Plague (Short MCSM Fanfiction)

Chapter 2 - Weakening

The first thing Jesse noticed when she woke up, was the dark, greyish, almost bruise-like marks across the top of her left hand. At first, in her half-asleep state, Jesse had mistaken them for something sticking to her skin. She had groggily rubbed her hand with part of her t-shirt, trying to clean off the dirt. When her attempt was unsuccessful, the horrible realisation began to dawn on Jesse.

It has been almost two days since she fell sick. Things hadn't been too bad, and Jesse's hope had honestly started to grow stronger. She could feel that something was wrong, her fever coming and going as they travelled while her sore muscles didn't leave once. Despite having little to no appetite, Olivia had been watching her like a hawk to make sure she still ate. It hadn't been until the previous evening that Jesse had actually physically struggled to eat, the lack of appetite having evolved to physically feeling repulsed by the thought of food.

That morning, Jesse felt more than just a little unwell. A thick blanket of fog had wrapped around her mind, leaving her feeling dazed and tired. The sunlight that shone in through the entrance of the cave awoke a distant pulsing inside her head, it's rays glinting on the layer of sweat that coated her warm skin.

Instinctively Jesse rolled over on the cave floor so she was facing away from the opening, curling herself into a small ball and closing her eyes again. Her mind felt too hazy to recall exactly where she was and what was going on around her, all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Hey, you awake?" A voice asked, followed by a cool hand resting on Jesse's shoulder. "Olivia, I think the rash has started to spread!"

"Petra?" Jesse asked dazedly, looking up as she recognised her friend's voice.

"You're not looking too hot this morning." Petra remarked, not unkindly, from above Jesse.

Carefully taking Jesse by her arm, Petra helped her up into a sitting position. She almost instantly toppled over to the other side, only managing to stay upright because Petra was still holding onto her. Her head was spinning.

"You okay?" Petra asked worriedly as Jesse leaned forward, clutching the side of her head. Her voice sounded alarmed.

"Just... dizzy." Jesse replied weakly, before groaning softly.

"Petra, what was that you called- Oh, Jesse!" Olivia came into the cave as well, jogging over. "You're finally awake!"

"She's gotten much worse." Petra said softly, looking over at the engineer worriedly.

Olivia had already knelt beside Jesse, and had the girl's one hand in hers, examining the rash on her hand. Her face seemed to have paled slightly at the sight, obviously recognising it.

"What time is it?" Jesse mumbled, noticing the sun was already high above the horizon outside.

"Later than usual, we decided to let you sleep in." Petra explained, as Olivia felt Jesse's forehead with the back of her hand. "The more rest you get, the slower this is going to progress. Or at least, that's what we thought."

"We weren't wrong, Petra, everybody starts to deteriorate quicker after the first few days." The engineer said softly. "Jesse's already lucky in the sense that it took a full forty-eight hours for the rash to start spreading. This could have started yesterday already."

"Do you feel up to walking at all?" Petra asked Jesse uncertainly. "Or riding, for that matter?"

"I... I think so." Jesse replied softly, although the mere thought of getting to her feet sounded daunting.

"Maybe you could double up with one of us." Olivia suggested, looking over at Petra who quickly nodded in agreement. "That way all you have to focus on is keeping your arms wrapped around whoever is in front of you."