prisca: (faculty - the boys violet)
[personal profile] prisca posting in [community profile] p_r_i_s_c_a
Title: The Train Depot
Character: Casey Connor, Zeke Tyler
Rating: R
Word Count: 708
Finished December 2015

Note: This a stand-alone snippet, taking place in my Reboot Universe (crossover The Faculty - Jeremiah TV)

:::

Zeke woke up and pulled the blanket tighter around his body. The storm had finally started to die away, but it was much too early to think about moving on. He would need at least a glimpse of daylight to find a way through the muddy, branch-covered roads. It was better to stay here for the following hours.

They had been lucky to find this deserted depot. Old, long-abandoned trains were everywhere, emptied, with broken windows and ripped-out doors. The depot was overgrown with grass and brushwood. But there was this small cabin. For whatever reason, it had outlived the years and offered more safety than any other place.

He turned around and wanted to pull Casey closer to warm him even more. And he felt his body trembling.

"Case?"

A scarcely audible sobbing was the answer. Zeke frowned and grabbed for the old flashlight at his side. The battery was almost empty, but the weak light beam fell on Casey, curled up, with his arms around his knees and shoulders shaking. Sometimes, he did wake up crying, gasping for air, full of panic, when a nightmare tormented him, but this was different.

"Hey."
Carefully, Zeke touched his shoulder. Casey stiffened, but he didn't shake him off.
"What's going on? One of these dreams again?"

Casey gasped once again, and Zeke was almost surprised when he answered.
"It's this place."
A whisper, barely to understand.

"I see. A bit spooky, huh? But it's just an abandoned train depot. Nothing dangerous."

Well, at least not more dangerous than any other place. Life in the new world wasn't a safe one. The safest place he could imagine was the Marriot Hotel in Herrington, where they had been living together with some others after a virus caused by the death of a stupid alien had turned the world around. But they had left this sanctuary and been on the road for months now, looking for a place whose existence Zeke still doubted. Casey, though, wasn't willing to give up, and he would be by his side as long as needed, no question.

Zeke could feel Casey relaxing a bit while he shook his head.
"It's a great place. Almost alive, as if it wants to tell stories about long gone times."

"Oh!"
He hated it when Casey talked like this. Ages ago, he would have laughed and called him a geek. Now, it gave him the creeps to think that Casey might one day lose his mind, immersed in a world where he couldn't follow him.

Casey turned around and looked at him.
"I came back here with my camera. Someone needs to capture the atmosphere of this place before it disappears. These were the best pictures I've ever taken. Mr. Brown ... Mr. Brown told me to use them for my college application."
He paused as if he needed to think about his own words.
"It was just a dream, wasn't it?"

Zeke pulled him into his arms and nodded.
"Yeah, just a dream."

"Okay."
It didn't last long that he put his head onto Zeke's shoulder and started to doze off.
"Sometimes I wish I could turn back time."

+++

Over the next few hours, Zeke held him in his arms, feeling his warmth and calm, quiet breathing. With Casey's words still in his head, sleep was out of the question.

Sometimes, I wish I could turn back time.

Back to the hell of High-school, where the jocks would bully him day in - day out. College, New York, Boston, LA. Far away from the small-mindedness in Ohio, he would finally be able to find himself. And of course, one day he would be a famous photographer, with exhibitions worldwide. Zeke didn't doubt that, even for a moment.

He felt terrible at the thought that he was glad to know all this would never happen. Casey would have made his way into the old world, and Zeke would have been left behind in Ohio, trapped in an illusory world he had built up to fight loneliness and boredom.

Gently, he put his lips on Casey's forehead and whispered: "I love you."

And the boy in his arms smiled and snuggled even closer to him.
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