Children's Draft

Chapter 11 (Part Two)

(Logan's PoV)

        I woke up in excruciating pain. My stomach tightened in the worst way possible. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from screaming. Unfortunately, that was difficult since it seemed to be swollen.

        Underneath me, I could hear Clayton running to the bathroom. I would have done the same if I was able to get up.

        My guts felt like they were being ripped apart. I just laid in bed, holding my stomach and whimpering.

        The two of us must've woken Daniel and Trevor up.

        "What's going on?" Daniel asked, rubbing his eyes.

        I let out an involuntary cry of pain.

        Alarmed, Trevor took a few steps over to mine and Clayton's bunk. Because of his height, he could easily see over the top. Daniel had to climb up the ladder to see me.

        "Logan, what's wrong?" he asked.

        "Well...I...it's just I," I tripped over my words, feeling the blisters on my tongue brush against the inside of my mouth. "I hurt," I sobbed.

        Trevor looked down in confusion. "Wait, where's Clayton?"

        "In the bathroom, probably throwing up," I replied, winded from all the pain. "I mean, that's how I feel."

        Daniel made a squeamish face, but to my surprise he didn't even back up. "How did this happen?" he wondered.

        "I don't know," I lied.

        A look of terror spread across his face. "What if there's a disease here that we've never been exposed to? Without any sort of immunity, this could be so dangerous..."

        Evidently my guilt hurt worse than my stomach because I spoke up. "It was probably the berries."

    "What?"

    "Clayton and I found a bush of berries yesterday. We didn't know what they were, but we ate them anyway." I hung my head. "Go ahead. You can yell or say 'I told you so', I deserve it."

    But he didn't. He just simply asked, "Logan, why?"

    "We were hungry," I mustered out.

    Clayton came stumbling back, moaning in pain. He was also itching his hands. I looked down to see that mine had similar rashes on them. My stomach twisted again and I gripped it tighter.

    "Here, I'll get you guys some water," Daniel offered.

    Clayton clicked his swollen tongue. "So I take it you told him."

    I nodded weakly.

    "Man, you two look awful," Trevor observed. "How many of those berries did you guys eat?"

    "Well, I'm not really big on the whole counting thing," Clayton began before his stomach made a violent churning sound. "But a lot."

    "We really wanted food," I added.

    Clayton leaded forward and winced. "But hey, Daniel wasn't bitching at you when I came in. Maybe he doesn't think it was a stupid idea."

    "No, I think it was incredibly stupid," Daniel said from behind him. He handed both me and Clayton a plastic cup filled with water. "But now, I'm way more concerned about your guys' health. I really think you should tell someone. This stuff might kill you."

    "No," I pleaded. "If Sgt. Blake finds out what we did, he will kill us."

    Clayton was quick to panic too. "Yeah, there's no reason to bring him into this. Besides....we'll probably be better by morning."