Time to Survive

This Is A Really Bad Idea

Ryan couldn't keep the cooked meat down, he vomited every bite back up minutes after eating it. He groaned, and I patted his back sympathetically, making sure to keep a safe distance from him in case he decided I was a snack again, for which he'd apologized so many times I'd had to hit him to make him shut up.

"It might not work on a quick progression," I could hear the doctors talking in the hallway, "but if someone was bit with the slow virus like he was --- there might be a chance. Hell, he might still die of starvation, I don't know. I've never seen anything like it."

"They're so positive, huh?" Ryan rasped, his hair curled in my hand as I kept it from getting vomit in it.

"The odds are in your favor now," I offered, trying to make him better.

He sent me a strange look. "Did you just quote me the Hunger Games?"

I grinned. "Not intentionally, but it's great you caught it."

He rolled his bloodshot eyes at me again, and then groaned as another wave of nausea swept over him, and I winced, clenching my jaw as he puked more, filling the waste basket.

He couldn't have that much in his stomach.

"What about raw meat?" I asked thoughtfully, and the doctors glanced at me from the doorway. "Get some of it from the kitchens and see if it makes a difference!"

Maybe he was just lik iZombie or something; I could remember watching a few episodes of that show before everything went kaboom.

"Kelsey, other then you smelling like something right out of the oven, I don't think anything is going to be appetizing," Ryan told me weakly, leaning his head against my thigh as he tried to breath. I dabbed at his lips with a towel, wishing I could do more to help him.

I wasn't sure if there was even any raw meat left.

I hadn't seen a live animal that wasn't in the woods for months now, not even birds.

"This sucks," Ryan mumbled, closing his eyes, and I sighed, stroking his hair.

"It's gonna be okay, though. You've made it this far, it's amazing."

"If you say so," he mumbled, sighing.

"You two look cozy," Chris grunted as he stepped through the door, carrying a box with cold rising off of it in steam.

"Is it raw?" I asked as he popped the top off, grimacing.

"Definitely."

He pulled raw hamburger meat from the box, brushing the ice off of the package.

"Frozen isn't going to help," I scowled. "It'll be like eating an ice berg."

Ryan raised his head off my lap, sniffing.

"It smells good," He muttered, rising up into a sitting position.

"Let me nuke it some, I think there's a small room down the hall," Chris said, and left the room, Ryan watching him go hungrily.

"I feel like I haven't eaten in days." He mumbled.

"You haven't," I told him, replacing the lid on the box so all the meat wouldn't ruin. "That's the thing."

He wrinkled nose nose at me.

Chris returned a few minutes later, the meat a little browned but still mostly raw in its packaging.

"Have at it, man," Chris told Ryan, looking like he wanted to gag as he handed the meat over.

He came to stand by my side, and we (including the annoying doctors) all watched as Ryan dug into the raw meat with his fingers, shoving a few bites into his mouth.