan on staying here until I use up all the food. I can't take anything with me. My bike died and besides that it wouldn't carry very much." Stretching over the table she nabbed the piece of paper Sparky was holding so she told look at it herself. "You and your zombies." “Hey! My that’s my zombie survival plan! And it seems to also work handily as a ‘deadly virus wiped everyone out survival plan’ as well,” Sparky said thoughtfully before reaching to snag back the paper. “Okay, I’ll agree that you have ownership of this mall, but I get all the gas stations. And I get to keep the power tools,” he added while indicating his full cart. “And some of us thought ahead and stole an SUV.” Liz let out a little fake gasp. "But...but...that's stealing. And just what do you plan on doing with all those power tools? Build an ark?" For a moment Liz thought about moving the paper out of Sparky's reach but let him take it back. "I think there's a zombie survival book in the book store that would serve you better." “A book? You think a mere book written by some hack can possibly be better than my survival plan? Never,“ Sparky declared as he bolted to his feet. “Besides I color coded mine with hi-lighters. See the parts in pink are really important. And wouldn’t you like to know what I’m going to use my power tools for.” With a smug little smirk on his face Sparky rolled up his paper and strutted over to his cart. The pink parts eh? She hadn't paid that much attention to it remember what the pink parts had been even though she had just held it a few moments ago. As Sparky strutted over to the cart, Liz flexed a brain muscle and slid the paper back out of his hand and floated it over to her. "The pink parts huh?" The pink was pretty to hide and Liz started to read them out load. "Don't get eatten...don't get eatten....don't get eatten....rrrright," Liz drawled out before looking over at Sparky. “I’ll have you know I take getting munched on very seriously,” Sparky announced as he walked over to Liz and snatched the paper back. “Mine! You get your own plan.” This time he stuck the paper down the front of his pants while giving Liz a look as if daring her to try and steal it again. “Well since it looks like my hot dogs aren’t arriving any time soon I guess I’ll have to get back to scrounging.” "Hey now! I agreed to the power tools. Now you leave the rest of my mall alone," Liz protested while hopping up out of her chair. Matching over she poked Sparky in the chest while glaring up at him. "Go find somewhere else to scrounge. And do so before it gets dark out." “I think I will find someplace else to scrounge. Someplace better. And why before dark? Just because you’re scared of things that go bump in the night doesn’t mean I am,” Sparky said as he puffed up his chest. “That’s because I’m a macho man. Hey, can I get you number? Y’know in case you’re not doing anything some night and we can get together and hang out. Y’know, if you want to.” "Because I want to make sure you leave and not spend the night," Liz said, almost shouting, as she poked him a few more times in the chest he had puffed up. "And my number!? Are you completely insane!? The phones don't work! And even if they did, why would I give it to you? Sure you explain why you broke my heart into little mini m&m size peaces but do I get a sorry or a "I really miss you Liz"!? No, no I don't." The end of each sentence ended with a jab at Sparky's chest. “I would have accepted a simple no,” Sparky muttered as he rubbed his chest. “Well how about I swing around later and drop of a CB radio or something. Yeah, that’ll work. Just need to make sure to find ones that run on batteries.” It was pretty obvious that Sparky was ignoring all the other things that Liz had said. To him what was worse than being the last person on the planet was being the second last with someone that hated you. Liz wanted to scream at him. She didn't hate him. She still loved him and while he might think being the second to last with someone that hated you was the worse then he should try being the second to last with someone you loved but didn't love you anymore. "You do that. Maybe someone else to procreate with will pop up and I can use the radio to call them." “Fine, don’t mind if I do! Maybe she’ll let me raid her mall, if you know what I mean.” Sparky gave a little chuckle then grabbed onto his cart and started to walk away. “See you later sweet cheeks.” Anger flared up in Liz's eyes. If she had a power like Sparky she would have zapped him in the ass right then. Instead she settled for jabbing that part of his mind that controlled moment, making it so his legs would give out on him. "If you say so dickhead." Without warning Sparky’s legs went out from under him causing him to bang his chin on the cart handle bar as he dropped to the ground. “Oh very mature you poopy face. Just for that no free battery recharging,” Sparky said while getting back to his feet. "I don't know what you're talking about," Liz said innocently. "You just tripped all of a sudden. They must have waxed the floor before going poof. Other that or maybe that cart's too much for you to handle." “Rrrright.” The look Sparky gave Liz made it hard to miss that he didn’t believe her. “Well I’m out of here. I bid you good day, madam.” Sticking his sore chin in the air Sparky marched out of the mall with his cart only to find that he had exited on the opposite side of the building from where he had parked. Not wanting to let Liz see him walking back through the mall again Sparky instead walked all the way around and finally made it to his SUV and trailer. By the time he had unloaded his new tools into the back of the SUV, all the while grumbling to himself about women sending mixed messages, it was getting dark. “Fine, I’ll just stay here for the night and find my new home tomorrow. Someplace far from here and Ms. Kiss One Minute Yell At the Next Person.” Stifling a yawn he unlocked the trailer and climbed inside and carefully made his way through all the goods he’d foraged to his bed and promptly collapsed onto it. He then bolted upright and let out a screech. Reaching into his pants he carefully extracted his survival plan as his eyes started to water. “Paper cut.” |