Derek opens his mouth like he's about to say something, then he closes it again. He stares at me like he's remembering something. His eyes glaze over and his mouth opens again only for a second this time. The room is quiet, too quiet. Sam clears his throat and Derek snaps out of it. He looks at his father and they exchange a glance communicating through only their eyes. He takes one last look at me before bolting out the door like he can't get out of here fast enough.

"Right, I forgot. I might have some meds that can help you if not we'll make a supply run to the hospital tomorrow, I'm sure its overrun with them by now," Sam says and I can't tell if he's talking to me or himself.

"I'm not even sure if I was on meds, and who are you to prescribe them to me, are you even a doctor?" I ask.

"Was..." he says walking over to a case on the wall that I hadn't noticed. It's a huge white cabinet with glass doors, inside looks to be medicine.

"Was huh?"

"Got my license taken away," he says.

"And so now I'm supposed to trust you to treat me for something I didn't know I had up until five minutes ago?" I adjust myself on the bed wincing when the needle from the IV stings.

"I didn't kill anyone if that's what you're asking," he says.

"Oh," I say my voice sounding weak.

"Well we need some supplies anyway, so I'll just send Derek out tomorrow. Your vitals are okay, so you should be okay," he says.

I look at him like he's completely lost his mind. I should be okay? What does he know anyway? The guy lost his license and he's got me hooked up like I'm some kind of experiment. I want to offer to go with Derek to get out of this house, but I have a feeling he won't want me with him, even if I did see the slightest bit of compassion in his eyes before I fainted.

"Oh and you have traces of the drug in your system still," he says.

"Wait so I did take it then? What is this drug anyway? That's an insane amount of time for it to still be in my system, it's been like what two weeks? And how do you even know?" I ask.

"I took some blood while you were out. The drug stays in your system for quite some time. I'm surprised you didn't turn," he says like it's nothing.

"I lost my memory though, is that a sign I'll turn?" I question.

"I'm not sure," he says.

I look at him as he takes off the stupid white lab coat he's wearing. How does he know so much about something that just happened? There's something about him and this family that is making me uneasy. They are a little too calm and very prepared with this whole thing.

"Can I get some of that chili now?" I ask stomach growling again.

"Yes I'll send my mother up," he says and quietly leaves the room.

I sigh, I don't understand why he can't just unhook me from this contraption so that I can go get my own food. If I was really sick I probably wouldn't have survived taking that pill, I would have ended up dead or like everyone else.

I stare at the huge book cases several rows high, taller than any shelf at a library. I wonder what kind of books sit on those shelves, all I know is if I stay here at least I'll have something to entertain myself with, even if they are medical books. It's funny how technology took over our lives and books slowly started to become phased out, but what do you do when the world ends? The internet is probably down, electricity probably will get cut off soon and then what? One thing I do know about myself is that I find comfort in books no matter what they are. So at least if I'm stuck here I have something familiar and something that can keep me level headed.

The door opens and Annmarie steps inside the room. She's carrying a tray of hot chili over and another water bottle. She looks up at the IV fluid and it's already half way done.

"You must be starving," she says handing me the tray.

I carefully grab the spoon with the hand attached the IV and start blowing on the chili. The smell makes my stomach growl louder, and I can't wait to taste it. I'm so hungry I'm contemplating burning my mouth just to get the food in me.

"Can I get you anything else? You were pretty dehydrated hard to find a vein, I'm sure he'll want to keep you hooked up for a while," she says.

"Are there any good books on that shelf?" I question.

"What kind of books are you looking for?" she asks.

"I'm not sure to be honest, just not sure I want to sit here and stare at the walls for the next few hours," I say.

Annmarie laughs and circles around the room. I can hear her behind me searching through the shelves. She comes over with a small pile of books from different genres.

"So I've got some poetry, although it's more of children's poetry than anything," she says handing me a book with a white cover.

My eyes scan the book as I run a hand over the smooth cover. There's no color on the picture and the book is pretty thick. I look down at the author and there's something really familiar about this book. I put it next to me on the bed definitely saving it. She hands me another and it's an adult novel.

"That's one of mine," she laughs.

I look at the front cover and see a tall dark and handsome cowboy leaning against a fence. In the background there's a horse and a woman riding it, she's smiling at the guy like she's in love. I snicker.

"I think these are Derek and Tanya's books. There's some fantasy, some Young Adult. Little bit of everything," she says.

I put those in a pile on the other side of me, and smile.

"Thanks," I say.

"I'll make sure he comes to check on you soon," she says.

She starts to walk towards the door, "Hey Annmarie?" I ask.

She turns and looks at me with a small smile on her lips. "Mmm," she says.

"Thank you for everything," I tell her. "I don't know what I did to these people, but it seems really bad, so I'm just really thankful for your kindness," I tell her.

"You're welcome," she says.

She looks as if she wants to say more, but she doesn't. I watch her walk out and then pick up the white children's poetry book. I open to the first poem and smile at the words, these are so silly but fun. I keep flipping through while eating, who would have thought a children's book could bring such joy. I look through some more pages, I plan on keeping this one in my room so that I can mark off the poems I want to go back to. I turn to the back of the book and notice writing, it looks like a kid wrote it.

Max is my dog.

Max is yellow.

Max can bark.

Max plays fetch.

Max knocks me down.

Max licks my face.

Max I love you.

I smile at the simple words in the poem and in my head a see a silly yellow dog running around. I see Max playing fetch and I see him running after a squirrel in the yard; but who's yard? Max was a golden retriever with the prettiest fur I'd ever seen. He'd greet me at the gate, I can hear his bark like he's right here next to me. I close my eyes and think back as a memory floods my head. I see a young boy running towards the gate waving. Max jumps up and puts his paws on the top of the gate and licks my face too just like in the poem. I know Max he lived in the house next door when I was a kid. I recognize the house and the yard, another memory returned but still fuzzy.

I swear I feel my heart doing those flutters again, but now it's just anxiety. I look back down at the book and there's another poem, it's still in kid's handwriting but not the same as the Max poem.

He's my best friend.

We like to ride bikes.

My bike is red.

His bike is blue.

He's my best friend.

We like to read books.

We like to read together.

He's my best friend.

I wrote this poem when I was seven. I know it's mine. I see the pencil in my hand as I write, and a little boy sits next to me reading over my shoulder. He tugs on my braid and his name leaves my lips, only nothing comes out of my mouth but a scream. A scream that I can't tell if it's happening in real life or if I've dozed off. The screaming gets louder and echoes around me like I'm in a cave. The boy and I are still sitting together, he stands to leave and looks angry. I scream as the young boy disappears into the darkness.