With A Whimper (Part 24)

[missmara]

Title: With A Whimper (Part Twenty Four)
Author: Mara
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence, death, language, blood. Did I mention violence and death? And Blood? lol
Summary: Most of the world is either dead or Crazy, but in California a group of survivors tries to find a way to avoid both fates.
Note: It's short, but it seemed like a good place to end it.

PART TWENTY FOUR




When the rising sun woke Summer from a sleep filled with pleasant dreams, the first thing she did was roll over to wake Ryan up, since he'd started getting grumpy about them letting him sleep late. But the space beside her was empty, the sheets cool to the touch, and when she glanced around she saw Ryan's crutches were still leaning against the chair where he'd put them the night before. She got up, padding barefoot across the hardwood floors to look in the bathroom, finding it equally empty. Now beginning to worry, she went back into the bedroom and jammed her feet into her slips, pulled Ryan's hoodie on over her pajama pants and tank top, and went out into the hall.

Over towards the front of the lodge, she could see Alex reading something and looking out towards the road every so often, just like Ryan had insisted they do while on watch since the first night he'd had someone do it. Summer looked over the railing and spotted the kids putting together a puzzle downstairs with Lindsay and Kaitlin's help, and Hailey was listening to one of the IPods they had brought while she flipped through an old magazine. But Ryan wasn't there.

She hurried to Kirsten's door and knocked briefly, entering when she heard the invitation, and bit her lip when she saw Ryan wasn't there either, just Kirsten and Emily. "I can't find Ryan," she said. "He's not in our room, even though his crutches are. And he's not downstairs with everyone else..."

"He's fine," Emily said. "I saw him a little while ago."

"Where?" Summer asked.

Emily smiled and got up, leading both Kirsten and Summer out of the room and back to the rear balcony. The first thing they saw was Caleb reading a book while he drank a cup of coffee, then they spotted Ryan. He was curled up in a chair, his feet propped up on a second chair, with a blanket tucked around him as he slept. "See? He's fine," Emily said.

"What is he doing out here?" Summer asked, though it was more simple curiosity than concern now.

"We had a talk late last night," Caleb said as he set his book aside. "He fell asleep after awhile, and I didn't want to disturb him, so I covered him with a blanket to keep him warm."

"You were nice to him?" Summer asked suspisciously. "You? Were nice? To Ryan?"

"Yes, I was," Caleb said. "And he repaid me by accusing me of being drunk."

Kirsten covered her mouth to muffle her soft laughter. "Well, Dad..."

"I didn't say I blamed him for asking," Caleb said. "I've been... unduly harsh towards him. But he did a good job keeping everyone safe so far, and I'm sure he'll keep up the good work."

"No wonder he thought you were drunk if you actually told him that," Summer muttered as she went to Ryan's side, feeling his forehead, and smiling as his eyes flickered open. "Morning."

"Morning," Ryan replied, groaning as he shifted position and jarred his leg.

"You okay?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, just a little sore," Ryan said.

"Good, serves you right," Summer said, her smile replaced with irritation. "What possessed you to get up in the middle of the night and wander around? Especially without your crutches?"

Ryan stared at her for a moment before reply slowly. "Bad dream."

"No dream is bad enough for you to risk..."

"Everyone but you and me were dead," Ryan said quietly, looking away from her. "And you were a Crazy."

Summer's irritation deflated then, and she sank down to take his hand in hers. "I'm not a Crazy, and everyone who was alive last night is still alive this morning. I've seen everyone who's here, and they are all safe and sound."

Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said. "I just didn't feel much like going back to sleep after that dream, though."

"Next time, wake me up," Summer said. "I was scared when I woke up and you weren't there."

Ryan nodded again. "Okay."

"For god's sake, it's not like he could get far on that leg," Caleb complained. "And he's not stupid enough to try when we don't know what's out there."

"Thanks," Ryan said, rolling his eyes even though now there was a twinkle of amusement there, rather than irritation or sadness like usually accompanied Caleb's comments.

"Why don't we go back and get your crutches, then get you some breakfast?" Emily suggested. "You need to keep your strength up so you'll heal faster."

"So you keep telling me," Ryan replied, getting up with Summer's help and leaning on her slightly to make their way back to their room.

"And you're barefoot, too," Summer muttered as they entered the bedroom and she made him sit down on the end of the bed. "Are you trying to catch a cold?"

"Sorry," Ryan replied, smiling as she went and grabbed some clothes for him and for herself. He watched her move around for a minute, and when she handed him his clothes so he could get dressed, he caught her arm and pulled her into a kiss. "I didn't want to see you like that again, and I thought if I went back to sleep I might," he whispered, pressing his forehead against hers. "It was bad, and... and it scared the hell out of me."

"Unless all of our theories are way off, I can't become a Crazy," Summer said. "We're safe."

"What if our theories are off? What if there's another strain of the virus that comes through that we're not all immune to?" Ryan asked. "What if..."

"If I become one of those things, you put a bullet between my eyes," Summer said firmly. "I don't want to hurt the people I love, so you kill me if I turn Crazy. And I'll do the same for you."

Ryan nodded, though his eyes began to fill with tears. "I love you," he said, stroking her hair. "And I'm just so scared of loosing you."

Summer kissed him softly. "I love you, too, Chino," she said. "And you're not gonna lose me. We're safe for now, and we're getting safer with every modification we make to this place."

Ryan nodded. "Caleb actually had a good idea last night. We build a fence in pieces, running between each cabin, with the cabins themselves acting as our entrances and exits, as well as storehouses for extra supplies. We can't get the fence done entirely before it's too cold and the ground is too solid, but... we can figure out what the plan for next year is so that maybe we can do it once the ground is soft enough."

"And I've been thinking," Summer said, sitting down beside him and checking his leg after he'd pulled off his sweatpants. "It's healing really well, I think. And Emily said that as long as I thought it looked okay, she doesn't need to check it."

"Because you're our nurse in training," Ryan replied. "And what have you been thinking?"

"Well, we're going to try to put an antenna on the roof, right? Well, maybe we should build like a tower or something up there, too. Like a watchtower. We could see farther, have a great range of fire..."

"That's a great idea," Ryan said, nodding. "Kirsten told me that the owners once showed her and Hailey a little room that had a staircase up to the roof. There's like a little landing at the top, and a hatch opens up in the roof to look out. The owners let them go up there sometimes to stargaze, because it had the best view. They kept the door to the room locked except for special occasions, but..."

"So my idea could work?"

"I'll have to check the roof and make sure it won't be damaged by us building a lookout tower, but... I think it'll work."

Summer smiled happily, then jumped up to change her own clothes and pointed to the baggy jeans sitting on the bed beside him. "Get dressed. If you're a good boy and eat a good sized meal, then after lunch I'll let you go to the roof."

Ryan smiled and shook his head, but did as he was told, pulling on the jeans, then switching out his wifebeater for a white t-shirt. He paused as he watched Summer getting dressed, her back to him as she pulled off her tank top and replaced it with a sports bra and a pale blue t-shirt. "We're gonna be okay," he said.

"Of course we are," Summer said, turning back with a frown on her face. "We're safe, and..."

"No, I mean... long term. We're gonna get in touch with other survivors who aren't like Volchak, and we're gonna build that fence, and we're going to be safe. No one's gonna get us."

"I know," Summer said. "I know you'll make that happen."

"If anything happened to me..."

"Don't even..."

"Summer," Ryan said, his voice pleading. "If anything happened to me, I need you to promise you'd keep doing what you have been. You'd fight and you'd survive. You'd take care of Kirsten and the baby for me, and... and make sure Trey didn't do too many stupid things, like screwing things up with Lindsay."

"I promise," Summer said, tears prickling at her eyes as she moved to kneel between his legs and wrapped her arms around his waist. "But you've gotta make that same promise, Ry. If anything ever happened to me..."

"It would hurt like hell, but as long as someone needed me, I'd keep going," Ryan promised.

"And if there was no one left here, you would go somewhere else and find people who needed you," Summer said firmly. "This world needs people like you, Ryan. People who will fight until they just can't anymore."

Ryan nodded. "Okay, I promise."

"Good," Summer said. "Now how about we go get you something to eat?"

"Sounds good," Ryan replied.

To Be Continued...


I'll be posting my soundtrack for this sometime soon, since it doesn't contain spoilers like the soundtrack for 'Heavily Broken' does... lol... I think people will like it... kind of a wide variety of music on it...

Later!