Collapse (TyVan Fanfiction) ((discontinued))

XV

Chapter 15
Suicide

We travelled for God knows how long before we arrived at a a decent sized cabin.
The first thing I did was look for some hydrogen peroxide and a bandage. But, to no avail.

"Evan," I heard a couple bottles clink together. Tyler shut the fridge door, holding two beer bottles. "Here."
I took the alcohol, and popped the cap off on the kitchen counter. Tyler did the same.

"Thanks." I mumbled. He just nodded, taking a swig.

I walked into one of the bedrooms, spotting a dresser.
A sigh escaped my lips when I found a pair of plaid pajama pants. Rummaging around a bit more in the other drawers produced a bit of tape.

Taking all my items, I walked out to the front deck and ripped the pants until there were pieces about the size of a washcloth.
Grabbing one of the rags, I soaked it in the alcohol. And with that rag I began rubbing at my sliced cheek, keeping myself from making any noise. And I kept doing that with five rags until I was sure the wound was cleaned.

Taking another two rags, I soaked the middle of them, and held them up on my cheek. I used the tape to keep the rags on there.

There was a third of the beer left, which I decided to just gulp down. But I left everything else on the deck, and walked back into the silent cabin.
Tyler was sitting on one end of the couch, his head down. Lui and David seemed to be in the room I rummaged through. Jon had walked through the back door into the wood.

Without a sound, I shuffled over to the middle of the couch, sitting beside Tyler. Not a word was spoken; I felt that he didn't want to talk at all. Quite frankly, I didn't want to, either.
So we sat, listening to the sounds of nature and the creaking of the house. It wasn't awkward, being silent.

"How's your cheek?" I heard Tyler mumble, him glancing over.
"It's all good." My hand traced the tape as I spoke. "You're, uh... are you going to be... okay?"

He laid against the back of the couch, letting out an audible sigh. "Yeah, yeah. It happened a while ago, so..." Tyler began. He titled his head to look at me, our eyes meeting. "I had my time to grieve."
I nodded, chuckling a little. "Same for me, I guess."

Tyler and I shared a look of understanding. Yet, we both stared longer than necessary.
"I, uh, think we should go and scavenge. Leave David and Lui to their... well, whatever they're doing. Jon is already out, so..." Tyler broke the contact and silence. I nodded. "This place might be fresh, if there aren't any survivors."

Him and I both smiled a little, then stood up and walked out of the door in unison.
We silently decided to walk and scavenge, and leave the car for the other three. Besides, they might've freaked out if they saw we were gone with the car.

We began at the neighboring cabins and houses, first the neighbor to the left.

Tyler whistled in awe when we walked in. The layout was open and it was unnaturally clean, every piece of furniture and décor giving the rich Californian feel.
I made my way to the bedrooms, while Tyler went to scavenge the kitchen.

Quietly as I could with my knife at the ready, my right hand twisted the first door handle open. Swinging the door open, I saw something waiting for me.

The first one was a tall woman, wearing ripped up skinny jeans and a flannel. The second - who was slightly smaller - had on a childish yellow dress with a floral design.
What I assumed were the mother and daughter were both strung up, knocked over stools under their feet. They had been dead for a while, yet were groaning still.

"God, dude..." I mumbled, staring at the depressing scene. The kid's legs were far too short to have been able to kick the stool out from under herself.
The mother's skin was almost rotted completely, yet I could still see the faint, red outline of scars on her arms.

Footsteps came up from behind my frozen self. "Hey, are you-" Tyler stopped short, looking at the two. "Oh, man."
The sense of dread we both felt was a bit stronger as we stuck our knives through their temples. Tyler had taken notice of the short stool under the child.

"So, mom hung daughter..." he commented softly.
"...and then hung herself." I finished. Without another breath, we both cut the rope from the ceiling, laying the two bodies on the ground.

We both stalked out of the room, shutting the door behind us. Neither of us mumbled a single word.