Rotten World

Chapter Four

It's been a few hours and by the looks of our orange sun it's about mid-day, the weather had heated up, which resulted in me being completely drenched in sweat, ew. logan on the other hand doesn't sweat, lucky bastard. I can also tell that Lexa is overheating so we try to make it our mission to stay in as much shade as we can find, which isn't much since we seem to be coming to an end of the forest. It looks like we're heading into more of an open environment.

So far we haven't run into anything other than little blue lumpy ladybugs. " is it just me or is it getting hotter out here" logan who is in front of our little group shrugged his shoulders " I can't feel the weather so I don't know. Isn't it better for us if it is getting hotter and not colder?" I huff, he has a point but it doesn't help when you're a human who overheats quickly "ya your right, I guess. hey uh can we stop for a sec" I stop and find a rock in the shade to sit on, Lexa having the right idea comes to lay next to the rock on her back with her tummy up in the air and her legs spread wide, poor girl must be hot with all that fur. I wonder if we could maybe find like a razor or something we could use to cut some of her hair to help cool her down. " ok we'll stop for a few minutes then we need to keep moving, we're losing daylight"

I'd say he's kinda harsh but he doesn't understand how hot it is so I'll let it go. "while we're stopped do you mind if I check on your wound, I just want to see if any infection has set in because that would not be a good thing," Logan says as he puts his backpack on the ground, then kneels in front of me waiting for my answer "uh ya go ahead."

With my permission given he starts lifting up my shirt while also silently asking me to hold it up so he could take off the bandage. It slightly stings when he rips off the tape holding the bandage in place, then logan makes a noise I never want to hear again. The noise sounded like a gasp mixed with the frustration of being constantly confused. I quickly look at logan to find his eyes glued to where the bite is, and his eyebrows are knitted in confusion.

I dare myself to look down at my stomach and I let out a quiet gasp at what I see, leading away from the bite are little white veins that seem to be vining out across my lower abdomen and crawling up towards what I could imagine being where logan said the glow was. " what the living fuck is that!" logan doesn't seem to be paying attention to me freaking out as he just starts to run his fingers over the veins causing my skin to shiver under his touch. "logan!" he suddenly drops his hand and looks up at me " what?" my jaw drops "what! what do you mean ' what', what the fuck is happening to me. what are those" I point to the veins in question "I... I don't know, I've never seen anything like it. Does it hurt?" now it's my turn to run my fingers over the veins " no they don't hurt, I actually don't feel them. I can't feel the veins but the bite feels tingly. I never noticed the tingle because I was too occupied with being so hot" "huh, umm well from what I can see there's nothing wrong with the bite wound other than the fact that it seems to be healing abnormally fast." I swat his shoulder with my free hand "you're just telling me this now" " well sorry but I got distracted by the white veins crossing over your abdomen" ok so that's a fair point " ya ok that's fair."

" do you think this could be one of the ways the plague is affecting me?" still looking at my stomach logan nods "hhm yes I think it might be and if it is your one lucky person. Accelerated healing in a world like this is a dream come true for many. But it also may come with bad side effects such as fatigue, which is a bad thing in a world where most things require you to run away from. But that's just one effect you may have gotten from the plague I still don't know what others may pop up throughout the days to come." I lower my shirt and run a hand through my short light brown- redish hair "you're right there are going to be more effects popping up but that's a thing to worry about when they do, don't you think?" he nods and stands, grabs his backpack and offers me a hand. As I take it I look up at the faded green sky and see something I thought I'd never see again.

" SMOKE! oh my god it's smoke" without another thought or waiting for logan to say something I take off in a spring in the direction of the smoke, this could mean a settlement or something very bad.

******

" Reagan wait, fuck. slow down we don't know what that could be" but I don't really care, it's smoke and there's a chance it may be coming from a settlement so I urge myself to run faster, I can hear both Lexa and logan hot on my heels. After painfully slow passing minutes I brake through the remaining trees and end up in an open grassy land, well dead grassy land. I stop short with logan nearly ramming full speed into me but at the last second he stops right beside me and all we can do is stare in aww. About a few hundred feet away from us sits a gated compound, a fucking huge one.

" We found one" I smile and hug logan before turning and taking off in a slower run towards the compound " logan come on we finally found one"

******

We finally make it to what I assume to be the front door of the settlement, but it's closed and there seems to be no one on watch on this side. "hello!" " Reagan shush we don't know what could be behind those walls" just as logan finishes his sentence a women wearing a plaid bandana peaks over the top of the wall " state your name and occupation." "uh hi I'm Reagan, this is Logan and Lexa, we've been looking for a settlement to well settle down in for a bit." "stand back I'll open the gate, once inside there'll be a man who you give your weapons to. Welcome to the prairie dog your new home" that was suspiciously easy also this may be off-topic but aren't prairie dogs cannibals, probably unrelated though, I hope.

I look to logan then to Lexa and we cautiously start through the open gate.

*****

After giving the elderly man our two guns we are led by the woman to what I assume to be their eating hall, she tells us to wait here before she turns back towards the wall. " you still got your knife?" logan whispers in my ear I slightly nod in answer, he must also share my uneasy feeling about this place. I don't know whether it's the lack of people or the smell of burning meat but this place gives off a deadly vibe.

About ten minutes pass and we're still sitting in the eating hall, waiting. When I'm just about to give up on this place an older woman with long white hair and blue eyes comes out of what looks to be an office room" I terribly apologize for the wait I had some complaints to go through. I'm Glinda I run this settlement, and you must be Reagan, logan, and Lexa" Glinda says as she points to all three of us. I nod and hold out my hand for her to shake " I'm so happy to meet you Glinda" I smile as she takes my hand in both of hers, and she smiles back. " you three must be so hungry, how about we get you settled in your room and I'll have someone bring you something to eat. come follow me." I go to follow behind her but logan takes up a close position beside me, he puts one of his arms around my waist and his other hand is tightly stuck to his other side, the side that Lexa also happens to be walking on.

Glinda leads us to a plainly styled bedroom she then leaves us to ' settle in'. once we are in the room and the door is closed logan finally lets up on his protective stance. " I have a strange feeling about this place," Logan says as he scouts out the rest of the room, which doesn't take long as it's literally just a bed, a nightstand table, a dresser, and another door that leads to a small bathroom. " I know this place is giving off bad vibes to me too, how about we just stay here for a few hours to rest and regroup then at dawn we'll leave" he grunts in agreement as he takes a seat on the bed. Damn, he really doesn't feel good about this place.

*******

We wait about an hour before someone finally knocks on our door and gives us something to eat, it seems to be a burger. I sit down on the bed and grab a hold of the burger before bringing it to my mouth only to have logan swat it out of my hands, the burger falls to the ground " bro what the fuck. what was that for?" "don't eat it, don't eat anything they give you. I scanned the meat in the burger and it's not from no headless cow." it takes a second for me to understand what he means before I have to double over and dry heave my empty stomach " fucking hell I knew the name meant something, their fucking cannibals. eww! GROSS!!"

" We need to leave like right now. I have a feeling we're next on their menu" I look at logan and could physically feel the color drain from my face.