(no subject)

[plantfood]

It's been nearly a week since Mathias has seen anything and it's because of this -- this weird sense of relief that has surrounded him lately -- that he walks straight into the tumbled piles of vines without a second thought. He's too busy talking to Lucy to really notice and it isn't until his feet tangle, until he feels a vine sliding around his ankle that he stops and looks down at what they've both walked into.

"No," he says softly. There's a dull thrum of fear at the base of his skull, but that's been there almost all waking moments for the past several months. He tries to remember how they've disappeared before, how it's all proven to be nothing, but even when he closes his eyes and opens them again, the vines are still there. One has circled Lucy's leg, but when he looks at it, it stops moving.

Turning, Mathias intends on heading straight to the boardwalk and toward the Compound, but the beach doesn't look like his beach anymore and he can't see where the boardwalk comes through the trees. Instead there's a hill. A path winds through the vines that cover it, bright green leaves shaped like hands and brilliant, blood red flowers. He turns away from the hill, reaching for Lucy's hand without thinking and it isn't until he's facing the water again that the arrow whistles through the air and lands only inches from his left foot.

It isn't real. That's what he keeps trying to tell himself. None of this is real.

Another arrow arches through the air toward them and Mathias closes his eyes.

Comments

[plantfood]

"I don't know," Mathias answers, shaking his head once as he walks across the top of the hill. He pauses briefly at the blood soaked sleeping bag, then again at the windlass, looking down into the mine for a moment. At the other side of the hill, there are men with bows and arrows, just like he thought there would be.

"I don't know where it came from," he says. "But it's here because I'm scared of it."

He can't look at the others when he says it for a long list of reasons. For one, he made a promise to Lucy that if the hallucinations got bad, he'd tell someone and he hadn't, but only because he'd known there hadn't been anything anyone could do.

"This is what I've been seeing," he admits. "The vines, the men down there. I thought I was still imagining it this morning."

[radicalize]

That much, Lucy knows already, or could at least have pieced together. It's not something they've ever really talked a lot about, but she knows what happened here, and he's mentioned a few times the things he's seen. She just never thought it was this bad, as quick to dismiss it as nothing as to be set on edge, wondering what was going to go wrong. People have been talking about this possibility for months now, but with it having actually happened, she can't pretend she isn't caught off guard.

"This happened before," she cuts in, letting out a heavy exhale. "Not... this, specifically, but this sort of thing, on Halloween five years ago. It was all gone the next day, but..." But they have to make it that long before that can mean anything, something she doesn't have the heart to say, especially if the others don't know what's going on.

[kissmehardy]

"Oh, God," I say, trying to wrap my mind around the whole thing. "This is where you died, isn't it?"

It does occur to me that I ought to go to Mathias, to offer him whatever support or comfort I might, but I am overcome by the realization that if this can happen, there's nothing to stop me being returned to that cold riverbank in France. In my imagination, just for a moment, I'm on my face in the mud, hands bound behind me with wire and a Nazi guard's boot heavy on the back of my neck.

Though I like Mathias very much, it's John I trust completely with my life and I can't move an inch. Instead of doing anything useful, I just lean against him and shiver, coward that I am.

[sunburned]

It may not be the worst situation that he's ever found himself in, but it's definitely close. For a moment, standing there with his arms around Julie, he feels like he's standing onto dragon-back, not latched on, teetering in the wind.

He drags in a deep breath, his hand stroking against Julie's back, small, comforting touches.

"So," he says, ever practical. "What do we for the best?"

[plantfood]

Mathias can't look at Lucy or Julie when he nods in answer to her question, so he looks at John. "Yes," he says. "This is where I died." Where they all died. His brother, Pablo, Eric and Jeff, Amy and Stacy. This is where they all died because he'd brought them there and he isn't going to let that happen again. No one is going to die.

"I think we need to be on the lookout for others," he says. "If anyone gets near enough, we can warn them away, ask them to bring help. We are not in the middle of nowhere like I was the last time. Someone is going to see this hill and if we can catch them, then we'll be fine." Even as he says it, though, there's a vine snaking across the small clearing, going straight for Lucy.

[radicalize]

It's too unsettling to think about. This isn't the first time Lucy has found herself in a potentially life-threatening situation, but somehow, she thinks this one might be more frightening. The time to stop and think makes all the difference. If everything were happening at once, she thinks she could handle it, but this, the silences, the questions, it drives home just how much danger they're really in, and she hates it. Just because they aren't isolated here like Mathias does last time doesn't make her any less eager to get the hell out of here, never one to sit and wait.

She means to agree with what Mathias has said, but she doesn't get a chance. The vine, gone unnoticed by her before now, wraps itself around her ankle, coiling tightly, and she lets out a faint cry as she struggles to stay upright, attempting to kick it off, though she knows it will be useless. "Mathias --"

[kissmehardy]

John's steady presence is a comfort, and so is the knowledge that this isn't exactly the same situation. We aren't entirely isolated here, and there's hope that someone might help us. Even lacking that, if history is repeating at all, we have only to keep ourselves alive until this all goes away and things return to normal.

I can almost believe that it's only the men with the arrows and the guns that we have to be afraid of until I'm reminded of the uncanny vines.

I hardly even take a breath to think about it before I've crossed over to Lucy, John's knife in my hand to hack at the vine.

[sunburned]

"Jesus, Julie, don't," he snaps, launching himself after her without even thinking about - the way he used to launch himself after Laurence on dragon-back. He misses his harness. He misses feeling held.

Without much else to do, hampered by the lack of one hand, he stamps one booted foot down on the vine, trying to stop it from going anywhere.

[plantfood]

It won't take her, not until she's weak or dead, Mathias knows that, but even so, he wraps his arm around Lucy to hold her steady. "It's alright," he says and around them the vines quiver, almost as if they're responding to what he's said. Almost as if they're laughing.

"Be careful," he says to Julie. "The sap will burn if you get it on your skin. If you cut it, it might retreat." Or more will come out to help, as it did with Henrich's body, but he doesn't want to say that. He doesn't even want to think it. All he wants it to be off this hill, somewhere safe with these people.

[radicalize]

It's instinctive, holding on to Mathias to steady herself, though Lucy doesn't quite feel like she's going to be pulled anywhere just yet. She needs it beyond just the physical. Awful as she knew being up here had been from what he's told her, being here, seeing these vines for herself, the way they're practically fucking alive, is something else entirely. Logic says that they'll be fine, but that doesn't do her any good now, her ankle stinging where the vine's curled around it. She doesn't want to get out of here later. She wants it to be done now.

"Thanks," she says weakly, swallowing hard. She's lived through a lot, she's even fucking died before, albeit in someone's memory, but those were all things that happened quickly. This is different, more real. "And they just do this? Come at us like this?"

[kissmehardy]

When I was a prisoner of the Gestapo I was afraid all the time, but at least I knew what I was dealing with. I don't understand this situation, and that scares me more than anything. I watch the vines I cut slither under John's boot, and think about the men shooting at us to keep us here, and it just makes me angry.

"Who are they to make us stay here with vines that laugh?" I stalk to the edge of the hill and glare down at the men there. I am a Wallace and a Stuart and I am not about to be subject to the whims of anonymous bullies just because they're armed. "I'm not staying here just because they say so."

It only strikes my arm, a glancing blow, but I only make it a couple of steps down the hill before the arrow drives me back.

I am so shocked that someone would actually shoot me with an arrow that it doesn't even hurt at first.

[sunburned]

The minute she moves he's going after her - it's not even a conscious thought that he has, just something that happens. He's been in situations not unlike this, and the last thing, the very last thing that he wants is to see her injured.

And he's so concerned that he misses the arrow entirely until it skims her and actually hits him, embedding itself in his shoulder with a sick thud and sending him reeling back.

[plantfood]

"Shit!" Mathias curses, so surprised that he's swearing in English. One moment, he's preparing to answer Lucy's questions, to try and explain a little more about the vines and what they'll have to be ready to, the next he sees Julie going down the hill and John going after her.

"No!" he shouts and he starts forward, still with his arm around Lucy because he doesn't want to step away from her, but he doesn't want to put her at risk either. It's not likely that she'll let him leave her at the top of the hill either. He needs to make sure they're both okay and he glances at Lucy as he starts toward them, knowing she's going to follow him. "Be careful."

[radicalize]

Though a little unsteady still, Lucy doesn't hesitate to hurry forward alongside Mathias. She's not about to just stand around here alone, and besides, there's no way not to worry about what might happen to the others, her breath catching in her throat. Maybe there's little to nothing they can do up here, but she still won't just let harm come to any of them.

Except it is, apparently, a little too late for that, her eyes going wide at the sight of the arrow sticking out of John. "Oh, fuck," she says, which is useless, she knows, but she's at a loss for anything else. "Your shoulder."

[kissmehardy]

I didn't expect John, or anyone else, to follow me like he did and am beyond horrified to see him struck by the arrow meant for me.

I am much too small to be able to support him for long, but I grab his arm and try to lead him to whatever safety might be found here.

"Help him." Desperate, as i can feel the vines pulling at both of us, I look at Mathias and Lucy.

I don't want to die here on this hill myself, but I absolutely will not allow it to take John.

[sunburned]

The pain is...not unexpected. He's been in pain before. In that moment, he remembers the impact of a musketball, the wrench of the canon slipping past him and pulling at his shoulder. He remembers all of the rope burns and the tears and the bruises. Dimly, he's aware of Julie.

He stumbles and hits the ground.

[plantfood]

Mathias begins muttering in German, bending down to yank at the vines without worrying about their sap. They've burned him before, they'll burn him now and he'll scar again, but none of that will matter if he can't get the others off the hill. Away from the vines, away from the men.

The vines titter again, then a whisper ripples across the hill. Oh, fuck. Lucy's voice, then Julie's. Help him.

Mathias rips the vines free of them, then grabs John, hauling him up the side of the hill. "Be careful," he warns them. The vines mimic his voice all the way back up the hill.

[radicalize]

Though it probably should have occurred to her sooner, it's only now, hearing voices echoed back at them, her own among them, that Lucy realizes the part of this that's the most frightening. The physical danger, she could take. She's dealt with just as bad before, if not worse. The ways in which this can fuck with their heads, though, that's more unsettling than she's entirely prepared for, shivering as she follows close behind Mathias.

"What do we do?" she asks, more helpless than she'd care to admit to. "I mean, unless there's some sort of medical equipment hiding somewhere up here..."

[kissmehardy]

I've had basic first aid training, both in the WAAF and the SOE, but not once did anyone ever cover what to do in the case of shot by arrow or scalded by vines and the way the vines are mocking us, throwing our voices back at us, is unnerving me so much I can hardly think straight.

Which I suppose is exactly their point.

Still, next to Maddie, John is my best friend. I've made quite a few friends and acquaintances since I've been on this island, kissed a few boys even, but hardly anybody knows me so well, beyond what I've chosen to show them, and loves me in spite of it. I will not let him die here.

"It didn't go all the way through, but I don't know if that's good or bad, or if we ought to take it out." I'm talking mostly just to try to clear my head. I have no idea if I'm making any sense at all. "Should stop the bleeding, at least."

I shimmy out of my slip and drop to the ground beside him. When I peel his shirt away from the arrow to get a better look at his wound I have to blink away tears preventing me from seeing it clearly.

"You can tease me about all my layers of clothing later."

I only hope he can hear me as I sop up his blood with my slip.

[sunburned]

"It's good," he says, swallowing, voice vague but definitely there. If he breathes deep, he can get past the pain. "Pulling the arrows through is...bloody awful, I imagine." He swallows, frowning. "I don't think it's hit anything. Pull it out and tie it up."

He grits his teeth. More than anything, it seems important not to pass out. Not here. Not now.

[plantfood]

It's incredible, he thinks, how easy it is to revert to the same postion he held on that other hill. Mathias melts into the background, helping where he needs to, but not taking charge and not offering any direction. As before, he doesn't know what should be done and it seems that Julie, like Jeff, is at least willing to step up in a way Mathias has never been able to.

He looks at Lucy as he strips out of his own shirt, then offers it to Julie to help with the blood. He wants to say something to her, but he can't. There have been many people on this island who have been important to him, but he isn't sure anyone has felt like family in the way Lucy does and he hates that he's put her in danger.

"Es tut mir leid," he murmurs and he doesn't know if she'll understand him, but he doesn't want to risk the vines throwing his apology back at them in English. As if they know exactly what he's trying to avoid, they rustle, the words quiet at first.

John ist gestorben, they hiss. John ist gestorben.

[radicalize]

Lucy goes tense, trying not to shiver as the vines speak again. It's something that she thinks will grow less startling, but then, she doesn't want that to be the case. She wants to be out of here, somewhere with doctors, where John can get looked at and they'll all be safe. Up here, right now, she's helpless and she hates it, almost as much as she hates having to be this damn scared.

"What does it mean?" she asks, wary, hanging back a few steps. Much as she wishes she had an article of clothing to spare, she doesn't, and that's a little frustrating, too, in its own right.

[kissmehardy]

"Right. I'll just pull an arrow out of you. Jesus," I mutter. I do try, but I can't. I don't know if my hands are too small and too slick with blood already or if I'm just not strong enough, but when I pull on the arrow it scarcely budges. That I know I'm hurting him even more doesn't help.

I grab Mathias' hand when I take his shirt from him. "Please. I can't." Help him the vines say in my voice, and I let out a babyish sob of frustration and fear.

All I can think about is the air raid the day Maddie and I became friends, and that gunner who bled to death right under my hands.

"They're saying he's dead," I say, and I'm getting angry again. I suppose it's better than abject terror, but neither is really very helpful when you get right down to it. "They need to shut up before somebody comes up here with a lawn mower. Because he isn't, and he's not going to be. Not today."

I swear the vines are laughing at me.

[sunburned]

She pulls at the arrow and it jars, making him cry out, though he bites down over it, not wanting to make this any worse for her His head swims. The vines keep whispering, insidious. He reaches out for Julie with his hand.

"I'm not dead," he says. "And I'm not going to be. It's okay."

He looks up. "Mathias, you need to help her. You need to get it out of me and then you need to tie it up."

And his eyes keep straying to the vines.

[plantfood]

As before, when he's told what to do, he can do it. He reaches for Lucy, careful not to touch her skin where the sap has already bled onto his fingers. His palms are burning, but he hardly notices this time around, just another familiar sensation in a far too familiar situation.

"Lucy, Julie, be prepared to put pressure on the wound as soon as it's out," he says, handing his t-shirt to Lucy. His hands hurt, but he thinks he can do this anyway, he's sure he can separate himself enough and so he leans over John, wrapping both hands around the shaft of the arrow.

There are three arrows just like this in his hut somewhere. The three that arrived in Henrich's chest.

He pulls, knowing it's going to hurt, but he pulls until he feels the arrow give, then come free of John's shoulder altogether. "Now," he says. "Put pressure on it now."