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Brad felt stressed. Well, he always felt stressed but this was a new kind of stress. Somehow in the chaos that followed after the pirates had made themselves known and they all had gone aboard the abandoned ship. Brad had ended up separated from the group.
Oh, Christ. Alex is going to be pissed.
He thinks grimly to himself. He was busy thinking about all the ways Alex would kill or shout at him when he heard it.
The discharge of a gun that is.
His first thought is immediately Alex. His heart stops and he (foolishly) runs in the direction of where the sound had originated.
His bare feet bound against the steel and it hurts his feet. He cringes and tries not to think about the decades-old rust.
He turns and weaves through several corridors before he arrived at where the sound came from.
It's probably an old loading bay. Immediately he sees Alex and he momentarily relaxes. Then an actually assess the group. He recognizes Fliss and Julia but there is no Conrad.
Brad, because of who he is, automatically assumes the worst.
Conrad’s dead
Of course, he immediately banished the thought when he sees Julia’s face. Oh, she’s upset but not upset to the point that her brother is dead. She actually looks kinda angry. Alex meets him halfway and pulls Brad close to his chest.
“Oh, God. You are okay. What happened are you hurt?”
“No, no I’m fine. Is Conrad okay? Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“And Conrad?” Alex goes quite at the mention. Stepping away from his brother he creeps toward the girls. Alex stops him.
“Brad, no.”
“I’m not a child anymore Alex! I need to see if Conrad is okay!” Alex goes quiet but doesn’t look happy about it.
He finishes up his trip over to the girls and looks down slightly.
Conrad is on the ground and. And there’s blood everywhere.
“Oh God! Conrad!” He cries out alarmed. He collapses next to Conrad and frantically tries to find the source of the bleeding. Conrad gives a strained smile.
“He B-Rad. Crazy second meeting am I right?” Brad’s not sure if he should laugh or cry. Leave it to Conrad to try to find a humorous joke in the situation.
Huh, that was strange.
Brad barely knew Conrad and automatically he (Brad) is acting like they had known each other for ages. Honestly, Brad couldn’t help it. He hit attached easily to people and…
Well, Conrad was different. He was like one of those popular kids but he didn’t turn his nose up at Brad. He didn’t make fun of the random facts Brad would rattle out. As a matter of fact he encouraged. Oh, he didn’t know what Brad was talking about but he listened.
For Brad that was everything.
Alex was the only one who listened in the past and even then he would sometimes get annoyed.
“Oh God Conrad. What happened?” Julia answers that and Brad startled slightly. He had forgotten about everyone else.
“This jackass decided he wanted to play hero.” Conrad cringes.
“Hey sis I don’t want to hear it. Your fiancé is still alive because of me.”
“Fiancé?” Brad questioned perplexed and the others cringe a little.
“Oh I forgot you went to sleep off his sea sickness. But your brother and my sister are now engaged.”
Well, that explained why Alex had asked him the question he did. Though Brad silently wished they would think this through. After all they had been together for roughly a year.
Shaking his head. He shoots his brother a look. Alex avoids his eyes.
“Well, on behalf of my brother thanks for that. However, I wish you had went about it another way.” Conrad gives a crooked smile.
“Aw. You care about me and your cute when your worried.” Brad blushes furiously under the comment. Alex clears his throat.
“The pirates are still aboard. Conrad has a bum leg and we don’t even know where the hell we are.”
“Well. This is a World War Two ship. There should be a radio somewhere that we can call for help.”
“Would it be dead by now? It’s what? 74 years old maybe older?” Julia asks and Brad shakes his head.
“We just need to find the correct frequency. Ship radios hardly ever die. They need to be able to withstand bad storms. Even if it’s not. With enough elbow grease I’m absolutely positive we can get it up and running again.” The others nod their heads in understanding but Brad can tell they are still a little lost (besides Fliss that is).
“Well that answers one question but we still need to figure out something to do with Conrad. He can’t put any weight on that leg.”
“There should be a place he can hide out in.”
“Okay. That’s good. You’ll stay with him.”
“What?” The. Turning to face Conrad he speaks up.
“Nothing against you of course but we can cover more ground if more people are searching!”
“No. Somebody needs to look after Conrad so that wound doesn’t get infected and I don’t want you walking around this ship.” Brad bites his lip but doesn’t argue. He sulkily thinks to himself that he and Conrad were sitting ducks in the area and true Conrad couldn’t move but if Brad was searching there would be less of a chance of death.
However, Alex was resolute in his decision and once Alex made up his mind he wasn’t going to change it. No matter what. Conrad pats his hand slightly.
“Hey. It’s okay. I’ll look after us. No pirate is going to want to mess with. Bum leg or not!”
The others roll their eyes and Brad sighs. Though there is a certain fondness for it. Looking around he finds something clean to wrap up Conrad’s leg in. The options are limited on the ship. There is some cloth but Lord knows what would happen if he used that. He wasn’t keen on risking giving Conrad an infection. Alex tipped part of his sleeve off and hands it to Brad.
Brad carefully wraps the cloth around the leg. Reaching out he carefully eases Conrad on his feet. Conrad half leans on him and because he’s heavier than Brad. Brad slightly stagges under the weight. Alex moves on the other side.
They find a slightly hiding room. Well as hiding that it could be on a ship. Once in there Alex addresses the both of them.
“Don’t move.”
“Well. It’s not like I have much of a choice.” Alex gives him the look. Conrad either isn’t notice he didn’t care and if he didn’t care he had to be immune to the look. Brad could never shrug it off if he got the look.
“I was talking to my brother. We will be back as soon as we find the radio. Be careful.”
“You too.” Alex nods his head and leaves the room. Roughly fifteen minutes later. Brad tilts his head back against the wall and groans. Conrad shifts.
“Your brother is going to be okay and hey we can talk a little.”
“Sorry Conrad. You must think I’m a shitty person but I truly think will make more time if I help and God I can’t sit still.”
“You think I want to be here.”
“Shit, that was inconsiderate. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“Hey Brad?” Brad looks up to Conrad.
“We’re going to be fine. They’ll find the radio and we can get out of here.” Brad closes his eyes and feels tears gather.
“Ugh I’m sorry. I’m crying over here. This is stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. This is completely understandable but I assure you we are going to get out of here. Even if they don’t find a radio or can’t get it working. I’ll get us both out of here. I’ll get us all out of here.”
Brad closes his eyes again.
“Yeah. Yeah okay.” They lapse in silence for a bit.
“He Conrad?”
“Yeah, Bradical?”
“Is it okay if I put my head on your shoulder?”
“Of course.” Brad buries his face into Conrad’s shoulder. Soon both of them are asleep. Brad sleeping on Conrad’s shoulder and Conrad with his chin on Brad’s head.
Oh, of course they are still semi alert. After all total relaxation isn’t something they could afford right now. However, they are as relaxed as they could be and isn’t that more than enough?