Lay me down on a bed of roses

[indirectcause]

Who: Ben and YOU!
What: Arriving in Paradisa
When: 28th
Where: Lobby
Rating: PG13 kid has a mouth. Here be your spoiler warning for the game.


[Ben had never really thought much about how fast it takes for a bullet to do its work. Not until he needed it to, anyway. He'd heard the shot, but after that, nothing. It went fast, really fast. There was a vague feeling of gratitude as Kenny pulled the trigger, giving him a mercy he knew he didn't deserve from the man. He'd surrendered to the blackness willingly, no longer a burden to the ever smaller mish-mash of humanity that was their group.

The blackness doesn't last, and that's when he appears on the floor of the lobby of Paradisa, his letterman jacket covered in blood. His blood. Walker's blood. It's a mix, really. He takes in a panicked gasp, scrabbling at the floor and looking around in sheer panic. The alleyway is gone. The walkers are gone. So are Kenny and Lee. ...The pain too.

He glances down at his stomach, the metal that had been sticking out there, a final, horrible promise that he wasn't getting out of that alley is missing. His hand automatically goes to his head, his hair matted with blood (definitely all his own this time) but no hole. Did Kenny miss? He couldn't have. He brings his hand back down to stare at the blood for a moment, before turning to glance around him again, looking for any signs of life.

He's definitely not in Georgia any more]

What the fuck is going on?

Comments

[indirectcause]

Yeah, I-

[He sighs, this is all too weird, but Lee seems pretty set on it, and he's not frothing at the mouth or anything. Besides, the dead walk the earth, anything can be possible, really]

I don't think you wanna hear this, Lee. You're not gonna like it.

[rightchoices]

Spill it, Ben.

[ There's no hesitation there. ]

What happened?

[indirectcause]

Fine. Just, shit, fine.

[He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to find a starting point]

What's the last thing you remember?

[rightchoices]

[ And Lee rubs his wrist before he realizes what he's doing. ]

.. I had just been bitten.

[indirectcause]

Okay.

[A soft exhale] The walkie talkie? That came to life. Some guy was on the other side saying Clem was fine. We went looking for her. We didn't have much luck, and ended up back in the manor. [He's going to casually leave out the mess they went through just to follow a false trail. Lee doesn't need to know that] That Vernon guy took the boat while we were gone. Things were pretty fucked up. And then the walkers attacked and we ended up trapped in the attic.

[rightchoices]

[ He slides his hand over his head, exhaling a low breath, vaguely frustrated here. Not at Ben, but just at the situation as a whole - it's been a long time since he's let himself linger too long on thoughts of home. ]

And that's where you got... bloodied up?

[ What an understatement. ]

[indirectcause]

Kind of.

We had to break through across to the other house, we planned to move across the rooftops, keep clear of the walkers that way, y'know? We sure could't use the streets any more. There was a fire escape that we used to get across to another roof. You, Omid, Christa and Kenny got across, but it [he pauses here, the horrible metallic creak remains lodged in his audible memory almost as much as that damn bell does] snapped under me, and I fell down into the alley bellow after it.

[He glances down at his jacket, at all the blood, at the tattered hole near his stomach]

Onto it.

[rightchoices]

[ Lee winces before he can help it. Goddamn. Ben hadn't really done much to win his favor lately, but he was part of the group. Watching them all fall, one by one, including himself? Not something that had ever exactly been part of the plan.

He rubs his face again, holding his breath before he speaks again. ]

I'm sorry to hear that, kid.

[indirectcause]

...Yeah.

[Ben watches him quietly for a moment, taking in his reaction. It makes continuing this thing even worse]

You and Kenny, you tried to help me. Kenny tried to yank me off the thing, and it-it hurt. Worse than anything. I tried to be quiet but- [but he'd been impaled through the stomach and there are some things you just can't be quiet about] but the walkers came.

[His shoulders hunch more. He knows, he KNOWS Lee will hate this part. After he's lost so much already. It doesn't help Ben's own guilt is settled heavily on this. As if he didn't cause Kenny enough pain]

Kenny, he-he told you to get out, even locked you out of the alley. He fought the walkers off as they swarmed around us. Last thing I remember was him using up his last bullet on me [his hand, shaking hovers by his head, hair matted with blood] so I-I wouldn't be alive when they-

[He closes his eyes, taking in a shuddery breath, not finishing that sentence. Kenny saved him from the thing he feared the most. He didn't deserve that mercy from the man, not in the least, and he's still not sure why Kenny did what he did. It was too fucked up. This whole thing was too fucked up]

Next thing I know, I'm here.

[rightchoices]

[ It doesn't hit him at first. He's listening to a story, not real life - this is a bad fever dream that Ben had, a too-vivid nightmare that the kid is just having trouble differentiating from reality. Except the blood and hole in his shirt didn't come from nowhere, and Lee belatedly realizes that he's forgotten to breathe.

Kenny too? Fuck. Fuck. He's not going back. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that he's letting himself and Clementine be sent back. Ben, either, if he can help it - he's fucked up, but no one deserves that. ]

Come on. Let's get you cleaned up.

[indirectcause]

[Ben casts him a concerned glance. He knows how much effort Lee has put into keeping their group alive, he's seen it for himself, hell, he's experienced it for himself. He knows this news can't of helped matters. Not with so few of them left now]

Are you okay? [It's a stupid, obvious question and he knows it, but he'll ask it anyway. Still, he'll nod, not being covered in a vast majority of his own blood right now would be great. He'll follow Lee wherever, as always]

[rightchoices]

[ And Lee shoots Ben a sharp look before he can stop himself. Did you really just ask me that question? Because he's not going to answer out loud -- just lead Ben to his own room, because he has no idea where the kid's is yet. ]

[indirectcause]

[Ben ducks his head sheepishly] Sorry.

[Still, he'll follow, tense, afraid, as they've all walked in unfamiliar places back home. Eyes checking every door, every shadow, just in case]

[rightchoices]

[ He'll relax later. Eventually. After Ben is cleaned up, after he's found Clementine three times that evening just to make sure that, yes, she's still here, that she hasn't gone anywhere. Ben might notice that Lee doesn't check the doors, though; he's been here long enough to know, for the most part, what to expect. He leads Ben into his room, nodding to a bathroom door off to the side. ]

Clean yourself up. I'll find you something else to wear.

[ There are crayons on his floor, and Clementine's drawings taped all over the wall near the window. ]

[indirectcause]

[Ben does indeed notice it. He's not sure if it's because of the news, or if Lee's just stopped caring about the walkers as much since losing Clem, but something is definitely up. He'll nod, heading off towards the bathroom, perfectly okay with doing what he's told for a while. At least Lee IS here, that's... well that's a comfort unto itself]

[rightchoices]

[ And Lee will be waiting for him when he finishes with the shower, having tossed a fresh set of clothes into the bathroom after Ben started the water. His head hurts a little, a dull throbbing like the reminder of a forgotten toothache.

He's got questions, even if he's not sure he wants to hear the answers yet. Can't keep putting this off. ]

[indirectcause]

[Ben eventually resurfaces, clean of blood and in a fresh change of clothes. He looks a little more withdrawn, now the panic has ebbed. Now there's no blood in his hair, a bullet shaped scar can be seen on his temple. He'd checked his stomach, too, while he was cleaning himself up, the scar there was even more grizzly. It was right there in front of him and he couldn't deny it, not even a little.

He was dead. Just like he'd wanted. Yay him.

He stands in the room awkwardly, at a loss of words to say for once, his gaze on the floor]

[rightchoices]

It's just us here. You, me, and Clem. Haven't seen anyone else from home yet.

[ This is a goddamn nightmare. ]

.. she's okay, though. Where she's from- I've found her.

[indirectcause]

[He nods, somewhat numbly, before finding his voice again. It's not frightened any more, it's just tired, with more weight in it than someone his ages should ever have to carry]

Okay. I'm glad she's safe, at least. [A pause] Do we know who took her?

[rightchoices]

She told me.

[ Lee is staring at the door, not at Ben right now. There's something terse about his tone. ]

Remember that car we found on the way back from the dairy?

[indirectcause]

[It takes him a moment, but he nods carefully]

The one with all the food and supplies in it, yeah.

[rightchoices]

It was him.

[ There's something terse in his tone. ]

He's the one who took her.

[indirectcause]

[So that was it. Karma, fate, whatever it was had turned around and bitten them on the asses for taking that food. Ben lets out a breath of air]

Shit. And he followed us all the way to Savannah?

[rightchoices]

Yeah. Don't ask me how - but he nabbed Clem, too.

[ Lee very clearly does not enjoy this line of conversation, but he's not halting it. ]

[indirectcause]

Did- did she say if you got to her in time? [Dear god say he got to her in time. The universe is already a festering pile of crap, the least it can do is let one little girl make it through this mess alive and well]