The Last of Them All (editing)

I woke up groggy and confused, but this time I think I knew where I was. My hands rested on a bed that was well worn, rather than pristine and unused. Definitely not the one I had slept in earlier. The blankets curled up in between my fingers like a child who didn't want to let go of their precious candy. The space next to me was tousled, and felt slightly warm to my touch.

I pried my goopy eyelids open and saw the back of the desk chair that I had previously been in occupied by someone else. I made out the blonde waves and tanned neck of Justin and felt calm.

Wait a sec, if that is Justin, in his desk chair, then I'm in his bed, and....um.....

He turned around in his chair, his hair tousled and eyes almost bloodshot. If he did sleep it wasn't very well.

"Morning." He smiled at me and my heart fluttered. "Or, afternoon I guess. It's almost five. How was your nap?"

I was too distracted by the warmth coming from the absent spot in the bed. "Did you," I coughed, my voice raspy, and groggy. Very attractive Ali. "Did you sleep," I waved my hand aimlessly over the spot where there was an obvious absence. "Did you sleep there?"

He casually ran his fingers through his hair, not at all fazed by my groggy sleepy, bed headed self. "No. I won't be able to sleep for a while." He turned back around in his chair and went to typing something up on a laptop. Whether or not he had slept he had still lied there... I could feel it.

"How are, how are Clara and Andrew?" I questioned, pulling myself up into a sitting position.

"Last time I checked they were still having a Teen Titans marathon. It's Andrew's favorite show, and he's immobile, so I won't be surprised if they haven't moved at all."

"He's immobile? Is he okay?" Concern rang through my voice and fear ran through my mind. What had exactly happened to him?

"He umm.." Justin fidgeted with his keyboard a little bit. "We're not entirely sure. I had a private family doctor come and check us all out when we arrived, and there's definitely some heart problems. Not to mention we're all recovering from hypothermia, and mild frostbite. So Andrew's bedridden for now, and they had to put him on oxygen while he slept, or he would have umm, suffocated and--" Justin's hands started shaking as he held back tears and he sat on them so he could continue talking. "He's been having what we think are seizures. We're not exactly sure, but it's all the same symptoms."

My hand went up to my mouth in instinct. I didn't know what to do or say, so I just sat there until Justin spoke up.

"So I think we'll just travel around a little bit. Going hotel to hotel, changing cars and locations. If we need to get back to the school I think it's best that Jarvin or someone comes and finds us. If the, the others are on our trail we don't want to lead them to Viribus."

He stood up from his chair and I noticed he already had a duffel bag packed. He wrapped the strap securely around his hand and then stood up to help me out of the bed. We made our way downstairs and into the living room where for sure, Clara and Andrew were still on the couch, watching an episode of Teen Titans. I saw an oxygen tank and nasal tube that sent a shiver down my spine.

Andrew of course greeted us with a large smile and a small wave of his hand. Clara did too. From the looks on their faces neither of them had gotten any sleep. The reddened eyes and bags underneath eyelids mixed with slow, groggy movements gave it all away.

Justin motioned to someone and in a few moments we were all carefully loading Andrew into a comfortable looking wheelchair. We sat him down but as we did so he gasped and clutched his chest in pain, his eyes closing tightly. Clara rushed to grab the oxygen but he held up his hand.

"I'm fine..." He squeaked out, breathing heavily.

We loaded Andrew and the wheelchair along with the rest of us into a shiny black Yukon Justin had parked in the garage. I wished we would have been able to stop at my house and Andrew's house, but instead Justin pulled up the car at the nearest Target to get supplies and clothes, so I would no longer have to wear his basketball shorts, as flattering as he thought they were.

Clara joined him in the store, because the two of them were the most physically able at this point. I sat shotgun, and Andrew sat in the row behind me, barely moving at all, except for miniscule movements.

"Hey." I stated.

"Hey." He responded back. "How are you doing?"

"Everything hurts."

"Yeah. Me too." He paused for a moment. "This sucks, everything. I just wan---"

His eyes glazed over, stopping him mid-sentence. They started fluttering around his head in uncoordinated movements and his shoulders and legs started twitching in rapid motions.

"Andrew?" Oh gosh, what was happening. "Andrew!" He was unresponsive, but the jerking movements kept happening. Something that looked like a mixture of white foam and spit started curdling out of his mouth. A seizure. That's what it was. I heard Andrew's thoughts, what he wanted to convey but his body wouldn't let him. It was screaming help. The cry rang out, more urgent than ever.

"This is gonna hurt." I pulled myself out from my seat and into the back, crying out as I did so.

I got to Andrew's side, but still had no idea what to do. Um, I tried to think of what to do if someone was having a seizure. This scared me, oh gosh. Um.... tissues.

I grabbed the tissues from the glove box and tried to remove the foam-spit that was coming from his mouth. He started grunting and making choking noises and I kept removing the spit so he could breathe. Don't let him suffocate. Just wait, I think they're usually over in a minute or two.

Well, what felt like a minute or two passed, but it didn't end. He kept twitching and I kept wiping, trying not to pass out myself. I literally cried out in joy when I saw Clara and Justin returning with bags of groceries and clothes.

Clara opened the door and immediately knew what was going on. She dropped the bags and rushed to his side.

Within a few more moments his twitching and rapid movements had stopped. His eyes rolled back into his head revealing their whites and he slumped over, apparently unconscious.

Clara patted his cheeks, and gave him oxygen, the tubes wrapping around his ears and going through his nostrils.

We sat in the car of the Target parking lot for a couple more minutes until Andrew groggily came to. We all cried in relief.

"Andrew." Clara said, holding his head up in between her gentle hands. His eyes fluttered open and met hers. "Andrew, what's my name."

His eyes darted around and his voice came out groggy and unsure of everything. "C-c-c Clara?" He made out.

She almost let out tears as he uttered her name. "And, and who's with us?" She asked.

The green irises in his head carefully focused on my face and then Justin's. "A-a-ali." He struggled as if this was a lot of effort. It probably was. "And, and Justin."

"Good." Clara muttered. She pulled his forehead to hers and his hand came up to rest on her arm reminding me of something from The Fault in Our Stars.

Justin helped me back into the passenger side of the car again, buckling me in despite my arguments that I could do it myself. He laughed, and gave me a kiss on my cheek before pulling out of the parking lot. My skin tingled as if on fire from where his lips had met my skin. 

Gosh I hate Target.