Awaken the Elements (Elemental Trilogy) (32 page)

             
“Go get some help!” Autumn yelled.

             
The newly infected came over, hitting at her with its clawed arm, leaving a red scrape on her arm. She winced but used the pole to hit at it again. The pole was getting heavy, and no matter how hard she hit him, he would not fall down. Swinging the hooked arm, he scraped her skin once more. She heard shots fired behind her, deafening her. She watched the body, minus a face, fall to the ground.

             
Tired, she used the pole to rest on. Rowan and River came up to her and were talking to her, but she couldn’t hear them through the ringing in her ears. She looked down at the infected body and the gore covered hook. Her eyes widened as she scanned the scrapes on her arm. She ran over to a fake potted plant and threw up. Everyone looked around, not sure what made this one different than others. What made her react in such a way?

             
She straightened up and looked at the group. “There is a hole! We need to fix it, now!” she shouted and left to use her bathroom. Once inside, she took out rubbing alcohol and poured half the bottle on the cuts. It burned so bad, bringing tears to her eyes. She looked at her reflection, and her eyes were with panic laced.

             
“Please goddess,” she whispered. 

****

             
“So you and Autumn are close?” Kimberly asked, looking over a paper. Rinsland decided since he was there, he wanted to give everyone a physical and make sure they were all up to date on immunizations and anything else they might need.

             
“Yeah.” Rowan put out his arm.

             
She tied a piece of rubber around it and showed him how she wanted his hand. He made a fist, and she felt for his vein. As soon as she found it, she wiped the area with an alcohol pad and inserted the needle. “I know this is really stupid of me, but are you really like what they said?”

             
“What would that be?” He let out a small hiss as she pulled the needle out of his arm.

             
She placed a cotton ball on the spot and taped it in place. “The joker, outgoing, a major number one flirt.”

             
“Yeah, I guess so. I have changed a lot here,” He said, touching the tape.

             
“You know, I was going to go grab something to eat, want to join me?”

             
“Sorry, but I’m having dinner with some friends. You can join us if you’d like?”

             
She put the tube of blood she had labeled in a small holder. “Sounds like fun. By the way, what do you guys do around here for fun?”

             
He looked around uneasily. For the first time in a couple of years, another woman was coming on to him. “We do whatever we feel like doing.”

             
She threw the needle away in the small garbage can. “Sounds good to me.”

****

             
Rowan and Kimberly placed their plates on the table as they sat down. Rowan looked around. “Where’s Autumn?”

             
“She said she would be down later,” River said, pushing the mashed potatoes around his plate with his fork.

             
“She is acting odd since the other night,” Hazel said.

             
“She wouldn’t let me take her blood. She ran off when I told her what I planned to do.”

             
“Autumn doesn’t do well with needles,” Hazel replied.

****

             
Autumn could smell the food on the other floor, and it made her stomach sick. She felt something was wrong inside. She debated telling Rinsland as her hand went to the bandages on her arm. The scratches weren’t healing no matter what she put on them.

             
A day later, they were in the middle of a floor hockey game when Autumn hit another goal. “Ha-Ha! You guys suck!” She said, laughing.

             
Anatha threw down her stick. “She’s right. You guys suck!” She screamed at her team. “I swear I’m going to knock all you out with my stick!”

             
Rinsland and Kimberly were scheduled to leave that afternoon. Marie’s baby was born early, but they said the little girl was healthy. The itching from beneath the bandage was constant, and it bugged Autumn no matter what she did. It felt as if it was going to drive her crazy.

             
“Come on, let’s play,” Autumn said.

             
“Hold on. Group huddle!” Anatha called out.

             
Autumn fidgeted with her stick. She watched Angel chase after Adair, and then the room went black.

****

             
“Get the doctor!” Anatha called as she ran over to her.

             
Rowan was gently trying to rouse her. “She’s not waking up.”

             
“She has never fainted in her life,” Anatha said quietly.

             
A few minutes later, Dr. Rinsland came over with his bag. He tried the smelling salts he carried around, but they didn’t work. He checked her pulse and noticed it was slower than it should be. Her skin was clammy, and when he touched her head, he could feel the fever.

             
“Take her to my room,” he told the guys.

             
Rinsland worked on her while everyone waited outside. “What is wrong with her?” River asked.

             
“Autumn might be infected,” Anatha said. “She was scratched by it.”

             
“No,” Rowan said. “A scratch can’t infect you.”

             
They all looked at the entrance, waiting.

****

             
She was in a dream, or was she? She was in the orchard, or whatever it was, growing behind the mall. Noises made her turn, and she was ready to scream if it was a zombie. Instead it was a man. He was her height, with the same natural streaks in his hair. But he had pale blue eyes, not green like hers.

             
“Hi, Autumn,” he said. His voice was calm, but there was something dark and mysterious beneath it.

              “Who are you, and how do you know my name?” She asked, taking a step back.

             
“Don’t worry about that now. How’s your arm?” His voice sounded very concerned.

             
“It itches.”

             
“It’s going to.”

             
“So, who are you?”

             
“Later,” he whispered. “I have to go.” In a blink he was gone, and she was slowly being lifted toward the light. Her eyes opened, and a dull throb seized her temples.

             
“Sleeping beauty awakes,” Rinsland said.

             
Smiling weakly, she asked, “What happened?”

             
“You just passed out. I broke your fever. Do you know what’s wrong?”

             
“I know I had a weird dream.” She tried to sit up, but the pain in her head got sharper.

“I need an aspirin.”

              “I have that right here,” he said, walking over with a cup of water and two small white aspirin. “Your headache is the result of your head connecting with the floor.”

             
“Wait. Why did I pass out?”

             
He shrugged, “I’m waiting for the results.”

             
“Can I go to my room?”  He nodded and went to the entrance. She heard him talking to someone.

             
River and Rowan followed him in. “Autumn, want to tell me about your arm?” Rinsland said, stopping them before they left the shop.

             
“Just some scratches.”

             
“We’ll take care of it.”

****

             
Rinsland looked at Autumn’s blood under the microscope. Tired, he looked up and shook his head. A week later, Autumn was in bed with a hundred and two temperature. The doctor said she had the flu, but the blood work didn’t lie. He quarantined her and canceled his and Kimberly’s flight back home. He didn’t want anyone in or out.  Stories of the infected getting into safe houses weighed heavily on his mind. He didn’t want to panic anyone, but the darkening of the veins around the bite showed proof.  She should have already turned, but her body was fighting the infection, which no one had ever seen before. There had been no cases of anyone being immune. So far.

****

             
How sick is he?” Pyrus asked.

             
Aarawn looked at Mabon fighting off the fever as he slept. “Pretty sick,” he said into the black cell phone. “Maybe you should come. Pyrus, Autumn is sick too.”

             
He listened to her curse, and it made him smile. “She might be infected.

I’ll be right over.” The phone went dead. Relynn sat by Mabon watching him, her
cat face pinched in worry.

****

             
Autumn’s fever grew worse over the next couple of weeks. Her brain boiled, causing her to see delusional images all around her when she opened her eyes. Half asleep and half awake, she would see the infected walking around. They were talking about her, pointing, whispering. One with a missing eye kept laughing at her.

             
One with a missing nose walked by her. “You’ll be one of us soon,” it said, snickering.

             
She woke up screaming.

****

             
Mabon woke up screaming. “Pyrus don’t let them turn her into a zombie!” he said, grabbing onto the old jacket she wore.

             
“Hush,” she said, putting a wet rag on his head. “It’s not up to me.”

             
“Please don’t let her,” he said, falling asleep before he could finish.

             
“Why is he going through all this pain?” Aarawn said, watching Mabon.

             
She looked up at him, and then to the spider which hid behind him. The spider was afraid of Pyrus, but Relynn purred as the old lady scratched the cat’s silver head. “You two are bound to your sisters. If they get ill, so do you. Have you noticed getting hurt but not knowing how?”

             
He looked out the window. “When were we going to find out about this?”

             
“I thought you guys would have figured it out by now,” she said.

             
“Will he die if she does?”

              She shook her head, looking at Mabon as she mopped his forehead with a wet rag. “No, but he will feel her die. That is something much worse.”

****

             
“We want to see her,” Rowan said through gritted teeth. He and River fought with Kimberly in front of the small store.

             
“Even I can’t see her. The doctor is taking care of her, so don’t worry,” she said, leading them away.

             
“I really need to see her.” Rowan knew no matter how much they argued with her, it wasn’t going to happen.

             
“You can’t, so let’s go do something,” she said.

             
“Fine.” But he knew they were keeping something from them. Something was very wrong with Autumn. He and River had been worried, waiting to hear from Rinsland. Even Autumn’s parents weren’t talking. Anatha had been sick with worry as well, but she hadn’t been told how her cousin was doing either.

             
The next morning, Autumn sat up. She was still in a fever-induced haze but was able to think clearly. Adair looked up from the end of the bed. “Need something?”

             
“A shower,” she said, her throat dry and sore.

             
“I don’t think you’re allowed outside.”

             
“Too bad.” She swung her feet over the edge of the bed and sat there, breathing hard. “Has the doctor used anything weird on me?”

             
Adair shook his brown fuzzy head. “He hasn’t used morphine if that’s what you’re asking.”

              Doctors used a lot of morphine for the pain of the infected. The doctor had told her this yesterday when she was out of her fever for a few minutes. She kicked him hard as he tried to tell her calmly. How do you react when someone tells you that any moment you could be a walking infection? She didn’t take it too well.