Claustrophobic | Skephalo

That's When He Realized

Zak

"He's burning up," Clay says, placing the back of his hand on Darryl's forehead. "Darryl? Can you hear me?"

Darryl remained motionless against the wall where him and Zak were sitting before.

Zak stutters helplessly. "I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to him twitching super hard. I tried to wake him up, and then he stopped moving. Clay, what's wrong with him?"

"Twitching?" Clay asks, pulling Darryl's eyelids open with his finger to check his pupil's reaction to the light, which was now shining through the windows brightly. "You're sure it was twitching, not convulsions?"

"Con-what?" Zak asks.

"Convulsions. A seizure."

"A seizure? Oh god, I have no idea."

"His pulse is a little slow, but it seems to be in a safe rhythm. How long was Darryl asleep for?"

"I don't know," Zak stutters again.

Fumbling around in his case, Clay grabs a small rag. He throws it to Zak. "Get this wet, quickly. I need to regulate his temperature."

The puddle, I can soak the rag in the puddle from before. Where was it again? It was just outside.

With the rag in hand, Zak bolts outside, trying his best to ignore the freezing cold air biting at his exposed fingers and face. It had started to snow again, this time harder, and everything around him was covered in a thick layer of white frost. Zak had to shield his eyes with the rag just to see a few feet in front of him, stumbling blindly towards where he thought the puddle from before was.

It's frozen over again.

Zak brushes snow off of and stomps on the newly frozen puddle, trying his best to get to the water underneath. Unlike last time, it doesn't break. Focusing only on the mission to get the rag wet, Zak doesn't notice the burning zombie coming his way until it attempts to bite him.

"Woah!" Zak exclaims, jumping backwards. He could hardly see the zombie through the snow, but the scent of burning flesh overwhelmed his sense of smell, bringing tears to his eyes. Zak quickly pulls a knife from out of his pocket and stabs the zombie, its skin sizzling as it lands on the frozen puddle. It twitches violently as the sun's strength increases through the clouds, letting out one last ear-splitting scream before it finally dies.

Kicking the burning zombie off of the puddle, Zak is relieved to see a thinned out later in the ice. When he stomps on it now, it breaks with ease. He rushes back to Clay and Darryl with the wet rag, trying to push the images of the burning zombie out of his mind.

"Put it on his forehead," Clay demands. Darryl was now laying flat on his back, a small pillow underneath his head. Clay had removed his coat too, all while trying to cool Darryl off.

Zak places the fabric on Darryl's forehead, holding it down as he lowers his hand to the side of the unconscious boy's face. Darryl seemed to sigh with relief when the cold rag touched his skin, and he squirmed to life a little bit as Zak stood over him. He opened his eyes slowly, scanning around the room.

"Darryl, are you okay?" Zak asks, moving his second hand away.

Darryl coughs when he tries to reply, and winces in pain. He attempts to grab his ankle, but when he discovers he can't reach, grabs Zak's hand instead. Zak almost pulls it away because of how strong the grip is, but just clenches his teeth instead.

Clay rolls Darryl's pant leg up, finally deciding to examine his ankle. Him and Zak both agreed that it was too hard to see anything under the layer of blood and dirt, so he asks for the wet rag. Coating it in rubbing alcohol from his bag, he places the rag on the wound.