Another moment passed wherein Jamie didn't move, but then Layla's voice finally broke through his focus, and his head snapped up in her direction, his red-rimmed eyes immediately searching for hers. His expression was pain, grief stricken, his face wet with unnoticed tears.

"Layla," he said, his voice sounding strange to his own ears, strained, and yet forceful, too. "You shouldn't--" he started, and all at once, he started to get up, still trying to hold on to the corpse even as he made to stand. "You should get back."