Death do us part

Sick

  I got up and went down the stairs, walking over to Rick and Daryl who were speaking in hushed voices in a corner.

  "What were you talking about Carl having to stay away from you?" I asked Rick. He sighed, giving Daryl a look and he took me aside.

  He walked me over to the steps and we sat at the bottom. I looked over to Daryl who had his head in his hands.

  "What's going on?" I asked, worried.

  "We.. we think you might be sick- well-" He sighed, trying to get the words out correctly.

  "There wasn't a breach. The reason why there were walkers in cellblock D is because Patrick died last night from some sort of mutated flu. He wasn't the only one either. It takes over quickly and you could end up choking on your own blood over the course of one night." He explained. I shook my head.

  "And you think I'm sick? But I feel fine!" I said, standing up. He grabbed my wrists and pulled back down.

  "We think you might be. You looked like you couldn't even stand, let alone focus on anything out there." He said in a calm voice.

  "I'm fine." I said. He nodded his head.

  "Well, we just have to make sure. You were exposed in there and we can't have anyone getting too close to the exposed people any time soon. Not until we figure out a way to fix this." He explained.

  "Okay." I said.

  "We'll be holding a council meeting later if you want to come." He finished and stood up. I sighed and went back up into my cell, laying on the bed. I felt so paranoid. What if something was wrong with me?

  I laid there for a minute then stood up again, making my way to the library. I heard Carol talking as I walked in silently.

  "We'll have to separate everyone that's been exposed." She said.

  "That's everyone in the cellblock. That's all of us, maybe more." Daryl argued, playing with his nails.

  "We know that this sickness can be lethal. We don't know how easily it spreads. Is anyone else showing symptoms that we know of?" Hershel asked. Daryl looked at me when he said that and I looked down, then sat quietly in a seat.

  "We can't just wait and see. We have children. It isn't just an illness. If people die they become a threat." Carol said.

  "We need a place for them to go." Hershel nodded. "They can't stay in D. We can't risk going in there and cleaning it up."

  "We can use cellblock A." I suggested.

  "Death row?" Glenn asked. "I'm not sure that's much of an upgrade."

  "It's clean. That's an upgrade." Daryl backed me up. "Think that'll work for Dr.S?"

  "I'll help Caleb get it set up." Hershel said. A women started coughing outside and we grew silent. Daryl got up first, followed by the rest of us, then we walked outside.

  "You okay?" Tyreese asked Karen, who was the one that was coughing. She nodded and Carol looked at her concerned.

  "You sure? You don't sound so good." Carol stopped her.

  "I'm just taking her back to my cell so she can rest." Tyreese said.

  "Tyreese, I don't think that's such a good idea." Hershel said.

  "Why, what's going on now?" Karen asked. Everyone looked around and Glenn spoke up.

  "We think it's a flu or something. It's how Patrick died."

  "Judith is in that cellblock. She vulnerable. Anyone who may be sick, or exposed should stay away." Hershel stepped up.

  "It killed Patrick?" Karen asked.

  "She'll be okay." Tyreese reassured us. "Now that we know what Patrick died from, we can treat it right?" 

  "Don't panic, we can figure this out. But we're going to have to keep you guys separated for now. We'll have Caleb take a look at you. I'll see what we have in the way of medications." Hershel said calmly.

  Karen sighed. "David from the Decatur group, he's been coughing too."

  Glenn took a deep breath. "I'll get him. There some empty clean cells in the tombs right?"

  "Yeah, we'll meet you there. Come on." Sasha smiled and took Karen to an empty cell.

  I began to walk back to the cell block, laying in my bed once I got there. I couldn't be sick. I felt fine.

  I heard footsteps outside of my cell and saw Daryl stand in the doorway.

  "Hey." I sat up and felt a bit dizzy.

  "You alright?" He asked, walking in and sitting on the chair next to my bed. I nodded and slouched against the wall.

  "Yeah, just feeling a bit woozy." I breathed.

  "You sure you're not sick? We can have Dr. S take a look at you." He said, looking out of the cell. I shook my head.

  "I'm fine Daryl, but thank you. Go get some rest." I said, leaning forward and kissing his cheek before laying back down.

  He left the cell and I drifted into sleep.

  I woke up the next morning feeling less dizzy and got up, going downstairs. I met Daryl at the bottom of the staircase, about to get breakfast. We ate oatmeal, but I didn't eat too much, because I lost my appetite. After eating we went outside to check on the people from block D, but no one was outside, because it was cloudy and looked like it was about to rain.

  I sighed and we started walking back to the cellblock, but stopped when I broke into a coughing fit, not being able to breathe. I fell on the ground and my vision became blurry and unfocused again. Sweat started running down my face and I felt extremely hot, but cold at the same time. My chest went numb from the coughing and I tasted a coppery taste in my mouth.

  I looked at the ground and saw blood, then felt a pair of arms around me, lifting and leaning me up against the wall.

  I couldn't breathe and I felt something running down my chin and my neck. My vision turned black and I fell unconscious before I knew what was even happening.

***

-Kenzie