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[ season one, episode five ]
When the RV came to a spluttering stop, everyone in the vehicles behind assumed the very worst.
Jim hadn't made it.
He had turned.
The fever had got him.
But they were wrong. Thankfully, it was due to the radiator hose causing problems that needed to be fixed before their journey could continue. Sage — having already seen the smoke billowing from the engine before the vehicle came to a halt — grabbed Dale's mechanical kit and grinned in success; Dale merely gestured an order for her, and Glenn, to help. When everyone else hopped out of the designated cars and gathered in the middle of the desolate road, Marley joined Jacqui in the back to check up on the fever-stricken patient.
She wished she hadn't.
He was coughing vehemently. Every inch of colour had drained from his sunken face. His wrinkles had suddenly become far more prominent, and sweat was dripping from his forehead, despite his frozen limbs trembling.
He looked like one of the undead — and Marley would've believed he was if it wasn't for the dark blue still swirling in his eyes.
"Jacqui . . ." Marley shook her head. She couldn't speak; the words had dried up on the tip of her tongue.
Jim hacked and, with a grimace, ran a shivering hand over his sodden hairline.
The woman beside Marley held a hand to her chest. "This is the worse he's been the entire trip." Jacqui murmured quietly, her voice wobbling. She looked to the adolescent beside her with downcast eyes. "I don't think he can take much more, Mar."
She was right. Unfortunately, Jacqui was so right thatit made Marley feel positively sick.
In fact, she couldn't think of anything to say in response other than, "I know." but Jacqui understood, regardless. And the gaping void in Marley's chest swelled. It grew and grew and grew until it felt like her heart was going to combust beneath the overbearing pressure. It urged her to turn away, leave and never return, unable to look at the dying man for a second longer.
Death was becoming a common reoccurrence, but it didn't make witnessing it in the flesh any easier.
She stepped out of the RV hastily, and immediately everyone paused mid-way through their conversation to look at her with wide eyes.
