by Baker, LJ
"Then why are you giving me this?" I looked at the syringe in my hand.
"I don't need two. If something happens to me out there, you should have the other one. Janet would have wanted you to have it. Andi, you save that for yourself. No giving it to anyone else. There's no guarantee it will work. Will was very lucky, but if anyone gets that chance, it needs to be you."
I couldn't imagine watching someone die and not giving them an opportunity for a cure, no matter how low the chances of it working were.
"Andi, promise me. I risked my life to come out here and make sure you were all right. I need you to keep that with you at all times and use it only on yourself."
I glanced down at the syringe in my hand. The yellow serum stared up at me like a golden ticket into the Wonka factory. It saved Will, even with only a fifteen percent chance. It worked. As rare as it might be, it could possibly do the same for me one day.
"Derek, if someone else--"
"No, Andi. It's for you only. I know we don't know each other that well. But I promised Janet I'd keep you safe, and this is the best way I know how. Look, I know it's a lot to ask, but could you just humor me, and say yes?"
I thought about Dan. The one other person in our crap world that I loved. If he was infected, there was no way in hell I'd sit by and watch him die if there was even the tiniest chance I could save him.
I nodded and closed my hands around the syringe. I didn't like to lie, but I had to do the right thing if I ever found myself in the situation. I'd lost enough people already without having any chance of helping them. I wouldn't do it again. Not if I had any choice at all.
***
Dan slumped onto the couch next to me and took a deep breath. "He's asleep again. How's your ankle?"
"Throbbing. You get him all cleaned up?"
"Yeah. He wasn't happy about it either. When he's better I'm going to punch him in the mouth."
I elbowed him in the ribs. "You are not."
"Derek and I were talking... you know it's going to take him weeks to fully recover from this, right?"
"He said it might take some time. I'm sure he won't be this grumpy the whole time. If he is, there's duct tape in the back."
"As tempting as that is, that wasn't what I meant."
"Okay, what then?"
Dan took a breath and turned to look at me. "You can't travel back to that military base with him not one hundred percent."
"I'm not going anywhere. I thought we talked about this."
Dan shook his head. "No, that was before... when he was... I mean, now that he's going to... I just thought—"
"I am not leaving you. We aren't going back, at least not now, and we aren't going anywhere without you. Did Will say otherwise?"
"No, but…"
I ran my hand over the side of his face. His eyes were sad and I knew I was at the root of that pain. He was my best friend and I loved him. There was no way I was letting him go.
Dan closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the couch. I moved closer and rested my head on his arm.
"Is Derek staying?"
"I don't really know. We haven't discussed it, but honestly, I don't see him wanting to. He has a good life at the military base. It wouldn't make sense for him to leave that behind to stay here." I wasn't even sure I wanted him to. Derek was a nice guy and I'd be forever grateful to him for saving Will's life, but I wouldn't be sad to see him go back.
Two sets of three knocks sounded from outside the basement door. It was our signal that whoever was about to enter, was welcomed and not a stranger. Which meant, it was Derek since anyone else who knew that signal, and was still alive, was already in the basement.
Derek carried in a sack of meat and headed for the kitchen. "Got a deer. We'll have food for a while."
We had no refrigeration, so any extra would need to be dehydrated or canned. And there was a lot of it.
"Where the hell did you find a buck that big?" Dan looked over the cuts of meat as Derek pulled them from the bag and set them out to be prepared.
"Not that far actually. It was just walking out of a shed a few blocks over. You wanna give me a hand?"
I left the men to take care of the messy part and went in to check on Will. He was awake and sitting up in bed with one of Amy's Twilight books open in his lap. Amy was my best friend and lived in the basement with us in the early days of the outbreak. She used to read those books every night before she went to bed. Out loud. It drove me nuts, but I'd give almost anything to have that girl back and reading to me one more time.
"So, you team Edward or team Jacob?" I climbed onto the bed next to him.
He rolled his eyes. "That's a dumb question. How is Dan anyway? Seemed like something was bothering him before."
"He was afraid we were going to go back to the base and leave him." I reached up and felt his forehead for any sign of fever. His head was cool, but he was still pale.
He closed the book and placed it back on the night stand. "What did you tell him?"
"That we weren't leaving him, of course. Even if we did decide to go back, I'm not going anywhere without him. You are both stuck with each other because I refuse to lose anyone else I care about. Which also means, you to need to find a way to get along, because if there's any more jealousy or fighting, I swear to God, I will physically hurt you both."
Will laughed and looped his arm behind me. "Yes boss. No more fighting."
"I mean it Will."
He leaned down and brushed his nose across mine. "I'll behave. I promise."
CHAPTER SEVEN
"Are you sure you're all right here on your own? I can stay as long as you need me to." Derek balanced his backpack on the floor and looked over me.
"I'm sure. Your life is back at the military base. I never figured you'd stay anyway."
"Andi, Will is going to need a couple weeks to really be up on his feet and that basically leaves two of you to defend this place and take care of everything. I can stay longer if you need me to."
"We're safe here. Dan and I can handle things until Will is better. I promise, we're good here."
Derek took a deep breath and paused before slinging his huge pack over his shoulder. "Is there anything you need here? I will be back out to check on you when I can."
I glanced around. We were pretty well set for everything but fuel and food and Dan was an excellent hunter. "Maybe some fuel for the heater when it gets colder. Other than that, we should be good. Or maybe another one of those shots." I winked and knew that last request was unlikely to be filled.
"I'll see what I can do." He pulled me into a crushing hug and nodded at each of the guys to say goodbye.
Normally when someone left, I couldn't help but think it was probably going to be the last time I'd see them. As I watched Derek climb the stairs out of the basement, I actually felt something like hope. I had a feeling we would see him again and I had to smile.
"Are you happy he left?" Dan gave me an odd look.
"No, why?"
"Well, you're smiling. It's not a typical reaction to watching someone leave."
My smile widened. "No, I guess it's not. I just don't feel like he's going to die."
Dan laughed. "Uh okay. That makes complete sense."
It had been several days since I sprained my ankle and I was down to one crutch. I could put a little weight on it, but it still hurt like hell. The swelling was down and it turned a sickly yellow color from its original black-purple, so at least it was getting better.
***
We had plenty of deer meat left from Derek's hunt, but Dan decided to go out anyway. I think he was just trying to give Will and me some space and I was grateful to finally have some time with him, but I worried about Dan out there alone.
"You're quiet." Will pulled himself upright on the couch where we were laying, wrapped around each other.
"I guess."
"What are you thinking about?"
I sat up and stretched, stalling. I wasn't sure how he
'd feel about me laying there with him thinking about Dan. "Nothing important. How are you feeling?"
Will narrowed his eyes. "Why are you avoiding the question?"
"I was just... it's nothing really."
"You're worried about Dan."
I was going to have to work on my poker face. "Yeah. I never used to worry when he went out. I don't know. Since you... you know... I just—"
"Andi, I get it. You almost lost me. I remember that night you were gone, after those assholes kidnapped you. I thought I was going to find you dead, or worse. And we hardly knew each other then. I can't even imagine what you went through."
"You're not mad?"
"Of course not. I know you care about Dan. You don't have to hide that. Almost dying, it puts things into perspective." He sat back on the couch and pulled me with him. "I was an idiot. I'm sorry about that."
I rested my head on his shoulder and looked up at him. "You really were an idiot." I took a deep breath of him and let his scent fill me. "Don't do that again."
"I'll try. Hey, ya know, Dan won't be back for a while." He raised an eyebrow and gave me a crooked smile.
"Yeah, so?" I knew what he was hinting at, but was going to make him work for it.
"So, I'm feeling a lot better."
"That's good." I faked a yawn and laid my head down on his chest. "Maybe we should take a nap?"
He pulled me on top of him. "No nap."
"What then?" I smiled and batted my eyelashes a few times with fake innocence.
He sat up and pulled me with him. "You gonna walk, or should I carry you?"
***
"So what's the plan?" Dan pushed pieces of meat around in a pan over the little camp stove.
"Plan?"
"Yeah. I mean, what... are we just staying here? The three of us?"
"Um, I guess so. Unless there's somewhere else you think we should go. We could go back to Mira and Jay's place if you don't like it here, but I just thought we'd stay for a while."
"No. There's nowhere else I want to go. I just wanted to make sure it was still okay for me to stay. I haven't really talked to Will about it, but if he's uncomfortable with me here, I would totally understand."
"Why are you being so weird lately? I already told you that you were stuck with me. Do you want me to say otherwise?"
"No of course not. I still feel kind of guilty for what happened to Will. He was right about everything."
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Uh no. He was being an idiot, and so were you."
I wanted to be mad when I thought about the way they acted, but then Dan smiled and I had no choice but to smile back.
"And Will feels the same way?"
"Yes, actually. He does. About you staying with us. As far as staying here, we haven't really talked about it. In the long term, it might be better to be with other people, I guess, but for now I just thought we could use some time just to... I don't know... be."
"I get that." Dan spooned his stew-like mixture into three bowls and set them on the table. "We are going to have to talk about the cooking though."
"It's not my fault you are the best cook in the house. Seriously, you don't want me to do it."
"That's for sure." Will walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table. His color was starting to come back, but he wasn't anywhere near back to normal.
I stuck my tongue out at Will and huffed. "Hey, I can make oatmeal."
"That's debatable." Will laughed. "I can cook next. Just let me know, but seriously, we should find another way for her to pull her weight."
"Idiots." I forked the meat into my mouth and sulked into my bowl. I wasn't that bad of a cook. Okay, maybe I was.
Will just smiled and turned to Dan to ignore my pouting. "So I overheard you two talking and I thought we should actually discuss things."
Dan took a seat and went to work on his food. It didn't matter what it was, or how bad it tasted, Dan ate with an enthusiasm that made me jealous. "I agree."
I looked up confused. "So you don't want to stay here?"
"I didn't say that, but if the three of us are going to stay together, we need to start talking about things, making decisions together." Will reached over and put his hand on my arm. "Don't you agree?"
"I guess." I was still pouting, for no good reason other than I felt like it.
Will shook his head at me and ate a few bites of his food. "Okay, so, I agree with Andi about staying here right now. We have nearly all the supplies that we need and let's face it, the place is pretty secure."
Dan nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan."
"That being said," Will continued. "I really feel like at some point, we need to leave this place and find something more permanent. With more people."
"Like Jay and Mira's place?" I looked up at Will hoping he wasn't about to say the military base.
"They have a nice setup and it's a start, I guess." Will looked like he was going to say something else, but stopped.
"Will… I don't want to—"
"Babe, I know you weren't happy at the base, and I'm not suggesting we go back there now, but just keep an open mind, okay?"
The base had some weird things going on, but that had nothing to do with me not wanting to go back. I missed the couple of friends I had there, Hadley and Jack, but it just wasn't enough to make up for the memories. It felt so wrong to go back there with Janet gone. Everything about that place reminded me of her. Even though we started out hating each other, I had grown to love her like a sister and losing her was still raw in my mind.
Dan stood and brought his bowl to the small sink to wash. "I'm up for whatever you two want to do. I'd just as easily stay here or go to Jay and Mira's. I'm not one for big crowds, but I can manage wherever."
Dan seemed at ease in every situation and everyone took to him easily. I couldn't imagine there being a place that he didn't fit in. I figured he actually did have a preference, but he was holding back because somewhere in the back of his mind, he worried that we would leave him behind. Not that there was any way in hell that was happening. We were going to find a way to make things work. I was sure of that.
***
We spent the rest of the day around the basement. Dan moved his stuff into my parent's old bedroom to give me and Will some space and Will did some of our laundry. Usually we washed clothes by hand, but he took apart the old washing machine in the corner of the kitchen area and got it working again. Mom used to complain about us having well water at least once a week, but she never knew how important it would become. At least it was one thing we didn't have to worry about.
By the time Will finished with the washer, he was wiped and needed to rest on the couch. Which was fine by me, since the guys insisted I stay put and rest my ankle and the boredom was just about killing me.
"How's the foot?" He sat next to me, lifted my leg into his lap and gently stroked over my ankle with this fingers.
"It's fine. Nearly good as new." I wiggled my toes around to prove it was almost healed. The muscles felt tight and it still ached, but it was a thousand times better than it was a few days earlier.
Will raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Don't think I missed you wincing this morning when you accidentally stepped down on it. It's okay to admit it still hurts, you know."
"Look, you need to stop babying me. It's not a big deal. I've survived worse." We all had. I wasn't going to be a baby about a sprained ankle.
"I know we have." He dropped his eyes and got a faraway look. "And I'll baby you if I want to."
"Who's being a baby?" Dan walked over and flopped down on the chair next to Will.
"Not me. Tell Will I don't need to be treated like I have some mortal injury. It's just a sprain and it's better." I shot Dan a pleading look, hoping he would actually take my side, but I wasn't really thinking he would. Since Will got better, the two had been getting along a lot better and that meant taking sides against me much of the time.
Dan held his hands up and shook his head.
"Oh no. You aren't dragging me into this."
"Sure I am. You must have an opinion."
Dan looked from Will to me and let out a sigh. "I do."
I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed. "Well then, what is it?"
Will chuckled at the exchange, knowing full well what Dan thought. I overheard the two talking about me an hour earlier, but I was hoping that to my face, he might actually side with me.
"Would it kill you to just rest it until it's one hundred percent better?" Dan tried to avoid eye contact and looked slightly uncomfortable. He didn't want to be put on the spot, but I was sick of feeling helpless and needed someone to back me up. And Will apparently thought I was some sort of china doll.
"See, two against one." Will pulled my sock down and took a peek at the offending ankle. "Still a little swollen."
"Ugh." I pulled my foot from him and crossed my arms over my chest. "I almost liked it better when you two wanted to kill each other."
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next few days passed in a blur. Will regained some of his strength back, but he was still getting fatigued easily and was nowhere near past his ordeal. My ankle was about as healed as it was going to get and the guys finally stopped treating me like I needed to be taken care of. Which was a good thing, because if I had to sit on that couch with my leg elevated one more day, I would have killed them both in their sleep.
Will and Dan were getting along exceptionally well. I was starting to wonder if it was all a dream and I was going to wake up and find them covered in bruises from knocking each other around. It was almost creepy how well they got along. I had my suspicions that if I wasn't in the picture, they would be great friends, but seeing it for real took some getting used to.
I was almost a little jealous of how close they were getting. I loved Will, and Dan was the best friend I had in our screwed up world, but it wasn't the same as having a girlfriend. It made me miss Janet even more. Not that Janet was the kind of person I could talk about girl things with and we weren't exactly sitting around making friendship bracelets, but I was pretty sure if she was still around, we would have gotten much closer.
