It gave him some reassurance, but the illness ravaging his body made it difficult for him to feel any measure of relief.
Every second that passed with no change in his symptoms other than perhaps a worsening, made him worry that he would soon be facing his final days. The death rate at the hospital as tracked by his little program looked grim, hovering around sixty-eight percent. And those numbers didn’t even reflect the people who were passing away from this at home without seeking treatment.
The thought made his stomach clench–or maybe that was from the pills. Either way, after a wave of nausea rocked him, he drifted off to a dreamless but feverish sleep.
A shaking sensation pulled him back to reality. He fluttered his eyes open.
Ava hovered over him. “Wake up, babe. You’re going to the hospital.”
Panic made his heart pound hard against his ribs as he squinted his tired, burning eyes at her. “Hospital?”
Was he that bad off? Had something changed?
“Yeah. Doc may have found something, and we need to track it down. You need to be monitored, so you’re going to the hospital while I go with Doc to find a cure.”
He groaned internally, hating both the idea of going to the hospital and Ava leaving him. He hated hospitals on a good day, but this was even worse. When he wasn’t feeling well, he wanted to do nothing more than curl up in his own bed and ride it out. Even being in the motel was bad enough.
But even worse than that, he didn’t want Ava tracking anything down. This was dangerous enough, and now he’d have to lay in his hospital bed worrying about her.
“Ugh, okay,” he murmured, unable to stop it from moving forward. “But I don’t like this plan.”
“I hate this, Alex. I hate leaving you when you need me, but I have to. I have to find the cure... for you, for all of us. We’ll beat this, I promise. I just—I can’t stay here, not when there’s a chance to save you. Even if it means we’re apart for a little while.”
“I know, I know,” he said as he sat up when a knock sounded at the door.
Ava opened it to allow the paramedics into the room. They fussed over him, getting his vitals and inserting an IV into his hand that made him grimace before they strapped him down to a gurney for the short ride to the hospital.
The moment they wheeled him into the sterile, white hallway of the hospital, Alex’s anxiety spiked. The sterile smell of disinfectant stung his nose, mingling with the faint scent of sickness that clung to the air. Even with Ava’s hand in his, a sense of dread crawled up his spine. He didn’t belong here, not with all the other sick people—people who were dying. His pulse quickened as the medical staff swarmedaround him, checking his vitals, inserting needles into his arm. Every time they touched him, he wanted to pull away, afraid that accepting their care was admitting defeat.
As Kyle eyed his monitors, jotting down a few notes on his chart, he fidgeted in the bed, his eyes glued to Ava with Sebastian outside of his room. “So, where’s this supposed cure, Doc?”
“Looks like South America. Look, Mav, if it wasn’t entirely necessary to have Ava with me, I would definitely not be taking her, but I think we can all agree, I’m not the best with a gun.”
Alex offered a weak chuckle before he frowned, the effort to laugh making him feel worse. “You’re not. And I get it. Ava is awesome. I just…hate this. I hate her leaving, I hate being sick, I hate being in the hospital.”
“I know,” Kyle answered. “But with any luck, in two days we’ll be laughing about this over coffee, you’ll be back to normal, and we’ll have saved this town from complete destruction.””
“I hope so,” Alex said with a sigh, his eyes still fixed on Ava. “How sure is the lead?”
“Not one hundred percent, but it really makes sense than they would have something prepared in case this got released accidentally or if one of their own gets sick, right?”
Alex bobbed his head, immediately regretting it as it made the tension at his temples a hundred times worse.
“So, let’s hope The Board planned ahead, and Ava and I can just swipe a drug that’ll clear this up and be back here in a jiffy.”
Alex laid his head back against the pillow. “It could be worse. She could be going with Shadow.”
“Nope, she’s going with me. And you get to hang out with Shadow.”
“Maybe that’s worse,” Alex said with a groan. “Hey, howdo my vitals look? I’m going to be in the thirty percent who live, right?”
“You’re holding your own,” Kyle answered. “And I am leaving detailed instructions for you to receive a very specific regimen of medication that is our best shot at keeping the grim reaper at bay.”
“Awesome,” Alex said. “Does it include Jello?”
Kyle grinned at him. “It does not, but I can grab you some if you’d like.”
“I have no appetite, but the goo may actually stop my throat from hurting so bad.”
