Status: Updated once or twice a week.

After the World's End

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"Please," Arden said. "We're telling the truth. If you let us come with you, we'll explain everything."

"No, you'll explain everything right now," a young dark-haired man with a scar stretching from the crease of his right eye to his jaw line said to several nods of agreement.

"Kale, do yourself a favor and shut up," an elderly woman said. To say that she was old was an understatement. She was positively ancient; the oldest person Arden had ever seen by far. Her body was shrunken with age and her face was so wrinkled it was useless to imagine what she would have looked like in her youth. She had a mahogany-colored, ornate cane that she leaned heavily on. However, Arden had no illusions that she was weak. She certainly wasn't going to have any trouble using her hunting rifle if necessary. "Child, what are you holding?" she demanded.

Arden didn’t understand what she was talking about right away, but then he realized that Max was so small and his clothes were so baggy that he wasn't at first glance identifiable as human. "This is Max," Arden said, turning Max a bit so she could see his face. Arden was faintly amused that Max had already gone back to sleep even though they were in such a high stress situation. "He's really sick and we don't know what's wrong with him. He needs a doctor."

The younger man, despite having just been told to shut up, asked, "Why should we help strangers?"

"If you're going to be an idiot, go away," the ancient woman told Kale. She turned away from him and it was clear that the woman held a lot of power because everyone else seemed to look away from him too. "I realize that things have been a little tense, but that doesn't mean we should change everything we stand for. We've always let people join us and we can't turn them away just before we know who they are anyway. If I can't convince you to be logical, at least think about what would happen if we sent looters away from our home. A child needs my help and I'm not going to turn him away. Now are you all going to let me treat my patient and find somewhere for his friends to stay, or do I have to shoot a couple of you first?"

A young mousy woman with a permanently wide-eyed, frightened expression lowered the long hunting knife she had been pointing at the group and a teenage boy, who was the spitting image of the scarred man minus the scar, tucked his handgun into the waistband of his pants. Both of them hurried to the ancient woman's side.

"I'm the only doctor around here, though I don't have much of a hospital. These are my nurses-"

The guy flushed and said, "Apprentice."

The woman threw her "apprentice" a filthy look, but continued, saying, "Makai, go take the boy. Sarah, take his friends to our holding rooms, so we can talk more about who they are."

The boy started towards Arden and Max, but Arden stepped back and held Max to his chest protectively. He wasn't going to give up his friend to strangers if he could help it. Arden had taken care of Max for months and he couldn't stop just like that. 'Max is my responsibility,' he thought. 'And besides, Max would want me there.'

Makai looked at the elderly doctor on how to proceed and when she waved him off, Makai gestured for Arden to follow him. Arden carried his unconscious friend through the ring of people who still surrounded the group. He had assumed that his friends would insist on coming with them, but none of them said a single word.

Makai must have understood what Arden was thinking because he said, "Your friends wouldn't be able to come even if they wanted to. We can't let a group as big as yours into our home. It's actually better that we separate you, so you're less likely to do something to us. We'll keep your friends in a holding area and talk to them."

"So, we're prisoners," Arden said, coldly.

Makai had a strange, humorless smile on his face as he watched Arden grow angrier. "If you want to think that way, you're free to. We're not going to hurt you or your friends if you don't try to hurt us. All of you wanted to be here anyway, if what you said was true. As long as you're here you'll have something to eat, a place to sleep, and we'll treat your friend." He paused for a moment before adding, "I don't think you'll be staying with the rest of your friends. Grandmother will probably understand that you care about your friend, even if you are a looter, and probably won't cause trouble because we'd stop treating him."

"Grandmother?" Arden asked.

It was obvious that Max hadn't meant to say anything and he spent several minutes analyzing how his words could come back and hurt him or his family. Unable to see any harm in his words, Makai finally explained, "The doctor is my grandmother, but almost everyone calls her that." He turned away from Arden and walked faster, obviously not inclined to talk to Max anymore after his minor slip of information.

Arden was content with the silence. Their arrival hadn't been anything like he had imagined it would be after his parents were taken. Of course, Max's priorities had changed in the four or more years since then. He wasn't the same frightened, defenseless kid he'd been then. Arden and his friends could have done fine on their own if Max hadn't gotten sick. All he wanted now was for Max to be okay. Sure, he still wanted to be here, but it wasn't life or death for him anymore. If it meant that all of his friends were safe and happy, he'd walk away from this place in a heartbeat.

Arden smiled as Max snuggled against him in his sleep. Max didn't look like he planned on waking up anytime soon.

The three finally reached the massive fence. Actually massive was an understatement as far as Arden was concerned. It was made of polished tree trunks that Arden couldn't have climbed if his life depended on it. The fence was at least 25 feet tall and continued for farther than Arden could see.

Arden couldn't figure out where the entrance to the village was. It didn't look like there was a single opening to the gate anywhere and Arden wondered how far they would have to walk before they got to a way in. It wasn't until Makai walked over to a part of the fence and pulled something. Arden could only assume there was some secret lever because he certainly couldn't see anything, but suddenly a thick, small door swung open. Makai hunched over and disappeared inside the door without waiting for Arden to follow.

Arden ducked into the door right after Makai, quickly realize that it was less of a door and more of an entrance to a tunnel. Arden had to bend over almost double and his back was still brushing the top of the tunnel. He could barely see Makai in front of him. "The tunnel has to be small," Makai said, sounding somewhat apologetic. "It's less likely people will find it this way."

Arden shifted Max and said, "How much further?'

"Not far. Only a few more seconds…and here we are." Makai did something and a door on the other side slid open. He led them both into the bright morning sunlight and Max breathed a sigh of relief. "I don't recommend trying to go through here on your own," Makai said. There are several tunnels within the trees we've built. You'd probably get lost and even if you did find the exit, it would be unlikely that you'd be able to figure out how to get out."

Max repressed a shudder at the thought of being trapped in that dark tunnel and said, "I'll remember that."

At that moment, Arden realized just what the village he was in was like. It was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. His village had been a series of shacks in the woods, just as likely to fall down as provide any shelter for their inhabitants. These houses were nothing like that. They were all sturdy log houses with thatched roofs. There were rows and rows of those houses, all the same. There were so many of them, but Arden could still see a huge grassy area that seemed to stretch forever after where the houses ended.

What is more, Arden could see more people than he'd ever seen in his life; more people than he'd ever imagined existed. They were walking down the pathways, carting around caravans of leftover food from the winter to huge storage sheds, and making everything and more than Arden had ever thought of while sitting in the grass in front of their homes. There were even little kids, an almost unseen sight at Arden's village where people could barely feed themselves much less additional children, running around and shrieking with laughter. No one so much as glanced at them as they walked down one of the pathways.

It wasn't long before they got to a building about twice the size of the other log houses. "This is my grandmother's house. It doubles as the hospital," Makai told Arden.

Arden nodded silently, still looking around in wonder.

"Um," Makai said, a little awkwardly. He must have been wondering what Arden was looking at. After all, Makai had grown up here and was probably used to this. "Let's go inside then."

Arden followed the Makai inside the town's hospital. It was a meticulously clean room, but it was full of things Arden considered to be absolutely useless. Brightly colored blankets covered the beds, the chairs, and were even pinned to the walls, which made sense at first, but they were so thin that they seemed to be more decoration than anything and some of the them were too small to even keep them warm. Small, intricate ornaments hung from the ceiling and there were mismatched wooden beds lined up along the walls. There were rows and rows of unnecessarily designed, heavy looking jars and piles of books. All in all, it didn't look very practical to Arden and he couldn't really imagine lugging around all of that stuff with him every time they moved.

"You can put him wherever you want," Makai said, motioning to the empty beds.

Arden immediately carried Max to a bed in the far corner of the room, lying him down, and sitting in front of him. He realized that he must look like he was guarding Max, but he didn't really care because it was true to be honest. Arden was worried about Max. The boy hadn't moved once in the entire time they had walked here and he was so pale and cold. If it weren't for the soft, raspy breaths Max was making, Arden would think Max was dead.

Arden tenderly brushed his friends matted hair out of his face, but started when he heard Makai's footsteps heading towards them. He turned around sharply and said, "It looks like Max isn't going to wake up any time soon." At the same time, Arden shifted so that he was still shielding Max from view.

Makai was clearly curious to see Max as Arden had previously hidden Max almost completely from view, but Arden wasn't inclined to move. Makai hesitantly said, "I think you should leave now. You should go back to your friends. He will be fine here."

Arden stood up immediately, surprising Makai into taking a couple of steps backwards. "I'm not leaving him alone," he said in a tone that allowed absolutely no room for argument.

Makai, his courage coming back, glared at Arden, who stared resolutely back at him. Their battle of wills ended abruptly as Makai turned away, muttering, "Fine. You can stay for now, but Grandmother will probably make you leave."

"I'll figure that out when I have to, but I can promise you now that I won't leave him," Arden declared and in that moment Makai believed him.

He didn't show his thoughts though and only said, "Can you wake him up? I can start to examine him without Grandmother-"

"So you're ready to replace me?" the ancient woman asked dryly, making the two boys jump as neither of them had realized she was in the room.

Makai was clearly flustered and contritely murmured, "No, of course not."

The old matriarch only harrumphed and hobbled irritably over to Max's bedside. "Why did you put him all the way over here? No- never mind that. Just wake the boy up. I need to examine him."

Arden obeyed, gently shaking Max's shoulder.

Max woke up with a quiet groan and started violently as soon as he opened his eyes and found himself in such an unfamiliar place. He was so weak that it was difficult for him to move even the slightest bit. "Arden," he rasped, frightened.

"I'm right here," Arden said, reaching out for Max's hand.

Max clung to him desperately and began talking so quickly and so unintelligibly that it was impossible for Arden to understand him.

"Max. Max. MAX, calm down. You're safe here," Arden said, his heart breaking for Max. He was so terrified that it was impossible to reason with him. Arden gently helped Max sit up, but flinched and about dropped him when he heard Max yelp, "Stop! You're hurting me!"

"Max, how am I hurting you? What's wrong?" Arden asked, panicked. He pulled up the back of Max's shirt and gasped. All over Max's back there were dark bruises and clear hand prints. Arden lined his hand up with one of the bruises on Max's back and wanted to cry. They were his. "I don't understand how this happened," he whispered. "I never hurt him. Max, I'm so sorry."

"This isn't something you need to apologize for," the old woman said, surprising everyone. Makai looked at her as if she were crazy, but she continued, "This boy is suffering from extreme malnutrition. He'd bruise very easily." To prove what she said, she asked Arden to pick Max up again the way he always had.

Arden did, feeling horrible as he heard Max's little whimper of pain. "I'm sorry," he whispered in Max's ear. Sure enough, there were bruises in the exact area Arden had to grab him in order to hold him.

"The other bruises are probably from trying to hold him to get him to eat and even leaning against something hard could bruise him," Grandmother said. She sat down on the bed next to where Arden had put down Max. "Max, you need to listen to me. You're at a hospital. Do you know what that is?"

Arden repressed the urge to tell her that Max wasn't a little kid and shouldn't be spoken to that way.

"Max," she said again, this time sharper. "Stay awake please. Do you remember what I asked you?"

"Yes," Max murmured, tiredly. "I know what a hospital is."

"We have to figure out what is wrong, but we need your help. You need to stay awake, so we can help you," she told him.

"It doesn't matter," he said, apathetically. "I'm not going to get better."

"Yes, you are. You're here now and you're safe," Arden said. To be honest, Max's words terrified him. He had always believed that Max's depression from all that had happened to him was only temporary and that arriving at the camp would help him, but now he had to face the reality that maybe it was much more serious than he had thought. He'd always thought that if they could get him to the doctor than he'd be fine, but now he wasn't so sure. Max was so sick that it really was possible that he'd die even at a hospital.

Max looked up at him angrily. "Why are you doing this to me? I'm dying," he sobbed.

Arden wanted to respond, but the old doctor stopped him before he could get a word out. "Leave him alone for now. Sometimes it can be harder to accept life than death. Besides, I need to examine him before you promise him anything," she added in a hushed tone. She motioned for Arden to sit on the bed next to Max's as she knew that Arden wasn't going anywhere.

The old woman proceeded to examine Max as thoroughly as she could. She had this strange device that Arden had never seen before which allowed her to listen to Max's heartbeat. She checked to see if Max had a fever and meticulously figure out what Max's strength allowed for and what hurt or he was too weak to do. Several times she was able to see Max coughing so hard that he coughed up blood. She spent so much time examining Max that even Arden was starting to lose interest in what was going on.

When she had finally done everything she had wanted to, Grandmother turned to Arden with a very serious expression. Arden walked back to the bedside table, hoping that he could tell Max that he would be better in no time, but knowing that it wasn't true. He smiled at Max because the moment Grandmother had left him alone, he had gone back to sleep. "Can you help him?" he asked the old woman without taking his eyes off Max.

"Your friend is extremely sick and a perfect example of what happens without proper medical attention," she said, not noticing that Arden had tensed when she said that. Her words made him feel so guilty, like he and his friends could have done more to help Max. "Hardly anyone knows what to do to keep healthy anymore, much less what to do when they get sick. Max probably originally only had a slight cold that wouldn't even have really bothered him, but it grew to pneumonia and as the infection wasn't treated it became very serious and is very serious now. His illness has systematically torn down his immune system, so he can't begin to throw off his illness. Unfortunately, this has caused him to stop eating which has led to severe malnutrition and will probably be the biggest barrier to Max recovering."

Arden looked at the sleeping boy. "Please tell me he'll be okay. I'll do anything I can to help him. Just tell me what I have to do."

"There's not a lot you can do. Max has to decide on his own whether he's willing to fight to live," Grandmother said in a calm voice that made Arden want to throttle her. How could she be so calm about Max's death? "In the meantime, I will give him antibiotic-medicine that will help his body fight off the infection- and vitamins to start replenishing the nutrients he has lost. I'll have to do this by hooking him up to an IV to get him to gain some weight. It'll be a needle that will go into his arm. I know it looks painful, but I promise you that it'll help him and I'll need your help to calm Max down after he sees it."

"Okay," Arden said. "I'll help with anything I can."

She seemed to approve of Arden's dedication to his friend. "You may stay here as long as you want, as long as you aren't disruptive. We're talking to your friends now and if everything goes well, they'll probably be allowed to come and visit you two in a few days."

"Oh, good," Arden said, a small portion of the tension he'd carried into the hospital leaving him. "I would love to stay with him, but I need to get some kind of job. My friends and I will need a home and food…and I'll need to pay you for helping Max."

For the first time, the woman allowed herself a slight smile towards Arden. "There's no need for that, child. You've done more work than anyone your age should have to. You haven't had nearly the childhood you would have had if you had lived here. You deserve some rest and besides, we share everything here. You and your friends can move into one or two of the empty cabins until Max is better, we'll feed you, and I don't charge for treating people. We'll vote on whether you should stay here and if you stay here, you'll be able to get jobs them and share what you make," she told Arden.

Arden smiled and nodded in understanding. "Thank you."

"There isn't anything to thank me for," the gruff woman said. "Welcome home."
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Sorry it took so long, as usual.