if we survive

t w e n t y s e v e n

r o r y

I couldn't tell you how confused I was as to why Ash let himself get bit. He knew there was a cure but there was no way he could possibly know if it worked or not. I dragged him by his unharmed wrist towards the medical cabin. Ash had tears in his eyes and he wouldn't stop begging me to let his friends leave safely. I wasn't about to let them go get an army to attack my people with, I had to protect Asher and Jade and letting Adrian escape when I knew he'd come back and threaten my people with an army we couldn't possibly beat would just be idiotic. As we arrived at the medical cabin Ash stopped talking completely and all I heard from him was his deep breaths he always did to calm
himself down or at least attempt to. I opened the cabin doors, pulling Ash inside behind me.

"Sit down on the cot, I need to talk to Benji." I told Ash. He didn't move.

"Coleman said he hasn't spoken since Mika died." Ash started watching Benji from the corner of his eye. Benji hadn't taken his eyes off of Ash since we walked in. I couldn't tell if they were acting suspicious or if they were just surprised to see each other in this situation.

"Yeah, that's because he's traumatized from seeing his best friend being eaten alive. I'll get him to talk, go sit down." I didn't drop my glare until Ash reluctantly went and sat down on the hospital cot. I walked up to Benji who shot me a worried glance and pointed at Ash probably to ask what was wrong with him.

"He was bit, he said he wants to be the person to test the cure." I waited for Benji's eyes to widen but he just nodded and started to walk away but I grabbed his wrist. He looked at me. "I know you gave him something, if whatever you said in that note had anything to do with him trying to kill himself I'll have your head on a spike." Now Benji's eyes widened but he just pulled away from me ran to the backroom. I limped over to Ash cursing when sharp pains shot through my knee. I sat on the medical cot beside the one he lied on and looked at my brother. He looked terrible. He still wore the green shirt that had been soaked with lurker blood and dried blood was still on the side of his face and now his wrist was missing skin and it dripped black and red blood onto the sheets of the cot.

"You scared the hell out of me." I mumbled. I watched Ash glance at me for a split second before scoffing.

"Yeah that was kind of the whole point."

"Did Adrian know you were planning to get yourself killed?" I asked. Ash finally looked at me for longer than half a second and shook his head. "Did anyone know?" He shook his head again. I sighed and turned to Benji as he walked in holding two vials filled with a red liquid. He moved to Ash's side.

Benji took a deep breath and spoke for the first time in three weeks. "I have to apply the cure now and again immediately after the disease takes over your body." He said to Ash opening one vile and dumping its contents on Ash's bite. Ash let out a painful cry as soon as the liquid touch his bite.

"Dammit Ben, you didn't say it would hurt worse to apply the cure than it does to get bit." He said through gritted teeth.

"I've never had it applied so I wouldn't know." Benji shrugged and glanced at me nervously. "If this doesn't work, just know that I tried my best." All I could do was nod.

Ash put his hand on Benji's arm. "If it doesn't work, it's not your fault."

"Now, we just wait. When the virus starts to take effect you'll get nauseous, dizzy, and urges to kill us." Benji said and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his back pocket. "Meaning, for our safety and yours you've gotta be restrained as soon as the symptoms start showing." Benji tossed the handcuffs to me and walked over to the medicine cabinet.

"How long will it take for me to start...you know, losing it." Ash asked, anxiety found its way into his voice.

"It just depends on how strong your immune system is." Benji said without looking our way.

"His immune system is weaker than most, um, when we were kids he was always hospitalized when he got sick because most of the time he got sick more severely than anyone else I knew." I said staring at my hands. Ash was almost always sick when we were kids, eventually our mom decided to homeschool us so he wouldn't be exposed to more sicknesses than need be. After that he'd rarely get sick, and during the apocalypse I assume his immune system strengthened enough to keep him healthy.

"In that case, it should take about four hours at most." Benji said. He didn't seem too fazed by the fact that he was going to witness somebody becoming a flesh eating monster in four hours. The thought of it made my heart pound a little faster.

I looked at Ash and he was already watching me with eyes full of genuine concern. "You don't have to stay and watch me die, you can go. I swear I won't leave, you can even handcuff me right now if it makes you feel better."

I looked down again. It was hard to keep my emotions sealed up, crying wasn't something I let other see from me. If I cry I'll show weakness and if I stayed in this room beside my little brother who was slowly dying in front of my any longer I would cry and I can't guarantee I'll be able to stop. I pulled the handcuffs from my pocket and snapped one over Ash's unharmed wrist and the other in the water pipe on the wall behind him. If I spoke, my voice would sound broken and weak so I sat there beside my brother not daring to look at him. He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me into a hug I couldn't escape.

"If this doesn't work, leave my friends alone, that's all I ask." He said into my ear before pulling away. I looked at him for a second and nodded slightly giving him a small half-hearted smile.

I pulled out my walkie-talkie and ordered whoever was listening: "Stand down, let that boy and the girls leave unharmed." Immediately after I said this Ash let out a relieved sigh and smiled. He smiled while he was being turned into a flesh eating monster. It was hard for me to understand how but I patted his leg and left the medical cabin taking a deep breath as I walked down the steps. He would be okay. The cure would work.