… has fallen
All of a sudden things were happening. People were dashing around the hospital and the pack. The news of the second attempt at a cure spread like wild fire through the population. The excitement was palpable, Ash was amazed that people could get so excited over a second cure that was no more likely to work than the first.
“How long will this batch last? How do we store it? How much do we have to give them?” The doctor demanded of Blaze while Loki settled a near passed out Ash on the couch in the corner.
“Do I look like Ash? Seriously man, I do not know. She didn’t tell me any more than she told you. Let me have a look at the potion and I’ll see if I can figure it out” Blaze replied, backed up by a small yip from shadow who went to take his place by Ash.
Ash’s hand seemed to find Shadows fur with an unerring accuracy. “They need… need 10 drops in the mouth… that’s good for like a day? It will turn grey and smell bad, do you think its enough… I can write down the recipe… Blaze should be able to make it too” she mumbled. Seeming to gain some energy from just being close to the hound or maybe it was Loki who was yet to move from under her head and stop playing with her hair. Her face was slowly gaining colour. His attention fixed upon her, his gaze bordering on the inappropriate for a brother-in-law, though no one would dare say anything, not right now. If you could find some comfort then who would condemn a man for that?
Blaze pointed towards Ash with a small, sly smile as he looked over the still steaming potion. The doctor looked around the room, mumbling under his breath, something about stupid magic and its bloody changing rules, as he walked out of the room.
Over the next few hours, the doctor and a trail of nurses and medical staff collect small vials of potion, working through their plan to administer it to all of the patients and all of the pack members who are showing even the slightest symptom.
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Ash sat vigil at Micah’s bedside. Administering the potion that would cure him herself. She waited, watching the monitors, watching him. Eventually curling up on the bed with him. His limbs were cold, lifeless almost.
Blaze, Mark, the doctor, and even Loki came in and out of the room, telling her of how nearly everyone else was recovering. The symptoms disappearing as quickly as they came. How the pack wanted to see her, how the warriors wanted to thank her for saving their friends. But Micah was still cold, lifeless and silent.
Shadow sat in the doorway, sensing something in Ash that no one else seemed too. The hound let no one into the room. As the hours passed, the patients dwindled to the last few, the crowd outside Micah’s room grew. Their noise controlled by Shadow’s growls, movement controlled by his yips.
The hours passed by, it seemed to Ash that they were passing by at half speed. Micah was showing no improvement. She was pacing the room by the time she finally told Shadow to allow Blaze into the room.
“why isnt it working? I still can’t heal him! It’s worked for everyone else!” She cried, her eyes full of tears.
“I don’t know Ash, I don’t know. There are a couple who were infected early on that aren’t getting better either. Do you think they need more?” Blaze suggested.
“I have no Idea, the book said 10 drops by mouth, and it was so old that I dont think they had IV’s then. I have no idea what injecting it straight into the vein will do or what giving them more will do.” Ash replied, a note of panic and exasperation in her voice.
“Well, what do we have to loose at this point?” Blaze asked calmly. “You can record the effects of a higher dose, or having given it in different ways for the future”
Reluctantly, Ash nodded slowly, heading back to Micah’s side. Tuning out the conversation going on at the doorway and concentrating all her energy on Micah once more. Her exhaustion didnt matter anymore, she didnt care about herself, only getting her mate back mattered right now.
The hours had blurred into days, Ash hadnt left Micah’s side. The doctor was increasing concerned about all the remaining patients, they seemed to be getting sicker and sicker as the days passed, their heart rates dropping and their bodies needing more and more oxygen. Ash was simply ignoring this.
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“But werewolves aren’t supposed to get sick… he wasnt supposed to die… none of them were supposed to die… I don’t understand” Ash sobbed, clinging to both Loki and Blaze, the tears rolling unchecked down her cheeks as she stood before an eerily familiar scene.
A row of 5 funeral pyres stood in front of her, the centre one larger than than the others, and holding Ash’s attention. She wore lightweight black leather hunting, rangers armour, her hair braided elaborately by Emery that morning. They had chosen to forgo any makeup, seeing as how she couldnt stop crying long enough for it to be applied.
It seemed like only yesterday that she stood here before the pyres of Rowan, Melody and the others who got in the way of Micah’s would be assassin. And now, now here she stood, about to light another set of pyres, say goodbye to yet more members of the pack, on top of all those who had already gone before these during this outbreak. The whole pack was mourning someone. Everybody has had to say goodbye to too many people already, and yet there was a feeling in the pit of Ash’s gut, something was telling her that this was not the end of the loss and the death that they were to experience. It made her want to hold onto the rest of her family even tighter.