I Think That the World Just Ended Ch 4

Mutated humans gather around you, piling together so that they can all hear Dave. It takes a moment before the crowd settles down to stare at the pale boy in front of them. The quiet whimpers don't completely disappear, but at least you can hear over them now. When Dave finally begins even those soft voices seem to fall silent.

"Houston hasn't always been the safest city health-wise, but that's a no-brainer. We've all had to breathe the smog, we all know what a nasty place this is. Maybe that's what made whoever was in charge think that they could get away with this."

"With what?" one of the more developed mutations calls out. "All you've done for the past few days in talk in circles and that's all you're doing now! Get on with it!"

Many others join in with strained cries and start to shuffle about. More pained groans join the arguments for a moment, all immediately followed by an undercurrent of soft shushing and shifting feet. Dave doesn't speak another word until everyone has their attention on him again. Even the most agitated mutants fall silent eventually and it is only then that he begins to talk again.

"You've all heard about the radiation in the tap water. It was some huge scandal, right? We all sat around in our homes holding empty cups and staring at the television waiting for them to tell us that we could drink the water again. They never said that we could. The thing is that we didn't realize how late we were with our freak out. We were all so worried about fixing that water that nobody bothered to wonder where that radiation came from."

"We assumed that most of the information was fabricated, so we didn't pay much attention to the big shots," Dirk informs you, stepping forward. "No, Dave and I didn't even bother to turn on the television at all. Instead we focused on the tiny guys who were hunting around with their own weird radioactivity devices and making reports on their private blogs."

Dave motions for you to walk forward while his brother continues to talk. With a quick nod to Sollux, you begin to make your way through the crowd, but that isn't too laborious of a task. The strange humans part mindlessly around you, too concerned with what Dirk is telling them to care. By the time you reach the front Dave is looking up at his brother again, leaving you standing awkwardly in a clump of strangers.

"What they found was far more unsettling than what the big guys told you. Their readings weren't like anything they've ever seen before. This entire city is off the charts, people. We're not just off one chart, we're off at least three. Maybe four. According to every blog that we could find, things have been like this for well over 20 years."

As the brothers fall silent to let everything soak in, Dave reaches out to pull you up onto the weak platform. All that they've been standing on is a piece of cardboard on top of some old plastic containers; it's nothing but a little tower they threw together while they were waiting for everyone to gather. Even with his help, you struggle to get yourself up. All at once the stiffness from earlier that day comes rushing back, but you grit your teeth and tighten your grip on Dave's hand. Once you manage to climb up onto the flimsy stage you realize just how many people there are. You're sure that some small noise of dismay manages to escape from your throat, but nobody reacts. With a comforting squeeze on your hand, Dave beings talking again.

"This is Karkat Vantas, he was one of the last two that we brought in. Karkat moved here about five years ago, which is when I met him. We were close back in high school."

Everyone stares up at you, their eyebrows twisted in confusion. Nobody is sure why Dave is so interested in explaining your backstory, yourself included. You shoot him a glare, but he ignores you and continues to talk.

"Karkat's only been in Houston for five years. It only took five years for him to show the same symptoms that the rest of you are, but most of you have been here for your entire lives. Five years. That's how bad it is."

A shockwave of realization flies through the crowd and jaws drop. All that they needed was a bit of perspective to realize how horrible the city was. Now everyone understands and no one knows what it means. One boy steps forward, the one that you saw cradling the crying girl before.

"What do we do now?" he asks, obviously trying too hard to look like he's calm.

"The authorities have closed off the city, so basically we just live here. They think that we're all dead, so as long as we don't bother them we should be fine," Dave announces and gets an approving nod from his brother, who stands up behind him.

"Okay that's all for now. Head back to your corners please and remember not to fight," the tall blond tell the group and steps down from the platform.

Dave helps you down, but you find yourself too lost in thought to thank him. Instead you stiffly make your way to Sollux and push his wheelchair back into his room. The paralysis from earlier is fading now, but you still have to pretty much pick him up and set him on his bed. Before you can pull away, he manages to place a small kiss on your cheek. His lips barely touch your skin, but you can still feel how dry they are and make a mental note to get him water soon. You hesitate slightly before kissing him lightly on his forehead.

"Get some sleep, you need the rest," you tell him softly and earn a soft chuckle.

"Join me, you need some too," he replies, weakly grabbing your arm as you stand up straight.

"I've got to talk to Dave. Sollux, I'm serious. I want you to go to sleep now," you tell him, letting much more worry than you intended run into your voice.

Sollux sighs and manages to push himself onto his side. As you cover him with the ratty blanket that has been sitting at the foot of the bed, you smile at the thought that he's getting better for moment. He doesn't have to tell you to stay, you just sit on the edge of the bed and silently pet his hair. It doesn't take long for his breathing to even out and his face to relax. When you decide that he's sleeping deeply enough, you stand and force your body to walk out of the room. Dave's waiting outside of the door, but you can hardly bring yourself to be surprised.

"In theory?" he mutters teasingly. "I'd say that you two are pretty together."

"We're not discussing this, fuckhead," you tell him firmly. "However we do need to talk."

"I figured that we would. Technically we are still discussing this, though," your ex-boyfriend says with a nearly triumphant smirk.

"Fuck you, I just want to know if he's going to die," you say, fearing the answer that you know is true.

Dave doesn't reply right away, he takes your hand again and drags you to his little office area. It's an absolute mess of notepads, empty cardboard boxes, and swords. For some reason it makes you think of his house and you realize that the clutter is probably how he's dealing with things.

"We haven't noticed a pattern to who dies. I've seen some pretty nasty cases here, sometimes it becomes so unbearable that suicide seems to be a better option. Other times all that it takes is a few days of moaning in a corner," Dave takes a deep breath, shrugging slightly. "All that I know is that most people die and a very small percentage don't. There's no pattern in symptoms, healthier ones go suddenly and screaming balls of pain turn out fine. Vice versa is true as well."

"So basically you have no clue," you confirm.

"Basically," he admits, looking down.

"Fuck this is just so fucking stupid!" you rage, balling your fists in your hair. "I thought that maybe I could finally enjoy life again or something, but no! Now everyone that I care about is going to get melted from the inside out by fucking radiation because some big shot shitface is too concerned about his god damned wallet to consider that maybe his idea to bury nuclear waste under a major city is a fucking bad idea!"'

"Karkat, calm down with the swearing. You're going to give yourself a heart attack," Dave tells you, resting a hand on your shoulder.

"And naturally my fucking ex-boyfriend is the one who comes to the rescue," you spit at him and push his hand away. "Plus he seems to be completely unaffected by the copious amounts of radiation, but that shouldn't be a surprise because everyone knows that Dave Strider is fucking invincible!"

"Karkat, calm down," he tells you, his voice growing tenser.

"You calm down!" you hiss out, not even caring what you're saying anymore.

"Karkat, shut up!" he yells. "Clearly I'm not invincible because if I were then I wouldn't have been dealing with a birth defect for my entire life! The other reindeer were more than happy to let me play their fucking reindeer games, but I've been shut up inside of a house and behind sunglasses for my entire life because I'll go blind and burn my skin off if I'm not! Don't talk to me about being invincible!"

"You don't understand how much this hurts and I doubt that you ever will," you tell him bluntly.

"Go talk to the girl with vampire teeth forcing their way through the original ones or the pair that grew fins. Then I'll discuss pain with you," he says coldly and turns away.

"You know what? Fuck you! I'm terribly sorry that I don't know true suffering and pain, but I honestly don't give the tiniest fraction of a fuck about that! For the millionth fucking time I'm having everything and everyone that I actually care about torn away from me! The only difference from all of the other times is that this time it's probably going to kill me too. So fuck you, Strider. Fuck you and fuck off."

With that you storm out of his sad excuse for an office and join Sollux in his bed. You'd rather focus on the feeling of his arms around you than how much you really didn't want to have that fight and how much you already regret it. There isn't a question about who's going to be apologizing, but there's also no question about how that'll end. It won't be long before you're tucked carefully under Strider's chin and hearing echoes of your own sorrowful words pour out of his mouth. Apologies always turn out that way with him, dating or not. You sigh deeply and feel Sollux's arms tighten around your waist as his chest meets your back.

"Things will turn out fine, KK. Just get some rest."

You sigh again as his breath brushes against your ear and begin your slow descent into a land of unconsciousness. Somewhere in the back of your mind you wonder how much longer he's got.