Fever-Pitch

Despite the conflicts and revelations of the previous evening, the morning to follow was as peaceful and serene as ever.

Asher awoke to the sunlight bleeding into the master bedroom from between the half-drawn curtains, rolling his head to the side and smirking at them. He moved swiftly out of bed, fastened his tie, and slipped into his suit jacket, adjusting his collar and sparing his reflection a glimpse in the full-body mirror on the wall.

He spoke to Olivia a few times in between his morning tasks, urging her to wake up, but she remained still in bed, wrapped tightly in the comforters.

Asher sat on the edge of the bed and put his shoes on, twisting around and observing her.

"Olivia," he said for the fourth time. "You wanna go, or not?"

"Mmmnnngh," Olivia groaned, her voice muffled in the pillows.

"I can always go by myself."

"Noooo…"

"Then c'mon. We already slept late, and we have more to do today than we usually do."

"Mhm…"

"I'm gonna heat us up something to eat real quick before we go. Meet me in the kitchen."

"'Kay…"

Asher marched out of the room, and several seconds later, Olivia barely peeled the comforters off herself, gazing into the wall across from her and feeling utterly drained, resisting the urge to shiver as the comfort of the blankets vanished from around her.

Asher thumped down the stairs, pleased to see that the windows were uncovered now, allowing sunlight to illuminate their huge and fantastic living room—and the mess in front of the couch had been cleaned and disposed of, just as Roman promised. He felt strangely confident today, pleased that everything was going well, and that the gamers seemed to be adjusting to everything better than he'd anticipated from them.

In fact—Roman and Zach were awake already, frying eggs in the kitchen, and a large assortment of other breakfast foods were sitting in the center of the bar. Elliot was on the middle stool, leaning on the bar and chatting with them while he snacked on a sliced orange, and Asher slowly leaned into the room, surveying everything with an interested expression strewn across his face.

The entire kitchen was much cleaner now, as Olivia had cleaned much of it the night before, and the bar was spotless, aside from the plates of orange slices and bacon in the middle. Roman was cooking scrambled eggs as he joked with Elliot about the more ridiculous aspects of the War Crimes game, and Zach was quietly draining bacon grease from another pan, storing it all in a mason jar per Elliot's request.

Roman gave a quick glance to Asher in the doorway as he stirred the eggs around. "Hey, man."

"Hey," Asher uttered, squinting oddly at him. "You're up early."

"Yeah, well… we couldn't really sleep that much," Roman sniggered. "We had a lot of rough new information to dwell on… and that was right after we thought we were gonna get shot."

"Yes… and I was just explaining the finer points of how a plan of government-run democide might be unfolding in a deeper phase," Elliot added, motioning with his orange slice. "But, then we got derailed… somehow…"

"We got derailed because… that's kinda like the plot of War Crimes 3," Roman remembered.

"Oooh, right, yeah…" Elliot nodded, then narrowed his eyes at Roman. "You ever hear of predictive programming?"

"Aaahm…" Roman mumbled, staring deeply into his eggs. "That's… that's like a conspiracy thing, right?"

"Oooh yeah… but it's a real thing, too," Elliot told him. "They put these ideals and messages in movies and video games before they ever kick them off in real life. It's conditioning. It sort of accustoms your mind to understanding and accepting those little doomsday scenarios before they actually happen…"

As the two talked back and forth—Zach's eyes slowly ventured up from the pan and the mason jar, looking to Asher with raised brows and mouthing the word 𝘸𝘰𝘸. Asher briefly met his gaze and swallowed the urge to laugh.

Once Asher claimed a stool beside Elliot, all four of them began talking about their plans of walling off entrances of the home, namely the front door and most of the first-floor windows.

Meanwhile—Olivia remained standing at the top of the stairway for a long while, just able to hear all their distant voices echoing from somewhere down below and far away.

The walk down the hallway felt incredibly taxing, making her head feel light and strange, her balance trying to abandon her as the world seemed to shift in her bleary vision. Now, she stood still, cradling her arms and feeling bizarrely cold, leaning sideways against the railing and feeling as if she might not make it down the stairs if she tried to.

Olivia sighed heavily, gazing down the stairs in a total daze.

Now wasn't the time to be sick; it was about to be a busy day, even busier than usual, and Asher always kept her by his side for these things. She wanted to go, to ride away with him and gallivant off to a day of pilfering and shopping like always—but honestly, this felt like the worst fever she'd had since she was a kid, and she wondered if she'd be more of a burden than a help if she were to go out with him right now.

Still, perhaps if she tried hard enough, she could just walk it right off.

Olivia's bleary expression began to harden, and she took in a deep breath, clasping onto the railing tightly as she gently took the first step down. Then, one by one, she eased down the stairs very slowly, careful not to move enough to cause another head rush or another wave of overwhelming dizziness.

But, when she was about halfway down, the spinning dizziness began to overtake her again regardless, making her feel both incredibly tired and utterly frustrated, still moving downward and now clutching the railing with both hands.

Olivia glanced to the side, feeling as if she'd only just noticed that both of her hands were on the railing, and she scoffed at herself, shaking her head and releasing it entirely. She stood fully upright and forced herself on—marching stronger, thumping down the stairs, wanting and needing to function like normal.

Asher heard her footsteps from a distance, glimpsing at the kitchen doorway and seizing another strip of bacon before he stood and wandered off. He emerged and strode across the living room, approaching the end of the stairway, just in time to see Olivia appear there.

"The boys cooked breakfast," he smirked. "You ready to—𝘩𝘦𝘺!"

Olivia suddenly collapsed—Asher just managing to catch her, hitting his knees at the threshold of the stairway and snapping an arm tightly around her. She fell still and lopsidedly slumped against him, her face pressed into his chest and her eyes now closed.

"Hey, hey, hey… Olivia!" Asher breathed, his heart suddenly hammering, turning her over and cradling her as he scanned her up and down.

Her eyes fluttered, barely easing open and wandering up to him, then drifting closed again.

Asher huffed out a breath, gulping and forcing down the instant panic that spiked inside. He held her in one arm, using his free hand to swipe her bangs back and press his knuckles firmly to her forehead.

"Oh… fuckin'a," he sighed. "You're on fire…"

"I don't wanna be sick," Olivia moaned weakly.

Asher stared down at her, choking out a brief laugh. "Yeah, okay… too late… come'ere."

He slid both arms fully underneath her, then slowly lifted her off the floor, standing and carrying her over toward the couch.

"El!" Asher barked at the kitchen, moving around the couch and stopping in front of it. "El—come'ere! 𝘕𝘰𝘸!"

Elliot appeared from the kitchen just when Asher placed Olivia gently down onto the couch, striding forward them and standing by Asher's side.

"Jesus—what happened?" Elliot asked, surveying Olivia with a perturbed visage.

"She's burning up," Asher stated. "You tell me."

Elliot swallowed and hunched down to one knee, feeling Olivia's forehead for a moment. Then, he began to examine every other part of her, studying her bare arms before rolling up the base of her tank top, then the legs of her pants, seeing no cuts or wounds anywhere.

"Mmm… well, whatever caused the fever probably isn't from a wound, which is good," Elliot determined. "Unless she's got one somewhere that I can't see…"

"No," Olivia groaned faintly.

"Okay, well… then it's not likely to be an infection from something getting in your blood, at least not in that way," Elliot concluded. "That's not terribly likely. It's probably a more minor kind of infection, and this tends to happen when the body tries to fight that off. Plus, the season change doesn't help, and neither does all the stress from last night…"

"Oh man," Roman exhaled, he and Zach wandering over from the kitchen and grimacing at Olivia on the couch.

"M'kay," Asher mumbled, folding his arms and eyeing Elliot. "So how do we treat it?"

"Well'p… mainly… with time," Elliot disclosed, straightening up and facing him. "Home remedies… rest… and time."

"She just keeled over at the stairs, El," Asher stated. "Are you sure we don't need to do 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 than that?"

"Well… there are other possibilities as to what it could be, but a regular fever from the body fighting an infection is the most likely one," Elliot explained. "The reason she keeled over is probably just because she was pushing too hard. But, I can give her a more thorough checkup while you're out today… and, given the other possibilities that exist, however likely or unlikely they are… I can add a bit more onto your shopping list, just to cover all bases."

Asher narrowed his eyes questioningly at him.

"Which… incidentally… is something we would've had to touch on soon, anyhow," Elliot continued, sliding a folded piece of paper from within his jean jacket and unraveling it. "I have here a list of all the medications that I'll need you to scavenge from whatever pharmacies you feel like hitting out there… painkillers, antibiotics, and all the things that can replace my heart meds. I can add a couple more to the list, just so I know I can treat her if this turns out to be… one of the more serious possibilities. Again, it's probably not, but y'know… we might as well be as prepared as possible."

Asher wore a serious visage, his eyes resting on the paper for a moment before returning to Elliot's, releasing a deep cloud of breath.

"I'm not gonna be able to hit everything today," Asher realized, scratching along his jaw. "Something's gonna have to get pushed back."

"The plywood," Roman suggested. "We can do without that right now. Most of us are gonna be here, anyway, so if anybody does try to break in, then someone can deal with it just fine."

"Yeah…" Asher stared down at the couch, nodding mildly. "Well… it's gonna be all pharmacies and food banks today, then."

"Pharmacies first," Elliot said, holding up a finger. "And you remember where my pharmacy was, right? That one's an isolated little hole-in-the-wall place compared to the ones inside the supercenters and such. Hit that isolated one first. That one's the least likely to have been pillaged by someone else already."

"Um… hold on," Zach muttered, slowly raising his hand and looking to Asher. "So you're just gonna go out 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 today?"

A brief silence fell, all four of them trading eyes with one another.

Then, Asher simply shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. I don't see why not."

"Asher," Elliot said seriously. "Just hit the one pharmacy for now… 𝘮𝘺 pharmacy. Grab everything you can, and just head straight back here. You can hit the other pharmacies later, when you have some kind of backup again. That'll either be when Olivia's better, or when I have a steady supply of meds in me again, which will make my handling of high-octane situations a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 less problematic and annoying. When one of us can go with you, then we can hit all the other places with ease. All right?"

"Ah… hey," Roman interjected, lifting his hand. "I can go."

"Yeah… me too," Zach agreed.

Asher and Elliot turned their heads, giving the gamers a quiet and uncertain sort of stare. Elliot's mouth drifted open, looking as if he might reply, but saying nothing.

"No," Asher decided, shaking his head. "Not today. Not now."

"Why?" Roman asked, striding forward. "We can handle—"

"It's not 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 that," Asher cut him off. "Neither of you have slept, which means you're gonna start getting tired and fading off into la-la land halfway through the day. That doesn't need to happen while we're out in the town. Not to mention, I need everyone 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 right now. I want all of you looking after her while I'm gone. By the time you two get tired, El can take over, and by the time he gets tired, you two will be waking up again. That means she won't be left unattended at 𝘢𝘭𝘭 today—and that's what I want to happen. All right?"

Everyone fell silent, pausing to think on this and quietly nodding in agreement.

"Okay. I'll go hit El's pharmacy in south Knoxville and come right back," Asher planned. "And, if I have time, I'm gonna go back out to look around the food banks…"

"Good. Here." Elliot bent over the mini-fridge, pulling a pen from his front pocket and quickly jotting down new medications to his list. "You wanna just grab everything you can, but the ones on this list are top priority. The backpacks from the store are in the trunk of the car already, so you're all set to pillage some drugs. Ahm…"

He stood fully and wheeled around, squinting at the couch and the gamers.

"We don't have any addicts in this house, do we?" Elliot wondered.

"No," Olivia breathed, meekly shaking her head.

"Not me," Roman said.

"I like to smoke, but…" Zach shrugged. "Not… not pills, no…"

Elliot held the folded list upright between two fingers, his eyes then landing on Asher, and narrowing pensively at him.

Asher spotted his odd look, tilting his head. "What… me? You know better."

"No… I know 𝘺𝘰𝘶," Elliot replied, his voice lowering. "And, if anybody here has an addictive 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, well…"

"Oh—shut up," Asher griped, plucking the list from his hand. "I never jumped from booze to popping pills, if that's what you're getting at."

"Okay. Well then. Good," Elliot smirked. "Then grab all the painkillers you see. God knows when we're gonna need 'em, but we might someday."

"Wait," Olivia mumbled, trying to raise her hand and quickly dropping it to her stomach. "Wait, I just thought of… something…"

Everyone turned to her.

Olivia sighed, blinking and gazing up at them. "I thought of something Roman and Zach could go do… if you want…"

"Olivia… I want them here today," Asher said softly.

"No… but… they won't be gone that long," Olivia replied. "There's two gas cans in the garage that're empty… so they can go down the hill… and get more gas…"

Asher raised his head, wearing a thoughtful face and making a slow nod. "That's… actually a good idea. Okay."

He turned on his heel and faced the two gamers.

"You two wanna help—then here's your initiation," Asher told them. "Down the hill and around the corner, there's a lonesome little gas station that's sitting at the corner of the intersection. That's where we've been getting all our gas from, and we try to get more every time we go out. There are some frags and landmines set up there, just to keep other looters away, but they're just duds. Not gonna explode. Now, if you want, you two can take the van down there and fill it up, and fill up the cans, too. Nobody's been around here for weeks, so you should be fine, but take El's revolver just in case."

Elliot slipped out his keys and tossed them to the gamers.

"Sweet," Roman said, swiftly catching them. "We'll get it done."

"One of the back tires is low, has been ever since they hauled that big-ass fridge back here," Elliot informed. "If it goes down too much, just use that air-in-a-can stuff that's in the back. Plus, there's an air pump at the gas station, so you should be fine on that…"

"But that van's a big monster from the 1980s, so it's not gonna handle like a little modern car," Asher informed. "Be careful with—"

"Dude—my dad gave me a van like that for my first car," Roman laughed. "I'm good."

"Oh. Okay," Asher uttered. "Well… you might wanna go ahead and get it done before you end up getting tired today."

"Lemme go grab my gun for you," Elliot said, breaking into a stride and heading up the stairs.

"We'll be in the garage," Roman called after him, he and Zach strolling off and vanishing down the back hallway.

Once they all left the room, Asher looked down, seeing that Olivia was raising her hand again, aimlessly grabbing at him.

He slid his fingers in between hers, clasping her hand and sinking down, sitting on the edge of the couch beside her.

"I don't like it," Olivia mumbled sadly. "I wanna go…"

"Yeah… I know," Asher sighed, stroking along her hand with his thumb. "I want you to go… but you have to get better first."

"This is our 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘪𝘪𝘯𝘨," she whined.

Asher laughed. "Well… this is why it's good to have five people. We can trade roles and take turns whenever we have to. But… it's gonna be me and you again before long."

Olivia stared up at him somberly.

"Don't worry," Asher said, flashing a soft half-smile.

Seconds later, Elliot thundered back down the stairs, holding his 357 by the barrel and strolling past the couch.

"El—when you come back in, get her some water," Asher instructed, reaching his feet. "And keep her company. Put on a movie or something."

Elliot spun around and gave him a sloppy salute before venturing down the back hall.

Asher gave Olivia a final look, offering her another smile and patting her on the hand.

Then, he walked off to begin his day as well.

-----

Despite the new world having been in full effect for nearly a month—everyone felt a touch of new discovery during their routines today.

Roman and Zach drove the old van to the lonesome gas station, pausing to ogle everything in sight—from the fake booby traps to the shattered glass doors, as well as the strange, eerie silence and emptiness of the neighborhood and the roads in the distance. Neither of them had seen the outside since Knox County became desolate, and they spent a while absorbing the peculiar quietness before they began filling up the van and the gas canisters.

Elliot was tasked with a different kind of objective than usual today. Rather than charting out plans and preparations, listening to loose radio broadcasts from the outside, cleaning all the guns, or organizing all their belongings—he remained vigilantly by Olivia's side in the living room, bringing her water, placing a cold towel on her head, and inserting whatever movies she wanted to watch into the game console, enjoying them along with her and sharing laughs and lighthearted conversation.

Meanwhile, Asher spent his time venturing into an area he didn't often visit, even before the new world came to be—south Knoxville. This area sometimes looked vaguely apocalyptic even long before the collapse came along, though he felt a bit more at ease cruising past the worn-down houses now, as he saw no questionable figures eyeballing him, and no groups of people trailing after his car. He sped off to the isolated little pharmacy on the corner of a back road, and he was glad to find the inside wholly intact. He spent a long time standing in front of the glass wall that separated the prescription medications from the rest of the store, reading the bizarre medication names on the list and matching them with the bottles. Once he collected all the top priority ones he could find, he began grabbing more bottles without reading them, filling up the backpacks as fast as he could before he hurriedly left the neighborhood.

Asher returned home when the late afternoon was setting in, well after Roman and Zach had returned home and retired to their room for a nap. Olivia had fallen asleep as well, and Elliot remained awake in the recliner, sipping on a beer and finishing then movie he and Olivia had started a while ago.

"Hey," Asher said, walking out from the back hall and sliding the overstuffed backpacks off his shoulders. "Candy man's home."

"Oooh… goodie," Elliot replied, straightening up in his seat. "No trouble?"

"Nope… nobody's around there," Asher told him. "Thank God."

They both paused, Asher glancing over at the couch, where Olivia was sleeping under a thin blanket, a damp towel resting on her forehead.

"She's been asleep for about half an hour," Elliot informed. "She seemed like she was feeling a little bit better already, but she's not gonna be over it yet."

"I got everything you wrote down for her," Asher said. "Did you give her a checkup at all?"

"Yeah… but I landed on the same conclusion," Elliot answered. "Pretty sure it's just a fever fighting a minor infection. But, that's kinda good, because it means she'll be fine. She's already showing she will be. Can't hurt to have the meds, though."

Asher nodded, glimpsing over at the mini-fridge, where the revolver was now sitting, after Roman had left it there hours ago.

"Boys didn't run into anything?" he asked.

"Naaah… simple run, just like yours," Elliot responded. "It's been all good today."

Asher nodded again, his eyes wandering up to the clock on the wall, seeing that it was nearly five PM.

"I still have time," he muttered.

Elliot stared at the movie for a moment, then turned back to him. "Time for what?"

"Food banks," Asher said. "I don't wanna waste this day if I don't have to."

"Waste the day?" Elliot laughed ridiculously, nodding over at the stuffed backpacks. "Man, you've got two giant bags rattling with prescription pills right there. That's a pretty damn good haul for one day. It's not been a waste."

"I can still get more done," Asher knew, glancing at the clock again and double-checking that his pistol was in its usual spot. "I'm gonna go out again. I still need to fill the car back up, anyhow, and I don't wanna put that off."

Elliot frowned, scooting to the edge of his seat.

"You really wanna do that right now?" he asked.

"I should've done it three weeks ago," Asher replied. "I just didn't think of the food banks until now. But if there's anything left in them, then I've gotta get a hold of what I can before the other stragglers get the same idea. If they haven't already."

"Ash…"

"El—the stores are slowly but surely starting to dry up. That means I've gotta grab whatever I can from elsewhere. You know I do."

"Yeah…"

"And it looks a hellova lot like other people have been doing what 𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 doing."

"Ah-huh…"

"Which means this little supply we have is getting more and more temporary every day. I have to get what I can when I can, and it needs to be done as soon as possible."

"Right… but… y'know," Elliot uttered, raising his finger. "There are other things you oughta be looking for, especially considering that our current supply of food is getting more obviously temporary as the days go by."

Asher fell silent, waiting for him to continue.

"Seeds… poultry… gardening tools, chicken coops, organic insect repellant… and maybe a few cats for good measure," Elliot elaborated. "We might wanna think about growing our own food sometime in the future, and cats would help to keep mice and other critters away from it. Owls are good for that too, but I don't know where you'd get them from…"

"Oh… dammit," Asher sighed. "You could've told me that three weeks ago. There were owls at the damn zoo."

"Well…" Elliot shrugged and nodded sideways. "Owls would be harder to keep around. Cats will hang around if we keep 'em fed, but owls can always just fly off…"

"Don't you have any of that stuff?"

"I have seeds. Non-hybrid seeds are an essential prepping pastime. But, I never got around to getting any of the rest of that shit… especially chickens. You can't really take care of chickens that well in south Knoxville…"

"Okay, well… that'll all be on a list for another day. I need to hit the food banks right now."

"You still have your phone on you?"

"Yeah. Always."

"All right… well… just be careful."

"Yeah."

Asher paused, leaning over the back of the couch and gazing down at the sleeping Olivia. He let out a sigh, gently shifting her bangs from her eyes, and then, he turned and disappeared down the back hallway.

Olivia briefly opened her eyes, then closed them, choosing not to say anything about everything she'd overheard from the two of them.

Elliot spared Asher a look from behind as he left the room, hearing the side door to the garage open and close moments later.

And, as time passed, and as the movie on the screen came to an end, the sun slowly began to set outside, and Elliot decided to put another movie on just to keep on passing the time.

Before long, sunset faded into twilight—and twilight darkened into nightfall.

Eventually, Roman and Zach woke up a few hours into the night, turning on their games and laughing and yelling as they played.

Elliot, who'd started nodding off to sleep in the recliner, blinked himself fully awake and glanced at the back hall, hearing their voices and feeling exhausted. Now that they were awake, he could retire.

He took the rag from Olivia's forehead, wet it with cool water again, and placed it back on her head. Then, he ventured down the back hall and leaned into the gamers' room, snapping his fingers and waving to get their attention.

"Heya—I'm gonna head to bed," Elliot told them. "Olivia's still sleeping on the couch. You're in charge now."

"Okie dokie," Zach muttered distractedly, trying to dodge Roman's character on the screen, who was relentlessly charging at him.

"Gotcha!" Roman laughed, opening fire on Zach's character and killing him instantly. "HAH! Oooh, 𝘦𝘢𝘵 it! Eat my fat ugly 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘦, fuckboy!"

"Oh… you… 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬," Zach breathed.

Elliot chuckled and shook his head, ducking out of the room and walking off. He gave Olivia another glance in passing, then marched up the stairs and disappeared off to his bedroom for the evening.

And, once he was gone, Olivia opened her eyes again.

She slowly pushed herself upright, staring up at the rom-com on the screen and sighing.

As of now, she felt considerably less dizzy than she had this morning, though she still felt chilly and somewhat void of energy.

Then, her eyes wandered away from the TV, landing on the clock beside it and seeing that it was eleven forty-one at night.

Olivia's eyes narrowed, thinking back to the conversation she'd overheard between Asher and Elliot earlier and wondering just how long ago that had been. She remembered briefly opening her eyes, seeing that there was still sunlight outside when Asher was here.

But now, it was well into the night, and she hadn't heard his voice again since.

Olivia's heart began to pound, biting her lip and staring distractedly into the clock.

Whenever the two of them went out together, they never stayed out this late. They always returned home before dark.

But today—the one day Asher went out by himself—he was still out hours after nightfall.

Frowning, Olivia stood from the couch, yawning and stretching as she did. No waves of lightheadedness ambushed her this time, allowing her to walk into the back hallway and peer out the window of the side door.

To her chagrin, the garage appeared dark and half empty. One of the garage doors still stood open, and the van sat in its usual spot to the right, but the car was missing from the spot right beside it. Asher was, indeed, still somewhere out in Knoxville.

Olivia's expression began to harden, gently shaking her head and huffing out a breath.

She spun around and marched back down the hall, entering the kitchen and snatching up a black leather jacket from her pile of coats on the booth. Then, she returned to the living room, collecting the revolver from the mini-fridge and sliding it into one of the jacket's inner pockets.

When she strolled down the back hallway again, she paused when she heard Roman and Zach's echoing laughter from the room in the far corner. She stared at their open doorway for a moment, then sighed and shook her head again, quietly pushing the side door open and stepping out to the garage, slipping out of the house by herself.

Nobody noticed Olivia marching off from the cabin and vanishing into the night, heading directly toward downtown Knoxville by her lonesome.