Tell me, why don't you kill me, and put a gun against my head

[gluteus]

Who | Maximus, R, Eponine, Sigma and maybe Wyatt at the very end (Closed!)
What| Maximus has decided that to keep R from killing Wyatt, he needs to keep him fed, so they're off looking for 'food'.
Where | Desert arena.
When | Whatever time it is right now.
Warnings/Notes | Death, Violence, Cannibalism, Gore, uh... probably a host of others. Nothing sexual though!


Maximus felt a lot more at ease, now that the days and the nights were their usual length again. He and R set off at dusk in search of 'food'. Maximus and Wyatt didn't speak about it, which at least meant they didn't argue. R needed to eat, and Maximus knew what that entailed, and he would see it done.

The sun was low and sinking lower, which meant that it wasn't quite as warm as it could be, but there was still plenty of light to operate by. No storm, though the sand still whipped across the dunes with the wind.

He was running low on water, saving his last gulps, his mouth and throat dry and parched. The skin at the edge of his lips beginning to crack.

He stopped, letting his bag drop to the ground, his crossbow with it.

"Hold up, R," he said as he retrieved the flask at his hip. "Need a drink. You smell anything?" He asked as he raised it to his lips, taking a single sip of the precious fluid.

Comments

[shambler]

It took R awhile to finish up: he was only one corpse here and there was a saturation point where even he really couldn't eat anymore.

R wiped at his mouth as he stood up, his head lolling toward the new dead man sprawled across the sand, just this blur he could barely make out in the deepening dusk. Big guy. Really big guy. R didn't need fully working eyes to get that impression. Seemed like a waste to just leave him here.

Jesus, he wish he didn't have to ask this.

R came shuffling up toward Max, dragging the man he'd just killed behind him like luggage and leaving a wet trail in the sand that didn't smell quite right. Food was food, though, and he'd already mowed through most of the girl. No point being picky. R was already avoiding Max's eyes as he started groaning, staring at his feet instead of his face. Guilty and just as red-handed. These people probably would've been alive if things had been different.

"Take. For...later?" R kept right on staring miserably at Max's feet, trying not to let the fresh blood distract him. The hunger was being greedy, eyes always bigger than R's stomach, and sniffing at Max because he was even fresher than the others. "Don't...want this - "

He waved a hand back at Max's kill-site back there. Enough was enough. No more feeling horrified Wyatt's buddy had to murder people who didn't deserve it, just because they were there, convenient, not Wyatt.

[gluteus]

Maximus didn't really want to look at R but he did, coming to a halt, turning in the sand. He hurt everywhere, the adrenaline wearing off and leaving throbbing pain in its wake, but he forced it to the back of his mind, to deal with later. He needed to get back alright.

He watched the zombie miserably drag the body behind him, watched his vacant, sand-blasted eyes. Don't... want this-

He let out a hard breath.

"No. Nor do I." He said, his voice hard as he looked down at the body, then back up at R. "But you can't bring it back. We can't keep a corpse at the camp, even if Wyatt--" He cut himself off. Even if Wyatt wouldn't be upset. He shook his head.

"You can't even eat the whole thing," He pointed out, gesturing at the arms.

[shambler]

He couldn't? Oh, the whole humans didn't like to be neck-to neck-in- dead-bodies thing. Diseases and infections. R sometimes forgot about that. He dogged on anyway, his leathery mouth pressing into a line as he decided you know what, he wanted to argue for a change. Make a stand.

"Keep it...away. Eat...when hungry. Make it...work," R said, blowing out that last word with the gasp of a boy's death rattle, the most he's dared to say directly to Max. Arguing was harder than it looked. Feeling that cool stare, flat and hard, didn't help. "Please."

It was either that or Max murdered someone and left him out here to rot for the coyotes. Seems messed up if you ask him.

He guessed something was up with the arms when he'd grabbed one - it didn't feel right, the blood oozing out this weird white color he felt seemed vaguely familiar. Another friend? Should he be upset? R searched inside himself , waiting for that moment where it'd dawn on him like it had with Aunamee, and got nothing. R shrugged. Like he told Max, he'd make it work. Eat around the parts the hunger turned its nose at.

[gluteus]

Maximus lowered his gaze to the body - to the inhuman arms. What would happen if R tried to eat them? Could monsters even eat monsters?

"Fine." He said finally, flatly. "Bring him. We don't take him into the shelter. We'll find somewhere close by where you can... stash him." He looked vaguely disgusted at the idea. "But don't eat the arms. Whatever they are made of, it isn't flesh and blood."

He considered just cutting them off, right there, but he was tired, losing blood, and besides, R should be able to eat around them.

It disconcerted him, to have the zombie speak to him like this. It was almost easier to forget that there was a boy under there somewhere, that R was something too far from human to ever consider the same. But it wasn't true, and something about that truth bothered him more deeply than the eating and the hunger ever did.

Wrap up here?

[shambler]

R was only to happy to agree. No problems there. Surprised it'd gone that easily, R bobbed his head in a nod. "Okay. Thank...you."

He meant it, and not just about the dead man he planned to drag around. For the other stuff. Playing corpse-sitter. Giving him another chance despite what happened with Javert. R peered at Max, straining to make out his face; between the dark and his failing eyes, he couldn't make out much, nothing to work with aside from his voice and his smell. Giving up, R grunted and turned. Struggling to hold his breath because Max was still bleeding, R obediently started to shuffle ahead of him, dragging his leftovers. Stay in front where Max could see him. With that girl fluttering around in his body, he could concentrate now, remember all the stuff like the rules like No Biting and Hands To Yourself - maybe even remember which way was back "home".

Maybe today wasn't such a bad day. Murdering and cannibalism aside.