Reject, A Continuation

Chapter 8

I felt the acid and iron from my stomach shoot out of my mouth and into the toilet. 

Gentle hands scooped up my rather disgustingly oily hair as I continued to throw up blood and probably that cheeseburger from last night. Q was right by my side, watching me with probably worried eyes as he held my hair back. 

"Deep breaths," Q whispered, rubbing his free hand gently on my back. 

There was so much blood in my vomit, and I clutched the disgusting motel toilet bowl and felt another chunk coming up my throat. 

"Is she going to be okay?" A quiet little Archer voice came from just outside the bathroom, watching us with tears streaming down his adorably round cheeks. 

"She's going to be fine," Zach tried to pry him away but Archer grabbed onto the doorframe. "Dang you're strong for a little man." 

"No! Marina needs me!" Archer cried out. 

"It's fine," I coughed, "Archer can you get my medicine from my bag?" 

"Yes!" He immediately ran to my bag, rifling through all my stuff. "Here!" 

He rushed over to Q who ripped open the pouch of assorted herbs. Scattering them in his hands, his face went wide in complete confusion, unsure what the hell to do. 

"The blue one and the red one," I managed to mumble before throwing up even more blood. I held out my hand though, feeling Q put the herbs in my palm. 

Shoving them in my mouth I chewed as fast as I could and swallowed as hard as I could before I could throw up again. 

This was just treating the symptoms of my inevitable death and it tasted god awful but throwing up blood was probably the worse. 

"Better?" Q asked worriedly, going back to rubbing a comforting hand on my back and moving some more of my hair out of the way, though most of it stuck to my sweaty face. 

"A bit," I sighed, flopping backwards onto my butt and leaning into the wall behind me, "Archer." 

"Yes mom?" He was quick to my side, clutching my shoulder with a rather tight grip. 

"Can you get me a water from the vending machine outside? Take Zach with you." 

"Of course!" He darted back, grabbing Zach's hand the running out of the motel room we managed to book in the middle of the night. 

I just sat there, closing my eyes and listening to the sound of my heartbeat as it slowed down to a calm state. 

"Does this happen often?" Q's voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. 

Opening my eyes I looked at my worried mate. His hair was now a bit out of place from panicking but most of it was still in it's ponytail. Just staring at him now, I think I preferred him without his beard than with. 

"Marina?" He waved his hand in front of my eyes which I scrunched my nose at, getting a small chuckle from him. "Are you alright?" 

"I'm okay for now," I take a deep breath, the herbs were soothing the burning sensation in my chest and stomach, "It's happening more often than when I was a kid." 

Q let out a sigh,  leaning over and flushing the toilet, watching my blackish blood swirling down the drain. 

"Water!" Archer announced, runner towards us holding the bottle over his head, "here!" 

Q opened it for me and held it up to my face. My arms had lost all feeling and a wave of exhaustion just plowed right into my body. I could barely keep my eyes open. 

It usually wasn't this bad when I had visions, but with the sudden appearance of Q it was like my senses went into overdrive and my body did not appreciate it. Let's just say the black blood was new. 

"Are you feeling better?" Archer mumbled, clutching Q's shirt as he watched me with watery eyes. Both of them had the same worried purple eyes, resembling shining amethyst. 

"Yes, thank you love," I smiled, feeling my eyes drift closed and my world grew dim. I just could barely hear them as I felt Q scoop me into his arms and carry me to the bed. 

"Is she going to be okay?" Archer's voice broke, breaking my heart in the process. 

"She's going to be just fine," Q assured him, but something deep down told me he was lying. He didn't even believe his own words. 

"It was never this bad," Archer squeaked, climbing into bed with me, probably sitting on his cute little butt with tears in his eyes, "She's not going to die, right?" 

"No," Q's voice broke ever so slightly, "I won't let her." 

"Me too," Archer's voice got stronger. He shuffled around, lying down and grabbing my arm, clutching it closely as he let out a small yawn. "Goodnight Marina." 

I tried to respond but I couldn't even make a single sound, so I just chose to drift off into sleep. Feeling Archer holding my arm as my anchor before I let myself go into dreamland. 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be a lot better and we can finish the rest of the drive. Archer will at least be on his best behavior. The poor kid is always so hard on himself, always blaming himself for anything bad happening to me. 

After the last time I threw up like this, he kept rushing to open every single door I approached and picked up anything I ever dropped. Even when we were grocery shopping he insisted on all sorts of vegetables and fruits that he promised he was going to eat. 

He's a sweetheart, and he has my heart.