Hollow Veins

Chapter Twenty Three; Rocky Friendship (Sue Me I Like Puns)

Prince took a tentative bite into the rough piece of bread. "Oh, how I love stale bread," He spoke through a mouthful of the stuff with more sarcasm than was necessary. Ari glared at him, "Well, then give it to someone else." "Eh, no. Me hungry." "You stupid." Prince stuck out his tongue. Ari rolled her dark eyes, "You are such a child." "Mhm." Jaden signed, "Kill me now." Prince began picking up the rocks scattered across the cracked marble floor. Ari narrowed her eyes, "What are you doing now?" "Looking for the best one to throw at you," Prince squinted down at one, scooped it up, and with a dramatic flare gave it to Ari. "I give you this." "Oh a rock. I feel so blessed for such a generous gift." He snorted, "No look, it's shaped like a heart." Prince adjusted Ari's grip, "See? It's my heart." He threw his head back. She blinked, "It looks more like your brain." "Eh no it doesn't." "No really, look how small it is." Prince snorted indignity. Alice laughed, "Prince, you're such an idiot." "I take pride in it." Ari smirked, "Makes sense." He narrowed his eyes, "I want my rock back." She smacked his hand, "Too late." Aaron yawned, "Are we gonna do something useful today? Or do I have to watch you two flirt the entire day." Prince threw a rock at him, Ari choked on her bread, and Jaden mimed vomiting. Prince pushed back his mess of curls. "No, you do not get to have the pleasure of my company the entire day. Thank you very much." Aaron sighed dramatically, "Oh, no! What a burden to bear." Out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw Ari slip the rock into her pocket. She smiled in spite of herself. Jasper put the rest of the bread back in one of the backpacks, "I know you're gonna hate me for this, Jaden. Ari, I don't know much about abrasion wounds, but does it need to be cleaned again?" Ari ignored Jaden's grumbling, "In about an hour or two, but we probably shouldn't use alcohol again. It can slow the healing process. I only used it last time because, well, did you see how dirty those men were? I can only imagine what would be on their bullets. Besides, it's not like we could have taken him to a hospital to get it thoroughly cleaned." Ari grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen and frowned, "We need more of this." She looked at Jaden's sweaty face and narrowed her eyes, "Jaden, I don't care how much you don't want to inconvenience us if you're running a fever... Tell. Me. Jasper, where's that medicine you got for Alice. It'll knock it out." Jaden had a slightly guilty expression as Ari looked him dead in the eye, "I am not above hitting an injured person." He signed, "Or the mentally challenged, apparently." Jaden glanced at Prince with a smirk. "No jokes, just shut up and take these." Ari shoved the fever medicine along with three ibuprofen tablets. Jaden winced and closed his eyes. Ren chewed her lip, wishing they had better pain medicine. Twelve years ago, several years before the outbreak, there had been a pretty advanced breakthrough in medicine. Sure, things before then had been improving throughout the years, but it was a pretty big leap in modern science. The Infection had started in the year 2075, six years ago. There was such a grab for any kind of medicine now that it was hard to find anything useful. But they, Ren and the others, had gotten lucky with most of the stuff they did find.

Prince, Jasper, and Ari were going to scout around, make sure they could stay at the store a day or two more. Alice and Aaron were going to look for some more supplies. Ren had been left with the shotgun and a last word from Jasper, "Don't worry, you shouldn't run into any trouble, and we'll all be nearby." Ren walked over and sat next to Jaden. He looked up and signed, "You ok?" She looked at him a second, then shrugged, "Trying to decide something." "Decided what?" "Whether I should hit you or not." He gave a kind of soundless laugh, "Why's that?" "Maybe you getting yourself shot, trying to help me or not saying anything when you're getting sick has something to do with it." Jaden shrugged, "It was you definitely getting shot in the head or me possibly getting shot anywhere. And the sick part was a pretty small thing." Ren studied him a second, "Small?" "Tiny." "Then mentioning it wouldn't have been much of an inconvenience." Jaden sighed, "Really, I'm fine." "You don't look fine." "Well look away then." "It's kinda hard to." She went red as she realized how that had sounded, "Because of how sick you are." Ren closed her eyes and inwardly groaned. Why did she have to sound so stupid around him? "Just don't do anything like that again, or I will hit you." She opened her eyes to see his response, "No promises." "Shame on you." Jaden smirked and started to sign, then inhaled sharply. "Are you ok." He masked his pain and gave a thumbs up. Ren narrowed her eyes, "No lying. Do you think there's actually something wrong with it." He started to sign, then stopped and shrugged. Jaden lifted the bottom of his hoodie. The bandage was darking but not with blood. It almost looked like water. Jaden signed, "Drainage." He pressed his hands to the bandage. Voices sounded outside. Ren, hoping it was the others, aimed the shotgun at the door. She was suddenly aware of how vulnerable they were. Then Prince burst in. He took a few steps and then flopped on a backpack. Jasper came in next, "That was the stupidest thing you have ever done." Ren looked a question, "What-" Ari stepped in behind them, "He pushed us off a balcony." Prince's voice was muffled as he said, "It was crashing through the house and was going to find us. Besides, I saw the trash bags, and they broke our fall." Jasper sighed, "And what if they had something other than crumpled paper and cardboard." "Like what." "Like glass?" Prince pondered a moment than said, "Better than getting infected." Ari opened her mouth then saw Jaden, "What happened?" "He said it's drainage," Ren supplied. Ari looked at it, "That's normal, but I'll change your bandage and go ahead and clean it your wound now anyways. No complaints."