David // Elliot
Things had been so surreally good for so long now that David had almost forgotten that bad could happen. Well, boy was he remembering now. He stood inside his brother's quarantine cell, watching the hell he was going through and it felt like a punch straight to the heart.
The first day had been filled with blind optimism. Rae seemed to be trying to convince herself that Elliot's coughing and fever was unrelated to the virus. That he'd wake up the next day and be okay. She'd seemed so convinced, in fact, that she'd almost convinced David. But when Elliot hadn't slept through the night, when over the course of time that he was supposed to be sleeping, the condition had gotten even worse? That was when David knew.
His brother was dying. Right before his eyes. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He was doing the best he could not to cry—Elliot and Rae both needed him to be strong—but it was hard. This wasn't supposed to be happening to Elliot. How did this happen to Elliot? Elliot was strong, smart... better at surviving than David was. How could he be lying in this room, trying to fight an infection that he just wasn't going to win against?
It wasn't fair. Elliot had more to live for than David did. He had a girlfriend who loved him more than life itself. They were supposed to be starting a family together; laughing in the face of this infection that had taken so many of the people they loved. But here he was. Losing to it.
Eyes brimming with tears that he was determined not to shed, David stood and crossed the room. Rae was sitting beside him, holding a damp cloth to his head and trying to hide her own tears. He looked at her and bit his lip. "Can I have a minute with him, please?" he asked.
She nodded and got up to cross the room and talk to Evan.
He pulled in a deep breath and swallowed thickly, sitting next to his brother's bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked. A dumb question, but one that he needed to ask. If this was really it, he probably should have done better, but he couldn't think of anything. How did you greet your hero when you knew they were going to be gone soon?