Birds of a Feather (Apocalypse AU)

Chapter 13 - Stay With Me Please (Kor)

TW: violence, injury, blood, cursing

Coughing slightly, Kor stumbled as he was pushed among the tents next to Zii. Though he knew he should take notes on what was around him, where they were in the camp, and important details about security and any weaknesses, Kor couldn't focus on that. It was hard enough to stop himself from shaking.

Kor tried to take a deep breath but it didn't help. His vision was narrowed and he could only listen to one emotion in his head: anger. Pure, unadulterated anger. They say when you're irrationally angry, you see red. Kor couldn't see anything at all.

Fucking prick, edgy fuckin sweating piece of twig, pimple shit stained yellowed piece of lubber, juice box sucking sticky fingered walking fetus of a man, smug little bitch-

Kor couldn't even think straight, much less think about anything else. He was seething. No one, NO ONE, was, is, allowed to hurt his Zii. There had never been any situation in which they had been so obviously ganged up on. It wasn't fair, and Kor wanted revenge. Nothing was ever fair, but that wouldn't make punching Ideal's smug face any less sweet.

Kor only realized that he was walking when one of the soldiers shouted, jolting him out of his mind. Zii had fallen over and collapsed onto the dry ground, splattering his blood onto the dust. The soldier, sneering, made to kick him, but Kor let out a yell and body slammed into the soldier, knocking her to the ground. Thudding on the ground, he wiggled over to Zii, his hands still awkwardly locked behind him.

"Zii, Zii come on. You gotta get up." Kor strained, painfully aware of the soldiers closing in on them. Zii partially lifted one of his eyelids, staring hopelessly into Kor's green eyes.

Kor grunted as he was suddenly hoisted into the air and set on his feet. He barely had time to open his mouth when one of the guards took the opportunity to knee him in the stomach.

Kor bent over, the wind knocked out of him and gasping for breath. The soldier who he had knocked over earlier kicked him maliciously in the back, sending him barreling into the ground. He coughed as his mouth filled with dirt and his face was covered in dry powder.

The soldier he pushed over leaned down, making sure he could hear her as she said sweetly, "the next time you try something like that, I'll make sure you can't get back up." She smiled venomously as she stepped away from Kor, grabbing Zii's sweatshirt and hauling him to his feet. Kor's vision tunneled again.

The next thing he knew, he was sitting next to Zii in a small wooden hut. There were no windows, and the only entrance was a wooden hatch at the bottom of one wall. He opened his mouth and coughed, the dirt from earlier making his tongue feel too big. Turning to his side, he spotted Zii laying on his side, eyes closed, not moving.

Kor inched himself towards Zii, wincing when his ribs protested and his shoulders shifted uncomfortably. Kor's rage that had overcome him earlier gave way to concern. No, not concern, terror. For his friend.

He had never seen Zii in the shape he was in now. Breathing shallowly, he reeked of sweat and blood, unsurprisingly, especially given the amount of red that was staining his clothes. Kor looked him over quickly: the gunshot wound on his arm and cut on his leg were his most dangerous injuries. Thankfully, both of them had stopped bleeding. Unfortunately, Zii was not in the best shape.

Kor sat next to Zii. "Zii, you awake? I don't know where we are but we should probably figure out what to do-"

Kor bit his lip, thinking. "I think that we should recover first, then try and gather intel. How does that sound?"

"Zii you gotta stay with me here. You can't leave me like this. We've been through too much together."

"I'm kind of hungry. Wish I could have another one of those horrible granola bars again. Do you think we'll ever be able to eat cookies again? I think that if we try we could make pancakes. What do you think, Zii?"

"Zii you gotta come back, I'm getting bored."

Kor's monologuing was interrupted when a bottle of water and a bag of bread were dropped into the hut. Grabbing the water and drinking some, Kor immediately felt better. He had a bite of bread as well, saving a little for Zii when he woke up. Because he would wake up. Eventually.

Kor continued to talk. Even when the light faded through the boards into the chirping of crickets, and when the soldiers banged on the boards complaining that he was being too loud, and when the sun colored the sky pink and orange and the sun lifted its head above the dappled shadows of the trees.

Talking was the only thing that distracted him, and the only thing he could do.