Chapter 14 (Infection)

Chapter 14: Infection

Valentine Evans

August 2023

About 15 months after outbreak

Miami

Season 2

--------------------------------

Eventually, we met back up with the rest of the group, the dead were inside the building too, we couldn't stay there even if we wanted. We roamed Miami without a plan like before, I didn't tell anyone about what had happened to me, Maverick didn't tell them either. The way Arwen hugged me when they saw I was okay made me forget about it almost all together.

"Valentine, you look pale. Have you been taking the meds to bring your fever down?" Maverick whispered as the others slept soundly.

"Yeah, I have."

"Maybe you have tetanus, it could be some sort of infection."

"You know what it is, Maverick."

"No, we don't know that. Wanna go outside in case the others wake up?"

"Sure."

"Shouldn't you have already turned by now if the virus was still in your system?"

"We don't know how the virus works, we don't even really know if it is a virus."

"Are you gonna tell the others?"

"I can't. I can't hurt them like that. Not until we're doing better at least."

"We're doing fine-"

"We're sleeping in a gas station, Maverick."

"What if you don't have that much time left?"

"I'll keep going until I can't anymore."

The summer heat of the beating sun and the humidity of late August made my head dizzy. We didn't have any water, I blamed my nausea on the lack of nourishment and dehydration but I knew it was more complicated than that. I blacked out onto the pavement, I felt the gravel burn my skin before I couldn't feel anything anymore. I was dying, the infection never left. I didn't know how much longer I had and for the first time in a while, the thought of dying actually terrified me.