Infection

▪ Chapter Twenty-three ▪

At that moment, as soon as I laid my eyes on the mark, I felt my whole world crumble. This just couldn't be happening. I'd already lost so much. I couldn't lose Lily too. 

The tears rushed to my eyes and my breath caught as the reality sank in. Lily was bitten. She would turn into one of them; a monster.

She stared up at me, her expression one of terror. She looked at me for help, help that I didn't know if I could give. I was in shock, frozen still as my world came crashing down around me. Her pained cries eventually brought me back to reality. It didn't matter that she was Infected, she was in pain and I had to help her. 

I sprang into action, ripping out one of the bandages I had taken from the warehouse and thoroughly wrapping it around the bite mark. It didn't look too deep, not reaching the bone, but even that gave me no hope. Alec had turned from just a scratch, a bite was sure to have exactly the same effects. Once I had, as gently as possible, wrapped the wound, I jumped behind the wheel, speeding away from the warehouse and potential Infected. 

"It hurts, Hayley," she cried, clutching at the bandage, tears streaming down her face as she begged for the pain to go away.

"I know it does, Sweetie," I tried helplessly to soothe her pain. "It'll be okay, just hang on." I comforted, speeding as fast as I could back to the house, finishing what should've been a ten-minute journey in only four. I pulled up recklessly outside, running over the mailbox in my haste. I rushed Lily inside, half dragging half carrying her towards the couch. I held back tears as I saw her contorted face, the pain obviously unbearable.

Wasting no time, I raced into the kitchen grabbing everything that I thought would be useful - cloths, a bowl and after searching through the cabinets, vodka. I also rummaged around in the previous inhabitants closet, finding a hard, leather belt that she could use to bite down on as I cleaned the wound. 

"Okay, Sweetie," I crouched down in front of her, holding her bitten arm in my hands and slowly unwrapping the bandage. "I have to clean it, okay? So it doesn't get infected." She nodded, still clearly in agony, judging by her crying. I held back guilty tears as I watched her endure the pain that I caused. This was my fault. And what I was about to do now was going to be torture. "I'm sorry, Lily, but this is going to hurt a bit," I told her honestly, holding the leather belt strip up to her mouth. "Bite down on this, Sweetie. It'll distract you. I'm sorry, Lily." I apologised for the pain I was about to cause and for the pain I had already caused her.

With shaking hands, I unscrewed the vodka cap, and trembling, I raised it above her arm. Doing it quickly, as if I were ripping off a band-aid, I poured it over her arm and into the bowl I held beneath, disinfecting the wound as much as I could. Her screams of pain were heartbreaking, echoing their way throughout the house until it became unbearable for her. She had fainted into unconsciousness before I had even finished. Tears blurred my eyes to see her in such a state. 

I managed to put the bottle of alcohol down before my quivering hands dropped it and gently patted it dry with the cloths before eventually re-wrapping it with a clean bandage. I let out a deep breath as I sat back, defeatedly. I didn't know what else I could do. It didn't look like I could sew it up, the flesh was too mangled for me to know where to start and the wound was too large to cauterise without causing her immense pain. 

I rearranged her unconscious form on the couch, lifting her legs up to lay her horizontal and resting her head on a pillow to make her as comfortable as possible. I covered her with a blanket before finally slumping next to her, utterly drained. 

It was unbelievable. Looking at her now, it was as just looked like she was sleeping and would wake up in a couple of hours, absolutely fine. If only. 

My only wish now, was that when she woke up, she would still be alive. I hoped that she wouldn't wake up as one of them and that I would be able to say good-bye before it happened. Before she turned. 

I was broken out of my thought process by a high pitched whine. Ace was here, finally drawing my attention whereas before I had been only focused on Lily. He whined again, snuffling Lily's face as if begging for her to wake up. He carried on persistently until he realised that it was hopeless and settled for laying loyally by her side. He looked at me, his deep brown eyes conveying the same pain that I felt. His sadness made me feel even guiltier. I hadn't protected her like I'd promised I would. I was angry and ashamed of myself, horrified that I had let this happen. 

He continued to look at me, but I didn't sense blame in his eyes. At least he didn't think it was my fault, not that it let me off the hook. Regardless, it didn't make me feel any better. I moved off the couch, sliding onto the floor next to him and leaning back against the sofa, stroking his soft fur as a form of comfort to both me and him. 

I looked back up at Lily who remained completely still. I prayed, hoped that she would be okay, that she would make it. I tried to convince myself that maybe the alcohol would prove effective. Maybe it would clean the bite enough to fight off the virus and that she would wake up as her normal self. 

I knew that it was pointless. That people already would've tried it. That if it were true, then this outbreak wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. But even so, I found myself hoping, against all odds that she was different. That she would survive this. 

If she didn't... I didn't want to even think about it. There would be no point in living anymore. My life would be meaningless. She was the only reason I had survived this long, to look after her. Now that I had failed, my existence was irrelevant. I had failed in my task of protecting her. If she died, I decided that I should too.

I guilt consumed me. I was meant to defend her. Jason had trusted me to look after her, our baby sister, keeping her away from the evil in this world. He would never forgive me. I would never forgive myself. 

She was so young,  so innocent and so undeserving of this cruel fate that this evil world had dealt her. None of this was fair. Why should she die and I get to live? 

I couldn't deal with it anymore. The emotion was overwhelming. The sobs that wracked my body were painful as my heart felt like it was being pried out of my chest, one millimetre at a time. I could barely see due to the tears blurring my eyes and could hardly even breathe with the crushing weight of the guilt and sadness.  

A sudden movement from above me drew my attention immediately. My eyes shot up to Lily, seeing her still unconscious but twitching slightly as one does when having a nightmare. I was instantly at her side, stroking her hair gently in an attempt to calm her. As I did though, I noticed just how hot she had become. Her forehead was burning up dangerously hot. She already had a fever. Dread coursed through me as I remembered the exact same turn of events happening to Alec before he turned. But why was it happening so much quicker to Lily? 

I was scared, terrified of her dying. She was getting sicker at a much faster rate than Alec had. Maybe because she was bitten instead of scratched? Because she was smaller than Alec? I didn't know why but I was fearful that she didn't have long left. That I wouldn't be able to say good-bye to her. 

I quickly fetched another bowl, filling it with water from one of our bottles. Unfortunately, it wasn't cold but instead room temperature. It was the best I had though and was still cooler than her so I put it to use, draping damp cloths over her forehead, arms, legs, anywhere I could in an effort to cool her down, completely discarding the blanket I had previously given her. 

Nothing seemed to work. The cloths heated up as soon as they touched her red-hot skin, proving to be completely ineffective. Nevertheless, I continued, re-wetting and changing the flannels, trying as hard as I could as Ace watched on helplessly. 

I almost jumped three feet backwards as I was replacing the cloth on her forehead. Her good hand had suddenly shot up, without warning, to tightly grip my wrist at the same time that her eyes opened wide. What I saw when they did open left me utterly speechless.

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Another chapter! Hope you like! 

~ Beth xx ~