Mech

Chapter 10: Stayin' Alive

I rolled onto my stomach and groaned. Whatever I had swallowed unintentionally in that trap made me really ill, even though I threw up most of it. I felt tired, weak, and that was bad news in an apocalypse. General Trenton would leave me behind if he were leading us down here. The weakest stay behind, that's why Anna Lynn couldn't come, and why Uncle Jeb had to stay, and why General Trenton himself stayed behind. He knew he was getting older, and the future lies with the youth. The healthy youth. At this point in time..not me.

Jason brought me more water, Mitzi checked on me, Ian peered in and shot me a smile, but there was one person that never showed. Max. When I managed to get my strength back I slid my legs off the side of the creaking mattress and used gravity to pull my body up. Keeping my hand dragging across every wall, I hobbled out into the hallway. Everything ached. The first door I came to was cracked open. Mitzi and Jason were play fighting. Laughing. I closed the door. They were living in hell yet they still found a way to be a couple. They deserved it, so I let them be. Continuing my venture to the last door in the hall, Aaliyah emerged and noticed my presence. With a sad smile, she left the door open and continued past. Limping inside, I fell heavy into a chair by the sulking bed, the frame looked tired and burdened by weight. The body lay stiff aside from an ever so slow rise and fall of sleeping lungs. A heavily bandaged arm crossed the chest, deep maroon stains flooding the cloth that protected the shattered bone. Max.

"Wake up," I rasped through a thorn-filled throat, "You're strong, I went through more than you so.. wake up!"

I was angry. Why did he end up like this and not me? Why did he bleed and I didn't? Why did I wake up? Why did I wake up?

Placing my hands over his good one, I leaned down and pressed my forehead to the back of my wrist.

"Wake up damn you!" I shouted, "I should'a been here, not you, so wake up! You weren't in that pit, in the dark, in that nasty nasty trap! I got up s'now it's your turn damn you!"

A tear rolled down my cheek and I tasted the salt. Gripping his hand, I whispered, "I need you, we all need you..wake up damn you..."

"It's infected," a voice called, and I whipped my head up to catch Esclave's eye and turned away again.

"I checked this morning. He passed out from blood loss and shock's what's been keeping him asleep. He woke up while you were asleep but saw the blood and felt the pain from the stitches and passed out again. I did everything I know how but..we just don't have the materials to treat this..When he comes back to..I don't know what shape he'll be in." She turned to leave, "You're not looking great either."

I was relieved he had woken up at all, but it pained me that he was hurt and there was nothing we could do. We didn't have the proper medical supplies to treat a broken bone, or my illness. Seeing as we have no idea what the black stuff was, there's no telling what medicine will help me anyway. I gripped his hand again, I needed him awake... I sat there for hours. Mitzi brought me rations of food but I wasn't hungry, my stomach still felt upside-down so I just took water. I wasn't going to leave him. After hours of waiting and worrying, I felt a very slight movement in his hand. A finger twitched, grip tightened, eyelids began to flitter. I leaped up but clutched at my midsection in pain, yet ignored it. I leaned forward and placed my hand on his cheek.

"Max? Max!" I said.

He opened his green eyes and looked confusingly upward at my own, then muttered, "Micah? Ya' look..awful.."