Teenage Wasteland

C h a p t e r T w o

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Remington still straddled his unconscious young friend in shock, unsure whether the electric current Carter had surged into her chest with the defibrillator had actually saved her life, or ended it.

Carter's reaction time, however, wasn't nearly as affected. He promptly took Nell's wrist within his grasp and checked her pulse.

"She's alive."

The other boy released a breath of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding in until then and laughed as the panic he'd felt moments earlier slowly began to dissolve.

Heart still beating wildly, he leaned in close to the resting girl, partly comforted by the knowledge of her safety and partly irked about how incredibly unaware she was of the huge scare she'd given him.

She'll be the death of me someday, but not today. He thought then as he stroked her cheek with his thumb.

He laughed and whispered to her unconscious body, "God Nellie I swear, you're gonna kill me one of these days." Then gently kissed her heated and sweaty forehead.

"Sleep well." he whispered lastly.

No sooner had the words left his mouth when an infuriated young red-headed woman stormed in to tear the two boys a new one. She fervently made her way to Carter first, ripping the defibrillator out of his hands and smacking him over the head with it.

"You IDIOTS! Why the HELL did you use this on her?! You could have killed her you moron! And you-"

She turned her contemptuous glare towards Remington, where he was still straddling the girl in question. Oh no.

"GET THE HELL OFF OF HER!" The woman screamed as she wrangled him off of Nell, over the beat-up couch, and pinned him onto the ground.

"-You're an even bigger moron for letting him use this," she shook the defibrillator so hard it would have gone brain dead if it were a small infant. "on your best friend! I would've expected it out of anyone else, but you Remi?" She questioned him, using that motherly tone that only Andrea herself could scold them all with. Remi watched her nervously. She seemed somewhat calmer now that she had spent up some of her energy man-handling the both of them and screaming her head off, but Remington still proceeded with caution.

"I know, I fucked up. I'm sorry Andy," he admitted with downcast eyes, scorning himself for his foolishness. "I just didn't know what else to do, I was-"

"... I was scared."

"Damn right you should be sorry, but it's Nell over there that-"

Andy did a double-take. Remi, scared? Since when was he ever scared of anything?

"Wait, what?"

She was responded by Remi's silence and unreadable demeanor.

"Scared? Scared of what, Remi?" She decidedly asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, unwilling to share anything other than that one obscure body movement. However, Andy refused to accept it for and answer as she nudged him in the shoulder repeatedly to pull answers out of him. The vexed boy soon relented to Andy's insistence.

"Of Nell dying.." He gave a small pause, unsure if he should continue. Andy stopped pestering him with her nudges and instead held his upper arm by its bend on the elbow, rubbing softly, goading him to further express the unhindered feelings he never once thought to share with the rest of the team. He had always been the team's stronghold, after all, or insisted upon it at least. But Andy knew -they all did- that he was no less afraid than they were. He just refused to acknowledge it, 'for the good of the team.'