Rated: PG-13 ~ Warnings: mild horror, angst ~ Pairing: none ~ Notes: N/A Time was like a slow crawl for Rowen. Two weeks had passed, but to Rowen, it felt like it was only two days. He and Lucas had told everyone where Nicholas was and what was ailing him, knowing they could hardly do a thing with him around, which postponed everything until they could get someone to temporarily replace him. Rowen and Lucas knew that the replacement was going to end up permanent, so they added in their contributions when picking out someone to replace Nicholas - no matter how hard it was to let it go that Nicholas was never returning to them. Since bringing Nicholas to the hospital, he now became a frequent figure in Lucas' ever terrible nightmares. Nicholas was as coherent as Lucas in the dreams, shouting at Lucas, accusing him of abandoning him at the hospital and leaving him for dead. He went on, blaming Lucas for the way Rowen was, gesturing wildly to the distorted form that was supposed to be Rowen, but really wasn't. Lucas couldn't find his voice to protests Nicholas' accusations, no matter how hard he had tried to open his mouth and find his voice to shout back at Nicholas. The dream Rowen had always wanted to reach out and touch Lucas, but each time Rowen did touch Lucas, an icy pain scorched his body, forcing him awake and shaking, his body coated in a cold sweat. Lucas had, after Rowen's insistence, gone and talked to Rowen about the dreams whenever he woke up from them and Rowen didn't seem to mind being woken up at odd hours to comfort Lucas, listening to Lucas retell his latest nightmare. Rowen couldn't understand it, though. Since the accident, Lucas had been getting these dreams...did they mean something? Was it a peek into a future soon to come? Or was it the pure force of the hit to Lucas' head that cause such outlandish nightmares to arise? Rowen hoped it wasn't the force of the accident and consoled Lucas through the nightmares, wishing there was a way to stop them from happening. The only remedy that really seemed to work was the times Lucas crawled into bed with Rowen did the nightmares have a cease fire. More and more frequently, Lucas had crawled into Rowen's bed to sleep, unable to properly function with the nightmares assaulting him, afraid that the next person he'd come in contact with had the parasite and they'd haunt his dreams like Nicholas was. Eventually, they found a new manager to replace Nicholas and went to work on touring and making new music, which came to an abrupt halt suddenly when an entire venue of fans became a couple handful of fans and a few disoriented staff that had no idea what they were doing. No one liked the idea of the sudden decrease of fans, nor could they figure out why exactly the decrease was so sudden. Lucas, though, had a vague feeling that it had something to deal with the parasite and with that thought in his head, he quite suddenly locked himself in his room, refusing to come out. Rowen had tried to talk him into getting out a little, but was shot down every time with the simple excuse that the parasite was spreading and he didn't want to contract it and inevitably die. That was what was really confusing Lucas, however. He and Rowen had been in contact with two people who had the parasite, but neither were showing no signs that they had it. Eventually, and much to his reluctance, Lucas came out of his room, in much need of a shower and food. Although, once he was squeaky clean and wandered down to the kitchen, he froze when he caught the faintest smell of fresh blood. Hoping it wasn't what he was thinking, Lucas cautiously walked into the kitchen, half expecting something horrible... He peeked around the corner, seeing Joshua with his back to Lucas. He seemed to be preocupied with the stove, but when Lucas snuck further inside the kitchen, Joshua suddenly turned around, spotting Lucas. Joshua's eyes were wide and fearful, tears streaming down his face. "Help...me." Joshua's voice was a mere whisper, but Lucas heard the plea. Lucas swallowed thickly, walking tentatively towards Joshua. "What do you need help with?" he asked, daring to not look anywhere. "It's inside of me," Joshua rasped, shaking like a leaf. "Making me do things, horrible things." He inhaled a rattling breath before slowly exhaling and Lucas swore he saw a brief puff of black. "It wants me to kill myself, to destroy things. What do I do?" "Uh..." Lucas was at a loss of words, unable to comprehend what Joshua just told him. He glanced slowly downwards, his eyes widening when he saw exactly what Joshua was doing when his back was turned. A deep gash was sliced along Joshua's stomach, much smaller scale scratches encircling the gash like a tattoo. It looked as though Joshua had sliced open his body to get the parasite out of his body, but was doing it in vain. A bloodied knife was held in Joshua's right hand, to which Lucas immediately took away from him, shaking his head as he tossed the knife out of reach. "I...god, Josh, I don't know what to do," Lucas whispered, looking back up at Joshua. "Get rid of it," Joshua hissed, digging his fingers into the gash in his stomach and winced harshly at the pain it induced. "Take it out of me, do something, please." His face was that of pain as he tried ripping open the gash further with his hands. Lucas surged forward, grabbing Joshua's wrists and pulling them out of the wound. "What the fuck are you doing?" he shouted. "Get it out!" Joshua shouted back, eyes clouded over with fear and anger. His voice became softer then. "Please. I don't want to die, not like this." Lucas swallowed again, gently tugging Joshua into the living room. "We'll patch you up," he said, mostly to himself. "Then I'll try to find a cure for you." "Hurry, though," Joshua said softly. "It's spreading quickly, making me less and less reluctant to do as it says." Lucas chewed his lip as he sat Joshua down. He looked around briefly for something to bandage Joshua up with, but found nothing. Looking down at his shirt, he fingered it lightly before yanking it off and, flushing brightly, tied it securely to the wound in Joshua's stomach. "Better than nothing," Lucas mumbled, sitting beside Joshua. "What am I going to do?" Joshua fingered the pseudo-gauze covering his stomach. "Get rid of it," he whispered, looking at Lucas. "You haven't gotten the parasite and neither have Rowen and Scott, so why me?" Lucas shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered back, a thought suddenly coming to him. He took a breath and looked at Joshua. "Just go with me on this one, ok?" He waited for Joshua to nod before continuing. "What if I gave you some of my blood? Would that work?" Joshua blinked, the thought alone of drinking someone's blood disgusting, but he was willing to do anything. "We can try," he said, "but I'm not so sure it'll work." "It'll work," Lucas mumbled, standing up. Walking quickly into the kitchen, Lucas grabbed a clean knife, a glass, and a roll of paper towels before heading back into the living room. He knew it wasn't the best of the best ideas in the world to cut open his skin, bleed, and risk getting the parasite, but he hated seeing anyone he knew in such deep fear that Joshua was experiencing. Sitting down beside Joshua again, Lucas took a few deep breaths, poising the knife above his wrist and those above the glass before making a quick slice into the soft flesh, watching as the blood immediately started flowing. Slowly, like molasses, it dripped into the glass and as each minute passed, Lucas became more and more light-headed as the glass reached a quarter full. Not really wanting to pass out, but knew it was inevitable, Lucas quickly wadded up several pieces of paper towel and placed it over the wound, hissing at the contact. "Drink it," Lucas said. "Do it before it gets too cold." Making a face, Joshua did as told and downed the blood, shuddering at both the taste and smell. He slammed the glass down onto the coffee table, smacking his lips several times. "Not something I want to do ever again," he muttered, still smacking his lips and shuddering briefly. Lucas nodded. "And not something I'd want to do soon, either," he said, shaking his head to try and ward off the impending unconsciousness. "We should get to our rooms, let time work its magic." Joshua started to nod, but quickly stopped, his body going rigid. Looking at Lucas, Joshua's breath hitched before a scream ripped from his throat. He collapsed onto the couch in a fit of convulsions, his eyes wide and terrified, making it seem like he was overcome with a painful curse. It was sudden and brief and soon, Joshua lay still on the couch, eyes wid and unstaring up at the ceiling. Lucas stared at Joshua for many minutes before cautiously reaching out a hand to touch him... Only to recoil violently when he felt a scorching heat underneath Joshua's skin, like his blood was boiling him, cooking him from the inside, out. Lucas kept hoping Joshua would be fine before he finally gave in to the forgiving darkness of unconsciousness. ~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~ It seemed like an eternity to later when Lucas abruptly awoke, cool sweat clinging to his skin. A comforter covered his nearly naked body, indicating Rowen had brought him to his room and put him in his bed. Lucas instinctively knew he'd been asleep for hours, but it really felt like he'd been asleep an enternity. He took a few minutes to get his bearings straight before suddenly remembering... Joshua. Was he alright or had Lucas somehow managed to kill him? The latter thought all but freaked Lucas out as he bolted from his bed, clad only in his boxers, and make quick work of scouring the house for the drummer. He came up empty, seeing only Rowen and Scott asleep in their own beds, which proved to freak him out further. Unable to calm himself down, he rudely woke Rowen up and proceeded to fire off questions in a rapid state, confusing poor Rowen - who was still mostly asleep. "Luc, calm down," Rowen mumbled, voice laced with sleep. "God, it's like you killed him." "But I did!" Lucas shouted, now pacing frantically. "I told him to drink my blood, but it killed him!" Rowen blinked the sleep from his eyes. "You didn't kill him," he said, furrowing his brow. "He's in Scott's room, sound asleep and perfectly fine." "But I didn't see him there," Lucas retorted. "Where would he be?" "Uh...curled up within Scott's arms, last I saw," Rowen replied, blinking. "You know how much of a burrower Josh can be and he can blend in quite well with another." Lucas still refused to calm down, still pacing frantically. "But before I passed out," he said softly, trailing off. Rowen sighed and stood from his bed, going up to wrap Lucas up in his arms. "You didn't kill him," he murmured. "If it makes you feel better, we can go see him." "Please," Lucas whispered, turning and curling into Rowen's arms. Usually, Lucas had to comfort Rowen in situations similar, but the roles were reversed this time and Rowen wasn't sure how to handle it exactly. Shrugging minutely to himself, Rowen gently led Lucas into Scott's room, gently rousing the sleeping pair. Scott blinked and looked up at Rowen when his shoulders were shaken. "What's wrong?" Instantly, Scott was awake. "What happened?" "Lucas had a little freak out," Rowen replied. "He thought he killed Josh." Scott grinned. "Nope," he said, looking at Lucas now. "You saved his life, actually." Gazing down at Joshua, a small smile appeared on his lips. "If you didn't do what you did...he wouldn't be here now." "So...he's ok?" Lucas asked meekly. Scott nodded, looking back at the twins. "He's just a little knackered after what happened earlier. He'll be right as rain when he wakes up later." "But..." Lucas chewed at his bottom lip. "He felt so hot when I touched him..." "It was your blood fighting the parasite," Rowen said before Lucas could say anything more. "Josh did manage some nasty burns from the ordeal, but otherwise, he'll be perfectly fine." Lucas sagged in Rowen's arms, grateful he hadn't killed Joshua. He didn't know what he'd do if he did, though. The nagging thought that word would get out and he'd be bled dry because of the demand for a cure from the parasite didn't settle well with Lucas and he shivered. Rowen noticed, but didn't comment. He knew Lucas would open up to him eventually, he always did after the night Rowen all but demanded Lucas tell him what was wrong. Lucas shook his head and pulled away from Rowen slightly. "What if word gets out?" Lucas asked softly. "What if people know and they start demanding they want a cure from my blood?" "Word won't get out," Rowen replied, adding after a hesitant pause. "We're the only ones that know. There's no way word would get out unless one of us blurted it outside." "But people have seen us outside, showing no signs of having the parasite," Lucas insisted. "They'll know if we go outside again." "Then we won't go outside," Rowen said. "Explain how we're going to survive without going outside," Scott piped up. "We only have enough food for the four of us to eat for another two and a half weeks." His brow furrowed. "Eventually, we'll have to go out and get more food, but technically, neither of you have to go; hardly anyone's seen me, so I'll go with Josh to get food." "Sounds like a good plan," Rowen said, smiling and gently jostling Lucas. "What say you, Luc?" Lucas squirmed, but nodded. "Fine," he said, "but we'll go in different pairs, make it confuse people." "Or however many people are left," Rowen murmured. "They're dropping like flies out there, we'll only have to worry about tripping over bodies and avoiding ravenous animals." "And clog our noses from the stench," Joshua piped up softly, a yawn nearly making his jaw crack. "Trust me, I went out there not too long ago and it stunk to high heavens." "You should be resting!" Scott squeaked, twisting to scowl lightly at Joshua. Joshua chuckled softly, hissing softly. "I'm fine," he said. "The burns really aren't that bad, you know. Besides-" He sat up slowly, face a mask of mild pain; "with everyone talking, there's no way I could sleep any longer." Scott nodded and went to say something when he stopped and glanced out of the window, brows furrowed. The sound of a large rock hitting and breaking a window broke the silence, sounding eerily like it was a window downstairs that was broken. Glancing at Rowen, Scott stood and slowly made his way downstairs, making an undignified squeal when another rock came sailing through a previously unbroken window and skimmed by Scott's head which instinctively made him to drop and cover himself. Not knowing if anymore rocks would come sailing in and knocking him in the head, Scott brought his hands down and creeped forward - much like a monkey would walk - keeping his eyes peeled for any kind of lethal projectile. Making it to the stairs, Scott quickly got up on his legs and made quick work of them, shaking his head when he reached his room. "I've no idea what's up," Scott said after seeing the questioning looks from the others, "but if it makes you feel any kinds of better, I nearly got knocked out by a rock." Lucas laughed lightly. "So, you don't know why the window was broken?" he asked. "Would you stay down there if a rock nearly hit your head?" Scott retorted. "I would say no," Lucas said, "but what are we going to do?" Before anyone could get a reply in, someone quickly entered the apartment and made quick work of the stairs. Not knowing what to expect, Scott swiftly stood and stood beside the door, a paperweight in hand. Not many minutes passed while the unknown person opened every single door before coming to Scott's room. It was like a second of indecision before the door opened, revealing a pale-faced Kyle. Normally, Kyle was all stoicism and confidence, but seeing him completely shaken up and emotions clearly on his face had everyone a little scared. "What's wrong?" Joshua spoke up softly after knowing no one else would say anything. "We have to leave," Kyle replied quickly. "We have to leave - now." "Why?" Rowen asked. Kyle shot Rowen a look before replying. "There are people outside," he said. "Thousands, probably, all saying the same thing; they want the cure Lucas supposedly has." Lucas blanched, his eyes widening. "Oh, god," he whispered. "How do they know?" Kyle shrugged. "I don't know, but we have to move quickly." He grimaced. "I know some saw me use the door, so it shouldn't be too long before they use it and invade." Directly after Kyle spoke, the sound of both glass breaking and a door slamming open was heard, closely followed by the thunderous sound of several enraged voices. Lucas, it seemed, became even more pale, his breathing speeding up in seconds. He unknowingly reached out for Rowen, clinging tightly to his twin for a semblance of reassurance. This was not going to be a fun escape. Not at all. ~TBC~ |