Plans

After Affects

***

Mitch woke up, and he noticed that he was alone again. He looked around, and sighed. "Why did she leave me?" he said to himself. He shook his head, then began gazing around at everything around him. There were a lot more things here than the last time- from screens to flowers. He knew he'd been asleep longer this time, though. That was probably why. "I feel so sick," he murmured. He felt somewhat light-headed, but, at the same time, he had a headache. His stomach hurt a little bit. He was tired, and he felt almost nauseous. He just wanted to sleep, but he felt so bad, he couldn't possibly sleep.

Mitch wiped some sweat off his brow, sighing. There was that, as well. He felt hot.

Mitch looked up as the door opened. The first person to come into the room was a doctor. Mitch sighed.

"You're back already?" he whined.

"Yes," the doctor replied. He picked up a thermometer near the bed, and held it out. "Put this under your tongue," he instructed.

Mitch nodded. "I probably have a fever," he said, putting it under his tongue.

"And we think we know why," the doctor told him. "There was something on the knife, which I think you know. It turns out, it's poison. Whatever it was... it got into your blood. It's making you sick. It's nothing that was made for the human body. It's like dogs and chocolate. This is killing you. And... well, there's just one thing to do. We will have to remove the infected blood, and replace it. Meanwhile, we'll try to find an antidote. There's just one issue. The...."

He was cut off when the thermometer beeped. He took it, and sighed. "103," he said. Mitch winced.

"Now," the doctor continued. "The problem is that the blood bank... it's running low on blood- at least of your type."

"Does it have to be my type?" Mitch asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. So you won't get it all back.

_

Mitch sat on the bed. He was happy for the first time since getting here. He was getting another dog. She would be a guard dog, and a therapy dog. She was less than a year old, and would be trained to protect him, comfort him, and also to interact well with fans. She was a wolf-husky.

Mitch was pulled out of  his thoughts when someone walked into the room, pulling a dog by a leash. Mitch, suddenly terrified of this thing, shifted a little bit away. "Is this the mom?" he asked.

"That's the puppy," the man told him. Mitch stared at him.

"That's a puppy?" he asked.

"Yes."

Mitch stared at the alleged puppy. It was huge, way larger than any other dog he had ever seen. "That's not a puppy," he said.

"That's a puppy," was the only response he was given. "Her name's Luna. She weighs fifty pounds."

"That's a big puppy," Mitch said.

"She'll keep you safe," the other man replied.

"Very safe," Mitch said.

"That's what we need."

Mitch looked up at him. "Thank you," he said softly.

"You're welcome."

_

Mitch winced as a needle poked him in the arm. He never liked needles. He put up with them for his entire life because he also didn't like being sick.

His grip tightened on Beau's hand. "Ow," he whispered.

Fortunately, not long after that, the needle was removed. Mitch looked at it, and felt slightly sick. Beau wasn't looking at it. Apparently neither of them liked the sight of blood.

"I have a question," Mitch said, as a band-aid was placed over the place where the needle had entered. 

"Alright," said the woman who'd drawn the blood.

"What'll happen if I can't get all of my blood back?" Mitch asked.

She sighed. "You'll have to get used to it," she replied. "You might have to be on a sort of 
bedrest for a while. But you'll be fine. Do you know what the Iditarod is?"

Mitch nodded. "Yeah," he said.

"Well," she told him, "There's a man who ran the Iditarod who, over the years, has donated seven gallons of blood. But that was more gradual than this will be. So, you'll be alright, but maybe not entirely. I really don't know for sure."

Mitch swallowed nervously.

***

So, for those of you who don't know, the Iditarod is a dogsled race from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nome, Alaska. It's over 1,000 miles long.

Also, I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I'll try to be better about that.

Also, I want a better name for this chapter. Please give me some suggestions.