The Disease

Chapter 3

                                                                                               Ivaria

The next day, we got up and started walking again. Tessa's ankles seemed tons better so Zayden unwrapped the bandages. The cuts were still large, but the blood was mostly gone, though he still had to cover them back up to avoid infection.

"Do you think we'll be at the apartment by tomorrow?" I asked.

"If we keep up this pace, then yes," Zayden said. Tessa seemed to get along with Zayden much better ever since he saved her yesterday, which made me feel happier.

The weather had been really good the past few days for walking, but around noon, storm clouds seemed to gather together and surround us.

"That doesn't look too good," Zayden said.

"Yah, it doesn't," I said with a frown, and hoping beyond all hope that it wouldn't storm on us.

"Why are we walking all this way anyway? Where could we possibly be going that is this important?" Tessa asked. We both stopped and stared at her.

"Dude, what are you talking about? You know where we're going," I said with a hint of worry in my voice. What if...no, that's not it, she must just be tired, but still...

"Tessa, do you feel ok?" Zayden asked.

"Of course, I'm fine. Geez guys I was just asking a question. I didn't know I was going to get questioned by asking a question."

"Sorry Tessa, it's just, well...don't you know we are heading to the apartments?" I asked.

"Now I do. Geez, never asking a question again with you guys around," she answered. I knew I shouldn't worry too much yet, but Zayden and I both kept a close eye on her from then on.

We were exhausted. Though we got good night sleeps, walking for hours and hours without many breaks really drained us, plus, we had no good food so we really were not in good shape. At least we brought enough water.

The ground started to get smoother as we got closer to the city, which was nice. My feet were aching from stepping on rocks and gravel all the time. The only problem was the storm.

"Ivaria, my TouchPad is telling me there is a huge storm coming. It is categorized as a tropical storm, but it could turn into a full blown hurricane." Zayden said.

"Oh...I guess we...we'll have to walk faster then." Zayden could see the anxiety in my expression so he put a hand on my shoulder.

"It'll be okay," he whispered in my ear. I could feel the warmth of his body on mine and it made me blush. Finally, he pulled away. Tessa looked at me with a grin that told me what she was thinking, someone has a crush. I rolled my eyes and looked ahead.

Sadly, it seemed that Zayden was right. It started to rain only twenty minutes later. The rain started as a drizzle, but it wasn't long before it started pouring, and the wind began to blow. I wished I had brought a coat, but we never needed them at the orphanage since we rarely ever went outside. The rain chilled my arms as we walked, and I could tell it was just as hard for Zayden and Tessa. We all wrapped our blankets around us to keep warm, but soon even they were soaked. I didn't think it could get any worse until I heard thunder, and a few seconds later, a flash of light ripped through the sky.

"We really need to find shelter!" I heard Tessa shout over the noise.

"Well, there's houses around, but I don't think it's safe to just come up to any house. Maybe there's some empty shack or something a little bit farther up," I answered. We kept walking, every step getting harder as we felt our body stiffen from the cold. Zayden looked the worst. He seemed to hear nothing else except the rain and the sound of his footsteps. We tried to get him out of his daze but it wasn't working, so we set him down.