After the World's End

Chapter Eleven

Max woke up in someone's arms, feeling like he had been thrown off a cliff. He knew only that he felt like he was being rocked in the person's arms. His chest hurt so badly every time he breathed and he was so tired. All he wanted to do was go back to sleep, but he was too tired to even go to sleep. Max would have laughed at the irony of it, if he had been able. All he managed to do was groan weakly.

"You finally awake?" the voice who was carrying him asked. Max recognized it as Arden's voice.

He could barely move or even speak. Max had never felt so sick in his entire life; not even when he was at the point of starvation after hiding from looters who had raided the city when he was six. Max felt like he couldn't breathe. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs.

"Is he okay?" Max heard Caroline ask.

"I don't know. I can't even tell if he's awake," Arden replied.

Max heard another voice, but he wasn't sure who it belonged to. It sounded a bit like Caroline's, but her voice was a bit deeper and she had an accent Max had never heard before. "Let me see him." Max felt a small hand on his forehead for a few moments and then she said, "He's burning up again. Put a cold rag on his forehead and take his coat off for a little while. Watch him though and as soon as he starts to shake, change to a warm rag and wrap him up again."

Max felt himself be put on the ground and his coat taken off. He tried to help, but his arms barely even felt like they were attached to him. When he was picked up, Max felt a cold rag on his forehead and he instantly felt a little bit better. Before long, he started to drift off again.

Max woke up some time later and he was feeling slightly better. His chest still hurt and he still couldn't breathe very well, but at least he wasn't as tired as he had been before.

Before he opened his eyes, he tried to figure out as much as possible about what was happening around him. He was still being carried, but this time the person was different. Max felt a little bit afraid, but he knew Arden wouldn't have let him go to someone who would hurt him and that the person was obviously taking care of him. He felt like he was wrapped in a blanket and the person who was carrying him was making sure that he wasn't uncomfortable.

Max finally opened his eyes and saw that the sun was beginning to set. Max frowned and moved his hand to rub his eyes. "Hey, kid," the person carrying him said, sounding a bit uncomfortable. "Are you going to stay awake this time?"

Max stared in shock at Cohen without saying a word. He couldn't believe that Cohen would willingly carry him around. Finally, he recovered himself enough to nod.

"We're going to stop," Cohen said to the others.

"We might as well," Max heard Alexander agree. "It's getting late anyway.

Cohen put Max down in the grass gently. Arden and Caroline were at his side in an instant, their faces showing equal parts worry and happiness. "It's good to see you awake," Caroline said, looking a little bit teary-eyed. "Why didn't you tell us that you were so sick?"

Max just shook his head. "I don't know," he said, raspily.

"Don't lie to us," Arden said, sternly. "You didn't trust us. You should have known that…you would have known that if we had treated you better. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said, weakly. "I'm fine."

"I know you're not. We'll stay here tonight and leave again tomorrow," Arden said. "We know where we're going now. A lot has happened since you passed out."

"What?" Max said. "I've only been asleep for a couple of hours."

Max suddenly heard the same girl as before speak. He turned his head to see her and knew for a fact that he'd never met her in his life. "You've been asleep for three days," she said. "We saw you with these people. We thought you were…We thought you were our friend."

"Me? What-" Max stopped himself as he understood exactly who they'd thought he was and a wave of pity washed over him. "That boy- the one the looters-"

The strange girl nodded. "His name was Collin. Your friends told us what happened to him after we realized that you werent him. You look kind of like him, except you're- Well, to be honest, I can't really tell what you look like. You look like you've rolled in mud every day for the last year."

Max smiled faintly. He knew he didn't look so great and that he probably looked even worse than usual with as sick as he was. "He was brave."

The girl looked away for a moment to compose herself. "I-I know. Cain and I-" She broke off to nod in the other direction. Max followed her gaze to see another stranger; this one a guy. "Cain and I know that he must have trusted you all for some reason to even admit that there is a safe haven for people. I think he wanted us to take you there if we ran into you, so that's what we're going to do," she said.

Max realized what a huge favor they were doing him and his friends. "Thank you," he whispered.

The girl nodded. "We couldn't have left you anyway. It's obvious that you're group aren't looters and you are so sick that we couldn't leave you. My name is Audrey, by the way," she said.

Max started coughing, so he couldn't answer right away. There were a few minutes were all that could be heard in the clearing was Max's weak coughs. After awhile, he was able to speak again, but his voice was even more breathless than before. "It's nice to meet you," he said.

"It's nice to meet you too," she replied. "You just need to rest for a little while now. You've very sick. We're not doctors, but hopefully we can make you more comfortable until we can get you home."

"W-when-" Max broke off again. He could barely breathe let alone speak. "When will we get there?" he asked.

"I can't tell you that," Audrey said. "Just because we can take you to our town, doesn't mean we can tell you where it is. It's a safety measure. If we told you where it was and you were a spy, then you would just run off and tell the looters. We can't let the happen, so as far as you know we could be an hour away or three weeks from our town. We also have to have a town vote before you can join our town and tell anyone else about where it is. At least half of the citizens have to agree," she said.

"Makes sense," Max murmured. "What happens if they vote against us?"

"I think you already know the answer to that. It's part of why we're so glad that you woke up before we got there. We wanted you to know the risk, even though we think it's unlikely that they would vote against you. Most of the people there had to be brought there just like you all. They've been in your situation," Audrey said. "Your friends want to go to the sanctuary. I'm sure you already know that they've been looking for it for years. You need to go as well. You're so sick and you really need some help."

"What's wrong with me?" he asked.

"We don't know," Arden said, answering for Audrey. "Like Audrey said, we're not doctors. We can't do a lot to help you. We're going to get you to the sanctuary and they'll make you better there. You'll be fine. Don't worry."

"You can't know that if you don't know what's wrong. Thank you though," Max said. He couldn't believe that he was feeling tired again already, but he was. His whole body hurt, but it wasn't enough to keep him awake. "I'm tired," he whispered.

"Stay awake until we can get you something to eat," Arden said."You haven't eaten in three days and you're already skinny enough as it is."

"I'm not hungry," Max said, his eyes drifting shut.

"Max! Wake up," Arden ordered. He made Max lean against him so that he was kind of sitting up and pushed one of the thermouses to Max's lips and said, "Drink." He poured a small trickle of water into Max's mouth. Max drank a little and started coughing. His throat hurt terribly like the tiny amount or water he'd drunk had reminded him how thirsty he was. When he'd started to calm down, Arden gently asked him if he could drink more.

Max nodded. He drank until he was sure he'd just drunk his body weight in water. "Can I go to sleep now?" he whispered.

"No. You need to eat, remember?" Arden asked. "Stasia and Cohen are making some soup for you now. It'll be done in a couple of minutes."

"Okay." Max spent the next few minutes leaning against Arden's chest and trying not to fall asleep. When Caroline brought him some soup some time later, he was barely aware that he was even eating anything. As soon as he was finished, Arden let him go to sleep again, but promised him that he would wake him up first thing in the morning if he didn't wake up on his own. Max drifted asleep, comforted by Arden's and the other's words.