Valentine's Poison

Summary
When Aaron finds out about how Valentine is trying to manipulate Scott into abandoning Ryker, and how she plans to purposefully give Ryker, Scott, and Aaron all the Rot without any of them knowing as an excuse to get rid of them, Aaron devises a plan.

Aaron goes to the hospital where Dale is being held and walks into the hallway due to the security being pretty much null. Aaron continues walking down the hallway and looks at the camera for half a second. The memory of Lawrence telling him about how due to lack of electricity they can't afford to even keep the security camera's up. Aaron continues walking down the hallway until he finds a locker room. He opens the door to it and walks inside. A doctor standing there in scrubs asks him what he's doing in there and that this is a restricted area, Aaron takes a deep breath, sighs then apologizes to the doctor. He grabs the doctor by the head and slams it against the lockers, knocking him unconscious. "I'm sorry." Aaron apologizes again as he takes the scrubs off of the doctor and puts them on, throwing his clothes into an open locker which presumably belonged to the doctor.

Aaron walks into the hallway dressed as a doctor and then walks down a seperate hallway. Aaron walks into Dale's room to his confusion, then looks out the window on the hospital door.

"Aaron- what are you-" Dale starts but Aaron shushes him and puts a finger over his lips. Dale grows quiet and then whispers angrily: "What are you doing?"

"You're blood samples where do they keep it?"

"My what?" Dale asks.

"You're blood! My dad was a surgeon and he told me they keep blood samples of all of their patients as a precaution. Where do they keep it!" Aaron responds.

"They... they keep it in that fridge over there." Dale responds, pointing at a mini fridge in the corner. Aaron rushes over to it and opens the fridge. He takes out the only two packages of Dale's blood and stuffs them in his pockets. Aaron runs to the window and turns to face Dale.

"Trust me, Valentine's not gonna get you, alright?" Aaron says. Dale looks at him from his hospital bed and nods slowly. "Godspeed, Dale." Aaron says, elbowing the window and smashing it to bits. Aaron climbs out of it, then sticks his head into the window and closes the curtain to make sure the window stays hidden.

Aaron climbs down the side of the hospital and onto the road still dressed as a doctor. He begins running from the hospital pulling the surgeon's mask and hat off of his head. He's running down the sidewalk when a dump truck begins to drive right by him. Aaron sighs and jumps onto the back of the dump truck, grabbing onto it and riding it like a taxi. Eventually the garbage truck drives by his apartment building and he jumps off of it. Aaron runs into his apartment building and throws the bags of blood onto his couch. He throws off the doctor's clothes and dumps them in a laundry shoot, then throws on his regular clothes. Aaron then takes an IV and pumps Dale's blood into his arm.

He almost immediatly begins showing signs of the Rot, even becoming delirious and completely manic in almost comatose state and passing out on his couch in his apartment. Still semi conscious however, Aaron rips the IV out of his arm once the bag is done and puts it behind his couch. Eventually, Ryker decides to visit Aaron for old times sake after finding an old photo of the gang together and finds Aaron in his broken and dying state on his couch.

Ryker is concerened and begins to take care of Aaron by getting him water and food. Eventually, Aaron mutters that it was all his fault, it was caused by him. Ryker looks at him confused for a second, and then reassures him that it wasn't Aaron's fault they're stuck at Sacramento. Aaron says no, still delirious on his couch and on the verge of passing out.

"No.. not sacramento.. Noah.. It.. He was all my fault..." Aaron mutters. At this point Ryker tries to wake up Aaron from his state, becoming even more confused, asking him what he's trying to say. And finally, Aaron admits it.

"When... when Noah got hit by that car... you never found out who it was... I... it was me who was driving... It's all my fault, Ryker"

Ryker finally realized what Aaron is trying to say - Aaron caused the Hit and Run that killed Noah. Ryker begins to freak out and pace around the apartment, unsure of how to act. Ryker then walks over to the near passed out Aaron and lifts him up by his shirt and slams him against the wall, accidentally knocking a bottle of Scotch that Aaron got for his birthday onto the ground.

"This whole time you knew! You killed Noah! This whole... this whole goddamn time... you knew who killed Noah... and it was you... my friend..." Ryker sobbed.

Ryker drops Aaron onto his couch and rubs his head while still crying. Aaron rubs his head and leaves the apartment in a fit of rage. A few minutes later Lawrence opens the door and sees Aaron passed out on his couch with the bottle of Scotch on the floor.

As Lawrence takes Aaron to Valentine he asks him why he's so messed up, Aaron at least with a half functioning brain says that he and Ryker were sharing a bottle of alcohol and got in a drunken fight to make sure that Valentine will still now take Aaron's poisoned blood. Lawrence laughs for the first time in the book, and says;

"Jeez kid, and I thought I couldn't hold my liquor." He says as they get into the elevator. Aaron says he's good enough to walk and Lawrence helps him stand up and walk to his car. Aaron stares out the window of Lawrence's car still affected by the blood transfusion from Dale.

Aaron stumbles into Valentine's office and almost falls onto Valentine's desk, but is caught by Lawrence. Lawrence tries to explain to Valentine that Aaron must've had a drink or too since the bottle of Scotch that Valentine got Aaron for his birthday was broken on the ground. Valentine at this state is seemingly showing signs of her condition getting worse. Valentine looks Aaron up and down in a look of shock, and sighs.

"I don't know if it's a good idea to do a transfusion, kid's blood alcohol levels must be through the roof." Lawrence states.

"I can't afford another day without a blood transfusion. Worst that could happen, I get a little tipsy. I've got a speech after this and if the citizens of Sacramento see me in this state then that will only cause panic and fret within the city at this crucial time with Las Vegas." Valentine sighs.

They begin the blood transfusion and Valentine reacts to it negatively for a second then returns to a normal state. Aaron stares at Valentine seeming drunk for almost all of the transfusion, thinking for a second as to why she isn't dying but then realizing that she already has the Rot within her, chances are it's going to take a second.

Due to Valentine already having the disease she isn't immediately affected by it like how Aaron is, so Lawrence drops off Aaron off at his usual hospital bed with water and snacks like they've done this a million times. At this point, Aaron passes out in the hospital bed.