Only Because I Need You Too

Chapter 31: Cranberries

(Is the skull bashing appropriate? Maybe change that to something less violent....)
Caitlin's mind was reeling. The whole team had gathered in the cortex, a nervous chitter bumbled through them. Caitlin was sitting at one of the isolated desks. The small screen in front of her displayed the feed of Dawn's cell. The speedster was pacing back and forwards on the floor, a hand clamped tightly around her jaw. "Okay, where are these zombies and how do we find them?" Barry asked Nora.

The female speedster froze, her jaw opened and clamped shut. "I can tell you what I know, but you're better off asking Dawn." Excess confessed with a slanted smile.

"Tell us what you know first," Iris guided gently. Caitlin's eyes rested on her daughter's mobile form. Back and forwards, back and forwards. The nose, the eyes the hair. All of it was hers. The jaw however, was very much Ethan's. A small pang hit her heart. Dawn was trying to help in the best way she knew how, even if it was a little misguided.

"Well, the zombies won't move until the night, and they take... ummm" Nora paused. Moving round to Caitlin's side, she pressed down on a small microphone at the base of the computer. "How long does it take for the zombies to appear?" She spoke calmly into the mic.

Dawn froze in her tracks and stared up at the camera, "72 hours. That's how long it takes them to be overtaken by their need for heat." She explained calmly, her face was impassive but her foot bounced threateningly on the floor.

"So these victims will be up and walking around?" Caitlin squeaked, raising her brows high.

"Yes, they collapse, go into a coma and wake up a few days later as a heat draining zombie." Nora nodded, "as for where to find them, the hospital would be a good place to start." She suggested with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

Cisco's hands flew over the keys of the main computer desk. Locks of black hair swished around his ears. A few minutes ticked by, his frantic tapping got quicker and quicker. Caitlin was sure that even Barry couldn't type that fast. "No victims were found, but at least twenty people went missing on the day of the attack," he sat back into his seat, a deep frown etched onto his face. "Some of which were reported as dead by several witnesses." He explained calmly.

Caitlin caught Ethan's eyes. A wary silence passed through them all. Nora ran a hand through her hair, leant down, pressed on the microphone and sucked in a deep breath, "Loui," the female speedster's head snapped toward the camera. "The bodies went missing."

Loui remained statue like for several seconds. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she narrowed her eyes. "Medusa." She snarled underneath her breath. "It has to be, she was there the last time the heat leeches infected the city."

"If it is Medusa, which it might not be, then what does she want with them?" Iris cocked her head to the side and leant into her husband with a slight smile peeking up her lips. Caitlin watched Dawn. The pacing was more aggressive. The speedster had even begun to play her fingers.

"She'll use them as soldiers. Pawns." Ethan's voice vibrated in Caitlin's ear. Pawns. Was even Medusa not above using the dead to achieve her goal. Did Medusa really hate them enough to release such a plague on the city. Dawn showed no signs of slowing down. If the snake really was using those heat zombies, then how was Dawn going to react. The very thing she came back to prevent happening because she did.

"In that case you need to learn to fight them." Nora stated, "the zombies are like nothing you have ever crossed paths with before. They can't do anything but fight dirty."

"How could we learn to fight something we don't have?" Barry pulled his brows together and stared at his child.

"We have the original." Nora sent them a sly smirk. Caitlin cast her eyes down to her daughter. It looked as though the girl could use some stress relief anyway.

*

Medusa revelled in the darkness. The cracked concrete below her was splashed with water and many, many bodies. She closed her eyes over, the gentle whoosh of breath coming from the bodies sent shivers down her spine. Their breathing was getting increasingly slow. Just a day left. A day and they wouldn't breathe any longer. A day and they would be hers. Well, a day and they would be mindless enough to control. She sat in the centre of the windowless room. The distant noise of traffic thundered from above. A pitch black tunnel stared down at her. Every inch of her body ached. Dragging just under twenty bodies throughout the city was no easy task. For those who asked, she was simply dragging them away from any further danger. Stroking the dark hair of a middle aged woman collapsed on the floor beside her, she couldn't help but muse that even the woman's hair was frosty to the touch. The woman had tanned skin, a white smile and no doubt beautiful eyes. Such a waste of life. Stroking her own face, the heat of tears tickled her eyes. Taylor stared intensely at the dying woman. Threading her hands through the lady's hair, she gripped tight. Lifting up the head, she smashed it into the ground with a wet crack. Goosebumps erupted on her skin and a wicked grin possessed her face. Doing it once more, the head let out a louder, thicker crack. Medusa's heart rate picked up. She did it again, and again, and again. Again. Again. Again.

Finally breaking out of her violent trance, she glanced down at her handiwork. The face was completely unrecognisable. The teeth were missing, bashed in and bloody. The nose pulverised into her face. The brow bone sunk deep into her skull. Blood leaked from ever opening, pooling around the head. Even the shape of her skull had changed from an egg to a square. Dropping the head to the floor, she dusted off her hands and let out a gentle sigh of relief.

Sitting up straight, she cracked her back. Staring around, she noticed there were nowhere near as many bodies as the last time Frigid had appeared. To be fair, the last time she was let loose on the city, she was clearly a lot younger. The ice, the speed. She had put two and two together years ago. The icy Demon was no doubt Snow and Ethan's brat. It was their karma. They were born with a cursed child. It was a punishment. For what they did to her. For what they did to Tate.

Gritting her teeth, Medusa her like an elastic band was tightening around his chest. They were separated so young. They hardly had any time together. Their one shot at life together was whisked away when he died. Clutching the thin fabric over the region of her chest that concealed her heart, she muttered into the air, "I love you Tate."