Crow (NoochZahHutt)

Part Thirty

 Yoooo! My book is with my editor and I have time to write this again! Also - thanks so much for all the support. This story turned out to be much more loved than I expected XP

~~~

"Tell me," an intimidating voice said, "did you or did you not release a deadly pathogen upon the population?"

"I-I d-didn't," the reply came, meek, quiet, afraid.

"TELL ME," the intimidating voice repeated, "DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT RELEASE A DEADLY PATHOGEN UPON THE POPULATION?"

"I didn't!" The reply came, stronger this time, but still gravely unsure.

"Stop lying to me," the intimidating voice spoke. "I have the power to make you suffer a fate worse than death. You will live in eternal agony. You will beg for me to kill you. Now: TELL ME, DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT RELEASE A DEADLY PATHOGEN UPON THE POPULATION?"

The reply did not come right away. A soft whimper came instead, then a sob, then a sharp intake of breath.

"I..." the reply began. "I did."

~~~

The next morning, I explained the situation to Choco. His reaction was exactly as expected.

"You should be quarantined right now!" He yelled, careful to stay a safe distance away from me. We were in the kitchen, standing near Mat's still sleeping body.

"I know," I said quietly.

"You aren't taking this seriously!" Choco said. Kenny, who was also with us, wrapped his arm around Choco's waist in an attempt to calm him down.

"I know," I said quietly, glancing down at Mat. His hand was twitching.

"What do you mean, 'I know'?!" Choco exclaimed, waving his hands wildly and accidentally smacking Kenny in the face. "Sorry," he turned to face his boyfriend and apologized.

I didn't reply. Instead, I knelt down and lightly touched Mat's shoulder. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"You're going to die, Petey!" Choco said, concern evident in his voice.

"I know," I said. I ran my fingers through Mat's hair as his eyes fluttered open slowly. His irises were clouded over and unfocused.

"Petey..." Choco trailed off, deciding that I was a lost cause. I heard him sigh.

"Hey," I said. Mat's eyes finally focused on my face and he smiled.

"Hi," he said, his voice sleepy and deep. It was oddly attractive. He was still covered in that red liquid from the Nether. He licked his lips, tasting the liquid, and his face scrunched up as though he'd eaten something sour. "Why is there blood on my face?"

"Is it blood?" I said. "I never bothered to taste it."

"Yeah, definately blood," he said. His eye twitched. "Tell me, what happened exactly?"

Quickly, I re-explained. I was getting tired of telling the same story over and over again.

"Oh," Mat said, his eyes falling from my face.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't be," Mat replied. He reached up at my face, and caressed my cheek. His hand was almost unbearably hot and I flinched his touch.

His fingers lingered on my jaw for a moment before his hand fell. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, breathing hard. "A-am I going to be okay?"

"No," Choco said grimly.

"Yes," I retaliated, flashing an angry glance at Choco.

"No," Choco pressed. "No one has ever survived the Fever. Mat's not going to survive it either."

"Stop it!" I exclaimed, suddenly standing up and turning towards Choco.

"I'm just stating the truth!" Choco said, stepping away from Kenny and towards me. I glanced at Kenny, hoping he'd know what to do. He simply shrugged helplessly.

"Well it's not helping!" I said. I pressed my hands to my face, the skin on my cheek still hot from when Mat touched it. I started breathing hard.

Choco extended a comforting hand. "Look," he said, grabbing my wrists and pulling my hands off my face, "I know it's hard to accept it but..."

Quickly, I grabbed Choco's hand and bit down on one of his fingers. Hard.

Choco yelped in surprise, and Kenny pulled him away from me. I smirked, seeing that I'd drawn blood. I licked my lips.

"Now you'll know how I feel," I said. "All four of us'll be infected soon, because god knows you can't keep your lips off Kenny."

Choco stared at his bleeding finger in disbelief. "Fleeping heck, Petey..."

"Look," I said, mimicking him. "I know it's hard to accept it, but you're going to die just like Mat and I are."

I ignored the response and knelt back down to Mat. I wrapped his metal arm around my shoulders and helped him sit up, and then stabilized him by placing one of my hands on his waist. He relaxed at my touch.

"I don't know if you remember," I began, speaking quietly into Mat's ear. "But when we were in the nether, you told me that you knew you had the Fever."

"I did," Mat said.

"How?" I asked.

Mat exhaled deeply before speaking. "Vaq, he..."

"He what?"

"He gave it to me. Injected it. He told me not to tell you. And I didn't."

~~~

"So, you admit that you released a deadly pathogen upon the population?" An intimidating voice said.

"Y-yes," a scared voice replied.

"What did you intend to do with it?" The intimidating voice continued.

Deadly silence followed.

BANG. The owner of the intimidating voice slammed their fist against the wall. "WHAT WAS YOUR INTENTION?" The voice repeated.

"M-my intention," the scared voice said, quietly, shakily. "W-was to..."

"TO WHAT?"

"To...weaken...the country," the scared voice said. "S-specifically th-the government."

"And why would you want to do that?" The intimidating voice asked.

"S-so that m-m-m..." the scared voice stuttered like a glitch had overtaken his system.

"WHY?" The intimidating voice yelled.

"So that m-my p-p-projects could take over."