ʏᴇʟʟᴏᴡ ∆ ᴄᴀᴇsᴀʀ ᴢᴇᴘᴘᴇʟɪ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ ∆

∆ғᴏʀᴛʏ-ғᴏᴜʀ∆

“You doing okay?”

Daniel crouched beside the couch, placing his hand on my forehead. I closed my eyes, nodding a little. Caesar brushed some hair away from my face, returning the playing with the ends of it. My head rested in his lap as he sat on the far end of the couch, his feet kicked up on the coffee table in front of us. I opened my eyes.

“Fever?”

“Gone,” Caesar replied, following Vex’s moments with his eyes. They walked towards me, swatting Daniel’s hand away before placing their cool hand across my skin.

“Good. Infection is less likely since it dropped,” They said, moving the homemade bandages they made from tearing towels into strips and pinning them together with safety pins. “Jojo should be back soon. Someone’s bound to have something.”

Vex had sent Joseph out almost an hour ago with a hammer and crowbar to break into the other apartments to search for anything that could help us. Shortly after arriving in the apartment, Aaron had left a letter taped to the door. We had three days to prepare, and we could only use what was around us. We were forbidden to leave, and none of the phones were in service. We’ve made it through the night so far, but this feels like some kind of horror or survival movie to me.

“Can you move yet?” Vex asked, extending their hand to me. I nodded and took their hand as they grabbed my shoulder, carefully pulling me to my feet.

“Be careful, sis,” Daniel said, his hands shooting out to hover behind me.

“I’m fine, Daniel,” I said, sighing. “It’s not that bad anymore.”

“You should probably wash up,” Vex said. “Now that everything’s calmed down, we need to get the dirt off the rest of your body so it really doesn’t get infected.”

“But weren’t they seared shut?” Daniel asked as Caesar stood up and held me up, knowing I’d hit him again if he tried to lift me.

“That’s still a wound,” Vex replied, kicking the bathroom door open with the toe of their boots. “I’ll help you so it’s not one of them.”

“‘Kay,” I winced, making Caesar pause as he led me towards the sink.

“Yell if you need help,” He murmured, kissing my cheek.

“I’ll be fine,” I said.

“I’ll find some clothes for you,” He said.

“Oh, there should be a small closet near…” I grimaced as I moved, making Vex push me back down. “...near the main bedroom. The box inside should have my clothes inside. He never gave them back.”

“I’ll wash them first,” He replied, pecking my cheek again before leaving, closing the door behind.

…

“FUCKING HELL, VEX!”

“STOP MOVING!”

“IT HURTS!”

“IF YOU WOULD STOP MOVING, IT MIGHT NOT HURT AS BAD!

“STOP BEING ROUGH!”

“I’M GONNA KNOCK YOU THE FUCK OUT IF YOU KEEP MOVING, MEATER!”

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!”

Vex pushed me back in the water by my shoulder, sitting forward on their knees as they swiped the cloth across my wound, making me hiss in pain and tense up. I tried to wiggle away, but they just tightened their grip, pinning me against the tiled walls. I slumped down in defeat, exhausted from fighting against them.