A few nights before.
They held back the swarm.
There had been nothing but this. Confusion and rage straining against them, striking at them, burning and crushing and hating... It was dark and they were alone with them.
They held back the swarm.
Time passed in loops that curled back on themselves and jolted forwards with predictable chaos. The land they protected grew and died and was reborn, but there was nothing beyond the swarm until the outsider came. He brought a new form of sacrifice that gave them strength enough to stand their ground. Strength enough not to struggle, not to weaken and fade as they might have in the mindless, endless push. He brought light.
Lights.
Children.
In the land above, the children played and laughed and sang and shared stories.
So very many stories.
They held back the swarm, but it did not fill their existence. They could listen. They learned. They felt the beat of the stories pound shapes of belief in the world. Kind and cruel alike, they shone with potential.
Molds standing empty.
They held back the swarm, and there was something beyond.
We're waiting.
In the back of the dining hall, David awoke in a cold sweat and shot out of bed, immediately on the move. Scrubbing a shaky hand over his face, he slowed to a halt by the sleeping children. Max, in particular. His hand dropped to his own arm, half hugging himself as he watched the boy's chest rise and fall in a clear sign of life.
"David?" In the dark, Gwen shifted, the baseball bat in her lap gleaming once from her post at the door. "It's not time to switch over."
"Yeah," David agreed, shaking his head and turning back to his bed. "Yeah, sorry. Wake me then."
It was quiet as he climbed back under the covers, but Gwen knew he was still awake.
"You alright?" she ventured, voice still at a cautious low.
"Fine." David turned away, curling in on himself slightly.
She nodded into the silence, prepared to go back to her vigil when David spoke again.
"Just getting sick of all this waiting."
YOU ARE READING
Put That Kid Down
Fanfiction"Serial killer David for people who don't like serial killer David." There's three things you need to know about David: he loves Camp Campbell, despite the number of oddballs it attracts, he loves his campers, even if they drive him up the wall, and...
