The Story of Rudy || The walking dead

46. Fever

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A small groan escaped Rudy as he slowly opened his eyes, blinking to adjust them to the light,

He let out another groan as his body ached with every breath he took, "..Rue?"

His mouth was dry, his throat was aching, and he let out a small cough as he slowly sat up,

He slowly began to progress the fact that he wasn't in the car anymore but in a room.

"Rue?" Rudy stood up, but he fell, dropping to the ground with a thud. A pained groaned escaping passed his sore throat,

"..I'll pretend I didn't see that." Rudy lifted his head and saw a young teen standing by the door, a small grin on his face,

Rudy stood up, noticing his arm in a sling. He removed the sling, "Who are you? Where's Rue?"

"I'm 10k," the young teen boy introduced himself, "and you should lay back down."

"Where's Rue?" Rudy questioned, ignoring the wave of dizziness that hit him as he took a small step towards 10k,

Black dots clouded his vision, and 10k rushed over to him, placing his hands on Rudy's shoulders to keep him from falling,

Rudy flinched at the sudden contact, but 10k led him back on the bed, "The little girl is fine. She's with Laurent."

"Laurent? Who's Laurent?" Rudy questioned, trying to stand up again to find Rue, but 10k pushed him back down,

"Just an annoying little brat, don't worry, as annoying as he is, he's harmless." 10k replied,

Rudy stared at him for a moment before speaking, "recap?"

10k raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Rue, the little girl crashed the car, we heard the crash, and then we found you, Rue, and that mutt, we brought you back."

"I'm sorry, what? Rue crashed the car? Is she okay? Did she get hurt? Who's we?" Rudy questioned, his voice holding worry for Rue.

"..She's fine, and you should keep that sling on. Your arm is broken." Rudy snapped his head over towards the door, where Carol's voice came from, but his eyes were trained on the man behind her,

"Daryl?" A smile appeared on Rudy's face, standing up, ignoring how his body protested.

Daryl walked over to him, standing in front of him before carefully wrapping around Rudy in a tight embrace, and Rudy wrapped his good arm around Daryl,

"..didn't take you for a hugger, old man." Rudy joked, and Daryl scoffed,

"Shut up." Rudy chuckled, pulling back,

"Never." Daryl huffed but smiled at Rudy before frowning as Rudy stumbled back a bit, dropping himself back on the bed,

"Sorry." Rudy breathed out, coughing a little, the cough making his chest ache,

"You feelin' Arlight?" Daryl questioned, and Rudy cracked a grin at him,

"If I know any better, sounds like you're worried about me, old man." Another cough wrecked his body,

A hand touched his forehead, and he flinched back, "I'm taken."

Carol sighed, "You have a fever, Rudy. You should rest," She told him, gently gripping his chin to make him look at her,

"I mean it, Rudy. Your body needs rest, and you will only make yourself worse if you try to do anything." Carol told him, letting go of his chin,

Rudy shook his head, "No...." He looked around confused, "i..think I need to do something.."

Daryl and Carol shared a look, "it's the fever talking, Rudy, sleep, you'll feel better."

Rudy looked at her, staring at her a moment before nodding his head, "Okay, ma'am,"

He looked at Daryl, "..I saw you before.." He laid down, his eyes slowly closing,

"..saw..you before she took me..." He let out a deep breath before he went to sleep,

"He might say weird things. Fever does that to someone." Carol told Daryl, who grabbed a blanket and covered Rudy with it,

Rudy let out a small groan, turning on his side, his back facing Daryl and Carol.

"I'll stay with him." Daryl pulled up a chair that was in the corner of the room and pulled it up beside the bed Rudy was lying on and sat down on the chair,

Carol nodded, "I'll come back soon."

Carol left the room, and 10k sat on the other bed, staring at Rudy, whose face scrunched up in pain,

"..are you leaving, now?" 10k spoke up, glancing at Daryl, who looked at him,

"Now that you found Rudy, are you leaving?" 10k asked, and Daryl looked at Rudy and didn't reply,

10k was startled as Rudy suddenly sat up, "..I feel.." Luckily for 10k and Daryl, their was a bucket near the bed that Isabella had left earlier , and Daryl quickly grabbed it, handing it to Rudy.

10k stood up, shaking his head, "No, no, count me out, I'm going on guard duty."

He grimaced as Rudy started to puke. He briefly saw Rudy giving him a thumbs up before going back to puking.

Daryl looked at him in disbelief, "You kill people, you can roll around in dirt," 10k shot him a glare, "but you freak out by puke?"

"It's disgusting, and it makes me wanna puke, so I'm leaving before you have to deal with two people barfing." 10k quickly ran out of the room,

Rudy chuckled, his tired eyes meeting Daryl's, "..just heaving, not puking,"

"Kid got spooked, though." Daryl slightly chuckled,

"Kid acts tough, reminds me of you." Rudy hummed,

"I am tough," Rudy quietly said, frowning, "I'm supposed to be tough,"

Rudy shook his head, "I missed talking to you. Well, I did the talking. All you did was respond in the caveman language."

"Miss you too, kid, get some rest, you look like shit." Daryl replied, and Rudy chuckled before going into a coughing fit.

"..Morse code, do you know it?" Rudy suddenly questioned, and Daryl nodded, "Yeah, why?"

"Sent coordinates to Mitch.." Rudy placed the bucket down and laid back down,

"..I miss him." Rudy drifted back to sleep, and Daryl sat back down with a sigh,

He stared at Rudy for a couple of moments before his own eyes started to slowly close.

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1016 words

It's not my best chapter

Thoughts?