Fate Prevails

Chapter Eight

The crackling of a fire is the only thing I hear when I wake up. It feels as if there is someone sitting on my chest, the pressure making it hard to breathe. Groaning, I force my eyes open, the scratchiness of being asleep for a long time making me blink rapidly.

"Good, you're awake," a soft voice says from my right.

My head pounds as I turn to look over at the person, making me wince. This room is small, only a bed, fireplace and a chair being able to fit in here. In the chair is a middle-aged woman, her skin dark as night. Her hair is pushed away from her face with a bright red piece of cloth.

"Who are you?" I ask, voice coming out raspy from disuse.

The woman stands up, walking over to me. "I'm Reseda, the village healer." She helps me to slowly sit up, any sudden movements causing me to groan. "Careful now. Your body is still healing."

"What happened to me?"

She moves back over to the fire, picking up a kettle that is dangling above it, and pouring it into a mug. "You were shot with a bullet laced with infected blood."

My breath skips, heart pounding in my chest. "Am... Am I going to become one of those?"

She shakes her head. "No. The blood was stale. It isn't meant to turn you, just slow you down enough so that the humans can catch you. If the blood was fresh and there was more of it, then we would have a problem. But it most likely came from an infected that died years ago.

"You'll be fine after you rest a while."

Taking the mug from her, I sip at the steaming hot tea, coating my throat. "How long have I been out?"

She shrugs, going to sit back down on the chair. "Almost a week."

The tea goes down the wrong throat, causing me to cough. "A week?" I sputter, setting the tea on the ground. "Are the others here yet?"

Reseda shakes her head. "Not yet. I'm sorry."

Worry settles in my gut. The only thought running through my mind is that Jesse wasn't quick enough. The infected and humans must have gotten to our pack lands before he could warn them. There were too many of them. There is no way they would be over to survive if they were not able to prepare.

A bell chimes from the entrance, a looking around a bit more, I can see that this is not really a house, more like a tent of some sort. The walls seem made of animal hide, trapping the warmth, but allowing for some air movement.

Reseda stands up, going over to a blanket tacked up on the wall. She pushes it aside, allowing the person outside to come in. It's Jordan, the man from before. He looks even bigger in this tent than he did in the caves, seeming to take up all the room.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, once he sees that I am awake.

"Like I have been hit by a truck."

That gets a smile out of Reseda, but Jordan just nods his head seriously. "Well then, we will be keeping you here instead of having you head out with us?"

"Head out where? What's going on?"

My senses seem to become hyper-aware. Now that I am listening, I can hear people running around. There is no screaming though, so no one is scared.

"The bus was spotted at the first checkpoint, five miles out. But there is also a horde of humans and infected headed straight for them. They will be ambushed when they are less than a mile away from here. We just have to get out there to clear out the infected and humans before they can do too much damage."