Bundle of Branches

Chapter 4

"So, we have a problem."

Jett is refusing to make eye contact with Izzy, and it's painfully obvious.

"And what is it?" Izzy folds her hands on her lap.

Jett still doesn't look at her. "Well..." He's stalling, he's stalling and it makes Izzy's chest hot with anger. He blows air from his lips. "Chance's wounds, they..."

Izzy notices a tear slip from Jett's eye, and he brushes it away. She softens her voice. "Spit it out, Jett." Worry eats away at her heart, but she tries her best to keep her face neutral. "Come on, it's okay. You can tell me."

"Chance's injuries are more... advanced than I originally suspected." Jett finally looks Izzy in the eyes. "His wounds are not healing - I believe that they are getting infected. And his internal bleeding is much worse than I thought at first. It can now be classified as severe." He spreads his hands, nervousness written in his eyes.

Izzy's heart is pounding so loud that she can barely hear what Jett is trying to say. "His... I'm sorry. His wounds are infected and his interior bleeding is worse?" Half of her is saying that she was right all along, Jett was hiding something, but the other half is more sober. "Chance... he could be... is he dying?"

"I don't... I don't think so, no." Jett looks genuinely concerned, and that almost hurts Izzy more than anything he's told her. "But he could end up passing away, and that's what we're going to be working our asses off to prevent, okay?" The shadows on Jett's face from the setting sun make him look older, and it strikes Izzy again how young he really is, a few years younger than her at the least. His language is so mature that it seems at times that he truly is an adult.

Izzy nods. Chance passing away just isn't feasible. She's already had to live with the possibility of his death looming over her head once - she doesn't think she can do it again. She'd always had to be the strong one; she and Dante never cry. Thalia and Chance were the emotional ones. Izzy had been shocked to feel tears running down her face when she and the team rescued Chance. Showing vulnerability like that... it just wasn't normal for her.

But judging by the cold feeling in her chest, "normal" isn't an idea that's going to feature much into her life anymore.

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"Chance, no!" Izzy throws herself at Jett. "Let me in to see him! Please!"

Jett blocks the doorway. "I'm sorry, Izzy. I- Paula told me not to. Look, you can see him when she lets you, but I don't think that'll be anytime soon because she doesn't think you're emotionally ready-"

But Izzy has already pushed past him, into the emergency med bay where Chance now resides. He looks sick, so sick, and it breaks Izzy's heart.

"Paula, what's wrong with him?" She's almost crying again, looking at Chance lying on one of the emergency med bay cots. "I'm not going away until you tell me."

And Paula looks defeated. She looks defeated, disappointed, sad. "He has sepsis, Izzy. I'm sorry."

"Sepsis?" Izzy's heart skips a beat. Sepsis, that's bad, it's... it can be deadly. "Oh my God... how- please let me talk to him."

Paula steps back from Chance's cot. "Alright, but he's not going to be able to understand you. You know that, right?"

Izzy kneels next to Chance. "Hey, Chance, bud, I- I know you can't hear me, but... I'm here. I'm here. I'm not going to leave your side okay?" She's tearing up, and she hates it, she hates it. "You can beat this, I know you can. Fight for me."

Chance's eyes flutter open, but he's not really seeing her, Izzy can tell. His forehead shines with sweat. "I don'... where... 'm I?" He's confused, fever clouding his mind, and he's slurring his words. "'S hot 'n here..."

He tries to sit up, and Izzy gently holds him down. "Hey, hey. Chance. Shh. Just- just rest, okay?" She strokes his face. "Just rest."

His breaths are hot and fast. "Where... where's Izzy?" Chance turns his head, looking as if he's staring right through her. "I wan' Izzy." But as soon as it started, it is over. His eyes drift closed. "'M tired," he whispers.

Izzy lets out a breath, and turns to look at Paula. "He said he needs me," she says. Tears cloud her vision. "He said-" She turns back to Chance. "Chance, if you're in there, if you can hear me..."

Paula puts a hand on Izzy's shoulder. "Sweetheart, it's the fever talking-"

"No!" Izzy chokes out a sob. "It's not. He... he needs me." She rests her head on Chance's chest, hearing his heart beat fast. "He needs me, and I'm not leaving him."

"Okay." Paula looks down. "I'm going to give him some antibiotics and hook him up to an IV, and then... you can stay with him for as long as you'd like."

Izzy doesn't take her head off of his chest. "Thank you," she says, her voice small. Her hand lightly traces shapes on Chance's shirt, and she closes her eyes. "I just... I can't lose him."

Izzy is five years old, and she hides behind her mother's legs. Another woman, a scared woman, stands at the edge of camp.

"Please help me," says the woman. She holds a baby. A young boy, about Izzy's age, stands at her side. "We haven't eaten in days, and my baby won't stop crying." The baby lets out a wail, and the woman looks close to tears herself.

Izzy's mother immediately steps over to the woman and puts an arm around her shoulders. "Come in - of course you can stay. What's your baby's name?"

"Zola." The woman is still terrified, but she has relaxed a little. "Thank you so much - yours is the third camp we've come across, and no one else would let us in, and I was just so worried."

"We'll take good care of you here," says Izzy's mother. "They took us in when we were cold and hungry a few years ago, and I'd like to pass that kindness on. Oh - and this is my daughter, Izzy."

Izzy shyly waves. "Hi," she whispers.

The woman gives a small smile. "And this is my son." She nods towards the young boy.

"Hi!" he says. "I'm Chance!"

Their friendship has only grown since then. Izzy stayed by Chance through the hardest times in his life, like when Zola died in the explosion a few years back. In return, Chance had stayed by her. They had each other's backs - that's what friends do. And then... and then she'd woken up one morning to find him missing.

She still remembers the horrible feeling in her chest when she joined the search party and they couldn't find him. It was empty, a black hole opening up in her heart. Did he leave them on purpose? Was he taken? Did he get injured - or worse, killed?

He's back now, she has to keep reminding herself. He's back, and even though he's very sick, he will probably get better.

Izzy squeezes Chance's hand. "Chance, you can't die on me, okay?"

He takes a shallow breath. His face is hot and flushed.

"Chance," Izzy says again, and then a sob escapes her. She wipes her tears away. "Remember when we were younger? Remember how we used to play together, and pretend we were going on jobs?" She gently strokes his forehead.

Chance slightly shifts in the cot, curling towards Izzy.

She lets out another sob. "We would go down by the river and climb to the top of the waterfall, and then jump down." Despite herself, she smiles. "I remember... you were always scared to jump, but one day you did and you realized it wasn't so scary after all." Izzy sighs. "This is the same. It's not so scary, okay? Just... fight it. Please."