Dead Bite

chapter 12

   Am I on a ship? The rocking back and forth, side to side, up and down is much like a ship. I yawn and open my eyes. The sky is the first thing I see. I stretch my arms out above my head.
   "Where are we?" I ask. I remember what happened. Stupid me, hitting the knockout gas and causing Damien problems.
   "You feel asleep from the knockout gas at the base of a tree, so I had to carry you. We are almost home so you can lay back down and fall back to sleep if you want," he smiles.
   "Put me down, I'll be fine. I can sleep at home." He sets me down and I stumble around. My legs feel as if I have been on a ship, tired and wobbly. It do not take real long before my legs go back to their normal state. The other guys begin laughing. "What are you guys laughing about?"
   "After you fell asleep you started snoring slightly." Zachariah laughs. I can not help but disagree.
   "I dont snore!" We walk on a bit, not seeing or hearing any infected. The others do not mind that I call them infected. It is a tad bit different than what they have ever heard, but they get what I'm saying. I  walk beside Damien for a while before I hear a meow. I stop to listen. The others stop once I stop and turn around.
   "Why are you..."
   "Shh!" I shush them. I continue listening until I hear it again. "Do you guys hear that?"
   "Yeah, it seems to be a cat," Jacob answer."I'm surprised a cat has lasted this long."  I follow the meowing until I am in front of a tree. In a hole, in the base of the tree, is a bundle of kittens and a mother. The mother and three of the kittens seem to be dead, lifeless sacks of meat; However, one kitten struggles for its life. I pick it up and hold it close so it can feel my warmth. The kitten is a light shade of gray with darker lines of gray. It is very skinny and very tiny. I show it to George.
   "Wow, she is practically a newborn, only a few weeks old if not a few days," he replies quickly. "Seems to be the runt as well." I hold the kitten close to my body.
   "It's okay little guy. I will protect you," I kiss the little kitten. We begin to head out again, but I walk at a faster pace.
   "You know she probably won't last long, right?" George calls back.
   "She will live. I will get her through it," I answer.
   We make it to the gate and Jacob whistles. Ethan looks over the wall then, when he sees us, he waves and begins opening the gate. We walk inside but once I am in the walls I run to the house. I run into the kitchen and look around. I find a medicine syringe without the needle that you would use for a baby to take cough medicine. This will make it easier for the kitten to eat, now where is the milk? I hear Elizabeth come into the room.
   "Where is the milk?" I ask before she can say anything. She looks into my arms.
   "It's in the cooler down in the basement," she answers. As I run past her I have enough time to utter a quick thank you. I run down into the basement and locate the milk. I take a small amount into the needle-less syringe and put it in the kitten's mouth. The kitten begins sucking on the milk. It is slightly cold downstairs so I pull the kitten close and my body close to myself. I hear someone stomping down the stairs. I turn my head to find Damien.
   "Hi," my teeth chatter.
   "You are cold," he stretch his hand out towards me.
   "I know, but I need to feed Chibi," I smile.
   "You already named it?" He sighs putting his hand over her face.
   "Yes, I named her." I refill the syringe with more milk and stick it back into Chibi's mouth. She continues to eat and Damien continues to stand above me. He sighs and plops himself next to me.
   "How much longer until "Chibi" is done eating?" Damien sighs totally done with my shit.
   "When she's done." Damien groans and wraps an arm around me. I cuddle up next to him. Soon after, Chibi finishes eating. I stand up and cup the kitten in the palm of my hands. I begin walking towards the stairs, but Damien grabs my forearm and turns me around.
   "I don't think that kitten will survive. I asked George if the kitten would survive. He said the kitten had, maybe, a few hours to live. And also..."
   "No! I won't let her die!" I cry. "No more death." I let a few tears fall. I am tired of watching people die. He wraps his arms around me.
   "I'll help you take care of her. I don't know how long she will survive but I'll help. How will Rubble react?"
   "I don't know. Once she gets better I will introduce her to him," I half smile. I make my way upstairs and to me and Damien's room. I look about the room in search of something to put the kitten in as a bed. I find a Kleenex box and rip off the top half of the box. I set Chibi in the box then wrap her up in a small hand towel. I put the box on the night stand next to our bed. I crawl into bed and kiss the kitten lightly. Damien flops onto the bed beside me.
   "Baby, I don't ever want you to scare me like that again," he sighs into the pillow.
   "I'm sorry but we needed the supplies and there were way too many infected for us to deal with. We needed to do it the quiet way which was me going in by myself. Don't worry, I am not dying from a bite," I chuckle. "No way in hell I'm dying from a bite," I say to myself.
   He laughs," I won't let that happen." He kisses my head.
   "I won't let you get bit, even if it means I might get bit myself." My dad taught me what to do once bitten. First, attempt to cut the bite off within a minute of being bitten. Second, if that is not possible then get a gun. Third, aim for the head. Nowhere else will work. And lastly, take great care in aiming. If you miss, you could kill the ones you love." I cannot bear to kill Damien or anyone here. Even if I don't control my body or am just a lifeless, walking, sack of skin I would still feel it in my spirit.
   "You will never be caught up in that situation where you could possibly be bit. Now get to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow."
   "Why? What's tomorrow?" I ask.
   "Tomorrow is the day one of the mothers are supposed to have her baby, Kayla. You remember her, right? Naturally red hair, and is skinny. She is married to Ethan," I nod. I remember meeting her briefly. "George had been keeping an eye on her for a while and tomorrow is the day. That is why we had to go get more supplies, not just because of you, but because she is going to have her baby," he smiles.
    "I'm glad she is here instead of out in this horrid world. Outside these walls, the baby would die."
   "Me too. The baby will be loud, she will be exhausted, and she will need help."
   "Don't worry, I will help her out," I smile.  "Go to sleep."
   "I love you honey," he kisses my lips and holdsme close. 
   "I love you too," I wrap my arms around him. He is so warm; yet, it does not make me sleepy. I turn over so I am facing Chibi. She is sleeping quietly along with Damien, who is now asleep. I must have worn him out. He had to carry me almost three miles. I am always getting myself into trouble without trying to. My dad used to say I was accident prone, always needing to be helped. I sigh. I'm tired of being seen as frail and weak. But I do have to say, after beating Jacob in a race people have been taking me more serious. Damien always takes me seriously, but he is too overprotective and right now, he is snoring in his dream world. Also, I need to walk around a bit. I slide out off bed, still in my clothes from earlier, and make my way to the door. I push the door open then turn back to see if Damien is still asleep. He turns around so he is now facing the wall. I close the door behind me. Normally by now someone would have grabbed me or stopped me. I continue down the hall, down the stairs, and out the front door. I look up at the sky and see all the beautiful stars I have not seen in a long time.
   I plop down in a grassy area and stare up at the stars. It is nice out. The sky is brightly lighten with the stars, the air is hot with a light breeze, and it smells of grass and flowers. It has been a long time since I have smelled these things. I miss star gazing; remembering how the "fireflies" appeared all the way up there. My dad explained that they were balls of fire and gas. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Now I just see them as lights in the darkness of this world. I hear someone walk up to me, but I ignore them and continue to gaze at the stars. They sit down beside me and look at me. Their gaze is making me very uncomfortable.
   "So you like gazing at the stars?" He asks. It is Zachariah. I relax a bit, he will not hurt me or touch me.
   "Yeah, I haven't done it in a long time. I needed to let Damien sleep. I am always worrying everyone and keeping him up," I sigh. "It relaxes me a little bit." I sit up beside him.
   "Nobody minds that you worry them. You are part of this family now, no matter what happens," he wraps his arm around my shoulder and side hugs me. He is quite chill. He stands up and begins walking away. "Don't stay out here too long. I don't need Damien hounding on me for letting you be out here at night. He is very protective over you, wouldn't even let me see how you were doin' when you were sick."
   I lay back down and proceed to stare at the stars. The stars; surprisingly, are boring me so, I stand up and head towards the garden. I lean up against the gates and gaze into the garden. The moon light shines down on the various plants; roses, sunflowers, lilies: illuminating the petals and leaves. It is quite beautiful. I notice something in the corner of my eye. It seemed kinda odd that something caught my eye in the middle of the night. Maybe it is just my imagination. I lay in the nearest patch of grass. Oh how I yearn for Damien to be out here with me, to show him all the stars. I sigh and get up off the ground. As I make my way back to the house, I begin to wonder.
   What is up with everyone taking me in as if I were their own kin? How could they shoot someone they knew so well? I shake my head to rid my head of the horrific memory. That memory haunts my mind, my psyche. Making my way up the stairs to me and Damien's room, the soft snoring of Damien can be heard. His snore was the cutest snore ever! My dad's snore was super loud and obnoxious. I laugh to myself. I'm so weird. I creep into the room without disturbing Damien. I climb back into bed with him then cuddle up against him. Kissing his head, he smiles in his sleep.
   "I love you, Damien," I inhale. His scent is like no other. It makes me sleepy. My eyelids became bricks, closing lightly over my eyes. One last inhale of Damien's scent and into wonderland I go.