Who: Liam Stewart, Ruby Daly, and Suzume Kimura What: They escape the school, but Liam is bitten When: During Infection Plot Where: High School Rating: low
Ruby never thought she’d think this, but she missed it when the people trying to kill her were regular adults. Whatever these things were that had taken over Madison were worse. It wasn’t just that they were far scarier to look at, but they couldn’t be reasoned with and her powers? Her powers were useless. That was not something Ruby was used to and it made her feel vulnerable - another feeling she didn’t like.
They were currently stuck in one of the classrooms on the third floor at the school having gone to get Zu when it was obvious shit was hitting the fan. Only it seemed like things were hitting it quicker than usual. “We have to take the quickest route out.” Ruby was whispering. “And avoid whatever these things are.”
Zu was at the whiteboard in the front of the room and she printed the word people on the board. It made Ruby grimace. Zu was right. They were people… or they had been.
Zu then walked over to the window and looked through the blinds. Some of those infected people were meandering outside too. She didn’t like being stuck here.
Thankfully, Liam’s powers were useful. They didn’t have to have minds for Liam to throw them all over the place, and he was doing that as much as he could. For Zu, he was trying not to hurt them too badly (yes, they at least had been people once), but he also didn’t want them getting up again so quickly that he had to take them down all over again.
Being on the third floor was both good and bad. It was going to pose a challenge getting back down and out, but at least they didn’t seem to be climbing the side of the building to come get them. Yet.
“Yeah,” he agreed, running a hand through his hair nervously. “We need to avoid them as much as possible. But the quickest way out is down the stairs and out the front entrance, which is…well, blocked. I can get rid of some of them but not all of them.” There were too many. He was strong, but he was already tired of throwing them around to get here in the first place.
“Any ideas?”
***
Ruby’s survival instincts kicked in and there were strategies she didn't want to admit she considers. Like hoping someone with a mind came by so she could use them as bait for those things in the hall. She closed her eyes and pushed the thought as far away as she could.
Zu was drawing on the board again. The sound of her placing the marker on the little ledge drew Ruby’s attention. Zu had draw three people climbing into the ceiling and crawling over the monsters.
Ruby took in the image and then turned to look at Liam. “Think that would work? We could bypass a lot of them. And if we found something to make a noise on the other end we could draw some of them away from where we need to come out at the stairwell.”
Liam looked at the drawing on the board, and then up at the ceiling. He was worried that it wasn’t strong enough to hold them, that it would drop them down into the horde of creatures and doom them just as much as anything else would. He bit his lip, looking up at the ceiling again.
“If we do that, we’re going to have to stick to the metal parts. Like, I don’t think the actual tiles will hold us. They come out so easily.”
He looked at Ruby for a long moment, then at Zu, then down at the floor before looking back at them.
“How about you two get up there? You’re both lighter than me. So you two go up there and get out at the stairwell, and I’ll meet you there?”
That way he could make sure that they were safe and not endanger them by possibly being too heavy.
***
Ruby’s gaze went straight to Liam and she held obvious worry there. She did not like the idea of having Liam go out on his own. She even felt the trickling desire to command him not to, but Ruby pulled herself back from such a thought - she had promised herself never to mess with his mind again.
She walked up to Liam, expression riddled with concern. “You have to promise me you’re going to be careful and you will meet us there.” She reached out for his arms.
Liam pulled her into an embrace, kissing the top of her head. “I’ll be careful,” he promised. He could promise that. He couldn’t necessarily promise that he’d be there to meet them. “And I’ll try my best to be there when you get there.” He wasn’t exactly sure how many of the creatures would be waiting for him, but he’d try his very, very hardest to meet up with them.
“I love you,” he whispered to Ruby, just in case he didn’t have the chance to say it again. Then he pulled back, smiling at the two of them.
“Who’s going up first? I’ll lift you up.”
***
Ruby hated this. She had a pit in her stomach of foreboding, but she knew better than to argue right now. Instead, she soaked up every moment she had with Liam, closing her eyes for a moment as he told her he loved her. “I love you too.” She whispered it back before pulling away with him and offering him a smile where she hoped she looked brave.
Zu raise her hand at the question, but Ruby countered. “I'll go first to make sure it's safe.” Zu momentarily made an expression of displeasure, but she conceded quickly with a soft sigh.
Ruby picked the edge of the classroom where they'd have the least amount of crawling and looked at Liam. She didn't say it out loud, but her expression still told him to be careful.
Liam nodded at her unspoken message. He would be careful. He would try to be there, uninjured, when they came down. Whether what he had would be enough was another question. But he would try.
He crossed the room to the place Ruby chose, and lifted her - mostly with his muscles, but also a little bit with his power. It made it easier to keep her stable and steady so that she could get a good hold and get herself up there.
Then he helped Zu get up. When they were both up there, he looked up at them and blew them kisses before heading out of the room.
***
It was slow going as they crawled. Slow and quiet. Not only because Zu didn’t exactly talk much, but also because Ruby was worried any sound might encourage any infected to try to climb the walls. They didn’t know exactly what the creatures were capable of and Ruby didn’t want to find out. She also wanted to try really hard to keep Zu from having to use her powers.
It seemed like forever before they hit a wall. Ruby was pretty sure that meant they were at the end before the stairwell. She slowly pushed open one of the tiles and peered down. Nothing seemed to be there. She stuck her face out as much as she could without falling to see down the hallway. Things seemed to be clear.
In the darkness of the ceiling, she looked at Zu and made a gesture. Ruby would go down first, then her if it was safe. Despite Zu’s look of protest, Ruby lowered herself to the ground. She was aware of how her body moved. While she wasn’t exactly out of shape, she had been far more shape back home out of necessity. She would have to up her workout routine here when this was over.
Landing, she looked around before gesturing to Zu and helping the girl down. Ruby tried the door slowly and looked at the stairwell. It seemed empty too. They were only missing Liam now.
Liam wasn’t there. At least not when they came down. A few moments later he busted through a set of doors, slamming them behind him on the six or so infected who followed him, using all of the strength he had to hold them as he put a broom through the handles to keep it shut for a few moments, at least. Long enough for them to get the rest of the way out.
He took a deep breath, putting his hand on his arm just above his elbow, where he was bleeding from an obvious bite mark. He gave Ruby a sad smile, then looked away.
“Let’s get the rest of the way out of here.”
***
Panic rose in her so quickly that it almost came out in a scream, but the only reason why she didn’t openly freak out was because Zu was there. She didn’t want to panic the girl in a situation like this. Maybe they’d get lucky and Zu wouldn’t even notice that Liam was hurt.
It was wistful thinking, but Zu was holding the door to the stairwell open now for them to use and Ruby did what she thought might help distract the girl. She took her by the hand to help lead her down the stairs.
Outside felt like freedom, but they kept running. Much like home, it wasn’t safe out in the open. Ruby led them all the way across the field and around a parked car before Zu tugged so hard that Ruby stopped. Ruby turned, out of breath, and looked at Zu questioningly. Before she could ask what was wrong, she saw it in Zu’s face. When Zu turned toward Liam, so did Ruby. She couldn’t quite find the words.
Liam smiled painfully. He knew this was bad, but if it had to be one of them, he was glad it was him.
“It’s just a little bite. Maybe it will be okay.”
Yeah, probably not. But he was going to try to be as positive as he could. He didn’t want Ruby and Zu being upset. He ripped off part of his shirt, handing it to Ruby to tie around his arm. Maybe they could keep it from spreading, at least.
“We need to get back to the house.”
***
As Ruby worked on Liam’s arm, she could see that Zu was holding back tears in her peripherals. The younger girl was trying to be brave, but ironically it was how Ruby was feeling too. She was trying to put herself in ‘leader mode’ which had always helped her to compartmentalize when things were hitting the fan. Though Ruby couldn’t let herself be fully like she was back home - Ruby knew that if she were being smart, they’d have to abandon Liam. That he’d probably turn at some point and then attack them and leaving him here would be the safest bet. But Ruby couldn’t do it. Not with Liam.
“I’m going to see if one of the healers is around to try to help.” Ruby spoke, her voice a bit softer only because she was controlling herself. “We’re going to fix this.” This was more of a ‘trying to manifest when you say’ thing rather than anything said with full confidence.
Zu sniffled a little, but then nodded emphatically like she, too, was manifesting the result they wanted.
Liam sat quietly and thoughtfully as Ruby worked with his arm. He knew what was coming, if he didn’t try to deny it. Which…he really couldn’t. He knew how the world worked better than most and he knew that if he kept trying to pretend that nothing was wrong…well…he’d end up hurting someone. Probably Ruby or Zu, neither of which was the least bit acceptable to him. He didn’t know how fast this worked, or how long he had…but it wasn’t forever. It probably wasn’t even a few hours.
He put his good hand over Ruby’s, stopping what she was doing. The healers couldn’t fix this. He’d read on the network that they’d tried, and nothing had come of it.
“Go,” he said softly. “Both of you. Get back to the house and barricade yourselves inside. There should be enough food for you to wait this out.” Especially only for the two of them. “I - “ his voice broke, and he swallowed to get control of himself before starting again. “I love you both. So much.” That was the best goodbye he could give them, especially since he wasn’t willing to say the actual words.
***
Ruby tensed. Knowing it was coming and being ready for it were two different things. She turned to him, her expression stormy, then she bent down just a little to press her forehead against his. Her hands wrapped around his neck, fingers burying in the hair on the back of his head. Her eyes closed which pushed out a few tears she’d been holding onto. They trailed down her cheeks. “I can make you come with us.” There was no fire to the words. It wasn’t a real threat and even she knew it. Her lips quivered as she struggled to maintain some form of control. But she knew they had to let him stay here and it broke her heart. She just needed one more minute with him.
Zu’s reaction was a little more physical. She tugged on his good arm, her expression stern and yet sad as if to say ‘Get up!’
“You can,” he said softly. “But you won’t.” She couldn’t. She had to save herself and Zu and they couldn’t do that with him around. He was very soon to become a danger to them and they had promised they would keep Zu safe from anything that tried to hurt her.
It broke his heart, but what could he do? He’d never expected their time together to end this way, and he was full of regrets for all the things they were going to miss. Of course, he never thought he’d live this long, not with the way their world had been.
He turned to Zu and sadly shook his head.
“I can’t, Zu. You and Ruby have to go without me.”
***
Ruby leaned in and kissed Liam softly. It lingered - a goodbye kiss. It felt like The Children’s League all over again when she left him in that bedroom. She inhaled a sniffled breath as she stood up and wiped her face. A few deep breaths while she took in her boyfriend one last time and then she turned to take Zu’s hand.
“We need to go Zu.”
Zu was not at all pleased by this decision at all. Her lips were pressed together defiantly and she looked like she planned to stand her ground.
“We need to go Zu.” Ruby pleaded.
Zu shook her head, her cheeks wet from tears. She wasn’t going to leave Liam.
Ruby pleaded and tugged at Suzume a few more times, but the twelve year old was being stubborn. The sound of infected were growing louder. Some were coming this way.
Ruby panicked a little and acted on instinct. She looked at Zu and repeated “we need to go Zu!” but it was a command than just a suggestion. Ruby instantly regretted it and she would have to apologize to Zu later and make it up to her, but at least the girl started to move with Ruby.
Of course Liam’s last memory of her was going to be her using her power.
She pushed the terrible realization to the corner of her mind as she turned and forced herself not to look back.