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Cori is numb.
She stares blankly ahead, unable to process what’s just happened. The only sounds she hears are Ian crying and the dripping of blood onto the stone floor.
Why did it have to be Erin, to be Milo?
Why couldn’t it have been him?
The police and paramedics are all a blur. Cori knows they’re being asked questions, knows they’re answering them, but they have no idea what they’re saying.
“Cori.”
Ian’s shaky, tearful voice echoes in the back of her mind. He’s standing there, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“-need to go.”
He’s not comprehending a single word Ian is saying, but allows him to lead him out of Build It.
He follows Ian to his van like a zombie, unable to feel, to think. He reaches the passenger door and stands there numbly.
“Cor? Please get in,” Ian pleads. “I can’t—” His voice breaks. “I can’t be here anymore.”
Cori slowly opens the car door and climbs inside.
Why why why why why why
They buckle their seatbelt. It’s broken, and Milo had been trying to get Ian to fix it for a while now.
Milo.
Milo was always so insistent about safety. Making sure the rest of them were okay, making sure they didn’t hurt themselves doing anything stupid.
And now…
Cori lets out a shuddering breath, tears finally beginning to fall. Ian leans over, hugging her tightly. “It’s gonna—it’s gonna be okay, Cor,” he murmurs in her ear, but his tear-choked voice is clear evidence that he doesn’t even believe himself.
Ian starts the van and drives slowly away from the scene, but he can’t drive away from the grief.
They don’t speak in the van. They’re both too numb for that. Tears fall down both of their faces as they drive in silence.
There’s a shape in the road up ahead. Cori assumes Ian’s seen it, but as he continues to drive straight ahead, she realizes he’s not paying attention to his surroundings.
“Ian,” they say, quiet and monotone.
Ian makes no indication that he’d heard him.
“Ian. The road,” she says, a bit louder, forcing every bit of urgency she can into her dull, blank voice.
“Hm?” Ian mumbles, before he takes a better look ahead of him. “Oh shit!” He swerves frantically to avoid the shape, which Cori now sees is a deer. Ian tries to regain control, but the van veers off the road, skidding down a small hill before colliding with a tree, hard.
The seatbelt should have saved her. It would have saved her.
But the sudden stop causes the seatbelt to pop open, and before Cori can fully process what’s happening, what just happened, he’s no longer in his seat. There’s a searing, agonizing pain in his neck, though, and it feels…wet.
They’re lying on the ground a few feet away from the van. Nothing feels broken, the only pain being in their neck, so they start to stand.
Their neck really does hurt, though. They press their hand to it, seeing what’s wrong.
His hand comes away absolutely coated in blood.
And then it starts to bubble up into his mouth, spilling from his lips, drowning him in his own blood, and he panics, stumbling forward, hands pressed over the wound.
“Cori!” Ian screams, jumping out of the van, making it to Cori just in time to catch her as she collapses.
“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK,” Ian mumbles, holding her head in his lap.
Ian presses down on the wound with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding. Cori knows he’s trying to save them, but he’s pressing on their windpipe, and it hurts.
Her hands weakly push at Ian’s, trying as hard as she can to stop the pain.
“Ian…” he murmurs, choking on the blood pouring from his mouth. “Please stop…you’re hurting me…”
She can’t see much anymore through the mix of nighttime and blood loss, but she can clearly see Ian’s expression change to one of horror and guilt as he immediately loosens the pressure.
“ No. No no no no no no no I’m so so sorry. ” Ian’s voice sounds far away, despite him being right there.
They feel something warm and wet dripping onto their face, and they vaguely register that it must be Ian’s tears.
“ Please, ” Ian begs, sounding like he’s underwater.
Cori knows she’s dying. She can feel the pain slowly fading away with her vision.
He doesn’t want to leave Ian alone, but he has to. He isn’t going to survive this.
They take Ian’s hand, their grip weak, and Ian squeezes it tightly. “ You’re gonna be fine, just hang on for me, please, just—just hang on, ” he tells them, but he’s even further away now.
Cori looks up at her love’s tear-stained face, and she feels a sense of calm wash over her suddenly. She’s out of time.
She feebly squeezes Ian’s hand again. It’s okay, I love you, she tries to say, but when she opens her mouth to speak, only blood spills from her lips. It’s filling her throat, suffocating her.
He coughs, causing blood to splatter all over his face, Ian’s clothes. He coughs once, twice more, and as the blood completely fills his throat, he gurgles desperately.
And then she slips away.
—
“No,” Ian whispers tearfully, voice shaking. “No, no, no. Cori, please, please don’t leave me, I can’t lose you too, you’re all I have left…”
He holds Cori close to him, desperately hoping that he feels a breath, hears their heartbeat.
He doesn’t.
“PLEASE!” he screams, raw and grief-stricken, voice cracking. “Please…I can’t…”
Cori’s deep blue eyes, always so full of love for him, for all of them, now stare into nothingness, glassy and empty of all that made them who they were.
It’s his fault.
He killed her.
Just like Erin’s death is his fault, just like Milo’s death is his fault, this is, too.
He lets out a gut-wrenching mixture of a sob and a scream and lies down, still holding Cori close to him.
He doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to let go.
After all, he’s already lost them once.
He cries until he no longer can, there on the bloody grass, holding the empty shell of the last remaining person he’s ever truly loved.