Cured [ManxMan]

Chapter Six

Zombies didn't sleep, exactly. Like many herd animals, we were never fully unconscious, always aware enough of our surroundings to hear if anything approached while we rested.

And yet, when I opened my eyes, it was no longer dark. Instead of squares of moonlight lighting sections of the room, the lights were on, a ray of sunlight shining through one of the windows and falling on the empty chair where Mattie sat last night, but Mattie was gone. I stared at the empty chair, not sure how it made me feel.

I didn't remember him leaving, and the sound of him walking through the room, the door opening and closing, should have woken me. My brow furrowed, my eyes narrowed at the chair. Why didn't I wake? And... why did my chest hurt? Was it another side effect of the cure Kiara gave me? Why did it take so long to manifest? And why did staring at that stupid, empty chair make it worse?

The door opened, drawing my gaze, some feeling I couldn't identify blooming in the place of the pain in my chest, only to fade when Kiara stepped into the room, her eyes on the ever present clipboard in her hands. She shut the door behind her before turning and looking up, smiling when her eyes met mine.

"Good morning, Topher!" she greeted, stepping closer and going through the usual list, checking the monitor next to me, shining that blasted light in my eyes again, all the while taking notes and flipping back through other pages on her clipboard.

When she was done, she stood close to the side of the bed, her clipboard tucked under her arm, her other hand on my forearm. She smiled more often than she didn't, but I could tell the difference between the usual, forced smiles, and this one. "You seem to be doing much better this morning," she said. "Your vitals are stable, your pupils are reacting more to the light, and you don't seem to be in as much pain."

I realized she was right. I hadn't had a seizure since early the last evening and had been relatively pain free for almost as long. The hunger was dormant, though I still felt too weak to do much of anything from the combined effort of fighting through the cure and having not eaten anything substantial in weeks, maybe months. But I didn't feel bad. My heart beat a steady, calm rhythm in my chest, my breath still rasped, and my throat still ached, but it did seem better.

For the first time in my memory, I felt the corners of my lips curling up. They did not part, didn't bare my teeth in a snarl; no, this was something very different. It was a smile.

Footsteps echoed down the hallway, at least two sets, and voices drifted with them. I recognized the first immediately as Mattie, but the other was unfamiliar, not as deep as Mattie's but still undeniably male. Kiara's eyes widened and her smile dimmed, taking mine, fleeting as it was, with it. She glanced toward the door, then back to me, her hand tightening around my forearm the strongest indication of her rising anxiety.

"Talk to me, Matt. Please." The pair came close enough to make out their words, the unfamiliar voice sounding frustrated. I had the feeling this was not the first time he'd made this plea.

"Not now, Jasper." Mattie said, sounding equally frustrated.

"Matt." The footsteps stopped, and I imagined the stranger, Jasper, holding on to Mattie to stop him from walking away. "Please tell me what's going on."

"Later, Jas. I promise. I just... I can't do this right now."

"When, then? Tonight? Or are you not coming home tonight either?" His voice rose the more he spoke, both in volume and pitch.

"Jasper..."

"No! Don't 'Jasper' me! I thought we were past the secrets and the hiding. I'm here for you, Matt. Whatever is going on, whatever has you so upset, you can talk to me about it."