IV: The Girl Who Ran: Red Eve

V: Shiver

March 28th, 2017
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Steve looked down at Sunny and frowned. Her face was paprika red, with sweat gathering at her brow and right above her lip. He'd just come in for the midnight shift, taking it from a half-asleep Wanda who mumbled something about pots and pans. Even in the dim moonlight shining through the window, Steve could see something was very, very wrong.

She was still asleep after five days, but today she had moved, tangled up in the sheets still left on the narrow bed. Steve inhaled and resisted the urge to retch at the smell he hadn't sensed this strongly since 1942. The disgustingly sweet smell of sickness.

Steve cupped Sunny's jaw with his hand, feeling for her pulse. Instead of feeling cool skin, it was hot. Sunny's pulse was light and fast. Her breathing was growing more harsh and grating with every minute that passed. Steve tried to remember what his mother would do when he had a fever. He leaned forward and unwrapped the sheet around Sunny, trying his best not to touch her. He threw the sheet on the floor. While he was taking off the final sheet, Sunny moaned. Steve froze as she turned over onto her stomach, her arms under the pillow.

After a moment, Steve continued taking the sheet off. He swore quietly when a wave of noxious fumes hit him. The sheet he'd just pulled off was stained with blood and some other liquid he didn't want to think excessively about. He peered at Sunny, and his breath caught when he saw her back. Her T-shirt was bunched up, showcasing the bandage wrapped tightly around her abdomen, stained black and brown. They had been changed that afternoon by Mrs. Virtue.

Steve frowned and kicked all of the sheets into a semi-pile as she moaned again, louder and longer this time. Steve tried to think, then backed out the door and down the hallway toward where he knew Oriana slept. The only person who knew that this was all his fault was his best choice at the moment. He still had no idea where Mr. and Mrs. Virtue slept. He stepped around stacks of children wrapped in blankets.

Oriana's door was half open, more kids on the floor in there. He leaned in and knocked on the wall, "Oriana." With no response, he whisper yelled, "Oriana!"

He saw Oriana's eyes snap open, "What do you need?"

"Something's wrong with Sunny. It's bad," Steve said, panic starting to attack his heart.

Oriana was out of the door in three seconds, somehow grabbing a medical bag and maneuvering between all of the kids without waking them up. "How long ago did it start?"

Steve wrung his hands, "I don't know. I just got in there."

Oriana cursed as soon as she entered Sunny's room, "Something's infected. Open the window." She flipped on the light and Steve squinted.

"It's freezing outside," Steve protested, trying to avoid looking at Sunny.

Oriana grumbled, her voice still sleepy-sounding, "Do you really want her to be stuck in muggy air like this?"

Steve flipped up the blinds and opened the window halfway, inhaling the clean, cold air.

"Go get James and Wanda," Oriana's voice was slightly strained as she pulled on purple latex gloves. "And there's a bottle of vodka on top of the refridgerator. Hurry."

Sunny whimpered and tried to twist, but Oriana held her in place.

Steve strode out of the room and toward the kitchen, grabbing the vodka. He traced back his steps to the living room and kneeled in between Bucky and Wanda. He set the bottle in front of him, trying to keep quiet, and shook both of them at once. Bucky woke up immediately, and then Wanda. Steve put a finger to his lips and waved them to follow him. He grabbed the alcohol and hurried back to Sunny and Oriana.