Arrow

Thirty Five - Cure

"You're one of few" Chase told me as he walked alongside me through a darkened tunnel, our shoes sloshing through a thin layer of water towards the opening on the other side

"I didn't even know there were a few" I responded "How did you know, when you saw me, you knew straight away, right?"

"Your fingers, sometimes they twitch unnaturally, it happens to me too"
I looked down at my hands, unaware "I didn't even realise"

"Neither did I at first, not until someone asked me what it meant"

"How did it happen, when you got bit?" I asked curiously

"It's a long story" He sighed with a quirked eyebrow

"You got a short version?" I pushed

"It was really early on, my family and I managed to survive for a few months, and then we got caught out at dark, Creature got my aunt Debra, aunt Debra got me" He told me, casual "It hurt like hell, I thought I was gonna die, or worse, I blacked out and when I woke up,  Carmen had found me" He nodded in the direction of a tall brunette to his left

She gave me a small smile which I returned politely

"She was pointing her shot gun at my forehead, but she hesitated, longer than she should have"

"Why?" I questioned Carmen as her brown eyes brushed over my face

"He didn't turn the way I'd seen all the others turn, it was different, his muscles and veins turned blue, protruding from his skin, he was shaking violently as his eyes rolled back into his head like you'd expect, but that's when his teeth and bones should have changed, but they didn't" she explained "suddenly it all began to reverse, the shaking stopped, the veins receded and his body went back to normal, once the shock wore off I realised he had somehow fought it off" She shrugged

"And you? Was your experience similar?" Chase turned back to me

"I don't remember too much about it, but I remember the pain, the fire that burned under my skin, the withdrawal of my humanity, even the debilitating fear was gone for a moment" I told him "Then I remember waking up with a nasty headache, but I was still, me"

"I remember the headache too" He mused "felt like a vice wrapped around my skull and face"

What had happened with both Chase and I was unexplainable. There were so many questions. We shouldn't have been alive, I should have died that day, I should have turned. It was a dark and confusing part of my life that I had hidden deep within.

I could have told the others, but I could never bring myself to do it, I couldn't trust anyone, I couldn't explain it to them when I barely understood it myself.

I lifted my eyes to where Jesse walked ahead of me beside his cousin and a teenage red-head who attempted to flirt with him. He was uninterested, his face blank, his mind elsewhere. My betrayal. My secret and lies.

I swallowed hard and picked up a faster pace to catch up to him

"Jesse" I called lightly, walking beside him. His head turned towards me slightly, walking slower, falling back

"I should explain" I began as his eyes avoided my face "I didn't know how to tell you-"

"It doesn't matter" He cut me off, pulling me to a halt

"It does" I pushed, watching his frustrated expression

"It doesn't" He repeated "We barely know each other, we've all been through some shit Arrow, and that.." he shook his head "that is some real scary, dangerous shit, you were protecting yourself and for good reason, like you said, if the wrong people know about this, god knows what kind of target it makes you"