Lorelei Jones - Weaver Residence
Lorelei herself had drifted off into sleep. The exhaustion of working to save a stranger’s life—let alone the fact that she herself didn’t even remotely resemble a qualified physician—had sucked every bit of energy left inside of her. Her cheek rested atop Eliza’s head, rooted in the woman’s dirty-blonde hair. She didn’t have high hopes; Lorelei understood that she had done too little. She was still vexed, regardless; the woman had begged to stay away from the good doctor. Odd. What Lorelei had done by healing and giving warmth to this woman was wade into an enigma. She had much left to learn about her, if Eliza were to survive.
It all felt strange. Life and death had been toyed with in on a night like this, in a town where they were surrounded by supposedly friendly neighbors. Yet they were alone. This was clearly done by choice, but Lorelei could not help but feel like living among a community in this world was no different than the isolated days she'd spent near Silverton with Clementine. Salem, until it could be forged by strong relationships between self-elected pillars of the community, was nothing more than a free-for-all.
Eventually, Lorelei lazily opened her eyes and groaned under her breath. Eliza was closer, now – her immeasurably cold arm wrapped around Lorelei's waist and her hand resting on her lap. It wasn’t affectionate—at least Lorelei didn’t think so—it was only necessity. Appreciation, at best. Eliza desperately needed Lorelei's warmth. Meanwhile, it had become dark outside. Moonlight invaded the ruined apartment-building and gifted rather jarring lighting to the hallway. She turned her head and raised an eyebrow. The woman was awake. Lorelei had so many words built up inside her; so many possible ways of articulating and exclaiming everything. She could not decide how to proceed and instead settled on something slightly simpler.
“Hi.”
Eliza didn’t know what to say; she was cold and still in pain. As much as she fought against her death, she had still given up in the end. Why was she still here? Why did she wake up? Most importantly, why did this woman save her? She had so many questions, and she was certain that the woman did as well. However, Eliza’s focus was elsewhere. She was facing the reality of her vulnerability. Having stared death in it’s all-too-familiar face and survived, Eliza was tempted by arrogance. However, from her experience she knew better. Death could only be cheated for so long and Eliza certainly wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Eliza was still freezing to death, or at least that’s what it felt like, seeing as how her breath was starting to become visible in the salty ocean air. It wasn’t helping that her bare skin was left exposed on the frigid floorboards. Eliza just wished she could pull herself closer to Lorelei. That she had the strength to embrace her, but it took every bit of her strength just to keep herself awake. Every shallow breath felt as if it were her last, and when Eliza tried to answer the woman all she could muster from her dry cracked lips was a weak, barely audible “hello.”
Lorelei used her free arm to unclip her water-filled canteen and offered it to Eliza. She placed her hand across the woman’s cheek. To say that she was still frigid cold would have been an understatement. She wrapped her arm around Eliza’s shoulder, pulling her closer and attempting to keep her warm. She sighed and remained quiet for a while, watching the moonlight invade the room.
After her observant little stint was over, Lorelei pushed a few loose strands of hair out of Eliza’s face. “Now, what is this pretty thing doing with two of those?” she pointed at the pair of gunshot wounds. She lifted the bottom of the woman’s shirt, perusing the wound on her belly to make sure it hadn’t started bleeding again. Both were stable. If Lorelei could keep her healthy, Eliza would live.
“I’m Lorelei. Lorelei Jones.”
Eliza wasn't even strong enough to raise Lorelei's canteen to her lips. It was embarrassing that someone had to help her drink but she cherished every drop of water that crossed her lips. The water was refreshing but it still didn't help keep her awake. Her eyes were dark and sunken from exhaustion and it was everything Eliza could do to keep herself awake and alert. She was afraid to fall asleep for fear that she wouldn't wake back up.
Even the cold wasn't enough to keep Eliza awake, but the pain she was experiencing certainly made up for it. Every breath exacerbated the pain from her abdominal injury and Eliza didn't even want to try and move her leg. She could tell from the searing pain that she couldn't move it, she'd be lucky if she could drag herself across the floor without screaming at this point. Now she just hoped that Lorelei didn't notice that the tears in her eyes were getting worse because of the pain. It wasn't something she could control, but it still made her feel horrible. Eliza never cried like this, she didn't know she still could.
With Eliza having finished up with the canteen and Lorelei returning it to her side Eliza leaned her head back onto Lorelei's shoulder. She enjoyed the woman's presence, but she still wished that Lorelei would pull her closer. She thought about saying something to her but she was embarrassed to, even in the state she was in where it made sense to ask. So instead she let out a meager sigh before she softly spoke through chattering teeth.
“I'm Eliza.”
Lorelei gave a warm smile. She wrapped her arms around Eliza’s shivering form and gave her a warm embrace. She could relate, in a way, to this woman’s total despair and loss of direction. Years ago, she had fallen into the same void. But she had grown elite at shedding off her old worlds and adopting new ones. It was a required skill to have longevity in the new world.
“How about we get you to a bed? Is this your home?”
Finally, it felt better than she could ever it imagine it would. Eliza closed her eyes and for a brief moment everything felt substantially better. Lorelei's embrace sent a tingling sensation through Eliza's body as she warmed her up. Although the sensation was fleeting and Eliza's pain quickly returned to her, the well-meant embrace now sent surges of pain throughout her body as her hyperactive nerves responded to the pressure against her wounds. Eliza didn't want to pull away from her though, she couldn't. All she could do was let out a tense breath laced with anguish, but for as much as it hurt Eliza wanted to fall asleep in her arms. To her nothing about it was sexual, she was just instinctively drawn to Lorelei's infectious warmth. Still shivering and grimacing through the pain Eliza got out a short response to Lorelei. As much as Eliza wanted to pass out where they sat, she knew they weren't safe here.
"Third floor."
Lorelei reluctantly pulled away from Eliza’s grasp and stood. She groaned as she did so; she hadn’t been upright in hours. “Right.” She braced herself. Lorelei was not in the best shape of her life. She was far, far from it. It would be notoriously difficult to carry someone taller and more muscular than her. But she had to make do. Eliza could not stay here. She picked up Eliza's belongings -- her dog tags, her bloodstained pants, and her revolver. Without dwelling on them, she shoved them into her pack. She stood in front of Eliza’s now crumpled form, helped lay her flat onto the ground, and efficiently pulled her into a fireman’s carry. “Ugh!” She winced as she tried to stand. Four flights of stairs seemed like a hundred with this woman on her back. Surely there was a better way to do this -- but there wasn't time.
Slowly, Lorelei waddled into the lobby and began to climb. She took each step extremely slowly, already wincing from fatigue with the weight on her back. Each time she climbed a flight, she repositioned Eliza and ensured that the weight was as even as possible. On the last flight, she missed a step and her balance stuttered. “No, no, no.” She swung her body forward to fight the backward propulsion and regained her balance. “Whew.” She continued upstairs, to the third floor where she found an open door to one of the apartments. She shuffled inside as quickly as possible and kicked the door shut behind her. She raced to the bed and gently lay Eliza down. Behind the bedframe, a window facing the ocean was pierced by the limited light from outside.
Lorelei then helped Eliza achieve a comfortable position, pulling her form to the middle of the bed. She set her canteen down on the covers and smiled. “Have as much of it as you’d like. You’re safe.” She once again pushed Eliza’s hair out of her face and adjusted the pillows underneath her head. She emptied Eliza's belongings out of her pack, set the dogtags on an end table, and placed the pants in a corner in the room. looked around the bedroom. She found a frayed armchair and slid it next to the bed, sitting down next to Eliza. She took the woman’s hand in her own and offered a warm, sympathetic smile. “You’re going to live. I’ll make sure of it.”
Every step made Eliza feel as if she was being shot all over again, she tried to maintain her composure but there were a few instances where she left out a loud moan. She knew they would be safer on the third floor though, that's why she set up camp there in the first place. This building was huge, with a countless number of run down and decrepit rooms. With Eliza staying on the third floor she stood a better chance of hearing an intruder before they got to her, but it was moments like these that made her regret the decision. When Lorelei laid Eliza out onto her bed she exhaled heavily and continued to shiver, the nights were cold up here for her.... alone. She never kept a fire going for fear of being discovered, so Eliza piled layers of blankets on top of her worn out mattress, but right now she couldn't even move. Her whole body ached, and her muscles felt like they had been stretched and dried in the sweltering summer sun. Lorelei fortunately covered Eliza up with the assorted blankets and afghans, leaving Eliza's hand slightly exposed while she held it.
Eliza was still shivering as her body struggled to warm itself up, she was frozen to the bone but it put her at ease knowing that she was home now, and that Lorelei seemed to be looking out for her. She even grabbed her things from downstairs, especially the dog-tags, her traveling memorial for the dead. They brought her so much pain, but they were her cross to bear. For now, she chose to focus her attention on Lorelei, the woman appeared to be so caring. With her warm smile and affection. Eliza felt as if she didn't deserve any of it but it still helped to put her mind at ease. She was still afraid to fall asleep, afraid that she wasn't going to wake up or that when she did Lorelei would be gone. Now for one of the few times in her life Eliza was willing to admit that she couldn't get through this on her own, she needed Lorelei and that scared her.
Lorelei waited. She waited for Eliza to drift off into deep sleep, her ice-cold hand still resting in hers. She perused Eliza’s bedroom. It was really something – she’d clearly lived here for a long time. Eliza had evidently converted a living room into a massive, campy bedroom, affixed with breadcrumbs of her hunting lifestyle. Lorelei was still curious as to why Eliza had kept it secret; gunshot wounds aside, the room gave off the aura of a very put-together person. Who knows.
Lorelei remained awake through a majority of the night, ever watchful of Eliza, arbitrarily checking her pulse and reaching under the blanket to survey her two wounds while she slept. She waited. She hadn’t the faintest idea what exactly she was waiting for; it was a peculiar feeling. But the last thing she would do is let herself fall asleep.
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