Wings of the Walker - CoraLee June Page 0,352

water. I realized then how efficiently our little team worked. We were a well-oiled machine, finding what needed to be done and acting on it. It was hard to stand there just waiting, so I went back to Maverick to track his fever. Since our cold shower, it had gone down some, but he was a raging inferno now. It almost hurt to touch him.

When I pulled my hand back, he let out a hiss. It was almost like me touching him had soothed him somehow. So, while Kemper waited for the machine, I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"How much longer?" Cyler asked. His voice cracked over the intercom.

"Five minutes," Kemper said.

In an instant, Maverick shot up in bed. I was jostled for a moment and put a little bit of space between us while staring at him. "Maverick?" I asked. I looked in his eyes and didn't see the man I loved. He was completely empty. "Maverick, it's me," I said. I couldn't tell if he was going to start being aggressive again. But I was surprised when he stood up and started staggering around the room. He walked into the wall and banged his head against it before turning around and walking the other distance. He was a Roamer. Walkers got their name because of the mindless way they roamed the streets when they were infected. The virus made his motor skills go hazy. It's how the disease spread so quickly. Their boils would burst as they walked through crowded places, infecting anyone their blood touched.

The others saw him wandering, and I watched their expressions slip into hopelessness. It wouldn't be long now.

How could we possibly be so close yet feel so far from the cure? My entire life had been leading up to this moment. Influenza X had claimed my family. It destroyed the empire. It stole Cyler, Maverick, and Jules’ parents from them. It waged wars. It ruined families. I couldn't believe that we had, so far, lost so much, and still, Influenza X was clinging to the last bit of love that I had and was trying to tarnish it in a last ditch effort of claiming everything I cared about.

"It's done!" Kemper said. I watched how his fingers trembled when he removed the samples from the machine. Kemp fast walked over to the secondary machine and carefully placed each one in its designated spot. Holding the notebook up that Maverick had filled out, he started putting in gene sequences, carefully pressing each button while checking it over.

Jacob stood behind him, and his mindspeak started listing off the different numbers he was pressing as if to double check that it was correct. All of us were silent, listening to them work as Maverick paced the room. I felt a hand on my hip as I stared out the glass door, and soon I was spun around and slammed into the partition. From the corner of my eye, I noticed that the loud noise had forced Payne to wake up from his daze.

Maverick's breath smelled sickly, it floated over my body as he gave me an empty stare. He trailed his hands up my body, leaving trails of blood as he tilted his head to the side. I knew he wasn't seeing me. It was an X delusion, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was seeing behind that brilliant mind of his.

"Hold on just a little longer, Ash," Patrick said. He was right on the other side of the door, ready to open it should Maverick try anything. So far, Mav just seemed out of it. He wasn't necessarily aggressive, but he had me pressed against the glass, his entire body leaning against mine as he breathed down my neck.

"It's almost done!" Kemper yelled. I squeezed my eyes shut, imagining him running his hands through his blond hair and the apple orchard where we shared our first date. I imagined Maverick and me in the clinic, working side-by-side as he studied the cure. I thought of the tree house as I looked at Cyler. I thought about the showers in Ethros with Huxley. I imagined sitting in Black Manor with Patrick. I clung to each moment with my men as Maverick pressed his bloody forehead against mine.

"Just a little bit longer, Maverick. Hang on just a little bit longer," I said. One of his blisters burst, causing a splatter of blood to cover my face. I felt it on my lips, and my