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One catastrophic miscalculation. In the end, that was all it took. A presumption that an area that had been safe so many times before would continue to be so. A guard lowered after too long feeling protected. A successful foraging mission and a wagon loaded with enough supplies to keep the small settlement of Revenge going for a good long while.
A laugh. A raised voice. A silly dance.
Ed's face turning from laughter to fear in a split second. Stede too late to react. The searing pain of teeth in flesh. A skull blown to smithereens a moment later.
"Oh fuck," Ed said as he ran up to Stede. "Oh fuck, please tell me that didn't get you."
Stede held his hand up against his neck, one of the only spots on his body not covered in bite resistant leather. "Ed," he said, as he took a step backwards.
Ed's face crumpled. "No," he said. "No. No, it's fine. I'm sure. It can't have broken the skin. It can't."
Stede pulled his hand away and found his fingers smeared with blood. "Can't amputate," he said flatly, as the knowledge that he was infected began to settle into his mind like a cold knife between his ribs.
"We can… what if I suck the infection out? I… surely there's something we can do!" Thick tears were starting to roll down Ed's cheeks.
Stede knew it was no use. No one had found any kind of cure in the years since the zombie virus had taken hold. It was quick, it was brutal, and it was inevitable. The only hope was a swift amputation if you were bitten on a limb. Other than that? No chance.
Low, rumbling moans began to creep into the edge of Stede's hearing. He stepped backwards and looked down the abandoned street on the intersection they were crossing. His heart dropped.
"Ed," Stede said, cutting across him. "Ed, you need to go."
"What?" Ed said, brows creased. "I'm not just going to leave you here, Stede!"
"Ed!" Stede practically yelled. "There's a fucking horde coming. Listen!"
Ed went silent, and then the colour drained out of his face. "Shit."
"Go. I'll hold them off."
"Stede," Ed pleaded. "I can't let you do that. I can't leave you like this, it's a fate worse than fucking death."
Stede swallowed. "Then take me down when you're a safe distance away. Everyone knows you're a sharp shot. But I need you to get back to Revenge, and I need you to look after the kids and the crew for me. I just wish I could look after you, too."
"Stede-"
Stede launched himself forward and pulled Ed in close for a desperate kiss, then pushed back before Ed even had a chance to react. "Ed, you have to go. You need to get that stuff back to Revenge and you need to make sure you live. For me."
"Please don't go," Ed whispered.
Stede shook his head. "I'm sorry." Then he pulled the rifle from his back and began to run. He didn't look back, even when Ed screamed his name. He couldn't look back.
Two weeks. Two weeks of grief, of pain, of a heartache so deep Ed wasn't sure how he woke up each morning. Two weeks of light duty as the others picked up his slack. Two weeks of absence.
Ed leant against the turret on the walls and sighed. He just felt empty. Stede had asked him to look after the kids. Look after the crew. Ed could barely look after himself. At least the kids had Mary and Doug, at least the crew had each other. Ed just felt alone. He scanned the roads again, making sure the horde that had claimed Stede hadn't manage to shuffle themselves in this direction. Two weeks, it was unlikely, but then they'd thought the area they had been travelling through then had been safe. Ed was determined none of them would get caught off guard like that again.
He squinted. Was that a-? He pulled up the binoculars and focused them. A person! A lone person walking down the road. They were too far away to see clearly, even through the lenses, but there was definitely a person walking towards Revenge. Ed rang the alarm bell with two short rings to alert the others that there was someone approaching. He kept watch as the figure got closer and closer, and then came into clear view. Adrenaline coursed through him so hard he almost felt like he was going to throw up.
Ed scrambled down the ladder into the settlement and then unlocked the gates as fast as he could. They finally swung open and he sprinted down the road. He needed to know if this was real or if he had finally lost his mind and started hallucinating.
As he got closer he could tell it was real. The bouncing blond curls, the smile that lit up his face like the sun. Stede. All Ed wanted to do was embrace him, but he had to force himself to stop out of arm's reach. He panted as he looked at the man standing in front of him. It was Stede. It was Stede alive. It was Stede unzombified, two weeks after a direct bite to the neck.
"How?" was all he could say.
Stede, tears glinting in his eyes, shrugged. "I don't know. Apparently, I'm immune. I kept waiting to turn, but it never happened. The bite's just an ugly scar, now. Healed up."
"Fuck," Ed choked out as he began to cry. "I've been beating myself up that I didn't have a minute to take you out and stop you turning. Kept thinking it was my fault that you were out there wandering, somewhere. Wondered if I would be able to go and find you, put you out of your misery. Didn't have the guts."
"Oh Ed," Stede said, then stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm so glad I could come back to you. I've been sick with worry, but I couldn't risk coming back until I knew I wasn't a danger."
Ed clung to him and let all of the pain of the last weeks flow out of him in his sobs. "I can't believe this is real."
"Me neither, love," Stede said, and Ed could feel and hear his sobs, too. "I'm so glad to be back. Let's get inside, shall we? Where it's safe. I don't want to lose you when I just got you back."
Ed pulled back and sniffed. He nodded, too overwhelmed with emotion to get his words out. Stede slipped his hand into Ed's and they walked back towards the open gate, ready to greet their family.