Aer

11

'Hey,' Daisy comes into the sick bay, Alex has already met Charlie, the two sit together at a table 'You're all better'.
Charlie nods 'I've been worse'.
'I am really sorry,' Alex says.
'Not your fault'.
'Well,' Alex sighs 'I've been thinking, what if Alex was mad we changed his plans? Daisy, you weren't exactly respectful towards him and Charlie you took her side'.

'And?' Daisy takes a seat at the table 'he was going to send you up to the ground, knowing your last reaction'.
'I haven't exactly been honest with you'.
Daisy frowns 'What do you mean?'.

'I've lung cancer, it's only like stage one, I think, like you know it's not that bad yet,' Alex says 'It's not the Mist it's just the air in general I'm extra careful around'.
'That's not curable,' Daisy says quietly 'When did you find out you had this?'.
'When I got sick,' he says 'one of the kids, you know Barry? His dad died of it'.
'You smoke?' Charlie asks.
'Yep, as far as I know it was a lot to do with pollution and other stuff too, genetics maybe, I don't know, normally older people get it'.

'So it's not the Mist?' Daisy says 'It's just you?'.
'Basically'.
'And did you tell Tamara?'.
'Yeah'.
'So you could chance not wearing the mask like you are now?' Charlie asks.
'Yeah, but I don't want it getting any worse than it is going to be,' he says 'It's okay in buildings but not in the open'.
'Fair enough'.

The door of the sickbay opens, it's Dars.
'Since Charlie's all better ye won't need to be staying in here,' he says 'There's a free cabin at the end of the camp. If ye want it's all yours, if not there's a hotel just across from here. You can stay in one of the rooms but you've got to work to stay'.

'Well I'll take the cabin,' Charlie gets up 'I'm happy to take a more comfortable place and not have to listen to coughing all night'.
'Alright,' Dars gives him the key, he turns to Daisy and Alex 'Decide between ye, there's plenty of room in the cabin'.
'Thank you,' Daisy says.
He smiles and leaves.

The night begins to fall. The three have settled into their cabin, it's not much. It's certainly not as nice or as decorated as Dars'. But it's safe and it's better than the bunker.

Charlie's already conked in the room beside Daisy and Alex, that boy could sleep for years and years.

'Why didn't you tell me?' Daisy lies next to Alex, looking up at him.
'You didn't need that stress,' he gently strokes her hair 'Plus I'm not bad, yet'.
'You're going to die,' she whispers, believing if she says it allowed some God will hear her and feel her pain, making what she just said not come true.

'In this world any of us could die, this disease, I've years left in me if I look after myself right. Either one of us could die tomorrow,' he says.
'That's true'.
'Please don't worry,' he pulls her against him.
'Of course, I won't, I'll forget it if you want me to,' she smiles up at him.

He kisses her softly, she smiles and gets on top of him. She feels nervous but excited, as if she's been waiting for this moment. He takes off her top and kisses her neck, she pulls down his pants and fixes herself on him. It feels right, unlike with Dars there's emotion there, it feels special. She's glad Alex decided to come with her.