Cure

Chapter Twelve

Luz

Opening the bottle of pills I looked down to see that I had been running low. So, once again, I closed it back up choosing not to take one. I had no idea how bad I'd get or how much time I had left. I needed to save what I had left for emergencies. Especially since, when taking them, I never had visions or intrusive thoughts. When I took them my side effects were non-existent. Which is exactly why I had been using them in the first place. And besides a limp due to my leg injury and a few weak moments like a bloody nose here and there, taking them helped me. That's why when I stopped doing so I'd gotten so much worse. Like I was doing now after I decided to start saving the ones I had remaining for when I truly needed them. Because when it got bad caving to taking them is exactly what I needed to do to ensure I saved my mentality and protected Emira at the same time.

Suddenly I stumbled forward and caught myself, bracing against a car nearby as my lungs began to burn. I tried to take a breath in but that sent me into a coughing fit. Air, I just couldn't get enough of it and I slammed my fist down against the car in anger. Covering my mouth I coughed a few more times before bringing my glove back to see blood. While I caught my breath I wiped the blood from my nose and overheard Emira's soft footsteps approaching me.

"What are you doing?" She asked me curiously. Our relationship, for lack of a better word, had been experiencing some strain after I'd told her the truth. She was a lot more focused, and on edge as she was in a constant state of unease. Even with all of this, and even with how suffocatingly awkward it had felt, I still did not regret telling her. She needed to know and I already knew this would be her likely response. She was smart to act this way. It would keep her safe.

But she'd also noticed how it had grown to be more tame. I'd explained it away as me getting better control over it but even as it seemed to ease her nerves slightly I could tell she'd still been acutely aware of my every move. She was still on edge, as she should be, and I had no intentions of complaining about it.

I closed my eyes before trying to gain a location on the hoard that had been traveling nearby. We've had to be constantly moving but our pace had been at a rate that kept us a safe distance away from them. "I'm listening," I told her before I picked up on their sound and it had been far closer than I was ready for. How long had we been stopped for? I thought I was keeping track of the time. My head snapped in her direction and her reaction to it was immediate.

"Oh, that's probably not good is it?" She asked me in more of a rhetorical way. She knew what my look meant. She'd seen it enough times to know when things were serious.

"No, definitely not. We should get moving. Quick." I told her before we made our way down the street. "We're still good but that won't last long if we aren't careful," I informed her still picking up on the sound of them only a few blocks away. Far enough to be considered less of a threat but close enough to still have worrying make sense. We couldn't afford to slow down. Though after turning a corner I saw three guys standing in our way and fighting off monsters. When they turned to us one of them lifted a bat and pointed the end of it in our direction.

"I'd put those weapons down if I were you." His voice was hoarse and the way he held himself, as if I'd give in from some sort of fear of him, caused me to roll my eyes. Does this usually work on other people?

"You first," I stated, unimpressed and unintimidated. His brows furrowed as if he didn't expect that. Then, his confusion slowly shifted into anger.

"I guess we'll just have to take them from you." He said while bringing the bat to rest on his shoulder nonchalantly.

"I won't need a weapon to deal with you." I adjusted my grip on the knife in my hand and moved to hand it to Emira so she'd have something to fight with. Then I cracked my knuckles as the guy to my left chuckled and took a step forward. He had an easygoing smile as he tilted his head and cracked his neck.