SET Initiative

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive..."

Austin had that one part of the song stuck in his head, like a broken record.

It was awful.

Austin sighed and rubbed his head where he had been hit. Still hurt if he touched it. He rolled his neck and kept walking.

After a few minutes of relative silence, Austin ran up to walk beside Addison.

"Hey, you okay?"

Addison flinched when he ran up next to her. Damn helmet, couldn't get it off to wipe off tears. So she just nodded and cleared her throat.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Real slick.

"How's your shoulder?"

She ached everywhere, and her leg was on fire, but at least she wasn't bleeding. She was in better shapethan he was, in that regard.

Austin shook his head.

"It's okay if you're not, y'know. I'm supposed to be the guy who takes all of the hits without a word. My shoulder hurts like hell."

Austin looked back at the kids before whispering.

"It's my fault. I was supposed to be prepared for this. But I wasn't. I'm sorry. I know this looks bad, but I've been in worse situations with less." A small lie. "... I'll think of something."

Addison laughed bitterly, but nodded.

"I'm not, but I don't have the option to not be.. Everything hurts, and something's wrong with my leg, but I'm not just going to sit down and wait."

She sighed, glancing back at the kids herself before whispering back.

"I don't blame you, Austin.. We couldn't have known. We just need to find somewhere to lay low, okay? As far away from the cities as we can get."

Austin nodded.

"Alright. But if you ever need to be not okay... Well, you don't need my permission."

~~~~

They continued walking, the group having been trimmed down to a small group of six from the very sizable number of fourteen.

They walked until they reached the motel they had stayed at the previous night. The sun was moving west at an increasingly quick pace, and Austin suggested they spend the night there again.

"We can move again in the morning," he added. "I just need someplace to sort everything out."

Addison nodded, smiling weakly.

"Thanks."

~~~~~

Once they reached the hotel, and made it back to the room they had stayed in the last time, Addison made used of her suit, barricading the door and window with anything she could find. Once they were all inside, she sighed. The boys were still crying, though silently, and she hurried over to them. She just dropped to her knees near the boys, scooping the four up and hugging them tightly. She just rocked them quietly and let them cry, until they had cried as much as they could at the moment. She tucked them into one of the beds, letting them just huddle up and rest.

Once they were comfortable, she turned to Austin, tapping her helmet. "Get this thing off of me." She needed to look at his shoulder, and she wasn't about to spend another second wrapped up in a suit of armor. She wanted it off.

Austin followed Addison's lead, helping her barricade everything despite his better judgement.

After it was all done, he collapsed on the bed and winced.

"Okay, come here," he folded his fingers towards his palm in a gesture that said "Come closer."

Phew would reach over and take her hand, holding her arm out and pressing a button on her wrist where her watch used to be.

The armor disappeared and the bodysuit disintegrated to reveal Addison back in the state she was before she put the suit on.

"I'm sorry mine broke," Austin added. "They never break."

Addie sighed in relief as the bodysuit disappeared. She groaned and collapsed on the bed next to him, face in the mattress, sighing. At his apology, she waved her hand slightly.

"It's okay.. could've been worse." She wasn't sure how, but.. it always could've been worse. After a moment, shepushed herself up with shaking arms, and flipped over, sitting up to glance at him.

"Let me look at your shoulder." Unless he stopped her, she scootched closer, and very carefully began to untie the t-shirt covering the wound.

Austin closed his eyes and untied the blood-soaked shirt from his shoulder. The bleeding had stopped by now, but it still hurt.

Five holes went deep into the shoulder. Red lines spread like veins out around the wounds' immediate area.

Austin let Addison have a good look.

"I'll be fine." He lied.

Addison flinched when she saw it. She was quiet for a moment.

"Austin..."

She didn't know what to say. Oh God, what if Austin...She bit her lip.

"Austin, it looks really bad.. What can I do? Please, not you too."

Austin put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

"You don't need to do anything. You've been great through this whole thing. Look, I'll be fine. This is probably like the chicken pox. I've been hit before, I don't think I can be one of those things again."

Honestly, he wasn't sure. But there was that thing in his neck. That must do something, right?

Austin sighed. "All that matters for now is that we're safe. That you guys are safe. Alright?"

Addison frowned at him.

"Yeah.. I guess so..Is there anythingI can do to help with the pain?"

She sighed, and laid back on the bed, hands covering her face.

"What are we going to do, Austin? We can't stay here. Not forever.."

Austin took a breath in and looked down.

"... No."

He laid down next to Addison and sighed.

"We can think of something. I'm not just about to give up because I got stabbed by some monster out of a horror-sci-fi flick. There's gotta be another checkpoint out there. Something."

His head rolled to one side to look at Addison.

"... Right?"

After a moment more of covering her face, and composing herself, she lowered her hands to her side, and rolled her head to look back at him.

"You're right.. there has to be something, somewhere.." She forced a small smile, before sighing and turning o stare up at the ceiling.

"I think we should let them rest a little longer tomorrow....today...today was a bad day.."

Austin woke up the next morning curled up next to Addison. His immediate reaction was to try and remember what had happened the previous night, and hope that he hadn't had too much to drink.

Then he realized where he was, and the situation he was in. Austin had never wished for just a regular hangover more in his life than he did at that moment.

Austin decided not to move, and closed his eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep.

Addie was actually sleeping quite comfortably, nestled down on the bed, back to Austin, facing the door. If he had looked, he would've noticed she had fallen asleep clutching the rifle, as she usually did.

She finally woke not long after he did, slowly sitting up with a groan. Good Lord, she was in pain. Her body was miserably sore from being tossed like a ragdoll through the wall, and she groaned again as she tried to stand to stretch, immediately flopping back down next to him.

Austin himself was pretty sore, but that pain was drowned out by the immense throbbing in his left shoulder, which was swelling slightly (most likely was worse during the night) and was red instead of purple or yellow or any other natural colors of a wound.

He didn't even try to sit up.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked. No use saying good morning or any variation of it if there was nothing good anyway.

Addison just groaned a reply until she could speak again.

"I was fine until I woke up.." She rolled her head towards him with a grimace, eyes opening to study him.

"How aboit you? How's the shoulder?"

Thankfully, the four boys were sleeping still, which was a great relief for her. She didn't have to force herself up just yet, anyway.

Austin looked back at her and frowned. They were both in terrible shape.

"I feel the same way. My shoulder is okay, I guess."

Austin was comfortable here, though. Even with the physical and emotional toll things were taking on him, the warmth of another person made it all better. For right now, at the very least.

"Y'know, I don't plan on going anywhere today. We need to rest."

Addie nodded at him. That was just fine with her.

"Sounds good to me.." With a wince and a huff of effort, she shifted so that she was laying closer, arm against his. She shut her eyes and sighed slowly, other hand lifting slowly, painfully to her head.

"Everything hurts.. my ribs.. my legs.." Her right leg was throbbing, and she had a sneaking suspicion that there was a fracture in there somewhere. For now, she just felk quiet.