#wxshingtcns

[wxshingtcns]

highly selective/mutuals only roleplay blog for canon characters HANNAH WASHINGTON and BETH WASHINGTON from UNTIL DAWN.

carrd | rules | verses

[mountaindmned]

hc+ i can't sum this up in one word but could you talk about what happened to Jack's right eye (i think it's that one?- the one that's very clearly cloudy and blind) [ @wxshingtcns ]

-- Hannah had a new pair of glasses, paid for by the flame scar on her arm. (bloody, shaking after her first kill, Jack had given her a bit of leather and taken his knife out, here bite down on this)

"What's the..." Her bandaged arm gestured to her right eye. Her eyes sparked in the fireplace glow. (They'd moved into the cabin this winter, she hadn't asked about the bunk beds yet...)

Jack barked out a small laugh. He sipped his whisky.

"Same as every other scar. I saved someone."

---

They'd settled into a routine, the Fiddlers and the Greers. Gramps would pretend he didn't know about the kids sneaking down the mountain in Sky's truck. The kids would all pile into Kira and Matthew's bedrooms. The boys all clustered on Matthews floor like, well, a pack of dogs.

Jack woke to a tree limb snapping. The weight of responsibility settled back in his shoulders. The oldest, he and Hawk cursed by being blood tied to the first of the Mad Dogs.

Hawk has heard it too. They whistled across the house:

prey?

yes.

Jack shook Sky awake. The rest of the pack all stirred. Immediately awake, deadly silent. They moved to the door -- Sky would wake up the Greer parents. Bluebird would get the pack back outside, pass out shotguns.

Gramps had told them, if they were going to go down the mountain so often, they had to be ready. So they'd planned it all out. Entrances, edits, the "I'm sorry but the legends are not only true but they're banging on the screen door" speech to Jessica and Sarah.

Jack scrambled to the bed where Matthew slept. Put a hand over Matthew's mouth. Woke him up.

Matthew nodded and sat up.

"Go get Kira and run towards the truck." He whispered. Kissed Matthew's hand.

--

Sarah refused to run. She was no stranger to war, to a scrap with low odds. She'd racked her shotgun and joined the teens all in the backyard. Jessica sat in the driver's seat of the truck, ready to flee.

The forest glowed uranium green, Madhee was a black scar against the sky.

"Steady!" Hawk called.

The trees rattled with a death howl.

Jack stood to the side with a burning stick. Held it over a wet patch in the grass.

Hawk shut her eyes. Tilted her face up towards the wind. Prayed the winds would blow in their favor tonight. Her hair whipped around her face.

The trees shook again. Closer. Closer.

Jack adjusted his grip on the stick.

The artillery line all inhaled and exhaled as one. Fingers flexed around seven shotgun barrels.

The creature crept closer. It's skeletal glow, it's quick jerking movements. It stepped into the backyard, short work of the chain link fence.

It crept up towards Jack. A screech towards the sky. Jack held his breath. Hawk glanced back at Sarah, made sure she was still.

Closer. Closer. Jack stayed relaxed-- that was the truck, it was easier to stay still if you relaxed. Most people tensed, muscles screaming and complaining.

It stepped into the large pool of gasoline. It was close enough, Jack could feel the tingle of radiation off his skin. His orange eyes reflected back the green glow, turning a deathly grey.

Hawk whistled. It cut through the night. Clear and sharp.

Jack dropped the stick into the gasoline. The guns exploded. Flames and noise and screeching--

Pain in his right eye. Warm blood dripping out. The truck roared to life and the creature turned towards the bright white lights.

Hawk led the gunmen to defend the truck. A few strides to the left, situated between the truck and the prey.

Jack knelt in the grass, tried to push away the panic at the new sensation. His eye was moving but it was dripping, oozing down his cheek. Couldn't see out of it.

Everyone was in trouble. Damn his eye. He pushed himself to his feet and ran for the truck.

Matthew and Kira stared at him as Jessica backed out of the drive. A dreadful thought: was this goodbye?

No more horror movies, no more pies, no more lake trips--

The creature leapt on the truck, snarling and hissing. The three Greers all crouched under the seats as gunshots rang out and claws cracked the glass.

Matthew, Matthew, Matthew--

No time for sentimentality. Jack leapt at the prey. The pine-tar torch was still lit. Hawk nodded. Ran forward and clasped her hands against her knee.

Jack leapt and Hawk lifted him into the air. Jack gripped the creature around the neck. Jammed the torch into the prey's eye as FUCKING PAYBACK!

The pack all whooped. The creature screamed. It staggered and slowly fell against the front hood. Jack kicked off. Bluebird and Hawk helped him as he stumbled off the tailgate of the truck.

Everything froze for a while. A few heartbeats. Making sure it was actually dead.

The green glow faded. The flames crackled in the grass.

Jack opened the truck door.

Matthew clung to Jack's Carhartt with shaking hand, the other hand gripping Kira tight to his chest to protect her.

Jessica was--

Kira was covered in her blood.

Matthew howled.

Sarah screamed and Hawk had to wrestle the gun away, keep her from shooting the pack. She went down with a thud as three feral teens clawed at her and gently, oh so carefully, lowered her onto the grass. Hawk held both guns and Sky checked her pulse.

Jack stood there, numb. "I'm sorry for your loss." He heard himself say it like Gramps did. Worn and tired. Only half meaning it. He wished he meant it more, Jessica was his family too. But he was coming off a hunt, his face felt wrong. He didn't have energy for any of this emotional bullshit.

He's tear his hair out over it later.

Matthew looked up at him in horror and revulsion and shock. Kira was wide eyed but dead to the world, shaking in Matthews grip.

Jack turned his head as Hawk whistled his name, felt his eyeball slap against his cheek. He squeezed his throat shut against the bile as he went on autopilot, squished it back into the socket.

--

In the present, Jack looked at the fire. Looked back at Hannah. She was obviously expecting a story. He took another sip of whiskey.

"You know. Just some hiker that didn't listen." He shrugged. Pursed his lips. "Nothing special."

He stretched, settled into the chair. "I got a friend down the mountain. Matthew. We should go visit him sometime soon."

[mountaindmned]

@cataschism / @wxshingtcns

[mountaindmned]

@wxshingtcns

-- HE SHOULD HAVE reached over, leaned farther. Maybe he would have caught her hand. Could have saved them. Makkiptew scurried off as Jack wasted precious seconds in shock. The faded scream, the crunch of bones as the pair plummeted.

Could hear the old man roaring at them all not to hesitate, not to mourn. Every second up here was vital, every step on the ice had to be both calculated and reflexive.

Jack grunted as he knelt to put on his crampons, grabbed his ice pick. Didn't have his rappel gear. Didn't have time. In this storm,  he'd have to get them before they froze to death or before the corpses were buried by snow.

He hovered over the cliff edge. Hesitated in a moment were seconds were vital.

Well. No. He could do nothing. It was S&R's problem now, if these rich parents bothered. Maybe they'd just make more. A write-off to letting these kids wander around drunk and unsupervised.

Natural consequences.

But he hadn't killed enough of them yet. It was the prey that had done this. Prey he'd failed to kill.

These girls blood was on his hands. No choice but to fix it. Even if they were just frozen corpses by now.

He made his way down the cliff face. The wind bit through his kerchief. Tried to keep his ears pricked for any howling: human or otherwise.