WHO: Brandon Stone, Rodeo Williams and Leah Stone WHAT: Brandon finds Rodeo outside quarantine WHERE: Grand Central WHEN: January 15, 2019 RATING: Medium, likely for language STATUS: Complete.
Rodeo's clothes were as stiff as his joints, heavy with the Stone girl's blood. He hadn't changed in days, he had hardly moved. He was sitting up against the wall, his elbows against his knees, sleeping when he could and feeling anxiety twist his guts when he couldn't. If he had gotten to her sooner, if he had left a couple minutes earlier, if he had been just one block over...
He didn't know Kori before she was bit. It didn't matter. She was someone's little sister, just like his baby sister, and he couldn't save her. He might have stopped the thing that attacked her from ripping her apart on the sidewalk out there, but that didn't mean that he saved her. She might become something worse than death in the room she was confined to now, and all he could think of was how likely it was that his own sister had suffered the same fate.
He kept getting the feeling that he should notify people, that he should get up and talk to someone. But surely the government workers who took Kori's name from him notified her family, right? He could only assume as much. He didn't want to be the one to talk to them. None of the Stones were particularly fond of him to begin with, and he was certain they would blame him for not getting there sooner just as much as he did himself. He couldn't face them. He couldn't leave his post outside Kori's door.