Erstwhile

Infection

I awakened with a start.

Although sleep still clung to my eyelids, I sat up, and although my leg pained me, I was on my feet. It was morning, Ashoka was out there, alone, and there was no time to lose. Already, I was losing light.

Grabbing my light saber, I staggered out of the tent. The early morning light was a great contrast from the shadows of the tent, and as I left, I was stunned. Closing my eyes, I shook my head to try to clear the fog, but I only proved to stir up the storm within my skull. Hidden by my closed eyelids, a rock caught on my toe, and before I knew it, I was flying towards the ground.

"Whoa, kid!" Stance shouted and wrapped his arms around my torso. Hauling to my feet, he prevented me from falling. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"To find Ashoka," I replied and pried my eyes open. Standing before me was Stance, and behind him, sitting around the bonfire were Chopper, Gear and Doc. Gear was fiddling with a few pieces of metal, Chopper was buzzing exasperatedly, and Doc was poking at the fire's glowing embers with a stick.

"I understand that you want to find Ashoka as soon as possible, but let's eat first, and while you eat, maybe Doc can check out your leg. What do you say?"

Simultaneously, I felt the emptiness of my stomach as well as the sharp pain coming from my leg. Stance was right; in no way was I ready to go looking for Ashoka. "You may be onto something there," I remarked and smiled sheepishly.

Chuckling, Stance draped my arm around his shoulder and assisted me in hobbling over to the bonfire. Hanging over the dying fire was a pan of turnip-like vegetables and the remains of last night's stew. The smell was less than appetizing, but I vowed not to complain.

"How'd you sleep, Ezra?" Gear asked me as he scooped me a bowl.

At his question, my troubled dreams immediately rose to the front of my mind. "Fine," I muttered.

"How's that leg?" Doc questioned as Gear handed me the bowl.

"It hurts, if that's what you're asking," I replied and sampled my breakfast. At the taste, I shuddered but somehow swallowed.

"Let me take a look," Doc said and lifted my leg into his lap. At his touch, my muscles immediately tensed, and although I'd tried to hide it, I knew Doc had noticed my unease.

Moments passed as the soldier unwrapped my puncture wound, and soon it was exposed. I immediately noticed the red skin surrounding it, but soon afterwards, I noticed the blue liquid seeping from it.

I knew I wasn't imagining things when Doc grimaced and shook his head. "I was afraid this would happen."

"It's the blue spores, isn't it?" Gear asked, and Doc nodded.

"I don't understand," I murmured, "I thought that I'd received a vaccine?"

"Yeah, you did, against the hallucinations the spores cause, but the vaccine did nothing in the area of infection," Doc explained and sighed, "I don't have the supplies to treat this. If it goes unchecked..."

"Gear, go fetch my knife," Stance interrupted, and the trooper immediately obeyed.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to clean Ezra's wound as best I can," he replied.

"You're just putting off the inevitable," Doc said and crossed his arms. "And tromping around the jungle in search of your crazy friend isn't going to help."