(no subject)

[wednesday_whimsy]

“We should go,” Carlton said quietly when none of them had moved for several minutes.

“Carlton,” Juliet chided him. “Give Shawn a few minutes.”

“We’ve had a few minutes,” he replied, his voice still quiet and firm. “It’s not that I don’t understand and I wish I had time to give, but the longer we stay here, the more dangerous it is.”

Shawn nodded and rubbed his hands over his face. “It’s okay,” he said. “Lassie’s right. That was the deal. We just have to go somewhere and try to stay safe.”

“We’re not actually going to Florida, are we?” Gus asked. “Because it’s 3,320 miles from Seattle to Miami and - ”

“We’re not going to Florida,” Juliet said. “Not in a car anyway. We’ll find somewhere. An island. A beach. We’ll make it.”

“Jules...” Shawn said, but Juliet stood and shook her head.

“No, we all agreed to this. This is the end of the line.”

“Juliet...” This time it was Carlton, looking at her oddly. “It’s okay. We all know what we have to do.”

“We’re all alone, all of us. But we have each other. We’re a family now.”

“A weird, slightly incestuous one,” Shawn said, needing to break the tension.

“You know that’s right,” Gus said and bumped his fist.

“Guys,” Juliet sighed frustratedly, but Carlton stepped over to her and gripped her shoulders.

“Ignore them,” he said. “You’re right. This is no time for any of us to freak out, okay? We just need to get to a boat. We can figure the rest out later.”

“Right,” Shawn said, standing and checking the clip in his gun. He held out his mother’s scarf to Juliet, who offered him an apologetic smile as she put it in her pocket. “At least going down the stairs should be easier than up, right?”

“I hope so,” Gus said, bending down to rub the back of his leg. “My quads are killing me.”

Lassiter moved past Shawn, squeezing his shoulder once, and peered through the door.

“You’re such a pansy,” Shawn said, shaking his head.

“Me?” Gus asked, raising one brow. “I know you are not implying that you are in better shape than me.”

“Shush,” Lassiter hissed, drawing his gun. Shawn and Gus looked from him to each before, before falling silent. Lassiter stepped back slowly, motioning Shawn closer so that he could take a look as well.

The hall was teeming with zombies, wandering around slowly. They seemed to fill the entire hall, and they looked worse off than any that they’d come across before. Their stomachs were sunken, their limbs were twisted at unusual angles, and they looked hungry.

“I told you not to fire that gun,” Shawn whispered, once they’d moved away from the door so that Juliet could see for herself. Gus had backed himself up to the furthest wall and was watching them all, nervous and trying not to be sick.

“What are we going to do?” Juliet hissed. “How do we get out?”

“Maybe we could pretend to be zombies,” Shawn said. “They do that in movies. It almost always works.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Lassiter said. “We’re not pretending to be zombies.”

“I’d say it’s that or one of us makes the ultimate sacrifice,” Gus said.

“We smell alive,” Carlton pointed out. “We can’t just shuffle along the hall moaning and hope they don’t notice.”

“You think of something then,” Shawn said. “We’re kind of out of options.”

“How many guns do we have?” Juliet asked, pulling out her own to check how many bullets were left.

“Not enough for all of those,” Shawn said, shaking his head.

Lassiter sighed, but nodded in agreement. “Even if we can make it through the hall, we have no idea what’s waiting in the stairs. Or outside by the car. Guns alone isn’t going to work.”

Shawn glanced toward the window and Gus, where he was still pressed up against the wall. “Anyone feeling particularly like King Kong today?”

Juliet pulled the net curtain away from the window. “There’s a ledge,” she said, and pushed open the window. “The floor below has a balcony.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Gus said. “You want us to climb out onto the window ledge and jump onto the balcony below?”

“We could tie the bedsheets together,” Juliet said.

“This isn’t a Disney movie,” Carlton said.

“To be fair though,” Shawn said, “Juliet would make a fantastic Disney princess.”

Gus nodded his agreement. “That is true.”

“It’s our only way out,” Juliet argued, ignoring Shawn and Gus.

“What if the next floor down is just as crowded as this one?” Lassiter asked.

“Carlton, we have no choice,” Juliet said firmly. “Shawn, check the cupboard for more sheets. Gus, help me strip the bed. Carlton, cover the door.”

It took them longer than Carlton would have liked to tie together three sheets and get the window open, but at least it looked like it would hold. “Tie it to the bedpost,” Juliet said, lowering the other end out the window to the balcony below them. “And tie it tight, Shawn.”

“I’ve got some experience in this department,” Shawn assured her, but Carlton rolled his eyes and moved to take the sheets out of his hands.

“These aren’t fuzzy handcuffs,” he growled, starting to use a sailor’s knot to tie it to the bedpost. “Stop messing about.” There were more zombies in the hallway now, and a few had been sniffing around the door like they could sense something was just a little off with this particular room, but he didn’t want to frighten them any more than necessary. He just wanted to get them moving faster. “We need to get going,” he said again, “now.”

“Ladies first,” Gus offered, peering out the window.

Juliet drew in a sharp breath before crawling onto the ledge of the window, gripping the bedsheets with both hands. Gus and Shawn held it tight to keep it straight and tight for her as she began to slide her way down slowly.

“That wasn’t so bad,” she said when she reached the sixth floor, glancing over her balcony to the next floor. It was a much steeper drop to the next row of balconies, maybe two floors this time. “We’re going to need the bedsheets again though.”

“How do we do that?” Shawn asked. “Lassie?”

“I don’t know,” Carlton said, glancing between the door and the window. “Guster, your turn.”

Gus visibly flinched but held tightly the sheet and climbed out of the window.

“You can do it, Gus,” Juliet called. “You’re doing great.”

“I’m so proud of you, buddy,” Shawn shouted down to him. “You’re like Will Smith, right now.”

Gus dropped down onto the balcony and Juliet hugged him tightly.

“Your turn, Shawn,” Gus shouted.

“You heard the man, Spencer,” Carlton said. “Out you go.”

Shawn snorted. “I don’t think so.” He reached up to tap Lassiter’s head. “I know what you’re thinking. If I go, you’ll just throw us the sheets and stay up here like a martini.”

“It’s martyr,” Carlton said, and Shawn didn’t like that he didn’t even sound exasperated. He almost seemed grateful. “And you have not heard it both ways.”

Shawn pushed him closer to the window. “You’re going.”

“How do you think you’re going to get down? I’m taller than you, it’s going to be a lot easier for me to jump down than you and your short little legs.”

“I’d be offended if you weren’t freakishly tall.”

They both turned as they heard something clawing on the door, snarling from the other side. Carlton pushed him again. “There’s not time for this,” he snapped, moving over to the bedpost. “You go, I’ll throw down the sheets, and then I can swing down. It’s not that bad of a drop.”

Shawn looked ready to argue, but there was a distinct thump on the other side of the door as something threw itself against the wood. The door rattled after, as the sound of something clawing its way inside kept up a persistent beat.

“Fine,” Shawn said. “But so help me, Lassie, if you aren’t right behind me...”

“Now,” Carlton hissed, and waited until Shawn began to lower himself down before beginning to work at the knots tying the sheet to the bed.

“I’m down!” Shawn called a moment later, as something threw itself at the door again. Carlton tugged the rest of the sheet free, moving quickly to the window and tossing it down.

“What are you doing?” Juliet asked, nervous.

“I’ve got this,” Carlton promised, and began to crawl out onto the ledge. One quick glance behind him revealed the door, bent unnaturally under the weight of the zombies from the other side trying to make their way in, and fingers coming from under the door, on the sides... He cursed quietly and dug his nails into the ledge, lowering his weight down as far as he could go. He hung there, wondering just how well he’d really thought through this plan.

“Now what?” Shawn asked, watching him, worried.

“Stand on the railing,” Juliet said, “maybe you can reach his legs. We can hold you.” Shawn moved quickly to follow her instructions, just as something crashed loudly above them, the door to the hotel room finally giving way.

“No time for that,” Lassiter shouted. “Get away from the edge.”

“Carlton,” Juliet yelled, as Gus pulled her back against the building.

Lassiter let go of the ledge and dropped straight, bending his knees and rolling onto the ground when he hit it.

“Ow, ow, ow, fuck,” Carlton said. “Damn that hurt.”

Juliet and Shawn knelt down beside him immediately. “Are you okay?” Juliet asked, running her hands over his legs. “You’re insane. Why would you do that?”

“We needed the sheets didn’t we?” Carlton said. “And now we have the sheets and I’m here, just slightly bruised. Stop fussing.” He pushed them away and got to his feet.

Juliet put her arms around him and pulled his arm around his shoulders. “This isn’t for you, it’s for me,” she said, silencing him when he tried to protest.

“Only five floors to go,” Gus said. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Great,” Carlton said, snatching the sheets off the ground and starting to tie them to the railing. “Next time, you can go last.”

As it turned out, though, they didn’t need the sheets again. From the third floor balcony, and only a slight bit of maneuvering onto the building scaffolding, there was actually railing steps leading down the rest of the way. Shawn couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so grateful to step both feet back onto the ground.

“Keep quiet,” Juliet said, peering around the corner to where their car was parked. The parking lot still seemed empty, but they all knew better than to trust appearances. After some silent hand gestures between Juliet and Lassiter, Lassiter was left looking angry while Juliet dodging away from them toward the car, keys in hand.

“The pier isn’t far,” Shawn whispered. “And there’s snack shops along the way. They may be more deserted the closer we get to shore. There’s less... food sources that way. We’re going to need to stock up.”

Carlton nodded. “And we’ll need fishing poles, but we can get those at the docks.”

“You’ll be doing the fishing I hope,” Shawn said. “Providing for the family.”

“We’re all going to have work to do, Shawn,” Carlton told him. “This isn’t going to be a pleasure cruise.”

“It’ll be more pleasant than things have been up until now,” Shawn said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to.

“She’s coming,” Gus whispered and seconds later the car slid to a stop beside them.

“Come on boys,” Juliet called through the open window. “We don’t have all day.”

~

After two less than successful scavenging sessions, Gus thought there was no way they’d make it through this one alive, but Juliet managed to pull the car right up to the door of the mini-mart and ten minutes later the car was full of food, basic first supplies, and some bits of hardware Lassiter had deemed it essential that they carry.

“We should do another couple of runs,” Shawn said as they drove the last half mile to the docks. “If we can fill up the boat, we’ll get further.”

“We have to find a boat first,” Carlton said. “Lets do one thing at a time.”

There were several to choose from. Juliet drove slowly past the line of bobbing masts, waiting for Carlton to pick one.

“We want something big,” Shawn said.

“But not too big,” Carlton argued. There’s only four of us. It needs to be small enough that we can actually sail it.”

“So not that one?” Shawn asked, nodding to a full-sized yacht. He grinned to himself at the look Carlton shot him.

They finally settled on a catamaran with sails. “We won’t have gas or fuel forever,” Juliet said after checking the living quarters below deck for any signs of zombies. “Sails will come in handy.”

“And,” Shawn said, grinning excitedly, “it looks kind of like the boat from Jaws!” He began to hum the theme song, pleased when he thought he saw a smile playing at the corners of Carlton’s lips.

“You know,” Gus said, considering. “Sharks really don’t seem so scary anymore.” He held out his fist to Shawn, who bumped it.

“You’re idiots,” Carlton sighed, looking at their car parked a few yards away with sadness. He wished there was some way to take it with them, but he knew better. There was no telling though when they’d need to return back to the mainland, or where they’d end up. “Go see if you can find fishing rods or more fuel on some of the other boats. We’ll get the supplies out of the car.”

“And keep quiet,” Juliet said. “You don’t know where they might be hiding around here.”

Shawn and Gus hurried away and Juliet started to carry things onto the boat. Carlton pulled the two barrels of water from the trunk and stored them safely aboard, then went back to help her.”

“I always wanted to live on a boat,” Juliet said, when she dropped the last armful of food on the table. “Looks like my wish came true. I never expected it to be like this though.”

Carlton brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen free from her ponytail and kept covering her eyes.

“I know,” he said. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to live like this.”

She smiled at him sadly and squeezed his hand. “So long as we’re alive.”

They went back up onto the deck and Carlton started to instruct her in readying the boat. She followed his instructions, happy to have something to concentrate on that wasn’t escaping from a near death situation.

Gus and Shawn returned thirty minutes later with some fishing poles, and various other bits of equipment Shawn had thought looked promising as they’d searched the other boats.

“Lets make another run to get supplies,” Juliet said when Carlton had snapped at them one time too many for getting in the way.

“Actually, I have something I need to do,” Shawn said, earning a inquiring look from Juliet and Gus. “What? I do.”

Juliet held up her hands. “Okay, okay. Just don’t disturb Carlton while he’s working,” she said. “Let’s go, Gus.”

Part 6