Don't Whistle Past the Graveyard

Ch. Fifty-Six

I jolted upright from where I'd fallen asleep leaning against the bed when someone pounded on the door, scaring the hell out of me. Immediately I bolted to my feet just to fall over, clutching at the bedpost when I found out that one of my legs had fallen completely asleep.

The pounding continued and Shane lurched upright drunkenly, his sweaty hair sticking up at odd angles. He blinked and frowned at me as I stomped the heel of my foot repeatedly into the floor, trying to force blood through the veins.

When my flesh started prickling painfully as blood began to flow, I managed to limp over to the door, cursing every time I set my foot down. Tempted to throw the door open and scream at whoever had woken us up, I decided that might be a little much and instead just cracked it open, settling on glaring as fiercely as I could through my blurry eyes.

Danny was outside, anxiously bouncing from foot to foot and my ire receded slightly. I looked over my should at Shane who had slumped back against the pillows, but was watching me through clear eyes that glittered with a fever sheen. With a relieved sigh, I croaked, "It's just Danielle. I'll be right back."

His eyes narrowed, focused on one spot in particular, and I grimaced before he nodded curtly. Slipping through the slimmest possible crack in the door, I tugged my shirt up over my mouth, earning myself an eye roll from Danny. Crossing her arms, she said, "You should know that if anyone was going to have caught it, they already would have."

"I like to think that my quick thinking and rapid execution prevented the sickness from spreading," I said in what was supposed to be sarcasm, but apparently I was too tired for snarky behavior.

I'd never thought I'd see the day, but then the apocalypse happened.

Danielle just rolled her eyes and said, "They're back."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "Seriously? So soon?"

"You think I would joke about that?" Danielle asked, frowning at me.

"If I wasn't afraid you could get sick I'm pretty sure I'd kiss you!" I wanted to jump around in sheer relief and joy, but my body only managed a few happy bounces up and down on the balls of my feet.

Danielle giggled. "How would Shane feel about that?"

I grinned a little naughtily. "I don't think he'd find any reason to complain."

There was a muffled, "Yes I would," and both Danny and I dissolved into giggles. Still laughing, I told her, "Tell Kyle to get his ass and those supplies up here pronto. I would kiss him too but Shane would have something to complain about with that."

Danny saluted, making me laugh again and I all but skipped into the room to find Shane had managed to prop himself up a little more. He glared at me with crossed arms, an amused smile twitching at his mouth before he killed it and returned to glaring.

I sighed and shut the door before sinking into the rocking chair I'd dragged next to the bed, waiting for the grilling to start. My hair was up in a messy bun, the strands pulled mercilessly away from my face. Shane would have had to been blind.

Gesturing at my neck, he asked, "What happened?"

"Just an accident." It wasn't a lie, not exactly.

Shane growled, looking scarily pale, his eyes still too bright. "Raleigh," he warned.

Briefly I wondered if I should just lie to him, then decided that that could only end poorly. Slumping forward, I rubbed gently at the aching bruise and rasped, "You didn't do it on purpose."

My words immediately made him stiffen, his eyes burning a hole into me. I didn't need any prodding, the words spilling out almost against my will. "You'd been delirious. Fever dreams, you know? And I think you were dreaming about being back in Afghanistan."