SAWYERS POV
How could I have been so stupid?
"Where are you going?" Evan asks and I run past him.
"Keep an eye on her." I tell him and run to the lab room.
I'm not contagious so I couldn't have given her whatever sickness I have. Her sickness is similar to mine but is reacting differently to her body.
Only explanation has to be Whit. He was somehow slowly infecting her over time. The only thing that doesn't make sense is all testing says it's exactly like mine. Except my body is fighting it and hers isn't. Another explanation I haven't been constantly infected, Whit just injected me once. I've tested her blood countless of times, there is no possible way it's different than mine. Her body just can't handle it like I do.
"What ever you're doing, speed it up." Jospeh comes in, a worried expression on his face.
Some part of me isn't worried. I know she will be fine.
"I'm doing everything in my power." I state, not bothering to look up from the microscope. I've used my virus as a vaccine which is alive but not able to cause a disease. I thought that would for sure do the trick.
"Well try harder. She's fighting for her life." He slams the door shut and I turn to him.
"Get out." I tell him. I don't need the constant reminder that she may be fucking dying.
"She's calmed down." He whispers before leaving. I grab the vaccine I gave her last time which seemed to help her and walk downstairs. I need more time.
I open the door to her room and see she's peacefully starring at the wall.
"Sawyer." She croaks, her breathing low and full of mucus. I walk over to her and see her eyes are rimmed red and the tear ducts are blood shot.
"Drink this and don't argue with me." I hand her a pain pill and inject her with the serum. I can't look at her.
"I'm dying." She whispers and I hear her sniffle. I breathe in and with all my strength and I turn to look at her. Her tears are blood, my eyes widen before I recovery and hold her feverish hand.
"I won't let that happen. I'm doing everything I can." I tell her and she weakly nods. I grab a napkin and wipe her tears. She closes her eyes and smiles.
I let her rest and rush back up stairs. Evan is by her door and he nods. He thinks she's going to die too.
I grab samples of her blood, she can't die. I've seen her. She just can't. I put one in different vials. To each except one I add different anti-virus medication.
Now it's just a waiting game.
"Sawyer!" I hear shouting from downstairs. I rush downstairs, Jospeh is in the middle of the living room, his chest breathing hard.
"It's..." He pauses and I take a few steps down. "She's..." I roll my eyes at his stuttering. "She's not breathing." He finally shouts and I rush downstairs.
I push him out of the way, I catch Evan standing over her bed.
"She was thrashing around. Her mouth bubbled. I tried holding her still. Then it just stopped." Evan informs and I push him out of the way. I check her pulse, there isn't one.
I grab my emergency defibrillator and use it to shock her heart back into a normal rhythm. I do this a couple of times.
"Come on, Opal." I grunt. "You're stronger than this." I state.
I'm about on my hundredth shock and still no response. "Come on!" My voice echoes throughout the room. Evan is behind me now and he stops me from making anymore contact with her chest. I push him away and keep trying but he grabs me and stands in front of her.
"That's enough!" Evan shouts. "She's gone. You've done all that you could." He looks down at her helpless body. Blood now running from her nose and ears.
I refuse to believe this.
"You don't understand. She can't die." I seethe, but Evan shakes his head.
"You've dome all you could." He says and walks out of the room, leaving me alone.
I stare down at Opals face. I throw the defibrillator against the wall, breaking it into pieces.
I'm on my knees beside her now,
"Opal, you're not allowed to die. I saw you. I saw you." I cry into her hand. "This isn't how it's supposed to end." I stand up, and start pacing back and forth. "We're supposed to grow old together." I whisper the last, afraid of anyone hearing.
I hear a knock at the door. I get up to answer. Jospeh is standing there, his face blank but as soon as he sees the messy state I'm in he shakes his head.
"You were supposed to save her." He pushes me out of the way. Avery follows in soon after, I wipe my tears and stand there watching as they grieve, my emotions off as I stare blankly at them.
"Wake her up." Avery says. "This isn't funny." She cries into Jospeh's chest.
"I was just starting to like you Opal." Avery whispers.
Jospeh is about to say something when the machine she's connected to starts to beep. We all turn to the machine.
"She's breathing, but hardly." Jospeh says and he checks her pulse. I move them out of the way and connect her to a breathing tube and mask.
For now the machine will keep her alive. For the rest of the day I stay cooped up in the lab, I know Jospeh and Avery are still in the room with Opal.
Evan walks in, I check the time, almost two in the morning.
"How are you?" Evan asks, and I catch the suspicion behind his question.
"What do you want?" I snap.
"I know that took a toll on you. I've never seen you react that way." Evan states.
"Your point?" I mutter, as I input my research into the computer.
"Why do you care for her so much?" He questions as he leans against my desk.
"You know how I feel about people dying. Especially if they're in my care." I ignore his accusing tone. He nods and crosses his arms,
"Doctors are taught, I'm sure to know how to deal with deaths. I mean patients I get it, but your relationship with them is strictly professional. Yes it's sad, you have to deal with the family and everything that comes along with it. But Opal..." He stops there to look at me and I greet him with a glare.
"How is she down there?" I question.
"Unconscious but breathing." He tells me and I nod. I need more time. "What is your next move?"
"I'm waiting to see how her blood reacts to these." I point to the different vials. If that doesn't work I would have to start from scratch." I sigh out.
"How much longer do you think she'll have?" He questions, genuinely concerned.
I shrug. "A week, maybe less." I don't even want to think about it. Evan nods and leaves the room.
I lock the door to the lab and grab a burner phone and I dial Whits number.
Within seconds Whit answers.
"She's dying..." I angrily spit.
"Details, Mr. Pierce." He mocks.
"Your fucking niece is dying." I state slower, my voice full of venom.
There's a pause, "I see." Whit says and I grip the phone tighter.
"Tell me how to save her.."
"A price would have to be paid." I can see him with a smug smile on his face. "Come on, Sawyer. You're smart no one is as smart as you. Getting mixed up with them isn't going to keep you safe. How do you like my virus. Created it just for you. Mixed a few things in there. I'm sure you found by now." He continues.
"Tell me how to save her." I demand but he laughs. "Without that virus you'd be bored. Why aren't you happy with what I created. You enjoy saving others."
"Not at the expense of you messing with others. Tell me how to fucking save her."
"Looks like you and her will have a friend for life." He chuckles, referring to the virus. I can't cure her but I can stop it from killing her. She will always have the trace of the virus in her DNA.
"Whit, so help me..." I scream into the phone.
"You know what I want. The very small thing you stole from me."
"It's mine."
"Sooner or later you'll have to use it, but the outcome will be bad." Whit warns.
"If it were in your hands, it would be much worse." I counter. "Now, tell me how to save her."
"Capsid." Whit says before hanging up.
I breathe out. "Fucking asshole." I mutter, shaking my head in disappointment.
I already fucking did that. I isolated the capsid and injected into her, it should have made her immune system stronger.
I hate Whit and his fucking riddles. Not a fan, never will be, riddles can suck it.
I sit at my desk contemplating my next move. If none of the vials I'm testing show any improvement then there isn't much I can do.
It's been three days and Opal still hasn't woken up. The dark black spots are turning almost green, bruised almost.
Her temperature is higher than the average fever.
Dinner is quiet and I stare at the pizza on my plate.
"It's so much quieter without you two arguing during dinner" Avery says to me, she's always bringing up Opal.
"Everything has been quiet." Jospeh says and he glares at me. "Are you even trying to find a cure?" He accuses and Evan slaps him on the head.
"He's doing everything he can. Look at his disheveled hair and bags under his eyes." Evan says, trying to lighten up the mood.
I roll my eyes, "Pass the hot wings." I ask Avery and she hands them to me.
"Should we make her her favorite meal, when she wakes up?" Avery says, with hopes filled eyes. I can tell she hasn't been sleeping either. Between her and Jospeh they watch Opal more than Evan.
"Sloppy joes." Jospeh chimes in with a smile. He seems almost embarrassed for knowing that and I envy him that he does know that.
"How do you know?" I question. Disgusted that out of all the delicious foods in the world she opts for a sloppy joe. School fucking lunch food.
I despise them, the mere thought makes me want to sow my mouth up.
"She told me. She says we eat too much pizza. There's never a variety." Jospeh laughs.
Sloppy joe, what a variety. I roll my eyes at Opals stupidity.
Even out cold she annoys me, but the thought of her waking up sends chills down my body.
"Why are you smiling?" Jospeh asks, confusion crossing his features. I take a bite out of my pizza,
"Nothing. I'll make the sloppy joes." I tell them all.
"What did I miss?" Jethro comes walking in, freshly showered and a girl in his arms, also with wet hair. I roll my eyes.
Once he falls asleep she will most likely take him for all he has.
"Leave." I tell the girl. She's taken back by my not so welcomes tone. She turns to Jethro for help. "He's not going to help you."
"Whatever. Ass." She says and kisses my cousin and walks out.
"What the hell was that for?" He hisses.
"Where's your wallet?" I question and he looks at me confused before running to the bathroom to check if his wallet is still there. I'm sure it isn't.
Opal is my main focus. I don't need random people in my house.
I sit in the living room as everyone is talking and relaxing. I keep replaying Whits message. His generosity of making a new virus for me so I won't be bored is fucked up. How sick can a person be?
"Want to know a secret?" Joseph plops down beside me. I raise an eyebrow up and let him continue. "I know I've been a douche." He starts and I nod, agreeing.
"Obviously." I tell him and he rolls his eyes.
"But I feel it in my bones that she isn't going to die." He tells me and my stomach sinks.
She isn't, but you are. I think to myself.
I smile. "Thank you." I give him a hug which he hesitantly takes.
"Don't mention it?" He questions and I walk back up stairs. Time to work.
The phone call I had with Whit still plays in my head. He's given me the answer but not given me the answer.
I close my eyes and rest my hands under my chin as I repeat the words he spoke, "Come on, Sawyer. You're smart no one is as smart as you. Getting mixed up with them isn't going to keep you safe. How do you like my virus. Created it just for you. Mixed a few things in there. I'm sure you found by now...." I stop.
Mixed, he used that word twice. If he wants me to separated the capsid.
"What does he want me to do?" I tap my fingers on the keyboard. It peeps at the random buttons I'm pressing.
"Mixed." I say out loud. What the hell am I supposed to do?
I already isolated the capsid from her virus and of mine..... Whit knew I would do that, but nothing seems to be helping her.
I can mix both capsids together mine and hers but that could kill her. It could also save her.
I start extracting mine and hers and place it in a vial of her infected blood.
Waiting game, again.
I check on the other vials, all of them turned black, almost tar looking.
I sit on the couch and pull at my curls. I can't take this shit. I lie down and try to rest but the thought of me not doing anything causes me to stay awake.
I close my eyes to think.
"Sleeping beauty is finally awake." Jethro says and I open my eyes to see him sitting on my swivel chair. Evan must have let him in.
"What time is it?" I question.
"Almost noon. Hey what is this?" He questions.
"Nothing. Work stuff. Boring." I yawn.
"What is this?" He asks, pouting to something but I don't have to go look as I push him out the door.
"Out." I tell him but he stops me from closing the door.
"I'll leave as soon as you tell me who that girl in the basement is. You don't have some weird dead girl fetish thing going on right?" He questions, genuinely concerned. I flip him off and slam the door in his face.
He didn't recognize Opal, I mean why would he. She's all bone, her cheeks sunken in. Her skin almost yellow and her vibrant hair and curls flat and sad.
Shit I slept in. I check on the vial and the blood looks normal, a vibrant red. That can't be.
I quickly test some under the microscope. The black dots aren't multiplying. They're just shaking in spot, frozen. I need to rest it further, will it complete freeze the virus making it stay dormant or will she always need to be injecting herself?
"Morning." Evan walks in. "I know that look." He tells me and I pinch the bridge of my nose.
"I can't give it to her. It will kill her." I groan, pacing back and forth.
"Sawyer, she's already dying." Evan states the obvious. I don't want to speed up her death.
"I need to rest it further." I tell him.
"Test it on her." He offers. "She won't know."
"You'll get fo understand all the side affects and everything that comes along with this." He offers the bright side. I'm still hesitant but eventually give in.
I walk straight down stairs and inject her. Immediately she inhales deeply. Her heart rate slows to a normal pace and the color comes back to her lips and cheeks. I smile down at her. I move away stray strands of her curls from her face.
"Let her rest." Evan says and I sit down and wait until she wakes up.
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Hey guys!
I started school on Tuesday! 😭
Also I feel like I post more when I'm at school rather than on vacation. Not sure why 😆
It's a short chapter, but hope you enjoy. ❤️