This is radio nowhere, is there anybody alive out there?

[notathreat]

WHO: Ellie + OPEN (Grab me if you want a custom starter, even if they haven't interacted yet!)
WHERE: Dreamscape!
WHEN: September 22-25 2512
WHAT: Ellie's managed to keep y'all out of her head until now, but everything's got a breaking point.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, death, torture, body horror (zombie-type), violence towards a teenager.

Radio Nowhere

Comments

[reneger]

( ah.

this isn't his nightmare, no, but he knows the feeling. how shit being trapped feels. recognizes the inability to breathe, the anger and terror and pain.

recognizes the voice plenty, too. it's not one from his own side of the universe, but they're all the same. sickos and freaks who should have stayed locked in a basement and never let out. but. we can't always get what we want, and clearly this guy is here. jason doesn't turn to look for him. just feels his hip, verifies that his gun holsters are still strapped to his thighs and that the guns that are usually present during these dreams are still there before he's. turning and moving to quickly run his way across the restaurant, to the sound of those little breaths. )

Hey, ( voice low, soft, careful. ) it's okay. I won't let him get you.

[notathreat]

[She moves before he can catch more than a glimpse of her. Tiny and skinny and pale, halfway to starved, with flushed cheeks and glittering eyes. Jason's voice is gentle, but the terror and rage only intensifies, a kind of trapped-animal fear.

But she is thinking.

There isn't much warning when she rounds the corner, the very same switchblade flashing in her hand -- but she catches sight of his face and stops, eyes very wide and very young. She said fourteen, but she could pass for twelve.

She's not dressed warmly enough for the weather, covered in half-melted snow and splashed with blood, bruises darkening on her skin. Her hair is falling out of her ponytail. Her canvas sneakers are soaked with icy snowmelt. Every breath is a strain- something is broken.

Ellie's scar is still there, through her eyebrow, but most of the others on her face are missing.]

But he could get you.

[And by the sound of her hissing whisper, it's not an option. It's not. Not here where she is small and scared and armed only with a knife, and flames licking up the walls.]

[reneger]

( she's not in good shape. and jason--knows what that's like. he lowers himself down to the ground, sits cross-legged there in the middle of the floor. this is a nightmare, it feels terrifying, but he can power through it. he's powered through worse. once he's down, he reaches for one of his gun holsters. pulls out a glock with the safety still latched and slides it across for ellie while he takes hold of the other one. )

If he comes, I'll kill 'em. ( voice still soft, but there's--something darker in there. ) I'll kill 'em, or you can, and we'll leave him here to burn while we take off without him. Yeah?

( whatever nightmare she's fighting, they'll figure it out. dreams don't always work the same as shit does in the real world, but fuck it. jason doesn't give a shit. either he'll shoot the guy or he'll strangle him or take out a knife and mutilate him until he's dead and unrecognizable. if none of it works, he'll find something flammable. they'll figure it out. )

[notathreat]

Yeah.

[Her voice is soft, but it's said with conviction. She's obviously scared out of her damn mind, but somehow, she's angrier than she is scared. She stows her knife just as smoothly as she did in the warehouse, reaching out without hesitation to pick up the glock. It's too big for her hands and she's obviously not used to the weight, but she clearly knows how to use it.

A shadow falls across them -- across her, specifically from behind.

Gotcha.

The man lunges with his machete, making to run her through, a quick and brutal thrust that'll be fatal if it lands.

Ellie turns, trying to get the gun up in time, but he's already too close.]

[reneger]

( ellie isn't quite fast enough, but jason doesn't hesitate. he sees the man, the face behind her, the voice. and he immediately raises the gun in his hand, finger on the trigger. the first bullet goes straight for david's raised hand, the one holding the machete. the second goes for a shoulder, and the third goes for his upper arm. enough to prevent that knife from going for ellie, not enough to kill him. there's a special hell for people who target kids, and jason sure as hell doesn't want him to get there with any urgency.

he'll have plenty of time for that later, after they're done with him. three shots in the span of seconds, and then he's lunging forward for ellie, trying to grab hold of her and yank her away from the jackass. )

[notathreat]

[The gunshots, even so close to her, don't spook her at all. Ellie jerks closer to Jason, getting out of the way, and David jerks and grunts, body contorting disgustingly under the carnage, bleeding profusely.

He reaches out for her, but his bloody fingers grasp over her throat, cheek and jaw, leaving only smears and flecks of blood.

Once his fingers is already broken, inflamed, splinted, a bright and shining detail in the mess.

Ellie lets herself be grabbed, pressing herself to Jason's chest, twisting around. She uses two hands to point the glock, to pull the trigger.

The bullet goes point-blank into David's face, shattering a cheekbone and going through.

It doesn't slow him, though -- not the way Jason's bullets do.

He gives a hideous grin, almost gentle. And disappears. His voice wraps around them, along with the scent of heat, ash and blood.]

Knew you had heart.

You're special, Ellie.

[Ellie's breathing hitches again, the fear and pain ratcheting higher, the anger reaching a fever pitch. She can't fucking die here.]

Fuck you.

[Her voice is quiet, young, but twisted with everything she has. In her way, she's just as murderous as he is.]

[reneger]

( he's not even flinching, goddamn. whatever fucked up dream version this is, he doubts torturing him is going to do anything. so jason opts to cut his losses, reaches forward with his free hand to grab hold of ellie and yank her forward, onto him. where she's safe, where jason can shield her from this asshole. the gun doesn't lower, his expression doesn't flicker. he raises the gun still in his hand and fires the remaining rounds straight into david's skull.

trigger finger light and fast, twelve rounds straight into david's face.

if he gets up after that, jason doesn't know what the hell to do. stab him a billion times? he's down. he could go for it. rip him up to bits and pieces until he's nothing more than fleshy bits on the floor. )

[notathreat]

[Jason's bullets work where hers don't. The ghost of him tries to fade out, but instead he's forced back to blood and bone. The carnage is so detailed, it's abundantly clear that Ellie's had a front-row seat to precisely this type of death before.

David falls to the ground, blood and thicker things grotesquely splattering the carpet, and Ellie's rapid breathing, the crackling of the fire, filters back in. Her back is small and thin against his chest, every breath painful and shuddering.

She coughs, hard, and puts her hand on his arm where it rests across her, holding her to him. It leaves a streak of blood.]

Are you okay?

[Her voice sounds older now, closer to what he's used to from her.]