Triple Helix: Part Fifteen

The Fourth Horseman

CB forces himself to breathe. It’s hard—mucus keeps filling his lungs, and he’s constantly coughing and gagging, trying to take a clear breath, but he finds if he focuses on breathing it's easier to handle everything else: the fever, the chills, the pain shooting through his gut. Focusing on a very basic act of survival allows him to move everything else into the background.

It doesn’t solve the problem, though: Plague is killing him.

“I didn’t even have to try this time.”...