spin_kick_snap | The House In Limbo City, Limbo City, Tuesday Afternoon

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The House In Limbo City, Limbo City, Tuesday Afternoon

The ex that had once been known as the superhero Banzai shambled along the overpass of the highway. For once, it wasn't being bounced off of others of its kind, this section of the overpass was clear of cars and exes both. The ex could continue its mindless walk along, far faster than any zombie had any right to be, staring at the city's iconic high-rises standing tall and strong in the distance ahead of it. For once, hunger didn't plague the ex, it still had a single-minded purpose, to get to the people who lived in those buildings, but not to rend and tear and devour. No, the ex that had been Banzai just wanted to see them, going about their business, alive and happy, moving like tiny ants about their daily lives. Surely if it just made it into the city proper, the ex would see LA alive and bustling once more. And then - and then -

"Hey, puta!" A voice called to it. To her. Not to the ex that used to be Banzai, but to the dead girl who was once Kathy. Rodney Cesares was calling to her, a withered head, misshapen and huge, on top of a rusting car, eye sockets empty and teeth shattered stumps. "Where you think you're going, eh?" the head asked her.

"To the city," she said, or tried to. She pointed towards the skyline that she'd known her whole life, an indelible mark on her heart.

"No reason to go there," Rodney said. "It's all dead, just like you."

The dead girl shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm all alone--"

"Look around," Rodney interrupted. "The dead are never alone. LA's a corpse and you're a maggot feeding on the dead flesh."

The ex shook her head, stringy hair flying about her face. The glint from the setting sun caught her eye and when she looked at the city again, it looked like it was covered in blood. And that's when she heard it, the constant low hum, omnipresent enough she could feel it vibrating in her bones. Clack clack clack. The sound of thousands - millions - of teeth clattering together. The ex stumbled over to the edge of the overpass and looked down...

Into a sea of writhing zombies, nigh uncountable and stretching all the way back towards the city.

"Told you, bouncy-girl," Rodney said with a laugh. "The city's as dead as you are."

It laughed and laughed and laughed and the ex started to scream as the hunger came back, twice as strong as before and then there was nothing left but the hunger, but the need to bite and tear and feed--

Kathy woke up with a start, Ronin nudging at her face with his nose. Her jaw was sore - she'd been grinding her teeth again - but her throat didn't hurt. Ronin was getting better at waking her up before she actually started screaming. "Good boy," she said, petting him as he cuddled closer. "Thank you, Ronin. You're such a good boy. You are."

She'd been quietly having nightmares off and on for the last few weeks. She hoped that they'd ease out some, but no, they seemed to be happening more and more often and they all centered on LA. Not exactly a surprise, considering, but these weren't memories from the year she'd been dead, but some kind of weird subconscious remix about LA being a dead city.

"Except it isn't, is it boy?" she murmured, scritching Ronin's ears. "It's alive and well here. I just haven't seen it. But maybe if I do, I can convince my dumb brain to chill out. That would be a first."

Still, the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. It was Spring Break for NYU. She could go to Fandom's LA, verify for herself that it was still a bustling metropolis filled with living people, and maybe shake whatever bug had gotten into her brain about it otherwise.

Decision made, it didn't take long to turn 'plan' into 'action.' She'd made rounds of all her bug-out bags recently, checking to make sure they were still stocked and ready to go whenever the guys had been out of the house. It took just a second to grab the one under her bed, add Ronin's paperwork, and sling it on over her shoulder. Portal was faster than flight, plus they made less fuss over dogs. And weapons.

Yeah, okay, portal to Los Angeles based on nothing but bad dreams. Sounded like a great idea.

[For that guy who might have concerns]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"What did you have in mind?" Anders wondered. "All I know is the Hollywood sign, the beach, and the sidewalk with handprints in it. Oh and the observatory. That was ... nice, the first time."

"There's also the Chinese Theater and tours around the Hollywood Hills and shopping on Rodeo Drive..." Kathy said. "And, yeah. Just doing dumb touristy stuff, feel the pulse of the city under our feet...that's what I wanna do. Help me believe that that the city is okay. That it's not a graveyard under the surface."

Anders smiled slightly. "That, I can definitely do. I'll even look up tours and such on my phone so I can have some things booked for us."

"That would be really useful, actually," Kathy said. "I just don't have the...mental RAM freed up to do the little fiddly bits right now. Even navigating the portal website was a little bit like tearing out my fingernails."

Kathy had stayed in one place for the whole conversation, but she hadn't been still, fidgeting, drumming her fingers on the counter, tapping her feet. Not out of impatience or frustration, just a generalized jitteriness that wouldn't let her keep still.

"Did you think to book a place where you can stay?" Anders asked, looking vaguely concerned. "Or should I get that now?"

"Errrr..." Yeah, she absolutely had not. "That would be really cool. Pet friendly, please?"

Doc A was still getting the paperwork to have Ronin listed as a service animal but that process took a lot of time, particularly since he hadn't finished his training.

"Of course," Anders commented, head already bent over his phone. "Can you book my portal while I take care of this and get dressed?"

He didn't think all of LA needed to see his pizza-patterned boxers.

But they were so cute!

"Of course," Kathy said, finishing her smoothie before grabbing her phone. "I'll get one for the three of us together."

They were too cute. If Anders wore them in public, everyone who saw would swoon over him and froth with jealousy of Kathy, and that just seemed like pressure.

"Thanks, he said, and drew a settling breath. "And thanks for letting me come with you."

Too true. And Kathy was out of condition to fight them all off. It would be really awkward to have to call Dante and let him know she'd let their boyfriend be carried off by throngs of adoring fans.

"Thanks for wanting to come," she said, serious. "Sometimes, when I get like this...all caught up in my head, I mean...I forget that I don't have to do it all myself."

"You panic, that's all," Anders said. "I can't say it's easy on me, but when I think about it enough to remember that I can't be angry."

"Which part of it is hard for you?" Kathy asked, tilting her head.

"Mostly, just the worrying about you," Anders said, once he was past the impulse to deny. "The thinking you seem fine, and then remembering all the other times I thought you were fine until something like this happened. I feel like I can never be sure how well you are, and I'm bad at asking. And then I feel guilty I can't help you more."

It would have been hard for him to deny it after literally saying it a moment before. Kathy would have had to give him a look for even trying.

She nodded instead, and asked, "And the angry?"

"You were going to leave without telling me," Anders reminded her. "I understand it's not a choice you're making, but it hurts."

Kathy considered that. "I think that's reasonable," she said, slowly. "I wasn't thinking, just...reacting. And sometimes, that's all I can do. I'm full of panic and that just wipes my brain. This time, not so much. I just wasn't thinking. It's like the traffic test."

"The ... traffic test?" Anders frowned. "Sorry, you lost me again."

"It's a thing Doc A came up with to help we figure out when I should be accountable for my actions," Kathy said, fingers twisting around each other. "Cause I don't want to just, like, decide nothing I ever do is wrong cause I have PTSD and stuff. So we talked about the insanity plea in court cases - not that I'm insane -" she added quickly. "And came up with the traffic test. If I feel like I'd run into the middle of traffic over something, then rational!Kathy isn't calling the shots. But if I would stop for traffic, then I'm rational enough to consider my actions overall."

"And this time, you could have taken a minute to tell me, but you just didn't think to, so you understand why I'm angry," Anders said slowly, hoping he had followed her correctly. "Is that it?"

Kathy nodded. "I wasn't thinking straight? But I was thinking enough that I could have. I should have. And that's on me."

She shrugged. "I'd still prefer it if you didn't yell, cause I'm, like, jittery and kinda all over the place right now? But you have every right to be mad. I understand."

"No, I didn't want to yell," Anders reassured her, eyeing her slowly. "Just to be clear, though, am I meant to use the traffic test too if I feel angry with you? Because sometimes I'm just angry, even if I know something's not entirely a choice."

"What? No way. You're gonna feel like you feel. That's just...feelings." Very articulate, Kathy. "More like...there are some times when it's useful to call me out on my bullshit. Like you did just now. I was being an asshole and I don't get a pass for that just cause I have nightmares and stuff. But other times..."

She shrugged. "If I'm about to run into traffic, it's already a bad situation and I don't think your anger is gonna help. Not trying to, like, be the emotions police or anything. But I'll already be in fight or flight mode. Does, umm, that makes sense?"

“Absolutely,” Anders agreed, relaxing a bit. “And if you were about to run into traffic, I wouldn’t want to waste time yelling at you anyhow. I might be angry, but that doesn’t have to be your problem.”

"That," she said, looking relieved. "That exactly, yeah. In those situations, it's usually best to get me somewhere I feel safe and secure, calm me down, and let me come back to myself. You expressing that anger near me is just gonna keep hammering that 'unsafe' button in my brain."

She gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I know it's gotta be frustrating and exhausting."

“Mostly exhausting because I worry,” Anders told her. “It’s not even anything you’ve done. It’s just always being afraid you could do something that would get you hurt, or else that I’ll make things worse for you somehow. But I never ever want to make you feel unsafe.”

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