The Fiction Games

Chapter Sixteen - Thin Ice

When he had finally succumbed to the cold, Rick Grimes headed for the hearth. Blazing embers scattered around the pit the previous night, but the fire did not leave a tace. It must've dropped ten more degrees since they've rescued the others.

He would need one of the wizards. They knew exactly how to prepare a fire, a warm cooked meal. Their backpack supplied most of the food last night, accompanied by an infinite stock of rum Jack was reluctant to exhibit.

Something stopped him before he entered their room. Coughing. Rick listened to find the source, and  discovered Bruce Wayne consoling his associate, Selina Kyle, in the adjacent room.

"How is she?"

He didn't need to ask. Sweat sported on her milky white cheeks, glistening even in the dim light fom a candle. She didn't seem to have noticed him behind the dark circles around her eyes. 

"She's been talking," Bruce answered, "She hasn't done that in a while."

Rick wasn't stupid, he was buying time. Soon enough she'll be a ticking time bomb, ready to sink her teeth in the next person she sees. It was inevitable, yet these people believe it's just a fever. Rick leaned closer to Selina. Before coming contact with her skin he felt the heat haloing around her forehead like a furnace.

"Where was she bit?" asked Rick.

Bruce turned her on her back. He could still see the teeth marks imbedded in her neck and black sores spreading out in tiny veins. He looked at Bruce, who was also trying to keep his head up. Rick said, "I know it's hard for you to hear this, but you know what has to be done. I told you what happens when she turns."

Bruce lit up like a spark. "Are you crazy? She's not going to be one of them! The Gamemakers are behind this, I'm sure of it."

"That's the thing. It's not caused by a single person. It is a disease. Once you get bit, you get a fever, and you die. That's how it's always been."

"Katara has been healing her," Bruce Wayne brought her closer to his chest. "She's not going to lose like this."

Rick sought it best not to press on any further. She was dying, yes, but if the Gamemakers have taken ideas from their lives and altered them, maybe walkers weren't infectious. Without proper medication a single bite could be just as deadly. Rick didn't continue the ramble of thoughts. Just when you think walkers aren't a threat, you are surrounded, a frenzy of mouths and talons tearing at your insides.

There were no dreams. She wasn't being chased by the drooling dead, back being split in half by a green beast, nor being eradicated by a magical wand. Whenever she woke in the middle of night, mostly from the cold, Katniss set her eyes on Peeta and fell back to sleep. He was back in her life again. 

Breakfast was already made before Katniss left her room. She and Peeta scraped down a platter of hot food as the rest conversed. It wasn't Capitol cuisine, but it sure neutralized the frostbite.

"We can't stay here," Percy chattered. "We're freezing to death."

"Seems we're safer here than outside," Jack said. "We could stay here for a while."

Harry intruded, "What if the Gamemakers have something else in store? We'd be stranded here."

"So we leave," said Michonne. "Where do we go?"

Hermione centered on Susan and Peter Pevensie, "You two know this place better than any of us."

Susan crossed her arms. Peter spoke for both of them, "Mr. Tumnis's house isn't far from here, but when we went, it was under the White Witch's control. Centuries must've past. It could be different."