Chapter Text
Schlatt slept through an entire fucking day. They checked on him every hour or so, but he was out . Just as well, really. He probably really fucking needed it. Or at the very least his body needed the time to heal.
Charlie and Travis had even changed out his bandages once while he was asleep, and he didn’t even wake up for that . He’d just stirred a bit, shifted in his sleep, but he stayed dead to the world.
Ted told them not to worry too much about it. They knew he needed sleep. They knew he was still alive, if his breathing and little shifts in his sleep were anything to judge by. Noah remembered that Schlatt didn’t sleep very well in the cell, not that anyone else did, either…
At some point they even stopped for the night, all cooped up in the van, comfortably leaning against each other in a space other than the cold confines of their cell. Noah didn’t know what state they were in, as he dozed off, but it was a good ways away from New York. they’d taken a few back roads, if only just so they could tell Schlatt that there was no way that anyone would be following them from New York. Might help to settle the man’s anxiety, if he had any when he awoke.
By the morning, as they all got up to stretch, Schlatt was still not awake. Noah found out, as he took a turn behind the wheel, that they were in Ohio, which was why Noah couldn’t figure out where they were. There’s fucking nothing in Ohio.
They drove through the fields of Ohio, the neglected and overgrown fields going on for miles and miles. It was almost kind of hypnotizing, the way the countryside seemed to stretch into eternity. They’d pass road signs every so often, torn and weathered billboards that hadn’t been changed in over a decade. Hard to find maintenance jobs when nobody cares about how things look anymore. At least not out in the middle of nowhere like they were.
By around lunchtime they made it to Illinois. They’d passed through Indiana rather uneventfully, and the only way that Noah had even known they had even been in Indiana was when they got to Illinois. Noah stopped when he began recognizing some of the areas that they’d stopped in before, deciding that they could eat there. They all got out of the car and stretched, deciding that they could take a bit to just chill out, explore around a bit. No one was around for miles, so they wouldn’t have any problem with raiders or anything.
As Noah looked around, he recognized a few things, and realized something. This was around the area that he’d scared Schlatt’s cat off in.
Huh. Noah wondered if the cat was still around. Briefly entertaining the thought, he ducked back into the van and grabbed that little fishing rod that Schlatt had made for the cat out of the man’s bag. Schlatt himself was still asleep, his breathing steady. Noah got back out of the van and went back to looking around, fiddling with the fishing rod.
He didn’t actually expect to find the cat, it had been over a month after all, since he’d scared it off, but… well, it had been feral before Schlatt tamed it, it would obviously know how to survive in the wild.
If Noah wanted to find it, then he’d have to think smart. What would an animal need to survive? Food, shelter, water… water first. Find a good source of water. Noah managed to find a stream in the woods, and he walked downstream a little bit, before finding a clearing. Noah looked around the clearing, wondering briefly what the actual fuck he was even trying to do, he didn’t even really like cats!
And then he saw it. A flash of orange, darting across the clearing.
Against all odds, it was actually him. That fucking cat. Holy shit, he was actually still here. Noah tried calling his name to get him to come closer. “Jambo! Come here, kitty!” he said softly. The cat looked at him with a sort of expression that sort of read as ‘are you crazy’ to Noah, and did not move.
Distantly, he heard someone call his name. They were probably going to try to leave soon. Fuck. he had to hurry.
He grabbed the fishing rod and lightly threw the toy end out towards Jambo. The cat stiffened a bit, before his eyes grew big and he stared at it.
Noah stood very still as Jambo stared intently at this toy. He slowly started edging it closer towards himself, and Jambo followed it with his eyes, doing a little cat wiggle as he prepared to pounce. Noah got ready.
As Jambo jumped to grab at the toy, Noah moved and grabbed at the scuff of the cat’s neck, grabbing it and pulling the cat closer as it tried to escape. He held him down slightly as he tucked the toy into his jacket with his free hand, and then picked Jambo up and held him to his chest and zipped up the jacket around him so that he could hold onto him easier. Jambo wiggled and squirmed, fighting against Noah’s arms, but, well, Noah already had him, he could imagine Schlatt would be ecstatic to see him again.
Noah remembered what Schlatt had said about Carson and pets. He knew why the cat had to leave, understood why Schlatt had to let him go, but surely the same was not true now, now that they were not headed to New York. He shuddered to imagine poor Jambo at the end of the same fate as Schlatt’s lizard.
But there wasn’t anymore danger here, right? Jambo could come back.
Noah walked back up the hill to where the van is, and Travis was near the van, tapping his foot. He opens his arms in a ‘where have you been’ sort of way, and Noah waved him over.
“Hey, hey, I need your help with something. Dude, do we still have that litter tray and all that stuff that Schlatt had for that cat?”
“Uh, I think so? Why?” Travis asked, looking confused.
“Look,” Noah said, pulling his jacket down a bit to reveal the orange fur. Travis’ eyes widened, and he grinned.
“Is that him?? Jambo?”
“Yeah, come on, we’ll put him in the van.” Noah holds a struggling Jambo as Travis opens the back, getting the litter and food and water sorted out. They both got in the van, where everyone was waiting for them. “Hey guys, look who I found,” Noah announced, unzipping the jacket and freeing the cat, who leapt away from him immediately and started running around, hiding from everyone.
“Bro what the fuck,” Ted deadpanned.
“I found Jambo!”
“Wh- how?”
“I found him in the woods! I recognized this area a bit, and I looked around, and I found him!”
“That’s… heh.” Ted laughed. “Only you, Noah.” Noah laughed as well, looking over at Jambo. He’d started sniffing around, and eventually found Schlatt’s hand, which had fallen off the seat near his head. Jambo sniffed it, and apparently recognized it, butting into his hand and then looking confused as to why no petting was following. The cat pawed at his hand, and there was still no response. Noah frowned a little bit. Poor Jambo must be so confused, the only person who he had ever let touch him wasn’t even responding when he wanted attention, he was just limp. Noah craned his neck to see if Schlatt was even still breathing.
He was, he was just still asleep, same as how he’d been for the last… god knows how many hours it’s been now. Noah patted the seat near Schlatt’s lap, and Jambo looked at him.
“He’s asleep, bud.” Noah told him, even if the cat understood or not. Jambo crooked his head to the side, and then pawed at Schlatt’s hand again. Noah sighed. He’d probably figure it out eventually. Cooper starts driving, and Jambo starts anxiously pacing, exploring the van, sometimes voicing complaints at them, but ultimately goes back to pawing at Schlatt’s hand.
Eventually, the cat hopped up into the seat, and started sniffing at Schlatt. He prowled around on the back of Schlatt’s legs, sniffing up his side and then stepping on his back. Schlatt stiffened in his sleep, groaning and then waking himself up.
“What the fuck is on my back?” Schlatt groggily asked, drawing the attention of the others in the van. “Ow- owowow get it off-” he hissed as Jambo started walking towards Schlatt’s head, still on his back. Noah went around and moved the cat off of Schlatt’s back. The cat wiggled out of his arms and went around to Schlatt’s head, where he was still waking up.
“Good morning, Schlatt, it is currently three in the afternoon, almost a whole fucking day since you passed out,” Noah tells him. Schlatt grumbles in response, and then Jambo licked Schlatt’s nose, and he startled a bit.
“What th- huh? Jambo?”
“He came back,” Noah said, watching Schlatt push himself up to let the cat sniff at his hand before petting him. “Looks like he sensed you were around and came back. I think he missed you.”
“Really?” Schlatt had this content little smile on his face as he pet the cat. Noah looked over a bit and saw Ted giving him a skeptical look. Noah shrugged at him, before waving him off. Schlatt was still cooing at the cat, who seemed rather happy that Schlatt was finally responding to his requests for pets.
“Yeah. Probably thought you weren’t ever coming back,” Noah said before he could think about it. Schlatt winced a little bit.
“I’m sorry, buddy,” Schlatt said in that little voice people use to talk to their pets. He looked around for a second, picking up a little stuffed animal on his arm. “Who put this here?” he asked. Travis cleared his throat.
“I did, sorry. It used to help me when I felt bad, so I thought…” he trailed off.
“Oh. Thank you. I guess.” Schlatt handed it back to him, before adjusting himself, sitting up, his back not quite against the back of the seat. Jambo flopped down next to him. He stared at the cat for a bit, lost in thought. Ted looked at him, trying to read him.
“What’re you thinking about, Schlatt?” Ted asked into the near silence of the car. Schlatt looked up, snapped out of his trance.
“Animals. They’re funny looking sometimes. Like, Monkeys? You ever seen a Gibbon?” Noah wasn’t expecting that. The human mind is a mystery, he guessed.
“Uh. Can’t say that I have.”
“I’ve only seen pictures. But I’m pretty sure they used to have them in zoos.” Travis gasped when Schlatt said that, looking suddenly very excited.
“We should go to a zoo!” he exclaimed, tugging on Ted’s sleeve.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ted said. Travis pouted.
“What have we got to lose, Ted? We might as well, unless you’re in a hurry to be somewhere,” Schlatt said. Ted scoffed.
“Wasn’t it you yesterday who was so insistent upon getting far away from New York?”
“A, that’s not fair, you know exactly fucking why. B, even if Carson was chasing us, don’t you think it’d be harder for him to find us if we are unpredictable with our location?”
“... I suppose so…”
“Plus, look at Travis. Look at him. Look at those eyes,” Schlatt said, the manipulative bastard. Travis was looking up at Ted pleadingly, his best puppy dog eyes on. “You know it’d make him so happy.” Ted sighed, and Noah could tell that they were gonna go to the zoo before Ted even said anything.
“Fine. I guess we do deserve a break from all the… stress and shit…” Travis and Charlie, who also apparently wanted to go, cheered, and Schlatt grinned. “Anyone have a problem with that?” Ted looked around the van. No one spoke up with any issue. It might be fun to go to the zoo. They deserved some fun.
And that’s how they found themselves headed south, down from Illinois to Tennessee, where there was a zoo. Noah grinned just thinking about it. Sure, he wouldn’t really care either way, and he didn’t really care about seeing all the animals, if there even were any, but something about this just excited him.
Several hours later, after a few driver changes and a few times getting lost, they made it down to Nashville, Tennessee, all of them collectively making fun of the faded billboards for the ‘Nashville music’ that the city was so inclined to. The city had been relatively deserted, clearly no one wanting to stay in the city of everyone’s favorite music longer than they had to. Noah wondered if there were many raiders around, as he tried to get comfortable sleeping, but they hadn’t seen any evidence of their presence around, so he didn’t think so. Usually they left out markers so that other raider camps knew that this was someone else’s territory, but Noah hadn’t seen any of that. They found their way to the zoo around nightfall, and decided to sleep in the van in the empty, overgrown parking lot.
Come morning, people were buzzing with excitement. Noah knew that they probably wouldn’t see many animals, but it was exciting nonetheless. They all filed out of the van, after rolling down the windows a bit for Jambo, since it was cool enough outside, and went to the entrance of the zoo, where they looked around at the reception desk. Schlatt was already idly looking around for souvenirs or useful things, fucking collector man, and Travis and Charlie were snooping around for the keys to open the gates to the zoo. Noah, Cooper, and Ted stood near the door until they found the keys, holding them up with triumph.
They went and opened the gates and entered, looking around. Collectively they decided to go to the gift shop first, since logically of course that made sense, and oh boy.
This place alone was a collector’s dream. Mostly useless things remained untouched, if not a bit dusty, but everything was left alone. There were a few gasps when they walked in, and then they all scattered, grabbing random things. Travis got some random stuffed animals and a monkey hat that Charlie had convinced him to take, shoving them into his backpack to unload later. Noah found a nice pair of sunglasses, which he immediately put on, examining himself him the nearby mirror and then making finger guns. And then he saw it. The glorious rack of long stuffed snakes. Oh, how could he not. It could be a stuffed animal, it could be a scarf, it could be a weapon. He rushed over and looked at them, before selecting a sparkly purple one and pulling it down. This was coming with him. He could already tell, the zoo was a fantastic idea.
Charlie was over by the hand puppets, selecting a few to take, putting some in his backpack and keeping one on his hand, an alligator. Noah just knew that anything that Charlie said that day would be accompanied by making the puppet talk. Ted was near him, wearing this stupid looking hat, but hey, who was gonna stop them? He might as well. Noah briefly thought that it would be really funny if the only animals they saw today would be stuffed ones.
Cooper found a skateboard and some fish plushies, and was sword fighting Travis with them, and Schlatt was in the corner looking at some fancy rocks and things with feathers.
“What’re you gonna take?” Noah asked, going near him.
“Huh? Oh, well I figured it’d be a good idea to raid their first aid office at some point, stock up on shit.”
“Nah, man, we’re all just taking stupid shit. I know you like to collect random things, what are you gonna collect?”
“... I’m looking at all the rocks,” Schlatt said.
“Oh… Cause of your friend?” Noah asked, feeling bad for a second.
“What? Oh, no, cause they look cool. Look at this blue one.” Noah looked, and it was a cool rock. Schlatt grabbed several other rocks and deposited them in his bag. He also grabbed some feathers off of a poor plushie, shoving them in his bag. “For jambo,” he said.
“Hey, weren’t you talking about those monkeys on the way over here? You could get a monkey,” Noah said, gesturing to the wall of monkey plushies.
“Hmm, I could…” Schlatt said, considering. He grabbed one of the plushies and put it in his bag, a brown one with white fur on its cheeks that made it look like it had sideburns. No wonder Schlatt was drawn to it, Noah thought, as he looked at the mutton chops adorning Schlatt’s face. “What should I name him?”
“You like gibbons, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Gibby, obviously.”
“Oh shit you’re right. Of course. Obviously. Why didn’t I think of that?” Schlatt deadpanned, playfully smacking his forehead. Noah chuckled.
“It was just the obvious thing.”
“It was.”
“Surely.” Noah and Schlatt walked back over to the others, where they were gathering to actually go and tour the zoo. Noah grinned when he noticed Charlie had an alligator puppet on his arm and was animatedly talking to Ted, moving the mouth of the puppet.
They split off at the mouth of the zoo, Noah, Cooper, and Travis going together one way while Ted, Charlie, and Schlatt went off the other way.
Travis dragged them around, excited to see some animals, while Noah and Cooper talked casually about stuff. Cooper was on his new skateboard, rolling along beside Noah and Travis. Cooper had skateboarded before, Noah knew, but his other board had broken at some point and he hadn’t gotten around to getting a new one before they left Los Angeles. Needless to say he hadn’t practiced in a little while, but it was easy for him to get back in the swing of it.
They ended up fucking around, watching Cooper doing skateboard tricks along the pathway, jumping over vines and stuff as he rolled along.
They didn’t really see any animals, at least not animals in exhibits, but they did go into the areas and such, looking at the aquariums and cages, seeing where animals would have been.
They got to an emptied penguin exhibit, and Cooper took one look at it before deciding it was perfect for skateboarding. Noah agreed, and Travis happily looked around for a bit before coming back to watch Cooper skate.
At some point, Charlie showed up, without Ted and Schlatt. Noah quirked an eyebrow, and Charlie shrugged.
“Schlatt said he was gonna grab something, Ted said he was gonna go look for Schlatt when he didn’t come back for a while, and now I’m here.”
“Huh. Well, I mean, you can hang with us for a little bit,” Noah offered. Then, looking over at Travis, who was looking a touch antsy, Noah suggested something else. “Or you and Travis could go and see if you can see any animals. Even just wildlife, you know? Might be cool.”
“Oh, there are some birds in the aviary, I passed it on my way here,” Charlie said. Travis lit up, and Charlie nodded, leading him out of the building that Noah and Cooper were in. Noah and Cooper stuck around for a while, Noah watching Cooper practice his skateboarding tricks. It was nice to relax for a bit. They could meet up with the others later.
_____
Ted and Schlatt and Charlie had grouped off, and they started walking around. Ted knew that he and Charlie walked kind of fast, but Schlatt had been doing a pretty good job of keeping up so far. And then they found this long walkway where the monkeys would have been, and Ted and Charlie decided to try and race, but without running. They speedwalked over the walkway, and Ted laughed at how ridiculous they must have looked, but when the walkway came to a curve, they slowed, and looked back. Schlatt was no longer behind them. Charlie sighed.
“It’s okay, Charlie, you go on ahead, see if you can find the others. Schlatt and I will catch up later,” Ted said. Charlie nodded and continued walking, while Ted walked back the other way, towards where he left Schlatt. As he came around the curve where Ted last remembered seeing him, he found Schlatt sitting on the curb of the sidewalk, one hand propping his head up. Ted sighed, walking over.
“You good?” Ted asked, stopping just nearby.
“Yeah, just. Tired, I guess. I dunno.” Schlatt’s voice sounded the part too, and as Ted looked him over, everything about his posture screamed exhaustion. Ted remembered Schlatt’s back, how marred and scarred it was, and remembered that that probably still hurt.
“How’s your back?”
“It’s fine. I mean, it hurts, but no more than usual.”
“Have you been pushing yourself?”
“I dunno. Why?”
“I know we didn’t really get along for a while, and it’s arguable that we even do now, but the others consider you a member of this group, and if I were to actually put aside my own pride, I’d agree. So that means that if something’s up, we’re gonna help you. Mental, physical, I don’t give a shit. We probably all need therapy after that shit. But you say the word, and I know like, four other people who would jump to help you,” Ted said. Schlatt chuckled a bit.
“Thanks.” Schlatt tried to stand up, but looked to be in pain as he did so, so he gave up.
“You don’t have to get up right now if you don’t want to. Or I can take you back to the van, and you can rest.”
“Gimme a sec, and then… yeah. If you don’t mind.”
“Sure.” Ted waited for Schlatt to deem himself ready, and then came over and helped Schlatt up. Ted had to be careful how he held Schlatt up, since he didn’t want to hurt him. Schlatt said it was okay, though, after a bit of fumbling, and they started walking back the way they came, back towards the entrance of the Zoo. They had to stop a couple times for Schlatt to get his bearings, but otherwise they made it back to the Van with little issue. Jambo seemed happy to see them, probably not appreciating being locked in the car.
Schlatt got in, and took his usual place in the back of the van. His eyes looked distant.
“Are you okay? Like, really. I know your back is probably sucking ass right now, but are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just… before you came back, I was just processing. You know? Lotta shit happened, I just blocked it all out. Think a lot of us did.”
“Yeah…” Ted agreed, thinking about the way he’d treated everyone, the way he’d failed to help Schlatt, the way he’d gotten people hurt and trapped and imprisoned, and yeah, he’d never really know what Schlatt went through, and he can’t say he understands, but he gets it. Needing to process. He probably needs to do that. They all probably need to do that. “Do you process better alone?”
“I’m more likely to do it alone… hard to take a sec to think when you have other people on your mind.”
“Yeah. Well, if you need to talk anything out, you can talk to us. Or I can arrange a group therapy session or something, we all just word vomit of something.”
“I’ll let you know. Thanks.” Schlatt murmured. Ted nodded, letting Schlatt alone for a bit while he went to find the others.
Ted felt bad for Schlatt. The man went through a lotta shit to protect them, and he’d thought they didn’t care at the time.it would have been terrifyingly easy to let them get hurt, and worst of all, Ted thinks he knew when the deal was even made!
He remembers the first few nights that they were there, and remembered Carson trying to make Ted shoot Schlatt. Ted had thought about it. He’d said no, but he’d thought about it. Schlatt had even begged him to. Ted had thought about it. Fuck.
He remembered Schlatt asking Carson to speak privately. That was probably when they’d made that deal. Schlatt had been here before, he’d probably known what the punishment for disobedience was, didn’t want Ted to suffer that. But why? Ted had been nothing but rude to Schlatt.
Schlatt didn’t want people to have to go through that. He had been here with someone before, he probably had to watch and endure horrible things. Didn’t want to do it again.
Ted could admire that about Schlatt. He wished he’d picked on it sooner, but he could admire that about Schlatt.
Ted walked through the Zoo, and eventually found Travis and Charlie near the Aviary, looking at random birds that had somehow managed to live.
“Hey guys,” Ted said. Charlie waved him over.
“Hey, Ted, did you find Schlatt?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, he went back to the van.”
“Aww, was he that bummed out that he lost the race?” Charlie teased.
“Nah, he was just tired. Bad back, you know.”
“Oh shit right. Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he just wanted some time alone.”
“Gotcha. He’ll be fine, right? Like…”
“Physically? Yeah, I think he’ll heal.”
“And mentally?”
“Will any of us?” Ted asked, looking at Charlie solemnly. Charlie and Travis exchanged a glance.
“Group therapy?” Travis asked.
“Probably a good idea, but if we start drawing prompts out of a hat then I’m out of there,” Charlie admitted. Travis shuddered slightly, and Ted let out a grimacing noise. That had not been a pleasant experience. Nothing there had been, but that had been just… weird.
“Yeah, no, none of that. Still amazed how he managed to trick Carson, though. Like, that shit was insane. That guy was insane.” Ted shook his head as he spoke, expressing his disdain for the man.
“No kidding. Come on, we should meet up with the others.” Ted nodded, and Travis and Charlie led the way over to the place where the cold dwellers would have been kept, and they found Noah and Cooper near the former penguin exhibit, Noah watching Cooper practice skateboarding tricks.
“Hey, guys,” Noah greeted. Ted waved. “Did you lose Schlatt?”
“He’s chilling in the van,” Ted explained. Noah nodded.
“Yeah, I think a little alone time might be good for the guy.”
“We should get back eventually, though.”
“Yeah. Now?”
“Soon.”
“Alright. Hey, Cooper, wrap it up,” Noah called out to Cooper, who grumbled a complaint, but skated over to them anyway, handing his board up to one of them before accepting a hand from Noah getting out of the exhibit.
They started making their way back to the parking lot, going back through the gates and dropping the keys off in the office, just to be nice. As they approached the van, Ted took a deep breath.
“Hey, before we get in…” Ted started. Four pairs of eyes turned to look at him. “Are we okay?”
“What do you mean?” Travis asked.
“Like, does anyone have shit they need to talk out or anything. I know that he probably does,” Ted jerked his head to Schlatt, still sitting unaware in the van, “but like, if anyone else does, we could probably all stand to talk about some stuff.”
“Oh. Yeah… our shit might now be as bad as what he went through, but we shouldn’t keep this shit in,” Noah said, backing him up. Ted nodded, internally glad that Noah was on his side again. The others nodded in agreement, and Ted opened the doors to the van. Schlatt was staring off into space, and blinked himself back into reality when he heard them. Jambo stretched beside him.
“Hey, Schlagg, can you get out of the van really quick? We all need to talk about some stuff.” Ted waved him out, and Schlatt sighed, pushing himself up and clambering out. They shut the door so that the cat didn’t get out, and then they all sat down.
“What’s up,” Schlatt asked.
“Talk. We’re talking right now. About stuff. What the fuck is up with you?”
“Um. Went to the zoo today, saw some bones.”
“No, I mean. New York. If you’re ready to talk, I think all of us could stand to let some stuff out.”
“And you want me to start.”
“Only if you’re ready.”
“I’m not. Someone else start,” Schlatt said bluntly. That had to be fine. If he needed time, then he was allowed to have time. It was the least they could give him.
“Alright… I can start…” Ted offered. There were a few nods. He was the one who suggested it, after all, only fair that he start. “First off, I’m sorry for being an asshole. I put everyone in danger by being as stubborn as I was, and it took me way too long to realize that. So… I’m sorry for being a shitty leader, and an even shittier friend.”
“Ah, you were trying to help. You can’t put all of that on yourself, it wasn’t like many of us were actually trying to come up with a plan,” Cooper said. “I mean, Schlatt was, and Noah definitely put his two sense in, and you could have listened to them, at least a little bit, but you were trying, and you didn’t quite trust Schlatt. Schlatt, no offense, man, but you could have at least said a little something about your plan, or what we were getting into in New York before we got there. It’s not fair that Ted puts all of that on himself.” Cooper was spitting facts, and Schlatt nodded his agreement, raising a hand in a ‘point taken’ gesture. Ted muttered a thanks, and Cooper nodded.
“I’ll go next,” Travis offered. “Ted, it was kinda scary when you sorta took over like that. It was like you weren’t even you, you just became a robot or something. Didn’t listen to anyone, we’re your friends, I know you already apologized for it, and I accept your apology, but it was still scary to see you like that.”
“I’m sorry, Trav. Next time, someone slap me out of it or something,” Ted joked. Noah raised his hand, volunteering. A few of them chuckled.
“Also, are we done telling Charlie to shut up? Every time we do that, he just kinda shuts down. Kinda sucky to watch.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, Charlie.”
“No problem. I will just very simply be talking freely after this, though,” Charlie said.
“One more thing, Schlatt,” Travis raised his hand again, addressing the mutton chopped man. Schlatt looked at him. “I get why you did it, but it was really really scary to see you get hurt like that. I just… are you gonna be okay?” Travis asked, his eyes wide and pleading. Schlatt’s expression softened, and he gave Travis a soft, comforting smile.
“I’ll be alright, Travis. Don’t worry about me,” Schlatt said. Travis let out a breath and nodded, returning the smile. There was a moment of silence as Travis finished up, and no one said anything, until Cooper was awkwardly volunteering.
“I don’t have much to say, I was just kinda chilling, trying to follow whatever bullshit Carson said to do, but I’m sorry I didn’t contribute a lot to help while we were in there. I didn’t really try to keep anyone but Travis sane, and I probably could have helped at least calming people down after tense situations. Sorry about that.”
“It’s alright, Cooper. Several of us didn’t,” Charlie said. “On that note, I think I’ll go next.” There were a few nods for him to go ahead. “Okay. I’m like the doctor of the group, right? At least unofficially, I mean. I try to help out with wounds and stuff, but I also try to listen when you guys need an ear. But I just… I felt so useless, man. I felt like I couldn’t help at all, I couldn’t lighten the mood, I was useless to talk to cause nothing was private in there, and I couldn’t even recognize that there was something really fucking wrong with Schlatt until way too late!”
“Charlie, no one expects you to be the cure-all to everyone’s problems. No one expects you to heal everything, or to be able to help every issue. That’s what this is for, to let out all of our shit and let each other know that they’re not alone, that all of us can talk. No one expects you to do all that by yourself,” Noah said, placing a hand on Charlie’s shoulder.
“I expected it of me.”
“Charlie, that’s not fair. No one person can fix everything, it’s okay to let other people handle things.”
“I guess. Thanks, Noah.”
“Course.”
“It’s your turn, by the way,” Charlie said, nudging Noah with his shoulder.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine, but I do have some questions. Schlatt, Carson was a pedophile, right?” Noah asked, turning to Schlatt. That had been revealed a while ago, but it was still disgusting for Ted to even think about.
“Yeah.”
“Was he… anything else?”
“He’s a multitude of fucked up things. You want a list? I’d be happy to shit talk him,” Schlatt offered.
“Shit talk away, my friend,” Noah said, opening up the floor for Schlatt.
“Pedophile, murder, war criminal, you know that he killed his parents? He murdered pets and shit, destroyed pretty much everything around him to run a smuggling empire… guy’s a fucking rapist and a pervert, though pedophile is maybe the worst thing to call him from that front…”
“Woah, woah, he was a rapist too?”
“He had us do slave labor and you’re surprised about that ?”
“I mean… no, but how’d you find out?”
“A first-hand account,” Schlatt deadpanned, giving Noah a slight glare.
“First-hand… shit, wait, really? I mean I knew he was fucked up, but really?” Noah asked in disbelief, clearly drawing that conclusion way faster than any of the others did.
“I used to be pretty,” Schlatt said, almost defensively. Ted really did not like the conclusion that his mind came to for that. The others collectively grimaced when they realized, wincing and looking at Schlatt with a pitying look. Schlatt looked like he hated that.
“Did he… do anything this time?”
“No, thank god,” Schlatt said, and there was a collective exhale. It was fucked up that it even happened at all, but it was at least a tiny relief that it hadn’t happened this time. “It almost did, just before we escaped, but I talked my way out of it. Don’t worry. And don’t fucking pity me, it was years ago, I have had time to get over it, so forget about it.”
“Shit. sorry. A-anyway,” Noah tripped over his words a bit as he tried to recover the conversation, “anything that you want to tell the group about?”
“Suuure,” Schlatt rolled his eyes, and Ted could almost tell that he was thinking “haven't I already?”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“I know that you guys think that I’m probably fucked up mentally, but if you guys pity me more than a very subtle amount I will lead you to another dangerous place and not tell you, and then leave you there,” Schlatt threatened, getting oddly specific with it, likely to pull a chuckle out of a few of them. Nevertheless, the point was made.
“Point taken,” Ted chuckled.
“That being said, I am sorry for being really fucking vague on the way here. I imagine I could have saved everyone a good bit of pain.”
“Perhaps.”
“But the past is the past, and now we can move on. So. Where to? Where are you guys gonna drag me now? I’m guessing not California?” Everyone turned to Ted.
“Hell no. I was actually gonna ask if you had any suggestions, Schlatt.” Schlatt raised an eyebrow.
“You want me to choose? What happened to being a control freak?”
“I learned how to take a little step back sometimes recently.”
“Hmm. Fine. I, um. I hear Texas is rather nice this time of year,” Schlatt suggested with a shrug. Everyone exchanged glances, and nodded. That was as good of an idea as any.
“Texas it is,” Ted said. Having a new destination felt… good. Like they actually had somewhere to go in Texas, even though they’d have to figure everything out once they actually got there. But it finally felt, for the first time in months, that the world wasn’t just going to end. It could continue, at least for them.
The world may be shit, but they might have a future now. And as the world caves in, it does not end, not just yet.