Get back home, things are wrong - Well, not really. It was bad all along.

[hostage]

Date & Time: June 18 - 20
Location: the hospital & catacombs
Characters: Jesse, Saul & OPEN to anyone who wants to run into them
Summary: Jesse drags Saul's ass to safety and then they hang out for a while.
Notes: First thread is for Jesse and Saul, start subsequent threads for visiting.
Warnings: Jesse's high, Saul's sick. It's probably a little gross.

[Jesse's already been at Saul's side for days, ever since he was brought to the hospital. At first, the only thing he's worried about is the illness itself and the possibility that Walter White might stop by to speed the process along, so to speak. Then comes the United Earth's transmission, and then the alert that bombing is imminent. Still, Saul's condition is so bad that Jesse doesn't want to evacuate him until it's absolutely necessary. It's one of those tough decisions: what if the bombs never come but the stress of it all makes Saul even sicker? He opts to keep watch instead - already wearing a ventilator to keep from getting infected, anyway - and to listen for the sounds he's come to know so well by now.

When he hears the first distant rumbles, he gets to his feet immediately and reaches out to shake Saul's shoulders.]

Wake up. Wake up, Saul. We gotta go.

Comments

CLOSED to Jesse & Saul

[hostage]

[5055034455]

[So the thing that sucks is that Saul is actually feeling better and sleeping for the sake of sleeping, not sleeping because he can't stay conscious. (...mostly. At the moment.)

So he's even less happy about being woken up than he would have been otherwise. A little dazed and a lot annoyed, he blinks.]

What?

[hostage]

[Jesse doesn't have time to answer before the Hold takes its first hit and the whole building quakes in the shock of it. He practically throws himself over Saul to shield him, but thankfully the only things falling so far are a few chunks of crumbling plaster.]

...That.

[5055034455]

[Wow.

Look at how unsurprised he is.

Or maybe that's just the drugs keeping most of the panic at bay. In any event, Saul sighs like this is the move inconvenient thing ever, sits up, and pulls his IV out.

(Yeah, definitely the drugs.)]

I need to get dressed.

[hostage]

Oh my god, you are not getting dressed. We're going. Now.

[Jesse picks up his own backpack and pulls it on, then gathers up all of Saul's things - at least, whatever's in sight. Anything left behind will have to be fished out of the rubble. Better it than them.]

You can walk, right? Can you walk? Or run?

[5055034455]

[Saul's not sure he can even stand. He tries, wobbles, and holds his arms out to steady himself. Once he's confident he's not going to fall over, he waves a hand toward the floor.]

Can I have my shoes, at least?

[hostage]

No.

[Stoned Saul is clearly not getting the gravity of the situation. Jesse, on the other hand, is all too aware that this place will probably be filled with toxic gas in less than five minutes. Seeing how unsteady Saul is on his feet, anyway, Jesse simply grabs him and hauls him up onto his back in a fireman's carry.]

[5055034455]

[But he loves those shoes...!

Except then everything is sideways and he can't really argue anymore.]

What's going on?

[hostage]

[Jesse doesn't answer, because the last thing he needs right now is Saul panicked and flailing around. He grunts, shifts his weight around a little, then sprints. Or - attempts to sprint, and ends up hobbling at a slightly faster-than-walking pace. The hospital's nearly empty by now, all the sensible people long evacuated, but there are still a few others fleeing in the same direction they're going.]

[5055034455]

[Sometimes, not answering is worse than answering. Some pieces start to fall together in the silence: Jesse's carrying him, no one's around, and that shaking Saul felt earlier wasn't just from Jesse being a dick and waking him up.

He wants to ask why Jesse's brilliant plan seems to be to run outside into whatever the hell is going on, but all the bouncing is making him feel a little nauseated, so he decides it's a better idea to focus his energy on not throwing up and hoping to God they don't die. Again.]

[hostage]

[Right now? He would not even care if Saul hurled all over him. And outside is a lot safer than the building the U.E.'s probably specifically targeting. Something nearby explodes and the windows behind them are blown in, but they've reached the central corridor that leads to the stairs that lead to the exit.

It's an unfortunately bumpy ride. Jesse concentrates hard and manages not to trip over his feet or lose his grip on Saul. When they reach the doors, he goes through them without looking to catch a glimpse of the devastation, too intent on where he's headed. But he catches sight of an ominous smoke in his peripheral vision. He's going to make sure to stay away from that.]

Hold your breath long as you can!

[5055034455]

[He doesn't know how he's going to hold his breath when he's coughing again, but he tries. And it's probably better that he thinks he can accomplish this if he closes his eyes real tight and clings to Jesse and focuses on those things: not breathing, keeping his eyes shut, letting Jesse try to save his ass again.

Saul lasts under a minute before he's gasping for breath. Maybe the lack of a burning sensation in his lungs means he hasn't inhaled anything dangerous...?]

[hostage]

We're almost there. Almost there...

[He should've given his mask to Saul. He's feeling guilty about it now. The only consolation is that this means he can run for just a little longer. He doesn't even notice how much his own lungs are aching from all this running. Adrenaline and meth both give him the energy to keep going.

They reach the entrance to the catacombs and Jesse throws the door open, ducks inside, and slams it shut behind them. He doesn't stop there. In fact, it's another five minutes before he's satisfied that they're deep enough.

And then he... collapses, face-forward.]

[5055034455]

[Funny; Jesse's definition of "almost there" must be way different from Saul's, because it feels like the trip to the catacombs takes hours.

It's only until they crash to the ground that Saul opens his eyes. The force of it sends him tumbling onto his back — maybe he wasn't clinging as tightly as he thought — and all efforts to start breathing normally again are fruitless. He's wheezing too hard, his chest feels too tight, and he's coughing too much to get a full breath at all.

He wonders, distantly, if this is what Walt must have felt like.

When he tries to draw Jesse's attention, all he manages to do is choke out the J-sound.]

[hostage]

[He may or may not be having a heart attack, it's hard to tell. He didn't mean to fall over like that, especially not with Saul on his back, and now that he's on the ground he can't quite pick himself up again. His whole body hurts and he feels like he can't breathe - a sensation that isn't helped at all by the mask, which feels like it's suffocating him in his own body heat. He hears Saul over there but he can't respond yet, his jaw locked.]

[5055034455]

[This is no good. And that is an understatement.

The lack of a response from Jesse makes Saul turn his head. It's a good thing the pain in his chest is so distracting that he doesn't have the chance to feel any more sick with panic than he already does, or else they'd both be screwed.

There's a hell of a lot of effort involved in Saul rolling over and dragging himself up so he can get close enough to fumble with Jesse's mask, but he manages, somehow. He feels bad for jerking Jesse's head around the way he is, and he's sure that's not helping — nor is the fact that he can't even say anything to make it better because he's still coughing — but after a few rough seconds, it's off.]

[hostage]

[Compared to the overwhelming heat and the pain in every muscle, the jerking around is nothing. And when the mask is finally pulled away and the cold air hits his face, Jesse's nothing but grateful. He tries to breathe in a deep gulp but he ends up doing it through clenched teeth. His whole body is seizing up, shaking violently.]

[5055034455]

Easy, Jesse —

[The coughing's not quite so bad now that he's upright, but the only reason he's upright is because he finds himself straddling Jesse again. Not to choke him, like last time, but to hold his head. Saul isn't sure what this is — could be a heart attack, could be that the mask was faulty and Jesse inhaled some of whatever that gas was, could be a side effect of the meth, could be all of it. The only thing Saul knows for sure is that he needs it to stop right now.]

[hostage]

[Jesse's body is cooking from the inside. He's soaking with sweat and he still can't sweat fast enough, running a fever as high or higher than Saul had during the worst of his illness. But his shivering does get less intense with Saul holding him, gradually, and his breathing goes from hyperventilation to a less intense gasping. His eyes have been squeezed shut since he fell, but now he opens them to look at Saul. He looks confused, scared - like he doesn't know how he got here - but his teeth are chattering too much for him to ask.]

[5055034455]

[Saul had been wondering if he was just imagining the heat radiating off of Jesse's skin, but as his own ability to breathe improves and he's able to focus, he realizes that's not the case. He wonders if Jesse caught the virus from him, but — no, he knows who to blame for this. And if he cares so damn much, why isn't he here?

The look Jesse gives Saul is terrifying. More than that, though, it breaks his heart because he has no idea what to do to make any of this better. As always, though, that doesn't stop him from trying: he releases his hold on Jesse's head for a moment and reaches around to unzip the backpack in a frantic search for... he doesn't know what. Water, maybe. Something else to soak up some of the sweat. Anything.]

Hold on, okay? Stay with me.

[hostage]

[The backpack contains everything Jesse brought with him to Saul's apartment: all the fever-reducing medicine is in there, bottles of water, extra clothes, and... the meth, of course. An ounce of it. And three syringes of a clear liquid that could be anything.

It starts to dawn on Jesse what's happening. He remembers leaving the hospital with Saul, but he blacked out somewhere between there and ending up on the ground. The heat, the way his heart is racing... He gets it now.

Unfortunately, there's not much he can do about it.]

[5055034455]

[He grabs the medicine, a bottle, and a shirt. The shirt goes under Jesse's head, the medicine into Saul's palm. And then he thinks, no. Bad plan. Jesse can't swallow anything lying down like that.

Saul snakes an arm under Jesse's shoulder and leans back, trying to pull him forward.]

Sit up.

[hostage]

[Easier said than done. It's lucky that he's being helped. Jesse's fingers grip onto Saul and he mostly has to be pulled up. Still shaking, he can't stay up like that without leaning against Saul for support.]

[5055034455]

[Saul's okay with that. He holds Jesse there, has to turn his head away for a second so he's not coughing in Jesse's face — then, with his free hand (the one not squeezing the hell out of Jesse's shoulder), he lifts the pills.]

Open up. You gotta take these.

[hostage]

[If he can get his jaw to unclench just a little. He fights for a minute to get his whole body to stop spasming, using Saul as a kind of anchor. Once he gets his shoulders to quit shaking, it's easier to open his mouth.]