Blood Soaked Arrows (On Hold)

(2) The Sick Child

I arrived at the CDC late in the afternoon with an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t that I was afraid of the place or anything but because of the urgent phone call I had gotten to rush over here as quickly as possible, it left me feeling extremely uneasy. The CDC was never big on worrying about me because of the fact that I was an Immune and could also defend myself, but the urgency in their voices had me biting the inside of my cheek.

The CDC was this big ass building with lots of windows and some tight ass security. Security wasn’t as tight in the back as if was in the front so I always used that entrance. The back door wasn’t automated like the front so I had to push it open. It wasn’t hard to do so since I had to enter through these doors all of the time but for some reason they felt heavy today. I shook my head back and forth at the thought. It had to just be my imagination acting up or something.

With a calming breath I walked into the facility and started scanning the room. My eyes fell on Dr. Candace Jenner and instantly I felt relieved at seeing her smiling face. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a tight bun and her glasses were resting on her head like a headband. Out of all of the Doctors that were assigned to the Origin Project she was by far my favorite.

When I was little and couldn’t get to sleep at night she would always come into my room and tell me bedtime stories. She would even go out of her way sometimes and sneak chocolate chips cookie to me after a meal even though I wasn’t supposed to have anything that wasn’t nutritious. After all of the little things that she had done for me some of the doctors liked to call her my mother, but truthfully I thought of her more like a loving older sister.

When she caught sight of me, out of the corner of her eye, she quickly dismissed her assistant before looking at me with a very serious expression. I didn’t hesitate to rush over to her side.

“What’s wrong?” I tried to keep my voice calm but it ended up sounding weak at the end.

Another thing that I loved about Dr. Jenner was that she didn’t bullshit with you by dragging out her answer, she crisply responded, “Adam isn’t taking the extra dose of meningitis very well. He developed a fever within the last half hour and he is already showing signs of a stiff neck.”

“Did you think about giving him any antibiotics?” I questioned as we started to walk down the hallway.

She shook her head at me. “Of course not Eve, you know as well as I do that I’m not allowed to give Adam any kind of treatment unless he is in critical condition.”

I found myself frowning at her reply. Of course I knew that Adam wasn’t allowed to get any sort of treatment for anything because he was in the same program as I was, but I couldn’t help but feel a little angry at her for not trying to help out a twelve year old boy.

“So then what did you call me here for?” I snapped at her which made her have a slight delay in her step.

She wasn’t really used to people snapping at her because well she practically ran this place. Other doctors would always go on about how she was such an Einstein and everything and as a sign of respect they didn’t dare insult or talk back to her. Since we both thought of each other as close family however neither of us thought of it as an insult.

“He wanted to see you.” She spoke calmly before turning to a door in the hallway. She swiped her lab card against the CT scanner and then waited for the green light and beep before opening the door.

The door swung open in an almost eerie sense before revealing him. I could feel my heart drop a few inches in my chest and felt as if I was going to gasp at the sight of him but I managed to hold it in. I didn’t want him to know how sickly he looked.

Adam was of Hawaiian decent so he had the glossy dark hair, thick eyebrows, smooth wide face, and a flawlessly tan complexion but at that moment he looked like a completely different person. His dark hair was slick back with sweat from his fever, his face was hallow and gaunt as if he hadn’t eaten in days, and his normally rich complexion was a sickly grey color. As soon as his dark brown eyes looked up to see me I felt a cry catch itself in my throat. Without hesitating a moment longer I rushed over to him.

He was already sitting up in his bed with a smile on his face before I could even reach the bed. Despite how horrible he looked he managed to open his arms up for me so that I would be able to I embrace him with a hug. As soon as my skin touched his exposed damp back I knew exactly how high his fever was which only helped to worry me even more.

“So,” I ended up whispering to him before pulling myself away from him and then tried my best to make my smile seem genuine. “What kind of disease have ya’ been infected with today?”

He rolled his eyes at me before replying hoarsely. “Meningitis.”

I winced dramatically. “No kidding?”

He smiled up at me. “Nope, but don’t worry about it Eve. I’m a strong man and I can handle anything these doctors shoot me up with.”

“Oh,” I said making sure that I made my eyes wide. “You can can you?”

He nodded his head excitedly up at me but I could see his smile starting to falter. “That’s right, so you have nothing to worry about Eve. I’ll beat it just like I always do.”

I could feel my fake playful expression melt away as I stared into his dark eyes. Of course deep down inside I knew that Adam was going to get through this disease just like he did with all of the rest but that didn’t mean that I wasn’t worried sick about him.

Adam was like a little brother to me. With both of us in the same program and being forced to learn survival tactics together we were closer to each other than anyone else, well besides Dr. Jenner. She (again) was like our older sister and together we were one big family.

I lifted up my hand and ran it through his damp hair. “Do you want me to stay with you until your temperature goes down?” I spoke with a serious tone.

He let his mask fall as well and I could see in his dark eyes just how scared he really was. He rarely showed any symptoms of the diseases that he was infected with but whenever he did it was bad. I recalled one time when we were doing back to back training session and he was infected with a few different diseases, he started coughing up blood. He was so scared that he was dying because of one of the diseases that he fell to the floor and started crying. It all ended up being a stomach ulcer that he had created because of the amount of stress he was under but it still scared the crap out of me.

He nodded his head slowly, “If you’re not too busy or anything.”

I smiled weakly down at him. “I’m never too busy to come and spend time with you.”

He nodded his head again but weakly at me this time and I could see that he was trying his best to not let his stiff neck bother him. With a sigh I forced him to lay back down on the bed before lying down beside him, taking up the space he left for me.

I ran my fingers through his hair as he tired getting some sleep. Every once in a while he would nod off because of the fever but as soon as he realized he was sleeping he would wake himself up with a start. I could tell that he was afraid that if he fell asleep then he might not wake up so I calmly hummed to him and ran my fingers through his hair and alongside his face until he was coaxed into a deep sleep. If anything sleeping would help fight the disease and plus his temperature went down a little while he was asleep so I thought it was for the best.

For the next three days I stayed by his side. I didn’t leave to go to the bathroom or converse with the doctors because I didn’t want to leave him alone. A doctor would pop in every so often to see if his condition had worsened or gotten better but his condition never did. The doctor also brought food in when he visited but Adam was always too sick to hold anything down and I wasn’t going to eat if he wasn’t.

It was on the third night that Adam’s fever finally went down. I couldn’t help but smile when the doctors came in and gave him the all clear. He had been sleeping when they had checked him out and personally I thought he could use a little more rest.

Making sure to not move the mattress I slid off of the bed and quietly stepped over to the door. The doctors had a camera in the corner of the room so they knew to unlock the door so that I could get out. I waited for the beep and when I heard it I gently eased the door open. I was relieved that Adam didn’t stir in his sleep at all when I left his side which meant that he was in deep.

I closed the door behind me after stealing one last look at the little guy and then made my way down the hallway. In the distance I could hear mine and Adam’s name being spoken and instantly stopped walking. I strained my ears so that I could hear the other doctors talking just around the corner.

“I’m really glad that Adam finally built up an immunity to Meningitis.” A man said.

The other doctor, a woman, laughed. “I don’t think he would have been able to do it if Eve hadn’t shown up and stayed by his side.”

“You really think so?” He questioned.

“Well yeah,” She said lightly. “It’s kind of romantic if you think about it.”

“Romantic?” He barked. “There’s a ten year again difference between the two of them. If anything I would say they are more like family to each other.”

She snapped her fingers before saying. “Oh that’s right. Your division hasn’t been informed yet.”

“Informed of what?” He asked almost eagerly.

“Well Dr. Wisze told us that once Adam hits puberty they are going to make Eve and him a mated pair.”

I could feel the pit of my stomach drop in disgust. Me having sex with Adam? Were they crazy or something he was just a kid! Damn it I thought of him as my little brother.

“Why are they going to do that?” The guy asked demanding my full attention.

“Well, you know how Eve’s immunity comes from the anomaly in her blood cells? Well we found out that Adam also has the same anomaly only his isn’t as mutated as hers. It’s probably because her anomaly was hereditary while his was chemically induced but that is beside the point. The doctor is hoping to pass on Eve’s gene to her offspring so that we will be able to study it more and help it adapt throughout her children’s lifespan.” She informed.

“But Adam’s isn’t hereditary so why does she have to have offspring with him? Plus we don’t even know if her trait is recessive or dominate gene so she could essentially not end up passing on the trait despite whoever her ‘mate’ is.” The guy said. “And secondly, we have Eve, we don’t need her to have kids.”

“You’re so simple minded.” The girl scoffed at the man who seemed to be defending me, making me detest her even more. “Eve is already twenty-two and now she is living on her own off in the boonies. How much longer do you think she will let us run our experiments on her? If she decides to up and abandoned the Origin Project we’re screwed. Making her have children is kind of like an insurance policy. If she leaves then we will hopefully be able to use them in her place. And by the way, Adam also has a slight anomaly in his blood as well, which is why he is able to do so well in the program. The director says that it’s a better chance for the immunity to be passed on if they have kids together or something.”

“I still think that it is wrong.” The guy said quietly.

“Yeah well you don’t have a say in the matter.”

“Yeah I know that,” He sighed. “Anyway, did you get those charts that I asked for this morning?”

I pulled myself away from the conversation and retraced my steps down the hallway. The last thing I wanted to do was have those two discover that I had been eavesdropping on their conversation so I went out the front door instead of the back and went around the building to where my car was. It was dark outside and you couldn’t see worth shit but I knew my way around so I didn’t have any trouble.

Once I got back to my car and was heading down the road I let my mind become fogged with what those two doctors had said. How could the CDC decide my future like that? Was I just some kind of lab rat to them or what? And what about Adam? Did neither of us have any say in the matter ?

My jaw clenched and my knuckles became white from gripping the steering wheel so hard, I was furious at the next set of questions popped into my head. Did Dr. Jenner know about this? She was at the top of the totem pole here so I knew that she did. For how long had she known? Or was she the one who had come up with the idea?

I wanted to turn the car around and barge into the CDC guns a blazin’ but I knew that it wasn’t a good idea. I hadn’t slept at all for the past three days at the CDC because I was afraid that if I did Adam would be dead when I woke up. The pure horror of just thinking about that little boy passing away had my stomach turning. Going back there right now with an exhausted body and a less attentive mind would definitely be a stupid move. I wasn’t in a good enough condition to be arguing my point across with some top notch doctors yet. So I would rest…for now at least and then give them hell tomorrow.

When I pulled into my driveway I noticed that the Dixon brothers were back. Not because they had their truck parked in their driveway, oh no. You see the Dixon’s didn’t actually have a paved or dirt driveway like normal people did. They had flattened dead grass from where they drove their cars back and forth on. So that big grey tuck was sitting there on a patch of dead grass and I couldn’t help but really smile for the first time in three days.

I had only met Merle twice before and had even met Daryl for a hot second but for some reason I thought of them as my friends despite our brief encounters. I let out a loud yawn as I stared at their house from the inside of my car. The lights were all off so it was probably a safe bet to say that they were sleeping. I wondered briefly about how their hunting trip had gone and then shook my head. I had to get those Dixon’s out of my head or I would never leave my car, I thought with a smile.

I walked around the house to my back porch and then stuffed my key in the door. I had just popped the sucker open when I heard someone moving around next door. My body became fully alert at the sound and I snapped my head up to see what had caused it. With my porch light being the only source of light it was hard to see who was standing on the porch next to mine but seeing as how it was the Dixon’s back porch I knew that it would have to be one of them.

“What have you been up to so late in the night?” I felt the inside of my chest flutter at the sound of Daryl Dixon’s voice.

“Nothing that would interest you.” I scoffed playfully.

“Oui, you’re probably right.” He spoke in a rough tone and I watched as his shadow moved around on his porch for a second I thought that it was the end of our conversation and I felt a little stab in my gut but then I heard the creaking of his porch steps and realized that he was coming over here. Flustered as to what I was supposed to do I ended up closing my door and turning around to see him step into the light my porch was giving off.

My breath was caught in my throat at the sight of his blue eyes and I realized that my memory of them hadn’t done him justice. Such gorgeous blue eyes, I thought to myself and felt my face start to heat up when he continued to draw nearer. He stopped next to the first step on my porch and crossed his arms over his chest before frowning up at me.

“I thought ya looked a little worn.” He muttered roughly.

I found myself frowning back at him. “A little worn?” I questioned not quite understanding what he had meant by it.

He raised one of his dark eyebrows up at me as if secretly calling me stupid before dully saying. “Tired. Ya’ look real tired.”

“Oh.” I said feeling a little uncomfortable. I started shifting my weight from side to side after down casting my gaze. It’s not like I didn’t know how bad I looked, I mean come three days without sleep, a shower , food probably made me look half dead but for him to point it out made me feel kind of embarrassed. “Yea’ I probably do look like a wreck huh?” I said with a little laugh trying my best to not let it bother me.

He leaned against the railing of my porch steps and just stared up at me. “Ya look like shit if ya ask me. What have ya been doin’ while Merle and me were away?”

If anybody else had asked that I most likely would have barked out for them to mind their own damn business but I wasn’t sure if being sleep deprived made me a little more lenient to talk to him or if it was just because it was Daryl. “My little brother got sick.” I answered softly.

No matter how tired I was though I wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth Adam or even myself. Project Origin was a top secret program at the CDC and even a lot of doctors that worked there didn’t even know about it, like Dr. Jenner’s husband who was only two divisions below her wasn’t allowed to know about it.

So when Daryl asked his next question, “What did he have?”

I felt even more uncomfortable because I didn’t like to lie. I ran my hand through my greasy hair and took a deep breath. “I’m not exactly sure what it was but the doctors said that he was better now but they told me that they were going to keep him under observation for the night just to make sure.”

“I’m sure your brother is a tough little shit. He’ll be fine.” He said awkwardly almost as if he wasn’t used to comforting a person.

“Thanks,” I said with a weak smile before looking over at the porch swing that I had. I was extremely tired and should have probably told him so but I didn’t want to stop talking to him. I nodded my head over to the swing and asked him to join me. He looked over at the swing with a frown before looking back at his house.

With a slight shake of his head he told me, “I don’t think that is such a good idea. Ya look like you’re going to fall over any second and I don’t want to have to deal with your pansy ass.”

Despite how insulting he sounded I couldn’t help but laugh at him. He had a strange way of showing his concern for me but I was happy that he was worried about at all. He stared at my smiling face with a hard frown but I could see in his blue eyes that he was more amused at my reaction then anything.

I turned to the side and opened my door again before stepping inside. Once inside I turned around and smiled at him. “Good night Daryl.”

He nodded his head at me. “Night.” He said crisply before making giving me his back. I couldn’t help but feel a slight disappointment for him not saying my name but I shrugged the feeling off and just thought about getting upstairs to my bed. With a sigh I shut the door and went up to my room. As soon as I saw my bed I wanted to just fall onto it and pass out but I felt the need to take a shower first. With an even louder groan I made my way to the bathroom and quickly finished my business. With my hair still dripping went I went over to my bed and fell onto it without even bothering to pull the sheets back.

I went to bed thinking about how I was going to confront the CDC in the morning but after I drifted into a deep sleep I thought about nothing other than Daryl Dixon. It was unknown to me at the time but last night would end up being the last time I saw him for a very long time.