Dying Tears (Unfinished)

~• 23 •~

It had been a rough week for Nick's crew. Once arriving back at their base with a missing Cory, they were asked multiple questions, though, they were able to retreat back to their own rooms. The most optimal option would be to rest; however, it seemed like nobody could. The duos roles had been swapped completely, while Uni rarely came out of his room.
Staring out of the blocked and trashed window for what feels like the millionth time, Uni continued to think of the countless ways he could have prevented his friend's loss, again.
He could have talked his way out of it,...right? Thinking back to those events, barely any negotiating was done, just a 'sure, take our friend and leave' scenario. He hit himself at the thought of how stupid they had acted, he's never just blatantly gone with ideas like that. Something could have been done! He knows he shouldn't only blame himself, he just went with the others because he knew he'd get shit told to him if not. They know the right ideas though, they've made countless decisions that have all gone their way. Why not now?
"Uni?" Knocking was heard from the small room's door, luckily stopping the despondent male from having his thoughts go off the rails.
"Come in." He blatantly stated, taking a quick peek to see who had knocked.
"Hey, pal! You're doing alright, you've been sitting in this room for while now." Shark asked, crouching down next to Un, who was sitting on an old chair from somewhere in the room.
"I'm...I'm doing alright, I just...I feel like I fucked up."
"Go on." Shark prevailed in explaining what he meant.
"I could have done something, I feel like I could have, but I didn't."
"Look, bud," Shark stood up, letting out a simple sigh, "I'm not going to deny that there could have been another option, but with how you've explained it to us. I think you guys picked the right move."
"What do you mean! We lost someone! We lost Cory!" Uni exclaimed, quickly standing up to face the sunshaded wearing male.
"Think of it, is anyone dead right now?"
"Cory could be for all we k-!"
"Is anyone dead!?"
"...no."
"Then it was the best option. Look, if Ross really wanted Cory that badly instead of all of you, he's not going to just kill him off." Shark reassured, placing a hand on the other's shoulders.
"Yeah, but-!"
"Uni, just calm down, okay? We're gonna try our best to see what that mad lad is up to, but you just need to relax for now. Nick, Ghetto, and you just went through a rough situation, and all of you need some rest, so can you try to take a break? At least for a bit?" The two stood in the tense room, Uni hesitating to answer. He didn't want a repeat of last time, but he was shaking quite a bit and was feeling rather tired.
"Alright, but no promises."
"It's something," Shark replied with, giving the other a wide grin, "You wanna grab some lunch?"
"Sure, you know what's on the menu today?" Uni questioned, heading for the gateway to his stomachs heaven.
"Fuck if I know, I just grab the shit and eat."
"Well, unlike you, I have standards."
"Yet you're gushing all over Cory."
"Fuck off!" The two playfully pushed each other, Uni being the first one out of the door and practically running to the cafeteria, Shark following close behind.
Entering the, rather well kept, cafeteria, the two grabbed something to eat, and sat at a random table. No one other than themselves were in the room at the moment so the two started a small discussion between each other.
About halfway through their meal of canned goods, Ghetto and Nick entered in. The two were already discussing something so Uni and Shark decided to leave them alone. Next came in a whole group of people, Uni not being able to name everyone while Shark, somehow, greeted every single one of them. By name.
Quickly, the table that only contained two people now had at least a good chunk of the table taken. Uni's confidence seemed to dwindle with every new 'hello' said his way. He did recognize a lot of the faces though, but everyone else was new to him.
"So, Uni, do you want me to introduce you or..?" Shark asked, slightly leaning over towards Uni who sat across from him.
"I guess, but don't embarrass me please." Uni replied back, pushing the other back so they didn't look suspicious. With a nod, Shark began calling names of those he knew Uni hadn't met before.
"Alright Uni, this is Shelby." Shark said, gesturing toward the red headed female who waved back at them from where she sat at the crowded table.
"Hello!" She squealed, her wave becoming more frantic before Shark signaled her to stop.
"She's a bit of a nutcase. She was off on a mission, if I'm correct, when you got here. So you've never gotten to meet her." A quiet 'Hey!' was heard from her, but they just laughed it off. Shark looked around some more before he called someone else.
"Oh! You already know him, but, as we did with Cory, we had some tests before we brought him back, and...well-."
"Uni!" A very go lucky Barney yelled, hugging the General from the backside, practically squeezing him.
"Barney's here now." Shark continued, taking a quick bite from his food.
"Wha-! How!?" A baffled and crushed Uni asked, also asking to be put down from the others embrace.
"Again, fuck if I know! It's all the scientist and their huge fuckin brains." Uni and Barney laughed at Shark's sentence, the other just giving them a blank face. They continued on with Shark introducing new faces, Barney taking a seat next to Uni, and began to eat his own meal.
"I'm sure you've met the docs before so I don't think I'll need to introduce you-"
"I actually haven't gotten their names yet, only saw them the first couple of days I was here."
"God- Alright, let's get going then." Shark said, getting up from his spot at the table.
"What! We're just leaving?" Uni questioned, following Shark before he left him behind.
"One thing you should know about the doctors: they never leave their lab." Shark replied back, dumping his remaining items in the trash, except for his tray.
The hallways were deathly quiet, the only sound coming from the room with many wonders, or the cafeteria. Yet, as the two grew nearer to the lab they could hear some noise as well. This made Uni let out a sigh he didn't even know he was holding in. Once in front of the doors, Shark began to knock, doing a little jingle as well.
"Hey, Selachimorpha." Someone had greeted after opening the doors, a doctor that Uni had actually seen around once or twice before. The doctor pushing his hair behind their right ear, which would not stay, and their lab coat beginning to tear at the bottom.
"Uh, what?" Shark answered, incredibly and clearly confused as to what he had said.
"It's your new nickname, or just what we call sharks in a more scientific manner."
"We get it, Mike, you 'graduated at Harvard'. Now let us in." The doctor continued to stand in the way of the doors, even with Shark lightly pushing him.
"Geesh, you make it sound like a bad thing. Get your ass in here then, I have shit to do." Mike gave in, entering the room to then hold the door open for the two.
"He's a bit of a dick, if you couldn't tell." Shark whispered to Uni, then following in Mike's footsteps, and heading in. Leaving a bewildered Uni to just stand there before following behind.
"So what do you need?" The doctor asked, proceeding to close the door once they were all in the room.
"Nothing much really, just wanted to introduce my bud around." Shark answered, while Uni looked around the room from where he stood. While they were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, he had to give credit where credit was due, they somehow managed to keep this room crystal clean. Tables being sprawled about, with a multitude of papers covering them, some even hanging on the walls. He could clearly tell that the doctors here have been busy.
"Is he just gonna stand there or...?" Uni instantly turned to face the two, not noticing the long silence after Shark's explanation.
"Oh! I'm Uni! Nice to meet you!" Uni finally said, extending his hand out for Mike to shake.
"Mike. There's a reason I stay in here, y'know. Don't want to get infected with whatever germs you lunatics have." The doctor retorted, scoffing at Uni's attempt to shake his hand.
"Yet you're the one who works with the dead bodies..." Shark muttered to himself, but it clearly wasn't quiet enough.
"If you have shit to say, say it to my face next time." Mike replied, getting closer to Shark's face until there was an inch of space separating them. Uni was quick to try and step in, but someone else was quicker.
"Mike! What have I told you about picking fights!?" A new face questioned, running to the group.
"Oh no...," Was all Mike had to say for Uni to guess what would happen next, "Doc, I want trying to-!"
"We don't pick fights with teammates, co workers, or anyone that we are working with because if we do then people will be on my ass about it, and then we'll be stuck in here longer! A whole fuck ton of things can go incredibly wrong because you chose to be a little whiny b-!" The glasses-wearing doctor was cut off from his rambles.
"Doc! Doc! Settle down for a second! We were just...messing around?" Shark interjected, elbowing Mike to agree with him.
"Oh, yeah! Y'know me and Shark, we would never go as far as to hurt each other. Yep!"
"Never!"
"Well, if you insist. Just, don't. If I see you two trying to even insult each other, you know I'll be bickering you until you're dead." The two only shivered at the doctor's threat, Uni continuing to stand there. Words could not describe how confused and just, putting it simply, baffled he was.
"Um, excuse me?" Uni began, not wanting things to escalate any further, and, at this point, get the whole introduction thing over with.
"Oh, I'm extremely sorry you had to see me like that. What can I do for you?" The doctor replied, while he had an average height compared to the rest of them, Uni felt as though he was just a pebble compared to the other.
"Uhhh, right. I came here to get to know everyone a little better. Seeing as I've gotten Mike's name already, I'd thought I'd get yours as well."
"Did I not..., it's fine, my name's William."
"Uni. Nice to meet you, William." Uni offered his hand once again, and was greeted with a firm handshake from the other.
"Same can be said to you."
"Doc, you wouldn't happen to know where the other doctors are?" Shark asked.
"Gray and X? They've been around, if I'm being honest they probably went to get lunch, not too sure though." William explained, the two just nodded. Seeing as they had no further business with the doctors they said their goodbyes and left.
"Sorry about that, Uni." Shark said after the two were a good while away from the lab.
"Sorry for what?" Uni asked, turning towards the other with a quizzed expression.
"The whole argument with Mike, he just really pisses me off sometimes." Shark explained, Uni seeing that he had tended up a bit.
"Shark, it's fine, I'm not gonna lie he did seem like a bit of a dick, but at least nothing escalated too far." He replied, patting the slightly irritated male on the back, to which Shark smiled and loosened himself up.
"Alright, I just wanted to clear things up with you."
"Don't worry, you're fine." He said, returning the smile.
"Anyways, we only have a few people left if I'm correct."
"Really? How many more?"
"One?"
"Ok, at least this will be over soon."
"I feel you, I just want to take a nap before night duty." Shark agreed, feeling more tired from the thought of that.
The two had finally made it back to the cafeteria, a third of the people they had seen were still chatting and eating. Shark quickly spotted the last person he needed to introduce Uni to, and sprinted over to them dragging Uni with him.
"TOMMY!" Shark exclaimed, to which Tommy practically fell back from where he was sitting.
"Shark, the fuck!?" He questioned, getting back up with the help of Uni.
"I have to introduce you to my bud here, so say hi, I'm really tired now so please hurry up so I can go to sleep before I have to work the night because god damn is it boring, so just hurry up please." Shark basically spat, his sentence relaying way too fast to the point where it was just a garbled mess.
"I heard less than half of anything you just said." Tommy replied.
"Just shake hands and say hi please." Shark shortened his previous statement, pushing Uni toward Tommy.
"Uh, nice to meet you?"
"Uni...,uhh, is he always like this when he's tired?" Uni said, whispering his question over to Tommy.
"Sometimes? I've only ever heard about it, but I guess it happens." The other responded, slightly shrugging.
Somehow, during their short conversation, Shark had escaped their line of sight, presumably going to sleep. The two had no idea what to do now, Tommy going back to eating, since he was interrupted from doing so, and Uni kind of just standing there. He looked over at Tommy and decided to just sit with him, not having anything else to do. The brunette looked up, pushing his scarf back more, he looked around.
"You need anything?"
"Uh, no. Just don't have anything to really do." He replied with, twiddling his fingers around.
"Oh. Um, I don't really know what to say then, you can chill here - I guess. I'm not very interesting though." Tommy informed, going back to his meal.
"Alright then." Uni continued to twiddle his fingers, soon drumming them on the table.
"What'd you do before the apocalypse happened?" Tommy asked, continuing to eat his food afterwards.
"Uh, what?" Uni asked, the question being brought up randomly.
"I thought I'd start a conversation rather than us sit here awkwardly, so what'd you do?"
"Smart. I used to work in the military, was a General with my best friend as my right hand man. Everything was alright," Uni replied, cherishing those memories because those were truly some of his favorites, "What about you?"
"Nothing special, had a normal life and just got caught up in the wrong crowd at the wrong time."
"Could you elaborate?"
"Once the whole apocalypse started, I got stuck in a corner and joined Red's group out of fear."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that."
"It's fine, I still knew what was right or wrong and never went as low as he did," Tommy explained, "Could I ask how you got your eyepatch?"
"It's from a war I was in before this whole thing."
"I never heard any type of war going on."
"It was more of a private one, I charged in after my friend when in guns blazing and we both came out with severe injuries." He clarified, not liking to think of the aftermath of how it went down, even if they did win.
"Sorry for asking then, and you don't have to answer this either, but was that camera dude the one you were friends with?" Uni stopped drumming his fingers.
"Ye-Yeah, that's him."
"God, it must have been bad then."
"Well, it was pretty bad, but...," Uni hesitated, "Ross was the one who helped with most of the severe injuries."
"Oh, oh shit, I'm sorry," Tommy responded with, placing a hand on top of Uni's, "If you want to stop talking about it then by all means go ahead, but if you do need to talk about it that's fine as well."
"Really?" Uni asked, he hadn't actually gotten a chance to voice his distress, he'd just ignored it instead.
"Really," Tommy confirmed, "I've been around those shit people so I know how you feel in a way."
"Alright, thank you." Uni responded, calming himself down a bit because what'd he'd have to say was just god awful to him.
"Take your time, I don't have anywhere to be today either." He replied back, sitting forward to listen to what Uni would have to say.

Over 2,800 words! God this was a nightmare to write, but I hope you guys liked it. I introduced some characters from the series and a few made up ones. There's still one that I didn't introduce in here, but they'll come up soon! It's 2 am now so I'm gonna hit the hay. Cya!