[three] β [spam + video]

[freezerburns]

[Spam]

[Vampires and werewolves don't mix. Apparently they really don't mix, down to the molecular level. Isaac's bleeding black, like Scott had when the alpha pack had wounded him, when he hadn't been healing. His body's fighting back against the infection but he's missing a lot of blood and it's healing slow or maybe it's not even healing at all.

He couldn't kill her. He couldn't even fight back against her really, because dead or not, vampire or not, it was Allison. He'd seen her hurting and then he'd watched her die and it had broken something in him; he couldn't hurt her, even when the smell of death had been all over her. When she'd pulled him in - with that unnatural strength, so much stronger than she had any right to be - he couldn't make himself stop her as she sank fangs deep into his neck.

He drags himself up towards the deck without planning on going that way, not thinking he should get to the infirmary, not thinking anything, hand pressed hard against his neck like it's going to keep his blood in his body. It's like he can't breathe and he wants to see the open stars up on deck because it feels like the walls of the corridors are closing in around him. There's bloody black ooze bubbling out between his fingers and out of his nose and he's dizzy and sick. He leaves streaks of the stuff on the the railings of the stairs and where he brushed against the wall. He keeps thinking that he wasn't even there when Jerry got her. He wasn't there at all, he just trusted she'd be okay.

He failed her, again.

He gets out onto the deck and with the open sky above him he sinks to his knees, fumbles out his communicator and sends out a message.]


[Public video]

[When he talks, it's through a mouthful of black blood which runs down his chin with the words and it feels like he's numb all over except for the burning infected heat of the wound in the side of his neck, the feel of his werewolf healing fighting against the change. His eyes are gold and his face is pale. He doesn't know what to do but he has to tell them.

He's leaking black down his neck and it's running between his fingers and staining his shirt and it hurts, but his voice doesn't break or hitch. His own injury isn't important. He couldn't do anything but maybe that's just because he's not good enough. He's never been good enough. All he keeps thinking is it all happened so fast. His hands are numb and he doesn't even bother trying to filter the message.]

Scott, Allison's a vampire. He got her.

Comments

[americasdirtiest]

Lahey.

[Mickey doesn't know Allison except by proxy. Isaac is someone he counts as a friend in his head, if not quite out loud, and he knows Allison is Isaac's girl. So he's not sickened for her sake, but for Isaac's, and maybe a little bit for his own. For the memory of kicking and screaming as the life drained out of him.

And Jesus, they'd talked about this, what, three days ago for Ian? That's how long it took for Jerry to make himself at home again? Three--

--days in which Mickey had promised not to touch him as long as he doesn't touch Ian. And Mickey doesn't give a shit about honor or even promises, but he can't be the one to break that peace until he has a bulletproof way of protecting Ian.]

Fuck. Fuck him. [Holy Christ, he needs to hit something, and he badly wants it to be Jerry, but he can't.] Fuck him!

[freezerburns]

[Isaac doesn't really have an answer to that. Because yeah. Fuck him. Absolutely. But that doesn't change the fact that Allison's undead, that she's a damn vampire and he wasn't there to help her or stop it. He's back watching her on the ground dying with blood in her mouth all over again, back with that dead numbness filling his chest and his head and his heart. He doesn't know what to do. He's so fucking useless.

He closes his eyes and presses his hand tighter against his neck, tasting death and blood and rot, breathing it in with every shallow gasp of air. This time, his voice breaks on the word.]

Yeah.

[americasdirtiest]

Fuck.

[He spits it out again, because he doesn't know what else to do. Unable to contain himself, he whirls around and smashes a fist against the counter behind him, but that doesn't exactly solve anything. He takes a deep breath and picks up the comm.]

Where are you? Where is she?

Video, Pack Filter (No Allison)

[whatthefoxsay]

[It's not like she and Isaac are the closest buddies ever but she remembers him as someone she fought along with against the oni and the nogitsune and he's in love with Allison and that counts for something, dammit. So when she sees the state she's in, she's pretty angry.]

What are we going to do? This is Allison.

[Allison, hurting the people she cares about. And it's all Jerry's fault. Kira, she cannot even.]

Video, Pack Filter (No Allison)

[freezerburns]

[Isaac just shakes his head - wincing as the wound on his neck pulls open and throbs - because he doesn't know. He really has no idea. Allison hadn't been trying to hurt him, is the worst part. She thought it was the best thing to do, that being a vampire was a good thing. He feels sick and turns his head to spit out more black blood before answering.]

I don't know. I don't-- [And okay, now the words are tearing at his throat as he says them and can't stop.] I don't know how to fix this. I can't fix this. I can't fix it.

Re: Video, Pack Filter (No Allison)

[whatthefoxsay]

Isaac, Isaac, calm down. Is Scott on his way? Do you want to go to medical? Do you need me to come over and help you? [Because she will.]

You're not alone. I promise. We're all worried, and we'll figure out a way to help her together, okay?

[freezerburns]

[There's an animal part of him that totally and completely wants to tear Jerry apart, that appreciates the violence of Mickey's reaction, but that's buried under how he mostly just feels empty and sick and worthless right now. He tilts his comm to show the stars on deck as answer to the first question.]

She was in her cabin, Level Two, but-- She'll be gone. She'll go somewhere else. Don't-- [Don't hurt her, is what he wants to say. He'd protect her even if she killed him.] She's dangerous. Don't look for her.

Video, Pack Filter (No Allison)

[freezerburns]

No, no, it's-- [His injury means nothing. He's not healing but that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. What matters is Allison. If she kills someone in the pack it'll destroy her if she ever goes back to normal.]

No. Find her and stop her. Help her. I don't know where she'd go but... You can't let her hurt anyone else. Okay?

spam!!

[withtheoldbreed]

[It's the streaks of blood on the walls that catch Gene's attention. They're dark, almost like oil, and his stomach churns a little when he smells it, a familiar, sharp scent that makes his nose wrinkle before he's even realized that's blood. A sane person would probably turn away, and God knows he's seen enough violence and death, too much, but he still heads up the stairs, swinging his rifle off his shoulder and gripping it tightly, clicking the safety off.

(He's still wearing his uniform, still carrying his KA-BAR and his side arm and his rifle. He'd been thinking maybe he should stop, maybe not here, but now, he's kind of glad he thought to.)

So he doesn't know what to expect when he steps out on deck, but he feels like he's about ready for anything. Maybe.

Except maybe this, because the pit kind of drops out of his stomach when he sees Isaac. Isaac's on his knees on deck, there's blood everywhere, and Gene's at his side before he has time to think, because Isaac helped him out and seemed like a decent guy, and this is nothing Gene hasn't done before.

Which doesn't mean this isn't awful, but maybe it'd been stupid to not expect it. Stupid to get close to anyone.]

C- [But then he stops, remembering no one is going to come if he screams for a corpsman here, and instead just scrambles for a field dressing from his belt pouches, staring at Isaac with wide, terrified but focused eyes as he reaches for his hand. (Jesus, why is it black?)]

Lemme see. You're okay, lemme see.

[reeheeally]

[Cox's reply is quick, his tone terse:]

Don't try to talk anymore. Don't move. Someone will be right there.

spam!!

[freezerburns]

[If he wasn't currently leaking enough black bloody goo for the smell and taste of it to completely overwhelm his senses or if he wasn't so tangled up by guilt and anger and numb hollowness, he probably would've noticed Gene approaching a whole lot earlier. As it is, he doesn't really register the presence of another person until he's right there.

His neck is throbbing and he doesn't protest or anything as Gene reaches for his hand to shift it away because it hurts. It really hurts. It burns, actually, like there's some white-hot molten metal spreading out under his skin from the bite, and judging by the black blood that pulses out of the ragged wound when he lifts his hand, he's still not healing right. Or at all.]

[withtheoldbreed]

I got him. [Gene's response is rushed, but he sounds calm enough. Urgent, not utterly panicking.] I can get him down there.

[americasdirtiest]

[That makes his blood boil even more, but it's not like he doesn't understand. He feels helpless too, though; worse, he feels used, like maybe Jerry waited for an opportunity like this. With Dean comatose and Mickey's hands tied, that's two of the biggest threats to Jerry that have nothing to lose by getting revenge, both taken out of operation. The wardens all have rules to follow.

He doesn't know what to do. It's not like he can help Isaac, either. He knows some first aid from a lifetime of patching himself up, but not like this.]

Do you need the hospital?

[It's reluctant -- he doesn't exactly love the hospital wing now, even without Shepherd there -- but sincere. He doesn't know how the fuck their healing works; maybe he doesn't at all.]

spam!!

[withtheoldbreed]

[Gene's expression twists with shock and disgust when he sees the wound, and he has no idea how to fix it, but the field dressing gets slapped on anyway, and he starts putting pressure on it.

Except that's not enough to fix this, and so he grabs Isaac's arm, pulling him up. He goes to pull the teenager's arm over his shoulder, encouraging him to lean on him.]

Come on, get up. You're okay. You're okay, c'mon. [It's urgent, maybe even impatient, but the truth is, he's right back in that deep animal fear of death, injury or losing a buddy is back like he hasn't been off Peleliu and out of harm's way since he got here. He's scared.]

[reeheeally]

We'll be ready for him, then.

Tape his mouth shut if he tries to talk again.

[withtheoldbreed]

Yessir.

[freezerburns]

[Normally, the answer would be no, not for anything but the worst kind of injuries, but this is different and even if he kind of feels like maybe he wants to lie down out here and die for not protecting her, he knows he's not healing like he should be. So he's reluctantly opening his mouth to say yes--

When Gene shows up beside him. There's probably a glimpse of him in the video and the comm jostles in Isaac's hand, getting a nice view of the black goo leaking out of him as he lifts his palm off the wound and he answers Mickey with a few quick words as Gene's getting the wound covered up.]

Yeah, we're going. Be careful.

[americasdirtiest]

I'll be on Four.

[Because if Isaac is being seen to, there's only one other place it makes sense for Mickey to go right now: Ian's.]

[semifreakingnormal]

[For a second, he freezes.

He shouldn't be freezing right now, he should be reacting. He knows that. He keeps telling himself that. Instead, he's standing in the middle of his room, stuck in the same spot where he'd jumped up once he heard Isaac and--

And he freezes. Allison's a vampire. He doesn't know if it'll last. He doesn't know if she'll have to die again for her to go back to normal. He can feel something building in him, expanding in his chest, and he swallows it down, afraid it will burst out of him in too many terrible directions. His temper hasn't been a problem in a long while, but he never head quite this much trauma on his plate before.

He just wants to help them all, and he doesn't know how.]

It's okay, Isaac.

[He sees red eyes and a snarling, smug face in the back of his mind, pushes it away. It all happened so fast.]

It's okay, we're gonna save her.

[Save her. That's what they're here for, no matter the cost.]

You need to stay calm, okay? You need to heal.

[freezerburns]

[He doesn't need to tell Mickey to protect Ian even if he kind of wants to, so instead Isaac just nods and cuts the feed as Gene pulls him to his feet.]

spam!!

[freezerburns]

[Isaac sends a last response to Mickey as Gene gets the dressing on the wound, wincing sharply as he puts pressure back on it. He's definitely dizzy and his vision greys out a little as Gene pulls him to his feet.]

Okay. Alright. [He fumbles his comm back into his pocket with numb fingers, feeling his item - Allison's silver arrowhead - against his skin and hating himself for not stopping this. For not doing more. He should have done something, he should've done better, he should've stayed right beside her and never left her alone.

He's still got black blood running from his nose and his mouth and all over his hands and shirt. He probably gets quite a lot of it on Gene as he leans on him, gritting his teeth and pressing a hand back to his neck as they make their way back down towards the infirmary.]

[freezerburns]

[We're gonna save her. That's what they've been trying to do, all of them, this whole time, and it just seems like everything's slipping more and more out of control. It seems like nothing they do matters. He should've been better, he should've done more. He knew Jerry was aiming for her and he didn't stop it. (Why should he get to heal when she's dead, when he failed her again?)

It all happened so fast.]

Find her. Scott, you gotta find her.

[semifreakingnormal]

I will. But I'm gonna find you first.

Is someone with you already?

[freezerburns]

[He's reluctant to say, because he wants Scott to go after her now, but he knows he won't. He can hear that in Scott's voice and it kind of twists something in him because he's not worth it, Scott should be focusing on Allison. He forces the words out. The sooner Scott checks on him, the sooner he can go and find her.]

Yeah. We're going to the infirmary.

[semifreakingnormal]

I'll meet you there. And if you're not there in like, six minutes, I'll come help.

[He tries to lighten his voice, tries to offer some levity. He can't tell if he's succeeding or not.]