The Wires{Got The Best of Him}

Argument

 After that William accompanied him in his aimless walk around the complex. Aaron wasn't sure where he was going or what he was doing, considering there was nothing to look for anymore. Will was... not there and the only thing still waiting for him in this facility was Josh. And Josh was...

Aaron was pulled out of his thoughts by William grabbing his shoulder. "Hey. Isn't that the door you said you put a soap bar in?" Aaron looked to where William was pointing and sure enough, the soap bar was there. He wasn't sure how to feel about this, but he led William inside anyway.

Inside the room, nothing had changed. Josh was still sprawled out on the bed after Aaron had practically dragged him there hours ago, the pile of food trays filled with uneaten food was still there, along with Aaron's makeshift towel and soap bar mattress and the pile of glass shards. The walls were still covered in blood, though now instead of a dark red the blood looked more brown. Aaron did note that Josh seemed to be sleeping more soundly than he was before he left.

Aaron watched as William walked around the room, first to Josh, then the pile of food, then the mattress of soap and towels. He looked slightly horrified. "What happened in here?"

Aaron stared at him for a second. William's sleeves had rolled up while he was picking things up and looking around. Aaron saw that Williams arms were covered in blister-like things that seemed to be the source of the blood on his hands and arms. Josh's was like that, except it came from his mouth. How could William be so horrified?

Aaron kept his thoughts to himself and answered William's question. "A couple of days ago"—Or was it weeks? I can't remember— "I woke up to find Josh in the bathroom coughing up blood. I don't know exactly what happened while I was asleep, but I think he got all the blood on the walls while he was trying to get to the bathroom. After Josh fainted I spent a long time in here not really doing anything, just thinking. I didn't eat often, hence the pile of food trays. The floor is uncomfortable, so I tried to make a mattress out of soap bars and towels. The towels are bloody from when I cleaned the blood off of Josh." Recounting the events that had happened made Aaron want to throw up. He didn't want to remember all of the blood. William looked lost. Josh stirred on the bed and he coughed before stilling again.

William's eyes turned to Josh. "I-is he gonna be okay?"

Aaron couldn't bring himself to look at anything other than the floor. "I don't know."

"Aaron..." William said sadly. "We should leave."

"No."

"Why?"

"There's no point. There's nothing out there, nothing for people like us."

"You don't know that! Not for sure," William argued. "We could try and find out what this... thing that has infected us is, at the very least, a name. Why isn't the government telling anyone anything? We have to try and find some answer Aaron." Aaron was silent, but he looked up from the floor at William. William continued. "We deserve answers. They can't just lock everyone in the UK up in these stupid gray buildings living on the bare necessities until we inevitably die. I was thinking about it before, but with Will gone it was only me. I didn't know if I could do it. It was too risky for just me, especially when I'm so injured. But now you're here, and you're mostly healthy, right?"

"I guess. I haven't exactly had the best diet lately."

"That's okay. We both need some recovery time. Seems like you need a proper meal more, though."

"You're talking about leaving, which is all fine and good, but what about Josh? We wouldn't be able to take him with us even if we did decide to go. We can't just leave him here, either."

"We'll come back for him—"

"No! Absolutely not. I won't leave him in this place to die."

"Aaron, I know how you feel—"

"No you don't!" Aaron hissed. "You don't know anything. Will died early on. Even if his death wasn't painless, it was fast. Josh is suffering. I don't know how long he has left, but I know time is ticking away slowly. Very slowly. I don't care about this stupid disease we carry, I don't want any answers, I don't want to go outside. There's nothing to do out there. The UK's borders are closed. We aren't international spies. We can't sneak out. Even if we could, all we we would end up doing is infecting the entire world." William stared at Aaron in surprise and slight hurt. Aaron averted his eyes for the upteenth time. "Sorry. I just want this to be over."

William still looked upset, but he nodded and didn't say anything else. Aaron put his head in his hands. He didn't mean to have such a violent outburst like that. William didn't do anything wrong. He was just trying to stay hopeful. It disturbed him to notice how similar what he said was to what Josh had said to him earlier. He remembered how he had responded to Josh's reasoning: 'I guess now I know why they don't put locks on the doors.' Ha, he thought, how the tables have turned.

this chapter is 913 words. woo. also you know how i said expect a chapter by the end of next week? well here it is. 30min later. i do keep my promises sometimes. 

the reason why im feeling so productive is because ive been writing an essay to apply for this thing that my school is doing over the summer. doing extensive research on the universe = hologram theory really gets the inspiration flowing i guess.