Fever

Preciliano overhears Troy ask Leslie.

"want us to go get him, or wait?"

she responds.

"let's wait for him here, since he stayed behind to distract them for us, and told us to wait for us on the house behind ours, which is this one."

Preciliano unable to concentrate properly, asks Leslie.

"what did you do to recover from the fever?"

what I asked inmediately grabs Tracy's attention and asks.

"you were bit and lived through the fever?"

she shows her bitten arm.

"yeah, I managed to pull through."

she then answers me.

"all I did was rest, and treated it like you would for a regular fever and your body does the rest."

Tracy grabs my arm and pulls me towards the bedroom.

"come on Percy, we can't have you feeling unrested let's get you to rest properly."

Kelly agrees.

"good idea, if there is a chance that he can survive the fever we will take it."

Leslie makes a suggestion.

"if you have ibuprofen then you should get it ready for when the fever starts to hit him."

Preciliano then shouts at Troy.

"once Leslie's husband comes, get us out here!"

he lays down on the double bed, with Tracy sitting beside him, he asks her.

"you planning on babysitting me this while time?"

she responds.

"yes, if you have a problem with that then you shouldn't go around getting bit."

he replies feigning that his feelings were hurt.

"ouch, that one hurt."

he gets serious and said.

"look sis, what Leslie told us is very promising, but we should be prepared for the worst."

she grabs his hand and said.

"I know, but I don't think I'll ever be ready to lose you, now that mom, dad and Thomas aren't with us anymore."

after a few moments passed by, Preciliano starts swearing profusely, and starts to cough.

"I think it is starting to hit me."

Tracy puts her hand on his forehead and thinks to herself.

"I should get Leslie, since she already went through she'll be able to help out much better than I would."

Preciliano grabs Tracy by her wrist and pulls her towards him.

"wait, I want to ask you something before, I lose the chance to find out."

she responds.

"yeah, go ahead and ask."

he asks.

"why did you kiss me?"

she gets close to him and places her forehead on his.

"I don't know, it just happened in the moment, but I really liked that we did that."

Preciliano asks.

"what about Troy?"

she answers uninterested.

"what about him?"

she lowers her head to kiss Preciliano again, but he moves his head to the side to prevent her lips from touching his.

"stop, this virus could be transmitted through saliva, and I don't want to do that to you."

she kisses him on the forehead and whispers.

"if you recover, let's leave together and we will look out for each other."

Preciliano coughs and chuckles.

"sure, let me just stop myself from turning into one of them."

she kisses him the forehead once more.

"if you you do survive this, I'll give you a special gift, on your eighteenth birthday next month."

Preciliano asks with excitement.

"what is it?"

she said being coy.

"you'll see."

she gets up from the bed and said.

"keep resting, I'll go get Leslie."

Preciliano lays back on the pillow thinking to himself.

"holy shit, is she for real? but I can't do with her, she is my sister."

his mind degrades as he continues imagining about doing it with her.

"you can't do that with your totally hot non blood related sister."

he enforces this way of thinking.

"no one will judge us, since there is no societal repercussions, with civilization collapsing."

Leslie walks into bedroom holding rope interrupting his active imagination.

"how are you feeling Percy?"

he answers.

"I think the fever is starting to set in."

she touches my forehead.

"yeah it's burning hot."

she then begins to tie up his hands and legs to the bed posts.

"sorry if it is too tight, we can't risk having you break free if you don't survive the fever."

she sits on the side of the bed and asks.

"so what is the deal with you and Tracy?"

he responds.

"what do you mean?"

she responds.

"well she mentioned that you two are brother and sister, but I fail to see the resemblance."

he smiles.

"well when I was six and she was seven, her mom and my dad got married, so we are not blood related siblings."

she sighs in relief.

"thank the lord, I wasn't thinking something offensive, since I'm assuming you are Mexican, and she is White."

Preciliano nods.

"well my dad moved to here in the U.S from Mexico, and then dad met my mom when he visited Italy."

she asks.

"did your dad and mom split up?"

Preciliano shakes his head.

"my mom died of lung cancer when I was two years-old, I didn't get a chance to properly know her."

Preciliano continues trying not to dive further into that subject

"and as for Tracy, her grandparents moved to Vermont from Sweden."

Leslie smiles.

"yeah I can tell."

Preciliano starts coughing violently, and spits outs a bit of mucus and blood, Leslie sighs.

"I'll go look for something you can spit in, so you don't ruin the floor and get some cool water to put on your forehead."

she leaves Preciliano alone, and he already starts to feel light headed, and chills running down his spine, he trembles.

"fuck, this isn't like any other fever I've felt before."

Leslie returns with a water bottle, a small rag,

and small plastic bucket, she then places the bucket next to Preciliano and wets the rag a bit and places it over his forehead, he notices that she is smiling, so he asks her.

"did something good happen?"

she replies smiling.

"my husband William, he came back safe and sound because of your friend Troy."

Preciliano thinks to himself.

"good it looks like Troy did something good, even though I told him not to help out strangers."

he asks.

"is he currently meeting them?"

she nods.

"yeah, he was surprised that random strangers wanted to help us."

he coughs.

"I was against helping you guys, since I'm more concerned about our survival."

she grabs my hand, showing her great bedside manners.

"it's understandable, but apparently William and Troy almost got into it when he mentioned me and my daughter."

Preciliano coughs up blood and spits it into the plastic bucket after chuckling.

"it hurts to laugh, but knowing how Troy is I'm not surprised they almost fought."

a tall bald, African-American man in a plain white t-shirt and black gym shorts, walks into the bedroom and asks.

"how is the kid doing Honey?"

Preciliano notices him holding a handgun, and comments.

"at least you can easily deal with me when I turn."

Leslie strokes his hair.

"don't think like that young man, your sister is out there hopelessly worried sick about what is going to happen to you, so just think about her so it can help you recover."

William approaches the bed.

"she has a point kid, as long as there is chance of you beating this fever like my wife did, then you shouldn't give up."

He then smiles.

"William Jones, nice to meet you kid."

Preciliano responds.

"Preciliano Munez, but everyone calls me Percy."

Preciliano then gets curious on how William held off against the moving corpses, and asks.

"Leslie told me your house became overrun by them, how did you manage to do that?"

William shows his pistol.

"they are attracted to noise, and it also helps that I have good cardio to outrun them, because those fuckers can run."

Preciliano responds with a raspy after coughing up more blood and mucus and spitting it into the bucket.

"that is amazing William while you survived against a group of them, I got bit by defending Troy's mom Missus Morgan, from his dad who turned into one of them just before we encountered your wife and daughter."

William replies.

"don't beat yourself up kid, you did the right thing protecting someone, even if it cost you your life."

Leslie removes the rag from his forehead, and asks as she places her hand on it to check how hot is forehead is.

"how are you feeling Percy."

Preciliano replies feeling his throat get dryer.

"a little thirsty, but don't waste any fresh drinking water on me."

Leslie not having any of Preciliano's protests, replies.

"shush boy, and accept that people want to help you."

she turns to her husband and asks.

"can you ask his sister Tracy to bring him some water."

William nods.

"on it honey."

Preciliano finally closes his eyes to rest, while Leslie thinks to herself as she stares at Preciliano's pale face.

"maybe having his sister here, will give him the hope he needs to fight through this fever."

Tracy comes into the bedroom holding a plastic bottle filled water.

"I got you some water Percy."

Leslie makes a request.

"sit beside him and help him drink some water."

after sitting down next to him Tracy asks Leslie.

"what do you think, will he make it through?"

she shrugs her shoulders.

"I wish I had all the answers, but if survived the fever, then it is logical to think others can live through it."

Leslie wets the rag again and places it on his forehead, while Tracy stares at his pale face, trying hard to hold back tears.

"god, I feel so helpless."

she strokes his hair gently and sobs.

"I can't lose him."

Leslie thinks to herself.

"there is no doubt in my mind that these two have a bond."

she asks Trace with a sympathetic smile.

"so tell me something about your brother Tracy if you don't mind me asking."

Tracy answers after sniffling.

"people always misunderstood him, since he always kept to himself and never cared about being socially accepted."

she grins.

"he could have been popular if he tried."

Leslie asks intrigued.

"oh and what makes you say that?"

she replies while feeding him a bit of water.

"well I have friend named Ashley, and she was known amongst the guys in school as the ice princess, but for some reason, Percy was the only one she was warm to."

she giggles to herself.

"he always mad where laugh with his goofiness."

she sighs giving him a small amount of water.

"but when things matter the most, he becomes the most serious and dependable person you will ever meet."

Leslie rubs her eyes to prevent herself crying with how sentimental Tracy became from what little she described her brother and she sniffs.

"wow, I can tell that you really love him."

Preciliano unaware about the conversation that unfolded before him, since he's been in and out of it, suddenly starts shaking violently, Tracy gasps.

"oh my god, what is happening to him?"

Leslie responds.

"this is where find out if, he pulls through or comes back as one of them."

William returns to the bedroom and asks.

"I heard the bed shaking, is it happening now?"

Leslie responds.

"have your gun ready just in case honey."

Preciliano's body stops shaking and his breathing becomes heavy, he then slowly opens his eyes and asks feeling parched.

"thirty."

Tracy hugs him crying her eyes out.

"you're still here, I thought I lost you."

Leslie let's Tracy embrace him, but then said to her.

"alright he didn't die and come back as one of them, help me untie him."

after untying him she said to Preciliano.

"you made it through the hard part kid."

still feeling physically weak because of the fever, he thinks to himself.

"I can't believe I made it through."

Tracy unable to hold back on how giddy she is feeling, she kisses him and as Preciliano feels his sister's tender and gentle kiss, he thinks to himself.

"I made it through because of my love for her."

she whispers to him.

"get some rest, I'll let them know that you are okay now."

even though he feels exhausted he manages to mumble.

"love you."

Tracy blushes and leaves the bedroom with huge smile and then finally Preciliano decides to close his eyes to get some sleep, while Leslie and William just watch in complete shock, unable to react on how Tracy kissed her brother Preciliano.