It is becoming uncomfortably hot outside. I have cut and ripped up my tee shirt to expose more skin so my sweat glands can breathe. I'm still a sweaty disgusting mess. Alice put my hair in two thick braids yesterday, but they're already looking a little untamed with curls and strands sticking out randomly. Leo and I stopped using any sort of blankets or sheets at night, and the sunlight is bright and fiery.
"Hey! Addy! Addy!! Leo! Guys open up!" I hear a few voices yelling outside and pounding on the door. Quickly, Leo and I run from our room to the door. Jacob, Trent, Alice, and Jen wait for us on the steps and sidewalk.
"What's going on?" I ask frantically as we run outside to meet them. Everyone looks distraught. The worry in Jenny's eyes is all too familiar to me.
"It's Maria." Trent says.
"She's sick." Alice adds.
"You were a nurse, right? You can help?" Jacob asks, hopeful, looking at me. Everyone is looking at me... waiting for an answer.
"I was in school..." I start, doubting my capabilities. But I stop when I realize I'm all they've got. "I can try. Hang on."
I run back inside to our bedroom and locate the medical supplies that made it with us this far. I gather everything I need and rejoin the group. They lead Leo and me down the street and into a tan house with red shutters. Jen takes me into the first bedroom where Maria is lying in bed. Jim is distracting Molly and Ben in the living room with card tricks. I start checking Maria's vital signs and asking about symptoms. She's barely able to speak enough to answer me. She has a fever, headache and sensitivity to light, weakness and aches, and nausea. It could just be a bad migraine or a sinus infection. It could be some sort of flu virus. Or it could be literally anything else. Unfortunately, there's almost nothing I can do.
I tell Maria to rest, stay hydrated, and start taking anti-inflammatories and Amoxicillin. Then I return to the living room, where, once again, everyone turns to look at me. I nod for them to follow as I head back out the front door.
"What's the verdict?" Alice asks once outside. Jenny looks paler than Maria did.
"She needs more antibiotics. Better ones. A steroid booster pack. IV fluids. Something... Anything we can get our hands on. I gave her what I have but it's not much." I say quietly, trying not to sound hopeless. Everyone nods.
"So, what's wrong with her?" Jen almost whispers. I look at her and shake my head in form of an apology.
"I don't know."
Once Leo and I are back inside our cottage alone, he embraces me. "Do you think she'll be okay? Is it bad?" I consider my answer, but realize there's nothing I can say to Leo that I didn't tell the rest of the group.
"I have no idea."
A/N- You know what to do.
Later, Bookworms.
YOU ARE READING
130 Days
Science Fiction*Don't be threatened by number of chapters- most are 1-3 pages* "Negative temperatures in June." "Riots, power outages, traffic jams, accidents, looting, panic, hospitals understaffed and backed up, disease, injury, death." "Stay indoors. Stay warm...
