DISCONTINUED: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: The Apocalypse

Sick

Half of you may hate me but since you're still reading I love you.

Jerida fans will probably hate me forever...

Anyway, ON WITH THE STORY.

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"And the fever began to spread, from my heart down to my legs."

South Carolina had always had some relatively cold winters, especially near the cities. But this year it seems as though winter had come earlier, the temperature drop had pricked at my arms.

My mom was in the room, resting from her run into town. She got some batteries, but she said that the place was wild. She barely escaped to her car as she ran a corner where they trampled on one another. She brought a gun with her, dads old gun. A dead police chief, he'd taught her how to use one such a long time ago. She luckily returned with only one bullet missing.

I packed my bags in the living room, trying to think ahead of time. I glanced at the clock every now and then, impatient. There was a safe house a block away, newly built. Most of the town evacuated, and the streets were clear enough to walk the way, but the thought of stepping outside so exposed made me uneasy .

My mom stepped out of the room, dragging her feet against the faded carpet. Her long jeans we're matted with mid and grass stains at her knees, nd her shirt had a small hole by the collar. Her hair, which normally fell down to her shoulders in near rows, sort of defied gravity at the moment. Her hair greasy, and if she wasn't so exhausted, she would've been crying for a hot shower. They turned the water and electricity off, and my mom didn't take that well.

She yawned, stretching her arms up, when something caught my eye; a scratch, red and pink trailing up her forearm.

"what's that?" I ask, pointing to her arm. So much for being subtle, of course.

"oh, this?" She pointed to her arm with a straight expression, too straight for my liking. "There was some broken glass in the store, I probably just got too close to it."

She shrugged it off, and I felt myself loosen, but when she said 'probably' I began to tense again. The fact That she didn't know for sure meant that neither could I.

I would just have to wait for a fever to start. The military didn't protect our part of town, there for she could've slipped in and out without having a security check. So they wouldn't know about her scratch. But they would see it when we check into the safe house, so I wasn't going to stress about it now.

"I think im coming down with something," she groaned, dropping a trail of sweat from her red face so suddenly. "Are you hot too?" She fanned herself with some brochure on the kitchen counter.

That worrying feeling was back again.

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"Happy Birthday, flower!" My mother sang, smiling brightly with a cake in her hands. Her neat handwriting scribbled the words, happy birthday across the vanilla cake icing. 17 candles covered the cake, circling the words.

I smiled back, as I'd spent much of this week hiding my fear of her. I was afraid she would hit me again, if I ever asked, and I know it wouldn't be right to hit her back. Or was I sure that I would have the courage to do so.

"Make a wish." I wish I could leave the tower.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I blew out the flames. She clapped her hands, and handed me a square box wrapped beneath blue paper, perfectly finished with a white ribbon.