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It felt as if his senses were covered by a fog only letting little slivers through.

The occasional slimy warmth at the back of his throat and the feeling of it pouring out his mouth onto himself, he felt it.

He could also feel Kael pace round the room, Kathleen's warm hand on his skin and, though muffled, the sound of their argument.

"We need to get him to a hospital now, why can't you understand that" Kathleen raged, her hand squeezing the sofa so tightly the fabric wrinkled beneath her grip.

She understood she can't fight him off and make a run for it with an unconscious, constantly vomiting Noah. She needs his help to move Noah but for some reason he refuses to help her take him to the hospital.

Kathleen made up her mind, consequences be damned, she needs to get her friend to the hospital.

She rubbed the tears away from her eyes and grabbed onto Noah to hoist him up but as she did so more blood gushed out of Noah's mouth scaring her so much she almost dropped him.

She lowered him as a groan escaped his lips and the strength Kathleen struggled to build cracked.

She pulled Noah into her embrace, fresh tears pooling in her eyes but she knew that she couldn't waste another second and could only reassure Noah.

“Noah! Noah!!, stay with me, okay? Hey, hey, look at me! Please, Noah please” Her voice cracked as she cupped his face, her fingers coming away smeared with blood. “We’re going to the hospital. Right now.”

“No.”

The single word cut through the panic like a blade.

Kathleen froze.

Slowly, she turned her head to look at Kael.

“What did you just say?”

Kael didn’t look at her. His gaze was fixed entirely on Noah, sharp and calculating, as if he were looking through him rather than at him.

“I said no.”

“You don’t get to say no!” Kathleen snapped, her voice rising, breaking. “He’s bleeding he’s not even conscious! He's dying for crying out loud!! We need to get him help!!!”

“He will die if you take him there.”

Kathleen felt like laughing in anger and pain.

“What kind of sick joke is that?!” she shouted, gently lowering Noah and pushing to her feet. “Are you hearing yourself right now?! You almost killed him once and now you’re trying to finish the job?!”

Kael’s head turned, slowly, deliberately.

For the first time, he looked at her.

And the fury in his eyes made her breath hitch.

“You think I don’t know that?” he said, voice low, dangerously controlled. “You think I don’t understand what state he’s in?”

“Then act like it!” she shot back. “Stop standing there and help me!"

“I am helping him.”

“No, you’re not! You’re standing there saying insane things while he’s dying!”

“He is not dying,” Kael snapped.

Kathleen laughed, sharp, hysterical. “Oh really? Because from where I’m standing, coughing up blood and collapsing isn’t exactly a sign of good health!”

“You cannot fix this with your hospitals,” Kael said, each word clipped, precise. “They will not see what is wrong with him. They will not understand it. And by the time they realize something is wrong…”

He paused.

Something flickered across his face. Not doubt.

Sadness, certainty.

“They won’t realize,” he finished quietly.

That… made her hesitate.

Just for a second.

But it was enough.

She turned to Noah and lowered herself to the floor, the rough carpet felt like knifes cutting into her skin yet she didn't move.

If she let herself feel that discomfort she could maybe understand a mere fraction of what her friend is currently going through.

Kathleen swallowed hard, her grip tightening around Noah’s hand. “Then what do you suggest, huh?” she demanded, though her voice had lost some of its edge. "Because standing here arguing isn’t helping him either.”

Kael stepped forward.

Slow. Careful. Like approaching something fragile.

“There is someone who might help.”

“Might?” she echoed incredulously. “That’s your plan? Might?”

“It is the only one that will not kill him.”

Silence fell between them.

Heavy. Suffocating.

Kathleen looked down at Noah; at his pale face, the faint tremor in his body, the blood staining his lips.

Her chest tightened painfully.

She didn’t trust him.

God, she didn’t trust him.

But…

Her gaze flickered back to Kael.

He wasn’t looking at her anymore.

He was watching Noah like…

Like losing him wasn’t an option.

“…If this is some kind of trick- ” she started, her voice trembling.

“It is not,” Kael cut in immediately.

“If anything happens to him- ”

“Nothing will.”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do.”

The certainty in his voice made her stomach twist.

Kathleen clenched her jaw, then exhaled shakily.

“…Fine,” she said at last. “But I’m coming with you.”

Kael didn’t argue.

He simply nodded once, already moving to lift Noah.

And it…

That scared her more than anything he’d said.

*********************************

Kathleen’s old truck swayed violently from side to side as they sped down the road but Kael sat firmly in place with Noah's head on his lap.

He felt a weird sense of deja vu he just couldn't place his hand on.

The rapidly spinning stone pointer in his palm brought him out of his thoughts.

"Turn left" He said his gaze falling to Noah's pale face "And speed up"

"Can't you see I'm going as fast as I can? How far off are we?"

"We are close"

Kathleen used the rearview mirror to look at the two in the back. The scene from a few days prior overlapped with the present.

At that time she was the only conscious one and fear consumed her mind.

"Stop" A plain voice called out belonging to the black man seated in the back. 

Kathleen pressed hard on the brakes bringing the truck to a stop. Kael immediately hopped off it with Noah in his arms but Kathleen didn't get off.

Her gaze locked onto the house before her. It felt unsettling.

She almost impulsively drove off but the sight of her friend brought the warning sirens to a mute.

She hopped off the vehicle and gingerly walked into the property.

Despite the flowers and vegetables grown around the compound and the clear bright sky, it still looked like it was covered in gloom.

Gravel crunched beneath their feet as Kael strode toward the house, each step quick, urgent.

Upon reaching, Kael adjusted Noah in his arms and knocked on the door, it didn't take long for a woman to open the door.

She looked at Kael like she had seen a ghost and was about to say something but took notice of others he brought with him in particular the young man in his arms.

Her breath hitched.

Something dark and wrong clung to the young man in his arms making every instinct in her body scream danger.

"Kaelion what have you brought to my doorstep?" 

Kael fell to his knees, the proud, stubborn Kael nowhere to be seen.

He looked lost and afraid.

"Mama, please help me. Help him"