"Reunion" Gabentine sequel

Chapter Eighteen Recovering

7306 Words

Gabe put his right hand against the wall as he limped towards his room. He felt wobbly and he could still smell blood...a smell he didn't know if he could ever forget...The smell of blood...the feel of a cold gun in his hands...terror...at what he could and couldn't see...it never ended...they were always there...

Gabe shook himself, he had to move forward...the past had become a dark place where he didn't want to be.

The door was open slightly and Gabe pushed it open slowly with his right hand.

He saw Violet laying in his bed, blood covered the sheets and her usual silver-gray hair was messy and had splashes of red in it. Her eyes were closed and her face was still pale although it looked better...at least Gabe hoped it looked better.

He noticed she was now wearing his black jacket which he had never remembered taking off...Bloody bandages and Violet's old clothes were scattered across his dresser. A closed kit lay on the counter which Gabe remembered to be Ruby's.

He stumbled over to her and unzipped the jacket slowly to see her bandaged chest. The bandages had been changed recently and they weren't bloody...thankfully...

He rezipped the jacket and stepped back to see Violet staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Well...I didn't think you were the pervert type." She said with a weak, half of a smile. Her voice was rough but quiet.

Gabe instantly became flustered and red in the face, "I'm not-I wasn't-"

Violet gave a weak shrug, "I'm just teasing...if you held on this long for Clem... I know you wouldn't throw it away on me."

Gabe nodded but didn't say anything, he honestly didn't know how to respond.

Violet noticed his silence, "Thanks...you-"

Gabe quickly interrupted and walked a few steps away, "No need to thank me, I know you'd do the same for me."

Violet looked slightly flustered, "Well, yeah I would...but...are you okay? You seem...on edge?"

Gabe sighed, "I'm just in a bad place...for years I looked out for myself and never could relax...I don't even think I know how anymore...I feel like a fight's gonna break out any minute, like a walker's going to jump out of nowhere...are we really safe? Is anyone ever safe anymore? What's the point of fighting if we only get to live to fight some more?! It never fucking ends! We just live to lose those we care about and fight again and again and again!" Gabe yelled slamming his fist against the wall in angry hopelessness. He leaned his head against the wall and let the numb feeling take over...he couldn't stand to lose anyone else, especially Clementine...but he knew it was going to happen...it always happened...

Violet looked on in concern and a silence followed his outburst before she spoke, "Thirty-four.."

Gabe spun around, "What?" He asked, his voice slightly broken.

"We've lost thirty-four of us...and I knew every one of them...we had set aside whatever differences we had and became friends to survive...but it only made it hurt, every year someone died...every year we lost a kid...another friend..." Violet said quietly but Gabe listened intently to every word.