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"Yes, please," Tohru replied, handing over the bandages, "There's a child down there, hurt. I can't- I don't know if I can do this anymore."
He was still deeply disturbed, but he felt his hand steady, even if only slightly, upon Levi's touch.
"Thank you."
"Alright," Levi replied softly, "I'll be back up in a bit. Don't go anywhere." He smiled softly and went to the stairs, casting one last glance over his shoulder at Tohru.
"Tohru wanted me to bring you these," Levi said, jogging over to Lis and Bean. He passed them the bandages and knelt next to them to check over the child himself. He drew in a shaky breath, he hated looking at wounds on kids. An infected kid was probably worse but this kid looked clean. "How is he? He looks feverish."
"I'm not sure. He could be infected, but I'm not certain enough to say whether it's that or something else," Lis said, "Only time will tell. It's a good thing he crashed here, though. Maybe we can find medicine to fight whatever it is off."
She pressed a hand over his forehead.
"He's very feverish, but he doesn't have those flulike symptoms a lot of the early-stage infected get, so I'm hopeful."
Meanwhile, Tohru moved a little to sit down, trying to hold his mind steady, to meditate, to do literally whatever it took to shake off what he was feeling. In his old group, he wasn't the one in charge. Not even close. And now there were all these kids, and he had no idea how to keep all of them safe. Or any of them safe for that matter. He couldn't keep other adults alive, but these were children- some of them more helpless than others.
Peregrine forced his eyes open again, fighting to stay conscious since it had been requested of him. He looked exhausted, and his breathing was labored, but he had somehow managed to avoid getting infected with the virus. Upon closer inspection, he had a jagged, inflamed gash on one side that was still oozing blood. It was definitely infected, which was likely why he was feverish.
"Yeah…" Kas laughed weakly. "Tohru found some crutches my size, so I should be able to stay off my leg more and still keep active. Anything happen while I was out?" They asked.
Bean started tending to Peregrine’s wounds, focusing on the gash in the small boy’s side. “Just hang in there, okay?” she murmured.
Lilac was muttering to herself, trying to remain calm.
“Not too much,” Luka shrugged. “I think there’s someone at the door, though…”
Levi stood up and moved back, giving Lis space to help the injured child. "I promised Tohru I'd head back up. Are you guys alright down here?" He asked. He wanted to get back up as quickly as possible to help Tohru, he seemed like he needed it.
"I think so. I can carry him up once he's ready," Lis said, giving a firm nod.
She carefully looked over Peregrine's wound, then back to Bean.
"It's not bleeding all that much. I say we look for medicine, first and foremost. Hey, kiddo. You allergic to any medicines or anything?" Lis asked, careful to get the answer now in case he fully lost consciousness.
Peregrine looked up at Lis, his vision looking unfocused and distant. He considered for a few seconds using what brain power he had at the moment, and eventually shook his head. As far as he knew, he wasn't allergic to any medicines. "Mmmnh… m'allergic to… t-to peanuts…" He mumbled in reply, his eyes falling shut again.
"Someone at the door?" Kas raised an eyebrow. "A new person? God, our group is gonna be massive… we just take in everyone, huh?"
Levi nodded and went back upstairs to sit by Tohru. "Hey, you alright? Anything I can do to help?" He asked, putting his hand on Tohru's knee to help calm him.
"Alright, so let's see if we can find some uhh… Amoxycillin, I think? He seems rough, but I doubt he's too far gone, so some antibiotics should do the trick, right?" Lis suggested, "Do you have any other thoughts?"
Tohru slowly turned his head and gave a slight nod.
"It's fine. I should just get over it, right? We've been living in this hell for months."
He let out a deep breath.
"It's just- kids… I can't stand to see children of all people go through the hell I watched my friends go through. And what… what Noah went through. That child was infected, wasn't he?"
Peregrine coughed weakly and shivered, curling up into a ball on the ground. He had a bag on his back that was restricting his movement somewhat, and the strap was irritating his wounds. He had a fair few nasty cuts on his hands as well, which also seemed to be a bit infected. He'd climbed a barbed wire fence in order to run away, and had cut himself up on it in the process. Naturally, the fence wasn't particularly clean, and he didn't clean the wounds either, so it was hardly surprising that they had gotten infected.
"He isn't infected with the zombie thing, just regular infection," Levi said, taking Tohru's hand. "You don't have to get over anything. The world is an absolute shit hole at the moment, it's understandable that we're all a little fucked up." He rubbed the other man's hand with his thumb. "It- it messes with how your brain works, none of it is your own fault."
"What happened to Noah, and what your friends did- that wasn't your fault. And they're dicks for leaving anyway. I would- we would never leave you." Levi said, staring at their linked hands.
"He's… not?" Tohru sighed, relief flooding his body.
He also took great comfort from how Levi cradled his hand.
"They had to. I was being- I was unreasonable. I was out of my own head. And I don't really blame myself, because what the hell do you do when one of the people you love most is absolutely dying? Leave them? And I don't blame them because we were in danger. They probably think I'm long dead. They probably think I died there with him. And I sometimes wonder if I should have."
Tohru laughed softly.
"I wonder if they're still kicking. Actually, I wonder about a lot of the people I left behind for one reason or another."
Lis carefully helped Peregrine lose the backpack.
"Bean, let's get him upstairs and in one of the rooms. We can clean out those cuts and hunt down some antibiotics afterwards."
"Y'know what? We're opposites. Your old group left you and I left my old group. And I never want to leave anyone ever again. It's caused way to much pain. I promise I will never leave you." Levi said, grabbing Tohru's hand with his free one, holding it in both. "Or any of the others. Of course." He added hastily.
Tohru lowered his head. "That's reassuring. But…"
He scratched at his arm a bit, leaving white marks in his skin.
"If anything happens to any of you- you can't help that."
He gave Levi's hand a little squeeze back.
Bean nodded, carefully lifting Peregrine. “Okay…” she muttered, starting to head to the stairs.
Luka nodded slowly. “The more people that survive, the better,” he said, shrugging a little.
Lilac was brushing her fingers through Mori’s hair, trying to stay calm.
Peregrine yelped when he was lifted, disturbed by the pain in his side. His eyes stung with tears again and he curled in on himself, his heart racing. His breathing was pretty erratic and shallow, and he seemed stressed.
"I guess so. It'll be harder for us to survive the more people we take in though, right? There's not a lot of food to go around. I don't want anyone to starve." Kas replied.
Lis shifted to hold him in a more supportive way so the skin around the wound didn't stretch so much.
"It's alright, you're okay," Lis cooed, "We're taking you somewhere more comfortable to lie down, and we'll take care of your injuries."
Peregrine looked up at Lis weakly, trembling in her arms. He was too tired to fight back tears, and they started to slowly roll down his cheeks. He didn't know where he was or who these people were; he was away from everything that was familiar to him, which was good, but still stressful for him. He didn't especially like being held, either, but they didn't have another option. He was nowhere close to a state where he could stand, much less walk on his own.
(Throwback 👀)
(BABIESSSSS)
(Bump)
(Beep)
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(im back from summer vacation–)
“I don’t want anyone to starve either…but we’ll figure something out,” Luka sighed.
Bean walked beside Lis, silent with worry.
Lilac muttered something quietly, still hugging Mori.