The Plague

Chapter 71

Sorry

I was in one of my hate-all-of-humanity-and-everything-to-do-with-it moods

I'm chill now

Somewhat

Apologies for my six day absence

________________________________

Adam's POV (because he hasn't got nearly enough attention lately)

The first thing that came back to me was the pain. You'd think I'd have grown accustomed to it, after so much of it, and for so long. But no, each screaming nerve still registers as agony.

The second thing is scream. It's a scream of f*cking terror and agony, and ohmynotchsomeoneisdyingmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop

I wrench open my eyelids and flinch away from the scene before me.

Blood. So much of it, and everywhere.

Lilac, sword in hand, kneeling over the bloody figure.

And Jerome, with a sword buried in his skull. Eyes blank, staring. Mouth gaping open in a now silent scream. Blood already matting in his fur and congealing around the wound.

Bile rises in my throat, and my mind screams in terror.

"You left for a reason, Adam. Guess it didn't really work, now did it?"

Silently, I push myself away. Lilac was staring tauntingly at someone at the top of the stairs. I had gone unnoticed.

"Look at that. Dead, dead, the bacca's dead. A sword buried in his skull, a lord kneeling on his maw."

Blood slick hands scrabbled across the ground, moving me further away.

"Dead, dead, the bacca's dead. His eyes are blank, his hair is lank."

My back bumped gently against a door, and I had pushed myself through it before I even realized what I was doing.

"Dead, dead, the bacca's dead. His jokes are gone, his brain is wrong."

Out, push, out, push, out, push. Keep moving, keep away.

"Dead, dead, the bacca's dead. His claws are still, his friends will kill."

Another door. Out, turn, move. Hall, corner, turn, door, enter, shut.  Move, feel, find, move. Open, through, close.

"Dead, dead, the bacca's dead. The demon won, and you will run."

Push, push, push. Open door, get free.

"Dead, dead, the bacca's dead, and Adam saw it coming."

I made the first sound since waking up. It was a scream, and I flipped myself over and ran as far from the castle as I possibly could.

Run, run, swerve, ignore pain, avoid slow one, run, run. run. run.

Breathe, damnit, breathe.

The song still echoes around, chasing me. The sickly sweet tune flows gently with the lyrics, dancing through my head.

I clenched my eyes shut and collapsed to my knees, pressing my palms against my ears. Everything else felt numb, somehow. I had a feeling that I should be in pain, but it didn't really seem relevant compared to the music.

Gritting my teeth, I wailed into the ground.

"Shut up! Shut up already, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"

When I peeled my hands away from my ears, it's silent. Cautiously, I rise.

A relieved sigh blows from my mouth, and I slowly start walking through the woods. Pain was starting to rebuild throughout my body, but it still seemed somehow irrelevant. I felt different, disassociated.

I don't know how long I walked along like that, in silence. At least, until, I notice that a tree has eyes.

A string of swear word escapes from my mouth and stumble back, collapsing onto my back. This raises another group of curses, and by the time the red has faded in my eyes and the ringing in my ears have stopped, the eyes are gone.

I stare around warily, slowly picking myself up from the ground. Turning at a snails-pace, I scan the wooded area. I consider walking again, but the pain has rebounded greatly and I'm frankly to terrified to move. I stay in a half-crouch for several moments when there's a rustling in front of me.

My eyes dart up to the leafy foliage above my head and I freeze. The eyes are back. I stay motionless, simply watching them.

Then the eyes are gone, a person is in front of me, and I am a good ten feet away before I realized it happened.

"Hey, whoah." Their hand is extended towards me in a cautious pose, meant  to offer no harm. I gasp and rub my chest slightly, trying to fight off the fighting panic as well as the mounting pain.

"Are you alright?" They make as if to take a step towards me, but my body reacts and I flinch violently.

"Hey, bud? Are you deaf?"

I shudder. "N-no."

"Then answer me. Are you alright?"

I loop my arms around my knees and curl into a somewhat upright position. "Not sssure, act-tually."

"How the hell can you be not sure if you're alright?"

"I t-think there should be pain, b-but 'm not really f-feeling it-it."

There's the crunch of feet on the ground, and a hand on my forehead. I recoil from the touch, but another hand is on my shoulder and forces my to stay in place.

"Don't move. You're running one hell of a fever, and to be honest, you look like sh*t. What happened?"

"N-not sure."

There's a frustrated sigh. "Bad news, mate. You're going into shock from your injuries, and from what I can see, you have quite a collection."

They kneel in front of me, and I can just make out a red jacket and black hair, with..blood in it. Odd.

Suddenly there's an arm around my chest, and I give out a strangled protest as I'm yanked to my feet.

"Shut up. You'll attract walkers. Now, before you die, my name's Ashais. Who're you?"

I can feel my body trembling in terror at being touched. The last time I was touched there was agony. So much agony. I can feel it again, climbing up my limbs and building in my skull.

"Hey, asked you a question."

I practically choke on the answer. "Adam."

"Good to meet you, Adam. Please don't die while I'm practically carrying you."

I manage a muted nod. "Do my b-best."

___________________________

Sorry, did somebody say the OC by AJC_343?

Accept her as an apology?

I do hope I got her right, I went through and redid her a few times so that her personality would fit and all that...

Anyways, back to a (good?) bloxie? When did you get back?