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edupunkn00b · 22 days

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One Last Time Around

Photo CC 4.0

Written for the @extremetimedchallengeexchange. Prompt: Platonic Sides in a human AU. Found family, dystopia, happy moments in a not-so-happy situation a plus. No fluff, no crack, no romance.

WC: 2414 - Rated: T - CW: Major Character Death implied off-screen, dystopia & post-apocalyptic -

“Is that a bicycle?”

Patton’s sudden question pulled the group from their thoughts and they stopped their trek through the underbrush. Six pairs of eyes followed the boy’s excited pointing. Remus was closest and gave his shoulder a little squeeze. “Not quite, buddy,” he grinned. His cheeks ached at the movement and his voice was scratchy. How long had they been walking? “That’s an old ferris wheel.”

“Really?” Patton wiggled, jostling his hoodie and momentarily hiding the bright yellow warning light on the fever chip at the back of his neck. He turned to look back at Logan. “Like the one Fern rode at the county fair?”

Ever the teacher, Logan crouched down and smiled at the boy like he was a star pupil. “Yes, Pat. Precisely.” Fingers twitching on his shoulder straps, Remus just knew it took everything Logan had to not whip the book out of his pack right there.

The remnants of that morning’s rain still dripping from the trees was a powerful deterrent.

“Can we get closer?” he asked, eyes now trained on Virge.

He already had his tracker out. He frowned, pulling his hood lower and shielding the screen from glare as he peered down at the splashes of color. “There’s no-one around,” he said after tapping at the screen. “Some warm spots… way too small for people. Racoons, probably.” Virge looked up at Janus’ sharp inhale and shook his head, both sets of eyes snagging on Patton’s bandaged hand. “Triple checked. None of ‘em have fevers.”

When Virge’s scanner pinged, they’d dropped to the ground, hoods pulled down and masks up. Virge was the only one who’d moved, pulling out the scanner and muting the quiet alert, intent on the screen. He made a cutting motion with his hand and they stayed down, barely breathing. Waiting.

It had taken more than an hour for a sick baby’s wails to announce the family’s proximity. They’d stayed under cover as the family passed less than a hundred yards from their hiding spot.

Not everyone waited before shooting like Lucas and Janus did.

Thank fuck for the old weather beacons still in orbit. The damn things would outlast them all. And with nobody left in mission control, there was no-one to turn off Virge’s credentials—genuine or borrowed—and stop him from drinking up all the data those satellites still rained down with every pass.

Returning Janus’ curt nod, Virge shrugged and powered down the device before stowing it away in his pocket. “It’s clean. That infected family we saw yesterday didn’t come from here.”

Hope dancing in his eyes as he grinned at each of them in turn, Patton bounced on his toes. “So we can?”

Lucas’ thumb brushed over the safety on his M70 and looked to Janus.

Binoculars raised, Janus peered between the trees. “There’s a parking lot…” The team held their collective breathe. At best, a full parking lot meant the fair would be full of the dead. At worst…

“Deserted,” he said at last. “It looks like they hadn’t quite finished setting up. There’s stuff on pallets in the back lot. Maybe something useful, even.” After one more look, he lowered the binoculars, a glint in his eyes. “It’s safer than the City,” he said, seeking Ro’s gaze.

Ro was staring at the back of Patton’s neck and when he looked up, his eyes were wet. “Yeah,” he said, and cleared his throat, a smile plastered over his face. “Books are great,” he added with a bow to Logan. “But you should see it for yourself.”

The sun hadn’t yet breached the highest trees by the time they reached the edge of the fairgrounds. What was left of them, at least. Scraggly ragweed had grown up through the cracks in the asphalt, most of it not even taller than Patton. He was cautious before touching any, inspecting the flowers first to be sure it wasn’t hogweed.

His cries had been what had made them find him. It was early days, back when they thought the only ones left were the immune. Back before the mutations hit. There’d still been birdsong back then.

He and Ro had been the ones to find the little boy. Hands and mouth raw from trying to eat the flowers, he’d sat crying in the middle of a patch of the towering weeds. Older than he looked even back then, the “throwaway” monitoring chip they stuck on infants hung loose on his forehead. All the hospitals must have gone to shit before his parents could get him in to have it properly removed after his first birthday.

Patton had sat there, just fucking bawling. Alone. But instead of recoiling from them, tall scruffy strangers, the little boy had reached for them, that now familiar hope in his big teary eyes.

Remus had kept just enough sense to check the back of the kid’s neck for a fever chip. Its bright green glow bounced off the faded note duct-taped to his dirty sweater.

His name is Patton. Please take care of him when I’m gone. Bless you. - Lynne

“Wow…” Patton stood beneath the ferris wheel, staring at the sunlight glinting of the top car. The wheel was huge, a good three or four hundred feet up in the air. It had been made of solid durasteel, too. Not a speck of rust anywhere on it and the rotors, sealed to keep out dust and shit had done a good job of keeping out the weeds.

Remus whistled. This county had had serious money. Back when magic numbers in a digital bank statement meant anything, anyway.

“We clear,” Virge reported, coming back from checking the perimeter with Lucas. “There’s no-one for miles.”

“And there’s a generator,” Lucas said, coming back from checking the perimeter. “Solar,” he added, unable or unwilling to suppress a grin. “Betcha last watch Lo and Virge can get it working.”

“That’s a loser’s bet,” Remus laughed, pointing to the tool belt already clipped to Virge’s belt. “You’ve already had a crack at it, haven’t you?”

“I will admit,” Logan murmured. “It would be gratifying to charge my tablet.”

Patton’s bright eyes followed the conversation, stitching together what else they might get to work with a little juice.

“Go for it. Ro, you take Pat around to explore.” Patton grinned and grabbed Ro’s hand and took off down the row of carnival games before he could say another word.

“I’ll go with them,” Lucas said before catching up.

“Okay, while you two see if you can get those generators going,” he nodded to Logan and Virge, “Me and Jay’ll see supplies there might be. Meet back in one hour.”

“Or sooner,” Logan said, eyes following Patton down the row of games.

“Or sooner,” he agreed. “Electric lights would be a good signal you did it.”

Janus waited until they’d disappeared on the other side of the trailers before finally voicing what they’d all seen that morning. “How long?”

Remus let his eyes close and swallowed back the growing lump in his throat before taking a deep breath. He let it out slowly, then opened them, heading toward the stacks of pallets wrapped in frayed plasti wrap. “Depends on the variant,” he said as they walked. “The kid dodged whatever got his mother, and he’s still below one-oh-two, but everyone I saw had been bad enough for the ER, it’s not necessarily—”

“How long, Dr. Prince?” Janus asked again.

Stopping, Remus sighed. “If he goes red…” He shook his head. “A day? Two?”

Janus’ jaw twitched, but he nodded. “Understood.”

The first two pallets turned out to hold nothing but folding chairs and more fencing. On the third, though, he and Jay hit the jackpot.

“Thank fuck for sodium benzoate!” Remus muttered, turning over a sealed package of ‘beef’ jerky.

Janus chuckled, shoving handfuls of powdered milk packets for some fancy ass ice cream maker into an empty duffle bag. Powdered Gatorade went next. “Wasn’t that stuff supposed to be bad for you, Doc?”

“Starvation’s worse,” he said, grabbing all four cases before tugging Janus’ sleeve. “Hey, look at the bottom layer.”

They stared together case after case of bottled water. “Plastic’s bad for a lotta stuff. It’s good for us right now, though.”

Before Janus could answer, warped music doppled out of a nearby speaker, quickly balancing out into a jaunty melody. They looked back at the fair. A merry-go-round had started up and LEDs in a rainbow of colors twinkled from every structure.

“Holy fuck, they did it!” Remus muttered, shaking his head. “C’mon, we’ll let the others load up, too, But first…”

They both stilled when the faint sound of Patton’s excited cheers carried over the music. “But first him.”

“Yeah.”

They managed to get Patton to slow down long enough to have some Gatorade and a few bites of food before he was back on his feet, pulling Lucas and Janus toward the carnival games. “I’m not hungry,” he said, smiling up at them. “Please? I saw a game with big rifles just like yours! Let’s try it!”

Lucas ruffled his hair and nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Those games are rigged but I’ll teach you how to aim around it.”

When they returned about an hour later, Patton walked a little slower and he didn’t fight Remus’ suggestion to take a break before leading Ro off to a Test Your Strength game. The others sat quietly and listened to his peals of laughter each time Ro’s hits sent the little ball up to the top.

The mirror maze was next, and Logan and Virge pointed out all the little tricks for finding his way through. The trio emerged, victorious, with Logan and Virge swinging Patton back and forth like they’d done back when he was tiny.

“Will you ride the Ferris Wheel with me?” he asked, holding out a hand to Remus.

“You two are the logical pairing,” Logan said, quieter than he usually was in Teacher mode.

Patton nodded, turning and pointing at the cars. “Logan explained how it has to stay balanced. We’re just right to be in the same car.”

“Each of you will need to join them in alternating cars,” Logan said when they’d reached the loading area. “Ah, I will man the controls, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s okay to be scared of heights,” Patton said, reaching over to squeeze his hand.

Logan’s eyes widened before he smiled and cupped Patton’s cheek. “You notice everything, don’t you?”

With an answering giggle, he patted the back of his hand and nodded.

“Well, that means me and Jay in one car, right?” Virge said, looking around the group.

“Yes,” Logan nodded. “And Lucas and Roman will balance it all out.”

“Which color car do you want to ride in?” Remus asked, giving Patton’s hand a little squeeze.

“The blue one!” he said, pointing.

“Blue it is,” Logan replied and worked the controls. He opened the door to the first car to stop, nodding to Virge and Janus.

They ruffled Patton’s hair as passed. “See you in a bit, Kid,” Virge murmured and climbed in.

Logan let a few empty cars slowly trail past before loading in Ro and Lucas. Lucas rubbed his head and Ro bent to hug him. “I’ve never been on a Ferris Wheel, either, you know.”

“Really?” Patton asked, eyes big.

“Really,” Ro whispered. His adam’s apple bobbed, but he kept his smile.

With a little laugh, Patton shooed him into a car.

Finally, the blue car stopped and Logan opened the door. “All aboard,” he said. “Tell me about everything you see up there.”

“I will!” Patton grinned and clambered inside.

Logan’s hand tightened on the handle and Remus’ boots stuttered on the platform. Blood roared in his ears and he swallowed hard, lips curled up into his best smile.

Half-obscured by the back of his hoodie, Patton’s fever chip glowed red.

“All aboard,” Logan said again, quieter.

Remus cleared his throat and pushed on a smile. “Hey, make room for me,” he laughed into the mostly empty car.

Giggling at his joke, Patton scooted a bit over on the bench. His choice had been lucky. Most of the cars had benches on either side, requiring two riders to sit face-to face. The blue car held a single swiveling bench so the riders could sit side-by-side.

As their car began the lift, a little laugh spilled from his lips. “I can see the river from here!” he said. “Oh! And look at all those flowers on the other side!”

They took in the sights, the music fading as they got closer to the wheel’s zenith. Patton pointed out every detail, smile bright, even as his voice faded and he shook his head.

“Hey, Buddy, you okay?” Remus squeezed his hand. It was so hot.

“I’m okay,” he said, still grinning though he shivered. Remus pulled a blanket from his pack and wrapped it around Patton’s shoulders.

“Better?” Remus asked.

“Better. But you feel cold,” he said, touching Remus’ hand. “You sure you don’t need it?”

“I’m good, Buddy,” Remus said, passing Patton a canteen. “Drink a little, yeah?”

Dutifully, Patton sipped at the water, then handed it back when the wheel began to descend. “Everything’s so pretty up here!” he said before waving to Roman and Lucas when their car slipped into view.

Slowly they came back down, but before Logan opened their car, Patton asked, loud enough for all to hear. “Can we go again?”

“Try and stop me!” Lucas called back. Ro and Virge gave thumbs up and Janus said something too quiet to hear. His smile was all the answer Patton needed.

“The wheel is in good condition,” Logan responded, looking to Remus for his answer. "It is more than adequate for several more rounds."

“As many times as you want, Buddy,” he said, wrapping his arm around him. The boy curled into the hold, clapping his hands twice before letting them fall to his lap.

“Thank you, Logan!” Patton called back through the open windows as the wheel began to move again. Feet swaying with the movement of the car, he grinned and held Remus hand, sliding close again. “Thank you, Virge!” he called. “Thank you Jay and Lucas and Roman!” Finally, he turned his sweet little face up to Remus. Patton leaned heavily against shoulder, cheeks bright red with fever. “Thank you so much, Re. This is the best day ever!”

#sanders sides #ts remus #ts patton #ts roman #ts virgil #ts logan #ts janus #ts orange side #ts lucas #because of course i had to throw in my OC Orange #cw: major character death #implied off-screen #dystopia/post-apocalyptic #it was a dystopia that crashed. bad.#bittersweet ending #like 90% cacao bittersweet #found family #that's actually a bit of a pun for this story‚ so there's that

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