The Touch of Infection

Chapter 89: symptoms

Carisa waited with Neda until Vasin arrived. He looked serious walking Neda to the door and speaking quietly before the door shut behind him after he walked completely in.

"You wanted to talk?"  Vasin asked sitting beside the bed, "What do you need to say?"

"I... I know I'm dying." She said, "I don't want to lose my mind... so just tell me how long do I have."

Vasin was silent fiddling with his fingers as he looked elsewhere, "We don't know how long you have. Every time tests are run a different outcome is predicted... sometimes the infection you have seems to freeze, other times it accelerates or just fully seems to have control over you..."

Carisa pinched the bridge of her nose shutting her eyes tight, "How much time do I have according to the last time it was checked?" She was starting to become anxious.

Vasin whispered to himself quietly, "It ranges from half a week up to a couple of months." He explained scratching his arm and looking elsewhere, "Marnik should arrive this month... he's not wasting any time. Carisa..."

He finally gathered the guts to look her in the eyes, "Thank you for protecting Bavyn..."

Carisa looked down at her hands averting his gaze, "Where is he?"

"His room... he wanted to come to see you but... we've kept you in a quarantine, ever since we used her blood as a replacement when you were bleeding out... we've feared the worst outcome might occur." Vasin stood up and reached under the bed she was in, pulling out a machine, "Neda told me about what you noticed..." meaning the rotting smell she'd distinguished, he brought out a needle, "But that's not the only 'symptom' you've shown."

Carisa tilted her head, "What have you noticed?"

He sighed, "You've been showing these symptoms a while... you'd groan in your sleep and get up from the bed... Marnik was the first to see you do any of this. He says you'd dig into the wall and wouldn't answer when he called. It doesn't happen every night but." He grabbed her hand sticking the needle into her skin, "He wanted to know if the infection caused it... so in one of those times, he took another test from you... turns out, the infection spread all over. But by the time u came back to, it all seemingly calmed down a little."

Carisa cocked her head to the side, "So what.... I've been dead for even longer than I thought?"

He leaned his head side to side, "Something like that. We don't know ourselves." After injecting her he set the needle aside, "I'm sure you know that the last time some Alaois were infected... you know the way we dealt with it."

Carisa nodded, "They rather die than potentially hurt everyone else."

He crossed his hands while agreeing, "All the humans that came with us, have either been cured or never infected, to begin with... it not an easy decision in the slightest... but I want you to think about everyone Carisa. Not just yourself."

Carisa felt like laughing, he wanted her to be just like them, make a choice for the better of everyone, even if it meant her death. She couldn't understand how the Alaois were so selfless.

Vasin had set the machine back under the bed beginning to walk to the door, turning around when he found himself standing there too long, "Imagine what it would have been like if you'd only been born one of us." He blurted.

Carisa raised a brow, "I'd probably be taller."

He chucked, "Well not just that... maybe you could have made the difference, you could have kept us from destroying everything." He grinned widely, "..."

Carisa was serious looking at him, "Goodbye Vasin." She told him, he turned back around and walked out, with Neda walking in just as soon. She saw the grim expression Carisa had.

"What... why..." she didn't know what to say, falling quiet just opening her mouth trying to come up with a sentence.

Carisa clenched her hands into fists, "What do you think about the humans... the ones that came along?"

"They seem alright." She answered slowly walking closer.

"They just want to live a peaceful life with you all... that's nice right?"

Neda nodded to Carisa's words, "And you will too."

Carisa turned visibly angry at the words before speaking, "Stop it... just stop it. I've been told I'll be fine so many times, I've been promised I'll be fixed." She grabbed the loose strands of her hair that fell to her face hiding in her legs, "I don't want more promises, more dreams... if... if I am to die... then just let me die."

Neda frowned and sat on the bed keeping quiet as she heard Carisa sob. The small human beside her had her dreams broken and turned around so many times. She felt pity for her...