The Shallow Places (ON HOLD)

Chapter Six

My heart was racing; my head thumping at the revelation of Eli's adversary. I was sweating as blood coursed in my veins, causing my body to shake and tremble. My face felt hot. Something was humming in my ears as my brain tried to sort this new information. Eli's been bitten.

None of us moved. None of us dared to--not under the circumstances of this moment. One of our own was infected. I almost had to laugh in that moment, as I realized what I had thought. I wasn't one of them. But now was not the time for laughter.

My mind wandered, as my thoughts were a jumbled and rambling mess of ideas as I imagined the worst possible case: Eli was going to die. No, not die; worse. He was going to become a Stillwalker and he was going to wander aimlessly with one motive, one drive, and one thirst--a thirst for blood. A thirst that would always be unreplenished and unquenched.

We were all thinking this as we eyed him with suspicion. He was not yet showing the signs of a Stillwalker, but that didn't make him any less of a danger to us. We didn't know how much time he really had, we were just hoping for the best.

Why was I thinking in that sense? Why should I care if Eli was infected? He was nothing to me. He was someone I had recently met, within twenty-four hours of this moment. My thoughts left my mind clouded With perplexity.

As usual, Owen stepped up to take charge, though I could see he wasn't quite sure of what to do yet. "Let's go," he said, "We're only about an hour from Boston, and if Eli truly is..." He couldn't say the word, because if he said it, that would make it true. If he said that word, that would make Eli a monster, and a very dangerous one. He was especially dangerous because he wouldn't be just any monster. He was a friend too. Owen continued, "Then we need to get to Zane as quickly as possible. He can determine how long he has."

By the way Owen spoke, he made it sound like Eli was just terminally ill or something, and we were counting down the days until his passing. I used to think that way too, back when my parents were first infected, though I realized that thoughts like those were childish. I used to have this false pretensive hope that they were merely dreadfully sick, like Owen's own denial, and I had had hopes of an antidote.

There had been rumors of an antidote on the television at the start of the infection before the power failed and the government ceased to exist. I didn't know for certain if there actually was an antidote. If there was, I'd never heard of it. I also didn't know if there even was a government anymore. If so, they hadn't tried to make contact.

That was so like the government--with their lack of concern of the well-being of their people. They had greater problems than keeping their people safe. I was angered if there was still a goverment, as everything was still lawless and without order. People needed government, especially now. They needed something to believe in when all hope seemed lost forever, and a strong democracy could be exactly that. I had long ago decided that I was better off alone, but even I needed a government, because I couldn't be a leader myself. I needed something to believe in.

Now, there were just remnants of what once was. I realized then how much I thought about what once was, as I wanted it back so desperately. I didn't know if I was strong enough to endure this life, though I had made it this far. It was almost too much to handle.

We all moved at once as we made our way to the truck, piling in side by side. I squished myself between Eli and Nolan, with Eli closest to the door as a precaution. However, despite the face that Eli was infected, I wasn't nervous sitting so closely to him.

Eli had an effect on me. He made me feel safe and I was comfortable with him, even though on the inside, his blood was changing. His blood was contaminated with the venom of the infectious bite. It was working beneath the skin to change who he was, and not just physically. It would seep into his bones, but more importantly, it would run deep into his roots in his brain. It would cut off every bit of him that was human. His personality would cease to remain as a memory in our minds.

I stared deep into his wound, hoping that if I stared at it long enough, it would disappear. I wondered how he could remain so calm. It must be painful.

I touched his arm with a shaky index finger, in a place that was clear away from the bite. I didn't want to risk getting infected through contact. His skin was hot beneath my touch. I could feel the infection brewing in him, as it would slowly begin to shut down his body through his organs.

His gaze darted away from the road and down into my sullen eyes. His green eyes too were sad. They were sad, but also beautiful in their own way. There was something about Eli that was just good, which made the situation all the more painful. I wanted to cry. I wanted to curl up against him and just wish away his pain. I wanted to be the one infected and not him. He didn't deserve this!

For being so calm on the surface, there was something other than sadness in his eyes that seeped from his innermost thoughts--fear. He was scared on the inside. I admired him for keeping his head, but that was so like Eli. He was always so tranquil and wholesome.

Eli smiled at me and stroked my forehead with his thumb. His smile was soothing, so I closed my eyes. I shut them, but I didn't dare to sleep. I didn't want to miss a moment with Eli if it meant that my moments left would be short-lived.

Moments were like snow. They only came every once in awhile and they didn't last. And like snow, my moments with Eli would melt away and they would be gone forever. Moments are the only things you can hold onto once a person has gone; you must make them count. But unlike moments, snow would return the next year. Whereas Eli wouldn't.

I hadn't known Eli for long, but with this wide-awake realization, I found that it didn't matter. These were the people I had trusted for survival, and that was as valuable as a friend I had known for years. Now it was more, though. Now it was a trust that created a barrier between living and dying. It was a whole new level of trust; a trust which could only be broken by the one thing that was stronger--betrayal. As blood is thicker than water, betrayal is stronger than trust.