Chapter 4

It had been hours since Kaaleb and Trenan left for the abandoned hive. A seed of worry started to grow within Astris' acid bladder as she looked around the planes for any sign of her Moirail and matesprite's return. The green-blood stood up and paced around the fire, anxious to do anything but sit and wait for them. "Astris relax they'll be back before you know it." Finnie said. The smaller olive-blood grinned and patted the ground next to her, beckoning for her friend to come back and sit. The green-blood huffed and walked slowly back to where her injured friend sat. "How's your leg doing Finn?" she asked. "It's feeling a little better than yesterday. It still hurts every now and then but it's fine." She responded, wincing as she shifted the position of her leg.

It was nearing dusk when a noise made Astris jump to her feet and pull her pistol from her holster. She scanned the planes that surrounded her and her injured friend for walkers. "Astris look!" Finnie called, pointing out into the distance. Just down the hill, ten to fifteen yards away, stood Kaaleb. He stood there supporting an injured and barely conscious Trenan. "Astris give me a hand!" the blue-blood called up to his moirail. Astris uttered a cry of horror and ran to the two male trolls. "Oh God, Trenan! W-what the Hell happened to him Kaaleb?" She looked into her moirail's dark blue eyes, searching for an answer that she knew he would be reluctant to give her. "Goddammit Kaaleb! Tell me what the fuck happened to him!" Her green eyes stung with tears. "He… We were attacked." The blue-blood said reluctantly. Astris didn't press him for anymore answers and helped him carry the injured troll back up the hill.

They settled Trenan down near the fire so they would have enough light to work by when the sun set. The first thing that caught Astris' attention wasn't the stale, fowl smelling blood that covered her Matesprite. Nor was it his torn shirt. It was what was right in front of her, lying on the ground. Ok, so maybe it wasn't lying directly on the ground. It was more covering the arm of the troll who was lying on the ground in front of the green-blooded she-troll. There, on her matesprite's left arm, facing her and in clear view for all of the trolls present to see was a bite wound from a walker. The dark green-blooded she-troll bit back the wail of anguish that had started to build in her chest cavity. Even though she could stop herself from wailing and crying out to whatever unseen God that was out there watching as every troll's world fell to pieces around them to let him live and take her life instead, she couldn't stop the thick, green tears from streaming down her face. God as much as she wanted to cry out and scream at whatever entity watched over her world and curse them for this new grief that had entered her pitiful existence, she couldn't. She just couldn't scream and yell, she couldn't even think of something to say to him now. All she could do was wait and see what he'd turn into.

A warm hand reached out and cupped around her cheek. "Ast… Don't cry." Astris opened her eyes to see Trenan's bright teal eyes stare into hers. He's alright! He's ok! She cried in her think pan. Then her blood pusher seemed to stop as she saw the edge of his eyes had started to turn the milky white that signaled he was starting to turn. "Hey Tren," she said. A shaky smile forming on her lips as she tried to hide her fears. "How ya feeling?" she asked. He licked his lips a few times before he responded. "I feel a little thirsty…" He broke off as a fit of coughs wracked his body. Astris nodded and stood to go retrieve a bottle of water for him. When she returned with the water, she unscrewed the cap and sat behind his head. She gently pulled his head into her lap and carefully and slowly poured some of the water into his mouth and waited until he swallowed before she gave him more. He finished nearly three quarters of the bottle before he weakly lifted his hand, signaling that he had had enough water. Astris replaced the cap and set the nearly empty bottle to the side.

Next to the green-blood, Kaaleb looked over the bite on Trenan's arm. He had cleaned and dressed the wound as best as he could. "Astris, can you come with me?" He said quietly to his grieving moirail. Astris shook her head, not wanting to leave her matesprite's side. "Go Ast… I'll be fine…" the teal-blood said to her, his voice barely a whisper. "But-" "Go… Stop worrying about me… Ok?" She looked down at him. He looked so fragile now. She knew that the virus was spreading through his body, she knew that she couldn't do anything for him now. "Ok." She whispered back to him, leaning down to kiss his forehead before she gently lifted his head from her lap and placed him back on the ground. Astris slowly got to her feet and looked down to her matesprite once more before she followed her blue-blooded moirail to the edge of the camp.

"Well? What did you want to tell me?" she asked dryly. Kaaleb took deep breath before he answered his moirail. "Astris… I did all that I could for Trenan. I know that you've seen the milky white that has started to rim his eyes." The green-blood nodded. "Yes I've seen it. How long has it been since he was bitten?" "Three to four hours. When we got to the hive, we started to look for whatever food we could get. We split up to try and cover more ground and try to find food faster. I went to the nutrition block and he went to go check the respite blocks. I heard noises come from where he was and went to go see if he needed help. When I got to him, there was a dead walker lying on the ground in front of him. When we continued to search for more tins of food, that's when more walkers showed up. We fought off as many as we could but he… At the time, I thought that he had a minor cut that could have been caused by him being too reckless with his knife. You know how he can get." The blue-blooded troll said looking back at Trenan, who was now sleeping peacefully. "I take it that he insisted that he was fine and could continue with the search for food?" Astris said, green eyes pinpointing on the bite wound again. Kaaleb nodded. "Astris, in all honesty, I didn't know he had been bitten until halfway back when he suddenly collapsed on me." Astris was silent for a few moments before she looked back at her moirail. "I believe you, Kaaleb. But you should have brought him back sooner." Her voice softened as she continued. "I guess the more important thing is that he's here now and we have more food, even if it's only a few days' worth…"

When they had finished talking, Astris returned to her matesprite's side. She gingerly took his hand in hers. His eyes opened slowly. "Hey Ast…" He sounded tired. He felt cold, colder than he did only a few minutes before. A quiet, tear filled 'hey' was all she could manage before she started to cry, fresh, green tinted tears staining her face anew. Trenan slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position and pulled the crying she-troll into a hug. "Ast… Hey I'm not gone yet… I still have enough time to spend with you." He whispered into her ear, hugging her a little tighter as if to keep her from falling apart.

After a little while, Astris pulled away. "I know… It's just… I'll miss you when you're gone." The teal-blooded male stared into his matesprite's eyes. "Ast, you have to promise that you'll continue to live on, even when I'm gone and one of them." He gave her a lazy smile. "I know that you're strong. And I know that without a doubt that you will get through this." Trenan gently grasped her hands and gave them a light squeeze them. "Promise me, Ast. Promise that you will work as hard as you can and get through this." The green-blood swallowed what felt like a lump that stuck to the back of her protein chute. "Yeah I promise Tren…" she whispered back. She stared into his white rimmed, teal eyes for a few moments longer before bidding him a peaceful rest for the night.

When she woke the next morning, she looked around the camp. Bleary, sleep filled eyes rested their gaze on the sleeping teal-blood. At first, Astris giggled quietly when she saw him lying there, an arm over his stomach. His sleeping position seemed odd to her and a bit humorous. Her breath suddenly hitched as a thought struck her. He never slept like that. His breathing was too shallow, nearly nonexistent for that of a sleeping troll. Her blood pusher seemed to freeze in her chest as she crawled those few feet that separated them. Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God, she repeated in her head. Had he died in the night? The slight rise and fall of his chest told her that he was still alive. For now… she said to herself as she crawled closer to his still form.

When she got within half a foot of him, she slowly leaned over him. His eyes opened slowly, milky white where yellow should have been. He breathed in. The noise he made as he inhaled was horrible to her. "'Mor… ning…" He said. His voice now was raspy and barely audible. She choked back a sob. "Hey. You hungry?" He gave a weak nod and she stood to get him a can of food. On her way back, Kaaleb stopped her. "Astris." He called to her. She turned her head to look at her moirail. "Yeah Kaaleb?" He motioned her over. "One moment, let me give this to him…" She walked back to where her matesprite laid opening and handing him the can. "I'll be back in a little bit, ok?" "Yeah… take your time." He whispered.

She walked back to Kaaleb. "He's only got a little time left." he said to her. "Yeah… I know. From the looks of it, he's only got three to four hours at most." The green-blood shivered. She hated this. She hated how the next troll to turn was her matesprite. Astris looked back to where Trenan sat a little ways from the fire, empty food tin in hand. "The least we can do for him now is try to keep him comfortable until he…" she paused, not wanting to finish her sentence. She looked back to her blue-blooded moirail. "Yeah." He responded, not sure of what to say to her.

Astris wandered back to where the teal-blooded troll lay. She passed by Finnie on the way back. "How is he?" The small olive-blood asked. "Not good I'm afraid…" the green-blood responded, shaking her head. "God Ast… I'm so sorry." She whispered to her friend. "Please, don't apologize, Finn. There's no way that this could have been avoided." Astris said back to the smaller she-troll. There was a hint of bitterness in her voice. She turned and continued to walk to her matesprite. She settled back down next to him.

Trenan turned to face his green-blooded matesprite. His eyes were almost completely white. The white had started to spread over his teal irises. "Ast… I'm sorry for this. I should have stayed with Kaaleb. I shouldn't have gone off alone." He said, teal tears starting to well up and spill over his eyes. Astris pulled him into a hug. "Please… Please don't…" she started before breaking off. The teal-blood weakly wrapped his arms around her mid-section. "Ast you're beating yourself up about something that was out of your control. If you want to do anything to help me, don't beat yourself up." He held her away and looked at her. His gaze softened as he looked into her eyes.

He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off as his body was wracked with coughs. Astris picked up the remaining water from the night before and handed it to him. She watched as he drained the remaining water from the bottle. He dropped the empty bottle as he continued to cough. The green-blood watched in horror as her teal-blooded matesprite started to cough up blood. She stood to get Kaaleb but was stopped by Trenan's hand grasping her wrist, tighter than how he would normally grab her. "Don't… Don't get… Kaaleb." He managed to splutter between coughs. "It's… too late… for him to help…" Astris sat back down and waited for him to calm down.

When the teal-blood calmed down, he settled down and rest his head on Astris' lap. He breathed in and out as he looked up into his matesprite's face. His breath was even shallower than before. She leaned forward to kiss his forehead. He was definitely colder than he would normally be and it broke the green-blood's heart to see her matesprite slowly decay into a walker devoid of any emotion or warmth. When she pulled away he seemed to squeeze his eyes shut in pain. He groaned in pain as he rolled over onto his side. "Trenan? What's wrong? Trenan!" Astris' voice rose to a scream as she watched his body start to shake and spasm. "K-Kaaleb!" She screamed as she struggled to hold the teal-blood still and keep him from hurting himself.

All at once, Trenan's spasms ceased and he lay still. At the sound of his distressed moirail's call, Kaaleb jogged over. He watched as Astris' matesprite went still. The teal-blood's breathing stopped completely. The blue-blood tried pulling his moirail away before any harm came to her. She only pulled her arm away and pulled the teal-blood's head back up onto her lap and smoothed his hair. "Trenan… Please… Come back please." She crooned. Astris knew that he would come back. She knew he would come back, but not as himself. He would come back as a walker and try to kill her if given the chance. She knew that she had to get away from him before he turned. She understood the risks, yet she couldn't move, she didn't want to leave him.

"Astris, I know that you don't want to leave him. I can understand that, but we need to do something before he turns." Kaaleb said to his moirail. He placed both of his hands on her shoulders and looked onto her eyes. "I'll let you have a few minutes to say good-bye, Ast. After that, we'll need to do something with him before he turns." Astris nodded and looked back down at the still form of her now former matesprite. The blue-blood stood and walked back to the fire pit and added more wood, stoking the fire and creating more light for the trolls as the sky started to darken.

Finnie slowly stood up and used a nearby stick as a support. She limped over to her green-blooded friend and slowly lowered herself to the ground. She pulled the other girl into a hug. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want me to apologize but I really don't care right now." The olive-blooded she-troll said to her friend. She looked down at the dead troll in her friend's lap. It felt so unnatural for the two trolls to see their friend who, when he was alive, was always so active. For a few minutes, the two she-trolls sat in silence. When she grew tired of sitting with her friend, Finnie slowly got to her feet and limped to one of the supply bags. She pulled two tins from the bag and turned to go back to her friend. "Trenan…?" Astris had whispered.

When Finnie had gotten up to retrieve something from one of the bags on the opposite side of the camp, Astris continued to sit in silence. She was deep in thought when something had stirred her from her silent vigil. She looked down to see Trenan's corpse stir. His eyes opened. His eyes no longer held their warm, teal and yellow colors. "Trenan…?" the green-blooded troll whispered as he stared up at her with empty white eyes. She stared at his face a little longer before the reality of her situation sunk in and she opened her mouth to scream. Both Wolfmom and the other lusus were causing a commotion and, in general, freaking out. Astris pushed the now reanimated Trenan off of her lap and tried to get to her feet and run.

As she stood, she felt the cold, clammy grasp of her dead matesprite around her ankle. She turned to face him as he slowly inched his way up her leg moaning and looking at her with milky, hunger filled eyes. She lift her other leg and slammed the heel of her boot down in his arm, feeling the bones in his limb break. The newly turned walker released his grip on the green-blood. When he let go, Astris stumbled back and away from her new enemy. She tripped on an upturned root that stuck out of the ground and landed on her rear. She opened her eyes and stared straight at the oncoming walker.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. It seemed like the walker, no Trenan, would latch on to her leg and pull himself up and bite into her leg. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, searing pain of the walker's teeth sinking into her flesh. Instead, she heard a scream of pain come from someone else. He opened her eyes slowly and saw the one thing she had hoped she never see. Finnie was sprawled out on the ground, olive tears streaming from her eyes. The same eyes that stared at Astris, pleading and begging her for help. Trenan was hunched over her neck. He pulled away tearing a large chunk of grey, olive blood-soaked flesh from her shoulder and neck.

A pair of hands pulled her away and shoved two of the supply bags into her arms. She heard a shrill whistle and the sounds of hooves and paws. The ground beneath her was trembling as the two lusii approached. Wolfmom lay down next to her custodian as two hands forced her onto the large wolfbeast. She heard the sounds of straps tightening and a huff from the second lusus as Kaaleb climbed up onto Wolfmom behind Astris. He reached as far ahead of him as he could, around his moirail, and tapped the wolfbeast's neck with the tips of his fingers. Wolfmom stood and started off, running as fast as she could to escape the area with the second lusus in tow carrying the rest of the supplies.

For the first ten minutes of the flight from the camp, Astris was nonresponsive to any of Kaaleb's questions. What was there to say? She felt numb. She felt numb and tired. All the green-blooded she-troll wanted now was to sleep. As time passed, she started to come to, almost like she had woken up from a dream. She looked around franticly, nearly going into a panic attack. "Astris it's alright. Breathe." The green-blood barely registered her moirail's words as she continued to look around, eyes landing on the male grazebeast lusus that followed them with the supplies. "Kaaleb! Kaaleb where are Finnie and Trenan?" she screamed. When the blue-blood didn't answer, she started to remember what had happened. A scream seemed to rip from the green-blooded she-troll's lips as she sunk into her custodian's fur.

Wolfmom's ears angled back to her charge when she screamed. The custodian whimpered, mourning with her charge. Behind the green-blood, Kaaleb silently mourned the loss of his friends. Pale blue tears started to fall from his eyes. He drew his sleeve over his eyes. He urged Wolfmom on until they reached a densely wooded area and they had to slow their pace to a trot. The large wolfbeast wove her way through the trees with the grazebeast following close behind. They came to a clearing and stopped. Kaaleb reached forward again and trailed his finger along Wolfmom's shoulder in a downward motion.

The custodian lay down and Kaaleb slid off her back and helped Astris down. The green-blood took his hand and slid down after him. As soon as her feet touched the ground, her legs gave out from under her and she slumped against her custodian. Astris brought her hands up to her face and started to cry. Her breath came out in dry sobs as green tinted tears flooded from her eyes. Kaaleb walked back over to his moirail after he had removed the supplies from the other custodian and sat next to her. He pulled her into a tight hug and made shooshing sounds and murmured to her, comforting her and trying to calm her.

Once Astris had stopped crying, Kaaleb pulled away and handed her a blanket. The she-troll took the blanket and pulled it over her body and rolled onto her side. Wolfmom curled around her charge protectively and lay her tail over the she-troll. "Good… Good night, Kaaleb." She whispered to her moirail. "'Night Astris." He whispered back as he took the first shift and kept a look out for walkers.