►Can I Pose A Question?◄

[algidity]

Who: Isaac & You!
Where: Mostly the jail but he'll also be outside at some point.
When: Zombie Event!
Rating: R; Violence, mutilation, cursing, death, mentions of abuse.
Summary: Catch-all for the event, we do not need prior plans if you want to tag in, just try to be mindful of current plans please and thank you!
The Story:

[ There will be day summaries in top comments in here, try to find the one that best fits what you want to do if you haven't plotted with me! Please and thank you <3 Bless bless. For those of you I have plotted with I'm gonna do Starters in the proper days.

The first day is going to go by a little bit better than the days afterwards, after day one is when it's gonna get pretty gruesome and also Isaac's mental stability is quickly going to be deteriorating until the final day when he gets bit. ]

Comments

[driven]

[ when allison bolted, it was because she had one goal in mind: hide herself away from everyone before she could hurt them. again. she'd almost killed isaac, then, and she hadn't even noticed. the almost was so close to the actual that it terrified her, and if derek hadn't been there? hadn't pulled her back?

when she closes her eyes, all she sees is gerard. healthy gerard, sick gerard, gerard teaching her how to cut open the throat, gerard telling her to life her elbow for better range. gerard is saying that if she were a real hunter, a real argent, she wouldn't have missed.

they're just humans. weak, pathetic, mortal. he shouldn't still be alive.

allison is looking for a cell. somewhere she can just lock herself inside and bolt the door and scream. cry. something. her hands are shaking but she's too scared of being unarmed that she doesn't drop the knives. just runs and runs and avoids every single walker that gets in her way. she couldn't kill another thing, living or dead, if she tried - so she thinks. jackson had been her fault. scott had been her fault. if she was better at protecting her friends, none of this would have happened. she could have saved everyone if she was better, faster, stronger. this was her forte and she was screwing it all up. all over again. nearly killing isaac had been the last straw - and she says killing, not hurting, because that had been her intent. there was no recognition, no change in pace. it had been kill this walker, kill that one, on here's another- she hadn't even registered his face. not until derek was there, derek was grabbing her arms, pulling her back, allison stop and then isaac was speaking up.

she ran because she needed to get away. had to get away.

but something stopped her, around this next corner. she's not sure if she's just hearing things, but it sounds like a commotion. too loud to just be moving zombies, but if someone else was fighting them off, could she even help?

the screams spurs her into motion before she even realizes she recognizes it.

isaac

if she had the mental capacity to think about what she was doing, she would have stopped a ways off. she would have taken out one of the few arrows she had left and shot it from a distance. it would have been quicker, cleaner, less of a chance of causing any more harm to isaac or any harm to herself. but she doesn't have that mental capacity, and with the echoes of isaac's scream bouncing around the halls, she doesn't have the capacity to do much of anything. it's all instinct, now, in those few seconds it takes for her to run back to him. to pull out her daggers and swing.

it takes somewhere between sixteen and two hundred pounds, approximately, to crush a human skull.

allison's not sure of the variables, of the how or why, but she takes one of her daggers in both hands and swings hard enough that she feels the blade crack through the bone. derek is there and he's pulling isaac away from the scene and allison follows, her eyes moving down to his arm. in that brief moment, she's sure she's going to be sick, seeing the flesh and the muscle and the bone, all through the bite in his arm. her brain starts to overload- facts about what to do with a bite wound and how to care for an open wound in battle and what she's supposed to do next and it's overwhelming.

isaac's yelling doesn't help, and the next time allison takes a breath in it sounds more like a sob. ]

I don't- I can't- [ she looks up at derek then, her eyes wide, terrified. she doesn't know what to do, can't imagine doing what isaac's asking her to do but at the same time... ] I've never-

[triskeles]

[ If everyone could stop trying to break off from the pack, if they could all just stick together and stop running away, stop running into danger, Derek would be positively thrilled. He understands why both Isaac and Allison had ran, why they wanted to put distance from everyone else. But it's dangerous, everywhere is dangerous, and he's tired of losing people over the course of mere days. (Over months and years and years.)

He follows after Isaac as he chases Allison, explicitly tells Cora and Stiles to stay there and stay together as he does, because he's not going to lose more of his pack. If this weren't the time that it is, if it was another moment, he would maybe wonder when he started to think of Allison as pack. The niece of the woman that burned what remained of his heart out of him, the hunter that had tried to kill his pack, had tried to kill him.

Derek doesn't know, nor does he care. He just cares that she survives. That she stays safe.

But it's easier said than done. From his distance behind the teenager, all he can hear echoing in his ears is Isaac's scream, and he surges forward before he even realizes that he does. Even after Isaac's breakdown, after him lashing out at him, Derek doesn't even think about running to his aid. He just moves, reaches one arm around him to haul him away the moment that he hears footsteps running towards them-- and he doesn't even have to look, knows the weight of it, knows that it's Allison and that she has this covered without second guessing it-- while his other hand clamps down above his elbow as if that'll actually help do anything.

His movements don't stop the moment he gets Isaac out of the way, lets Allison dive in for the kill. Eyes roving the hall for a moment, he makes his way towards the nearest room that looks remotely safe, knowing that they don't have much time. In his panic, and after everything that's happened, Isaac doesn't have much time.

Isaac realizes it, too, and the shriek grates on his ears but he knows immediately what to do. His words come out, rasp and hoarse and maybe a little panicked, too: ] Sit--

[ His hands push, pull, trying to get Isaac to sit down so that he won't fall over, should he (more than likely) pass out from blood loss, from shock, from an overload of adrenaline and panic. But then he sees his belt, reaches to start undoing it so that he can pull it off. It's there that he registers what Allison's saying, looks up and sees her expression, catches the sob. Hands still moving, unlooping the belt and taking the machete, he holds it out to her by the dull edge, handle extended to her. ]

I know. I know, Allison. But we have to. [ Because he has to get this makeshift tourniquet on, he has to find a way to stem the bleeding, they have to find some sort of bandages. They have to keep one of the only people they really care about alive. ] We have to now.

[driven]

I can't.

[ which, as soon as it leaves her mouth, she knows is the wrong answer. she looked to derek (why, she's not really sure, but he's there and she's trusting him and it's a sudden decision, a very sudden decision) for help. they'd been working together so far, for the whole event, and it had been slow going but also...easy. easier to keep everyone together, for sure, and a good balance between everyone's stress. he'd been the one there to stop her, earlier, when isaac came out of the horde and she'd almost...she'd never be able to thank him enough for that. she's not even sure if she could bring herself, and her ego, to thank him in the first place. but he had to know... and now? now she needed him to tell her what to do. because she looks and sees isaac and sees blood and there's just this constant, high-pitched shrill in her head.

it sounds just like his scream.

but then derek's handing her the machete, and her eyes are wide, go from the machete in his hand to his face, before she takes it. the weight of the weapon in her hand steadies it, and she's not really sure why. or how. when she turns back to isaac's arm, it's with less panic than before, if only because of the fact she has no other choice. she sees his arm and she sees derek pulling the belt around his upper arm and it's just lists. lists, in her mother's voice, but lists. clean the blade, hot water, alcohol would be better, something to cauterize the wound with, something to hold them down. she grinds her teeth together as she tries to control her breathing. tries to work with what she has in front of her.

( how do we a situation like this?

clinically and unemotionally )

time was short and supplies were low. with her free hand she pulled a lighter out of her quiver, which was sitting on the ground next to her. it had been one of the smaller ends of supplies they needed earlier this week, and she's glad that she at least has it, but- god. but instead of focusing on that, on how it's just going to get infected and it's not worth it and how could she let this happen why did she run this is her fault, allison just reaches down to pull out a section of one of her undershirts, setting the machete in her lap while she rips the fabric off and uses it to wipe down the blade. it's not going to be enough, she knows it's not going to be enough, but it's a chance. it's more of a chance than isaac would have if she didn't do it. ]

Okay, okay... [ she's mumbling more to herself, now, than anything, but after a moment she finally does look back to isaac, trying to keep her voice calm. straight. he's in pain and she could see it in his face, but he knew what he was asking for too. ] Isaac, Isaac I need you to stay completely still, okay? [ her eyes move up to derek, a kind of okay to tighten the belt around his arm. block the artery. ] It's-

[ her voice breaks then, and she swallows, breathes through her nose. she doesn't even bother finishing, and instead just grabs onto the wrist on the bottom of the bitten arm and moves isaac's arm out from his side. it's not going to be the cleanest, but having isaac laying on the floor like he will give derek an easier opening to hold him down, and it'll leave room for allison to get enough pressure behind the blade.

when she gets it situated, squatting right above the bite, she gets ones more look at the bite itself. the torn open muscle, and skin, and the wave of nausea almost throwns her off her stance. before she shakes her head to get herself out of it, setting the blade down on the skin above the bite and under the tourniquet, looking back over her shoulder at isaac and derek as if to ask if he (derek) is ready. ]

[algidity]

[ Terrified doesn't begin to describe what Isaac's feeling, and Derek pulls him and moves him easily enough, he's sitting, and everything feels like a photocopied photo, details blurring - his head's spinning, his arm hurts, and with a glance he can see the damage done the muscle and the bone and all the blood. At one point in biology he'd been able to name off all the muscles and veins. He's terrified it's too late already, they don't have time like this, she needs to hurry up. His hand moves quickly to clamp down where Derek's had been as Derek moves to remove the belt, squeezing tight enough that he was sure there is gonna be a bruise later. Maybe if he can squeeze it tight enough the infection won't be able to spread. Maybe it'll buy them some more time, at least.

This all reminds him of when Derek had him let Peter into his head, the only difference was he trusted these two with his life. When it comes down to it, no matter how many times Derek's messed up, or hurt him -- He's had his back since day one. And Allison? After everything they've been through in Wonderland? He wishes he could just tell her everything was okay... Maybe he shouldn't have asked for them to cut it off, maybe he should just let it happen, have one of them end it like Jackson had had him do, or like Scott had...

He closes his eyes as he feels Derek bring the belt up around his arm, not yet tightening it. It feels like an eternity the amount of time between him closing his eyes and opening them again. He's not sure if Derek tightened it before holding his own belt out to Isaac and then bite down. Isaac doesn't hesitate, doing as he's asked because he needs to - he has to. They don't have time to lollygag around. Then there's Derek's hands back on him and he's not sure if it makes him feel comfort or if it just terrifies him more. He can remember back when a simple squeeze to his shoulder from Derek made him feel so calm, at ease and peaceful. Like it was okay, he did okay.

He glances up at Allison again and he doesn't need werewolf senses to tell how stressed she is, hell the room was probably flooded with all the horrible scents of darker emotions. Then Isaac bites down harder on the leather in his mouth, well aware that that was not going to prepare him for what was about to come. He just had to think back to all the times he'd been injured because of his dad. Back in that house - because it certainly was not a home. How he'd overcome the pain, how he'd have to focus on other things to ignore it. Without really thinking, his free hand moves to wrap slender pale fingers around Derek's arm, much like he'd grasped Scott's in the terror he'd felt.

Even if he isn't sure - (he's not ready, he's not!) - he nods. He has to be ready. This was a little worse than ring daggers, and he'd probably have made that quip if it were the right time, the right place, but it's not. If he survives it, he's definitely going to have a long talk with both of them separately, he owes Derek... something, a thanks or maybe an apology, he's not sure. And Allison - Mirror Stiles had told him that they had darkness around their hearts, this probably wasn't going to help that at all... He will definitely owe her more than one apology, and for a minute? He hates himself more than he usually does, because he's forcing this on Allison. He's forcing it on Allison and Derek.

And then with that he closes his eyes. Just like getting an injection, the fear of knowing that you're inflicting damage on your body, it's usually more tiring than the damage actually inflicted. Of course, that won't be the case here, but Isaac doesn't have time to wonder if he'll survive it, survive from the infection or possibly bleeding out. He's not a doctor and he's not going to try to worry about any of that. Instead he tries to steady himself, anchor himself to a thought - thinking about his dad before everything went to shit, about his brother before he'd died. About the time before everyone was hurting each other for different reasons. He's not sure if it'll help, but it helped with the full moons, of course it's not going to keep him from screaming around Derek's belt when it comes to it. ]

[triskeles]

[ Derek just wants to keep telling Allison I know, I know, I know. Scott's blood is on his hands, no matter how hard he tried to scrub it off, but it's still there. With Boyd's, soaked into him, and Erica's heavy weight in his arms. But if there's a chance, if there's something they can do here, then they have to try. They have to save Isaac if they can, even if it's a shot in the dark, even if he could die from the blood loss or the trauma. But it's something, until they're returned to their normal selves.

He knows that the belt isn't going to do much good for Isaac, save for making sure he doesn't bite through his tongue instead. It's not going to really muffle any cries he makes the moment that Allison presses down, and it's not going to offer his packmate any comfort. All it can do is prevent further injury, as he loses his goddamn arm.

Taking in a shaky breath, making sure that the belted tourniquet is tight around his arm, he looks at Allison as he settles around Isaac. She was hardened by her grandfather, her mother. She was a hunter. But she's also just a kid-- they all are, and they keep looking to him for help. For guidance. Part of him wonders if they even realize that he's just as lost as they are, fumbling in the dark for some path to take him away from all this. He's barely an adult, but here he is, trying to help a bunch of kids when he has no damn idea what he's doing.

Briefly, he reaches out, fingers pressed to the curve of Allison's spine where she's bent over the machete, poised for something none of them wants to do but don't have any choice. For as much as they've fought, for how often they've been at each other's throats, for the silence and avoidance here in Wonderland, they're there now. This entire ordeal over the past couple days has wrecked them all, but they're together in this. There's no real comfort he can offer her, just a touch and a quick look before he practically curls himself around Isaac to hold him down.

There isn't any comfort he can offer him, either. Just murmurs of apology, a hand smoothing through his curls briefly, dropping to touch the back of his neck. Then, Derek simply wraps his arm underneath Isaac's, almost as if he's putting him into a half-nelson. But his hand settles on the opposite shoulder, forearm under his collar. His weight presses down against his back, and he tucks his nose against his temple as his other hand reaches, taking the pale one that clutches at his forearm instead. ] Squeeze, Isaac. Just squeeze and hold on.

[ Eyes flicking up to meet Allison's over the top of Isaac's head, he gives her a quick nod, and that's it. ]

[driven]

[ she doesn't expect the touch, doesn't expect much of anything other than the steps it'll take to keep going. but it's there, the lightest pressure at her back, and allison can feel herself tear into two - one half that wants to collapse, that wants to fall into the fact her hands are shaking again, the fact she'll never be able to do this, she'll screw it up and then she'll be the one who really, directly, killed him. the other half hardens up at the touch, at the fact she's not alone in this, that derek is here and derek is helping and this could work. it could save isaac's life. it's this second half that tells her to breathe, that has her close her eyes and take the breath and looks down at isaac's arm.

her mother had been the one to tell her amount emergency first-aid. make sure you snap the bone clean, the more you have to work at it the worse it'll be and allison's stomach flips once, twice, and it's a thick swallow that keeps whatever's in her stomach down. her hands move across the handle of the machete, finding the place she has the surest grip before moving her hand along the back of it, using the wadded up shirt as a kind of buffer between her palm and the blunt edge of it.

when she feels derek settle behind her is when she turns, waits for him to meet her eyes and nod. she can't help but look down at isaac, her heart breaking and it showing in her face, before the look is gone and she's back together again. a hunter again. she drops the blade down so that it's just lightly laying on the area of skin above the bite but below the belt on isaac's arm, the blade sharp enough to cut just a bit at the skin. her hands are still (thank god) but allison needs one more moment, one more breath, before-

i'm sorry, isaac

she puts as much force behind it as she can, shoves the blade down through the skin and muscle and tendons on his arm. and even if she's expecting it, the screams, the hard thunk on the blade hitting the bone. clinically. unemotionally. she keeps her resolve and she shifts her weight, throwing her body down one more time on the blade to snap the bone under the weight and pressure of it. focusing on that snap, that sickening crunch is easier than letting herself listen to isaac, listen to anything else. it's as quick as she can make it and it's not nice not as clean as she would have liked, but the bone snaps and there's blood, of course there's blood, and she thanks her father for her training, for the fact she can move through the rest of this without much thought. without much realization of what she's doing. just the last cut, then tossing the arm off to the side. the machete is discarded too for the sake of ripping the inside lining out of her coat - a quick rip, just because she couldn't think of any cleaner linen - and wrapped it around what was left of his arm. she just needed to stop the bleeding for a minute, just a minute. ]

Derek, you've got to hold him- [ she doesn't know where her voice comes from, of how it manages the volume, the steadiness, but it's there and she keeps moving. almost there.... allison sits back on isaac arm, then, trying to keep it steady as she picks back up the machete and pulls out the lighter, lighting it up and heating the metal of the point. at this point she's doing it based off sense, because she doesn't know how quickly this metal will heat up or how long she needs to keep the flame on it, but it's a long enough pause that she feels her resolve start to break, and she bites down on her lower lip.

stop crying, stop crying, stop

after that time has passed, she drops the lighter and tears off the fabric from the wound, turning the machete so the hot side is closest to open wound and - ignoring the intense pain she feels in her palm when she presses her other hand to the backside of the blade - presses it to the wound and pushes. the slight hiss of the metal burning the skin with the added pain to her one palm gives her enough reason to let out a sob, closing her eyes as she waits for it to close the wound. ]