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She let out another cough, the dusty air irritating her lungs more and more by the minute. She pulled the inhaler out of her pocket and took one long puff from it, holding the medicine in her lungs.
“You okay?” Maddie asked from where she perched on the cot a few feet away.
“Yeah,” Saff rasped, flexing her shaky fingers.
Maddie nodded slightly, then pushed herself up from the cot. “You should lie down.”
Saff watched her stand and step forward, pausing uncomfortably, like she wasn’t sure where she should go or what she should do next.
“Should I—” Maddie continued, nodding at the backpack hanging from her one shoulder. “Can I lay down on the ground?”
Saff took a breath. Just getting a few words out felt like an enormous task. Then she remembered the blankets she’d seen inone of the bins when she finished going through the ones in the kitchen. “I’ll get you something for some cushion.”
Maddie gave her a small smile. “Thanks.”
It took her longer than usual to get the blankets out, and by the time she’d laid them out for each of them, it felt like she’d run a marathon.
When she finally sat down on the cot, setting the third lantern down on the ground beside her, she couldn’t even muster the energy to remove her boots. And as the fever sent waves of shivers quaking through her body, she finally fell asleep to the low quiet sound of Maddie shifting in her sleeping bag on the ground just a few feet away.
***
Saff woke once in a panic, half delirious, and entirely forgetting where she was. As she fumbled in the dark, pushing the blanket back, she caught sight of Maddie’s blonde hair strewn over the side of her sleeping bag. And then it all slowly came back to her. She fell back onto the cot, instantly resuming the fever dreams that consumed her.
***
The next time she awoke, it was to a noise.
She jolted upright, turning and gasping in pain as her newly stitched side scraped against the metal bar of the cot.
Maddie froze a few feet away, water jug in her hands, sitting up but still half in her sleeping bag.
“Saff?” she whispered, concern and trepidation filling the words.
Saff blinked away the cloudiness in her eyes as they adjusted to the dim light. Then she cleared her dry throat. “Yeah.”
Maddie’s face visibly relaxed. “Are you okay?” she asked, setting the water jug down on the floor beside her.
The memories of the night before, and even the days before, slowly came back to her. She shifted, hair tugging against where it stuck to the wet, sweat covered skin on the back of her neck and forehead.
Saff cleared her throat again. “Yeah. Fine.” Her voice was raspy and worn, and Maddie’s face frowned in response.
“Do you want water?” she asked, her hand drifting to rest on top of the jug.
Saff blinked, still taking in the room as the sleepy fog gradually cleared from her head.
Water.Yes, she needed water.
“Yeah,” she mumbled, pulling the rest of the blankets back and drifting each leg off the cot. “Thanks.”
She began to stand, then instantly regretted it as the world tilted with a wave of dizziness washing over her. She stopped, lowering herself to the ground closer to Maddie’s sleeping bag.
Maddie picked up the jug and held it outstretched in front of her.
Saff took a small sip, testing it against the nausea that had bubbled up when she’d tried to stand. But after a few small sips, thirst consumed her, and she gulped until her stomach couldn’t take any more.
They sat in silence for a few moments before Maddie spoke again. “Did it work? The stuff you did last night for the..” she trailed off.
Saff wiped away a small bead of sweat as it dribbled down her temple. It was working. Or at least, it was starting to. Her body no longer shook under the incessant chills and tremors of the infection.
