"All out of booze, if that's what you're asking," Jacob said lowly, proceeding to soak the wash cloth like he'd done the one earlier. He put it on Nicholas' forehead - common thing to do when someone has a fever.

"Hey Nicky," he said. "Stop closing your eyes."

"I can't," Nicholas moaned. "It feels like the water in my eyes is melting."

He was babbling, talking nonsense. He continued, "My tears are so ho-ot."

"That's 'cause you've got a fever, man, calm down," Jacob kept his voice steady, trying to remain as calm as he could be. To be honest, he'd love to just put a bullet in the boy's head and burn the body, making sure that neither he, nor Mattie, nor the baby got infected because of Nicholas.

After a moment of consideration, Jacob dismissed the question of sexuality and grabbed Nicholas' hand, rolling it between his two. "Can you feel that, Nick?"

"Yeah," he whispered.

"Good, that means you still got the feeling in your body. You know what that means?"

"Wh-What?"

Jacob lightly tapped Nicholas on the head and chuckled briefly, "That means you're not a zombie yet, brother."

"Y-Yet," Nicholas moaned.

Shaking his head, Jacob tore the covers off of Nicholas, who hissed at the feeling of cold air. His whole body was shaking, yet his neck had started to form beads of sweat rolling down.

"I'm c-cold," Nicholas told him, but Jacob ignored him.

After folding up the blanket and putting it to the side, making a note to wash it later, Jacob turned to Mattie and said, "You know, it just occurred to me that the first thing we should have done was get all of the blood off of him." He put his hands on his hips and said, "That's probably how he's infected."

"I'm cold!" he repeated, more urgently this time.

"Hush. Your body is burning up, okay? Blankets aren't going to do you any good right now."

Nicholas' whole body shook, and he continuously wiggled around on the couch, obviously uncomfortable.

"Out of booze," Mattie echoed grimly. This made the situation really dire. "Shit." She observed the events in front of her unfold in near-complete silence. Everything was crumbling in front of her. Leave the baby. Leave Nicholas. Leave Jacob. Find some supplies and hole up a while. She fought the commanding voice in her head, hating that it was her own thought. She couldn't go. They needed her.

For what? Changing Cole's diapers? Repopulating the planet? Like hell. Maybe once he dies. I'll slip away in the night. No no no, she couldn't think like that. Stop it!

The nail had really hit home now. Mattie had allowed this to happen. Mattie had let down two brothers and a friend. Stop. Think.

"Maybe we should tie him up. In case...you know. And cover his mouth." It seemed so barbaric, but right now Nicholas' saliva was probably brimming with infection. Ready to jump into whoever's flesh his teeth tore into. She sifted through the backpacks for rope and found a length enough for his wrists. Forgive me.

She approached him like a rabid animal: slowly, carefully, no sudden movements. His eyes were still Nicholas, still human, but Mattie was scared. Any minute he could foam at the mouth and chomp-chomp.

Jacob wasn't sure about Mattie's ideas, but he stepped aside. She had survive long enough, just as long as he had, so she probably knew what she was doing. Just in case, he stood close by. The baby in the chair began to wail, and Jacob went over to it and scooped him up in his arms. He held the baby over his shoulder and patted its back, bouncing him as he did so.

"Shhh," he told it. "You're okay."

---

Nicholas turned his head to look at Mattie. His neck was stiff and hurting. Everything was hurting. Everything was so hot. It was so hot it was almost as if his vision was red. It was cloudy. He just wanted it to go away. He didn't want to die - if he did, he would have just let Jacob shoot him. But he didn't want to. He wanted to stay. For Mattie.

"I'm fine!" he choked out as she approached him. "P-Please, don't hurt me! Don't kill me! Please!" he was shouting now, desperate. "I'm g-going to be okay!"

"Nicholas," Mattie cooed in an attempt to reassure him. She was actually frightened to death, but stubborn as a mule, she explained, "We know you're fine. I'm not going to hurt you, okay? It's just a...a precaution, in case things get messy. She took his hand and....oh. She'd forgotten that he only had one arm now. Awkward. But it saved rope. "Stay still, okay? I'm not going to hurt you." She spoke slowly and articulated everything more than usual, like she was speaking to a sick dog from another country.

Step. Step. She tied his ankles together, tightly but hopefully not circulation stopping. He'd lost enough appendages today. "How does that feel? Is it snug?" She hated to talk to him like this, but she didn't know what the fever could be doing to his brain.

"Y-Yeah," Nicholas said, shivering. He reached around for a blanket and found none. He was so frustrated. He couldn't hug himself to warm himself up because his only hand one arm, and there were no blankets around - there was nothing. And at the same time everything was so hot. He shook his head violently, but soon stopped because it made his head hurt.

"My eyes are melting," he moaned. "M-My eyes are melting."

Mattie wished there was ice on hand. A generator would be a really damn nice thing to have on hand right now, so that the freezer would be powered. But no generator. So work with what you've got. She doused the cloth with fresh water, not exactly cold but colder than the stuff that had rapidly warmed against Nicholas' forehead. She backed up, reached into the backpack and dug. One more rope, perfect. She swallowed and went back to him.

"You're not going to like this," she said softly, "but you're going to have to roll with it, okay? Just be still." It sounded a lot nicer than "I'm going to gag you, so don't move." Then she moved quickly to avoid resistance. The rope was tight between his teeth. She tied deftly and took a deep breath. There, now nothing could spread via bite. "I'm sorry, Nicholas, but it's better than killing you. It's just until you feel better." If you feel better. Stupid negative thoughts.

Nicholas' breathing picked up again, and he started to panic when Mattie put the rope between his teeth. He had to force himself to trust her, but damn, it was so hard to do right now. He couldn't think straight and he was suffering. He was miserable. He could have easily tried to undo the ropes, but with one hand and a fuzzy head, it would have been too much effort to try. Not to mention, she and Jacob both could have stopped him.

Eventually, he just relaxed once again and let everything happen. The pain came over him in waves, but he made no reaction to it. He wished he could Cole. He wished he was home, in his bed. He wished everything was normal. He closed his eyes, and for a moment he felt like he was back in his room, in his bed again.

He looked at Mattie and wished he could say something. He knew it would come out as muffles, but very carefully, he tried to say, "I'm sorry."

---

When Mattie began to gag Nicholas, Jacob took Cole into his room and lay him on the bed. He bunched up blankets on either side of the baby to make sure he wouldn't roll over and fall off. He went back and stood in the doorway, watching Nicholas writhe on the couch until he finally settled down.

He called out to Mattie and said, "If you want, you can just come sleep in here with the baby. I'll stay in here - I'm not getting any sleep." He waited for her response.

"Shh," said Mattie. Her chest heaved and her head felt light; she didn't know why. "Don't waste your energy trying to talk. Was that a sorry? You shouldn't be, okay? I know it isn't easy, but you should try to relax and rest." She rubbed his hand gently in hopes of making him feel better. "Focus on fighting this off. I'm right here." To set you on fire once you try to bite my head off. The thought made her eyes glimmer with tears. Pansy.

She turned her head when Jacob spoke. "I'm staying here," she proclaimed, her voice set. It was her fault Nicholas was suffering like this, and she was damn well going to stick with the poor bastard until the end. She added, lying: "To watch out for that creep who played ding-dong-ditch with us. He is going down." Her attempt to make humor had been half-hearted and weak, and she knew it. And the lie was obvious.

Jacob crossed his arms, not giving a reaction to Mattie's attempt at humor at a time like this. Not to mention, he knew that she was lying through her teeth. She just wanted to stick with Nicholas. It was understandable, he had to admit. They seemed like very good friends and had obviously been through a lot together. They'd probably known each other for years, from what it seemed like.

"Okay," he finally said. "You can stay in here, but I'm going to be sitting right here with you, got it?" Saying that, he went over to the empty couch and plopped down on it, propping his feet upon the coffee table in front of him and crossing his legs. "I don't want to risk anything."

He bobbed his head lightly with his eyes closed, music playing in his head. He was always thinking of music to distract him.

---

To say the least, Nicholas felt like he was dying. He felt like at any moment his spirit was just going to come right out of his body and he would be dead. As much as he didn't want that to happen, he knew there was no way he could stop it from happening. The only thing he could do was lay there and accept his fate. He was going to die in front of Mattie and Jacob and leave them behind.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he kept trying to say, but it was only coming out as muffles and groans.

He was more relaxed than he was before, he could admit that.

---

Jacob opened his eyes and stared at Nicholas. He shook his head and said, "Don't keep talking, Nick. You're gonna use all of your strength, and we can't understand you."

Rising from the couch, he went over to Nicholas and removed the cloth from his head, feeling his forehead. "If you're gonna survive this, you'll be fine by tomorrow evening, okay? That's how long it's going to last if you're going to live." He nodded lightly and soaked the cloth with the rest of the water from the bottle, then put it back on Nicholas' forehead.

---

Nicholas listened, but didn't respond with a nod or a word. He was grateful for the cooled cloth on his forehead, as it had become hot and uncomfortable.

Tomorrow evening, he thought. That's why mom's lasted so long... she wasn't going to live through it.

Mattie wanted to tell Jacob thanks, but I'll be fine, but no words came out. Her eyes fell to the ground with her spirit. She didn't have any religious affiliation, but now was the time to start praying. And waiting. God, that would be a long wait. But she'd do it; Nicholas had to and she wasn't planning on relaxing while her friend burned up on the inside.

What the hell could she do to help? More painkillers? No, an overdose could kill him. Ice? No, she'd already been over that. God damn it. She just had to sit here and watch him suffer for a day. Was Jacob going to kill Nicholas if he wasn't better by tomorrow evening? She hoped not, but certainly understood the reasoning and wouldn't be able to do anything. Jacob looked like a strong guy, and Mattie didn't want to risk a brawl; even if she did win she'd be injured.

I bet he's thirsty, she thought, looking at Nicholas. I don't want to get my ass bitten but it might up his chances. That wasn't all. Looking at him in this state was heartbreaking. She remembered that she should start praying.

Hey, uh, Big G? You up there? You can see this, right? I'm gonna assume you can, since you're all-knowing or whatever. Okay, so, this is a special request, super special. You've gotta let this dude live. He's not all too special or anything I guess, but yeah, that's it. Not too much to ask, right, since, you know, you're God? Okay that's all. Thanks bye. End prayer. Not too bad for a first attempt.

Nicholas looked over at Mattie, and something about seeing her face made his will to live even stronger. He was as relaxed as he could be right now, determined to wait it out and move on. He felt like he would recover. He felt like he had to recover. He'd had the fever, the chills, the sweating...would he start vomiting? That was most definitely a side effect of the infection. He hoped not - not with this rope in between his teeth. He felt nauseous, but not to the point where he thought he would puke. It seemed more like the result of the fever and chills combined.

Regardless, the night went on miserably. Nicholas drifted in and out of consciousness, whether from the infection, the painkillers, or his exhaustion, he didn't know. Each time he drifted asleep, he was thankful. It cut out part of his suffering. His body was hot but his insides were cold. It didn't make any sense. He'd had fevers before, he knew they were supposed to be this way, but man, he hated them.

In the midst of the night, when Nicholas saw Jacob had already fallen asleep and Mattie seemed like she was getting more tired by the second, Cole started wailing from the bedroom.

Things had started to go black. Mattie's head suddenly felt heavier than it ever had, and it took all her strength to keep it from slumping down. She was also fighting to keep her eyelids open. It was a two-fronted battle that she didn't think she could win, but she wasn't going to sleep while a fever ate up Nicholas. It was a vigil, and she intended to keep it through the whole night.

The sound of Cole wailing was almost a relief. Groggily she rose from the hard chair, stretching her stiff back, and put a couple knuckles against Nicholas' forehead to test how high his fever was. It was, as expected, pretty damn hot. She frowned and hurried to the bedroom, where she discovered that Cole had soiled his diaper. Disgusting, but normal at least. She changed his diaper and pitched the dirty one out of a window into the cool night air.

"Holy shit!" someone yelled. The sound of that voice...it made Mattie's heart climb into her throat. It can't be. The voice went on: "Watch where you're throwing!"

She stuck her head out the window and peered down. She couldn't see a thing, but she'd been sure it was him. Oh, god, oh god oh god oh god. Could it have been her imagination? Maybe she'd caught fever from Nicholas and she was hearing things. But she had to be sure. She called tentatively: "Darrin?"

Silence.

"Mattie!"

Jacob was stirred from his sleep when he heard Cole wailing. Not moving, his hopes were fulfilled when Mattie was the one who got up to go check on him. For a minute, he started to snooze again, and then he could hear voices from the bedroom. That wasn't right. Nicholas was right here, and had heard two voices. That wasn't right at all.

He got up slowly from the couch, hand rested on the revolver strapped to his side. Quietly, he crept toward the bedroom door and looked into the room. Mattie had her head stuck out the window, and seemed to be talking to someone below. This didn't look good. This looked like trouble.

"What are you doing?" he asked sternly. "Who are you talking to?"

Mattie withdrew her head from the window and stared through wide eyes at Jacob. She opened her mouth. Closed it. He's alive. Opened it and drew in a deep breath. "My brother," she said flatly. "I'm talking to my brother." Her heart was going at a thousand beats per minute. He was alive! Was he okay? Where had he been for all that time? How had he found them? Mind abuzz, she rushed passed Jacob and toward the front door, which by now was alive with frantic banging.

She flung it open without a moment of hesitation, which she knew would give Jacob time to stop her, and stared out at a gaunt face that stared back. "Darrin," she whispered. "You're alive. You found me."

"What are you doing here?" shot back a rough voice. Even dripping with suspicion, he was music to Mattie's ears. He looked past her at...whoa. He blinked back horror. Someone writhing with fever and missing an arm. That was not good. "Mattie you have to get out of here," he growled. "It's dangerous here."

"It's worse outside," retorted Mattie, pulling her sibling through the door and shutting it, much to his anger. "There are zombies and flying poopy diapers."

"You're not funny."

Jacob followed Mattie angrily into the living room, not having the time to stop her from opening the front door. How could she just let any old person in here like I did, he scoffed in his head. Arms crossed, he stood by the couch Nicholas was lying on and watched the two. Brother, huh?

"It's actually safer here than it is out there," Jacob cut in, speaking to the boy whose name he picked up was Darrin. "Especially when she's got a baby to worry about."

---

Nicholas sat up when the door opened. His fever had subsided significantly; he was feeling much better. Perhaps he would live through this shit after all. Carefully, he removed the rope gagging him and then untied the rope around his ankles, pulling himself to a full sitting position, feet on the floor. His head was light, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

"Nick," Jake said to him, "You okay there?"

"I'm fine," he muttered, hand against his head. Again, he tried to use the arm that wasn't there. It was so frustrating.

"Baby?" Darrin's jaw dropped, then he rounded on Mattie. "You got knocked up? Who with? This prick?" he demanded, gesturing toward Jacob. He was furious. A baby in a time like this. Plus, Mattie didn't seem like the type to go around getting knocked up. It occurred to him that she could have been assaulted, and it only made him more agitated. "Holy shit!"

"I didn't get knocked up, idiot, we found him," snarled Mattie. She turned around, surprised to see that Nicholas was sitting up and wasn't bound. It was a relief, but the timing wasn't exactly optimal. She was torn between making sure he was okay and catching up with Darrin, if the boy would calm down. "This isn't the best time for family introductions," she muttered the obvious fact, and decided that her brother looked to be in okay shape. Clearly he hadn't eaten enough--pang of guilt--but he wasn't in as serious a condition as Nicholas, who she approached.

Darrin grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "He's infected! Why haven't you two popped a cap on him?"

Mattie turned and crossed her arms. "Where did you learn that phrase?" He didn't answer. Bristling, she knelt and put a hand on Nicholas' shoulder. "I'm sure some water's in order," she said gently, though with an undercurrent of tension. Her brother had been troubled, but nice, when he'd set off. Other than the note. She wondered what had happened to him; he certainly hadn't had that scar. She took a bottle from one of the packs and offered it to Nicholas.

Nicholas' eyes cracked open when Mattie put her hand on his shoulder. For some reason, it was very comforting, and his heart ached when she removed it. He gratefully took the water, nodding at her in thanks. As he drank the water, his eyes were trained on the boy - Darrin, wasn't it? Apparently, he was Mattie's brother...but he was nothing like her at all. He seemed rude and...rude. The way he spoke to Mattie upset Nicholas.

And the way he's talking about me, Nicholas thought. It made him somewhat depressed. Why hadn't they just killed him? What good was he now, what with having one arm and all?

Again, his eyes focused on Darrin. The boy had a vertical scar along his face. Where could he have gotten that? Maybe he put up a huge fight with one of the infected. Maybe, maybe not. Maybe he was more like Mattie than Nicholas thought, and fell. He was shocked that, seeing how Darrin was her brother, he hadn't asked about Mattie's own bandaged up leg. How inconsiderate.

---

As Mattie got the water out of one of the backpacks they'd been carrying, Jacob approached Darrin, though keeping his distance because this boy obviously wasn't in the mood for friendliness. As Jacob had his arms crossed, weight to one side with an alpha attitude, Darrin seemed to mimic him, which made him angry. This was his house. Not this kid's.

"That's not the proper way to talk to a lady, especially your sister," he wanted to say, but held his tongue. Instead, he carefully said, in the lightest tone possible, "I was going to shoot him, but Mattie seems pretty attached to him. Plus, this guy sacrificed his arm to save Mattie and that baby's life," he jerked a thumb back at Nicholas. "His name's Nicholas. He deserves respect."

---

When Jacob spoke of how he deserved respect, Nicholas cringed. He hated that Jake was pointing the attention of this guy to him, because Darrin obviously was not the type to make friends with. Nicholas wasn't worthy of respect - he was a coward. A weakling. He expected Darrin to laugh in Jake's face at any moment, but silently prayed he didn't for fear of Jake's reaction.

To say the very least, Mattie was embarrassed. She wanted to explain that her brother wasn't usually like this...but how could she know that? It had been a long time since they'd seen each other. She turned around and said defensively, "I am not attached to him. But uh, yeah, he's pretty cool. And Darrin, if you keep acting like a snot I'm going to kick you out without water."

"So I can end up like Aaron?"

Mattie turned white. Darrin took a bottle of pills out of his backpack and downed all of them right there, making Mattie forget his stinging remark. "What the hell are you doing with those!" She snatched the bottle and looked at the label. Her face darkened and her eyes dropped. "You have a problem."

"I couldn't find any heroin after society collapsed," muttered Darrin. He averted his eyes, not wanting to admit that he was ashamed of himself. "But when everyone died they left their medicine cabinets full to the brim." His voice had lowered.

Mattie threw the empty bottle to the ground and grabbed his backpack. "Druggy idiot!" she huffed, her face now a very interesting shade of red.

All the yelling was causing Nicholas' head to ache. He decided that sitting up wasn't worth it any longer. He gingerly lay himself back down on the couch, holding onto himself with his one arm and shivering. The fever had gone away a bit, but it was no doubt still there. The virus was still there. He coughed.

---

Jacob decided right then that he did not like Darrin. At first, he was going to give the kid some slack seeing how he was probably traumatized from all the shit that was happening, but this completely burned his bridge. There was no way he could even pretend to like him. He chuckled lowly, shaking his head, "I'll be damned, kid's a low life."

He didn't bother to pick up the bottle to see what Darrin had taken. He just slowly pulled his revolver out of its holder, ready to shoot if any trouble was caused. "Look, kid, I'm gonna need you to straighten up your act or get the hell out of here. I might've been as generous to you as I was to Mattie and Nick, but there ain't no way I'm gonna let some pill popping idiot stay in my house."

Right then, Cole started to wail again.

"Go ahead and shoot me, dickhead," sneered Darrin. "I've seen enough damn guns in my life that I'm not scared of some arrogant asshole who thinks he's some kind of prepper, okay?"

Mattie hit him on the head lightly and groaned. "Listen, Jacob, I'm really sorry, but he is my brother. And he needs help. And it's my fault that he's like this." Tears shone. She fought them back and dug through Darrin's backpack. There was a big enough variety of pills, and such a huge amount, that they could kill an elephant. She shuddered. It was a miracle he wasn't dead.

Darrin eyed her. "Can you give that back?"

"I have a baby to take care of. Sit the fuck down and listen to Jacob or he has my full consent to throw you out. And for the record? Aaron would hate what you've become. You're not the brother he had." She ignored his shocked expression and left to tend to Cole.

Darrin stared grumpily at Nicholas. "So how'd that happen?"