Final Hours

Chapter Twenty

I stirred opening my eyes, the room was bright and stung causing my eyes to water as I struggled to hold them open. Christian paced the room in front of my bed, from what I knew I was in my room.
"Chris?" I groaned, lifting my hand up to rub my eyes. Chris rushed over to my side of the bed and bent down on one knee. "What happened?" I asked looking around.
"You passed out...a mixture of shock, stress, and just lack of oxygen." He said, placing a hand on my arm and rubbing it, He looked tired.
"What time is it?" I asked groggily looking at the window, the curtains were wide open making the room very bright.
"About 9:30 something in the morning, you were out for the whole day." He responded with a weak and breathy laugh. I sat up adjusting the pillow behind me.
"You go get some sleep, I can take care of myself, how's Eric?" I asked, getting comfortable in my seated position.
"He's doing fine, he was in a little pain last night, he hated he couldn't help you." Chris said standing up, "but I'm definitely going to take you up on your offer to sleep." He said laughing as he walked over to the door, he flashed a weak smile before walking out the door.

I felt dizzy, probably thanks to not eating anything the day before. Hearing Chris's door latch shut I swung my legs over the bed and stood up. I swayed back and forth and caught myself on the wall, I held tight to the railing as I walked downstairs nearly turning my knuckles white. I walked carefully into the kitchen and grabbed a light snack that had some protein in it.
I already felt a million times better after that small amount of food. I peeked into the sitting area, Eric was sleeping a rag positioned against his side. Walking in quietly I kneeled next to him pulling the towel back, little red splotches riddled it but the wound itself was dry and seemed healed. I took the rag away and went to stand up when Eric stirred awake.
"Why hello..." he mustered out rubbing his eyes. "How are you feeling?" He asked squinting from the light.
"Fine...and you?" I replied standing up to close the curtains. He took a moment to sit up before answering.
"Sore, but surprisingly better then before." He said with a smile, I walked back over him to examine the wound. It was bruising and starting to mildly scab over, he'd definitely be left with a gnarly scar. "How does it look?" He asked looking down at the wound.
"From what I know it's progressing correctly, faster than some scars." I responded standing up to put the rag in the other room.
"Well good for me I guess." He joked watching me walk into the kitchen. I smiled, running the rag under the water and letting it sit in the sink. I walked back into the sitting area and looked at the book that still sat on the coffee table. "You really scared us yesterday." He added looking at me eyeing the book.
"It's not like I planned on it." I responded with a little laugh, he smiled leaning carefully to grab the book.
"Shall we pick up where we left off?" He asked, looking at the book and flipping through the pages. I nodded with a smile and he began reading. I found his voice soothing, it was nice to relax and listen to him read. We'd gotten halfway through the book the day before, I expected we'd finish it today.

The day went by fast, we'd finished the book hours ago but continued in conversations about childhood and life before the apocalypse. I'd gotten to know him pretty well and it felt nice to have this deeper understanding with him. I wasn't completely sure...but I think he enjoyed it too.