Dust

Fifteen: Dry as a Desert

A/N: This chapter's a bit bloody, just to warn you. And no more desert!!

My first thought in the morning is that my skin is tingling. Not the pleasant kind of tingling, like when you shower after a long, hard day. Tingling as in a precedent to pain. I shrug the feeling off as all-too-familiar sunburn, attempting to return to sleep.

My second thought is of the ragged breathing by my side, and I turn to see Mikhail meet my gaze. My heart sinks immediately.

A sore has opened on his cheek, dribbling a thin stream of blood down his face.

The Burning has begun. We're going to become the very thing that killed our friends.

With a start, I jerk upright, startling the blond boy awake. The blood dribbling down his cheek catches my gaze before he manages to speak, and his eyes widen in horror.

"It's started, hasn't it? We're going to turn into them." he rasps, voice choked from lack of water. Without replying, I turn and shake Kyros awake. He might know what to do.

"Get up," I croak, and the boy is suddenly on his feet, gun drawn. Muscles taught and ready for a fight, he suddenly looks down at my face and drops back to his knees. His fingers trace against my neck, and I'm too afraid to question his actions. Nevertheless, the slight involuntarily shudder that runs through my veins doesn't escape my attention. I catch sight of a small spot of blood on his arm, and assume a wound has opened up on his left bicep.

"We've gotta move," Kyros says, his eyes meeting mine for only a few split seconds before he whirls around to wake Titus and Callista. Reaching up to the spot on my neck that he touched, my hand pulls away with blood smeared across my fingertips. It burns when I touch it, sending a sharp pain through my veins surrounding the area. A sore, just like Mikhail's. I've started Burning, too. Eyes closed, I slow my breathing away from panic, and pretend that I didn't see a thing. I pull my backpack over my shoulder, searching inside it only to find it empty of water. The last bottle I had likely fell out during my scuffle with the Burned woman at the hill.

Clenching my teeth, I push Thea from my mind and help Mikhail to his feet. His arm around my shoulder for support, I help him with his nearly weightless pack, tracing away some of the blood from his cheek. I refuse to meet his gaze for fear of what I'll find there, but he catches my hand as I try to pull it away.

"Ari, if we die..."

"Don't," I say, closing my eyes as he gently pushes my face up to meet his gaze. Wrenching free of his grasp, I hand Titus and Callie their empty packs and start off into the desert. Callista walks behind me, and I eventually slow down so Titus, Mikhail, and Kyros take the lead. The tingling across my skin starts to spread, soon giving way to an annoying kind of pain. Dehydrated and without water to heal, the going is even slower than yesterday, but we continue forward as if nothing changed.

The dunes around us are a constant hazard; sand shifts easily, so we all trip and fall countless times throughout the day. I ignore any attempts at communication throughout the day, and though the feeling of shutting down my thoughts scares me, I merely focus on my feet beneath me. A few sores open on my leg, bleeding through my skin, but I ignore them as I walk. Nonetheless, certain things slip through; Felix's screams for me to run, my mother telling me how much she loved me, the days I spent on the roof of the abandoned sector of the dome, Thea's encouraging words...

I'll be strong if you promise to be brave. Her voice echoes in my head, and I shove it away unsuccessfully.

But I can't be brave, because you're gone now.

Kyros calls for a rest, chest heaving as he gasps for air. Titus collapses to his knees, and Mikhail crumples as well. Exhausted from the stressful day, I sit in between Kyros and Mikhail, hands folded across my stomach as I stare at my boots. Something pricks my arm, and I roll my sleeve up to find at least four more sores opened on it, with more forming. No. This can't be happening. Hands shaking, I roll my sleeve down and let out a shaky sigh. I don't care how long it takes; I'll make it to the Refuge, for my mother's sake. With a groan of effort, I stand up and stumble forwards a few steps. My head suddenly buzzes with pain, and everything goes blurry before I collapse from exhaustion.