and we were tired of being mild
Title: and we were tired of being mild
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: Through 1.23, “Modern Warfare”
Rating/ Warning: PG-13
Word Count: 4938
Disclaimer: I do not own Community, any of the characters or the epicness of this episode.
Author’s Note: Written for the “Modern Warfare” Jeff/Annie Rewrite challenge. Everything is basically the same through the roller disco fight, except this time, Britta was eliminated by the Glee Club and Annie and Jeff are the last ones standing.
Also, it was sort of fun to try and keep with the overly dramatic tone of the episode.
~*~*~*~
don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange
-- Andrew Bird, "Tables and Chairs"
The acrid smell of paint and sweat hung heavy on the air as they made their way silently, slowly, through the abandoned and darkened hallways. Jeff paused before an open door, his back pressed against the wall, gun raised high. He motioned for Annie to cover him and she nodded quickly as he spun and pointed the gun into the room, scanning for human life, for any sign of the enemy.
“All clear,” he whispered.
They moved on.
And so it went - searching the paint-spattered and war-torn halls of their once lively school, up and down the corridors, through the destruction and chaos that had been left in the wake of “priority registration” frenzy. They hadn’t seen another human being since Abed and Shirley had left them in the cafeteria so long ago. Just emptiness and eerie quiet.
Annie had lost track of the time. The sun had dipped into the horizon hours ago - or maybe it was only minutes. It all just seemed so meaningless now, here in this place, where life seemed to have stopped so abruptly
She briefly allowed herself to wonder if she had remembered to DVR Grey’s Anatomy.
But no. These things didn’t matter now. Couldn’t matter now. Not when all her friends were gone. Not when she had a paintball gun in her hand, not when all she had left was her need to survive, to make it till the end, to the prize.
And Jeff of course. She had Jeff.
Well she didn’t have Jeff. That would be silly, ridiculous even. Like he was anyone’s to have. Especially hers.
He tapped her shoulder then and she looked up. They had reached the study room.
Jeff nodded his head toward the door and Annie eased it open, allowing him to sweep inside. She followed him in a few seconds later.
The room was unrecognizable - books ripped from the shelves, strewn haphazardly all across the floor, paint spattered on the walls and dripping from the ceiling, the sofa upturned in the corner.
Annie bent down to retrieve a book. Its pages were bent and torn. She shuddered, “What do you think happened here?”
Jeff shook his head, “It’s probably best not to think about it.”
He set his gun on the table and rolled his shoulders back, grimacing as he stretched. Annie tried not to stare at the way his muscles flexed pleasantly at the movement.
“Listen, I think we should…” he didn’t get to finish his sentence, as there was a sudden flash of movement in the corner.
Someone yelled, “Freeze suckers!” and Annie spun around.
Buddy stood behind the couch, leveling a gun at them, a slow smirk stretching across his face. He motioned toward the gun in her hand, “Throw it down nice and slow.”
She hesitated. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be the end. They had come so far only to be taken out by Buddy? Buddy. Come on!
“Listen to him Annie,” Jeff whispered behind her. She sighed and tossed the gun to the ground.
“Excellent.” Buddy stepped out from behind the couch, keeping the gun leveled at them the entire time. “I knew you guys would come back here. You’re always here. It’s weird actually that you’re always here.” He paused as he pondered this, then shook his head and continued, “So I waited. And waited.” There was a gleam of something in his eye, a little something crazy and maniacal.
“Buddy? When was the last time you talked to another human being?” Jeff asked slowly.
“What do you mean?” His eyes widened. “It’s just me. Just me, sitting here, thinking, thinking. Waiting. The cool kids, they’ve been out of the game for hours. But me, I just sit and wait. For you. I knew you’d come.”
Annie glanced sideways at Jeff who seemed as equally perturbed as she felt. This was the guy that was going to take their victory? She narrowed her eyes. Oh, hell no.
He was still talking, inching closer to them, his words tumbling out faster and more fever pitched. Clearly, the game had taken his mind. He was lost to the hunger. To the prize.
“I wrote a song about it. You want to hear it?”
They both nodded quickly, “Yeah, please, sing it to us.”
Buddy cleared his throat, “It would be better with my guitar but here’s it goes - I’m waiting, waiting, waiting, I’m waiting, waiting, waiting. So long waiting and waiting. I’m waiting.”
As it turned out, Buddy’s, “I’m waiting in the study room to kill you with a paintball gun” song was an awful lot like his “apology” song. There was only so much a person, a sane person, could take.
“Oh. My. God.” Without hesitating, Annie grabbed for the gun she had strapped, hidden, to her thigh, pointed, and shot him straight in the chest.
“Cause I’m a wa - “ Buddy stopped, stared down at the splatter of pink on his tee-shirt and winced. His shoulders sagged, gun clattering to the ground. “Crap.”
Annie smiled.
~*~*~*~
She sat cross-legged in the middle of the table, a gun in each hand, listening for any hint of noise. Everything was quiet and still but she wasn’t taking any chances. There was something in that quiet stillness that was almost too intense.
Jeff had gone in search of something to eat and ever since he had slipped from the room, her heart had been racing, nerves skittering close to the edge. No wonder Buddy went insane. It would be easy to get lost, alone here with thoughts and just this too quiet, too stillness.
It seemed almost impossible that the paintball game had begun just twelve hours ago - an entire lifetime had passed since. She had seen all her friends fall one by one and she hadn’t given herself a chance to stop and think about it, she couldn’t, she had to keep moving, pressing forward. It would be so easy to throw down arms, give up, go home and take a shower and forget all about it.
But the prize. The prize. Imagine what she could do with priority registration. She could get into all the best classes, at the best times, all the classes she needed to transfer. The possibilities were endless and gave her a tiny thrill down her spine. It was worth it. It would so be worth it.
There was a tapping on the glass door and Annie raised her gun. Three taps. Pause. Three more taps. Pause. Three more taps. It was the signal. The door opened slightly and Jeff edged in quietly.
“Did you find anything?”
Jeff looked weary. “Scavengers. They cleaned out all the vending machines.”
Annie’s shoulders sagged, her eyes filling quickly with unbidden tears. It was stupid. But she was so hungry. She had never known hunger like this.
“Hey, hey. Not so fast. I did find,” Jeff pulled something from his back pocket, “This.”
It was a Snickers Bar. Annie gasped and lunged over the table, grabbing it from his hand and tearing open the wrapper. Jeff watched her in amusement.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she chewed slowly, humming slightly over the chocolatey, nougaty goodness. “Oh God. I was starting to forget the taste of food.”
“Annie, you ate lunch less than twelve hours ago.”
Her eyes were still closed. “Shh. Don’t ruin this for me.”
Jeff peered through the blinds, “Well enjoy it while you can. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to hide out here. I heard screaming and shooting from the art building. There are still people out there. And they’re getting closer.”
With her free hand Annie waved her gun at him, “Well then, we’ll be ready.”
Jeff smiled, left his post at the window to join her at the table, “You’re kind of an awesome shot. Where did you learn to shoot like that?
“My dad. He used to take me out to the shooting range.” She broke off a piece of the candy bar and handed it to him. “This whole thing is weird."
He laughed, “It’s Greendale, what did you expect?”
“I think maybe you need to reevaluate the possibility that this place will kill you.”
“Oh there’s no doubt about that now.”
“It kind of feels…” She stopped and shook her head, “Never mind.”
He looked back at her, bumped her knee with the back of his hand, “What?”
“It’s stupid.”
But he just kept watching her, waiting, leaning back on his hands, his legs dangled over the edge of the table.
Annie looked up at him, an odd expression coloring her features. “It’s just this surreal feeling, like everything’s different. Like this could be what the end of the world feels like…. I don’t. It’s stupid.”
Jeff laughed softly - she appreciated that it wasn’t a “you’re ridiculous and that’s the dumbest think I’ve ever heard” kind of laugh. It was more like, an appreciation for what she was saying. After too many years of the former she was training herself to be able to tell the difference.
“I think it’s this place. Everything always feels strange here. So, today, and all of this,” he waved his hand out in a wide arch, “Doesn’t seem all that different to me than any other day.”
“Hmm.”
A long moment of quiet stretched out in front of them. Annie tried to roll his words over in her mind, make sense of them. But she was tired and the room was dark and somehow Jeff had moved back enough that her bare knee was pressed up against his side. He was radiating warmth that spread down to her toes.
“Okay. So it’s the end of the world. We’re the only two people left. What do you do?”
She froze. The first (and once she thought of it she couldn’t think of anything else because those thoughts had a way of blossoming and clouding over everything) answer that popped up in her mind sent a rosy flush over her cheeks. It was all she could do to hope that Jeff wouldn’t notice. But then he gave a gasp of mock horror.
“Annie Edison.”
She couldn’t help it, a smile played at the edge of her lips, “It’s the end of the world. What does it matter?”
Jeff laughed, “So only because I’m the last man on earth?”
Annie was quiet, “I didn’t say only.”
He was watching her carefully. She brushed a tray piece of chocolate off her leg and gave a shaky laugh.
“So, are you going to do it?
“What? We. I. I don’t think. I mean, it’s.” He sputtered out a series of nonsense phrases and Annie shook her head.
“No, I didn’t mean. That.”
Right? She didn’t mean that. And he obviously objected to it, so.
“Oh.” He leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him, exhaling slowly.
“I just meant, what if we are the only two left? One of us is going to have to…” She motioned towards his gun.
“Oh. Yeah.”
“We knew it could happen eventually. There can only be one winner Jeff.”
He was staring at the ground but a muscle twitched in his jaw. “And I fully intend on winning.”
She smiled at the intensity of his statement. “So you have what it takes to kill me?"
“You’re questioning that?”
Annie was questioning that. She was naïve but she wasn’t stupid. Jeff had the absolute ability to be a jackass, an uncaring, selfish jerk, but when push came to shove it didn’t usually take much for him to rush to the defense of his friends. How easy would it be for him to actually be the one to take one of them down?
Nevertheless, it probably wasn’t wise to push his buttons. Past experiences had taught her that Jeff walked a perpetual thin line between sanity and utter madness. In a good moment, he might hesitate over taking her out of the game but a few wrong words from her and he’d shoot her where she stood.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Jeff hopped off the table and spun around, pointing his gun at her. She just looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“I could do it.”
“I see that.” Annie slid slowly forward, unfolding her legs and sliding off the table. Jeff moved backwards as she moved a step closer, neither of them taking their eyes off the other.
“You haven’t done it yet.”
She continued watching him, a slight smile on her face until, with a roll of his eyes, he lowered the gun.
“You couldn’t have been Britta?”
The words caught her off guard and she scanned his face, wondering - and knowing at the same time that he wasn’t just talking about paintball.
It’s the end of the world Annie Edison. What do you do?
She took one step, leaned up and forward, and kissed him. Hard.
Jeff’s hands landed lightly on her hips and she was afraid for a brief moment that he was going to push her away so she pressed herself up closer, fully against him, moved her mouth slightly -- and then he was moving with her, lips parting against hers as she sighed into him.
He palmed the back of her head, fingers tangling into her ponytail, the other hand curling into her hip as he walked them backwards. The back of her thighs bumped into the edge of the table but then he was lifting her up, setting her on top of it, his hand skimming down her leg to hitch her knee up to this hip. Annie moaned against his mouth, breaking away to leave a trail of kisses down the side of his jaw and under his ear.
“Do you always resort to kissing to get your way?” he murmured against her temple.
She laughed, felt bold and inched the tips of her fingers just under the hem of his shirt. He groaned against her and she could feel the rumbling deep in his chest. It lit something inside of her and she tugged on his hair, dragging his mouth back to hers, wrapping her arms and legs around him completely. It was quite possible that her entire body was on fire, nerve endings blasting, blood rushing, pounding in her ears.
Jeff’s arm braced at her side, leaning her back as he kissed down her throat, his hands inching her shirt up against her torso. “I’ve. I’ve w-.” Her mind raced for some semblance of a coherent thought. There was something she needed to say, something, but everything was jumbled and foggy as his tongue traced her collarbone
“What?” His voice was ragged and distant and she couldn’t help it that her head fell back, a breathless moan escaping her lips.
“Nothing. I just.” Oh hell. Who even cares anymore?
She found his mouth again, wanting to memorize, burn into her mind forever the sound he made in the back of his throat when she tugged his bottom lip between her teeth, the way he arched into her as her nails scrapped along the skin at his back.
She wanted this, she wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted.
“Annie, Annie, wait.”
“Hmmm.”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” And then he was untangling himself, tugging his shirt down, stepping away.
She stared at him in bewilderment. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t. Annie, we can’t do this. You’re. You’re.” He shook his head, at a loss.
The fire that had been burning under her skin suddenly ignited into fury, “What? Too young?” she snapped.
He gave her a look - a look that for a moment she imagined to be pity or condescension and she didn’t even stop to think beyond that before she was reaching for one of the discarded guns, leveling it at Jeff, her hand shaking.
He held up his hands, “Hey. Wait.”
“Get out.”
“Annie.”
“Get. Out.”
He stared at her for a moment, forehead creased and now she was seeing concern and oh God, maybe even… But she needed to be
pissed right now. She needed to hold onto that anger. It was the only thing that was going to get her through this moment, hurdle her past crippling embarrassment.
Jeff grabbed his guns and reached for the door, looking resigned. “Annie, I’m sorry.”
She didn’t answer.
~*~*~*~
Five minutes later she started regretting that spur of the moment decision to kick him out. It wasn’t his fault. Not entirely. He was right. He was. She was… well, she didn’t know what she was, but no matter who she was, she was always going to be younger than him, a lot younger. How could she fault him for being cautious?
Except, his caution was laced with undertones of, “you’re still just a little girl” and it was enough to make Annie’s skin crawl every time someone acted like whatever she was thinking or feeling or doing was somehow less significant based on how many years she had been alive. So maybe she didn’t always get the 70’s and 80’s allusions that everyone was constantly bantering about.
Get over it; get a new frame of reference. I was 2010 for godssake.
Who cares? When she felt something it was still real. When she kissed someone, namely Jeff, she meant it.
So screw them all. Him especially.
After pacing for a few minutes in an indignantly righteous huff however, reality began to set in. Because, game or not, it was still the dead of the night in a deserted building and there were crazy loons out there ready to murder for the promise of priority registration. Fake and surreal as this entire situation was, it was still frightening. She couldn’t just sit in that study room, hunched in the corner, waiting for morning, or something to happen, whichever it was that happened to come first.
So she found herself inching through hallways that were lit only by the eerie red glow of exits signs, her heart pounding, nerves jumping at every sound.
It’s just a game. It’s just a game. It’s just a game.
Everything was beginning to feel way too real, like there were real life or death consequences. Maybe it was time to just give up, get in her car and leave this whole insanity behind before it took over her brain and she ended up like Buddy, rocking back and forth in a corner singing ridiculously repetitive and pointless songs.
The door to the Spanish classroom was open and her heart leapt up to her throat at the sight of a lone figure in a desk at the corner of the room.
It was Jeff. A jolt of relief spread through her body as she lowered her gun and stepped into the classroom.
“Hey, I was looking for you.”
He was stretched out long, legs out in front of him like he was about four sizes too big for these little human sized desks. He turned his head toward her slowly but didn’t say anything. Moonlight spilled through the blinds, spreading lines of shadow and silvery glow across the room so she couldn’t see his face clearly. She moved closer.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It’s just, I hate being thought of like this little girl and I’m not you know, I’ve been through a lot and so what if I want people to actually recognize that? Is that so wrong? And you know, it’s your fault too because, well I don’t know why exactly but it is, and you don’t have to be so chivalrous or freaked out. I’m not a child. It’s not illegal or something for me to kiss you. Okay, I am a teenager and I see how that might be weird but…” she stopped.
He was staring straight ahead like he wasn’t hearing a word she was saying. Was he pissed at her? Why would he be pissed at her? She drew herself up to full height, fist clenched over her gun.
“Listen - ”
He interrupted her with a broken laugh, finally meeting her eyes. “Annie, I know you’re not a kid. Trust me, I know. If any one knows. I know.”
Annie softened, opened her mouth. Then,
“It’s over.”
“What?” She shook her head in confusion as he shifted, held up the hand that had been resting on his thigh.
It was covered in green paint.
Her heart plummeted. “Jeff?” She ran around to the other side of him, knelt down and saw the splatter of paint spread over his left side.
“What happened? I don’t understand.”
“It was Chang. And some leftover Glee Club members. They blindsided me. I was on the way back to the study room. I didn’t want you to be alone.” He looked away. “I didn’t even see it coming.”
Annie’s eyes widened, “Chang? But he’s not even a student.”
“I know.”
None of this made sense anymore. Everything was wrong. So wrong.
“Listen Annie, you’re the only one left.”
The meaning of his words dawned upon her and she shook her head, “No. I can’t.”
He nodded. “You can. Annie.” He tugged on her arm, pulled her up, closer. “You can do this. I believe in you. You can win that prize.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic?” she whispered.
Jeff’s eyes searched hers. “I think the situation calls for it.”
“Hmmm.”
“I’m a dying man Annie.”
She titled her head in response, trying to bite back a smile, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”
“S’okay.”
His last words were breathed out against her lips as he leaned in and kissed her softly. Annie’s eyes fluttered shut as she moved her hand up to brush fingertips against his jaw line. She was supposed to be mad at him right? Maybe…. Maybe not.
When he pulled away he pressed his gun into her hand.
“Win that prize.” With those final words he slouched back, dropped his head to the back of the chair, eyes falling shut. He was still.
Annie watched him for a second, then her eyes narrowed.
“Jeff?”
“Yup.”
“You know you’re not actually dead right?”
Jeff cracked an eyelid, “It’s 4:30. Tired.”
“Got it.”
~*~*~*~
One… two… three… four… five…
Annie crouched low behind the bushes and quickly took stock of her ammunition. She only had one round left for each gun. There were five Glee Club members. Plus Chang and his monstrosity of a paintball machine gun.
She didn’t stand a chance.
Out in the quad the Glee Club was trying to start a five-part harmony of “Love is a Battlefield.” Annie rolled her eyes.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop singing that song!” A blast of machine gun fire echoed around the school.
“Ow! I’m on your side!”
“No one’s on my side you little acapella singing twerp. Now scram! Go on! Go, go. Uggh.”
Annie peered above the bushes again to see someone limping away, paint spattered across his back. Memories of the psych experiment came flooding back. Maybe if she just sat here and waited it out Chang would go insane and take out everyone for her.
“Annniiiieeeee! We know you’re therrrrrre!”
Well, maybe not.
“Give it up! El Tigre can’t die! In fact, I’ve already won!” A round of paint was shot off into the trees accompanied by the sound of high-pitched laughter.
She closed her eyes and sank back onto her heels. It wasn’t fair. He wasn’t even a student. It was an injustice that she couldn’t allow to go on any longer. She couldn’t let Chang win. She couldn’t let The Man win. All her friends - they had fallen one by one, and for what?
The Glee Club had started singing again.
“Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done.
Dum, dum, dum, it's the sound of my gun.”
She rolled her eyes, “Oh my God!” she yelled, “Do you even know what that song is about?!”
A round was fired in her direction. She curled as low to the ground as possible and covered her head. They knew where she was now. It was almost over. This was the end.
Her heart was racing.
But she was ready.
Chang could shoot her with as many paint pellets as he wanted. He could take priority registration from her. He could make her miserable every single day until she transferred out of this school but she couldn’t let him take her pride. She couldn’t let him take her dignity. She couldn’t let him win like this. No, she wouldn’t surrender. She would show the world that she wasn’t a little girl anymore and she would go down fighting in a blaze of glory that would light up the sky for generations of Greendale students to come. This moment would live in infamy.
Or, at least for the rest of the school year.
This was for the study group. For Jeff. For students everywhere.
“For Greendale!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, jumping to her feet, guns at the ready, running toward certain danger, to the unknown - to the end. Whatever it would bring.
~*~*~*~
Jeff was sprawled out over a bench in front of the library, yawning widely. The sun was just beginning to peak into the Eastern sky, early morning fog still hanging low over the school. The maintenance staff and janitorial crews were just beginning to arrive, surveying the damage with looks of distress and confusion.
He had been on the way to his car when he realized that it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave Annie alone at the school in the early dawn with a bunch of creepy, weirdly sexed up Glee Clubers. As much as he wanted to go home and shower he decided to wait, make sure that she at least got home safe or… well, he wasn’t really sure what came after that.
Annie was right about that whole “end of the world” stuff. It seemed almost too normal to think about coming back to class and going to study group and continuing on like nothing had changed.
Maybe nothing had. Maybe everything had.
Suddenly his attention was captured by a lone figure emerging from the fog.
Annie.
Arms down at her side, a gun in each hand, she walked toward him slowly.
Jeff’s eyes went wide and he gaped openly. She stopped in front of him and he had to cover his mouth with his fist to try to hide the smile that was tugging at his lips.
She was covered, head to toe, in dripping fluorescent paint.
“That’s a good look for you.”
With a little dejected sigh she tossed the guns on the ground, flopped down next to him.
“I lost.”
“Yeah. But you lost big.” He tried to choke back a laugh.
She smacked his chest with the back of her hand, leaving behind a smear of yellow paint.
“I’m serious. If you’re going to get thrown out of the game, as least go out swinging, that’s my motto.” He gave her a sideways glace, noticed a trail of pink paint dripping down her neck, disappearing under the collar of her top. He quickly looked away.
“Did you at least take someone out with you?”
At that, Annie smiled. Proud.
“The entire Glee Club.”
Jeff nodded in approval. “Nice. Those little freaks deserved it.”
“They tried to lure me out by singing “Janie’s Got a Gun.”
“Oh, that’s original. Five bucks says that don’t even know what that song is about.”
“That’s what I said!”
They smiled at each other.
“So, Annie Edison. Paintball Warrior.”
She held her head up high, chin up.
“I’m pretty sure they throw parades for things like this. Write ballads. Award medals of valor. You’ll probably get to meet the president.
“Oooh. Exciting. Oh, but.” Annie shrugged her shoulders, “I have to be back for class in three hours.”
“Too bad then.”
“Too bad.”
He leaned over and wiped a smudge of green paint off her nose, “Well then, how about just breakfast?”
The mere mention of food made her stomach rumble. “Okay. But looking like this?”
As he stood and offered her his arm, he briefly thought about making said breakfast in the privacy of his own kitchen, maybe offering her his shower, a shirt to wear…
No. Not yet.
“Battle scars. Wear them proud. Guys dig things like that.”
She giggled and looped her arm through his, “I wasn’t aware of that.”
Together they walked toward the parking lot, into a sunrise of potential and possibility. They were strengthened by their journey - storm weathered and bruised but stronger for it all. The challenges ahead would be met head on and with renewed vitality.
It was a new day.
Pairing: Jeff/Annie
Spoilers: Through 1.23, “Modern Warfare”
Rating/ Warning: PG-13
Word Count: 4938
Disclaimer: I do not own Community, any of the characters or the epicness of this episode.
Author’s Note: Written for the “Modern Warfare” Jeff/Annie Rewrite challenge. Everything is basically the same through the roller disco fight, except this time, Britta was eliminated by the Glee Club and Annie and Jeff are the last ones standing.
Also, it was sort of fun to try and keep with the overly dramatic tone of the episode.
~*~*~*~
don't, don't you worry, about the atmosphere
or any sudden pressure change
cause i know
that it's starting to get warm in here
and things are starting to get strange
-- Andrew Bird, "Tables and Chairs"
The acrid smell of paint and sweat hung heavy on the air as they made their way silently, slowly, through the abandoned and darkened hallways. Jeff paused before an open door, his back pressed against the wall, gun raised high. He motioned for Annie to cover him and she nodded quickly as he spun and pointed the gun into the room, scanning for human life, for any sign of the enemy.
“All clear,” he whispered.
They moved on.
And so it went - searching the paint-spattered and war-torn halls of their once lively school, up and down the corridors, through the destruction and chaos that had been left in the wake of “priority registration” frenzy. They hadn’t seen another human being since Abed and Shirley had left them in the cafeteria so long ago. Just emptiness and eerie quiet.
Annie had lost track of the time. The sun had dipped into the horizon hours ago - or maybe it was only minutes. It all just seemed so meaningless now, here in this place, where life seemed to have stopped so abruptly
She briefly allowed herself to wonder if she had remembered to DVR Grey’s Anatomy.
But no. These things didn’t matter now. Couldn’t matter now. Not when all her friends were gone. Not when she had a paintball gun in her hand, not when all she had left was her need to survive, to make it till the end, to the prize.
And Jeff of course. She had Jeff.
Well she didn’t have Jeff. That would be silly, ridiculous even. Like he was anyone’s to have. Especially hers.
He tapped her shoulder then and she looked up. They had reached the study room.
Jeff nodded his head toward the door and Annie eased it open, allowing him to sweep inside. She followed him in a few seconds later.
The room was unrecognizable - books ripped from the shelves, strewn haphazardly all across the floor, paint spattered on the walls and dripping from the ceiling, the sofa upturned in the corner.
Annie bent down to retrieve a book. Its pages were bent and torn. She shuddered, “What do you think happened here?”
Jeff shook his head, “It’s probably best not to think about it.”
He set his gun on the table and rolled his shoulders back, grimacing as he stretched. Annie tried not to stare at the way his muscles flexed pleasantly at the movement.
“Listen, I think we should…” he didn’t get to finish his sentence, as there was a sudden flash of movement in the corner.
Someone yelled, “Freeze suckers!” and Annie spun around.
Buddy stood behind the couch, leveling a gun at them, a slow smirk stretching across his face. He motioned toward the gun in her hand, “Throw it down nice and slow.”
She hesitated. This couldn’t be it. This couldn’t be the end. They had come so far only to be taken out by Buddy? Buddy. Come on!
“Listen to him Annie,” Jeff whispered behind her. She sighed and tossed the gun to the ground.
“Excellent.” Buddy stepped out from behind the couch, keeping the gun leveled at them the entire time. “I knew you guys would come back here. You’re always here. It’s weird actually that you’re always here.” He paused as he pondered this, then shook his head and continued, “So I waited. And waited.” There was a gleam of something in his eye, a little something crazy and maniacal.
“Buddy? When was the last time you talked to another human being?” Jeff asked slowly.
“What do you mean?” His eyes widened. “It’s just me. Just me, sitting here, thinking, thinking. Waiting. The cool kids, they’ve been out of the game for hours. But me, I just sit and wait. For you. I knew you’d come.”
Annie glanced sideways at Jeff who seemed as equally perturbed as she felt. This was the guy that was going to take their victory? She narrowed her eyes. Oh, hell no.
He was still talking, inching closer to them, his words tumbling out faster and more fever pitched. Clearly, the game had taken his mind. He was lost to the hunger. To the prize.
“I wrote a song about it. You want to hear it?”
They both nodded quickly, “Yeah, please, sing it to us.”
Buddy cleared his throat, “It would be better with my guitar but here’s it goes - I’m waiting, waiting, waiting, I’m waiting, waiting, waiting. So long waiting and waiting. I’m waiting.”
As it turned out, Buddy’s, “I’m waiting in the study room to kill you with a paintball gun” song was an awful lot like his “apology” song. There was only so much a person, a sane person, could take.
“Oh. My. God.” Without hesitating, Annie grabbed for the gun she had strapped, hidden, to her thigh, pointed, and shot him straight in the chest.
“Cause I’m a wa - “ Buddy stopped, stared down at the splatter of pink on his tee-shirt and winced. His shoulders sagged, gun clattering to the ground. “Crap.”
Annie smiled.
~*~*~*~
She sat cross-legged in the middle of the table, a gun in each hand, listening for any hint of noise. Everything was quiet and still but she wasn’t taking any chances. There was something in that quiet stillness that was almost too intense.
Jeff had gone in search of something to eat and ever since he had slipped from the room, her heart had been racing, nerves skittering close to the edge. No wonder Buddy went insane. It would be easy to get lost, alone here with thoughts and just this too quiet, too stillness.
It seemed almost impossible that the paintball game had begun just twelve hours ago - an entire lifetime had passed since. She had seen all her friends fall one by one and she hadn’t given herself a chance to stop and think about it, she couldn’t, she had to keep moving, pressing forward. It would be so easy to throw down arms, give up, go home and take a shower and forget all about it.
But the prize. The prize. Imagine what she could do with priority registration. She could get into all the best classes, at the best times, all the classes she needed to transfer. The possibilities were endless and gave her a tiny thrill down her spine. It was worth it. It would so be worth it.
There was a tapping on the glass door and Annie raised her gun. Three taps. Pause. Three more taps. Pause. Three more taps. It was the signal. The door opened slightly and Jeff edged in quietly.
“Did you find anything?”
Jeff looked weary. “Scavengers. They cleaned out all the vending machines.”
Annie’s shoulders sagged, her eyes filling quickly with unbidden tears. It was stupid. But she was so hungry. She had never known hunger like this.
“Hey, hey. Not so fast. I did find,” Jeff pulled something from his back pocket, “This.”
It was a Snickers Bar. Annie gasped and lunged over the table, grabbing it from his hand and tearing open the wrapper. Jeff watched her in amusement.
Her eyes fluttered closed as she chewed slowly, humming slightly over the chocolatey, nougaty goodness. “Oh God. I was starting to forget the taste of food.”
“Annie, you ate lunch less than twelve hours ago.”
Her eyes were still closed. “Shh. Don’t ruin this for me.”
Jeff peered through the blinds, “Well enjoy it while you can. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be able to hide out here. I heard screaming and shooting from the art building. There are still people out there. And they’re getting closer.”
With her free hand Annie waved her gun at him, “Well then, we’ll be ready.”
Jeff smiled, left his post at the window to join her at the table, “You’re kind of an awesome shot. Where did you learn to shoot like that?
“My dad. He used to take me out to the shooting range.” She broke off a piece of the candy bar and handed it to him. “This whole thing is weird."
He laughed, “It’s Greendale, what did you expect?”
“I think maybe you need to reevaluate the possibility that this place will kill you.”
“Oh there’s no doubt about that now.”
“It kind of feels…” She stopped and shook her head, “Never mind.”
He looked back at her, bumped her knee with the back of his hand, “What?”
“It’s stupid.”
But he just kept watching her, waiting, leaning back on his hands, his legs dangled over the edge of the table.
Annie looked up at him, an odd expression coloring her features. “It’s just this surreal feeling, like everything’s different. Like this could be what the end of the world feels like…. I don’t. It’s stupid.”
Jeff laughed softly - she appreciated that it wasn’t a “you’re ridiculous and that’s the dumbest think I’ve ever heard” kind of laugh. It was more like, an appreciation for what she was saying. After too many years of the former she was training herself to be able to tell the difference.
“I think it’s this place. Everything always feels strange here. So, today, and all of this,” he waved his hand out in a wide arch, “Doesn’t seem all that different to me than any other day.”
“Hmm.”
A long moment of quiet stretched out in front of them. Annie tried to roll his words over in her mind, make sense of them. But she was tired and the room was dark and somehow Jeff had moved back enough that her bare knee was pressed up against his side. He was radiating warmth that spread down to her toes.
“Okay. So it’s the end of the world. We’re the only two people left. What do you do?”
She froze. The first (and once she thought of it she couldn’t think of anything else because those thoughts had a way of blossoming and clouding over everything) answer that popped up in her mind sent a rosy flush over her cheeks. It was all she could do to hope that Jeff wouldn’t notice. But then he gave a gasp of mock horror.
“Annie Edison.”
She couldn’t help it, a smile played at the edge of her lips, “It’s the end of the world. What does it matter?”
Jeff laughed, “So only because I’m the last man on earth?”
Annie was quiet, “I didn’t say only.”
He was watching her carefully. She brushed a tray piece of chocolate off her leg and gave a shaky laugh.
“So, are you going to do it?
“What? We. I. I don’t think. I mean, it’s.” He sputtered out a series of nonsense phrases and Annie shook her head.
“No, I didn’t mean. That.”
Right? She didn’t mean that. And he obviously objected to it, so.
“Oh.” He leaned forward, his hands clasped in front of him, exhaling slowly.
“I just meant, what if we are the only two left? One of us is going to have to…” She motioned towards his gun.
“Oh. Yeah.”
“We knew it could happen eventually. There can only be one winner Jeff.”
He was staring at the ground but a muscle twitched in his jaw. “And I fully intend on winning.”
She smiled at the intensity of his statement. “So you have what it takes to kill me?"
“You’re questioning that?”
Annie was questioning that. She was naïve but she wasn’t stupid. Jeff had the absolute ability to be a jackass, an uncaring, selfish jerk, but when push came to shove it didn’t usually take much for him to rush to the defense of his friends. How easy would it be for him to actually be the one to take one of them down?
Nevertheless, it probably wasn’t wise to push his buttons. Past experiences had taught her that Jeff walked a perpetual thin line between sanity and utter madness. In a good moment, he might hesitate over taking her out of the game but a few wrong words from her and he’d shoot her where she stood.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Jeff hopped off the table and spun around, pointing his gun at her. She just looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“I could do it.”
“I see that.” Annie slid slowly forward, unfolding her legs and sliding off the table. Jeff moved backwards as she moved a step closer, neither of them taking their eyes off the other.
“You haven’t done it yet.”
She continued watching him, a slight smile on her face until, with a roll of his eyes, he lowered the gun.
“You couldn’t have been Britta?”
The words caught her off guard and she scanned his face, wondering - and knowing at the same time that he wasn’t just talking about paintball.
It’s the end of the world Annie Edison. What do you do?
She took one step, leaned up and forward, and kissed him. Hard.
Jeff’s hands landed lightly on her hips and she was afraid for a brief moment that he was going to push her away so she pressed herself up closer, fully against him, moved her mouth slightly -- and then he was moving with her, lips parting against hers as she sighed into him.
He palmed the back of her head, fingers tangling into her ponytail, the other hand curling into her hip as he walked them backwards. The back of her thighs bumped into the edge of the table but then he was lifting her up, setting her on top of it, his hand skimming down her leg to hitch her knee up to this hip. Annie moaned against his mouth, breaking away to leave a trail of kisses down the side of his jaw and under his ear.
“Do you always resort to kissing to get your way?” he murmured against her temple.
She laughed, felt bold and inched the tips of her fingers just under the hem of his shirt. He groaned against her and she could feel the rumbling deep in his chest. It lit something inside of her and she tugged on his hair, dragging his mouth back to hers, wrapping her arms and legs around him completely. It was quite possible that her entire body was on fire, nerve endings blasting, blood rushing, pounding in her ears.
Jeff’s arm braced at her side, leaning her back as he kissed down her throat, his hands inching her shirt up against her torso. “I’ve. I’ve w-.” Her mind raced for some semblance of a coherent thought. There was something she needed to say, something, but everything was jumbled and foggy as his tongue traced her collarbone
“What?” His voice was ragged and distant and she couldn’t help it that her head fell back, a breathless moan escaping her lips.
“Nothing. I just.” Oh hell. Who even cares anymore?
She found his mouth again, wanting to memorize, burn into her mind forever the sound he made in the back of his throat when she tugged his bottom lip between her teeth, the way he arched into her as her nails scrapped along the skin at his back.
She wanted this, she wanted, wanted, wanted, wanted.
“Annie, Annie, wait.”
“Hmmm.”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.” And then he was untangling himself, tugging his shirt down, stepping away.
She stared at him in bewilderment. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t. Annie, we can’t do this. You’re. You’re.” He shook his head, at a loss.
The fire that had been burning under her skin suddenly ignited into fury, “What? Too young?” she snapped.
He gave her a look - a look that for a moment she imagined to be pity or condescension and she didn’t even stop to think beyond that before she was reaching for one of the discarded guns, leveling it at Jeff, her hand shaking.
He held up his hands, “Hey. Wait.”
“Get out.”
“Annie.”
“Get. Out.”
He stared at her for a moment, forehead creased and now she was seeing concern and oh God, maybe even… But she needed to be
pissed right now. She needed to hold onto that anger. It was the only thing that was going to get her through this moment, hurdle her past crippling embarrassment.
Jeff grabbed his guns and reached for the door, looking resigned. “Annie, I’m sorry.”
She didn’t answer.
~*~*~*~
Five minutes later she started regretting that spur of the moment decision to kick him out. It wasn’t his fault. Not entirely. He was right. He was. She was… well, she didn’t know what she was, but no matter who she was, she was always going to be younger than him, a lot younger. How could she fault him for being cautious?
Except, his caution was laced with undertones of, “you’re still just a little girl” and it was enough to make Annie’s skin crawl every time someone acted like whatever she was thinking or feeling or doing was somehow less significant based on how many years she had been alive. So maybe she didn’t always get the 70’s and 80’s allusions that everyone was constantly bantering about.
Get over it; get a new frame of reference. I was 2010 for godssake.
Who cares? When she felt something it was still real. When she kissed someone, namely Jeff, she meant it.
So screw them all. Him especially.
After pacing for a few minutes in an indignantly righteous huff however, reality began to set in. Because, game or not, it was still the dead of the night in a deserted building and there were crazy loons out there ready to murder for the promise of priority registration. Fake and surreal as this entire situation was, it was still frightening. She couldn’t just sit in that study room, hunched in the corner, waiting for morning, or something to happen, whichever it was that happened to come first.
So she found herself inching through hallways that were lit only by the eerie red glow of exits signs, her heart pounding, nerves jumping at every sound.
It’s just a game. It’s just a game. It’s just a game.
Everything was beginning to feel way too real, like there were real life or death consequences. Maybe it was time to just give up, get in her car and leave this whole insanity behind before it took over her brain and she ended up like Buddy, rocking back and forth in a corner singing ridiculously repetitive and pointless songs.
The door to the Spanish classroom was open and her heart leapt up to her throat at the sight of a lone figure in a desk at the corner of the room.
It was Jeff. A jolt of relief spread through her body as she lowered her gun and stepped into the classroom.
“Hey, I was looking for you.”
He was stretched out long, legs out in front of him like he was about four sizes too big for these little human sized desks. He turned his head toward her slowly but didn’t say anything. Moonlight spilled through the blinds, spreading lines of shadow and silvery glow across the room so she couldn’t see his face clearly. She moved closer.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It’s just, I hate being thought of like this little girl and I’m not you know, I’ve been through a lot and so what if I want people to actually recognize that? Is that so wrong? And you know, it’s your fault too because, well I don’t know why exactly but it is, and you don’t have to be so chivalrous or freaked out. I’m not a child. It’s not illegal or something for me to kiss you. Okay, I am a teenager and I see how that might be weird but…” she stopped.
He was staring straight ahead like he wasn’t hearing a word she was saying. Was he pissed at her? Why would he be pissed at her? She drew herself up to full height, fist clenched over her gun.
“Listen - ”
He interrupted her with a broken laugh, finally meeting her eyes. “Annie, I know you’re not a kid. Trust me, I know. If any one knows. I know.”
Annie softened, opened her mouth. Then,
“It’s over.”
“What?” She shook her head in confusion as he shifted, held up the hand that had been resting on his thigh.
It was covered in green paint.
Her heart plummeted. “Jeff?” She ran around to the other side of him, knelt down and saw the splatter of paint spread over his left side.
“What happened? I don’t understand.”
“It was Chang. And some leftover Glee Club members. They blindsided me. I was on the way back to the study room. I didn’t want you to be alone.” He looked away. “I didn’t even see it coming.”
Annie’s eyes widened, “Chang? But he’s not even a student.”
“I know.”
None of this made sense anymore. Everything was wrong. So wrong.
“Listen Annie, you’re the only one left.”
The meaning of his words dawned upon her and she shook her head, “No. I can’t.”
He nodded. “You can. Annie.” He tugged on her arm, pulled her up, closer. “You can do this. I believe in you. You can win that prize.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic?” she whispered.
Jeff’s eyes searched hers. “I think the situation calls for it.”
“Hmmm.”
“I’m a dying man Annie.”
She titled her head in response, trying to bite back a smile, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”
“S’okay.”
His last words were breathed out against her lips as he leaned in and kissed her softly. Annie’s eyes fluttered shut as she moved her hand up to brush fingertips against his jaw line. She was supposed to be mad at him right? Maybe…. Maybe not.
When he pulled away he pressed his gun into her hand.
“Win that prize.” With those final words he slouched back, dropped his head to the back of the chair, eyes falling shut. He was still.
Annie watched him for a second, then her eyes narrowed.
“Jeff?”
“Yup.”
“You know you’re not actually dead right?”
Jeff cracked an eyelid, “It’s 4:30. Tired.”
“Got it.”
~*~*~*~
One… two… three… four… five…
Annie crouched low behind the bushes and quickly took stock of her ammunition. She only had one round left for each gun. There were five Glee Club members. Plus Chang and his monstrosity of a paintball machine gun.
She didn’t stand a chance.
Out in the quad the Glee Club was trying to start a five-part harmony of “Love is a Battlefield.” Annie rolled her eyes.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop singing that song!” A blast of machine gun fire echoed around the school.
“Ow! I’m on your side!”
“No one’s on my side you little acapella singing twerp. Now scram! Go on! Go, go. Uggh.”
Annie peered above the bushes again to see someone limping away, paint spattered across his back. Memories of the psych experiment came flooding back. Maybe if she just sat here and waited it out Chang would go insane and take out everyone for her.
“Annniiiieeeee! We know you’re therrrrrre!”
Well, maybe not.
“Give it up! El Tigre can’t die! In fact, I’ve already won!” A round of paint was shot off into the trees accompanied by the sound of high-pitched laughter.
She closed her eyes and sank back onto her heels. It wasn’t fair. He wasn’t even a student. It was an injustice that she couldn’t allow to go on any longer. She couldn’t let Chang win. She couldn’t let The Man win. All her friends - they had fallen one by one, and for what?
The Glee Club had started singing again.
“Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done.
Dum, dum, dum, it's the sound of my gun.”
She rolled her eyes, “Oh my God!” she yelled, “Do you even know what that song is about?!”
A round was fired in her direction. She curled as low to the ground as possible and covered her head. They knew where she was now. It was almost over. This was the end.
Her heart was racing.
But she was ready.
Chang could shoot her with as many paint pellets as he wanted. He could take priority registration from her. He could make her miserable every single day until she transferred out of this school but she couldn’t let him take her pride. She couldn’t let him take her dignity. She couldn’t let him win like this. No, she wouldn’t surrender. She would show the world that she wasn’t a little girl anymore and she would go down fighting in a blaze of glory that would light up the sky for generations of Greendale students to come. This moment would live in infamy.
Or, at least for the rest of the school year.
This was for the study group. For Jeff. For students everywhere.
“For Greendale!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, jumping to her feet, guns at the ready, running toward certain danger, to the unknown - to the end. Whatever it would bring.
~*~*~*~
Jeff was sprawled out over a bench in front of the library, yawning widely. The sun was just beginning to peak into the Eastern sky, early morning fog still hanging low over the school. The maintenance staff and janitorial crews were just beginning to arrive, surveying the damage with looks of distress and confusion.
He had been on the way to his car when he realized that it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave Annie alone at the school in the early dawn with a bunch of creepy, weirdly sexed up Glee Clubers. As much as he wanted to go home and shower he decided to wait, make sure that she at least got home safe or… well, he wasn’t really sure what came after that.
Annie was right about that whole “end of the world” stuff. It seemed almost too normal to think about coming back to class and going to study group and continuing on like nothing had changed.
Maybe nothing had. Maybe everything had.
Suddenly his attention was captured by a lone figure emerging from the fog.
Annie.
Arms down at her side, a gun in each hand, she walked toward him slowly.
Jeff’s eyes went wide and he gaped openly. She stopped in front of him and he had to cover his mouth with his fist to try to hide the smile that was tugging at his lips.
She was covered, head to toe, in dripping fluorescent paint.
“That’s a good look for you.”
With a little dejected sigh she tossed the guns on the ground, flopped down next to him.
“I lost.”
“Yeah. But you lost big.” He tried to choke back a laugh.
She smacked his chest with the back of her hand, leaving behind a smear of yellow paint.
“I’m serious. If you’re going to get thrown out of the game, as least go out swinging, that’s my motto.” He gave her a sideways glace, noticed a trail of pink paint dripping down her neck, disappearing under the collar of her top. He quickly looked away.
“Did you at least take someone out with you?”
At that, Annie smiled. Proud.
“The entire Glee Club.”
Jeff nodded in approval. “Nice. Those little freaks deserved it.”
“They tried to lure me out by singing “Janie’s Got a Gun.”
“Oh, that’s original. Five bucks says that don’t even know what that song is about.”
“That’s what I said!”
They smiled at each other.
“So, Annie Edison. Paintball Warrior.”
She held her head up high, chin up.
“I’m pretty sure they throw parades for things like this. Write ballads. Award medals of valor. You’ll probably get to meet the president.
“Oooh. Exciting. Oh, but.” Annie shrugged her shoulders, “I have to be back for class in three hours.”
“Too bad then.”
“Too bad.”
He leaned over and wiped a smudge of green paint off her nose, “Well then, how about just breakfast?”
The mere mention of food made her stomach rumble. “Okay. But looking like this?”
As he stood and offered her his arm, he briefly thought about making said breakfast in the privacy of his own kitchen, maybe offering her his shower, a shirt to wear…
No. Not yet.
“Battle scars. Wear them proud. Guys dig things like that.”
She giggled and looped her arm through his, “I wasn’t aware of that.”
Together they walked toward the parking lot, into a sunrise of potential and possibility. They were strengthened by their journey - storm weathered and bruised but stronger for it all. The challenges ahead would be met head on and with renewed vitality.
It was a new day.