Dead Bite

Chapter 18

My wonderland is not normal. It is muddied and destroyed. I am wearing a big, puffy black dress that is sleeveless. I need to find Daniel and figure out what he means by "this is his plan". How did he know infected were coming? Actually, the real question is... How did I know?
The terrain is way different then it normally was. There is no maze. I look around. That's when I notice something in the distance.
"Daniel?" I ask. There is a woosh of air then something pulls the back of my dress. I turn around to find Daniel smirking at me as usual.
"You look nice," he says. I put my hands on my hips and glare at him. "What? I can't give you a compliment?"
"How did you know about the infected?" I ask.
"Did you not feel the infection coursing through your veins? You could sense them, couldn't you?"
"I felt the infection, but I could not sense them. It's not like I have super powers. That's impossible!"
"I know, you are right," he smiles.
"Which one of my demons are you? I have been asking myself this question quite often. Now which one are you?" I begin laughing uncontrollably.
"Have you not noticed that I'm not a normal demon? If I must, I will tell you. I am the demon that is immune to the infection. I keep you alive from it. There is a small handful of people in this world that are immune especial for your unborn child." he points at me, "You are the cure to the infection."
"That's impossible as well. To be immune to an infecteds bite. This is all just a dream!" I scream. "It's impossible to talk to your demons and it's impossible to be immune to an infecteds bite!"
"If you are so sure," he snaps his fingers and instantly the terrain goes black.
My body is so numb, I am completely famished, and cannot feel my body. Even if I try, I cannot move a muscle. My eyelids are extremely heavy, almost like a metal ball on a small, frail chain. I need to wake up. I can not stay asleep. My nightmares are becoming real; infection, my dad, and Damien are all in my dream. I am in a black abyss. I need to kill myself before I hurt someone I love.
"Damien?" I call. "Damien, get me out of here!" I scream. It echoes through the darkness. I see a slit of light in the pitch, black darkness. I reach for it. Damien, I'm coming for you. I finally reach the light to have a blinding light evade the darkness.
I manage to open my eyes to look around. The sun shines in my eyes. I blink until I can  see. It is mid-afternoon from where the sun is positioned. We arr also still on the plain at our campsite. Man, I hurt so bad. I move my hand around, but can not move them far. They are bound behind my back around a tree trunk. I strain against the restraints, but end up not getting anywhere. Where is everyone? I look around and find George, Damien, and Elizabeth talking to each other. Nobody else is out, at least not from where I am
"Damien," I call softly. My voice is not normal. It was dry and shaky as if I have not had and food or water in weeks. They all turn towards me. Then they make their way over to me.
"So, you are finally awake," George is the first to say. I give him a weird look.
"What do you mean finally awake? And why am I bound?"
"You have been asleep for a week. We tied you up because we thought you might turn. A few people suggested we just leave you to turn, but Damien told us you feared being left alone," Elizabeth answers. I nearly choke on air and the dryness in my mouth.
"A week?" I ask quietly. Damien walks over to me and kneels beside me. This is when memories of the past week flash through my mind: needles, fighting, life, death. I shake my head and look at Damien.
"You guys were planning on killing me?" I crysoftly.
"How do you..."
"Needles, so many needles," I cry shaking my head. Once I feel the ropes that holds me captive fall off I try to stand up. I manage to get up. Damien reaches his hand out to help me, but I flinch back and hit my head on the ground. I gasp at the pain shooting through my head. Now Elizabeth, George, and Damien are by my side.
"Kaylee, please calm down. It has been a week and you haven't turned. I don't think you are going to turn," Damien says admittingly. I look at him with confusion.
"Are you saying I'm immune?" The dream with Daniel comes back to me. Is Daniel right? Am I the cure? No, Daniel is not even real.
"We don't know, but in a normal person, to get bit they would turn in three days. It has been eight days since you first got bit," George answers carefully.
"How does the..."
"It's healing like a normal cut," Damien answers as if reading my mind. I move my shirt out of the way to see that the bite is black.
"You call this a normal got?" I point out.
Damien wraps his arms around my neck. He pulls me close. I cuddle up to his chest and can hear his heart beating. I put a hand to my chest and for a second, I think I can not feel it. Then I move my hand a little to reveal my heart still beating. I take a deep breath. This is all to much for me to have at one time. Me, being immune to an infected's bite? Is that even possible? How could this have happened in the first place? I look down at my stomach then up at George.
"Do you think my baby.. Damien and I's baby is okay?" I choke on a knot in my throat.
"If you are immune then the baby is likely to be immune, but I'm not for sure. We will have to wait until the baby is born," George answers. I wrap my arms around Damien's neck and cry into his chest softly.
"Please say our baby is okay, please," I whisper into Damien's chest. He wraps his arms around me tighter.
"We will see the baby start to show in about ten weeks. That's when we will know if the baby is okay and growing. Now you need to eat or the baby will die of malnutrition," Damien picks me up off the ground. I hold onto him so I do not fall. Not walking in a long time made my legs wobbly, my body tired, and fatigue brought my whole world shattering down. I want to sleep forever. I hold onto Damien's shoulder as we walk a short distance to where a few tents lay. Cinna emerges out of one of the tents and stands in awe at me. She runs over to me and wraps her arms around me and Damien.
"I thought you were gonna turn. How are you..."
"I'm still trying to grasp this subject myself," I answer before she can ask any futher.
"Can I see it?" She asks kindly. I lift my shirt to reveal the black bite. She cringes," are you sure this isn't infected?"
"We don't know. This is the first case of someone surviving a bite. It might be possible to create a cure from her," George answers for me. Cure? Now, that is not possible. There is not a cure for the infection and even if there was, why was I the cure?
"We need some food for Kaylee. She needs to eat or the baby will not grow like it should," Elizabeth smiles.
"It?" I ask looking at Damien.
"Yes, it. We don't know whether it is a boy or a girl," he answers.
"Can we at least think of some names? I don't like calling the baby it."
"Sure, what were you thinking of? I like Alice for a girl and Samuel as a boy." Elizabeth hands me a plate stuffed with food. As I eat, I think of some names for the baby. I dig into the mashed potatoes.
"Alice is good for a girl. I like Ace for a boys name," I smile.
"Alice Renae Mathews and Ace Jackson Matthews," he smiles back.
"That's so cute!" Cinna exclaims. "So will the baby be okay since you got bit?"
"Since I am immune then the baby is protected by me. The baby will have some form of immunity from me," I answer continuing on to my second plate-full. Then everything comes back to me. "Did Rubble and the kitten get out?" I ask quickly. Damien looks at me and smiles.
"He came back two days after you got bit. He also was carrying a surprise." Damien takes my plate and sets it on the ground. He then grabs my hand and pulls me towards one of the tents. He moves the flap door our of the way to reveal Rubble and Chibi cuddling together.
"Awe that's so cute!" I exclaim, a little too loud. Rubble sturrsbl awake and Chibi stretchesvand yawns. They both come to me and rub up against me. Chibi appears to stronger and bigger.
This is when I hear a group of voices becoming louder and closer. Then I see Ethan, Zachariah, and Hank coming from the trees with bags. They wave at the others then their eyes grew wide when they see me.
"Hey, you are awake," Hank is the first to say.
"How are you doing?" Zachariah asks.
"How are you not a zombie?" Ethan asks. Zachariah elbows him in the stomach, nearly making him double over in pain.
"You don't just ask someone that!" Zachariah growls. "No one has ever survived a zombie bite until now."
"Hey, it's fine. It's new to everyone unless he was making it as a bad way."
"No, I didn't," Ethan groans standing straight up. I smile at them and go back to eating my food. Chibi and Rubble both try their attempts at stealing my food, all ending in failure. After my third plate of food, Elizabeth finally cuts me off the food supply.
"Awe," I whines.
"You are going to eat all the food, leaving none for everyone else. Is there anything you are craving?" Elizabeth asks.
"Actually, there is one thing. I want chocolate covered bacon and meat," I smile. She raises an eyebrow.
"Meat? What kind of meat?"
"Any kind of meat; steak, beef, pork, squirrel, crocodile, hippo... Meat," I smile. "I could care less if it was cooked or not but I want meat."
"Okay, I will see what we have," she smiles unsure. Then she leavesnme alone until Damien comes over to me.
"How are you doing?" He asks tenderly.
"Good," I smile. "Have you eaten? I know you don't eat when I'm knocked out."
"Yes, I have been eating. Where did my mom go?"
I shrug," she left to get me more food."
"I thought she cut you off from food?"
"Well, apparently not. She said she was going to see what we had. I hope she finds more food for me, I'm famished."
"How are you famished or remotely hungry? You had three plates, piled with food," he asks.
"Maybe it's because I have been out for eight days. It might just be because I'm pregnant," I answer bluntly.
"True that," he smiles putting his hand on my stomach. I smile putting my hand on top of his.
"Do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?" I ask.
"Hmm, I think it will be a boy."
"Why do you think that? What if it were twins?" My eyes brighten up.
"I don't know why I think it will be a boy, just instinct I guess. I don't think it will be twins," he shakes his head.
"I think it will be twins," I laugh.
"Damien," Elizabeth calls. Damien lookz up and removes his hand.
"Yeah mom?" He calls back.
"Can you come here for a minute?" Damien sighs and stands up.
"It will only be a minute," he smiles. He walks to his mom and she begins  talking to him. I tune into their conversation. My dad had taught me how to do that. It is not hard, all you do is block out everything else except for the voices you wanted to hear.
"I think there is something wrong with Kaylee,"Elizabeth says bluntly.
"She seems perfectly fine!" Damien says flustered.
"Damien, she said that she wants to eat meat."
"And what is wrong with that?" I could tell he is becoming agitated.
"She said it could be cooked or uncooked."
"So what? Women that are pregnant have weird cravings right? Her's is just a little different. Did she say she craved anything else?" True that. Women have crazy craving issues while pregnant. It's not like I am craving flesh.
"Chocolate covered bacon," she murmurs.
"See, that is normal. Now, she is perfectly fine. I will keep an eye on her, but I doubt anything is wrong with her," he leaves and comes back towards me. As he comesnback, I smile at him.
"I take it your conversation was interesting by how flustered you look? So, do you think I'm okay?"
"No, everything is okay," he lies. "And I think you are fine, baby."
"That is good. I am stuffed. Are you ready for bed?" I ask. The sun is already rising.
"I am if you are." He carries me over to where a large, deep blue tent lay. "Home sweet home," he laughs sadly. I look around to see that all the other tents are slightly smaller in comparison to ours.
"Why is our tent so big?" I ask.
"George told us that you would need a bigger tent to lay in; besides, it will be easier to deliver a baby in." He lays me down on a pillow and then climbs down beside me. I cuddle up to him.
"Good night Damien," I smile.
"Good night Kaylee." I can feel and hear his heart beat racing.
I sigh," are you scared that I'm gonna turn on you?"
"Of course not. Now go to sleep, I will be awake if you need anything."
"Why don't you go to sleep?" I ask. I know the answer to that question, but I just want to see if he will tell me the truth.
"Because I don't want to lose you. I will stay awake to protect you," he answers. Surprisingly, he think he is telling the truth.
"Hmm, okay. I love you." I kiss his head before being lulled to sleep by Damien's humming, his rhythmic breathing, and his beating heart.

This book is coming to a close in just a few more chapters. Is her father alive? Do you think she will have a boy, a girl, or twins?