Zombiestuck (2)
Thursday, 2 P.M.
It's already been 3 hours and you're still not out of the woods. You should've stayed in St Louis! You can barely hear her breathing and you feel awful because during this entire drive, your promise that 'everything will be alright' ran through your head. You promised her that everything would be okay only this morning but she's already dying!
You feel someone frantically smack the back of your seat. "John, John, John, stoooop! I think I see a cave over there!"
"Woah, you're right! Finally!" You bring the car to a gradual stop, because you can't just stomp on the break right now, in front of the mouth of the cave. There's a small wall of stones acting as a barricade and a faint light coming from the cave. You just have to hope that whoever is in there will take you guys in because you have to stop now or Terezi really isn't going to make it.
You're about to get out of the car and check the cave, but Jade leans forward to grip your sleeve. "Wait! What if someone is in there and tries to shoot you if you go in?"
You hear Karkat growl as he glares at the cave and grips his sickle. "I'll fucking kill them before they can even point their guns at us."
You try to stop Karkat from getting out of the car, but while you're gripping his waist and trying to yank him back in, you hear the back car door slam open and you see Dave walking towards the cave while carrying Terezi. He left his sword back in the car and he doesn't even have his or Terezi's bag with him.
"Oh shoot! Dave!"
"Woah, wait a minute!"
"What the ever loving fuck are you doing?!"
You all dash out of the car but he's already reached the barricade.
"Stay back!"
You, Jade and Karkat freeze when you see that someone is there on the other side of the barricade aiming a gun at Dave's face. The three of you are still several feet behind and you can't do anything because you're afraid that if any of you move, Dave will get killed.
But Dave doesn't waver or turn away. Instead, he starts talking slowly, like he's trying his best to control himself, and you hear the hints of desperation in his voice.
"You see the girl I'm holding in my arms? She has a fucking bad fever and she's going to die if she's out here any longer. You've got to let us in. Please."
"Is she infected? I'm not letting any of you in here if she is! She'll turn and kill us all," the man barks back and you see the gun start the shake. You hear Jade swear softly as she reaches for her empty holster, remembering that she lost her pistol earlier on, and you see Karkat's muscles tense as he shifts his feet slightly, about to try lunge at the guard with his sickle. You're empty-handed right now and glance back at the car, wondering how you could be so careless. Even if you know there's no way you could get to Dave and Terezi in time, you really hate that you can't do anything to help your friends.
"That's why we have to do something now," Dave continues to speak with the same tone and speed, despite the gun's sight being only inches in front of his right eye. "If you just let us in, we can help her. We just need a chance. If she turns…" He pauses and then forces out the last few words. "I'll kill her before she gets anyone."
You all wait for a response from the man with baited breath.
"Grah! Aw, fuck my life!" The man lets out a defeated sigh and lowers his gun. "Just get in here. But if anyone tries to pull something, you all leave this cave in a body bag." He stomps back into the cave.
Dave leaps over the small wall, still holding Terezi, quickly catching up to the man with you running after, not far behind.
The cave isn't that deep, but there's enough space for all of you in the back. There are 2 sleeping bags lying on the floor, several boxes of food and 2 bags scattered throughout inside and a single battery-powered lantern glowing in the center of the room. Dave, the man from earlier and a woman are kneeling around Terezi, who is laying down on one of the sleeping bags. The man and woman only look around 25 years old.
You and Jade rush over. Now that you can get a good look at Terezi, you see how bad she's actually doing. She's still, too still for someone that should be in a lot of pain, and she's barely breathing. Her eyes are shut and she's limp. If she weren't breathing, you'd think she was already gone.
The woman is gingerly removing the teal-soaked bandages, muttering grumpily to the man. "I can't believe you were just going to leave this poor girl to die out there, James! Bite or not, they're just kids!"
"Well, we're helping them now, Kat!" You see James slump, nervously run a hand through his hair and guiltily avert his gaze. "I already feel like shit. No need to rub it in…"
When the old bandages are removed, you feel sick because her bite is starting to look worse. It's still bleeding, like she only got bitten a few minutes ago.
"When was she bit," James asks while warily eying the wound.
Dave answers in a flat voice without looking up from Terezi. "7 hours ago."
Did he calm down already? You're wondering how on earth he can manage reclaim his cool at this time and glance at him. He didn't look upset as he did when he realized that Terezi got bitten or tense and concerned as he was only minutes ago in the car. He just looks… tired. You're even tempted to say at loss. H, his shoulders are lax and his hand is only lightly holding onto Terezi's.
You want to snap him out of it, but the only thing that will help him is if Terezi get's better. But there's nothing you can do, you have no idea what to do, and all you can do is sit there, watch the others and just hope for the best.
Jade shakily hands Kat a roll of clean bandages she had in her pocket. It was the only thing left from the second kit. "Thank you so much for letting us in… I don't know what we would've done."
"Yeah, it was really great for you guys to help us out," you add, forcing yourself to tear your gaze away from the bite to face James and Kat and give a weak smile.
James looks a bit uncomfortable with your thanks because he just looks away and shrugs. You're kind of glad that he's still pretty guilty because, after all, he did point a gun straight at your bro, but you still feel a guilty because you guys had freaked him out yet he still let you all in.
Kat smiles back at you. "We're more than glad to help." She frowns at the bite, still holding the bandages from Jade. "But I'm afraid we're low on medical supplies for your friend… Do you have anything to clean the bite?"
"Well, we already used up anything that could help in this kit." You look into the open med kit lying on Jade's lap. The pills are the only things left, but those didn't help Terezi at all.
"It's a good thing I went back to the damn car, then."
You turn around to see Karkat holding your sledgehammer with both hands and Dave's red sports bag slung over his shoulder. He drops the hammer and shrugs off the bag so he can dig out a bottle of water, a clean towel and a medical kit from it and holds them out to you. Whoops, you were so frantic that you didn't even realize that Karkat hadn't been following you guys into the cave… But you're super glad that remembered! "You're awesome! Thanks!" You smile and reach up to take the supplies. See, this is why you wondered why on Earth he would think he was useless.
"Whatever. It was just common sense to go back," he mutters back, but his insult lacks its usual bite. He doesn't kneel down like everybody else around Terezi and just stands behind you, slightly leaning forward and looking down at her. You can see he's still worried sick but at least he doesn't seem as frustrated at himself as before.
You hand the medicine kit to Kat since she's the closest to Terezi's injured arm. While she opens the kit to get supplies to clean the bite, you fold up the towel and dampen part of it with the bottled water. You hope it'll be okay, because the water is only room temperature, and gently place it on her forehead. You remember Dad would do this for you when you got fevers.
You let out a sigh of relief when you see the bite after Kat cleans off the blood. It doesn't look that bad yet. You were afraid that the skin around the bite was going be to rotted or green, like in the movies. The skin around the bite seems a bit darker, like it was bruised, but you hope that it'll be better since it's being cleaned and re wrapped.
You and Jade let out a sigh of relief and you see everybody, except for Dave, relax a bit. All you guys can do now is wait and hope she gets better, but you're sure she'll pull through! After all, Karkat got better in 6ish hours and Terezi was pretty tough. To your relief, you could hear her breathing start to even out a bit.
"There we go!" Kat finishes wrapping the bite and tosses the small, empty disinfectant bottle and bloodied wraps into the now empty medicine kit from Dave's bag. "I know she's in pretty bad shape right now, but her bite is in better shape than I thought!"
"How does this infection bite shit work anyway," Karkat asks as he finally sits down. "A small bite like that should have stopped bleeding hours ago."
Kat shrugs. "I'm not really sure. I've never seen anyone actually, er, 'turn' before. I was out here camping on my own before this all started and James is the only one that I've met up here since the zombies came, so I've never met anyone with a bite before. Oh, but James came from St Louis, so he might know more about this."
You all turn to stare at James.
He swears under his breath and you think he's not going to say anything until he finally speaks. "… One of my best friends got bit. He only lasted for 4 hours." He lets out a frustrated sigh. "I don't like to talk about it."
"I'm really sorry for your loss," Jade says softly. "And we're sorry for making you recall that."
You feel pretty bad too because if one of your friends turned, you definitely wouldn't want to think about it ever again. But you really need to know more so you can be ready.
"Uhh, do you happen to know how? Like were there, um, signs?" You cringe when James' frown deepens and Jade send a stern glare towards you way. Gosh, way to be a totally insensitive douche. "I-I'm sorry for asking you to talk about it again, but we really, really have to know…"
James opens his mouth like he's about to refuse, but then he glances down at Terezi and then at Dave and lets out a long sigh. "Well, the thing is that he got shot in the leg with a pistol before he got bit. It was kind of bad, but it wasn't like he was bleeding out. He would've been fine in a few days. Anyway, he got bit on the shoulder. Fucker snuck up on us right before we reached my car. Unlike you guys, we didn't have a handy bunch of med kits, so all I could do was wash it with water and wrap it with his torn up shirt. I swear, he looked fine for at least an hour, but he started getting worse."
You see him pause and look at Terezi's bandaged arm. "The bite wasn't that deep, I swear, but it was bleeding even more than the gun shot. He turned a few minutes after he got knocked out from blood loss."
You nervously glance at the bite and almost expect the bandages already soaked with blood. "So, she's just going to get worse over time?"
"Whatever," Dave says. "We keep her healthy, she stays alive." He shifts slightly so he can look at you. Well, you think he's looking at you. He's sitting at an angle where he can face you and the others, but still see Terezi at his side and with those sunglasses, you couldn't really tell.
"But it sounds like you're going to go through a lot of medicine kits that way," Kat says while pointing out the remains of the second kit and the empty third kit. "I imagine these are hard to come by now…"
Oof, that was true. Since it's already been a few days since this all started, you're pretty sure most of the hospitals have been ransacked by now.
"And what if someone else gets bit later on," you reluctantly add. Terezi's bite wasn't going to be the only thing you guys needed to worry about. Anything could happen on the way to Safe Haven and you needed to be prepared.
Jade crosses her arms and huffs. "Well, we'll just make sure no one gets bit again!" You're surprised, and proud, that she sounds so sure.
But she's right. You just have to make sure it won't happen again. "We'll all be extra super careful from now on! We'll try our best not to take any risks."
You hear Karkat angrily growl behind you, though the anger not aimed at anyone in the room. "We better. I'm not going to let this fucking bullshit happen again. Next one that tries to bite any of us spends the rest of his fucking, pathetic existence shitting out his own teeth."
Dave's grip on Terezi's hand tightens and you think you see a faint smirk. "I dunno, Vantas. After I'm done kicking ass, there might not be any left for you."
You laugh when Karkat hurls the sports bag at Dave, who just catches it.
James sighs and shakes his head. "You kids are crazy."
You just smile and shrug. "I guess we kinda are, huh."
Kat and James let you and your friends rest in the cave until Terezi gets better. You stay awake to help guard the entrance with James while everybody else rests. You weren't really tired, just a bit stressed, and needed some fresh air.
Terezi gets up about 3 hours later. She's still sick, but she has most of her energy back, you figure, since she's able to walk and talk again. At least everybody else seems better from the break. Even Karkat seems to have gotten over his fever completely.
The sun is only starting to set but according to the map, you should reach the next city before dark.
You're all packed, not that you brought much into the cave. While everyone else already heads out, you turn around to thank Kat and James one last time.
"Thank you for letting us stay and helping Terezi! Seriously, thanks."
Kat smiles and nods. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Yeah. And if you find this 'Safe Haven' place, how 'bout asking them to send a few armed tanks our way?" You laugh while Kat rolls her eyes. James just grins and elbows Kat. "C'mon, admit it. It'd be pretty great to drive one."
"Well, maybe we'll find help. If we do, I'll try to get them to come this way."
"That would be nice."
You all smile at that, even though you know that the chance of that happening is pretty close to zero. You're sure they know that too, but they just wave to you before you turn and leave the cave.
--------------------
Date: Thursday, 8 PM
Terezi had a hard time in the car on the way to Memphis, but her fever finally got better right before you reached the city. You just had to use another medicine kit on her once you stopped. The pain pills managed to do their job this time, at least.
Memphis was pretty much the same as all of the other cities you've been to; full of infected, lacking salvageable supplies and creepily quiet without the buzz of electricity or zoom of cars. There were a lot of barricaded houses, which you thought was pretty good because you thought it meant that it'd be easy to find a place to stay that would keep the zombies out. Plus it'd be kind of nice to stay in an actual house for a night, despite the fact that it'd be a bit creepy.
However, the problem was that you all couldn't get in past blocked doors or boarded up windows. The houses that you could get into weren't safe enough because they either had no reinforcements or had broken doors and windows. You all gave up on the house idea rather quickly and just decided to stay in a barricaded Seven Eleven convenience store, disturbingly similar to the one you all took cover in when the zombies arrived.
The familiar sight of various desks pushed against the door, boarded up windows and barren shelves just make you a bit uncomfortable. You don't know why, because it's not like you've been dreaming and you're actually back at square one. It's not like you feel like you have to go though the last few days again. It's not like you're remembering how you felt about leaving your friends and Dad behind. Nope. None of that because you're busy trying to be helpful by setting up the place so you guys can sleep.
There wasn't any goods left on the shelves, not that you expected there to be, so no one really bothered with searching the shop for stuff, but Jade managed to break into a small, locked office room in the back. The only thing useful thing in there was $50.
There's litter all scattered around the store, mostly empty cans and boxes, but they're easy to move aside so that you all have room to lie down. The only thing lighting up the room is the your flashlight on the ground next to you, but it's bright enough for you to see yet soft enough to not draw any attention from outside.
Everyone is starting to settle down, tossing their bag on the ground and finding a place in the store to sleep, which isn't too hard considering there aren't a lot of options other than the floor. You guess someone could sleep on the cashier counter, or in the office with the weird smelling carpet. Er, yeah, no thanks. You're totally fine with sleeping on the ground in the main room. But you can't help but shiver slightly when you sit down on the cold, hard floor. "I wonder if we could find towels to use as mats or something later on?"
"Why the fuck would we want to do that? None of you could even begin to understand the giddy-as-fuck joy that runs through my gog damn head when I wake up on the freezing floor with a leg cramp."
"Oooo, I remember that, Karkles! It was the funniest wake up call ever!"
Karkat ignores Terezi's comment completely. Oh crud, he's in rant mode now. "Sometimes I wonder why the fuck I didn't spend my entire life laying down on the floor. I could get up every fucking day with a gog damned smile if only-"
"Yeah, you're being sarcastic. We get it already." Jade glares at Karkat while interrupting the rant. "But still, it'd be nice to get up without sores. Like John said, we could probably find some towels to use."
"Not a good idea." Dave says, maintaining his pokerface despite the fact that Terezi just balanced Lemonsnout on top of his head with a gleeful cackle. "We have to be ready to rush out right after we wake up in case shit goes down. You gotta be on your toes. Can't do that if you're busy fumbling around with a shitty mat."'
"Oh, heh, you have a point there…" Of course Dave would understand that. You remember the stories you've heard from Dave of Bro attacking him at the worst possible times.
Karkat doesn't respond with a scathing comeback like you expect. Instead, he just grumbles, turns his back to everyone and tries his best to curl up with his head on his bag.
No one really talks after that. With only a few tired murmurs and the shifting of bags, you all get ready to fall asleep.
Dave doesn't lie down but sits with his back against the wall with his knees slightly bent, arms crossed and shades still on. Terezi is in a similar position right next to him, but her legs are straight and she's holding Lemonsnout in her arms. Her cane and his sword both lay close by. You don't know how Dave manages to sleep and look cool at the same time. You hope that he's actually sleeping, because you're pretty sure you couldn't sleep sitting up like that. You're also glad that Terezi doesn't look like she's suffering anymore when she tries to sleep. You hope that means that she won't get worse through the night.
Karkat is lying down close to the wall opposite of the one Dave and Terezi are at. You know that he prefers to keep his distance and you don't dislike him for that, but you really dislike that unfair troll blood system thing you've heard of because you think that's why he's like this.
You and Jade, only about a foot away, are just lying on the floor in the center of the room. You generally try to sleep where your friends will all be an equal distance away. However, while you think all of your friends are awesome and treasure each of them, if you have to wake up and get out as fast as possible, you want to make sure Jade is with you. She's your (genetic) sister after all and you almost left her behind in the hotel on the first day. You found her right before Dave and Karkat tried to drag you out.
"10 AM," you mutter to Jade. She's been using her watch as an alarm clock. Her only response to your request is a sleepy hum of acknowledgment and the beep of her watch as she sets the alarm.
You wait a few seconds as a few 'goodnight's are tossed around before you flick the flashlight off and try to sleep.
… Well, the key word is here is 'try'.
When you close your eyes and try to sleep, the sounds of restless turning and shifting and the occasional bag punch and grumble from Karkat wakes you up. Concerned, and a bit curious, you mentally shake off your slight drowsiness and listen. You just want to make sure he doesn't stay up all night.
About 30 minutes pass and you're pretty sure you and Karkat are the only ones still awake. You think you can even hear Dave softly snoring. It was pretty boring to pretend to sleep, but your concern completely overcame your drowsiness. Sure, his slight insomnia problem along with the usually uncomfortable sleeping conditions made it hard for him to sleep, but you've never heard him be this restless. It's like he's shifting around every other minute.
You hear a soft swear, more shifting and then a few almost silent footsteps. You open one eye to peek at Karkat. It looks like he gave up on sleeping because he's not lying down anymore, but sitting on top of the cashier counter, legs crossed.
Okay, you definitely need to know what's wrong now. You carefully get up so Jade doesn't wake up.. You don't want to turn on the flashlight in case you wake someone else up, so you try your best to delicately, silently make your way over to Karkat. Like a ninja, you awesomely creep over to him.
… Actually, your creep is more like an awkward shuffle and you accidently kick a few empty boxes, stumble several times and sorta stub your toe on the counter when you almost walk into it. Bluh, whatever. You may not be a good ninja, but you're on a bro-assistance mission!
Ignoring your aching toe and Karkat's irritated huff, you prop yourself up to sit next to him on the counter. You can't see his face very well, but you're sure he's rolling his eyes. You can barely make out details with only the moonlight flipping through the small cracks in the barricade.
"You continue to surprise me by proving how inept you humans can be," he mutters. "Fucking blind unless if there's light everywhere."
You just brush off the insult, cause you're used to it, and lightly elbow him while whispering back. "Hey, my eyes aren't that bad! I can barely see right now, give me a break." You wave your hand in front of your face for emphasis, for a second. Your eyes are still adjusting to the dark. "Sorry we can't have crazy cat eyes like you guys. "
"Don't compare me to those stupid, purring furbeasts. Stop being insensitive, fuckass."
"Aw, fine." And you were just about to point how cool his yellow eyes look right now because you think they might be glowing a little bit.
You decide that you should bring up why you got up before you both slip into an awkward silence. "So, er… Are you okay?"
"I'm just having trouble sleeping, not having a mental fucking breakdown." While he angrily whispers back, he looks away from you and back at the door. He's hiding something, obviously. You hate to be nosy, but you're still kinda upset by that because you and Karkat are supposed to be bros and bros don't hide things from bros, especially when a bro is trying to help a bro out.
You resist the urge to sigh or frown and continue to find out if you can help. "I'm just worried. C'mon, what's bothering you? It might help to talk about it? Like moirails or something-"
"Just go back to sleep." You wince when he snaps back, a bit louder than a whisper, but hopefully still soft enough to not wake anyone up.
Okay, you're pretty sure you're failing Operation Friend Assistance. But as much as you want to help, you know when to back off.
"Oh, okay… Sorry for bothering you, I guess."
But right when you're about to slip off the counter, you feel him firmly grip your upper arm.
"Karkat?"
"Fuck, Egbert. There's no need to get all pathetic on me over this." You settle back down onto the counter and he lets go of your arm before continuing. "Look, today was just filled to the brim with gag-inducing, rage-spewing horseshit and I'm honestly fucking amazed that we're all alive."
He lets out an aggravated sigh. "We need to be more careful. Everybody can't just sleep at the same time. We need someone to stay up and keep watch. "
"But we always double check everything, so we've never been attacked while we were asleep." He glares and scowls at you, but you quickly continue before he can cut you off with an insult or argument. "Everyone needs to be well-rested. And you did you notice how Dave is usually the closest to the door when we're sleeping? If something did happen, he'd be able to get up and fight right away."
"So our lives are in the hands of that insufferable prick, who will fight all alone while everyone else is sleeping," he scoffs. "Nice to see so much blind faith. Real encouraging."
Seriously? Sheesh, sometimes Karkat really gets on your nerves...
You nudge him. "Hey, I'm trying to make you feel better, not glorify Dave. I know you're concerned about everyone, which is good! Don't get me wrong! But I just wish you weren't so tense. It's like, I get the feeling you think you're not doing enough?"
"God damn it, John-"
"Wait, wait, wait, let me get to the point." To your relief, he actually clams up, though he's glaring at you. "I really want you to know that I think you're a huge help. I'm being serious right now. Even when you were sick, you tried your hardest to get things done. Plus, you really helped out Terezi today."
"So what I'm basically saying is- shut up, you're awesome, thank you and stop trying to do everything."
Karkat doesn't say anything. He just looks down, gripping the edge of the counter.
"Really, this doesn't all have to be hopeless and horrible," you say while you slide off of the counter. You turn to hold your hand out to him. "Come on, let's go."
When he just stares at you and doesn't budge, you add, "I'm not going back to sleep unless if you come with me."
He gives you a strange look, and you don't even know how he's feeling right now, but at least he gets off the counter, even though he ignores your hand.
You sigh when he walks past you without a word, back to his spot. At least this time you're able to get back to your spot near Jade without incident since your eyes adjusted.
You quietly settle back down, hoping that you and Karkat didn't wake anyone up, and close you eyes.
Right before you fall asleep, you hear a bag lightly plop down close by. You open your eyes to see that Karkat moved away from his isolated spot to only a few feet away from you and Jade. His back is turned but he still huffs like he can see your grin.
"G'night," you mumble sleepily.
"Shut up and go to sleep."
You only softly chuckle at that as you shift one last time to get in a comfortable position.
The last thing you hear before you finally fall sleep is a sigh and a reluctant mutter.
"Good night, John."
---------------------------
You all woke up and left the latest you've ever had, at 10, but at that time, the zombie hoards were at their thinnest. It was a bit better than the number of zombies around at 6 AM.
The only incident on the way out of Memphis was a small hoard blocking the road out. However, that was easily dealt with speed and gunshots.
But so far, things looked pretty good! No one was sick and was well-rested. Terezi's bite wound wasn't even soaked with blood this time, though it was still cleaned up by Jade.
According to the map, you were all almost halfway there!
But at this rate, you think you need to pick up the pace.
"Guys, I think we need to go a bit faster," you sigh as you fold up the map. "We still have a lot of supplies, but I don't think they're going to get us all the way to the end."
Terezi looks back at you. "You're talking about the food."
You nod. "Yeah. I don't know if it's going to be enough."
"Also, won't that be hard to find as time goes on," Jade adds. "We don't know how many people are going to the Safe Haven too. We shouldn't risk going forward without enough food."
"So if food is the problem, why should we speed up? I'd rather not end up in a twisted metal scrap on the side of the road because of reckless driving." Karkat looks up from the small tour guide map of the area in his hands. "Don't speed up. We'll all just eat less."
You see Dave shrug as he slows the car down to the normal speed. "Fine with me."
"Okay, maybe we can try share two cans of food between the five of us. Three was a bit much, anyway."
"Well, 'rezi, looks like there'll be no more tomato sauce hoarding for you."
"Fine. I'll just steal yours then. Or Karkles'."
You snicker when Karkat makes a disgusted face. "No. That shit stops today. I'm not eating from the same can if you're going to defile the food. How many times do I have to say it? You eat the sauce WITH everything else, you fucking depraved lunatic!"
"Okay then. Just take some of his ravioli with the sauce then!"
"You're a fucking heartless traitor, Harley."
"Sharing is caring, fuckass."
"That's stealing, not sharing." Karkat's arm almost smacks you in the face as he points accusingly at Jade.
"Hey, watch out!"
"Well, you stole my last granola bar this morning!" You try to sink back into your seat as Jade leans over you to glare back at Karkat.
"Er, guys? Could you give me some spa-"
"You left it on the fucking counter! How was I supposed to know it was yours? If you're going to eat something, fucking eat it right away!" Karkat shifts closer leans forward as well. They're both yelling now. You glance desperately at your friends in the front seat, but they're ignoring the arguing.
"Guys, seriously-"
"Augh, you're kidding me! Gosh, you're giving me a headache-"
"Alright, that's enough!" You flail your arms to get the two to back up before you have enough arm space to push them back. "Jeeze, don't fight when I have to be stuck between you guys!"
"He he he, if you ever need some help, John, I could always-"
"No thanks. Seriously, put your cane down, it's fine."
Karkat just huffs and straightens out the poor guide pamphlet that he unconsciously crushed.
You notice that Jade is gingerly rubbing her temples. "Are you okay?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm fine!" She smiles at you as she quickly puts her hands down. "Really! It's just a small headache."
"Well, if it gets worse, tell me, okay?"
"Alright."
-----------------------
"For fuckssake, can't we go on for a fucking day without someone getting a fever," Karkat mutters bitterly as he hands you a small bottle of painkillers. "Seriously, it keeps fucking happening."
As you open the bottle and hand a pill over to Jade, you see Terezi look back to glare at Karkat. "It's not like I spread this stupid human sickness on purpose. And you were the first one to get sick, so that would mean you started it."
"I wasn't blaming anyone," Karkat grounds out. "But it's fucking ridiculous how this keeps happening even when we're being careful."
"
The next point on the map was some kind of prison. You remember seeing it on a advertisement board on the way to Memphis. It wasn't in use, though. It was just a place for tours.
To be honest, you thought it was a bit sketchy, but right now, that seemed to be the only landmark close by that wouldn't put you guys off of the trail.
It's already been 3 hours and you're still not out of the woods. You should've stayed in St Louis! You can barely hear her breathing and you feel awful because during this entire drive, your promise that 'everything will be alright' ran through your head. You promised her that everything would be okay only this morning but she's already dying!
You feel someone frantically smack the back of your seat. "John, John, John, stoooop! I think I see a cave over there!"
"Woah, you're right! Finally!" You bring the car to a gradual stop, because you can't just stomp on the break right now, in front of the mouth of the cave. There's a small wall of stones acting as a barricade and a faint light coming from the cave. You just have to hope that whoever is in there will take you guys in because you have to stop now or Terezi really isn't going to make it.
You're about to get out of the car and check the cave, but Jade leans forward to grip your sleeve. "Wait! What if someone is in there and tries to shoot you if you go in?"
You hear Karkat growl as he glares at the cave and grips his sickle. "I'll fucking kill them before they can even point their guns at us."
You try to stop Karkat from getting out of the car, but while you're gripping his waist and trying to yank him back in, you hear the back car door slam open and you see Dave walking towards the cave while carrying Terezi. He left his sword back in the car and he doesn't even have his or Terezi's bag with him.
"Oh shoot! Dave!"
"Woah, wait a minute!"
"What the ever loving fuck are you doing?!"
You all dash out of the car but he's already reached the barricade.
"Stay back!"
You, Jade and Karkat freeze when you see that someone is there on the other side of the barricade aiming a gun at Dave's face. The three of you are still several feet behind and you can't do anything because you're afraid that if any of you move, Dave will get killed.
But Dave doesn't waver or turn away. Instead, he starts talking slowly, like he's trying his best to control himself, and you hear the hints of desperation in his voice.
"You see the girl I'm holding in my arms? She has a fucking bad fever and she's going to die if she's out here any longer. You've got to let us in. Please."
"Is she infected? I'm not letting any of you in here if she is! She'll turn and kill us all," the man barks back and you see the gun start the shake. You hear Jade swear softly as she reaches for her empty holster, remembering that she lost her pistol earlier on, and you see Karkat's muscles tense as he shifts his feet slightly, about to try lunge at the guard with his sickle. You're empty-handed right now and glance back at the car, wondering how you could be so careless. Even if you know there's no way you could get to Dave and Terezi in time, you really hate that you can't do anything to help your friends.
"That's why we have to do something now," Dave continues to speak with the same tone and speed, despite the gun's sight being only inches in front of his right eye. "If you just let us in, we can help her. We just need a chance. If she turns…" He pauses and then forces out the last few words. "I'll kill her before she gets anyone."
You all wait for a response from the man with baited breath.
"Grah! Aw, fuck my life!" The man lets out a defeated sigh and lowers his gun. "Just get in here. But if anyone tries to pull something, you all leave this cave in a body bag." He stomps back into the cave.
Dave leaps over the small wall, still holding Terezi, quickly catching up to the man with you running after, not far behind.
The cave isn't that deep, but there's enough space for all of you in the back. There are 2 sleeping bags lying on the floor, several boxes of food and 2 bags scattered throughout inside and a single battery-powered lantern glowing in the center of the room. Dave, the man from earlier and a woman are kneeling around Terezi, who is laying down on one of the sleeping bags. The man and woman only look around 25 years old.
You and Jade rush over. Now that you can get a good look at Terezi, you see how bad she's actually doing. She's still, too still for someone that should be in a lot of pain, and she's barely breathing. Her eyes are shut and she's limp. If she weren't breathing, you'd think she was already gone.
The woman is gingerly removing the teal-soaked bandages, muttering grumpily to the man. "I can't believe you were just going to leave this poor girl to die out there, James! Bite or not, they're just kids!"
"Well, we're helping them now, Kat!" You see James slump, nervously run a hand through his hair and guiltily avert his gaze. "I already feel like shit. No need to rub it in…"
When the old bandages are removed, you feel sick because her bite is starting to look worse. It's still bleeding, like she only got bitten a few minutes ago.
"When was she bit," James asks while warily eying the wound.
Dave answers in a flat voice without looking up from Terezi. "7 hours ago."
Did he calm down already? You're wondering how on earth he can manage reclaim his cool at this time and glance at him. He didn't look upset as he did when he realized that Terezi got bitten or tense and concerned as he was only minutes ago in the car. He just looks… tired. You're even tempted to say at loss. H, his shoulders are lax and his hand is only lightly holding onto Terezi's.
You want to snap him out of it, but the only thing that will help him is if Terezi get's better. But there's nothing you can do, you have no idea what to do, and all you can do is sit there, watch the others and just hope for the best.
Jade shakily hands Kat a roll of clean bandages she had in her pocket. It was the only thing left from the second kit. "Thank you so much for letting us in… I don't know what we would've done."
"Yeah, it was really great for you guys to help us out," you add, forcing yourself to tear your gaze away from the bite to face James and Kat and give a weak smile.
James looks a bit uncomfortable with your thanks because he just looks away and shrugs. You're kind of glad that he's still pretty guilty because, after all, he did point a gun straight at your bro, but you still feel a guilty because you guys had freaked him out yet he still let you all in.
Kat smiles back at you. "We're more than glad to help." She frowns at the bite, still holding the bandages from Jade. "But I'm afraid we're low on medical supplies for your friend… Do you have anything to clean the bite?"
"Well, we already used up anything that could help in this kit." You look into the open med kit lying on Jade's lap. The pills are the only things left, but those didn't help Terezi at all.
"It's a good thing I went back to the damn car, then."
You turn around to see Karkat holding your sledgehammer with both hands and Dave's red sports bag slung over his shoulder. He drops the hammer and shrugs off the bag so he can dig out a bottle of water, a clean towel and a medical kit from it and holds them out to you. Whoops, you were so frantic that you didn't even realize that Karkat hadn't been following you guys into the cave… But you're super glad that remembered! "You're awesome! Thanks!" You smile and reach up to take the supplies. See, this is why you wondered why on Earth he would think he was useless.
"Whatever. It was just common sense to go back," he mutters back, but his insult lacks its usual bite. He doesn't kneel down like everybody else around Terezi and just stands behind you, slightly leaning forward and looking down at her. You can see he's still worried sick but at least he doesn't seem as frustrated at himself as before.
You hand the medicine kit to Kat since she's the closest to Terezi's injured arm. While she opens the kit to get supplies to clean the bite, you fold up the towel and dampen part of it with the bottled water. You hope it'll be okay, because the water is only room temperature, and gently place it on her forehead. You remember Dad would do this for you when you got fevers.
You let out a sigh of relief when you see the bite after Kat cleans off the blood. It doesn't look that bad yet. You were afraid that the skin around the bite was going be to rotted or green, like in the movies. The skin around the bite seems a bit darker, like it was bruised, but you hope that it'll be better since it's being cleaned and re wrapped.
You and Jade let out a sigh of relief and you see everybody, except for Dave, relax a bit. All you guys can do now is wait and hope she gets better, but you're sure she'll pull through! After all, Karkat got better in 6ish hours and Terezi was pretty tough. To your relief, you could hear her breathing start to even out a bit.
"There we go!" Kat finishes wrapping the bite and tosses the small, empty disinfectant bottle and bloodied wraps into the now empty medicine kit from Dave's bag. "I know she's in pretty bad shape right now, but her bite is in better shape than I thought!"
"How does this infection bite shit work anyway," Karkat asks as he finally sits down. "A small bite like that should have stopped bleeding hours ago."
Kat shrugs. "I'm not really sure. I've never seen anyone actually, er, 'turn' before. I was out here camping on my own before this all started and James is the only one that I've met up here since the zombies came, so I've never met anyone with a bite before. Oh, but James came from St Louis, so he might know more about this."
You all turn to stare at James.
He swears under his breath and you think he's not going to say anything until he finally speaks. "… One of my best friends got bit. He only lasted for 4 hours." He lets out a frustrated sigh. "I don't like to talk about it."
"I'm really sorry for your loss," Jade says softly. "And we're sorry for making you recall that."
You feel pretty bad too because if one of your friends turned, you definitely wouldn't want to think about it ever again. But you really need to know more so you can be ready.
"Uhh, do you happen to know how? Like were there, um, signs?" You cringe when James' frown deepens and Jade send a stern glare towards you way. Gosh, way to be a totally insensitive douche. "I-I'm sorry for asking you to talk about it again, but we really, really have to know…"
James opens his mouth like he's about to refuse, but then he glances down at Terezi and then at Dave and lets out a long sigh. "Well, the thing is that he got shot in the leg with a pistol before he got bit. It was kind of bad, but it wasn't like he was bleeding out. He would've been fine in a few days. Anyway, he got bit on the shoulder. Fucker snuck up on us right before we reached my car. Unlike you guys, we didn't have a handy bunch of med kits, so all I could do was wash it with water and wrap it with his torn up shirt. I swear, he looked fine for at least an hour, but he started getting worse."
You see him pause and look at Terezi's bandaged arm. "The bite wasn't that deep, I swear, but it was bleeding even more than the gun shot. He turned a few minutes after he got knocked out from blood loss."
You nervously glance at the bite and almost expect the bandages already soaked with blood. "So, she's just going to get worse over time?"
"Whatever," Dave says. "We keep her healthy, she stays alive." He shifts slightly so he can look at you. Well, you think he's looking at you. He's sitting at an angle where he can face you and the others, but still see Terezi at his side and with those sunglasses, you couldn't really tell.
"But it sounds like you're going to go through a lot of medicine kits that way," Kat says while pointing out the remains of the second kit and the empty third kit. "I imagine these are hard to come by now…"
Oof, that was true. Since it's already been a few days since this all started, you're pretty sure most of the hospitals have been ransacked by now.
"And what if someone else gets bit later on," you reluctantly add. Terezi's bite wasn't going to be the only thing you guys needed to worry about. Anything could happen on the way to Safe Haven and you needed to be prepared.
Jade crosses her arms and huffs. "Well, we'll just make sure no one gets bit again!" You're surprised, and proud, that she sounds so sure.
But she's right. You just have to make sure it won't happen again. "We'll all be extra super careful from now on! We'll try our best not to take any risks."
You hear Karkat angrily growl behind you, though the anger not aimed at anyone in the room. "We better. I'm not going to let this fucking bullshit happen again. Next one that tries to bite any of us spends the rest of his fucking, pathetic existence shitting out his own teeth."
Dave's grip on Terezi's hand tightens and you think you see a faint smirk. "I dunno, Vantas. After I'm done kicking ass, there might not be any left for you."
You laugh when Karkat hurls the sports bag at Dave, who just catches it.
James sighs and shakes his head. "You kids are crazy."
You just smile and shrug. "I guess we kinda are, huh."
Kat and James let you and your friends rest in the cave until Terezi gets better. You stay awake to help guard the entrance with James while everybody else rests. You weren't really tired, just a bit stressed, and needed some fresh air.
Terezi gets up about 3 hours later. She's still sick, but she has most of her energy back, you figure, since she's able to walk and talk again. At least everybody else seems better from the break. Even Karkat seems to have gotten over his fever completely.
The sun is only starting to set but according to the map, you should reach the next city before dark.
You're all packed, not that you brought much into the cave. While everyone else already heads out, you turn around to thank Kat and James one last time.
"Thank you for letting us stay and helping Terezi! Seriously, thanks."
Kat smiles and nods. "Just be careful, okay?"
"Yeah. And if you find this 'Safe Haven' place, how 'bout asking them to send a few armed tanks our way?" You laugh while Kat rolls her eyes. James just grins and elbows Kat. "C'mon, admit it. It'd be pretty great to drive one."
"Well, maybe we'll find help. If we do, I'll try to get them to come this way."
"That would be nice."
You all smile at that, even though you know that the chance of that happening is pretty close to zero. You're sure they know that too, but they just wave to you before you turn and leave the cave.
--------------------
Date: Thursday, 8 PM
Terezi had a hard time in the car on the way to Memphis, but her fever finally got better right before you reached the city. You just had to use another medicine kit on her once you stopped. The pain pills managed to do their job this time, at least.
Memphis was pretty much the same as all of the other cities you've been to; full of infected, lacking salvageable supplies and creepily quiet without the buzz of electricity or zoom of cars. There were a lot of barricaded houses, which you thought was pretty good because you thought it meant that it'd be easy to find a place to stay that would keep the zombies out. Plus it'd be kind of nice to stay in an actual house for a night, despite the fact that it'd be a bit creepy.
However, the problem was that you all couldn't get in past blocked doors or boarded up windows. The houses that you could get into weren't safe enough because they either had no reinforcements or had broken doors and windows. You all gave up on the house idea rather quickly and just decided to stay in a barricaded Seven Eleven convenience store, disturbingly similar to the one you all took cover in when the zombies arrived.
The familiar sight of various desks pushed against the door, boarded up windows and barren shelves just make you a bit uncomfortable. You don't know why, because it's not like you've been dreaming and you're actually back at square one. It's not like you feel like you have to go though the last few days again. It's not like you're remembering how you felt about leaving your friends and Dad behind. Nope. None of that because you're busy trying to be helpful by setting up the place so you guys can sleep.
There wasn't any goods left on the shelves, not that you expected there to be, so no one really bothered with searching the shop for stuff, but Jade managed to break into a small, locked office room in the back. The only thing useful thing in there was $50.
There's litter all scattered around the store, mostly empty cans and boxes, but they're easy to move aside so that you all have room to lie down. The only thing lighting up the room is the your flashlight on the ground next to you, but it's bright enough for you to see yet soft enough to not draw any attention from outside.
Everyone is starting to settle down, tossing their bag on the ground and finding a place in the store to sleep, which isn't too hard considering there aren't a lot of options other than the floor. You guess someone could sleep on the cashier counter, or in the office with the weird smelling carpet. Er, yeah, no thanks. You're totally fine with sleeping on the ground in the main room. But you can't help but shiver slightly when you sit down on the cold, hard floor. "I wonder if we could find towels to use as mats or something later on?"
"Why the fuck would we want to do that? None of you could even begin to understand the giddy-as-fuck joy that runs through my gog damn head when I wake up on the freezing floor with a leg cramp."
"Oooo, I remember that, Karkles! It was the funniest wake up call ever!"
Karkat ignores Terezi's comment completely. Oh crud, he's in rant mode now. "Sometimes I wonder why the fuck I didn't spend my entire life laying down on the floor. I could get up every fucking day with a gog damned smile if only-"
"Yeah, you're being sarcastic. We get it already." Jade glares at Karkat while interrupting the rant. "But still, it'd be nice to get up without sores. Like John said, we could probably find some towels to use."
"Not a good idea." Dave says, maintaining his pokerface despite the fact that Terezi just balanced Lemonsnout on top of his head with a gleeful cackle. "We have to be ready to rush out right after we wake up in case shit goes down. You gotta be on your toes. Can't do that if you're busy fumbling around with a shitty mat."'
"Oh, heh, you have a point there…" Of course Dave would understand that. You remember the stories you've heard from Dave of Bro attacking him at the worst possible times.
Karkat doesn't respond with a scathing comeback like you expect. Instead, he just grumbles, turns his back to everyone and tries his best to curl up with his head on his bag.
No one really talks after that. With only a few tired murmurs and the shifting of bags, you all get ready to fall asleep.
Dave doesn't lie down but sits with his back against the wall with his knees slightly bent, arms crossed and shades still on. Terezi is in a similar position right next to him, but her legs are straight and she's holding Lemonsnout in her arms. Her cane and his sword both lay close by. You don't know how Dave manages to sleep and look cool at the same time. You hope that he's actually sleeping, because you're pretty sure you couldn't sleep sitting up like that. You're also glad that Terezi doesn't look like she's suffering anymore when she tries to sleep. You hope that means that she won't get worse through the night.
Karkat is lying down close to the wall opposite of the one Dave and Terezi are at. You know that he prefers to keep his distance and you don't dislike him for that, but you really dislike that unfair troll blood system thing you've heard of because you think that's why he's like this.
You and Jade, only about a foot away, are just lying on the floor in the center of the room. You generally try to sleep where your friends will all be an equal distance away. However, while you think all of your friends are awesome and treasure each of them, if you have to wake up and get out as fast as possible, you want to make sure Jade is with you. She's your (genetic) sister after all and you almost left her behind in the hotel on the first day. You found her right before Dave and Karkat tried to drag you out.
"10 AM," you mutter to Jade. She's been using her watch as an alarm clock. Her only response to your request is a sleepy hum of acknowledgment and the beep of her watch as she sets the alarm.
You wait a few seconds as a few 'goodnight's are tossed around before you flick the flashlight off and try to sleep.
… Well, the key word is here is 'try'.
When you close your eyes and try to sleep, the sounds of restless turning and shifting and the occasional bag punch and grumble from Karkat wakes you up. Concerned, and a bit curious, you mentally shake off your slight drowsiness and listen. You just want to make sure he doesn't stay up all night.
About 30 minutes pass and you're pretty sure you and Karkat are the only ones still awake. You think you can even hear Dave softly snoring. It was pretty boring to pretend to sleep, but your concern completely overcame your drowsiness. Sure, his slight insomnia problem along with the usually uncomfortable sleeping conditions made it hard for him to sleep, but you've never heard him be this restless. It's like he's shifting around every other minute.
You hear a soft swear, more shifting and then a few almost silent footsteps. You open one eye to peek at Karkat. It looks like he gave up on sleeping because he's not lying down anymore, but sitting on top of the cashier counter, legs crossed.
Okay, you definitely need to know what's wrong now. You carefully get up so Jade doesn't wake up.. You don't want to turn on the flashlight in case you wake someone else up, so you try your best to delicately, silently make your way over to Karkat. Like a ninja, you awesomely creep over to him.
… Actually, your creep is more like an awkward shuffle and you accidently kick a few empty boxes, stumble several times and sorta stub your toe on the counter when you almost walk into it. Bluh, whatever. You may not be a good ninja, but you're on a bro-assistance mission!
Ignoring your aching toe and Karkat's irritated huff, you prop yourself up to sit next to him on the counter. You can't see his face very well, but you're sure he's rolling his eyes. You can barely make out details with only the moonlight flipping through the small cracks in the barricade.
"You continue to surprise me by proving how inept you humans can be," he mutters. "Fucking blind unless if there's light everywhere."
You just brush off the insult, cause you're used to it, and lightly elbow him while whispering back. "Hey, my eyes aren't that bad! I can barely see right now, give me a break." You wave your hand in front of your face for emphasis, for a second. Your eyes are still adjusting to the dark. "Sorry we can't have crazy cat eyes like you guys. "
"Don't compare me to those stupid, purring furbeasts. Stop being insensitive, fuckass."
"Aw, fine." And you were just about to point how cool his yellow eyes look right now because you think they might be glowing a little bit.
You decide that you should bring up why you got up before you both slip into an awkward silence. "So, er… Are you okay?"
"I'm just having trouble sleeping, not having a mental fucking breakdown." While he angrily whispers back, he looks away from you and back at the door. He's hiding something, obviously. You hate to be nosy, but you're still kinda upset by that because you and Karkat are supposed to be bros and bros don't hide things from bros, especially when a bro is trying to help a bro out.
You resist the urge to sigh or frown and continue to find out if you can help. "I'm just worried. C'mon, what's bothering you? It might help to talk about it? Like moirails or something-"
"Just go back to sleep." You wince when he snaps back, a bit louder than a whisper, but hopefully still soft enough to not wake anyone up.
Okay, you're pretty sure you're failing Operation Friend Assistance. But as much as you want to help, you know when to back off.
"Oh, okay… Sorry for bothering you, I guess."
But right when you're about to slip off the counter, you feel him firmly grip your upper arm.
"Karkat?"
"Fuck, Egbert. There's no need to get all pathetic on me over this." You settle back down onto the counter and he lets go of your arm before continuing. "Look, today was just filled to the brim with gag-inducing, rage-spewing horseshit and I'm honestly fucking amazed that we're all alive."
He lets out an aggravated sigh. "We need to be more careful. Everybody can't just sleep at the same time. We need someone to stay up and keep watch. "
"But we always double check everything, so we've never been attacked while we were asleep." He glares and scowls at you, but you quickly continue before he can cut you off with an insult or argument. "Everyone needs to be well-rested. And you did you notice how Dave is usually the closest to the door when we're sleeping? If something did happen, he'd be able to get up and fight right away."
"So our lives are in the hands of that insufferable prick, who will fight all alone while everyone else is sleeping," he scoffs. "Nice to see so much blind faith. Real encouraging."
Seriously? Sheesh, sometimes Karkat really gets on your nerves...
You nudge him. "Hey, I'm trying to make you feel better, not glorify Dave. I know you're concerned about everyone, which is good! Don't get me wrong! But I just wish you weren't so tense. It's like, I get the feeling you think you're not doing enough?"
"God damn it, John-"
"Wait, wait, wait, let me get to the point." To your relief, he actually clams up, though he's glaring at you. "I really want you to know that I think you're a huge help. I'm being serious right now. Even when you were sick, you tried your hardest to get things done. Plus, you really helped out Terezi today."
"So what I'm basically saying is- shut up, you're awesome, thank you and stop trying to do everything."
Karkat doesn't say anything. He just looks down, gripping the edge of the counter.
"Really, this doesn't all have to be hopeless and horrible," you say while you slide off of the counter. You turn to hold your hand out to him. "Come on, let's go."
When he just stares at you and doesn't budge, you add, "I'm not going back to sleep unless if you come with me."
He gives you a strange look, and you don't even know how he's feeling right now, but at least he gets off the counter, even though he ignores your hand.
You sigh when he walks past you without a word, back to his spot. At least this time you're able to get back to your spot near Jade without incident since your eyes adjusted.
You quietly settle back down, hoping that you and Karkat didn't wake anyone up, and close you eyes.
Right before you fall asleep, you hear a bag lightly plop down close by. You open your eyes to see that Karkat moved away from his isolated spot to only a few feet away from you and Jade. His back is turned but he still huffs like he can see your grin.
"G'night," you mumble sleepily.
"Shut up and go to sleep."
You only softly chuckle at that as you shift one last time to get in a comfortable position.
The last thing you hear before you finally fall sleep is a sigh and a reluctant mutter.
"Good night, John."
---------------------------
You all woke up and left the latest you've ever had, at 10, but at that time, the zombie hoards were at their thinnest. It was a bit better than the number of zombies around at 6 AM.
The only incident on the way out of Memphis was a small hoard blocking the road out. However, that was easily dealt with speed and gunshots.
But so far, things looked pretty good! No one was sick and was well-rested. Terezi's bite wound wasn't even soaked with blood this time, though it was still cleaned up by Jade.
According to the map, you were all almost halfway there!
But at this rate, you think you need to pick up the pace.
"Guys, I think we need to go a bit faster," you sigh as you fold up the map. "We still have a lot of supplies, but I don't think they're going to get us all the way to the end."
Terezi looks back at you. "You're talking about the food."
You nod. "Yeah. I don't know if it's going to be enough."
"Also, won't that be hard to find as time goes on," Jade adds. "We don't know how many people are going to the Safe Haven too. We shouldn't risk going forward without enough food."
"So if food is the problem, why should we speed up? I'd rather not end up in a twisted metal scrap on the side of the road because of reckless driving." Karkat looks up from the small tour guide map of the area in his hands. "Don't speed up. We'll all just eat less."
You see Dave shrug as he slows the car down to the normal speed. "Fine with me."
"Okay, maybe we can try share two cans of food between the five of us. Three was a bit much, anyway."
"Well, 'rezi, looks like there'll be no more tomato sauce hoarding for you."
"Fine. I'll just steal yours then. Or Karkles'."
You snicker when Karkat makes a disgusted face. "No. That shit stops today. I'm not eating from the same can if you're going to defile the food. How many times do I have to say it? You eat the sauce WITH everything else, you fucking depraved lunatic!"
"Okay then. Just take some of his ravioli with the sauce then!"
"You're a fucking heartless traitor, Harley."
"Sharing is caring, fuckass."
"That's stealing, not sharing." Karkat's arm almost smacks you in the face as he points accusingly at Jade.
"Hey, watch out!"
"Well, you stole my last granola bar this morning!" You try to sink back into your seat as Jade leans over you to glare back at Karkat.
"Er, guys? Could you give me some spa-"
"You left it on the fucking counter! How was I supposed to know it was yours? If you're going to eat something, fucking eat it right away!" Karkat shifts closer leans forward as well. They're both yelling now. You glance desperately at your friends in the front seat, but they're ignoring the arguing.
"Guys, seriously-"
"Augh, you're kidding me! Gosh, you're giving me a headache-"
"Alright, that's enough!" You flail your arms to get the two to back up before you have enough arm space to push them back. "Jeeze, don't fight when I have to be stuck between you guys!"
"He he he, if you ever need some help, John, I could always-"
"No thanks. Seriously, put your cane down, it's fine."
Karkat just huffs and straightens out the poor guide pamphlet that he unconsciously crushed.
You notice that Jade is gingerly rubbing her temples. "Are you okay?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm fine!" She smiles at you as she quickly puts her hands down. "Really! It's just a small headache."
"Well, if it gets worse, tell me, okay?"
"Alright."
-----------------------
"For fuckssake, can't we go on for a fucking day without someone getting a fever," Karkat mutters bitterly as he hands you a small bottle of painkillers. "Seriously, it keeps fucking happening."
As you open the bottle and hand a pill over to Jade, you see Terezi look back to glare at Karkat. "It's not like I spread this stupid human sickness on purpose. And you were the first one to get sick, so that would mean you started it."
"I wasn't blaming anyone," Karkat grounds out. "But it's fucking ridiculous how this keeps happening even when we're being careful."
"
The next point on the map was some kind of prison. You remember seeing it on a advertisement board on the way to Memphis. It wasn't in use, though. It was just a place for tours.
To be honest, you thought it was a bit sketchy, but right now, that seemed to be the only landmark close by that wouldn't put you guys off of the trail.