by Lake, D. K.
After Margo had left the room I climbed up onto the bed next to him and leaned back against the headboard.
"Have you met Mary yet?" Lane asked.
"Yes, she seems really nice. Has Nick been down to see you to let you know what the plan is?"
"Yes, he's been popping down every hour. I can't get any alone time."
"Alone time? You mean with Margo?"
"She's not that bad, Alley. Once you get to know her, she's really sweet and funny."
"Right."
"You just need to give her a chance." Lane wheezed and started coughing.
"Uh...do you need me to get you anything?" I asked, watching as he gasped for air.
He waved his hand behind me and I saw an oxygen mask hanging up. I quickly grabbed it and handed it to him and he pressed it to his face and breathed in deeply.
"Why do you have that?" I asked.
"It helps. Just until the antibiotics kick in I'm gonna be wheezy and feel like shit." he said, placing it back over his mouth and he pointed at the water jug.
I got up and switched the bedside light on so I could see better and I saw just how pale and sick Lane looked. His eyes looked tired and his body looked exhausted, just holding the oxygen mask up looked like too much effort for him.
I poured him a glass of water and stuck one of the straws in and climbed back onto the bed and held the straw for him while he had a drink and then he laid back on the bed, smiling at me.
"Why are you smiling?" I asked.
"Just happy."
"You're sick. How can you be so happy?"
"Because we're here, we all made it here, we're all alive and healthy."
"Apart from you." I said, fluffing the pillows behind him.
"Stop worrying, you look so stressed."
"Yes, because I've been worried about you, worried that we were all going to be locked up and held hostage, worried that I would be used as some science experiment."
"You don't need to worry anymore, everything is going to work out, you'll see."
"Hmm...I hope so."
I stared at the TV screen, not really paying attention to any of it.
"So how do you feel about staying here and helping Nick reproduce the cure?" Lane asked.
"It's not like I really have a choice. Nick needs me so I won't be going anywhere."
"And what does he think about all this? Is he going to stay with you while you're here?" he said, referring to Drew.
"I guess so. I don't see why he'd leave."
"He always looks as though he wants to leave, always moping about like he's miserable."
"That's 'cause he is. He wants to go back home, but he can't at the moment."
"So will you go with him when you're finished here with Nick?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, Lane."
He looked back at the TV. "I don't like him, but if you can promise me you're happy with him and he'll look after you then I suppose I can live with that."
"He's not that bad...once you get to know him." I said with a little chuckle, repeating the same words Lane had said to me.
"Yeah right." He started to cough again and quickly held the oxygen mask to his face.
"Ok, no more talking. You need to rest."
He was about to say something when I shook my head.
"Ah ah ah. No talking. Just resting." I said, carefully laying down next to him and resting my head on his shoulder. "And I think you're right...about it all working out. We just need you to get better first." I said, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.
Chapter 24
It was raining today. It had rained all night and hadn't stopped. All I could see was rain. And all I could smell was damp earth from where the hole had been dug and the ground was slick with mud. I stared at the hole, everything felt a bit unreal. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. I felt Nick's hand on my arm as he gently pulled me back a step, still making sure the umbrella covered me as we stood in the cold rain. Mary had come outside and joined us with Wells by her side and they were stood on the other side of Nick. Sophie was cuddled up to Hutch next to me with her head on his shoulder, and the others from our group were standing around in silence, watching as the wooden box was lowered into the hole. It was a simple coffin. I didn't want anything to fancy. Lane would have hated anything else. Margo stood on the other side of the grave, sniveling with Alice holding onto her arm. I had already cried all my tears the night he died. His condition worsened and no medication could help him. Even with the best doctor, he didn't stand a chance. No one had been expecting this. We all assumed Lane would get better...until he got worse. And the thing that annoyed me the most was he died because of natural causes, not from a zombie bite or being killed by one of them, but because his lungs gave up. It was so unfair. We had come so far to lose him like this. I just couldn't believe it.
I glanced over my shoulder, searching for Drew again, and found him standing by the wall under the shelter of the trees. He hadn't joined us or got dressed up for the occasion, but he never strayed too far from me. Mary was dressed in a simple black skirt and white blouse with a black wool coat, and she'd had a selection of black clothes delivered to my room in case I wanted to wear something different. I had chosen a simple black shift dress with frilly sleeves and a bow at the back of the dress with a chunky black cardigan to keep me warm. Sophie and Hutch were in smart clothes, and Margo was in a short black mini skirt and a black blouse with nothing else on. She must be freezing because her legs looked like they were shaking as she edged forward to throw a white rose onto the coffin before bursting into tears. Alice put her arm around her and steered her away and they walked back indoors. The others started to trickle back to the building. Sophie gave me another hug before she walked back with Hutch, and Mary gave me a small smile and gently squeezed my hand before leaving. Nick patted my shoulder, telling me it was time to go in.
"Alex, are you coming?" Nick asked.
I shook my head. I wasn't ready to go back inside just yet.
Nick lifted my hand and pushed the umbrella into it and walked back to the building. I hadn't even seen Nick cry. He was so strange sometimes. He hadn't even changed for the funeral and was still in his white lab coat. I knew he was upset but he was using his work as a way of distracting himself.
I stayed in the rain for what felt like another hour watching as two men in overalls shoveled soil into the hole. Drew eventually wandered over to me. He didn't have an umbrella and he was soaked through from head to toe by the time he reached me.
"Alex, you need to come inside." Drew said but I didn't move.
He walked in front of me and grabbed my arms and shook me to get my attention. "Alex! You can't stay out here in this rain, you'll get sick."
Of course, he was right. I nodded but didn't say anything and he took the umbrella from me and led me back inside. He shook off the umbrella and a maid was quick to take it off him before he put any more water spots on the carpet, and another maid appeared and handed Drew a towel which he used to dry his hair. We moved along the hallway, heading in the direction of our room. Even though it was our room we hadn't even spent one night in their together. The first night I kept Lane company and he made Margo and I sit in the same room and we had to play nice and get along. The next night Lane was still unwell and I was worried about him at night so I slept on the large cushion in the window seat nearby to keep an eye on him, and then the next night things weren't improving and it became a pattern until he was transferred into the new hospital wing that had been set up inside the building, and we lost him a few nights after that.
Drew jogged up the stairway in front of me and I trudged to the bottom step, I felt so worn out I didn't even know how I was going to make it to the top of the stairs. I made it halfway before I felt nauseous again. I had been throwing up on and off for days, mostly in the mornings, like today. I had no idea why though and I didn't want to be a problem so I had done a good job of keeping it from everyone...until now. I knew I was goin
g to throw up so I looked for the nearest thing I could see and found a large decorative vase standing on the landing which I beelined for. I stuck my head in the hole and threw up the apple and orange juice which is all I managed to eat for breakfast. I still had my head in the vase when a maid hurried over to me and stood by my side, holding out a tissue for me to wipe my mouth. Drew had noticed I'd stopped and jogged back down the stairs and stopped next to us.
"Are we going to talk about this?" he asked.
"Talk about what?" I said, straightening up and wiping my mouth.
"You just threw up in a vase."
"So?"
The maid stayed quiet and quickly hurried off.
"I know you've been throwing up most days. I'm not stupid. You may think you've got everyone else fooled but I know what's been going on, sneaking off to the bathroom to be sick in the mornings."
"Drew," I sighed. I didn't want to do this right now. I was too tired.
"Alex, honey, is everything alright?" Mary appeared with the same maid by her side, heading our way.
Mary had since got changed and was now wearing a cashmere cream top with a short black skirt.
"She's been throwing up for days, she hasn't told anyone." Drew told her and I wanted to punch him.
Since being here Drew had spent more time with Mary and his opinion of her had changed, he trusted her and felt safe enough to inform everyone I was sick. But I wasn't sick, sick. I was just throwing up a bit.
"I'm fine, it's probably just the water or something." I said, waving it off.
"It's not the water. She was getting sick before we left Missouri." Drew said.
How did he know? It was like he knew everything.
"Oh, sweetie, why didn't you say anything?" Mary said, placing a hand on my shoulder
"I didn't want to be a bother, and I don't feel sick. I just get a little sick now and then."
"I would feel better if Nick had a look at you." Mary said.
"I'm not infected if that's what you're thinking." I said, hand on hip.
"I know, but still if we get him to have a look at you."
I sighed. "Fine." I knew there was no way I was getting out of it if Mary had her way, she was very pushy but in a friendly way.
Drew led me away, leading me down the hallway with a firm grip on my arm.
"It's ok, Drew. I'm not going to run away."
"Just making sure." he responded.
"This is silly, there's nothing wrong with me! And Nick will be mad for wasting his time, you know he likes to be left alone while he works on the cure, he hates being interrupted. He's probably already back at work right now."
"So he can spare five minutes to check you over."
Drew practically dragged me down to the area where the laboratory and testing area had been set up, with a hospital wing behind the next door which I really didn't want to see today because it would only remind me of the last few days I had spent with Lane, sitting next to the bed he eventually died in.
Today the door was closed and Drew pulled me toward the door that had a sign on that read: Scientists hard at work. Do Not Disturb! Nick thought it was funny, I told him it was lame. Drew banged on the door and a second later the door sprang open and a tiny Chinese man peered out at us and said something in Chinese. Drew frowned, having no idea what the man was saying.
"Get Nick." Drew ordered.
The man looked confused.
"Nick. Get...Nick."
"N-ick." the man repeated.
Drew muttered something incoherent and just pushed the door open and barged through, pulling me with him. Nick was standing at the back of the room with another two scientists in white lab coats. Nick looked up and sighed.
"This is a sterile area...you've probably got more bacteria on you than a public toilet." Nick said, removing his goggles and glaring at Drew.
The whole room smelled of cleaning chemicals and the air con was on too high for my liking. I had only been in here two times and each time Nick took my blood pressure, checked inside my mouth for I don't know what, and then he took three samples of blood each time. That was all he wanted from me. I was dreading what he was going to do, thinking he was going to keep me locked up for hours at a time, draining my blood, hooked up to tubes when in reality none of that actually happened, leaving me time to focus on caring for Lane, sharing the duties with Margo as she insisted on staying by his bedside as well.
"Alex, please tell me why you and Tarzan decided to gatecrash my lab?"
"You need to look at her, she keeps throwing up." Drew said not even giving me a chance to answer.
"How long has this been going on? What time did it start at?" Nick asked.
"It started weeks ago she just hasn't told you."
"What? Alex, you know you're still in the recovery stage. I need to document everything that happens to you. Why didn't you tell me?" Nick fretted.
I sighed. "Because...I thought it would stop."
"So how long exactly has this been happening and when?"
"I dunno, since Missouri, I guess. I dunno I've lost track of when it started."
"Most mornings." Drew added.
"Most mornings, hmm?" Nick mused, going over to a metal lab table and picking something out of a plastic basket. "I want you to go and fill this up." Nick said, handing the plastic tube to me.
"Fill it up with what?" I said dumbly.
"Urine, Alex." Nick sighed, ushering us out the door.
I took one look at Drew and headed for the nearest bathroom. I pushed the door open and was about to close the door when Drew pushed his way inside and closed the door behind him.
"I really don't need you in here while I try to pee in this miniature tube." I said, needing the toilet anyway.
"Why do you think he wants a pee sample?" Drew asked, leaning against the sink with his arms crossed.
"How should I know?"
I lifted up my dress and pulled down my knickers and sat on the toilet. Drew looked at me with this look, it was like a light bulb had just switched on in his head, and something flashed across his eyes.
"Don't look." I snapped, feeling embarrassed as I undid the tube and held it underneath me.
"You don't think..." Drew trailed off.
"What? Don't think what?" I asked, getting irritated as I suddenly couldn't go now I was on the toilet.
"You don't think it's come back."
"Come back? What are you talking about?"
"The virus. What if it's coming back...just at a slower rate?"
"Not really what I want to hear right now, Drew."
"Why else would you be getting sick?"
"I dunno, maybe my diet. It changes so often that my body can't keep up. One minute I'm eating rabbit, the next I'm eating the packet stuff the government provides, and now I'm eating five star meals. It's probably just my system trying to adjust or something like that. You're all making a fuss over nothing."
"Are you nearly done yet?" he asked.
"No, I haven't even started going yet. You being in here isn't helping. If you want me to pee then you're going to have to leave the bathroom." I said.
He grunted something I didn't quite catch, threw the door open and pulled it closed again.
It still didn't happen right away and I had to wait another three minutes before I could go. Drew talking about the virus coming back had me on edge. I tried not to panic but now he had put that idea in my head and there was no going back. I managed to go in the end but most of it went all over my fingers. Ugh. I quickly screwed the lid back on and left it in the sink and dragged my panties back up my legs before running my hands under the water and cleaning them and the tube with soap. I hurried out of the bathroom and Drew made a move to take the tube from me but I quickly moved it out of his reach.
"I can carry it." I told him firmly, also because I had peed on it and I didn't want him to touch it.
We walked back to the lab, Drew's pace had slowed down and turned into more of a casual stroll, and j
ust before we reached Nick's lab Drew grabbed my arm and pulled me into a little alcove.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
Drew let go and rubbed his forehead as though he was trying to come up with something to say.
"Drew?"
"Look...if something is wrong and the cure is failing-"
"Ohmigosh, will you stop it already! You're starting to make me panic."
"If you are reinfected and Nick can't help you...we should leave."
"Enough, Drew!"
I dragged my fingers through my hair and used the elastic on my wrist to tie it into a scruffy knot at the back.
"I'm not reinfected. Stop worrying."
I could tell by the way his body was angled away from me, the way his boot was scuffing the shiny floor, the way his hands were in his pockets, it was like he was already resigned to the fact that I was infected again. I quickly shoved my pee sample in my pocket and stepped closer to him
"Look at me." I said, gently taking his face in my hands and turning him to look at me.
"I'm not infected." (I hope I'm not infected). "I feel fine." I assured him, trying to fight off a yawn that was threating to escape.
I wasn't fine. I felt tired. I was hungry all the time. And I was throwing up. Something was off but I didn't want Drew to worry about me because I knew it would mess with his head and he would do something drastic like leaving without telling me or something else erratic. He was so unpredictable at times.
Drew just stared into my eyes but said nothing. I pressed a quick kiss to his lips but he didn't kiss me back. I could feel him pulling away already.
"Come on, let's go and see what Nick has to say." I smiled, trying to appear as though everything was ok, but inside I was bricking myself. What if I was infected again? What if Nick couldn't help me this time? What if being infected so many times had made me immune to any cure Nick could create for me? What if I turned this time?
I picked up Drew's hand and we walked back to Nick's lab but I stopped and turned to Drew just before we reached the door.
"Hey, um...let me go in alone, ok?" I said, placing my hand on his chest to stop him from going inside.
