Veda

“Not unless you give me a reason to. Bullets are scarce, and I’d rather not spend them on someone alive.”

They figured that was good enough for the man. They really didn’t have time to go into detail. They had to get out of here before that horde made its way here. “There was a big group of shamblers heading this direction. You won't be able to outrun them at this rate and you can't take them all out on your own . We've got a car and a settlement.”

They kmew it was risky taking in a complete stranger, and the town was already running out of resources, but they couldn't leave this guy out here in good conscience.

#p:levi #para #p:gabi

levitrower-blog

picked up | levi, gabriel + veda

Levi was doomed. He as starving, his gun had maybe two bullets left in it — and there were plenty of those roamers following him. At least they were far enough away to where he didn’t have to constantly think about it.

He pointed his gun at the person that came close to them, seeing that they weren’t infected. As far as he could tell. But Levi didn’t want to waste the few bullets he had by just unloading into the stranger. “What do you want?” he asked, noticing that another person was with them. “I’ll shoot you both, alright?”

993775-blog

Gabriel was with Veda on a supply run, as a way to keep them alive. The android wasn’t going to let another incident happen where he lost his owner. This time would be better. Even if he couldn’t use a gun at all, he had the means to defend Veda without one.

As they walked, Gabriel caught attention of someone walking. It wasn’t in the same way that an infected walked, so they had to be alive still. His theory proved to be true when the man walked out with a gun pointed at them.

He was ready to just tackle the stranger to the ground and just plain destroy him. “Veda, sir, what would you like for me to do?” Gabriel asked, stepping in to shield Veda in case the man shot at them.

Veda watched the man carefully as they approached, their own handgun at the ready, but not pointed directly at the other. They didn’t see the need to be threatening, especially when they finally made up wih Tyson. They didn’t want to end up with a bullet in their head right after they got something to return home for.

The man looked broken and tired. There was no way he’d shoot Veda. He wouldn’t risk drawing attention too himself. “It’s fine, Gabi. He won’t shoot us. You can relax.”

They redirected their attention to the other. “Are you alone?”

#para #p:levi #p:gabi

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

Tyson felt guilty when he saw them tearing up. Dammit. He didn’t want any of this to happen.

“Veda, I didn’t mean it in that way,” Tyson said, feeling horrible. His choice of words were never good when he was emotional. Telling them how useless they were did more damage than not, and they went out on the supply run anyways. “You’re not fucking useless, okay? I didn’t mean that.”

“Then why’d you say it, Tee, if you didn’t believe it?” Veda asked, pressing their palms into their eyelids to stop themselves from crying. They didn’t want to be seen as week, but here they were breaking down in front of their best friend. This was the worst thing that could happen if they were trying to prove how strong they were.

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

“Do you just want to risk your life for people here? Ones that won’t even thank you because you’re with the asshole mayor now?” Tyson asked, becoming more and more frustrated. “I .. Fuck, Veda.” He paused, catching his breath. He was tired of fighting.

“I didn’t want you to go out there because I didn’t want you to die,” he said, in a much calmer voice. “I hoped that yelling at you with some common sense would fucking change your mind. Obviously it didn’t.”

“It doesn’t matter if they thank me or not, Tee,” Veda replied, trying to settle down. They didn’t want to fight anymore. Not with Tyson. “If I can be useful, that’s enough. My trade is even more useless than it was before and...and I just wanted to contribute to something. I thought that going out there getting supplies was something I could do. Something that didn’t require me to learn something completely new.”

Veda stood, tears in their eyes, partly from emotion, partly from the dirt and dust still inside. “I’ve felt obsolete for so damn long already, Tee. You didn’t even consider how I might feel being told I was useless and weak. I didn’t need to hear that from my best friend.”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

Tyson huffed when he knew that they had a point. There was no way that he was going to really give in and admit it, however.

“It’s because I don’t want you to go and risk your life doing shit! Leave that to people that don’t have people caring about them! I don’t want you to die, okay?!”

“With that mentality, no one would be doing what needs to be done, Tee!” Veda yelled back. It was unrealistic to think that people who didn’t have anyone caring about them should do all the work. There would be very few people actually doing something risky in this town. It just wasn’t possible.

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

“You did this to protect me?!” Tyson exclaimed, standing up from the couch. He placed his hands on the back of his head, pacing. The sound of the wind banging against the window didn’t do much for his levels of stress. “How are you helping me or my parents in this? By moving your stuff out into the nice Haven Hill house and leaving them here?”

“I wouldn’t have left if you weren’t being an asshole to me all the time!“ Veda replied, not really thinking about their words. They were just so upset. The upset triggered coughing out more dust before they could say another word. “I just want to feel useful, but every time I try, you put me down and drive me away!”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

“I just don’t want to go and think about how you have a fuckin’ gun now and you get to kill people whenever you feel like it. That’s not the Veda I knew,” Tyson said, irritated that Veda snapped back at him. “With you and Lana with him, that leaves me with no one. I have to protect my parents on my own, I have to hope that the mayor doesn’t decide to kill me for whatever reason, it’s not right.”

“I’m not going around killing people, Tee,” Veda replied, “We did this to protect you. We’re trying to make sure you’re safe, too! You really think we’d just abandon you and your family?” To be honest, Veda was offended that Tyson would even suggest that.

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

“How safe is it really? I bet the mayor would kill his own family if it mean he could live longer,” Tyson scoffed. “It’s not any safer. You just made it clear that you’re willing to throw people under the bus so you get to live longer.”

“That's not what I meant, and you know it,” Veda snapped. They couldn't believe they were really arguing this with Tyson. There was really no way they could win. Tyson wasn't going to budge. He was too prideful to admit he was wrong.

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

“The world ended, that’s how we did.” Tyson sat down on the couch with Veda, sighing. This wasn’t how he wanted his friendship with Veda to go. He was mad that they joined the mayor and insisted that they could go off on supply runs. Tyson knew that they weren’t skilled enough to be able to do any of that. So why was Veda upset about the truth? “You and Lana fuckin’ join the mayor. Am I supposed to just be thrilled about that bullshit?”

“It was before all of that happened. You know that,” Veda replied, side eyeing Tyson. They brushed away the dirt around the now-healed brand and gestured it to him. “If I could take it back, I would. But I'm his now...I thought...I just thought it was the safest thing for all of us. The closer we are to him, the safer we are.”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

I’ll just leave. Tyson didn’t want them to leave, especially when there was a dust storm raging right outside. “No, no stay. You can stay during this, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt out there,” he said, crossing his arms. “You’re not being a burden, okay?”

Veda huffed and plopped back down on the couch. They covered their face in their hands and tried to wipe away the dirt. They sighed and leaned over. Ty didn't want them to get hurt. That's all it really came down to. Ty didn't think they were capable of surviving in this world. Veda disagreed and tried to prove it. “How did it get like this, Tee? How did we end up here?”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

“Some useful fuckin’ thing. Unpacking. What bullshit,” Tyson cussed, walking over to look out the window. Dust and dirt were making their way through the cracks of the wall and the window, not surprising him much. The house was old, not meant for the Blight style dust storms. “Bet your nice, big mayor employee house would be real great against all this.”

“If you’re gonna be like that, I’ll just leave,” Veda responded with venom in their voice, forcing themselves to sit up straight. They didn’t wanna be stuck in this house with Tyson ranting about Veda’s choice to move on. It seemed that’s all they did these days. Fight over Gaby, fight over going out on supply runs, fighting over the choice for Veda to join the mayor. They hated the strain the apocalypse put on their relationship, and they wanted out. They stood up straight, “I’ll just get out of your hair. Sorry to burden you.”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

Tyson coughed and cleared his throat, trying to get the minimal dirt out.

“It’s fine. Any decent person would help,” he said bluntly, unable to really help his tone. It was hard to bounce back from that feeling of complete betrayal, especially when there was no attempt to resolve it. “Where’s that fuckin’ android that’s supposed to help?”

Veda had to admit that it hurt when Tyson didn’t say it was what friends would do. It was any decent person. They didn’t understand why Tyson held so much of a grudge towards them and Lana. They said they had no involvement with the purge. Why was that so difficult to comprehend? “At home,” Veda replied, shaking their head free of some of the dirt. “Unpacking.”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

Tyson slammed the door when Veda entered the house, already covered in the dirt from the storm. Dammit. His mother was going to have a fit having to clean that all up. He just let Veda grab onto his arm tightly, not sure what he was going to do. He could easily just send them out into the dust storm for joining the mayor. It wouldn’t be hard.

But he couldn’t ever do that to Veda, no matter what they did.

“Hey, get on the couch. We can wait it out, alright?”

Veda nodded, still coughing. Sure, they didn’t wanna mess up the couch with all that dirt, but it was better than lying on the floor. They let go of Tyson’s arm long enough to find their way to the couch and collapse onto it, taking in a deep ragged breath before coughing again. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to-” Coughed again. “I didn’t mean to bug you with this.”

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

Tyson was having trouble with Veda and Lana — the two joined ranks with the mayor who let a damn massacre be allowed. That should’ve been enough to just leave the mayor’s side. But no, the two of them stuck by him. They claimed that they didn’t kill anyone or support the killing. It was too much for Tyson either way. He was too damn emotional that the two most important people of his life — except for his own parents — were aligned with the mayor.

The dust storm surprised Tyson, seeing that he wasn’t expecting anything so fierce like that. It’d been months since the last big one. It was starting to get nice not having to fear being dirt blasted while out farming.

First thing, the farmer looked for his parents. When he established that they were still in the house, he calmed down. He panicked though, realizing that his best friend was still outside.

Or maybe they were in that damn new mansion of a house inside town.

Tyson huffed, trying to replace his anxiety with some anger. It might not work out the best way for his relationships — but it was his only defense mechanism.

Let me in! Hearing the familiar voice, Tyson instantly booked it to the door. As mad as he was with them, there was no way he was going to let Veda suffocate out there. He opened the door, covering his mouth and nose with the inside of his elbow. “Get in!” he managed to say.

Veda stumbled into the house, immediately reaching out to Tyson’s arm to keep them upright. They felt almost bad tracking in all this dirt into the house, but it was either that or suffocate, and they’d rather not die out there. They coughed deep from within their lungs and doubled over, hand on knee while the other grasped Tyson’s arm tightly. They couldn’t see clearly and everything hurt. Damn. They just wanted to curl up right there on the hardwood floor.

a dust storm || Veda & Tyson

Dammit. A dust storm. Why didn’t Veda anticipate a dust storm before they got in the fucking car to pick up more of their stuff from Ty’s house. They wanted to pull over but they didn’t know how long it would go on. So they figured they might as well go the rest of the way, despite how angry they were at their best friend right now.

As they saw the storm getting worse, they reached over into the glove compartment, popped it open and groped around for their dust mask and goggles. Shit. Nothing. They must’ve left them behind.

They could already feel the dust sifting through small cracks in the windows. They needed to get back to Ty’s place fast.

But with limited visibility, they weren’t even able to go the speed limit, and it was over a half hour by the time they got there. They pulled up as close as they could to the house and got out of the car, shielding their eyes with their arm and trying their best not to breathe in the dust. They pulled their shirt collar up over their nose and mouth, but it did basically nothing to help. Their eyes stung, their lungs ached.

“Tyson!” They yelled as they approached the door and banged on it. They coughed, desperately trying to hack out the dust. “Tyson!” They wondered if he could even hear them. “Let me in!”

993775-blog

searching // gabriel + veda

993775-blog

Gabriel didn’t exactly want to leave Veda behind too much, because of the fact that any of the sick could come and harm them in more ways than one. But they were told to go ahead, so the android had to follow those orders before any other ones.

Despite being denied a gun, Gabriel knew that he had the skills to be able to defend himself and his owner. He didn’t even need a weapon if he was going without a gun — being made for the sole purpose of combat made him skilled in that manner. He hustled ahead slightly, wanting to get a good view of his surroundings. And what he saw was a sick person, two sick people, small handfuls scattered across the area. There wasn’t a horde, like what he had encountered before, so he figured that the group would be safe.

“Do you know if they can have the same smell as you all?” Gabriel asked, not knowing if the two of them knew more about the sick than he did. “If we just stay out of sight of them, we may be able to get past them without having to engage with them.”