#epicwrites

it was hard to let her guard down completely; the last time she had, it had only ended in disaster. but spending time with vic - around the small population of fairvale or alone, tucked away in the corner of the home he shared with others - it was weakening her defenses. she was splitting her time between him and her sister, always feeling a small pit of guilt in her stomach when she left colette to her own for too long. 

( colette was a grown woman - she was fine, really, but was she, really? there was still so much left unsaid between them, so much that had happened since they arrived in fairvale. it felt like a time bomb was ticking between them, and yale didn’t know how long they had left until it imploded. ) 

still, the words softened her heart, made her lips twist into a smile as she allowed herself the small happiness that bubbled inside of her at his statement. “you’re not so bad yourself,” she teased lightly, voice quiet in the darkness, arm slung over his waist as she tucked herself against his side. “and here i was just grateful not to wake up to screaming in the middle of the night.” 

Toughened by a world gone to shit, Emery counted her lucky stars every single day she got to wake up still alive and breathing. Sure, her back hurt like a motherfucker from countless nights of resting on any surface she had available when sleep fell short. Yes, she had done shitty things in order to survive, in order to still walk this earth. But those things were not particularly new to her, not with the military background she had. Pulling the trigger hadn't been hard. In most cases, at least. Emery knew how to read people, knew when someone was playing her around, be it from stealing supplies to hiding an infection, she couldn't be beaten around the bush.

Which brought her to the following situation. Taken Bastian apart from the small group they still had, ''I know she's your friend, Bastian, but she's not gonna make it for a few more hours. We have to do it. Let me handle it, take her somewhere private not far from here, there's the waterfall up ahead, I can do this for you.''

it had been a stupid idea to go out - she was trying to give colette space, to give her sister time to finish recouping, to take her spot so that the other supply runners wouldn’t complain about being down a person. vic had probably agreed to go because yale had signed up - or because he just never processed what had happened before, but she was grateful for him. 

it had never been like this when she was on her own. one or two, maybe, here or there. but she’d had a bike, and she’d been able to speed off faster than they could catch up. 

they’d managed to fight them off, but she was shaken - more than she would have ever liked to admit. one had gotten close - too close, really, for her to be comfortable with. she wouldn’t cry - she wouldn’t cry - but she was literally shaking, and maybe there were tears, and maybe she was clinging too tight to vic but she couldn’t bring herself to care. 

“thank you,” she mumbled, her words barely audible against his shoulder - he had been the one to save her, to get her free, to keep her safe. “thank you, thank you, thank you,” she kept saying it over and over, like a mantra - if she said it enough, maybe it would bring her back to reality. “i’m so glad you’re here, i’m so - “ she turned her face, eyes wide and earnest as she took his face in her hands, the words tumbling out before she could stop them - “you know i love you, right?” 

"Do you wanna get out of here?"

they’ve just experienced their second breach in matter of a very short few months - holly would like to be able to claim she thinks its just a coincidence but with the evidence stacking up it seems more likely someone within fairvale was set on tearing them down from the inside.

its a testament to how peaceful the last few weeks had been that it takes her a second to get into the swing of things as townspeople start pouring in, needing to be patched up but she manages, racing around the clinic with purposes stitching up skin and checking for concussions.

it takes a few hours for the numbers to dwindle and it doesn’t really come as a surprise to her that jesse chooses now to turn up and from the looks of him - messy, blood splattered, face pinched tight like he’s trying to fight off pain - he’s not there for a report just yet.

he slouches into an exam room without her having to coerce, threaten and nag, which is kind of a miracle since she really can’t remember that ever happening before and she can’t stop herself from raising an eyebrow as she comments on it “i was beginning to think i wouldn’t live to see the day - usually you need to be dragged in here practically by your ear.”