Final Hours

Chapter Twenty Six

   "Good morning sunshine...again." Eric smirked standing up from the chair next to the window. "How are you feeling?" He asked walking over to the bed and sitting down.
    "Better." I mumbled pushing myself up onto my elbows.
    "Well that's a good sign, and your rashes are almost gone." He responded rubbing my hand that was now clear. "Glad we had at least one person who knew what was going on." He laughed pulling his hand back.

     I smiled and fully pushed myself into a sitting position.
    "What...what happened to-." I started, but he finished it for me.
    "Henry, he's buried down by the stables...Lanas been out there all day, and Georgia, well that's still in the works." He responded. I looked at the window, from a distance I could see a small figure bent over.

      I looked back over at Eric, he was opening another alcohol pad and rubbing down a spot on my arm near the last spot.
      It wasn't as painful as yesterday, but it still hurt. He closed up the medicine and covered the needle again.
      "Speaking of," he started standing up, "I have to go make some important decisions." He rolled his eyes, grabbing the medicine.
       "Good luck with that." I smiled leaning back down against the pillow. He smiled and walked over to the door.
       "Do you want me to grab anything?" He asked leaning against the doorframe. I shook my head in response and he smiled as he walked out of the room closing the door.

       I hated feeling useless, I wanted to be a part of these decisions, I wanted to be helpful. My stomach felt queasy but I knew I was healing. Of course the smart thing would be to stay in bed and rest, but I'd given up on using common sense when the dead started walking.

       Sitting myself up I slid off the bed and onto my feet, I didn't feel weak surprisingly. Walking over to the window I tried to fix my gaze on Lana. I felt awful, not only had we lost a strong leader in our team but now even more divisions were being created.
       Lana held her hands tight in a praying position as she bent over the pile of dirt topped with two planks of wood.

       I backed away from the window and over to my backpack, a change of clothes was the best I could do to feel a little bit better. I changed into a clean t-shirt and jeans and headed downstairs. I could hear them speaking in the other room, peeking over the railing. I caught a glimpse of them, everybody but Lana and Georgia were in the room.

       Finally I came to the bottom of the stairs and walked over to the sitting area.
       "What are you doing up?" Chris asked about to stand up, Eric turned around to face me as I leaned against the wall.
       "I'm fine, and I want to be a part of the decision." I responded walking into the room and sitting on the chair opposite from Eric and Richard.
       "Are you sure...you should be resting." Eric added facing me.
       "I'm fine, continue." I said flicking my wrist lightly. Relaxing into the chair I listened as they continued.
 
       "She's dangerous, she can't stay here. She could snap on any of us." Chris stated leaning forward.
       "She's got a kid and we can't just send her out, he won't survive." Richard retorted looking over at him. Eric just sat there with his head in his hands processing.
  
       "I know she hates me, or "strongly despises" me and maybe that's why but...what if it's some sort of, I don't know, PTSD reaction?" I asked just throwing out suggestions.
       "What?" Eric asked looking up at me in confusion. I took a moment to collect my thoughts before I responded.
        "Lana told me her husband was sick when they arrived, that's traumatic enough." I started, "but after his passing she had to witness him reanimate, try to kill her child, and then be killed again." I finished looking between all of them.
 
       "I don't know about you but that seems pretty traumatic." I added leaning back into my seat.
       "She has a point," Eric started sitting up straighter, "But this isn't the environment for those types of issues, we can't have an outburst every time someone comes down with the flu." He finished looking over at me.
       "She can't stand you, out of all of us you'd think you would want her gone." Chris said, confused.
       "I don't care what happens to her, I'm worried about her son." I shot back, he caught on to my tone and sat back.

        "He isn't our kid, we have no ties to him...honestly think about it, he's a reliability we can't handle right now!" Chris retaliated after a moment of silence.
        "We can't just let him die." Richard butt into the conversation.
        "Who says he's gonna die, we can drop them off at a safe location, we have guns and food we can supply them with." Chris responded in a pleading tone.

       "You can't be serious?" I asked bewildered. He just looked at me with no response.
       "He may be on to something..." Eric responded, placing his head in his hand again. "We can assure their safety for a short period of time, but they can't stay here and we can't keep Hudson away from his mother." Eric added rubbing his hands from his face to the back of his head in defeat, his head stayed hanging as he dropped his hands back down.

       "That kid won't last more than a day!" I tried to fight back.
       "Then he doesn't last longer than a day we have no other options!" Eric shot back, he raised his voice at me and I sunk back into the chair. "I-I'm sorry...the decision has been made." Eric said looking around at us, he looked tired, defeated. He caught my glance but looked away.

        "They leave first thing tomorrow morning, we can give them the extra car in the barn. That leaves us with the Jeep and the Truck." He finished, rubbing his eyes. "I'll start working on a list of supplies we can give them." He added standing up and walking out of the room. Richard looked around at us and stood up following him.

       "Hey, are you ok?" Chris asked from beside me. I turned to face him but I just wanted silence.
       "I'm fine." I huffed standing up and walking out of the room and through the front door, I just needed fresh air. How could they just sentence a child to death like this, it's impossible for him to survive out there. Especially with Georgia for a mother, he won't last an hour.
        I want to understand Chris and Eric, but this feels inhuman. But if I'm being honest with myself, is there anything humane left in this world.