Dark Fever

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Gabriel didn't take offense at her tone. He knew she was uncertain because she didn't know what he did. She hadn't talked to the cat, hadn't sensed and heard the truth in her so all Cassandra had to go on was his word and they didn't know each other even if they'd chosen to travel together and he.....didn't exactly have the best track record of being reliable. Gabriel understand that, too, so he said nothing, only nodding as he continued to lead them.

It was nearly three hours later as the sky was getting darker that he finally stopped and tilted his head, sniffing deeply, eyes narrowed in slightly confusion as the scent of the cougar seemed to almost....well, not disappear, but become fainter. He looked around carefully, trying to find it again and blinked in surprise to see the slight shadow of a crack in the rocks above their heads. He couldn't help but chuckle and looked at Cassandra with some wry mirth.

"Care for another climb?"

It would seem that the 'house' was actually another cave that smelled enough like human that the cougar had mistaken it for such. Only, this cave was narrower, concealed carefully.
 
Cassandra looked up as well and spotted the crack in the rocks. She smiled, "This will be easy. Any climb is easy compared to climbing in the rain during a storm." Without hesitation, she gripped onto the ledge of a rock above her and started scaling up the side. The incoming darkness from night seemed to sharpen her vision and she found it easy to find suitable ledges and footing to climb quickly.

Occasionally, she would glance down at Gabriel to make sure he was okay and when she finally pulled herself up into the cave's entrance, she turned around and held out her hand to help him up as well, as he had done for her the day before.
 
Gabriel hated he dark. With a passion. It slowed him down in a way nothing but his memory loss could do and he disliked that greatly. Still, he worked his way up the rock without too much difficulty and he accepted Cassandra's hand when she gave it, smiling gratefully as his side was beginning to protest greatly his activities and he hadn't really fully recovered from that bloodloss yesterday even if he could function. What he really needed was food, water and more sleep.

And they'd find that here, he was sure of it. He and Cassandra went into the cave together and Gabriel smelled the scent of cougar in the place, but also....oil? He followed the smell and came to a lamp and a box of untouched matches beside it. Smiling at the luck of it, he struck the match and lit the oil-lamp, holding it up so they could see what they were dealing with - though, Cassandra wouldn't actually need it. He did, though.

What the light illuminated was....well, a mess at first. Whatever had happened here, it hadn't been pleasant and then the cougar's attempt at finding something had not been helpful either. Shelves that had used to line the rock walls were eschew and falling everywhere. Blankets were shredded and scattered, and other various objects littered the cave floor. What was relatively untouched, though, was the cans of food all over the cave. Gabriel picked one of them up with curiosity and after sounding out the label carefully he smiled. Baked beans.

His dark amber eyes went to Cassandra and he spoke quietly, as if the peace of this place would be desecrated if he spoke louder. He had crouched again and was looking at the ground, his eyes sharp and quick in the light provided. "Agents. See, they didn't touch the food. Whoever lived here was an infected."
 
Cassandra looked around the room in wonder. If she had thought finding the deer was a jackpot, she didn't even know how to describe the fortunate of finding this place. It did bother her that the cave was only available because an infected met a horrible fate, but in fairness, the cougar might have killed the infected if the agents had never come. Death was common in the wasteland and Cassandra accepted that - though she found it hard to rejoice, even if the result benefited her.

"Go ahead and eat. I'll join you in a few minutes."

She began to search around the room, collecting and piling the cans together, while also searching for any weapon or supplies that she could take for future use. Cassandra's stomach growled in protest but she ignored it. There was plenty of food and she would be able to eat to her fill tonight - something that never seemed to happen anymore.
 
Gabriel nodded at her words, but while he knew he should get started on the food, he found his curiosity getting the better of him for reasons he didn't really understand. He walked around the cave slowly, eyes scanning everything, reading the tale the remains could tell him. His nose could tell him nothing about this place anymore. The scents were long-faded and his ears were useless as the only sound was Cassandra's breathing and rummaging.

This place, though, it spoke to him anyway and he found himself crouching suddenly, his hands running over the stone of the cave floor until he found a crack. Whether it was instinct or a skill he'd forgotten, Gabriel didn't know, but something told him that he'd discovered a thing the agents had not. He frowned, his fingers digging into the stone as he slowly lifted it and a harsh grating sound filled the cave.

Whoever had lived here, they'd been a controller of earth, that was obvious as he looked down into the perfectly square pit and the carved stairs leading down into the rock. Gabriel didn't move, only staring at the maw of the darkness the steps led down into.
 
At the sound of the stone grating across the ground, Cassandra stopped searching and looked back at Gabriel in confusion. When she realized what had happened, she walked beside him and looked down at the steps as well. She could see past the darkness but she would need to descend down the steps to see what was at the bottom.

"…Wow. Do you think it is safe?" she asked, barely above a whisper. She cautiously stepped down a couple of the steps and peered into the darkness curiously. She stopped there however, wary to progress further without Gabriel there for backup. "If there is anything valuable in this place, I bet this is where it will be."
 
Gabriel didn't answer her right away and if she'd looked, she would have seen that his eyes were slightly hazed over, lost in a memory he couldn't quite grasp. Gunshots seemed to ring in his ears...a scream, shouting from above...his father's voice, his mother crying....darkness, stairs...

He came out of the faint memory with a jolt and blinked, looking down at Cassandra, seeing she'd gone down a few steps. He swallowed and nodded, reaching for the lamp. "I think it should be okay." he assured, nose working already. As they descended, though, he found the dust was thick and sneezed, ruining the silence and atmosphere entirely. Gabriel smiled then, relaxing as they reached the bottom of the stairs and it opened up into a large room, nearly as big as the one above their heads.

In the middle sat a table and on it....maps? Gabriel tilted his head, approaching it slowly and looking around even as he did. On the shelves down here was all kinds of survival gear. Clothes. More food. Weapons. More than enough for a group of people much less one or two! Gabriel found his fingers running over the map on the table and he looked at Cassandra with wide eyes. They'd stumbled on something big here....
 
Cassandra gasped when they entered the room. Her eyes scanned every corner as she circled the area, taking it all in. "Oh my god....what is this place?"

Cassandra's mind raced for solutions. She found it hard to believe that her earlier assumptions could still be correct; she doubted there had been only one infected living here - it was likely there were several. This also made her wonder what exactly happened on the floor above them. Did agents really drag away an infected like she had previously assumed? Whoever stayed here was very well prepared and she couldn't believe that with these resources, and a place to hide, that agents would have been able to capture anyone. It also begged the question: Were these resources truly abandoned or are there others that know about this place? In that case, they might not be as safe as they thought.

With that in mind, Cassandra took a nearby backpack and began to fill it with a variety of necessities, just in case their time was limited there. With her bag full, she went back over to Gabriel and looked at the maps on the table. "What's this?"
 
Gabriel had been studying the map for several minutes now, his fingers starting to tremble as they traced routes only his hand seemed to remember. His mind certainly didn't remember the paths, but it did remember something. His dark amber eyes looked up into Cassandra's in the dim light and there seemed to be a combination of fear and wonder on Gabriel's face. "I've...I've seen this before. This map." He looked back down at it, voice barely a whisper.

"I know it."

He needed to remember this. Whatever THIS was, he needed to remember it. He slid his backpack off his shoulder and set it on the table, taking out the notebook and handing it to Cassandra with an earnest expression. "Write it down, please. Everything in here. I need to...I need to remember this. I know this..."

His eyes scanned over the entire room again and it was like whispers of voices came to him, flashes of events too fast to catch and he closed his eyes, finger going to his temples as his head started to pound. "I've seen...something like this....underground...maps and charts...so many voices and...and welcome...safety..." Gabriel gasped as the memory evaporated and it took all his self control not to growl and throw something, feeling beyond frustrated. It was right there! Why couldn't he grasp it?!
 
Cassandra took the notebook quickly and flipped to the page that she had written on earlier. She put the notebook on the table and wrote everything that Gabriel had said until he was unable to remember anymore. Afterwards, she looked up at him with concern, knowing he was frustrated. "It's okay. Perhaps the memories will come back to you later," she said reassuringly. It frustrated her too though, that he was unable to remember. This haven of resources intrigued her and she really wanted to know who it belonged to and why.

Less hurried now, she began to write everything that she saw in the room, doing her best to be descriptive in case that helped Gabriel remember later. Afterwards, she closed the notebook and handed it back to him. "Here. Let's eat - maybe it will make your head feel better."
 
Gabriel had watched Cassandra write down everything her eyes landed on and though his head now pounded to the beat of his heart, he found himself feeling extremely grateful toward her. She was...extraordinary. He didn't know what it was or how to pinpoint it, but somehow he knew he'd never met anyone quite like her. She was beautiful and smart, resilient and yet this land had not made her any less compassionate and gentle. It was rare and he discovered that when she turned to face him, he was smiling softly at her.

When she made to hand the notebook back, he shook his head slowly. "No. Keep it with you." He didn't say anything more, but the amount of trust placed in even that simple gesture was profound among people now. He had faith in her and he was telling her that in the easiest way he could.

The blond looked back at the stairs at her words and then around them at the food in this place. His smile was slightly lopsided as he tilted his head. "Here or upstairs?"
 
Cassandra was startled at his request for her to keep the notebook. She wanted to ask if he was sure he entrusted her with it but she stopped herself. Gabriel knew what he was doing and he wouldn't have done it otherwise. Gratefully, she nodded and held the notebook close to her. He had put his trust in her and she was determined not to let him down.

She smiled at him appreciatively. "It's dusty down here. Let's eat upstairs." Cassandra grabbed her newly filled bag and started back up the stairs. Once upstairs again, she sat down on the ground next to the pile of cans she had assembled. She took one indiscriminately and opened it, her mouth watering at the thought of finally eating.
 
Gabriel followed Cassandra's example and opened a can without even looking at it. He had to chuckle, though, when the contents were revealed. Olives. Well, it was a start, but he would probably need something a bit more substantial than that... He smiled at the thought, popping one of the black things in his mouth before actually looking at the next can he opened. Tuna. Hmm... He shrugged slightly to himself, opening that, too.

As he and Cassandra ate in relative silence, enjoying having full stomachs for once, Gabriel's dark amber eyes looked around carefully at everything. The pain in his head had gone down a bit and he didn't want to trigger it again, but...well, he was just as curious as his dark-haired companion was. And this place....it seemed so familiar even as he knew he'd never been here before. He ate another olive and leaned back against the wall, his expression growing distant as his mind started to wander, to grow tired and therefore less focused. Gabriel would discover that in the days to come - and now that someone was helping him remember - his memories came to him more vividly (though with no pattern and not in any chronological order) in this state of mind than when he tried to force them.

Such was what happened now as he started to speak, not really even aware he was, just talking out loud in a distant way. "David always said having the supply bases this far out was dangerous. We couldn't send help or launch a rescue effort by the time we found out the agents had taken our contacts. The soldiers rarely find the supplies, though, so we'd go back to get that. I think this place belonged to Henry...or maybe Selena. They were the only two crazy enough to have a place this far out in the waste..."
 
When Gabriel started talking, Cassandra paused from eating and looked at him with confusion. As soon as she realized what was happening however, she put the can of food aside and she grabbed the notebook. She put it on her lap, flipped to her usual page, and began to write quickly to catch up to Gabriel's words. As she did, her mind began to grasp for answers. Gabriel had known other infected - several, apparently. He had mentioned a resistance group back in the cave. Had he been a part of one? If he had, why wasn't he with them now...? When Gabriel stopped, she looked up at him and tentatively asked a question, hoping it would trigger more memories and possible explanations.

"Who were David, Henry, and Selena?"

She wondered if pressuring him to dig for more memories would backfire and lead to a dead end, but she didn't want to let this string of information go without at least trying to see where it led.
 
Gabriel blinked at her and his dark amber eyes in the dim lighting were halfway between normal and cat-slit. It was as if his mind couldn't decide which state to stay in, which would be most helpful, and so it teetered in that precarious place between intelligent and wild as it remembered what had been so elusive to him earlier. The only difficulty was to keep him in this in-between space. It wasn't a stable state of mind as the balance could tip either way with just the wrong nudge.

"Are. Who are they." he corrected, watching her with an almost unblinking gaze, every movement she made followed. He was calm, though, relaxed and he answered her question in the same distant kind of way that he'd spoken in before.

"Henry and Selena are contacts. They supplied the groups that came through the wastes. David is the Leader of the Resistance, of the Infected."
 
Cassandra's eyes got wide as she listened to him. I was right. He was involved with the resistance. But again, why isn't he with them now? What happened that made him leave? No, don't inquire about him yet. It may be safer to ask about the others first.

"Where is David now?"

Cassandra wasn't sure why she asked. Even if he did know, what was she going to do? Pay the resistance leader a visit? Still, the thought of a group of infected fighting against what she assumed was the corrupted government - what else would they resist? - seemed to call to her and at the very least, she wanted to know more about it. She suddenly remembered that she should be writing this down so she quickly scribbled down what he had explained to her but as soon as she was done, she eagerly looked back up at him for his answer.
 
He looked at her for a long, silent minute and his eyes flickered, the cat-slits growing more apparent before they retreated completely and a hazed look came over his gaze. Gabriel hissed then, his hands coming up to cradle his head as a wave of pain engulfed him and he rocked slightly, trying to ease the fire that roared in his mind, consuming everything, the memories tinder for the burning. Despite it, though, he answered her, feeling like he had to. He had to tell her before it was gone again.

"I d-don't know. I don't kn-know wh-where my b-brother is. I d-don't know..."

Tears slipped down his face at the pain, at the grief of that last residue of memory had ignited and Gabriel curled in on himself, resting his forehead on his knees, his fingers gripped in his blond hair as he willed the pain to leave, to abate. It hadn't been this bad in a long time and there was a part of him that almost didn't even remember what he'd been saying before, why his head hurt so badly now.
 
Cassandra gasped and quickly put the notebook aside. She scooted close to Gabriel so that she was sitting directly in front of him. "Shhh, it's okay. The pain will go soon. Take a deep breath." Instinctively, she reached up and gently ran her hand along his arm and then soothingly combed her fingers through his hair. "Look up at me if you can. I'll help you." She knew she needed to bring him back to the present and take his mind off of the memories if the pain was to stop any time soon.

Even as she worked to help him though, Cassandra was stunned at what he had told her. His brother? David is his brother...? Her mind was already starting to race to conjure possible explanations but she forced her head to be quiet. Gabriel was in pain and it was only because he had worked to answer her question. With that in mind, she put aside her theory-making and focused on helping the male in front of her.
 
Gabriel shook with the pain, but it had started to grow less intense even before Cassandra touched his arm and by the time she started carding her fingers through his hair, the fires in his mind were slowly extinguishing. At her words, he looked up slowly and his eyes met her blue ones, bright to him even in the dimness of the cave-room. His own were fogged and wet, but as her fingers had not stopped their ministrations, he leaned into her touch instinctively, seeking comfort. His amber eyes closed slowly then and a deep sound that could only be described as a purr started to fill the small room, originating from deep in his chest.

It was a sound Gabriel had not really known he could make and it startled him a little so that he opened his eyes and moved his head back, his face flushing. He looked away from Cassandra, not sure if the warmth curling through him, relaxing him, was something that was okay.

"S-sorry.." He mumbled it, wincing as his abrupt movement from before caused his head to throb, protesting even that. If his mind could talk, it would have been cursing him for pushing it too far today. And Gabriel...well, he would have ignored it, just like he usually did.
 
Cassandra broke out into a wide smile as soon as Gabriel started purring and when he pulled away, she immediately realized she had loved hearing it and wanted to hear more. "Don't be sorry. Just relax." She reached for him again, this time more hesitantly though, and began to run her fingers through is hair again. She rationalized it by telling herself that she was doing it for his sake but deep down she enjoyed it too. Touching him made her calm and just as it seemed to help soothe his head, it also quieted hers from its constant worries and questions.

She continued to comb through his hair, stopping only briefly to wipe away his tears before continuing. "Think about the sound of my voice. Nothing else. The pain will subside. Just do your best to relax," she told him gently and she smiled at him reassuringly.
 
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