Aberrant: Dead Rising - Fear and Instinct [Complete]

[Jasmine Gentian]

The nurse hurried into the room, and leaned on the door, slamming it behind her with a gasp. She was holding one of the young ones in her arms, a three year old little girl who was sobbing helplessly into her shoulder, moistening her scrubs with mucas and tears. She suppressed her own coughing fit. There were mostly younger ones in here too, two kids not older than five or six, playing around the Lego table. There were a few gathered around the TV, in various stages of enthrallment over a Disney movie. Over by the bookshelf, one of the older kids was sitting with his legs crossed on a bean bag, a notebook of comic book sketches in his lap that he was expanding upon. And in one of the larger, adult chairs, the oldest of any of the kids sat, scribbling furiously on a homework assignment while she kept an eye on some of the younger kids' behavior too. It was to that girl, almost ready to transition to an adult hospital, that the nurse directed her focus.

"Jasmine, hurry! Get up, help round up these kids, we've got to get out of here NOW."

Jasmine's head jerked up, and she scowled, setting aside her science homework.

"Jessica, what's going on? What's wrong?"

"I don't know, honey.. something's wrong with these kids, and now some of the doctors.. all these sick kids, they've started attacking people, and.."

Jasmine jumped up, and started rounding up the younger students. She was confused, but as always she did what the nurse told her to.. over the last few days they had started pouring in by the handfuls, children with fevers and runny noses, and no matter what the doctors did, they didn't seem to get any better. She had even heard rumors that some of the kids had gotten vicious, biting or scratching at the staff. But those had been rumors, and here one of the nurses was confirming it.

David, the boy with the comic notebook, hopped up and grabbed a couple of the other kid's hands. They followed Jessica out of the playroom, into the hallway. There were kids lining the corridors on stretchers, nurses and doctors flitting between crying toddlers and surly, coughing pre-teens. The doctors turned their heads to cough into their masks, and the secretary held a Kleenex to her mouth, trying to mute her own wet coughs. Their faces were alternately pale and flushed, and Jasmine looked around with a bit of horror. People seemed drastically sicker than before, and as they moved through the hallways, it only got worse...

They had been locked up in the small family cafeteria for a couple hours now. Jessica had collapsed in the corner, unable to hold out any longer, and Jasmine had tried pressing a cold cloth against her face, which was burning up. Several times there had been pounding at the door, but something about the noise had terrified the children hidden inside, a kind of scratching noise that didn't sound at all natural.

There was another sort of pounding this time, and the sound of adults yelling.

"Whoever's in there, let us in, let us in now! It's a madhouse out here!"

Jasmine and David looked at each other, and Jasmine nodded at him.

"You watch the other kids, I'll open it."

Jasmine edged closer to the door, and called out hesitantly.

"One minute, I'm getting it.. it's blocked, it's blocked!"

The adults banged louder on the door, and Jasmine hurried to pull away the chairs that she had piled up in front of the door to block it. She pushed the table out of the way too, and opened the door. A male doctor stumbled in, clutching his arm, which was wound with a red-stained bandage. There was another young nurse that Jasmine recognized, named Brian, who was helping the doctor, and one of the younger female interns who was coughing furiously herself, and looked pale and sweaty.

Jasmine began shoving things back in front of the door, as several of the kids huddled in the corner. Many of the younger ones had stopped crying a couple hours ago, after running out of energy. David tried drilling the adults about what was going on, but they all seemed to stunned to say much, except for the doctor.

"Close the door tighter girl, close it up good.."

Jasmine rolled the table back into place, in front of the chairs that were their only defense against whatever was going on in the brightly colored hallways of the children's hospital..

David was yelling, and Jasmine could hear the screams behind her from the three other children left alive. She grabbed one of the chairs, and swung it as hard as her weak body would allow her to, straight into the face of a twelve-year old nightmare with her hair in a braid and part of her jaw disconnected from her face.

She felt a bite on her thigh, and looked down to see a toddler with eyes as lifeless as stone and his teeth buried in her skin. She screamed, and grabbed the pint-sized horror, pulling him off and throwing him as far as she could manage. But more were coming, some of them larger, adults, respected professionals, parents dressed in nightclothes stained in vomit and blood, who had rushed their sick children to the hospital and never left.

Suddenly she heard a high-pitched scream, and saw one of the children she had been hiding with being picked up by one of the older nightmares. It pulled her up and bit into the side of her face, ripping the skin away so that Jasmine could see bone through the blood. Something exploded inside Jasmine, and she launched herself at the creature, faster than she could have believed possible. She impacted it across the face, and it flew across the room, impacting against the wall with a dull thud...

Jasmine stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the bodies of her worst nightmares. Shoulders were twisted at odd angles, and most of them seemed to be missing parts of their heads, as if something had hit them across the face with a metal hammer and the strength of a minor god. One little girl was screaming, and clinging to David, who was just whispering over and over..

"My god.. what did you do, my god.."

The woman in the corner, who had long ago passed out, started coughing again with a start. Her eyes flew open, and she pointed at Jasmine.

"You.. girl, get them out of here.. you can't stay here.. don't let them bite you, don't.. burn them, or their heads.."

She coughed again viciously, her body heaving over to the side as vomit streaked with blood splattered onto the floor. Jasmine grabbed the youngest, the screaming girl, and began to run...

David shoved the kids ahead of them, and Jasmine swung the metal rod at one of the creatures, smashing it's head into the wall...

David yelled in agony as a small figure, no more than five or six, grabbed onto his hand and bit into it, taking off two of his fingers. Jasmine spun around, her foot connecting so hard with the tiny figure that the body impaled itself on a piece of medical equipment...

Somewhere in the middle of the night, in the Oklahoma desert, in a building with swathes of purple fabric coating panels on the walls, and bottles lined up along the mirror on the back wall, there were several people sleeping. Most of them slept peacefully, too tired to be disturbed by dreams. Some of them slept restlessly, concerned about the turbulent situations that surrounded them. But one person, more sensitive to the emotions of others, tossed restlessly. Sweat was gleaming on her skin, as the brief flickers of terror that someone else in the building was feeling penetrated deeply into her subconscious. Her blonde hair was dampened with perspiration, and finally, her violet-colored eyes started open, and she could feel the waves of terror grow stronger, making her stomach turn with the intensity of it.

[Venus]

Violet gasped at the intense wave of terror and despair that swept over her. She looked around to see James and the girls slumber peacefully cuddled up and interlocked with each other. A short glimpse at them revealed to her that it wasn’t them who were sending these strong emotions it came from outside her quarters. Jasmine!

Violet quickly got up and threw over a silken dressing gown over her naked body. Then she slowly headed for Jasmine’s room. As she came closer the intensity grew, the girl was in serious pain. She had to swallow hard to calm herself down but it still left an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Opening the door Violet stepped inside Jasmine’s room and walked carefully over to her bed.

Don’t calm her down without asking her first… I promised, Violet remembered. Bracing herself for what was to come Violet reached out with her hand and touched Jasmine’s arm gently whispering quietly to her, “Honey, wake up. Wake up. Jas… wake up, you’re having a bad dream, honey?”

[Jasmine Gentian]

As Violet entered the room, she could see that she was right. The sheets were twisted around on the bed, barely covering the beautiful young woman that lay in it. She was dressed in a tank top, and a pair of simple cotton panties. Her exposed skin glistened with sweat, and she was tossing restlessly on the bed. Violet could feel the horror rolling off of her. She felt Violet's brief, simple touch and heard her whisper.

What happened next was so fast that Violet could barely register it. She saw Jasmine go from nightmare-ridden slumber to fully alert in a moment. Her eyes snapped open but she didn't seem to SEE Violet. Her body twisted around to a crouched position, with the sleekness of a great cat of prey. Before she could move in response, Jasmine had kicked her, the girl's foot impacting with the underside of Violet's chin hard enough to send a shock of pain through Violet's whole body. She felt herself shoved back, almost hard enough to make her fall over. In what had only been a moment, maybe two, she felt herself pinned against the wall, and Jasmine's hand was on her face. Her grip was strong and vice-like, and dimly Violet realized that this was how you would hold the face of a person who's neck you wanted to break.. or maybe a zombie, who's head you wanted to rip off.

Jasmine hesitated, something in her seeming to stir. Her hand hesitated on Violet's face, but her grip was still strong, and painful. Her deep brown eyes, which could be seen so clearly just a few inches from Violet's own, were vacant, and wide with terror, as if she hadn't quite fully woken up from the horror that gripped her subconscious mind.

(Edited for grammar.)

[Venus]

Violet gasped desperately for air as she vainly tried to push Jasmine away from her but she lacked the leverage. "Jas...", she managed to squeal, "Wake up...". Violet's voice was breaking and she started crying. "Jas!"

Her survival instinct kicked in and Violet's eyes flashed with an intense glow as she unleashed her full force of her empathic powers. Within a blink of an eye Violet took hold of Jasmine's terror and soothed it completely to a point were Jas was completely calm. The young girl blinked surprised and confused as she realised what was happening and let go of Violet.

Violet slumped down to the floor taking a deep breath relieved that it was over. She trembled from the exhaustion and near death experience she just had. Tears were running down her face and she started to curl up into a fetal position and quietly wept.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine stumbled back, her eyes flickering into alertness. She blinked away confusion as she took in her surroundings, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh - oh my god, Violet. Violet!"

Jasmine dropped down next to her, reaching tentatively for her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Oh god, are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

Jasmine's terror was gone, completely suppressed by Violet's empathic abilities. She almost wanted to panic, she should panic, Violet might be hurt, but she just couldn't. She tentatively brushed back Violet's hair, checking for bruises or injuries, and, seeing none, she placed a hand gently on her arm.

"Violet.. please, tell me you're alright.."

Her voice sounded calm, but heartbroken..

(Edited because the author is picky and didn't think she'd written enough description.)

[Venus]

Violet pulled her knees under her chest and looked up at Jasmine like a hurt child. She slowly nodded still uneasy and nauseated by the sudden shock both emotionally and physically. Jasmine could’ve killed her if she wasn’t super-tough.

Why did you do that?, she wanted to yell at her but realized that the girl was not aware of her actions. She reacted out of instinct, out of fear – she must’ve had a terrible nightmare.

Violet wanted to stand up but still felt herself trembling too much and her legs didn’t obey her.

“Your dream was so intense… I could feel your terror it woke me up.”, Violet’s voice was still shakey and her throat felt dry. “I knew you’ve been through a lot of pain but I didn’t expect it to be so terrifying.”, Violet’s eyes stared past Jasmine – or right into her. For the first time Jasmine caught a glimpse of what Violet could see and do. It was like she could see past all the defences she had and looked right into her heart.

[Courier]

"Ahem."

Standing in the doorway James cleared his voice while looking in with fading fear but growing concern. He was wearing boxers but without a shirt and had obviously just woken up. His blackly glowing blade faded into nothingness as he let go of it. This obviously wasn't a break in, but...

James looked from one woman to the other and asked quietly, "Violet, are you ok?"

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine swallowed slightly, and nodded.

"I've.. I've never had nightmares, or I would've warned you.. I guess, I've probably never really SLEPT until tonight, not since then.. it's never been safe. I must have been - no, I was. I was dreaming about it, I remember.

Jasmine bit her lip - Violet had suppressed her panic, but now what she felt was overwhelming, mind-numbing guilt. She gently offered a hand to help her stand.

"It was.. horrifying. Absolutely, terribly.. horrifying."

[Courier]

James thought, *Bad dream... and V is an empath so she came looking. Wait, this means Jasmine is super-strong or something.*

James said, "Hold up. Violet, stay there for a moment and try moving around to see if anything is broken."

James knelt down next to Violet and started to check her out.

[Venus]

Violet reached up to Jasmine and let her help her on her feet. Still a bit shakey she leaned against James searching comfort and protection. Looking at Jasmine she felt sorry for her sudden guilt. Violet was sure the young woman didn't mean to hurt her.

"It's ok Jas... I just wasn't prepared for that kind of", she searched for the right word. "Ferocity?"

"Do you want to talk about your dream? Maybe I can help you? Not sleeping is not healthy - not even for us.", Violet managed to smile again even though she was still trembling.

[Courier]

Still looking carefully at Violet to see if she's ok, James asked, "Jasmine, did you mean 'not sleeping' as in half awake, or did you mean literally 'not sleeping'"?

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine nodded softly, looking a bit shaky herself. She glanced up at James, and sighed softly.

"A bit of both.. mostly resting really lightly, sometimes not sleeping. Perhaps you should take Violet downstairs.. get her some water or a drink. I.. I'll get dressed, and be down in a moment. I could.. maybe use something myself. Then I'll explain more."

She waited for James to take Violet from the room, and slumped down on her bed. She ran a hand across her face, swallowing slightly. The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and she shook her head to try and suppress the images that were running through her mind.

She stood up and rummaged through some of the clothes that she had been given, eventually pulling on a pair of pants and heading downstairs after James and Violet.

[Venus]

Violet was downing her second glass of water when Jasmine came down. She obviously had explained to James what had just happened so he was aware of what was going on.

The trembling had gone and Violet appeared just as confident as she always did. When Jasmine came closer she carefully reached out for her and pulled her closer. Violet placed one hand around Jasmine's waist while the other rested gently on Jasmine's head. The taller woman carefully pulled Jasmine's head down to her chest and held her in a tight embrace like a mother did with her child - or a big sister with her younger sister. She felt Jasmine's pain and terror still echoing in the distance but she had doused those emotions completely. Now there was only guilt left. Guilt and a repressed knot of conflicting emotions.

"I'm here for you, Jas. I'll always be if you want.", she whispered to her.

[Courier]

After checking to make sure that Violet was more or less fine, James went back to their room and put on a robe, then gone down after her to monitor the situation.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine let herself be enveloped by Violet's embrace. She could feel the woman's caring, and was overwhelmed by it. After what she had just done to her, she couldn't believe how forgiving Violet could be. She slipped her arms around Violet's waist, and hugged her gently, resting there for a few long moments and allowing herself to be comforted. She heard James on the stairs, and a bit reluctantly she pulled away, and picked up one of the glasses from the bar. She walked over to the sink, and filled the glass with water. She quietly took a small sip or two, then cleared her throat quietly.

"I guess I should tell you what happened. There's no reason not to, I guess.. maybe it'll help. With what I've done to you, you deserve to know why, at least."

Jasmine took in a deep breath, and began to speak. Her voice was muted, though in the quiet of the bar, in the middle of the Oklahoma desert, there was no other noise to drown it out. It carried clearly as she spoke, detached, as if reading from a novel or a newspaper article.

"I grew up in Dallas. When I was about eleven, I got sick. I was tired all the time, and I kept getting nosebleeds. One day I cut myself on a knife while I was helping my mom cook dinner, and it just kept bleeding. My parents took me to the hospital. I had leukemia. My pediatrician had a colleague in Kansas City, someone he knew from a past patient who specialized in childhood cancer treatment. He was in Kansas City.. he worked at the Children's Mercy Hospital there. My dad had a cousin who lived in Kansas City, so I started getting treatment there. My parents would visit me when they could, sometimes we'd stay at Antoine's place for a few days. When treatments were done I'd go home to Dallas. I had gone through two bouts of chemotherapy by the time I was fifteen. I went into remission for a year and a half after the last one, but then it came back. The doctor told me this time I should try for a bone marrow transplant, so I was back in Kansas City to get tests. They were going to start prepping me for surgery.. they had finally found a donor."

Jasmine took another drink of water, then set the glass down and rubbed the bridge of her nose. This part of her story was old, and worn, like she'd told it before, or written a paper about it in class. It didn't seem to hold any great pain for her.. it had been a part of her life for so long that it was just how things had been. Some people might have viewed it as traumatic, but Jasmine just viewed it as real life. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, and kept talking, not really looking at Violet or James as she spoke. She seemed more like an actor on a stage, speaking to a crowd she knows is there but can't see through the spotlights.

"All these kids started getting sick. They trickled in, a few here, a few there.. over the course of a day or so. At first they thought it was just a bad flu outbreak, or some sort of epidemic. I heard the nurses whispering about it sometimes when they thought we weren't paying attention. But they just kept getting sicker, and it was so fast. They kept them away from most of the rest of us - we were in the cancer ward anyway, and they wouldn't have been there. The nurses weren't around much, everyone was downstairs trying to deal with all these kids.. so I was trying to help out, and keep an eye on some of the younger ones.

I'm not sure exactly what happened outside that ward, or exactly what changed. Not to this day. One of the nurses came in - she wanted us to follow her, she was going to get us out of there, I guess, before we got sick too. Most of us couldn't have tolerated getting sick. We left the cancer ward, and there were all these kids, in the hallways, on gurneys, too many for the rooms. The doctors were everywhere, and the nurses.. This one kid collapsed on the ground, and Jessica - that was the nurse - she tried to help him up, and this kid, he goes ballistic. He attacked her, he was biting her.. I remember a couple doctors had to pull him off. We stared running, but we came across more of them.. I don't remember how we got there, but I remember we ended up barricading ourselves in one of these little kitchen dining room things that the families could use sometimes if they got sick of the cafeteria crap. I had it all blocked off, and we could hear this sick scratching noise sometimes, like something was trying to get through, but we didn't dare open it. I guess we were in there for a few hours before a few more people showed up.. another doctor, and this nurse - he was pretty young, his name was David. No, Brian. David was the other teenager. I had kind of a crush on him.. Brian, that is. And there was this volunteer, too, I didn't know her. She was young too. Maybe an intern or something. We let them in, we could hear them yelling, trying to get through. I must not have blocked the door off well enough though.. we kept hearing noises outside, sometimes they'd be right up against the door, and sometimes we'd hear them on the other sides of the walls, but they couldn't get through."

Jasmine's face had gotten drawn with the tension of the story. She was still affected by Violet's abilities, and there was no fear, but her voice was strained, as if remembering it all took concentration.

"I don't know how they got in.. I don't remember it all, really. I just know I was trying to fight them off. I was weak as hell, but there were all these other kids, and I was the oldest.. David was, I dunno.. thirteen? Fourteen? I remember trying to fight them off with a chair. And I remember one of the little ones bit me on the leg. I picked him up and threw him.. I was pretty weak, but I could throw a toddler across the room. When he landed he didn't even cry. His chest looked like it had been crushed in.. but he kept coming at me. And it wasn't just kids, there were adults too. I heard one of the other kids - one of the real kids - I heard her screaming, and when I turned around, the thing had bitten into her face. I mean, I could see the bone, and all this blood, and she was just screaming, and screaming.."

Jasmine's voice cracked a little, and she trailed off for a moment, swallowing hard. She moistened her lips with her tongue, then picked up the glass again and swallowed deeply. She kept talking, like she couldn't stop anymore until she finished.

"I don't remember what happened next. I just know that when it was over, I was standing there, and there were all these creatures around me.. most of them had their heads bashed in.. a couple of the heads were ripped clean off. Most of them weren't dead.. I mean, they were, but.. well, you know. They were still moving. But I had taken them out, they couldn't get up. I remember kicking one away from me that was trying to drag itself across the floor with its hands. David was just staring at me, most of the adults were dead. That intern.. she told me I had to leave. I had to get them out. She was puking blood by then. I only saved three of the kids.. David, and two younger ones. The other boy was ten or eleven, and the little girl couldn't have been older than six, if that. I don't remember a lot those first couple of days. I got us out of the hospital.. I don't know how. I found us a place to hide for a little while, but then the zombies found us and we had to move.. we did that two or three times. David had two of his fingers bitten off during the fight. We stopped the bleeding, but he started to get sick too. He turned.. I don't know how long it was. A day, maybe two. I had to kill him. The little boy died before that, he was too sick. Not like the rest.. he was just too sick to live without treatment. He had been on chemo."

She stopped then, and drew in a shaky breath.. it almost sounded like a little sob, but not quite. It was too.. controlled for that.

"The little girl must have been afraid of me. I remember when the rest were around, she'd just stare at me.. like I was some kind of monster. She'd always hide behind David. When I had to kill him, she freaked out. I tried to calm her down.. I tried to find us food.. the city, it was like some kind of wasteland. There was no one around, except for the occasional looter, other than zombies. We tried to stay out of the real city, but Kansas City has all these suburbs everywhere, it's all these normal size cities and the whole place just becomes this huge metropolitan area connected by all these highways, so there's people everywhere, except where there's nothing. She ran away.. I don't know how it happened, I just turned around and she was gone. I tried to track her down for three days. We were in this area of the city called Parkville, and there wasn't a lot of places around a little kid might hide, I thought. When I finally found her she had already turned. I had to kill her too."

Jasmine was quiet for a long moment after that, and that long moment stretched into another one, and another one, until James and Violet finally realized that that was it. She had nothing more left to tell.

[Venus]

Violet listened quietly to Jasmine's story feeling her strange detachement from it. Everything since Z-Day seemed so unreal - not only the Zombies but also the becoming of a few selected humans. Why did Jasmine had to suffer so much?

Violet thought briefly about her own becoming and how different yet similar traumatizing it was but she did not have to face Zombies... especially not child Zombies.

No one had deserved this, no one should but reality was grim. This was not a made up story. Nothing to scare children at a campfire night. No, this was a nightmare become reality. The naked unprejudiced truth.

For a moment Violet felt like crying but she swallowed it down since she needed to be stronger to give Jasmine comfort. Oddly enough the young woman was very much in control of her emotions even without Violet's effect on her. Maybe Violet had gone too far in her own panic cutting Jasmine off of the cleansing effect tears could have on ones soul. She thought Jasmine could need that - she should let go just for once and let it flow - wash it out of her and make a first step to get over it.

Concentrating again Violet slowly put Jasmine's emotional state back to where it should be.

"Jas... I'm at a loss of words.", she reached out to her again offering the same comfort she just did, "Maybe you should just let it go - only for once? No one can hurt you here. I protect you - we protect you, I promise.", she added looking at James.

"Let me help you.", her offer inclined the use of her powers as she looked at Jasmine with slightly glowing eyes.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine hesitated, looking at Violet. Then she closed her eyes slightly, and shook her head.

"There's nothing to let go of.. I cried buckets of tears when I had to kill that little girl. David.. I didn't cry then, he made me promise, when he got sick.. he said he didn't want to hurt anybody, so when he turned, I.. I couldn't, I still had that little girl, and she was so scared. After her, I cried and I cried but it didn't bring her back. I cried when the doctor told me I had cancer, and that didn't make it go away. And I cried when they used to give me treatments, but it didn't make it hurt less. Crying's a waste of time. I'm done with crying."

She practically spit the last bit out.. Violet could feel anger welling up in her, and her lip curled in a bit of a sneer for a moment. Then her face relaxed, and she looked back up at Violet.

"I.. I appreciate it. But I don't need protection. I'll help protect you, if you need it, for all you've done for me. And you don't need to worry about me, I'll be fine. But if you ever catch me having those nightmares again.. just.."

She swallowed slightly, a tinge of fear coloring the anger that was starting to drain away. It was all bravado, Violet could feel it. The real sorrow was buried deep down, and bringing it to the surface might break her. Her anger, and her will, was seeing her through - that and the hope that her parents might have somehow, miraculously, survived.

"Go ahead and kill it, Violet, like you did tonight. That's how you can help me. You don't even have to wake me up. Hell, I don't even have to sleep. I don't have time for fear. Nobody does anymore. And I don't ever want to hurt someone again, just because I'm afraid."

[Courier]

James listened and sympathized. This was among the worst Z-day stories he'd heard, and Jas was little more than a kid. James said gently,

"Jasmine... it's ok to be afraid. Fear keeps us alive around here. It's even ok to be hurting. Most of us are." James voice stays steady on that last phrase but he's clearly talking from personal experience.

"But I think you have to sleep. That's when we come to terms with some things. Your powers let you stay awake but long term I think the brain needs sleep to stay sane."

A thought occurs to him and he adds, "Wait a moment. Child's cancer? How old are you?"

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine looked thoughtful for a moment, then bit her lip and looked at James.

"I don't know.. what month is it? I guess I've lost track.. my birthday is May the third. I'll be eighteen then.. is it May yet?"

She tucked a strand of curly black hair behind one of her ears, and for a moment, she almost looked it - seventeen, that is. Everything except her eyes, which looked like the eyes of someone who's seen far more than most eighty-year old men, much less an almost-eighteen year old woman.

[Courier]

James replied, "It's April..."

James has to think for a moment, "...the 15th I think. So you'd be, what, Seventeen? Sixteen?"

[Jasmine Gentian]

"Seventeen.. it does still come before eighteen, last I heard."

She smiled a little wryly, trying to look shake off a bit of her unpleasant mood. It came off more sarcastic than funny, but it was a start, she supposed.

[Venus]

Jasmine had lost something very precious – but that happened a long time ago – long before the Zombies. Violet wasn’t sure if she could mend that. It was too deep, too far down her psyche that it would shatter her if she tried to release it. A sudden sadness filled the room as Violet failed to hold her own emotions back and for a moment it lay heavy on their shoulders. After a few seconds Violet realized what she was doing and gasped while she drew it all back.

“I’m sorry.”, she managed to say feeling guilty herself.

There was a long awkward pause before Violet picked up the conversation again.

“Jas – I really don’t know what to say. All I can say is thank you for your trust. There will be a lot talking – hell, there already is and it won’t get better. I want you to know, no matter what happens, you’ll always have a place here - unconditionally. You have to decide for yourself whom you want to believe and especially what. I’ve been honest and open to you and I think I can speak for all of us that you’re welcomed in our midst.”

Violet looked at James and for the first time he could tell that something had changed. Something about her was different – it was hard to put a finger on it but the way she behaved and spoke was very restraint and held back.

“We need to prepare for the future, we need to protect what is ours and that won’t be easy but I’m willing to fight for it and do my part. I thank you for helping us, Jas. I really do.”

Click to reveal..

FINIS - unless Courier wants to add something important