Cannibals

Chapter 7

~~~ Alex's P.O.V. ~~~

It had been three days since I got scratched. Our group decided I should be locked in here for a week. Arianna didn't think it was necessary but I told her to listen to them just to be safe. None of us were exactly experts on the whole "turning" thing. I also wasn't exactly feeling all that well. I hadn't told Arianna though because I didn't want to freak her the fuck out. I wasn't exactly sure if that was the smartest idea but I honestly didn't think it was anything worse than a small cold.

Arianna's told me that the hoard of zombies surrounding the school had pretty much diminished. But they were still playing it safe because our group tripled in size and we didn't want any casualties getting out of here. There were still too many zombies outside for comfort.

Being stuck in here had it's ups and downs. I didn't have to deal with Arianna's brother and I didn't really have much work to do. But laying here for hours with almost nothing to do bored the fuck out of me. Arianna did bring me some books and even a couple notebooks and pencils because I told her I liked to write. But it still got boring after a while.

The first day Marissa and Niana would come keep me company for a little bit but then Arianna told them to stay away. I wasn't exactly sure if it was because she somehow knew I was getting sick (I've tried my best not to show it) or if she was just being over protective of her siblings. Either way, I really wished she hadn't sent them away. Because most of the time I was alone. She'd been busy helping everyone else out for most of every day.

When she was here she usually checked and cleaned my scratches. Then let me rest. Sometimes we talked about plans on how we would escape the school but usually she was zoned out. I guess I couldn't blame her. So much pressure and responsibility had been put on her. And in such short notice. I guess she just used her time with me to escape and let her mind wander. Hopefully though, this won't last. She could very well zone out at the wrong time if she got too used to this.

~~~ Arianna's P.O.V. ~~~

Alex got sick. Really sick. Even after four days of cleaning and treating his cuts, I couldn't stop them from getting infected. He ended up with a fever of 105°F and would shake and sweat uncontrollably. I was incredibly worried. Dominic thought for sure that Alex was turning. It caused everyone else to panic slightly.

I didn't want to just give up and kill Alex though. He hadn't turned yet and I was determined to make him feel better. But to be safe I made sure everyone stayed away the second I realized he got sick. And that was only the second day. I didn't tell anyone at the time that Alex was sick though. I didn't want to scare them. When I did tell them, Dominic almost convinced them to agree that Alex was turning and that he should die. I stopped them dead in their tracks though with one question.

"Ok. Who wants to be the one to kill him?"

Everyone went quiet when I asked it. Turns out that no one wanted "murderer" stamped across their foreheads for everyone else to see. So after that they left the decision up to me. And I decided to keep him alive and help him get better.

The problem, though, was keeping him hydrated and fed. Every time I gave him water he threw it up. Luckily the vending machines had gram crackers which were dry enough to keep down. But you can't live off those alone. And if he didn't keep some water down he could die of dehydration.

Dominic didn't like that I put so much time and effort into keeping Alex alive. He wanted out of the school as fast as possible. I didn't understand why he was so worked up about it. We had made our plans and knew how we were getting out. And it wasn't like we were running low on food or water. I do understand not wanting to be trapped here and to get home safely to our families but Dominic was trying to rush it and that could lead to us pulling off something stupid. And right now we just didn't need stupid.