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p_r_i_s_c_a2019-11-27 12:18 am
prisca) wrote in p_r_i_s_c_a2019-11-27 12:18 am
Reboot Universe (AU / crossover Faculty/Jeremiah) - written for Livejournal - Part 4
Title: The Chevrolet Blazer (Reboot Part 4)
Characters: Casey Connor, Zeke Tyler
Wordcount: 2299
finished: 2013
It was a starry and warm night when Casey sneaked out of the hotel. Deep inside he felt lousy, but there was no way that he changed his mind again. He had tried it for weeks; had tried desperately to settle down and to move on. Like most of them did. Everyone had to face hard losses, to fight with nightmares and fears. But all of them strove for one goal: they wanted to survive. Last weekend they even did celebrate a birthday, Jamie's, though no one knew where or when he was born.
“It was cold outside,” one morning Jamie had told Stokely. Finally he started to talk again, at least now and then.
“And my Mom always made me a cake.”
That night Stokes tried her hand at baking. The result was not perfect, but the cake made Jamie laugh. For the first time since he did show up at the Marriott Hotel. Yes, life started to go back to normal for most of them, despite the circumstances.
Casey had tried to believe that one day also he would be able to leave his memories behind. At least now and then. He liked it to be here at the hotel. For the first time in his life he had real friends who cared about him. More than his parents had ever done. Of course, they had done what they thought was best for him. But Casey had always known that he was one big disappointment for both of them with his all dreams of art and classic novels they couldn't understand.
He did spend a lot of time together with Delilah and little Greta lately. The baby was like a burst of sunshine, babbling her first words, laughing most of the day. She didn't know anything about the old world, about aliens, the Big Death and the loss of her parents. Her little world was still perfect. And Casey always felt better together with her.
But then, when he finally started to hope that also for him the nightmares would end one day, a stranger changed everything. A mysterious guy with even more mysterious prophecies. He didn't even know his name. One day he did show up at the hotel's door, and he looked so worn out that Casey had felt pity.
Now sometimes he wished he would have listened to Zeke and hadn't let him stay. But would this have been possible? He could still remember what the guy had told him: You can't escape your fate. Maybe he had been right. And there had never been a fair chance for Casey. As hard as he had tried to ignore the message, deep inside he knew what he had to do.
He needed to leave the hotel, his friends, even Zeke. Worst of all: without any goodbye. He couldn't risk it that anyone did find out about his plans before he wasn't far away. Casey could remember all too well how Zeke had threatened one day to lock him up in his room if he didn't stop thinking about this guy.
“He was a crazy freak,” he had told him. “But he's gone, and he better will never come back. Forget him!”
“He knew about MaryBeth,” Casey had protested. “No one outside of Herrington knows what truly is happened that night.”
“The world can change, people don't. They love to talk shit. During my trips to Columbus and elsewhere I hear a lot of rumors. He doesn't know more than others do, Case, and he builds up his own stories.”
“But he was damned close to the truth, don't you think so?”
"We don't need to talk about this any longer, okay? You won't leave Herrington, trying to find a place that most likely doesn't even exist. That's a suicide mission, and I won't let it happen that you risk your life for this bullshit. Get that? I will always find a way to stop you."
This had been more than two weeks ago. Casey had tried to play along and pretend that he had finally accepted it. But he knew it was not that easy to fool Zeke. He always kept an eye on him. After Casey had finally made a decision and to his own surprise the nightmares started to fade away, Zeke had asked him: 'No bad dreams tonight?' and he had looked suspicious as if he knew that something was going on.
Casey had forced a smile onto his face. “I'm fine,” he had assured him. “Seems like I start to get over it. It's time to look forward, isn't it?”
But secretly he had made his plans. Studied the maps he had found in the library of the hotel. Hoarded as much food from the kitchen as possible. Packed a backpack with warm clothes, a blanket and other useful items. Cigarettes and whiskey for trading into infos about his unknown destination. Sometimes he felt the urge to ask Zeke for help; he had never been on a camping trip with his dad or in a summer-camp and felt so unsure about what would await him on the roads. Zeke would know. But it was impossible to let him know about his plans because Zeke would never let him go.
In the end he wrote the letter, the hardest thing. Who could he explain why he did what he did when he himself wasn't sure about it? He followed his instincts, that was all. Like he had done it that night when he killed Mary Beth.
When he closed the envelope, he smiled sadly and wrote one last word: Marie. First he had planned to write Zeke, but failed miserably. Too many pathetic words. It did hurt too much to know, that he was not only had cheated on Zeke but probably would never see him again.
+++
Casey sighed slightly and threw a last look at the grave of his parents. The only goodbye he allowed himself. Zeke and Stan had buried their remains in the garden behind the house while he still had been without consciousness, fighting to return to life. The house, the garden, the pride and joy of his mom. All-day long she had made plans for planting flowers or setting up new vegetable beds. Now it was deserted already for months; the weed started to take over the garden, the wooden stairs of the porch had ended somewhere in a fire, two windows were broken, the curtains torn apart. Probably someone did sneak into the house, taking all he could need. There wouldn't be much left.
Casey didn't care. It didn't mean anything for him. After his recovery he did return into the house only once, to get some stuff from his room. The old camera, his grandpa had given him when he was about twelve years old. Some of his books. His PC he had spent most of his free time with and the horror videos he had to hide from his mom under the loose board in the closet were left behind. In a world without electricity he wouldn't need it.
In the last moment he had grabbed the picture from the mantelpiece in the living room. Christmas, two years ago, Casey with his parents, all of them smiling, hugging each other. He had never liked this pic; it was just a fake to show off a happy family they never were. Nevertheless, now it was carefully put away in his backpack, wrapped in one of his T-shirts. Together with the camera. Which was stupid, because he would probably never again take pictures or develop a film. Ballast he actually couldn't afford, but he not the heart to leave it behind.
When he looked up, he noticed that it was time to go. It would start to dawn soon enough, and he wanted to be a fair way off when the others at the hotel would wake up. As soon as Marie found the letter, she would tell the others. Zeke would curse and start to follow him. That was sure.
“Hey, you're early up today.”
He flinched and jerked around. No, no, no! He stared at Zeke, who was leaning against a tree near the house. This couldn't be. He had been so careful; had even left behind some wrong clues about the direction he planned to take. It couldn't be that everything had been in vain.
"Zeke. What are you doing here?"
"Thought, you could need some company on your early morning walk."
Casey swallowed and tried to put on his best stubborn face.
“No, I don't,” he snapped. “Stop making such a fuss. You squeeze all the breath out of me. Just give me some room, geez.”
Zeke flinched visibly. “Sorry,” he said in a low voice. “But I can't stay out of it when you are going to make a big mistake.”
Casey breathed in deeply to keep his feelings under control.
“It's a mistake that I need some time for myself," he asked. "I know, you care; everyone cares. But sometimes it's just too much."
"Okay." Zeke nodded. “I get that. So you want me to leave you alone?”
“Yeah. Only... only for a moment, please. For breakfast, I will be back."
Zeke kept quiet for a long while, finally he sighed. "You never was a good liar.
Do you think I'm that blind, Casey? The food you took from the kitchen. The backpack you tried to hide in the utility room. Last night when you put Greta to bed. It was not a good-night-kiss, it was a goodbye."
Casey squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "I wanted to tell you. But I knew you would never let me go. And I need to go. Find out if there is some truth in this message.
A lot of what he said is true. I did kill MaryBeth. So, I guess you can say that I caused the Big Death. Even if the plan was another one."
“You are the most stubborn shit I've ever met,” Zeke said. "Do you even know where to go? Thunder Mountain, never heard about this before.”
A memory made Casey smile.“It's an attraction at Disneyland. Stan says it scares the shit out of you.”
“Huh?” Zeke frowned.“You want to go to Cali?”
No!” Casey shook his head. "I am sure, it's something different. A town, a place, maybe a real mountain. I plan to go northwards at first; if I am lucky, I will meet someone who can tell me more."
"Why to the north?"
"I don't know," Casey admitted. "It's... like a feeling."
“Oh. You already start talking shit like he does,” Zeke snarled. "How can you expect that I let you do this all alone? Obviously someone needs to have an eye on you. So, get your stuff together, and let's split, before I change my mind."
Casey frowned. “What do you mean?"
Zeke smiled slightly. "Don't get it wrong; I still think it's a stupid idea to leave Herrington behind. The world out there is a madhouse. But I guess, I could try to imprison you, you would never stop looking for a way to escape. So..."
Zeke fell silent and pointed at a car at the roadside. It seemed to be in a pretty good state; not broken up, cleared out, a shelter for all kinds of animals, like most of the cars nowadays. In a world without energy, without working gas stations, most technical equipment was not more than useless relicts from past times.
"A Chevrolet Blazer. Not as cool as the good old GTO, but quite okay and enough room for a lot of stuff.”
“It's yours?” Casey blinked confused. "Does Gabe know?"
"Of course not. He would claim it for the hotel's carpool. But that's my baby."
"But where do you get the gas from? You can't take it from the hotel. We need it for the generator and the jeeps. It's pretty selfish to use it for your own pleasure."
“You are the saint, Casey, not me.” Zeke laughed. “Don't worry; the hotel always got what was needed. And I've made sure that this also won't change in the future. I've left Stokes a notice with some names. Good guys, I trust blind. And a plan where she will find an old barn with a hidden basement. There is still a lot of stuff left, cigarettes, whiskey, batteries. You can get whatever you want when you trade this in.”
Casey frowned. “What are you talking about, Zeke?”
“Someone needs to keep things running when I'm gone. Gabe is doing a good job as a leader. But when it comes to business, he's a hopeless case. Stokes is smart; it won't be easy to rip her off. And Stan will keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't risk too much.”
Casey's heart beat faster. "You... you will leave Herrington?"
"If I can't convince you to stay, yes. No way that you will do this all alone." Zeke shrugged. “And to be honest, it's a good reason to go. Too many bad memories about a shitty childhood; later I pulled a lot of shit. The Mariott is a shelter in a chaotic world, but I am still looking for my place in life.”
Casey's thoughts were racing. The thought to go on his trip into an unknown future together with Zeke was tempting. But wasn't this pretty selfish? "Your place is at the hotel. At least until things are back to normal again and they don't need you anymore."
"It's all up to you. We can either both go back to the Marriott, or we get into the Blazer now and see where the road will take us."
Characters: Casey Connor, Zeke Tyler
Wordcount: 2299
finished: 2013
It was a starry and warm night when Casey sneaked out of the hotel. Deep inside he felt lousy, but there was no way that he changed his mind again. He had tried it for weeks; had tried desperately to settle down and to move on. Like most of them did. Everyone had to face hard losses, to fight with nightmares and fears. But all of them strove for one goal: they wanted to survive. Last weekend they even did celebrate a birthday, Jamie's, though no one knew where or when he was born.
“It was cold outside,” one morning Jamie had told Stokely. Finally he started to talk again, at least now and then.
“And my Mom always made me a cake.”
That night Stokes tried her hand at baking. The result was not perfect, but the cake made Jamie laugh. For the first time since he did show up at the Marriott Hotel. Yes, life started to go back to normal for most of them, despite the circumstances.
Casey had tried to believe that one day also he would be able to leave his memories behind. At least now and then. He liked it to be here at the hotel. For the first time in his life he had real friends who cared about him. More than his parents had ever done. Of course, they had done what they thought was best for him. But Casey had always known that he was one big disappointment for both of them with his all dreams of art and classic novels they couldn't understand.
He did spend a lot of time together with Delilah and little Greta lately. The baby was like a burst of sunshine, babbling her first words, laughing most of the day. She didn't know anything about the old world, about aliens, the Big Death and the loss of her parents. Her little world was still perfect. And Casey always felt better together with her.
But then, when he finally started to hope that also for him the nightmares would end one day, a stranger changed everything. A mysterious guy with even more mysterious prophecies. He didn't even know his name. One day he did show up at the hotel's door, and he looked so worn out that Casey had felt pity.
Now sometimes he wished he would have listened to Zeke and hadn't let him stay. But would this have been possible? He could still remember what the guy had told him: You can't escape your fate. Maybe he had been right. And there had never been a fair chance for Casey. As hard as he had tried to ignore the message, deep inside he knew what he had to do.
He needed to leave the hotel, his friends, even Zeke. Worst of all: without any goodbye. He couldn't risk it that anyone did find out about his plans before he wasn't far away. Casey could remember all too well how Zeke had threatened one day to lock him up in his room if he didn't stop thinking about this guy.
“He was a crazy freak,” he had told him. “But he's gone, and he better will never come back. Forget him!”
“He knew about MaryBeth,” Casey had protested. “No one outside of Herrington knows what truly is happened that night.”
“The world can change, people don't. They love to talk shit. During my trips to Columbus and elsewhere I hear a lot of rumors. He doesn't know more than others do, Case, and he builds up his own stories.”
“But he was damned close to the truth, don't you think so?”
"We don't need to talk about this any longer, okay? You won't leave Herrington, trying to find a place that most likely doesn't even exist. That's a suicide mission, and I won't let it happen that you risk your life for this bullshit. Get that? I will always find a way to stop you."
This had been more than two weeks ago. Casey had tried to play along and pretend that he had finally accepted it. But he knew it was not that easy to fool Zeke. He always kept an eye on him. After Casey had finally made a decision and to his own surprise the nightmares started to fade away, Zeke had asked him: 'No bad dreams tonight?' and he had looked suspicious as if he knew that something was going on.
Casey had forced a smile onto his face. “I'm fine,” he had assured him. “Seems like I start to get over it. It's time to look forward, isn't it?”
But secretly he had made his plans. Studied the maps he had found in the library of the hotel. Hoarded as much food from the kitchen as possible. Packed a backpack with warm clothes, a blanket and other useful items. Cigarettes and whiskey for trading into infos about his unknown destination. Sometimes he felt the urge to ask Zeke for help; he had never been on a camping trip with his dad or in a summer-camp and felt so unsure about what would await him on the roads. Zeke would know. But it was impossible to let him know about his plans because Zeke would never let him go.
In the end he wrote the letter, the hardest thing. Who could he explain why he did what he did when he himself wasn't sure about it? He followed his instincts, that was all. Like he had done it that night when he killed Mary Beth.
When he closed the envelope, he smiled sadly and wrote one last word: Marie. First he had planned to write Zeke, but failed miserably. Too many pathetic words. It did hurt too much to know, that he was not only had cheated on Zeke but probably would never see him again.
+++
Casey sighed slightly and threw a last look at the grave of his parents. The only goodbye he allowed himself. Zeke and Stan had buried their remains in the garden behind the house while he still had been without consciousness, fighting to return to life. The house, the garden, the pride and joy of his mom. All-day long she had made plans for planting flowers or setting up new vegetable beds. Now it was deserted already for months; the weed started to take over the garden, the wooden stairs of the porch had ended somewhere in a fire, two windows were broken, the curtains torn apart. Probably someone did sneak into the house, taking all he could need. There wouldn't be much left.
Casey didn't care. It didn't mean anything for him. After his recovery he did return into the house only once, to get some stuff from his room. The old camera, his grandpa had given him when he was about twelve years old. Some of his books. His PC he had spent most of his free time with and the horror videos he had to hide from his mom under the loose board in the closet were left behind. In a world without electricity he wouldn't need it.
In the last moment he had grabbed the picture from the mantelpiece in the living room. Christmas, two years ago, Casey with his parents, all of them smiling, hugging each other. He had never liked this pic; it was just a fake to show off a happy family they never were. Nevertheless, now it was carefully put away in his backpack, wrapped in one of his T-shirts. Together with the camera. Which was stupid, because he would probably never again take pictures or develop a film. Ballast he actually couldn't afford, but he not the heart to leave it behind.
When he looked up, he noticed that it was time to go. It would start to dawn soon enough, and he wanted to be a fair way off when the others at the hotel would wake up. As soon as Marie found the letter, she would tell the others. Zeke would curse and start to follow him. That was sure.
“Hey, you're early up today.”
He flinched and jerked around. No, no, no! He stared at Zeke, who was leaning against a tree near the house. This couldn't be. He had been so careful; had even left behind some wrong clues about the direction he planned to take. It couldn't be that everything had been in vain.
"Zeke. What are you doing here?"
"Thought, you could need some company on your early morning walk."
Casey swallowed and tried to put on his best stubborn face.
“No, I don't,” he snapped. “Stop making such a fuss. You squeeze all the breath out of me. Just give me some room, geez.”
Zeke flinched visibly. “Sorry,” he said in a low voice. “But I can't stay out of it when you are going to make a big mistake.”
Casey breathed in deeply to keep his feelings under control.
“It's a mistake that I need some time for myself," he asked. "I know, you care; everyone cares. But sometimes it's just too much."
"Okay." Zeke nodded. “I get that. So you want me to leave you alone?”
“Yeah. Only... only for a moment, please. For breakfast, I will be back."
Zeke kept quiet for a long while, finally he sighed. "You never was a good liar.
Do you think I'm that blind, Casey? The food you took from the kitchen. The backpack you tried to hide in the utility room. Last night when you put Greta to bed. It was not a good-night-kiss, it was a goodbye."
Casey squeezed his eyes shut, but he couldn't hold back his tears any longer. "I wanted to tell you. But I knew you would never let me go. And I need to go. Find out if there is some truth in this message.
A lot of what he said is true. I did kill MaryBeth. So, I guess you can say that I caused the Big Death. Even if the plan was another one."
“You are the most stubborn shit I've ever met,” Zeke said. "Do you even know where to go? Thunder Mountain, never heard about this before.”
A memory made Casey smile.“It's an attraction at Disneyland. Stan says it scares the shit out of you.”
“Huh?” Zeke frowned.“You want to go to Cali?”
No!” Casey shook his head. "I am sure, it's something different. A town, a place, maybe a real mountain. I plan to go northwards at first; if I am lucky, I will meet someone who can tell me more."
"Why to the north?"
"I don't know," Casey admitted. "It's... like a feeling."
“Oh. You already start talking shit like he does,” Zeke snarled. "How can you expect that I let you do this all alone? Obviously someone needs to have an eye on you. So, get your stuff together, and let's split, before I change my mind."
Casey frowned. “What do you mean?"
Zeke smiled slightly. "Don't get it wrong; I still think it's a stupid idea to leave Herrington behind. The world out there is a madhouse. But I guess, I could try to imprison you, you would never stop looking for a way to escape. So..."
Zeke fell silent and pointed at a car at the roadside. It seemed to be in a pretty good state; not broken up, cleared out, a shelter for all kinds of animals, like most of the cars nowadays. In a world without energy, without working gas stations, most technical equipment was not more than useless relicts from past times.
"A Chevrolet Blazer. Not as cool as the good old GTO, but quite okay and enough room for a lot of stuff.”
“It's yours?” Casey blinked confused. "Does Gabe know?"
"Of course not. He would claim it for the hotel's carpool. But that's my baby."
"But where do you get the gas from? You can't take it from the hotel. We need it for the generator and the jeeps. It's pretty selfish to use it for your own pleasure."
“You are the saint, Casey, not me.” Zeke laughed. “Don't worry; the hotel always got what was needed. And I've made sure that this also won't change in the future. I've left Stokes a notice with some names. Good guys, I trust blind. And a plan where she will find an old barn with a hidden basement. There is still a lot of stuff left, cigarettes, whiskey, batteries. You can get whatever you want when you trade this in.”
Casey frowned. “What are you talking about, Zeke?”
“Someone needs to keep things running when I'm gone. Gabe is doing a good job as a leader. But when it comes to business, he's a hopeless case. Stokes is smart; it won't be easy to rip her off. And Stan will keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn't risk too much.”
Casey's heart beat faster. "You... you will leave Herrington?"
"If I can't convince you to stay, yes. No way that you will do this all alone." Zeke shrugged. “And to be honest, it's a good reason to go. Too many bad memories about a shitty childhood; later I pulled a lot of shit. The Mariott is a shelter in a chaotic world, but I am still looking for my place in life.”
Casey's thoughts were racing. The thought to go on his trip into an unknown future together with Zeke was tempting. But wasn't this pretty selfish? "Your place is at the hotel. At least until things are back to normal again and they don't need you anymore."
"It's all up to you. We can either both go back to the Marriott, or we get into the Blazer now and see where the road will take us."