revivalproject | What do vegan zombies eat?

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What do vegan zombies eat?

WHO: Leo and YOU
WHERE: all around Temba
WHAT: zombie invasion
WHEN: zombie invasion
WARNINGS: zombie invasion (...likely some gore and violence)

A: Early Invasion

In a way, Leo is almost... relieved. Okay, so that's a weird thing to feel when there are literally undead monsters walking around, but the thing is, zombies are a simple problem. He doesn't have to worry about zombies betraying him, or debating him about innocent until proven guilty, or any other moral quandaries. Zombies want brains. Leo doesn't want his brain to get eaten. This math is simple.

And while it's more than a little disconcerting now to be suddenly cut off from his powers, it doesn't slow down Leo that much. Well, maybe in the literal sense, now that he can no longer teleport, but for actual fighting, Leo has always depended more on his swords and his martial arts than his magic. So cutting zombies down isn't really an issue for him, especially when they're the slow, shambling kind.

It is, however, pretty gross. Leo cringes as he brushes some rotting flesh bits off his arm.

He's here because he heard someone calling for help, or because he saw someone fighting the good fight. Either way, he's here to help!

(And also look for Donnie, because of course they got separated again. But hey, kill two birds with one stone!)

"Need a little help?" he calls out, approaching. "These guys are a little too awake, huh? Never heard that phrase about sleeping when your dead."

B: Late Invasion (cw: tied up zombie brother)

Leo shouldn't be out here. He should be sheltering in the mines, like everyone else.

But here he is, moving with ninja speed and stealth toward one of the abandoned houses. He has a rope slung over his shoulder, and casts furtive glances around to see if he's being followed.

He's pretty good at catching when he is being followed, but with all these zombies around, it's possible to avoid his detection and see what he's up to.

Which is, admittedly, pretty suspicious. What is he doing?

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It's silly. It makes him feel like they're five again, sneaking out of the familiarity of their lair and daring to venture out by themselves in the dank, dark tunnels beyond.

Nodding like he's trying to convince himself, Donnie squeezes Leo's hand back, taking a deep breath as he tries to calm himself. Who's nervous? Not him, why should he be nervous? Nice to know his overthink's back and working just fine!

He really just doesn't want to be by himself again if he runs into that particular zombie, and while he's not sure he wants to see what Leo's got hidden, at least he won't be alone.

Well, Donnie is still holding on, but he’s not freaking out… verbally.

Leo sighs, then nods, turning and opening the door. Inside the house is dark, and it looks like a fight or some other disturbance happened at some point, because a lamp is broken and some of the furniture is knocked around.

Leo glances back at Donnie, then pulls on a smile, haggard and tired and fake, and steps inside.

“Heeey, Miguel,” he calls out. “I’m back.”

From one of the bedrooms comes the unmistakable groan of a zombie.

There is absolutely nothing good about this situation and the smile Leo gives then is not in the least bit reassuring. Donnie's grip tightens even more when his brother calls out that nickname.

Oh no...

The sound that responds just makes that unease grow even worse. This is the exact opposite of how he'd wanted to feel, but leaving is out of the question.

Besides, there aren't any questions here. The moment Donnie processes that name, he knows. Leo's certainly got guts to have gone so far, but it's still comparatively better than having to decapitate family. Donnie had avoided the problem altogether by running away, but now...

His feet seem frozen, legs locking in place. Is this really how he wants to see his little brother?

It definitely wasn't an easy thing, when Leo first encountered him.

Mikey isn't the only one of their family and friends that Leo has seen as a zombie, of course. He's run across their dad a few times, and Draxum twice. He's pretty sure he saw a Todd in a hoard once, and he remembers running away from a shambling April, trying to convince himself it was someone else, someone he didn't know.

All of them hurt, seeing their wretched forms and dead eyes, and it hurt when he witnessed someone else taking them out, but he kept telling himself that it simply wasn't real, like the storms. A trick, trying to make him despair, to feel like his family was truly dead and gone. And he knew it was true, because he'd seen them over and over, like duplicate enemies in a video game.

But when he came around a building and saw Mikey...

He'd heard others behind him, some of the others out looking for supplies. They weren't looking to fight the zombies directly, but right where he was, Mikey would be in their way. Leo knew, if he left him there, that they would cut him down to get past. It was the sane and normal thing to do, and the thought of it had turned Leo's body to ice.

He thought about doing it himself. At least he would make sure it was fast. But as he pulled out his sword, he looked at the groaning, stumbling form of his little brother, and he knew he wouldn't be able to.

So he used himself as bait and coaxed the zombie away. Eventually he wrangled the thing to one of these houses and got him inside. Locked him in an inner room, then got some rope to tie him to a bed frame.

He's not sure how much of this he should tell Donnie. He starts with the small parts.

"...I know," he says quietly, "that it's not... really him." He grips his empty hand into a fist at his side, his other shaking in Donnie's hand. "I just... couldn't do it. But I couldn't let anyone else... I couldn't let them... Not to him."

His voice gives out and he lets the explanation die on his tongue. He knows he sounds crazy. He knows this is nuts. He waits for Donnie to tell him so.

Edited 2024-10-24 05:40 (UTC)

Seeing those familiar faces had been wearing him down, but maybe it's because he'd been choosing the less direct approach that he hadn't actually seen too many he was so intimately close to. He would have surely broken if he'd seen April. Seeing their father had nearly done it. After not seeing his father for over a year, this certainly wasn't how he had wanted to be reacquainted with him.

Seeing Mikey...

Donnie hadn't even seen the zombie but he knows Leo wouldn't be making a joke of this sort of thing. His fingers are feeling numb again and he can only imagine Leo's hand isn't doing much better, as though holding fast in a death grip can cease that tremble. But that only works if the other isn't doing the same, and Leo may as well be the only thing holding him upright.

It takes some effort to swallow as he listens to his brother's explanation. It hurts to hear Leo try to justify his actions, and while there is that small, rational part of him that knows that keeping a zombie is indeed crazy, he still understands all too well why his brother's done what he'd done.

He is not the best at this. Usually it's the other way around, or one of their other brothers, but they're not.... not actually here. The thought sends a fresh pang through him, and the next breath he drags in feels just as painful as he forces his fingers to loosen his grip, just a little so he's not accidentally crushing Leo's hand. Donnie steps in front of him, his free hand reaching for that fist.

"I know," he says, an echo of his twin's earlier words. "I couldn't have either. I... I saw dad..." He'd mentally blanked out, feeling his brother definitely the braver of the two of them for going to this length for a zombie brother. "...I couldn't... I just...ran."

Leo blinks up at Donnie when he admits that, letting his other hand slowly uncurl in his brother’s palm. The acceptance in Donnie’s actions calms Leo, even if this is still an insane situation. Donnie could have yelled at him, or called him a dumb idiot, which would have been warranted, but he’s still here. Still holding on.

Leo swallows and nods his head. “I ran from Dad too,” he admits. “Probably for the best; he would have kicked the shell out of me.”

It’s the kind of joking Leo does to cope. The zombie might have Splinter’s face, but not Lou Jitsu’s skill.

“I could run from Splinter, but… I couldn’t leave Mikey. He’s… I’m supposed to protect him.”

He’s the littlest brother, after all.

The breath he expels could have been a laugh; that zombie had moved with even less coordination than their father in the first stages of rat flu. Donnie sobers pretty quickly.

Mikey...

"Yeah..." he says, his voice barely a whisper at that. That's their little brother, and this place is making a mockery of those precious relationships. No, that's wrong. Not this place exactly.

Donnie lifts his head, his expression cooling into a glare as he looked off towards the ceiling, as though he could pin their unseen audience with a threat yet unvoiced.

He closes his eyes again, his shoulders sagging with his next sigh. "Let's do what you came here to do," he says, fingers twitching to give Leo's hands a gentler squeeze.

Leo wonders who Donnie’s glaring at - their unknown captors, probably - but once the focus is back on him, he gives Donnie a wobbly smile and nods.

“I’m just checking to make sure he’s good, and hasn’t chewed through his rope.”

If he has, he surely would have come out here by now, though. So that’s an encouraging sign.

He gives Donnie one more squeeze, then pulls his hands away and grabs some oven mitts off a side table. They’re bigger than mitts for humans, so they cover most of his forearms.

Then he makes his way down the hall toward the bedroom. He leaves it to Donnie to choose if he wants to follow or not.

Drawing his hands back towards himself once Leo's let go, Donnie watches as his brother prepares himself. The oven mitts would be a more laughable sight if it isn't for...this whole situation.

Leo hasn't gone all that far but Donnie already feels bad to be leaving him to it. After a quick look back towards the door to make sure nothing else is creeping about, he hesitantly starts after. Together means sharing burdens too, and Leo had been shouldering so much for him lately. The thought makes him square his own shoulders.

Remember, it's not really Mikey... But thinking of it as any less...isn't any better, is it?

Leo glances back at Donnie once he realizes he's being followed, but he doesn't say or do anything as he comes level with the doorway.

The Mikey zombie is right where Leo left him; at least he didn't gnaw through the rope this time. He pulls it taut, straining towards them, but the harness holds him in place and he can't get close.

Leo smiles at the ghost of his little brother. His skin is saggy and the wrong color, his eyes a sickly yellow. He reaches for the brothers with dirty fingers and moans out without words. It's not really Mikey. But it's close enough that it always sends a little shiver through Leo.

"Just checkin' on you, Angelo," he says with fake cheer. The zombie just groans and gnashes its teeth. Leo's careful as he rounds around to check the knots keeping him tied to the bedframe.

Donnie stays at the doorway, partially because he'd rather not agitate the zombie with more tantalizing flesh options. His chest hurts at the sight. Everything is wrong, but there's still no mistaking who this should be.

He hadn't allowed himself a better look at the undead versions of people from home, and having to run from them made it conveniently difficult to let such details sink in. But here's one who's been bound and therefore prevented from trying to give chase or chew on them. Not that it makes it any easier to look at him.

"Too bad we don't have any leftover pizza handy," he says, a poor attempt at lightening the mood, even as he anxiously eyes the rope and the proximity of Leo to their youngest brother's range of teeth.

Leo lets out a little laugh at that.

“Yeah, I bet you’d love that, huh, Mikey?”

His only reply is more teeth gnashing. Leo gives the rope a tug with his oven mitt hands, then quick steps away before he gets bit.

“I think it’s good. And no one’s been poking around, I don’t think…”

He’s as worried about someone breaking in here and killing Mikey as he is about Mikey hurting him or someone else.

"You're lucky my phone's not working because you look ridiculous with those things on."

Donnie uncurls his fingers from the doorway, not having realized how tightly he'd been gripping it as Leo made his checks. He takes that cue to look around, but so far as he can tell, no one else has been in here. Poking around in abandoned places doesn't seem like the thing to do unless they're looking for shelter, at least.

"Seems clear."

Leo shoots him a dirty look, but doesn’t do much else. He moves to the doorway with Donnie, then looks back at Mikey.

“Alright… We should move before we attract more zombies here.” He smiles again. “Bye, Mikey. I’ll… be back, if I can.”

If it’s safe to leave the mines, anyway. He nods at Donnie, for them to go to the door.

Ah, there's the Leo he knows. It's enough to coax the briefest of smug looks, but like Leo, Donnie goes no further with his goading. He nods back, turning to head back down the hall, shifting the strap of his bag over to the other shoulder.

"There anything you need while we're out here? Oh-" He pulls out the loose roll of a leather jacket from where he'd stuffed it on top of everything else. It's the one Tony lent him along with his armored bracers, but Leo doesn't need to know that. "Here. Level one armor's better than none. Also, warmer."

It’s for the best; if he kept pressing right now, Leo would become unbearably moody.

Leo looks in surprise at the jacket, wondering where Donnie got this - though, Donnie has had more clothes than Leo since he got here. Maybe he had this stashed somewhere and Leo just didn’t know.

Regardless, it looks pretty cool, since it’s leather, so Leo takes it, shrugging off his swords so he can strap them back on over top of it.

“Whoa, nice duds,” he says as he pulls the jacket on. “-Uh, I don’t know what else we need. If you need me to carry stuff, I can.”

"I think I'm good, save for the lack of coffee," Donnie says. "I tried not to overdo it, anyway..." He looks a little uncertain of that as he pats at the slightly overstuffed bag. "Didn't want to have to make repeat trips, you know?"

Once they get to the door, he steps over to open it a crack, hesitating before he opens it the rest of the way, but he hadn't heard anything, and thankfully it seems clear out in the road so far.

Guess not having to make repeat trips is a good thing. Leo can't help but quirk his lips up at his brother's complaints about not having coffee. He's never been one for it, himself, but he is missing tea right now...

Leo ushers him out, then makes sure the door is shut tight behind them. He wishes he had a key so he could lock it, but he doesn't so he'll just have to hope no one picks this particular house to use as shelter.

"Let's go," he says quietly. "Stick to the shadows, don't go out in open spaces."

Not that Donnie needs that advice, probably, but Leo gives it anyway.

Nodding, Donnie starts along, staying close to the building they just exited, keeping an eye out for movement even as he gauges the distance to the next place they can use as cover.

It's weird and creepy as to just how alien a place he's become so used to can look with just a touch of fog and that eeriness of knowing there's things lurking about. At least this time he's not wandering alone, a small enough comfort.

The empty streets hardly make it easier to get to the mines. There's still more than enough of a distance spanning between where they are now and where they need to be, which is still way too much area and potential for more run-ins so far as Donnie is concerned.

It's not really to Leo's liking either, but as they hunker down in the shadow of a building to look out at the road ahead, he finally speaks up again. This isn't really a conversation he wants to have back in the mines, so he does it now.

"You... really don't think I've totally lost it?"

Given the whole, keeping their zombie not-brother tied to a bed and all.

Holding a conversation seems like the last thing they want to be doing out here, which is why Donnie looks a bit surprised. He looks at Leo, brow pinching before he shakes his head.

"No. Not totally." A smile flickers across his lips, lost with a sigh. "Look, there is nothing about this situation that's not going to have some effect on a person's sanity. There are literally people out there trying to eat us. Choosing to try and preserve family- even undead ones, that's... probably more thought put into it than how others might be handling things. I'm not going to say they're wrong if they decide they have to lop off the head of someone they know, but we're all dealing with completely illogical issues here. The only 'rules' there's ever been about zombies are derived from fictional sources. Therefore no one can say that keeping zombie family members locked up means you've gone crazy."

Leo stares at him as he delivers this answer. It’s not the answer he was expecting at all, and yet…

He quickly has to stifle a laugh, slapping a palm over his hand and letting out a snort instead. It’s entirely a laugh born from fondness, though!

“That was so eggheaded that I know you meant it,” he says once he has control of himself again. He smiles, though, to hopefully soften the blow of it. “Thanks, though.”

Naturally such a response calls for an appropriately affronted reaction, a gasp escaping him. His scowl is difficult to hold when Leo smiles though.

Comforting people isn't his specialty, but he's the only one here. Facts are all Donnie can think of to refute Leo's doubts, and he's glad that, for all that Leo may think of it, the approach has worked. His own smile is a begrudging one as he nudges his brother's shoulder with a fist.

It did work, at least in making Leo feel like he’s accepted, crazy or not. As long as his family doesn’t think less of him, he can deal with anything else.

He grins at the nudge, giving Donnie one back. But now they really do need to get moving, so he doesn’t say anything more. They just need to get back to the mines before anything tries to munch on them.

Right. Ditch zombie town. Or try to. He has no idea what the state of any of the city between them and their destination may be, but once it looks clear, Donnie gives Leo another nod and then starts to creep towards the next building. At least when it comes to the two of them, they know how to be quiet when they need to be.

That doesn't really negate the fact that there are still zombies milling about, and around the next corner they see them, maybe half a score mindlessly shuffling along the main road.

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