Us Against The World

Chapter 11

My heart beat echos through my ears as I run with Jexton. I'm desperatly hoping he knows where the CDC is, because I haven't been outside in my life long enough to know where anything is located.

We finally stop when Jexton feels we are at a safe distance away from the gated community. I'm also hoping we get to the CDC before the Consilium army does—as Jexton's father threatened to send them—to finish our job and stop what is killing us.

I place my hands on my knees and pant trying to catch the breath that has ran so far away from me I almost believe I'm going to die.

"You alright?" Jexton asks, almost completely unaffected my the marathon we had just run.  I hesitate to answer him and try to keep my distance. My trust for him is still lacking, and I contemplate if I should even stay with him. This could just be another one of his tricks.

"Tell me... you have... water... in. . ." I point at the bag on Jexton's shoulders and he quickly yanks it off of his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" he says quickly and throws me a full bottle. I down the entire bottle and Jexton gapes. I laugh when my cardiovascular recovery kicks in. "I'm not really what you would call the track star." I joke and Jexton nods. "Yeah, I can see that."

"I've never... ran so much... in my... entire life." I say between gasps. "Someone hasn't been outside much." Jexton teases and I nod with wide eyes. "Obviously." I throw my hands in the air. "I never had the choice."

"Here, have the rest of mine." he tosses me his water bottle and I mentally praise him. I hesitate at first and even try giving it back, but he turns away and pretends to be admiring something. "Do you know if we're almost there?" I ask when I have enough air in my body to speak full sentences. Jexton shrugs and looks down at the road ahead.

"I don't know, but what I do know is that we can't keep taking breaks like this. If I know anything about this disease, it's that whoever has it doesn't have a lot of. . .you know, time." he trails off, knowing that what he has just said impacted me negatively. My heart sinks and I stare at the ground.

We begin to walk again and numerous moments of silence pass along with tears. "H-how much time do you th-think I have?"

"Couple days, maybe. A week." I gasp and collapse. I sob into the ground and punch it with my fist facing upward. I feel Jexton's arms around me, pulling me up. I felt too weak to stand, but I manage to. He supports me with one arm around my waist, and the other holding onto the top of my hand and wrist with my arm across his shoulders. 

We walked in silence for miles- as I assume we are both thinking. I keep catching myself looking at his face- his mask covered face. I couldn't stop thinking that I would be dying in a few days, and he would be happily living. After we have save the population I would have to die and he'd get to live. 

In some ways I say that that is not fair, but I can't be so selfish. I know that when I die, I would have done it trying. Trying my best—going out of my way—leaving my mother and putting myself in danger just for the sake of the people, so that they, or their family members, don't have to suffer anymore. So that they don't have to go through what my mother and I went through anymore.

"Farrah." Jexton says softly. Without looking at him, I softly say "Hm?" trying to hold back fresh tears. "I, um. I know you're scared of what this is doing to you—how you feel, but you don't have to be." I stop walking and glare at him. "How could you say that?" I yell. "You're not the one who is vulnerable and dying as we speak! You're not going through this!" I wave my arms in the air for emphasis.

"I was just trying to comfort y—"

"No, Jexton! You can't tell someone who is dying not to be scared when they have every reason in the book to be." I know I'm taking my situation a tad too far along with selfishness, but whatever I have in my head comes out of my mouth involuntarily and I cannot control it.

I figured I might as well get everything off my chest while I have the time and strength to do so. My face heats and the fresh tears fail to cool it down. Silence passes through the both of us once again and I begin to regret yelling at him. I want to apologize, but I don't think either of us want to hear each others voices at the moment.

We mentally take turns deciding which corner to turn on. I'm sure neither of us know where we are going, but we are trying our best and going with our gut, hoping we are being lead in the right direction. 

"I'm sorry." I mumble and Jexton turns his head to look at me. I can feel his eyes on me, but I continue to stare at the ground. He doesn't answer, so I decide to continue my apology.

"I shouldn't have yelled at you." Jexton mumbles. "I overreacted. I do that a lot. It's just... I've never been in this position before and it's kinda scary. I mean, if you knew what it was like knowing you're gonna die and you don't even know when. And my mom... my poor mom... she's probably worried sick and she can't even do anything about it. I didn't leave a note or anything and she's probably crying and screaming and. . ." Jexton hushes me with a tight embrace and allows me to cry into his shoulder.

"I—I shouldn't be so selfish. I'm sorry." I can feel his head shaking and his chest steadily rising and falling. "Don't apologize to me after everything I did to you," he says softly. "that's my job."

When he pulls away from the embrace, I quickly wipe my face. He brings his arms above and behind his head. I tilt mine in confusion, then quickly catch on and my heart leaps.

"Jexton, no! What are you doing?" I ask worriedly, but before I can stop him, his mask hits the dirt and rock covered road. He takes a deep breath and looks me so deeply in the eyes that I feel my soul freeze. I hear nothing but white noise; it's like he has me hypnotized.

"If you're gonna die on this mission, then so am I."