Deadman Crawling [m×m]

THIRTY

Eloy grunts as he pushes, his hair stuck to his forehead from sweat, his body trembling with effort.  It feels like he can't breathe, not until the contraction let's up.

But it burns.

Oh fuck it burns.

It's so bad, it hurts to the point of delirium.

He can't anymore.

He's been hurting for hours, he just can't.

"Come on, Eloy, I can see the head," Alexis encourages softly.

They're in an abandoned house they barely managed to sneak into.  It's dusty and dirty, but it's the best they've got.

"One more, come on!"

Eloy nods and pushes.

He pushes until the stretch is unbearable.

Until he thinks he's going to pass out from pain.

But then Alexis is guiding his hand and he's cupping a small head between his legs and he can't help but sob.

He can do this.

He has to!

•●•●•

John grins wickedly as he kicks the gun away from Jace's cramped hand.

Jace stares up at the man, anger and fury glistening in his eye.

Like hell he'll give the man the satisfaction of seeing any hint of fear from him.

"Where's the freak? Huh, finally spread her legs for ya?"

Hell will have to freeze over before he said anything.

Instead Jace spits at the man.

"You little son of a bi-"

Jace watches as a familiar arrow is lodged in between John's forehead.  The man peers at the arrow sticking out before another is fired and then another.

Watching the man slump forward is oddly satisfying.

But he can't think as he's tackled by the men from the hunting group of survivors.

He struggles to break free.  He tries to fight back and sees Sean try to reload Eloy's crossbow with little to no success as men surround him as well.

Jace kicks and fights, breaking free only after kicking their captors in the balls.

Quickly he yanks at Sean and they run, barely escaping with their lives as guns are fired behind them.

Jace keeps moving, however.

He needs to get to Eloy, to their baby.

He needs to be there, he needs to-

Sean trips and Jace abruptly stops, intent on pulling him up and helping when he feels something clamp down onto his ankle.

He looks down and finds a fallen infected biting down hard into his skin.

His eyes widen as he stumbles back.

Sean grabs Jace's gun and fires at the thing in quick succession.

Jace, however, is stuck in shock.

He has half the hope that maybe the zombie didn't actually bite into his skin.

But blood is slowly oozing down his legs and soaking the edge of his ripping jeans.

He looks at his ankle and his heart stops.

The imprint of the teeth are perfectly indented into his skin.

His ankle quickly turning red, raw.

"Jace?" Sean panicks.

"Let's go, we need to get to Eloy, I... I need to-to-"

Tell him I love him.

To say goodbye.

Sean nods.

They manage to arrive to a small run down house where the door is wide opened.

James peers around it and ushers them in and Jace should be mad, but all he can do is hold the little boy in a tight hug.

"Uncle Jace?"

"Eloy?"

"Upstairs with mommy, Ella is sleeping."

"Good, good," Jace nods, "stay here, lock the doors, help Eloy and your mom."

"What about you and uncle Sean?" James wonders, his little head tilted to the side.

"We... I need to do something."

Jace limps toward a set of stairs he figures it leads to a basement.

He thanks God at the sight of a chainsaw.

Sean can only stare at Jace as he grabs it.

"Help me."

"What?"

Jace begs, "please, help me."

They both look at the site where black veins begin to surround the bite mark with infection.

"This is going to spread unless we stop it."

"But there's no guarantee that the infection isn't already in your blood stream."

"But we can try!"

"What if you bleed out?"

Jace quickly takes off his belt and holster.

He adjusts the leather band just under his knee.

"We'll start a fire."

"What? Why?"

"We can either heat up the saw or a skillet and press it against the open skin.  It will hopefully cauterize the veins enough to bandage it."

"Are you sure?" 

Jace grabs onto the teen's shirt as he pulls him foreward.

"Right now is not the time to hesitate.  I can feel it spreading."

True to his words the black veins crawl millimeter by millimeter up his leg, turning his skin a deathly rotten color.

"Okay," Sean nods, "okay."

They set to work.

The saw is revved to life and the fire roars at their side as a skillet sits in the flames.

Jace tightens the belt and looks at Sean with determination in his eye.

A single nod.

And his screams are drowned by the cry of a newborn.