What's To Come

Infection

I woke up sore. At first, I thought it was because we slept on the ground, but the pain was only in two areas. I sighed when I realized those areas were where Janson shot me. I opened my eyes and saw everyone sleeping still. The sun was barely up, just slightly over the horizon. I went to stand up, but something was holding me down. 

I looked back, and Newt was still holding my hand. He wasn't the reason I was stuck there. I tried to get up again and realized I was stuck because of the stupid jacket Frypan made me wear. Naturally, one of the straps was under him, causing me not to get up. I carefully let go of Newt's hand after placing it on the ground and moved Frypan so I could get the strap out from under him. 

It took a bit of a tug, but I managed to get it out without waking him. I stood up and almost fell over. My head was killing me, and I was really dizzy. I walked over to the bag by Winston, knowing he was the last to take some of the painkillers. "Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked when I realized he was also awake.

"Not good. The meds did nothing. They're probably out of date."

"That...That makes sense as to why they did absolutely nothing to help with my pain yesterday." Winston nodded and closed his eyes. "How much does it hurt?" I asked, sitting down beside him. 

"Not as much as you were hurting yesterday, but I don't know if I'm going to get any better." I nodded. I was in a lot of pain yesterday, but I can almost feel the pain radiating off Winston, and he's right. He's not in as much pain as I was, but he is in a lot worse shape.

"Can I see it?"

"I just looked. It's not too bad."

"Don't lie. I can tell when you are lying, Winston. I've known you too long not to be able to tell." Winston sighed and nodded his head. He pulled the bandages up and showed me what the Cranks did to him. "Shit Winston." The scratches were extended and no doubt infected. There was dried blood and fresh blood surrounding the wound, but it wasn't deep. The infection seemed to be spreading with every second. 

Winston's skin turned blue, green, purple, black, and red. There was so much that I was looking at, then it hit me. Winston was the one that was going to die. I closed my eyes and dropped my head, trying to hold back the tears. When I opened my eyes, Winston had a look in his eyes, one that only meant one thing. "It'll be okay. Maybe it's for the best."

"How could you say that, Winston?" I said, pulling the bandages back down and putting his shirt over them. 

"I'm going to die from this, I can see it in your eyes, and I'm sure you can see it in mine. Take care of the guys, okay? They need you more than you know. Thomas is a good leader, and he may even try to overthrow you, not that Newt and Fry would let him, but you can't let him either. He doesn't know what is best for this group, and he is too star-struck to see the truth about her. You need to stand up for yourself against him because he will find a weakness, and whether it's intentional or not, he will use it."

"I think everyone knows my weakness at this point. Everyone but Teresa."

"He may be your weakness, but he also makes you stronger than any of us. There's something-something about you that's different now. Different in a good way, but Newt seems to be the source of the power you have." 

"Power?"

"I didn't see it before. Not until I got hurt, but it radiates off you. It's like it's protecting you, yet a part of you. It's repelling."

"Thanks, Win. I appreciate it."

"No, no. Not like that. It's only repelling those who can see it because they've never seen it before. It scares them."