Status: Updated once or twice a week.

After the World's End

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

"Why don't you ever help out around here?!" Cohen bellowed at Max for what seemed like the billionth time.

Max looked at the ground, willing himself not to burst into tears. The strange illness that had overtaken him over a week earlier hadn't gone away. It was only getting worse and Max had to admit that he was getting more frightened every day. If it were someone else, at least he could try to protect himself, but how can he protect himself from his own body? "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I really am. I'll try harder."

Even as he was talking, it was all he could do not to just curl up in a ball and lay there until he either felt better or died. This wasn't just some cold. He felt exhausted all the time and he could barely think straight because his head hurt so bad. He was so cold his bones hurt, but at the same time his skin felt like he'd just stepped out of a furnace. He couldn't eat anything without being sick. His chest hurt every single time he breathed, so it was nearly unbearable to run. The scariest part was that those weren't even the worst of it. There would be horrible times where Max would feel like he was drowning. He could barely breathe and each time it happened, he was sure he was going to die.

Max hadn't admitted how he felt to anyone. He was afraid they would think he was over exaggerating or that if he's that sick then he might be more of a hassle than he's worth. That decision was tested every single day when the others yelled at him for being too slow or not helping out enough around the camp. Max had already lost what little weight he had gained since he left the city. He hated looking at his reflection in the stream whenever he went to fill up the water bottle because he knew that he looked more dead than alive.

"Stop apologizing and do something then!" Cohen snarled. "When we took you in, we were under the impression you'd actually make less work for us, but you just make things more difficult."

Max flinched as that had been exactly what he was afraid of. "I'm sorry. What do you want me to do?"

"You only have one job here. Go get more water for the group."

Max nodded, pushing back tears at the thought of going to get more water. Every step hurt his chest and made his legs shake with fatigue and he knew he would feel that horrible drowning sensation again. He'd grown to hate those thermoses, but he got up anyway and put them into his pack. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible because he really didn't want to cry in front of them.

The one thing he comforted himself with was that at least they wouldn't have to leave again for the next couple of days. Alexander had promised them yesterday that if they ran through the night last night then they could stay in one place for two days to get their strength back. After that, they would go slower, but there would still be long days of traveling. Max dreaded the thought of even walking all day now. He just wanted to sleep.

Instead, he found himself making the four mile round trip to the stream turned river that was nearest to their camp. He knew he would have to make that journey at least three times every day because everyone used so much water for cooking or just for drinking. He really wished they had camped closer to the river, but there was no use complaining about it now. Just as he thought, he had to stop twice on the way there and three times on the way back when he felt like he was going to drown. He finally stumbled into camp an hour later to see that Arden and Caroline were back from gathering firewood.

Arden immediately strode over to Max, looking worried. "What happened? Alexander said you were gone for closer to two hours. I thought you had gotten hurt and was about to go looking for you."

"I'm sorry I took so long," Max whispered, feeling like all he ever did was apologize anymore.

"You don't need to be sorry. I'm just glad you're okay," Arden said.

"He wasn't ever in any danger. He was just sulking because he doesn't like being told that he can't be lazy all day," Cohen said.

"No," Max argued, but it was without hope. He doubted that anyone would believe him and at that point he didn't really care. At least it was over for now.

"It's a bit late to eat breakfast," Alexander said. "But I guess this can be an early lunch. I'll go out and get water for dinner."

"No!" Max said. "I'll do better next time. I'll leave right about lunch if you want me too." He was so afraid that if Alexander took this responsibility from him, it would mean that he would have to leave.

"If you're sure, then that's fine," Alexander said.

"I'll come with you if you want," Arden offered.

Max went visibly pale at the thought of Arden being there. Arden would just make things worse. He wouldn't even be able to stop if he felt sick with Arden there. "No; I can do it. You should rest. Caroline and you have already done your jobs for the day. This is mine."

Arden didn't look sure, but he nodded anyway.

Max ate lunch as fast as he could and left before he could second guess himself. He knew this time would be even worse. He was already exhausted and he found himself questioning whether it was even worth it at times, but he finally got back. He'd taken even longer than before, but it didn't matter because they would have dinner done in plenty of time.

That night, he curled up in his sleeping bag, exhausted. He knew that day would just repeat the next day, but he knew he wouldn't give up, so there was no use in worrying about it.

Max finished the first trip to the stream that morning and he was absolutely miserable, but he did it. Just as Max was bracing himself for the second trip to the water, Caroline and Arden ran back into camp looking terrified.

Everyone was immediately on their feet and running over to the two to see what had happened. They usually didn't freak out very easily and there was one thought on everyone's mind: looters.

"We saw footprints!" Caroline burst out, looking panicked.

"What?" Alexander said and everyone was immediately on high alert. "Are you sure they're not-"

"We know what our footprints look like?" Caroline snapped. "We need to leave."

"Everyone get your things together. We leave in five minutes, no matter what," Alexander said.

Max had nothing to do. His pack was full and ready to go every time he left camp because Alexander had always wanted them to be able to leave at a moment's notice. He hurried over to help Caroline and Arden get ready.

He didn't say anything to either of them, but they smiled weakly at each other. Max was scurrying around trying to find the last of the canned food that had been scattered around to put into Arden's bag when Alexander walked up to them. Alexander didn't even spare a glance at Max before turning to the other two and questioning them about what they had seen. "Which was were the footprints going? Did it look like a lot of people? Were there older ones too that might imply that they've spent a lot of time around here?" he asked.

"We don't know," Arden said. "We got to a patch of mud where there was a huge jumble of footsteps. There were at least two pairs of footprints. I don't know anything else. We didn't exactly stop and study them. We wanted to leave as soon as possible."

"We'll leave in a minute. Stasia is finishing up with something," Alexander said. He turned away from them to help Stasia finish packing, leaving the rest of them to wait.

Max stood next to Arden, dreading what the next few hours were sure to entail. He knew there would be several more episodes of that terrible drowning feeling. 'How much longer can I hide this from them?' he asked himself. 'What would happen if they did find out? They'd know it wasn't just me being lazy and that I can't help doing worse than them, but is that really a good thing? They might give up on me anymore. 'Maybe I could just talk to Arden about it? He told me I could talk to him about anything, but I don't know if I can trust him on this," Max thought.

"Max!" Arden said. From his voice, Max could tell that this wasn't the first time Arden had called his name.

"What?"

"Are you okay?" Arden asked. No sooner did he ask than Max promptly noticed that his hands were shaking.

Arden had clearly seen the same thing. "What's wrong? You've been looking kind of off lately."

"Thanks. I'm so flattered," Max said, raising an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean. Are you sick?" Arden asked.

"No, I'm fine," Max said, a little more strongly than he'd meant to.

Arden didn't look offended in the slightest. He put his hand on Max's forehead before Max could yank himself away. "You're burning up," he said.

"Maybe I've got a cold. I'm fine," Max said, feeling increasining nervous. "Arden, drop it. We've got to get going."

Arden didn't say anything else, but he was still looking worriedly at Max. Max had never been so gratefuly to strart running before. He just wanted the conversation with Max to end, even if it did mean that he would be sick/

"It's time to leave," Alexander said, quietly.

Everyone was absolutely silent as they started running. They were all listening for the people the footprints belonged to, but they didn't hear anything. Max was thankful that they were all so focused on what was going on around them because that way they didn't notice how terrible Max was looking. He felt weak and shaky almost immediately, but he pushed it away, not only because he was trying to hide his illness, but also because he was just as afraid as his friends were of the strangers.

Suddenly, before Max even fully realized how bad he was feeling, he dropped to the ground. His eyes were blurring around the edges and it hurt to breathe. He could hear someone shouting his name, but it sounded like it was coming from so far away that it didn't matter. The boy knew that he wasn't going to stay conscious this time and he surrendered to the drowning sensation.
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