The Virus

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He arched a brow at the cutting remarks-- though he saw the playfulness in them. Besides, it wasn't like he had said something that wasn't true, which was why he grinned in response and let out a few chuckles-- though he wasn't going to push his hand away. He held onto it, rather liking the contact. He hadn't had someone hold his hand for months, not since his girlfriend, so he was going to savour the moment while it lasted.

"I dunno, I kept notepads in there. I used to sketch, when I got bored. I had weed in there, hidden right at the back-- it's probably still there, unless someone broke in and stole it. That happened a lot to me. It was mostly just food wrappers and gym clothes and just general junk," he admitted with an accepting shrug. "And hey, for the record, my room was never messy when my Mom was alive. She'd clean it up, like I said. It's all gone to shit since my brothers killed her, but... hey, I'd rather her be dead than a zombie. I only have good memories of her. They'd be sorta tainted if I had to watch her tearing some human apart, y'know?"
 
"Do you think she'd do the same to you? I mean, you're a zombie now, right? The exact reason your brothers, um... yeah...." he murmured, growing quiet almost immediately after. Before Frankie could reply, Elijah offered an awkward smile and sat up a tad.

"Hey, look. My parents are dead, I think. I mean, I haven't seen them in weeks, so they either abandoned me or died. We're both orphans now, huh? Orphans got to stick together. I mean, we've got your brothers, who are sort of like parents... hey, do you think we age? I mean, w-we're dead."
 
"Oh yeah, we gotta stick together and all that! For as long as you can put up with me and my brothers, at least. I... I'm sure we'll drive you away eventually, but until then, we can be buddies, definitely! And I'm pretty sure we don't age. We can't, right? We're pretty much alright, unless we get shot in the head, y'know? Or decapitated, or... A-Anyway, do we have to think about that?" He laughed, shifting himself up from the bed once deciding he'd settled the other in enough-- and the rumbling in his stomach was becoming too distracting to ignore a second longer.

"I'm still kinda hungry. Honestly, I eat way too much. My brothers said I used to eat dirt when I was a kid, and grass. I dunno if I believe them, 'cause my Mom would never have let me out of her sight long enough. Although, it makes sense. I was probably hungry enough to do something that dumb," he shrugged as he offered a nod to the door. "Do you wanna come downstairs with me? I... don't wanna leave you up here on your own."
 
"Why? Do you think some human is just going to climb through the window and shoot me in the head? I mean, I'm fine, plus what if your brothers just tease me again?" He murmured, though did reluctantly sit up a tad and glanced out the dusty window, down into the street where bodies were sprawled out. With a sharp inhale, he closed the curtains quickly and climbed off the bed.

"Hey, what do you do for fun? You're safe, and comfortable, so I imagine you do something? I know they sell those battery operated televisions and stuff, do you have one of those? Maybe there's a channel somewhere that plays cartoons or something..."
 
"We, uh... Well, not much, to be honest. We sort of sit around and talk, play board games now and then. My brothers are, like, terrified that we're gonna end up like those zombies from movies. Brain-dead and stuff, so they play board games to try and keep themselves active, though it's all useless. They haven't got any idea how to play chess; I don't either. We just move some of those figures about and, 'cause I'm the youngest, I always lose to their fucking made up rules," he spouted irritably, whilst making an effort to clear some of the dirty clothes from the floor of the room, just to show him he was listening and was prepared to do his best to clean up.

"We can get our hands on one of those TVs, right? You and I can do that. Then my brothers will beg us to watch, and we can say no and be all smug about it," he suddenly decided, grinning at the thought of having something over his brothers. "Hey, that's a great idea, Eli~"
 
"You don't know how to play chess? I would get mad and ask why you didn't join chess club, but I doubt any of you actually joined any club that wasn't a sport. I could teach you, I guess, but your brothers don't seem like they'd want to. I don't know them, but they look like the guys from school that would get angry if you tried to teach them something new. No offense. I... I need to stop talking. Let's just get that TV, huh?"

With a grunt, he took his time walking down the stairs with pursed lips. He was fully expecting the older men to be downstairs, ready to... who knows, beat him up? It was like a flashback to high school, and after the years of being pushed into lockers or forced into swirlies, he immediately was cautious around all burly men.
 
"I was part of the art club for a while. My Mom said it'd help me concentrate and tap into my creative side, and it was real fun for a few weeks, until my Dad found out and forced me out to join the soccer team," he shrugged, forcing a smile himself as he wandered down the stairs. Despite how it may appear, he wasn't that into sports. His brothers all clearly were, having devoted every spare moment to the sports teams they were a part of, but it had never been Frankie's main priority. He much preferred painting and being creative than running around on a field, but he didn't entirely have a choice in the matter. Even now, his brothers would tease him relentlessly if they even caught him trying to sketch something, which wasn't a bad thing. He would just get upset if he did try to sketch that it wasn't coming out right - his ability to focus and draw properly was hindered since becoming a zombie.

"Don't worry about my brothers, seriously. You're... like I said, you're liked by them, so... so hey, do you want something to drink? We have packets of blood stored up. My brother stole 'em from the hospital--"

"Here they are! That was quick, Frankie. I mean, if you did just have sex and that's as long as you can last, that's real sad," smiled Dean, the oldest brother sat in the living room and peeking his eyes up the moment he saw the youngest brother enter. "...Kidding, chill out. Did I scare you earlier, kid? Eli, right? I didn't mean to be an ass, we're just joking around."
 
Almost instantly did Elijah grow red - well, as red as a zombie could - and looked away in embarrassment. To be accused of something so dirty ewith someone he barely knew, it wasn't very surprising that he was petrified. He offered a nervous laugh in response, relying heavily on Frankie to be able to say something.

"Aw, the cute lovebirds going and messing around? How sweet. Maybe you two could get some weird zombie marriage, eh? It'll be so disgusting." Grunted Josiah, who was casually sprawled out on the couch with a soft yawn. "Are you going to go out again? Even with your weak boyfriend?"
 
"We didn't do anything," snapped Frankie, even if the quick dismissal only served to make him appear more guilty, which he was aware of and subsequently cursed to himself. He was quick to curse himself before anyone had a chance, and he often beat himself up verbally whenever he thought he'd done something utterly embarrassing. "We just talked, because we're friends and... and at least I have a friend, Josiah! Where are your friends? Dead, huh? Probably better off that way than suffering your company."

"Woah, don't be rude, Frankie," huffed Dean, albeit with a wide grin at the youngest's cutting retort. "Come sit down, you don't have to go out straight away, do 'ya? Rob's already gone out to fetch some blood from the shed, so have some of that before you go trekking off-- and if you do head on out, bring some damn food back with 'ya. You have another pair of hands, now-- and you ain't puny, Elijah. You're bound to be kinda strong, right?"
 
"Yeah-"

"Whoa, hold up. How fucking dare you bring up my friends, Frank. Yeah, my friends might be dead, but who did you have before this Eli guy, huh?" Josiah snapped, his accent growing more noticeable. "You don't know how it feels to have to fucking shoot your friend's brains out, huh? Keep on making fun of me, please. Meanwhile, I could break your friend's little neck with so much as a pull."

"I... I didn't mean to start all this trouble," whispered Elijah, only growing more guilty. After all, he was the reason the clearly tight family. "I, uh... we'll grab something, I promise.@
 
"You murdered my girlfriend in front of me! How... How is that fair?! And not to mention, Mom and Dad--"

"Your girlfriend, we apologise for. I ain't apologising for Mom or Dad. You knew there was a reason they had to... It was better for 'em. And we didn't make you get involved, Frankie, so quit using it against us-- Look, can we just take deep breaths, however useless they are now, and calm the fuck down? Seriously..."

"...Is this the boyfriend?" Mumbled Rob, the last of the four brothers making an appearance with his burly arms full of blood packets, hesitating at the head of the room once spotting his brother's friend. He didn't react teasingly, or jokingly to him, but offered a meek smile as he headed to pass out the packets to his brothers, eventually coming to Frankie and offering him -and Elijah- one as well. The one major difference about Rob was the fact he was far quieter than his older brothers, and Frankie too. He wasn't boisterous or loud, and despite his equally large stature, he was obviously rather gentle, both in demeanour and voice, barely operating louder than a whisper.

"Rob's nice," smiled Frankie to his new friend, knowing that, out of all his brothers, he could place trust in Rob to treat Elijah properly. "I mean... he was like a zombie before this whole thing happened. He's always been a bit slow, y'know? Probably all the weed he smoked got to him, that's what my Dad said."
 
"Slow? Well... I think he's nice." Elijah declared, while being able to resist from chugging down the blood long enough to observe its thickness, which caused his nose to scrunch up in disgust. With much reluctance, he tore open the bag nonetheless and took a gulp with a shiver.

"Logan said his friend used to work with medicine and stuff. He said that they were both working on a cure, but I dunno how I feel about it. They might find a cure, but what if it just makes us properly dead? That would suck, huh? I may hate what I am, but I don't want to be fully dead."
 
If there was one thing guaranteed to shut all brothers up, it was the sound of a potential cure. As much as they all genuinely liked being this way, surprisingly, none of them particularly wanted to stay like it. Society wasn't brilliant when people were zombies, and each and every one of them wanted things to go back to normal, for their own and for their collective agendas.

"...He's working on a cure?" Frankie finally blurted, biting his lip in anticipation. "...That's... pretty awesome. I-I mean, I'd love to be human again, wouldn't you? Hey, can I meet this Logan guy again? And his buddy, obviously. He's human, right?"

"Who the fuck's Logan? Why's he hanging out with humans?" Grumbled Dean, folding his arms over his chest. "...I want to meet these guys. If they're working on a cure, I'll gladly give what I can to help, definitely. We can always test the early attempts on Frankie, hm~?"
 
"I-I mean, I don't know why he's hanging out with a human, nor do I know how, but yeah. I-I don't know if we should just storm where they live claiming we'll help. I could talk to Logan, see what he says? I-I, um... I shouldn't have mentioned it," Elijah murmured, his cheeks pink shyly.

"Your boyfriend isn't telling lies, right? He's not just making up some bullshit to get on our good side?" Snapped the middle brother, his brows furrowing. "I don't want to show up and have a human put a bullet through my head. I'd be pissed."
 
"Fuck you. He isn't my boyfriend, I've told you that. Leave him alone," scowled Frankie as he made an effort to sit up a little, to block his brothers' view of Elijah, thinking that that would at least save him from some of Dean and Josiah's fierce glares. Smiling instead to counteract them, he couldn't exactly hide the excitement he was suddenly injected with. The idea that there was someone working on a cure was fucking brilliant... even if that person was a human.

"I'll come with you to see this guy, yeah? I won't hurt him, I swear. I'll... I'll even let this guy take samples of my skin or my hair or... or whatever he might need. If... If it works out, we can be human, and then everyone else can, and... and society can repair itself, so we'll be normal and... don't you realise how momentous this is?"
 
"It would be wonderful, yeah. I'm just... skeptical. I mean, what if he dies before he finds the cure? We need a living human to be able to compare, a-and this is a golden opportunity! There's just so many chances of error, you know?" He whispered, ignoring the snorts and grumbles from the brothers.

"I want everything to go back to normal, sure, but... at least there are some good things, right? If this didn't happen, we would never have been friends. What if we stop being friends when they find a cure?"
 
"That's dumb. I'm always gonna hang out with you, and you can still live here even if we become human again. I mean, I dunno if you've noticed, but I haven't got friends lining up around the corner to hang out with me. I never did, I've always just had my brothers," he admitted under his breath, just to prevent one of his brothers jumping in to call him a loser. Cracking his knuckles tiredly, despite the faint fear he'd snap off a finger or two (as was the constant concern now he was a zombie), he shot his new friend a comforting smile, going as far as to nudge his hip. "Relax~! This is... it's brill, right? If it doesn't work, no harm done, we'll just continue as we are."
 
"Brill?" He snorted, latching onto the small quirk to make him feel a little more relaxed. "I mean, I guess that's true, but are you sure you want to go and see this guy? I know Logan will keep us safe, and he seems to be a lot under control when it comes to his hunger, so... I have to think on the bright side!"

After the momentary internal struggle, he offered a meek smile before glancing over at the brothers briefly. With pursed lips, he shoved a hand in his pocket and carefully covered his face in embarrassment. "I'll probably scare this guy, won't I?"
 
"You? Scare him? As if! You're too cute, even as a zombie. If that human hangs around with that Logan guy, we're definitely not going to scare him, because Logan is pretty damn intimidating. He's really nice, I like him a lot, but on appearance only? He's definitely pretty threatening, so if he doesn't scare the human, you won't," reassured Frankie after a moment of consideration. He was well aware that no human wanted to be in a room with zombies, especially ones they didn't know, but he was certain he could control himself around, given how important the situation was. "...Hey, you know, Logan would probably scare my brothers. I'd totally like him to come around here soon, just so they know you have a friend who can, like, beat their asses."
 
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"Logan isn't violent," Elijah replied shyly, his face lighting a tad from the 'cute' comment. "He's really sweet, actually. He's been helping me out, you know? He found me a place to stay for awhile, and he made sure I didn't get hurt, a-and... I dunno, I gotta think about it."

With a quiet grunt, he carefully took Frankie's hand in his. Offering a quick smile to the clearly upset brothers, he hurried down the steps into the open environment. It was like stepping out into summer weather after being inside all day, once really noticing the contrast between the outside world and the cozy little home. He forced back a frown, and looked around the house. "Hey, do you have your gun?"
 
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