Island of the Dead

Chapter Twelve

June 5th 1:31 pm 

For the past few days Thomas Winfield had been in a fever induced, and morphine maintained, haze. Among other things he had seen dragons, flying ships, like boats in the sky, and even his father.

His father used to be an officer in the army but he died when Thomas was 11. Thomas always looked up to his dad and had planned on joining the army when he was old enough.

In his dream, he was wearing his dad's old uniform. He could see his dad standing, watching him from afar. Thomas had tried to run to him but no matter how fast or how hard he ran, he never could seem to reach him. This was a dream he had had multiple times since his father's death, but none more vivid than this fever dream.

The night before his fever finally broke, and after a long sleep Thomas was helping his mother pack up what little they had, including his father's old dog tags. Thomas had worn the dog tags since they were given to him by one of his father's old squadmates.

Aside from his duffel bag full of clothes he brought, all Thomas had grabbed from the hotel room that his mother and him were staying in was a bag of jelly beans, Thomas' favorite candy, a taste he "inherited" from his father.

Thomas was sitting on the pile of clothes he had been using as a bed in the storage room he and his mom had been sleeping in, eating a few of the jelly beans, he had decided that he was going to ration the to himself so they can last as long as possible.

His mother was pacing back in forth in the small room, questioning him.

"Are you sure you are feeling better?"

"Yes mom."

"Do you have a headache? Stomachache? Are you sore anywhere?"

"No mom. I'm fine. I promise."

Mary had babied Thomas since he was young but it got worse when her husband died. She would make him tell her if he ever went anywhere, something he didn't often do due to this, and when he got sick, even if it was only a cold or a fever, she acted as if he was going to die.

Thomas didn't blame his mother for this, he was her only child and one of the best reminders of his father, after all Thomas looked just like his dad. Normally he would try to do all he could in order to minimize his mother's stress. However, getting a fever during the end of the world is a stressful experience. Now that Thomas was awake he had the task of convincing his mother that he was okay to leave the store they have been living out of for the past three weeks and head to the bunker that everyone was talking about.

The others were trying to keep talking their excitement contained, they didn't want Mary to be even more nervous than she already was, but once the news broke that Thomas was feeling better the store was alive with movement and excitement. Albert radioed the bunker to tell them they would soon be heading out and everyone was trying to pack as much of the supplies that they could carry, the little that they still had.

There was a knock on the door and Mary answered. Frank was standing in the doorway.

"Hey guys. How's everyone?"

"Good," Thomas answered before his mother, "I'm feeling a lot better."

Frank looked at Mary, "And you?"

She looked at her son and then back to Frank. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking."

"Mary can I talk to you for just a second?"

Mary followed Frank out the door and closed it behind her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to let you know that we are aren't going to leave until tomorrow at dawn. We want Thomas to have enough time to get as fully recovered as he can and we want to minimize the chance of us traveling at night."

Mary knew a big part of that decision was because Frank was hoping Penny would come back, but she didn't say anything. She was just grateful for the extra time.

"Thank you. I'll make sure we are rested and ready to go."

"Alright." Frank turned to walk to the roof access ladder, where he had spent the majority of the past day and a half.

"Frank." Mary grabbed his hand.

"Yeah?"

"You should get some rest. You're going to be no use to us if you can't think straight."

Frank sighed. He hadn't sleep the night before and was starting to get a headache. "You're right. Thanks." He hugged her.

"Of course." She went back into her room.

Frank stood in the hallway for another few seconds before going into his room. He looked at the note he had written for Penny. He debated whether or not he should just rip it up but decided he should leave it, just in case. He laid down on his makeshift bed, closed his eyes, and let himself drift off into a dreamless sleep.