She was burning, melting, ready to combust at any minute, so why was she so cold? How could one feel both at the same time? Peony could feel the sweat running down her neck, but she couldn't stop shivering. The fever so real she could have touched it, if she'd had the strength to lift her arms. Yet the scratchy blankets the med droid had given her weren't enough. She was freezing; her blood was ice.
Peony knew she must be horrible to look at. Her eyes red from sickness and crying. Her skin pale and body growing ever thinner from disease. Right now she just couldn't summon the energy to care. Her heart leapt as a med droid came rolling toward her, its sensor cold and unfeeling, so unlike Iko. Oh Iko. What would the android be doing right now? She and Cinder were probably at their market stall. Unless it wasn't a market day...
The cold grip of a metal arm sent Peony back to as much reality as her fever riddled mind could come to. She tried to press herself back as far as she could into the rock-hard mattress. Which wasn't all that far, considering her minimal strength.
Still clasping her arm, the med-droid used its other prong to pull the blanket back, revealing her inner arm. It was covered in repulsive red-rimmed bruises and purple-blue at her elbow. From medicine that didn't work. And blood samples. The med-droid ejected yet another syringe from its steel torso and lowered it toward her arm. Peony looked away as the needle sunk into her flesh, took her infected blood, and drew away.
YOU ARE READING
Hopeless Days
FanficPeony's death form Peony's perspective. Follow Peony's thoughts as she goes through the four stages of leutmosis. The characters and dialogue belong to the lovely Marissa Meyer.
