The Sharpest Lives

Chapter 43

AN: Updated 12/28/20

The next morning, Ace jumped awake to a knock on the door. Immediately, she sat up in the bed and reached to her hip for her knife. When she didn't feel it, panic set in and she started searching around. Luckily, she didn't have to look too far, as her knife was sitting on the bed side table.

As she saw the table, she remembered her status and where she was. This was the first night in many nights she hadn't woken up in Daryl's tent. She grew so used to seeing him each morning that now, a pain shot through her heart.

Usually, waking up in a large bed safely in a house would be a relief. But right now to Ace, it was a nightmare.

As she took too long to respond to the knock on the door, Hershel allowed himself to come in, closing the door behind him.

"Good morning," he spoke calmly. "Or should I say good afternoon? You needed your sleep."

Ace had no idea what time it was. She could barely even remember the end of last night or how she fell asleep. She must have just passed out, not having really slept for a day or so. The past 48 hours have felt like a dream.

Immediately, Ace's mind flipped to the thought of Dale. Her heart ached more than her body as she thought of him. He probably died thinking that Ace was going to die. He probably never would have believed she is here now. She wishes he was.

"I wanted to talk to you about this file from the CDC," Hershel announced as he walked over to the curtains and opened them, allowing sunlight to fill most of the room. Ace looked out the window. The campsite was too far to the side for her to really make out and Daryl's site was half a mile away from that one, so she could never see it.

She thought about Daryl, and the things he said last night. She had no idea where he was and she was pained that she couldn't go walk over and find him. She hated the idea of missing out on a hunt.

As Hershel walked over to the bed, Ace saw that he was carrying the file in his hands. She had no clue how he got that, her bag was left in the RV. No one knew it even existed besides Daryl. Ace felt some sort of hope that Daryl was the one to give it to Hershel. Maybe Daryl didn't fucking hate her.

"I have some books from back when my first wife fell ill," Hershel said as he pulled up a chair and sat down next to the side of the bed. Ace recalled that he mentioned his wife had cancer. She most likely died from it. Very uplifting. "I went through and compared it to your previous medicines and the ones on this list."

Ace looked at the file in his hands. He pulled out only one sheet of paper. Ace wondered if he went through it all. There was that one note that Jenner left her that she never seemed to make sense of. Something about test subjects being positive. But why would Hershel know anything about that?

"Looks like the medicine you had been taking have you on the right track," Hershel looked over the list. "Now, any information you can provide about your previous treatment would be extremely helpful," Hershel put the file down and looked at Ace.

The file he had contained most of the information on Ace's cancer. The name, the place, the medicine, and a vague treatment plan. Jenner, as crazy as he was, did help Ace a lot. Now, Ace just has to remember as much as she can to help narrow down the plan for treatment.

"Uhm," Ace had to think, her voice raspy as she had not spoken yet. She had to rack her brain, thinking back to the horrible, horrible memories she had so deeply blocked out. She quivered as she started to remember, wanting to throw up just thinking about it.

"Uh.. Chemo," Ace started. "Everyday for a week and a two week break."

Ace remembered how god awful that was. She could barely afford it and could barely get herself to go, so the cycle was never constant. But she remembered the needles, the florescent lights, the sickness, the hair loss, the pain...