The Journal

Two • Eliza • April 25

I'd read that other journal every chance I got. The next, like, four entries were just filled with complaints about what she explained were "first-world problems" and the struggles of an "average teenager". Every time she would mention something like that I actually scoffed aloud. I wish my "average teen struggles" could have been as simple as failing a test or a boyfriend cheating on me with a best friend.

Pfft. Idjits. No wonder the world crapped out on us. All that generation cared about were passing things. Stuff that didn't matter.

I only stopped reading once because Madsen got really sick. I mean, throwing up so much more than she could possibly take in. She was getting dehydrated faster than we could put liquids in her. It scared the crap out of me. Losing my parents was hard enough. But losing another sibling? I couldn't do it. I would probably go crazy. Maybe I would go on a rampage and leave my other two siblings, leaving them to die as well.

I'm not going to let Madsen die.

I guess I should just distract myself with what happened on the second day, the same time the entries in Maeve's journal began to change as well.

It was pitch-black out when I was startled awake by Madsen's whimpering. She was still sleeping, but constantly shivering. I crawled over to where she was lying on the ground and felt her forehead in the darkness. It was slick with sweat, and her clothes were damp as well. The skin was hot to the touch. A fever. I grabbed the bag of medicine I had gotten from that house run and using the weak green glow from my watch's night-view mode, I grabbed a plastic bag. It was filled with those old pre-packaged teas my mom had recreated. I had found these in the medicine cabinet along with some chamomile and others, but Mom always said peppermint was the best for everything. Also elderberries contained some sort of remedy to treating flus. I mentally planned to go looking for them the next day with Paige. She hadn't been out on a run in awhile.

I ripped open a package and plopped the teabag into a cup of room-temperature water I had next to Madsen. Gently, I shook her shoulder. She stirred, but didn't open her eyes.

"Hey, Madsen, honey," I tried whispering, "I got something that should make you feel better. Please, wake up."

One eye slowly cracked open.

"Do you need help sitting up?"

She nodded weakly. My heart broke watching how fragile she had become. Slowly I propped her head up on my shoulder and handed her the cup of peppermint not-so-hot tea. Madsen took a few sips before setting the nearly-full cup back down next to her pillow.

"Done," her small voice squeaked.

"Okay," I laid her back down on the sleeping bag and brushed away a strand of her dirty-blonde hair. "You're such a good girl for drinking that. I promise, you'll feel better in no time."

Madsen just nodded once in response and closed her eyes. I stayed sitting beside her for a long while before retreating back to my own sleeping area and trying to get some rest before the day ahead of me.

Paige and I ended up leaving an hour after the sun rose to go searching for this elderberry plant. I was hopeful. Paige...not so much. Luckily Mom had left us one of her botanical note books, so I took it with us. Apparently, people had used these elderberries as a quick shrub because they grew nicely and were easily shaped.

Unfortunately this meant we would have better chances of finding some if we went through the houses behind the sound barrier.

I crawled through the gap in the brick wall first, waiting a second to hear or see if anything unwanted still lurked, and after triple-checking that it was clear, we started off on the search. None of the houses looked to be in any different shape than when I had left them a few days prior, which I took as a good sign. We walked down the street, sticking to the barrier and only running up close to the houses if a bush looked like the one in Mom's book. After the first block was empty of elderberry bushes, I began to lose hope. Paige just voiced what I was thinking.

"Just face it, no one planted any thinking they could come in handy for the apocalypse," her tone was bitter. "Because these guys were complete morons."

"Paige, stop complaining. Why are you always so negative?"

"I'm not negative, I'm just being realistic-"

I grabbed Paige's arm and dragged her towards a plant, interrupting what she was saying; a shrub with the buds in my mom's book lined the property of a modest white house.

"Are these it?" she looked skeptical.

"Yes," I held the book in her face. "Check it."

Using my knife, I cut off a few of the stems and stowed them in my bag. I threw in a few of the white flowers just in case and we started to head back to the office. As we were crossing the street a crash from one of the houses made us both jump. On instinct, I took my gun out from the waist of my pants and flipped the safety off, bringing the pistol up. We stood in silence in the middle of the road as quiet filled the air. No more sounds came from the grey house in front of us, but I could have sworn a curtain on the second floor moved.

Paige and I ran the rest of the way back, no surprise there. Madsen was sitting propped up against the wall as Jackson rubbed her head. That was a good sign. I opened the book to the chapter of elderberries and their medicinal uses.

"The bark is cathartic. An infusion of the bark can be used in the treatment of coughs and colds," I read aloud. I paraphrased the next bit, "it can also be used to reduce pain. A poultice of cooked shoots is for that..."

Paige followed the directions I gave her without question.

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A/N

HELLO lovely readers, do you think little Madsen will get better? Let's hope so...

What do you think of Eliza? Is she a good older sister?

Thanks for reading! An update is coming next week!