Fortitude || Book 2 of 'Reawakening Series'

Chapter 30 - The Great Escapist

My whole body is aching, my eyes are droopy and I feel like I could sleep for days. I can feel myself getting weaker with each day going past, each day the trials taking ahold of my body. I'm currently sitting at the table beside Sam, who reads through some documents.

Mary is laying against my chest, tears falling down her face as she grips at me tightly. She has a high temperature and a runny nose, having developed a cold in the last few days. This has made things a little difficult for me, using up my remaining energy to take care of her. I have a blanket wrapped around my shoulders, a smaller one wrapped around her ones.

Dean walks into the room with tray in his hands, "All right, here we go. John Winchester's famous cure-all kitchen sink stew. There you go."

He comes over and places the tray in front of me, "Enough cayenne pepper in there to burn your lips off, like Dad used to make."

The thought of eating something makes me sick and I groan, pushing it away. Sam notices this action and looks up from his papers, a concerned look on his face. Dean reaches down and picks up the spoon, looking at me playfully, "You want me to do the whole airplane thing with the spoon?"

I'm not in the mood for it at the moment, so I ignore him and rest my head down on Mary as I pat her back in a soothing rhythm. Dean frowns at me, "When was the last time you ate?"

I sigh and look up at him, giving a small shrug of my shoulders, "I don't-

"Days, Addy. It's been three days." He states, before reaching into his back pocket. He pulls out a thermometer and looks down at it and I scoff, "Where did you get that?"

"When did you start throwing off heatwaves?" He says, giving me a hard look.

I roll my eyes and he steps forward, pushing the object towards my mouth. I move my face away and snap at him, "Enough Dean, please."

I rise to my feet and stumble due to my weakness, my hand catching me on the table but it jostles Mary. She begins to cry and I try to shush and clam her down. Dean reaches over and takes her off of me, cradling her against his chest.

He rocks her from side to side and Sam rises to his feet, concern in his eyes, "The bloody hankerchiefs, the fever, the shaky legs, this is not good."

I turn tiredly towards him, "Yeah, well I'm not good... And I'm not going to be good until we start moving again and I can start the third trial."

"Trial? I wouldn't let you start a moped." Dean scoffs, "We're on the rail with this thing, okay? And the only way out of it is through it, believe me, I know. And you know how bad I wanna slam the door on all those sons of bitches."

"I do too. But we need you at full strength Addy." Sam adds, placing a hand on my shoulder.

Dean steps forward and looks me in the eye, love and worry in them, "That's right, and you gotta let us take care of you, baby. You gotta let us help you get your strength back."

"This isn't a cold or a fever, or whatever it is you're supposed to feed." I say, gesturing to my body, "This is part of it all. Those first two trials, they're not just things I did. They're doing something to me. They're changing me."

A phone chimes from within the library, I tripping our conversation. Dean eyes me for a moment before turning and making his way to the library. Sam offers me an arm to lean on, helping me towards the library. I really lean on him, my legs feeling like they will give out on me at any moment.