Leah Stone (reapinghavok) wrote in immune_ic, @ 2012-05-30 18:19:00 |
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Leah felt bad for deceiving her brother, however minimal that deception was, but she hadn’t wanted to run the risk of him trying to stop her or talking her out of what she planned to do. This whole going behind people’s backs to accomplish tasks independently thing was starting to become a habit, and she wasn’t so sure it was a good thing. On the one hand, it had the potential of undermining someone else’s authority, but on the other… if her discussion with Harlow was any indication, the habit might be a good thing, if it got things accomplished and took some of the weight of responsibility off someone else’s shoulders. Namely Evan. That was her main motivation for the recent things she’d done. If it was anyone she cared about less, abandoning leadership altogether wouldn’t have been an issue. She couldn’t leave it all to him, though. Not when she’d been the spark to ignite the revolution in the first place. He needed her, just like she needed him. It hinted too strongly at a dependent relationship — far too reminiscent of Zimmerman and Alghren’s relationship — but she was more than determined to overlook that right now. Finding her rational side had become easier since moving to Sing Sing, so what better way to put that new found patience to use than to help someone she cared about? Zimmerman needed to understand the potential consequences for storming off alone to save Alghren. It wouldn’t just be his life he was risking, but Alghren’s sanity. B Block was quiet. Not empty, but quiet. Leah knew of at least a few people who lived in cells on the upper levels, but that wasn’t where she was going. Zimmerman’s prison cell was on the first level, close enough for people to hear him if he needed something, but far enough away not to cause any undue disturbance to the peace. The sound of Leah’s boots against the concrete floor was her only company as she walked down the lonely path to Zimmerman’s cell. When she finally reached the only closed cell on the block, she paused and took a moment to study the bars. In all her life, Leah had never confronted someone on the inside of a jail cell. She never imagined she’d ever have to do such a thing, but then, there were many things she’d never imagined she would ever have to do. Zimmerman had his head buried in his hands, a crumpled pile of papers at his side. Much as she disliked the medic, Leah felt for him. She couldn’t not feel for him. “I may not be the last person you want to see right now,” she said, pausing when Zimmerman glanced up, “but I’m the only one willing to take the time to come down here. So you can either share the info you have with me, or…” She trailed off with a shrug. He knew what his other options were. Zimmerman turned his head to look at the papers lying beside him on the bed. Slowly, he lowered his hand from its place propping his chin up and collected the papers, then stood and approached the bars of the cell. “It has the exact address of the place Evan told me that they’re keeping the mothers,” he explained, poking the papers between the bars. “Why would someone give me the right address if it’s the wrong floor plans?” Leah looked over the plans, studying the notes the mystery person had marked. In his harried state, he probably hadn’t considered that this could be a trap. Leah didn’t dismiss that possibility, but she also had to admit that these looked like legitimate floor plans. Her task wasn’t to decode the mystery, though. Her task was simply to investigate Zimmerman’s claim that he had, in fact, been given plans by someone. That was true. “That’s not for me to debate, but this does give Evan proof that you weren’t just looking for an excuse to be let out of here,” she finally answered, folding the papers and slipping them into the back pocket of her jeans. Zimmerman studied her for a moment, then said, “Is that why he sent you to check on me? Because he knew you wouldn’t let me out of here?” “Actually, I volunteered.” Zimmerman blinked. “Why? So you could call me a fucking idiot for wanting to rescue Rae by myself? Yell at me for making shit harder on Evan?” There was heat in the man’s voice, but he wasn’t yelling now. Some of the fight seemed to have gone out of him. Leah shrugged her eyebrows. “Basically,” she replied, honestly. “But I’m sure everyone’s tried that with you already, haven’t they? And obviously none of them have succeeded.” “And you just wanted to jump on the bandwagon and have your fun with it, right?” “For once, no, that’s not why I came down here. I came because you have to understand exactly how fucking stupid your one-man-army plan is. And I’m the only one who knows firsthand that a plan like that would get you killed—” Zimmerman interrupted, “Already been told that, thanks.” He turned to walk back to his bed. “Let me finish, because this is fucking important.” Leah took a breath to retain some calm. “It would get you killed, but it would do something much worse to Alghren. You want out of here, Zimmerman? I can let you out…” She pulled the key out of her pocket and dangled it where he could see. “On one condition.” The man lifted an eyebrow. “What’s the condition?” “You have to pay attention to what I’m about to tell you and seriously consider the consequences.” Zimmerman’s eyes flicked back and forth as he considered this offer. After a moment, he asked, “All I have to do is listen and you’ll let me out of here?” It was Leah’s turn to nod. “That’s my price.” And she was confident enough in it to trust what he would do. “Then I’m listening.” Leah began, “If you die, and those government fucks succeed in taking that baby away from her, she’ll be destroyed. Whatever the hell it is you love about her, it won’t be there anymore. You’ll be dead, so you won’t be around to see it, but everyone else will. Everyone else will have to deal with the bad moods and the depression and everything that comes with losing people that special. It’s not a definite certainty, but it’s very likely. Maybe Alghren won’t be that bad. Maybe that optimism of hers will stick around, make losing a baby and her boyfriend not quite so unbearable…” She gripped the cell bars with both fists and leaned her forehead against the bars. “Or maybe she’ll end up like me.” She didn’t look at Zimmerman, but she heard him shift on the bed, and then heard him say, “Like you.” “Like I was,” Leah confirmed, glancing up at him. She extended her left arm through the cell to show him her scar. “This was the bite that proved my immunity to the virus. It’s also the reason I’m not a mother today. You see, I was pregnant, too, once upon a time. Loving boyfriend, baby on the way, all that. And then I was bitten, and it was all taken away from me.” “My child died before the government could do tests on her, and that’s the only reason I’m grateful that she…” Leah couldn’t bring herself to say that she was glad Marigold was dead, for any reason. “Her daddy tried to get in to see her, make funeral arrangements, whatever else that needs to be done when a child dies, while I was locked up in quarantine. But the doctors refused to let him see the body. They wouldn’t let him see his own fucking daughter.” “He was killed two days later. There was a small article about it in the newspaper. The guy who wrote the column was a conspiracy theorist. He called the circumstances surrounding my boyfriend’s death a ‘convenient car crash.’ Suspected foul play was in the works, but he was clever about it. Didn’t point fingers directly at the government…” Sometime during her story, Leah had begun to pace back and forth in front of Zimmerman’s cell. She paused and turned to look at him again. “And the moral of this story, Elliot, is that you can’t go rushing off on your own to rescue Algh—Rae. You can’t. Not if you want her to still be the Rae you fell in love with. Even if there’s still the threat that she could lose that baby? You’ll still have each other. Don’t make her have to deal with losing you, too.” With her story finished, Leah turned her back on the cell to give herself time to rearrange her expression. It wasn’t an easy story to tell. It was a long time before either of them spoke, and when one of them finally did, it was Leah. “So, what do you say, Zimmerman? Will you give Evan and the others a chance to come up with a plan before you go rushing off after your girlfriend?” Zimmerman was quiet for so long that Leah wondered if he’d fallen asleep or was simply going to ignore her. When she turned to look at him, he was leaning up against the bars of the cell, the heavy weight of sadness in his eyes as he watched her. He nodded. “Yeah. I’ll wait. Will you let me out of here, Leah? Please.” Leah released him from the cell. |