A Better Tomorrow

Chapter 7- And Get Dressed

Sookie slowly opened her eyes to look out the window. She could see from her bed that the sun was still very high in the sky. She had trouble finding sleep nowadays. She remembered the time where she needed at least 8 hours of sleep in order to function during the day. It seemed like such a long time ago. Her body had slowly got used to her getting maybe 3-4 hours of sleep and had remarkably well adjusted. She always thought most adult needed 7-8 hours but clearly most people in the community could perfectly function on a lot less.

As she was stretching, she remembered she had a night watch this evening and was secretly hoping that the vampires would keep her company. She had always enjoyed Bill and Pam's company mainly because she didn't had to keep her shield up for them, she just couldn't hear their thoughts. It was a blessing for her, her shields were demanding and there was nothing enjoyable in sharing people's fears and obsession in these dark times.

Sookie got up and took off her jeans she was wearing as she was due for some laundry. Most people were used to sleep in clothing in case of emergency but she always had missed her pyjamas. Taking off her shirt and her bra, she threw them in a box she had been using as a laundry hamper and grabbed a pair of clean jeans, some underwear, a bra, a tank top and a hoodie. She took a minute in front of her closet to admire a summer dress that was hanging in the corner. The dress was yellow with baby blue polkadot and Sookie day dream of the day she bought it before the plague. Dreams like this were fuel for people in the community; dreams of better days and hopes that one day they would get to enjoy them again.

Sookie grabbed the box full of dirty clothing and headed outside. The community had built a laundry facility in the corner store. It consisted of a big container full of rain water that had been collected from the roof and laundry detergent. Once a week the water was replaced with what was collected on the roof. If, for a week they had no rain, they would simply not replace it as they would never use drinkable water. That kind of water was gathered from a spring source outside the community and was quite a hassle to bring back to the main street every other days.

As she reached the facility, she was greeted by Alcide and Sam who were sitting at a table just outside drinking instant coffee. They had an old gramophone which was playing some Big band music from the 50s. It always cheered Sookie up to hear the sound coming out of the machine.

" Good afternoon Sook!" said Sam with a big smile as Alcide nodded in her direction.

"Good afternoon! I am glad to see you are feeling better Alcide" Sookie replied dropping the box on the floor as it was getting heavy and her leg was hurting.

"Dr Ludwig does great work. The wound is completely healed." Said Alcide indicating to Sookie to sit beside them.

As she sat down, Sam poured her a coffee. She could hear him think about her. She tried to brush off the thoughts and focus on her coffee which she drank slowly enjoying every sip. Sam was staring at her with a puzzled look on his face which made Sookie uncomfortable. After a long silence between the three, Sam decided to speak up.

"Why do I smell blood on you Sookie?"

" I don't know… Probably just my dirty clothing"

"I smell your blood…"

" So? It's probably dried up blood. Mind your own business."

Sookie got up hoping that the little outburst would indicate to Sam and Alcide that it was the time of the month and nothing to worry about. She knew she was still bleeding from her leg wound but she didn't want to worry them. A part of her was also afraid of what they might do to her; thinking of what had happened to Debbie. She knew what the mob mentality could do and despite the fact that she was not bitten, just scratched, didn't guarantee the community would not lose it and order amputation of her leg. She couldn't be too careful and as much as she loved and trusted her friends, she had learnt that the only one she could be sure would never fail her was herself.

She finished her laundry and headed back to her room to hang it to dry. She then locked her door and sat on her bed to look at her leg. It was time to clean it and change the bandages but she also wanted to make sure it was not getting worst since it felt tenderer today than it had felt the day before. When she finished unwrapping it, she was mortified to find the wound full of yellow puss. She hadn't been bitten but it didn't prevent an infection either.

She managed to clean off most of the dried up blood in order to take a better look. The claw marks were swollen and red. Some spots were discoloured to a deep purple and she didn't like the look of it at all. She needed to find some anti-biotic fast and without anyone noticing.

As she was walking down the main street towards the small infirmary they had built which was located very close to the corner store, Tara ran up to her.

"Hey Sook! I have to go pick some herbs for the doc, we are short staff because Arlene and Dawn are sick, can you come? We will be back before the night shift"

Sookie hesitated for a minute but couldn't find any excuse to get her out of it.

" Sure! Let's go" she said with a forced smile thinking of her leg and how tender it was.

She spent the rest of the afternoon with Tara picking up all the herbs they had ran out of. Tara asked Sookie about Eric and if she trusted him. Sookie had replied that she had no reason not to and that he was Pam's maker. They both didn't know nor understood what that meant. All they knew was that he had been the one who turned her and that she had seemed happy to see him the day before. Sookie had mentioned to Tara that they could always ask Bill if he knew Eric and what his feelings on the matter were. They had known him longer and had spent countless night on the night's watch in his company and had grown to deeply trust him and his instincts.

When the sun started coming down, Tara and Sookie headed back to the main street where Sookie grabbed an AR15 with a couple of magazines (NOT CLIP never ever say clips. They are magazines. Sorry one of my pet peeves) and walked to the tower where she would spent her night. As she walked towards it, Alcide stopped her and asked her to walk the wall instead of the tower as they were still short staff. Sookie wasn't really please with it since her leg was killing her and walking back and forth would most likely make her leg worst but she accepted with a smile.

"who am I walking with?" she asked, knowing that walking duties were never alone.

" Still trying to figure that out. Take the field wall, the tower can cover you if there is anything."

She could hear Alcide worry in his head about her safety but also how he couldn't be the one walking with her as he had to take care of Debbie. She had noticed through random thoughts of his how he was starting to slowly distance himself from Debbie and was staying with her because she was sick. He couldn't imagine leaving someone during such a hard time in their life. Sookie would always block the rest of the thoughts as she thought these were definitely way too intimate and not her business.

So Sookie headed to the wall across the field alone still hoping a vampire would join her but she was trying not to get her hopes up as the field wall was the easiest and definitely did not need two people to walk it.

After an hour walking back and forth sometimes singing, sometimes whistling, Sookie was getting bored. She could tell there were no corpses for miles and felt completely useless. Her leg seemed to be getting worst and she decided to take a peak. She walked towards one of the end of the wall where she knew the tower couldn't see her even with a sniper scope and put her riffle down on the ground before pulling up her pants. She then slowly unwrapped it.

It was indeed getting worst, the skin under the claw marks was turning blue and Sookie did not like the look of it. After cursing for a couple of minutes, Sookie contemplated the idea of telling Alcide in secret. Maybe he would keep it to himself and help her get the anti-biotics she desperately needed.

"You are still bleeding"

Sookie jumped in silence at the remark. She quickly turned to be face to face with Eric looking down at her. She didn't reply right away but instead sat down and went back to looking at her wound.

"It's really infected. I just need anti-biotics no one needs to know"

"do you have any?"

"in the infirmary"

"what are you waiting for?"

"the perfect time so no one sees me, I don't need the community freak out on me and think I'm infected with the virus"

"you are not"

"I know that but have you ever heard of mob mentality?"

"I was there when Marie Antoinette lost her head yes."

Sookie looked at him surprised by his reply. She always forgot that vampires were old and had seen a lot more than she would ever see.

"fair enough" she added

" You don't have long before you cannot walk anymore"

"and how would you know this Dr. Eric?"

"I am a vampire, I can smell the decay on you, I can hear your accelerated heart beat and I can feel your fever."

Sookie took a deep breath and got back up as Eric extended his hand to help her. Once she was standing up in front of him, she grabbed her AR15 and started walking in the other direction to resume her night watch.

"well there isn't much I can do you know" she said when she heard Eric follow her

"I can help you but it will cost you"

She stopped walking suddenly and turned around to face him. She wasn't sure how he could help her and what exactly it would cost her but she was curious to hear his proposition.

"Money isn't worth anything anymore…"

"who said anything about money?"

She glared at him waiting for him to explain what he had in mind.

" I'll give you my blood if you give me yours" he stated smirking

"Excuse me? What would I do with your blood?"

Eric was staring at her emotionless. She didn't understand why he would offer her his blood and what exactly she was supposed to do with it.

"Our blood heals most injuries and diseases in humans, except the plague of course. Did Pam and Bill failed to mention it?"

Sookie was baffled by what she was being told. The community had 2 vampires at their disposition for quite a long time now and never ever did they offer their blood to heal wounds. She thought back of the people they had lost and how many of them Bill or Pam could have saved. She was disgusted by the thought.

"why do you want my blood?"

Sookie felt stupid for asking. He wanted to feed and he probably knew he would not feed on humans here in the community. Alcide allowed Pam and Bill to sometime drink human blood which was donated by some members but never could they feed directly at the source.

Eric replied to her question with a smirk. Sookie rolled her eyes.

"How do I know you are not trying to trick me?"

"you don't, you will have to trust me"

Sookie took a couple of minutes to think about it. She started walking again in case someone at the tower was looking for her.

"And how do we do that?"

Eric ran at vampire speed in front of her which made her bumped into him having not realized what he had done. He quickly bit his wrist and offered it to her.

"Ladies first"

Thank you for reading

Xox

Z