Chapter Text
It had been a week since Neteyam had gotten separated from his family.
A horde had surrounded them after his family had entered a new city. They had found a pharmacy, still with a decent amount of medication and other useful things and while they had collected as much as they could, they hadn’t noticed the horde of walkers outside.
During their escape Neteyam had gotten cut off from his father and after weighing his options, the safest choice had been to turn around and run into the other direction than to push through the walkers and try and find his father’s trail again.
Neteyam had made it out of the city and for two days he had followed the highway, pushing his way past abandoned cars, in what he hoped was the right direction. Neteyam was glad that it was him that got separated instead of one of his siblings, but being alone was quickly making him paranoid.
His neck had started to hurt from constantly looking over his own shoulder.
His father had drilled it into his head on where they were going. There was a safe zone, called Zongtseng, several states away from his home and no doubt many people were trying to reach it. Or at least had been trying to reach it when the world first started ending.
The bad thing was, Neteyam didn’t have a map and no idea where he was going, so he just followed the road, finding the occasional graffity that pointed him in different directions and hoped for the best. Sometimes that was all that one could do in a world like this. His bigger issue right now was to get to a safe spot he could sleep in before it got dark outside.
As the sun started setting, Neteyam finally stepped off of the highway and in the distance he spotted a taller building. He wasn’t sure if approaching it was the best idea. Big buildings meant easy walker spot, but still his feet carried him closer to it.
Once he reached the parking lot in front of the building, a few cars strewn around, Neteyam found that the building was a mall. Rundown and past its prime days, like all the buildings these days.
A mall was big and open, he would be easily spotted, but there was the chance that he could find something useful among the many shops that might have been left behind. In the end the want to sleep under a roof was what led him to go inside, so this would be his shelter for the night.
Neteyam kept his footsteps light as he approached the mall and he combed the first floor to check if he was alone, his bow held out in front of him and half-drawn in case he needed it. It was quiet around and it appeared to be empty, though there were definitive signs that people had passed through here multiple times.
Once he was certain that he was alone, Neteyam took a closer look at the shops he passed. Most of them were clothing stores, but a good shirt could come a long way. Neteyam entered one of the stores, snatching a shoulder bag from one of the hangers, before he started stuffing a few shirts and pants into it, not caring if they were his size or not. Fabric was always good to have.
Once he was done, he continued on and to his luck, he found a grocery store. Grocery stores were hit or miss. Most things had already gone bad and canned goods were always looted first. Still, Neteyam decided to try his luck, but much like he thought, there was little left that he could actually eat.
He picked up a few bottles and a few items, checking to see if it would be bad if he ate them after their expiry date, stuffing them into his bag, before moving on.
The sun had gone down at this point. The large windows only letting in the light of the moon. It did little to light up the inside of the mall and Neteyam needed to find a space to sleep in.
Sleeping in one of the stores or on one of the benches in the middle of the hallways was out of the question. Never sleep out in the open.
So, Neteyam searched for a more hidden place to hunker down for the night. It took him a while, before he finally found the security room of the mall. It wasn’t too big, filled with a desk and a few monitors that used to run camera feeds.
Neteyam quietly closed the door behind himself. There was no key to lock it, but that was fine. He sat down against the door, figuring that he’d just block it with his body while he slept on the ground. That way nothing would be able to enter immediately, in case he was found and he would be alerted if something tried to open the door.
Sighing, Neteyam took out the bits of food he had taken with him, looking for something he could actually eat. He couldn’t help but chuckle when one of the containers was a tub of pudding that didn’t look all too bad. It seemed like the universe was trying to apologize to him.
He turned the cup in his hand and the pudding had indeed expired a while ago, but Neteyam still opened it, taking an experimental sniff. He shrugged when it looked and smelled normal and he took a careful taste, before determining that it was probably still fine to eat.
Neteyam ate his pudding quicky, the silence around him louder than anything. He knew that he had been lucky to have his family with him during all of this, but he had never considered that one of the perks of having his siblings around was the entertainment they provided during the quiet moments.
Being alone was absolute torture and it had only been a week.
There was a clock hanging at the office, the fingers permanently stuck at 7:38. Neteyam figured it was time for bed.
Neteyam wasn’t sure how long he slept. Probably a good few hours, judging by how bright outside it already was. It didn't surprise him as this was the first time in days that he had found a good enough place to let down his guard to properly sleep.
After making sure that nothing had nudged him awake and the door behind him was still firmly shut, Neteyam stretched to wake himself up. He should probably move on and avoid staying in one place for longer than necessary.
Quickly gathering up his belongings, Neteyam opened the door as quietly as he could, making sure his quiver was secure on his hip and his bow was slack and loaded with an arrow should he need it.
He stopped in his tracks as soon as he stepped one foot out the door, the unmistakable sound of footsteps close by.
Neteyam held his breath instictively. There was no doubt in his mind that he was hearing footsteps. Not the familiar dragged out footsteps of a walker, but instead slow, deliberately taken footsteps. Whoever was out there was trying to be quiet.
This was definitely a human and that possibly made the situation even worse.
Neteyam forced himself to take a few deep breaths. They probably didn’t know he was here. How could they? They were probably mapping out the mall, just like he had done last night. Neteyam had the upper hand if something were to happen as long as they were unaware of his presence.
A frantic mind leads to mistakes and a mistake will lead to certain death. That’s what his father had said when they had been on watch one night, so Neteyam took a deep breath, before moving on from his spot.
Looking around he listened, trying to locate the direction that the footsteps had come from. The coast was clear and logically Neteyam knew he should get out of here as soon as he could, but somehow he couldn't help but be curious. The last time he had actually crossed paths with a stranger was when he had still been with his family.
The little voice in the back of his head, that sounded a lot like his father, telling him to put his safety before his morbid curiosity was ignored. Neteyam didn’t know why, but something was pushing him to locate this person and so he walked on, quietly climbing the stairs to the upper floor.
It didn’t take long to hear the quiet footsteps again. They were moving carefully, just like Neteyam was. Neteyam followed them, hiding behind corners and trying to get peeks of who was sneaking around, dutifully keeping his bow strapped and ready to aim.
Once he was close enough, Neteyam peeked around a corner and finally he spotted the person. Dark curls, pulled into a bun. A broad back, stiff with anticipation, tanned and bruised skin. It was a boy. And he was still alone, walking along the hallway.
He must be suspecting that he was being followed as he was looking over his shoulder every few seconds. The boy kept close to the wall to make himself less of an open target as he moved. Neteyam distinctively noted the spear that was strapped to his back. Unusual choice of weaponry.
When the boy snapped his head back over his shoulder, directly into Neteyam’s direction, Neteyam quickly retreated his head back around the corner, hoping that he hadn’t been spotted. He waited a few seconds, hoping the boy would continue on, before carefully peeking back over the corner.
The boy was gone.
“Fuck,” Neteyam whispered to himself, tightening his grip on his bow more. He was no doubt spotted. This was his sign to get the fuck out of here and he was cursing himself that he didn't just leave in the first place.
Neteyam turned and quickly sped walked down the corridor he had come from, keeping his ears and eyes peeled for any movement or sound. His carefulness was for nothing though, because when he turned the next corner, he was immediately faced with the tip of a very pointy, very bloody spear, close enough to his throat that swallowing will make it touch the skin of his neck.
Neteyam inhaled sharply.
“Why are you following me?” The boy growled, his eyes briefly wandering over to the bow in Neteyam’s hands specifically, before his glare deepened and he pressed the spear closer. Neteyam didn’t move, suppressing the instinct to take a step back, knowing that the spear would take him out before he could draw his bow properly. He didn’t answer the boy's question either. Having a deadly weapon pointed in his face wasn’t really encouraging.
“Answer.” The boy pushed the spear closer, so much so, that Neteyam had no choice but to take a small step back now, so it didn’t touch him. “Who else is with you? Tell your buddies to fuck off and leave me alone. I’m just passing through.”
His voice was shaking, Neteyam noted and for just a moment he could see himself in the boy. Afraid and acting tough to make it through this world. He looked to be his own age and Neteyam wondered if he was alone as well.
“There… there is no one else,” Neteyam started, hoping he would believe him. “I’m passing through as well. This place is not much of a hideout.”
Neteyam gave an uneasy laugh, hoping to ease the atmosphere and encourage the boy to put down the spear, but the boy’s tension didn’t ease, still eyeing Neteyam with suspicion. Neteyam was about to explain that he had sought shelter in the security room and had been about to leave, but before Neteyam managed to utter a word, a crash echoed from the lower floor, automatically drawing both boys’ attention towards the sound.
Neteyam looked back at the boy when he felt the tip of the spear finally touch his skin. (gross...)
“That your friends downstairs, you little liar?” The boy growled causing Neteyam to glare. "Trying to distract me until your crew gets here?"
“How do I know those aren't your friends downstairs?” Neteyam took another step back, readying himself to move out of the spears path quickly and draw his bow. “Maybe you were the distraction.”
“You were the one stalking me with a strapped bow.”
Well, he had a point. Before Neteyam could retaliate, the tell-tale groan of walkers echoed through the empty halls. Both their eyes widened as realization sunk in. Not only did walkers find them, their loud arguing must have given away their position, too.
“Fuck,” Neteyam whispered. “Is it the horde?”
“The what?” The boy whisper-yelled back. He had finally pulled his spear back, keeping Neteyam at arm’s length now. Neteyam did the same for him, a firm hold on his bow and while they were still weary of the other, they both recognized that the presence of the dead was their bigger problem right now.
“There was a horde in a nearby city a few days ago,” Neteyam explained as they walked closer to the railing that would allow them to look at the level below. Crouching so that they wouldn’t be spotted, they looked down and just as dreaded, a handful of walkers we moving around.
“Dammit,” the boy whispered and before he knew it Neteyam was crouching at the railing alone. The boy was making a run for it, and when Neteyam looked over he was already turning the closest corner. Against his better judgement, Neteyam got up to run after him.
He trailed the boy to a flight of stairs a bit further away and to his surprise, he didn’t go upstairs, instead moving to the ground floor carefully, his spear extended in front of him.
“Where are you going?” Neteyam walked down after him and the boy briefly whirled around, probably not expecting Neteyam to have come after him. Then he turned around again to keep walking.
“You want to be stuck in a mall with a bunch of undead, be my guest, but I’m getting out of here.”
“I think we should wait,” Neteyam stopped at the top of the stairs. There were too little walkers inside the building and while that should be a good thing, it wasn’t. The small number being inside meant that the rest were still walking around outside, possibly close enough to have the building surrounded. “There were too many the last time I saw the horde.”
“Even more reason to get out of here as soon as possible.” The boy said as he kept going, carefully walking the path to the nearest door and Neteyam had to suppress the instinct to follow him again.
Neteyam straightened and reminded himself that he had no obligation towards this boy, so he turned around, walking back up the stairs, finally listening to the instincts he had been so stupidly ignoring for the past few minutes. He sprinted towards the nearest window.
Just as Neteyam thought, the parking lot was filled with a crowd of walkers, pushing themselves around as they stumbled over the space, ever drawing closer to the entrances of the mall. Going outside now would be serving himself on a silver platter.
“Great Mother,” Neteyam whispered to himself, before speaking a quick prayer.
For now, he needed to get himself to safety. Neteyam needed to find the emergency exit or he could wait until most of the walkers were on the first floor and climb through a window. In any case, the stairs would buy him some time, thanking the stars that the walkers were uncoordinated enough to take a while to crawl up a flight of stairs and so Neteyam bid his time.
…
It took only twenty minutes for the parking lot to start clearing and the groaning from the bottom floor to get louder. Neteyam had heard several glasses shatter periodically, whether that be windows or shop fronts.
Most of the horde had made it either inside and the rest were pushing each other into the doors to get in quicker and Neteyam decided that now would be good time to move, before they started ascending the stairs to the upper levels.
Neteyam had found a water drain at the side of the building. It probably wouldn’t hold him for long, but hopefully long enough for him to drop down onto the ground outside unhurt.
Neteyam strapped his bow to the back of his bag. Once he landed he would have to make a run for it across the parking lot and away from the building, pushing until he had lost their trail. Maybe, if he was lucky, one of the cars scattered around the parking lot had gas in it.
Neteyam put a hand around the pipe and experimentally put some weight on it to see if it could handle it. It rattled a bit, but didn’t give out just yet. It was certainly unsteady, but Neteyam would have to take the risk, so he put his second hand around it and swung himself outside. The pipe bent a little under his full weight and Neteyam tried to keep his weight as close to the wall as possible, willing it not to snap backwards.
With little hesitation left, Neteyam slid down the length of the pipe, supporting himself on the wall with his legs until he could jump the rest of the way without breaking anything. The rattling of the metal had alerted some nearby walkers, who were now toddling towards him, but Neteyam ignored them, sprinting down the parking lot as soon as his feet touched the ground.
He put some distance between himself and the walkers and, with some hurry, he had some time to test the cars to see if they would work.
After quickly testing a few of the cars he had his lucky find. One car sprung to life quickly when he wired it and it still had a decent amount of gas left. The windshield was busted, but it would do. Neteyam threw his things in the backseat, making himself comfortable in the driver seat and pulled out of park.
He paused when he casted a look back at the mall.
Had the boy made it outside? Had he become dinner?
No matter, Neteyam needed to get out of here, so with a heavy sigh, he was about to pull out of the parking lot and onto the street, keeping an eye on the mall ever so slightly. Neteyam’s foot quickly pressed the brake when he spotted the boy again, squinting to make out his figure.
He had made it outside and was currently on the first floor of the emergency stairs outside, fighting a group of walkers off with his spear. Neteyam swore when one of them lunged at him, just to get pushed back by the boy and into the walkers behind it and sent tumbling down the stairs again.
Before he could talk himself out of it, Neteyam turned the steering wheel, speeding towards the boy. He skidded to a stop a few feet away, the squeal of the tires drawing the attention of both the walkers and the boy.
Neteyam yanked open the door of the passenger side, locking eyes with the boy, “Hurry!”
The boy didn’t have to be told twice, pushing one of the walkers back, before swinging himself over the railing by his side, before sprinting to Neteyam’s car. He flinched briefly when an arrow whizzed past his side, before he saw the walker next to him tumbling to the ground.
As soon as he swung himself into the seat Neteyam floored it, pulling out onto the street, this time without hesitation and leaving the mall behind.
They drove in silence for a good while and Neteyam wasn’t sure if he should break the silence as the boy caught his breath. For now, he just focused on winding past the cars abandoned along the road.
“You almost took me out with that arrow,” the boy finally spoke up, moving to wedge his spear into the backseat.
“I don’t miss my target," Neteyam scoffed, "How about a 'thank you for not leaving me behind' instead?"
The boy rolled his eyes as they succumbed to silence again. It took another good while before the boy spoke up again, this time quieter.
“Thank you,” he said. His voice sounded a lot more sincere and Neteyam could hear the exhaustion in his tone. Neteyam turned his head, a bit surprised to actually receive thanks, but the boys gaze was firmly locked onto the road ahead.
“My name is Neteyam,” He said and he could see the boy nod out of the peripheral of his eye.
“Ao’nung.”
And that was the extent of their conversation for the rest of the car ride.
Their car sputtered out of gas just as the sun was starting to go down. Neteyam pulled the car to a stop with a sigh. They were in the middle of a rural road, on one side was an open meadow that stretched on for a distance and on the other side was a thick forest. Not the best place to break down, but certainly not the worst either.
Neteyam had debated pulling into the forest a few times as they drove along it, but ultimately decided against it. With no real direction in mind, he just followed the road. It would certainly be difficult to find shelter here.
Neteyam peeked into the passenger side, where Ao’nung was fast asleep. They hadn’t really conversed throughout the few hours they had driven and halfway through Ao’nung had fallen asleep. Neteyam let him rest, suspecting that it had been a while since the boy had gotten a good rest.
Now that they had reached the end of their trip for the day, Neteyam reached over, placing a hand on Ao’nung’s shoulder to gently shake him awake, but as soon as his hand made contact with his arm Ao’nung jerked to attention. Neteyam quickly retracted his hand as Ao’nung slightly relaxed again.
“Sorry. Habit.” Ao’nung just said, before looking around. “Where are we?”
Neteyam shook his head “No idea. The car died. We didn’t pass any towns or anything.”
Ao’nung nodded, before getting out of the car, leaving his things in the back and taking a few steps away from the car. Neteyam followed him confused.
“Where are you going?” Neteyam asked.
“Nowhere. Just stretching my legs,” Ao’nung said, watching the sun set behind the meadow for a moment, before turning to him. “When was the last time you ate?”
Neteyam thought for a moment. The last proper meal he had had was with his family, though there was little that could still be counted as a proper meal these days. “A few hours before we ran into each other.”
“Me, too.” Ao’nung said, walking over to the car and pulling open the door to the backseat. He rummaged through his things for a few minutes before ducking out of the back again and pushing the door closed with his hip, in his hands two tin cans.
Ao’nung rounded the car, before jumping to sit on the hood and holding the bigger of the two tin cans towards Neteyam, shaking it invitingly. In a way it felt like a truce offer. Neteyam smiled and joined Ao’nung on top of the hood before taking the can in his hands.
“Thanks,” Neteyam said.
“Don’t mention it,” Ao’nung shook his own can lightly, “See it as a thank you for saving me. And for not killing me in my sleep in the car.”
Neteyam chuckled, but he understood. Trust between strangers was a fickle thing.
“What’s in here?” Neteyam asked as he studied his can. They were both missing their labels.
“No idea. Found them in a random pantry.” Ao’nung shrugged “Let’s find out.” He pulled open his can, looking at it for a moment, then showing it to Neteyam. “Olives.”
Neteyam nodded as Ao’nung took one of the olives out and popped it into his mouth, before spitting out the seed into the dirt. Carefully he pulled open his own can and the sweet smell of pineapples immediately hit him. It felt like he won the lottery.
Ao’nung peered over into his hands and Neteyam showed him his can with a smile “Pineapples.”
They ate a bit in silence, occasionally reaching over to share or steal from the other until all the pineapples were eaten and the rest of the olives were put aside. A strange dinner, but better than nothing.
“What brings you this way?” Ao’nung broke the silence as they watched the last bit of the sun disappear. He swirled the pineapple can a bit in his hand, before taking a sip of the juice that was left. Then he handed the can to Neteyam.
“Probably the same as you. My family was on the way to Zongtseng when we got separated, so now I’m searching on my own. Trying not to die. The usual.” Neteyam said with a shrug, taking a sip from the can.
Ao’nung nodded, then he sighed “It must be hard to suddenly be on your own.”
“Yeah, it’s a lot more lonely, too.” Neteyam huffed a sad laugh. “What about you? How long have you been alone?”
“I’ve always been alone,” He said and Neteyam nodded when Ao'nung didn’t continue talking. A silence stretched between them as they watched the sun disappear behind the distant tree line behind the meadow until the last bits of red and orange were gone and all that was left to light up the sky were the stars and the moon.
Neteyam tipped his head, admiring the sparkle above them. The stars had become so much clearer to see as soon as the world had ended and the electricity had run out. Every once in a while, whenever Neteyam had taken the night watch while his family slept, he would admire the stars for hours on end.
“I’m also going to Zongtseng,” Ao’nung spoke up again, this time quieter in the serene atmosphere.
Neteyam nodded again, looking in his direction. In the darkness it was harder to make out Ao'nung's features. While the lack of light was good to see the stars, Neteyam had quickly learned just how dark it could get outside.
“We should get some sleep,” Ao’nung said and Neteyam watched as he jumped off the hood of the car. “Help me push the car.”
“Where?” Neteyam asked as he also got off the hood and followed Ao’nung to the back. Ao’nung pointed him to the driver’s seat.
“We’ll push it into the tree line, It’ll give us some more cover” Ao’nung said, nodding his head to the side where the forest resided. “Can you steer?”
“Yeah,” Neteyam opened the door of the driver seat, turning the steering wheel into the direction of the forest with one hand and helping Ao’nung to push the car with the other until they were past a few bushes, just enough to still see the road.
They both sat back down in their respective seats, Neteyam in the driver’s seat and Ao’nung on the passenger side.
“Should one of us keep watch?” Neteyam asked.
“No, I think we’ll be fine,” Ao’nung said, pushing a button on the dashboard. The sound of the doors locking sounded through the silence and Ao’nung gave a lackluster: “Voilà!”
It was quiet for a while until Ao’nung pulled his seat back enough to lay down and he stretched a bit before relaxing in his seat. Neteyam followed his lead, pushing his seat, before lowering the back of it, so he wasn’t so close to the steering wheel.
“We’re going to the same place,” Neteyam whispered into the silence after a brief pause.
“Appears so,” Ao’nung answered.
“You want to stick together then?” Neteyam asked. “I think it’ll be easier if… we have someone to rely on.”
It remained quiet for a moment and Neteyam thought he would be turned down, before Ao'nung answered quietly, “Sure, that sounds nice.”
Chapter Text
The next morning Neteyam woke with the sun, which meant he had at least gotten a few good hours of sleep. It was already close to winter, so the nights were gradually getting longer. That meant the temperature was steadily getting colder and it would remain dark for longer. Not good.
Neteyam was not looking forward to having to spent the first winter without his family and without a safe place to call home.
Ao'nung was still sleeping when he woke, but he figured that they should probably get moving soon.
"Hey," Neteyam whispered, before realizing he should probably raise his voice at least a little bit if he wanted to wake Ao'nung up, so he repeated himself a bit louder. "Hey."
Ao'nung groaned sleepily, but didn’t make any indication of wanting to wake up. Neteyam rolled his eyes, before nudging his shoulder and retreating his hand quickly as Ao'nung woke up with a startle. He would have to get used to that.
"What?" Ao'nung asked, his voice something between disoriented and half-awake, hand reaching around himself. Neteyam assumed under normal circumstances he would be holding his spear by now.
"It's morning," Neteyam said, pulling the seat up halfway, before realizing that there was no point. They would be leaving the car anyways, so he just unlocked the doors and stepped out to stretch.
Ao'nung stepped out after him, letting out a muffled groan as he stretched as well, before dropping his arms with a sigh.
"Do you have a map?" Neteyam asked as Ao'nung pulled open the backseat doors.
"Can we have breakfast first?" Ao'nung answered, pulling out the can of olives they had left the day before and holding it out to Neteyam. Neteyam rolled his eyes at him, but took the can of olives from his hand. "Yes, I do have a map. Eywa, do you always have an attitude in the morning."
"Whatever. It was just a question," Neteyam ate one of the olives, spitting the seed distinctively at Ao’nung’s feet.
It surprised him a bit when Ao'nung chuckled, "Real mature."
Breakfast was short, consisting only of the olives left from yesterday’s dinner, water and one granola bar for each of them, before they got going, this time on foot, following the street as they went.
The spot of the safe zone was already marked on the map. It took a moment finding where their current location was and then there was a brief debate on what route they should take, because if there is a situation with a map involved, a fight is preprogrammed.
They walked for most of the day and eventually the forest surrounded them on both sides, the road breaking down to dirt.
Due to it almost being winter and the added shade of the trees, their surroundings got dark quickly and Neteyam found himself inching closer to his companion the darker it got.
Neteyam loved the forest, but with the inkling that something could jump out at them at any moment, he would rather be somewhere else right now.
Ao’nung was tense, it was easy to tell. The grip on his spear was so tight, Neteyam could tell his knuckles were straining. His shoulders were hunched and Neteyam was pretty sure that Ao’nung was inching close to him as well.
“I hate it here. It’s so dark,” Ao’nung broke the silence with a whisper. “We should have looked for a city.”
“The city is dark, too,” Neteyam reminded him. “No lights, remember? And I’m sure there are way more dead walking around there.”
Ao’nung sighed. “I still hate it.”
Neteyam hummed, letting the conversation go. So far that was all that they had talked about. One of them would complain or point something out and the other would give a noncommittal sound in response and the conversation would fizzle out.
They trekked on until the sun started going down, trying to trace their steps on their map, before Neteyam finally stopped.
“Are we going the right way?” Neteyam asked, frowning at the map in his hands.
Ao’nung shrugged “Who knows?”
“You’re not being helpful,” Neteyam argued.
“Listen, we had this argument at least ten times since this morning,” Ao’nung sighed as he kept walking, following the road head on.
“For good reason,” Neteyam mumbled, watching Ao’nung walk for a moment, before trailing after him with a sigh, “I don’t think we’re going the right way.”
They walked on in silence when Ao’nung didn’t answer. Neteyam kept his eyes on the map, frowning at what little way they had left behind, but the good thing was that they would be coming up on a small town soon. Hopefully before nightfall otherwise they would have to sleep either in the open or walk on through the night.
With his eyes on the map, Neteyam didn’t notice it when Ao’nung stopped walking, causing him to bump into his back. Ao’nung turned to him with an amused smirk, before focusing his eyes back ahead with a nod.
Neteyam peeked past him and just there, jutting out from in between the trees, was a single cabin. Small and old and very inviting with the sun almost gone. It looked pretty well taken care of, unlike many of the other houses they passed these days, a single rocking chair on the porch, swinging back and forth in a breeze he couldn’t feel. There was an axe, lodged in a wood stump, bloody and mocking them.
"This could be a trap" Ao'nung said as they stood in front of the cabin and studied the exterior.
"It could be," Neteyam said. They both hesitated to go in.
"We could just move on and find a cave or something," Ao'nung said.
"We could." Neteyam replied. They would have to take turns sleeping if that was the case.
"Fuck it, I'm going in," Ao'nung sighed, gripping his spear tightly and holding it out in front of him. Neteyam glanced around the empty surroundings, before readying his bow and following him.
Ao'nung poked his spear in first before stepping inside, letting his gaze comb out the area he could see. It looked empty and messy. The couch was flipped over, so was the dinner table. There was some shattered glass lying around and there was dried blood coating the floor.
Ao'nung frowned. "I don’t think anyone is here anymore. Not by choice anyway."
Neteyam relaxed the string of his bow, studying the scene. Ao'nung was right. Whoever had been here, had lost a nasty fight.
Ao’nung went upstairs, making sure no one was upstairs either and checking out the bedrooms, while Neteyam peeked into the rest of the rooms downstairs and locked the backdoor. After everything was clear, they met back in the kitchen to eat.
Neteyam stirred the soup in his can a bit, standing against the kitchen island. Ao’nung leaned against the island in front of him with his own soup in front of him. They had agreed on a slightly bigger dinner this evening, taking out Neteyam's food rations of tomato soup and making use of the spoons that were still left in the cupboards.
Ao’nung sighed, “I don’t know if this is better than sleeping outside. I mean, a cabin in the woods is horror movie material.”
Neteyam shrugged, eyeing the blood on the floor “It doesn’t look like anyone has been here for a while.” Ao’nung followed his eyes to the same spot with a frown. “Whoever used to live here probably was caught by surprise.”
“The question is by what they were caught?” Ao’nung said, taking another spoonful of his own cold soup.
Neteyam furrowed his brow, “The dead?”
“Maybe,” Ao’nung shrugged, “Or maybe by… cannibals.”
“Cannibals?” Neteyam asked with a crooked smile, “Isn’t it a bit early for cannibalism?” It had only been a little bit over half a year since the outbreak. Most resources, though fought over, were still relatively intact still.
“It’s never too early for cannibalism,” Ao’nung said, giving the floor another pointed look.
“I suppose not,” Neteyam sighed, putting his soup can down onto the counter. The thought made him queasy and if it was Ao’nung’s goal to ruin his appetite, then he had certainly succeeded.
“We can still leave.”
Both of their gazes wandered over to the cracked windows all around the lower floor. It was already dark outside, the forest darker, now that night had properly settled in. If they left now, they would have to either find a spot to settle down for the night quickly and then take turns staying awake or walk through the night until they found a safer spot to rest at.
But the thought of staying here made Neteyam uneasy. Outside they would be open targets again, wandering around, trying to stay quiet. And inside they were potential sitting ducks. Neteyam shook his head.
“No, never mind, we can stay,” Neteyam said, lifting the spoon out of his soup before putting it back down again. He really wasn’t hungry anymore, even though he hadn’t really had anything else to eat than their small breakfast this morning and half of their last granola bar, which they had shared.
Ao’nung eyed him, putting his now empty can on the counter behind him, before draping himself over the island again, “What’s wrong?”
“I want to go home,” Neteyam sighed, before smiling, “It’s stupid, I know.”
Ao’nung laughed lightly, but shrugged nonetheless, “I want to go home, too.”
Neteyam smiled. Funnily enough, this was the most they had opened up to each other, even after hours of walking with nothing to do but talk to each other. A lot of time could be spent arguing over a map, it seemed.
“I miss my family,” Neteyam continued. On one hand voicing his worries and on the other hoping that it would prompt Ao’nung to share. “I hope they managed to reach the safe zone.”
Ao’nung sighed, “Me, too.”
Neteyam placed the can of soup away from himself. He wouldn’t be finishing it, it seemed. Ao’nung watched him, raising an eyebrow, causing Neteyam to chuckled, “Go ahead.”
Ao’nung smiled, reaching to take the can for himself, using Neteyam’s spoon to eat the rest of his soup.
“You mentioned that you were alone,” Neteyam prompted him, making Ao’nung raise an amused eyebrow.
“Yeah? So are you. That’s why we’re here together,” Ao’nung said, putting the can to his lips and drinking the rest of the soup in one go.
“I mean from the beginning of all of this,” Neteyam said. “Who are you looking for?” Ao’nung was quiet for a moment, putting the empty can next to the other and Neteyam repressed the need to roll his eyes, “Listen, I’m sure it must be hard to open up after being alone for so long and we only met yesterday, but if you actually want to trust and have each other’s backs, then give me something. What’s your favorite color?”
Ao’nung laughed, “Alright. My favorite color is turquoise.” He turned back to lean onto the island counter once more, “And I’m looking for my family. My mother, my father. My sister.” Neteyam nodded, encouraging him to go on. “I wasn’t with them when the world went to shit.”
Neteyam listened intently as Ao’nung told him that he had graduated just a few weeks before the world ended, having gone on a road trip with his friends to celebrate and spend some time together before they would all have been on the way to different colleges.
“My mother didn’t want me to go. My sister practically begged me to stay. That was around the time the ‘mysterious virus’ went around. The country borders were already closed, but I just waved them off. Told them not to worry and that they are exaggerating.” Ao’nung shook his head at himself, “I should have listened I guess.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Neteyam said, hoping his words would provide some comfort.
“No, I guess I couldn’t have predicted this, but I still wish I would have stayed. Me and my friends traveled for a few days before they started closing city borders and we tried to get home as fast as possible.”
“Did you make it?”
“I did, but our house and the city were already empty when I got back home. My mother left me a note that they were traveling to Zongtseng, so I told myself I would follow.” Ao’nung explained. “I just hope they made it there by now.”
Ao’nung sighed, finally letting his head rest on the counter as well, draping his whole upper body on the surface. It looked like a weight was finally off his shoulders, having shared his part. Neteyam couldn’t help himself when he reached out and rested a hand on top of his dirty curls.
“We’ll find them,” Neteyam said, letting his hand linger for a moment longer, before removing it, so Ao’nung could lift his head. Ao’nung smiled at him and picked himself up with another sigh.
The moment was broken by the door slamming open.
Ao’nung immediately scrambled for his spear, which was still propped up beside him, but Neteyam didn’t dare make a move for his bow when they were faced with the barrel of a shotgun and the mean glare of an old man.
He looked like a regular lumberjack. Build for his age, with a beard and in a flannel shirt and a thick jacket, that looked hard to bite through. Neteyam haphazardly raised his hands in surrender, ignoring the bloodstains on the man’s whole body. That was not his blood, Neteyam was sure.
Ao’nung faltered a bit. His spear was ultimately no match for a gun, but he refused to back down and for a moment, the three of them stood in a stare down until the lumberjack finally spoke up in a gruff voice.
“You’re in my home,” He said, glaring. “Why?”
“Left the door open,” Ao’nung answered, matching his glare.
Neteyam threw him a scolding look, signaling him to shut up. Ao’nung didn’t meet his gaze and Neteyam put his focus on the man.
“We’re sorry, sir,” Neteyam said and the man raised an eyebrow. “We were passing through, looking for a place to stay. We figured the cabin is empty-”
“It’s not,” the lumberjack interrupted.
“Uh, yeah. We were just looking for a place to pass the night, but we’ll leave and no one has to get hurt,” Neteyam offered to hopefully deescalate the situation.
The man studied them for a minute, his eyes roaming over Neteyam, then over Ao’nung. He seemed to care very little for the spear he was still holding. “Where are you going?”
“None of your business,” Ao’nung answered quickly. This time Neteyam slapped his side with a hissed ‘shut up’. The man didn’t react to their exchange.
“You said you were passing through. To where?”
“Uhm, Zongtseng,” Neteyam answered.
The man’s brow furrowed, “Zongtseng? The government safe zone?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?” Neteyam asked.
“So, you don’t.” The man lowered his gun. He still gripped it tightly, but at least he lowered it.
“Know what?” Ao’nung reiterated more harshly.
“It doesn’t exist anymore.”
Neteyam sat at the, now upright, dinner table. A plate of cold noodles from a can placed in front of him and Ao’nung sitting next to him.
The lumberjack had gruffly introduced himself as John, no last name. ‘didn’t matter anymore’ he had said and then he had told Ao’nung to put away the spear and directed the boys to help him pick up the couch and table.
Neteyam had stopped himself from asking about what had happened here and now John was sitting at the other end of the table, his gun propped up next to him, but at least not pointed at them anymore.
No matter how much Ao’nung hated the situation and not having the upper hand, he apparently wasn’t about to turn down a free extra meal, having already eaten most of his food. Neteyam figured he would give away the rest of his food to Ao’nung this time as well.
Neteyam cleared his throat, drawing both Ao’nung’s and John’s attention, “Sorry, but can you please elaborate? What do you mean Zongtseng doesn’t exist anymore?”
“It’s gone, kid. Run over. Destroyed by the dead a long time ago,” John explained with a stern sigh. Neteyam would have thought he was annoyed by the question, but he honestly looked more sympathetic when he looked at them both sitting in front of them. “I was there when it happened, trust me. Many died.”
Ao’nung straightened up in his seat, pushing his empty plate away from him, “But how? Zongtseng is supposed to be a safe place from the dead.”
John shook his head, “That’s what we were told, yes and that’s what made it so bad. Listen, kid, you can’t prepare yourself for something you don’t know shit about, no matter how much the government and military liked to pretend they had their shit together.”
Ao’nung furrowed his brow “What happened?”
“The place was small for the amount of people that wanted to seek refuge there,” John began. “You can’t expect the whole nation to fit into one safe zone. The government obviously thought this would blow over,” John huffed an unamused laugh, “I guess it did in the end. But there were too many people and the government, they didn’t know anything about this damned virus. We didn’t know how it worked or what to look out for.”
Ao’nung cocked an eyebrow, but Neteyam understood, “Someone came in bit?”
John gave a single nod, “Not just one person. Many people came in like that and no one knew to check. It didn’t take long to escalate after that.”
Zongtseng had been taken out from the inside, falling victim to unknown information at the time. By now survivors knew that a bite was deadly, but back then the main worry was not to get eaten, by the sudden monsters that had started appearing.
Neteyam leaned back in his seat with a resigned sigh, “Was it close to here?”
“About a week of foot travel,” John answered. “Three hours by car.”
“You have a car?” Ao’nung asked.
“No, of course not,” John said pointedly. Ao’nung to roll his eyes, causing John to let out a sound that could almost be counted as a laugh, though his mouth was still distinctly turned downwards.
There was a sudden lump in Neteyam’s throat. John had said that it was a long time ago. Zongtseng was most likely already gone by the time his family had even set out to find it. That must mean his family was out there now, looking for a new safe place to call home without any way for Neteyam to find out where they would be. Would he ever find them now?
“What do we do now?” Neteyam asked quietly, looking over at Ao’nung. He looked resigned, staring at his empty plate and not meeting Neteyam’s eye.
John adjusted himself in his seat, the way a dad would, “Keep going. Find a safe place. Maybe a settlement with people you can trust and live out the rest of your days, however long that may be. Stick together. You will be fine.”
Neteyam almost smiled at the encouraging words from the callous man, that had, not so long ago, held them at gunpoint. Neteyam cast an unsure glance outside, the nerves settling in his stomach. It wasn’t just because of the dark and the possibility that John would still throw them out, but the fact that they no longer had a plan, a place to go.
A chair scrapping along the floor drew both Ao’nung and Neteyam’s attention and they both looked up as John got up and grabbed his gun, holding it by his side.
“Stay the night. Take the guest room,” The man said, approaching the front door, before casting a look over his shoulder “But no funny business.” Then he left the cabin and Neteyam could see him settle down onto the rocking chair on the porch, the gun laid on his lap like a cat.
For a moment they stared at the front door, before Neteyam rose from his seat first.
“Let’s go to bed,” Neteyam said. It’s been a long day.
Ao’nung was still looking out the window, staring at the back of the rocking chair, “We’re staying?”
Neteyam swung his bag and bow over his shoulder, approaching the stairs. He knew that John's good deed had mostly been accompanied by pity towards two young men, that had just learned that they may or may not see their families ever again. Still, he wasn't about to push their luck. Something told him this was rare for John to offer.
“I think that’s for the best.”
The guest room was a typical guest room. A bed in the middle, an empty dresser and a coat of dust, letting them know that they were the first people in a while that had entered this room. Neteyam let out a sigh of relief when he heard Ao’nung lock the door behind them for good measure and he threw his bag next to the bed, carefully propping his bow against the dresser, before letting himself fall onto the heavenly soft bedsheets, immediately relaxing into the comfort.
When was the last time he had slept in a proper bed? It must have been ages ago. Even when his family travelled together and they found a place with a bed to stay at, he always shared a room with his siblings, so they were always in each other’s eyesight. He and Lo’ak always let Kiri and Tuk have the bed.
A part of him was glad that he didn’t have to sleep alone tonight, the other part was worried that it would simply be awkward, but the joy of having a bed overtrumped them both.
Neteyam buried his face in his pillow. The bed dipped as Ao’nung slowly sat down on the free side. It was quiet for a while and Neteyam could feel himself starting to doze off, when a sound between a sigh and a sniffle broke the silence.
Neteyam’s eyes snapped open and he picked himself up from where he was lying to look at his companion. Ao’nung was just sitting there, like he hadn’t moved since he first sat down, staring out of the small window at the side of the room.
Ao’nung’s eyes were shining with tears in the moonlight, “I can’t believe their gone.”
“What?” Neteyam whispered, surprised.
“My family is gone,” Ao’nung whispered harshly, his face soured.
“No, Ao’nung.”
“They must be,” Ao’nung huffed a chocked up laugh, sounding almost disbelieving, “so many fucking months wasted.”
“Don’t say that. We will find them,” Neteyam assured him. “Even if we have to search the whole country. We’ll find them, okay?”
Ao’nung shook his head, “You don’t understand. My family left during the first wave. They must have reached Zongtseng. They must have been there when…and maybe they…” Ao’nung dropped his head, running a hand through his hair, loosening his bun, before pulling his matted curls free in frustration.
Neteyam lifted himself from his spot on the bed, adjusting himself closer to Ao’nung’s side, putting a comforting hand on Ao’nung’s arm. He didn’t know if he would be overstepping with a hug, but he was glad when Ao’nung put his hand over his, appreciating the comfort.
“We’ll find out what happened. I’ll be by your side.”
Ao’nung finally turned his head to look at Neteyam, before giving a nod, “Your family can’t be far from us.”
“Ao’nung-“
“If they followed a similar way as you, they must be at a close by town maybe,” Ao’nung nodded again at his own words. “I’ll help you find them. Promise.”
The next morning Neteyam woke up first and immediately wished he could roll over and fall back asleep. Ao’nung was still asleep next to him, one arm draped over his head, the other holding Neteyam’s hand, which was resting on his chest in a way to provide comfort even in their sleep.
Carefully he untangled himself from the sheets, letting Ao’nung have five more minutes of sleep, knowing that he had a rough night behind him. Even in his sleep, Neteyam could see the way his brow was furrowed.
Quietly, Neteyam opened the shoulder bag he had taken from the clothing store, inspecting closer what he had grabbed. A few good shirts, a few good pants, though he didn’t know if they would fit him.
He grabbed one of the shirts, changing into it. It was about time for a new one, before taking out a second, slightly bigger one for Ao’nung. Then he walked over to wake him up.
“Ao’nung,” Neteyam spoke, first, only poking him when Ao’nung didn’t answer. His eyes snapped open at the touch.
“What?”
“It’s morning, c’mon,” Neteyam chuckled, tossing the shirt at him. “Get dressed.”
Ao’nung studied the shirt on his face for a second before shutting his eyes again with a mumble “Five more minutes.”
“I already gave you five more minutes. Don’t get comfortable now,” Neteyam said, gathering up his bags. “Get dressed and come downstairs.”
Neteyam left the room, reminding himself not to get comfortable either. Tomorrow they would be sleeping in a, most likely, unconventional place again, without a bed and without breakfast waiting for them in the morning.
And speaking of, Neteyam stopped at the bottom of the stairs. John was sitting at the table, his trusty shotgun in the chair beside him. He was smoking and on the table in front of him were two bowls and a jar of honey waiting.
“Good morning?” Neteyam said, though it was more of a question. John just gave him a nod in answer, gesturing at the seats in front of him. Neteyam sat down in the same seat as yesterday, inspecting the contents of the bowl. It looked like slightly too soggy oatmeal.
Neteyam thanked John and because he had eaten so little last night, he had finished his breakfast before Ao’nung eventually made it downstairs and sat in the empty chair next to Neteyam to start his breakfast as well.
“The day is young. You should use all the daylight you can get,” John said once both boys had emptied their bowls. A polite way to tell them to get out of his house.
John walked them outside. The forest was now alight with the morning sun and it was so peaceful, it reminded Neteyam of home.
Neteyam turned to the lumberjack, “Thank you for letting us stay.”
“And for the food,” Ao’nung added.
John just brushed their thanks off with a nod, before holding out the jar of honey for Neteyam to take, “Here. Doesn’t go bad.”
“Thank you,” Neteyam said again, cradling the jar in his hands like it was a pot of gold.
“Good luck, kid.” John nodded with a grunt, “And stay away from other people’s homes from now on. This time you were lucky. Don't come back.”
Neteyam nodded, lifting his hand in one last wave, before following Ao’nung in the direction that would lead out of the forest and bring them back towards a main road.
Notes:
The universe (me) forcing Ao‘nung to trust not one, but two strangers, in the span of two days after having been alone for months.
Chapter Text
Neteyam balanced on train tracks as they walked under the noon sun. It was windy, but at least they had found warmer jackets in a town they had already left behind. Ao’nung balanced on the other track next to him, a bit slower than Neteyam was, but it wasn’t like they were in a hurry.
They had left John’s cabin behind almost a week ago by now and it had been weird to travel without a destination in mind anymore.
They were moving from town to town, trying to find a place to stay or another safe house to join, dutifully keeping an eye out for Neteyam’s family.
“Okay,” Ao’nung said, dropping down from the track and walking a few paces before stepping back up on it, “Would you rather… be dark blue or be turquoise?”
Neteyam chuckled, “Like, my skin tone?”
“Yeah.”
“Hm,” Neteyam pondered it a bit, trying to imagine himself in both colors, “I think blue would fit me better. You’d look better in turquoise.”
Ao’nung laughed, accepting the answer.
“Alright,” Neteyam stepped off the track, kicking a rock out of his way. “Would you rather… bathe in a tub of worms or-”
“Yes,” Ao’nung interrupted him before he could finish the prompt, “I’ll take the bath.”
“What?” Neteyam asked, laughing.
“I’d take any kind of bath at this point,” Ao’nung sighed wistfully, “I stink. I’m desperate.”
“Yeah, you do,” Neteyam chuckled. “But I doubt the worms would clean you.”
“Maybe, but I'm not picky anymore. A bath is a bath,” Ao’nung said, causing Neteyam to laugh. “Besides, you don’t exactly smell like roses either.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Neteyam waved him off lightheartedly.
Their last bath had been almost a week ago as well now; in a creek they had stumbled onto. The water had barely reached above Neteyam’s ankles, but beggars can’t be choosers and they had made the best of it.
Ao’nung was about the keep the game going and ask Neteyam his next question, but before he could utter a word, he was cut off by his rumbling stomach. Neteyam looked over at him, wide-eyed and laughing.
Ao’nung chuckled, “We really need to find some food.”
Neteyam nodded through his laughter, though it wasn’t really a funny situation they had found themselves in. They were running short on food for a while now and trying to find food in the cities was proving harder and harder. Everything that hadn’t gone bad by now, had been looted already.
They haven’t yet talked about how they would be dealing with the upcoming winter looming above their heads. They wouldn’t have to worry about that if they ran out of food soon enough and Neteyam shook his head at the thought.
“Maybe we’ll have more luck at the next town,” Neteyam sighed, his laughter finally slipping into a bit of frustration.
“Yeah, hopefully,” Ao’nung agreed, but they both knew that the next town was still a good few days of walking away.
The sun was starting to go down now and with it Neteyam’s good mood. They would need to find a place to stay soon and the train tracks were leading them through to another patch of forest until they would reach the next city. Neteyam had taken out the map again, ignoring the way Ao’nung had rolled his eyes. He was of the opinion that the map wasn’t much use to them anymore, but Neteyam liked to know where they were.
The spot where John’s cabin should be was already highlighted and the towns they had passed were already marked to try and keep track of their current location.
“Where are we going?” Neteyam asked
Ao’nung glanced over, slightly confused, “I thought we agreed to follow the tracks to the next town.”
“No, yeah, I know.” Neteyam sighed, “I mean… in general. We don’t have a plan.”
After they had left John’s cabin, Ao’nung had avoided talk about his family’s potential death and they had agreed to abandon the plan to continue the road towards Zongtseng. For a week they had wandered from town to town, just trying to stay alive and keeping each other safe.
Ao’nung leaned closer, looking at the map with a hum, “If we assume that your family reached Zongtseng before us, they must know by now that it’s gone.”
Neteyam nodded, “Yeah.”
“Would they go back to look for you?” Ao’nung asked bluntly.
Neteyam’s kneejerk reaction was to say ‘of course’, but before he could utter those words, he hesitated. Would they look for him? Normally, of course they would look for him. They would cross the whole world to find him. But like this? The chances that they thought that he was already dead were very high and his parents had to think of his younger siblings, too.
“I don’t know,” Neteyam stuttered instead. “My… my father would probably try to find a new safe place.”
“Okay. Then we’ll just keep moving ahead for now and I’m taking this,” Ao’nung said, carefully prying the map from Neteyam’s fingers, and stuffed it into his back pocket, “It’s not doing you good.”
Neteyam just huffed, but couldn’t deny it.
“Is that a bridge?” Ao’nung’s voice broke the silence between them. “Oh, it is. Please, please be over water.”
Ao’nung picked up the pace and Neteyam ran after him, laughing, until they reached the foot of the bridge and they were able to look underneath to be greeted with a magical sight. Below them was a river, quite calm and clear. Without the trees covering them anymore, it was brighter with the afternoon sun.
Ao’nung immediately walked down the hill, leading down to the river’s edge. Neteyam was right at his heel, delighted at Ao’nung’s joy.
“Thank you, great Mother,” Ao’nung sighed blissfully once he was standing on the grass by the river, before muttering something that sounded a lot like a prayer under his breath. In the next moment his bags and spear were tossed on the ground and his shirt was torn over his head as Ao’nung scrambled to get out of his clothes.
Neteyam laughed, letting his own bag drop down next to Ao’nung’s, “Slow down.”
“No way,” Ao’nung said, finally freeing himself from the rest of his clothes and running into the water. Neteyam did not stare at his ass. Nope, not at all.
“This is amazing,” There was a slight chatter in his teeth, which told Neteyam that the water was most likely cold, but it didn’t bother Ao’nung. He dunked his head in next, resurfacing and reaching behind to free his hair from its bun. “There are fish in here!”
Neteyam took off his clothes, slower than Ao’nung, but it didn’t take long for him to walk into the water. Just like he thought, it was cold, but right now, it just felt refreshing. It was amazing to feel the water against his skin and Neteyam took a moment to close his eyes and enjoy it before he would start scrubbing himself clean from the last week.
Just like Ao’nung Neteyam dipped his head into the water briefly, before brushing his hands over his face and his hair, cringing at how tangled and mated his braids felt. What wouldn’t he give to have a day to take care of them properly. Undo them and then have his mother re-braid them, together with his siblings.
Neteyam shook the thoughts and the water droplets from his head, before lifting his gaze, his eyes automatically finding Ao’nung’s form. It had become a habit to track his whereabouts and he knew it was the same for Ao’nung. They rarely let the other out of eyesight, only really splitting up inside stores to find supplies quickly.
Ao’nung’s head was tilted back, his hair floating around him in the water, his eyes closed. For the first time since they had met Ao’nung looked truly, completely relaxed, without the anticipation tension that something bad might happen any minute. He looked at home in the water.
He looked beautiful.
Neteyam smiled to himself, admiring his companion a little more. How the reflection of the setting sun against the water on his skin looked. How his lips parted with a content sigh.
After the world ended Neteyam would have never thought he would have this much trust in someone beside his family ever again. And it was obvious that Ao’nung trusted him, too, his eyes not opening even as he heard Neteyam wade through the water towards him.
As soon as he was standing next to Ao’nung’s floating form, Neteyam put a gentle hand on his forehead, just like he would do for Lo’ak sometimes to calm him. Neteyam never said as much, but the gesture was calming for himself, too.
Ao’nung still didn’t open his eyes and he didn’t break his peace, his voice quiet when he spoke, “I wish we had soap.”
Neteyam chuckled, “Maybe if you wish hard enough Eywa will drop a bar from the sky.”
“That would be amazing,” Ao’nung mumbled with a smile and Neteyam dropped his hand from his forehead.
He focused on getting himself clean quickly after that. The sun would go down sooner rather than later and it would be best to make a fire before that happened. Neteyam got out of the water first, walking over to the duffle bag he had taken from the mall, what felt like, ages ago. He took out one of the clean shirts, using it as a towel to dry himself off and hanging it onto a branch nearby. Then he took out clean clothes to wear.
The shirt was too big on him, but the pants he had grabbed were surprisingly fitting well.
Neteyam collected both his and Ao’nung’s dirty clothes from the pile they had tossed them in, examining each piece of clothing to determine if it was worth it to wash it or if they should just toss them. In the end he scrubbed both their clothing and hung them up.
When he was done he looked up to see how Ao’nung was doing. He had changed his position, now his almost completely submerged in the water, only the upper half of his face was still poking out, so he could breath. His eyes were still closed.
Neteyam shook his head with a small smile, but he didn’t really mind.
“Nung,” Neteyam called out to him and one of Ao’nung’s eyes opened in response. “I’m going to gather some wood for a fire.”
Now his eyes snapped open and he raised himself out of the water, “Wait, don’t go alone.”
Neteyam was about to assure him that he’d be close by, probably not even out of his eyesight, but Ao’nung was already walking out of the water and towards him. Neteyam’s gaze automatically dropped downwards, before he politely averted his eyes.
He pretended not to hear Ao’nung’s laugh.
Neteyam tossed him a few clean clothes and together they worked quickly to assemble a pile of sticks and wood that would burn the best.
“Do you know how to make a fire?” Ao’nung asked.
“Yeah, it’s easy,” Neteyam said, reaching into his bag and taking out a box of matches, waving it with a laugh.
Ao’nung rolled his eyes with a smile, “Okay, sure.”
Even with the matches it was a bit hard to get the fire bigger than a little flame clinging to a stick, but Neteyam did his best to fan it to be bigger. Ao’nung watched him work for a moment, before turning away and grasping his spear.
“What are you doing?” Neteyam asked, watching him without disrupting his fanning.
Ao’nung twirled the spear in his hand, “I’m gonna get us some dinner.”
Neteyam pulled a face, eyeing the tip of Ao’nung’s spear with disgust, “I’m not eating anything that touched that thing, no offence.”
“Offence taken,” Ao’nung said lightly, but after inspecting it himself, he put it down again. “Well, how else?”
“Here, take over,” Neteyam said, “Don’t let the flame go out.”
Then he grabbed his bow and a few (clean) arrows.
“With the bow?” Ao’nung asked skeptically, now crouching in front of the fire.
“Never heard of bow fishing before?” Neteyam asked. He rolled up his pant legs, before stepping ankle deep into the water. Ao’nung didn’t answer, but Neteyam knew he was watching him.
Neteyam studied the water. It wasn’t completely clear like the lake he had learned to fish in, but it was enough to see the movements in the water. Most of the fish looked too small to be caught with the arrows, but the occasional bigger fish swam past. Neteyam pulled the string of his bow and waited for the perfect moment.
The sun had gone down and the fire they had made was now burning beautifully. Neteyam and Ao’nung sat side by side, facing the lake in front of them. The moonshine reflecting onto the still water created such a peaceful atmosphere and Neteyam felt himself lean into Ao’nung’s side.
He was full and relaxed.
He had managed to catch two decently sized fish, which Ao’nung had gutted and they had slowly grilled over the fire. It felt like a five-star meal after months of living off of canned food.
“Where did you learn how to bow fish?” Ao’nung asked, keeping his voice quieter as not to disturb the quiet.
“My parents taught me,” Neteyam said, “Me and my siblings all learned how to use the bow. It’s like a family tradition.” Ao’nung nodded. “What about you? I always wanted to ask why you use a spear?”
Ao’nung chuckled, “My family owned a shop. For anything aquatic related. Surfing, fishing, boating. After I didn’t find my family in our home, I paid a visit to the family shop. I had two spears before we met, but one of them broke early on.”
Neteyam nodded. Silence stretched over them for a while and they only enjoyed each other’s presence. Neteyam could feel the tenseness back in Ao’nung, now that they were no longer in the water, his eyes occasionally departing from the water and looking over his shoulder.
“What did you want to be before all this?” Neteyam asked. “You mentioned college.”
Ao’nung hummed in response, “Yeah. I don’t know. I didn’t really have any proper goal.” He sighed. “College was never something I actually wanted to do. I was just going because I was offered a scholarship.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm, I was the swim team captain in my high school. My coach always told me I could make it to the Olympics one day,” Ao’nung chuckled. “That sounded nice. Olympics and then work in the family shop until I pass it down to my kids one day. That’s what I wanted to do.”
“That does sound nice,” Neteyam said. “I also had a scholarship. I was always top of my classes.”
“Nerd,” Ao’nung said. Neteyam nudged him with his shoulder.
“As the oldest grandson, I was thinking about taking over my grandfather’s business one day,” Neteyam said. Then his eyes wandered upwards to the sky, to the stars, “But deep down I think I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps and become a pilot.”
“A pilot?” Ao’nung asked, happily surprised.
“Yeah,” Neteyam chuckled, “I basically grew up in the cockpit.”
“Do you know how to fly?”
“Yeah, actually.”
“Really? Like a proper commercial plane?”
“No,” Neteyam laughed at Ao’nung’s expression, “I can fly small planes. I got my pilots license last year, but I’ve never flown alone.”
“Maybe we’ll find a plane somewhere,” Ao’nung pondered with a smile.
“And go where?” Neteyam asked.
“Anywhere,” Ao’nung said with a shrug. “Maybe somewhere warm.”
Those words somehow dimmed Neteyam’s mood and he sighed.
“We need to find a place for winter,” he said solemnly, changing the topic.
The last time Neteyam had looked at a calendar was in June. The same day that they had left his grandmother’s house after sheltering there for a month. After that they were on the road and the days started blurring together.
It had to be at least October now, maybe even close to November, but the weeks would pass fast until winter would be upon them.
Ao’nung nodded “We’ll have to find somewhere soon. Reinforce it. Make it safe to stay in,” Ao’nung said, absentmindedly, this time not looking up from the fire crackling before them. As if to reiterate his point, a cold gust of wind rustled through the leaves around them, making Neteyam shiver, “We should have a permanent place to get through the winter.
Neteyam agreed quietly. At least they had a few more weeks before it might start snowing.
Neteyam volunteered to take first watch as they decided to just get in a couple of hours of sleep right where they were. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to rest, but they already had a nice warm fire going.
Ao’nung had spread himself out on the ground, where he had been sitting before. His head was resting on Neteyam’s lap and he quickly fell asleep when Neteyam started brushing his fingers through his hair. It wasn’t the first time they spent the night like this. Neteyam knew that the physical closeness assured them both that they weren’t alone, when one of them was asleep.
The night shift was always a bit boring and it reminded him of when he used to travel with his family. He never had to take the nightshift alone then, rotating shifts with everyone. Only Tuk slept through the nights.
His father would always give reassuring words, and coax him to sleep often, even when they should be on shift together.
During shift with his mother Neteyam would try to find as many constellations in the sky as possible.
Lo’ak and him would reminisce about the olden days. ‘This isn’t what I meant when I asked the Great Mother to cancel my english exam’, Lo’ak had said once and Neteyam had almost woken his whole family from laughing.
Kiri would often hold his hand, draw circles in his palm and make up stories in the dark. Just like his father would do for him, Neteyam often let her doze off on his shoulder.
And he missed it. He missed his family and he prayed that they were safe and still together. He prayed that no one else had gotten separated for this was the hardest thing Neteyam had ever gone through.
Neteyam reached up and wiped the tears from his cheeks with one hand, the other still settled in Ao’nung’s curls as he slept. And Neteyam thought that at least he wasn’t alone. He looked down admiring the way Ao’nung looked.
He was handsome, no doubt. He was a good companion. Loyal, brave, a little silly at times, and wasn’t that the most important thing in a hopeless world? No one had had his back like Ao’nung had. He was part of his family now. Neteyam hoped and would do anything to make Ao’nung stick around after they found his family.
It was an uneventful watch, thankfully. Though Neteyam had no way to tell how long he let Ao’nung sleep, he woke the taller boy up when he was failing to keep his eyes open for a moment longer.
Ao’nung stretched as soon as he woke, no longer startling into consciousness like the first few nights they had spent together. He had gotten used to Neteyam’s presence by now.
“You could have woken me earlier,” Ao’nung said, poking a bit at the fire, so it wouldn’t go out. The flame had shrunk a bit when Neteyam’s eyes had started drooping.
Neteyam shrugged, “The sun isn’t even up yet.”
Ao’nung sat back down properly, before patting his own thigh. Neteyam laid down with a smile, resting his head on Ao’nung’s thigh just like he had and it didn’t take him long to fall asleep as he could briefly feel Ao’nung rest his hand in his hair.
Neteyam was woken by a poking on his forehead, opening his eyes to see Ao’nung grinning above him.
“Rise and shine,” Ao’nung said happily, letting Neteyam stretch on his lap, before he picked himself up.
“Morning,” Neteyam mumbled. The fire had fizzled out by now.
Their breakfast consisted of two cereal bars each, before the collected their belongings and walked back up the hill back to the foot of the bridge. Neteyam sighed, briefly enjoying the morning air of the forest, before turning to Ao’nung.
He was watching Neteyam with a smile. Neteyam smiled back before offering him his hand. Ao’nung looked a bit confused, though his smile didn’t falter and he slipped his hand into Neteyam’s nonetheless.
“What?” Ao’nung asked as they started walking, swinging their hands a bit.
“Nothing. It’s just a good morning I guess,” Neteyam said. “I’m glad you’re with me.”
Ao’nung chuckled, “You’re going soft on me.”
Neteyam shrugged with a laugh, swinging their hands together with Ao’nung as they followed the rest of the rail road towards the big city together.
Chapter Text
In the Apocalypse it was much smarter to avoid walking through big cities and should only be done with the utmost caution.
Never let your guard down. That's what his father had said, Especially not in the city.
A city was basically a death trap, the dead - and living- lurking behind every corner. Neteyam shuddered at the thought.
Ao'nung and Neteyam had stepped away from the train tracks as soon as the city and the first houses came into view around them and with them the first walker made their appearance. They didn’t engage it, continuing on their path into the city. Though Ao’nung and Neteyam’ sped up their pace just a little.
The walker kept them company for a while, trudging after them slowly until it tripped and got left behind and Neteyam knew they wouldn’t be able to avoid a fight forever, especially if their search for resources led them into the heart of the city.
Their rations were almost completely gone now. Neteyam had maybe a day’s worth of food left. Ao'nung's last rations were eaten for yesterday's dinner. The only thing they hadn’t touched yet was the honey John had given them.
Ao’nung finally took his spear from his back, spinning it in his hands once before holding it out in front of him, “Welcome to the city.”
Neteyam sighed. The telltale groan of walkers echoed from distances away and he took his bow into his hand, checking his quiver by his side.
They entered the Suburbs quickly and started checking a few houses randomly, seeing if their pantries had anything to eat. It was always bizarre to enter someone else’s home. It felt like an invasion of privacy every time.
Most houses were empty. Some more decorated than the others. Most of them had pictures and they tried not to linger on them, while they mapped out if it would be a potential place to stay.
A few houses were reinforced, signs that people had stayed behind for a while. Some were still there, now walkers, which Ao’nung took care of while Neteyam checked for anything useful.
Ao’nung slowly pushed open another one of the doors, his spear out in front of him. Neteyam followed, having his back as always, an arrow cocked and ready.
The house was empty and Ao’nung relaxed a little, lowering his arms as he stepped inside properly. Neteyam nudged the door closed behind them and walked over to the kitchen.
The front door opened directly into the living room, the back of the couch creating a barrier between entrance and seating area.
Ao’nung ran his hands along the back of the couch, walking slowly through the room. Even though he tried to avoid it, it always made him sentimental all over again, wondering what these people had been doing when the world ended.
His eyes lingered on the coffee table between couch and TV, because right next to it, in bright, happy colors, was a bouncy chair for a baby. A small play mat right next to it.
Ao’nung swallowed heavily, trying to shake the stinging from his eyes.
His mother should have given birth a while ago now.
“Nung?” Ao’nung turned at Neteyam’s voice, wiping a tear from his cheek. Neteyam stood at the entrance of the kitchen, worry etched into his features. “Everything okay?”
Ao’nung let out a dry chuckled, turning back to the living room for a moment. When he turned back, Neteyam was standing next to him, one of his hands settling on Ao’nung’s shoulder.
“My mother was pregnant when everything started,” Ao’nung explained. Neteyam followed Ao’nung’s gaze, giving his shoulder a squeeze when he understood. “She was six months along, so....”
“I’m sorry,” Neteyam whispered. He pulled Ao’nung closer, giving him the time to pull away if he wanted. Instead Ao’nung fully leaned into the embrace Neteyam offered him, burrowing his face into his shoulder.
“I really wanted to meet them,” Ao’nung said.
“You will,” Neteyam promised, rubbing a gentle hand over his back. “We’ll find them.”
Ao’nung didn’t answer. Neteyam’s optimism that his family might still somehow be alive was both soothing and stinging. Hope was such a stupid thing.
He pulled away from the embrace, taking a deep breath and wiping the other tears that had rolled down his cheek without permission. He gave Neteyam a strained smile. “Anything good in the kitchen?”
Neteyam seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then said, “Yeah… some baby food. It’s still good.”
Ao’nung nodded, then he walked to the kitchen first, Neteyam on his heel. The pantry was indeed filled with a good amount of baby foods in glass jars, labeled in different colors for different flavors.
Ao’nung picked up some of the jars, turning them around in his hands, “Apples, pears, bananas…full range of luxury.”
Neteyam huffed a small laugh, swinging his bag off his shoulders and holding it open, so Ao’nung could stuff as many of them inside as he could.
They left the house quickly after that.
Most houses looked the same in the neighborhood, the only thing that kept them apart at this point was the state of disrepair they were in and the over grown front lawns they presented.
The next house they entered was much the same. They entered, making sure there were no dead or living inside, Neteyam would check for anything useful and Ao’nung would look around. This time he paused at the stairs, before chuckling lightly.
“Hey, Neteyam. Come look at this,” Ao’nung said, climbing the stairs and stopping in the middle. Ao’nung crouched down, peering into the hole that had been made in the middle of the stairs. There were at least two or three steps missing. Anyone that wanted to get to the second floor needed to do a little jump or climb to reach the upper half of the stairs.
It seemed like a good defense. Any walker that tried to climb the stairs would sooner or later fall down into the space under the stairs.
“What is it?” Neteyam asked as he walked up to the foot of the stairs.
“The house is reinforced,” Ao’nung said, looking back briefly before turning around and taking the jump over the hole. Neteyam stepped up the stairs, stopping where Ao’nung had just been and looking down into the hole.
“Someone probably lives here,” Neteyam said, but Ao’nung was already bounding up the rest of the stairs, disappearing in one of the rooms. As soon as Neteyam heard a quiet ‘Oh’, he quickly rushed up the stairs to follow him.
“You okay?” Neteyam asked, but it didn’t seem like Ao’nung was in distress. The room he had entered was a bedroom. In the middle a bed and a wardrobe in the corner. The rest of the room was blank, but the walls certainly were not.
The wall that was opposite of the door was the one with the most scribbles, notes and numbers, seemingly not belonging together. There was a poorly drawn map on the wall and Ao’nung stood in front of it all, studying the writings, before rummaging in his bag and taking out the map he still refused to give back to Neteyam.
He spread it out, comparing it to the map on the wall as Neteyam stepped closer next to him.
“They don’t match,” Ao’nung said and indeed the places on map on the wall didn’t show up on theirs.
“Someone clearly lives here,” Neteyam said, this time more sure of this fact, crossing his arms. “We should leave.”
“Someone clearly left,” Ao’nung answered back, “Look at all of this. They were obviously looking for a place. They probably found it and left,” Ao’nung gasped, suddenly excited, “What if it’s a safe zone?”
“I don’t know,” Neteyam said, looking around the room. It didn’t look lived in, to be fair, but that didn’t have to mean anything. "What if it's just nonesense?"
“I think we should stay here,” Ao’nung said, ignoring Neteyam's point. Neteyam furrowed his brow.
“What? For how long?”
Ao’nung shrugged, “Until I figure this scribble out maybe. We could spend the winter here.”
“I don’t know,” Neteyam said again, circling the room. He looked out towards the hallway, which just led to the bathroom. There was nothing else on the upper floor.
“Listen. The house is reinforced, empty, close enough to the city that we can make quick trips and I really want to know what all this writing means,” Neteyam chuckled at Ao’nung’s last point. “What can I say to convince you?”
Neteyam was quiet. Ao’nung set let the map drop to the ground and approached him from behind, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, turning Neteyam to face him, “Are you worried about your family?”
“I’m sorry, I just…What if they move on while we stay here? What if we never find them if we don’t keep moving now?” Neteyam said. While they didn't have a clue where Neteyam's family was or where they were going, they had been moving on with the hope that his family was moving in the same general direction and they would have a chance to find each other again.
Ao’nung nodded, thinking about what he said for a moment, before putting his hands on Neteyam’s shoulders to ground him.
“I think staying here is the safest option for the foreseeable future,” Ao’nung said. “And if your family is smart then they will find a place to stay in the winter too instead of moving around.”
Neteyam huffed a small laugh, knowing that Ao’nung was probably right. His father’s main priority was the survival of his family and the surest way to assure that was to find a safe place to stay during the winter.
“Okay,” Neteyam sighed. “You’re right. Let’s stay.”
Ao’nung did a little celebration dance in his head.
“But if someone comes and kills us in our sleep, it’s your fault,” Neteyam said, leaving the room.
“Fair.”
The heart of the city was always the worst part. Dangerous and unpredictable. Full of walkers.
The atmosphere around them immediately changed as soon as the high rises and shops were around them, the streets filled with signs of lives now lost. They were on edge here, but it needed to be done. You could never be too paranoid.
"Beautiful," Ao'nung commented, though it was anything but. The streets were messy, littered with cars and smashed glass and remains.
Neteyam and Ao’nung kept their footsteps quiet, trying not to stir too much attention, while they checked out shops. The most obvious choices, like grocery stores, naturally were looted first, but it was worth a try. And soon enough they found a store that was bigger, ransacked, but the chances of finding something were better.
Ao’nung pushed open the door, the jingle of the bell sounding through the otherwise quiet atmosphere.
The telltale shuffle of feet and groaning could be heard right away. Ao’nung looked over his shoulder at Neteyam, who just nodded that he had heard it too. They stuck close together, but it didn’t take long to find the walker, which must have already been alerted to their presence thanks to the doorbell.
It was wearing a uniform of the store and somehow Neteyam couldn’t help but feel bad. Showing up for a tedious job when the world was ending, just to die with it in the end. Ao’nung let the poor guy approach, before making quick work of plunging his spear through its skull, leading it to the ground before dislodging his weapon again.
Neteyam pulled a face. No matter how many times he had seen walkers die, he would never get used to it.
“Do we split up?” Ao’nung asked finally and Neteyam nodded. “Okay, keep your ears peeled.”
“You too,” Neteyam said. Ao’nung stayed at the front of the store and Neteyam walked over to the back, keeping his eyes open in case there was another unfortunate worker close by.
He picked up a few leftover cans as he walked. There was a decent amount of food left. He even found a small package of noodles. Maybe they’d find the time to heat up some water at one point.
With a small skip in his step, happy that he had actually found something, Neteyam wandered into the next aisle, startling briefly when he was met by a second walker. It was crawling, as much as it could be called crawling as it was missing its entire lower half, one arm stretched out towards Neteyam in an attempt to grasp at him.
For a second Neteyam raised his bow, ready to take the shot, but after he hesitated for a moment, he lowered the bow again. Would it be crueler to kill him or leave him?
He’d just skip this aisle.
His brief good mood gone again Neteyam sighed. Though it wasn’t much, they had found food for at least a few days and that would have to be enough for today. Looking around some more, Neteyam decided to go back to the front.
Ao’nung was standing at the counter, rotating a small display stand of magazines. It looked like it would fall apart soon.
Neteyam shook his head with a smile, and Ao’nung looked over at him before smirking.
“Here,” Ao’nung said and Neteyam didn’t have much time before something was thrown at him and he fumbled to catch it, clutching it against his chest. It was a candy bar.
“Thanks,” Neteyam chuckled, tugging it into his back pocket. “Did you find anything else?”
“Not really,” Ao’nung said, kicking some of the glass shards lying around. His face lit up then, “But look.” He turned around, looking over his shoulder at Neteyam with a grin. Poking out of his back pocket was a little stuffed animal, small enough that it could be hung onto a keychain. It looked like a whale, its eyes bigger than its head. “Found us a companion.”
Neteyam laughed lightly.
They both startled when the front doors rattled, the bell going off once as it opened. The light atmosphere quickly gone, Neteyam aimed his bow at the door and Ao’nung stepped in front of him with his spear.
One walker had stumbled inside, the door shutting fast enough to prevent others to follow right away. Its eyes laid on Ao’nung and Neteyam quickly and it started steadily limping towards them.
“Time to go?” Ao’nung asked when the door was pushed again, but not enough to open just yet. It was clear that there were other walkers following.
“There is probably a back door,” Neteyam said, and Ao’nung nodded, turning away from the doors and following Neteyam to the back. The jingle of the bell followed them all the way.
The back was a small stockroom, but most shelves were empty, the floor spilled with various juices, glass bottles, wines and probably blood. Neteyam kept a steady stride towards the backdoor, but Ao’nung stopped briefly, taking one of the intact wine bottles into his hand, before tugging it into his bag.
“Nung,” Neteyam chided him.
“Coming,” Ao’nung chuckled, quickly rushing back to Neteyam’s side, standing at his back and keeping an eye on the front of the store.
The walker had followed them, but now he had a friend toddling after him. The doorbell sounded again and Ao’nung internally groaned, grasping his spear, ready to have Neteyam’s back.
Neteyam carefully pushed open the backdoor, peeking outside, before pulling his head back inside.
“Clear?” Ao’nung asked and Neteyam shook his head. “How many?”
“Three, maybe four,” Neteyam said with a sigh. They were already outnumbered.
“Okay. I’ll go first?” Ao’nung asked. Neteyam agreed.
Neteyam pulled open the backdoor and Ao’nung stepped out. The alleyway, that the backdoor led out to, was free, but the entrance to the alleyway was blocked by three walkers. They were being cornered from both sides.
Ao’nung quickly rammed his spearhead into the first walkers throat, pushing him back into the others to create space. He could feel Neteyam’s back knock against his as he pulled his bow back, firing at the walkers coming at them from the back.
The first arrow hit the walker clean through the eye, but Neteyam didn’t have time to grab another arrow when the second walker threw itself towards him. He grasped his bow tightly, swinging it quickly against its head.
Neteyam quickly threw himself against the backdoor, shutting it closed against the undead that were still pushing against it. He turned around, still blocking the door with his body.
“Neteyam?” Ao’nung called out to him, his voice slightly panicked while trying to avoid the jaws of the undead in front of him. Ao’nung had his spear held out horizontally, pushing and creating a barrier between himself and the three walkers cornering him, grunting with the effort of keeping them away from him.
“Ao’nung-“ Neteyam gasped, jumping into action again. He grabbed for another one of his arrows, before realizing that his quiver was empty. “Fuck. Hold on.”
“Hurry!” Ao’nung grunted.
Neteyam quickly bent down towards the body of the first undead, wrapping his hand around the arrow still lodged in its eye and yanking it out quickly, before drawing it into his bow and firing quickly, hitting true as one of the walkers fell.
With one less weight on him, Ao’nung was able to push the other two walkers away from him. He plunged his spear into one walker’s skull while Neteyam took care of the walker left, before turning to Ao’nung.
“Let’s get out of here,” Ao’nung pulled out his spear by pushing the walker away with his foot.
Neteyam gave him a nod, grasping his bow tightly like a baseball bat, “I’m out of arrows.”
Ao’nung couldn’t help but smile despite the situation, “Okay, follow me.”
Holding his spear out in front of him Ao’nung took in the state of the street from the alleyway entrance. There were noticeably more walkers around than earlier. It wasn’t a horde, but a decently sized group had formed in the time they had been inside the store.
With Neteyam at a clear disadvantage, Ao’nung decided that they needed to make a quick escape, get as far away from the group as they could and get out of the inner city before the walkers multiplied some more.
“Stay close,” Ao’nung said. “We’re making a run for it.”
Ao’nung led Neteyam through the street, checking every few seconds that he was still behind him. They stayed close to the wall, dodging any walker reaching for them. The ones that got too close were quickly taken care of with the spear.
They both relaxed once they left the inner city behind, slowing their pace when they stepped out onto the suburbs, the familiar houses from earlier welcoming them back.
Ao’nung briefly startled when Neteyam roughly grabbed his arms, stepping in front of him and letting his eyes wander over his figure.
“Are you okay?” Neteyam demanded more than asked. His hands wandered, feeling up and down Ao’nung’s arms, checking for injuries and Ao’nung had to briefly blink the surprise away, flustered at the way Neteyam was handling him.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Ao’nung quickly assured him.
“I’m so sorry,” Neteyam said.
"What?" Ao'nung asked, confused.
Neteyam let go of Ao’nung’s arms, stepping back a step. Ao’nung briefly mourned the loss of touch. “I took my eyes off of you. You could have been hurt.”
“Oh,” Ao’nung frowned. “No, Neteyam, you were taking care of the walkers behind us.”
“But still-“
“I took my eyes off of you, too,” Ao’nung argued. “You could have been hurt, too… Are you?”
Now it was Ao’nung’s turn to study Neteyam from head to toe, going so far as to walk a circle around the archer. He counted it as a success when Neteyam cracked a small smile at that.
“I’m not hurt.”
“Good,” Ao’nung said, putting his hands on Neteyam’s shoulders. Neteyam reached up to take a hold of his wrist and for a moment they lingered like that, looking into each other’s eyes. He mustered up a smile, “We’re okay.”
“We’re okay,” Neteyam repeated, smiling back. With his hands still on Neteyam’s shoulder’s, Ao'nung moved to pull him closer into a hug and Neteyam welcomed it readily, wrapping his arms around him tightly. Neteyam’s height perfectly allowed him to slot his face into the space between Ao’nung’s shoulder and neck.
“Feel better now?” Ao’nung asked, rubbing Neteyam’s back a bit.
“Yeah,” Neteyam mumbled. “Thanks.”
Ao’nung didn’t pull away first, letting Neteyam take the time he needed, drinking in the feeling of Neteyam's body pressed against his. His hands grasping at his back and shoulders and his calm breath against his skin.
“I’m rethinking about staying in the city,” Neteyam mumbled against his shoulder, causing Ao’nung to laugh. “Do you still have that bottle of wine?”
“Yup. Let’s go back and unwind.”
Chapter Text
Two weeks passed like a blur, but Neteyam wouldn’t say that he had gotten used to the city at all. He’s gotten a bit used to the higher number of walkers around and so far none had made an approach towards their home. The most undead were left behind in the inner city, where they would go in and out as quickly as they could when resources ran low or something needed to be picked up.
It was easier to get what they needed when they needed it, but the constant running and fighting was starting to annoy him.
On the other hand, their house had taken a turn for the better. Now that they had agreed to spent the winter here, Neteyam and Ao’nung had started putting down roots in anticipation for the next few months.
The lower floor had been mostly neglected and they had worked to make the upper bedroom as comfortable as possible over the past weeks.
They had done multiple trips to the city and other houses, collecting food, clothing, blankets, pillows and candles to turn their room into a cozy home. The windows were covered with a thick blanket, so there would be no light giving them away in the night. Their bed was drowning in blankets, but that was probably for the best. The house was warmer than the outside, though, without heating, not by much.
The temperature had dropped significantly in the past few weeks and Neteyam was suspecting snow to fall any day now.
“It looks like we’re going into hibernation,” Neteyam commented, looking around the room, already buried in the blankets. They had done another run before returning for dinner and now that he was full and exhausted, the candle light and watching Ao’nung move around in the candlelit room was slowly lulling him to sleep.
“We kind of are,” Ao’nung chuckled, not looking away from the notes he was taking. Non-essential items, like notebooks and pens were easy to find and Ao’nung had stocked up a handful of anything that could help him figure out what and where the walls lead to. “We made our little home and we’re not moving until spring.”
Neteyam hummed in response, burying his nose in the blankets, letting the warmth and Ao’nung’s quiet mutters, his pen on paper, erase the reality of the world outside this room as he slowly fell asleep.
Later Ao’nung would join him once he’d get frustrated with the numbers and scribbles. He would mutter under his breath, trying to figure out which blanket was above which and how to get underneath the tangle. He’d try not to wake Neteyam, but Neteyam always woke up, help him untangle the blankets around him and welcome him into the warmth.
The qualms of sleeping next to each other had disappeared pretty quickly. Maybe they had never existed at all. Thinking back how sleeping had never been a problem for them, how Ao’nung had fallen asleep in the car mere hours after they met, sharing the bed at John’s home, using each other as pillows on the road and now in their little blanket nest.
Neteyam wouldn’t leave him any space, sliding into his side comfortably and that is how they would sleep every night. In each other’s arms.
Neteyam had stopped trying to convince himself, that they were just doing it to share their warmth in the cold weather after their first days here.
Ao’nung’s groan startled him from his dozing momentarily and Neteyam raised his head from the blankets to look over at him. He was on his feet now.
“What is it?”
“These numbers are a radio channel. Multiple channels. I think someone might be sending information out and whoever was here before us kept track of them,” Ao’nung rubbed his temple, annoyed at the fact that it took him so long to figure it out, so convinced that the consistent string of numbers were coordinates until now.
Neteyam chuckled, closing his eyes again, “We don’t have a radio.”
“I know,” Ao’nung threw up his hands with another groan. “Do you think we could find one on our next run?”
“Probably,” Neteyam said. “We’d just have to find batteries, too.”
Ao’nung huffed out a long and drawn out breath, before Neteyam heard the notebook hit the floor and Ao’nung’s footsteps approaching the bed. Smiling to himself, Neteyam moved himself, lifting the edge of the blankets to let Ao’nung into his snuggly embrace.
“You were no help,” Ao’nung said once he let himself fall into Neteyam’s side and Neteyam pulled the blankets firmly around them.
“I knew you’d figure it out eventually,” Neteyam said quietly.
“Mhm, sure,” Ao’nung replied, relaxing into the comfort.
Ao’nung herded him out of the door first thing after breakfast the next morning and Neteyam was very amused as he followed him into the city in his quest to find a working radio.
“Okay, here is the plan,” Ao’nung said quietly as they walked through the, currently, empty streets. “Best case scenario: we find one of those wind up radios, with the spinny thing on the side, so we don’t need to find a bunch of batteries. Do you know what I mean?”
Neteyam chuckled, “Yes, I know the radios with the spinny things on the side.”
“Good, good,” Ao’nung peered around a corner before signaling Neteyam that they could move on. “Should we look for food?”
Neteyam thought for a second, counting the amount they had stashed back at home, before shaking his head, “I don’t think we need to just yet. Let’s focus on your radio.”
They wandered for a few minutes. They had gotten a bit more familiar with the layout of the city over the past weeks, but their little quest took them to a part of the city they had yet to scavenge. To Ao’nung’s delight, they found a little electronics store, right next to a decently sized hardware store.
Ao’nung steered them into the electronics store. Like most stores this one had been properly ransacked as well, people that believed that this ‘end of world’ thing would blow over soon stuffed their pockets with anything expensive to sell off later. Maybe there is a walker running around somewhere with a bunch of stolen phones in its pocket.
Ao’nung looked like a little kid in a candy store with a mission as he quickly walked over scattered boxes on his search. Neteyam inspected the area around the cash register for anything useful and he found a few packages of batteries in case Ao’nung didn’t find his spinny radio.
There was not much more to find that would be useful. Most things left behind needed electricity to work, so Neteyam went to see how Ao’nung’s search was going.
He found him crouching in the back of the store, pondering over a couple of radios carefully lined up on the floor.
“Looks like you found plenty,” Neteyam said, walking closer and bend down to see what Ao’nung had found. “No spinny one?”
“No spinny one,” Ao’nung confirmed, “I found a few, but I’m not sure which one would work.”
“Take them all with you,” Neteyam suggested. Now that they weren’t carrying all of their belongings with them at all times, their bags had enough space to carry them all and Neteyam helped Ao’nung pack them up to get going.
The hardware store was their next destination and Ao’nung quickly found a few more batteries, stuffing them into his bag, before collecting any tool he could get his hands on. Who knew if they would one day be useful.
“We could do some decorating,” Neteyam commented, stepping over a large puddle of spilled paint. Most things that could be made into a weapon were missing, but Neteyam found a small hammer in a pile of paint cans.
He turned it over in his hand with a frown. Since he had run out of arrows, Neteyam was looking for a long range weapon for the long run, but until then he was making due with a baseball bat they had found in one of the neighboring houses.
“Hey, look at this,” Ao’nung’s called out from further ahead and Neteyam walked around the display cases into the next aisle. Ao’nung’s hand poked out from behind another shelf, holding out a medium sized axe. His head poked out next with a smile, “Cool, huh?”
Neteyam chuckled, “Very cool.”
“I’m taking this with me,” Ao’nung announced happily, twirling the axe in his hand briefly.
“Did you find anything else?”
“Not really,” Ao’nung said. “Unless you really do want to renovate.”
“Maybe another time,” Neteyam said. “Let’s go back home.”
They spent the whole next day working on the radios, trying to get a signal. The sun had gone down a while ago and so far Neteyam had managed to get Ao’nung to take breaks only to eat some food.
Now Ao’nung was sitting on the floor as always, his notebooks open next to him and around him a small circle of five radios. The radios seem to be working, indicated by the little green light in the corners, but so far, they played only silence, no matter how many times Ao’nung tuned it onto the channels that were written on the walls.
Not even the expected static came through the speakers. Only total silence.
Ao’nung tuned the little wheel again, “Come on, give me something.”
Neteyam watched him for a few more minutes. On one hand he was praying for Ao’nung to find something. Even though he wasn’t as invested in this as Ao’nung was, the hope that he was right and they would find a destination to steer towards after winter was nice.
On the other hand, the complete radio silence, which indicated that not a single signal was being send out anymore, was disheartening.
Neteyam had just finished counting their resources, just to give him a break from the radios for a few minutes, but it only kept him occupied for so long. He sighed, lighting another candle to give them some more light to work with and sat back down next to Ao’nung, close enough that they were touching.
“I think we should find a pharmacy soon,” Neteyam said quietly. It felt wrong to raise his voice higher than that in the candlelight.
“Do we need something specific?” Ao’nung asked, resuming the slow turning of the little wheel of the radio.
“No, but we don’t have much in terms of medicine. We could get sick when the temperatures keep dropping and I would like us to be prepared.”
“Yeah, sounds good,” Ao’nung said offhandedly. “We’ll go tomorrow.”
The silence stretched between them then, almost mockingly so as the radios refused to give sound.
Neteyam knew he should keep helping Ao’nung fiddle with the radios, but he couldn’t bring himself to pick one of them up. His eyes just kept watching Ao’nung as he worked, a look of concentration on his face and a small furrow of irritation in his brow. His features softened by the candlelight.
Neteyam reached over, settling a hand on Ao’nung’s head, moving his hand over his hair and undoing his usual bun. Ao’nung huffed a small smile, but didn’t comment as he kept working and Neteyam didn’t think about what it meant for him that they didn’t shy away from each other’s touch.
His hands started the familiar process of braiding, pulling some of Ao’nung’s strands into loose braids, letting them unfurl at the bottom when he let go of them to start another. And he let his mind wander to this and that.
Maybe he could redo his braids, now that they had a proper place to stay.
The sudden, very brief, sound of static made them both jump and then freeze in their tracks. It was gone as soon as it appeared and if Ao’nung hadn’t startled with him, Neteyam would have thought that he had imagined it.
“Did you hear that?” Ao’nung asked carefully.
“I did,” Neteyam confirmed and in the next moment they snapped out of their shock. Ao’nung started turning the wheel back, carefully trying to find the spot again.
“Slowly,” Neteyam said anxiously, though Ao’nung’s hand was already working so carefully.
The silence stretched on for what felt like way too long until finally Ao’nung landed back on the signal. As soon as the sound came back through the speaker, his hand flew away from the wheel as if it had burned them.
The sound of a violin song quietly filled the room, almost hauntingly so.
The fact that it was music instead of a message shocked Neteyam even more.
“Someone is…playing music?” Ao’nung asked, stunned, “How?”
Neteyam just shook his head. He didn’t know, but someone, somewhere was sitting in a radio booth, transmitting quiet music into an empty world and at this moment Neteyam and Ao’nung were probably the only people to listen to it.
They listened the song play out, before a new one started. One just as calm as the other, tethering on the edge between soothing and haunting. Ao’nung tore his gaze from the radio, looking at Neteyam sitting beside him and Neteyam turned to return his gaze. The music around them felt like an achievement.
It felt like in this moment there was nothing left except for Neteyam and Ao’nung and the song around them, sitting together in the low candle light, in their cozy bedroom, and the deniability that the world outside exists.
It was easy to lean in, like the only thing he could do, and brush his lips against Ao’nung’s. He wasn’t thinking, letting the music and his touch do the talking and Ao’nung was doing the same, he suspected.
The kiss was soft and slow and it felt like their whole relationship summed up in one.
Careful at first, testing the waters. Testing each other’s reaction to the sudden new feeling.
Relieving next, relishing in the new connection and each other’s presence.
Familiar lastly. Trusting and, above all, safe. A stark reminder that they have each other.
Neteyam shivered when Ao’nung’s hand cupped his cheek, tilting his head deeper into the kiss. Ao’nung smiled against his lips, pulling away briefly, only to press his lips against Neteyam’s again and again.
It was easy to kiss him. But it was hard to say if it was love that he was feeling, because it was easy for trust, familiarity and comfort to delve into love. But maybe it was simple and only admitting it was the hard part.
So he stopped thinking and pulled Ao’nung closer, burying his hand in his hair. The music played on until late. Whoever was out there, never announced themselves.
The next morning Neteyam woke like always, wrapped in Ao’nung’s arms. Only tonight they didn’t burry the fact that they were cuddling under the carpet and Ao’nung pressed a kiss on his temple when he woke.
The pharmacy run was the only thing on their list for the day, before Ao’nung would inevitably sit back down to work on finding the radio station he was looking for, so Neteyam closed his eyes to enjoy the warmth of Ao’nung and their bed for a few more minutes.
The music that had lulled them to sleep last night was now quiet, but they didn’t touch the radio in hopes that it would resume its playing again. Ao’nung still had four other radios to fiddle with anyways.
The start of winter, brought shorter days, so they reluctantly got up, so they sun wouldn’t go down in the middle of them being in the city.
Ao’nung kissed him again, before they left their house and Neteyam wore a small smile the whole way into the city. Not even the walkers they walked past could ruin his good mood and he wished he could hold Ao’nung’s hand while they walked. If only he didn’t need them both to hold his spear.
Even though the pharmacies were as empty as most of the grocery stores and they would most likely have more luck looking for first aid kits around the city, they decided to give it a try. As luck would have it the pharmacy they found was small, in a narrow side road, which meant it was still decently stocked up. That didn’t mean much, but at least it wasn’t empty.
Neteyam had wandered into the back quickly, opening all the drawers in the back, collecting some of the medicine that would usually require a prescription.
In the meantime, Ao’nung stood at the front of the store, pondering over some children’s cold medicine, picking up one of the packages, before calling out to Neteyam in the back “Do you want strawberry or cherry cough syrup?”
Neteyam chuckled, closing his bag once he was satisfied with his haul. They could always come back if they needed more. He looked around the room. Besides the drawers that held the medicine, there were some shelves, one of them knocked over. There was a workbench to prepare medicine and a door that led to another room.
Neteyam knew that it was most likely an office or maybe a breakroom. Still it probably wouldn’t hurt to check.
As soon as the door gave way, he was immediately run over by a big form in a white coat, groaning and biting at him and Neteyam doesn’t even have time to scream as his arms instinctively went up to keep the teeth from taking a bite straight out of his face.
Instead of his face, he felt the walker’s teeth sink into the flesh of his arm and Neteyam finally found his voice to scream. Neteyam pushed at the walker’s head with his free hand frantically, trying to get it to release him, before his shaking hand wandered down to grab the hammer he had stuffed into the side of his pants.
With a hard swing to its temple, Neteyam finally felt the teeth dislodge from him as the walker collapsed onto the ground and Neteyam held onto his arm, almost tripping over his feet in his attempt to put some distance between hiimself and the walker. His vision was swimming and blurry as he looked down, inspecting the messy and bloody wound, as if it would make any difference how deep it was.
A scratch could kill him. A bite most definitely will.
He was done for.
It was over as soon as it started and he barely heard the frantic footsteps behind him as Ao’nung ran over, alerted by his scream. Neteyam didn’t turn around to see Ao’nung take in the scene, cradling his arm as the first tears started rolling and the burst of adrenaline started leaving him as quickly as it came.
“Are you okay?” Ao’nung frantically asked, now standing immediately behind him, Neteyam’s back still to him as he inspected the walker dead at their feet. “I heard you scream.”
Neteyam didn’t answer. The only thing he could think about was… he hadn’t been successful in finding his family and they would never know what happened to him now. The bite mark stung. He could feel his muscles tensing around the torn flesh.
He felt like throwing up.
It was all for nothing. He would die here and it was all for nothing.
He bit his lip hard, trying to focus on that pain instead of the one in his arm and he felt Ao’nung put a gentle hand on his shoulder. Neteyam flinched at the contact.
“Neteyam?” Ao’nung carefully prompted, his voice now nervous and shaking.
The hand on his shoulder pulled Neteyam to finally turn around and Neteyam whispered a quiet, “I’m sorry,” as Ao’nung managed to get a good look at him and the bloody mess that was now his arm.
Ao’nung was silent, but his eyes, wide with horror, displayed his fear very clearly.
“I’m sorry,” Neteyam whispered again, because what else was there left to say?
Chapter 6
Notes:
I’m sorry it took so long, but the chapter got longer than I originally planned.
❗ I added tags!!! I’ll put the important one here, too, please be aware of it:
Amputation
Yup, we're going there
Chapter Text
“I’m sorry,” Neteyam said again, his voice a hush over a whisper, but Ao’nung remained silent as he stared at Neteyam’s arm, still cradled against his chest. Neteyam watched as Ao’nung’s expressions went through several stages before he locked his jaw and tipped his head.
His hand was still on Neteyam’s shoulder from when he had turned him around, gently grasping and ungrasping the fabric of his shirt. Slowly he reached out to take Neteyam’s arm in his hand. Ao’nung’s fingers brushed along Neteyam’s skin, careful not to touch the bite, before looking around.
“We have to clean it,” Ao’nung simply said, taking Neteyam’s hand and steering towards the sink at the workbench in the corner.
“Ao’nung?” Neteyam asked slowly. Ao’nung let go of his arm and Neteyam pulled it back to his chest as Ao’nung put down his backpack and took out one of their bottles of water and opened it. Then he held out his hand for Neteyam’s arm, his eyes holding barely restrained panic and sadness.
Neteyam wanted to tell him that washing his wound would not change his fate, that they were just stalling the inevitable. That they should use the time to say goodbye instead.
“Please,” Ao’nung prompted, reaching out and touching Neteyam’s arm until Neteyam detached his arm from his chest again and let Ao’nung do as he needed.
Ao’nung’s hold was gentle. The water was cold on his arm and his wound stung whenever Ao’nung brushed his hand over it to clean it. Once most of the mess of blood was washed away they could get a better look at the bite. The bite was pronounced and there were some pieces of his flesh missing.
It was still bleeding, but the slow flow of water kept it going until the bottle was empty.
“I don’t want to turn,” Neteyam said quietly. Ao’nung didn’t answer again, but his expression crumbled, “Please just… don’t let me turn.”
Ao’nung shook his head slowly and Neteyam knew that he was asking a lot of him, asking him to kill him. If the roles were reversed, he didn’t know if he would be able to do it either, but they didn’t have much of a choice now. Either Neteyam turned or… he died.
“We can…we can still do something,” Ao’nung let the bottle drop from his hands, crouching down to rifle through his bag frantically before pulling out a scarf. He pulled Neteyam closer, tying the scarf around his biceps tightly in a makeshift tourniquet.
It stemmed the blood flow slightly, but they both knew that it wouldn’t actually stop the infection from spreading. At best it bought them a few more minutes, maybe an extra hour at most. There was no set time in which a person would turn. It depended on the person and the place of the bite, but Ao’nung thought that the left arm was somehow connected to the heart more so than the right one.
That would mean they had less time until it would spread through Neteyam’s whole body, but he could be wrong. He hoped he was wrong. Either way, the longer they waited, the more the infection was spreading.
He couldn’t let it keep spreading.
“Ao’nung?” Neteyam’s gentle voice snapped him out of his staring. He placed his right hand on Ao’nung’s cheek to properly draw his attention and Ao’nung could see the tears in his eyes and when Neteyam’s thumb brushed over his cheek, only then did he realize that he was crying, too.
“Please listen,” Neteyam pleaded softly. “I need you to,” Neteyam swallowed heavily, “I need you to…make sure I don’t turn.”
After a moment, Ao’nung nodded, “Okay. I won’t let you turn.”
He let go of Neteyam’s arm and almost numbly turned back to his bag. He practically emptied his bag onto the counter, his face stoic and schooled, but his hand moving frantically and shaking. He laid out a few things onto the surface of the workbench. A knife, some gauze and the last bottle of water they had brought along.
Lastly he took the axe out of his bag, placing it next to the knife, his fingers dancing at the hilt of the axe without picking it up, in an unsure hesitatingly gesture, before he left it lying there. The axe was still unused as Ao’nung preferred to just use his spear.
Neteyam watched him do all that, but his mind had wandered. He was trying to keep his breathing steady and keep himself from breaking down. He would die. He was going to die. And his mind refused to wrap around that.
Only when Ao’nung turned back to him and met his eyes did he snap out of his thoughts briefly.
“Wrapping it up won’t prevent me from turning,” Neteyam said, doing his best to muster up a smile. There was no way some bandages and a get better kiss would solve this. He wished it would.
“I know,” Ao’nung sighed, before he pulled him into his arms and buried his nose into Neteyam’s shoulder. Neteyam wrapped his arm around Ao’nung, the other hung at his side. It hurt to move.
Neteyam nuzzled his nose into Ao’nung’s the space between his shoulder and neck, breathing him in deeply, perhaps for the last time, “Will you do me one last favor?”
“Anything.”
“Find my family,” Neteyam said and Ao’nung let out a shaky breath, “Tell them I’m sorry. Tell them that I was okay and that I had a good companion until the end and that we took care of each other. That I was happy with you.”
Ao’nung nodded as he slowly pulled away from Neteyam’s embrace. They were letting too much time pass, but Ao’nung still promised him, “I will.”
“Okay,” Neteyam smiled sadly, “They’ll let you stay with them. Please don’t be alone again.”
“I promise,” Ao’nung said, stepping closer to Neteyam. He reached out his hands, putting them on Neteyam’s cheeks and pulling him into a kiss. Neteyam melted into Ao’nung for just a moment. If this was to be his last kiss, then he would savor it.
“I love you, Nung,” Neteyam whispered into the small space between them. “I know it’s early. We haven’t known each other that long, but… I won’t have a chance to say it again. I love you. Thank you for being by my side.”
“I love you, too. Thank you for stalking me that first day,” Ao’nung whispered back, drawing a small laugh from Neteyam. He pulled him for another kiss, before pulling away all too soon.
Carefully he took Neteyam’s arm in his hand. His hands wandered over Neteyam’s arm, making sure not to disturb the tourniquet that was still in place and Ao’nung gripped Neteyam's elbow tightly as his other hand wandered down to give Neteyam's hand a gentle squeeze. Neteyam squeezed back, feeling the movement pull at his wound.
Ao’nung looked over at the workbench where he had laid out the knife and bandages, but Neteyam was right. There was no point in bandaging the wound. Maybe they could go home and spent a bit more time together until Neteyam started to get sick and Ao’nung would have to…
“Do you trust me?” Ao’nung asked softly.
Neteyam’s brow furrowed in confusion at the question that came out of nowhere, “Of course I trust you.”
“Okay,” Ao’nung said again, making up his mind and pushing away the last remaining hesitation. He reached to pick the axe up from the table and Neteyam eyed it suspiciously, before looking over at Ao’nung, his mind nagging at him uneasily.
“Ao’nung?” Neteyam asked carefully, his voice holding a careful question. Ao’nung just smiled sadly, pulling Neteyam closer to the countertop by his arm.
Neteyam tried to pull back his arm, gently at first, but Ao’nung’s grip was firm, not letting him go even when he pulled harder, “Ao’nung, what are you doing?” Neteyam asked, panicked, but he already knew.
“Trust me, Neteyam, please,” Ao’nung said as he strong armed Neteyam’s arm to lay flat on the counter and held it in place firmly with his left hand. “We can fix this. It will be fine as long as we don’t let the infection spread.”
Neteyam tried to pull out of Ao’nung’s grip more frantically now as Ao’nung picked up the axe with his free hand, raising it, ready to strike.
“Are you crazy? Don’t do this, Ao’nung, please,” Neteyam pleaded, holding his good arm against Ao’nung’s that was holding the axe to stop him, “I’ll just bleed out, okay? You’d just be dragging it out. Don’t do it like this, please.”
Ao’nung faltered, and Neteyam could see the hesitation take over again. This was hard for him too, Neteyam knew. He was leaving him behind, but he knew this wasn’t the solution. An impromptu amputation would never work.
“Please,” Neteyam added, hoping it would be enough to get Ao’nung to finally loosen his grip enough so he could slip out this time. Neteyam relaxed when he lowered the axe.
“I’m sorry, Teyam,” Ao’nung sighed. His grip on Neteyam’s arm didn’t loosen however, instead it tightened. “But I can’t let you die.”
And too fast, Ao’nung raised the axe again and brought it down in one fast swing.
...
Neteyam distinctly felt the first strike of the axe.
Searing pain, like he never even would be able to imagine ran through his whole body as the axe lodged itself through his skin and into his bone.
Neteyam thought he screamed, before his vision blacked out entirely.
It didn’t prevent him from feeling the movement of the blade in his flesh and bone when Aonung pulled back and forth to dislodge it again. Neteyam thought Aonung might have been apologizing the whole time, but he couldn’t be sure over his own screaming.
He kept a firm grip on Neteyam’s arm to prevent him from pulling away, but Neteyam wasn’t sure if he would be able to anymore.
As soon as the second swing hit, Neteyam passed out.
...
The second strike was, thankfully, the last one and as soon as Neteyam’s arm was detached from the rest of him, Ao’nung let the axe drop from his hand to catch Neteyam’s sagging body. His screams had been haunting and Ao’nung knew he would never forget them, would never forgive himself for being the one to put Neteyam through this, but by Eywa, he could not lose him.
Neteyam’s scream had abruptly cut off and he had fallen like puppet with its string cut.
Ao’nung quickly propped Neteyam up and pulled the tourniquet tighter. He did his best to wrap Neteyam’s wound up then. It was messy and bloody and the bandages would be soaked by the time they arrived back home, but for now it just needed to hold until he managed to get Neteyam back.
The bleeding slowed quickly, though Ao’nung wasn’t sure if it was the tourniquet working or if Neteyam was just running out of blood now.
Neteyam whimpered when Ao’nung moved to pick him up. It calmed him down knowing that at least he was alive.
With everything said and done, Ao’nung spoke a quick prayer, hoping that Eywa would have his back and assure them a quick trip back home, before leaving the pharmacy, and whatever he couldn’t carry, behind.
Ao’nung had gotten him home without any interference. With the way he had torn through the streets, he hadn’t given the walkers any time to process that he had even been there and in mere minutes Ao’nung had brought them back home.
As soon as he was back in their room, Ao’nung gently laid Neteyam onto the bed, shoving some of the blankets aside. They only irritated him in his hurry. With gentle, but nimble fingers he cleaned Neteyam’s wound with the water they had at home before wrapping it up again.
It wasn’t a clean cut by any means, but Ao’nung had done his best in the moment.
“I’m sorry, Teyam,” Ao’nung said quickly. It was one apology out of many more to come. “Just hold on, okay?”
Neteyam didn’t show any more signs of consciousness and Ao’nung shakily checked his pulse on his neck. It was there. It was frantic and Neteyam had gone pale, his skin looking lifeless from all the blood he had lost.
Ao’nung had left the tourniquet on for a bit longer, before finally taking it off as well and keeping an eye on Neteyam’s bandages. He trifled through their available medicine, pulling out some painkillers. They wouldn’t do much in terms of a severed arm and Ao’nung realized that most of the things they had found in the pharmacy would have been better, but Ao’nung had left Neteyam’s bag behind.
It would have to do for now and he carefully crushed some of the pills in his palm and mixed them with water, helping Neteyam to drink it slowly. Then he bundled Neteyam into their blankets in the way he liked to bury himself into them every night.
Only once Ao’nung sat down on the floor beside the bed and counted every breath Neteyam took, did it sink in what he had just done, but there was no going back now and he couldn’t stop the onslaught of tears rolling down his cheeks.
“I’m sorry, Teyam,” Ao’nung cried, leaning his head against the mattress, letting the tears flow freely onto the floor, “I’m so sorry.”
As the sun had gone down, Neteyam had slowly built a fever, his breathing getting more shallow with each inhale. The hours had passed like a blur as Ao’nung sat beside the bed, staring at Neteyam for any sign of consciousness. Afraid that at any moment his eyes would open to an unfocused, dead stare.
The first sign of an infection was always the fever, together with the fatigue. Sometimes the infected person would get nauseous. Then they would eventually pass out and, inevitably, die, before waking up undead.
Ao’nung still remembered the first time he had seen someone turn.
It had been his friend, Koro, after they had been attacked by a walker while trying to get home from their pre-college trip. They had to take shelter in a grocery store for a few days as things were too chaotic on the streets with the first wave of panic that an apocalypse brought with it.
Ao’nung had sat with Koro in the back of the grocery store after he had helped patch the wound on his friend’s shoulder. Ao'nung had watched as he got more tired by the minute and in the middle of the night Koro had died, before coming back a few minutes later as one of the undead.
One of the strangers in the grocery store had been the one to kill Koro.
Their friend group had split in opinion after that. Ongu and Nash’vi refused to stay any longer after Koro was killed, but Ao’nung and Rotxo had wanted to stay for a few more days, deeming that it was too dangerous outside.
In the end Ongu and Nash’vi had left the same night Koro died and that was the last time Ao’nung had seen his friends.
Rotxo had made it back home with him a few days later. They had separated to search for their families and that was the last time Ao’nung had seen Rotxo. He didn’t know what had happened to his best friend in the brief hour that they had been apart, but Ao’nung had spent a day and a half looking for him, before he had left the city to search for his family.
...
In the middle of the night Neteyam’s fever stopped rising, but at that point he was burning under Ao’nung’s touch. His skin was clammy and Ao’nung was doing his best to keep him hydrated with the little water they still had left after he had used most of it to clean Neteyam’s arm. They couldn’t afford an infection on top of everything else.
Ao’nung spent the night watching Neteyam, fiddling with some of the radios to keep his hands from tearing at his own hair. His eyes never left Neteyam as his fingers worked.
Once the sun had started setting, the quiet music had started playing again. They were the same songs, playing in the exact same order, as the night before. It reminded him of last night when everything was still good. It felt like a long time ago, even if it had barely been 24 hours ago.
Ao’nung could feel the sting in his eyes. He hadn’t stopped crying since he had managed to settled Neteyam into the blankets. At first messily, begging Neteyam to just hold on, to just make it through the night and they would surely be fine and then, over the hours, it had reduced to a quiet flow down his cheeks and the occasional sniffle.
Ao’nung moved the radio closer to Neteyam. Maybe the music would help him have a sweet dream.
...
Quiet static caught his ear and Ao’nung reluctantly tore his eyes from Neteyam. The radio in his lap gave a bit more static from its speaker, before cutting off into nothingness once again.
Ao’nung had caught the last bit of a connection before it was cut off again. One step closer to finding where all the clues led. He placed the radio back down and scooted closer to Neteyam’s side.
“I found something, Neteyam.”
There was no response and there was no excitement in Ao’nung. What did it matter now if he was right about a safe house or not? What did it matter if he found it or not?
Ao’nung got to his feet before carefully crawling into bed, making sure not to disturb the blanket nest he had built for Neteyam. He wrapped his arm carefully under Neteyam’s head, leaning his own forehead against Neteyam’s. He was as warm as a furnace.
Ao’nung closed his eyes. If this was to be their last night together, Ao’nung wanted to spent it with Neteyam in his arms.
If Neteyam turned tonight Ao’nung would roam the streets with him. He had made the promise to have Neteyam’s back after all.
Ao’nung hadn’t slept, his eyes opening at every movement Neteyam had made. Thinking ‘This is it’ every time he stirred, but Neteyam hadn’t turned, nor had he properly woken up. There were moments where Neteyam gained a bit of consciousness, moaning painfully, most likely woken from the pain, before it knocked him back out.
Ao’nung almost threw up from the guilt, knowing that he had done this to Neteyam. What if he didn’t make it after all? Ao'nung was making him go through the most horrendous pain just to die after hours of agony? Ao’nung swallowed down the bile that rose with the guilt once again.
This wasn’t about him; it was about Neteyam and he needed to concentrate on keeping Neteyam as comfortable as possible, so once the sun had properly risen, Ao’nung had gotten himself ready.
He was leaving to go back to the pharmacy to find the bag with the medicine that he had to leave behind yesterday. And he would need to find some more water.
So, for the first time since he met Neteyam, he would have to face the outside world alone.
Ao’nung stood in front of the bed, leaning down to press a kiss to Neteyam’s warm forehead.
“I’m gonna make a quick run to find water,” He said, “I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
Ao’nung took a step back, watching Neteyam for a few moments, in case he showed any indication that he heard him. He had to resign himself that he would not get an answer. Slowly, he tore himself from Neteyam’s side, walking towards the door and stopping at the foot of the bed, checking that the rope that he had tied to Neteyam’s ankle and then around the bedpost was tight enough.
If the worst came to pass while he was gone, Ao’nung didn’t want to return to an empty house. He wouldn’t let Neteyam wander the streets in that state. He deserved better than that and Ao’nung would, inevitably, have to release him.
“Hold on, okay? I’ll be back soon.”
...
It was easy to find the pharmacy again and the bag that held the medicine that Neteyam had collected was still where they left it. Ao’nung made a quick in and out, sidestepping the bloody mess that they had left behind. He didn’t want to see it again, forcing the thought that that was all Neteyam’s blood out of his mind and making a quick escape as soon as his fingers wrapped around the bag’s handle.
Finding water was getting harder the more time passed, but today Ao’nung was lucky to find some.
He returned home quickly, carrying as much as he could and once he reached the top of the stairs, he dropped everything to check if Neteyam was still where he had left him.
Neteyam was still there, lying in bed just as Ao’nung had left him and Ao’nung walked closer, crouching down beside him to gently slip his hand along Neteyam’s neck and check his pulse.
It had steadied since last night and Ao’nung let out a relieved sigh.
“I’m back,” Ao’nung said, before going to move the things he had brought into the room, stacking the water bottles he had found close by, before trifling through the bag of medicine. He found a couple of stronger painkillers. He wasn’t sure if they helped at all, but it was the only thing he had at hand.
Realistically, Neteyam probably needed morphine or something like that. Eywa, he would trade his soul to have his mother’s medical training right now.
He repeated the same process from the day before, crushing the pills and mixing the powder with water. Then he did the same with a couple antibiotics, hoping that they would help to prevent an infection. Ao’nung gently tilted Neteyam’s head, helping him drink slowly, wiping the water that spilled from the corner of Neteyam’s lips before laying him down again.
Ao’nung took his spot on the floor again, leaning his head on the mattress and letting his hand linger in Neteyam’s hair, raking his fingers through his braids in the way he knew that Neteyam liked to fall asleep to.
“There is a new group,” Ao’nung quietly informed Neteyam. “I think they might settle in the city for the winter, just like we did.”
Ao’nung wasn’t crazy enough to think that it had just been him and Neteyam in the entire city this whole time. There were most likely smaller groups and wanderers staying somewhere or passing through sometimes. Only so far Neteyam and Ao’nung hadn’t crossed paths with anyone.
The city was big and filled with resources that were still undiscovered in every corner. People would kill for a spot this good. And that was exactly what worried him when he spotted new people, especially so close in their area.
It was a man and two boys, maybe around Ao’nung’s age, all of them equipped with guns. They didn’t cross paths, as Ao’nung had hid as soon as he had seen them and he was pretty sure that they hadn’t spotted him. He would have to make sure that it would stay that way.
The second night was much like the first. Neteyam was alive, breathing, unconscious, but alive. However, his fever still hadn’t sunk and Neteyam was as hot as a furnace.
Ao’nung told himself over and over that if Neteyam was going to turn, he would have by now. And if it wasn’t the virus causing his fever then it must be related to his arm. Ao’nung had changed it twice today. It looked bad, but it didn’t look infected or anything.
But then again what did Ao’nung know.
Ao’nung sighed, dropping his head into his hands. He was worried that he had made a mistake, still afraid that Neteyam wouldn’t make it after all. After all the pain he had put him through for the slim chance that he would pull through, hoping that they could avoid a turning if he got rid of the infected limb in time.
Neteyam’s chances for survival hadn’t increased through Ao’nung’s actions. Cutting off a limb was not a small feat and Ao’nung cursed himself for not seeing farther than his need to get rid of the infected area.
“I’m sorry, Neteyam,” Ao’nung whispered into his hands. It felt like the only thing he could do now was apologize. “Eywa, I’m so stupid.”
Ao’nung swallowed heavily, sitting back on his heels. The room was dark. Ao’nung hadn’t bothered lighting the candles they had lying around.
Whenever they had darkened the windows and lit the candles, they had left the world outside behind. It was just him and Neteyam in this small world that was their room and the outside couldn’t hurt them when they were together.
He had lit them the first night and it had made him feel so alone, sitting helplessly by Neteyam’s side. So, he left the window open and the candles unlit, so the world outside could keep him company.
Ao’nung didn’t know how he had survived all those months alone, before he had met Neteyam. If he was to be alone again… he didn’t think, he could make it. It just didn’t make sense to keep moving without Neteyam, because there was nothing else left to fight for.
Ao’nung took a shaky breath, his hand twitching towards one of the water bottles. During nights alone, back when he was still looking for his family, he would ask the Great Mother to keep them safe, thinking that his mother was doing the same thing for him wherever she was.
It helped him stay determined and to keep moving whenever the hopelessness got too much to handle.
Uncapping the bottle, he seated himself properly in front of the window before pouring a bit of water into his palm to wet his hands. Not too much, but this way he felt closer to his traditions and the Great Mother. He spread his hands, his palms facing upwards, like he had seen his mother do so often.
He tipped his head up into the moonlight and spoke quietly, “Great Mother. I know I have said that I will never ask for anything if I got that bar of soap, but I never received it, so I figured it didn’t count,” he chuckled lightly to himself, but the sound quickly broke into a sob instead, “Please, Great Mother. Don’t take him from me. I would do anything, but please don’t take him, too.”
Ao’nung looked over at Neteyam “He’s all I have left,” Ao’nung whispered sadly, letting his head fall and swallowing heavily, “But if you…but if you must, then please expect me to follow soon after.”
With a sigh Ao’nung wiped his hands on his pants, before turning his head back to Neteyam and almost jumping out of his skin. Neteyam’s eyes were open and staring directly at him, the intense honey brown shining in the moonlight.
His eyes looked unfocused, but far from dead and Ao’nung scrambled over to Neteyam’s side.
“Neteyam?” Ao’nung frantically asked, “Can you hear me? Can you look at me?”
Neteyam’s gaze wandered over to Ao’nung, watching him move closer. He blinked a few times, before his expression crumbled and the tears rolled down the bridge of his nose and onto the mattress.
“Nung,” Neteyam’s voice was hoarse and rough. It sounded like it hurt to talk. “Hurt…please…”
He looked so tired and Ao’nung meticulously wiped the tears from Neteyam’s cheeks. The crying seemed to quickly rob him off his last energy and Neteyam’s eyes soon closed again, a silent plea for some relieve on his lips.
The fact that he was talking was good. The infection had probably not held effect, but the sudden amputation could still kill him. If the intense pain got too much to handle, if he didn’t recover from the blood loss, if the wound got infected. There were too many things still stacked against him.
Ao’nung removed himself from Neteyam’s side, lunging for the bag of medicine and going through every bottle and every package, reading every instruction. Neteyam needed something stronger, anything to help him hold on.
Ao’nung took another trip to town after making sure Neteyam was as comfortable as possible. He had changed the bandages on his wound again, this time trying out an ointment that was supposed to numb pain and helping Neteyam drink a bit more water mixed with medicine.
He went back to the pharmacy, but this time there was less to take then when he had left it and instinctively Ao’nung knew that the new group he had spotted must have taken anything useful that was still left.
Ao’nung practically ran through the streets, checking any pharmacy that he came across. He found some more bandages here and there, but other than that he left empty handed and reluctantly he started the walk back home.
He still had some energy to keep going, but he didn’t want to leave Neteyam alone for so long, especially now that he had been conscious and talked. The last thing he wanted was for Neteyam to wake up to an empty home.
Ao’nung stopped when he heard voices and he ducked behind a car just as two familiar figures stepped into his field of view. It was the same man from the day before and one of the boys from yesterday.
And now that Ao’nung was closer to them than the day before he could actually get a better look at them. The man was tall and build, obviously someone that knew what they were doing. He leaned towards the boy and his stern gaze softened slightly when he talked to him and led him to walk in front of him.
The boy was almost as tall as the man, his short blond hair sticking out the most to Ao’nung. Maybe they were father and son, but it made Ao'nung wonder where the other boy had been left.
They were now walking away from Ao’nung, so he was just going to wait until they were far away enough to get out of his hiding spot. But just before he could lose sight of them, something compelled Ao’nung to follow.
It was a stupid idea, especially when he wanted to be discreet and keep them from knowing of his existence. But still he followed, trying to convince himself that knowing where they lived would be a benefit for his and Neteyam’s safety.
He stopped only when a big building came into view. It was a motel just outside the inner city, with an open parking lot in front of it, giving it a perfect vantage point when standing on the second floor. There was no way something could sneak up to the building without someone seeing them from a good distance away.
It was the perfect place to stay for a big group, so Ao’nung assumed that there were more people than the three he had seen so far. He was very clearly outnumbered and getting spotted now could be dangerous.
Ao’nung left as soon as his curiosity was sated.
Ao’nung didn’t go home just yet as there was one more place he hadn’t checked yet. Possibly his last hope to find something to help Neteyam.
Ao’nung grasped his spear tightly, clasping and unclasping the handle in his sweaty hands as he gazed at the seemingly looming hospital building in front of him.
Hospitals were … tricky. Survivors tended to avoid them as for most cities, hospitals were ground zero for the outbreak. It felt like he was about to walk into the lion’s den, but Ao’nung knew this was his best chance of getting Neteyam what he needed.
Ao’nung tried to talk himself both into going inside and abandoning this idea to go through a bunch of houses and ransacking their medicine cabinets instead.
In the end he decided that he needed to do this and with slow determined steps Ao’nung walked closer to the front of the building. Foregoing using the doors, as they had been locked and chained shut anyways, he climbed through one of the broken windows.
So far so good. It seemed to be empty.
Now that he was inside he wasn’t exactly sure where to start, so he carefully walked through the dirty halls, keeping his eyes peeled. There were empty beds thrown around everywhere and out of place. The doors and walls were dirty with all kinds of dried fluids that Ao'nung didn't want to give anymore thought towards.
The first floor didn’t have much, except a bunch of locked doors that Ao’nung was happy to avoid.
He was mostly trying to avoid the walkers. A fight would just draw attention and he wanted to get out of here quickly and before the sun started going down.
The second floor had a few supply closets amongst the many patient rooms. Most of the shelves had been overthrown and messed up, but most of everything was still there. Bandages, bedsheets, gloves, towels, band aids. Ao’nung collected a bit of everything.
Once he was done Ao’nung opened the door a tad, before closing it quickly again and pressing his ear against it. A walker slowly trudged past, stopping briefly in front of the door. Ao’nung could hear his own heartbeat in his throat, afraid that the walker had heard him and his heart didn’t calm down until the footsteps shuffled past and away.
Making a quick escape as soon as the opportunity presented itself, Ao’nung came to another stop when he was back in the staircase. Faced with the decision of going downstairs and back home or to keep going up in hopes of finding a bit more.
Sometimes a place could have infinite amount of resources, but the smartest thing was not to get greedy. That got you killed real fast. Take what you can carry and get back to safety. But he hadn’t found anything that would actually help Neteyam and so, Ao’nung went up.
It took him some time until he found a door labeled ‘Staff only’ and with it being locked he had to break into it, slamming his shoulder into the door until it finally gave out under his attack. The sound of the door breaking echoed through the halls and would no doubt attract the walkers roaming around nearby, so Ao’nung had to act quickly.
The room wasn’t particularly big, but it was filled with cupboards full of pill bottles, topped off with a little fridge-like closet that held various vials behind its glass doors. A quick smile rose on his face. It felt like he had found the dragon’s hidden pile of gold.
Ao’nung quickly jumped into action, scanning the rows and names of the medication in front of him for what he needed. His smile fell again.
The happiness of finding it all was short lived, because as soon as he held the first bottle of pills in his hands the frustration took over him.
He had no idea what any of these names meant or what they did or which of them would actually help Neteyam.
What if he used the wrong medicine? The wrong dosage? What if he killed Neteyam in the end, after everything, just because of the wrong medication? Having Neteyam go through all that suffering in his last moments, just because Ao’nung had no idea what he was doing, stupidly believing that everything would be okay as long as he prevented the infection from spreading.
The first walker came through the door just then, a single hand reaching in Ao’nung’s direction. Ao’nung scoffed, before taking two quick strides over to it and letting his frustration take over. He drove his spear clean through its mouth, before flinging the walker to the side so roughly its head almost severed from its body.
It didn’t help him feel any better.
"Sorry," Ao'nung said to the dead walker once he had forced himself to calm down, before the next groan that echoed through the halls snapped him out of his stupor.
Ao’nung carelessly stuffed whatever he could get his hands on into his bag. The pills would probably be fine still, but he had no idea if the vials of liquid were still good to use without having been refrigerated for months now. Still he took a few, emptying the box of sealed needles into his bag as well.
Ao’nung quickly took care of the second walker that made it through the door and made his escape before any others could see him. The bag on his back was heavy and Ao’nung hoped that he had managed to collect what he needed.
When he left the hospital, it was softly snowing.
Neteyam was fluctuating.
From all the medication that he had carried back Ao’nung had recognized the name of exactly one single pill bottle, knowing that they were slightly stronger pain killers than one would usually get at the pharmacy and he had given them to Neteyam as soon as he had come home.
The sun had gone down quickly and the snow was still softly falling as the night came, though it didn’t seem like any snow was lingering on the ground just yet.
At first the stronger medication seemed to have helped a bit. Neteyam’s fever sunk for a few hours, before rising again, much to Ao’nung’s dismay. Now he seemed to be on the brink between good and bad.
It seemed like he just needed that final push to tip him back into getting better, but Ao’nung didn’t know how to achieve that.
Neteyam needed help and Ao’nung couldn’t provide that help anymore.
Ao’nung waited for Neteyam’s fever to sink again, making sure he was comfortable in bed and kissing his, still warm, forehead, before climbing down the stairs and leaving. The sun was barely up by now as Ao’nung hurried through the streets.
He traced back the steps towards the motel, chewing his lip with his heart in his throat the entire way there. What he was doing was risky. Basically presenting himself on a silver platter in the hopes that they had a doctor and were willing to help him.
He studied the building as soon as it came into view, slowing his step to look less threatening. As soon as he was close enough he could see one of the boys standing against the railing of the second floor.
It was the boy that wasn’t out yesterday, fiddling with one of the braids in his hair and looking slightly bored as he was probably on lookout duty. No one else was in sight.
With a deep breath Ao’nung started approaching the building, keeping an eye on the boy and raising his hands in a surrendering gesture when they locked eyes. The boy’s eyes narrow immediately and Ao’nung stopped momentarily when the boy raised a gun, almost like a warning.
The boy didn’t take his eyes off of him but he took a step back to knock on the door he was standing in front of and a moment later the man Ao’nung had seen since the first day, stepped out, his eyes locking with Ao’nung’s after the boy pointed him out.
He was clearly the leader of this group and the person Ao’nung would need to convince.
Ao’nung kept walking forward, watching as the man said something to the boy. Then he walked down the outside steps onto the ground floor with the boy following after him. His expression was set firmly between curious and suspicious as he waited for Ao’nung with crossed arms, making sure the boy stayed behind him.
“That’s close enough,” The man bellowed once Ao’nung was standing at the entrance of the parking lot, and Ao’nung heeded the call.
“Remove your weapons,” The man said and Ao’nung quickly took his spear from his back and tossed it to the ground. His bag followed, though it was not a weapon before he raised his hands again.
The man allowed him to come closer only then until Ao’nung was standing close enough for them to talk without shouting.
The boy still had his gun pointed at him, a warning for Ao’nung not to try anything stupid. His eyes occasionally flicked from Ao’nung over to the man and Ao’nung couldn’t help but let his gaze linger on him for a bit. He looked so familiar.
“What brings you here?” The man asked, his expression stern, but not hostile. It gave Ao’nung some hope.
Ao’nung took a deep breath, before answering “Do you… do you have a doctor?”
“Are you injured?” The man asked, before his eyes narrow, “Are you bit?”
“No. It’s my partner. He is very sick. I have a lot of stuff from the hospital, but I don’t know what is safe to use,” Ao’nung explained desperately, his hands still raised. “Please, you can have all the other stuff I found. I just need him to get better. Please.”
“Okay,” the man said. There was concern etched into his voice now and he spoke more softly, so Ao’nung wouldn’t work himself into a panic. “What is with your partner? Is he bit?”
“No,” Ao’nung answered, because technically it was the truth. Neteyam was not bit anymore. “He, um, he lost an arm and a lot of blood. It might be getting infected, but I don’t know. He has a really bad fever, but it’s been a few days and he hasn’t turned,” Ao’nung hastily added. “It is fluctuating and… I don’t know what to do anymore.”
The man nodded, his eyes wide at the information. He must see the truth in Ao’nung’s words. He must recognize that coming alone to a much bigger group and asking for help was a last resort with the danger that it brings. Ao’nung had come to them, only armed with the hope that there was some kindness in the strangers he had approached.
A woman stepped into view, leaning over the second floor railing and staring at Ao’nung. His eyes briefly went up to meet hers before he focused his attention back to the man in front of him with a heavy swallow.
“You can bring your partner here and we’ll help,” The man said, not paying any mind to the woman now listening in on their conversation.
“I can’t, I-“ Ao’nung stuttered, “He is very weak. I’m afraid to move him by myself.”
He knew that asking them to come was a big thing to request. He knew that it sounds like he was leading them to a potential trap.
The man eyed him a bit and Ao’nung did his best to look as nonthreatening as possible.
“Please,” Ao’nung did his best not to start crying, but it was hard. Showing weakness in front of strangers was deadly, he prayed that it would help him this time instead, “Please, he is all I have left.”
The man looked at him with such pity and he turned around briefly, looking in the direction of the boy, perhaps also his son. Maybe this was a family and Ao'nung would be able to convince their soft side to help him.
“It’s just you and him?”
“Yes, sir.”
He kept his eyes on Ao’nung a bit longer, studying him for any sign that he wasn’t being truthful, before relenting softly, “Alright, kid, we’ll help you,”
Ao’nung’s tense shoulder sacked in relief and his hands slightly lowered with the gesture, “Thank you. Thank you so much, sir.”
“Your weapon will stay here. The bag, too. If I, at any moment, feel like you are tricking us or leading us into a trap, I won’t hesitate to take appropriate measures,” The man clarified. It was the nice way of saying he would kill him if he had to.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. What’s your name?”
“Ao’nung, sir.”
"Alright," The man now gave him a comforting smile, “You can call me Jake.”
Chapter 7
Notes:
Once again this chapter got longer than I planned lol
I had to put a few scenes in the next one.
Chapter Text
“I’ll come with you,” Jake assured him and Ao’nung was about to thank him again when the woman called from above.
“Jake,” She made a gesture with her hand, calling him upstairs and she didn’t look too happy. Ao’nung wondered if she was the doctor of the group.
Jake glanced up at her, before looking at Ao’nung briefly. “Stay here,” Jake told him before giving the boy a short hand signal and taking the stairs up.
The boy watched the man go up the stairs, before training his eyes back on Ao’nung. He was probably told to keep an eye on him and his hold on the gun was firm.
There was some hushed arguing between Jake and the woman and Ao’nung tried to make out some words. The boy seemed to be doing the same, but both were without success. So, for a moment it was only him and Ao’nung staring at each other.
Now that he got a better look at the boy, he could tell that Jake was definitely his father. They practically had the same face and that was probably why he seemed to familiar.
Ao’nung wasn’t sure if he should say something, but the boy gave him an unsure nod, before giving him a short, “Hi.”
“Hey,” Ao’nung said back, shifting in his spot a bit. He was suddenly very aware of how vulnerable he was in this position, without weapons and without backup, now that he was standing in front of the boy.
Ao’nung was about to ask for the boy’s name, because calling him ‘the boy’ was getting tiring. The distrustful look on the boy’s face made him stop though.
Maybe he’d just wait until he introduced himself instead.
There was some movement upstairs as well as a scolding “Tuk”, which drew both of their attention. And then the head of a little girl was peeking between the bars of the railing. Another, slightly older girl looked over, locking eyes with Ao’nung before pulling the little girl away again.
Ao’nung realized that he had been right. This was a family and he was just beginning to realize just how big of a group he had stumbled onto. He briefly took a moment to thank the Great Mother that they turned out to be a seemingly decent group, that didn’t take him out on sight.
Jake and the woman came downstairs together with the older girl and under the woman’s gaze Ao’nung stood up straighter, waiting for her to speak.
“Your partner,” The woman spoke and Ao’nung could hear the distrust in her every being. Her stern frown reminded him of his own mother, “You said he lost an arm?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ao’nung answered, swallowing heavily. The pointed looks he was getting were making him sweat.
The woman turned back to Jake, “Kiri can’t handle that. I’m going.”
Ao’nung realized that the argument must have been over who was going to go with him and he felt slightly guilty. With such a big group of children between two adults it was clear that they needed to split up to not run into the risk of leaving their children behind in case Ao’nung had something malicious planned.
“Kiri will just assess, baby. If she thinks he has a chance, then we’ll bring him here,” Jake spoke calmly, while the woman seemed to be trying to cool her temper. He lowered his voice when he spoke the next sentence, trying to shield them from Ao'nung, “If we can’t help him, we will return again.”
Ao’nung swallowed heavily, the hope in his chest slightly cracking. Somehow a part of him had believed for just a second that everything would be okay now. But of course they wouldn’t waste their time if they deemed that Neteyam didn’t have a chance.
He wanted to argue and make it clear to them that Neteyam was a fighter, but he held his tongue and lowered his head with a glare. He couldn’t risk their help right now by talking back.
Ao’nung had missed whatever else Jake had said, but it seems to have convinced her. He snapped back to attention when the woman addressed him again, “Where are you staying? I want to know where you’re going.”
Ao’nung did his best to describe the way to their house, stumbling over a few directions, but it was hard to describe their house when he didn't bother with street names or numbers.
“I’m coming with you,” The boy jumped in quickly once it was made out that Jake and the girl, Kiri, were going.
“Lo’ak-“
“No, dad, I’m coming with you,” The boy, now dubbed Lo’ak, stood tall, proud and stubborn, like he had already made up his mind and nothing would change it and it seemed like Jake knew that, because he only gave a resigned nod.
“Should I come, too?” Asked another voice and Ao’nung quickly made it out to be that of the blond boy.
“No, you stay here,” Jake quickly said, “Listen to Neytiri. Take care of Tuk if we don’t come back in a couple hours.”
The group dispersed gradually. Jake led his daughter upstairs, getting the things they needed to accompany Ao’nung. Neytiri and Lo'ak stayed with him, keeping an eye on him.
Jake and Kiri returned, now looking more ready to venture outside of their safe house. Jake was carrying his own gun now while Kiri was dressed in a thicker jacket and a shoulder bag, hopefully filled with stuff that would help Neteyam.
“If you’re not back in a couple of hours, I’m coming after you,” Neytiri reiterated clearly, giving Jake a stern look, before giving him a quick kiss.
“I know, I’ll make sure we’ll be back soon,” Jake assured her and they parted.
Jake signaled Ao’nung to lead the way, making sure he walked ahead. This way Ao’nung’s back was facing them, once again giving him the disadvantage.
Ao’nung hated feeling this vulnerable. There was no question that Ao’nung was outmatched. Jake seemed trained in working with that gun alone from the way he was holding it. Meanwhile the only thing Ao’nung had a temper and a working fight or flight mode. It’s gotten him so far.
He didn’t even have his spear right now. When they passed his spear and bag, which he had left lying on the ground of the entrance, Ao’nung didn’t even attempt to pick it up.
There was nothing he could do here, but listen to what Jake wanted. Neteyam needed the help, so Ao’nung led the way without complaint. He could feel Neytiri’s eyes on the back of his head until they were out of sight of the motel.
The walk there was mostly quiet, save for their footsteps echoing through the empty streets. Ao’nung felt so helpless without anything in his hands to defend himself. If they were compromised now, he would have to rely on this group to keep him safe.
“Listen, Ao’nung, I just want you to know that we’ll do our best, but we’re not miracle workers either. Alright?” Jake spoke from behind him.
“Yes, I know. Thank you for coming to try,” Ao’nung said.
Jake gave a nod and Ao’nung led them out of the city and towards the suburbs, walking the familiar way back to their house. Ao’nung stopped at the front door, turning back to look at Jake. He seemed a bit more relaxed now. Perhaps their house didn’t look much like an ambush spot.
“He’s in the bedroom on the second floor, but there is a hole in the middle of the stairs,” Ao’nung said briefly, “Don’t fall inside.”
“Let me go first,” Jake said, moving past Ao’nung to enter first. Ao’nung was slowly getting annoyed at all this bossing around. He knew that it was for Jake to make sure his children were safe, but he wasn't used to following someone else's orders.
Ao’nung followed right after him, almost at his heel. He didn’t like the thought of Jake being so close to Neteyam without him being close by. Jake stopped at the top of the stairs, briefly looking into each room to make sure Ao’nung wasn’t lying, before letting the children follow.
“Go ahead, baby girl,” Jake gestured for his daughter to enter the bedroom, though Ao’nung walked in before her. He immediately rushed over to Neteyam’s side, taking him in and making sure he was as he had left him.
Neteyam seemingly hadn’t moved the short time Ao’nung had been away.
“I’m back, Teyam,” Ao’nung quickly whispered to him, “I brought help, okay? They’re going to help you.”
Ao’nung knew that Kiri walked in behind him. He was aware that she came to stand beside him to get a look at Neteyam’s state of being. What he didn’t expect, however, was for her to grasp his shoulder and shove him aside so fast, that he stumbled back over his own legs.
“Neteyam?” Kiri barreled over to his side, frantically, yet gently taking his face in her hands to make sure that it was really him. She seemed almost at tears, “By Eywa, Neteyam!”
Ao’nung couldn’t comprehend what just happened before Lo’ak and Jake also came rushing into the room summoned by Kiri's frantic yelling.
“Holy shit,” Lo’ak exclaimed, halfway onto the bed in his hurry.
“Hey, be careful,” Kiri immediately scolded him, pushing him back a bit.
“Neteyam? Baby boy, can you hear me?” Jake cradled Neteyam’s head gently, his eyes had gone so soft, barely a sign of the stern leader of the group he had presented earlier. Neteyam’s eyes fluttered, but didn’t open. At least he was somewhat aware of the commotion. Jake smiled slightly, “There you go.”
With the three of them huddled over Neteyam Ao’nung felt like they had forgotten that he was even there, confused and trying to make sense of everything happening before him. The only thing he knew was that they were blocking Neteyam from his view and Ao’nung’s heart picked up again.
He knew that he would have to let them access and touch Neteyam in order to help, but his trust only went so far. Ao’nung snapped out of his stupor long enough to grasp the back of Lo’ak’s shirt to yank him away from Neteyam’s side.
Lo’ak stumbled back enough for Ao’nung to put himself besides Neteyam. He would have rather put himself between all three of them and Neteyam to demanded an explanation, but Kiri was already holding onto Neteyam’s injured arm and Jake was still cradling his head, so Ao’nung only got so far.
At the sudden aggression Lo’ak held his gun up, now pointing it right at Ao’nung. Ao’nung’s heart skipped a beat, but his glare didn’t falter.
“What-Who are you?” Ao’nung demanded, now glaring between all three of them. “How do you know him?”
“Easy, Lo’ak,” Jake said sternly. Lo’ak’s surprise had quickly developed into fury, but his eyes reflected fear at seeing Neteyam in such a state as he held the gun in shaking hands.
“I want to know what’s going on,” Ao’nung said, his confidence slightly faltering under Lo’ak’s aim, but trying not to show it.
“Enough, Lo’ak,” Jake stepped in quickly, still not answering the question, but wrestling the gun out of his son’s hands, “What did I teach you? No pointing the gun unless you’re going to take the shot.”
“I was planning on it,” Lo’ak argued back. “This lunatic cut Neteyam’s arm off!”
“He probably had a good reason for it,” Jake quickly shut him up with a stern look, before turning to look at Neteyam again, “We’re taking him back to your mother. If I give this back to you, will you behave?”
Jake held out the gun to Lo’ak and he just gave a subdued nod, taking it from his father.
“Good, you’re gonna keep the way open. Go ahead, make sure the coast is clear,” Jake ordered and Lo’ak shot Ao’nung one last, dirty look, before heading outside quickly. Jake walked up to Kiri, “Can he be carried?”
“I think so. It’s not bleeding anymore, but he needs fluids,” Kiri said. She had just finished placing a cleaner bandage over Neteyam’s wound. “Be careful.”
Jake nodded, positioning his hands carefully under Neteyam's knees an back.
Ao’nung’s heart was beating out of his chest. They were taking Neteyam from him. They were going to leave with Neteyam and Ao’nung couldn’t do anything against it. His legs refused to move, his mouth refused to form words as he watched Jake gently lift Neteyam from the blanket nest Ao’nung had built for him.
Once Neteyam was cradled in Jake’s arms, he turned to look at Ao’nung and for a moment Ao’nung thought that he would tell him not to follow. He would tell him not to come near his family again, even if Jake seemed to give him the benefit of the doubt ever since Ao’nung had walked into their parking lot.
The only thing Jake did was give him a stern look and an order, “You’ll get an explanation later. For now, take all the medicine you collected and my gun. You’ll watch our back, understood?”
Ao’nung nodded dumbly. With shaking hands, Ao’nung swung the bag, into which he had put the medicine from the hospital, over his shoulder, before taking the gun into his hands while Jake watched him like a hawk the whole time.
With a nod, Jake left the room with Neteyam and Kiri following behind, carefully moving down the stairs and out of the house where Lo’ak was waiting, confirming that no walker was around. Ao’nung followed, the gun in his hand feeling unfamiliar and heavy.
This time Lo’ak led the way through the streets with Jake right behind him. Neteyam hadn’t stirred again and Kiri was hovering beside her father’s shoulder, keeping a steady eye on Neteyam all the way back.
They made it back to the motel in record time. The blond kid was standing at the top of the stairs, keeping an eye out and waiting for their return. When he spotted them coming, he knocked on the door behind him, just like Lo’ak had when Ao’nung had first shown up, and this time Neytiri came out of the room.
The boy pointed them out and though they were still a ways away, Ao’nung could hear Neytiri’s scream so clear as if he were standing right next to her.
“Neteyam?” She called out hastily, rushing down the stairs quickly, “Oh, Great Mother, Neteyam!”
She met them halfway as soon as they crossed into the parking lot of the motel and Jake never stopped his stride, passing Lo’ak as soon as they were in safer territory, keeping a steady pace towards the building.
“He’ll be okay,” Jake said to Neytiri quickly, automatically, to calm her down as she walked alongside him. Kiri was falling behind now, unable to keep up with her father’s fast pace.
“He’ll be okay,” Jake repeated, maybe this time for himself, too. Neteyam was quickly carried into one of the upper rooms where Jake gently lowered him onto the bed.
Neytiri hovered over him, cupping his cheeks like Kiri had done, taking note of his arm briefly, before focusing on his face again.
Ao’nung had followed all the way up the stairs, still carrying the bag of medicine and holding Jake’s gun, but he stopped at the entrance to the room, not daring to cross the threshold.
It was something was stopping him now from walking closer.
Kiri shouldered past him, before stopping and taking the bag from him, her hands quick, but somehow gentle.
Ao’nung couldn’t read the look she gave him before she turned and took her mother’s side.
Lo’ak and the blond boy, whose name Ao’nung still hadn’t heard, stopped beside him at the door, watching as Kiri and Neytiri got to work to ensure Neteyam would get better.
“Holy shit. That’s Neteyam?” The blond boy sounded as baffled as everyone looked.
“Yeah, bro,” Lo’ak confirmed.
“His arm…” Bro said leaving the rest of his sentence off and Ao’nung could feel their eyes on the side of his head.
The conversation stopped there when the little girl from earlier came barreling towards the room, her eyes big and questioning. Lo’ak stopped her from entering the room, holding onto her arm.
“What’s going on? I heard mom yell,” She said, trying to detangle her arm from Lo’ak’s hold. She was getting more frantic with her questions as she looked into the room and tried to get a glimpse. “Is it really Neteyam? Is he back? What happened?”
“Just…don’t go in there for now, okay?” Lo’ak said, looking very much like he wanted to be in there himself.
“I got her,” Bro said, grasping Tuk’s shoulder gently, leading her away from the room. The girl didn’t look too happy about it, but she followed Bro’s lead, “C’mon Tuk, I’ll explain.”
Lo’ak watched them disappear into the room next door, before entering Neteyam’s room to be with his family and help if he was needed. He turned, looking briefly at Ao’nung, his eyes accusatory, questioning and unsure, like he didn’t really know what to think of Ao’nung anymore.
Somewhere along the way, from the way they were witnessing Neteyam's state and being, Ao’nung's mind had already filled the gaps he had been missing.
This wasn’t just any family. This was Neteyam’s family.
There was no joy in that realization. It sat heavily in his gut as Lo’ak shut the door in his face, leaving Ao’nung outside.
Ao’nung stared dejectedly at the door for a few moments, before the weight in his hands brought him back into the moment. He turned away, putting the gun down onto the ground next to the door. He didn’t really know what else to do with it.
What was he supposed to do now? Half of him wanted to barge into the room and demand that they give Neteyam back to him, but that as probably not the right thing to do.
What was Ao’nung more than a stranger? He didn't have any right to get between Neteyam and his family. More than that he didn't want to get between them, not when they spent so much time looking for his family to reunite them.
Ao'nung forced his legs to move away from the room, the dismissal sound and clear by the shutting of the door.
Ao'nung pushed away the sudden doubts of coming here. No matter what, he knew that getting help had been the smartest decision to help Neteyam, but he couldn’t help but want to be a bit selfish.
Neteyam was the only person he had left, but his family had the right to keep him from Ao’nung if they thought that was the right thing.
Neteyam being reunited with his family was good. Ao'nung just needed to keep reminding himself. Even if they kept him from Ao'nung, it was good.
His bag and spear were still lying at the entrance to the parking lot and Ao’nung crouched to pick them up. His bag was light, practically empty, only filled with water and first aid stuff in case he got hurt during a run. And the familiar weight of his spear felt good in his hands.
Turning back towards the motel, Ao’nung saw that Jake was now standing at the railing, watching him.
...Maybe they would let him stay.
Neteyam’s family seemed to be a big bunch. Did they really need another mouth to feed?
Daring a quick look towards the empty road, there was a single walker at the end of it, walking wherever his instincts led him.
The thought of going back to their home, with no one waiting for him there, made him shudder uncomfortably. There was no way he could leave when Neteyam was right here.
Ao’nung squared his shoulders and started walking back to the motel building, now with his belongings in hand. He had decided that it didn’t really matter if they wanted him here. They would not be getting rid of him and he will fight and argue to stay to matter what they might say to send him away.
He will stick by Neteyam and if they wanted him gone, then Neteyam himself would have to send him away. Surely that wouldn't happen and Ao'nung would listen to no one else.
He held Jake’s gaze all the way up the stairs to show that he was not intimidated, gripping the base of his spear tightly so the shaking of his hands wasn’t showing.
Jake was clearly a competent and smart leader, who knew what he was doing and his family trusted his word.
That trust was clear to see and that was what made them a respectable group you wouldn’t necessarily want to cross.
Jake didn’t say or do any of the things Ao’nung was dreading. Instead he beckoned him to follow and finally led him to one of the empty rooms on the upper floor.
“You can stay here,” Jake said, swinging the door wide open and allowing Ao’nung to step in.
Ao’nung hadn’t expected that they would actually let him stay, but he stepped inside with a nod.
Jake cleared his throat softly and Ao’nung turned to look at him again, “He’ll be okay. He’s in good hands.”
Ao’nung bowed his head, “Thank you for helping.”
“No, thank you for finding us,” Jake said softly, “I know it was most likely by chance, but still. Thank you for bringing him back.”
“Uhm, yeah. You’re welcome?” Ao’nung said unsure, but Jake just gave a small smile. He looked like he had a lot to more say and a lot more to ask, but he seemed to hold himself back.
Ao’nung also had a lot of questions, but he settled on asking the most important one first, “Will he be okay?”
“He’ll be okay,” Jake confirmed, “Neteyam is strong.”
“I know,” Ao’nung replied quick and firmly.
“Kiri and my wife will be able to give you more details later,” Jake said. “For now I think you did a good job taking care of him.”
Ao’nung nodded, not really knowing what to do with the small praise he had received.
“Listen, I want to know what happened, but we’ll talk later,” Jake said softly, but left no room for argument. Ao’nung made none, “For now you should get some rest. It’s been a stressful morning and a stressful few days for you, I assume.”
Ao’nung nodded. Jake gave a nod back before he left, softly closing the door behind himself and Ao’nung was alone again.
Ao’nung sighed, throwing his stuff in the corner. The room was relatively small. A bed. A bedside table. A desk and a wardrobe. Ugly curtains at the window next to the door and a small bathroom at the back of the room.
Ao’nung liked their home better.
He threw himself onto the bed, doubting that he would be able to sleep now. He wanted to go to Neteyam and see how he was doing, but his family was probably still hovering over him and while Jake had been nice, somehow it felt like Ao’nung had been ordered to stay put.
Ao’nung startled awake when there was a firm knock on his door. Surprisingly he must have fallen asleep at one point, still sprawled over the blankets in the same position he had thrown himself onto the covers.
Another knock echoed through the room and Ao’nung finally picked himself up, brushing a hand over his hair to get rid of the mess before he opened the door.
He wouldn’t have expected to see Lo’ak on the other end of it and his heart skipped a beat, thinking that something had happened to Neteyam. But he didn’t even mention him, only looking at the state of Ao’nung with a bemused life of his eyebrow.
Looking at him like this again, face to face and without Lo'ak ready to jump at his throat, Ao'nung could see the resemblance between his and Neteyam's features.
“We’re going to eat now,” Lo’ak said. “Dad wants you to come.”
“Oh, uh, sure,” Ao’nung said, turning back towards the room before realizing there was nothing that he needed to bring with him. He stepped out, closing the door behind him and he could now see that Bro was standing a few feet away on the usual lookout spot, close to the stairs.
It felt a bit awkward to ask about his name, so Ao’nung didn’t. He’d just stay ‘Bro’ for now.
“Dad made pancakes,” Lo’ak said.
“Really?” Ao’nung asked a bit surprised. He hadn’t eaten anything that required much preparation and cooking since the fish they had caught on the way to the city.
“Well, it’s actually flat bread, but Tuk likes it more if we call them pancakes,” Lo’ak explained, “He makes it for us when we’ve had a hard day and you look like shit, so I assume you’ve had a couple of bad days.”
“You don’t look much better,” Ao’nung bit back as he followed him downstairs.
“Yeah, we found my brother, but he’s missing an arm because of some asshole,” Lo’ak answered sharply, seemingly going from zero to a hundred as he turned to face Ao’nung head on. Ao’nung was almost a head taller than him, but Lo’ak wasn’t scared of him in the slightest.
“It’s not like I had a choice,” Ao’nung glared at him, feeling his own temper rising as they stood chest to chest, “If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have found your brother at all.”
Lo’ak’s glare deepened, obviously not liking the answer. There was something like curiosity in his eyes, too. He obviously wanted to know what happened, but at the moment his anger at Ao’nung was stronger than his curiosity and he looked about ready to punch him.
“That’s enough,” Jake stepped in, coming out of nowhere and separating the boys by pulling Lo’ak back a bit. “I send you to apologize and bring him for dinner, not to pick another fight, Lo’ak.”
Lo’ak glared at Ao’nung for another moment, before turning to his father, “Sorry, sir.”
Jake turned to Ao’nung, “No fighting.”
“Sorry, sir,” Ao’nung said as well. He didn’t know what to make of Jake. One moment he was a firm leader, whose words you didn’t dare question and the next he was a caring parent, offering support and a calm presence you wanted to rely on. Seamlessly switching between those two he handed Lo’ak a plate of flat bread.
“Here. Take these to Spider and your mother and then come down,” Jake said, sending Lo’ak off with a gentle pat onto his back and Lo’ak left with a small huff.
Jake led the rest of the way into what looked like a common/dining room combo of the motel with a few couches and a few tables. Kiri and Tuk were sitting at one of the tables, already eating when Jake and Ao’nung sat with them.
Lo’ak joined them after doing his little deliveries, sitting as far from Ao’nung as the table allowed. Dinner wasn’t special in and of itself, but Ao’nung hadn’t had warm food in a while, so simple warm noodles and bread felt like the best meal he's ever had.
Jake didn’t ask any questions yet and Ao'nung wasn't sure how much he had overheard his and Lo'ak's little fight, but in the end it was Tuk who led the conversation. She wanted to know who exactly Ao’nung was and why he would be staying with them.
“Uhm, I’m Neteyam’s…friend?” Ao’nung answered and luckily Tuk accepted the answer easily, before steering the conversation to Ao’nung’s spear and how and why he was using it.
“Where is your family?” Tuk asked him out of nowhere after Ao'nung had answered a few of her questions.
“Tuk,” Kiri and Jake scolded her softly.
“It’s fine,” Ao’nung said, though it didn’t really feel fine. Maybe their opinion on him would ease a bit if he told the truth, “I don’t know where my family is. I was alone until I met Neteyam.”
Tuk nodded like she understood, “Like Spider.”
Ao’nung had already understood that Spider was most likely ‘Bro’.
“Is that his real name?” Ao’nung asked.
“It’s how he introduced himself,” Jake said. “Some people don’t use their old names anymore. They don’t see the point in it.”
Ao’nung nodded. He had met a few people on the road with nontraditional names and people like John, who had simply dropped their last name. It was a way to leave the old world behind, seeing no point in the past anymore.
Meanwhile others clung to their old names, seeing it as the only way to connect them to who they were before the world ended.
Ao’nung hadn’t thought about his last name in a while now and without his family, he saw no point in keeping it. He was simply just Ao’nung now.
Through the rest of dinner, he learned that they met Spider a few weeks ago and took him in as he was traveling alone. Spider was a Sully now.
Ao’nung learned that Neteyam’s last name was ‘Sully’.
It was already dark by the time dinner ended and Ao’nung took a small walk around the motel. There wasn’t really much more to it. Besides the common area, there was a reception and a decently sized kitchen downstairs. The upstairs only consisted of the rooms everyone stayed in.
Spider was still standing at the railing on lookout. He was fiddling with a Rubik cube and he was doing pretty well even though he wasn’t really looking at it.
“It’s weird, isn’t it? Being in a big group after being alone for so long,” Spider said once Ao’nung was at the top of the stairs. He smiled at Ao'nung's questioning look, “Lo’ak told me what you talked about.”
“Ah,” Ao’nung said, “Yeah, a little weird.”
“You get used to it. It’s nice,” Spider said, turning his eyes back to the road and scanning the surroundings again. There wasn’t really anything going on. The Rubik cube in his hand was almost done in the short conversation they had.
“How are you doing that?” Ao’nung asked.
Spider looked down at the now completed cube. He shrugged, “I had too much time on my hands when I was alone. Why, what did you do when you got bored?”
The question stumped Ao’nung. It was like he had shoved every long night and every long day alone on the road to the back of his mind after Neteyam had come around.
There was a book somewhere laying around in their home that was falling apart by now. Ao’nung had taken it with him when he first set out on the road, but it was forgotten in the depths of his bag for months until Neteyam had emptied it out once they settled in their home.
"I read," Ao’nung answered, though he hadn’t read a single page of it, but Neteyam had said that it was quite interesting.
When Ao’nung walked away, Spider was just restarting the cube.
Ao’nung fidgeted, walking back and forth in front of the room that he knew Neteyam was in. The door was still closed and somehow it was stopping him from going inside or even knocking. The curtains of the window were shut, but he knew that Neytiri was inside as she hadn’t been to dinner either.
Neytiri didn’t seem to like him much for making some of her family follow him into the unknown and he wasn’t sure how much his standing had improved in her eyes when they had returned with her unconscious son, who was now missing an arm.
For all he knew she would rip off his head as soon as his fist touched the wood of the door.
Ao’nung could deal with traveling alone, facing walkers alone, facing Neteyam’s father alone, but facing his mother? Ao’nung had a limit and clearly this was it.
It took him another few minutes and a few more times of pacing in front of the door until the need to see how Neteyam was doing got stronger than his hesitancy of facing his mother.
He softly knocked on the door and when no one came to open it, he peeked his head in.
Neytiri was sitting in a small armchair next to the bed, where Neteyam was laying in, still unconscious. Ao’nung stepped inside before he could stop himself, closing the door behind him.
“Hello,” Ao’nung said quietly, bowing his head slightly.
Surprisingly Neytiri didn’t tell him to leave, instead she beckoned him closer and Ao’nung walked over to Neteyam’s bedside, sitting at the edge of the mattress. Neteyam looked a lot better after a few hours in his family’s care than the entire two days with just Ao’nung.
“Hey, Teyam,” Ao’nung whispered. There was a lot more color in his cheeks than earlier, but his face still looked flushed and sweaty. Ao’nung leaned closer putting a gentle hand on Neteyam’s cheek to check his temperature. He was still burning with a fever.
“He’s doing better,” Neytiri’s voice snapped Ao’nung back into the moment, reminding him that he was not alone with Neteyam. He snatched his hand back quickly. “His arm won’t get infected. It should heal with time.”
She said it with such conviction that Ao’nung believed her words immediately, feeling like a weight was being lifted off of him and he let out a relieved sigh.
Seeing them together now, Ao'nung could see that Neteyam looked a lot like his mother.
“The medicines you found were really useful,” She said and Ao’nung felt a bit proud that what he did actually helped. Ao’nung smiled, turning his attention back to Neteyam. He wished he could be alone with him for a bit, but that was probably pushing it for Neytiri.
Unlike yesterday Neteyam’s face was relaxed as he slept, no longer pulled in the painful grimace. He must have finally received the good painkillers.
Ao’nung’s hand automatically wandered back to touch him, brushing some of his braids to his side and adjusting the blanket on top of him.
He wanted to wrap him back up in a mountain of blankets, just because he knew that Neteyam liked it. But just seeing Neteyam like this, better and able to rest properly, shut down any doubt in Ao’nung that he might have done the wrong thing by getting help.
This was good. Neteyam would make it.
Ao’nung leaned in, kissing his forehead like he had done many times before. Only when he pulled away did he remember that Neytiri was still in the room with them. Ao’nung removed himself from Neteyam’s side calmly, standing up stiffly and chancing a glance at Neytiri.
She didn’t look angry, just a little surprised and very curious.
“Thank you for letting me see him,” Ao’nung said, inching towards the door, “Good night.”
“Good night,” Neytiri called after him quietly, before Ao’nung was gone.
Ao’nung tried to sleep, he really did. After making his escape from Neteyam’s mother he went straight to his room. That was embarrassing, but at least she knew how much Ao’nung cared for Neteyam. Hopefully that was a good thing.
Ao’nung gave up on sleep pretty quickly, getting out of bed again and leaving his room. The cold outside was biting and it was snowing again. Winter was approaching quickly now.
He didn’t have to look far to see Jake sitting at the top of the stairs, taking this night’s lookout. He was already looking at Ao’nung, alerted to his presence by the door opening. Ao’nung just walked closer, sitting down next to him.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Jake asked.
“No,” Ao’nung answered quietly, looking out over the parking lot. It was very dark outside with no streetlamps lighting the city, but the moonlight lit up the soft layer of snow already collecting on the ground.
It was quiet for a few minutes and Ao’nung had decided to just join Jake on the night watch. Sleep wasn’t a thing he would achieve tonight.
“Are you ready to talk? Or would you rather do it tomorrow?” Jake asked and Ao’nung realized that Jake had been waiting for him to approach him to talk when he was ready. It wasn’t like he had anything better going on right now, so Ao’nung nodded. “Good. Start wherever you want.”
Ao’nung wasn’t really sure where he should start. All the way back when he had met Neteyam or should he skip ahead to the morning of the pharmacy run?
Jake waited patiently for him to speak. Ao’nung would have thought that it would be weird to sit with someone other than Neteyam in the darkness of the night and take watch, but somehow it was alright. Maybe it was because Jake and Neteyam had the same calming presence when it came to this.
“Would you like me to ask questions instead?”
“Yes, please,” Ao’nung said, a bit relieved.
“Okay. You said you were alone before you met Neteyam. When was that?” Jake asked.
Ao’nung thought for a moment, counting back the days. It was hard to keep track at this point, but it felt like it had been forever.
“A couple of months ago. He helped me out and we decided to travel together. We were going to go to Zongtseng, but we found out pretty quickly that it was gone, so we decided to stick together and find a safe place to get by.” Ao’nung was quiet for a moment, before adding, “We were looking for you.”
“We looked for Neteyam for a long time, before we had to move on,” Jake admitted and he looked like it was hard to admit. Ao’nung understood though. At one point, even if you don’t know where your loved ones are and if they are even alive, you have to keep moving until you find relative safety. “When did you arrive in the city?”
“Two weeks ago. Maybe a bit longer,” Ao’nung said, before mumbling to himself, “I should go back to the house and collect a few things.”
“We’ll go tomorrow. You don’t have to go alone,” Jake said.
“Thanks,” Ao’nung smiled a bit.
It was quiet for a bit except for the wind howling around them. Ao’nung pulled his jacket tighter around himself.
Jake sighed, gearing up to ask the difficult question, “We’ve already made assumptions about Neteyam’s arm,” Jake started, mostly referring to Lo’ak’s hostility towards him, “Tell me what actually happened.”
Ao’nung swallowed heavily and forced himself to answer. “Lo’ak isn’t wrong. It was me.”
Jake nodded. It didn’t surprise him and he had seen the cut where Neteyam’s arm was now missing. The cut wasn’t the cleanest, but clean enough that it had been done intentionally.
“We…It was…I mean, I don’t actually know how it happened, but Neteyam…he was bit,” Ao’nung said, his shaky breath visible in the cold air, “I didn’t want to lose him and he didn’t want to turn and… at that moment… in my mind it was the only thing I could do to give him a chance.” Ao’nung paused, “It was stupid. I was stupid. I couldn't take care of him.”
Ao'nung's explenation was a jumbled mess, but Jake seemed to have understood.
“You did give him a chance,” Jake said. “You did what you thought was best and that’s the only thing you can do during those moments. You did good by getting help. He’ll pull through.
“It’ll be difficult for him, adjusting in this world. But Neteyam will do it,” Jake said. Ao’nung nodded. If anyone could do it, then it was Neteyam.
Jake probably wouldn’t be showing so much sympathy if he knew how frantically Neteyam had asked Ao’nung not to do it. If he had heard Neteyam’s agonizing screams after Ao’nung disregarded his wish.
Ao’nung tried to shake the memory of Neteyam’s screams from his thoughts, concentrating on the wind instead. He tried to convince himself that he did the right thing.
He reminded himself that Neteyam would be okay now. He would pull through, he will be reunited with his family and everything will be okay.
Ao’nung clung to that thought, reminding himself of it over and over like a broken record, for the rest of the night.
Chapter Text
Neteyam startled awake, sitting up with his heart pounding in his chest and frantically looking around the room and doing a headcount. Lo’ak, Kiri and Tuk. All his siblings were still sleeping next to him on the floor, covered with blankets to somewhat resemble a bed. None of them wanted to sleep alone anymore.
His mother was sleeping on the loveseat and his father was sitting by the window, already looking at Neteyam when he looked over at him.
They looked at each other while Neteyam tried to calm his racing heart and his father finally waved him over.
Neteyam untangled himself from the blankets, careful not to wake his siblings and walked over to his father, taking a seat on the empty chair next to his. The blanket covering the window was slightly pulled to the side, so they could see outside.
It was quiet and sitting closer to the window allowed Neteyam to hear the groaning and moaning from the walkers outside. There were so many, aimlessly wandering the streets. He wondered if they would get less the more time passed.
“Bad dream?” Jake asked quietly, brushing a stray braid from Neteyam’s forehead.
“Yeah,” Neteyam admitted. No use lying when it was written all over his face. It wasn’t the first time either. At least they were getting less frequent now and maybe one day, once he was used to this new world they had found themselves in, they would be gone.
It was always the same dream. Well, it was more a memory, that played in his head like a record. It was the first time Neteyam had stepped out of the house after quarantine was ordered. The first time he had seen just how bad it was after the city borders had been closed. And he had learned firsthand that the news had not exaggerated the situation.
The world had really ended just like that. Now they had taken refuge in their own home as the dead roamed the streets outside.
Jake and Neytiri had ventured out of the house a few times, but never had they gone together. Usually Neteyam would be left in charge when his parents were gone, but this time one of their parents had always stayed behind with them.
And then one time Neteyam had insisted on going with his father to acquire food for his family. Lo’ak had wanted to come, too and eventually Jake gave in and allowed his oldest son to come along. He wouldn’t budge when it came to Lo’ak.
Back then the government scrambled to get the situation into control and the citizens took matters into their own hands to ensure their own safety. Neteyam had understood the weight of the situation when his father had pressed a small gun into his hand and told him not to leave his eyesight.
Finding food was easier back then, but it was also easier to encounter walkers and get attacked by them. Neteyam didn’t get bit that day. His father was there to prevent it, but it was his first close call of many as that became the norm in this world.
Neteyam knew that his father regretted taking him along and a part of Neteyam regretted not listening and staying home. The bigger part of him could never sit idly and knew that seeing it first hand was a good thing that would prepare him for the future.
Even in the early days he knew that they wouldn’t be staying in their home forever. One day they would have to move on.
Neteyam eventually dosed off, his eyes fluttering as he tried to keep them open without success. His eyelids were too heavy, but through the blurry bits he could see his father’s face, studying him. The bits of sight were bright, brighter than that night in his home. It was cold, the weather biting through the walls of the room. Colder than that summer night.
And Neteyam tried to open his eyes without success, feeling his heart pounding in his chest, before the nothingness behind his eyelids finally overpowered him, pulling him back under and tearing his father’s image with it.
It snowed throughout the whole night and by morning the parking lot was a white field, glittering in the morning sun when Ao’nung stepped out of his room. He had nodded off after a few hours of night watch with Jake and the man had send him to bed to get in a few hours of sleep.
Breakfast consisted of last night’s flatbread and some tea. Ao’nung hadn’t had tea in months. He was starting to like it here.
Only Spider and Kiri were with him during breakfast and they didn’t talk to each other, but it was nice to eat in silence for a change. It wasn’t awkward, but rather peaceful as they shared each other’s company.
“Do you have any more bandages at the place you were staying?” Kiri asked, breaking the silence.
Ao’nung shook his head, “Everything we had was in the bag we brought.”
Kiri made an unhappy face, before nodding, “We’ll have to find some more. Mom is already out and looking for some.”
“We’re already out?” Spider chimed in.
“Not yet, but we have to change Neteyam’s bandages regularly,” Kiri answered with a light shrug.
“I can look for some,” Ao’nung said.
“Sounds good. Thanks,” Kiri got up first and Spider and Ao’nung followed her lead, seeing it as an end to their breakfast. Kiri went upstairs right away, but Spider lingered behind with Ao’nung.
“When did you want to leave?” Spider asked.
Ao’nung paused for a moment, “Are you coming?”
“Oh yeah,” Spider said, like it was obvious, “Jake wants us to go in groups of three, so I’ll go wake up Lo’ak if you want to go right away.”
“Oh…sure,” Ao’nung said and Spider gave him a quick thumb up, going upstairs towards Lo’ak’s room. Ao’nung went up to his own room to get his bag and spear, before going back out to wait for Lo’ak and Spider.
“Are you leaving now?” Jake asked him as he stepped out of Neteyam’s room.
“Yeah. I’m waiting for Spider and Lo’ak,” Ao’nung said. He assumed that it was Jake that had told Spider about his trip, “I could have gone alone.”
Jake shook his head, “No, I’m not letting you kids go off by yourselves.”
Ao’nung didn’t comment on the fact that he had spent months on the road alone. If he wanted to remain with Neteyam’s family, he needed to get used to the fact that someone was in charge now and that someone was Neteyam’s father.
It was strange relying on someone else to call the shots, but on the other hand, it was nice to let someone else make the hard decisions.
“How is he?” Ao’nung asked instead, changing the topic back to Neteyam.
Jake crossed his arm’s, but smiled a bit, “He’s slowly coming to. I think it won’t be long until he wakes up now.”
Ao’nung just nodded quickly in response, but the words relaxed him immensely.
Finally, Spider came back, dressed to go outside. Lo'ak walked downstairs after him.
“Alright, you go straight to the house and come straight back. No detours, understood?” Jake said sternly, once he boys were assembled before him. He was pointedly looking at his younger son.
“Yes, dad,” Lo’ak sighed.
“Good,” Jake nodded, seeing the boys off, watching them until they disappeared down the street.
Ao’nung led the way, using his spear like a walking stick in the snow. The walk through the snow took a bit longer, but they didn’t encounter any walkers. He didn’t feel quite as on edge as usual, mostly because if they were already slowed down by the snow, then the chances of a walker surprising them was pretty low.
Ao’nung snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Lo’ak looking at him, before looking away, before looking at him again. It was like he was shaping up to say something to him, but couldn’t quite muster up the words to do it.
“What?” Ao’nung finally asked when he got tired of Lo’ak’s stare.
“How’d you meet my brother?” Lo’ak asked him finally, though something told Ao’nung that wasn’t what was originally on his mind.
“He found me. Stalked me a bit and then saved my ass,” Ao’nung said, giving him the quick rundown of their first meeting. “We stuck together after that.”
“That’s how we found Spider,” Lo’ak said a bit more lightly, smirking towards the blond. “He followed us and tried to steal some of our food. Cuz he’s a bit stupid.”
Stealing from a group when travelling alone did sound a bit stupid.
“Okay, first of all I was hungry and second of all I had it all planned out,” Spider said, “I waited for everyone to go to bed and to my luck Lo’ak was on night watch. It was like stealing candy from a baby.”
Lo’ak huffed, “I was tired.”
“Wait, but if you successfully stole the food, how did you get caught?” Ao’nung asked, this time Lo’ak chuckled at the question.
“I tried it again the next day, but Kiri was on watch,” Spider admitted, “She caught me red handed. Nothing gets by her.”
“She’s not a fighter, but she has some sixth sense for danger,” Lo’ak said in a tone one would tell a ghost story, “If she tells dad that she is unsure about something, we will usually avoid it. If Kiri had told dad not to trust you, he would have sent you away for sure.”
Ao’nung blinked, swallowing heavily at Lo’ak’s words, happy that that hadn’t happened. He didn’t even want to imagine how it would have gone if he had been turned away by Neteyam’s family. But he did believe Lo’ak’s words, even if it sounded like a weird concept.
There was something about Kiri.
“Mind the stairs,” Ao’nung called out, mostly for Spider’s sake.
“Nice place you got here,” Spider commented in response, entering the bedroom after him. He looked at the walls briefly, “Interesting interior design.”
“Dude…” Lo’ak came in last, stopping at the entrance of the bedroom, taking in all the scribbles on the wall, “I didn’t actually get a good look the first time around. Are you actually a lunatic? What is all this?”
“I didn’t make these,” Ao’nung said with a smile, before quietly adding, “I just tried to decipher them.”
Lo’ak looked at him for a moment, then at the radios, before he settled on “Lunatic adjacent.”
Spider laughed and, despite himself, so did Ao’nung.
They made quick work, collecting Neteyam and Ao’nung’s little stash of food and packing their personal belongings together, though it wasn’t much aside from a few clothes and knick-knacks they had collected along the way.
“Why do you have so many blankets?” Spider asked, rolling up the third one. Were they really going to bring all of them?
“Neteyam likes them,” Lo’ak and Ao’nung answered at the same time. They exchanged a quick look, both of them blinking at the other, before Spider broke the slightly awkward moment.
“O-kay,” Spider said. That answered both his questions. They would be taking the blankets with them for Neteyam and he dutifully moved onto folding the fourth blanket and stuffing it into a bigger bag that may or may not close.
Ao’nung packed his notebook, glad that he had already copied most of the scribbles on the wall, at least the ones that looked important. He decided to only take two of the radios with him. The one that played music, because Neteyam liked it, and the one that had the signal he last found.
He wasn’t about to give up on his search, especially since he had found that radio signal while Neteyam was still sick. Now that they were safe with Neteyam’s family and he knew that Neteyam would get better, Ao’nung felt a new motivation to find this thing.
And maybe if it was a safe house, he could prove himself useful.
When they had packed most of everything, the only thing left was Neteyam’s bow. Ao’nung picked it up, taking a moment just to feel the weight in his hand, knowing that, because of him, Neteyam wouldn’t be able to use it anymore.
Lo’ak was already staring at him when Ao’nung turned towards him. He held out the bow, “Here. We should take it with us.”
“Yeah,” Lo’ak said, taking the bow gently into his hold and with the passing of the bow, something akin to a truce passed between them.
It didn’t take too long until they were on their way back, trekking through the snow once again and retracing their steps, each of them carrying a bit back.
“Oh, we wanted to look for some bandages for Kiri,” Spider remembered.
“We can still do that,” Lo’ak said, though they didn’t have much room in their bags anymore. Spider’s alone was overflowing with blankets. They had barely managed to close it, after having to leave half of them behind, “There are some shops around here. Maybe even a pharmacy.”
“Jake said no detours, though,” Ao’nung reminded them. His own bag didn’t have much space anymore.
“We’ll find something on the way. That way it’s not a detour,” Lo’ak said cheekily. Ao’nung understood that this was something that Lo’ak did regularly then.
He followed Lo’ak and Spider towards a couple of shops. Their first stop was a pharmacy close by.
Ao’nung didn’t like pharmacies anymore and he lingered at the front of the door of the shop, anxiously tapping his foot. He could hear Lo’ak and Spider tear through the drawers in the back, sometimes letting out frustrated complaints.
“This place is empty, bro. Let’s leave,” Lo’ak finally announced and after a moment they emerged from the back.
They visited a few more shops, but another pharmacy was not found and the quest for bandages was quickly forgotten. The bookstore kept most of their attention and they collected a few books that they thought the rest of their group might like.
Ao’nung picked up a copy of a popular romance book, getting some teasing from Spider and Lo’ak. It wasn’t that he necessarily liked romance books, but he distinctively remembered Tisreya reading this book. It reminded him of her, so he stuffed it into his bag.
The biggest hit of the day, however, was the next thing they found.
Lo’ak laughed delightedly, “Dude, check this out! An arcade!”
“I doubt anything works in there,” Spider said, following his friend inside. And Spider quickly turned out to be right. All of the machines required electricity to work and the only thing they could play with was the basketball machine.
Ao’nung wasn’t too sure about staying at first, but the game quickly stroked his competitive side and they left their bags on a pile, playing to see who could get the most goals.
Playing with Spider and Lo’ak made him feel a bit more normal. It felt like making new friends, meeting up to hang out without the threat of death biting at his ankles every minute of the day. It was nice.
And it never lasted long.
Just as Spider and Ao’nung were ripping at Lo’ak for cheating as he denied, while he was literally standing on top of the machine to just put the balls into the basket without throwing, the familiar groan of walkers cut through their laughter.
They quieted down immediately, sobering up to their surroundings.
“Game’s over, I guess,” Spider said, walking over to their belongings and picking up his gun. Ao’nung did the same, picking up his spear first, before even thinking about the bags.
“Fuck, there’s a group,” Lo’ak said, able to look over some of the machines from his higher point, before he climbed down. “The main entrance is blocked.”
“Great,” Spider commented. It didn’t help that they were at the back of the arcade, cornered in. Somehow they needed to get past them. “So, how do we get out of this one, guys?”
There was only one way leading outside.
“We have to let them come inside, so the exit is clear,” Ao’nung said, peeking around the side of one of the games and sure enough a small group of walkers was making their way inside.
“Sounds like a plan,” Lo’ak agreed, climbing down and grabbing his stuff. He picked up his gun and pointed it at the first walker he could see.
"Wait," Spider stopped him, "We're already cornered in. Shooting will just alert any walker in the area. There is no way we're making it past an even bigger group."
"What else are we supposed to do? We can't die here. My dad's gonna be so mad," Lo'ak argued, but lowered his weapon.
"I can clear the way with my spear," Ao'nung decided, "I just can't take all of them at once."
“I think our whispering needs some work,” Spider said interupting their planning and true enough, the walkers were making their way over, through the narrow aisle, "Whatever we're gonna do, we have to do it now."
“Don’t shoot,” Ao’nung said, taking care of the first walker with his spear. Ao’nung could clear aisle with his spear by himself as long as he wasn't overrun.
They just needed to keep the walkers at arm’s length.
"I'm getting myself a spear once this is over," Lo’ak decided, grabbing one of the basketballs and slamming it into the face of the first walker that got too close.
It stumbled backwards into the rest, causing a small domino effect as some of them fell. Lo’ak laughed as he picked up another one of the balls. He had given them the upper hand for a bit.
Ao’nung took out walkers one by one, while Spider and Lo’ak kept him from getting overwhelmed. Just a few more and they would be able to make a quick escape.
Two walkers were easy to handle. Ao’nung was quicker, so he took out one before he would take care of the next quickly.
Ao’nung didn’t expect to be yanked back by his hair. A rough hand lodging itself into the hair in his bun and tangling itself into his curls before pulling him off balance.
The walker wasn’t aware of what it had just done and Ao’nung’s hair was released as quickly as he had gotten a hold of it and now it was a matter of regaining his footing before the walker could take a chunk out of his shoulder.
“Dude are you okay?” Spider asked, pushing the walker in front of him back to the floor with his foot, before pointing his gun at the walker that had just pulled Ao’nung’s hair. They had managed to get by without shooting, but Spider would do it if he had to save Ao’nung.
The problem was that he didn’t have a clear shot. If he pulled the trigger now, he was running risk of hitting Ao’nung too.
“It’s okay,” Ao’nung assured him, fumbling to get a good grip on his spear, but before either he or the walker could do anything, a shot echoed off of the walls.
All three of the boys startled and they didn’t get a chance to regain their composure before another shot rang out and took out another one of the walkers. Finally Neytiri stepped into view.
“Mom!” Lo’ak sounded relieved before a bit of worry crept into his voice, “That was so loud!”
“It doesn’t matter,“ Netytiri said sharply, before shooting another walker. She was definitely mad. “I could hear you boys from three streets away!”
The boys looked sheepish and Spider helped Ao’nung to his feet.
“Are you hurt?” Neytiri asked him, but let her eyes wander over Spider and Lo’ak as well. All of them denied it. “Good. We are going back before more come. Stay close and at home you will explain to your father what happened.”
Lo’ak grimaced but didn’t say anything as they quickly followed Neytiri home.
Jake was already waiting for them, not looking too happy when they came into his view. They had been gone for too long.
Both parents herded the children into the common room where Neytiri checked that all three of them were uninjured while they got quite an earful from Jake.
Eventually they were let go with a warning and a punishment. They would be on night watch duty for the next few days. Lo’ak and Spider would be taking the watch tonight and it would be Ao’nung’s turn tomorrow.
Once they were dismissed Spider headed to his room to take a nap and be prepared for the watch later. Ao’nung and Lo’ak collected their bags and headed to Neteyam’s room.
Kiri was there, sitting close to Neteyam’s bed and reading what looked like one of the big instruction papers one would find in a medicine package. She looked up when they entered.
“We brought you better literature,” Lo’ak said, handing her the bag in which they had stuffed some of the books they found. Kiri smirked when she saw them, stacking them on Neteyam’s dresser and thumbing through some of the pages.
“Did you find some bandages?” Kiri asked.
“No, but I think mom did,” Lo’ak answered, unpacking the blankets from the bag Spider had carried. “Hey, bro. We’re back,” Lo’ak's voice softened as he spoke to his brother, before he dropped a bunch of the blankets onto the bed, “We brought you all of these.”
Ao’nung left the radio for Neteyam, putting it on the nightstand and explaining that it played music at night when Kiri and Lo’ak gave him a questioning look.
Before long Lo’ak left to get in his own nap and Ao’nung gave Neteyam another kiss on the forehead before he left as well, leaving Kiri to stare after him.
Ao’nung couldn’t sleep. He tried, he really did. He was more comfortable here since he arrived, but no matter how much he tossed and turned, he couldn’t find a bit of peace.
His skin was crawling. A feeling that went from the top of his scalp all the way down to his toes. He had taken a shower earlier, using a bucket of water and mostly scrubbing his scalp, but he could still feel the touch of the walker’s fingers as they tangled in his hair and pulled.
Ao’nung scoffed, sitting up.
He would wash it again, but that would be a waste of water, so, he figured he would just do the next best thing.
He walked over to his bag, rifling through it for a moment, before pulling out a pair of scissors. He had found them in the craft store along with his notebook and his pens, so they weren’t the best to cut hair, but scissors were scissors, so they would do.
Ao’nung sat down on the floor. He wasn’t sure how short he should cut it, lining up the scissors before putting them down again.
He really didn’t want to do this. This was such a rash decision. He loved his hair and so far they hadn’t brought him any trouble.
Maybe he could just ignore it and leave his hair where it was, but the sensation ran through him again and Ao’nung shivered uncomfortably. He picked up the scissors again and cut off a strand before he could overthink it again.
Once the first cut was done, many more followed as his curls started collecting on the floor around him. It didn’t make him feel better, but it would prevent it from happening again, so he continued until his hair was short enough that it couldn’t be tied up anymore.
Ao’nung sighed heavily once he was done, before getting up and going into the bathroom to dare a look into the mirror.
Ao’nung couldn’t remember the last time he had had such short hair. It looked choppy as he had done it quickly and without looking, so he brought up the scissors again and started correcting the uneven strands.
Funnily enough his curls looked a lot healthier now. The long strands that he had left behind on the floor were unkept, because he couldn’t properly take care of them without regular washes and the proper products that he used to maintain his beautiful hair.
The sudden crack of static made him jump, cutting a choppy strand and making it look even more uneven. Ao’nung wasn’t sure what happened at first, but then his mind clicked.
The radio!
He rushed out of the bathroom, listening as the static changed, got louder, got quieter, before cutting off. And then the voice of a man came through the speakers.
“This is message…number 43,” the voice said.
“Holy shit,” Ao’nung whispered to himself. “Holy shit!”
“Today is the 3rd of December,” The voice continued and Ao’nung lunged for his notebook, tripping over his own feet in his rush and tipping his bag upside down for one of his pens.
He quickly scribbled along as the voice spoke of a safe house by the coast and provided a way to get there.
“May Eywa guide you safely,” And with those words the message cut to static before falling silent again. Ao’nung scribbled down the last few words, before sitting back on the balls of his feet.
“Holy shit,” He looked at everything he wrote and the small markings he had already made on the map.
Ao’nung let out a disbelieving laugh.
He had found it!
Ao’nung had just finished clearly marking the safe zone on his map, before sketching out a potential route that would lead them there. It was pretty far from here. A couple weeks of travel at least.
Now he just had to present it to Jake, but that could probably wait for tomorrow morning.
Just as that thought crossed through his mind a knock sounded through the room, startling him a bit. Ao’nung left his work spread out on the floor to open it.
It was Spider and he didn’t say much. He looked a bit taken aback at Ao’nung’s messy new haircut, before remembering what he was here for.
“Neteyam is awake,” He said and it was enough for Ao’nung to barrel past him out of his room and down the hallway to Neteyam’s side.
The door to the room was ajar and there were voices already coming from inside. Neteyam’s family was already there, no doubt. Ao’nung slowly pushed the door open wider, his heart pounding in his throat.
Neytiri was sitting on the bed, Jake right next to her with his hand gently settled on Neteyam’s head in a comforting gesture. Lo’ak and Kiri were there, too. Only Tuk was missing and they all looked up when Ao’nung entered the room.
He felt a bit like he was getting in the way of something, worried that he would be unwelcome during the family moment. But he needed to see Neteyam.
“Nung,” Neteyam sounded so relieved when he saw him, sitting up straighter in his spot and his eyes wide when they met Ao’nung’s.
“You’re awake,” Ao’nung smiled a bit. Neteyam’s voice had set him at ease a bit and he took a few steps closer.
Neteyam took him in and an abundance of emotions flashed through his eyes. Surprise, relief, hurt until they finally settled into a light glare and frown.
“Is this a new thing for you? Cutting things off without warning?” Neteyam’s voice was quiet, but tense and it took Ao’nung a moment to realize that he was talking about his hair.
Ao'nung swallowed heavily, his heart and smile sinking as he stopped in his tracks a few feet away from the bed. He recognized the last emotion dancing in Neteyam's eyes.
Neteyam was furious.
Chapter 9
Notes:
Mama Neytiri <3
Chapter Text
Consciousness was a funny thing, really. It came and went as it pleased and being at its mercy was so exhausting, it knocked you right back out.
Neteyam could feel the headache pounding against his temples as his mind constantly switched and blended between the present and memories of the past. The cold biting at his exposed skin, when all he saw was the July sun when they first set out from home in the search for the safe zone.
The time he had tackled a walker that was going for Kiri, which merged into him driving his hammer into its skull after it had taken a chunk out of his arm.
Ao’nung holding a spear to his neck, before pulling him into a kiss that felt like goodbye, only to then, finally, drive the blade through his arm.
The moment that the axe met his skin, Neteyam jerked out of his dreamlike state. The shock of the cut zapping through him with a startled gasp. His head jerked up to an unfamiliar room and his arm shot up to claw at his chest to calm his jumping heart.
His hand wandered from his chest to his side, to his other arm to make sure…to make sure. He tore at the blankets, peeling through layers until he found…nothing. Only blankets and blankets and his arm gone.
The realizations started tumbling in all at once, overwhelming his brain and feeding his headache. It wasn’t a dream. He had been bit. And Ao’nung had cut off his arm. His arm was gone.
His arm is gone.
Neteyam heard the door tear open just as he pulled himself over to the edge of the bed and promptly vomited onto the floor.
He felt the quick patter of footsteps, before the mattress dipped behind him and then someone was holding back his hair. Neteyam wanted to push them away, but his one arm was the only thing keeping himself upright as he gagged and spit the rest of what he had in his mouth onto the floor.
His mind supplied that it was most likely Ao’nung sitting behind him, holding his hair back, but the nagging in his head told him that he was in unfamiliar territory. This wasn’t their room. This wasn’t their house. Where was he?
A second hand joined the one holding his braids. This one brushed over his forehead lightly, before settling onto his back and rubbing circles into it gently, just like his mother would do when he or his siblings were sick.
Neteyam heaved and swallowed heavily before forcing himself to turn around and check. It couldn’t be his mother and he needed to crush that thought before the hope could settle in him, but when he finally turned his head… there she was.
She released his braids and helped him sit back down properly, before cupping his cheek “It’s okay.”
And the only thing he could do was stare at her wide eyed, wondering if he was still dreaming after all, “Mom?”
The word almost punched its way out of him and his voice was so rough, he swallowed uncomfortably.
“I’m here, Ma Neteyam. You are safe,” She spoke softly, but clearly, trying to keep Neteyam calm, “You are not dreaming.”
Neteyam blinked at her for a moment, before nodding and swallowing another ill taste. He wasn’t dreaming. He was somewhere unfamiliar and his mother was here.
Neteyam dared another look towards his arm and he could just see the stump that was bandaged, before his mother moved his eyes away from it, steering his gaze to herself instead.
“You’ll be okay,” His mother said clearly and calmly, one of her hands holding onto Neteyam to stop his eyes from wandering around anymore. The other cradled his cheek, providing him a touch to focus on. “It’s okay.”
She repeated those two words for a while, like it would become real and Neteyam would believe it if she said it often enough, but it didn’t erase the heat radiating from the arm that was no longer there.
The door creaked open. His father entered first, giving Neteyam a small comforting smile and after him, his siblings trickled in, held back by their father from immediately rushing over to Neteyam. There was another boy standing at the door that Neteyam didn’t recognize. He didn’t enter and he didn’t stay for long.
For now, Neteyam concentrated on his family, taking all of them in with wide, disbelieving eyes. Kiri and Lo’ak settled onto the bed, on the side where his arm was missing, careful arms wrapping around him briefly and relived looks being given his way.
“How did…how are you here? I lost you. Right? I lost you?” Neteyam asked, a bit frenzied. A short bold of panic shot through him, worried that he had somehow lost his arm and dreamed everything up and none of what he had dreamed about had been true.
“We lost you, but Ao’nung found us,” Jake cleared it up quickly, putting a hand on Neteyam’s head in the comforting gesture, which Neteyam had adopted for his siblings, to ground him, before his panic could settle.
“Where is he?” Another wave of panic shot through him. All the promises Ao’nung had given that he would help find Neteyam’s family and Neteyam’s own goal of convincing Ao’nung to stay with them went through his mind. He wouldn’t just leave, right?
The squeeze of his father’s hand on his shoulder brought him back to the moment, “He is here. He is staying with us.”
Neteyam nodded quickly, swallowing heavily. This just left the other thing, “My arm?”
His father shook his head, before stating the obvious, “It’s gone, yes. But it’s healing and you’ll be okay. You’re not alone.”
The reassurance did little for Neteyam. It did little to change the fact that losing an arm in a world like this was just one step closer to a death sentence. It didn’t matter how well it healed. It wouldn’t bring his arm back in the end.
The door opened again, slowly and carefully and this time it was Ao’nung who stepped in. He looked around the room briefly before his eyes settled on Neteyam.
“Nung,” A flood of relief washed over Neteyam the second Ao’nung walked through the door. He was here and he was safe.
“You’re awake,” Ao’nung smiled and walked closer. His hair was shorter. His curls gone, just like Neteyam’s arm.
The feeling of relief didn’t linger long and was quickly replaced by the dreaded bitterness. Neteyam couldn’t push down the grimace and glare that he directed at Ao’nung.
“Is this a new thing for you? Cutting things off without waring?” Neteyam couldn’t stop himself and he could feel the bitterness quickly slip into anger. His tone made Ao’nung stop in his tracks, halfway over to his side.
Neteyam could feel the questioning looks his family was giving him and then Ao’nung, but Neteyam kept Ao’nung’s steady and surprised gaze.
“You cut off my arm,” Neteyam said, his tone terse with a slight shake in it.
Ao’nung’s face falls, “I-yes, but…”
“I told you not to. I begged you,” Neteyam stressed, raising his voice with every word, his anger rising quickly, “I pleaded. I didn’t want this.”
“I didn’t want this either,” Ao’nung snapped back, “I couldn’t just watch you die.”
“This wasn’t the solution. My arm is gone,” Neteyam yelled back.
“But you’re alive, aren’t you?”
“That’s enough,” Jake’s voice easily overpowered both of theirs and he got up from Neteyam’s side to stand in front of Ao’nung, breaking up not only their screaming match, but also their sight from each other.
Ao’nung mumbled a silent, “Sorry.”
Neteyam didn’t say anything.
There was a brief, yet tense, silence, before Ao’nung turned and left the room, carefully closing the door behind him and leaving a fuming Neteyam and a slightly confused Sully family behind.
“Is that true?” Lo’ak broke the silence first.
“Not now Lo’ak,” Neytiri scolded him lightly, stroking a hand through Neteyam frazzled braids to calm him from his remaining anger. He was just glaring at the door Ao’nung had disappeared in, but she could see him blinking away the angry tears.
“Is it true?” Lo’ak asked. His brow was furrowed, slightly in anger, mostly in frustration, but Neytiri could not tell whom it was directed to. “You didn’t want him to do it? And he did it anyways?”
At first it seemed like his anger was directed at Ao’nung, but then Lo’ak asked, “Why? Why wouldn’t you want to live?”
“Lo’ak,” Neytiri warned him again.
“No! Why wouldn’t you want him to? That’s like the first thing people do when they are bit,” Lo’ak argued. “And, what, you wanted to die?”
“You think this is easy? Cut it off and everything is hunky-dory again?” Neteyam snapped at his little brother, “I almost died because of this.”
“But you didn’t,” Lo’ak snapped back. “You didn’t even want to try?”
“I’m sorry for not wanting to bleed to death,” Neteyam yelled.
“Hey!” Jake’s booming voice overpowered the arguing once more, “I said that’s enough!” Jake signaled Lo’ak to leave as well and Lo’ak just huffed. “Your brother just woke up. He doesn’t need this right now,” Jake said calmly, but his tone made it clear to Lo’ak that he best leave now, before his father took to escorting him outside.
Lo’ak left too and Neteyam felt the deep desire to throw something. His hand was still cradled in his mother’s and without anything else, he just squeezed it a few times in a manner to calm himself down. His mother didn’t mind, occasionally giving his hand a squeeze back in a way that kept him grounded.
His anger eventually faded into a whole mesh of emotions that made him almost prefer the anger that ruled before it. A part of him was frustrated beyond believe, another was mourning his arm. And another part was relieved that he was not dead, that he was sitting here with his family.
Half of him wanted to slap Ao’nung for going against his wishes when he remembered the fear he felt as he faced the blade of the axe before he passed out, another part of him was thankful, but for now he squashed that part down.
Neteyam let out a shaky breath. Somehow the anger felt better than the relief he was feeling.
Lookout wasn’t a good job if you didn’t want to be left alone with your thoughts. Stirring around in your mind was quite literally the only thing you could do while staring at the snow-covered streets of the city, waiting for anything to happen and hoping that nothing will.
Ao’nung picked at his jacket sleeve, heaving a heavy sigh. The sun was going to come up soon and once someone else came to take the lookout, he would drag himself back to his room and try to sleep without thinking too much.
He had dreaded Neteyam’s anger. He knew it was coming. He knew that Neteyam wouldn’t fall into his arms, thanking him. He had expected it, but it still hurt.
He had heard the brief fight between Lo’ak and Neteyam, but commiserating with the younger brother was not possible, judging by the glare Ao’nung had received when Lo’ak had shouldered past him earlier. Lo’ak had locked himself into his room, just like Ao’nung had before he had come out to replace Spider on the lookout spot.
Spider was with Lo’ak now. Ao’nung had seen him go to his room, so at least Lo’ak wasn’t alone like Ao’nung had been. It wasn’t nice to be left alone with your thoughts.
What would he do now? He could apologize over and over to Neteyam, but a part of him didn’t regret what he did. He would have regretted letting Neteyam die more, he knew that for sure. But he still broke Neteyam’s trust, the one thing that was so strong between them and Ao’nung had ruined that with the swing of that axe.
Maybe Neteyam never wanted to see his face again and Ao’nung supposed that would be fair.
Ao’nung picked another thread from his jacket. His sleeve was already frazzled by all the stitches he had picked off, “Maybe I should leave.”
“And go where?” Jake challenged from behind with a small smile that Ao’nung couldn’t quite make out. He joined Ao’nung at the railing, leaning his arms against it before shaking his head, “Don’t talk nonsense. Neteyam wouldn’t let you go anywhere.”
Ao’nung looked at him briefly before looking back towards the parking lot with a shrug. Neteyam didn’t seem very happy to have him stay right now.
“Give him a bit of time to cool off and then you can have a talk without screaming at each other,” Jake said rationally, “For now you keep sticking with us, alright? Sully’s stick together.”
Jake clasped a supporting hand onto Ao’nung’s shoulder and Ao’nung couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment. It seemed like Neteyam’s family had accepted him as part of their group already, but no matter what, Ao’nung would let Neteyam have the last call. If he told him to leave, then he would.
But for now he would stick with them.
“Actually, uhm,” Ao’nung started before sighing. Was now really the best time to bring it up? No matter, at least it would be a distraction, “I found something.”
Ao’nung wrestled the notebook out of his pocket, thumbing to the page where he had written everything down in a quick frenzy. The map was inside, folded one too many times and he handed it to Jake.
“There was a message on the radio. I found the signal from the scribbles on the wall, back in the house, and I finally intercepted a message.” Ao’nung looked up at Jake, who was listening attentively, “It described the coordinates to a safe zone. I marked the approximate location on the map, here.”
Ao’nung pointed out the spot he had taken notes on while Jake held the map open, then he held out his notebook for the man to see, “See? I think this is the shortest route from here, but it’s not the only one, I guess.”
Jake nodded as his eyes flipped between the notes Ao’nung had scribbled down and the map. Ao’nung watched him expectantly, but Jake said nothing other than; “Can I keep these? I’d like to look at them a bit more.”
“Sure,” Ao’nung handed him the notebook. “I can bring you the radio too if you want, but the message is sporadic as far as I know. It might not come back to the frequency I put it on.”
“That’s okay,” Jake folded the map and slipped it back into the pages of the notebook, then he clasped Ao’nung shoulder with a nod, “Good job finding this.”
Ao’nung felt a surge of pride at the words, feeling like he had done something right at least.
For most of the next day Neytiri let the boys stir in whatever they were feeling. She made pancakes in the kitchen downstairs, serving it to Kiri, Tuk and Spider in the common area. Tuk was delighted that they had honey now after Ao’nung had brought it back from the house they had been staying at.
Spider had originally been on lookout, but by now the snow was almost ankle height and Neytiri figured that any walker would have trouble getting around in this weather.
She had taken a plate up for Jake, who was in their bedroom. He had already told her about the potential safe zone Ao’nung had found and she knew that he would ask Kiri’s opinion about it later, too. For now, he was mapping out the best way to get there.
Pressing a quick kiss to the top of his head she moved on to the next room. She knocked lightly, entering after a short moment when there was no answer. Neteyam was sitting up in bed, one of the books in his lap. He was already doing much better than yesterday. His fever had fully simmered off, leaving him with a headache that was coming and going and only his arm to worry about.
He smiled a bit when Neytiri entered, dog-earing the page he was on before putting it aside and accepting the plate of honey pancakes his mother had brought along. Neytiri had rolled the pancakes for him, making it easier to eat with one hand and, while he was thankful, the sight of it brought a small frown to his face.
“Thank you,” Neteyam still said, taking a bite of the first one.
“How are you feeling?” Neytiri asked, sitting down beside him. Neteyam shrugged, chewing slowly. “Do you feel any pain?”
“A little,” Neteyam said. It had been a few hours since he had been given his last painkillers.
“Okay,” Neytiri nodded. She would give him his medicine when he was done eating. For now, there was something else she came here to talk about. She let Neteyam eat in peace though, letting him take his time, before taking the empty plate from him and then cradling his one hand in both of hers. Neteyam sighed when he saw the way his mother looked at him, “You know what I want to talk to you about.”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Neteyam mumbled.
“Okay,” Neytiri said, but she knew that Neteyam wanted to talk about it. She could see it in the way his brow furrowed again and his jaw set as his thoughts ran through his mind.
“I’m just … so mad,” Neteyam started talking about it. His hand grasped at her hand again and Neytiri gave it a squeeze, “I told him not to. I begged him, mom.” His tone was sharp, but his eyes were filled with pain. Betrayal almost, “He asked me if I trust him and then he did this.” Neteyam snapped harshly, his head jerking into the direction of his now missing arm before he let out a long breath.
“I understand. He broke your trust when you asked him not to,” Neytiri stroked her baby’s hair with one hand, the other still holding his, “That is not a small thing to do.” Neteyam nodded at her words. He might not like the next ones.
Neytiri had watched Ao’nung since they had returned with Neteyam. She hadn’t spoken to him directly except that one night Ao’nung had kissed Neteyam before making his swift escape. The boy had been skittish in an environment of practical strangers and at times Neteyam was the only thing keeping him here. She could see that. She could also see him fighting with whatever was going on in that head of his whenever he was alone.
She knew it was guilt.
“I cannot be fully mad at him like you are,” Neytiri continued and now Neteyam frowned, glancing at his mother, “He brought you back to me after all.”
Now he ducked his head with a small smile, but his eyes automatically wandered back to the bandaged part what was left of his arm and that smile quickly fell again. Neytiri put a gentle hand under his chin, nudging him to look at her again.
“You do not have to forgive him, Neteyam. Not right away. Just remember that you were both in a difficult situation. While you got bit, he was still faced with losing you and I can see how much that boy cares for you.”
Neteyam nodded, a faint blush on his cheeks.
“And despite everything, you care for him, too,” Neytiri said. There was a brief pause, but Neteyam nodded again, “There was no winning in that situation.”
“Lose my arm or lose my life,” Neteyam sighed quietly.
“Yes, unfortunately there is no third option,” Neytiri said and Neteyam nodded again.
Neteyam reached out, rubbing his arm with his hand…at least he wanted to do that. His hand grasped at nothing and he quickly pulled it down to grasp the blanket again, his brows furrowing, “I don’t know how I feel.”
“That’s okay. Take your time. Sleep on it,” Neytiri said, before musing, “As for your brother…”
“I’m not mad at Lo’ak,” Neteyam sighed.
“You never could be,” Neytiri said smiling. No matter how many fights Neteyam and Lo’ak got into over the course of their lives, there was never any lingering anger. “Still, talk to him. I know he is waiting for it.”
Neteyam huffed, giving a small smile, “Yeah, I’ll talk to him.”
“Good,” Neytiri said before collecting a few pills in her hand and giving them to Neteyam, “Here. The good stuff. It’ll make you sleep well tonight.”
Neteyam chuckled, swallowing them in one go and accepting the bottle of water his mother held out to him. Neytiri helped him settle in, lending a hand to adjust his blankets before kissing his forehead and leaving him to rest.
Once the door quietly clicked shut behind her, Neytiri took course onto the next person that needed a good talk right now. She knocked on Ao’nung’s door and after a moment he opened the door, looking slightly frazzled. He had been asleep after taking the night watch, but as it was already past dinner time Neytiri thought that he had slept enough.
She signaled him to follow her and he did so wordlessly, following her all the way downstairs and into the now empty common room. Neytiri gestured for him to sit down in front of the beat up couch and Ao’nung did as he was told.
“Stay here,” She said before disappearing for a few minutes and returning with a plate of pancakes, which she handed him. Then she sat down on the couch behind him and Ao’nung startled a bit when her hands settled in his hair.
“You did a messy job,” Neytiri explained and with a brief turn of his head, Ao’nung saw the scissors in her hands, bigger than the ones he had at hand himself, “Just because the world ended, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be presentable.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes as Neytiri combed through his hair and cut a strand here or there. Ao’nung didn’t say anything, but it felt nice to feel her taking care of him like this. It made him miss his own mother and the nights she would make him sit down and cut the tips of his hair because he refused to go to the hairdresser like a normal person.
Neytiri’s hands were similar to his mother’s. Gentle, yet strong, but Ao’nung didn’t complain if she pulled a bit too hard. Mother’s don’t care about that anyways.
“Give him time,” Neytiri finally broke the silence.
“You have both found yourselves in a less than ideal situation,” Neytiri continued when Ao’nung didn’t say anything, “You had a choice and you decided to take a chance on him surviving.”
“I broke his trust,” Ao’nung mumbled.
“Yes, you did,” Neytiri agreed with him. It wasn’t accusatory; Simply a fact, “And that’s why you have to give him time. You broke his trust, but he is alive and that allows him time to forgive you if he sees fit. You gave him that choice, by taking away another.”
Ao’nung’s shoulders sacked at her words. It didn’t particularly make him feel worse, but it also didn’t make him feel better. She was right nonetheless and there was nothing he could do at this point, other than wait some more and hope that Neteyam somehow found it in himself not to hate him.
At the same time Ao’nung finally admitted to himself that yes, he had betrayed Neteyam’s trust and he felt bad for it. And even if Neteyam hated him Ao’nung didn’t regret what he had done, because Neteyam was alive to do so.
He tried not to think about it anymore, focusing on Neytiri’s hands fixing his hair and the food in his lap.
The next day went by calmly. Neteyam didn’t see much of a reason to leave his room and he hadn’t seen Ao’nung since their little screaming match, but his mother had given him some things to think about and even so, Ao’nung hadn’t left his thoughts at all.
His mother had been right. He didn’t have to forgive Ao’nung for doing as he had done, but he also needed to admit to himself that he was grateful to be alive, because of what Ao’nung had done as well. He was allowed to feel both.
The door opened and closed quickly with no prior warning knock and suddenly Lo’ak was standing in his room.
“Hello?” Neteyam said a bit confused and he smiled a bit when Lo’ak shuffled over to his side.
“Hi,” Lo’ak said, before throwing himself into the small space on Neteyam’s bed. There was a brief silence between them and Neteyam wasn’t sure if he should start the conversation. He had told his mother that they would talk and now Lo’ak was here, supposedly to talk.
“Sorry I yelled at you,” Lo’ak finally said.
“Sorry I yelled back,” Neteyam said.
“I know you didn’t want to die. And you didn’t want to lose an arm,” Lo’ak said, “It’s a shit thing to be going through and I probably made the moment worse.”
Neteyam nodded. Yeah, it was a shit situation to be going through for sure.
“It just reminded me of the time you were gone and we were scared that we wouldn’t find you,” Lo’ak explained, his voice meek and quiet. Neteyam looked at Lo’ak, listening intently as Lo’ak spoke of the time they had been apart, but Lo’ak’s gaze was firmly locked onto the ceiling above, “It’s just… what if we never had found you. What if you had died and we had found out later. After Zongtseng our biggest motivation to move was the hope that we would find you sooner or later and it just reminded me of all of that and I… I got mad.”
“I’m sorry,” Neteyam said. He didn’t know what he was apologizing for, really. Getting separated, maybe. Almost actually dying, perhaps.
Lo’ak turned his head to finally look Neteyam in the eye, “Dad cried when we left the city we lost you in.”
Neteyam’s eyes widened, a bit baffled. He doesn’t think he had ever seen his father cry, “Really? What did he say?”
“Nothing. He doesn’t know I know. He took the night shift one night and I heard him crying,” Lo’ak said.
“How do you know it was because of me?” Neteyam asked.
“What else could it have been?” Lo’ak said and he was right. “We looked for you in every city we crossed. I’m glad we eventually found you again. I’m glad you’re alive.”
Neteyam couldn’t help the smile on his lips and the tears in his eyes. He reached over, pinching Lo’ak’s cheek, causing him to pull away with a grunt. He hated it when Neteyam did that, still he smiled wryly.
“Don’t do that,” Lo’ak complained.
“I missed you,” Neteyam said and it didn’t take long until he had Lo’ak in his arm.
Lo’ak, Kiri, Spider and Tuk had dinner in Neteyam’s room that night and Neteyam properly got to meet Spider. It was nice to talk to his siblings again, just like they did all the nights before Neteyam got separated.
Lo’ak and Spider eventually left to take the night watch and Kiri carried Tuk to bed. The little girl had refused to leave her siblings side until she had eventually fallen asleep. Neteyam tried not to let the thought, that carrying Tuk around would be a lot more difficult now, get to his head.
Once he was alone Neteyam wasn’t in any particular rush to go to bed and he pulled himself out of bed to get one of the books that were stacked on top of his dresser.
He reached out, taking one of the books into his hands, before putting it down again when it didn’t catch his interest. He would most likely still read it later.
He finally settled on the book in the back, the one that was already falling apart after having spent weeks in their backpack. The one that Ao’nung had brought along with him and Neteyam had read in the candlelight back in their own room.
He took the book back to bed, carefully spreading it out on his lap. The pages were already falling out of the cover and it was a bit tricky flipping through them with only one hand while also preventing the book to fall apart completely.
Neteyam didn’t start at the beginning, instead he flipped through the book until he reached the chapter that he had read out loud to Ao’nung one night, and he slowly started reading. The book had a feel-good story and Neteyam couldn’t help but smile when he remembered that night. It had been the first calm night they had spent in their house after being on the road for so long.
Neteyam startled when the music started, looking over to his bedside table. He hadn’t noticed the little radio perched on top of it until now, but there was no doubt that it was Ao’nung’s radio from the house.
Neteyam reached out a hand towards it before stopping when nothing extended. He took a moment to calm himself that he had forgotten that his arm was gone, taking a deep breath to quell the frustrating anger.
Neteyam could still feel the bite in his nerves. It hurt as if it was still there. He could still feel the way his fingers curled if he thought about it and he could feel the throbbing of his wound. It was constant, but not painful if he took the medication his mother gave him.
He sometimes felt himself trying to reach out with it, take stuff into his hand or run his fingers through his braids and everytime the realisation that he couldn't was followed by a hot anger that he needed to calm himself from.
Reaching out with his right arm instead, Neteyam swiped the radio off the table. The song they had heard for the first time was playing, soft violin music filling the room. He put the radio onto his lap and turned up the volume slightly.
He wanted to see Ao’nung. Even as he sat here, still angry at him, he wanted to see him.
Turning the volume down, Neteyam got out of bed and with the radio still in his hand, he used his elbow to press down the handle and leave his room. It was cold outside and the night brought a biting wind with it. Neteyam hadn’t even bothered to put on shoes, so he quickly tiptoed along the rooms, looking into each of the windows in search of Ao’nung’s.
When he finally reached a window that had its curtains drawn, he just went ahead and opened to look inside, finding Ao’nung laying on the bed, his head lifted to look at him, looking like he had just been asleep.
Neteyam pushed the door open properly, before bumping the door shut with his hip behind him. Ao’nung stared at him like he couldn’t quite believe that Neteyam was here, even less so when Neteyam walked closer and put the radio onto the bedside table and turned the volume up a bit.
Then Neteyam sat down on the bed, still not a single word exchanged between them and Ao’nung sat up properly, not daring to start the conversation first.
Neteyam seemed to be fighting with whatever was going on in his head, his eyes wandering over Ao’nung’s face and hair, before he let out a long suffering sigh and reached out to cup Ao’nung’s cheek.
It felt like a little peace offering and Ao’nung immediately melted into the touch, leaning into Neteyam’s hand.
Neteyam smiled a bit and it was the best thing Ao’nung had seen in days. The violin music faded into a piano piece, just like the night they had shared their first kiss and in that moment, despite everything, the desire to kiss Neteyam was so strong.
Ao'nung didn't dare lean in.
Neteyam’s hand wandered from Ao’nung’s cheek to a strand of his hair.
“Why did you cut it?” Neteyam asked softly. It felt like he was talking about both.
“A walker grabbed me,” Ao’nung said and Neteyam’s hand halted briefly in surprise. Subconsciously Ao’nung nudged his hand with his head, so he would continue, “I didn’t want to. I loved…my hair. It just felt like I didn’t have a choice.”
With each stroke through his curls, Ao’nung willed the feeling of the walkers pull to be replaced with the gentle caress of Neteyam’s hand.
Neteyam didn’t say anything. He only nodded once and his hand lingered in Ao’nung’s hair for longer as they listened to the music for a while. Ao’nung panicked slightly when Neteyam removed his hand, just to pat his thigh in an invitation.
Ao’nung didn’t hesitate to lay his head in Neteyam’s lap.
“I’m still mad at you,” Neteyam said softly, his hand settling back in Ao’nung’s curls.
“I know,” Ao’nung said. “I’m sorry.”
“I know you are,” Neteyam said.
Ao’nung nodded, looking up at Neteyam, “I don’t regret what I did. I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you get to be mad at me.”
“Okay,” Neteyam simply said. He didn’t look mad, but Ao’nung knew that he was far from forgiven.
The song soon faded out again into the next one and Ao’nung sighed. He could feel himself dozing off from Neteyam's caress, but there was still something on his mind.
“Neteyam?” His voice was quiet, barely louder than the music.
“Hm?”
Ao’nung forced his eyes to open, looking up at Neteyam once again, “Do you still love me?”
Neteyam smiled down at him.
“I do.”
Chapter Text
Neteyam woke up in Ao’nung’s room. He hadn’t bothered going back to his own room last night even after Ao’nung had fallen asleep with the stroking of his hair. Ao’nung was still asleep now, pressed against Neteyam’s side in his sleep. This was nothing out of the ordinary. They sought each other out even when sleeping.
It was normal to wake up next to Ao’nung.
He watched Ao’nung sleep for a bit before sitting up and running his hand through his curls. It was truly captivating how his hand just seemed magnetically attracted to Ao’nung’s hair. He hoped Ao’nung would grow it out again, at least a little bit.
Neteyam sighed, looking around the room. It wasn’t much different than his, just different curtains over the window and a different mirror over the wardrobe. Somehow seeing all of Ao’nung’s things thrown around made the room feel incomplete. His own stuff was missing to mingle with it.
Maybe he should move his stuff into Ao’nung’s room. Before being in the motel with his family, Ao’nung and he had never slept separate from each other and the past nights he had spent alone, angry and hurt, admittedly made everything he was feeling worse. Perhaps it was necessary then, but maybe they could sleep together again.
A twinge of pain ran through Neteyam’s arm, other than the constant throbbing that was already there. It made him pause the movement of his hand, stopping himself just enough to keep himself from touching it.
With a sigh Neteyam figured that it was probably time for him to get up and pick up a nice dose of numbing medicine from his mother.
The shifting of the bed was what woke Ao’nung up in the end. The first sight of the morning being Neteyam, still here, next to him and in bed, made him blink the sleep from his eyes a few times before he determined that he was not a dream.
“G’morning,” Ao’nung mumbled into his pillow, a small smile growing on his lips.
“Morning,” Neteyam said back, peeling the blanket off of himself and getting out with a stretch. Turning around he found Ao’nung still watching him. The energy between them felt different now that they had kind of made up again after everything.
It would still take time until Neteyam got to the point of forgiving Ao’nung. Maybe he would never get there. The important thing right now was that they had talked and that they knew that they still loved each other after all.
The most important thing for Neteyam was that it didn’t turn awkward or strange between them and their interactions. He wanted it to be just like yesterday. Familiar and comfortable.
Normally it would be the perfect oppurtunity to give him a morning kiss and the way Ao'nung was watching him like that made him want to step closer and just do it, but in the end he forced himself to remain on his spot.
“I’m going to head out. I need pain killers,” Neteyam said, watching as Ao’nung sat up, his face in a light grimace at Neteyam’s words.
“Yeah, I’ll come with you,” Ao’nung still said and got out of bed when Neteyam nodded. He smiled a bit when Ao’nung came to stand next to him and Neteyam reached out a hand to smooth over his curls. No matter if it was long or short, Ao’nung’s curls were adamant on keeping up their bedhair.
“There was something I wanted to ask,” Neteyam said and Ao’nung hummed to make him go on, “Do you still have that axe?”
Ao’nung’s eyes widened comically at the unexpected answer before he shook his head, “No, I left it…there.”
Neteyam just gave him a nod, moving his hand to cup his cheek, before forcing himself to pull away, “Good. You are banned from using axes from now on.”
Ao'nung eyebrows rose higher than before, but he smiled slightly and gave Neteyam a confirming nod that he had understood.
As soon as Neteyam left the room, about to make a quick run to his room since he still didn’t have any shoes with him, his mother was there, coming out of Neteyam’s door with a confused frown. Her confusion quickly melted away when she saw Neteyam down the hall, coming out of Ao’nung’s room.
And when Ao’nung stepped out behind him, a smile grew on her face. Neteyam couldn’t help the heat that rose on his cheeks and when he looked back at Ao’nung he looked just as sheepish at being caught, even though nothing had happened other than their talk. Maybe it was just always embarrassing to be caught by your parents.
Ao’nung cleared his throat, “I’ll, uh, go downstairs.” Neteyam hummed a quick agreement, feeling Ao’nung put a quick hand on the small of his back before moving past him and down the stairs towards the common room.
Only once he was gone did Neteyam become aware of the cold biting at his toes and he quickly tiptoed towards his mother and into his room, ignoring the gleam in her eyes. But of course his mother wouldn’t let it go.
“You talked, hm?” Neytiri said as she held out a couple of pills for Neteyam to take. Neteyam just nodded, taking his medicine and washing it down with the bottle of water that she offered him next. “And I assume that it went well?”
“Mhm,” Neteyam said, waiting patiently as his mother checked over his bandages before going to collect his shoes where they had been laid next to the dresser. “It was good.”
Neytiri smiled, “I’m glad to hear it.”
Neteyam didn’t say anything else lest he say too much that would dig himself deeper into his embarrassment under his mother’s gaze. He simply slipped into his shoes before bending down to tie his laces.
Neteyam furrowed his brow when he failed to tie his laces for the third time. Tying the knot itself wasn’t difficult, he could easily do it with one hand. The thing that proved a challenge was pulling it tight enough so it wouldn’t come loose immediately. After a few failed attempts Neteyam huffed in annoyance.
Neytiri crouched down, doing quick word of retying the laces without saying a work, simply tying the first and then the second as if Neteyam was a child. He didn’t want this to become his new reality. Having to rely on someone else for the most mundane task.
“I could do it myself,” Neteyam said without much bite to it.
“I know you can,” Neytiri said, standing up again, “But it’s okay to take your time to get used to it.”
Neteyam didn’t really give an answer. He just quietly thanked his mother for helping and followed her downstairs for breakfast.
The rest of them were already assembled downstairs, sitting around the table and eating their pick of various canned foods that their father must have warmed up. Ao’nung was sitting next to Lo’ak with an empty seat on his other side, but he looked well integrated in his family. His posture was, at times, still unsure in between Neteyam’s rambunctious family, but he didn’t look uncomfortable.
It made Neteyam smile as he realized that this was all he wanted since meeting Ao’nung. Having his family here with Ao’nung by his side.
Tuk spotted him first and she jumped up off her seat, “Neteyam! You’re up!”
She ran up to him, hugging him and pressing her face properly against his chest. Neteyam brought his arm around her and it almost seemed to him like she had grown in the time they had been apart and he was only noticing it now that they were both standing.
“Is your arm better?” She asked, leading him to the table.
“It still hurts, but it is healing,” Neteyam told her honestly, “I’ll be okay.”
Tuk led him to sit beside her, so Neteyam’s initial plan to sit next to Ao’nung were left unfulfilled, but at least they were sitting across from each other. He was handed a plate and served a spoonful of warm noodles with, what looked to be, canned sauce.
It wasn’t really breakfast food and food itself was getting repetitive these days, but as long as they had any at all there was nothing to complain about. Still, if there was one thing Neteyam would wish for, it would be that they would find a nice place to settle in and be able to grow some fresh foods. He didn’t think he could live off of canned food for the rest of his life.
There were some conversations around the table with people talking over each other just like he was used to it in his family. Neteyam learned about the little trip to the arcade that Lo’ak, Spider and Ao’nung took together, mostly because Tuk was complaining that they didn’t bring her one of the stuffed animals.
“Okay,” Jake’s voice cut through most of the conversation, mostly through Tuk and Lo’ak’s arguing. “I want to keep you updated on what we’re going to do in the coming weeks.”
That had everyone paying more attention.
“Ao’nung found a safe house,” Jake nodded at Ao’nung. “And-“
Before he could continue, Neteyam piped up, his eyes wide, “You found it?”
“Yeah. I found the radio message,” Ao’nung said, proudly. Then he smiled slyly at Neteyam, “Told you it was a safe house and not just mad ramblings.”
Neteyam rolled his eyes with a smile.
“It was a very good find,” Jake praised him, “As I was saying, it’s a safe house, but it is near the coast, so it's a bit of a distance away from here, but I think I managed to map out a good route to it. If we stick to a few towns and we don’t get held up, we should make it in a few weeks at most. So, we’ll leave as soon as the snow melts and it gets a bit warmer.”
“Why don’t we leave now?” Lo’ak asked, “There aren’t many walkers these days. The snow is slowing them down.”
“Do you think they froze off somewhere?” Spider asked.
“That would make it a lot easier for us,” Jake mused. “But if we leave now, we’ll just end up the same.”
“Maybe they go into hibernation,” Tuk said, “Like bears.”
None of them could really dispute that. Walkers were uncharted territory for all of them and they were always learning new things about the undead that had suddenly taken over. Maybe they did go into hibernation.
Jake shook his head, “Either way. We don’t always find shelter and the nights are too cold to sleep outside.”
“And it’ll give Neteyam some more time to heal,” Neytiri chimed in. Neteyam gave the group a strained smile when their attention briefly shifted to him.
“What if it’s gone by the time we get there? Like Zongtseng?” Lo’ak asked a bit bitterly. Taking another weeks long trip to a place just to find out that it was long gone was not something he wanted to do again.
“The question is if they’ll accept us into their group. We have a lot of mouths to feed,” Kiri said next.
“They are sending out regular messages, looking for survivors,” Ao'nung said. "I think we'll be fine."
“And if they do turn us down, we’ll move on and look for a different place to stay,” Jake said simply.
“Our group is big enough to build our own settlement,” Neteyam chimed in.
“We could do that,” Jake said, turning to his younger son with a smile, “I think somewhere warm, maybe near the coast might be a good place to settle down, don’t you?” Lo'ak just lightly rolled his eyes at that.
“We’ll stay here until it gets a bit warmer and then our next destination will be the safe house,” Jake concluded.
Things felt a little lighter now that they had a proper plan after winter, even if some were more enthusiastic about it than others.
Settling down here for a few weeks was already nice, but finding a permanent place to stay would be perfect. With a little luck the other survivors would take them in and if not, maybe they would find their own place to settle in a slightly warmer climate.
Ao’nung was on night shift tonight, so Neteyam spent the night in his own room. Though he periodically got up and peeked through the curtains in front of his window to check on what Ao’nung was doing.
There was really no need for the watch anymore. They hadn’t seen a walker pass by in a good few days and they had already stopped having a watch during the day. Someone would just cast a quick glance over the area every once in a while and that was good enough.
But Ao’nung, Lo’ak and Spider were still working through their punishment for at least a few more watches and so they took turns, sitting and watching the white parking lot.
Neteyam would have taken the watch with him, but his mother had told him not to expose his arm to the cold for longer periods of time. The last time he had checked Lo’ak had just joined him, so at least Ao’nung wasn’t alone.
He was glad to see that they were getting along.
Neteyam wasn’t alone either. Tuk had come into his room earlier to spent the evening with him and he was in for a whole day-by-day retelling of everything that had happened since they had been separated. Tuk had even brought forth her notebook, which she used as a diary, sketchbook and notebook, for when their parents were still keeping up her education when they had time.
After Neteyam had gotten separated, his family had stayed in the same city for ten days. Ten days in which Neteyam had already left the city behind and already met Ao’nung. A part of him felt foolish that he didn’t go back into the city himself to look for his family there.
It would have made so much sense to turn back once the horde was gone, but at the time Neteyam’s main focus was to move forward, so sure that they would reunite at Zongtseng. He suspected that after that, they must have gone parallel paths leading to this city with Ao’nung and Neteyam moving a few days ahead.
Tuk had written very briefly about Zongtseng.
“We didn’t stay there,” She explained. “We walked the whole night, because dad said it was too dangerous to stay close by.”
Neteyam would have liked to ask about the conditions there. Part of him still wanted to hope for Ao’nung’s own family, but it wasn’t hard to understand that Zongtseng had become a walker hotspot, bad enough that they walked the whole night to get away from there. It didn't leave much to hope for.
Neteyam just nodded in understanding, letting her talk uninterrupted.
Tuk giggled, “We found Spider a few days later. He stole my candy bars, so I made him find me new ones.”
They had spent on the road after that and they had arrived in this city around two weeks after Neteyam and Ao’nung had settled here.
“And then we found you,” Tuk concluded, her notebook clutched against her chest and her eyes blinking sleepily up at her big brother. Neteyam smiled softly, pulling one of the blankets to cover her properly and allowing her to burrow into the warmth.
“I’m glad we found each other again,” Neteyam said, lowering his voice. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
A small sleepy smile grew on Tuk’s face and after that she was fast asleep in minutes.
Neteyam sat beside her, carefully peeling the notebook from her hands. He didn’t open it to read for himself. This was her little place to keep for herself, so he just put it on the nightstand for safekeeping.
Tuk’s recounting was probably the most thorough retelling he was going to get about his family’s time without him, with her keeping track and everything. And he didn’t really want to ask, knowing that it was a hard time for all of them, remembering the way Lo’ak had told him that his father had been to tears.
The most important thing was that he was here now, with his family around and his little sister sleeping soundly with the knowledge that her big brother was safe and nearby, wasn’t it?
Neteyam picked up the book he was currently reading, figuring he would spend a quiet night with Tuk nearby.
Neteyam wanted to finish the books over the winter. It was a nice way to pass the time and he was sure that they would be leaving them behind once they went back on the road.
At one point the quiet was starting to get louder as the night went on. With it being winter the sun had gone down a while ago and while the candlelight was filling the room, Neteyam was suddenly very aware that he was missing the music that his radio provided.
He realized he had left it in Ao’nung’s room and he had half a mind to go and get it.
A quick knock on the door was what filled the silence in the end and his father stepped in. He smiled when he saw Tuk snuggled in Neteyam’s blankets, keeping his voice low, so they wouldn’t wake her up.
“Are you busy?” Jake nodded at the book in Neteyam’s hand.
Neteyam shook his head, “Just passing some time.”
“Good,” Jake said, signaling towards the door, “It’s not too late yet. Come with me. I have something for you.”
Neteyam’s eyebrows rose and he put the book down before slipping into his shoes. He hadn’t bothered untying the laces before taking them off and he figured it would stay this way for the foreseeable future.
His father held the door open for him and they quietly slipped out of the room. Ao’nung and Lo’ak looked up when they walked past and they seemed to be in the middle of a gripping tic-tac-toe game in one of their notebooks.
Whoever was playing the circle was clearly losing.
His father led him to his parents’ room and again it was just the same cookie-cutter motel room as all the others, but the fact that his parents’ stuff was all around the room automatically made it feel safe and comforting.
Jake put a hand on Neteyam’s shoulder, giving him a quick smile, before walking over to the wardrobe and opening one of the drawers. Neteyam didn’t really know what he was expecting when his dad told him that he had something for him, but for some reason it was not the gun he was now holding out to Neteyam.
It was a small handgun, unlike the one his father usually had. It was similar to the one Neteyam had learned how to shoot with and similar to the one that he had used in the beginning of the apocalypse before ultimately switching to his bow.
Neteyam held out his hand to accept it, the metal feeling strange in his palm. Before he had gotten separated he had carried a small gun with him, just like his mother too. Both of them preferring the bow, but carrying a gun, just in case. Sometimes arrows were harder to come by than bullets.
But now? Now Neteyam wouldn’t be able to use his bow if he wanted to and…well, he’d have to get used to this.
“Thank you,” Neteyam said simply. As he studied the gun in his hand, his dad studied his reaction.
“I figured you wouldn’t want to sit around twiddling your thumbs when things start getting interesting again,” Jake said, “It’s yours now, but we can find you a better one if you want.”
“This one is fine,” Neteyam said. He didn’t really have a preference. If he could pick he would immediately go back to his bow.
“Okay,” Jake said, nodding at it, “It’ll give you some time to get used to it again before we head back on the road.”
Neteyam nodded. This was better than nothing. This would do. It would be fine. It would be his main weapon from now on and he would get used to it.
Neteyam left his parent’s room with his new weapon in hand. Outside the door his dad put another comforting hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze and an encouraging smile.
“Hey,” Jake’s soft voice drew Neteyam out of his thoughts again, “You’re a good shot. You know how to use it. You’ll adjust. It’ll be okay, hm?”
Neteyam gave him a strained smile and nodded, “Yeah. It’ll be okay.”
Neteyam was sure the words were supposed to be comforting, but sometimes his dad missed the mark with them. His dad didn’t outright say it, not right now, but Neteyam could see the clear relief in his eyes. To his father the most important thing was that Neteyam was here, alive and back with his family.
In another life he might not be so lucky.
But Neteyam was mourning his arm and the options he lost with it. The cold metal against his skin was like salt in the wound and it made him miss the smooth wood and leather that his bow provided.
No matter what he felt, Neteyam forced his smile to remain until his dad left him again and he frowned down at the gun.
He turned it this way and that, studying it in his hand. Then he raised it, pointing it into the distance. Neteyam didn’t take the shot, he just wanted to get used to how it felt like in his hand again.
He had nothing against using it. He was good at using it, but the fact that this was his only choice now made him resent it.
Ao’nung and Lo’ak were still dutifully sitting at their post that was the upper step of the stairs. They had finished their game and Lo’ak now had the notebook in his lap, lazily sketching the buildings in the distance.
Ao’nung was busy picking at the threads of his jacket sleeve, which already looked like it was falling apart. Neteyam distinctly remembered it still being intact before he was bit. They had found the jacket together in a small clothing store at the edge of town. Neteyam had picked it out for him, because the color complimented his eyes.
“Aren’t you cold? Sitting on the ground like that?” Neteyam asked as he came to stand beside them. Ao’nung looked up, his eyes immediately catching onto the gun in Neteyam’s hand, but Lo’ak didn’t bother giving him his attention.
“The cold makes you lose the feeling in your ass after a while,” Lo’ak said, continuing his sketches, but he scooted over closer to the railing when Neteyam moved to sit between them.
“Sounds great,” Neteyam commented. Ao’nung was still eyeing the gun, so Neteyam gave him a small shrug, echoing the words of his father slightly, “Dad gave it to me. I’m adapting.”
His words made Ao’nung frown and by now Lo’ak had stopped the movement of his pen. Neteyam just handed the gun over to Ao’nung, who took it without complaint or question. Neteyam just didn’t want to hold it anymore. Not right now.
He could feel the familiar feeling of anger coming up again, mixing with his frustration and this time with grief as well. He didn’t want to adapt. He didn't want any of this.
He wanted his bow. He wanted to option to choose.
Neteyam ducked his head with a bitter laugh. He refused to start crying now and he bit his lip to keep the tears at bay. He didn't want this either.
He could immediately feel two pairs of arms wrapping around his shoulders and two heads knocking against his. A part of himself wanted to shake them off immediately, but he forced himself to sit still and take a few deep breaths. It helped him calm down after a bit and Neteyam still took the hand Lo'ak offered him and clung to it tightly.
"I'm okay," Neteyam said with a sigh, the frustration bubbling up in him, but still he refused to cry. If he could control at least one thing, it was going to be this, but he allowed himself to be a little vulnerable, "It just dawned on me that I won't be able to use my bow anymore. I'm just going to miss it."
"I'm sorry," Ao'nung said quietly, giving Neteyam a guilty look. Neteyam didn't say anything about it.
"I have it," Lo'ak said after a moment, "Your bow. I can go get it, if you want."
"I think we should just go inside," Ao'nung said, "It's getting colder."
"What about your watch?" Neteyam asked when Lo'ak already got to his feet, clearly in agreement with Ao'nung.
"We're abandoning post," Lo'ak simply said, waving him off, "There is nothing going on anyways."
Neteyam got up with Ao’nung. It was clear that neither of them wanted to leave Neteyam alone right now, ready to provide him some comfort with their company even if he didn't outright ask for it and together all three of them, steered towards Lo’ak’s room.
At least some things never changed and it was truly remarkable how Lo’ak achieved to make his room so messy with so little things to his name. Neteyam couldn’t help but smile over it when he let himself fall onto Lo’ak’s bed.
Lo’ak walked over to the dresser. Neteyam’s bow was propped up on top of it and he carefully took it into both of his hands before bringing it over for Neteyam to take. Neteyam grasped the leather grip in the middle of the bow, letting it rest on his lap and smiling at the more familiar grip that it held.
It was reluctantly retired now, but just holding it made him feel a lot better and he drew a bit of comfort from it.
“Thank you,” Neteyam said quietly, still smiling.
It was quiet after that. Lo’ak and Ao’nung let him soak up the calm atmosphere as they made themselves comfortable around him, Ao’nung sitting next to him at the edge of the bed while Lo’ak had laid beside him.
Neteyam’s hand finally settled to trace the drawstring of his bow and he could slowly feel the tightknit pressure in his chest loosen. When he looked up next, his eyes met Ao’nung’s.
He smiled, sitting close enough for their thighs to almost touch. Ao’nung didn’t move closer when he usually would, maybe because they were in Lo’ak’s room or maybe because he was waiting for Neteyam to do it if he wished to do so.
Neteyam had already noticed that Ao’nung was letting him take the first steps when it came to their shared affection from now on, unsure if he was allowed to do it himself after everything. Still, Neteyam could see the want to lean in so clearly in Ao’nung’s eyes.
A big part of him wanted to give him that. Kiss him until he was satisfied and happy. Neteyam’s fingers fiddled with the string of his bow as his eyes wandered from Ao’nung’s, over his face and onto his lips, really taking him in like he had done just the night before.
Before everything, it had been so easy to lean in and kiss Ao'nung, but now it seemed like it was a lot more complicated and Neteyam didn't like that.
Even with the anger that had been there at the beginning, the last thing Neteyam wanted was for them to stray from each other. He just needed a bit of space, but now that they had talked, he wanted to allow himself to reach out to Ao'nung as he wished. Ultimately it was in Neteyam's hand to initiate their first kiss after everything and Neteyam wanted to, he really did.
He let go of his bow, letting it rest on his lap by itself, to cup Ao'nung's cheek like he would do so often. Ao’nung smiled a bit at the attention, leaning closer for the touch, but the moment was promptly shattered when a pillow smacked into the side of Ao’nung’s face instead.
“Stop eye-banging each other in my room,” Lo’ak reprimanded them, already holding another pillow, ready to throw it at the next person making googly eyes.
Ao’nung threw the pillow back at him and Lo’ak threw the one in his hand in retaliation. Neteyam had to shield himself from being hit as he was sitting right between them and he laughed freely, feeling a lot lighter than before. It was good not to be alone right now.
Chapter 11
Notes:
I'm sorry for the longer wait. I got a bit sidetracked with all the writing events that are happening this time of year 🙈
Anyway, here is a more lighthearted chapter, because I think they deserve a break :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The city was quiet and serene. It looked peaceful like this with no person in sight and everything covered in white. One could almost fool themselves that the world was still intact, but the occasional dragging trail in the snow reminded them of the still wandering dead.
The snow was getting deeper and it seemed like the weather was not planning on clearing up anytime soon, so they had decided that they needed more rations and warmer clothing to get through the next few weeks without having to trek through thick snow regularly.
Neteyam was out on his first resource run since getting hurt and his mother had bundled him up so much he was sweating more than he was freezing. It annoyed him, but he didn’t say a word and just accepted his fate, but he had taken off the scarf around his neck and stuffed it into Ao’nung’s bag as soon as they had split up.
Jake, Neteyam and Ao’nung’s main focus was to find warmer clothing for everyone, while Lo’ak, Spider and his mother were going a different route, so they could cover more ground. Their focus was on finding food and water. As much as they could find.
The commercial district was easy to find and as they were more familiar with the city now it didn’t take long to get there either. The problem was that winter clothing wasn’t exactly overflowing in their stores. Since the undead had started appearing in the beginning of summer every single clothing store had stocked up on lighter clothing.
So, Jake had decided that they would try their luck in some of the homes and they had been wildly more successful there. Everyone had some sort of winter clothing stored away somewhere and after that it was more of a matter to decide which ones were best to take and which ones to leave.
“Alright, let’s do a couple more and then head home,” Jake decided. Judging by the light, the sun would be going down soon. “I’ll go through this house. You two take that one next to it. If you finish before me, wait. Don’t wander on your own, understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Ao’nung and Neteyam sounded off together. When they were out in the city, Jake always used his leader voice and they knew not to argue with orders.
His father walked into the first house and Neteyam and Ao’nung stepped into the one next to it sufficiently checking that it was empty first.
“Clear,” Ao’nung said from the back of the house, allowing them to walk through the place more freely. Neteyam quickly went through the pantry, but aside from a bit of molded food, there was nothing that was conserved.
“Nicer here than I expected,” Ao’nung said, walking through the living room. It was unlike all the other houses they had been in. Some of them had been messed up, a lot of them sporting bloodstains and gruesome scenes where one could only imagine what happened in the first days. Others had at least been looted already.
Neteyam quietly left the kitchen behind.
This house on the other hand looked nice. Untouched. It was also smaller than the others on the block, sacrificing living space for more room in the garden. There was only the kitchen, the living room and a small bathroom on the first floor. The stairs led directly to a bedroom and nothing else.
Most of the floor had been laid out with carpet and the whole place had a cozy feel, that reminded him of his grandmother’s house.
“Maybe we should have moved here,” Neteyam said softly, brushing a hand over the couch. It was covered with a blanket to protect it. Surprisingly the couch wasn’t facing a TV. Instead there was a bookcase, overflowing with books, pictures and figurines.
Ao’nung hummed, “I liked our house.”
Neteyam let his eyes wander over most of the books sitting on the bookcase, picking up one about growing fruits and vegetables in a garden. Whoever lived here must have loved their garden dearly, but a look outside the back window only showed an overgrown and white backyard now. Neteyam was sure it must have been a lush garden once, but now there was barely anything left of it.
Wordlessly he handed the book to Ao’nung to pack away and together they went upstairs.
The bedroom wasn’t much bigger than the living room and it was equally as untouched as everything else. The bed was still made and it looked heavenly comfortable. The mattress dipped under Ao’nung weight as he laid down on it, “Oh, this is soft. We should have moved here.”
Ao’nung closed his eyes as Neteyam chuckled, letting his eyes roam over the rest of the room. The picture frames on the dresser caught his eyes the most and he walked over to inspect them closer.
There was always something melancholy about finding pictures of the people that used to live in these places.
There were several pictures put up on the top of the dresser. The first one was old, with a yellow tint to its black and white image. It looked to be a wedding picture of a young couple, smiling into the camera together. The second picture was a more recent one of an elderly couple, sitting together on the same couch that was in the living room downstairs and holding hands.
Another picture was that of a young girl. Perhaps their daughter or granddaughter.
Neteyam smiled sadly. He didn’t spent thoughts on where they might have ended up now. It was just nice to imagine that they had a good life here and he couldn’t help himself but look back to Ao’nung who was still laying around on the bed.
Neteyam walked over to the bed again, standing over him and tapping Ao’nung’s thigh to draw his attention. He opened his eyes again with a sigh.
“No sleeping,” Neteyam said with a chuckle.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” Ao’nung mumbled. If Neteyam had let him he would have probably allowed himself a nap, but as it was Ao’nung sat up with a sigh and Neteyam watched him ruffle a hand though his hair.
Would they be lucky enough to live a long life like the people that had lived here? In a world like this? Neteyam had already had such a close brush with death and maybe luck had been on his side there. He had been given a second chance to live out the rest of his live.
Ao’nung looked up at him with a smile.
Someone had given him a second chance.
Neteyam placed his hand to the back of Ao’nung’s head, leaning down and connecting their lips in a brief kiss. Their first proper one after everything that had happened.
Ao’nung inhaled sharply in surprise, but reciprocated quickly, leaning into the kiss. After a relishing moment Neteyam pulled away first and Ao’nung sighed softly, before looking up at him with questioning and yet hopeful big eyes.
“Sorry. I’m just being a little sentimental,” Neteyam said, smiling down at him and he saw Ao’nung glancing towards the dressed before looking back at him. Ao’nung stopped him from pulling away further by holding onto his hand.
“Kiss me again?” Ao’nung asked lightly, hopefully.
Neteyam chuckled at the request, but complied, leaning back down and pressing their lips together. It was nothing more than a slightly longer peck until Neteyam pulled away again and tapped Ao’nung’s cheek gently, “Now, come help me go through the closet and then let’s get out of here.”
They returned home with heavy bags filled with new clothing, blankets and jackets, hoping that it would be enough for a group of eight. The motel greeted them with Kiri and Tuk already standing in the parking lot, a snowman built between them.
The boys had a small chuckle at the sight of it, but even as Jake smiled, he didn’t seem too amused by it.
“Don’t stay out in the open for too long when me or your mom isn’t around,” Jake scolded softly, handing Kiri one of the bags and then one to Tuk when she held out her hands.
“But there aren’t any walkers,” Tuk complained, “You said it yourself.”
“The snow won’t stop other survivors if they were to come along here,” Jake reminded her, “You might not even notice them, but it’s dangerous if they see you here alone, so it’s better to stay inside until we’re back, alright?”
“Yes, dad,” Tuk pouted, carrying the bag inside.
The bags were put into the common room and the kids got to work unpacking and putting them in piles on what could be given to whom, making sure everyone got at least something. It didn’t take long and by the time they finished, Neytiri, Lo’ak and Spider came back with another load of bags to unpack.
They had found a decent amount of food and their haul was big enough that it should suffice for at least a few weeks. The piles of clothes were distributed for everyone to take to their rooms while the food would be put away in an empty room upstairs. That way it was harder to find in case someone tried to steal from them.
Neteyam had just finished putting his share of clothes away into his wardrobe. He hadn’t taken any of the blankets. He already had enough of those and yet while his bed was overflowing, his room still seemed as empty and incomplete without Ao’nung’s things, just as Ao’nung’s room was incomplete without his own.
There was an easy fix to that.
Ao’nung’s room was close by and Neteyam didn’t bother knocking before he entered it. Ao’nung looked up from where he was currently packing away his stuff, his wardrobe halfway open.
“Move into my room,” Neteyam said without beating around the bush. It sounded more like a demand than a request and maybe it was.
Ao’nung blinked at him, “What?”
“Bring your stuff to my room. Let’s share again,” Neteyam said. “We spent the last few nights sleeping in each other’s room anyways. Just move into my room again, please.”
That was true. They had stopped sleeping alone, either sharing a bed in Ao’nung’s or in Neteyam’s room, though mostly Ao’nung’s since Neteyam was the one initiating it.
“Right, yeah, sure,” Ao’nung said, immediately starting to stuff his things into a bag haphazardly. He didn’t have much and his things were quickly packed and ready to be taken to Neteyam’s room. Neteyam helped slightly, only taking Ao’nung’s spear into his hand and leading him outside and back towards his own room.
“Make yourself at home,” Neteyam said softly, leaning the spear against the dresser next to his bow. They matched each other nicely.
Once Ao’nung’s things were unpacked, his clothing put away next to Neteyams and their things mingled with each other again, only then did the room feel complete and right. Both of them slept soundly that night in their shared room.
It snowed overnight again, piling the already present snow even higher. Tuk had been the most excited over it.
Their parents had requested them to stay inside lest they get sick, but it was hard to keep Tuk contained inside and she only managed to sit around for so long until she decided that she deserved to have a little bit of fun and what was the worst that could happen?
So, after lunch Tuk didn't go up to her room like requested, instead jumping around the parking lot. The snow reached up over her ankles now when as she left her footprints in the snow as she went. Lo’ak and Spider were trotting after Tuk already, leaving their own trail in the snow.
Neteyam leaned over the railing with Kiri by his side, keeping an eye on his sibllings with a smile. He knew that they should probably listen to their parents, but, well, a few minutes couldn't hurt, right?
Neteyam knew that they were quite a long way from their home at this point, but he hadn’t expected this much of a difference in weather. They had had snow at home, but never quite this much.
Ao’nung’s eyes were comically big when he walked down the stairs.
“What’s wrong?” Neteyam asked down to him with a chuckle.
Ao’nung looked up, “Nothing. We usually don’t get this much snow where I’m from. Most of the time it was too warm for snow.”
“It’s probably going to be higher in a few days,” Neteyam commented as he walked down after him. By the amount it was snowing they might actually be snowed in in a few days’ time.
“Let’s build another snowman,” Tuk declared and it didn’t take long until she had given everyone a task. Lo’ak and Ao’nung were tasked to roll the base and were explicitly told to make it as big as they could. Spider was rolling the body while Kiri was supposed to help him, but she was left to run after him as he dashed through the snow, laughing.
At this point Neteyam was sure that the body was going to be bigger than the base as he helped Tuk roll the head.
In the end the head turned out the biggest, because Tuk was never finished rolling, the base was the second biggest ball while the intended base remained the smallest, but in the end they had a pretty decent snowman, completed with a smiling face of pebbles, two sticks of very different sizes for arms and Spider's scarf loosely wrapped around its neck.
Their collaboration to build their snowman was peaceful up until the point Lo’ak shoved a fistful of snow in the back of Ao’nung’s shirt.
“Fuck,” Ao’nung jumped away with a jerk, shaking the back of his jacket to get rid of the cold sensation running down his back as Lo’ak cackled away.
Now, Neteyam loved his brother dearly and he would certainly die for him without a second thought, but right now Lo’ak had declared himself the enemy when he had targeted Neteyam’s partner.
Lo’ak yelped, his laughter cutting off briefly when a snowball landed against the side of his face, “Hey!”
Things escalated quickly into a proper snowball fight when Spider took Lo’ak side, balling up his own snowballs and throwing them in Neteyam’s direction in retaliation and they quickly enlisted Kiri into their group.
Tuk’s giggles cut through the air, but it was clear that she didn’t side with anyone when she kept throwing snowballs at whoever was closest to her at the moment. And of course, Ao’nung had quickly come to stand at Neteyam’s side.
Their snowball fight was accompanied by laughter and yelling as everyone tried to get the others covered in snow as much as possible. The poor snowman in the middle was mostly used as a shield as they danced around it.
Neteyam was slower in forming the snowballs with one hand, mostly opting to just throw smaller ones in a frenzy and Ao’nung quickly stepped up once he noticed it.
“Neteyam, here,” Ao’nung held a few formed snowballs in front of his feet as he rolled another. This way it was easier for Neteyam to just grab a few and throw them, his aim always true and hitting their goal.
Kiri shrieked when one of Spider’s snowballs hit her instead of the others.
“We’re on the same team!” She scolded him, but reiterated quickly by throwing a snowball at him. Spider was just about to throw another one at her, before he was stopped.
“Hey!” The booming voice of their father cut through the air, stopping their laughter and making them stand at attention, facing the upper railing where their parents were standing. Despite his stern voice Jake looked properly amused. Neytiri on the other hand looked anything but happy, her arms crossed and frowning.
“You’re going to alert the whole city with all that noise,” Jake scolded with a smile. It was quiet for a moment under the gaze of their parents before a snowball sailed straight at Jake. He managed to dodge it, but everyone turned back to look at Lo’ak, who was already holding a second one, “You sure you want to do that, Lo’ak?”
The answer was a small pause before another snowball sailed right at him.
“Jake-“ Neytiri tried to stop him, her stern look still withholding, but there was no holding Jake back as he took the stairs down. As soon as he descended the children sprung back into action and Jake threw the first snowball into their group.
Neytiri sighed, before giggling at the sight of her husband and children chasing each other through the snow. This was the kind of normalcy that they had all deeply missed and it reminded her of the times that they would do this in their own backyard just a year ago.
Neytiri took the steps down, bundling up a bit of snow in her hand and throwing her first snowball. Up until now Jake had been able to easily dodge the snowballs thrown by the children, but Neytiri's landed quick and dead on in the middle of his chest.
Now it was a war.
After their match dinner was eaten quickly, straight out of the can and while dripping snow onto the common room floors. But everyone was obviously more upbeat than usual, lightly arguing on who had won the battle.
"I hope we weren't too loud," Kiri said with a sigh, stacking the empty cans together once everyone had finished eating.
"We most definitely were, but I'll take a watch tonight," Jake said, "No need to worry."
"I want a rematch," Lo'ak said, finally peeling off his scarf when it started to bother him against his skin. He shook it off a bit watching some batches of snow fall off of it and collect on the floor instead. All of them had at least some amount of snow in their hair that was now starting to melt.
"We'll have one before winter ends," Jake said, helping Tuk out of her wet jacket and giving Lo'ak a sideway grin, "If you're up for losing again."
"I didn't lose," Lo'ak protested, finally letting his scarf fall onto the floor in a wet splash. It didnt take long until everyone else started shedding the first of their wet clothing and hats and scarfs piled on the floor with Lo'ak's scarf.
Neytiri shook her head in disaproval. While they had had fun, there was now the issue of making sure that none of them got sick and a bunch of wet clothing wasn't a good start for that. She clasped her hands together to draw everyone's attention, "Okay, you all need a warm shower and we're spending the rest of the evening inside keeping warm, alright?"
Everyone made some sound of agreement before being herded into the kitchen by Neytiri. She turned on the gas for the burner they used to warm up water, both for food and for showers when someone wanted to take one. It took a little until enough water was warmed up for everyone.
They went from youngest to oldest, so Tuk was the first one to receive a bucket and Jake helped her carry it upstairs. Lo'ak and Kiri received their respective ones next before being shooed off to their own rooms to warm up. Finally, Ao'nung, Neteyam and Spider got theirs as well, leaving as Neytiri warmed up the last batch of water for herself and Jake.
They dispersed upstairs as everyone headed for their own room.
Neteyam was just about to put down his bucket, so he could open his door when Ao’nung reached out and opened it for him, signaling him to go in first. Neteyam turned around, one eyebrow raised.
“What?” Ao’nung asked, bucket in hand and waiting for Neteyam to step inside.
Neteyam had assumed that Ao’nung would go to his old room, because if they took turns, his water would just get cold by the time Neteyam was done.
But then he realized.
“Oh,” Neteyam exclaimed before a bemused smirk settled on his lips, “Are you… going to shower with me?”
Ao’nung stared at him for a moment, seemingly processing the words, before he shifted away from the door, “Oh, sorry. I just thought…because we share a room now and we always…showered together before, so…”
Neteyam blinked at his explanation before bursting into laughter. Ao’nung wasn’t wrong. Up until now they had always showered or bathed together when they were together. On the road when they found a lake or stream and in their house to save a bit of water.
The few days where they had been at odds was the exception in this case.
Ao’nung had already turned to leave, but Neteyam stopped him with a small laugh, “No, you’re right. Come.”
“Yeah?” Ao’nung asked, smiling.
“Yeah,” Neteyam grasped his bucket, pushing the door open with his hip and walking towards the bathroom with Ao’nung at his heel.
...
The bathroom was pretty small and the steam warmed it up pretty quickly.
Neteyam found that, with two extra hands, showering went easier. He was still getting used to only one arm, so the last few times he had showered it had taken him a bit longer, especially since he needed to make sure that the bandage he still had didn’t get wet.
“I’ll never understand why they chose turquoise to paint the bathroom,” Ao’nung said, his head ducked so that Neteyam could pour a load of water over it.
“I thought that’s your favorite color,” Neteyam said. It was a little weird, washing Ao’nung’s hair with only one hand, but it was easy at least, now that his hair was short. He ran his fingers through the curls, soaping them up quickly, but efficiently.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t paint my bathroom with it,” Ao’nung said, brushing a hand over his face as Neteyam poured another bit of water through his hair to wash away the soap.
Being naked with Ao’nung was normal. Comfortable even and Neteyam hadn’t even hesitated to shed his clothes when they first entered the bathroom. He had noticed the way Ao’nung had admired him without restraint and Neteyam had done the same before nudging him to get into the bathtub before the water got too cold.
It seemed like that kiss yesterday had washed away some of Ao’nung’s hesitation. Where he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to initiate any sort of touch towards Neteyam before, he had started reaching out for Neteyam again, now that he knew that he could. It was nice.
“My bathroom is painted pink,” Ao’nung mumbled, causing Neteyam to chuckle lightly. Well, maybe there were still some nerves he was trying to bury by talking about nonsensical stuff.
It seemed like it was up to Neteyam to initiat again and he tapped his finger's under Ao'nung's chin to lift his head up, so he could pull him into a kiss. Ao'nung eagerly responded to it as soon as their lips touched, pulling him closer by the waist and pressing their hips together.
Neteyam could feel Ao'nung's hands softly rubbing circles into the sides of his hips, before wandering over the small of his back. It sent a shiver down his spine and he smiled against Ao'unung's lips, deepening their kiss, his own arm swung around Ao'nung's neck.
Neteyam savored the moment for a bit longer, enjoying the feel of Ao’nung against him, before pulling away slightly, "It’s getting cold."
Ao'nung just nodded absentmindedly and leaned back to connect their lips again. It was clear he didn't want to let this end just yet. Neither did Neteyam, but unfortunately, the next shiver that ran down his spine was from the cold instead of Ao’nung’s touch.
It gave Neteyam the push to pull away and place his fingers against Ao’nung’s lips before he could lean back in. It was clear he wanted to and the disappointment was clearly written on his face.
“Don’t pout. We'll pick this up later,” Neteyam assured him with a sly smile. Ao’nung’s eyebrows went up at the promise, but his pout morphed into a smile.
That smile quickly dropped again and he yelped when Neteyam poured the last bit of the, now cold, water over him.
...
The room was significantly colder than the bathroom and they made quick work of toweling off and getting dressed in warm, but comfortable clothing. They’d most likely spent the rest of the night in their room, since they had been told to stay in their rooms for the rest of the day. Hopefully the evening would pass without being disrupted.
Neteyam sighed contently as he sat down on his bed, watching Ao’nung pull a sweatshirt over his head. It looked a bit too big for him, but very comfortable and Neteyam almost felt bad that he would be taking it off again very soon.
Ao'nung smiled when he noticed him watching, walking over and bending down to kiss him. Neteyam met him halfway, reaching forward to hook a finger into the waistband of Ao'nung's sweats to pull him closer and onto the bed.
"We just got dressed," Ao'nung said, letting Neteyam pull him to where he wanted before nudging their noses together.
"That's too bad," Neteyam said before shutting him up with another kiss, as his hands started wandering again.
Over the next few days the weather significantly worsened. It was definitely the right call to stay put for the winter and Neteyam peeked out of his window, watching the wind blow the falling snow against it in a frenzy.
“It’s been going since yesterday,” Lo’ak complained. He hadn’t left Neteyam’s room since then and he was currently lying on his spot on the floor, propped up by his pillow and wearing one of the bigger hoodies they had. He held a stack of cards in his hands as they were in the middle of a game.
“At least we don’t have to take watch anymore,” Spider said from his spot next to him, putting down one of the cards in his hands. There was no way anyone was out in this weather.
None of them had really left Neteyam’s room since yesterday, cramping into one room instead of everyone staying alone. This way they had entertainment, it was a bit warmer with six people in the room and they had kept themselves busy with board and card games that they found in a few cabinets in the common room.
Without central heating the inside of the rooms had also gotten colder, so sleepovers had become a thing between the children the past few nights to keep each other warm during the nights. Somehow they had agreed between themselves that the most fitting place would be their big brother's room and so Neteyam’s room was a lot messier and full now.
Mixing in with Neteyam and Ao’nung’s stuff were also plenty of things collected and left behind by his siblings and Neteyam’s bed had a lot more pillows and blankets on top and around it than before.But Neteyam wouldn't complain. This was exactly what he had missed during the week that he had to spent alone.
“Better get comfortable. I think we’ll be stuck until at least tomorrow,” Kiri said.
Neteyam let the curtain fall back into place and joined the others on the floor. He wasn’t part of the current round, so he peeked over Ao’nung’s hand first to inspect his cards before looking the other way and inspecting Kiri’s cards until she pulled them out of his sight with a small glare.
“I don’t want to play anymore,” Tuk complained. She was holding close to twenty cards in her hands, clearly losing, “Lo’ak is cheating.”
“Nu-uh,” Lo’ak mumbled into his pillow. He only had one card left before Ao’nung made him pick up more.
For a while the only thing filling the silence was the wind howling against the window and the sound of cards being shuffled and moved around until the music from Neteyam's radio started up again at the same time it always would. By now even Neteyam’s siblings were used to it and Lo’ak even hummed the melody along as he picked up some cards from the stack in the middle.
Ao'nung put down his card, upside down so they wouldn't be revealed, and reached for his notebook before writing something down on the page he had bookmarked. Neteyam peeked over curiously, "What's that for?"
“When I found the message about the safe house they mentioned that it was the third of December and I wanted to keep track of the date from now on,” Ao’nung explained, showing Neteyam the little calendar he had roughly sketched into the page, “See? Today is the 12th.”
“What?” Lo’ak sat up from his spot, looking a bit bummed, “We missed my birthday, man.”
“We missed everyone’s birthday, Lo’ak,” Kiri said back. It was hard to keep track of the date once the days started blending in together.
“Yeah, but mine was literally four days ago,” Lo’ak sighed, turning to Ao’nung, “We could have celebrated. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t know when your birthday is,” Ao’nung argued, raising his hands in surrender.
“We can still celebrate,” Neteyam said, getting up, quickly meditating the situation, “We can make up for everyone’s birthday.”
“Maybe we have cake in a can,” Lo’ak said, tossing his cards onto the ground. Kiri pulled a face at the thought of it, throwing her cards on top of Lo’aks. Ao’nung and Spider followed right after, getting to their feet to make the short trip between rooms to the one that held the food.
Only Tuk remained sitting, her gaze shifting from her siblings’ cards haphazardly thrown into a pile to her own cards in her hand, “This means I win.”
Lo’ak was the first out the door, dashing over to the food room, his hands pulled up protectively to spare his eyes from the onslaught of snow. Neteyam followed after him with Ao’nung and Spider at his heels. Kiri was just able to stop Tuk from leaving the room as well.
She was pretty sure that Tuk would get blown away from that strong wind that was currently going outside.
The food room had a good few things stacked, cans, noodles, flour, herbs and many, many bottles of water. Their parents had also moved the gas burner up here to prepare their meals, so they didn’t have to make the walk downstairs in this weather.
Lo’ak quickly crouched down in front of the cans, inspecting each label in the low light and picking out anything sweet. There was no cake, but they had quite a bit of canned fruits and he handed them over to Spider to hold.
They also found a few chocolate bars that must still be good and by the end of their quick haul both their arms were full as they made their way back.
Neteyam and Ao’nung lingered behind for a few more moments, letting their eyes roam over the room.
“We shouldn’t take any more stuff, right?” Ao’nung asked, making his way to the door.
“You’re probably right,” Neteyam hummed, but at the same time he reached behind some of the stacked cans and pulled forwards a bottle of wine, holding it out to Ao’nung with a small smile. "Maybe just one more thing."
Ao’nung chuckled, following Neteyam out of the room and quickly back to his room. His siblings were already sitting back in their circle, some of the fruit cans already opened.
Neteyam and Ao’nung sat back in their respective spots, completing their circle and presenting the bottle of wine. The group of them made quick work of handing around their sweets, as well as the bottle of wine, skipping Tuk. She got to have a whole can of strawberries for herself to make up for it.
Spider reached behind himself, picking one of the candles that they used for light and put it into the middle of their circle.
“Happy birthday, everyone,” He said with a smirk, “Make a wish.”
They laughed, but everyone took a moment to quietly make one as Tuk blew out the flame.
Notes:
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to include the shower scene, but I liked it enough, so I kept it in :)
I hope everyone has a nice birthday! 🤭
Chapter 12
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Spring came slowly.
New Years Eve had passed with sparklers and small firecrackers that Lo’ak had found. The group of teens had agreed that setting them off was a stupid idea and yet they had still snuck away for a bit to set them off in a neighborhood across from town and away from the motel.
They had gotten into trouble, of course.
The most remarkable thing that happened was the small group of survivors that stumbled into the Sullys part of the city. They certainly weren’t the only other people in the city, as big as it was, but they were the first ones that directly came up to the motel.
It was just three of them together, new in the city and looking for a place to stay or a community to join. That day the Sully children had all gathered on the second floor, peering down into the parking lot as Jake and Neytiri conversed with them and they eventually left with some food that the Sully’s had kindly offered to them and then send them on their way.
Over the winter they ran into each other in the city a handful of times, exchanging civil nods without uttering another word to one another.
“Why didn’t they stay with us?” Tuk had asked one day, only knowing that in this world it was important to have people to rely on. Jake had told her that they were already a big group with a lot of people to feed and that they weren’t a safe house that could just take people in. There were enough resources in the city for two groups to survive the winter without getting into a fight over them.
But the older ones knew what it really was. Trust wasn’t easy in this world and the group of survivors didn’t look too thrilled when their parents had sent them away instead of letting them stay.
The only reason they were not putting up a fight was because the Sullys outnumbered them. They were already more than lucky that the Sullys were more interested in keeping the peace and let them go without pushing the issue further.
Either way the children were no longer allowed to leave the motel without either Jake or Neytiri.
The rest of the winter passed calmly, day by day and each similar to the other with nothing to do than pass the time. The snowman in the parking lot gained a few new friends in that time.
Eventually winter came to an end and though the snow refused to melt for the longest time, Tuk had to say goodbye to their little snowman army at one point.
All the while Ao’nung had kept track of the days in his little notebook, informing everyone as December passed, then January and eventually February, too. Once the snow was gone and the weather slowly became warmer it started to really settle in that their time at the motel was slowly drawing to a close.
The anticipation of going back on the road that lingered through the whole winter was back in full swing and eventually Jake finally made the announcement that the weather had gotten warm enough that they would be getting ready to leave soon.
That’s how Neteyam found his room in shambles. Several piles of stuff in one corner and even more in the other. His floors were covered with the belongings they had collected over the winter. Books, games, clothing and knick-knacks of any kind.
His siblings had moved out of his room when the heavy winter weather had let up, but some of their things were still collected in one of the piles while Neteyam and Ao’nung tried to sort out what to take with them and what to leave behind.
Jake had been adamant at reminding each and every one of them that only the most necessary things could come with them and that their bags should not be overfilled with things.
“Make sure you can run with the weight on your back,” He had said.
Neteyam looked around the room as he sat on his bed, watching Ao’nung sort through a few things and shivering slightly as his shirt was off. He knew that most of the things they had now would have to stay here. They would be of no use on the long road.
Kiri was sitting next to him, fiddling with the new bandages for his arm. She brushed over his skin gently. The wound had healed over the past months and Neteyam was left with a lingering pain that would never go away. They had done the best they could and he was lucky with what he was left with.
The marred remains of his arm were a gnarly, but familiar sight by now.
He watched as Kiri wrapped the bandages around him again. Neteyam wasn’t sure if he still needed them, but it made him feel better, feeling the tight wrapping around his sensitive nerves and muscle. After his bandages were applied, she put a protective sleeve over it.
“Thanks,” Neteyam said, taking his shirt back when Kiri held it out to him.
Kiri hummed in acknowledgement, turning her attention onto the room as well, “You have a lot of stuff.”
“Half of this belongs to you and the others, you know,” Neteyam chuckled, getting up off the bed and walking over to Ao’nung and sitting down across from him. He was currently busy sorting their clothes into three piles of which ones would be coming with them. Yes, no and maybe.
“I think most of this can stay here,” Kiri said, crouching down by the pile of things that Neteyam had set aside for his siblings. Most of it were games that they played to pass the time and the occasional piece of clothing left behind in his room.
She walked over to her brother, “Do you need help?”
“Are you done packing your stuff?” Neteyam asked.
Kiri shrugged, “I’m just taking a couple of pants and a few shirts. The pictures. Nothing else worth carrying.”
She sat down on the floor next to Neteyam, allowing him to wrap an arm around her. They were both remembering the time they had to leave their home way back when everything first started. Kiri had cried back then at the fact that she had to leave behind her room of plants. Each one of them she had raised from a small seed into the lush greenhouse her room had practically turned into.
The only thing she had been able to take with her were some clothes, some necklaces she adored and some pictures from her family, their old life and her mother Grace. Now it seemed like she would be continuing the journey with the same things.
“Anything you’re definitely taking?” She asked.
“Only that pile over there,” Ao’nung said, nodding over to the tiniest pile of them all. It contained two notebooks, some pens and a regular book that looked like it had seen better days.
Kiri picked up the book first, regretting it immediately when a few pages fell out of it. Neteyam laughed and helped her put the pages back inside without sorting them. Kiri put the book back down before picking up one of the notebooks. This one was the familiar one Ao’nung had always written in.
She thumbed through it. Its contents were no secret to anyone and eventually it had become a shared notebook for all of them. Ao’nung had mostly used it to solve the riddle of where the safe house they would be going to was and to keep track of the dates and days. There were some notes in her father’s handwriting commenting on Ao’nung’s notes. There were some notes from her mother and from Kiri herself concerning Neteyam's arm about when and how much medication they had given him.
Some older notes were from Neteyam, small and neat. There were a few pages dedicated to tic-tac-toe and some pages that featured scribbles and sketches of the buildings outside done by Lo’ak. She even saw a page full of colorful doodles, no doubt done by Tuk and accompanied by a slightly better doodle signed with 'Spider'.
It had become a true community book. This one was almost filled up and Kiri hoped that they would share another one in the future. How nice it was to hold something that her whole family contributed to, no matter how small, important or silly the notes, that were left, were.
“At this point I think we’ll just be going naked,” Ao’nung briefly interrupted Kiri’s snooping as he looked over the piles of clothes. The ‘Maybe’ pile was the biggest of them.
"Please spare us the sight," Kiri said.
Neteyam chuckled, sorting through the pile again and Kiri went back to her snooping, letting the boys’ debate on what to take become background noise. She put the first notebook down to pick up the second one and repeating the process of thumbing through it.
The pages of this one were empty.
She was just about to put it back with the thought that this was his backup notebook when some pages fluttered out of the very back of it. Kiri clicked her tongue in annoyance at having to pick up more loose pages, but stopped short when she saw what exactly had fallen out.
It was a small, folded up note and a couple of pictures, ones that Ao’nung must have taken with him from home.
Neteyam and Ao’nung had gone quiet now and before Kiri could start picking up the things that fell out, Neteyam had already grasped one of them, admiring it.
Kiri leaned closer to look, too as Ao’nung picked up the rest of what had fluttered out with it.
The picture clearly showed Ao’nung in the middle of it, smiling big and bright. He was on the beach, in a wetsuit and with a medal around his chest. He had both of his arms thrown over the shoulders of a boy on one side and a short girl on the other side of him, both of them with similar smiles.
“That’s my sister,” Ao’nung explained without a question being asked and both Neteyam and Kiri’s focus went to the girl on the picture to study her more clearly. She was a whole head shorter than Ao’nung, wearing a similar wetsuit and sporting the same medal as her brother around her neck. Both of her arms were wrapped tightly around his torso.
Her curly hair was tied up in a bun, just like Ao’nung always used to wear his when it was still longer.
“She’s pretty,” Kiri said. “What’s her name?”
“Tsireya. Her name was Tsireya,” Ao’nung said, reaching over and taking the picture into his hand, sadly smiling down at it. Neteyam shuffled closer, properly sitting next to Ao’nung so their shoulders pressed together. Hopefully his touch was some comfort to him.
Neteyam hadn’t known her name thus far either. Ever since they had found out about Zongtseng’s unfortunate end Ao’nung had kept talk about his family brief and detached and Neteyam hadn’t pushed him.
But now he seemed a bit more susceptible to the conversation, so Neteyam gently prompted him further, “Who is the boy next to you?”
The boy was also a little shorter than Ao’nung, smiling with his companions with one arm wrapped around Ao’nung, the other holding a surfboard that was half cut off from the picture. His short curly hair was wet, but still stubbornly sticking in place.
“His name is Rotxo,” Ao’nung explained, brushing a thumb over the image and gently bushing out a wrinkle on it, “He was my best friend. We lost each other after arriving home and I never saw him again.”
Neteyam nodded, his hand wandering up and brushing soft circles over Ao’nung’s shoulder blades. Ao’nung bit his lip as he admired the picture in his hand a bit longer. It looked painful for him to talk about it, but maybe he needed this.
After another quiet minute Ao’nung pulled forward one of the other pictures that he had picked up. This one showed four people. Tsireya, Ao’nung and two adults that were very clearly their parents. Ao’nung and Tsireya looked to be around Tuk’s age in this picture and both of them were sat on the hood of a car, their little legs dangling off the front of it. On one side was their father and on the other their mother.
“My parents,” Ao’nung said, holding the picture out to Neteyam.
Neteyam took the picture, admiring it for a few seconds, but his thoughts wandered. These pictures that had been hidden away in Ao’nung’s bag, since before they had even met. Hidden in a notebook that wasn’t touched or mentioned for months that they have known each other.
It felt overdue having this knowledge and at the same time Neteyam felt like he was overstepping.
Ao’nung’s father was smiling as brightly as his children, but his mother’s smile was a bit more reserved. More gentle. Neteyam saw a lot of Ao’nung in her features.
“Thank you for sharing,” Neteyam said, handing the picture back to Ao’nung and kissing his cheek, “I know you don’t like talking about it.”
Kiri still had a curious glint in her eyes, wondering what happened to Ao’nung’s family, but she kept her mouth shut, not daring to ask. It wasn’t hard to draw conclusions.
Ao’nung just nodded, “I can’t avoid the topic forever. They are my family and I will carry them with me as long as I live. I owe it to them."
Lastly, Ao’nung held out the folded up note, letting Neteyam unfold it. Neteyam paused for a minute, squinting at the words, trying to read it. It was mostly chicken scratch and Ao’nung laughed at the expression on his face.
“My mom was a doctor,” Ao’nung said as a way of explaining the bad handwriting.
“Ah. And you can read this?” Neteyam laughed with him, handing it over again.
“I got used to it growing up. Here,” Ao’nung pointed out the words, tracing each with his finger as he read it out loud for Neteyam and Kiri.
’Ao’nung, my son,
I pray that you have made it home to find this note safely. We are evacuating to Zongtseng. Please find us there. Be safe and may Eywa guide your way.
I love you.
Mama’
Neteyam squeezed Ao’nung’s shoulder when his voice cracked at the last few words and Kiri had placed a gentle hand on Ao’nung’s knee, her thumb rubbing gentle circles into his skin. They allowed him a moment to compose himself again, wiping the tears from his eyes and folding up the note again and tucking it into the back of the notebook.
“She left me the map with the note. It’s the last thing I have from her,” Ao’nung said. He brought the picture with his parents to his lips, dropping a small kiss onto the image and tucking it safely next to the note and closing the notebook again.
“Maybe…” Neteyam cut himself off briefly before continuing quietly, “Maybe they made it out. Maybe we could still find them.”
Ao’nung dropped his head with a frown.
“Don’t get my hopes up, please, Neteyam,” He said, matching Neteyam’s quiet tone, “I don’t want to keep clinging onto false ideas.”
Neteyam nodded. He understood Ao’nung. He hated receiving false hope too, but he also understood why it was given. He would do anything to take the despair and hopelessness in Ao’nung’s eyes. But it was not what he needed.
Ao’nung didn’t want to, but Neteyam clung to the idea that they might still be out there. That maybe he could find them like Ao’nung had found his family. It was like a silly dream and he wished he could fullfill it ,but Ao’nung had made up his mind. He knew that his family had been at Zongtseng when it fell, so sure that they had fallen with it. Maybe they had. But maybe they hadn’t.
Neteyam didn’t let go of that hope, but he tugged it away to give Ao’nung some peace.
“Okay,” Neteyam simply relented, “I’m sorry.”
Ao’nung met his eyes again and gave him a small smile, “I’m glad I have you. I’m glad I’m not alone anymore.”
“I’m here,” Neteyam assured him, “We all are.”
“Sullys stick together,” Kiri nodded determinedly, giving Ao’nung’s knee a squeeze.
Ao’nung was a Sully now. He was happy to be.
Now that the snow was gone and the weather was warmer the walkers had started getting more active. There was not a single expedition outside of the motel without stumbling onto at least a couple and during the day it was easy to watch a few walkers make their way through the city in the distance.
Jake had made a lookout chart, so that at least one person would be on watch during the day and two people would be on lookout during the night.
Today’s watch fell onto Ao’nung and Lo’ak. It was quiet so far, with no walkers coming close to the motel and with the rest of the family being busy preparing for the road, the only thing Ao’nung and Lo’ak were trying to do was pass the time until dinner.
Ao’nung’s hands were currently busy braiding the little fabric he had tied around his spear to make her pretty and he had recently cleaned all the blood from her tip, so she looked as good as new as long as you ignored the stains that he couldn’t quiet scrub out.
Lo’ak sat next to him, sighing and thumbing through the romance book Ao’nung had brought to the hotel so long ago as they sat on top of the steps, “I just think she shouldn’t have left without saying anything to him. He really loved her.”
Though Lo’ak had teased Ao’nung for taking the book along, Lo’ak had been the one to get invested in it the most. The only reason Ao’nung had actually read it (or rather had Neteyam read it to him every night before bed) was because Lo’ak kept pestering about wanting someone to talk about it with.
“She knew he would stop her. That’s probably why she didn’t,” Ao’nung said. “The story isn’t over, anyways. They probably find their way back to each other and all that.”
“This was released a few months before everything. I doubt the author had time to release the second book before dying,” Lo’ak said, closing the book.
“How do you know that they are dead?” Ao’nung asked.
“Dunno. Just a guess,” Lo’ak mumbled, “Most people are.”
Ao’nung hummed, “You could write the next book. Be the first writer of the apocalypse. There are enough pens and papers around.”
Lo’ak opened his mouth to o brush the idea off, but he took a moment before settling on another shrug. Maybe he would do it.
The conversation ended there and it wasn’t picked back up again. At least they didn’t stay unentertained for too long since a walker decided to stumble into their parking lot, its eyes locked onto the two figures at the top of the stairs.
They had never really figured out where the walkers had gone when the weather had gotten cold, but now that they were back they seemed to be more eager than before, desperate to fill their rotting stomachs. Maybe they really had been in hibernation and now it was time to fill up again.
Lo’ak and Ao’nung watched the walker come closer for a bit until it was halfway over the parking lot and walking ever so closer.
Ao’nung was the first one to hold up his fist towards Lo’ak and Lo’ak glanced at his it briefly before lifting his own. They automatically fell into a few quick rounds of rock-paper-scissors until Lo’ak sighed when Ao’nung beat him with paper, meaning Lo’ak would have to be the one to get up and take care of their visitor.
“Can I use your spear?” Lo’ak asked.
“Sure,” Ao’nung said, holding out his spear to Lo’ak. It brightened him up a bit, but Ao’nung didn’t let go immediately, “Be gentle with her. She’s getting more fragile.”
“Yeah, sure, don’t be gross,” Lo’ak said, taking the spear from its owner. He handed Ao’nung his gun in exchange before walking down.
Taking care of the walker was easy. Just a quick poke of the spearhead through its skull before it could lunge at him and the job was done. He looked up towards Ao’nung to ask if they should leave it here or carry it over to the edge of the parking lot where it wouldn’t be in the way, but Lo’ak’s guard went up when he saw Ao’nung standing, looking out into the distance with his gun gripped at the ready.
In the next moment Lo’ak heard the sound of a car coming down the road, right towards them. He gripped the spear tightly, walking back closer towards Ao’nung just as the first car turned into the parking lot. Another one followed right behind it.
Both cars pulled up, parking close to the front of the motel, close to the stairs Ao’nung and Lo’ak were standing at. Both felt at a loss of what to do and Ao’nung raised the gun slightly as soon as the sound of the car door opening could be heard.
“Easy, boys,” Jake said as he stepped out of the driver seat. Ao’nung and Lo’ak relaxed instantly.
Ao’nung lowered the gun again as Lo’ak scoffed, “Dad, you scared us.”
“Good. Always be on your guard,” Jake said with a teasing smile. He walked around the car, patting the hood of it, “We’ll be taking the first leg of the trip by car.”
“Do you think two will be enough?” Spider called out as he was the one to step out of the second car. “I don’t think we’ll manage to squeeze everything into two cars.”
“We're not taking everything with us,” Jake reminded him, “Remember to pack lightly. There might come a situation where we have to leave the cars behind. This is just for the first part of the road.”
"Right," Spider agreed, walking closer to the group.
Jake meanwhile turned to Ao'nung, "Do you know how to drive?"
"Yes?" Ao'nung asked, rather than said.
"Good. Then we have five drivers," Jake said, "The more the better. We'll make driving shifts for both cars."
“I can drive, too,” Lo’ak offered, leaning against the spear with a huff. Ao'nung gave him a light push, prompting him not to put too much weight on her.
“You haven’t finished your driving lessons,” Jake pointed out.
“Does it matter? It’s not like anyone is going to pull me over and check,” Lo’ak argued.
“I don’t need you to drive us into a ditch,” Jake said. “I’ll teach you to drive properly when we’re in a better place, alright?”
“Yeah, fine,” Lo’ak accepted that answer, “At least let me drive shotgun.”
Over the next few day personal bags were packed and ready to go. One last trip was taken into the city to collect the last few resources for the road. Food, Medicine and bullets. The cars were loaded with water reserves and gas cans were stashed into the trunks of their cars and blankets were put in the backseats, should they have to sleep on the road.
Smaller food portions were distributed and packed into each of their bags, just in case and with the cars packed up they were ready to leave the next morning bright and early.
So they all assembled in the dining room to have dinner at the motel one last time. It was a bittersweet feeling for most, leaving the place that they had taken up and made themselves comfortable in for several months. On the other hand they were ready to start the new chapter of their journey for safety.
Each took their time savoring this dinner as it would probably be the most comfortable one they would be having for at least the next couple of weeks, maybe even months. On the road they wouldn’t be able to make more complicated meals, so they had used the opportunity to cook proper ones.
Neytiri had managed to make pancakes instead of the usual flatbread. They had prepared an array of noodles, rice and a few sauces they had scraped together. And with eight people indulging in their last meal before a long journey, nothing was left of the food by the end of the evening.
Once the food was gone and the conversations had simmered down Jake and Neytiri decided that it was time for bed.
“Get lots of rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,” Jake said, watching his children get up, give agreeable enough answers before they all skittered upstairs to their own rooms.
Neteyam and Ao’nung settled in for a quiet night, neither of them felt like sleeping just yet, even though they really should. Especially since the both of them were a part of the drivers of the group. Neteyam turned on the music of the little radio a bit, enjoying it for maybe the last time.
They had agreed that they should leave it behind. It would only be extra weight and they needed to be careful not to make too much noise when they were on the road. Ao'nung had written down the frequency it was playing at and they had promised themselves that they would find another radio once they had a place to call home again.
Neteyam had made himself comfortable already, sinking down in their warm and comfortable bed for the last time. He took his recent book, propping it up on his lap and opening the page he had left it on.
“Are you going to finish the book?” Ao’nung asked, walking over to the dresser and lighting another candle on top of it to give the room a bit more light.
“Yeah. I only have a few pages left,” Neteyam said, turning a page, “and I don’t want to take it with me.”
Ao’nung just nodded, even if Neteyam didn’t lift his head to see it. He went through their things one last time to make sure that they had packed all that they wanted to take with them. Their bags were kept pretty light, only some clothes and personal belongings, along with a small first aid kit in each of their bags that Neytiri had put together for all of the children.
Ao’nung’s spear alongside Neteyam’s bow were propped up next to the door, ready to go the next morning.
Ao’nung sighed. Tomorrow it was already time. They would be leaving the motel, back out onto the road on the search of a safe house, solely relying on information that Ao’nung had found based on that radio message.
He wished he could listen to it again even though he had written it all down. Jake had looked over his notes again and the route was calculated by him, but Ao’nung couldn’t help but worry that it would be his fault if something went wrong. Jake was only following his notes after all.
“Everything will go smoothly. Don’t worry,” Neteyam said casually, looking over at him, “Don’t start pacing now.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Ao’nung chuckled.
"You look like it," Neteyam said and reached over to the bedside, stretching slightly to grab a wrinkled up note off of the bedside table, “Here.”
“What’s that?” Ao’nung got up to take the note from between Neteyam’s fingers.
“Mom and I did inventory before going to the city. Everything we have packed is on that list,” Neteyam said, “We will pass by other cities, too. We’ll be okay.”
“I know,” Ao’nung nodded, folding open the note a bit more so he could read the note. The handwriting was messy, but still readable. Ao’nung furrowed his brow in confusion, but turned to Neteyam with a small smile, “Did you write this? I remember your handwriting to be neater than this.”
Neteyam huffed a small laugh like the question amused him turning his attention back to his book, “Well, you did cut off my dominant hand, so,” he raised his right hand, the remaining one he had, “I’m still getting used to it.”
“Sorry,” Ao’nung said, sheepishly, but Neteyam just waved him off.
“Don’t mention it,” Neteyam wanted to leave it in the past now. Any occasional apology from Ao’nung was only waved away now. He was fine now. He was getting used to it.
“Well, it’s good to know,” Ao’nung said, lifting the note in reference. He smiled at Neteyam in hopes of lifing the mood, “Usually you were the one stressing over maps and everything.”
Ao'nung put the note back down as Neteyam propped himself up to sit more comfortably. He reached out to put his hand on Ao’nung’s arm in support to draw his attention, speaking more seriously now, “I was worried because we didn’t have a plan back then. After Zongtseng we were just wandering around, trying to find a destination and we were running out of food,” Neteyam explained as Ao’nung nodded at his words, “But we have a group now. We have collected enough food and water. We have a destination and we have a plan, thanks to you and my father. And I trust you both. Everything will be fine, okay?”
"Yeah," Ao'nung sighed, resigned, "It'll be fine."
“Come here,” Neteyam waved him closer then, his voice going soft as he held his embrace open for Ao’nung, determined to get his mind off of his worries. Ao’nung walked over, climbing onto the bed and meeting Neteyam halfway in a kiss.
Ao'nung broke into a small, surprised laugh when Neteyam nipped at his bottom lip.
“This might be the last time in a while that we’ll have proper privacy," Neteyam said, his wandering to the back of Ao’nung’s head, pulling him closer to another kiss, this one more heated than the last.
Ao’nung smirked against his lips, “I thought you wanted to finish the book.”
Neteyam let go of Ao’nung, using his hand to grab the book of his lap and let it drop off the bed and onto the floor, “What book?”
Laughing lightly, Ao'nung let himself be flipped onto his back, his hand wandering onto Neteyam's back as he took his place on Ao'nung's lap.
The advice of getting a good nights sleep was quickly forgotten.
Notes:
I believe in left-handed Neteyam 🫡
Chapter Text
The first thing Neteyam got when he walked down to the parking lot was a granola bar thrown at his head. He didn’t manage to catch it, but at least he was fast enough to prevent it from hitting him in the face. It landed on the ground sadly.
“Breakfast,” Lo’ak announced unceremoniously.
“Thanks,” Neteyam said flatly, bending down to pick it up off the ground. He tugged it into his back pocket for later.
Lo’ak was sitting on the backseat of one of the cars, its door opened and his legs stretched out. It wasn’t often that he was awake before most of the others. Tuk was sitting in the passenger seat in front of him and munching on her own granola bar breakfast. She would most likely be demoted into the backseat once they got on the road, but for now she was swinging her legs happily.
“Is no one else up yet?” Neteyam asked, leaning against the side of the car, close to Lo’ak. It felt like it was pretty early still. The sun was up but the last specks of orange were still in the sky.
“Mom and Dad were awake last time I saw them,” Lo’ak said. Neteyam raised a questioning eyebrow and Lo’ak shrugged, “Was an hour ago. Who knows what they are doing. I’m not gonna go find out. I’m already traumatized enough in this world.”
Neteyam rolled his eyes with a small laugh, “How long have you been awake?”
“I took the night shift so I can sleep in the car,” Lo’ak explained, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out another granola bar. Neteyam didn’t ask how many more he had or where he found them, but by the rustling coming from his pockets whenever he made a movement there were more hidden in his pocket.
“When are we leaving?” Tuk asked, leaning forward to see her brothers.
“We’ll go once everyone is awake,” Neteyam said, “I’m sure it won’t be long now. How long have you been awake?”
Tuk shrugged, holding out her hand through Lo’ak’s car window. Lo’ak handed her another granola bar and answered in her stead, “She came down just before you did.”
A head then peaked over the upper banister. It was Spider with his bags and a moment later he was coming down the stairs with a lazy “Morning.” The three siblings returned it with varying levels of enthusiasm. “Is no one else up?”
“That’s the question of the morning,” Lo’ak mumbled before chucking a granola bar at Spider. It landed square against his chest and Spider just managed to keep it from falling to the ground with his free hand.
“Thanks?” Spider said before lifting his bag, “Which car am I in?”
“Take your pick,” Lo’ak said, gesturing between the two cars.
“You can be in our car,” Tuk said, kicking her legs in indication and patting the seat she was sitting in.
“Sound good,” Spider said. He rounded the car, opened the trunk and tossed his bag in between Lo’ak’s and Tuk’s. Neteyam pushed himself off the side of the car with a sigh.
“I’m going to see if Ao’nung is awake or if he fell asleep again,” Neteyam said, making his way to the stairs. Spider took his place next to Lo’ak. Tuk jumped up from her seat.
“I’m gonna get mom and dad,” She announced, bounding after Neteyam.
“Knock before you enter!” Lo’ak yelled after her, but he wasn’t sure if she heard him in her joyous hurry. He turned to Spider with a defeated look, “I did all I could.”
Ao’nung was only half-asleep when Neteyam went to check on him. He insisted that he was merely resting his eyes for a few more minutes, but under Neteyam’s expectant eyes Ao’nung finally dragged himself out of bed. Neteyam awarded him with a kiss for his hard effort, then he sent him down with their bags.
Neteyam did one last spin around the room to make sure they didn’t forget anything and just to take everything in one more time. It was weird how he had both gotten attached to the space and on the other hand was relieved to finally be leaving it behind.
This city had cost him an arm, but had reunited him with his family again.
Neteyam shook his head at the strange thought and finally left the room behind. He peeked over the banister once he was outside, automatically doing a headcount for the ones on the parking lot.
Lo’ak and Spider hadn’t moved from their spot and Neteyam was just in time to witness another one of Lo’ak’s granola attacks once Ao’nung had walked close enough to them. Without a free hand, the granola bar almost hit Ao’nung square in the face. He just rolled his eyes as Lo’ak cackled and Ao’nung left his breakfast abandoned on the ground to toss his and Neteyam’s bags into the other car.
Tuk passed Neteyam a moment later, bounding down the stairs to join the teens. She was followed by their parents, both of them carrying their personal bags, along with a few more items for the journey.
“Ready to go?” Jake asked, ruffling a hand through Neteyam’s hair as he passed.
“I think only Kiri is still missing,” Neteyam said, looking back down. Kiri was indeed nowhere to be seen.
“Can you get her? We should leave soon,” Neytiri said, looking over at Kiri’s bedroom door. It was still closed.
Neteyam nodded, turning away from the banister and moving over to Kiri’s door as his parents went downstairs. He knocked only once before peeking inside.
“Kiri? We’re leaving soon. Are you awake?” Neteyam asked as he let himself in.
Kiri was indeed awake and her room seemed a lot emptier, lacking the chaos that was prevalent in Neteyam. Kiri herself didn't seem particularily to be in a good mood, her shoulder drooped and her lips pulled into a frown.
“Everything okay?” Neteyam asked, walking closer to put his hand around her shoulder. Kiri glanced at him briefly, her face pulled into a frown as if she was debating if she should talk about what was going on in her head.
Finally, she let out a deep sigh, letting her shoulders droop, “I’m fine.”
Neteyam smiled a bit about how directly her body language and her words contradicted each other. He gave her shoulder a squeeze before letting go so he could pick up her bag and swing it over his own shoulder, “Are you worried about sharing a car with Lo’ak? I know he sleeps like a maniac, but don’t worry. I’m think you’ll be in my and Ao’nung’s car. At least for today.”
Kiri smiled a bit, “As if you two will be any better.”
Neteyam shrugged with a smile, moving closer to the door to get Kiri moving. He didn’t rush tough, giving her plenty of time to say whatever was on her mind if she wanted to. Kiri didn’t speak as they left the room behind, closing the door gently behind them as a last goodbye once they were outside.
Kiri walked over to the stairs, gripping the banister. She didn’t move to go down and took a moment to admire their family in the parking lot. Their parents were adjusting the additional things into the trunk of the cars. Lo’ak was currently arguing with Tuk, presumably about the passenger seat.
“Do you think...” Kiri let out a deep breath. It sounded almost annoyed. “Do you think this will be our last stop?”
“What do you mean?” Neteyam asked, trying to read her expressing. Kiri was not looking at him, her eyes fully trained onto their family.
“I’m just…so tired of moving around. Of constantly traveling. We spent months here and I still couldn’t relax because I knew that sooner or later we would leave again to find a new place to stay at,” Kiri explained, wrapping her arms around herself, “I miss having a home. I just want to go the bed at night, knowing that it won’t be taken from me in the future.”
Neteyam nodded in understanding, bringing his arm back around her shoulder. It was a bit harder with the added weight of her bag on his shoulder, but Kiri leaned into it either way.
He understood now and he was scolding himself for not noticing it sooner. Kiri had always been someone that needed a stable place, somewhere to retreat to, somewhere to put down roots. Her dream had always been to explore the world and travel, but surely she hadn’t expected it to be like this. Back then she still had a place to return to; a place to call home.
“…I don’t know if this safe zone will be our new home,” Neteyam started. Kiri’s shoulder’s dropped a bit, but he didn’t want to make any false promises, “but I think…even if we don’t make it there, we’ll find a place to call home. I’m positive our journey is coming to an end soon.”
Kiri let out a breathy chuckle, almost like she wasn’t fully convinced, “I hope you’re right.”
Neteyam hoped so too.
After their belongings were packed up and everyone was distributed between the cars, the Sullys hit the road with one last wave goodbye to the motel. Getting out of the city was easy and without interruption. They didn’t see any survivors on their way out and every walker was dodged and left behind easily.
The abundance of cars abandoned outside of the city, were more difficult to wind through, but eventually the road cleared a bit farther out. From then on nothing was in their way.
Being back on the road took some getting used to, but still, a week passed without any major incidents and without the need to stop and recharge their food resources. Gas was taken from cars on the road and they only stopped for short breaks and to sleep at night. Without lights lighting the roads it was safer to rest once it got dark and resume their path in the mornings.
The biggest issue was the lack of space and privacy now that everyone had gotten used to having their own space back at the motel. It took a few days to get used to sleeping in the cars.
Often Neteyam and Ao’nung would sleep in one car together when neither of them had to take the lookout shift. Sometimes Lo’ak would join them, stretching his legs over the backseat. Sometimes it was Tuk, stretching herself out over their laps and using them as her personal mattress. Sometimes Ao’nung would share with Spider while Neteyam was with his siblings in the other car. Either way, everyone eventually got used to sharing again.
Neteyam found himself enjoying it though. Having his siblings close always made him feel more relaxed. It allowed him to do a head count if he woke up in the night and it was easier to assure himself that all of them were safe and sound.
As the days passed, Neteyam realized that he must have missed traveling around more than he had anticipated.
There was something so freeing in crossing the country and being able to drive again. It was pretty easy to do with one hand and he reveled in the fact that this was something that was not taken from him.
He liked to roll down the window to let the wind blow through his hair as he ignored Lo’ak’s protests from the backseat. The highlight of the road so far was finding a bunch of CDs in a random car’s glove compartment that they could blast on the drive and with both things in the mix, he felt truly free.
Food was never a big event or anything special on the road, but they had collected enough cans of food to provide each family member two meals a day without stretching the inventory too thin. It took eight days until their food resources were running out enough that they had to find a good place to stop and do a proper food run.
They had stopped on the side of a rural road, surrounded by overgrown meadows after Tuk had complained that she needed to pee. Ao’nung had the inkling to believe that she was just bored of sitting around, but he couldn’t blame her. Sitting in the sun with the grass under his hands was infinitely better than being in the car for another minute. While the weather was still cold, spring was finally coming.
They had agreed to an hour break before they would hit the road again until it got dark.
Kiri, Spider and Lo’ak sat in a semicircle formation next to Ao’nung and they all had shared a bag of stale mini pretzels while Tuk was now busy searching for a four leaved clover close by. Jake, Neteyam and Neytiri had put their heads together, speaking about something and picking through the cars’ trunks.
“We have about two more days’ worth of food if we ration,” Jake explained as he walked over to the rest of the group. Neteyam and Neytiri followed him, “So we need to find a city to scavenge soon.”
Neteyam walked closer and Ao’nung turned his head to look up at him with a smile. Instead of a smile or Neteyam leaning down to give him a kiss, he got a face full of a large paper-like something.
“Hold this,” Neteyam ordered and Ao’nung recognized that the paper in his face was, much to his horror, a map. In Ao’nung’s humble opinion there were way too many places where maps could be found, so Neteyam must have gotten his hand on one.
Ao’nung just did as he was told, straightening the map out and holding it open with both hands. Neteyam leaned over behind him, resting his chin on top of Ao’nung’s head so he could study the map as he wished.
It had taken a while, but as Neteyam had gotten used to living without his arm he had gotten better at asking for help when he needed it rather than insisting that he could do it himself until he got to the point of frustrated anger.
Though he had gotten better, it was not all that good yet. He was disguising his need for help under demands instead. “Hold this” or “Open that” and so on. Ao’nung always just did as he wanted, knowing that this was most likely just a stepping stone and that his wishes would probably be followed by a “Please” one day. For now, he was just happy that Neteyam wasn’t shouldering everything by himself.
Ao’nung turned his attention to the map, confirming that it was definitely a new one. It was clean of markings unlike their old one and it showed a new area, including a more detailed depiction of the country’s coastal cities. The only marking on the map was a circle around their destination.
Neteyam reached forward with a pen in his hand and he made a shaky dot onto where they currently were. Then he drew a line towards a small village. It would be a small detour from their originally intended path, but it seemed like the next best thing.
“This place seems small enough that maybe it wasn’t looted yet,” Neteyam said, “Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to find a well-stocked supermarket.”
Neteyam moved his head enough to give Ao’nung a small kiss to the top of his head. Ao’nung smiled at the casual gesture as Neteyam straightened up to take the map from Ao’nung and hand it to his father for inspection. Jake studied the map for a minute and his thinking face was the exact same as Neteyam’s, Ao’nung noted with an amused smile.
After a minute or two Jake gave a confirming nod, “Seems like the best path to take. Good find.”
Neteyam smiled a bit at his father’s praise as his back straightened subconsciously.
For the rest of the hour they sat on the grass together, passing a few more of the snacks they had around. The music was turned up in one of the cars so they could hear it through the open windows and conversations were sparse as everyone just wanted a quiet moment to relax.
At one point a walker showed up, far enough away that he was just a speck in the landscape, but the side to side toddle was hard to mistake.
Ao’nung watched it slowly make its way closer as no one made a move to get up. He knew that by the time the walker made it to their spot, they would be long gone again, back on the road and miles away from here.
There was something so strange in watching death toddle slowly closer without an inkling of fear rising in him.
He never thought that he would get used to it. A few months ago he would have packed up and left as soon as he had seen it, but all he did now was close his eyes and lean against Neteyam’s side so that he could enjoy a few more minutes in the sun.
They arrived at the village early the next day after the map had led them down a narrow forest path. It must have been around Noon and Ao’nung was dozing off in the backseat with Tuk tugged under his arm, using him as a pillow.
They were both jerked out of their near slumber when Spider hit the brakes too roughly and Ao’nung just had time to tighten his arm around Tuk to prevent her from flying out of the seat.
Neytiri was sitting in the passenger seat and she was looking over her shoulder to check that everyone in the back was okay.
“What the fuck?” Ao’nung mumbled, his eyes wandering immediately out of the windshield. They had been tailing the others and the rear of the other car was way too close to them now. No wonder Spider had stopped so suddenly as Jake must have done the same.
The reason for it were the big walls built to surround what was most likely the little village they were searching for. The protective walls were wooden, tall and looked self-made, but still sturdy. Not very inviting either way.
Kiri was already leaning into the front, but Ao’nung could still see as Jake got out of the driver seat, raising his hands as he walked around to the front of the car. Neteyam followed him right after, getting out of the passenger side and mimicking his father by lifting his hand as well.
Neytiri was the first one out of their car and she went to join Jake’s side.
“What happened?” Tuk asked into the silence.
“Looks like this village isn’t as abandoned as we hoped,” Spider explained, leaning forward as much as the steering wheel allowed him to. “They have lookout on the walls. They already saw us.”
“We basically almost busted through their door,” Kiri mumbled irritated, “no wonder they saw us.”
She was out of the car next to see what was happening. With a long sigh Spider moved to follow her, knowing that there was a confrontation either about to happen or was already going on, though he didn’t know if more people getting out of the cars would help their case rather than convince the people living here that they were harmless and coming in peace.
Ao’nung took one last look out of the windshield and he could already hear some muffled arguing going on as Jake and the lookout were shouting at each other. Maybe they were fighting or maybe that was the only way they could hear each other since the walls were rather high up.
The arguing stopped abruptly as soon as Ao’nung stepped out of the car, all eyes trained on him. It took him an uncomfortable moment to realize that they weren’t looking at him at all, rather they were all focused on Tuk, who was merely peeking out from behind the back his back, looking up with wide, worried eyes.
Ao’nung put a gentle hand on her head, both as a comforting and protective gesture.
Jake beckoned her closer with the wave of his hand and only then did Tuk appear from behind Ao’nung to run to her father. As soon as she was by his side Jake lifted her into his arms, turning back to the people.
“We’re not looking to stay here,” Jake picked their conversation/argument back up, “My family was simply short on food and we were hopeful that we could find some here. We weren’t aware that this was a settlement.”
There was a brief silence from the other side, but their eyes were still on Tuk. Ao’nung recognized what Jake was doing and perhaps the people living here did too. He was playing his hand to hit their sympathy by explicitly referring to their group as a family and now Tuk was the secret Joker, hoping that they wouldn’t turn them down when they had a young child with them.
“We would most appreciate it if you could spare some food, but if not we can just leave and no one has to get hurt,” Jake said, brushing a hand over Tuk’s back.
What Jake was doing seemed to be working though, because a moment later one of the people guarding the gate moved to open it.
“Thank you,” Jake ducked his head in gratitude, letting Tuk down and holding her hand instead as they were the first ones in.
“We can’t give you much, but we can give you a couple days’ worth of food to reach a different place,” One man explained, “You can bring the cars in. It will be easier to load them in.”
He pointed at Ao’nung, "You," then he glanced at Neteyam, then his arm, before he settled on Spider instead, “and you. Drive them in slowly and carefully.”
Jake turned to the boys, giving a small nod. They were not in charge here. They needed to listen to their hosts and so Ao’nung and Spider did as they were told as Neteyam bit his tongue in order not to scoff at the man.
Spider got into the first car, driving in ahead. Ao’nung drove the second car inside and the gate was closed behind him.
Chapter 14
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Neteyam’s first impression of the village was that it was quite cozy. The gates had given way to an open space, in the middle a well and a few buildings that looked like family homes. Their entrance had already summoned a few residents and he suspected that they would only get more stares from here on out. Hopefully they were at least nice people.
For now, Neteyam ignored the curious onlookers that had already caught wind of the fact that they had visitors and he reluctantly let someone pat him down and quickly inspect him to make sure that he wasn’t bit. The man eyed his arm for a minute, but backed off without a question when Neteyam and the rest of his family glowered at him to keep his mouth shut.
Two more people joined them then. Another man and a woman, who introduced herself as Tarsim. She was the only one that did and she didn’t exactly look nice, but her smile was polite enough.
“Please leave your weapons in the cars,” the man, who his father had argued with, said. “You are safe here. Tarsim will help you with the inventory.”
“Thank you,” Jake said, signaling his children to follow the regulations.
Neteyam followed his father over to their car, checked the safety of his gun and then left it on the passenger seat along with Lo’aks. He kept the little knife in his pocket just in case and he suspected the rest of his family did too.
Either way the man didn’t mention anything about any more weapons, but he was probably aware that the Sullys wouldn’t let themselves be fully unarmed in an unfamiliar place. Knifes were just much easier to beat than guns.
Neteyam straightened up again with a sigh and spared a look at his brother. Lo’ak met his gaze with a small shrug. Whatever they were in for, there was no backing out now. Here was to hoping that it would go over smoothly and they would be back on the road with replenished resources soon.
Their parents were standing nearby, quietly conversing as the children left their weapons. The boys could still hear them clearly.
“One of us should stay with the cars,” Jake said, quietly.
Neytiri nodded in agreement, “You can stay and keep an eye on the girls.”
And with that it was decided. Jake didn’t argue with his wife and he just gave a nod in agreement which earned him a quick kiss from her. Neytiri removed herself from the car and walked over to Tarsim with her head held high. This was their home and they were in charge, but Neytiri would not be intimidated by anyone. Tarsim didn't give any reaction.
Neteyam and Lo’ak went to follow their mother when their father stepped up beside them.
“Lo’ak, you stay with me,” Jake said as he put a hand on his younger son’s shoulder and clasped it with a smile, “Don’t argue. I need someone with me just in case your sisters need protection.”
“Fine,” Lo’ak couldn’t really argue with that, so he just agreed with a reluctant sigh and stuck by his father’s side.
Tarsim led Neytiri and her boys further into the heart of the village, passing family homes, garden beds and a few community spaces along the way.
They even had a playground with a couple of young kids playing on it. The children looked a bit younger than Tuk and they didn’t acknowledge the Sullys as they passed by.
Their final stop was a cluster of shops and Tarsim led them into the one that looked like it used to be a small grocery store at one point. The windows were covered in blankets, so one couldn’t see in from the outside. Though it seemed like the inside was kept the same with rows and rows of shelves stocked with resources, food, fabrics and probably more.
“Oh, wow,” Spider muttered from behind him and Neteyam couldn’t agree more. They had quite the selection here and that was only what they could see from the entrance.
“I will help you select a few things. You are a big group,” Tarsim said. She reached over to where a few empty crates were stacked against the wall and she handed one over to Spider, “We will pick enough for you to make food for two days. Is that enough?”
“Yes, thank you,” Neytiri said, looking around already. Two days worth of food would be enough to find another place to scour for more. They wouldn't need much more anyways as they were getting closer and closer to their destinaton by now.
“Good, I will take note of what you take, so please only take what you need,” Tarsim said and when she took a clipboard off a table near the door Neteyam decided that he didn’t like her.
...
This storage was truly big. Whatever they were doing to keep this place stocked up like this was working very well. Several shelves full of cans of various amounts of foods, stacks of noodle packets, several crates of fresh vegetables and fruits, bottles of water, some snacks, chocolates and even some cured meat. Really, anything that a heart could desire.
At this point, this was certainly a luxury.
Tarsim let them walk around for a bit, letting the Sullys inspect what they had to offer and letting them decide what they wanted to take, though she refused them a few things as well, specifically when Spider asked about the chocolates.
Most of the things collected in their crate were canned foods as always. Things that would be easy to prepare and store in the cars, but a lot of the things this community had collected were fresh produce like vegetables, fruits and even a few eggs. Things that could spoil easily if not eaten quickly.
Tarsim was happy to give out the vegetables. They would be regrown easier than most other things, but that also meant that the Sullys would have to take time to cook on the road. It was almost better than what they had to eat so far. Neteyam couldn’t remember the last time he had even seen a fresh carrot.
Neteyam turned the corner of another shelf, his hand already full with a packet of noodles, but he stopped short in front of one of the shelves. It was the shelf for medicine, most of it packed with pill bottles, some rubbing alcohol and bandages, along with some fabrics, towels and a few tools.
Neteyam put down the noodles and reached for one of the pill bottles, reading the label before putting it down and picking up another one to repeat the process until he recognized the name of one of them. They were the pills that he had been taking after his mother had weaned him off the heavy stuff again and which he used doing particular bad nights.
His pills had run out about a week ago and he hadn’t mentioned it to anyone.
It was mostly fine. It’s been a few months since his injury and it had healed as much as it could.
He hardly felt any pain, especially during the day when he was busy and distracted. But sometimes at night, when everything was quiet and still, Neteyam could feel the pain creeping up on him. It never got too bad. If he ignored the stinging hard enough he eventually still managed to fall asleep.
Only one night he hadn’t managed to when the pain had gotten too strong, the stinging too much and it felt like his nerves were on fire.
He had been in the car with Tuk and Ao’nung and at first he had tried ignoring it, squeezing his eyes shut to will himself back to sleep, but with each minute that ticked by the pain felt like it intensified. Neteyam had bit his lip to give him a different kind of pain to focus on until his lip was starting to bleed.
When the pain had started feeling like the first time that the axe had torn through his nerves, Neteyam needed to do something. He had carefully untangled himself from the tight cuddle pile that the three of them had made in one of the cars' backseats and had carefully gotten out of the car.
His father and Lo’ak had been on watch that night and they were already looking at him when he stepped out of the car and closed the door without either Ao’nung or Tuk waking up. Neteyam had brushed off any question or concern, had told Lo’ak he could go and get a few hours of rest and that he would finish the watch with their dad.
Lo’ak had given Neteyam the blanket that were around his shoulders and his father had wiped some of the blood from his lip, but neither of them had asked any more questions when Neteyam seemed to be fine in the morning.
Neteyam brushed his tongue over his lip. It had healed by now.
Tarsim rounded the corner with his mother and Spider dutifully carried the filling crate after them. She looked at Neteyam, then at the bottle in his hand and then back up at him skeptically. Neteyam felt almost shy to ask now, like he had just been caught doing something wrong.
“Can I…Can we have these, too?” He asked, almost timidly, yet with a somewhat bitter tone. It felt like he was revealing a weakness and he hated it.
Tarsim’s lips pulled into a taut line before she smiled apologetically, “Medicine can’t be regrown, I’m afraid. You understand, yes?”
“Right,” Neteyam said tersely. That was that then. Not like Neteyam had expected anything else, but he had hoped.
His mother was glaring at Tarsim from beside her, but Neteyam slammed the pill bottle back onto the shelf none too gently before she could say anything. He picked up the noodles again and tossed it into Spider’s crate, avoiding any and all eye contact before leaving the aisle.
He found Ao’nung with the fruits and he looked at Neteyam softly. He must have heard the whole thing. It would be difficult not to in the big and mostly quiet storage, but Ao’nung didn’t say anything about it. He just offered Neteyam one of the raspberries and then plugged one into his own mouth.
The little gesture was enough to draw a small smile back to Neteyam.
Meanwhile Lo’ak, Kiri and Tuk were left to wait. They had been allowed to walk around a bit as long as they stayed within their father’s eyesight, who was still by the cars with the man he had been arguing with at the gates.
At least they looked like they were getting along rather civilly now and his dad had taken out their map at one point. Now they had spread it out over one of the cars’ hood and were pointing out directions or something that the children couldn't really make out.
Lo’ak was leaning against a small fence that didn’t serve any purpose other than aesthetics, and Kiri sat on top of it beside him, swinging one of her legs lazily. Tuk was a few feet away, watching some chickens in their coop.
“I bet this is a cult,” Lo’ak whispered, though there was no one else close enough to hear.
Kiri giggled, surprised at his sudden words, “How do you figure?”
“Small communities usually are,” Lo’ak said and Kiri rolled her eyes at his assessment. “At least it’s nice here. I could stay here.”
“They seem very self-sufficient,” Kiri said, watching Tuk crouching by the chicken coop. There were a few chicks among them. Kiri sighed before looking over at her brother with a little smile, “They wouldn’t let you stay anyways. You look like trouble.”
Lo'ak just gave a one-sided shrug as Kiri scooted closer on the fence until she was close enough to him. She pulled his hair out of the ponytail he had lazily pulled his braids into at one point, probably last night. The hair tie took a place on Kiri’s wrist as she brushed a hand over his braids, pulled them behind his ear and left it at that.
Lo’ak didn’t even comment on it.
Tuk got bored of the chickens quickly and got up again with a little sigh. She turned back and walked over to her siblings to see what they were talking about.
“Hey, maybe they’d let us stay if we show them again how helpless and cute Tuk is? How could you let someone so sweet back out into the dangerous world?” Lo’ak said somewhat ironically, knowing how much of a menace his little sister could be. Tuk stuck her tongue out at him before dramatically falling against him and leaning her head on his chest. Lo’ak’s arm went around her shoulder.
“They would probably only let Tuk stay and tell the rest of us to leave,” Kiri said, fidgeting with the hair tie to keep her hands occupied with something.
“Hm,” Lo’ak had to admit that she was probably right.
“I don’t want to stay here alone,” Tuk mumbled against her brother's chest. Lo’ak automatically rubbed a hand over her shoulder blades.
“We’re not leaving you here,” Kiri said gently.
“Yeah, we won’t let you join a cult. Don’t worry,” Lo’ak assured her too.
Tuk sighed. It was heavier than it should be coming from her. She had been so excited about traveling again at first. Often she found joy in the smaller things: a four leaf clover, a butterfly or a beautiful sunset. But in the grand scheme of things travel hadn’t done her well. She was getting restless.
Tuk was often bored and in a bad mood and everyone had taken to treating her more gently and she had, in turn, started seeking more comfort. When she was little she had often demanded that her siblings pick her up whenever she was in a bad mood, but she was older now and slowly starting to grow out of it.
Neteyam and their father were the only ones still regularly picking her up, but now that Neteyam wasn’t able to do so comfortably anymore, only Jake did it on occasion.
To make up for it Tuk had been seeking out hugs instead, often just leaning against her siblings and letting them support her weight for her. She did the same now with Lo’ak, leaning heavily against him as he kept rubbing circles into her shoulder.
“That guy keeps staring at us,” Lo’ak broke the silence then, his voice tinted with cautious suspicion.
“What?” Kiri asked confused. The sentence breathed some new energy into Tuk as well and she stood up straighter, turning around to look.
“Over there,” Lo’ak said, pointing with a nod. “Maybe he is trying to figure out how to indoctrinate us.”
“Stop it,” Kiri scolded him. She squinted over to where Lo’ak had pointed out and over by the closest house a few feet away, a boy was leaning against a porch banister. He was indeed looking at them.
Tuk spotted him too and now that all three siblings were looking back at the boy, he must have understood that they had noticed him. But he didn’t turn away and pretend like he hadn’t been staring, instead he actually lifted a hand, smiled and waved at them.
Tuk was the only one who waved back.
“Oh, he’s coming over here,” Lo’ak commented, already putting on a carefully polite smile.
“I can see that,” Kiri said as she matched Lo’ak’s polite smile.
Kiri studied him as the boy walked closer. He was still smiling at them as he walked closer, looking kind and maybe a little embarassed to be caught staring. He looked to be around their age as well.
There was something about him that Kiri couldn’t quite shake.
He looked…familiar maybe? But she couldn’t quite put her finger on it either. It was like she had dreamed of this guy once or she had passed him on the way to school on the street one day or maybe he had held the door open for her once. A fleeting moment where she had seen him and his face had become a memory and now that she was seeing him again, there was a nagging in the back of her mind trying to place where she had seen him before.
She pushed the thought away when he reached their side, standing close enough to talk, but keeping a polite distance.
Now that he was standing closer Kiri tried to study his face in more detail, trying to fit his stricking blue eyes and the prominent scar on the right side of his face somewhere, but she was coming up empty handed once more.
The boy lifted his hand in another little wave.
“Hey,” Lo’ak greeted him first. “Do we look interesting from over there?”
The boy turned to look at where he had been standing before laughing a bit bashfully, “Sorry for staring. I just thought it would be nice to talk. There aren’t many people my age around here.”
Kiri and Lo’ak exchanged a short, slightly sympathetic look, both of them deciding that they would humor him.
“So is this a cult?” Lo’ak asked the boy immediately in a hushed conspiratorial whisper.
The boy let out a surprised laugh.
“Not as far as I’m aware,” He said before he matched Lo’ak’s hushed tone, “But maybe I’m already too brainwashed.”
“Yeah! I like this guy,” Lo’ak said to Kiri. She just shook her head at them with a giggle as Lo'ak turned back to him. “So seriously, what’s the deal with this place?”
“Are you from here? It seems like they are picky with who is allowed to stay,” Kiri said.
“I’m not from here, but yeah, they don't just let anyone stay,” The boy shook his head. “I, uh, arrived a couple months ago, but I was alone. They almost didn’t let me stay either, but it was the middle of winter and I guess they felt bad for me.”
Lo’ak gave a sympathetic “Oh” and the boy just nodded.
"But not a cult, I think," He said with a small smile.
They fell into some simple small talk. The boy told them more about the settlement, how most were smaller families and that, while most homes in the village were empty, they weren't growing enough food to accept more people.
The boy didn't mention anything about his own family.
The Sully siblings talked a bit about their week long journey that brought them here and the boy told them about his travels in the winter that led him here as well. Though they hadn't really talked about anything important, the boy had brightened up over the course of their talk, reveling in a conversation with some people his own age.
"Did you get into a fight with a walker?" Tuk asked at one point, pointing to the side of her face.
The boy lifted his hand, running a finger along the scar with a small smile, "Not with a walker, no." And that was all the explanation he gave.
Lo'ak gently squeezed Tuk's shoulder to keep her from asking any more follow up questions and a small silence fell upon them.
The boy's eyes wandered over each of the three siblings, his face going through a few complicated expressions. Kiri thought that perhaps he looked…sad? Or maybe hopeful, which was a strange combination. It was a bit like he was studying them and she wondered why he was so interested in coming over here. She wondered what he was thinking. Maybe it would give her a clue on who this guy was.
“What’s it like traveling with your family?” He asked then and she understood a bit better.
All three gave a different vague sound in response to the question, making the boy laugh.
“Everyone is overprotective of each other,” Lo’ak said first. His point was emphasized by the way he still had a secure arm wrapped around Tuk’s shoulders. “But it’s nice to be together.”
“We’re lucky,” Kiri finally said, “Many don’t have this anymore.”
“Yeah,” The boy smiled at her more brightly than he had the whole conversation, but the touch of sadness didn’t leave. His gaze wandered past them over Kiri’s shoulder and when she looked back she saw that their father was watching them.
“That’s our dad,” Kiri explained, “We’re probably leaving soon.”
The boy hummed, “It’s too bad you can’t stay. I would have liked to have some friends here.”
“You don’t have friends? But you’re nice,” Tuk finally chimed into the conversation.
“Well, most people here are either over forty and the others haven’t even hit double digits yet, so I feel a bit alone,” The boy explained gently, “But they are nice to me and I have a safe place to stay and food, so I’m lucky, too.”
“You could leave,” Lo’ak said, his tone plainer than his suggestion.
“Wh...what?” The boy was taken aback by the sudden suggestion as was Kiri. She looked at her brother in confusion. It was a reckless thing to suggest.
“If nothing’s really keeping you here, why stay? Find a better place,” Lo’ak suggested.
"Uh-"
"Where are you going with this, Lo'ak?" Kiri interrupted.
"There are more safe zones out there that maybe he'll be happy in," Lo'ak said simply.
Kiri nudged his shoulder, "They would have to be found first."
"What's the point of living if you're not happy," Lo'ak said, "You can still go out there, find a place you connect with, find people you'll love and be happy. I know it's dangerous out there, but longterm this isn't the way to live."
"It's dangerous to go out and hope that you find a safe house," Kiri argued back.
"I know that, but if he's not happy here then that's not good either," Lo'ak shot back.
"He never said he was unhappy here," Kiri said and the siblings finally turned back to the boy.
He didn't look offended that they were arguing over his potential future. Moreso he looked amused as he watched the siblings go back and forth in their argument.
"What do you say?" Lo'ak asked, "Are you happy to stay here for the rest of your days?"
"Lo'ak," Kiri scolded him for the question, but the boy just chuckled.
"You do make it sound morbid, but you're right. I don't think I see myself staying here forever." Lo'ak looked triumphant at his words as the boy continued, "I don't know if I'll get the opportunity to leave, but I'd always hoped that I could go back home one day."
Both Lo'ak and Kiri nodded at his words, feeling a bit bad for where they had brought the conversation.
"What is your home like?" Kiri asked, hoping to move the conversation to a better point. "Is it close to here?"
"Not really," The boy smiled however, bringing his two pointer fingers together before moving them away from each other in a form of demonstration, "But if you traveled from here over to the coast and then followed the coastline all the way to the other side of the country, you'd reach it at one point."
“We’re going to the coast!” Tuk informed him excitedly when the conversation finally presented an opportunity for her to butt in. She untangled herself from Lo’ak’s hold to properly face their conversation partner.
"Oh, really?" Tuk's words put a small pause to the boy's demeanor and he asked curiously, "What's at the coast?"
“There’s a safe house,” Lo’ak revealed, seeing no point in keeping it secret anymore, “They are sending out messages for survivors and we’re trying to find it.”
“Hopefully it's a well established settlement and we'll be able to stay there,” Kiri added with a small sigh.
"Wow," The boy's eyes were wide with the new information and his eyes held a small sparkle of new hope in them.
“You could come with us!” Tuk exclaimed excitedly, but her older siblings were less enthusiastic about the suggestion, their faces pulled into apologetic expressions.
They were already a really big group and adding another person to it, especially someone young that their parents would feel obligated to look after, was probably not going to work out.
“Tuk, we can’t just invite people to come with us,” Kiri explained gently and quietly, though there was no way that the boy didn’t hear her.
“But why? If he wants to go and we’re going, he could just come too,” Tuk said, “He could be happy there, where it’s like his home.”
"We'd have to at least ask mom and dad," Lo'ak mused.
“It’s okay. I probably shouldn’t just leave on a whim anyways. But thanks for lettig me know,” The boy said gently. He smiled down at Tuk, “Maybe I’ll join you there in the future and you can vouch for me, so they’ll let me stay too.”
“Okay,” Tuk seemed satisfied with the task before her face morphed into a thoughtful expression, “You have to tell us your name, though. So we can tell them to let you in.”
The older children all let out a slightly embarrassed chuckles as they met each other’s eyes, realizing that they had completely skipped over any kind of introductions.
“You’re right, I’m sorry,” The boy said before putting a hand to his heart, “I’m Rotxo. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I’m Tuk,” She introduced herself, copying Rotxo’s gesture by putting her hand over her chest.
“Lo’ak,” he introduced himself simply and with a small smile, though he had probably already picked up his name by how often Kiri had already mentioned it.
Rotxo’s looked at Kiri, waiting for her to introduce herself, too. But Kiri said nothing as she finally realized where she had seen him before and in her mind Rotxo’s face clicked firmly into place in that little picture Ao’nung was carrying with him.
Notes:
We unlocked a new character 🦭👀
Chapter 15
Notes:
Exam season is still kicking my ass over here u_u
But I finally got to write a nice reunion :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“You’re Rotxo!”
Rotxo was slightly taken aback at Kiri’s sudden exclamation, but he still smiled a bit amused yet confused, “Yes? And what’s your name?”
“Rotxo! No, I mean… you’re Rotxo,” Kiri let out a breathless little laugh as she jumped off the fence. Rotxo’s questioning eyes wandered to her siblings, looking for any reason for her reaction. Lo’ak and Tuk were looking at her now too, probably thinking like she had lost her mind. Kiri felt like she had, “You’re Ao’nung’s Rotxo!”
From one moment to the next Rotxo’s little smile completely disappeared, only leaving a startled look. Lo’ak was slowly catching up to the conversation now, looking between Kiri and Rotxo for any kind of explanation.
“You know Ao’nung?” Rotxo’s voice was so small now, almost like he was afraid to ask the question.
“He’s here with us!” Tuk exclaimed, jumping a bit in place, also catching up to the conversation, “Do you know him?”
“No way,” Lo’ak said, his excitement rising, too. He clasped a hand onto Rotxo’s shoulder, now that they had gained some familiarity with each other. “No way! You know Ao’nung?”
“He’s…yes. He’s really here? With you?” Rotxo’s voice was almost a whisper, like he could not believe this was actually happening. His hopeful eyes remained on Kiri and she nodded frantically. The excitement of her siblings was getting to her too. “Where is…?”
“They are collecting food for us,” Lo’ak said, “Where do you keep your supplies?”
“Let’s go to them!” Tuk said, grasping for Rotxo’s hand and holding on tightly. She would start tugging on it soon enough. “Let’s go! Where is it?”
Rotxo pointed in one direction before adjusting and pointing in a different direction, “It’s that way.”
Two hands landed on Rotxo’s shoulders as Lo’ak started pushing him into movement with an excited laugh while Tuk was still holding onto his hand, dragging him into the direction he had pointed at. Somehow Rotxo was thankful for the momentum Lo’ak and Tuk provided because he could suddenly feel his legs shaking at the thought of seeing Ao’nung again.
They hurried past the front gate where Jake looked up from the map again with a questioning look.
“What’s going on?” He asked when his children dragged the boy past him.
“It’s Rotxo!” Lo’ak and Tuk responded, which didn’t really answer the question for Jake. He turned to the man he had been talking with. He just shrugged and neither of them moved to follow them. Surely the kids knew what they were doing, so long as they didn’t cause any trouble.
Rotxo could feel his heart in his throat, pounding and pounding as the four of them got ever the closer to where the settlement’s storage was, but at the same time he could feel his steps getting faster as the siblings matched his pace.
A part of him was afraid both of seeing Ao’nung again and the thought that in just a moment he would wake up and see that this was all a dream. Eywa knows how many times he had wished for this moment, only wake up disappointed and alone.
But now it might actually be coming true. He didn’t have anyone to pinch him, but Lo’ak’s hands on his shoulders proved well enough to keep him in the moment and the urge to throw up rose in him when he saw the entrance of the inventory, even more so when the door opened.
The excited yelling summoned Neytiri first and she stepped out, followed by Tarsim, her trusty clipboard in hand. Neytiri visibly relax when she saw that none of them were hurt and the excitement was about the unfamiliar boy that her children were dragging and pushing along.
“Ao’nung!” Tuk yelled out in a shrill voice before giggling, uncaring of the other people around them.
Lo’ak laughed at his little sister before copying her, “Ao’nung, get your ass out here!”
It was not Ao’nung, but Neteyam who stepped out next, looking past his mother at the commotion his siblings were causing.
“What’s going on?” His brow furrowed when he saw Rotxo, studying him up and down like Kiri had earlier. There was no recognition in his eyes but he was likely also trying to figure out why Rotxo looked familiar.
“Where is Ao’nung?” Tuk demanded again.
Neteyam turned around, looking back inside and Rotxo knew that Ao’nung must be right behind him. Neteyam stepped aside a bit, the entrance to the supply getting crowded with all of them standing around to see what was going on, when finally Rotxo’s dream actually came true.
Over Neteyam’s shoulder familiar features, pulled into a curious and yet alert frown, came into view, stepping out and closer and suddenly Rotxo’s could feel his ears ringing as all his focus zeroed in on his friend, alive and here.
There was a brief moment when everything went still as Rotxo’s and Ao’nung’s eyes met for the first time since everything. Since the world ended, since their paths divided, since they thought they would never see the other again.
It seemed like everyone was holding their breath. The siblings, the handful of people of the settlement that wanted to know what was going on, maybe even the whole world, as all eyes wandered onto them.
“Ao’nung…” It was Rotxo who moved first, taking just one step forward and that seemed to bring Ao’nung into motion too, shouldering past the others and rushing to close the gap between them.
Their first touch was less of a hug that seemed to have been intended, but more so a tackle from both sides as their arms engulfed each other, squeezing so tight to make sure that the weight in their arms is really real. It was a miracle that they didn’t fall over because of the force of their hug, but they only stumbled, holding onto each other tight, choked up and disbelieving laughs coming from both of them.
“Rotxo, by Eywa,” Ao’nung’s breathed into his friend’s shoulder, holding him tightly against himself. He sounded winded before he briefly untangled himself from Rotxo again. They both studied each other, taking in the others face, “Is it really you? What are you doing here? How-? How?”
“I live here,” Rotxo’s voice cracked at the words, letting out a small chuckle. His hands on Ao’nung’s shoulders, grasping tightly onto the fabric of his jacket.
Rotxo let his eyes roam over Ao’nung franctically and he could see that Ao’nung was studying him as well.
“Your hair is shorter” Rotxo noted with a small smile and a small chuckle before his laugh crumbled into a suppressed sob.
Even if it had been only a year since they had last seen each other, Ao’nung looked older. His eyes, lacking the open eyed, slightly mischievous look that he had had known his friend to have all his life, looked just a bit more sunken than Rotxo remembered them and the hands on his back were rougher with the violence Ao’nung had to deal with to stay safe in this world.
Rotxo wondered what Ao’nung thought of him as he studied him, but he wasn’t surprised when Ao’nung’s hand came up to his cheek, to the scar that was there, never minding the tears flowing over it.
“I thought you were dead,” came out of both their mouth simultaneously before they both let out matching breathless laughs and Ao’nung pulled Rotxo back against him, hugging his friend tightly. Rotxo practically fell against him, his shoulders shaking just slightly more than Ao’nung’s as he cried.
“I feel like we just delivered a gift,” Kiri laughed a little as the excitement started calming again as she watched the reunion.
“I feel a weird urge to clap,” Lo’ak said, crossing his arms, satisfied.
Kiri huffed another laugh, looking past the hugging friends to the others. Her mother and Neteyam were watching Rotxo and Ao’nung with small smiles on their faces and even Tarsim gave a small nod at the touching scene.
Another moment passed before lastly Spider came out of the grocery store.
There was little arguing about what would happen next, everyone just knew that Rotxo would be tagging along. While the children were elated, Jake and Neytiri didn’t look all too thrilled that their group was growing even more. Still they accepted it without argument, knowing that they wouldn’t leave Ao’nung’s family behind.
Jake just reminded Rotxo to pack lightly and Tarsim even allowed the Sullys to take some more food, now that they were gaining another member and the settlement was losing one.
Now Ao’nung sat on Rotxo’s bed as he packed a small bag with his belongings.
“You live here alone?” Ao’nung asked. The house was empty and it was a clear family home with two floors and plenty of space.
Rotxo just shrugged, “The settlement is not short on space and I had no one to share with.”
Ao’nung hummed, looking around the room. It wasn’t much decorated to begin with and it certainly didn’t hold anything of Rotxo’s personality. Still it was a cozy room, in a big house, in a seemingly well running settlement.
“You’ve done well for yourself,” Ao’nung commented lightly. “It’s nice here.”
Rotxo smiled slightly, “It’s fine. It’s a safe place to stay and I was lucky to find it. I think you’ve done better for yourself. You have a good group.”
Ao’nung smiled to himself. There was really no denying it, “Yeah, I do. It’s infinitely better than traveling alone.”
“Hm, yeah,” Rotxo’s small agreement let Ao’nung know that he must have spent some time alone on the road as well. No matter the time that had passed, Ao’nung was still able to read his oldest friend well. “How long have you been travelling together?”
Ao’nung summed up his journey with the Sullys, telling Rotxo about how he met Neteyam first and eventually got closer with the whole family during their stay in the motel.
Ao’nung watched Rotxo pack a few more things, before getting up and suddenly pulling him into another hug, topping it off with a kiss onto the side of his head. Rotxo chuckled, letting the shirt in his hand drop onto the bed and wrapping his arms around Ao’nung too.
“I missed you so much. I’m sorry that I… that we didn’t find each other again,” Ao’nung said quietly and Rotxo’s hands on his back faltered a bit, “I looked for you.”
“I know… I know, I’m sorry,” Rotxo breathed out deeply at the memory of the first few days of the end of the world. He sighed, pulling away from Ao’nung and reaching up to quickly wipe his cheeks from his tears again, “It’s my fault.”
“What? No,” Ao’nung reached to put a hand on Rotxo’s arm to make him face him again, “We probably just missed each other in the chaos. I still remember how it was the first few days. You could barely go out in the streets.”
“No, I mean, everything would have been fine if I had come back to your house,” Rotxo pulled away with a frown, irritated with himself. “I shouldn’t have gotten on that stupid bus.”
“What? What bus?” Ao’nung asked, his eyes wandered to Rotxo’s scar, “What happened after we separated?”
“This happened a few months later,” Rotxo’s clarified with a shake of his head, “After we separated I went straight home. My mother was… she was already gone. Turned, you know.” Rotxo sighed as Ao’nung squeezed his arm in support, “I left. I couldn’t see her like that and I just left the house. I didn’t even take anything with me, I just needed to get out of there.”
“Where did you go?”
“I ended up by the main street, close to the café that used to give us free cones, remember?”
Ao’nung smiled a bit sadly at the memory, “Yeah.”
“I don’t even know how I didn’t get attacked on the way there. Guess I was lucky,” Rotxo picked up one of the shirts on his bed and tossed it into the bag, before taking it out again, folding it and putting it in more neatly. “There was... a military bus by the elementary school. They were evacuating people and I… made a break for it. I just wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.” The last words were almost a whisper as Rotxo avoided looking at his friend.
Ao’nung swallowed heavily. He had found the elementary school the next day after he gave up his search for Rotxo. There had been many resources, food and blankets left behind and he had taken them all with him. The door had had a chained lock and he had figured that survivors had taken shelter there until they had eventually been evacuated.
He just had no idea that he had missed a safe ride so closely.
“I tried to tell them that you were also there, but no one listened to me. They just told me to sit and wait and once I was on the bus, they wouldn’t let me get off again either,” Rotxo continued, “I really tried to get off again. Please believe me, I would have rather been with you.”
“I believe you. It’s not your fault,” Ao’nung said quietly. Rotxo shook his head, but Ao'nung didn't let him disagree with him, "You saw safety and you went for it. I won't blame you for that, Rotxo."
Rotxo just avoided eyecontact and Ao'nung knew that he could not talk his friend out of feeling guilty, but after a moment Rotxo nodded grimly, just accepting Ao'nung's words for now. There was a pause between them, a question nagging in Ao'nung's mind that he didn’t want to ask. He knew the answer he would be given and yet he needed to have it confirmed and he finally forced himself to ask: “Where did they take you?”
And Rotxo gave the dreaded, expected answer, “They drove us to Zongtseng. The safe house.”
Of course. Of course they did. In the first few days the military had tried to take control of the situation, locking down cities and then trying to evacuate the major ones when things started getting out of control. Citizens were evacuated to Zongtseng, but of course there weren’t enough busses.
And Ao’nung thought that he most likely missed the last safe ride out of the city back then.
“Rotxo?”
“Yeah?”
“At Zongtseng…did you maybe see my family or heard anything of them?” Ao’nung asked carefully.
Rotxo studied him a bit in surprise, “No. No, I thought…you didn’t find them?”
Ao’nung shook his head, “The house was empty. My mother left me a note, saying that they were at Zongtseng.”
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t see them during my stay or when we had to leave,” Rotxo shook his head apologetically before he hesitated slightly, “But Zongtseng…it’s no longer around.”
“Yeah, I heard,” Ao’nung said, accepting the information he was given without any following questions.
Ao’nung had never let his mind wonder about what had happened to Rotxo, simply because it only took mere moments until he started blaming himself for Rotxo’s presumed death. He had always thought that Rotxo must have been attacked in the full streets the cities still had back then.
He was always asked himself why they had separated in the first place. What if they had been together. What if Ao’nung had turned onto the main street to look for Rotxo instead of traipsing through the neighborhood, dreading the moment he would find his turned friend or any other familiar face for that matter.
Now he couldn't help but wonder: What if he had managed to catch the bus. Maybe he would have found his family. They would have been together at Zongtseng and he wouldn’t have spent so much time searching for them while crossing the country.
He wouldn’t have had to spent so many months alone, wondering if he would even ever make it to Zongtseng, only to find out that it no longer existed.
There was a knock on the door before it was pushed open. It snapped Ao’nung out of his spiraling thoughts and interrupted Rotxo’s quiet packing. It was Neteyam and he poked his head in with a small smile.
Ao’nung let go of the thoughts that had been plaguing him as he returned Neteyam’s smile. He was the silver lining in everything that happened. After all, he wouldn’t have had met Neteyam if things had turned out differently and there was no need to keep torturing himself with what-ifs.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but my father said we have to get going soon,” Neteyam said, “Are you packed?”
“Yeah, almost done,” Rotxo assured him, “Thank you for letting me come with you.”
Ao’nung got up from the bed, forcing himself to be more enthusiastic than the previous conversation had left him. He walked over to Neteyam beckoning him closer with a hand on his back and turning to Rotxo. With their sudden and overwhelming reunion there wasn’t really any time for formal introductions besides a few name mentions here and there, so Ao’nung was glad that he got to introduce Neteyam properly now.
“Rotxo, this is Neteyam. He’s… my partner,” Ao’nung said the last word a bit timidly. They had never put a name to their relationship, never had to introduce each other to someone else and everyone important already knew what they were to each other, so the word felt a bit foreign in his mouth.
Rotxo seemed to catch quickly on what Ao’nung meant and his expression lit up curiously, “Partner? As in-?”
“Yes,” Ao’nung confirmed. His smile had brightened by now.
Neteyam seemed a bit amused at the formal introduction, but still he smiled at Rotxo.
“It’s nice to properly meet you,” Neteyam said.
“Likewise,” Rotxo said before turning to zip up his bag and swung it over his shoulder to signal that he was done before he held out his hand for Neteyam to shake. It was weirdly formal for the situation, but Neteyam humored him and shook his hand.
"I'm glad you're coming with us," Neteyam said, squeezing Rotxo's hand kindly.
"Thank you again," Rotxo said. Their introduction was interupted by Ao'nung wrapping his arm around Rotxo's shoulders first, then Neteyam's as well, pulling them both into his embrace. Both of them let out a small surprised sound, but neither resisted Ao'nung's touch, allowing him the moment to hold them both. After everything he deserved to revel in it.
The rest of the group was out by the front gate, already at the cars and waiting to go.
“Rotxo, right?” Jake came up to them first and Rotxo stiffened up a bit. Naturally he already knew that the Sully parents were the leaders of the family unit, but there was just something extra about them that demanded respect.
“Yes, sir, thank you for letting me come,” Rotxo said, gripping the strap of his bag tightly. His stiff, nervous demeanor reminded Ao’nung a lot of himself when he first met Neteyam’s father, up until he started getting more comfortable over time.
“Of course. We wouldn’t just leave Ao’nung’s family behind,” Jake assured him, “I think you met everyone else already. You can call me Jake and this is my wife, Neytiri,” He gestured to her, where she was packing up one of the cars with Spider and Lo’ak’s help. She just gave a nod towards Rotxo.
Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk needed no introduction and Spider introduced himself with a small wave before Rotxo took his last goodbyes from the few people that had come to see him off.
Their departure from the settlement was otherwise underwhelming with Jake doing most of the talking, thanking their hosts with the promise not to return. Rotxo’s goodbyes were short lived and mostly consisted of a few friendly waves and a few hugs from the younger children he sometimes kept an eye on. The adults didn't look too bummed to be losing a member and Rotxo didn't seem too torn up about leaving either.
It didn’t take long until they were all settled in and pulling back out of the settlement, taking the road back the way they came from, now with one more person than they had arrived with. They didn’t have much time until the sun would start setting, so the focus now was on finding a decent place to hunker down for the night.
It took a couple of hours until they came upon a small rest area along the road with a small road stop shop and a mostly empty parking lot.
As soon as everyone was out of the cars, Jake took charge again, recruiting Ao’nung and Spider to help him comb the area. Naturally Rotxo trailed along with Ao’nung and surprisingly enough, so did Tuk. She seemed to have taken a liking to their new travel member.
Neytiri, Neteyam and Lo’ak went into the shop to see if there was something left to salvage.
“Oh, this is like stepping into Eywa’s embrace,” Lo’ak said as soon as they stepped inside. Since it wasn’t a proper grocery store, most things available were packages of gummi bears and candy bars. Lo’ak took a few from the racks, checking the dates before stuffing as many as he could into his bag.
Neteyam followed his brother around for a while, randomly picking up stuff that caught his eye before he walked up to the refrigerators. They had lost power long ago but the bottles of water were a jackpot all on their own. He took one into his hand and held it out to his mother when she came up to him, “We should take them with us.”
Neytiri took the bottle from him, “I’ll have your father come collect them later.”
She reached up, gently brushing a few of Neteyam’s braids behind his ear in a simple, motherly gesture and Neteyam gave her a questioning look.
“How is your arm?” She asked, keeping her voice low, “Does it still hurt?”
Neteyam sighed. He had really hoped that this wouldn’t come up again, but he should have known better and expected this conversation. There was no way his mother would have let what happened in the storeroom go.
“No, mom. It’s fine, honestly,” Neteyam assured her with a shake of his head. Neytiri simply tilted her head and raised one of her eyebrows, the same expression she would use when she knew that one of her children wasn’t being entirely truthful with her. And Neteyam and his siblings knew better than to lie to her, “It only hurts sometimes, but really, it’s not so bad. I can ignore it.”
“You don’t have to do that, Neteyam,” Neytiri said gently, “We’ll find you some more painkillers on our next stop, I promise.”
“I’m really fine,” Neteyam assured her, giving her a small smile in the hopes that maybe it would appease her.
Neytiri smiled too before moving to gently pinch his cheek, “Tell me next time you’re in pain, alright?”
Well, there was no convincing her. His mother always knew better, “Yes, mom.”
Neteyam was saved from the conversation when Lo’ak excitedly joined their side.
“Look what I found,” he said before presenting two walkie-talkies to them. He pressed one of them into Neteyam’s hand, “Now we can stay in contact when we’re split up.”
“This is a kid’s toy,” Neteyam pointed out, holding up the bright green, plastic walkie for good measure.
Lo’ak shrugged, “I’m pretty sure it’ll still work. We should test it out.”
“It will probably work,” Neteyam agreed, “But I doubt these have much range, Lo’ak.”
“Whatever. I’ll test these out with Spider, you’ll see,” Lo’ak’s light mood was shortlived and he snatched the walkie out of Neteyam’s hand again. Neteyam let him go without a comment, already used to sudden outbursts, though he felt a bit bad for having ruined his good mood.
Everyone was bound to get more snappish. The road was long, the shared space was small and privacy was basically none existent. Patience would start running thin at one point.
True to his word Lo’ak took to testing the walkies as soon as they were done with scouting out the area and Spider wasn’t the only one recruited into testing the walkie-talkies range as Tuk really wanted to be a part of it, too.
The children ended up building two groups, splitting up into two different directions across the rest stop. Lo’ak’s group was standing at the edge of the parking lot and though Jake had told them not to go too far, at this point he couldn’t even see Spider’s group anymore as they had disappeared in the tree line some time ago. No matter the fact that most of them were young aduls by this point, it easily kept them busy.
Meanwhile Jake had taken the crate that they still had from the settlement and carried as many bottles of water as he could from the store over to the trunks while Neytiri was crouching in the space between their two cars with the gas burner on and a small pot of dinner already cooking.
It was not dark yet and with their new ingredients they actually had time to cook a decent and warm meal for tonight.
Jake set the crate down next to the cars before sitting down on the ground beside his wife and giving her a quick kiss. Neytiri wordlessly handed Jake a few carrots and a knife and he dutifully started cutting it smaller and into the cooking pot.
“We should be arriving at the coast soon. If we drive through, it’ll only take another few days, but I think we need to make a stop soon,” Jake brought up. “We’re getting closer now, but-“
“The amount of food we have now is not enough,” Neytiri finished for him.
“Yeah,” Jake said, “We have enough to last to the settlement, but if they don’t let us stay, then we’d have a problem.”
Neytiri hummed in agreement.
With a sigh Jake rubbed his temple. The search for food was becoming the bane of his existence and he missed the days were he could just walk into their local grocery store, sit Tuk into the shopping cart and have his children plead for all kinds of unhealthy food. “Especially now that we have one more person to feed.”
“When have we gotten into the habit of taking in every young person that crosses our paths?” Neytiri asked lightly, stirring the pot and looking over the where Lo’ak’s group had now moved even further away. Since the beginning of the apocalypse their number of children had almost doubled.
Jake teasingly nudged her shoulder, that was still stirring the pot, “Well, you know what they say. If you feed them then they will keep on coming.”
Neytiri gave him an exasperated look, but smiled when her husband laughed. Jake wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against his side more securely and kissed the side of her head lovingly. It was rare these days that they had a quiet moment for themselves, always surrounded by their children.
“We’ve been doing a good job,” Neytiri said, reaching up to cup Jake’s cheek gently and nuzzle his cheek affectionately. “If Eywa wills it, we will be arriving at the settlement soon and our family will be safe again. We won't have to run anymore.”
Jake agreed, leaning into her touch before kissing her again.
Lookout duty was mostly boring.
During dinner Jake had told the children what the upcoming plan would be: finding a good place in the next city to hunker down for a few days, rest and refill their inventory one more time before starting the final part of their journey.
Jake had asked if anyone wished to volunteer for night watch. Ao’nung was supposed to take it tonight, but Jake knew for a fact that he would be too distracted by everything that had happened today. He and his friend should get a good rest and time to catch up some more if they wished.
Neteyam had been the first one to volunteer. Spider had followed close behind.
So, once the sun had gone down and the rest of the Sullys had split up between the cars to turn in for the night, the two of them had made themselves comfortable for a long nightshift.
Spider had turned over the empty crate, making it into a small table and sitting down on the ground beside it. It had started raining slightly and he and Neteyam had spread a tarp over the roofs of the two cars, creating a small shelter in between.
Now he listened to the patter above him and kept an eye on the empty street. Spider figured that they would be in for an uneventful night and while having a light on in the middle of the night was not a good idea as it could draw attention to them, he and Neteyam had agreed that a small candle would be alright and it now rested on top of the overturned crate.
It was quite peaceful like this.
“Here,” Neteyam’s quiet voice alerted him. He held out two stacked cups for Spider to take before he sat down beside him. Spider unstacked the cups, putting them onto the crate, one in front of him and one in front of Neteyam.
Neteyam poured some hot water into each of them before holding a few small packets out to Spider.
“What’s this?”
“Instant coffee,” Neteyam smirked. “Some fuel for the night.”
“Thank Eywa,” Spider said, tearing open the packages and emptying one into each cup “And thank you.”
A bit of peaceful silence passed as the two of them stirred their coffees and listened to the patter above them. It was nice, sitting together like this. Neteyam and Spider hadn’t gotten many moments to talk and get to know each other one on one, but still it felt comfortable sitting with each other. Something akin to comradery was between them and it felt good.
“I have something for you, too,” Spider said eventually. He reached into his pocket, pulling something out, “Here.”
Spider pressed a full bottle of painkillers into Neteyam’s hand and the rattle of it was like music to his ears.
“How did you get this?” Neteyam gaped at him in disbelieve as he turned it around in his hand to really make sure, but yes, it was the same bottle he had held and asked about in the settlement.
Spider nudged his head towards the direction of one of the cars with a sly smirk, “Ao’nung and his friend unknowingly created the perfect distraction. I just went inside really quick and swiped it off the shelf and no one is any wiser about it.”
Neteyam laughed lightly, pocketing them for the rougher nights “Thank you.”
“I also got this,” Spider said with a satisfied smile as he reached into his pocket again and pulled out a few small chocolate bars. Neteyam laughed and accepted the one Spider handed to him.
“Lo’ak found a whole stash in the store,” Neteyam pointed out.
“Yes, but these ones are more special.”
“Because you stole them?” Neteyam asked with a laugh.
“Because I stole them, yes,” Spider confirmed, also laughing and they brought their chocolate bars together in a small toast.
Another pause fell upon them until it was broken, again by Spider, “Do you think we’ll find more lost family members before we reach the safe zone?”
Neteyam hummed. Truthfully he was still hoping that they might find Ao’nung’s family, especially now that they had stumbled onto Rotxo. It meant that, while they were pretty far from Ao’nung’s home town, there was a chance that they could still find them. Neteyam refused to believe that Ao’nung’s family was really dead, even if he was holding out hope for the both of them.
He just wanted Ao’nung to feel as he did today. The pure joy and relief when he had hugged his friend again was all he ever wanted for him. And a small part of Neteyam really wanted to meet Ao’nung’s parents, just like Ao'nung had met his.
“I really hope so,” Neteyam finally said, before turning to face Spider, “What about you? You were alone when you found my family, right?” Neteyam breached the topic carefully, “You don’t have to tell me, but what was it like for you, during the outbreak? Are you hoping to find someone?”
Spider mulled over the question for a short while and Neteyam almost thought that he would dodge the question fully. But then he spoke soft and earnestly, “No, I’m actually hoping to avoid being found.”
“Ah,” The answer surprised him a bit and Neteyam realized how little he actually knew of Spider. He couldn’t even say what he had assumed until now. Neteyam hadn’t really thought about how things had been for Spider before the outbreak and before he found the Sullys, “Who are you hoping to avoid then?”
“My dad,” Spider answered softly.
The rain pattering on the tarp increased over the next few seconds, almost suddenly turning into a proper downpour. Spider didn't say anything else for a long moment and Neteyam felt like he had overstepped, wondering if he should apologize for asking at all.
He was just about to speak when Spider beat him to it.
“I was at college,” Spider spoke calmly as he recounted his story, “My campus was a bit remote and we were quarantined when people started turning around the world. Me and my roommates followed the news, but I could have never guessed how bad it was. It was hard to believe without seeing it ourselves, you know? For the longest time we just thought that the news were exaggerating and everything would go back to normal in a few days.”
His eyes were locked into the distanc ahead. It was hard to see with the rain and they should really be paying closer attention because of it, but Neteyam was focused on listening to Spider and Spider was lost in memories as he talked, his voice growing ever quieter, “But then my dad texted me. Called a bunch of times too, saying that he was coming to get me and told me to wait somewhere safe. That’s when I knew that the situation was serious."
“He didn’t make it to you?” Neteyam guessed quietly.
“Fuck if I know,” Spider laughed a little, though it didn’t hold much humor, “I ran as soon as I got his message. I got out of there and never looked back,” Spider paused a moment, “He’s probably still looking for me.”
“Maybe he thinks you’re dead,” Neteyam suggested, reaching for his coffee to warm his hand.
His words seemed to only amuse Spider, “Nah, I’m hard to kill. I have that from him and he knows that.”
Neteyam just nodded, not asking how Spider knew how hard to kill his father was and vice versa.
“What about your mother?”
“She died after I was just born,” Spider said.
He opened his jacket, reaching into the inner pocket, the one close to his heart, and pulled out a folded up picture. He held it out to Neteyam and pictured on it was a pretty woman and a small, chubby baby. “That’s her,” Spider said, a small happy smile on his lips. Though he had never really known her, he remembered her fondly. "My dad was in prison most of my life, so I grew up in foster care. My foster family housed and fed me, but we were never really close, so I had no reason to go back to them. I just packed a bag, escaped my slowly overrunning college campus and went where my instincts took me."
Spider breathed out deeply, letting the story fall off his shoulders. He reached for his cup before taking a sip and giving a casual shrug, “And that’s my mysterious backstory. Really, I was always on my own.”
“Well, you’re not on your own anymore,” Neteyam said, “You have a family now.”
“Yeah, I do,” Spider nudged him with his shoulder, “Sully’s stick together.”
“Let’s hope this settlement will be our last stop and then you won’t have to keep running anymore,” Neteyam said.
“Cheers,” Spider agreed with a laugh and they clinked their coffee cups together. Here was to hoping.
Notes:
I really love Spider, I'm glad I finally get to write more of him <3
Chapter 16
Notes:
Me posting a new chapter after only a week? That's crazy
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The food they had received from the settlement lasted for another two days, though by the second day the meals they could prepare were just little more than a snack for everyone. With nine people, portions were getting smaller, but it was enough to get them to the next city.
Following their father's plan for now, their next stop was decided and it would be their last opportunity to prepare up for any worse case scenario that could come: From getting stuck on the road to getting rejected by the settlement.
The steady increase of walkers was the best way to know that they were getting closer to the city, followed by the atmosphere in the car, going from relatively relaxed during the whole drive to tense and alert. Neteyam had been sitting in the passenger seat with his feet lazily propped up onto the dashboard for most of the time, but as they got closer he sat properly with the map in his lap.
“You’re really throughout with the map,” Rotxo commented, watching as they passed another walker. With their car in the lead and the others following behind, Neteyam had finally led them to the city.
“Don’t get him started,” Ao’nung huffed a small laugh as he dodged another walker so as to not run them over and damage the car. The few walkers on the highway were his only problem right now, empty as it otherwise was. The side of the highway leading into the city was empty, while the other side, the one leading out of the city, was filled with abandoned cars as far as the eye could see.
Ignoring both their comments, Neteyam pointed out the next exit, tilting the map towards Ao’nung, “Take the next exit. I think it’ll take us to a good spot.”
“Taking the next exit, over,” Spider happily reported into the walkie, the receiving end being in the car behind them.
“Roger, over,” the crackling sound of Lo’ak’s voice came in response. The whole thing felt a bit silly in the beginning, but Lo’ak and Spider were clearly enjoying it and Neteyam had to admit they were quite useful, especially when someone needed a break. It was easier to stop as a unit instead of having to constantly check that the other car was still following.
“I’m not sure about this” Rotxo’s spoke up from the backseat, his voice held a bit of concern, “Isn’t that dangerous? I mean not that I’m doubting your dad’s decisions, but the city…”
“It’s probably our best chance of finding enough food to ration for the next leg of the journey,” Neteyam said softly. He had asked the same question when he had mulled over the map with his parents before they had set out on the road again and his father had told him the exact same thing.
They weren’t planning to stay long. At most maybe a day before leaving and from then it would only take another few days until they reached the coordinates that the radio message had directed them towards. They wanted this to be their last big stop.
“I always avoided the city,” Rotxo said.
“It’s better to, especially when you travel alone,” Ao’nung agreed, turning down the street that Neteyam had pointed out. The other car was right behind them.
“But sometimes you don’t have a choice,” Spider piped in from beside Rotxo, repeating Neteyam’s point, “Best chance for food.”
“It’ll be okay,” Neteyam assured him, looking back into the backseat to smile at him. Rotxo smiled back and Neteyam hoped that he would be right.
The exit had taken them to a good spot at the edge of the city. There were a few houses around where they had eventually parked.
“Someone stays here with the cars. This is our meeting spot,” Jake put a hand on the hood of the car where everyone was standing around it, “Any volunteers?”
Not a single hand went up. After days on the road and weeks away from any big city, the children were just waiting for an opportunity for a chance to stretch their legs. Even if that included venturing through groups of walkers.
Neytiri’s bow was already unstrapped and she counted how many arrows she still had, making it clear that she would be going. Out of everyone in the family, Neteyam and her had been the only ones still using their bows, especially in places with denser walker presence as it was a quieter weapon.
“Dad is staying,” Tuk decided with a giggle when no one volunteered.
“Yes, I’ll stay here. That’s probably for the best,” Jake sighed, putting down his bag back onto the hood of the car, “But you’re staying here with me, Tuk. We’ll see if we can find a place to stay.”
“I want to go, too,” Tuk whined. “It’s boring staying behind all the time.”
“Boring is good,” Jake said, “You can make expeditions when you’re older.”
“I know how to use a gun,” Tuk pointed out. She had been taught how to use one early on in the apocalypse.
“Yes, for emergencies. No need to put you in one. You’ll stay with me and we’ll find a nice place to stay for the night, okay?” Jake said, ruffling Tuk’s hair and continuing before she could put up any more protest.
Jake asked again if someone else wanted to stay behind, but again, no hands went up, so he just reiterated his warnings, “Tuk and I will go through the area and find a place to stay. Meeting spot is here at the cars and if you’re not back in three hours at the latest, I’m going out to look for you, understood?”
They nodded.
“Look out for one another and don’t make too much noise.”
“We know, dad. Don’t get into unnecessary fights, avoid walkers and only shoot if necessary, only travel in groups of at least three and have each other’s back,” Lo’ak rattled down quickly, putting down one of his fingers at each point, “Can we go now?”
Jake wasn’t very amused at Lo’ak’s attitude, “I’m not saying this to be annoying, Lo’ak. It’s life and death out there and if you can’t take it seriously then I’ll keep you here with me as well.”
“I am treating it seriously. You’re acting like we haven’t been living like this for over a year now,” Lo’ak was immediately ready to argue and defend himself, tell his father that he knew very well what was at stake. He had lived through this just as long as his father had and so far he had always been fine when they had gone out into the city without their parents. He didn’t need these reminders. “I’m not a child anymore.”
“You are acting like one,” Jake’s voice lowered in the way it would when he was losing his patience and it was then that Neteyam stepped in before Neytiri could.
“Lo’ak will be fine. I will keep an eye on him,” He assured his father, putting a hand on Lo’ak’s arm to placate him. Lo’ak just turned away from his touch.
Jake seemed fine with that, letting them go without another reminder, but as the group left Jake and Tuk behind to venture into the city, Lo’ak’s glare was prominently biting into the side of Neteyam’s head.
As soon as they were out of eyesight of their father, Lo’ak hissed at him, “You didn’t have to do that. I can argue with dad without you constantly getting in between us.”
“Yes, I did have to do that. Because if you had kept going then Dad would have made you stay with him and then you would have been in a shit mood the rest of the day and the person you always pick a fight with when you’re in a bad mood, is me,” Neteyam shot back.
The two brothers were standing almost chest to chest now, both in a challenge, but both of them had to take a step back when the bow of their mother went between them, “That’s enough. I'm seperating you. You’re going in different groups.”
“Fine by me,” Lo’ak grit his teeth and without another word, he turned and walked into a different direction. Neteyam sighed. It looked like he wasn’t escaping a fight with his brother either way.
“Sorry,” Neteyam simply said to his mother.
“I’ll go with him,” Neytiri assured him gently before sighing, “Things have been too quiet lately. It was only a matter of time until someone started arguing.”
Lo’ak had stopped at the end of the street, his arms crossed and silently seething as he waited for whoever was coming with him. Even in his anger, he wouldn’t just set off alone.
“Someone else should go, too,” Ao’nung suggested as there were still five of them left over if Neytiri went with Lo’ak.
Neytiri nodded and beckoned Ao’nung to follow her, opting to take his suggestion as him simply volunteering. Ao’nung’s eyes wandered over to Spider questioningly as he seemed like the better choice in this, but Spider just shrugged with a smile, deciding to follow Neytiri’s decision on this one.
With that there was little room for argument then, so Ao’nung had no choice but to go. He briefly walked over to Neteyam, giving him a quick kiss in hopes of lifting his mood just a bit before they parted. Neteyam returned the kiss briefly before Kiri finally nudge them apart.
“We’ll take care of Rotxo. Bye,” She said, shooing him off and as soon as Neytiri and Ao’nung were by Lo’ak’s side, Neteyam’s group turned and walked into the other direction and not even a moment later, Neteyam started voicing his frustration to Kiri.
“Two minutes in the city and he is already fighting with me. Can you believe it?” Neteyam grumbled as he walked ahead.
“I was going with you because I thought you would be less annoying about this,” Kiri said as she trudged behind her brother. “Maybe I should have stuck with dad after all.”
At first three hours sounded like a reasonable time to walk through the city, explore and scout for food, but it quickly became clear how careful they had to move. It seemed like with every corner they rounded, more and more walkers were waiting for them.
As soon as they arrived in the inner city, conversations ceased and they only communicated with hand signals, eye contact and, at most, whispers so as to not draw attention to themselves.
The amount of walkers was worse than in the city they had stayed in over winter. Or maybe it was because the weather was warmer now. Maybe there were more survivors taking residence in this city, causing more walkers to flock here. Either way, there were a whole lot more walkers than expected and Neteyam just hoped that it wouldn't prove to be a problem.
They had probably gone farther into the city than their father had wanted them to go, but they had come across a small shopping street all the same. Due to the amount of walkers along the streets, it had taken longer to find a suitable place to search, but in the end they had made it without drawing any unwanted attention.
The groaning of the walkers that could be heard echoing faintly at all times truly made them realize that they were back in the city now and how easy the journey's road was in comparison. Despite the annoying lack of space and the constant need to ration food, at least there wasn't something out to kill them around every corner.
Peeking out of the smashed front window of the shop they were in, Neteyam made sure that the street was still relatively empty and they wouldn’t have any problems venturing out again after their search. Hordes could build uncomfortably fast.
So far they had found some left over salt and sugar and some packets and cans of food that were hidden behind a shelf.
“Should we check the back?” Rotxo asked, pointing to the big door at the end of the store.
Kiri waved him off, quietly assuring him that she and Spider would be staying at the front. And since this would probably be their one and only stop before they’d have to return to the meeting spot and Neteyam did not want to go back empty handed, he agreed.
The stock in the back was a lot messier than the store itself and that was saying something. Piles of boxes, rotting food, spilled liquids (most of it drinks, but Neteyam would place a bet that some of it was blood too) and broken bottles were only half of it. Carefully stepping over the mess they kept their eyes open for anything salvageable.
Being alone with Rotxo was strange, to put it kindly. Neteyam had already noticed the way Rotxo glanced at him sometimes, looking like he wanted to say something. Rotxo seemed a bit unsure since they split from the others, carefully asking questions and making suggestions, wanting to be useful while not overstepping his role in the new group. Neteyam figured that he was nervous without Ao’nung in the immediate vicinity.
Neteyam hoped that they could get to know each other more in the coming days, maybe without his siblings present like in the past few days. He wanted Ao'nung's best and oldest friend to like him after all, but this was the first time that they were alone together.
Neither of them made a move to speak on it first though, seemingly in silent agreement that now wasn’t the best time or place to talk. Maybe Neteyam would suggest that they take the night watch together soon. It had proven to be a good way to peacefully bond after all.
In the meantime, working with Rotxo was easy and the brief silence as they searched was surprisingly less awkward than anticipated.
“Hey, look,” Rotxo called out softly, walking over to whatever he had spotted. He had to reach past a few crates before pulling out a small cylinder container and holding it up for Neteyam to see, “Cocoa powder!”
Their bags were already rather full with some things they found, so Neteyam removed one of the food cans and helped Rotxo squeeze in the cocoa powder, silently agreeing that this took priority.
Neteyam laughed softly, “Tuk is going to love that. We should make some tonight.”
They collected a few more things that were intact, before calling it a day.
Rotxo zipped up his bag again and Neteyam moved his own bag closer to Rotxo, wordlessly asking him to repeat the process for his own bag. It was just easier to close an overfilling bag with two hands. Rotxo complied easily, smiling when Neteyam thanked him.
The relative silence was broken when a startled shout and a shot rang out from the front. Neteyam rushed out of the back, his gun instantly held in his hand and at the ready. He could hear Rotxo right behind him as they quickly made their way back to the front.
"What happened?" Neteyam assessed the scene before him and it looked strangely familiar. Kiri looked shaken, an open door in front of her and a dead walker crumpled at her feet. It must have surprised her and Spider, who was already assessing the situation outside, had kept her from getting injured.
Neteyam walked over, bringing his sister into a brief embrace to ground her back into the moment, rubbing her back. Her shaking hand went around his shoulder as she sighed shakily.
"I'm okay," She assured him, "We should get out of here."
The previously empty street was now a little fuller. A handful of walkers roamed around, nothing abnormal for the city and under normal circumstances nothing to worry about, but due to the shot that had rung out, they were all making their way towards the store now.
Spider managed to keep the already present walkers at arm’s length while Neteyam quickly started leading Rotxo and Kiri out of the store, looking back to see that Spider was following them. They walked a few streets further before ducking into a restaurant to take shelter and get off the street, knowing that soon every walker in hearing distance would flock into their direction.
Neteyam took that moment to check on Kiri again, this time from head to toe, making sure that she was really okay while they waited for the situation to calm down again. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long for the street to clear again as it was already quickly crowding now.
Neteyam led the other three deeper into the restaurant and away from the doors and windows and eventually they all settled behind the bar.
"I'm sorry," Kiri mumbled after a moment, tapping her fingers onto the bar top and watching the street slowly fill.
"It's not your fault," Spider assured her as did Neteyam. He knew a thing or two about opening doors and regretting it later.
"We shouldn't have come back to the city," Kiri bit out. She was clearly still shaken and she didn't refuse when Neteyam pulled her back to his side and rubbed her shoulder gently.
"We didn't know that there would be so many walkers around," Neteyam said, "The streets in the last city we stayed in were practically empty when we were lucky."
"It was winter," She argued weakly.
"It's okay. We didn't know" Neteyam repeated to try and calm her, "We'll just wait for the street to clear and then we'll go back to dad."
The minutes passed slowly and anxiously. Kiri had retracted from Neteyam's arms a while ago, yet she hadn't strayed from his side, her arms loosely wrapped around herself as they stood watching the street together. Neteyam was sure that the three hours had already passed by now, but the amount of walkers in front of their door had just started dwindling.
"Do you think dad is already looking for us?" Neteyam asked, his arm crossed over his chest, picking at the knot of his empty sleeve.
"Yeah, definitely," Kiri sighed.
Spider had been pacing around behind the counter most of the time, touching this and that, checking if the alcohol of the bar was still good and sneaking a few bottles into his bag, "How's the signal?"
"Non existent," Rotxo held the walkie that Spider had been carrying around, knowing that Lo’ak had the other one, but pressing the button at the side and trying to form contact was futile. The children’s walkie was not good enough to communicate in the city as there was too much interference.
Neteyam walked over to the mostly broken windows, looking down the street. The amount of walkers had decreased by now but he could still see a group of them shuffling around at the end of the street. An opening was slowly building and it would have to be enough for them to slip out or they woul be stuck here for longer.
Knowing that all the walkers had made their way to the same spot, a horde was no doubt building and Neteyam didn't want to stick around to see how big it would get.
“Get ready, we’ll leave soon,” Neteyam called over his back, taking on the role of the leader once again.
When Neteyam had first gotten separated from his family way back when, he had never blamed his father for it. It was the circumstances that had separated them, but even if they had not spoken about it, Neteyam also knew that his father took that blame onto himself.
Looking back at the other three now, their bags back on and weapons out as they dutifully listened to Neteyam’s order, did he understand how much pressure was on his father’s shoulders. Leading and ensuring the safety of the people you cared for was perhaps the hardest task.
If someone were to happen to any of them, then Neteyam knew that he would surely blame himself too.
Leaving their temporary shelter was easier than expected, but they had waited a few more minutes to make sure that a big enough gap was formed for them to slip out without being attacked. They walked a good few minutes until they ran into the next big group of walkers, but Neteyam just signaled the others to keep following him.
Even as the walkers noticed them and started following, there was no need to engage yet. Just keep going.
“Neteyam?” Rotxo called from the back and Neteyam turned back at Rotxo’s voice. The group of walkers that was following them had grown the more they walked on, giving them no time to stop and forcing them to keep a steady pace in order not to give them a chance to catch up.
Kiri was right behind Neteyam, close enough that he could protect her easily if they ran into trouble while Spider and Rotxo built the back of their little group. Verifying their situation, the few walkers that had started trailing them had built up into a proper group. Not quite a horde yet, but Neteyam was sure that there must be more walkers simply still out of sight.
He swallowed heavily. All it took was for them to now run into a slightly bigger group and they would be circled in.
Neteyam halted abruptly before he rounded the next corner causing the others to run into his back. Peeking around, he held out his arm to prevent any of them from walking ahead.
“What is it?” Spider whispered.
“There is a bigger group,” Neteyam sighed, trying to keep himself level-headed. Just as he had feared. Or maybe he had just jinxed it. "Don't worry. We can still make it out."
“We can’t turn back,” Kiri looked over her shoulder again, eyeing their followers with concern. Neteyam’s sudden stop had caused her to run into him, but she did not budge from his side. The knife in her hand suddenly felt so useless.
“We should run past,” Rotxo suggested, “We only need to make it past them and put some distance between us.”
Neteyam didn’t like that plan, but it was the only one they had. There was no empty side street near them and taking shelter again would be difficult. The walkers already had their eyes on them.
Making it past the group would still be risky. Even though the walkers were slow and easily left behind, in big numbers it was hard to get away from them. And if one got too close, they could still lunge, aggressively trying to get their teeth into whoever they got their hands on.
Neteyam already knew what it was like to have a walker fling its whole weight at him. Once it had its hands on you, it was hard to get all of its dead weight off again and in such a situation as this, that slight second of disadvantage was a death sentence.
Still, they had no choice. Whether it was the group of walkers in front or the ones behind them, they had to make it past either one. Neteyam gripped his gun tightly.
“Spider, you go first,” Neteyam looked back and Spider nodded at the order, moving to get in front of Neteyam.
Neteyam nudged Kiri closer to Spider, nodding Rotxo ahead as well. A good leader always made sure that the group got to safety first and Neteyam trusted Spider to find them an open path to slip by, “Stay close to Spider. I’ll watch our backs.”
There wasn’t any more time left for planning and the walkers were only a few feet away now, the slight delay giving them the chance to catch up. Spider, Kiri and Rotxo were forced to move when Neteyam waved the go ahead. “Go now!”
Spider jumped into motion, leading them while keeping close to the buildings and using the cars parked on the road as a barrier between themselves and the walkers. The walkers ahead noticed them almost immediately and the undead almost scrambled at the opportunity to get closer to the living.
Neteyam followed when Spider abruptly took a turn into a side street and looking around he understood why. Ahead were more walkers than he had anticipated. There was no space to run past like they hoped. The only thing waiting for them were more walkers. The dreaded realization hit Neteyam that they were aiding the horde to form faster now by bringing the individual groups of walkers together into a big one.
“Spider, this is a dead end,” Neteyam realized that they were in an alleyway rather than a side street and it was cut off in the middle by a fence.
“Yeah, but not for us,” Spider halted at the chain-link fence, cupping his hands together to create a step, “Jump, quickly!”
Neteyam pushed Kiri to go first and Spider boosted her safely up the fence. Rotxo was next and his landing was harsher than Kiri’s as he stumbled onto his feet on the other side.
Neteyam was next, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of his head that told him that just a few months ago, he would have been able to do this without assistance. He didn’t have time for this right now as he pulled himself up and over the fence with Spider’s help.
His landing was similar to Rotxo’s and he grit his teeth as his feet hit the ground and Kiri’s hands came up to steady him just in case.
“Spider, hurry!” Kiri rushed him in a panic. Being separated by the fence made her stomach churn uneasily when she saw that the walkers were already close enough to reach for Spider. Neteyam took his first shot then to buy Spider some time, figuring this was now emergency enough to shoot.
Spider clawed at the gate, hoisting himself up with a grunt that was less than smooth as the walkers grappled to get a hold onto his back and legs, clawing at his clothing. The fence rattled as the walkers pressed themselves agains it, some even reaching for Kiri and Neteyam.
“It’s not going to hold,” Kiri dreaded, instinctively taking a step away from the fence but forcing herself to stay. They could not leave Spider.
Spider staggered at the rattle of the unsteady fence and when one of the walkers grasped his ankle, he desperately kicked at it to get it to let go.
Acting quickly, Neteyam aimed for the walker that had gotten a hold of Spider’s foot, taking another two shots. Luckily it worked and Spider’s ankle was released again and a moment later he stumbled over the fence in a tumble.
“Urgh,” Spider rasped out as the breath was knocked out of him when his back hit the ground.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Kiri grasped one of his arms and Neteyam quickly took his other side as they helped him onto his feet while dragging him away from the rattling fence.
“I’m okay. Just…got hard to breathe for a second,” Spider assured them as they helped him out of the alley. “Where is Rotxo?”
Only now did the siblings realise that the fourth member of their group was missing, but the question went unanswered and the small relief that they had escaped the worst of the big group of walkers was short lived because as soon as they stepped out of the narrow alley, they were faced with more walkers, no doubt having been alerted by the gunshots.
“You have got to be kidding,” Kiri mumbled, taking a step back into the alleyway, “What do we do?”
There was nowhere else to go now. Walkers ahead, stumbling closer and walkers behind them, just daring them to come too close to the fence again. In mere seconds it would fall and their problem would grow.
Neteyam pointed his gun and Spider followed his lead with a heavy breath. The first shot echoed along the buildings and empty streets of the city again and Neteyam knew that if the earlier shots hadn’t already alerted every walker in the vicinity, then the next few he was about to take would certainly finish that job.
Hopefully the walkers weren’t the only ones in hearing range. At least chances were slightly good that his mother might have heard them. They could really use some help now, already running out of bullets.
Neteyam aimed, ready to take out the next few walkers to clear them a path, just enough to get by and, hopefully find Rotxo before returning to the meeting point. Neteyam prayed to the great mother that Rotxo was fine and that he wouldn’t have to tell Ao’nung that they had lost his friend in a walker infested city mere days after they had found each other again.
For the first time in a long while, Neteyam’s shot wildly missed because in the second he fired his shot, a car barreled head-on into the group of walkers.
“Holy shit,” Kiri startled when the passenger door flew open.
“Get in!” Rotxo yelled with a slightly hysterical smile on his lips.
Kiri was pushed into the passenger seat first before Neteyam yanked the back door opened and then pushed Spider in too and only once the door was securely shut and Rotxo floored it down the street, never minding any walker that stepped in front of the car, did Neteyam feel like he could finally breathe again.
“We thought you ditched us,” Kiri giggled breathlessly, leaning her head against the dashboard as she slowly caught her breath again.
“Never,” Rotxo assured before turning to Neteyam, their pathfinder. “Where should I drive?”
Neteyam tried to make sense of the streets they passed but this city was completely unfamiliar to him and he didn’t recognize any of the streets again. They were completely lost in their frenzy to escape.
“Just…try to get out of the inner city,” Neteyam told him. They didn’t need to deal with any more walkers until they figured out a way to get back to the meeting point.
As Rotxo navigated the streets out of the city, it was quiet in the car, save for their labored breathing and the occasional bump of the car. Only now, when they finally had a moment to breathe, did Neteyam notice the blood on his hand.
It startled him momentarily to see his hand so bloody, but he was sure that he wasn’t hurt himself as he let his eyes roam over himself just to make sure.
A subdued moan snapped his attention to his side. Spider was leaning heavily against the door, one of his hands grasping the driver seat like his life depended on it. He was clearly in pain, but Neteyam couldn’t see any injury on him.
“Spider,” Neteyam reached out, but Spider didn’t react, “Spider, are you hurt?”
Kiri spun around in her seat at his words.
“I’m fine,” Spider assured him.
“Are you bleeding?” Neteyam firmly grasped his shoulder, feeling for any injuries, but still there was nothing he could see. Spider didn’t push him off, letting Neteyam handle him this way and that without complaint.
Neteyam’s frantic hand finally slipped onto Spider’s back and the boy almost howled at the touch, causing Neteyam to snatch his hand away, only to find it dripping in crimson.
Kiri pulled the seat back roughly, halfway climbing onto the backseat, “Let me see.”
“There isn’t enough space to move him. Hold on.”
“Hey,” Spider interrupted the siblings, “I’m fine. Just focus on finding a good place to stop, okay?”
“I’m pulling out here,” Rotxo’s quiet voice came from the front and when Neteyam looked back out to see where they were, he was surprised to no longer see the high rise buildings. They were mostly surrounded by trees and gravel and soon enough they were out of the inner city.
Spider’s shirt was off and the three of them had sat him down on a bench to check on his injuries.
“How bad is it, doc? Do we need to cut it off?” Spider force a small smile as he panted heavily.
Kiri clicked her tongue, “Don’t joke like that.”
Neteyam and Rotxo stood nearby, hovering as Kiri did her best to assess Spider’s injuries.
“So, what’s the verdict?” Spider asked, slightly annoyed now that they hadn’t told him yet. No one uttered a word to answer, but Neteyam and Rotxo exchanged an uneasy look. “Just tell me.”
“Those are scratch marks,” Neteyam finally broke the fact. None of them had mentioned that Spider’s shirt was already torn at the back, but now that Kiri had managed to wipe away some of the blood, the angry lines running down Spider’s lower back were gnarly to look at.
“How deep?” Spider asked with a mumble.
“It’ll be fine,” Kiri hurriedly said, but truthfully, the wounds had been deep enough to draw a good amount of blood.
“It looks bad,” Neteyam told him nonetheless, ignoring Kiri’s glare. Spider needed to know how bad it was. Though not as bad as a bite, scratch marks like these could be almost just as bad.
“…okay,” Spider sighed heavily, his back slumping as he put his head in his hands. "Okay."
“What about your foot?” Neteyam walked forward and Spider didn’t put on any resistance as Neteyam and Kiri checked on his ankle. At least he seemed to have gotten lucky there and there was nothing more than a few bruises building.
With Kiri’s guidance Rotxo poured some water over Spider’s back and she used an old scarf from her bag to dab it clean.
“You’ll be fine,” She insisted again, still wiping at his back. Spider hissed at the touch, “…you’ll be okay.”
“What do we do now?” Rotxo asked.
“I’m not sure,” Neteyam looked around the still unfamiliar place, though they had made it to relative safety and gotten out of the thick of it, he still had no idea where they were. Or how they would find their way back.
Notes:
An author loving a character is always quite dangerous, isn't it?
Chapter 17
Notes:
I was going to resolve the situation in this chapter but I think I made it worse instead
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Ao’nung was really not the best person to come along with a grumpy Lo’ak, but alas he did not want to oppose Neteyam’s mother. He just simply built the back of their little group, keeping his distance, so that Neytiri could comfortably talk to Lo’ak in the front.
This city was unlike he remembered the city to be, but it reminded him of home. It had the same chaotic look to it, remains of the chaos that had reigned those first days and everything that came after. The suburbs got the least of it and most houses still looked intact, but the neighborhoods near the inner city were dilapidated and destroyed.
And the amount of walkers on the street were more than he expected.
It was like every time he turned his head, there was a walker looking back at him and Ao’nung gripped his spear a little tighter with each step that took them deeper into the city. He hadn’t had to use her in a while as they had managed to evade any unnecessary fights with walkers on the road and the occasional problem was taken care of by Jake. Ao’nung mostly got to stick back and his spear remained clean.
He was sure that was over now and he reached up to undo the little fabric that was still lovingly tied around the base of the blade. No need to get it dirty.
Neytiri waved Ao’nung closer, making sure he wasn’t falling behind and signaling him to stay close as they moved through the streets. Their way eventually led them to a neighborhood of apartment buildings, most of them not higher than five stories. However, Neytiri looked pleased with it, nodding towards the first building.
“We will start here and work our way through the buildings,” She explained, “We can split up between the apartments, but do not leave the building without me, understood?”
“Shouldn’t we look for a grocery store or something instead?” Lo’ak asked instead of answering. Looking down the streets and all the high-rise buildings, the inner city was very likely close by and it wouldn’t take them much longer to get there. They’d probably find a good few spots for food an necessities there.
“Many look for grocery stores or houses first. Apartments like to be neglected sometimes, so we will use that to our advantage,” Neytiri said. She was already onto something, judging by the fact that there weren’t as many walkers around here as on the main street they had just come from, “Now, no leaving the buildings without me, alright?”
Lo’ak and Ao’nung agreed and Neytiri led them to the first apartment building. The front door stood open and the stairwell was just as chaotic as the outside, signs of struggle visible on the walls and floors.
In the early days the people in the inner city were evacuated first, but of course with millions of people, only the lucky ones were taken out of the city before the chaos really broke out. The really unlucky ones never even made it out of their buildings.
Neytiri decided to take the first apartment on the lowest floor, but Lo’ak started trudging up the stairs all the way to the highest floor. Ao’nung simply followed him. He only stopped Lo’ak when he was about to open the first apartment door.
“What?” Lo’ak still sounded very irritated.
“Let me go first,” Ao’nung said, holding his spear out in front of him. Lo’ak didn’t seem too happy about that either, but he bit his tongue, not saying anything. He stepped aside, gesturing for Ao’nung to go ahead.
Ao’nung turned the handle before holding his spear out in front of him and pushing the door open with his foot. He entered the apartment spear first, but luckily it was empty. They made quick work of the first apartment, scouring through the kitchen first, then the bathroom cabinets before snooping in the bedroom for anything good and moving on to the next home until all apartments in the building were cleared.
Lo’ak didn’t seem to be very talkative and Ao’nung was happy to let him stir in his thoughts for a bit while they worked their way through the apartments.
Neytiri led them to the next building and they repeated the process here again. Neytiri started at the lower apartments while Ao’nung and Lo’ak moved from the highest ones down. As they entered the next apartment, Lo’ak moved into the kitchen straight away, but Ao’nung took a minute to himself to admire the home.
It was neat and kept pretty minimal in terms of furnishing, but it was still a cozy one-bedroom apartment, perfect for a first home. Ao’nung let himself indulge a bit and imagine that, maybe in another life, he and Neteyam would have lived in a home like this.
Maybe they would have met in college, Ao’nung had never asked where Neteyam had gotten accepted. Perhaps he wouldn’t ask anyways. He just liked to imagine that he and Neteyam would have met even if the world hadn’t ended.
Ao’nung did quick work picking through the bathroom before stepping into the kitchen, where Lo’ak was crouching and rummaging through some of the cabinets.
“I found some soap and towels,” Ao’nung pointed to his bag.
“Cool,” Lo’ak’s reply was lackluster and he didn’t look up.
“Anything good?” Ao’nung asked as he came to stand beside him.
“The usual,” Lo’ak said, “Noodles, beans and stuff.”
“Okay, good,” Ao’nung nodded. He wasn't really sure what else he could say but he felt the need to fill the uncomfortably tense silence with something other than Lo'ak's quiet brooding. He stood by as Lo’ak stacked the cans on the ground before stuffing them into his bag and standing up with an annoyed sigh.
“Say what you want to say,” Lo’ak prompted.
“What?”
“You look like you want to say something,” Lo’ak said curtly, “Are you gonna give me a talk about how I shouldn’t take out my anger on Neteyam and that I need to apologize to him?”
“Uh, I wasn’t going to, no,” Ao’nung said. “But I can, if you want.”
Lo’ak rolled his eyes, pulling open another cabinet and rummaging through it impatiently, “Mom already gave me one. You can save it.”
He pulled out a few cans, setting them down on the counter and sliding them over to Ao’nung to pack up. Reading the label of the next can, Lo’ak opened it, pulled out a slice of pineapple and shoved it into his mouth. His chewing looked just as annoyed as the rest of his demeanor. Lo’ak offered him the can and Ao’nung humored him, taking his own pineapple slice.
Ao’nung had already had an idea about what Neytiri and Lo’ak had spoken about on their way here, Lo’ak was just simply confirming it and even though he didn’t look like he particularly wanted to talk about it, he still kept going.
“I’ll apologize to Neteyam later,” Lo’ak said meekly, “I’m not even mad at him.” Ao’nung raised a questioning eyebrow at which Lo’ak continued, “Well, okay, I was mad at him, but it’s just…so blatantly obvious that dad doesn’t trust me to go without him, but he’s fine with Neteyam and it just…Whatever.”
Lo’ak sighed weakly. It was like the annoyance left his body from one moment to the next, only to be replaced by a feeling of quiet defeat as he peeled another piece of pineapple out of the can and bit into it softly.
“But we went out without your dad or Neteyam before,” Ao’nung said, leaning against the counter.
“Yeah, because you and Spider were there. That’s why. Do you think my dad would let me go with just Kiri and Tuk? He would trust Neteyam to keep them safe, but not me,” Lo’ak left the rest of the can sitting on the counter and swung his bag onto his back again, shaking his head, “Whatever. Let’s keep going.”
“Yeah, alright,” Ao’nung nodded. Though he hadn’t managed to provide much comfort, he was glad that Lo’ak didn’t push him away when Ao’nung put his hand around his shoulder as they walked to the next apartment together.
When the first shot echoed through the city it was quiet enough that Ao’nung would have thought he imagined it if it hadn’t drawn Lo’ak’s attention too. It sounded far away, but due to the fact that there were no other environmental sounds around, it could still be heard.
Ao’nung turned to Lo’ak, who was looking out the window, though it wouldn’t give them much clue on what was going on, “Was that…?”
“The city is big. It could be someone else,” Lo’ak said quickly, but there was an immediate hint of uneasiness in his voice. Any loud noise in the city was cause for alarm, a gunshot was almost always a sign of a problem, if not a distress signal, “Right?”
“It could be,” Ao’nung half-heartedly agreed, but still they left everything that wasn’t already packed up behind and rushed out of the apartment, down the stairway where Neytiri was already coming their way.
“Mom, did you hear?”
“I did. We’re going to look for your siblings,” Neytiri signaled for them to follow and she led them out of the building.
“What if it wasn’t them?” Lo’ak asked, holding his gun again as they moved hastily through the streets, though they could only guess where the sound approximately came from.
“I pray that it wasn’t,” Neytiri replied, but just in case that it was, they needed to follow up on it.
No other shot followed the first one for quite some time, which made it harder to find the location of the others, but it didn’t take long to stumble onto the root of the problem when they were met with a wall of walkers as soon as they entered the inner city.
“Oh, shit,” Lo’ak said what they were all thinking. The end of the street wasn’t even visible anymore as the walkers pushed and shoved at each other in their move. A few of them started stumbling towards the three of them and Neytiri signaled the boys to keep their distance before leading them away from the street again.
There was no doubt that the walkers were trying to get to where the shot had come from so at least it seemed like the three of them were walking in the right direction. Neytiri herded them away and into another building for some short shelter.
“We can’t go further,” Ao’nung said, shaking his head, “They’ll rip us apart as soon as we try.”
“We have to find a way. What if they need help?” Lo’ak said, shaking his head.
Two gunshots echoed through the city again. They were a lot closer and louder, startling both Lo’ak and Ao’nung momentarily. Neytiri however seemed unfazed by the sudden sound.
“Okay, they definitely need help,” Ao’nung quickly agreed, turning to Neytiri. “What do we do?”
“Go directly back to the meeting spot and inform your father,” Neytiri commanded, counting her arrows again just to make sure, “I will try to find the others.”
“What? Alone?” Lo’ak protested, “No, mom, we should stick together.”
“No. It will be discreet if I go alone. I’ll be able to move faster and locate your siblings,” Neytiri pointed a stern finger before Lo’ak could protest again, “You two stick together no matter what and you go directly back to the meeting point. Those two shots will attract more walkers soon and I want you out of the inner city as soon as possible, understood?”
Lo’ak and Ao’nung didn’t get a chance to reply before yet another gunshot rang through the streets.
“Go, now,” Neytiri pushed Lo’ak to move after Ao’nung, who stepped out first and immediately had to clear the way from a walker, but this street was also filling slowly as walkers flocked towards the place where the sound came from.
“A horde is building,” Ao’nung said, though they were already past that point by now.
“We can’t just leave you alone with a horde.” Lo’ak argued more insistently. Neytiri didn’t order him again, only gently cupping her son’s cheek with a smile. “I’m not leaving you.”
“Remember what I said,” Neytiri said softly, “Your father and I will do anything to keep you kids safe.”
“I know,” Lo’ak said quietly. Ao’nung allowed them to have their little moment as he prevented another walker from coming too close again, “What if you get in trouble too? We won’t be able to help you if we leave now.”
“The best way you can help me is to go back to the meeting spot and inform your father, alright?” Neytiri said. Lo’ak nodded, though he still didn’t look too happy about them splitting up and letting his mother head back towards a horde of walkers by herself. She pressed a quick kiss to his temple before addressing them both once more, “Take care of each other. Avoid fighting if you can and just head straight back.”
“We will,” Ao’nung was the one to answer and Neytiri just gave a nod before they finally went their separate ways. Neytiri back towards the full street while Ao’nung started leading Lo’ak back the way they came, dragging him by the sleeve.
Their plan was more optimistic than realistic. Ao’nung and Lo’ak made it barely a few streets back before another group of walkers cut them off, no doubt lured towards them by the earlier gunshots.
Lo’ak had his knife pulled, though Ao’nung hadn’t let any come too close for him to use it yet. Ao’nung tried to clear them a path, although that didn’t work out too long either. There were simply too many and more were assembling fast. There was no way for them to continue forward and if they turned around they would just encounter the growing walker group again.
They had to find another way. Lo’ak looked around. They were surrounded by buildings and shops, but with the walkers already having an eye on them, they wouldn’t be able to take shelter without the walkers trapping them inside. Luckily his eyes landed on their saving grace soon enough.
“This way,” Lo’ak pulled on Ao’nung’s shirt to get him to follow before leading him to a nearby building with some scaffolding at the side of it. There was a ladder leding up onto the first base and Lo’ak climbed it first before reaching down and taking the spear from Ao’nung so he could follow.
“Can walkers climb ladders?” Lo’ak asked as the walkers drew closer, assembling just under them. Some of them held onto the bars of the ladder as well as the bars holding up the scaffolding, though they made no attempt at climbing. However, the rickety structure shook as the group of walkers pushed up against it, all their hands reaching up towards Ao’nung and Lo’ak in an attempt to get to them.
“Let’s not stick around to find out,” Ao’nung said, taking his spear from Lo’ak and using it to break the closest window into the building. It was an office space that had probably seen better days.
“I don’t like it here,” Lo’ak said immediately. Even with the groaning heard from outside, the office space was way too quiet. “Let’s get out of here quickly.”
Their footsteps echoed through the room as they walked, which automatically made them slow down and soften their steps. At the stairway they found the fire escape plan with a map of the building. Lo’ak pointed out the fire escape at the other side of the building.
“Do you think there’ll be less walkers on the other side?” Ao’nung asked.
“We’ll have to see. Either way we can’t go out here,” Lo’ak pointed out before taking the stairs up.
“Where are you going?”
“Up,” Lo’ak smiled, “We’ll have a better outlook. Maybe we’ll even spot the others.”
Ao’nung doubted it with how many buildings were assembled so close together, but at least Lo’ak was right that they would get a better outlook for their situation.
Lo’ak only stopped briefly when he found an intact fire extinguisher. He turned back to smile at Ao’nung, “Quiet weapon.”
Ao’nung chuckled. It might come in handy.
Pushing open the door to the fire escape he let Lo’ak go first. They were almost at the highest floor of the office building and it did give them a good vantage point.
Unfortunately, this side of the street wasn’t any emptier than the one they had come from and under them an ocean of walkers went on throughout the whole street, from beginning to end. It was almost like it was worse on this side.
“Well, what now?” Ao’nung asked, peering down, his shoulders slumping.
“Let me think,” Lo’ak scanned the street for anything that would help them. He walked over the stairs leading down and the sound of his steps on metal drew the attention of the walkers, a few of them already looking up. There was no way that they would slip by undetected.
Just then another shot rang out. This one was the loudest so far and it sounded so close, it must have been just around the next building. With one exchanged look, they seemed to agree that they would be going there, abandoning the idea to go back to the meeting point. They must have found the others.
Lo’ak hastily led Ao’nung back inside and this time all the way up to the roof. The door to the roof was locked but with some joined effort and a bit of hammering the fire extinguisher against the handle, they managed to break it open.
The next building was lower than the one they were on, but luckily they were connected with a crossover. Ao’nung didn’t think he could ever jump roofs. He wasn’t made for parkour, so bless whoever had made this crossover.
There was no other connecting building, so if they found the others, they would somehow need to find a way down. Peering over the side of the building here, there were so many walkers that there was barely any space in between them and at the end of the street all of them had built a circle around the cause of the noise.
A bus surrounded by walkers, all of them pushing at it from all sides and on the roof of the bus weren’t the others as they had expected. It was Neytiri.
“Mom!” Lo’ak yelled down, gripping the side of the roof. It didn’t appear like she had heard them and she was holding her bow again. That one shot she took was a clear call for help as she had nowhere to go, “Mom!”
This time she looked up, clear surprise on her face when she realized that it was Lo’ak and Ao’nung looking down at her. Clearly none of them had expected to see each other again so quickly.
“We have to help her,” Lo’ak scanned the street again, but this time all they could see were walkers. “Stay there, we’re coming!”
“What’s the plan?” Ao’nung asked, figuring that Lo’ak had an idea when he went back on the move over to another side of the roof.
“Give me a minute,” Lo’ak said, peering down again. This side of the building led down to an alleyway between this building and the next. It was narrow enough that only a handful of walkers walked in between and while it wasn’t perfect, it gave them an exit point that wouldn’t kill them instantly. Lo’ak took another minute to scan their surroundings before nodding, “Okay, follow me.”
Lo’ak led a quick way down until they found the exit that led out into the alleyway. A couple of walkers were still present but easily and quietly taken care of with the spear and Lo’ak’s fire extinguisher. Though the spray of the extinguisher did very little as the walkers were mostly unfazed by it, Lo’ak did the next best thing. He started swinging.
Another shot echoed through the streets and this time Lo’ak knew that his mother had done it to keep the attention of the walkers on herself and allow Lo’ak and Ao’nung to move around better.
“Do you see that van over there?” Lo’ak whispered, pointing at a white van just across the street. “Can you get us there?”
“Leave it to me. But you have to stay close,” Ao’nung gripped his spear tightly. The number of walkers passing them wasn’t small, but with most walkers surrounding Neytiri now, Ao’nung was confident that he could push through just enough to cross the street. He took Lo’ak’s hand before moving it to his back, “Hold onto me and don’t let go, okay?”
Lo’ak tightened his grip on Ao’nung’s jacket, “Yeah.”
Though he had been confident just a moment ago, Ao’nung hesitated now, gripping his spear tightly in his slightly sweaty hands. The way to the van was just straight across the street, normally no more than twenty steps, but making it past the walkers now would definitely require luck to be on their side.
“Ao’nung, walkers behind us” Lo’ak tugged at the back of his jacket, snapping him out of his hesitation. Ao’nung looked over his shoulder, seeing two walkers coming into the alleyway, “Should I take care of them or are you going to go?”
“I’ll go,” Ao’nung gave a resolute nod, turning back to the street before them. If he moved fast enough, maybe the walkers wouldn’t be quick to notice them. That’s what Ao’nung told himself anyways to finally get himself to step out of the alley. It's not like they had much of a choice now.
There was only enough time to push walkers out of the way, rather than properly stab them, but Ao’nung’s hopeful thoughts surprisingly worked out better than intended. As he moved fast enough, the walkers in the beginning were shoved out of the way before they properly noticed the two of them.
He made sure to keep some focus on Lo’ak’s hand on him as he couldn’t turn his focus away from the walkers in front of him as he rushed through, but luckily Lo’ak’s grip on him didn’t falter.
Ao’nung was sure that half of what happened was just pure dumb luck, and once they had reached the van, Ao’nung opened the door to the passenger side, letting Lo’ak go in first. Lo’ak climbed over the passenger seat, into the driver’s side and Ao’nung shut the door once he was settled in the passenger seat.
A few walkers slammed their hands against the window as Lo’ak started fiddling with the controls to get it to start.
“Okay, open the back,” Lo’ak chuckled somewhat hysterically, still pumped up on adrenaline as he fumbled with the stereo, happily noting that there was a CD in the recorder and a moment later music sprung up from the speakers.
“What?” Ao’nung startled at the sudden music, looking at Lo’ak like he had lost his mind.
“Trust me,” Lo’ak said, “Open the back. We’re gonna lure them away from mom.”
“Why am I opening the back?”
“I’m not rolling down the window,” Now it was Lo’ak’s turn to look at Ao’nung like he was crazy, pointing to his window where a walker had pressed itself against, trying to take a bite out of the glass.
“This is a stupid idea,” Still Ao’nung climbed into the back of the van without another question, opening the rear doors as soon as Lo’ak got the motor to start and turned up the volume. No walker would be able to ignore them now and Lo’ak’s plan started working immediately. Every walker in the vicinity turned its attention to the van blasting music before they slowly started walking towards the boys.
Ao’nung gripped his spear tightly, taking on a better stance, ready to keep any walker from getting into the back of the van before he stumbled when the vehicle did a few jerking motions, causing the closest walker to lunge forward, only to be met with the tip of his spear.
The next jerk of the van had Ao’nung almost stumbling out of the back and he turned to look back at Lo’ak, “What are you doing? Drive!”
“I got this,” Lo’ak simply yelled back before he pulled at the gear shift and the car jerked again. “Give me a minute.”
Ao’nung didn’t exactly have a minute to give. The walkers at the head of the group had already reached them. He couldn’t pull the doors closed anymore and Ao’nung was cursing whoever had invented van doors to open outwards. Ao’nung swung his spear, knocking one of the walkers back again, but there were too many to really make a difference.
That’s when Ao’nung remembered, “You don’t know how to drive, do you?”
“I know how to drive. It’s just been a while,” Lo’ak said, pressing his foot to the gas more forcefully. The car jerked again, but sideways this time, not from Lo’ak, but from more walkers that reached the side of the vehicle now, slowly circling them in.
A walker reached for Ao’nung again and he swung his spear, but there was nothing he could do against the hand that wrapped itself around his ankle, knocking him off balance. And with a crack and thump, Ao’nung’s back hit the floor of the van with only the broken handle of his spear left in his hand.
“For the love of the Great Mother,” Ao’nung rasped out. He didn’t have time to catch his breath and he swiftly kicked the face of the walker holding his ankle before scrambling back to Lo’ak, reaching into the center console and pulling down the parking brake. Finally, the van set into motion when Lo’ak stepped on the gas, flooring down the street with a horde of walkers behind them.
“Close one,” Lo’ak chuckled uneasily, slowing the van once they had built a safe distance, so that the walkers would continue trailing them and lure them away from his mother. He kept his eyes firmly on the street, so that he didn’t have to subject himself to the glare Ao’nung was trying to kill him with. “Next time I’ll start the car before playing the music.”
“I’m never letting you drive again,” Ao’nung stood up on shaky legs, making sure his ankle was okay. There was no visible wound, but it would surely bruise. A walker’s grip could be rough.
“I think the better idea would be to let me drive more, so I learn to get better,” Lo’ak said.
“Shut up and drive,” Ao’nung grumbled, reaching for his spear that was nothing more than a stick now. Its blade was probably stuck in some walker’s head and Ao’nung sighed sadly.
He had finally lost his first companion. She had been with him since the beginning and even though she had gotten a lot more fragile with each walker he had to kill and he knew that it was only a matter of time that she would break, it still made him sad.
"Give me your knife," Ao'nung held out his hand expectingly. Lo'ak handed his knife over easily, holding out the handle first for Ao'nung to take.
Lo'ak was keeping a good distance from the walkers, but Ao'nung wanted to have a weapon on him, just in case and he stayed in the back of the van, watching the enormous group of walkers follow after them, all desperate to get a bite out of them.
In a mass of walkers like this someone would be ripped to pieces in mere seconds, leaving nothing to be found and the thought of Neteyam possibly meeting an end like that hit him so suddenly that it almost made him stumble. Now that he had a moment to breathe, his thoughts finally started catching up with him again.
They had had no chance of finding Neteyam’s group. And by Eywa, Rotxo was with Neteyam too and losing his best friend so soon after they had found each other again, it would simply destroy him. They hadn’t spotted a single sign of life and the shots had stopped at some point. That realization was what made the overwhelming need to throw up rise in him.
What could the four of them do against a horde this big, after all. Kiri was not a fighter, but Rotxo was resilient and Spider was strong. Neteyam would do anything to bring his siblings to safety even if it cost his own life, Ao'nung had no doubt about that.
Ao’nung leaned against the sde of the van for balance, forcing himself to sit down when the shaking of his legs got to be too much at that final thought.
“You okay?” Lo’ak’s voice came from the front. He was looking over his shoulder, studying the way Ao’nung was slumping on the floor now.
Ao’nung just hummed in response without giving a proper answer. The last thing Lo'ak needed, when he should be paying attention to the road, was a crisis. Instead he turned his attention to the handle of his spear, now lying beside him, the last piece he had from his home and if Neteyam and Rotxo were gone, he truly would have nothing left.
"Are you hurt?" Lo'ak asked, his brow furrowed with worry.
"No," Ao'nung answered meekly, "Just keep driving."
Neytiri’s search for Neteyam’s group had been futile and not very long. There hadn’t been any more shots and no more clues as to where they could have gone that could have led her. This made it the second time that they had lost Neteyam in the city and before she had a chance to overthink it, the horde had moved to finally cut off her way.
She had ended up bringing herself to safety on top of the roof of a bus where the walkers couldn’t reach her so easily. She had kept them at bay, batting away grabbing hands and she had hoped that Lo’ak and Ao’nung had made it to the meeting spot quickly and that Jake would come to help, but either way she had sent out a shot, both as a distress signal and as a warning for anyone else in the city.
She hadn’t expected Lo’ak and Ao’nung to be the ones to come to her aid and she really would have preferred for it to be Jake, because it would have meant that the boys had made it safely out of the hordes reach.
Now Neytiri watched the van disappear down the street along with the fading music, as well as a good portion of the walkers that were swarming her. There must be easily over a hundred walkers now trailing the loud music and it made her heart pound seeing a whole horde walking after the very vehicle her children were in, just to save her.
Still she was thankful to make it out of there at all as the crowd got small enough for her to get back down to the ground and fight off the rest that remained. She would just have to hope that Ao’nung and Lo’ak would be smart enough not to drive too far out so they could still find their way back as well as that they would take care of each other.
With the horde moving quickly away from here Neytiri was free to give the area another quick lookover, not ready to abandon the search for Neteyam’s group. However, as she crossed the streets, dodging the few walkers that had lost the trail of the bigger group, she realized that her search would be fruitless. She just had to hope hat Netetyam's group had been able to dodge the worst of it, refusing to give any other scenario any thought right now.
Just like with Ao’nung and Lo’ak, she would have to trust that they would be okay and that they would find each other again soon. The best thing she could do for herself now was to get out of the inner city and find Jake. Together they would turn this situation around again. They always have so far.
She wasn’t quite sure where she was or which would be the fastest way back to the meeting point, but she had to hurry as it was getting late now. She had to find Jake, so they would find the children before it got dark.
Jake had no doubt gone out to look for them when they hadn’t come back to the meeting spot after the agreed time, but Neytiri was relying on the fact that enough time had passed that Jake had returned to the meeting spot , knowing that it wouldn’t make sense for them all to be running around and looking for each other.
By the time she finally got away from the inner city and closer to the suburban neighborhoods where they had separated, the sun was already starting to go down. They were already running out of time before they had even started the search for their children.
Counting her arrows, at this point more of a nervous habit than a necessity, she let the realization settle that they would not find the children today. She let out a shaky sigh, running through a prayer in her mind for the safety of her children and some protection from the Great Mother while she was still alone.
…
She heard the oncoming car before she saw it, but it came into view quickly and Neytiri raised her bow once it was clear that they were approaching her. The car came to a sudden stop just in front of her, so much so that she took a few steps back to keep a safe distance.
The driver side opened and out stepped Jake, his hands raised in a calming gesture to keep her from shooting, “It’s me, baby. It’s just me.”
Neytiri felt herself relax at the sight of him. She should have known. He would always find her. Lowering her bow, she met him halfway and Jake enveloped her in his arms before pulling back to check that she wasn’t hurt, “Are you okay?”
“I’m not hurt,” Neytiri assured him just as the passenger door finally opened and Tuk barreled into her, also enveloping her in a hug. Neytiri’s hand came to stroke her daughter’s hair, “I’m okay, Tuktuk.”
“Where are the children?” Jake asked carefully. There was no hint of accusation in his voice but it was clear that he was worried. Neytiri sighed and Jake rubbed a hand up and down her back to calm some of her tense nerves. She explained how they had split into two groups in the beginning before going on the search for Neteyam’s group when they heard shots being fired in the inner city.
Jake confirmed that he and Tuk had seen the high amount of walkers when they were driving around and looking for them.
“Okay,” Jake simply took in the information for now before they would start coming up with a plan, “What about Lo’ak and Ao’nung?”
“They are leading the horde,” Neytiri couldn’t help but let out a small breathless laugh at the absurdity of her own words.
Jake looked appropriately confused, “What?”
“They are in a car, blasting music and leading the horde out of the city or at least away from here,” She clarified, “I don’t know where they are now.”
“Okay. We’ll figure it out,” Jake said, trying to assure both her and himself, “Everything will be okay.”
Notes:
If at any point in this fic you tell yourself "That's not how cars work", then I'm gonna agree with you because I'm absolutely freeballing car mechanisms ✌😔
Anyways. Lowkey minor character death today. RIP Ao’nung’s spear.
Chapter 18
Notes:
Sorry for the wait. The AI think really killed all my motivation, so I had some trouble getting myself to sit down and write, so it might not be my best chapter. Thank you guys for your patience both for this chapter and my late answer to comments <3 + sorry that I left you on a cliffhanger :-)
Chapter Text
“How do you feel?” Rotxo asked.
“I’m fine. It just burns a little,” Spider assured him.
“You’ll be okay,” Neteyam assured him, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
“We need the medicine bag,” Kiri had cleaned Spider’s back as best as she could and while most medicine was used up to either treat Neteyam or tossed out because it was no longer good, they still had some bandages and soap to at least properly clean it.
The worst of the bleeding had stopped by now, but leaving it like that made it a ticking time bomb for an infection. Spider got up, escaping Kiri’s care despite her protests. His back remained hunched even when he was standing as he tried not to put much strain on his wound.
“We should keep going. We need to find the others,” Spider picked up his shirt, before realizing that it was nothing more than a ripped, bloody rag now. He let it fall back to the ground, figuring that going shirtless was better for now.
“We need a plan,” Neteyam stopped his tracks, “We shouldn’t just blindly wander around. That’s not going to get us anywhere, especially if you can’t fight.”
“I can fight,” Spider hissed at him.
“You can’t even stand up straight,” Neteyam argued, picking through his own bag to pull out his map. It wouldn’t really help them as it wasn’t a map of the city itself, but Neteyam would figure something out.
“I can still shoot,” Spider argued back.
“Arguing isn’t going to help us,” Kiri said, joining the argument herself. “We need to find a place to stay. It’s getting dark.”
“No, Spider is right,” Neteyam said instead. Spider looked a bit more satisfied at his words, “We need to find the others, but for that we need to make a plan.”
“Are you crazy? We can’t keep wandering around now. It’s getting dark and there are hundreds of walkers around if you forgot already. Spider is already hurt,” Kiri argued.
“I can still fight,” Spider insisted more forcefully, “I’m not dead yet.”
“You are not going to die,” Kiri argued back. Voices were being raised now and Rotxo could do nothing but follow the argument like he was at a tennis match.
“We are not fighting anything,” Neteyam said, shaking the map forcefully, both in irritation and to get it to unfold. “Enough fighting for today. We’ll find another way back.”
“Dad said not to walk around at night no matter what. They probably already found a place to stay and will look for us tomorrow. We should do the same. That way I can give Spider’s wounds a better cleaning,” Kiri said.
“I’m fine,” Spider chimed in again. “I can keep going. We can keep going.”
“Let’s stop for the night,” Kiri ignored him, turning back to Neteyam to plead her point. “Spider needs to rest and frankly, so do we. We already had a long day.”
Spider scoffed at that, but didn’t say anything else. And Neteyam wasn’t too convinced either.
If they stayed here, there was a chance that Spider would get worse in the next few hours. He might even turn and what would they do then?
Not knowing how long it would take for Spider to get sick set another unknown time limit on them, because there was no doubt in him that Spider would at least get a fever. The only question was if he would pull through in the end. Either way Neteyam wanted to find the others before Spider’s condition inevitably got worse.
If Spider got sick, someone definitely would have to stay with him, while the others had to find the other group. That either meant dragging a sick Spider along or splitting up further and Neteyam was honestly so fucking tired of splitting up.
“No,” Neteyam firmly shut down the rest of the argument, “We are going to find the others.”
Kiri looked unhappy with that decision, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, but she didn’t argue against Neteyam’s decision anymore.
That meant they would be driving in the dark, either without light or while drawing the attention of walkers, provided that the lights in their busted car even worked. Rotxo hadn’t really driven with care and half of their car’s bumper was already hanging loose.
“Great. Let’s figure something out then,” Rotxo was the only one that spoke calmly, hoping that it would bring them back to a civil conversation. “Do we just keep driving on? Maybe we’re in the right neighborhood.”
“We don't have time to just drive around and hope for the best,” Spider said, taking slow, deep breaths. Kiri placed her hand on his arm, just to provide some comfort. There was nothing else she could do for him right now.
“I’m figuring it out,” Neteyam assured him. Rotxo reached out, taking the other half of the map in hand and holding it steady for Neteyam to study. Neteyam thanked him and for a while there was no talking and no sound between them except the crinkling of the map and the impatient shuffle of feet.
“You and your stupid map,” Kiri sighed finally. Rotxo would have expected her words to spark another argument, but Neteyam took it lighter than expected.
“You’re not going to call it stupid when it gets us back to the meeting spot,” Neteyam tipped his head smugly, folding the map back into his pocket, “Alright, I have an idea. Get back in the car. Rotxo, sit up front with me and keep an eye out for any road signs pointing towards the highway.”
Neteyam took the driver seat this time and Rotxo joined him in the passenger seat as asked.
“So where are we going?” Spider asked, leaning into the front in between the driver and passenger seat and giving his back a break by not leaning onto the backseat.
Neteyam quickly pulled out of the neighborhood. He would avoid the innermost city, but they still needed to get back, “We’re going to retrace our steps, go back to the highway and take the exit into the city that we took this morning. From there I'll remember the way to the meeting spot.”
Lo’ak and Ao’nung hadn’t realized just how far they had driven until they had to walk back to the city after they had gotten an opportunity to finally ditch the van, getting away before the walkers overran the vehicle.
Eventually, after walking a big circle to avoid the horde, they had found themselves trekking along the highway back towards the city, hoping they would make it to the meeting point quickly. The sun was already setting, bathing the sky in a deep orange and they both knew that they wouldn’t make it before dark.
Their focus right now was to make it to the city at all, so they could nab a car from somewhere and drive the rest of the way. Until then it would be a hike.
Ao’nung sat on the divider between the roads, as they took a quick rest until they had to keep walking again lest they were on the road until morning.
“It looks fine to me. I can feel it, but it’s not bleeding or anything,” Lo’ak said from behind him, his hands carefully feeling through Ao’nung’s hair and over the back of his head. Ao’nung hissed when his fingers brushed over the bump that was forming now, thanks to the tumble he took back in the van.
“Maybe you have a concussion,” Lo’ak circled around to stand in front of him, holding up his hand, “How many fingers am I holding up?”
Ao’nung rolled his eyes with a smile, brushing Lo’ak’s hand away and standing up, “I’m fine. Let’s just keep going.”
“No bite or scratch either?” Lo’ak asked, crossing his arms, “Sorry about the car thing earlier.”
“No bite or scratch,” Ao’nung confirmed, “And it’s fine. It was a frantic situation. Without much driving experience I would have forgotten about the brake too.”
Lo’ak nodded mildly, but he let his eye roam over Ao’nung from top to bottom, still checking him for injuries. Ao’nung was just slightly amused by his insistent care. It was quite touching how, since they had managed to escape the walkers, Lo’ak had been asking him if he was okay until Ao’nung had finally mentioned the throbbing at the back of his head after what happened in the van.
He could also feel the bruise on his ankle, but at least it didn’t bother him while walking.
“I’m really fine, Lo’ak,” Ao’nung assured him with a smile before nudging him teasingly, “But if you are really worried about me I’ll ask Neteyam to do a full body check on me later.”
Lo’ak scoffed at his words, giving his shoulder a harder nudge back, “Never mind. I hope you die.”
Ao’nung laughed before lowering his tone when he remembered that they should really be quiet. They were already too in the open, there weren’t really any good hiding spots on the highway besides the amount of cars on the other side of the highway. At least the darkness gave them a little cover, but it still made the whole journey a lot more eerie.
“Do we really not have a flashlight or something?” Lo’ak asked, looking out up to the sky. The last specks of light were disappearing by now, “that’s like, survival 101.”
“Not if we’re trying to be sneaky,” Ao’nung said, watching Lo’ak, drop his bag onto the ground and crouch down next to it to go through its contents. It mostly held the food they had found earlier, some water and nothing much else. Lo’ak still pulled out the walkie.
They had tried making contact immediately after they had ditched the van, keeping it open for communication, but there had been no reply and Lo’ak had eventually tossed it back into his bag with a frustrated huff.
Now he pushed the button again and spoke an exaggerated “Hello~?” into it. They both waited for a few minutes and again, no answer came. Lo’ak sighed, tugging it into the side of his bag this time before getting up again, “Maybe they’ll call back.”
They resumed their walk towards the city, falling into step beside each other as the sun continued setting, neither of them particularly thrilled about having to walk back in the total darkness that was about to come. Ao’nung smiled a bit at the way Lo’ak was inching closer to him with every minute it got darker until they were pressed shoulder to shoulder and eventually Ao’nung reached down to take Lo’ak’s hand.
Lo’ak looked at him like he had lost his mind, “Are you sure you don’t have a concussion? Why are you holding my hand?”
Ao’nung rolled his eyes lightly, “Neteyam and I always held hands when it got dark so we wouldn’t separate in case we ran into trouble.”
Lo’ak still pulled his hand out of Ao’nung’s before slipping it into the crook of his arm instead, “There. I’m not holding your hand.”
Ao’nung shrugged. It didn’t matter as long as they made sure to stick together, but the weight of Lo’ak’s hand on his arm was comforting in the eerie atmosphere.
“So what else did you and Neteyam do on the road?” Lo’ak asked, his voice just above a whisper, “Keep it PG or I’m leaving you here.”
“Do you need a distraction?” Ao’nung asked with a chuckle at his words.
“Yeah, I would like to focus on something else than the feeling that anything could jump out at us at any moment,” Lo’ak’s hold on Ao’nung’s arm was tense and his eyes were constantly roaming around their surroundings. The last specks of light were almost gone now and occasionally one of them looked over their shoulder to make sure they were still clear. “I really don’t know how you and Neteyam made it alone for so long. I would have gone crazy. Safety in numbers and stuff.”
“Well, we made sure not to walk around at night. That helped, for one,” Ao’nung said lightly, giving Lo’ak’s hand a pat. Lo’ak hummed noncommittally, “We used to play games to pass the time and have a bit of distraction.”
“Like what?” Lo’ak chuckled, “I spy?”
“Yeah, but we got tired of it pretty quickly,” Ao’nung said, “Sometimes we did ‘Would you rather’ and I think we did ‘Never have I ever’ once. We fought over the map often, that passed the time sometimes.”
“Alright,” Lo’ak hummed, trying to come up with a game. He looked over his shoulder briefly before turning back to Ao’nung, “What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and this was all a big dream?”
“Is that something you think about often?” Ao’nung asked instead of answering, a small amused smirk on his lips.
“Yes. Now answer,” Lo’ak said. Ao’nung was a bit surprised at how quickly Lo’ak admitted to it.
“Well, okay, I would give my parents and sister a big hug and I wouldn’t let go until they think I’m sick or something,” Ao’nung smiled a bit solemnly. He had never shared with Lo’ak what had happened to his family, so Lo’ak just nodded at his words, “Then I would try to find Neteyam and hope that I didn’t just dream him up.”
“Okay, I won’t roll my eyes because I’ll admit that that was sweet but I want you to know that I really had to suppress it,” Lo’ak said.
Ao’nung did roll his eyes at Lo’ak’s words, “What about you? What would you do?”
“You have to come up with your own question,” Lo’ak said, “That’s the rules.”
Ao’nung was sure that they weren’t even playing a game, just asking each other questions, but it was fine as long as it provided the distraction Lo’ak wanted, so he complied to Lo’ak’s rule after taking a moment to think, deciding to follow Lo'ak's theme “Alright, what do you miss the most from before?”
“Aside from flowing warm water and not having to focus on survival every single day,” Lo’ak let his eyes scan their surroundings again, “Math class.”
Lo’ak’s answer took Ao’nung by surprise, “What, really?”
“I know it sounds weird,” Lo’ak shrugged, “But I was good at math. I was always the one that the teacher called on when no one else knew the answer and it felt good. It was just something that I didn’t need to prove myself in, you know? Everyone just knew ‘Oh, Lo’ak is good at math’ and no one would question if I could do…it. Yeah…”
Ao’nung hummed, figuring that Lo’ak was talking about more than just math class.
“Now dad just asks me to teach Tuk sometimes and it still feels good to do something,” Lo’ak said.
“Because he isn’t asking Neteyam to do it?” Ao’nung asked, knowing that the sudden question would somewhat agitate Lo’ak and just as well, Lo’ak leveled him with a brief, irritated glare before he averted his eyes again.
Lo’ak shrugged, “Yeah, I guess.”
“And that’s why you always pick a fight with Neteyam?” Ao’nung prompted him.
“You make a shitty therapist,” Lo’ak said, but he still answered, “Not entirely. I don’t know why I do it, it’s just…it’s comfortable to fight with him.” Ao’nung raised a questioning eyebrow at that, “it’s just that…Neteyam always forgives me, you know? It’s easier to fight with him than fight with dad. And Neteyam has that same thing that dad has.”
Lo’ak waved his hand around, not specifying what that ‘Thing’ was, but somehow Ao’nung still knew what he meant. Neteyam had the same natural leadership that his father possessed and whenever Jake or Neytiri weren’t around, the responsibility automatically fell onto Neteyam without the need to appoint him the role. He just took charge and it was almost instinctual to follow him.
Even when Ao’nung and Neteyam were alone on the road and they made their decisions together, Neteyam was always the one to march ahead when a decision was made, his map a trusty companion just as much as Ao’nung.
“I just want dad to rely on me like he relies on Neteyam,” Lo’ak sighed, “I’m an adult, too. I would be going to college this year.”
Ao’nung hummed, nodding. He knew a thing or two when it came to being overshadowed by a sibling. While they both had the athletic success, Tsireya had had the better grades on top of that. He and Tsireya didin't really fight like Neteyam and Lo’ak did. Their fights had always consisted more of the silent treatment and cold shoulders until they eventually made up.
But still, Ao’nung knew how much a simple praise could mean, even if it didn’t come from the person that it needed to come from.
“For what it’s worth, you’re really good at using your surroundings and coming up with plans. With the scaffolding and the van. You took charge. I just followed you,” Ao’nung said.
Lo’ak laughed a bit, “I think I remember you saying that the van thing was a stupid idea.”
“Yeah, but it was a stupid idea that worked, even if you almost killed me,” Ao’nung nudged him with his shoulder, “seriously, you’re good at thinking on your feet. I think you’d make a good leader.”
“Think you could tell my dad that?” Lo’ak asked jokingly, but Ao’nung nodded.
“I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Thanks,” Lo’ak smiled before his eyes gained a thoughtful look with the reminder of what happened earlier, “Do you think my mom got away?”
“Yeah, for sure,” Ao’nung nodded. With the way they had driven so many walkers away from there and knowing how strong Neytiri was, there was no way she didn’t manage to get away.
Lo’ak bit his lip before quietly asking, “Do you think the others are okay?”
Ao'nung bit his lip, before admitting: "I don't know."
Lo’ak was silent for a minute or two before tipping his head up to the sky and speaking up again, “Do you know any constellations?”
No matter how long they walked, walking through the dark didn’t get any easier. In fact, Ao’nung could feel himself getting on edge with each minute that passed and he could almost feel the uneasiness that was radiating off of Lo’ak in waves.
As soon as the last specks of orange were gone, they were practically plunged into darkness, like someone had flipped a light switch. Not even the moon and stars did much to light the way. They could barely see the end of the road, much less the city they were slowly approaching. Only the silhouettes of the skyscrapers were still clearly visible.
This was the first time they were out, walking in the dark since the apocalypse. Walking through the night instead of finding shelter and a place to spent the night was foolish, to say it simply.
The city was close enough that they could technically climb over the highway barrier now and find a car or a house to take shelter in and continue their way back when the sun was back up. And Ao’nung was getting really tired of walking by now, “Do you want to take a right here? We can stop for the night and then see if we find our way tomorrow.”
Lo’ak let out a tired breath. It’d been a long day and entering the city in the dark was a huge risk, one that they would have to take sooner or later anyways, but still something he had to wind himself up for. He let out his breath with a deep sigh, “Alright, I guess.”
Ao’nung nodded, reaching behind himself to grab his spear, only to be reminded of what happened when his hand grasped at empty air. He winced slightly. He only had Lo’ak’s knife, now tugged into his waistband, so technically they were walking around without a single weapon. Sure, they still had Lo’ak’s gun, but using it at night was out of the question.
“Uh, maybe we could take shelter in one of the cars?” Ao’nung suggested then, pointing towards the rowed up cars at the other side of the highway. Lo’ak raised a questioning brow, “We don’t have any quiet weapons.”
“Right,” Lo’ak sighed, his shoulders slumping, but he nodded nonetheless. He didn’t want to be eaten today, after all that stress they had gone through just a few hours ago. Neither of them was really in the mood to keep walking either.
“What if we don’t find them tomorrow?”
“I think our chances of finding them tomorrow is actually better than roaming the streets at night,” Ao’nung said.
“What if they’re dead?” Lo’ak asked bluntly, but his voice was so quiet that Ao’nung wouldn’t have heard him if those same words hadn’t echoed through his head over the past hours without pause.
“…they aren’t,” Ao’nung tried to sound reassuring, but he knew that he wasn’t very successful by how hesitant he sounded. How could he assure Lo’ak that it would be okay when he himself wasn’t convinced of it.
Lo’ak was quiet for a moment before looking up at Ao’nung with a lighter tone, “I don’t want to be stuck with just you.”
Ao’nung smiled slightly, “I think I make a good travel partner.” And even through the darkness he could see Lo’ak make a so-so gesture with his free hand.
Though they had tried to bring some lightness back into the atmosphere, it felt forced and neither of them would be able to shake the thought until they were reunited with their family again. If they would be reunited with their family again.
Ao’nung wanted to hope that they would be. Eywa wouldn’t be so cruel as to take this family away from him too, would she? He knew that, if the others were truly gone, then he and Lo’ak would have to keep going together.
He swore to himself that he would make sure that they would make it to the safe house, no matter what. They had gotten so far and their travels should not be in vain. That’s the least that they owed their family and he knew that Lo’ak would agree with him.
The tense moment was broken by a sound so loud rippling through the quiet night, that both Ao’nung and Lo’ak almost jumped out of their skin.
Ao’nung was just about to ask what happened when Lo’ak hurriedly let go of him to fling his bag off of his back, “The walkie!” He pushed the button on the side, stopping the small crackle that came from it so that he could speak into it, “Hello? Spider? Can you hear me?”
Ao’nung and Lo’ak crowded around the walkie, anxiously awaiting a response. The few seconds it took until an answer came through seemed like they stretched on for an eternity until another crackle and a small “Lo’ak?” came through.
“Rotxo!” The anxiety was quickly being replaced by a huge wave of relief and excitement for finally having established contact and the fact that, at least someone, was still alive.
“Rotxo, where are you? Are you okay? Over,” Lo’ak asked. Ao’nung gave him a strange look for going back to using walkie talk and Lo’ak shrugged at him, “What? That way he knows that I’m done speaking.”
“We’re…fine. We’re trying to find the meeting spot again. Where are you?” Rotxo answered. There was a small pause before he added: “Over.”
“We?” Ao’nung nudged Lo’ak to ask, knowing that snatching the walkie away from him would only disturb the conversation now, no matter how much he wanted to, “Ask him who is with him.”
“Rotxo, who is with you? Over.”
“Neteyam, Spider and Kiri,” Rotxo answered, this time forgetting to sign off. Ao’nung and Lo’ak let out sighs of relief. “Where are you? Are you alone?”
“Oh, Ao’nung is with me,” Lo’ak said, before looking around. It was entirely too dark to really see anything, “We’re…somewhere on the highway leading to the city. The one we took this morning, I think.”
There was a brief silence until there was a few seconds of only static until Rotxo’s voice came through again, “We’re driving along the highway, too. We haven’t passed you.”
“Yeah, we would have noticed,” Lo’ak mumbled before pushing down the button to answer, “Uh, there is nothing close by that I can describe our location with,” Lo’ak said, frustrated before quickly adding, “over.”
“Did you…” There was a slight interference pause before Rotxo’s voice came through again, “Okay, did you pass the exit that we took this morning?...over.”
“I, uh, don’t think we passed any exits?” Lo’ak reported, looking over at Ao’nung who quickly shrugged, “We might be close to one, but it’s hard to read the road signs in the dark.”
There was another pause as they waited until the walkie crackled again.
“But you are sure that you are on the same highway we took this morning?” This time it was Neteyam’s voice that came through and Ao’nung could feel the relief wash over him like a warm blanket. He could start jumping up and down.
“I guess so,” Lo’ak answered, “Is there a different highway to this city?”
“Okay, just stay where you are. We’ll find you,” Neteyam said before the walkie fell silent. He wasn’t one to sign off his messages.
“Alright…over,” Lo’ak said, but he was only met with silence after. They waited for a few minutes more, staring at the walkie expectantly, but they were only met with silence. He looked up at Ao’nung, “I guess we’re getting picked up.”
Ao’nung breathed out, his smile getting bigger as he grasped Lo’ak by the shoulder, shaking him a little, “They’re alive!”
Lo’ak just laughed at the slight shaking, before seemingly throwing all reservation to the wind and reaching forward and wrapping his arms around Ao’nung in an embrace. Ao’nung’s arms wrapped themselves around Lo’ak in return, swaying them a bit in excitement, up until he stopped when he could feel Lo’ak’s shoulder’s shaking a little as his breath hitched.
“Hey, you okay?” Ao’nung tried to back out of the embrace to check on him, but Lo’ak’s tight hold on him didn’t allow it, so Ao’nung just wrapped his arms around him once more.
“Mhm,” Lo’ak hummed into Ao’nung’s chest, the sound a little shaky with tears, “You’re a good hugger. And also my siblings aren’t dead.”
Ao’nung let out a small laugh. He was sure that it was from relief and he couldn’t judge Lo’ak when he was feeling the same way. Lo’ak was shorter than himself and Ao’nung could easily rest his cheek on top of Lo’ak’s head, rubbing small circles into his back as he simply answered: “Yeah.”
Neteyam was the first out of the car, rushing over to them. Ao’nung couldn’t even react before Lo’ak whizzed past his side and almost barreled into his big brother. Neteyam held him tightly, sparring a quick, relived smile towards Ao’nung before turning his attention back to Lo’ak, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, you? Are you?” Lo’ak’s voice was muffled by Neteyam’s shoulder, no space left between them as Lo’ak was practically clinging onto him.
“I’m okay,” Neteyam assured him.
Rotxo had followed close behind Neteyam, reaching Ao’nung just after the brothers got to embrace and similarly, Ao’nung pulled Rotxo in a slightly-too-tight embrace, relishing in the fact that he was able to hold his best friend as they reassured each other that they were okay and unhurt.
“You’re not allowed to die before me,” Ao’nung told him sternly.
Rotxo just chuckled into his shoulder, “That’ll be difficult, because you are not allowed to die before me.”
Rotxo let him go quicker than Lo’ak did Neteyam and as much as Ao’nung wanted to get his turn, embracing and kissing Neteyam to feel that he was really there and hadn’t become walker food, he gave the two the time they seemed to need.
Instead Ao’nung turned his attention to Kiri, who had just stepped out of the backseat. She was clearly not expecting it, nonetheless Ao’nung pulled her into a hug as soon as she was close enough.
“Are you okay?” He asked softly.
“Mhm,” she replied nonchalantly, but he could feel her arms gingerly wrap around his back for a quick hug, before she wormed away from his touch again. Finally, it was Kiri that got Lo’ak to release Neteyam to embrace her instead. Neteyam placed his hand on Lo’ak’s back for a moment longer before finally coming over to Ao’nung.
The moment Ao’nung had Neteyam hold him again, it finally felt like the pressure in his chest was gone and the tenseness in his shoulders fully lifted. He let out the longest, biggest sigh and Neteyam let out a small laugh at the way Ao’nung was burying his nose into the crook of his neck so deeply.
“You’re okay?” Ao’nung asked.
“Yeah. Are you?” Neteyam moved his head slightly, just enough to press a kiss to Ao’nung’s temple. He could feel Ao’nung’s arms tighten around him at the gesture.
“I’m okay,” Ao’nung said, but his words quickly were contradicted when Neteyam ran his hand through his hair and over that bump on his head and Ao’nung couldn’t help but hiss at the sudden touch.
Neteyam pulled away, concern in his narrowed eyes as he moved his hand over the bump more deliberately this time, “What happened?”
Ao’nung gently brushed Neteyam's hand away from the back of his head, “It’s nothing, just a small bump.”
“Maybe a concussion. We weren’t sure,” Lo’ak suddenly manifested beside them alongside Kiri.
“I don’t have a concussion,” Ao’nung said with a small huff.
“How many fingers?” Lo’ak asked again, this time holding out four.
Ao’nung just rolled his eyes.
A small shuffle at the car interrupted them as Spider was the last to move himself out of the car, leaning heavily against the still open door, smiling at the reunited group. Lo’ak smiled brightly, walking over and wrapping him up in a big happy embrace.
Spider’s groan, as Lo’ak’s hands touched his back, got him to back off immediately though.
“What? What happened? What’s wrong?” Lo’ak let him go, his eyes quickly roaming over him, “Are you hurt?”
Spider shook his head, “I’m fine.”
Lo’ak raised an eyebrow, “And where is your shirt?”
“It’s been a long day,” Spider let out a small chuckle.
“That’s something we can agree on,” Ao’nung chimed in once the rest of the group had joined the two at the car.
“Let’s get out of here,” Neteyam said before Lo’ak could ask again, his eyes still narrowed at Spider, “We can catch up when we’re not standing in the wide open.”
Spider nodded in agreement, climbing into the backseat first, giving Lo’ak a good look at his back, who just gaped at him for a minute, seeing how bad it was even in the darkness of night.
“What the fuck happened to your back?”
Chapter 19
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
With the added darkness of the night, the meeting spot was harder to find than they thought, even when they were able to find the intended exit and retrace their steps through some of the streets. With some back and forth arguing, a lot of backseat driving from everyone and some screaming when Neteyam accidentally hit a walker, they finally found their way into a somewhat familiar neighborhood.
Without any proper light they couldn’t be sure if they actually found the meeting spot or not and they probably wouldn’t know until morning, so at one point Neteyam had pulled into the driveway of a random house, bringing their journey of the day to an end. The chances that they would find their parents tonight were slim to none and they were all exhausted enough.
Neteyam was ordering a rest.
The collective sigh that was breathed out once the house door closed behind them could probably be heard from all the way down the street. Shoulders dropped immediately as some of the tension they had carried up until here was finally let go of and bags were quickly tossed onto the floor and left there.
The house was just as dark as the outside and they didn’t have much to work with. It was Kiri who produced a small candle from her bag, but that was all. The lamps and candles were left in the cars before they had departed for their resource run this morning, so they’d just have to work with only one light.
Spider was quickly ushered into the living room and sat down onto the couch, so Kiri could tend to his back again, while Neteyam, Ao’nung and Rotxo made sure that the house was empty, making quick work of it before returning to the others.
“House is empty. We can stay tonight,” Neteyam said, dropping two pillows, that he presumably found in one of the rooms, onto the couch next to Spider. Rotxo had a few more pillows and Ao’nung had carried down a few blankets, letting them drop to the floor in front of the couch. They would all be camping out in the living room tonight, just like they had done when they were still taking shelter at home.
Ao’nung placed a small folded shirt onto the coffee table in front of Spider, “Here. I found it in one of the closets, so if it doesn’t fit I can go see if they have something else.”
Spider gave him a small smile and a quiet “Thank you.”
“Can you get me a bowl and fill it with water?” Kiri asked without looking up from her work. Ao’nung nodded and went for a small search to get what she needed.
Spider meanwhile already looked annoyed at the thought of being poked and prodded again, while Lo’ak watched over Kiri’s shoulder the whole time, despite having been put on lookout duty. At least he was making himself useful by holding the candle for Kiri.
“How does it look now?” Spider asked as Kiri carefully wiped at the dried blood, but gave up on that rather quickly. It’d be better to properly clean it with water.
Lo’ak hummed, “It looks bad.”
“Great,” Spider sighed. The fact that Kiri didn’t say anything, not even to scold Lo’ak, was enough to tell him that she agreed with Lo’ak’s assessment. Fantastic.
Ao’nung returned with a small bowl of water, a towel and surprisingly some soap. Kiri did quick, but gentle work of cleaning Spider’s back as Spider grit his teeth the entire time, taking deep breaths whenever he could. If it looked as worse as it hurt, then he was surely done for.
With Lo’ak and Ao’nung’s help Kiri managed to wrap Spider’s back in a few bandages and some gauze, but there wasn’t enough to cover his whole back, so they had substituted the bandages with some more shirts found around the house.
“Do you feel faint? Do you feel…warm? Do you feel like a fever is coming on? Do you feel an overwhelming desire to eat one of us?” Lo’ak put his hand on Spider’s forehead, but Spider dodged it.
“I feel like you need to stop touching me,” Spider said, slapping Lo’ak’s hand away when he tried it again, “I don’t feel sick right now.”
“Are you sure?” Lo’ak asked, this time maybe just to be annoying.
Spider glared at him, “Shouldn’t you be on look out?”
Lo’ak chuckled at his annoyance, but detached himself from his side and took up the lookout spot that had the best outlook towards the front. The windows weren’t covered. Whoever had lived here before must have left before or shortly after the walkers had taken over the city. Either way the house must have been uninhabited until now.
No one had mentioned anything about covering the windows either and they probably wouldn’t take on that work when they were only staying for a few hours at most. It wasn’t like they had much light that could be noticed from the outside either.
“Can I please put on a shirt now?” Spider sighed after a while.
“Yeah,” Kiri said, brushing a careful hand over the bandages again just to make sure they would hold before holding out the shirt Ao’nung had brought him. Spider mumbled a thanks, suppressing a groan when he had to lift his arms to pull the shirt over his head.
Kiri turned to Ao’nung next, taking a stand behind him, “Okay, your turn. Let me look at your head.”
Ao’nung accepted her care without argument, ducking his head slightly as her fingers brushed over the back of his head.
“It feels fine. It doesn’t even hurt as long as I don’t touch it,” He said just as Kiri’s fingers brushed over the bump, making him hiss.
“Okay, yeah. I can feel it but there is nothing visible. I would give you an ice pack if I could, but I guess just don’t touch it,” Kiri said, removing her fingers, “If you start feeling dizzy, nauseous or a headache coming, tell me.”
“Yes, doc,” Ao’nung agreed, bringing his fingers up in a mock-salute.
“You, too,” Kiri said, addressing Spider, “If you start feeling any symptoms, tell us.” Spider just gave her a thumbs up and that was that.
With her work done Kiri joined Neteyam and Rotxo. They were in the hallway, crouching by the bags that had been tossed into a pile with some of the food, which they had found that day, stacked next to them, but none of the packages or cans were opened.
“What are you looking for?” Kiri asked, joining Rotxo side.
“We thought we could have a small dinner, but we don’t really have anything that we could eat without cooking it first,” Rotxo said as he started putting some of the cans back into the bags.
“We’re having Lo’ak’s candy stash instead,” Neteyam said. It wasn’t the best meal, but at least they had something to replenish some energy with.
Collecting the candy from Lo’ak’s bag, along with the water bottles they still had left, which admittedly wasn't much after the day they had and having to use some of it to clean Spider, the three of them joined the others by the window/lookout spot.
Lo’ak and Ao’nung sat on chairs that they had dragged over from the dining room while Spider had already tossed some of the pillows next to them, laying comfortably on his stomach on the floor and looking like he was already dozing off.
Kiri sat down, placing some candy bars next to him. He lifted his head slightly with a small ‘thanks’ whispered to her, before cushioning it back onto his crossed arms. The rest of the candy was put into a pile in the middle.
Rotxo sat down beside her and Neteyam completed their small circle by sitting on the floor in between Rotxo and Ao’nung’s chair, before reaching behind him and placing the only little candle they had in the middle of their circle as well.
Once he was settled, Neteyam leaned his head against the side of Ao’nung’s leg, feeling his hand settle on top of his head gently, the weight of it providing some much needed comfort after such a heavy day of stress.
None of them really reached for any candy and if they did, they only ate slowly and reluctantly. After the day they had they were certainly hungry, but that hunger was paired with no appetite whatsoever.
The atmosphere was muted and sluggish, but another collective sigh went through the group as it felt like things finally settled down for the night and they could just sit for a few hours. Everyone was exhausted beyond measure and while none of them had any real energy left for conversations, there were still some things that they needed to discuss.
“What happened after we separated?” Lo’ak asked, pulling his legs up onto the chair and into a crisscross position. Neteyam, Rotxo and Kiri exchanged a brief look. Spider didn’t even lift his head and in the end it was Kiri that had to explain that a walker had jumped out at her which led to Spider having to shoot to get it away from her.
“There were many walkers around already, but that just attracted them towards us,” Kiri said with a small, sad shrug. “Once they had us in their sights, it was just a domino chain of trouble.”
Rotxo picked up where Kiri had left the story off, explaining their getaway and how Spider had gotten injured before they had eventually managed to contact and find Lo’ak and Ao’nung. Once Rotxo had concluded their side of the day, Lo’ak took over to tell them about his group.
Once he reached the part where he and Ao’nung turned the van and themselves into practically life bait, the other four could just blink at them.
“You…what?” Kiri finally asked, tilting her head slightly. “You led a horde with a van.”
“Yeah,” Lo’ak’s smile was almost giddy. In hindsight the thought of it was really cool and knowing that they would never again be able to pull something like that again, he would allow himself to enjoy the thought of their successful little expedition.
“He almost killed me,” Ao’nung said the, like it was the most casual thing in the world.
“That was an accident,” Lo’ak said.
“Where is mom now? She’s okay, right?” Neteyam asked, brushing off their previous comments. As soon as they had met up, it had not escaped his notice that their mother wasn’t with them anymore, but he had assumed that anything dire would have been mentioned by now.
“Yeah,” Lo’ak said, “We managed to get the walkers away from her, so I’m sure she got away.”
“I just hope she isn’t alone anymore,” Ao’nung said lightly.
“Maybe she took shelter like we did and will look for us tomorrow,” Rotxo suggested.
“Maybe she made it back before the sun went down and she is out looking for us with dad,” Lo’ak suggested next, “We did the whole van thing some time before the sun went down. I think she would have enough time to find the meeting spot.”
“I can’t even imagine how worried they are about us,” Neteyam said with a small sigh, the worry of their parents worrying him in turn.
“At least Tuk is fine,” Lo’ak said. That, at least, was something they all could agree on without hesitation. No matter what was going down, as long as Tuk was with their father, there was nothing on earth that could harm her.
That lulled the conversation into silence until it was broken by Lo’ak’s yawn.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to take first watch,” Lo’ak said, slumping in his seat.
“I’ll take first watch,” Neteyam volunteered easily, though he was feeling like he could pass out any second himself. He was sure that they all felt that way and he wanted his siblings to get some rest first. He’d be fine, staying awake for a couple more hours.
Ao’nung brushed his hand over Neteyam’s head gently, where it had been resting still, “I’ll stay up with you.”
“Are we sleeping in the living room?” Rotxo asked, nodding towards the blankets and pillows they had carried down earlier.
“Yeah, we always slept together in the living room, so we wouldn’t be too far from each other,” Lo’ak said.
“This was when we were still staying with our grandmother,” Kiri started explaining in more detail, because Rotxo nodded along with clear interest, “As soon as we knew just how serious everything was, our parents located us to our grandmother’s house. We stayed there for a month before we left for Zongtseng.
“At first we slept in separate rooms, either in our grandmother’s room or the guest room. Only our parents would stay in the living room and keep an eye on things until Tuk wanted us all to be together. She would get anxious as soon as a single person wasn’t in her eyesight, so eventually the living room was the only place we could all stay together without squeezing.”
"The habit stuck," Lo'ak added.
Rotxo nodded along the whole time Kiri explained, understanding why they had carried down the pillows and blankets into the living room earlier.
“What about your grandmother?” Rotxo asked quietly before correcting himself, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer.”
“She stayed behind,” Lo’ak explained, leaving it to Kiri again to tell the more detailed version of what happened.
“We stayed with our grandmother for a month, until regular broadcasts and the electricity finally shut off completely,” Kiri said, “The last broadcast about Zongtseng gave our dad the idea to leave, so we’d find in a safe location. Mom didn’t want to go either at first, but dad managed to convince her.”
“They fought about it a lot,” Lo’ak said, his legs pulled up against his chest now and resting his head against his knees. The position didn’t look too comfortable on a chair. “and then Mom tried so hard to convince grandmother to come with us, but she is more hardheaded than any of us. She was convinced that she would not leave the house that she built with our grandfather.”
“She loved that house,” Kiri sighed wistfully at the memory of the many years she had spent in her grandmother’s home, “We all did.”
“I bet she’s still alive,” Lo’ak said after a moment, sounding like there was no single doubt in his head about it.
“Yeah,” Kiri agreed, “Our grandmother is a tough nut. She probably fenced off the house and is growing her own food already.”
The two shared a laugh at the memory of their badass grandmother.
“Uhm, can I ask a weird question?” Rotxo asked, pointing between Neteyam, Lo’ak, Kiri and Spider, “Are all of you actually siblings?"
There was a brief pause as the siblings blinked at Rotxo’s sudden question. Rotxo almost felt like he had said something wrong before they finally laughed.
“Sorry, we’re not laughing at you. You just took us off guard,” Kiri assured him, before explaining just to be sure, “Neteyam, Lo’ak and I are actually siblings, yes. And mom and dad are our actual parents.”
“What did you think, bro?” Lo’ak chuckled slightly.
“I don’t know what I thought,” Rotxo chuckled a bit embarrassed, “Lo’ak and Neteyam sure. You look like Neytiri and Jake, but I wasn’t sure with Kiri and Spider. Maybe I thought you picked each other up on the road like me, you know?”
“I was adopted as a baby,” Kiri said absently, dismissing any following questions with a wave of her hand.
Lo’ak laughed a little at the explanation, “And you’re not wrong with Spider. We did pick him up from the road.”
Now that Spider was mention all their gazes wandered to his still form. He hadn’t stirred throughout the whole conversation.
“Spider,” Kiri called out to him firmly, but she was satisfied when she got a slightly irritated and tired grunt, roughly translating to ‘leave me alone’, in response.
“You alive, bro?” Lo’ak asked, needing a better confirmation. It was meant to have a joking undertone, but his anxiety shone through more than that.
Spider hummed, going through the effort of lifting his hand and giving them a thumbs up, before supposedly falling back asleep. He made no other movement after, leaving the others to stare at him for another moment, before their eyes wandered over to the second member that hadn’t joined their conversation in quite a while.
Neteyam’s head was leaned against Ao’nung’s thigh, his lips slightly parted in small breaths as he slept. The others laughed quietly at him falling asleep first when he had volunteered to take the first night shift. So much for that, but of course they’d all let him sleep. He was the one who had taken the lead through most of the day. He needed the rest.
“I’ll still take first,” Ao’nung said. No one stepped up to offer to take it with him, but he saw them exchange small glances wondering if someone should. He added with a small chuckle, “I can take it alone. We’re inside, so it should be fine.”
“Great, thank you,” Lo’ak said, not arguing further and untangling himself from his position on the chair and stretching his hands above his head, “I’m going to bed.”
“Yeah,” Kiri agreed, bringing over a pillow and blanket and Ao’nung helped to carefully settle Neteyam into a more comfortable bed instead of letting him sleep in a vaguely uncomfortable sitting position.
“Mh,” Neteyam briefly blinked awake as they moved him, but he was exhausted enough to fall back asleep once Ao’nung tugged him back in.
Lo’ak had meanwhile already planted himself onto one half of the couch, his face buried in one of the pillows. It wouldn’t surprise Kiri if he had already fallen asleep in the mere seconds it had taken them to tug in Neteyam. She simply draped one of the blankets over him and let him be.
“Do you want the love seat?” Rotxo asked, but Kiri shook her head.
“You take it. I can share with Lo’ak,” She said, taking a seat on the space that was left before nudging Lo’ak’s legs to make a bit more room for herself. She took a moment to count the blanket piles around the room, including Ao'nung still siting at the window. The proximity of her siblings and that they were all safe for now allowed her to relax a bit.
And if she pretended like her parents were just in the other room, instead of out there somewhere, she could almost fall into a restful sleep.
Ao’nung had spaced out for a while, with his legs propped up on the second chair and watching the stars he could see from the window.
This was the first time he had taken the night watch completely alone since they had found Neteyam’s family again and his mind had started wandering. He had honestly forgotten how boring it got.
At times he thought that he could see movements from the houses across the street, but after watching them for long enough, he concluded that it was just his still active mind filling in the stillness around him. A while ago he did see a walker, slowly making its way through the neighborhood and Ao’nung watched him go until he was out of sight again. Thankfully that was the most exciting thing that happened. He didn’t think any of them were up for any more action tonight.
A small tap against his leg freed him from his lonely time. It was Neteyam, lazily smiling up at him.
“Did I fall asleep?” He whispered, his voice heavy with his short rest.
“Yeah, while we were talking,” Ao’nung whispered as Neteyam sat up, untangling himself from the blankets before taking the second chair and positioning it closer to Ao’nung’s.
“How long did I sleep?”
“About an hour maybe. I’m not sure,” Ao’nung said.
Neteyam nodded, “You can get some rest now if you want to. I can take over for a while.”
“Nah, I’m not tired yet,” Ao’nung reached over, placing his hand in Neteyam’s, “I'll sit with you for a bit."
Neteyam squeezed Ao'nung's hand in response as they settled into a small silence, but after a few minutes of watching the outside again, Ao’nung noticed that Neteyam was actually just watching him. He turned his head slightly, tilting it with a confused smile and Neteyam matched it with one of his.
“What?” Ao’nung asked lightly, but Neteyam just shrugged without an answer. Instead he leaned closer and Ao’nung automatically welcomed his kiss. Neteyam’s hand came to rest on Ao’nung’s cheek first, wandering over the side of his neck and to the back of his neck before tangling in his hair. Ao’nung smiled into the kiss.
“Did you miss me?” Ao'nung asked with a cheeky smile.
Neteyam sighed heavily, “It’s been a long day. I was worried about you.”
Ao’nung pressed their lips together again, “Me too. I almost went crazy at the thought that something might have happened to you.”
“We’re okay,” Neteyam said. Ao’nung felt a warmth settle in him at the reassurance. Though the words were simple, it helped to hear it again. They found their way back into a kiss, this one more drawn out, but still gentle, relishing in each other’s presence.
“It’s been too long since we had a quiet moment together,” Neteyam sighed again, this time a bit more wistfully.
And wasn’t that the truth. Even though they knew that they would have less privacy on the road, it had been weeks now since they even had the opportunity to have a quiet, one on one conversation with each other, much less have time for more than a fleeting kiss or two. In fact, Ao’nung couldn’t even remember when he had been able to just kiss Neteyam, without rush, without anyone else nearby. Not even now they had that privacy, but this was better than nothing and he'd enjoy whatever he could get.
Ao’nung leaned closer for another kiss. Then another and then another, only keeping to simple pecks.
“I promised Lo’ak you’d give me a full body check once we’re safe,” Ao’nung mumbled against Neteyam’s lips, earning himself a small laugh.
Neteyam hummed thoughtfully, “Maybe some other time. We shouldn’t wake the others and you’re not good at keeping quiet.”
Ao’nung huffed jokingly at his answer, a bit of embarrassment coloring his cheeks. Neteyam still had a small teasing smile on his lips, but the raise in one of his eyebrows signaled clear disapproval of what Lo’ak and Ao’nung had gotten up to “And does this have something to do with you two turning yourselves into walker bait?”
“Mh, yeah,” Ao’nung shrugged lightly before smirking, determined to get back to what they had been doing before, “You’ll have to check me more in the future, now that I don’t have my spear anymore and can’t defend myself.”
Ao’nung didn’t get the expected, flirty laugh that Neteyam had given before, instead Neteyam pulled away more, confused and surprised, “What happened to your spear?”
“Oh, uh, it broke when I had to fight off a few walkers,” Ao’nung shrugged sadly this time before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the fabric he used to keep tied around the spearhead’s base, “This is all I have left now.”
“I’m sorry. I know she meant a lot to you,” Neteyam said, squeezing his hand.
“Yeah, she was already very fragile. It was only a matter of time,” Ao’nung said before smiling at him, “But it’s okay.”
He leaned in for another kiss, but it was disappointingly short, really just a peck.
“We’ll find you a weapon. You shouldn’t stay defenseless,” Neteyam said, “My dad will probably find you a gun. He’s good at that.”
Ao’nung nodded, before he laughed a bit bashfully in the way that suggested that there was more to say.
“What?” Neteyam asked curiously, trying to coax it out of him and Ao’nung chuckled before whispering:
“I’ve never fired a gun before.”
“What?” This time Neteyam was baffled. He shook his head, “But you’ve used our guns plenty of times, didn’t you?” He asked the last question with a frown, both questioning Ao’nung and his own memory as he tried to think back.
“Well, not really. I’ve held your gun, I’ve held Lo’ak’s and I even held your dad’s gun at one point, but I’ve never actually had to use any of them,” Ao’nung chuckled, “I don’t think my aim is good to be honest. I was just more comfortable with my spear.”
“Really?” Neteyam sounded slightly in disbelief.
“Yup. I never had to pull the trigger,” Ao’nung laughed a bit at his expression, “Honestly, thinking back I don’t think I ever even released the safety, so it’s probably a good thing that I never had to use them when they were in my hands.”
Neteyam whispered a quiet ‘wow’, shaking his head lightly as he tried to remember the times that Ao’nung had even held a gun. They were few and far between, so much so that Neteyam couldn’t even remember the last time Ao’nung had had a gun in hand. It was only ever his spear, so maybe it shouldn't surprise him.
“I think I’m just better with handheld weapons, but a knife won’t be enough,” Ao’nung glanced towards their bags, some of them still tossed into a pile near the front door.
“We’ll find you something,” Neteyam promised again, before briefly extracting his hand from Ao’nung to point a stern finger at him, “But no axes.”
Ao’nung laughed, happily accepting Neteyam’s hand back into his along with another kiss (or two, or three, maybe even four) when he leaned closer again.
Ao’nung made it another hour before it got too hard to stay awake and he had taken Neteyam’s sleeping spot, leaving him to continue the watch alone. Neteyam mostly ignored the tossing and turning coming from the couches, knowing that even though they had a quiet moment now, none of them were really getting a restful sleep.
Once they had gotten enough sleep to get away from the brink of exhaustion, sleeping didn’t seem to be that easy anymore. Lo’ak was tossing and turning the most, with only some moments of quiet, and though he was restless, he had not given up on sleep yet.
Rotxo tossed around a lot less, but occasionally a quiet sigh came from his direction before he settled down again. The only two people sleeping quietly were Ao’nung, who had just fallen asleep and Spider, who hasn’t moved in hours.
Every now and then Neteyam watched him for a bit to make sure that his back was still steadily rising and falling in his sleep.
In the end it was Kiri who gave up on sleeping first, tossing and turning when she first woke up, followed by a sigh and then the blankets rustling when she finally got up. Neteyam gave her a little smile when she looked towards him and she smiled back, but before she joined him during watch, Kiri tiptoed over to Spider.
She watched him sleep, just as Neteyam had, to make sure that he was breathing, before she reached out and gave him a firm nudge against the shoulder, only getting a grunt in response.
“Spider,” Kiri’s voice was kept in a whisper but her tone was firm and she gave him another nudge. This time she wasn’t satisfied by just a simple noise response. She needed verbal confirmation, “Wake up.”
“What?” Spider’s own voice was muffled by the pillow and sleep. He didn’t bother opening his eyes.
“How do you feel?” Kiri asked with a whisper.
“’m cold,” Spider mumbled simply as Kiri moved the palm of her hand against his forehead and to the back of his neck to check his temperature. Surprisingly he still didn’t have a fever, but he didn’t seem cold either. Still she brought over her blanket and draped it over him.
She wasn’t really sure how long it would take for Spider to get his fever. Maybe he wouldn’t, but that was probably wishful thinking. There was no doubt that Spider wouldn’t walk away from this so easily, but other than that they didn’t know what to expect. Kiri really wished her mother was here.
The fatigue was definitely already setting in. Spider hadn’t moved even a little bit since he had fallen asleep earlier and as soon as Kiri left him alone, he went back to stillness.
Kiri settled into the chair next to Neteyam’s with a sigh. She was quiet for a moment before finally lifting her gaze to her brother, “I wish mom was here. She could help him more.”
Neteyam shook his head. Of course he wasn’t one to doubt his mother’s healing skills, but Kiri’s skills were pretty much up to par with hers. There wasn’t much that one could do against a bite or scratches other than care for them like Kiri had, especially when they were on a body part that could not be removed.
“You did all you could, Kiri. You took good care of him,” Neteyam assured her. His arm moved around her shoulder, pulling her closer and rubbing her shoulder. She was avoiding looking at him and Neteyam knew it was because she was fighting tears. Her chin was almost at her chest with how much she was avoiding his gaze, knowing that if she looked at him then she wouldn’t be able to stop the waterworks.
Kiri shook her head at Neteyam’s words, but Neteyam sternly nodded in return, “Yes, you did. You did good.”
Kiri turned her head sharply to look at Neteyam now, glaring at him as the first tear fell. Her voice shook and her lip wobbled, “What if Spider turns? What if I didn’t clean it properly and he’ll get sick because of me?”
“No matter what happens, it won’t be your fault,” Neteyam moved his arm to wipe the tear from her cheek, “And you’re not going to like it, but he will probably get sick, no matter what else we could have done. I mean, Ao’nung cut my whole arm off and I still got sick.”
Kiri breathed out deeply, almost a sigh as she wiped her cheeks clean. She really did not like that answer, but she said nothing else, knowing that Neteyam was most likely right. Like Lo’ak, she pulled her legs up against her chest, leaning heavily against Neteyam’s side again, and turning her head out the window.
“What was it like? The Fever?” Kiri asked, finally lifting her head more slowly this time. Her eyes held concern, both for Spider now and for Neteyam and the fact that he had already gone through it. She had been the one to take care of him for a duration of it, but she had known that he had overcome the worst of it before they had found each other again with only Ao’nung to take care of him and no proper medicine to help.
Really, maybe she should ask Ao’nung how he had cared for Neteyam during the worst of it.
Neteyam grimaced at the memory, his lips pulling into a tight, unhappy line, “It really fucking sucked.” The answer startled a small laugh from Kiri and Neteyam smiled that he had managed to make her laugh. He still gave her a proper answer, “I wasn’t ever fully conscious, but I could always feel pain. I was too hot and sweating and at the same time I was freezing cold. I think I dreamed sometimes, in short bursts and when I was awake, everything in me hurt so much, I begged Eywa to just kill me so it would stop.”
Kiri winced a bit at his last words, quietly thanking Eywa that her brother had made it through.
“How long did it take until you got sick?” Kiri asked, but Neteyam shook his head this time.
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Ao’nung,” Neteyam said.
Kiri leaned further into his side, having asked enough questions, “I’m glad you’re not dead. I’m glad you pulled through.”
“And Spider will, too. It’s going to suck, but he is strong. He’ll make it,” Neteyam gently rubbed her shoulder, “And his back will heal, thanks to your excellent care.”
Kiri just smiled weakly and Neteyam wasn’t sure if he had managed to alleviate her worries at all, but it seemed like her anxiety had been eased just a little bit, just by having some of her questions answered. They spent the rest of their watch together in silence, but with Neteyam’s arm around Kiri’s shoulder, providing comfort.
The watch was changed one more time through the night when Lo’ak finally gave up on tossing and turning, relieving his siblings from their spot and taking the rest of the night watch by himself, slumping in his chair with his legs propped up on the second one.
Falling asleep the first time was actually easy, but once he had woken up the first time, falling back into a proper sleep was frustratingly impossible. It sucked. Sleeping in uncomfortable, short bursts was really not restful at all, but the night watch wasn’t really all that better right now. Having to take a rest while they’d much rather be out there, looking for their missing family members didn’t really make for a restful sleep.
The last time this happened, it was Neteyam that had been missing and Lo’ak, and the rest of the family, hadn’t gotten a proper rest in weeks until they got used to it, as bad as it sounded.
That’s why it was a relief when the darkness of the night finally brightened and the first bits of orange appeared on the skyline. Just a bit longer and Lo’ak would wake his siblings, so they could finally get a move on again. The dawn was still accompanied by the birds singing. At least that was something that hadn’t changed.
Lo’ak gave his siblings a few more minutes of rest before he’d start waking them up so they could get back out there and find their parents.
He watched the sky brighten for a few more minutes and was just about to get up, stretch his back and quietly start waking the rest, but the intended gentle wake up wasn’t granted to his siblings.
Lo’ak startled out of his chair when a car passed by outside. It was gone just as quick as it had come into view, but Lo’ak got up so fast, that his chair tumbled backwards with a loud enough crash that it woke the others with a startle.
“What the fuck?” was the first thing Ao’nung said as he shot into a sitting position, one hand on his chest and his racing heart. He was closest to Lo’ak and in the silence the clattering of the chair was almost as loud as a bomb going off.
“Sorry,” Lo’ak quickly said. Neteyam and Kiri had taken up the couch and Neteyam was already halfway over to Lo’ak side. Rotxo was also awake, the only person other than Spider to have gotten more than a couple of hours of sleep.
“What happened?” Neteyam asked hurriedly, looking outside and scanning for any threat that caused Lo’ak’s reaction.
“There was a car. I couldn’t recognize if it was one of ours, but I thought it could be mom and dad,” Lo’ak explained quickly, before adding with a small laugh: “Sorry for the wakeup.”
Neteyam put his hand on Lo’ak’s head gently as his little brother ducked his head with the added pressure. Lo’ak smiled when Neteyam gave him an assuring smile too.
“It’s fine. There’s a good chance it was mom and dad,” He said before looking at the others, “We should get going quickly. Let’s try and catch up to them.”
“Rise and shine, everyone,” Rotxo half-mumbled half-sighed, rolling off of the loveseat and barely catching himself with his foot before he actually fell out of his temporary bed.
Kiri made a beeline for Spider again and much to everyone’s relief, he managed to get up with a lot of grumbling. She didn’t have time to check his back again, but the huge wince he let out when he tried to stretch told her enough.
“You okay?” She asked softly.
“Mh-yep. Definitely,” Spider said, the gritting of his teeth very clear in his tone, “Ready to go.”
Notes:
I was going to include the reunion with the parents this chapter, but it got too long. Next time though, promise <3
Chapter 20
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The car that Lo’ak had seen was long gone by the time they left the house, but with the daylight they could at least orient themselves better. Turned out that they actually weren’t too far from the meeting spot, merely a few blocks away from it.
Bags were picked up hastily and everyone moved to their car quickly. Even Spider managed to hurry, though he wasn’t able to hide the pain in his features. They automatically took on the seats they had been sitting on the night before with Neteyam in the driver seat and Rotxo on the passenger side, the rest of them squeezing into the backseat while still trying to give Spider enough space to be comfortable.
Not an easy feat, but at least it would likely be a short ride.
The car didn’t start the first few times Neteyam tried to get it to move and judging by the state of it, the car was really on its last leg. The car had been looking bad before, but after last night the bumper was now fully missing and it was splattered with black-ish blood from the walker Neteyam had hit yesterday. Getting them back to the meeting spot would be the cars last mission.
Though there was no catching up to the car Lo’ak had seen, Neteyam pressed on the gas quickly when the car finally cooperated and he only slowed the car down when they turned into the familiar street. The more familiar place came into view along with an all too familiar car. It was one of the ones they had arrived in the city with.
“That’s our car,” Lo’ak pointed it out. It had not been moved since yesterday, so it likely hadn’t been used if their parents had been out and about. However the second car, that only came into view once they rolled closer, was in a new spot, “That’s the car I saw! It was ours!”
Just a moment later, which felt all too long, they finally spotted the figures of their parents, just beyond.
“It is! It’s mom!” Lo’ak yelled out then, his fingers already at the door handle, ready to jump out as soon as Neteyam brought the car to a stop.
Everyone in the car jumped when Neteyam pressed the car horn twice, so beyond caring if anyone heard them. He just needed their parent’s attention on them. Of course it worked, both Neytiri and Jake eyeing the car suspiciously. Once they were close enough they could even see Tuk hurrying to hide behind her father at the approaching car.
Lo’ak was out of the car first, which was a feat given that he had to climb over Ao'nung to get out of the door first. He jumped, throwing his hands up joyfully once he was out and at the same time Neytiri and Jake’s faces merged from suspicion into pure relief once they realized that it was Lo’ak.
Tuk met Lo’ak with the same enthusiasm that he was showing and she was the first one to run up to him for a hug. Their parents seemed to look more and more relieved with each of the children that stepped out of the car as they also rushed over to their side.
“Thank the Great Mother. Thank you, Great Mother,” Neytiri kept repeating, her eyes frantically scanning each of her children for injuries and her hands reaching for each of them, cupping their cheeks and pressing kisses to them, no matter who it was.
Neteyam was the first in her arms, getting a firm hug and kiss before she released him to wrap Kiri into her arms next. As soon as Neteyam was released by his mother, he was hugged by his father, pulled into his arms at the same time as Ao’nung, asking each of them if they were okay or if they were hurt before moving to pull Lo’ak into his arms as well, even with Tuk still wrapped around his middle.
The hugs didn’t stop until all children got a tight squeeze, even Rotxo, who looked very surprised to be pulled into one, then another hug and gently asked if he was okay.
Lo’ak got the joy of a tight hug from his mother, which he reciprocated similarly, wrapping his arms tightly around her.
“That was reckless. Stupid. Stupid, what you did,” Neytiri firmly kissed his temple and despite her words, the only thing that could be heard in her voice was relief, “You could have been hurt. What did I tell you?”
“Screw all that,” Lo’ak said, knowing that she was referring to the talk they had before. That in dangerous moments their parents wanted them to get themselves to safety. Lo’ak thought it was stupid anyways, “Sully’s stick together. There is not a chance in the world I would have left you.”
She blinked away the tears, pressing another firm kiss against his temple, “Thank you, baby.”
“Where is Spider?” Jake was the one to break up the moment, one of his hands settled on Neteyam’s shoulder, the other one wrapped around Kiri’s. A quick headcount showed that Spider had indeed not stepped out of the car once again.
“Dad, Spider was injured,” Neteyam was the one to break the news and the relief of the moment suddenly went somber again. Jake eyes snapped to Neteyam, mortified and sad and Neteyam rushed to clarify, “He’s not dead. He’s in the car.”
“He was scratched,” Kiri quickly added, “No bite.”
“Okay,” Jake breathed out, clearly relieved, “Okay, we’ll take care of it.”
He let go of his children to walk over to the car, leaning into the backseat to check on Spider.
Spider was hunched over, his head leaning against the headrest of the seat in front of him. He looked tired, though when Jake poked his head into the car, he did his best to smile at him.
“Spider…” Jake’s hand, just like all the others, settled on Spider’s forehead first, relieved when he found it to be a normal temperature. Neytiri came into view behind Jake by now. “What happened?”
“It’s on my back,” Spider said, not answering the question directly and yet providing an answer just the same.
“Can you come out? Let me check on you,” Her words were demanding, but her voice was gentle at the clear fatigue in the boy’s expression. Spider sighed, but dragged himself out of the car and he was promptly sat down on the lawn, not wanting to stand. Neytiri helped him out of his shirt.
“I did what I could,” Kiri told her mother as she studied the fabric that she had wrapped around his wounds instead of bandages.
Neytiri nodded, “You did a good job.”
Jake turned to his other children, all of them circling around Spider and Neytiri. He held out his hands, gently moving them all a step back, “Don’t hover. Let’s pack up the cars, alright? We’ll get out of the city as soon as your mother is done.”
“We’re leaving?” Tuk asked, the news were unexpected, but really not unwelcome.
“Yes, we’re leaving,” Jake said, gently but firmly. He clearly did not want to remain in the city any longer than he had to and it was safe to say that everyone shared that sentiment. The children followed him to the busted car to collect their bags and bring them back to the original two they had arrived in. “If we drive through without stops, we’ll make it to the coast by the evening.”
Jake’s words lifted spirit’s only slightly.
In the end Neytiri hadn’t touched the makeshift bandages Kiri had put into place. She would check on Spider when they were in a safer place, only making sure now that he wasn’t feeling any other symptoms besides the fatigue.
Jake had meanwhile found a third car for them, explaining that Spider would drive with him, so he could lay down comfortably in the backseat, but when he firmly turned down both Kiri and Lo’ak wanting to ride shotgun, it was clear that he wasn’t just keeping Spider’s comfort in mind.
Jake wanted Spider away from the other children if he turned on their way to the coast and in the end no one was able to argue with their father. Jake only compromised when Neytiri argued that she would be better suited to take care of Spider if something came up, so in the end, it would just be Spider and Neytiri in the car.
One of the other cars would still be driven by Jake and when Neteyam volunteered to drive the third one, he was surprised when each and every single one of his siblings gave a strict “No!”
“What? Why?” Neteyam asked a bit bewildered. Even Spider had brought up the strength to shake his head at him.
“No offence, but I don’t trust you to drive several hours,” Lo’ak said. “You drove the last two times and I don’t think you got enough sleep last night.”
“I just drove us here,” Neteyam argued, “I slept before we left.”
All of them gave him doubtful and furrowed looks, clearly in agreement that the few hours that Neteyam had slept were not enough to let him back behind the wheel for a longer drive.
“I’ll drive,” Rotxo said softly, “I didn’t take a night shift. I can do a long drive.”
“Great!” Lo’ak said before Neteyam could argue.
“Fine, whatever,” Neteyam rolled his eyes, marching over to the car Jake would be driving, “But I’m riding shotgun.”
The drive was quiet in all three cars with the people that weren’t driving either sleeping or quietly watching the road. They didn’t make any big stops along the way. It felt like they were now in a hurry to get to the coast more so than ever before. The only slightly longer stop they had was when Spider had to vomit onto the side of the road as a new symptom presented itself. And even after that, they were back on the road as soon as they could.
It took them nearly the whole day of driving when they ocean finally came into view.
“I can see the ocean!” Tuk yelled, scrambling out of her own seat and over to Lo’ak’s side to press her face against the window, “Look! Do you think we can go swimming?”
Jake led the cars off of the highway they had been cruising down on for the past few hours, veering into a small drive-through town. it brought them even closer towards the ocean. Most places here were just apartments among shops running along the main street, café’s, restaurants and gas stations. A town designed for a quick stop in the journey of travelers and not much more.
“Looks just like home,” Ao’nung commented quietly, nudging Rotxo in the driver seat as they drove through it. It quickly became clear that they weren’t going to make a stop here.
“It’s smaller than home,” Rotxo briefly looked over through the passenger side window. This town was similar to the ocean boardwalk back home that they had spent many hours at throughout their life. The promenade was almost like a second home back then.
The rest of the drive took just another hour, but by then they had driven through most of the day until Jake took a turn towards a building, located just on the beach side. The place looked quaint and was at least a twenty-minute drive from the nearest town. The perfect place for a weekend getaway at the beach and it seemed like they would be staying here.
Tuk was the first to scramble out of the car as soon as it rolled to a stop.
“Tuk, don’t go out of sight,” Jake called after her as he stepped out.
“How is Spider?” Kiri asked, immediately by her mother’s side when she stepped out of her own car.
“He slept through the rest of the drive,” Neytiri cast a look to the backseat, “Still no fever.”
The others took in their new location, wandering from the ocean stretching in front of them over to the building they stood at. It was a two stories high, slightly dirty beachside inn with a broken sign to match. It was the only building otherwise in sight, safe for a small restaurant right next to it.
“We upgraded from the motel,” Lo’ak smiled with a low whistle. This place had a few stars, at least.
Ao’nung stood beside him, hands on his hips as he took in a deep breath of salty and cool ocean air. “Smells like home,” He said, causing Rotxo to chuckle at the similar comment.
“Enjoy it, because we’re not staying long. We’ll only stay a night,” Jake said, grabbing some of the bags from the trunk before he glanced over at Spider, now on his feet but leaning heavily onto the side of the car, “Maybe two.”
“We’re not far from the settlement,” Neytiri smiled, taking some of the bags from Jake and handing them over to the kids, “Only a few more hours and we should be there.”
“Then why are we staying here?” Tuk asked, half still turned towards the ocean, “Shouldn’t we go on?”
A small silence as everyone’s eyes briefly wandered over to Spider before they averted them again to exchange glances.
“We’re just going to wait for…Spider to get better,” Neytiri brushed a gentle hand over Tuk’s head. “In a couple days we’ll know how to proceed.”
Tuk frowned at the answer. It’s been a year since the outbreak and she knew what her mother really meant.
Two days would be enough to see whether Spider would get better or if they would have to say goodbye.
Most things were left in the cars, except a few personal belongings and everyone was quickly off to claim a room, much reminiscent of the motel.
Tuk had asked if she was allowed to swim and surprisingly their parents allowed them a small dip, though not for long. Unsurprisingly Rotxo and Ao’nung were just as enthusiastic as her when they ran into the water, Lo’ak not too far behind either.
Only Spider, Neteyam and Kiri stuck behind, only dipping their feet into the waves. Spider due to his injuries, of course and Kiri didn’t seem to want to stray from Spider’s side anymore. Neteyam wasn’t sure if it was safe to expose his arm to saltwater, even though it had been a good few months already. Better safe than sorry.
Neither of them talked, only listening to the ocean and the laughter of the others. Ao'nung's laughter was like music to Neteyam. It was nice to hear and he really enjoyed watching Ao’nung back in his element. The last time Ao’nung had been able to swim was when they had found that lake en route to the city almost a lifetime ago.
Spider waded through the ankle high water a bit, arms crossed as he watched the others enjoy the ocean. He would have liked to join them, but his back was already giving him a hard time and just the thought alone made his injuries sting.
But the fresh air felt good in his lungs and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes.
Whether he turned or not, the coming hours would be hard. One did not just walk away from a walker scratch without any kind of repercussion and he was already starting to feel it.
He felt heavier. Tired. Unfocused. Like one would in the early stages of a really heavy fever. He knew what was coming, but he would do his best to power through it, maybe until he dropped. Though the others wouldn’t let it come to that. He was sure that he was close to being put on bed rest.
Spider curled his fingers around his arms tightly. His skin was clammy…or maybe he was imagining it while waiting for it to actually happen.
He wondered if he would be able to feel himself turn when the time came.
It didn’t take long for the sun to start setting now, luring the others out of the water and together the group took the road back to the inn. As they passed the open showers that stood available on the beach, Lo’ak hit its button while walking past and he startled, yelping out of the way when a stream of ice cold water actually came out of it.
“The showers work,” Kiri marveled, testing the other two showers. One of them worked normally; the other just provided a trickle of water. Lo’ak had already taken the first one, never minding the temperature of the water.
Somehow the seven of them managed to share the two showers, but they all reveled in finally getting a proper shower again. There was some pushing and shoving from the older kids and only Tuk had to be gently wrestled under the cold stream.
She shrieked, fidgeted and shivered as Neteyam washed her hair and as soon as he told her that she could go, she made a dash away from the showers.
“She’s missing out,” Lo’ak said, a slight chatter in his teeth. After the rest of them were done, he had stepped back under the water again. It could turn off at any moment for all they knew and he was determined to enjoy it.
“Your toes are going to freeze off,” Kiri said, toweling off.
“That’s the goal,” Lo’ak sighed, shivering, but clearly had no intention of getting out from under the water.
After everyone had showered and Lo’ak had finally, albeit reluctantly, followed the others back to the inn to give their parents an opportunity to get a proper shower as well while Neteyam and Ao’nung took care of warming up dinner for everyone.
Spider, understandably, decided to skip dinner, but he sat around the table with everyone as they ate.
Dinner was had in the small restaurant overlooking the beachfront and as they shared their food as a family while watching the sun set before them, all of them wet-haired and most of them happily exhausted after taking a dip. For just a short while it was easy to pretend like they were just a family on vacation.
The scraping of a chair’s legs on the floor broke the easy conversation around the table and all eyes wandered onto Spider as he got up, trying to casually overplay the stumble in his step. He gave them a small, tight smile, “Uhm, I’m going to go lay down now.”
His words brought a damper onto the quietly content atmosphere and he felt terrible for interrupting the good mood.
“I’ll come with you,” Lo’ak just beat Kiri to the punch, getting out of his seat to follow Spider to his room. Kiri followed nonetheless, up the stairs and into one of the rooms. The room was slightly more luxurious than the ones at the motel, bigger and with two beds instead of one.
Spider let himself fall onto one of the beds, rolling the blankets on top of himself, hissing when his back touched the mattress. Making sure to roll onto his stomach, he buried his head into the pillow with a sigh.
Lo’ak stood at his bed and Spider eyed him momentarily before he put out an arm and shooed Lo’ak over to the bed on the other side of the room, “Don’t lay down next to me.”
Lo’ak followed his order with a lighthearted eye roll when the door opened again and Neytiri stepped inside, their medicine bag slung over her shoulder. She came over to Spider’s side, gently pulling at the blankets he had wrapped over himself and speaking softly, “Let me check on it before you fall asleep.”
Spider sighed through his nose, but nodded, “Okay.”
They had to help him to slip off his shirt. The bandages were slightly bloody and a little wet, because even though Spider had avoided the ocean, he did not deny himself the pleasure of a shower. With Kiri’s help, Neytiri freed him from his bandages and when no one spoke, Spider asked, “How does it look?”
“Better than I expected,” Neytiri admitted. Though it didn’t look good, she had imagined it to be worse actually. She rummaged through the bag. They had just enough bandages left to wrap Spider’s back up once. For now, that would be good enough, but before that she found the healing ointment she had found sometimes during Neteyam’s healing process.
It was still unopened. A simple ointment wouldn’t have done much for a missing arm, not when they had stronger medication at the time and that was all the better for Spider now.
He hissed when she applied some of it onto his injuries.
“It’ll feel better in a bit,” Neytiri assured him, “It’ll give you some relief.”
“Will it kill me?” Spider didn’t mince his words, turning his head to look.
“It might,” Neytiri said and her words cut sharply through the group as she started applying the bandages, again with Kiri’s help.
“But there is a chance that it won’t make him sick?” Lo’ak asked from the side, cautiously hopeful.
“There is always a chance,” Neytiri said. “We will have to see how you feel in a few hours. How do you feel now? Headache? Nausea?”
“A little queasy, but I don’t think I’ll throw up again,” Spider said.
“What do we do now?” Kiri asked her mother.
“We’ll keep an eye on it,” Neytiri said and once Spider’s bandages were perfectly applied, she pulled the blanket properly on top of him, tugging him in. Spider thanked her quietly and Neytiri left the three of them be after Lo’ak and Kiri assured her that they would be staying with Spider. They’d keep an eye on him.
Lo’ak and Kiri sat together on the second twin bed that was in the room and Spider closed his eyes in the silence, letting himself fully relax into the pillow. He’d fall asleep soon, but at least he was cozy now and in a proper bed.
The sun had fully gone down by the time they had left dinner and tended to Spider, so Lo’ak got up to take care of the light issue, producing a candle and placing it onto the nightstand that was separating the two beds.
There was some clattering and some chatter coming from outside and Lo’ak took a quick peak down into the inner courtyard of the hotel. Spider’s room was on the upper floor, so he could comfortably see Rotxo and Neteyam pushing a few chairs and benches closer to the fire pit, which his father was currently poking around in, trying to produce a fire.
“They’re making a bonfire,” Lo’ak quietly said over his shoulder and Kiri just gave an acknowledging hum, already leaning back against the head of the bed, having made herself comfortable. It was clear that she had no desire to leave right now and join them if it meant leaving Spider’s side. Neither did Lo’ak and he walked away from the window to join his sisters side for a quiet night, making sure that Spider would make it through okay.
The small courtyard in the middle of the inn provided a social space, complete with a fire pit and some lounge chairs around it, even including a bar that was more wrecked with broken glass than not.
The logs used for the fire pit were easy to find even though they had been scattered about, but Jake was easily able to make a little fire for them, so they could assemble around it. Raiding the bar had not produced all too much, except for a handful of drinks.
Neteyam had let himself fall onto the double seater he had just dragged over, letting out a deep and long sigh as he practically melted into his spot. His father chuckled slightly at him before holding out a beer for him to take.
Naturally Ao’nung sat down next to Neteyam, wrapping his arm around his shoulder as Neteyam tried the beer he had been given. He pulled a face at the stale taste it had before handing it over to Ao’nung, who also pulled a face at the taste, but took a second sip not even a second later.
By now the rest of them had made themselves comfortable around the warm fire on various seats available. It was quiet for a while as everyone took some time to finally breathe a bit more easily, enjoying each other's presence in serene silence.
“Spider is going to be okay, right?” Tuk asked the unfortunate question that finally broke the peace. Her feet were pulled up to her chest and her cheek rested on her knee as she watched the flames dancing in the pit. They had thought that she was on the verge of falling asleep, but apparently the little girl had been stuck in her thoughts, “He hasn’t gotten sick yet, so he’ll be okay?”
No one really had a definite answer to that.
The course of a bite was pretty clear cut. Once bitten, there was a slim to no chance of survival, without interference. But a scratch was more ambiguous, depending on how bad it was. Some survived, some didn’t. It was a matter of waiting and of hoping.
“His symptoms are showing slowly,” Neytiri said, “He still hasn’t gotten a fever.”
“If too much of the infection didn’t make it into his system then he’ll make it,” Ao’nung said, “Depends on how deep the wound is. Neteyam got a fever a few hours after he was bit, but he made it through the night fine. I think you even woke up at one point,” Ao’nung played with the bottle in his hand, a bit awkwardly before adding “After that it was mostly the...you know.”
Neteyam just huffed out a small laugh at his phrasing.
“I think Spider’s back looks worse than it is,” Neytiri said, “We’ll have to wait it out, but he might just escape the worst of it. It all depends how the night goes on.”
Some of the tension relaxed at her words and they allowed themselves to fall into lighter topics of conversation, trying to lift the mood a bit since there was nothing else they could do but wait. It was up to Spider’s body now to do the fighting.
If he made it through the night without a fever, he would most likely start getting better in the following days and they would be able to continue the rest of their travel to the settlement. It was closer than ever now, their goal almost graspable.
After an hour of quiet conversations and relaxed laughter everyone’s heads turned to footsteps coming down the stairs. It was simply Kiri coming down to join their group. Silently she walked over and squeezed herself into the lounge chair her father was in. Jake wordlessly made some space for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as she settled into his side.
She sighed deeply, “Spider has a fever.”
Notes:
We made it to the coast, but at what cost 😔
I never thought I would ever have a story with over 100k words. I always wondered how authors managed to do it, but it really just sneaks up on you 😳
Thank you for everyone that has gotten this far with me! I hope you are enjoying yourself and that you will enjoy the rest of the journey as well! ❤
Chapter 21
Notes:
This chapter gave me a little bit of trouble, but now you get a full daddy Jake chapter :3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Jake woke up alone in the room he shared with Neytiri. She had spent the night watching over Spider, tracking his fever and making sure that his condition didn’t get worse, as best as she could.
After Kiri had come down to break the news last night, things had dispersed pretty quickly. Neytiri had gone back up right away to check on Spider and Jake, along with the others, had gone up to bed.
Jake hoped that no one waking him up in the middle of the night was a good thing and that things were still…under control. It was rare that he got to sleep through the night. Usually he took at least a few hours of night shift or woke up early enough so that whoever had been on night shift could get some rest before they had always gone back onto the road.
Well, in that regard nothing seemed to have changed. The sun wasn’t even up yet and Jake was already awake again,
He couldn’t allow himself to relax just yet. For now he still had to make sure his family was taken care of, so he didn't go back to sleep. Instead he made his way straight to Spider’s room.
Without knocking he carefully opened the door, peeking his head in. The bed was out of sight from the doorway, so the first thing he saw when looking inside was Neytiri, sitting in the armchair in the room as she looked up when she heard the sound of the door opening.
Jake quietly came inside, looking around the corner and to the beds. Spider was still sleeping, covered in his blanket. His head was turned away from Jake, so there was no clear telling how he was feeling, but he could see that Neytiri had put a wet cloth on his forehead and there was a bowl of water on the nightstand beside him, so his fever must still be present.
The other bed was, unsurprisingly, occupied by Lo’ak, snoring softly as he slept. Beside him was Kiri, both of them squeezed into the twin bed, one of her arms thrown over Lo’ak’s head. It didn’t seem to bother him though.
Neytiri stood, taking Jake by the hand and leading him out of the room so they could talk without bothering the children.
Jake took the liberty of giving his wife a kiss before anything else.
“How is he?” Jake asked carefully.
“His fever is persistent,” Neytiri sighed, casting a glance back towards the room, “I can’t get it lower, but on the good side, it’s also not getting worse. Other than that he has just slept through the night.”
Jake nodded, “Do you think he’ll turn at this point? It’s been more than 24 hours?”
Neytiri hummed unhappily, “It’s hard to tell with a scratch. His illness is progressing slower than with a bite, so it might still happen.”
“What do we do if he turns?” Jake asked quietly. He didn’t even want to think about that and yet they had to plan ahead for the possibility. He got the answer he expected.
“There is not much we can do,” Neytiri said, keeping her voice low. Their children were all asleep and they knew what the end outcome could be, but a part of them always still wanted to shield them from the reality of things, “We will have to say goodbye.”
Jake nodded. And just to cover all their bases, he also asked: “What if he gets better? How should we go about it best then?” There was still the settlement to worry about and he would trust her judgement. She was the expert after all.
Neytiri mulled over her answer for a moment, “We’ll have to give him a few days to get better. At least until he doesn’t look too sick anymore or the settlement will just send us away.” She thought for another moment, “They might not let us in even after he has healed once the see his healed wounds.”
“We just won’t mention them,” Jake said with a small smile. Neytiri just shook her head, both of them knowing that that wouldn’t matter. Since they were looking to stay with the settlement, not just pass through, a simple pat down wouldn't be enough. They would be extensively checked head to toe for any sign of infection or injury that might put the settlement in danger. They’d just have to hope for understanding and that Spider would be given a chance.
Neytiri put her hands on Jake’s chest, brushing over his shirt briefly before coming up to cup his cheeks. She smiled at him reassuringly, “I think the scratches were shallow enough that the infection isn’t in full effect. His body has a good chance to fight it off, so if his fever doesn’t get worse than this, then I’m optimistic. He’ll get better. We just have to give him some time. All will be well.”
Jake nodded, accepting a kiss when Neytiri moved him down for one.
“We passed a town,” Neytiri said then.
“We passed a few,” Jake nodded.
“I know we weren’t going to do any more runs, but it would be good if we could find some antibiotics for Spider. It would give him a good push to get better,” Neytiri said. Jake had previously decided that they were done with resource runs. They had collected enough food for a few days and their last stop would be the settlement and that would be that. The settlement would have food.
Yes, it was a very optimistic way of thinking for their current situation, but their city trips had been nothing but bad luck. A year ago Neteyam had been lost and now Spider was hurt in the city. Jake didn’t want to risk anything anymore, especially because they were so close to the end.
But there was little he could argue with when Neytiri requested medication for Spider.
“Yeah, I’ll go,” Jake decided resolutely. If someone was going back to the city, then it would be him.
Neytiri didn’t argue with him, and it seemed like she had been expecting this resolute decision from him, but she pulled out a small piece of paper, unfolding it before handing it over to Jake. Written on it was the name of a medication.
“This one really helped Neteyam when he was sick. It would be best if you find this one, but any antibiotic will do,” Neytiri said. Some of them might not work for Spider, but they were in a perpetual ‘anything is better than nothing’ situation, “It should be in the back of pharmacies or you might have some luck in a clinic.”
“Back of pharmacies or clinics, got it,” Jake tugged the paper into his back pocket.
“And another thing,” Neytiri gently caressed his shoulders and Jake immediately knew he wasn’t going to like what she was going to say next, “You can’t go alone.”
It was admireable how she could see right through him.
Jake didn’t like that. He shook his head right away, “I have to. The children have already been through enough. They should be able to take it easy until we get to the settlement. I’ll just do a quick in and out of the nearby town and come back.”
“And what if you get hurt? We won’t have any way to know where you are or what happened,” Neytiri argued and rationally Jake knew that she was right, that the buddy-system was the smart thing to do, but the dad-part of his brain would not put his children at risk again. It refused to.
“As long as the children aren’t at risk, I’ll be okay,” Jake said. “I’ll be faster when I don’t have to worry about keeping an eye on them.”
“You’ll be keeping an eye on each other,” Neytiri smiled a bit at his words, thinking back how she had essentially told Lo’ak the same thing before he had gone out of his way to come back to safe her, “Take one of the boys with you or you’re not going.”
Her last words were soft, but final and she caressed his cheek before going back into Spider’s room and closing the door behind her, not leaving Jake with much of a choice. Who was he to go against his wife?
Jake made himself a coffee before anything else, swiping one of the mugs from the restaurant kitchen. Looking around the kitchen and the pantry, he found some salvageable foods that they could use along with the food they still had. At least the wouldn’t be running out for the next few days. Even if other things were going wrong, Jake was glad that for once they didn’t have a food problem.
He’d start making breakfast soon. Something proper rather than the quick ones they had to make due with on the road. The camping stove they had was had already been brought into the kitchen and they had an overwhelming amount of oatmeal and canned fruits.
Jake would make some porridge for breakfast, he decided.
It was still early enough that the children would sleep for a few more hours, so Jake took a moment to enjoy the morning on the coast. The inner courtyard of the inn had an amazing view of the ocean. The early morning breeze and the ocean air, paired with the gentle waves close by and a few seagulls cries in the distance made for a peaceful morning.
He wanted nothing more than to get used to it.
Soon, he promised himself. Soon he’d be able to relax, sleep better and for longer without the constant worry that had him ready and awake in a matter of moments. Soon if Eywa wills it, they'd finally find a good place to stay.
Jake couldn’t say that he was surprised to find that Neteyam had taken the nightshift last night.
He was sitting on a balcony facing the front of the inn, which had a good view of the main street they had come from. He must have pulled an armchair from one of the rooms, lounging in it as his feet were propped up on a small, round table and enjoying the morning view by himself.
Well, maybe 'enjoying' wasn't quite the correct word.
Neteyam was slumped low on the chair. His arm was crossed over his chest, but his shoulders were still tensely pulled up. Not to mention the dark circles under his eyes. The things from the past days were certainly catching up to him and though his eyes were open and watching the road, Jake doubted that he was really seeing anything.
Jake was almost sure that Neteyam had taken the full nightshift tonight and he looked exhausted from it.
It tore at Jake’s heart.
The last thing he wanted was to see all of this taking a toll on his children and while Jake did his best to shoulder most of the responsibility, rationally he knew that he couldn’t shield them from it either. Especially when Neteyam was so ready to step into action beside his father from the very start of the apocalypse.
And now Lo’ak was doing the same thing, stepping up and wanting more responsibility. It wasn’t that Jake didn’t trust him to do it, it was the fact that his heart could not handle his children taking the lead when all he wanted to do was to keep them safe.
Sometimes he simply wished his boys were still as young as Tuk.
Neteyam looked up when Jake came to stand beside him and Jake put a gentle hand on the top of his head, doing his best not to startle him out of his sleepy haze.
“Good morning,” Jake gave a soft smile and Neteyam just replied with a tired hum.
Jake sat down beside him on a dingier looking lawnchair and wordlessly handed Neteyam the rest of his coffee.
“Thanks,” Neteyam mumbled,
“Are you all alone on night shift?” Jake asked as he watched Neteyam down almost the rest of the cup.
“Yeah.”
“And since when have you been up?” Jake asked, one eyebrow raised. The children knew that they shouldn’t be taking full watches as everyone should get a chance to sleep at least a little every night. Neteyam hesitated for a moment before finally admitting that he had taken the full watch since everyone had gone to bed last night.
“We had a long few days,” Neteyam said with a half-shrug, “And Rotxo drove the whole day yesterday. I figured everyone should get some sleep.”
Jake shook his head, taking in the dark circles under Neteyam’s eyes, “You need to get some sleep, too.”
“I wasn’t that tired. I slept during the car ride yesterday," Neteyam said, knowing well that it's a stupid thing to lie about since he had been in his dad's car, not to mention in the passenger seat. His dad knew full well that he hadn't gotten a good wink of sleep yesterday.
“Okay and when was the last time you had a full night of sleep?” Jake asked.
Neteyam had to take a minute and think about it. It was hard to come up with an answer, mostly because the nights on the road had long since started blurring together, not that sleeping in their little cars was too restful.
Lately he had taken the nightshift often. It was hard to say how often he had taken it before they had found Rotxo, but he had always been the first to volunteer. After finding Rotxo he had taken the nightshift with Spider and then they had spent that disastrous day and night in the city. He had slept a little then, but looking over at the expression on his dad’s face, one of his eyebrows raised expectantly as he patiently waited for Neteyam to come up with something, told him he wouldn’t be satisfied with that half-night sleep.
“Uhm…” Neteyam gracefully said, tapping a finger on his own thigh. He hadn’t napped in the car for more than 20 minutes at most and then he had taken the night watch just now…
Neteyam chanced another look at his dad, but by now Jake had understood the answer, shaking his head in disappointment – not at Neteyam, but at himself, for failing to notice that his son had gone too many nights without proper rest.
“I’m putting you in time out,” Jake finally said, taking the coffee cup from Neteyam’s hands again. He hadn’t taken more than that first drink and Jake would rather that he got a fill of sleep instead of more caffeine.
“What?” Neteyam asked, a bit perplexed.
Jake shook his head, “Don’t even start arguing. You need rest, Neteyam. Eywa, you’re going to get yourself killed like this. The biggest killer is…” Jake left the rest of the sentence to be answered by Neteyam and just as well:
“Lack of focus,” Neteyam mumbled the rest of it.
Jake nodded, “Rest is important.”
“I know,” Neteyam said.
“Not just for your siblings,” Jake continued. Neteyam didn’t like the way his eyes were boring into the side of his face. He was back to avoiding his father’s eyes, “You need rest, too. You should have woken me up some hours ago.”
Neteyam didn’t answer, only staring at the road ahead as the sun slowly started rising, but there was a twinge of annoyance in his demeanor and Jake thought that that was that. That Neteyam had begrudgingly accepted his father pulling him out of work and on rest – Jake certainly knew that Neteyam wasn’t happy to sit idly – he just also hoped he recognized the fact that he needed the sleep.
Neteyam nodded, but it was small and subdued. There was something on his mind that was potentially keeping him from getting the rest that he needed.
“How is Spider?” Neteyam asked then.
“He slept through the night. No big change since yesterday,” Jake said. He didn’t mention that Neytiri had asked him to find some medicine. If he mentioned a resource run now, he would never be able to convince Neteyam to go to bed.
There was a brief silence as Neteyam let his word’s settle, accepting it with a small nod before quietly speaking again, “I’m sorry Spider got hurt.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Jake said, watching carefully to gauge Neteyam’s reaction to his words.
“I was supposed to keep an eye on them,” Neteyam mumbled, like he had failed something. In his own eyes he surely had.
Jake knew he had reached the root of the problem there. Neteyam was blaming himself for Spider’s injury and Jake knew all too well how his son was currently feeling.
Eywa knew how Jake had felt when he had lost Neteyam. That was almost a year ago now, but Jake would never get rid of the guilt, even though Neteyam had returned safe, bar a missing arm. Currently Neteyam was putting himself into his father’s shoes, always trying to be the protector of the group.
“Okay. Now I understand,” Jake said, half to himself. He remembered what Neytiri had told him just now as he carefully scooted a bit closer on his lawn chair. It wasn’t the best position for a talk this serious, but he did his best to put a gentle hand on Neteyam’s shoulder.
Neteyam turned to his father curiously.
“You’re trying to overcompensate by taking the nightshift more often,” Jake stated. Neteyam thought that he had failed to protect one of his siblings in the city, so now he was trying to amend it by protecting them in a different way, “But this isn’t the way to do it. You can’t wear yourself out like this for something that wasn’t your fault. You were put in a difficult situation and Spider getting hurt was an unfortunate accident.”
"I should have been the one to go last and made sure that the others got to safety first. But I couldn’t help because of…" Neteyam said, his eyes casting downwards to glare at his missing arm.
“I know that we ask you to keep an eye on your siblings, but I hope you know that we never mean it in a way that deliberately makes you put yourself in danger, Neteyam,” Jake frowned sternly at Neteyam’s words. He spoke softly, yet firmly, “There is never a time where the safety of one of you is less important than that of the others. I know you like to take the lead when me and your mother aren’t there, but when you are out there without us, you and your siblings are a team. I expect them to look out for you, just as you look out for them. This time Spider was looking out for you and I bet your siblings would have been just as unhappy as you if you had been the one to get hurt.”
Neteyam made no comment, his mouth pulled into a deep frown. Eventually he nodded, for now seemingly accepting the information his father was laying on him, even if he didn’t look too happy about it.
“The best we can do now is to take care of Spider and help him get better. As his family,” Jake was glad when Neteyam’s frown eased, and he smiled a bit at his last words. Jake removed his hand from Neteyam’s shoulder to put it on his son’s head in that comforting gesture they knew well. “But you won’t be able to help if you are on the brink of collapse from exhaustion, so no more nightshift for at least a week, alright?”
Neteyam sighed heavily, but his shoulder settled down a bit as he forced some of the tension out of them, “Alright, fine. No nightshift for a week.”
“Good.” Jake patted Neteyam’s knee, in a way that seemed to cement the conversation and bring it to an end, “Okay, now I’m sending you up to bed and to sleep. Don’t come down until you’ve gotten your eight hours, understood? I'm going to count the minutes.”
Neteyam chuckled softly, “Yes, sir.”
Jake made breakfast not long after sending Neteyam to bed, preparing some warm porridge with fruit and presenting it nicely on the hotel restaurant’s plates to serve to his children. He also brewed a pot of coffee. It felt almost luxurious after having only quick, and mostly cold, meals on the road.
Jake thought about the upcoming trip. He would have to do it soon. The sooner they got some help for Spider, the better it would be. Most of the towns at the coast were either drive-by towns or slightly larger ones. There was a bigger city further away, but Jake probably avoid that one.
What did cross his mind though was to go ahead, down the direction that would bring them closer to the settlement. At most, they were only two hours away from it now and Jake thought about driving close enough to get a first look of it and stake it out himself. See if it looked secure and well enough for his family.
They were planning to settle down there after all.
The thought that it might be a trap after everything was said and done had crossed Jake’s mind many, many times. He wasn’t entirely sure how much he trusted that radio message that Ao’nung had told him about. Ao’nung had recited it as best as he remembered after he had first told Jake about it and they had made a plan to follow it, but when Jake really thought about the whole thing…it really seemed too good to be true.
Either way it probably wouldn’t hurt to get a first look, Jake thought. That way he could get a scope of the place instead, at worst, blindly leading his family into an ambush.
After the talk with Neytiri and the following one with Neteyam, Jake had given in, deciding that he would take one of the boys with him. It would be silly of him not to follow his own advice after all that. They'd look for some medicine for Spider, get a quick look of the settlement without being spotted and then return in the evening.
Jake figured that it would be best to take Ao’nung along then, since he was the only one that had personally heard the radio message all those months ago. Besides Ao'nung was strong, could hold his own. Jake wouldn’t have to constantly keep an eye on him while they were out.
The constant worrying was bad for his hairline.
Tuk and Ao’nung came down to the dining room for breakfast first.
“Is Neteyam sleeping?” Jake asked when he put down two bowls for them and a cup of coffee for Ao’nung.
“Mhm,” Ao’nung nodded with a chuckle, “Fell asleep as soon as he was under the covers.”
“Good,” Jake sat down next to Tuk. She was already shoveling her food into her mouth, only slowing down when her father reminded her that she could take her time.
Jake waited until Tuk was done with her breakfast. He gave her another bowl of porridge to take up to her mother and asked her to send her siblings down for breakfast. Only once Tuk was gone did Jake turn back to Ao’nung.
“I have to do a run to town. Spider needs some stronger medicine, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a quick detour to check out the settlement,” Jake explained. Ao’nung paused his eating briefly to listen, his eyes slightly widened at Jake’s words, “Since you’re the only one that listened to the message I wanted to ask if you want to come along. You don’t have to. I know the last time in the city was stressful.”
“No, it’s fine. I mean, yes, I’ll come, sure,” Ao’nung said quickly, “Oh, but I need a weapon, because…” He made a vague gesture at his back where his spear would usually sit.
Jake nodded. He’d already gotten the news that Ao’nung was out of a weapon. “You can take Neteyam’s gun with you. I don’t think he’ll need it here.”
Ao’nung blinked at him, “Oh, Neteyam isn’t coming?”
Jake shook his head, “I want him to get as much rest as he can. We’ll leave once you’re done with breakfast, so we can be back quickly.”
Ao’nung understood that Jake meant that it would be just the two of them going and he didn’t have a problem with that in and of itself, but he remembered what he had told Lo’ak that he would put in a good word to his father for him. He didn’t know if he would get an opportunity for it but this one seemed like a good one as any.
“What about Lo’ak?” Ao’nung said, just to test the waters a little at first.
“It’s quicker if it’s just the two of us. That way I only have to keep an eye on one of you,” Jake shook his head with a smile.
Ao’nung cracked a smile of his own before offering “We’ll keep an eye on each other. We were a pretty good team back in the city.” Jake looked thoughtful, but he didn’t turn Ao’nung down right away, so Ao’nung took the opportunity to go on. “Lo’ak is really good at watching his surroundings. He saw a lot of stuff I didn’t. I basically just followed his lead the whole time. I think taking him along would be good. Maybe his keen eye will help us be done faster.”
Ao’nung stopped talking when Jake started chuckling at his words and he held up his hand to stop Ao’nung from rambling on.
“I know,” Jake said. “I know. Lo’ak is very perceptive.” Jake gained a fonder look as he spoke, “He’s always had an attentive eye for details. I’m not worried about his ability to take the lead and keep an eye on his surroundings. I’m worried because he is still very…not reckless, but impulsive.”
Ao’nung couldn’t really do much more than nod at his words, before cracking another small smile, “I’ll keep an eye on him?”
Jake laughed at the shift of his offer and how much talk of taking care of one anther today was proving to have.
Just then Lo’ak and Kiri came into the dining room to join them at their table. Jake got up, his conversation with Ao’nung coming to an end here, and he brought Lo’ak and Kiri their own food. After he placed the second bowl in front of Lo’ak, Jake placed a quick hand on his son’s back.
“Eat quickly. We’re going out for a trip,” Jake said before leaving the restaurant altogether.
Lo’ak blinked after him for a minute at the sudden news before turning to Ao’nung with a questioning look. Ao’nung just smiled at him.
While Ao'nung and Lo'ak got ready to go, Jake showed Neytiri the list of towns they would take a look in, just so she would know where they could potentially be if they didn’t come back. Usual stuff nowadays.
“We’re also going to take a quick look at the settlement,” Jake said, carefully gauging her reaction, “Just to see what we are getting ourselves into.”
“Do you think that is a good idea?” Neytiri asked genuinely. Her voice held no judgement as she trusted his.
“I think it’s better than to walk into the unknown,” Jake said.
“Okay,” Neytiri said, brushing a hand over his chest. The gesture must be calming for her, “Try to be back before tonight.”
“We’ll try,” Jake said, gently grasping his wife’s arms, “Don’t send the cavalry until the next morning though. We might have to take shelter for the night if we run late.”
“Alright, but if you’re not back by the time the sun comes up, I’m coming to look for you,” Neytiri promised sternly. It almost sounded like a (very loving) threat.
“I know you will,” Jake said, pulling her into a kiss. Neytiri caressed his cheek lovingly then, her lips slightly downturned with worry, The last resource run had them all more on edge than before and he tried to reassure her as best as he could, "Everything will go well. I will keep the boys safe."
Neytiri nodded with a sigh. Jake hated the amount of stress she was under as well and he made a small note in the back of his head to bring back date nights as soon as he was able to. He wished the calm nights back where he could just spend hours to pamper his wife.
"Don't go too far, even if you can't find the medicine," She stressed, "And keep yourself safe, too. You have to come back to me."
"I promise," Jake said, caressing her back and whispering gently, "I love you. Everything will be fine."
He was glad to see the worry in her features ease immediately. She relaxed into his hold, leaning her forehead against his, "I love you, too."
Notes:
You guys really need to scold me for not putting more 'I love you's into the story
Chapter 22
Notes:
My best friend gifted me the Lego BrickHeadz Jake Sully. Please look him up if you don’t know what he looks like. He's so silly :3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Neteyam woke up well past noon and only because the sun was shining right on his face. He had half a mind to just pull the blanket over his head, roll over and keep sleeping. Really, he hadn’t even noticed just how tired he was, even after his dad had mentioned it, but the extended rest felt good.
He had even taken one of the pain killers before going to sleep and even though he felt groggy now, it had provided him a good fitful rest.
In the end he sat up instead of rolling over, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and deciding that he had slept enough for now. He’d get another full night of sleep tonight…and tomorrow…and the day after. Neteyam sighed. He wasn’t used to that anymore.
Ao’nung was, unsurprisingly, not in bed with him, but at least he had been there when Neteyam had fallen asleep. A small smile made its way on his lips when he thought about getting to fall asleep with Ao’nung tonight. He would convince him not to take the night shift tonight either, so they could finally be able to spend a full night with each other again.
It’d been too long.
The thought prompted him to get out of bed and go on a search for his beloved, but searching around the inn, he didn’t find a sign of Ao’nung. Eventually Neteyam stumbled onto his mother in the kitchen alone with Tuk, having a small lunch.
His mother informed him of the impromptu trip for medicine that Ao’nung took along with his father and brother, when Neteyam asked if she had seen him.
Neteyam would be lying if he said that he wasn’t even a little disappointed that they had left him behind. His mother assured him that his father wanted to take none of them along, but that only made him feel a little bit better.
“Your father wanted you to rest,” Neytiri said gently, basically echoing the words his father had said to him this morning. Neteyam just blew a raspberry at her and his mother gave him an unimpressed look, like he really was still Tuk’s age and not a 19-year-old. “Eat,” His mother deadpanned, pressing a bowl of warm noodles and beans into his hands.
The food looked kind of sad and deflated, but it smelled amazing and hey, nothing beats a warm bowl of food.
“How’s Spider?” Neteyam asked, leaning against the counter to put his bowl down and eating a spoonful. It also tasted better than it looked.
“He’s holding on,” His mother assured him. “His fever is being persistent. Yours was a lot easier to manage, but that’s why I sent your father out. Hopefully some stronger medicine will help bring it down.”
Neteyam mulled her words over for a bit before asking, “Would pain killers help at all?”
Neytiri gave him a curious look, “It depends what kind.”
“The ones I had,” Neteyam said, “Remember that bottle in the settlement that I asked about? And the lady said no? Spider stole them for me.”
Neytiri laughed a little at his explanation, “We could try them. They might help to manage his fever and give him some relief for a few hours until your father gets back.”
Neteyam nodded, “Did dad say when they will be back?”
“Either tonight or tomorrow morning,” His mother said, “If they are not back by then, I will go and look for them.”
“We will go and look for them,” Neteyam said. And when his mother gave him an exasperated look Neteyam insisted, “You’ll let me go with you during an emergency.”
“And who will stay with your sisters and Spider?” Neytiri asked, one eyebrow quirked.
“Rotxo,” Neteyam answered immediately. “And I’ll come with you.”
Neytiri gave a resigned sigh, “We’ll talk about this if they aren’t back by tomorrow morning.”
“Alright,” Neteyam said. He knew that his mother knew that he would absolutely be putting up a fight about this.
Neteyam poked around in his food for a bit longer, the thought that he wouldn’t get to spend the night with Ao’nung once again dulled his mood quite a bit, but as long as he returned safely then he’d make sure they would have the next night together under any circumstances.
After lunch Neteyam collected the pill box from his room. It was still full, barely touched. The things helped him sleep and he hadn’t exactly gotten an opportunity to do so lately. He had only taken one since Spider had given him the bottle and that had been this morning after his father had sent him to bed.
He had popped one into his mouth, shed his uncomfortable clothes and then thrown himself on top of Ao’nung and promptly passed out. Meaning there were plenty for Spider to take.
Neteyam knocked on Spider’s door before letting himself in. Kiri was still holding down the Spider fort and currently she was sitting crisscross in front of his bed, a handful of cards in her hands.
Spider looked a lot livelier than Neteyam was expecting after talking to his mother. Yes, he looked a lot more tired, his eye bags matching Neteyam’s and the sweat was visible on his brow, but he was laying on his side, also holding cards in his hands as the two of them were currently in a game.
“Who’s losing?” Neteyam asked, letting himself in further.
“Spider,” Kiri answered, not even a bit sorry that she wasn’t going easy on him.
“I’m dying and you keep giving me shitty cards. I bet you’re cheating,” Spider said and Kiri just rolled her eyes, which told Neteyam that this wasn’t the first accusation she had gotten, “You are cheating a dying man, shame on you.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Kiri said before putting down another +4 card.
“Shameless,” Spider said, picking up the required cards.
Neteyam crossed his arms, watching the back and forth for a minute before steering the conversation to the reason he came, “You look good for a dying man. Better than I expected.”
“Gee, thanks,” Spider said. He seemed to be in good spirits at least, no one could deny that. Something in that walker infection seemed to make him quite sassy.
Neteyam’s chime-in did finally draw Spider’s eyes away from his cards, so he could give Neteyam a once over, “No offence, but you look worse than I expected. Did you sleep last night?” Neteyam rolled his eyes as Spider laughed at his expression. Though his laugh sounded pained, it didn’t deter him.
“I actually brought you something, but now I’m gonna leave and I’m taking these with me,” Neteyam said, making a show of pulling the pill bottle out of his pocket and giving it a little shake to interrupt Spider’s cackling.
“No, wait. I’m sorry, forgive me,” Spider gasped over dramatically when he saw the pill bottle and he raised his hand to reach for Neteyam, just as dramatically before giggling at himself. Even his giggle sounded tired.
A heightened good mood was one of the rarer symptoms, but not unheard of, with some cases of hysteria before a turn. Spider seemed to be drawing closer to it. The symptom itself was usually followed by a big mood crash, but Neteyam hoped that the pills would make Spider fall asleep before that happened.
Kiri produced a glass of water, crushing one of the pills Neteyam handed her into it and mixing it quickly before handing it to Spider to drink. Spider only lifted his head to drink, spilling some of it onto the mattress.
“Thanks,” he said, sincere and sounding even more tired now that the bouts of laughter had passed. Neteyam figured that at least he would sleep well for a few hours and by then his father will have brought him the good stuff.
“But seriously, you do look tired. Did you get enough sleep?” Kiri asked, sincerely and a bit more worried than just a few minutes ago as she studied Neteyam’s face.
“Yeah, dad already banished me from heavy duty and night shift,” Neteyam said. “Gave me a talk about how rest is important.”
“Good, then do you want to join us?” Kiri asked, collecting the cards from Spider and the middle to shuffle them anew.
“Sure,” Neteyam shrugged, sitting down next to Kiri as she distributed the cards between them again. He had nothing better to do anyway.
They managed to finish a game and a half before the pain killers finally knocked Spider out.
Back home, whenever Neteyam had a free day, he would take his bow and spent a few hours shooting arrows in his grandmother’s backyard. The same place he had learned how to shoot in the first place, the same place his parents had taught him how to use a bow. The same place his mother had taught his father how to shoot a bow before Neteyam was even born and the same place his grandmother had taught Neteyam’s mother when she was just a little child herself.
A family tradition. Neteyam would give everything to be back there, even if it was just for a few hours.
Now he couldn’t use his bow anymore. It just sat on top of the wardrobe, all alone now without even Ao’nung’s spear to keep it company. His gun was missing too, but he already figured that Ao’nung must have taken it with him.
Neteyam took a moment to take his bow into his hand for the first time in what felt like forever. Brushing his thumb over the base and picking gently at the drawstring, he was amazed that most of the decorations that he had tied to his bow even before the apocalypse, had stayed intact.
Even the beaded feather that his grandmother had taught him how to make was still tied to it.
One day Neteyam would have to come to terms with the fact that his bow would only be used for decorations and that was not what it was made for. He briefly entertained the idea of asking his mother to use it, but she had her own that she was connected with and his father clearly preferred his gun.
Kiri wasn’t a big fighter in the first place, only keeping her handgun and knife for self-defense when she absolutely needed it. Neteyam wasn’t too sure about Lo’ak though, but at the beginning, when they had left their home, Lo’ak had followed their father’s footsteps, leaving his bow behind.
Neteyam hadn’t noticed, but he wondered if Lo’ak regretted it.
With nothing better to do, Neteyam took a walk around the inn, poking his head into every room he could find. Besides the normal guest rooms and accommodations, most notably a sauna (which had probably seen better days), there wasn’t much that kept him entertained.
Somehow everyone seemed to be busy. And Neteyam was so bored, having nothing to do.
Well, Spider was sleeping and Kiri was ever by his side just in case something happened. And their mother had taken the opportunity to wrestle Tuk into doing some basic education lessons, knowing that it was rare that they got a relatively quiet day like today. And when Neteyam asked if he could do something, she just shooed him away and told him to take it easy.
His parents were clearly on the same page about him not lifting a finger for the next week.
That just left Rotxo…
Neteyam wasn’t actually sure where Rotxo was. He hadn’t seen him at all since last night, but he was pretty sure that he hadn’t been in or around the inn when Neteyam had taken his little expedition through every room. Or even before that.
It looked like Neteyam had just found something to do. Pushing away the nagging worry that immediately sprung up in the back of his head, he was sure that Rotxo was okay, but Neteyam was going to look for him anyways.
Another quick round through the inn still left him empty handed and when Neteyam asked his mother if she had seen Rotxo at all today, she revealed that she hadn’t seen him either, but she confirmed that Rotxo had not gone with his dad’s group.
Neteyam searched the beachfront and then finally the courtyard of the inn, but there was no sign of Rotxo anywhere… Now Neteyam couldn’t stop the worry from rising in him as he scanned the coastline. Rotxo wouldn’t just up and leave on his own, would he? Without telling anyone at that?
The playful ringing of a bell caught Neteyam’s attention before he could spiral into possibilities on what could have happened. He looked up, searching where the sound came from as it rung more insistently, finally announcing Rotxo’s arrival.
Neteyam felt the relief settle in him, along with a small laugh when Rotxo finally rolled into view on a simple bike, happily ringing its little bell at Neteyam again and again. Rotxo didn’t seem any bothered, seemingly not aware at all that he had worried Neteyam the past hour or so. He just seemed to be in a happy mood; his smile bright and his curls glistening wet.
And that solved the question on where he had been.
“Hey, Neteyam,” Rotxo greeted joyfully, wiggling the handlebar a little bit, “Up for a little ride?”
“…where’d you find a bike?” Neteyam asked instead of answering the question, his previous worry completely replaced by amusement, now that he knew that Rotxo was alright.
Rotxo pointed over his shoulder with his thumb, “There’s a rental.”
Sure enough, when Neteyam turned his head, squinting a bit into the distance, there was a rundown bike rental just in view. Most of the bikes still looked intact, like they hadn’t been touched by anything but the weather in months.
“Where were you? I was looking for you earlier,” Neteyam mentioned.
“Just around. I like it here. It’s just like home, so I walked around a bit, pretended to be home. Took a swim,” Rotxo said lightly, turning the handle of his bike casually, “What’d you need me for?”
“I just noticed you were gone. Wanted to make sure you were okay,” Neteyam said. “Did you eat?”
“I had breakfast, yeah,” Rotxo said. A small smile, touched that he was thought of. He wasn’t used to people caring where he went, or letting someone know if he started wandering off. Being alone on the road had allowed him to just do whatever he wanted and once he had been allowed to stay at the settlement there wasn’t really anywhere he could wander off to that would require telling someone. It was unusual, but it was nice. “I’ll make sure to let someone know next time.”
“Good,” Neteyam said with a soft smile, walking over to Rotxo’s bike. “Where are we going?”
“I was just going to drive along the road, see what’s around,” Rotxo said before nodding over his shoulders, “Hop on. Let’s see what’s nearby.”
“Oh, shouldn’t I get my own bike?” Neteyam asked, experimentally putting a bit of weight onto the rack on the back of Rotxo’s bike.
“You can, but it’s more fun this way,” Rotxo said, smirking in a way that reminded Neteyam much of Ao’nung. A bit of Rotxo’s playful side was finally showing itself a little bit, a laidback, kind and easy-going air around him. Neteyam assumed that this was how Rotxo usually carried himself and now that he had gone through a life or death situation and gotten used to them as a group, he was finally growing out of his nerves of being with strangers.
You could say that he was finally settling into their family and it certainly looked good on him, so of course Neteyam got on the back of his bike and off they were.
It was a bit hard to balance at first, both for Neteyam on the back and for Rotxo steering the bike with the extra weight, but after a minute or two they settled into a smooth ride. Steadily Rotxo increased their speed until they were cruising down the street.
It was mostly a touristy road, no houses, just some other hotels in the area, a park and some signs pointing towards hiking spots and various different beach sites. It took a few minutes until they came upon a small cluster of shops along a beachfront promenade. A bigger hotel was nearby, probably even a resort, and the beach was littered with beach chairs and a handful of umbrellas.
Rotxo slowed down, stopping in front of the shops. This seemed like a small place to get some things when the nearest proper town was at least a thirty-minute drive away.
Neteyam hopped off of the back first and Rotxo gently lowered the bike onto the ground instead of propping it up.
It was quiet around, not even a single shuffle of feet or a groan in the distance could be heard when Neteyam took a moment to listen. Only the ocean and some seagulls from above. The realtive silence would be eerie if their surroundings weren’t so peaceful.
The stop they had stopped in front of seemed more abandoned than overrun. A tourist town, that was forgotten while everyone was forced to stay home. If the occasional walker or survivor passed this place, then they did not linger here for long.
When they entered the first store it was clear that the place hadn’t been spared from looters, though there were still things left behind that they could look through.
Neteyam wasn’t entirely sure what kind of store they were in. There were some rows with snacks, some with souvenirs, some with spilled drinks. There was even a small section of books.
The few magazines and newspapers that were stored alongside it caught his attention briefly and Neteyam gingerly picked a newspaper up. Not all of them were the same, ranging from several days to just one day before things went completely wrong.
One of the earlier newspapers lying on the ground that first listed the mystery illness that many were coming down with, along with symptoms to watch out for. And one of the last newspapers reported that the hotels, as well as the towns in the vicinity, were closing their doors. Everyone who was not local, was encouraged to return home while they still could.
There was no newspaper signaling the end of the world. From one day to the next the sick started turning. There had been no time to print new newspapers, but Neteyam still remembered the newscast that he had caught on the very same day.
That first newscast was one of exactly ten along the span of three days. Many followed it while locked in their own homes, at least Neteyam presumed so. The last couple of reports were informing the population of Zongtseng and a day later the news stopped completely, leaving the TV to only give static on all channels before the electricity completely shut off on the fourth day.
Neteyam frowned at the words printed in his hands, before balling it up into a ball and tossing it across the store. He was here to spent a nice day with Rotxo, maybe bond with the best friend of his boyfriend, someone that Ao’nung saw as a brother. Neteyam wouldn’t bring down the mood reminiscing about the chaotic days long left behind.
He tried to focus on the other things that were around, trying not to focus on the memories that crossed his mind. They hadn’t brought any bags to carry stuff they found with, but Neteyam tugged one of the romance books into his belt for Lo’ak.
He also put one of the maps into his pocket. His father had taken his old one along to their outing and Neteyam seemed to function better with a map in his pocket. It gave him some peace of mind.
“Hey,” Rotxo’s head poked over one of the small shelves. “Catch!”
Neteyam barely had time to react before a can was sailing right at him, but he managed to catch it against his chest. It was a soda can and he turned it around his hand to check on the expiration date. It was a habit at this point.
“Is it still good?” Neteyam asked before he would open it.
Rotxo had meanwhile walked around to stand beside him. He shrugged, already holding an opened can, “It’s a bit warm and there is no fizz left. But it’s not bad. You can still taste the sugar.”
Neteyam nodded, maneuvering the can into a better hold, so that he could open it with just his index finger. It didn’t let out the usual hiss that it normally would and Neteyam took an experimental sniff before taking a sip.
Rotxo was right about it being warm and without the usual fizz, but it was also the first sugary drink like this he had in over a year now. It was fantastic.
They took their time walking around the other shops and places that were on the promenade and only really after an hour of rummaging through whatever was around, it dawned on them that neither of them had taken along a weapon. This was the first time he had been able to pick through inventory without the hectic of walkers present or the pressure to find something good to eat whenever they were on resource runs.
Especially because there wasn’t really anything worth collecting as most of the shops around were souvenir shops.
Neteyam picked through some of the jewelry in the third souvenir shop they walked through. Most of them were all the same, but oh well, they were free. Whenever he found something with colorful beads or feathers, he tugged them into his pocket.
“This shop doesn’t have anything new either,” Neteyam heard Rotxo say before he actually saw him, but when he did, he had to let out a small surprised laugh. Despite Rotxo’s words, he seemed to have found a few things that had caught his interest.
Notably he was now wearing an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt over his usual shirt. A strawhat was snuggly sitting on his curls and he was wearing a pair of heart shaped sunglasses.
“You look…great?” Neteyam chuckled
“Thanks. I’m glad you like it, because…” Rotxo smiled brightly at him before tugging something out of his pocket. It was a pair of star shaped sunglasses, “These are yours.”
Neteyam happily traded his soda can for the pair that Rotxo held out to him, plopping them onto his nose, “How is it?”
“Very stylish,” Rotxo nodded in approval.
“Do I get a shirt too?” Neteyam asked, laughing when Rotxo pulled out another Hawaiian shirt. The shirt was a matching one with Rotxo, the only difference that Neteyam’s was blue, while Rotxo’s was a bright orange.
They probably looked ridiculous, Neteyam thought. Walking around in bright colored clothing with nothing in their hands but sodas and no escape vehicle if something were to go wrong, except that bike they had left behind a few shops in the back. Neteyam could so clearly hear his dad’s voice in his head, scolding them for being so reckless.
And one any other day Neteyam would have agreed, maybe urged Rotxo that they return home as soon as it hit him that they were walking around without weapons. But Neteyam had to admit to himself that he was having fun, as well as a small part of him not wanting to be the one to disappoint Rotxo’s fun either.
Neteyam reached over, picking up a walking stick that had a dolphin shaped handle. It was also a bright blue color, but it seemed to be a good enough weapon to appease his dad’s worried voice in his head. Neteyam had travelled alone before and so had Rotxo. They would be fine.
In the end they didn’t even talk about Ao’nung, like Neteyam had thought they would bond over, but maybe they didn’t have to. Spending time together like this was enough, in matching bright shirts and sunglasses, exploring the place with no expectations or rush.
Neteyam turned to Rotxo with a light smile, “Let’s see what else is around?”
Over the past few hours Jake, Ao’nung and Lo’ak had combed through two small towns and a dozen pharmacies and small clinics, managing to find the medicine that Neytiri had requested and an almost comical amount of bandages. It became clear that not many people had crossed this place as so many things that were usually hard to find, were almost at an abundance in these towns.
The walker populations in these towns were generally smaller as well and Jake had long since concluded that these must be the residents and the unfortunate truth was that the government had abandoned these places, neglecting to quarantine the people and leaving them to fend for themselves.
However, it was easier to handle than the big city and Ao’nung and Lo’ak had stayed close to Jake the entire time. Their job was done in a couple of hours at most, they had collected what they needed plus a few extra things they found and that just left their last assignment of the day: checking out the settlement without being seen.
Though things had gone well until now, Jake didn’t allow himself to relax. They were never quite this lucky during runs. Something was bound to go wrong, he was sure of it. His biggest worry was that they would be spotted or that the settlement was somehow dangerous and not at all the safe place they had dreamed of.
Jake wasn't prepared for what they would actually find.
It had taken another 90-minutes until they had reached the marked spot on Neteyam’s map and Jake brought the car to a crawl before stopping. They had ended up on a dead end on a cliff, overlooking the beach and the open ocean before them.
“Did we get lost?” Lo’ak asked hastily. Stepping out there was no settlement to be seen as he did a slow turn on his spot. The cliff itself had a nice view over the vast ocean in front of them and a small beach down below. He turned back to his father and Ao’nung, something like desperation in his eyes, shrugging his arms up in frustration, “This can’t be it, right?”
Ao’nung stepped up next to Lo’ak on the edge of the cliff, the map in his hand lowering in defeat, “There’s nothing here…”
Notes:
Oops another cliffhanger. Stay with me tho, we’re almost there, I promise :P
Chapter 23
Notes:
Y'all know I bought a ticket to fantastic four as soon as I heard the trailer was playing before it and I was not disappointed. The trailer looks soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. I was vibrating in my seat, pretending that I'm normal about this movie, my god.
(If you see me writing an Avatar 3 AU where Neteyam is alive a year from now, please pretend to act shocked lol)
(Fantastic Four was amazing too btw)
Chapter Text
Lo’ak practically ripped the map from Ao’nung’s hands, frantically scanning and turning and checking, just to make sure they were actually where they needed to be.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lo’ak’s voice had gone at least an octave higher in his sudden stress as he checked each and every line on the map. Technically the dot Ao’nung had placed was marking the beach below them, but a big ass settlement, big enough to send messages, would be hard to miss from their standpoint.
Lo’ak flung the map over his shoulder with a sigh, which was more dramatic than the maps landing, which was just it gently fluttering to the ground. The wind carried it a few steps along before Jake intercepted its path and picked it back up.
“We still need this,” Jake unfolded and brushed off the paper, “Calm down, Lo’ak. We’ll assess before we panic.”
“We’ve travelled so far for this,” Lo’ak gestured at the big space of nothing in front of them, “What do we do now?”
“I’m sorry,” Ao’nung broke through Lo’ak’s hopelessness with a small mumble, “I really thought…maybe I got the numbers wrong?”
“It’s okay. We’ll just check over the numbers,” Jake said, holding out his hand, “You brought the notebook, right?”
Ao’nung hummed, pulling his bag from his back, “Yeah. I don’t take it out of my bag.”
Ao’nung fished the notebook out and together they checked over his numbers and the dot they had set, knowing full well that they couldn’t have gotten it wrong. Jake had gone through the things Ao’nung had written after he had intercepted the message and Jake had been the one to map out their journey.
The only plausible thing could be that Ao’nung had written down the wrong numbers.
“Let’s not assume anything,” Jake said after they had confirmed that the coordinations on the map matched the ones in the notebook. He put a hand on Ao’nung’s shoulder in a comforting gesture, “I’m sure you got the numbers right. Let’s look around. They must have given out this location for a reason.”
A quick look around the Cliffside and they found some stairs leading down to the beach. The stairs were built into the Cliffside and reinforced with wood and rope handles and narrow enough that Jake told the boys several times to watch their step while walking down.
The patch of beach wasn’t all too big, nothing that would be known to tourists, a hidden spot for locals to enjoy. There was some vegetation along the edges and up the Cliffside and the only thing the beach led to was a patch of jungle, overgrown with bushes and covered in trees. It couldn’t be all too deep though because the cliff cut it off just a few feet farther.
A small patch of paradise this place was.
Standing at the shore, Lo’ak peered out towards the horizon, trying to see if there was just a speck of something, but all there was to see was water, water and even more water as the vast ocean went on. Lo’ak sighed, this time more resigned, but a bit of panic shot through him when his dad and Ao’nung weren’t right behind him when he turned around.
“Dad?” Lo’ak cautiously called out, luckily getting a quick response.
A small “Here” came from inside the patch of jungle. It was dark when Lo’ak peeked into it, but his father didn’t sound alarmed or anything, so he just followed his sound of voice.
Like he thought, the patch wasn’t all too deep as he followed the small walking path. Just a few steps later, the Cliffside already cut him off, but the path led further to the right and Lo’ak followed it, trying to catch up to his father.
And just a few steps more had him stop in his tracks.
“Oh,” Lo’ak’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. He had found his dad and Ao’nung, both of them standing in front of him and just in front of them… a cabin. Well, it was more like a garden shed. It was pretty small, wedged into the vegetation and partially hidden by greenery.
It wasn’t too hidden, since there wasn’t much to find on the beach other than that patch of greenery. Anyone who was looking for something would eventually find it, but it would be hard to find if someone didn’t already know where to look.
Lo’ak walked a few steps closer until he was standing beside Ao’nung, “Creepy.”
Ao’nung hummed in agreement. The last time he had been standing in front of a cabin, he had been with Neteyam and they had ended up with a gun pointed at them. Sure, it had gone pretty well in the end, but well…
“Are we going to go in there? It looks like a murder cabin,” Lo’ak asked his dad.
“I’ll go in,” Jake decided. “You wait here and if I yell, you start running.”
“That’s not unsettling at all,” Lo’ak mumbled, accepting the map when his father passed it to him.
Jake went inside without hesitation. Carefully pushing the front door open, which had a small ‘welcome’ sign hanging off of it, decorated with shells and vibrant colors, clearly from a souvenir store from one of the towns around. It didn’t really match the place at all.
The inside was dark, but Jake pulled a small cord that was connected to the overhead light. He seemed a bit surprised when it actually turned on and he did a quick turnaround in the room before waving the boys to come inside.
Both of them poked their heads in first before stepping in. The shed was just one room and not very big. There was a sleeping cot to the right, a desk to the left and a few cabinets just across from them. For a shed hidden in a patch of jungle, it looked pretty clean.
The blanket and pillow on the cot were made up, the cabinets were stocked up with cans and sealed packages of food, water and a first aid kit. The desk had a radio on top of it, one that resembled the ones that truckers had and used to communicate, along with a microphone attached to it with a small spinny cord. A map was hanging above the desk.
“This is a safe point,” Jake assessed after he looked through the cabinets. He seemed pretty pleased by the idea. “This is what they wanted us to find.”
“Like a checkpoint, of sorts,” Lo’ak hummed, inspecting the radio. He picked up the microphone into his hand, spinning the cord connecting it to radio around his finger briefly. When he pressed the talk button, a bit of static filtered through the small speaker which meant that it was definitely working. Lo’ak pressed it again, this time bringing the microphone closer to his lips to speak, “Hello?”
There was no answer, not that he expected one. But the radio was definitely on and working, judging by the small green light that was blinking on its side. The radio itself was pretty small, but equipped with a bunch of dials and buttons that Lo’ak didn’t dare fiddle with.
His dad came to stand beside him, eyeing the radio before turning to Lo’ak.
Lo’ak just gave him a shrug, “It’s on and I think it’s working.” Lo’ak pressed the button again in demonstration, trying again, “Hello?”
Static, then silence and finally a voice! “Yes. Do you read me?”
Lo’ak jumped at the unexpected answer and Jake quickly took the mic from his hand to take over.
“Loud and clear,” Jake responded as Ao’nung hastily joined their hustling at the small desk, squeezing against Lo’ak. The boys exchanged excited, yet carefully hopeful looks, but Jake remained calm and calculated as ever. “Who am I speaking to?”
The person on the other end just gave their name, no association or mention to a safe house or settlement, “How did you find the cabin?”
“We found a radio message. It sent us here,” Jake said. “There was mention of a settlement.”
“Yes,” The voice just said before there was a pause. Jake didn’t ask for further confirmation. He was sure that they wouldn’t give out any more information anyways. Even though they were reaching out and providing a way for survivors to find them, this was clearly a way to protect themselves and not reveal their location right away.
Both sides were taking a big risk. Survivors in not knowing where they would end up at and the settlement for not knowing what kind of people were coming to them.
This was for a first contact only.
Lo’ak gripped Ao’nung by the arm in disbelief, mouthing, “Did we find it?” Ao’nung just shrugged in response, but he was visibly just as excited as Lo’ak. Jake ignored the two boys beside him, waiting for an answer.
It took a minute before the voice came back, “How many are you?”
Jake faltered only for a moment, knowing that they were a rather large group and that they could refuse their group for their size alone. Still he answered truthfully, “We are a family…nine people.”
“Nine?” The voice asked for confirmation and even through the radio connection Jake could hear the disbelief in their voice. Rare it was to have bigger traveling groups with more than three or four people at most.
“Yes, nine. Two adults, six…teenagers and one child,” Jake clarified.
There was a brief pause. Jake was sure by now that the person he was speaking to wasn’t the only one present wherever they were. They were probably conversing with another person or maybe several other people that were listening in on their conversation.
“Alright. Listen carefully,” they finally said. This time their voice held a bit more authority and Ao’nung scrambled to pull out a pen from his bag and take notes. Just in case. “You will be picked up. At dawn, just before the sun goes up, you will wait by the cliff. Someone will come get you. No weapons. Leave them somewhere visible and away from you. Stand in a way that we can see each member of your group. You will need to identify yourself with your message number. Do you still have it?”
Jake looked towards Ao’nung, who frantically flipped through the journal, almost ripping the pages in his haste, but finally found the page he was looking for. “Message 43. December 3rd.”
Jake nodded, relaying the number back to the person on the radio.
“Good. You will need to leave your cars behind. Anything you want to take with you, make sure it fits into your bags and place them away from you. We will carry them for you. You will be checked for obvious signs of infection and then, if we deem you trustworthy, you will be checked more thoroughly at the settlement.”
“Understood,” Jake said.
“Good. You will receive more information if we take you in,” The voice said finally. “The pickup will be tomorrow at dawn then. Copy?”
“We need more time. Our family isn’t complete currently. We travelled in a small group to find this place. We need time to regroup and make our way back,” Jake quickly said. “Give us two days. The dawn two days from now. It will give us some time to travel safely.”
A small lie. The journey from the inn wouldn’t take them longer than two to three hours at most, but the other guy didn’t need to know that they just needed some time for Spider to get over the worst of his illness. However, requesting anything more than those two days would seem suspicious.
“Hm, hold.” The other person said before it went silent. This time there was no answer for a longer time, so much so that worry started rising. Jake knew that the radio guy was probably trying to work around their request with the other people at the settlement.
It was unsettling anytime the radio was silent, out of fear that they wouldn’t respond back anymore. That they had already deemed the Sullys unworthy of the trouble it would take to come get them.
“Did they give up on us?” Lo’ak frowned after five minutes of silence passed.
“Let’s be patient,” Jake said. “We are asking a lot of them after they are already extending their help.” He just hoped he wasn’t asking for too much.
“What if they say no?” Lo’ak asked.
“Then we’ll figure something out,” Jake assured him, putting a gentle hand on top of his head like he always did. “Let’s wait for an answer first.”
Another few agonizingly slow passing minutes went by before the speakers crackled again with their final verdict.
“Alright,” The word sent a collective sigh of relief through the three of them. “We will send a pick up on the dawn two days after today. If you are not there by then, we will not wait for you.”
“Understood. We will be there,” Jake said firmly, before adding a softer, “Thank you.”
“May Eywa be with you until we meet,” The person said, before there was a small click. The connection was temporarily severed, bringing their conversation to the end and Jake put the mic down on top of the radio with a sigh, letting the last nerves go as well.
Lo’ak was the first to really react, pumping his fist in celebration before lightly nudging it against Ao’nung’s side, “You did it, man. You really found us a settlement!”
“I’m a genius!” Ao’nung reciprocated Lo’ak’s celebrations with a loud laugh, wrapping a strong arm around the shorter boy. His own laugh was so free to his ears, the subconscious worries all finally gone from his head that kept spinning around ever since he had intercepted that first message. The ones that worried that he had led them all the wrong way, down a false trail.
But it had paid off in the end and they had found it!
Ao’nung let out another small laugh. He couldn’t wait to tell Neteyam.
“Good job,” Jake clasped a hand on his shoulder, much like he had done when Ao’nung had presented him with his notes after he had first listened to the radio message. Jake’s smile was full of pride along with some gratitude. Ao’nung basked in it.
“What now?” Lo’ak asked, feeling much more energized. No doubt the good interaction had breathed some new life into them.
“We go home,” Jake declared, smiling at his boys. “We go home and we start packing.”
The energy back at the inn was much more subdued. It was a calm day for once. Neytiri had managed to wrestle Kiri into leaving Spider’s side, so she could eat something in peace and take a shower while the showers outside still worked.
Neytiri had no intention of letting her daughter back into Spider’s room. She was worrying herself sick and holding a vigil day in and day out was not helping her. Kiri would no doubt come back once she had taken care of herself, but Neytiri was already planning on putting her on night watch along with Rotxo. Hopefully the boy would be able to distract her for a few hours.
Especially since Spider was getting worse, there was no doubt.
The painkillers Neteyam had provided had helped Spider sleep for a while, but the fever hadn’t settled. He was warmer than this morning. She had let him sweat it out for a bit, but now he was getting warm enough to worry even her.
Neytiri wrung out the small cloth she had been using to cool him down. She dunked it into the bowl of cold water she had been using before gently wiping it across his brow again.
The blanket was already off to the side so he wouldn’t get even warmer and his shirt was still off. They hadn’t put it back on him since they had arrived at the inn and Neytiri had already removed his sweaty bandages, leaving his back free. At times she wiped his back with the cool cloth, minding his injuries.
Despite his fever, his injury was already healing well. If Spider managed to beat this fever, it shouldn’t cause any more trouble.
Spider groaned, his voice raspy, exhausted and his breathing heavy.
“I’m here. It’s okay,” Neytiri shushed him gently, moving back to his face. She moved the cloth against the side of his face that wasn’t squeezed against the pillow, wiping away another bead of sweat rolling down his cheek before she realized that it was a tear. He was crying.
Neytiri crouched down, putting her hand onto his, which was tightly grasping the bedding.
“Spider?” She spoke softly. “Are you in pain?”
“I think I’m dying,” He sighed wetly. His hand let go of the bedding, tiredly moving it under his pillow and pulling out a crumpled photograph. He sighed, moving his thumb over the woman pictured on it. His next words came out in a whisper, “I want to see my mom again.”
“You will see her again,” Neytiri said gently, burshing a careful hand through his hair. “Just not yet.”
“Do you think I’ll finally meet her when I die?” Spider whispered, the picture held so tightly in his shaking fingers that Neytiri was afraid he might rip it just by the sheer force he was clutching it with.
Neytiri put her hand over his, carefully prying the picture out of his hold. She knew it would upset him even more if it ripped now and once she managed to extract it from his hand, she smoothed it out gently and put it on the bedside table, propped up against the night lamp, so that he could still see it.
“I think she is waiting for me,” Spider said, his eyes firmly locked still on the picture of his mother.
Neytiri smiled softly at his words as she settled to sit on the floor in front of the bed, so they would be eye to eye. She held his hand, lightly brushing her thumb over his skin, “She is waiting for you. But she does not want to see you yet.”
Spider’s eyes flickered to Neytiri’s, glassy and surprised at her words. Neytiri just nodded.
“She is waiting for you, but trust me, mothers are patient, Spider. She’ll want to see you in at least 50 years from now, after you’ve lived a long, long life.” Spider hummed. It sounded a bit like a laugh and at least he was smiling now. “Until then we’ll make sure you get better and once Jake is back I will give you the good medicine. How does that sound?”
“Fantastic,” Spider mumbled, still wearing a small smile on his lips. “I’m kind of hungry. Can I eat something?”
The words massively relieved Neytiri. An appetite was a very good thing.
“Absolutely. I’ll get you something warm,” She said, brushing the skin of his hand once more before going to fulfill his request.
Kiri was very much not happy about being banned from Spider’s room, even if it was just for a few hours. She had argued, of course, but there was rarely a time when any of them could push against their mother’s orders, so Kiri had reluctantly taken care of herself and accepted the night shift that her mother had put her on.
Neteyam, bless his heart, had tried to wiggle himself into yet another night shift to take over for her. But the stern look from their mother that practically scolded him for even suggesting it, had him slinking back to his room for a full night of sleep.
At least neither of them was left alone for the night. Tuk was taking advantage of Ao’nung’s absence and happily took the empty spot in her brother’s bed next to him. And Rotxo was taking the night watch with Kiri.
They sat on the same balcony that Neteyam had sat at yesterday during watch, sharing the worn balcony loveseat. The balcony itself had a great outlook over the street and parking lot and they were keeping an eye out for anything suspicious or, hopefully, their traveling group coming home.
They didn’t talk for a while. Kiri’s mind was occupied with Spider. She knew that he was getting worse and it was hard not to think about his condition. After a while the thoughts started repeating themselves like an annoying record and Kiri sighed, shaking her head in a way like it would somehow shake the thoughts from her mind.
She looked over at Rotxo, hoping that he would provide some distraction. His head was tipped up towards the sky, watching the stars and seemingly lost in his own thoughts, so much so that he didn’t notice it when Kiri watched him for a moment.
His expression wasn’t completely neutral. Kiri could see the slight downturn of his mouth that wasn’t usually there. His blue eyes shone a light silver under the light of the moon and the stars. The scar on the side of his face shone even more prominently against his skin, like a marking telling a story.
A story Kiri was pretty curious about. She reached out, brushing her finger against it briefly before Rotxo startled out of his thoughts.
“Sorry,” Kiri giggled surprised. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s fine;” There was a light, embarrassed blush coloring Rotxo’s cheek at his own reaction. “You just surprised me is all.”
“How did you get it?” Kiri asked, not mincing her words. She needed a distraction and sating her curiosity was one way to do so. “Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t,” Rotxo brushed a finger over the uneven skin. “I was alone after I got injured and I had no idea how to take care of it. I couldn’t really see it either, so…it just healed really badly.”
“Can I?” Kiri asked, gesturing to reach out again. Rotxo hummed, leaning his head closer and into her touch when she cupped his cheek to brush her thumb over it. It was fully healed by now, scarred over, some of his skin pulled over it unevenly.
It didn’t look like it came from a scratch. It must have been pretty deep in some parts to produce a scar like this and it really wouldn’t have surprised her if he told her that there used to be a hole in his cheek at one point. The only thing she could think of was that he must have gotten stabbed.
“You mentioned before that it wasn't a walker. You can tell me to shut up if you don’t want to talk about it,” Kiri’s words drew a small chuckle from Rotxo, but he shook his head.
“I don’t mind. I’ve never really talked about it,” Rotxo said. “It wasn’t a walker, no.”
“You were stabbed,” Kiri said quietly, removing her touch from his face. Her words were really less of a question and more of a statement.
Rotxo nodded, “You can tell, huh?”
“It looks like it went too deep to happen accidentally,” Kiri said. “What happened?”
With a sigh, Rotxo leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms in a self-protecting gesture, but he still started to recount his story, “It’s a bit complicated. You know what happened to Zongtseng, right?”
“Yes. We were briefly there,” Kiri said. When her family had arrived at Zongtseng, it had basically been a walker infested zone, full of abandoned cars lined up to the several entrances it had. The line of cars was so long that the end could not be seen. Cars of desperate people that had wanted to seek refuge for whom there was just no more space left inside the safe zone.
She hadn’t seen the inside of Zongtseng. Their father had them turn around and walk away as soon as he had realized that Zongtseng was no more and they had walked the whole night to put some distance between them and the walker zone.
“I was there during the inner outbreak,” Rotxo said and Kiri’s eyes widened at his words. “It was chaos. So many people had been brought in bitten or scratched and once they started turning, people just got infected faster than they could handle.
“And outside there were so many people begging to be let in while we were trying to get out of there,” Rotxo laughed at the thought, but it held no humor. “I came to Zongtseng without any bags or belongings. They had just picked me up off the street, so I had used to chaos to steal a bag and some clothes before trying to figure out a way to escape."
Rotxo thought for a minute before he quietly said, “I think that second outbreak was scarier than the first, because this time we already knew what we were running from, but this time we were locked inside a facility that was supposed to be unbreachable. I had no plan. I was alone among hundreds or thousands of other scared people and walkers and no clue where the closest exit was.”
“So, how did you make it out?” Kiri asked. Her arms were now leaning against her knees as she leaned forward, listening to his story with anticipation.
“I spotted a group of people breaking into one of the buses that had originally brought us to Zongtseng. They let me on and we just… drove.” Rotxo’s voice dropped to a whisper at his next words as he carefully met Kiri’s eyes, “We drove straight through the courtyard. I didn’t look outside, but I know that the hits the bus took and the bumps we drove over…I know they weren’t just walkers. They couldn’t have been.”
Kiri put a careful hand on his arm and Rotxo carefully uncrossed his arms, “You weren’t driving, Rotxo.”
“No, I wasn’t. But I was safe on that bus and those people were just trying to survive too,” Rotxo’s voice shook with his words. He sighed shakily, a tentative smile coming onto his face, “I guess you won’t be too surprised if I tell you that the guy that drove was the one that stabbed me, too.”
Kiri adjusted her position a bit. They were already sitting side by side close enough as the loveseat they sat on wasn’t big in the first place, but she wanted Rotxo to feel the support she offered. He allowed her to hold his hand.
“What happened? He just started stabbing?” She asked, drawing another small laugh from Rotxo. She could tell from his tone that he was pushing back some tears at the memories.
“No, nothing like that. We made it out of Zongtseng and we drove for a few hours. We were about fifteen people give or take and we traveled together even after the bus ran out of gas. But we weren’t really a group like we are here. There was no trust between us or anything. We were just a bunch of strangers traveling together because we believed in safety in numbers. And I didn’t want to be alone…
“Anyway, that didn’t work out for long. Some people just started to break away from the group one by one until we were only six people left. I don’t know how it started but one night a fight broke out between the driver guy and another guy and it got physical pretty fast.” Rotxo lifted his hand at his own face. There was some frustration in the gesture. “I stupidly tried to de-escalate the situation, but it only got me this.”
“He stabbed you for trying to get between them?” Kiri asked, slightly irritated at the people Rotxo had gotten caught up with.
“Mhm,” Rotxo answered tersely. “I guess I should have known better than to try to talk down a guy with a knife. And I was still lucky. The other guy didn’t make it, I think. I don’t know. After I got stabbed, I grabbed my bag and I got the hell away from that group…Is that bad? That I didn’t try to help?”
“You did try to help, Rotxo,” Kiri squeezed his hand gently. “And you did the right thing by leaving.”
Rotxo nodded, accepting her words. “I was alone after that and like I said, I had no idea how to take care of my wound. It looked a lot worse than this when I finally came across the settlement you found me at. They did their best to fix it up and…that’s it. No walker, just a guy with a knife.”
Kiri was quiet for a moment, letting the story settle between them and letting Rotxo take a few calm breaths, before speaking, “Thank you for telling me.”
“Thank you for listening,” Rotxo said softly.
The whole story made an inner anger flicker in Kiri at how someone could just hurt someone as gentle as Rotxo for just trying to help. Kiri never liked wishing ill on another person, so she forced herself not to think about the man that had hurt Rotxo.
“I still count myself lucky. I’m alive, I found Ao’nung again and now I get to travel in a good group as a family,” Rotxo said, giving her one of his sweet smiles and Kiri decided to discard her previous thoughts quickly. She hoped that man was long dead and gone.
Rotxo sighed into the silence and Kiri belatedly realized that she should have said something.
“I think I could use a pick-me-up now. Do you think we still have something sweet to eat?” Rotxo asked.
Kiri giggled at his question. She cast a quick look over the parking lot, knowing that probably nothing would happen over the next few minutes while they looked for a quick midnight snack. She nudged Rotxo to follow her, “Come, I think Lo’ak left some sweets in the car.”
The next few hours passed calmly. Kiri and Rotxo talked about lighter topics and shared the rest of Lo’ak’s snacks.
Eventually some movement from afar drew their attention before the sound of approaching cars sounded closer. Kiri got to her feet then, peering out through the darkness, but there was really no doubt in her head about who it could be. She turned to Rotxo with a smile.
“They’re back!”
Chapter 24
Notes:
Had a whole crash out because I thought I deleted half the chapter...
turns out I opened the wrong document. 🧍♂️
Chapter Text
Kiri was the first to greet the returned traveling group and she was by Lo’ak’s side first. He met her with a bright smile, which already soothed her ever present worry, but she still asked if he was okay or if anyone was hurt.
“We’re okay,” her father ended up answering as he walked around the car to her side. Ao’nung followed him, a full bag carried over his shoulder.
“Did you find it?” Kiri asked next. The light and bright atmosphere they carried with them already told her that they must be bringing good news with them.
“Hell yeah!” Lo’ak answered quickly and it brightened Kiri up right as well.
“How was it? What did it look like?” Kiri asked quickly, excited now.
“Is your mother still awake?” Her dad asked instead of answering her questions and just then Neytiri came down to meet them halfway. She was followed by Rotxo, who must have alerted her to their return.
Neytiri met Jake with a kiss, a small welcome back for his safe return.
“How was it? Did you find everything?” She echoed Kiri’s questions softly while moving on to first check on Lo’ak, pressing a kiss to his forehead before moving on to Ao’nung, making sure he wasn’t hurt and, much to his surprise, also giving his forehead a kiss.
She eased the bag from his shoulder as well, taking a peek inside. It was mostly filled with bandages from what she could see in the darkness.
“Let’s go back inside. I’ll tell you what we found,” Jake assured her, taking the bag and leading the way back to the room he shared with his wife.
Neteyam woke up warm and pretty squished in. He sighed before opening his eyes and looking down at his chest, Tuk was still happily snuggled against him, one of her legs thrown over his. The surprise came when he turned his head slightly, inhaling sharply in surprise.
Ao’nung was lying next to him, close enough that his curls were tickling Neteyam’s cheek when he turned his head.
A sleepy, but bright smile grew on Neteyam’s lips and he leaned his head closer against Ao’nung’s without waking either one of them. He hadn’t been aware at all that Ao’nung had returned last night.
Neteyam made a quick mental note to only take his painkillers if he had somewhere absolutely safe to sleep. Not noticing that Ao’nung had come back last night and slipped into bed with him was a nice surprise now, but definitely a safety issue any other time.
Neteyam scanned a quick eye over Ao’nung to make sure that there were no visible injuries on him and for any sign that they had run into trouble while they were gone, but Ao’nung was sleeping soundly and snoring softly. Neteyam was pretty sure he was drooling against his shoulder. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time.
With Ao’nung on his left side, he couldn’t really do much more nor could he really reach out to brush a hand through his hair like he usually would when he woke up first. He could just place his hand on Tuk’s back as she slumbered and it was no surprise to him when she was the one that woke up next.
She sighed, rubbing her nose against his shirt sleepily before actually opening her eyes. Then she stretched before smiling up at him. Though she didn’t at all look surprised to see that Ao’nung had joined them last night.
“Good morning,” Neteyam whispered, rubbing her back gently. “Did you notice Ao’nung sneaking in last night?”
“Mh yeah,” Tuk confirmed. “I woke up when he came in.”
“Yeah? I didn’t notice,” Neteyam said.
Tuk giggled, “You were sleeping very deeply. Ao’nung said to let you sleep.”
“I must have really needed it,” Neteyam sighed a bit, but he still smiled down at Tuk. “Was it late when he came back?”
Tuk shrugged lightly and as best as she could while lying down, “I don’t know. I guess so. It was dark anyways.”
“Then let’s let him sleep for a bit longer. Do you want to go change and I’ll meet you in the kitchen downstairs? We can make breakfast together,” Neteyam offered, secretly angling for a few minutes alone with Ao’nung and luckily Tuk agreed easily, swinging her legs out of bed and bounding to her own room quietly.
As soon as she was out of the room, Neteyam rolled himself over, wrapping his arm around Ao’nung and delighting in the gesture when Ao’nung’s arms automatically wrapped around him and his face buried itself into Neteyam’s shoulder. He heard a small sigh from Ao’nung as he snuggled deeper into Neteyam’s touch.
Finally Neteyam brushed his hand through Ao’nung’s hair, nuzzling the top of it and pressing a kiss to the crown of his head. He hoped Tuk would take her time or that she wouldn’t mind him coming down a few minutes later than promised, because for now Neteyam would enjoy a few minutes of cuddles.
Breakfast felt much lighter than ever, even though the whole family was still not complete. Just knowing that their traveling group had returned last night was well enough. Lo’ak and Ao’nung, along with Spider, weren’t present for breakfast, all of them still sleeping.
The others had all come down for breakfast, sitting down together to eat and using the opportunity to bring everyone up to speed, though it became clear quickly that Neteyam and Tuk were the only ones that were still out of the loop after yesterday night.
When the group arrived yesterday, everyone had been awake to greet the others, getting a run down of what had happened before him. Neteyam was only slightly, very disappointed to be the last one in the loop and that no one had come to wake him up yesterday.
“You could have woken me up,” Neteyam said, poking into his breakfast.
“Dad only gave us a brief rundown,” Kiri said. “The coordinations led to a contact spot. A small shed with a radio that they talked at. We will meet them there in two days.”
“And?” Neteyam asked, angling for more details, but Kiri didn’t have any.
“That’s all he told us. Then he shooed us back to night watch because he wanted to sleep. He said he’d tell us the rest in the morning, so…” Kiri waved him off with a small shrug, but it was obvious that she was burning to know the rest of it as well.
They got the opportunity to ask when Jake joined them, coming into the restaurant’s dining room last, brushing a gentle hand over each of his children’s heads before sitting down.
“What was it like?” Tuk was the first to ask, curiously jumping in her seat. Her older siblings refrained from loading on more questions immediately, but all their attention was turned to their father and the potential answer they would receive.
“Let’s let your father wake up for a few minutes,” Neytiri interrupted quickly as she came out of the kitchen with a big mug of coffee, setting it down in front of Jake and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “He’ll answer your questions, don’t worry.”
They had breakfast in calm silence for a while, letting their father wake up properly before he started explaining the details. From finding the shed with the radio, making first contact and finally describing the details of their planned pick up two days from today.
“But…what about Spider?” Neteyam asked the one question everyone was thinking of once Jake was done explaining. “How…I mean, will they take us with them if he is still sick?”
“Spider’s fever broke a few hours ago,” Neytiri informed them. “He’s still sleeping it off, but the medicine is helping.”
“He’s getting better?” Kiri asked, full of hope.
Neytiri hummed, but it sounded neither like agreement nor disagreement, “He did throw up what he ate yesterday. We’ll keep monitoring him tonight and then we will reassess tomorrow.” Her mother said, brushing her hand through her daughter’s hair.
Jake sighed, “He just has to be well enough for us to make it to the settlement. That’s my biggest worry. They will definitely see his injuries when they check us more thoroughly, but I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to talk to them there. We just have to make convince them that he is well enough during the first checkup.”
Jake wasn’t used to having any free time. No matter how tired, there was always something that needed to be done throughout the day. Before the apocalypse it was work, it was the children, it was taking care of the house and making time for his wife. And then suddenly it was a constant stream of survival, safety and food supplies.
It was like Jake had even forgotten what free time even was, but now with a successful outing done, their journeys end was so soon that it was practically graspable. Eywa willing, in less than two days’ time, they would be safe with a place to call home.
Until then he couldn’t do much but hope that Spider got better quickly and remind his children to start packing their most essential things. He had figured that he would fill the time packing his and Neytiri’s things in time for tomorrow.
He had already meticulously planned tomorrow’s routine. He’d have to make sure that the children had everything packed, he would make sure to give them the rundown of what the pickup would entail one more time, just in case. Jake would make sure that they had an earlier and filling dinner, so that they could be on the road just after the sun went down.
They’d spent a few hours waiting at the cliff, but it would be better to be too early than too late and run risk of missing their pick up.
Packing his and Neytiri’s things had taken Jake exactly half an hour, sorting out the things they didn’t need, which was most of it. They hadn’t really been ones to take keepsakes from their travel around the country and the only thing that they would be taking along in their bags was perhaps a change of clothes and their old family album that had steadily traveled along in Neytiri’s bag.
Once all that was done…Jake had nothing else to do. He felt like a child in need of entertainment. It was unbecoming of him.
Jake made himself a coffee, just so he would have something to do and took a walk around the inn. He could see Rotxo and Tuk a distance away at the shore of the beach. Tuk had taken a liking to the boy and it seemed like she had managed to convince him to take her swimming.
At least he seemed like a capable swimmer, so Jake trusted Rotxo to keep an eye on her. He would make sure to call them in not much later though. They couldn’t afford anyone to get sick right now. Jake would be damned if he let a simple cold be the thing to stand in their way after everything they had endured to get here.
Seeing Rotxo and Tuk compelled Jake to make a mental note of where everyone was at the moment. It was a habit that he was sure he would never get rid of as he hadn’t gained it after the apocalypse. It was something that simply came with parenthood.
He knew that Lo’ak was in Spider’s room. Perhaps he was still sleeping. Neytiri had gone up to check on them after breakfast as well, so she should be there with them as well.
Neteyam had gone into the direction of the rooms. He was probably the only one that had immediately taken his father’s advice to start packing seriously. And Ao’nung was most definitely still in their room, maybe still sleeping as well.
That just left Kiri, but Jake didn’t have to wonder about her for long. His little walk eventually had him stumble onto her by the side of the inn, crouching by an overgrown and unkempt patch of greenery by herself.
Kiri was often compelled to walk off on her own, letting her curiosity take her to wherever it wanted her to go. He loved it on her, but it used to be an absolute nightmare when she was a toddler.
“What are you up to, baby girl?” Jake asked, coming to stand beside her and peeking over her shoulder. Kiri briefly lifted her head to smile at him, before going back to what she was doing.
In front of her was a small empty pot, slowly being filled with dirt. Kiri must have found a trowel somewhere as well with which she was working with.
“I’m planting some of the offsets,” Kiri said lightly.
She felt better this morning than she had all the other days. She had found a flower pot in one of the rooms and gently cleaned it out from the poor plant that hadn’t made it. The outside had beautiful flowers and she wanted to start her own collection again.
Back home her room had basically been a garden house. Each empty spot of her room was filled with a potted plant, flower, ornament and each and every one of them she had taken care of lovingly and raised since they were just small sprouts.
Naturally, she had to leave them behind after the outbreak forced them to leave their home. Kiri had cried and the constant moving around form place to place to place never allowed her to care for another family of plants. The only uplifting thought she kept was the hope that her plants had overtaken her room, growing wildly out of bounds, but still alive and thriving as much as they could.
But now… now she was hopeful. In less than two days, they might have a home again and hopefully she would be able to fill a small space of her own with at least a handful of plants again. Hopefully she would have a space, maybe a room, to call her own again. To decorate and to put down roots in.
Jake crouched down and Kiri angled the pot a bit in his direction so he could see the small holes she had put into the dirt, ready for a new plant.
“I missed this,” Kiri sighed, carefully picking out one of the offsets from the many that had dropped from the mother plant and overgrown over the past year without any care. Her voice was smaller at her next words, but the smile remained on her lips, “I miss home. I miss…mom.”
The hardest part of leaving home was, besides having to say goodbye to their grandmother, was that she no longer was able to visit her mother’s grave. Until now, Kiri had never missed a visit to her mother’s grave, each year on the day she died.
Jake hummed, his hand finding a comforting place on her back, “She’s still with you.”
“I know, I carry her in my heart,” Kiri said, echoing the words that her parents had so often told her when she was growing up. “I just miss having a place where I can go and meet her. And talk to her.” Kiri picked one of the smallest offsets, dropping it into the hole and gently burying it with her fingers absentmindedly. “I want to make a space for her. Hang up our picture.”
Kiri had exactly one picture of herself and her mother and it very much resembled the picture that she had seen in Spider’s room now. A picture of her mother Grace, sitting in a hospital bed, smiling and holding baby Kiri the day that she was born. The picture had been taken by Jake, she had been told, three days before her mother was killed.
She had never revealed who Kiri’s biological father was, not even to her parents, but since Jake and Neytiri were her closest family at that point, Kiri had been adopted by them without much trouble.
There were other pictures that she had of her mother, but that one was very much her favorite. It let her know that, long ago, her mother had held her and the thought comforted her immensely.
“I want to have another collection,” Kiri said, now happy with her little potted plant, holding it up happily to her father. “And if they don’t take us… I’ll just carry it around and build a collection somewhere else?” Her little smile was almost asking for permission from her father, who was always adamant about only carrying the most essential things.
He just smiled at her with a nod, “We’ll carry it around.” Jake kissed the top of her head. “Everything will work out.”
Kiri smiled happily to herself. They were going towards a potential new home. Spider was getting better. All would work out.
Lo’ak sat on the second bed in Spider’s room, reading one of the romance books that Neteyam had found for him. Spider was sleeping and Lo’ak tried not to worry too much. His mother had assured him that he was really, really, pinky-promise, getting better now. He was sleeping it off, the fever had broken overnight and he was slowly cooling back down and his appetite was in a good place.
Spider was en route to a full recovery to be in tip top shape by the time they would get picked up… At least Lo’ak hoped so.
Spider hadn’t moved since Lo’ak had woke up; actually he hadn’t really moved since they had arrived in the inn and he had claimed that bed for himself and thrown himself on the covers. He was still mostly in the same position and everything, steadily sleeping on his stomach, one of his arms hanging off of the side of the bed and sometimes fiddling with the comforter when he was awake.
It was strange to see Spider like this. Weak and spiritless. It had been hard seeing him slowly grow weaker as the infection traveled through his body.
Ever since he had gotten to know Spider, the boy had been such a spirited, strong and loyal companion in their family. The first time they met Lo’ak and Kiri had taken a liking to him immediately and they had been the ones to convince their parents to let him come along after Spider had gotten caught stealing some of their food.
Their parents had been doubtful at first, but Spider had repeatedly proven himself to be trustworthy with a good head on his shoulders, as Lo’ak’s father had once said. He hated seeing Spider succumbing to some measly scratches.
A part of Lo’ak was really happy that he hadn’t seen Neteyam in a state like this.
His mother had come by an hour ago, had woken Lo’ak up and given him some breakfast and then checked on Spider. She had told Lo’ak that he had already gotten a lot better overnight, thanks to the medicine they brought and that was why Lo’ak startled, his stomach dropping all the way to his toes when a barely audible groan cut through the silence.
The way his heart jumped in his chest couldn’t be considered healthy and he had to force himself to look over at Spider and not avoid the dreaded sight he really didn’t want to see.
Spider’s hand tensed before his eyes opened, but Lo’ak only relaxed when he mumbled out a quiet, “Water…”
“You scared the shit out of me, bro,” Lo’ak jumped to his feet quickly, pressing a hand to his chest before going to get Spider a glass of water. “Don’t ever wake up like that again. What is wrong with you?”
Spider chuckled quietly behind him, his voice raspy when he thanked Lo’ak for the glass of water.
“You should have seen your face,” Spider laughed into his pillow and Lo’ak rolled his eyes in good humor.
Lo’ak didn’t sit back down on his own bed he had been banished to since the first night, instead he threw himself onto the free space on Spider’s bed. Spider lifted and turned his head to look at Lo’ak, some surprise in his expression.
“Lo’ak…” Spider was about to tell him to still keep his distance, just in case, but Lo’ak ignored him just as well.
“Mom said you were doing better,” Lo’ak said assuredly. “You won’t turn. You can’t anymore. A settlement is awaiting us in two days.”
Spider smiled widely at his words, adjusting his position a bit more, so that he was facing Lo’ak more comfortably, “You found it?”
“Yup,” Lo’ak said a bit cheekily, “So you can’t turn anymore. Missed your chance.” Spider chuckled at his words as Lo’ak lifted his pinky between them, “Pinky-promise you will not turn.”
“Pinky-promise that I won’t turn,” Spider laughed, bringing their pinky’s together. “And if I do end up turning, then I promise to eat you first.”
Lo’ak grinned wide, “You better.”
After breakfast Neteyam had put a plate together for Ao’nung and brought it up to their room and after that, the day had been spent in bed, lazing around in each other’s arms and taking short naps in between kisses and touches. By now the sun was starting to go down and Neteyam counted the day well spent.
Neteyam chuckled softly when Ao’nung nuzzled into his shoulder, kissing the skin there. Their legs were tangled together, along with the blankets messily thrown over them both. While Ao’nung was busy wrapping himself all around Neteyam like a baby koala, Neteyam was flipping through Ao’nung’s notebook, the one that contained the messily scribbled information the radio had delivered.
After his father had talked about it, Ao’nung had also recounted everything that had happened in that shed, recounting the message as best he could with his notes.
Neteyam balanced the notebook on his stomach, using his thumb to lazily flip through the pages, all the way to the beginning until the book started tipping to one side and Ao’nung held out his hands to steady it. Neteyam paused his flipping when he reached the very first notes Ao’nung had taken from the walls of their first home.
“And you called me crazy for wanting to decode it,” Ao’nung said smugly, smiling up at Neteyam.
“I never called you crazy. I always had full trust that you would solve it,” Neteyam said, matching his smile.
“Sure,” Ao’nung hummed good humoredly.
“Should we start packing our things?” Neteyam asked quietly.
Ao’nung groaned, “No. I’m not getting up anymore.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow,” Neteyam said, his hand settled happily in Ao’nung’s growing curls and his eyes locked on the ceiling.
“We don’t even have anything to pack,” Ao’nung murmured. During the short time they had spent in the inn, they hadn’t really unpacked any of their belongings or spread out in their rooms. Ao’nung tightened his arms around Neteyam’s middle, moving his head to press a few kisses to the side of his face now, “I’m not letting you get up either. It’s been too long since we had some time together and now you want to run away from me?”
“I’m not running away from you,” Neteyam chuckled, but he reciprocated Ao’nung’s hold, wrapping his arm tightly around his shoulder now. “We spent the whole day in bed.”
“We deserve this. Our things weren’t unpacked in the first place, the settlement is waiting for us” Ao’nung sighed contently. “And I haven’t gotten you all to myself in so long.”
“Soon we’ll have more time together,” Neteyam assured him and he really hoped that he was right. “Can you believe it is almost over?”
“I’m ready for it to be over,” Ao’nung said. “Don’t get me wrong, I love your family, but spending weeks on end in such close quarters was terrible.”
Neteyam hummed, frowning “I agree. I don’t even want to think about the possibility that they’ll reject us. What will we even do then? It took almost a whole year to find this settlement.”
Ao’nung rolled off of Neteyam, wiggling a bit until they were shoulder to shoulder instead and he reached over to plug the notebook from Neteyam’s hand, “We’ll just do what we did when we found out that Zongtseng was gone. We stick together. Keep moving…I don’t remember what else John said.”
Neteyam turned his head with a curious smile, “You’re still thinking about what he said?”
“It was solid advice,” Ao’nung said. “And at least this time we won’t be by ourselves. Sully’s stick together, right?”
Neteyam’s smile widened significantly, hearing Ao’nung say his old family mantra, “Yeah. Sully’s stick together.”
Ao’nung flipped the pages towards the middle, where he had been documenting the dates whenever the radio had started playing music. Now he was doing it every morning after breakfast and if it somehow slipped his mind, the others diligently reminded him to do it.
“I miss our music radio. Why did we ever leave it behind? It went through so much with us.” Ao’nung sighed. He closed the notebook with a sigh before turning to face Neteyam fully with a smile, “Our first kiss. Long nights during winter.”
Neteyam matched his smile, “That time you cut off my arm.”
Ao’nung grimace lightly, “Yeah, that too.”
“I’m still mad at you,” Neteyam said lightly, but his words were soft and the kiss he pressed onto Ao’nung’s lips didn’t underline his words either.
“And I still don’t regret it,” Ao’nung said grinning widely. This was a point of their relationship that wouldn’t shift. It would remain, but they had managed to move forward from it.
Ao’nung liked to believe that it made them stronger for it, even if Neteyam would give him shit about it for the rest of their lives, which hopefully would last many long years together.
When Ao’nung had first taken to the road, his bag over his shoulder and an unsuccessful search for Rotxo left behind, he had never thought he would even survive for as long as he had, much less find love on the road. That wasn’t even something that had crossed his mind until Neteyam had.
Ao’nung wondered if they would have met under any other circumstances. Would Eywa have brought them together even without walkers and the end of the world?
Ao’nung was sure that without Neteyam he wouldn’t have ever made it this far. He probably would have become walker food back at that mall. It was strange to think about, that instead he was lying comfortably in a bed with Neteyam by his side, their family nearby, Rotxo nearby and a new home awaiting them.
After all was said and done, Ao’nung was sure they would get their happily ever after in the form of a new settlement and no longer having to look over their shoulder and risk their lives on a run ever so often. That would be enough.
Ao’nung reached out, taking Neteyam’s hand in his and lacing their fingers together.
Getting married was no longer possible, what without a standing government anymore, but they would promise themselves to each other before Eywa during a traditional ceremony one day. Ao’nung was sure of it.
“I love you,” Ao’nung whispered into the space between them. “Thanks for not letting me become walker food when we first met.”
“Skxawng,” Neteyam chuckled, “I love you, too:”
He leaned in closer again for another kiss, humming happily when Neteyam welcomed him readily, closer into his touch.
If it took an apocalypse for them to meet and for Ao’nung to have this, then he would choose to do it all over again.
Chapter 25
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
While yesterday was a lazy and slow going day, today the Sully family was in a flurry of activity. Even Spider could feel the shift in energy. He had slept the last day away after Neytiri had given him the new medicine. It had depleted the last of his energy, he had for sure sweated through the bedding and halfway through the night he had thrown up whatever little thing he had eaten the day before.
But surprisingly, today he had woken up feeling better. Of course he was still not fully recovered. He was still running hot, but Neytiri had assured him that it was a lot better than last night.
And best of all…he didn’t feel like he was dying anymore. He just felt like he had the normal flu or something and this he could definitely get through. He felt like he could finally breathe again.
Spider sighed. He was finally wearing a shirt again after a short shower that had taken most of his energy. Neytiri had still told him to take it easy for the rest of the day, so he was still in bed, but at least he was sitting up now instead of having his face mushed into the pillow.
Tomorrow morning, he would need to act like he was in tip top shape to whoever was picking them up. No biggie. Spider was a decent actor.
They would be leaving after dinner and then sleeping over at the meeting point, so that there was no way that they missed the pick-up. The others were busy preparing the last things for their trip, so today it was Tuk that was keeping him company.
“Do you want to hear a secret?”
Tuk’s eyes lit up at the words, her gaze lifting from Spider’s hands where he was arranging and rearranging the colors on his rubiks cube. Though he was a little slower and made more mistakes than usual, Tuk was watching his hand with happy enthusiasm. Spider already had to promise to teach her how to do it once he was in a better state of mind to explain all the tips and tricks.
“Yes!” Tuk said quickly, sitting up more properly now.
“Alright,” Spider smiled at her enthusiasm, slowing down his fiddling with the cube to momentarily give her his whole attention. He lowered his voice in a secretive whisper, “My real name is Miles.”
Tuk gasped at the new information, “Really?”
Spider gave a single nod, resuming a faster pace at solving the cube and preparing himself for the questions that would inevitably follow.
“Why do you go by Spider then?” Tuk asked.
“Because it sounds cooler,” He said, though it wasn’t entirely the truth. Spider had been a childhood nickname, because he was a good and constant climber, but also because…”My dad’s name is Miles. I was named after him, so I wanted a name of my own, you could say.”
When Spider had left his college campus, he had left everything behind, including his father and his name. And yet somehow, he knew that he would never shake it. There was too much of his father in him for that.
Miles Quaritch was a complicated man and Spider hadn’t known him for very long. For most of his life he had believed his father to be dead, just like his mother, but then one day, when Spider was fifteen, a letter had arrived in the mail. That was the first of only two letters in total that his father sent from prison over the next year. The first that let Spider know that his father was alive, and the second that he would be released soon.
His father had been released when Spider was sixteen and that was the first time he had met his dad, under careful watch of his foster mother and a CPS worker because he was still a minor.
Getting custody of Spider would have been a too long and complicated process, but eventually his dad had gotten the right to regular visits and weekends until Spider had turned eighteen and outgrown the foster system.
Spider was fully aware that his father was not a good person, not at all and he would never pretend like anything else was the case. But the truth was that he wasn’t a bad father to him. Sure, he wasn’t exactly good and the man was awkward in the parental role, but over the years, as they got to know each other, Spider could feel that his father genuinely cared for him, as hard as it was for him to show it.
Still Spider never really felt at home with his dad either. After he had outgrown the system, he had temporarily moved into his dad’s house (which he shared with Spider’s “uncle” Lyle), spending the summer before college there and the spring break before.
The last time he had seen his dad was on drop off day after spring break and just a few months later the world had ended. When Spider had gotten the message from his father, telling him to get somewhere safe and wait and that he was coming to get him…Spider had panicked.
He didn’t know why that one single text had sent such a violent shiver down his spine. Maybe it was the confirmation that the situation on the news was really as serious as they made it out to be. Maybe it was the realization that once his father found him, he would spend the rest of his life by his side.
They would depend on each other for survival, there would be no outgrowing the house, no occasional meetups and gradual buildup to their relationship anymore. Spider would be with him and his dad’s ragtag friend group, some of which had gone to prison with his dad or had met his dad in prison.
…Spider had packed what he could and he had gotten as fast and as far away from campus as possible.
“Spider?” Tuk’s quiet and concerned voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he realized that he must have gotten lost in them for a pretty long moment. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, sorry.”
“Were you thinking about your dad?” She asked.
No use lying, Spider thought, “Yes, I was.”
“Is he dead?” Tuk asked carefully.
Spider shook his head, “I don’t think so.”
Spider was certain that his dad had eventually made it to campus and had probably searched for him for a long time. Spider didn’t doubt that his father was still alive and was probably still searching for him. A year ago there had been times where Spider had thought about turning back and trying to find his father, too.
But then he had found the Sullys and they had taken him in and Spider had, for the first time, felt what it was like to have a family and be close to people that cared for him without the need to tiptoe around what their relationship could be or could have been.
Spider didn’t want to be found anymore. At least not right now.
“Do you miss him?” Tuk asked, all sweet innocence.
Spider’s fingers stopped in their movement. The cube was almost done, but he had somehow moved a red square right into the middle of the blue side. Spider was sure he would see his father again someday.
“Yeah, sometimes I do.”
“Do we need…to bring clothes?” Ao’nung asked, holding one of his shirts. The state of the room reminded him somewhat of their packing state when they were leaving the motel, though it was not nearly as messy as it was back then. They didn’t have much stuff with them to begin with.
“Did they say we need to bring clothes?” Neteyam asked, folding his own shirt into his bag. He had even less stuff than Ao’nung did, but the end of their trip allowed him to sort out the things he didn’t want to keep anymore.
“I don’t know? He didn’t specify. Just said to bring what we wanted to keep,” Ao’nung said, taking out another shirt. This one he tossed onto the floor. It’d be left here.
Neteyam smiled amused, “Well, do you want to keep them?”
“I mean…I guess so? What if I leave them behind and they turn us down? I’ll be left without underwear,” Ao’nung said. Though getting new clothing was one of the easiest things to do, so even then it wouldn’t cause too much of an inconvenience.
Neteyam chuckled at him, “You should keep a change of underwear.”
All in all, packing didn’t take them much time either and the only thing they did was sort out the clothing that they didn’t want to carry around to the settlement, making their bags just a little lighter. The rest of their keepsakes were of course kept.
“It feels like we should be doing more,” Ao’nung said once their bags were packed up again.
“We already did enough,” Neteyam said, reaching out, cupping Ao’nung’s cheek. “You found us the settlement and we traveled a long time to get here. We’ve done a lot.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Ao’nung smiled with a small sigh.
Neteyam swung his own bag over his shoulder before also taking Ao’nung’s into his hands, “I’ll take our bags down, see if dad needs help with the cars.”
“Alright. Then I’ll go check in with Rotxo,” Ao’nung and Neteyam parted ways at the door with a quick kiss. They probably would not be going back to their room again.
Neteyam found his dad at the front where they had left the cars. Both of the cars’ trunks were open and some of their stuff that they had left in the cars were piled up on the ground.
His dad was not alone either. Lo’ak was leaning against the open trunk next to him.
“Do you need help?” Neteyam asked.
Jake looked up, pulling out one of the blankets they had used on the road and handed it to Lo’ak to fold. He eyed the bags in Neteyam’s hand before nodding over to the other car, instead of answering his question “You can put them down with the other bags.”
Neteyam turned to the other car. It looked like his dad and Lo’ak had already finished with this one as it already looked a lot neater and orderly than Neteyam remembered it. Some canned and packaged food was stacked on one side, their camping stove and a big box of extra bullets. On the other side were a few bags already. Most of them looked pretty empty and Neteyam recognized them as the bag of his parents, Spider’s and Lo’ak’s.
He neatly added his and Ao’nung’s bag to them. Then he reached in and pulled out his bow, which was neatly stored behind his mother’s, before going to join his father and brother.
“Are we leaving these things here?” Neteyam asked, nudging something in the pile next to the car.
“No, we’re not leaving anything,” his father explained, handing Lo’ak yet another blanket. “We’re just cleaning up a bit. But just in case we’ll bring our stuff along. If they take us, it won’t matter, but if they deny us, we’ll still need everything.”
“Right,” Neteyam said before asking again, “Do you need help?”
“We’re almost done,” Jake said, pulling out the tarp they sometimes used when it rained. “Do you think we still need this?”
Neteyam raised an eyebrow before shrugging, “Maybe?”
“Then we’ll keep it,” Jake sighed before folding the tarp very loudly.
Neteyam looked over at Lo’ak, who had just finished folding another blanket. He now had a pile stacked next to him, but he didn’t seem to be doing much else besides stacking the things their father handed to him.
“If you’re almost done, can I kidnap Lo’ak for a bit?” Neteyam asked, smiling innocently when both his father and Lo’ak raised an eyebrow at him.
When Neteyam seemed to say nothing else, Jake briefly eyed the bow in his hands, understanding that this was a talk between brothers and nodding his allowance, “Sure, I can finish by myself.”
“Great,” Neteyam said, nodding for Lo’ak to walk with him, “Follow me.”
“What’s up?” Lo’ak asked, but tossed the blanket he was still holding, onto the rest of the pile and followed his brother.
“Where are we going?” Lo’ak asked after Neteyam had led him away from the parking lot and back towards the direction of the inn’s courtyard and the beach.
“We’re just going on a walk,” Neteyam smiled at him and he could see Lo’ak eyeing the bow just like their father had. Regardless Lo’ak didn’t complain and he just followed Neteyam’s lead. “Do you remember the day we left home?”
“Uh,” Lo’ak briefly blanked at the sudden question. “When we had to go to grandmother’s house?”
“Mhm,” Neteyam hummed in agreement.
The Sullys house had been much closer to the heart of the city than their grandmother’s. Her house was at the edge of town, bigger and thus a much safer shelter. The Sully house had been their shelter up until a few days after the electricity had cut off and their father had decided suddenly that they would be relocating.
The Sully children had been ushered to pack quickly and say goodbye to their home, though back then there had been hope that they would one day soon return. Even back then their father had been adamant about only taking the things that were absolutely essential, a change of clothes and nothing else.
Over night they left their home behind.
Neteyam had taken his bow. Lo’ak had left his behind.
“I don’t know,” Lo’ak finally said. “Dad asked us to pack quickly and then we left. That’s it.”
“You left your bow behind,” Neteyam said matter-of-factly and Lo’ak just hummed in agreement. “Why didn’t you take it with you? You loved it a lot. I still remember the day you got it. We could barely get you to stop shooting.”
“I don’t know,” Lo’ak shrugged, his hands now in his pockets and his eyes one the rocks he was kicking as they walked. “I think I was going to, but then dad left his. But mom took hers. And you took yours. And Kiri left hers behind, too. And Tuk left hers.”
“Tuk’s was a practice bow,” Neteyam mentioned. Her bow would have never had enough power to actually kill a walker.
“What I’m trying to say is: I guess I just got overwhelmed while dad was rushing us, okay? It was a split second decision and everyone was doing something else. I didn’t even leave it in my room. I had it in my hands and then, in the last minute, I left it leaning against our couch.” Lo’ak said, his voice starting off harsh and eventually dropping into more of a mumble at the end of his sentence. “Maybe if we had more time to think it over I would have taken it with me.”
The bow in Neteyam’s hand felt a bit heavier now after Lo’ak’s words and there was no satisfaction in knowing that his suspicion had been right. Lo’ak regretted leaving his bow behind.
“I took this though,” Lo’ak pulled one of his hands out of his pockets and dangling on his finger, almost like a keychain, was a beaded feather, much like the one that was tied to Neteyam’s bow. It was the one that had been hanging on Lo’ak’s.
“Something from my bow and from grandmother,” Lo’ak turned it around in his hand to cup it in his palm. Then he held it up, closer to the one hanging from Neteyam’s bow, “And it matches with yours.”
“Yeah,” Neteyam chuckled lightly. Then he held out his bow more purposefully, nudging it towards Lo’ak when he looked at him questioningly. “Take it. Or have you forgotten how to hold one?”
Lo’ak rolled his eyes, pocketing his beaded feather again and taking the bow from Neteyam’s hand. He had obviously not forgotten how to hold one, the bow comfortably sitting in his hold.
“No arrows?” Lo’ak asked wryly, though he still pulled the bow like he had one against the string, aiming at nothing in particular.
Neteyam couldn’t help the smile on his lips as he watched his brother string his bow, seeing him hold one again after such a long time. Though it had never crossed his mind before, he realized, now that he was faced with it again, that he had missed this image. Lo’ak holding a bow just looked right. It felt right.
“I ran out of arrows a while ago. Even before I lost my arm,” Neteyam said and Lo’ak let out a low whistle, letting go of the string. It snapped back, “But I think mom still has some.”
“Cool,” Lo’ak said and didn’t add anything else.
Neteyam sighed, carefully eyeing his brother, “Not that…I could use them anyways.”
“Right. Sorry,” Lo’ak carefully plugged the string again. It was the most action his bow had gotten in months. Neteyam couldn’t even properly pull the string back anymore.
“I want you to have my bow,” Neteyam said, not beating around the bush and turning to face Lo’ak fully and seriously.
The sudden words certainly took Lo’ak off guard and his head snapped to look at his brother, searching for any sign that he had misheard him or that he was kidding. “What? Seriously? Why? Are you sure?”
Neteyam laughed at the sudden ramble, “I’m sure.”
Lo’ak mouth opened and closed a few times, his brows furrowed, “But you love this bow. Why give it to me?”
“I do. I love this bow very much and I think that it deserves to be used instead of sitting on my dresser for the rest of my life,” Neteyam said, his voice serious with sincerity as he put his hand on Lo’ak’s shoulder. “I want you to use it. I know it’ll be in good hands with you.”
Lo’ak’s lips pulled in a taunt line before he briefly bit his lower lip. Neteyam could see the tears building in his eyes as he carefully asked again, “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. It’s yours.”
Lo’ak nodded and in the next moment he wrapped his arms around his big brother in an embrace. Neteyam reciprocated the hug, patting Lo’ak’s back gently.
“I’ll take good care of it. I promise,” Lo’ak said, his voice muffled by Neteyam’s shoulder as it shook with emotion.
“I know you will.”
Once all the bags were packed, stored, the cars were in order and dinner was cooked, a bigger and more complicated meal that would serve them as a sendoff, just like they had done the day before they had left the motel.
The Sullys came together in the restaurant’s dining room, assembling around the biggest table next to the window facing the ocean and the setting sun.
Plates of food were laid out in the middle of the table, open for choosing as things were passed around along with easy conversations that echoed through the otherwise empty dining room.
Even Spider had joined the last dinner in their temporary stop, though it had taken him a good amount of effort and energy to make it down into the dining room after a long rest and the medicine he was still receiving. He sat slumped in his chair, eating only little, but the content smile on his face made it clear that he was in a good mood, happily joining conversations with Kiri and Lo’ak to either of his side.
At some point the conversations had naturally shifted to reminiscing about their time on the road, from the first day of the apocalypse all the way to the last day at the inn until Tuk made a suggestion.
“We should say what our favorite moment was,” She said. “It’s what we did after school trips.”
There was some small laughter and amuse chuckles from the others, but ultimately they would always indulge Tuk.
“Who wants to start?” Lo’ak asked, looking around the table.
Tuk nudged her father, who was sitting next to her.
“Me?” Jake asked and Tuk nodded. “Alright…well, my favorite is…that all you children are safe and sound.”
“That’s not a moment, dad,” Tuk corrected him with a pout.
“It is still my favorite thing,” Jake ruffled her hair gently, making it clear that he wasn’t going to come up with anything else.
“Your father is right. The best thing is that we’re all here together now,” Neytiri agreed. “This is my favorite moment.”
Tuk pursed her lips. She was pretty sure this was a cop out from her parents, but she didn’t press them to say something else. She looked at her siblings expectantly, hoping that they would better understand what she meant.
It was Neteyam that came to the rescue, as always and no matter what it was.
“My favorite moment was the night we found the music channel on the radio,” Neteyam said, looking over at Ao’nung sitting next to him. “It was dark and we had the candles lit.”
“Our first kiss?” Ao’nung smiled, which widened when Neteyam nodded.
Tuk giggled when Lo’ak made a small gagging sound, but Ao’nung and Neteyam didn’t pay him any attention. Maybe they didn’t even notice.
“I agree,” Ao’nung said before looking over at his best friend, who was sitting on his other side. “And also when we found Rotxo.”
“Yes! My favorite was finding Rotxo, too,” Tuk happily agreed. “And Spider, too!”
Rotxo chuckled a bit bashfully at her, but Ao’nung cocked his head a bit teasingly, “But not me?”
“I wasn’t there when Neteyam met you;” Tuk said simply.
“Okay, fair,” Ao’nung agreed with a small laugh.
“I’m glad you found me, too,” Rotxo jumped in softly. “But I have to say another one of my favorite moments was stumbling onto the settlement in the first place. After I walked alone for so long in the winter. It was like finding paradise.”
“Hopefully it’ll be the same tomorrow,” Lo’ak said casually before jumping into his own favorite moment, smiling cheekily, “I liked blowing up fireworks during new years. That was fun.”
“It was reckless,” Jake shook his head disapprovingly.
“But fun,” Lo’ak only smiled.
“Hell yeah,” Spider chuckled. “My favorite thing is not turning into a walker. I’ll be glad when it’s finally over. Worst fucking fever of my life.”
“Cheers,” Neteyam leaned over the table with a nod, gently knocking his drink with Spider’s before they both took a drink.
“My favorite moment was when Lo’ak accidentally locked himself into that clothing store and we had to help him squeeze out of the window,” Kiri casually recalled.
“They had such tiny windows,” Lo’ak recalled in horror. “It was like being born again.”
“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Jake pinched the bridge of his nose, but he couldn’t quite quell a chuckle. Looking around the table, most of the food had been finished and plates had been cleared, so it was safe to assume that dinner was coming to an end. “If there is something you still need to do or pack, now’s your last chance. Make sure your bags are in the cars. We’ll hit the road soon.”
“Hopefully for the last time,” Kiri said gently.
“Yes, hopefully for the last time,” Jake matched the small smile on her lips. Looking around the table one more time, the eyes of his children still on him expectantly, waiting in case he would delegate something else.
The road had been hard. The lows had been very deep. A sudden fight for survival as the world ended, the constant worry over his children, only for Jake’s biggest worry to come true when they lost Neteyam. Finding out what had become of Zongtseng and making them scramble for a new plan. To then finding Neteyam again with a missing arm and with a heavy fever and then for Spider to fight the same just a few months later.
But their joys had been very high as well. Finding Spider, even if they had been apprehensive first, he had become a member of their family. Finding Neteyam again, when the chances of it had been very low and with Ao’nung in tow, who made Neteyam so happy and was the sole reason they had found a new settlement to strive to. Finding Rotxo and having Ao’nung reunite with someone of his family.
The small joys in between. Something as simple like a snowball fight, like sleeping in each other’s rooms, like being able to wake up next to his wife every morning and, though it was hard, taking care of almost double the amount of children that they had before the apocalypse had started.
And the thing that meant the most: Having family close, no matter how many challenges they have to face.
And even if tomorrow the settlement was to turn them down, Jake knew that everything would work out in the end, because they had each other and if all else failed, together they would build their own home eventually.
Jake reached over, letting his eyes sweep over the table one more time, over the face of each of his children and his wife, before taking his glass in his hand and raising it, “To our last day on the road.”
Everyone eagerly joined his toast, bringing their glasses together.
The sun had fully set now and the evening wind had brought a chill with it. Jake had checked the trunks of the cars one last time, making sure they had packed everything together neatly. If the people took them in, then some of their things might be useful for the settlement. If not, then they would be fully packed for another few days on the road while they figured something out.
Tuk was already sitting in one of the cars and Neteyam was pretty sure that she had already fallen asleep. He was still standing beside the car while his father did some last checks and he had asked Rotxo to hold open the map for him. The way to the Cliffside, where they had found the radio, was already clearly marked.
Foreseeably this would be the last time that they needed this map and in a way Neteyam was feeling a little sad about it. The map had been one thing that had gone through almost their whole journey with them.
“If they let us stay tomorrow, will you please let me burn that thing?” Ao’nung asked sweetly from beside him, snaking one arm around Neteyam’s middle and leaning their heads together.
“Sure,” Neteyam chuckled. Ao’nung seemed a bit surprise that he had agreed so easily, but he seemed happy about it. Neteyam still had the other map that he had slipped into his pocket during his little trip with Rotxo. It was now happily settled in his bag, but Ao’nung didn’t need to know about that just yet.
“Everyone ready?” Jake asked, closing the trunk with a finality. The children were mingling nearby, all of their bags packed and stored already. “Any last needed toilet breaks?”
“No, we’re ready,” Rotxo was the one to confirm as the others nodded in agreement.
“Alright then. Your mother and I will drive,” Jake said and that was really all there was. Now they were ready to go. “Split up into the cars and let’s go.”
And just a few minutes later they were off with Jake driving ahead and Neytiri following after him. Leaving the inn behind wasn’t as emotional as leaving behind the motel, but it still felt charged with the hope that this would be their last long trip and that in a few hours they would have a new home.
Notes:
If this fic was a movie, I would end it here as the Sullys drive off into the distance and the camera slowly pans out and leave it as an open ending. Will they be allowed into the settlement? Who knows...
Well, you'll find out next time, don't worry.P.S. Quaritch was probably in prison for a variety of things, but one of them is definitely killing Grace. Kiri and Spider might never know though or maybe one day they will find out? 🤔
Chapter 26
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
If Jake still had a wrist watch, he would be checking it every ten seconds or less. They had arrived back at the cliff without any trouble about a few hours ago. Dawn wasn’t so far away now, but the night seemed to drag on forever.
Some of the children were sleeping, squished into the backseats of the cars together one last time. Only Rotxo and Ao’nung had woken up about an hour ago and were now sitting at the edge of the cliff together, quietly conversing in whispers.
Jake didn’t bother them, sitting with Neytiri, who had fallen asleep after they had arrived and was now leaning against him to use him as a pillow while Jake waited for an acceptable amount of time to pass until he would start fussing about their bags and belongings.
He held out for about another ten minutes before he carefully attempted to slip out from under Neytiri without disturbing her rest. He wasn’t successful as she stirred beside him before waking up and even when he assured her that she could sleep a little longer, she got up with him.
Quietly Jake and Neytiri took out their bags from the car trunks, putting them in a pile that would be visible as soon as the spot on the cliff and the Sullys came into view. The weapons were also carefully and visibly laid out besides the bags, at a distance to where the Sullys would position themselves.
Jake inspected their work carefully before nudging Kiri’s little potted plant closer to the bags and taking a step back to make sure that this time everything was perfect. A gentle hand settled on his back, rubbing it lightly before Neytiri came to stand closer beside him and leaned her head against his arm.
“Do not worry so much,” She said, tracing her hand down his arm until she reached his hand to lace their fingers together. “We did everything we could.”
Jake hummed thoughtfully, which just ended with an unsure sigh, “The children are safe, but for how much longer can we guarantee that.”
“Everything will work out,” Neytiri talked him down. “They won’t say no, okay? We have to believe.”
Jake sighed. “You’re right. It’s just…this could be the end of the line. I really want this to be the end of the line and I can finally…stop going grey.”
Neytiri chuckled, brushing a hand gently over his cheek. Jake nuzzled into her touch, “You look very sexy with grey hair.”
Jake smiled, leaning his forehead against hers and letting his arms rest around her waist, trying to let some of the tension and worry seep from his body. If there was one thing that calmed him down, it was the touch of his wife and he trusted in her words. He would believe that everything would work out.
“The sun will come up soon,” Neytiri whispered into the space between them. “We should wake the children. It is almost time.”
Jake nodded, stealing a quick kiss from his wife before forcing himself to let go of her. Soon they’d have more time together. And he would get to spoil himself with her touch.
Gently knocking against the car windows was enough to wake the children up and Jake started handing out bottles of water. “Go wash your faces. I need you awake and alert. I don’t want to see a single tired eye.”
Only Ao’nung and Rotxo looked like they hadn’t, well, just woken up, but Jake still handed them a bottle too, just so they could freshen up as well.
Spider especially needed it and Jake took a moment to inspect him. Spider humored him, turning his head this way and that. “How do I look?”
Spider had been looking infinitely better than the past few days, but sleeping in the car the last few hours made the bags under his eyes a bit more prominent. Jake had hoped that washing his face would at least lessen the bit of flush on his cheeks that still made him look sick.
“Maybe wash your face one more time,” Jake said, patting his shoulder while making sure not to accidentally touch the scratches. Spider huffed a small laugh, accepting the verdict, but went and did as he was told. Jake hoped that maybe the low light of the morning would help them hide some of the bags under Spider’s eyes.
Jake made sure that all the children stood next to each other, in a way that each member of their family could be seen clearly and once Spider was done with washing his face again, Jake gently moved him to stand next to Neteyam.
“Try to draw some focus on that arm, alright? Keep the focus off of Spider,” Jake told Neteyam.
“Sure,” Neteyam just shrugged. He was already expecting some attention on his arm. Or the lack thereof. There was really no way around it and he had already prepared himself for the fact that it would be inspected.
Jake patted Spider’s shoulder one last time, “Keep your head high.”
Spider nodded firmly, bringing up his hand in a small salute.
The others were easier to manage and Jake just made sure everyone knew where they would have to stand once someone arrived and tried to calm his children’s nerves for this tense moment.
The last few minutes of waiting were the longest. The Sullys were really finding out just how long a minute could be with each one that passed slower than the last until finally just as the first rays of light started to show on the horizon, a figure appeared.
It was still dark enough that not much could be seen from them, except that they were exceedingly tall, broad and missing a part of their left arm. Strapped to their back Jake could recognize the butt of a rifle, as well as the familiar silhouette of a spear’s handle.
“If you have weapons or anything else in your hands put them down now.” Was the first thing the they said. “Stand in a way where I can see each one of you and make sure your hands are visible.”
Jake turned his head, looking over each of his children one more time. Neytiri stood at the other end of the line, so that their children stood between them and only Tuk had glued herself to her mother’s side, but the person that had come didn’t say anything about it as they walked closer.
No one came after him. The person was alone, presumably the one that would take care of the first checkup. Jake commended him for his bravery, coming to face them alone. Going alone required a tremendous amount of courage and was most likely to make sure that if they were to come by an ambush, he would be the only person to be lost.
The young man did a headcount, making sure that there were nine people as expected before walking closer. Jake could getter better glimpse at him then, feeling a bit of sympathy, as well as a bit of irritation, at the fact that he looked so young. Really, he couldn't be that much older than Jake's own children.
“Number?” He simply said. It was clear that he had done this a few times before, but Jake recognized that the strain in his voice wasn’t simply from trying to appear nonchalant. It was the nerves of a young fighter that had seen and fought things in a very short amount of time.
In his head Jake commented the young man for being brave enough to face their big group by themselves. Another part of him felt that slight bit of protectiveness that he had over his own children from seeing such a young man coming to face such a big group alone. He forced himself not to imagine one of his own boys in the same position. That would just give him the rest.
“43,” Jake answered simply. The man’s eyes landed on him then and he let his eyes quickly sweep over Jake already, recognizing him as the leader and giving a nod before walking closer to come better into view.
“Don’t move, keep your hands where I can see them and no sudden movements and we should be done quickly,” He said. This time his voice was more of a mumble.
His checkup started with Jake and he didn’t say anything else except an occasional nudge to lift his arms, moving his hand over them and checking for any bumps, marks or concealed weapons. It reminded Jake slightly of a TSA check at the airport.
Jake tried not to show his nerves growing when the boy reached out to put a hand on Jake’s forehead and checked his temperature.
No doubt he would be doing the same with each of them.
Jake kept his eyes on the boy as he moved onto each of the children, starting with Rotxo standing next to him. The boy seemed satisfied with Rotxo and Ao’nung and he moved through their checks quickly.
Lo’ak’s was equally as quick, but Jake was surprised to see the boy say something to Lo’ak. He seemed much more comfortable speaking with the boys than he had been when examining Jake. It didn’t seem to have been anything bad, so Jake didn’t worry about it, but it had been quiet enough that he hadn’t heard and that did make him curious.
Jake couldn’t linger on his curiosity for long because standing next to Lo’ak was Spider. This was the moment of truth.
He went through the same process as with the others, making Spider lift his arms, inspecting each of them before doing the same with his legs and moving on to check his forehead. Jake could swear that the boys hand lingered just a bit longer on Spider’s forehead than it had on the others, but ultimately he let his hand fall again.
Another minute went by as he studied Spider with narrow eyes, but Spider’s gaze was just as steady, his eyes never straying from the boys. They stood there in a stalemate and the lack of words made Jake nervous. The boy had definitely made some sort of mental note about Spider, Jake was almost sure of it and he was just about to say something to break the tension when Neteyam finally caught the boy’s eye.
Unsurprisingly his focus first went to Neteyam’s missing arm, but he still went through the same process of checking his arm and legs first. He didn’t touch the side of Neteyam's missing arm.
“How long ago was this?” The boy asked clearly.
“Several months,” Neteyam answered curtly before raising his chin slightly. “And yours?”
The boy smirked a bit at the unexpected question, but answered simply, “Several years.”
Once finished with the older children, the boy crouched down to meet Tuk on eyelevel, something he surely wouldn’t have done if he suspected the Sullys of something and that was a good sign in Jake’s eyes. He didn’t want to celebrate too early, but he was pretty sure that they had passed the first test.
Neytiri’s finishing check was over quickly and soon enough the boy took a step back, looking over each of the Sullys one more time before walking back down the line to Jake. Once he was standing in front of him, he held out his hand in an offered handshake. Jake shook it.
“Payakan,” The boy finally introduced himself and Jake had the curtesy to do the same. However, Payakan’s next words were almost enough to crush whatever hope had built in the last few minutes. “How old are the scratches?”
He had noticed.
Jake closed his eyes for a moment, suppressing a sigh before answering honestly, “Three or four days. But he’s fine. He is well. He will not turn.”
Payakan nodded and no matter how tall he was, he looked so young in Jake’s eyes. That’s what he tried to focus on, just so he didn’t have to linger on the expected disappointment he was dreading would come soon.
“I wish you’d had been honest about it, but fine. You seem like decent people,” Payakan nodded. “But just as a prior warning. He will be most definitely be put in quarantine once we’re there.”
This time Jake couldn’t stop the sigh of relief that escaped him, “Yes, of course.”
Payakan stepped back from them, making sure to give their bags, belongings and weapons a quick check as well before reaching towards his belt and pulling out a walkie talkie that didn’t look like a children’s toy like their own did.
“Clear,” he said simply before hooking it back onto his belt. The word was like music to Jake’s ear. They had done it. They had passed the first check. They were one step closer to safety.
In the next moment Payakan was joined by more people. At least ten from what Jake could count, but probably even more. He stopped trying to count and kept an eye on his children instead. They seemed a bit intimidated and very cautious as things started moving very quickly now.
Some of the people picked up their bags and weapons, some just stood by as escorts to keep an eye on the Sullys. Now that they had been cleared, they were fully at the command of the settlement’s escort group.
Another man came to stand next to Payakan, this one much older and his weapon tightly clutched in his hand. Though his stance was wary, his face looked pretty relaxed.
“The cars are this way. You’ll have to split up between three,” Payakan said before leading the way as the man fell into step besides Jake.
“You’re the biggest group we’ve had to pick up so far,” he said casually.
“I understand. Nine people must be a lot,” Jake said.
The guy snorted, “Very. Usually five of us are enough as a pickup group. We had to triple our group for you.”
That made sense at least. For each person that was picked up, you’d want at least two people to keep the upper hand if something were to happen, so there must be perhaps twenty people here just to pick the Sullys up.
“Thank you for taking a chance on us,” Jake just said. It seemed to please the man.
“Be careful with that,” Kiri’s voice suddenly drew his and everyone else’s attention. She shrunk a bit once everyone’s eye was on her, taking a step closer to Neteyam, who was currently the closest to her. She cast a careful look at the woman who was now holding her potted plant. “It’s freshly planted. Please don’t swing it around too hard.”
Neteyam chuckled, but to her credit the woman made an effort to hold the pot more securely.
There were three pickup trucks waiting for them and they were escorted as a group. The Sullys walking in the middle and the pickup group flanking them while carrying the Sullys bags and weapons with them. The man-soldier gestured for them to go ahead and step into the back of the vehicles and Jake made sure that his children got on first.
Neytiri stayed with Kiri and Tuk, taking the first car. Jake just saw the soldier hand Kiri her potted plant before he moved on to oversee the next. Spider, Rotxo and Ao’nung had already made themselves comfortable in this one and they seemed to be doing fine, so Jake moved on to the last.
Neteyam and Lo’ak were the only ones in the last car, but the boy Payakan sat beside them too.
“You’ll be okay here?” Jake asked. It would make sense to drive with them, but he wanted to stick by Spider just in case.
“Yeah,” Lo’ak assured him. Neteyam nodded too and that was enough for Jake. He stepped back so one of the soldiers could close the tailgate behind them. He patted the side of the truck twice to signal that they were ready to go as Jake walked back to the second car.
The tailgate was pulled up behind him and as Jake sat down beside the boys, the first group started the drive towards the settlement, the other two following close behind.
It took another thirty minutes of driving, the ocean always steadily in view as the sun came up fully until they came closer to the mountain patch. Soon enough they drove off the main highway that connected the few towns they had driven past, but not through, to steer onto a forest path.
Not much was visible for another while until the trees finally parted and rounding a final corner of the road into a beaten path that was easy to miss, the settlement finally came into view. Big wooden walls, that were the first thing that sprung into focus, surrounded a cluster of buildings all nestled together close to the ocean in the curve of a cove that was surrounded by overgrown cliffs, like natural protection.
The village itself was visible only a little. The walls itself prevented outsiders to see much of it and the surrounding cliffs made sure to keep the whole valley hidden from most people that didn’t know it was here in the first place.
A small slice of paradise.
Tuk was the first to get on her feet to try and get a better look and her mother quickly wrapped a hand around her waist because the car was still driving.
“Tuk, sit down,” Neytiri chided her, but Tuk’s eyes and fascination was firmly locked into the settlement slowly drawing closer. Kiri was in a much similar shape and while she remained sitting, she was leaning just a bit further out to get a better look.
“There it is,” Her voice quiet with fascination. “We made it.”
...
The doors of the main gate were opened easily as they were already expected and once the three cars were driven inside, the gate was closed and locked again with a heavy clunking sound.
The people that had picked them up got out of the cars first, none of them seemed hurried or very tense and it calmed the Sullys in return. Some of them offered their hands to help them step down from the truckbeds, too.
The wide eyed curiosity that the Sully children had gotten once the settlement had come into view and then stepped out with, was a bit quelled now. Unfortunately, they were not immediately met with the beauty of a new home, but instead, they stood in some kind of parking lot.
Behind them were the heavy and high walls of the settlement, a pair of stairs that allowed the people on watch to get on top and the main gate leading back out into the world. In front of them was another, smaller fence that prevented them from seeing what was beyond, not letting them see the village behind it.
The only other thing that stood before them was the entrance of a big building and there seemed to be no other way to get to the actual village than through it.
It was another safety measure to protect the settlement, not just from strangers and newcomers, but from infections that the villagers could bring from outside, assuming the people that made runs were checked too before they were actually allowed to go back to the town. Jake already liked it here.
“Follow me. This is where you’ll get your last check up and then we’ll go from there,” Payakan, along with one of the soldiers to keep an eye on them, led the way again. The soldier was still holding his gun, but the gun Payakan had was gone now, though he still had the spear strapped to his back. Neteyam could see the way Ao’nung kept stealing glances at it until he nudged him with a smirk.
“I’m jealous,” Ao’nung said in a whisper, but it was quiet enough that they all heard him. Payakan just chuckled as he led them inside.
They were led into a big room that served as an entrance, but it was kept pretty empty except for a staircase leading to a second floor. There wasn’t anything of note in the room but it was clear that it had been emptied out. The only other person there was a woman.
“This is Raya. She takes care of the regular checkups and I’ll bring…what’s your name?” Payakan turned to Spider.
“Spider,” He simply answered.
“Alright. I’ll take Spider upstairs to get those scratches checked out,” Payakan said.
“Can I go with him?” Jake asked quickly.
“Sorry. You’ll all go through the checks alone anyways, but one of our healers will check him out and then he’ll probably stay there in quarantine for a few days. He’ll be in good hands,” Payakan offered an explanation in hopes of quelling the father’s worries.
“I’ll be okay,” Spider assured the group as well, offering a small smile. “See you on the other side.”
Raya waited until they were out of sight to take over and address the Sullys.
“Welcome,” was the first thing she said. She seemed to be around Jake and Neytiri’s age, her smile bright and polite. She introduced herself again before leading the Sullys further into the building until they reached two doors.
“I’ll be doing your checkups,” Raya said, addressing the group. “The little lady can stay with her mother, but unfortunately the rest of you will have to go alone. It’ll be just like a regular checkup at the doctors and I’ll ask you a few question. Once you’re done with your checkups and you are cleared, you-“
“What if you don’t clear us?” Neytiri interrupted, but Raya didn’t seem to mind, her polite smile still in place.
“Either you’ll have to go upstairs to quarantine for a few days like your son or we might ask you to leave,” She said a bit apologetically. “But on first glance all of you look well enough. I’m sure it won’t be that drastic.”
Neytiri exchanged a small look with her husband. Something in the back of her mind didn't really believe that people which weren't accepted into the settlement, were just allowed to walk away from here. They were trying too hard to keep the place under the radar for that to be the case, but she kept herself from mentioning anything of that thought.
“Seems like you work like a well-oiled machine,” Jake commented.
“We try to, for the safety of the people,” Raya said, her smile soft, but her words firm.
With no other questions Raya continued explaining what would happen, “Once you are cleared, there will be rooms where you can shower and put some fresh clothes on in. Alright?” All of them gave quiet words of agreement. Lastly Raya turned to Neteyam, “It would be good for you to go last, so I can check your arm more carefully.”
“Sure,” Neteyam agreed with a small shrug. “Do we just…wait here?”
“Yes. My friend will keep an eye on you,” Raya nodded at the other soldier they were left with now that Payakan was gone. Then she turned back to the group, gesturing towards one of the doors “If there are no more questions, the first person can follow me.”
Neytiri and Tuk were the first ones to go in, leaving Jake to watch the kids. None of them really talked and it was quiet in the room for as long as they waited, but thankfully it didn't take too long until the door opened again and Raya met them with her smile again, allowing the next person to come in.
Now Jake was torn. He knew that it must have been fine as there had been no indication of danger from Neytiri and his wife was more than capable of taking care of trouble, but his kneejerk reaction was to step in first and make sure that everything was okay before sending his children in. On the other hand he didn't want to leave them here to wait alone and without any way to keep an eye on them.
"I'll go," Lo'ak interrupted his thinking, uncrossing his arms from where he had been leaning against the wall while waiting. Any other time Neteyam would have surely been the one to volunteer first if he hadn't specifically been asked to go last.
Jake hesitated for a moment before agreeing with a nod, "Be honest and listen to what they tell you," Jake advised his son quietly. "Yell if something is wrong, alright? I'm right here."
Jake was sure that Raya had heard his words, but she didn't comment on it. Maybe she knew what it was like to worry for your children. Lo'ak just nodded before stepping into the room and then the door finally clicked shut, leaving the rest to wait for their turn.
Slowly things would keep moving, but Jake really wished he could speed these last moments up.
Just like mentioned prior, the more thorough ecxamination was just like being at the doctor. The room itself was mostly bare, but had been furnished to look like a doctors office with an examination table and a few medical instruments. A small couch, a working desk and a few posters on the walls that were purposefully placed to make the place look less uncomfortable, were the only other things in it.
Raya asked Lo'ak general questions, such as his name and age and his history of sickness; if he had been sick in the last few days or feeling off in any way, shape or form. She took notes of his short answers before he was asked to undress, so he could be examined more closely for any scratches or bites, any symptoms of illness, fever or confusion.
Raya was quick and experienced in what she was doing, asking him questions about some more prominent scars and taking his temperature more precisely before he was cleared and the notes she had taken of him were carefully placed in a folder, which already had the notes of his mother and sister.
"If you go through here, it'll lead you to the showers," Raya said, pointing at another door at the other side of the room. "Please throw your old clothes away when you're done."
"Sure," Lo'ak peeked his head out of the door first, but he heard Raya calling in the next person before actually stepping out of the room and closing the door behind him. The door had led him to another hallway, this one with more doors. There was a big window at the end of the hallway before it curved left.
Lo'ak couldn't help himself and no one was around to stop him, so he allowed himself to tiptoe towards it.
The morning sun was now fully shining through it. There was a backyard immediately outside that was still separated it from the other homes with a small picket fence, so the village behind it was visible.
Lo’ak pressed his nose against the glass, trying to take in anything he could see; the few buildings that were closest, the people walking past, the one laundry line that was hung up between a home and a tree that caught his eye and the bit of ocean he could see from in between the buildings.
It looked so domestic; so homely. He couldn’t wait to get out there.
“Lo’ak.”
The call of his name startled him, but luckily it was just his mother, coming out of one of the rooms, looking showered and dressed in new, comfortable clothes. Tuk was just the same, her hair damp from a fresh shower as she came to look through the window next to Lo’ak and marvel at the sight.
“Did everything go okay?” his mother asked.
“It was fine. Went by fast,” Lo’ak paused, trying to think of something else to say, but there was really not much more to it.
“Alright,” Neytiri gently brushed one of his braids behind his ear. “Go shower. Do you want us to wait for you?”
“No, you don’t have to,” Lo’ak said. Neytiri accepted easily, letting Tuk look through the window for a bit longer as Lo’ak took his pick of one of the rooms as Tuk yelled “The water is cold!” after him.
It just seemed like an old bedroom that was now only filled with a few shelves with easy clothes and underwear that were arranged in various sizes and an adjoined bathroom where he could take a shower. This building was very well equipped for welcoming outsiders; no wonder they were sending out messages for survivors. This was like a sanctuary.
Once he was done showering and dressing, he took a moment to peek out of the window from this room as well. From here the ocean was more visible and even though they had spent the last few days staying at an inn that was right by the beach, somehow this felt more special.
The end if the hallway led only through a couple of double glass doors with a community room behind it and this room was the complete opposite of the mostly empty rooms they had been in before. Somewhere to relax after a long journey and finally arrive in.
It was decorated to be comforting with various tables, rugs and couches. Big windows that faced the backyard and delicious smells coming from the adjoined kitchen space.
Their bags and weapons were placed neatly on one of the tables, though notably their guns were missing.
Tuk was already outside, leaning over the picket fence and waving at some of the people that passed by. They happily waved back at her and the delight on her face was priceless when a few children her age spotted her and came over to talk.
Neytiri was sitting on one of the tables in a way that she could keep an eye on Tuk and the door to the common room, waiting for the rest of her children to join them.
An older woman was there too, introducing herself as Kalin and the first thing she did was offer some coffee or tea to Lo’ak as she placed a cup down in front of his mother.
“Thank you,” Neytiri just said with a small sigh. It had been a long morning and while it felt good to finally arrive, she would only fully relax once all her children and her husband were back in her eyesight and so her gaze was fully focused on the doors that they would come in from.
Kiri and Rotxo were the next to enter together and Kiri quickly placed down her plant onto one of the tables before rushing outside to finally get a good look at the village while Rotxo let himself fall into one of the chairs that the sun was shining onto.
Rotxo let out a deep sigh and Lo’ak couldn’t help the smile as he saw the tension visibly leave Rotxo’s body. He practically deflated, letting the tension and pressure leave his body, sinking in his seat, spreading his legs out and letting his arms hang over the armrests.
"How was it? Compared to the other place?" Lo'ak asked, leaning against the chair.
"A lot more official and planned out," Rotxo hummed thoughtfully. "But a lot less dramatic than I expected."
The last check up Rotxo had gotten in the other settlement was a lot more hectic from what he could remember, but he had also been on the brink of freezing and also they had been focused on the wound on his cheek. He'd have to say that he prefered the quick and calm process that had taken place here.
Ao’nung was the next to enter, letting his eyes scan the room before it seemed to set in that this was really, finally the last stop of their journey. It was like an immediate relaxation after walking through the last set of doors for each of them that stepped through.
He walked over to the terrace doors, but didn’t step outside, only watching the village from there.
There was a small smile on his lips, this village a reminder of his home. It looked just like a smaller, more compact version of it with the fresh smell of the ocean and a few song birds in the air and probably not a single walker anywhere for miles.
It was a strange thing to think about. For more than a year they had gotten used to the presence of walkers, to the constant danger that could be looming anywhere, around a corner, behind a closed door, anywhere you wouldn’t expect. Even when they had a quiet day at the motel or wherever, they had always been prepared to have it interrupted.
But now the sight of the peaceful village before him was almost enough to let him forget the state of the world they had just left behind for good.
“Wow,” Ao’nung breathed out, getting a small agreeing hum from Rotxo, who had become one with the chair.
The next person that came in was not one of the Sullys, but Kalin again, only this time she was holding two plates of food and looking quite pleased with herself as she addressed the whole room, “I’m sure you must be hungry after a long night and journey. Please come eat.” And she set down the first plates of eggs and toasted bread.
Lo’ak’s eyes widened as he pulled one of the plates in front of him, “Am I dreaming or am I dead? Is this an omelet?”
“It sure is,” Kalin chuckled, walking back into the kitchen and bringing out more plates, placing them down on the table for the rest of them. “Eat to your hearts content. I can always make more,” Kalin said. “You are nine people, right?”
Neytiri confirmed it, her eyes back on the doors and Kalin went back into the kitchen to make more for the Sullys to come.
"This is fantastic," Rotxo sighed contently at the first bite. "I didn't have a welcome like this in the first settlement. This is the best day of my life." Before shoveling another forkful into his mouth.
The lot of them practically inhaled their plates in a way that would make you think that they didn’t have a big dinner just last night. Most of their plates were cleared when Jake came in just a few minutes later.
Neytiri could see him do an immediate headcount for their family members. All of them accounted for except Spider and Neteyam. Then his eyes went over their bags and belongings, his brow slightly furrowing at the missing guns.
He sat down next to Neytiri, pressing a kiss to her temple and quietly asking the question that was on everyone’s lips constantly, “Did everything go okay?”
“Yes, it went by quickly. They didn’t mention anything bad or worrying, so…I think we will be accepted,” Neytiri said. Jake nodded at her words. He had had the same impression, but they were still waiting for a clear and formal confirmation.
Jake was also handed a plate of breakfast and Neytiri giggled at the way his stomach growled as soon as he smelled the food. He groaned delighted when he saw it, “Oh, eggs!” They seemed to be the hit of the day.
Ao'nung's leg was bouncing a mile a minute as he sat at the table, glaring at the glass doors like maybe if he stared hard enough, Neteyam would finally step through them. He was the only one still missing from their group and it had been long enough that they had finished breakfast.
Ao'nung wasn't the only one waiting impatiently and with increasing worry. He knew Neytiri and Jake were still sitting at the table, similarily watching the doors for Neteyam or at least an update on why it was taking them so long.
Only a few minutes later he heard one of the chair's creek on the floors and he knew that Jake was going to take matters into his own hands and ask about Neteyam's whereabouts, but just then the doors opened and in stepped Payakan, relievingly followed by Neteyam.
Ao'nung was on his feet immediately, but Jake was by his side quicker, his hands settling on Neteyam's shoulders and quietly asking if he was okay. Neteyam waved his father’s worries off with a smile and a small shake of his head before he came to stand by Ao'nung's side.
"Are you okay? What did they say?" Ao'nung asked, sitting back down when Neteyam led him to sit as his hand settled on top of his head. "You were gone for a long time."
"I'm okay. They said it looks like a messy cut, but it was obviously an old injury," Neteyam explained quietly, moving his hand and rubbing a gentle thumb over the back of Ao'nung's neck. "They asked how I lost it."
"And...what did you say?" Ao’nung asked, leaning his head against Neteyam’s stomach, looking up at him.
"I said that I was bitten and that I asked you to cut it off to save me," Neteyam said as they shared a meaningful look. Ao'nung nodded once, both of them in agreement that this modified truth might be the best thing to maintain. Besides their family no one else needed to know the details of what happened.
Neteyam had been allowed to finish his own breakfast before Raya had joined them, a small folder with their examination papers in her hand as she asked the Sullys to come together.
“Welcome.”
The first words swept over the Sullys like a final cut. A solid confirmation of everything they had left behind and had to get through to get here and for it to finally pay off for them to sit here in a warm room, being served warm eggs after a good shower and fresh clothes.
“We’ve already told you some things, but now that I can officially welcome you into our home, I would like to get through some general rules for the community,” Raya explained.
“What about Spider?” Kiri asked sternly. “Where is he now?”
“He’s just upstairs,” Payakan said simply.
“He’ll stay in quarantine for a few days and we will keep an eye on him. If he doesn’t turn and gets better in the next few days, then he will of course be able to live in the village with you," Raya explained more throughly.
“We’re not staying if he isn’t allowed to,” Kiri said resolutely, but no one disagreed with her.
“Well, since Spider is in relatively good spirits we were working with the assumption that he will get better and were going to proceed with you all accordingly, and then bring Spider up to speed a few days later, but if you would prefer it, you can stay in this building and in the provided guest rooms until we know for sure and we will process everything at the same time,” Raya explained, this time looking towards the parents for an answer.
Jake reached over, putting a gentle hand on his daughter’s hand, “Spider will get better, yeah? We won’t doubt it.”
Kiri gave a single nod.
“Then we can proceed like you said,” Jake said to Raya. “And Spider will just join us a few days later.”
“Can we see him?” Tuk asked.
“Not directly,” Raya said before nodding towards the backyard, “But the quarantine rooms are facing the backyard, so you should be able to talk to him.” That seemed good enough for now. With no other questions she moved on, “So, you’ll stay here in this building today. Please do not go past the backyard. The guestrooms are prepared for use, but since you are a big group some of you might have to share. Tomorrow after breakfast we’ll count you full members of the settlement, so you’ll be able to get out there and pick a home.
“We still have a lot of homes open, but again, since you are such a big group, we don’t have one big enough to accommodate nine people,” Raya said before patting the top of the folder. "I already have your details written down and tomorrow we can work out what kind of skills you have and which job you would like to take."
Lastly she gave them a quick rundown of the rules, but most were simple and quite obvious; things such as everyone having to contribute with some form of task which they would be able to choose to their own skill sets. That resources, which were brought in by appointed gathering groups, were shared and collected in a stockroom, but were open for taking. Personal weapons could be kept in homes except for guns which were kept in an armory and only handed out to the the guards on watch duty or people leaving the settlement.
Leaving the settlement, which they were free to do so long as someone was notified, would require another checkup and potential quarantine upon re-entry.
And if there was a disagreement, it could be handled within the community if it got too big, but under no circumstances was violence among villagers allowed.
“Do you have a leader?” Jake asked pointedly and maybe the question was a tad direct, but if there was someone, then he wanted a word, if just to be polite. But also to make sure he had brought his children to a decent place with a leader that had a decent head on his shoulders. A place could be paradise, but the wrong leader would turn it sour sooner or later.
“We do,” Raya said and answered Jake’s question before it was even asked. “You’ll be able to talk to him tomorrow if you want. He’ll want to welcome the new arrivals anyways.”
And that was it. With no more direct questions, the Sullys were allowed to relax for the rest of the day as official members of the settlement. They were allowed to take from the kitchen what they liked, allowed to lounge around, go outside, explore the building.
Anything they wished.
It would take some time to really get used to.
There were four guest rooms, but some of them had up to four beds nudged into them. They would be easy to share.
As soon as Raya had allowed them some privacy, telling them to take it easy for the rest of the day and leaving the Sullys on their own the children had dispersed around the building. Though with several guards outside on watch and probably all around the village walls and knowing that there must be some people upstairs, Jake knew that they weren't fully alone.
They wouldn't be alone anymore. The community would be looking out for them now.
It was scary, but it was comforting.
Now that the acceptance was confirmed, Jake didn't immediately feel the relief nor did he feel relaxed. He was still on his guard, but it was accompanied by an immense and heavy exhaustion setting in. The whole past year was starting to catch up to him like a high-speed train, now that he wouldn't be a moving target anymore.
Jake and Neytiri had picked one of the rooms that only had two beds and Neytiri had made quick work of pushing them together before pushing Jake to sit down. The softness of the mattress under him immediately depleted the last bit of his energy as well.
Despite his exhaustion, Jake happily welcomed it when Neytiri wrapped her arm around his shoulder and took a seat in his lap, drawing him closer into a kiss.
"We did it," She said gently, caressing his cheek when he leaned his head against the crook of her neck. "We are safe."
"We are safe," Jake echoed her words. "The children are safe."
"Yes," Neytiri agreed. "And you have not slept."
"And I have not slept," Jake sighed before pressing a kiss to her cheek, tightening his arms around her waist and letting himself fall backwards, fully onto the bed, pulling Neytiri down with him. She laughed lightly as they both hit the comforter, adjusting herself so that she was comfortably lying on his chest. Jake nuzzled against the top of her head, finally closing his eyes.
His children safe, his wife by his side and a soft mattress to sleep on. What more could he wish for?
Everything else could wait. They had time now.
A few hours later things felt a lot more settled. Their bags had been taken to the few guest rooms they’d have to share tonight and while they weren’t allowed into the village yet and the quarantine wing upstairs was locked and off limits, the rest of the building was open to them.
Meanwhile Lo’ak and Tuk had settled down in the gardens. Just like the common room, it had been decorated for comfort with a seating area, chairs and benches and well taken care of plants.
Tuk had been twisting a few flowers into a crown, but after a while the children Tuk had talked to earlier had come by again and asked her to come play, The fence of the garden itself was easy to climb over. More so it was mostly a thing of trust not to, after being asked to remain in the building for another day. An unmentioned test, so to speak.
But Payakan had given her a small nod and a ‘don’t tell anyone’ wink, so with permission Tuk had climbed the fence and was already off making friends.
By the excitement of the other children, Lo’ak assumed that not many children came new into the settlement and now he was left to finish Tuk’s half-done flower crown, but his hands started absentmindedly weaving them together.
Spider had talked with them for a while, leaning out his window and assuring them that he was alright and had also gotten a good breakfast.
He’d gone quiet a while ago, but his arm was still hanging over the edge of the ledge. Lo’ak had assumed he had fallen asleep with the sun shining right at his window, like a cat basking in the warmth. Must be nice.
It was the feeling of finally being able to fully relax, knowing that nothing can interrupt it.
“How long have you been here?” Lo’ak asked, his legs pulled up to his chest as he sat on one of the benches with Payakan sitting beside him. The young man had turned out the be good company.
“A few months. Four, I think,” Payakan said.
“How long did it take you to get on the exploration team?” Lo’ak asked.
“You’re already thinking of getting out of here?” Payakan chuckled, handing Lo’ak another small flower to twist into the crown. “You just got here.”
“Well, no, but it sounds cool,” Lo’ak argued lightly trying to tie the ends of the crown together. It was getting too big by now.
“Once they know that you are trustworthy and can be team player, they usually say yes,” Payakan explained. “A month or two.”
Lo’ak nodded, holding up the finished flower crown. He’d give it to Tuk later for inspection, but it looked pretty good if you were to ask him. Payakan gave him a small thumbs up when Lo’ak twisted around to show it to him better.
Lowering the flower crown again, Lo’ak finally noticed the prettiest girl he had ever seen coming towards the garden fence. She was dressed in bright clothing, her curly hair softly hanging over her shoulder and a bright welcoming smile on her face as she gave a small wave.
She wasn’t the first one that had waved at the Sullys when they passed by the fence, already welcoming the newest arrivals of the settlement, but she was the first one that came up closer to talk. Lo'ak got to his feet quickly, taking the few steps closer until he was standing against the garden fence, the wood almost digging into his legs.
“Hey,” Lo’ak nodded his head at her with a small smile.
“Hi!” She giggled a bit bashfully, “Welcome. I’m Tsireya. I’ll be showing you around the village tomorrow and I thought I’d introduce myself already.”
“I’m Lo’ak,” He hastily introduced himself too. He wanted so badly to say something else, anything else, but it was like his mind had blanked at this pretty girl standing in front of him.
But she just smiled, saving him from his own awkwardness by pointing at the flower crown still in his hand, “Nice flower crown.”
“Thanks. Uhm, here. You can have it,” Lo’ak held it out to her. “It’ll…look better on you than on me.”
Lo’ak huffed a small laugh and he could feel Payakan’s amused eyes on the back of his head. He wasn’t going to turn around and look, only concentrating on the small giggle Tsireya let out, accepting the flowers from Lo’ak.
“You sure?” She asked before carefully placing them on top of her head. The flowers accentuated her curls nicely, but the crown was also too big on her.
“Yeah. Beautiful,” Lo’ak was going to like it here.
The rest of the day had passed quietly. The last of their paperwork, marking them down as official members of the settlement was completed quickly and Jake and Neytiri had mostly taken care of it together with Raya.
Raya had also given them a map of the settlement, marked with the open houses that the Sullys could choose to live in and look through for one that they liked before picking tomorrow. Neteyam had snatched it from his parents as soon as he could and now after dinner, which consisted of fresh caught fish, and once the sun had gone down, the Sullys had come together in the common room, spreading out around on the couches and on the carpet to look over the map.
The Sullys had the luxury to choose where they wanted to live while there was still enough space to do so.
The only thing that was missing were Spider, their parents getting a well deserved rest and maybe the quiet hum of a TV channel that no one was really paying attention to, to bring it all together. A small light was coming from a lamp, the only thing brightening up the room, but a few more lights, like distant fireflies, were coming from the village.
Neteyam sat on the carpet with Kiri, the map spread out over the coffee table in front of him. The map itself had been hand drawn by someone, but it looked pretty well made.
“I think I want to live near the beach,” Lo’ak said, leaning closer to look over Neteyam’s shoulder and imagining how nice it would be to wake up to the sight of the ocean every day. He had gotten a taste of it the past few days and the fresh ocean air that greeted him every morning was becoming his new favorite thing.
He’d thought that with time he would miss his home and that was the case most of the time they were on the road. But now that they were at the coast, things were starting to look up. Lo’ak liked it here, he’d have to admit.
“I wish we could actually see the houses we’re picking,” Kiri commented, leaning her head against Neteyam’s shoulder. “It’s not the same with just the map.” Neteyam hummed in agreement. It was hard to imagine the places they were supposed to make a home out of on a simple map and without any details.
“Someone will show us around the village tomorrow. She came by earlier to say hello,” Lo’ak mentioned, smiling to himself at the reminder of Tsireya before looking over at Tuk. “I gave her your flower crown. Sorry.”
“Whatever. You’ll make me a new one,” Tuk said matter-of-factly, giving Lo’ak no say in the matter.
“Oh, it’s been only a few hours since we arrived and you already have a crush on our tour guide,” Kiri chuckled at the starry look in his eyes. It wasn’t often that Lo’ak was infatuated with someone, but Kiri recognized the look on her brothers face, “Do you even know her name?”
“Yes, actually,” Lo’ak tipped his head at her. “She introduced herself. Her name is Tsireya and –“
A loud and rough coughing interrupted whatever Lo’ak was going to say next. Rotxo’s head snapped towards him as well and even Neteyam and Kiri’s eyes widened at the name.
Lo’ak raised his hands in surrender and confusion, “What? Did I say something?”
His words were still accompanied by hacking and coughing of Ao’nung, who was now pounding onto his chest to get himself to stop, but nothing seemed to relieve him. The familiar name aside, Neteyam was getting worried now.
“Are you okay?” Neteyam got to his feet quickly, patting Ao’nung’s back firmly to clear his airways. There was nothing he could have swallowed except his own spit, but this was most likely a startle response at the sudden name of his sister.
It had caught Neteyam off guard as well when he recognized the name that Ao’nung had trusted him with way back when.
There was some confused chatter from the side, mostly Rotxo trying to confirm what Lo'ak had just said.
"It might not be her," Neteyam heard him say before Rotxo asked. "What did she look like? About this tall?"
"Long curly hair, blue eyes," Lo'ak confirmed, looking over at Ao'nung who was staring a hole into the side of his face. "She was kind. I don't know...what's going on?"
"Ao'nung's sister is named Tsireya," Rotxo explained, watching Lo'ak's mouth drop.
"Oh," Now Lo'ak felt a bit bad for dropping a bomb like that. "What... do we tell someone?" He only got a few shrugs in response.
Ao'nung's coughing had stopped by now, but Neteyam recognized that look in his eyes, the same one he had had after they had been told that Zongtseng was gone and Ao’nung had started believing that his family was gone. Lo’ak suddenly mentioning his sister must have driven a sledgehammer against the carefully constructed walls of his feelings.
“Ao’nung,” Neteyam stepped into his line of sight, making sure to block anything else that could catch his attention. Gently he positioned his fingers under Ao’nung’s chin, turning his head to only look at him, “Look at me. Are you okay?”
The confusion in Ao’nung’s eyes was accompanied by a hope that he was trying to squish back down desperately, not allowing it to grow. Ao’nung tried not to show it but his heart was beating a mile a minute, making it hard to swallow, making it hard to properly breathe.
The anticipation in his chest was out of control, like he was expecting his sister to suddenly materialize in front of him just because someone had said her name. But that was foolish. Simply stupid.
His lips pulled into a thin line before he finally admitted, “I think I’m going to throw up.”
“That’s okay. I think there is a trash can somewhere here,” Neteyam said gently, “Just keep breathing.”
“It might not be her?” Ao’nung voice was but a whisper, though his words were more like a question. Like he wanted Neteyam to tell him that he is reading too much into a name, that it really could be anyone with the same name; that his sister was dead as they had learned.
Or maybe he was hoping that Neteyam might disagree and tell him that it was definitely her. Deep down he really wanted to hear from someone that ‘yes, you will see your sister again’. But Ao’nung wasn’t that fortunate…was he?
And if his sister was here……could his parents be?
No. Ao’nung shook his head like it would banish the thoughts from his mind. No, no. He couldn’t think about that. He had left that hope several city lines behind. He had left that hope in John’s cabin and John’s cabin was a lifetime away from here, just like his life home with his family.
“It might not be her? Right?” Ao’nung insisted quietly. He just needed to hear it. He just needed to hear a ‘no, this is someone else’ and then maybe have a drink and sleep this all off. He was making a fool out of himself and had already ruined their first quiet night here.
But the description Lo'ak gave...the soft curls of his sister that Ao'nung had learned how to braid just the way she liked. Her blue eyes, the same as his own. Her kind demeanor, always scolding him when he overstepped with his friends.
Eywa, he wanted to see her again so badly.
“Ao’nung,” Neteyam kept his voice soft, but he was now somehow holding the trash can even though he hadn’t moved away from Ao’nung at all. His hand moved up from Ao’nung’s chin, gently brushing his thumb over his lower lip where Ao’nung had been biting it bloody without noticing. Neteyam’s touch helped him release his lip from his teeth and he brushed some of the blood away.
“Am I losing my mind?” Ao’nung asked. His throat was still sore from the coughing and somehow a glass of water had materialized in his hands. “This is stupid. Plenty of people are named Tsireya, right?”
Neteyam didn’t know anyone by that name, but maybe it was a popular name at the reef. He really didn’t have an answer to that, so he just gently tipped the glass in Ao’nung’s hand, pushing him to take a drink and calm himself down, “We’ll find out soon.”
Ao’nung’s heart jumped at those words and he had to actually suppress a gag. What did Neteyam mean by that?
Rotxo placed a careful hand on his shoulder, though Ao'nung wasn’t even aware of the touch. After talking to Lo'ak, he seemed a lot less like he was spiraling like Ao’nung was. No, Rotxo was actually wearing a small smile on his lips that Ao’nung wouldn’t be able to see with him standing just behind him.
Neteyam brought his focus back to Ao’nung, who was now pinching the bridge of his nose with his features pulled into a deep frown. The excitement that Ao’nung was going to get another reunion with another family member kept itself at bay, because Neteyam could see the way Ao’nung was actively trying to push down the hope in himself. He didn't believe that he actually would.
It made Neteyam wish that this reunion would have been like the one he had had with Rotxo. Sudden and without leaving any time to spiral if it was really his friend he would be seeing. No hope that could be squashed. Just shock, followed by relief and unbridled joy that his friend was alive.
Now they were stuck in a big question of a moment. Would it really be his sister that would step through those doors? Neteyam was pretty sure someone had gone to explain the situation to someone by the way that Rotxo kept his eyes firmly on the doors.
And what if it wasn’t his sister in the end? The disappointment would just about crush Ao’nung.
Neteyam had always been there through any mention of Ao’nung’s family and him slowly opening up about it. He’d been there for the tears that didn’t fall during that first night and the ones that did when he told him about his mother’s pregnancy.
Neteyam would be there if a stranger stepped through those doors as well and he carefully wrapped his hand around Ao’nung’s free one, squeezing once and giving his support.
It was too quiet in the common room for the fact that the most of the Sully children were present, the light atmosphere completely gone now.
“Sorry,” Ao’nung broke the silence. “That was stupid. I’m sorry. I should just go to bed. Can we go to bed?” He asked Neteyam, big glossy eyes begging for some rest. The day had been long and the hope for a peaceful ending had been taken away.
Ao’nung would move to get up, but Rotxo’s hand on his shoulder was firm enough to keep him seated, so much so that Ao’nung cast a confused look over his shoulder and at his friend.
“In a minute, okay?” Neteyam said, his hold a lot gentler, but also keeping Ao’nung seated where he was.
Ao’nung swallowed heavily again, though he couldn’t bring himself to take a sip from his water glass, “Is she coming here?”
There was little excitement in his voice.
He was scared that in the end a stranger would walk through those doors.
“Yeah,” Neteyam confirmed quietly.
The door opened and Neteyam could have gotten whiplash from how fast Ao’nung got to his feet. The first person that stepped through was Raya, though she wasn’t wearing the same smile she had had earlier, her eyes wide with surprised anticipation. Someone must have gone to get her first.
But just a moment later a person squeezed herself past Raya, barreling into the room like a small whirlwind.
The same girl that Lo’ak had met earlier. The same girl that Neteyam recognized from Ao’nung’s pictures.
Tsireya.
Someone should have taken the glass from Ao’nung’s hand because in the next moment, as soon as their eyes met, the sound of glass shattering at his feet was the only thing that was heard.
Notes:
I’m usually never sure how to portray Payakan in human AUs, soooo I decided to make him human and he’ll be like a big brother to Lo’ak. In this fic Lo’ak is currently 18 and I would put Payakan in his early-20s.
I hope that makes sense and you enjoyed the long awaited arrival in the settlement :)
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