Temporary

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^*Harper’s POV*^
“He’s showing signs of the virus.” That was all it took, I collapsed into Parker’s side, and she wrapped her arms around my shaking frame.

“Is there anything you can do?” She asked, though it was barely audible through my sobbing. Zacky can’t die, he just can’t. I can’t live without him.

“Well, we do still have some doses of the cure, but we only have three vials.” I immediately pulled away from Parker, and looked at the nurse.

“So he’ll be okay?” I asked, and she gave me an indifferent look that sent me in a rage.

“We don’t know if it will do anything or not. You’ve all been vaccinated once, including Mr. Baker, so we’re not sure if his body will take in the medicine a second time, considering the strong amounts of medication in it. He could reject it, and it would only speed up the process, and cause the virus to spread faster, and possibly even morph into a different type of disease. It could backfire, and bounce back, or the mutated cells could use the vaccine to go airborne.” Everyone froze. If we try and save Zacky, his body could consume the medicine and restore cells, or reject it, and put everyone around him in danger. “If you could just give us some time, his doctor is already looking into a way to try and weaken the medicine enough without deactivating it so that we can give it to him with confidence that he will get better. He only has a matter of hours until the infected cells in his heart finally kill off the rest, and take over. We’re working as fast as we can, but I will assure you that he will be treated in some way for better or worse in the next twelve hours.”

“That’s how long he has?” Jimmy asked softly, and she nodded.

“Only half a day?” I asked, my voice quiet.

“I’m sorry.” She said, and walked past us. I hesitated before pulling away from Parker, and she gave me a small, sad smile, and I walked towards Zacky as she ushered Jimmy away, and back through the double doors. I sat down in the chair beside his bed, gently taking his hand in mine.

“I’m fine, Harper.” Zacky wheezed out, looking over at me, and opening his eyes. I smiled lightly.

“No you’re not.” I whispered, my voice not exactly wanting to work.

“Have they already told you about the shit that’s currently eating away at my organs?” He asked, and I nodded.

“They have another few vials of the cure left, but they’re not sure if your body will reject it, or take it, and allow the cells to get worse.” I said, and he sighed, sounding out of breath. I could tell it was already working its way through his system just by the way he talked, his voice was hoarse, and his breathing was irregular.

“I can’t really breathe.” He said, and cleared his throat. It broke my heart. He squeezed my hand, and took a struggling breath. “Harper, I love you, and I really hope you realize that.”

“Of course, and I love you too.” I whispered, tears burning my eyes like a torch.

“There’s no way I can make it out of this.” He said, his voice almost silent, like he didn’t mean for me to hear it.

“Don’t say that. Please don’t say that Zacky.” I said desperately. “You’re going to be fine.” I said, and he took another deep breath.

“Just know that I love you more than anything, Harper. I love you so much you could never know…” He just trailed off, looking at me as a tear slid down his cheek. He was losing hope.

“I love you too, Zacky.”

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^*Brian’s POV*^
“Is he okay?” I asked as Parker clung to Jimmy. They had just come back from the ICU, and told me about Zacky. I couldn’t believe it.

“The nurse said he only has hours left to live.” Parker said, and Jimmy put his arm around her, pulling her close. I felt my heartstrings tug, but I was more concerned about Zacky.

“Wait,” I said, realizing something. “He was vaccinated.” I said, and Jimmy nodded.

“Yea, so?”

“It came back.” I said, and I could see the dread wash over Jimmy’s face, and Parker pulled away from him, horrified as she looked at me.

“What does that mean? It was only a temporary vaccine?” She asked, obviously concerned.

“I hope not. Maybe his immune system was just weak or something from blood loss, and exhaustion.” Jimmy inquired and we couldn’t help but have a little glimmer of hope in our hearts at the thought. Maybe the world isn’t going to hell again.

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We sat in the waiting room for hours, none of us moving for at least five hours. Harper never came back from the ICU, but that was understandable, and none of us went back. Not even to check on Matt. We were all too caught up in our thoughts. Johnny came in with Kellin around eight PM, and Parker immediately got up and ran towards him, snatching Kellin from him, and hugging him close.

“Oh thank god you didn’t lose him!” Parker had a mini celebration over the fact that her baby was still alive after being left in the hands of a person that has the mindset of a two year old by her somewhat careless boyfriend.

“Hello to you to, and don’t mention it, I only had to change its fucking diaper three times, and get it to stop crying about a million times. But don’t worry about me, or my puke and shit covered shirt that I had to burn, we’re fine.” Johnny said sarcastically, and she grabbed his nose ring.

“Call my child an ‘it’ one more time and I’ll rip this out of your face, and put it somewhere a little more painful.” Parker glared, and let go of the ring, and he shrunk back before sitting down beside me.

“God, looks like someone needs to take a nap.” Johnny muttered.

“Shut up, now’s not the time to be fucking around.” I snapped at him. He needs to learn when to be a little shit, and when to be an adult.

“Aw, did something crawl up your ass and die too?” He asked, and ruffled my hair, and I grabbed his hand, and shook him.

“Stop, Johnny. Grow the fuck up, and stop acting like a child! Zacky could be dead in just a few fucking hours, now’s not the time to act like a little kid!” I yelled at him, and he immediately got concerned.

“What? Zack’s gonna die?” He looked over at Jimmy and Parker. “The fuck happened?” He asked, his voice filled with worry and concern. I let go of his wrist and sunk back in my chair. He needed to find out about it sometime, but not like this.

“The virus came back.” Jimmy answered lightly, and Johnny went silent. We all did, until there was a scream from the ICU and then moments later Harper came back through the double doors, wiping her eyes.

“Harper, are you alright?” Parker asked, and she nodded.

“He fell asleep, and…” She started crying again. “They couldn’t get him to wake up. The doctor said they’re almost finished tweaking the vial of vaccine, but he’s still not sure if it’ll be able to save him.” She put her head in her hands, and Jimmy got up, handing Kellin to Parker.

“I’ll be back in a minute.” Jimmy said, and walked off through the double doors.

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^*Jimmy’s POV*^
I walked back to try and find Zacky’s doctor. I found him next to Zacky’s bed. I walked over to him, and looked down at Zacky. His skin was getting more pale by the second, the doctor checked his eyes, which had gone nearly completely white.

“Come to see your friend?” The doctor asked, looking at me, and I shook my head, prying my eyes away from Zack.

“Is he going to be okay?” I asked concerningly.

“And you are?”

“I’m Jimmy, his friend.” I said, and he nodded.

“His body isn’t strong enough to fight the virus by itself, so we’re having to switch up the medicine in the vaccine a little. It’s killing red and white cells faster than we expected and spreading faster.” He glanced down at Zacky, then back at me. “He has another two hours, tops before it fully consumes him, and we won’t have a choice but to take him off of life support.”

“But you’ll have the cure ready by then right? I mean, he can’t die, he has too much…” I just trailed off, sinking my teeth into my lip as I cleared my throat, trying to force tears back down.

“We hope. We’re nearly finished, Francis is just making sure we have everything mixed with the right amounts so it doesn’t kill him.” He said, and just before he walked away, there was a low growl from the bed, and just as we both looked down something latched onto my arm, and pulled me down. I felt teeth cut through my forearm, and the doctor tried to pry Zacky off of me as I screamed from the pain, feeling the area burn, and sting as nurses rushed over, and slowly I faded into unconsciousness.

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^*Third POV*^
Nurses and doctors rushed around Jimmy’s unconscious body, and Zacky’s sub-dead body, and they finally got Zacky to let go of Jimmy, and he fell to the floor.

“Go get it now!” the doctor yelled at a nurse, and she nodded and darted off towards the lab to retrieve the vaccine. The doctor and two other nurses struggled to hold Zacky down, but they managed until the nurse returned, and gave the doctor the syringe.

“Wait, what if it kills him?!” One nurse yelled, obviously worried.

“If he doesn’t get it he’ll surely die! We don’t have a choice!” He said, and slammed the needle into Zacky’s heart, pushing the plunger down, into the source of the virus. Zack immediately started calming down, his erratic movement slowing, and the growls erupting form his lips coming to an end as the medication went to work. The only movement now being the slow, but normal rise and fall of his chest.

“He still has a pulse, it didn’t kill him. It worked.” The one worried nurse stated, and the doctor looked to the nurse opposite of him.

“Go tell Francis and Levi to start mixing up another vial, now.” The doctor instructed, and the nurse ran off quickly as the doctor kneeled by James’ body. “He’s stable for now, get him on a stretcher, and don’t take your eyes off of him.”

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^*Nurse’s POV*^
“Francis, we need another vial, now.” I said, walking into the lab, and Francis sighed.

“I knew there was a reason I went ahead and mixed all three.” He said, and I watched as he disappeared for a second before coming back with the vial, and a syringe, and handed them to me.

“You mixed all three?” I asked and he nodded.

“I thought we’d have a ravenous zombie roaming around soon, and I wasn’t about to just let myself get killed.” He said, and I rolled my eyes.

“You’re such a jackass.” I muttered, ignoring his whining as I walked out of the lab and down the hall, back to the ICU, where they had the man on a stretcher, and Doctor Watts was taking vitals. “Here.” I said, handing the vial and syringe to him.

“How did you get this so fast?”

“Francis mixed the one for Baker, then went ahead and mixed the other two in fear that we might need it. Don’t question it.” I said, and he nodded, and drew up the medicine, and held his breath as he stared at the needle for a second. Everything went silent. This could either kill him, or save him.

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^*Johnny’s POV*^
There were screams from the ICU, but everyone was too afraid to get up and go see what had happened. After a good five minutes the doctor walked through the double doors, and came over to us.

“Is Zacky okay?” Harper asked, and he nodded.

“The cells in Mr. Baker’s system spread faster than expected, and we nearly lost him.” Harper stopped breathing for a second. “But he’s fine now, we gave him the vaccine, and he hasn’t had any reactions to it, and he’s going to be just fine.” The doctor smile lightly, and we all sighed in relief. “He should be awake, and back to normal in just a little under half an hour.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but is my boyfriend still back there?” Parker asked and the doctor suddenly got tense.

“Your boyfriend? The tall man that came back there about ten minutes ago?” The doctor asked and Parker nodded. “Is his name, Jimmy by any chance?” Parker got concerned as she nodded.

“Is everything alright?” She asked, and handed Kellin to Brian gently and stood up.

“I’m sorry, but he was bit by Mr. Baker before we were able to give Zachary the vaccine.” The doctor was about to say more, but Parker cut him off.

“What?! Is he okay?!” She panicked.

“We gave him the vaccine as well, but he’s having different reactions to it.” The doctor explained briefly.

“What does that mean?” Brian asked.

“His body is rejecting it. Our lab technician mixed up the only three vials we had with the same dosage that we gave Mr. Baker, and it’s too strong, and his system blocks it out thinking it’s a disease.” The doctor said with a depressing tone to his voice. “I’m terribly sorry.”