This. [The shot is of the neighbourhood, first one way down the street, then the other, then to the house that West and Billy have occupied for the port. The camera's a bit shaky, as West has already had a few drinks before busting it out.]
This is what I fought for, what I would have done anything to protect.
[He moves into the house. SO MANY HAPPY, DOMESTIC PICTURES OF HIM AND BILLY... and their adopted Russian child.]
A future.
[He moves through the house, then settles in his study, distractedly setting the camera down, so you get a haphazard angle of his face as he pours himself a glass of scotch.]
I have been on the Barge for over two years. In five months, it will have been three. [He settles back in a chair.] When I died, there was nothing left to save. All of this-- what makes this worth saving-- the people, the future-- was gone.
"This is the way the world ends..." [He makes a thoughtful noise and sips his drink.] Eliot didn't quite have it right. The end of the world didn't come with a quiet whimper. Mankind tore itself apart, screaming and howling into a future-less existence. I'll never forget the sounds...
[He drinks again, a longer sip this time, then laughs softly.]
It could have been a quiet end. A group of men, waiting to die, alone and forgotten. But I couldn't allow that to happen. Driven to monstrous acts out of desperation. For survival. I made a promise I couldn't keep. I never expected it to... [He rubs his forehead, voice lowering. West is really just drunkenly talking to himself at this point and has been since he entered the study.] I never thought they would actually come.
[He finishes off the drink in one fell swoop and whispers, which some may hear if they're paying close attention:] I promised them women... I wanted them to survive, I wanted them to... to have a reason. I would have done anything.
[And even less audibly:] She was a child.
[He leans back, rubbing his eyes now.]
I could have stopped it at any time. Instead, I had Sergeant Farrell executed. I found Private Davis with his skull bashed in. I held Private Jones's hand as he died. And I shot Private Clifton to put him down after he'd become Infected. All of it happened because of me. I was their leader, and I brought them to their deaths.
In the end, what was I but another one of the Infected?
[There's a long silence, then he looks at the camera again, seeming to realise it's still on.]
Those of you whose worlds still exist wouldn't understand. You can't... You can't appreciate how beautiful this... simple, common existence is. The house, with the picket fence, the children, the family dog...
I killed for this.
[OOC: IT ONLY TOOK YOU 2+ YEARS TO ADMIT YOU WERE WRONG, WEST. WAY TO GO.]
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