[zapdragon555]

Jay | Tim

"This shit can't be happening," Tim croaked from where he hung halfway off of Jay's shoulder. He really was trying his best to keep up, putting one foot in front of the next, but Jay was more dragging him than anything else.

Jay's breath clouded in front of him as he forced his legs through the snow (when was the last time it snowed this deep in Alabama? Something clearly wanted them dead, something with higher power than the thing that actually wanted them dead). "Oh... I dunno," Jay tried to make conversation, to help keep Tim awake. "Considering everything that's been happening, it's not too out of the ordinary."

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Tim grunted in acknowledgement, and focused on not passing out. The cold was a cruel, comfortable lull into unconsciousness, but Tim would be damned if he was going to let Jay lug his body through the woods on his own. The wind was picking up. If Tim passed out, they could both die out there.

It was easier, however, to focus on his bleeding mess of a leg, than to think about how Alex had their car now. Their only mode of transportation, gone. Sure, they could rent some old junker car, maybe, but first they needed to find civilization again. Jay was trying to mentally steel himself for what he knew he had to do next. And that was to get the bullet out of Tim's leg.

Stupid fucker couldn't even get a clean shot through. Had to leave them to deal with the aftermath... Jay's teeth grit together so hard, he felt they'd shatter in the cold.

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Never mind the fact that all of their stuff had been in that car. Tim's medicine, Jay's tapes... They'd get it back, sure, if they could find the car in one piece. For now, they'd just have to cut their losses and hope for a miracle.

It came in the form of an old, rundown shed on the edge of a dilapidated barbwire fenced pasture. No animals to be seen, it must have been abandoned--and it was just as well. Tim was losing his grip on wakefulness, fast.

"Fuck. Jay?" he exhaled raggedly, his fingers a death grip on Jay's shoulder. "I think I'm gonna drop. I'm sorry."

"No, no," Jay hissed, grabbing Tim around the waist and taking advantage of the adrenaline coursing through him to trudge forward. "Stay awake. We're almost to this... this shed, thing. Just stay awake."

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It was rotten work, and careful treading over the fallen barbed wire, but eventually Jay managed to lug the both of them towards the shed door and push inside. Thank god it was unoccupied, at least by anything bigger than spiders. And mostly empty, at that, save for some old shelves and burlap bags on the floor, and an upturned bucket off to the side. Carefully Jay laid Tim against the wall on the floor, patting his shoulder roughly in attempts to rouse him as he moved to close the door. It wasn't pitch dark yet, but it would get there soon; the pale light from the window was enough to see what he was doing, for the most part.

"Could just leave the bullet in there, you know," Tim muttered softly, clearly not liking where this was going at all. Jay moved with purpose, though, picking up the bucket and going outside to scoop some snow into it.

"You wanna lose your leg?" Jay asked, his voice shaking slightly from the cold and the attempts to psych himself up. Tim's silence was all the response he needed.

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"If it weren't numb already, that'd hurt like hell," Tim observed as Jay pressed packed snow against the wound, their only hopes of cleaning it. He largely kept his eyes averted, not wanting to see his own injuries, or the amount of blood on the discarded pants on the floor.

"Well, we can be happy about one thing," Jay muttered as he worked, grunting in pain as the snow bit his fingers with cold. "Shed. Two things..."

"Yeah. Two things," Tim nodded, leaning his head back against the wood and closing his eyes. The sound of a zipper roused him, and he blinked his eyes open to see Jay holding out his jacket to him.

"Ball up part of the sleeve or something and bite down on it. I don't care if you scream or anything... s'probably fine. I don't think there's anyone around for awhile."

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The cut of freezing pocket knife into flesh was sickening. Jay fought down bile as he dug with it, trying to ignore the ugly howls of agony coming from his friend. Jay had pressed a knee hard into Tim's midriff, trying to keep him down, trying to--

Jay gasped and dropped the knife as a pair of hands came hard around his throat and shoved him away, holding fast. He choked and gagged, clawing at the hands, and as soon as they'd stricken him they were gone. "Jay--fuck, Jay, I'm sorry," Tim wheezed, his voice roughened down to dust from his earlier outbursts. "I wasn't thinking, the pain just..." His hands hovered, then touched Jay's back, but the younger man recoiled with a sharp curse, slapping Tim's hands away.

"Don't fucking touch me. Hold on. Just..." Jay breathed in deeply, rubbing at his throat and pacing away from Tim, staring at the opposite wall and seeming to think very hard. All at once, a great fury ripped through him, and he delivered a bone-shattering kick to the wall as he screamed. "Fucking damn it!" he cried, snarling as he spun around. "I can't believe we lost the car. I can't fucking believe it. All of those tapes, and your pills, fuck, what the fuck are we gonna do? Why the fuck did you choke me," his voice dissolved into a teary mess as he sank down, burying his face in his hands and rubbing furiously. "Stay there. Don't come over here. I'll come back. Just..."

"Jay," Tim's voice came out steady, but muted. Jay opened his eyes to meet his friend's dark ones for a moment, staring at the outstretched hand, a gesture of peace. "It's okay. I'm good over here. Like I said... numb to most of it." Jay's wild-eyed look quieted for a moment, and he nodded.

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Jay found the stomach and the werewithall to stand up and finish the job. This time, however, he took the jacket and tied the sleeves as tightly as he could around Tim's arms, behind his back. Tim let him, in silence. There was an understanding there, and Tim tried not to think about how utterly blank his mind had been before he'd suddenly woken back up to his hands around Jay's throat.

Jay is helping. Jay isn't here to hurt. Tim tried to keep this very rational thought in his mind as Jay's knife searched for bullet hidden in torn muscle. Tim thrashed under Jay's weight, snarled at the air and poured tears into the back of Jay's shirt, until finally, blessedly, Jay retrieved the bullet and tossed it with a sharp ting to the concrete floor below.

Jay was at Tim's arms in an instant, untying him and shoving the fabric onto Tim's leg, wrapping it as tightly as he dared. And then, rather unceremoniously, he got up and sat back against the wall with a haunted look on his face. Tim just breathed for a moment, ragged and pained, trying to process the trauma he'd just been through. He slowly turned his head to stare at Jay, looking so small in nothing but an old t-shirt, despite the snow outside.

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Tim had broken a trust, and he knew this. He was just as worried as Jay was. Without that medicine, not only would that thing chasing them be far more dangerous, but Tim himself may be as well. Slowly Tim drew his good leg close to his chest and hugged it, staring at the bucket of snow with a distracted look in his eyes.

The chattering of teeth and a ragged, shivery exhale drew Tim's attention back over to Jay, and as soon as Tim opened his arm and waved Jay over, the man was pressing in close to him, desperate for warmth. "I'm sorry I grabbed your neck. It hurt so bad, Jay. But thanks for doing it."

"Yeah," Jay muttered, pressing his mouth and nose into his hands and trying to find a way to fit his odd-angled body against Tim's softer one. "Don't mention it..."

Tim's expression softened as much as it could in such a situation. Something affectionate stirred in his chest, but he tamped it down. But he didn't tamp it down enough to not curl his other arm over Jay's body, trying to cover the exposed skin of the man's arms with his own. "Shouldn't've used your jacket," Tim murmured, his voice far softer than before. Jay just shrugged.

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The two spoke softly, back and forth, about very little. And when the worst of the wind picked up, and blasted against the walls of the tiny shed, conversation grew rather cheap. The air temperature had dropped dramatically, and it wasn't long before Jay had pulled the burlap sacks closer, shaking out dust and animal hair to carefully maneuver the two of them on top of the sacks. Cold concrete was a death sentence.

"I think I've gotta sleep, Jay," Tim warned him, his voice a croak in his throat. "M'gonna lay down."

It was a wordless suggestion. Jay stared at him for a moment, something changing on his face, and slowly, he nodded and lied down with Tim against the wall. Jay shivered, then sat up suddenly, staring at the door with an apprehensive look in his eyes.

"You can get between me and the wall... if you want." Tim's voice was uncertain, but the immediate nod that Jay gave set his mind somewhat at ease. With enough finagling Jay found himself with one of Tim's arms draped over him, caged against the wall by Tim's larger form, and frankly, Jay was starting to not mind the smell of cigarette smoke much at all anymore.

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If nothing else, Jay took comfort in the steady breathing from Tim's mouth, barely stirring the longer hair at his forehead, and the cold wooden wall against his back. He could think of worse places to be than pressed between safety and... relative safety. More like a ticking time-bomb. But... in a way, Jay wondered if he was any exception. How long would it be before he, too, needed to take those pills to keep that thing at bay?

The arm over his body tightened slightly, and Jay felt a warmth rise to his face. No... he really couldn't. Even entertaining the idea was irrational, given the circumstances. Maybe if after everything was over, and things had settled down... maybe...

Would it ever be over? Jay's heart caught in his throat as anxiety squeezed words out his mouth. "Tim?" he called out, breathy and fearful, suddenly so very fearful of what would come. He should be used to it by now, all of this--but he wasn't. He wasn't sure he ever would be.

"Mmyeah?" Tim's groggy voice came through, and Jay was on him in an instant, burying as close as he could and planting a clumsy, dry kiss to the corner of Tim's mouth. For a moment, Tim was silent, staring through squinted eyes at the other man, circuits connecting in his mind.

The stillness was deafening. Jay felt as though death could come right then, and perhaps it would be deserved, and right. But Tim spoke, and Jay felt his heart constrict with pained, timorous affection in his chest. "Been waiting for something like that," he admitted, his voice barely above a breath in volume. "C'mere."

Tim's breath was hot against Jay's tongue, when their mouths slotted against each other. The arm over his body instead braced against the wall, letting Tim lean in, impassioned by forces neither of them could understand. Fear was a great motivator. The very real, very carnal desire to find comfort in physical intimacy. And perhaps this had been building for some time. Perhaps it was about time that something exploded. Ticking time-bomb, indeed.

[Wild Pet Found]