They ended up walking around opening all the drawers and cupboards and going through them like they were raiding the place. To their disappointment, most of the storage spaces were empty. The shelves in the living room were bare of any books or other items, and the kitchen cupboards had only a few sets of utensils and dinnerware.
The one exception was the refrigerator, which was stocked with some pre-made meals.
Peering inside the fridge, Noah was suddenly reminded of the milk he had bought earlier that was now abandoned in his dorm. He sadly realized he might not get back to his own room in time to drink it before it spoiled and made a mental note to text Paul that he could have the milk if he wanted it.
“What do you want for breakfast?” Noah asked.
“Breakfast? It’d be lunch by now, wouldn’t it?”
“I guess so.” Noah glanced at the band on his wrist, forgetting for a moment that it wasn’t a regular watch. Instead of the time, it displayed two values. His heart rate per minute was currently vacillating between 12 and 13 and his SpO2 was 52, although that number was blinking and had the message Please remain in a resting position for accurate results scrolling by underneath the number. He had no reference for how abnormal those values were or what they were supposed to be. He looked over at Brian and wondered what his stats were at, but decided against mentioning it. His friend seemed to be in a better mood, in large part due to something he had just found in the fridge.
“No way! They got us mac-and-cheese!” Brian crowed, pulling out a cardboard bowl with a plastic sheet sealing the contents. He brought it over the microwave and looked serenely out the large window as he waited for it to cook, perking up as he noticed something.
“Hey, there’s someone out in the meadow,” Brian said. “It’s not either of the girls.”
Noah stepped up beside him and squinted outside. A figure was walking away from the townhouses towards the lone picnic table out in the middle of the field. They had cropped blonde hair and were wearing a loose long-sleeved blue shirt with white pants.
“I bet that’s the student with the Wager,” Noah said, staring at them and wishing they would turn around so he could see their face. After a moment he realized he could just go outside and say hi instead of staring out the window like a creep.
“Take your food outside, I want to go meet them,” Noah told Brian. He went to the back door and slid it open.
“Okay, just let me grab a fork,” Brian said agreeably. He joined Noah a moment later and they walked out into the field together.
They stopped a safe distance from the figure sitting at the table. Noah could tell it was a girl now that they were closer. She seemed to be looking out into the woods.
“Hi,” Noah said.
She turned quickly to stare at them in surprise. “Oh, hi there. Both of you have the Wager too?”
“Uh, not exactly,” Brian said after a second.
The girl had light gray eyes, making her curious glance at them seem intense. “Well, what are you doing here, then?”
“We’re sick with something else,” Noah said. “The school is having us stay here until they know how dangerous it is.”
She tilted her head. “They don’t know?”
“They only know enough to be worried.”
The girl seemed intrigued, and she gestured at the bench across from her with a small smile. “Want to take a seat? Or are you too scared of the Wager to come any closer?”
Her tone was provocative enough to make Noah want to step forward, but he just shook his head. “I don’t want to get you sick. The whole point of us staying out here is to stay isolated.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
She just laughed. “Oh, I’m not worried about whatever you have. I know I’m not going to survive my Wager.”
Noah didn’t budge. “You don’t know that. There’s no way to tell ahead of time.”
She shrugged. “Well, I can. I can feel my end coming like a beast hunting me down, and it’s been patiently waiting for its time to strike. I will die tonight.”
Her proclamation was grim, but the tone was one of acceptance.
Eventually Brian looked at Noah, who sighed and walked over to the table. “If you insist. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you. I’m Noah, by the way.”
“Brian,” his friend said with a nod.
“My name’s Sophie,” the girl said, sniffing and quickly rubbing her nose. “So, what’s up with you two?”
“We’re dying,” Brian said dramatically as he plopped his lunch onto the table, and Noah elbowed him.
“Medically, we might be in dire straits,” he allowed. “But for one reason or another, we feel fine.”
“Dire straits?”
“Er, low heart rate and blood oxygen, numbness.”
“That doesn’t sound that bad.”
“That’s what I’m saying!” Brian said, pointing at her and looking at Noah. “See, I’m not just a careless idiot trying to get everyone sick!”
Noah glanced down at his wristband. “Right now, my bpm is… ten. I’m no expert, but that seems low, right?”
Her jaw fell open. “Ten? You should be in a hospital! How are you alive right now?” She turned to Brian. “You absolutely are a careless idiot. Ten bpm is absolutely insane.”
“Oh, is it?” Brian said, looking contemplatively at his own watch.
Noah noticed movement up by the townhouses and looked up to see Leah and May exiting their unit and beginning to walk towards them across the grass.
“Here come the girls,” he said.
Sophie raised her eyebrows and turned to glance at the pair heading over. “You’re not the only ones with these weird symptoms?”
Noah shook his head. “There’s four of us. We all got sick just earlier this morning.”
“Hey, you two,” Leah called as she got closer. “What happened to staying away from people? Have you forgotten why they moved us out here?”
“She said she doesn’t mind,” Brian said defensively. “She’ll die tonight anyways.”
“Brian!” His sister snapped, appalled.
“No, it’s true,” Sophie said.
“Sophie?” May asked suddenly. She walked up to the table and looked at the other girl with wide eyes. “You got the Wager?”
“Oh, hey, May. Yeah, I guess I did.”
“I didn’t even know! Why aren’t you with your parents? Don’t they live just down the road?”
Sophie ducked her head. “I’m sorry, I should’ve told you. If it makes you feel any better, I hardly told anyone. I didn’t want to have that conversation over and over, and I didn’t want everyone to worry about me. And as for my parents…” she trailed off with a hard look in her eyes. “They didn’t want me to come home once they found out I had the Wager. The morons are convinced it’ll spread to them.”
May looked shocked. “That’s terrible.”
She shrugged. “It is what it is. I just wish I were doing more with my final days than sitting around feeling sorry for myself.”
She shook her head and forced a smile. “Anyways. That mac-and-cheese smells good.”
Brian startled and glanced down at his bowl like he’d forgotten it was there. “Does it?”
Sophie looked at him curiously. “Is your sense of smell affected?”
“Apparently,” Brian grumbled, picking up his fork with a troubled look in his eye. “I won’t complain so long as I can still taste the food. If I can’t appreciate the glory of mac-and-cheese, then I take back everything I said about this stupid sickness being no big deal.”
They all looked at him as he tasted the food, Sophie with amusement, the other three with suspense.
Brian chewed and swallowed with effort, a thunderous expression growing across his face. “This is a CATASTROPHE. Where are the doctors? We need to get this fixed right now.”
He pushed away his food with a disgusted look and stood up. “I’m going to call Dr. Jansen.”
They watched him storm across the field and disappear inside.
“Well, at least he’s motivated to help the doctors now,” Leah said.
“I’m sure they’ll be interested to hear about the new symptoms,” Noah added. “Even if it might not get them any closer to a solution. Or even an explanation.”
“This is probably the most inconvenient symptom yet,” Leah said thoughtfully. “I haven’t really been bothered by the other ones, but this will be annoying. I like being able to taste food.”
“Well, I can still taste,” Sophie said cheerfully. “Are any of you going to claim that mac-and-cheese?”
“Go right ahead,” Leah said. “No need to rub it in our faces or anything.”
Sophie grinned and tucked in.