Veronica nodded her thanks and then went inside. The exam room was nearly full to bursting. Four beds were lined up against one of the walls, the twins and Craig on them with IV lines in their arms. Hannah was on her own bed, Quinton and Lorraine standing on either side of her, checking her over.
Janet stood to the side, Malcolm behind her, his arm around her. Janet’s eyes were red and wet with tears. When her gaze met Veronica’s a sob slipped from her lips.
Tears filled Veronica’s eyes and she crossed to the woman, reaching out to hold the hand of the other mother. She might not have given birth to Hannah and Audrey but they were hers just as much as the twins were Janet’s.
Quinton came over to them, his face stoic as he met Veronica’s eyes. She knew that face. That wasn’t her brother anymore, that was the doctor looking at her.
“I’m going to have to do a lumbar puncture on her,” he said. “We need to test her spinal fluid. That means I’m going to have to stick a needle in her spine.”
Veronica felt gorge rise in her throat at the thought but she fought it down and nodded her head for Quinton to go ahead.
“You can come hold her hand,” Quinton told her, waving for her to join them at her bedside. “Now, Hannah, sweetie, I’m going to have you roll over on your side, okay?”
Veronica helped her roll over so her back was facing Quinton and took her small hand in her own. She crouched down so Hannah could see her.
“Don’t worry, Squirt, we’re gonna get you better, okay?”
“We’re just going to put some numbing stuff on your back, it’ll feel a little cold,” Quinton said and Hannah’s face scrunched up when the numbing gel was put on.
“Feels weird,” she whispered, her voice strained and Veronica had to fight back tears.
She glanced up to see Lorraine hand Quinton the needle and Veronica’s stomach flipped at the sight. Nope, she wasn’t going to be sick. She was going to sit here, holding Hannah’s hand and show her how to be strong. She wasn’t going to leave the girl.
“Alright, Hannah, I need you to take a deep breath and hold completely still until I say you can let it out. You think you can do that for me?” Hannah nodded and croaked out a yes. “Alright, deep breath in.”
Hannah inhaled deeply and Veronica did the same, holding her own breath with the girl. Hannah flinched, a whine of pain slipping from her lips when the needle went in, but she didn’t move otherwise.
“Okay, let it out,” Quinton said and both Veronica and Hannah let out their breaths in a loud whoosh.
“You did great, Squirt,” Veronica told her, squeezing her hand. “You’re so strong.”
Hannah gave her a weak smile.
“You lay back and rest now,” Quinton said and Veronica helped Hannah roll over and pulled the sheets up to her chin.
“Harold will run the sample,” Quinton said, “But we’ll still put her on antibiotics.”
“Do you think she has it?” Veronica asked.
“We won’t know for certain until we have the results--”
“What do you think?” she demanded. She trusted his opinion and she wanted to know the truth.
“Her symptoms all point to yes,” he admitted. “You need to be tested too. You have to stay here until we know for sure.”
Veronica shook her head. “I got vaccinated a couple years back. There was an outbreak so the school board made all faculties in the district get them.”
“Good. That’s good,” Quinton said. “We should check with everybody else, find out who else has been vaccinated.”
“Is anyone else sick?” Malcolm asked.
“Angela said she’d check on the others after she got Jackson. She’ll bring back anyone else showing symptoms. I think it’s best we tell everybody else to stay in their cabins for now until we can test everyone.”
“What about vaccines?” Veronica asked. “Do we have any?”
Quinton shook his head. “We’ll just have to rely on quarantine to keep it from spreading.”
“What about treatment?” Veronica asked. “Will the antibiotics cure it?”
“We need to find out the specific strain,” Quinton said, “That’s why I did the spinal taps. Harold is testing the samples I took but that can take up to seventy two hours.”
The idea of having to wait that long terrified her. “You can’t do anything quicker?”
“I’m afraid not but it’s not bad news,” Quinton told them. “We don’t know if this is bacterial or viral. If it’s viral, it’ll clear up on its own, we just have to treat the symptoms. If it’s bacterial, the antibiotics they’re on right now could clear it up. They could be better before we even get the results.”
Veronica nodded, letting her brother’s words calm her. There was a cure and they had a plan. This would be okay. What happened at the hotel wouldn’t happen here.
Subject File #756
Subject: Are you sure this is the best use of our time?
Administrator: You’re still waiting on the results and Lorraine is with the patients. This is the best time to talk and you need to talk. You look like you’re about to drop.
Subject: Talking won’t help. The only thing that will help is getting the results so I can kick this infection in the ass.
“I’ve talked to everybody. Malcolm, Banks, Mendez, Elaine, Harold, Veronica, Kim, Trey and myself have been vaccinated. We’ve got the others on lockdown in their cabins. Lorraine took blood samples and gave them the Cipro you prescribed.”
Quinton nodded, noting down the names Angela had listed in his journal. Once they ran the blood tests, they’d know if anyone else needed something stronger. “Any of them showing symptoms?”
Angela shook her head. “They’re all reporting feeling fine.”
He did quick calculations of the antibiotics they’d handed out and made a note of it. They’d been taking supplies freely today during the craze of their patients’ arrivals but they needed to maintain the inventory.
It helped him during times like these, when all he could do was wait on test results, to keep his mind occupied. In the hospital, there had been other patients to tend to and charts to write up. Here, he had the inventory and the quarantine plan.
“Did anything show up in the first round of tests?” Angela asked.
“Nothing unusual in their samples.”
It had been a relief. Janet, Jackson, Audrey and Ruthie were the only ones who were unvaccinated and had prolonged contact with the sick. If they didn’t show any signs, it was unlikely the others who had only cursory contact would be infected. They had a good chance of containing this.
“Where do you think it came from?” Angela asked. “It wouldn’t be from the water or something like that, would it?”
“Possible but the more likely point of origin is that hotel they went to,” he said. “Craig is likely patient zero. He spent two nights with the kids playing games and mentioned sharing drinks and food with them.”
Angela made a note in her own journal. “I’ve got the vaccinated on cleaning duty right now. They’ve already cleaned up the cabins, boiled the linens and clothing. We’ll get to work on disinfecting the lodge.”
“Have them re-wash every dish, glass and piece of silverware and bleach every surface in there,” he said, “And you better burn the board games.”
Angela gave a sad smile. “It’ll break the kids’ hearts.”
“Better broken hearts than going through this again,” Quinton said. “We’ll find them more.”
The games were replaceable but their lives weren’t.
“Alright, I’m going to relieve Lorraine,” Quinton said, flipping his journal shut. He felt exhausted as he stood up, even though the sun had only just set. He felt like it had been days since Craig had shown up at the clinic and all of this started.
Before he could head back to the sick room, the main door opened and Jackson and Audrey came inside. They knew the protocol and already had gloves and masks on. They also carried picnic baskets.
“Brought some food for everybody,” Jackson said, “Figured we get to visit Hannah too.”
“Good idea,” Quinton said. “Leave the food out here. You two can relieve Veronica and Janet in there.”
Quinton led them into the sick room, finding everything pretty much the same as when he had left them. Craig was curled up on his side, snoring softly. Veronica was sitting next to Hannah’s bed, holding the little girl’s hand as she slept. Janet sat between the twins’ beds, alternating between the boys as she bathed their foreheads with a damp cloth.
Neither woman had left the children since they had arrived here hours before, not even to use the bathroom. They needed a break to refuel.
Jackson and Audrey went to Hannah’s bed, Veronica letting Audrey take her spot holding Hannah’s hand. Jackson wrapped his arm around Veronica’s waist, pulling her close to him and she rested her head on his shoulder. He remembered when he had hated the idea of that man being anywhere near his sister. Now he was glad she had someone to lean on right now.
He looked over at Janet, who was doing her best to stay strong on her own. Malcolm had been to visit throughout the day, offering his support to his sister, but he also had the responsibility of taking care of everyone else too. If Quinton hadn’t fucked everything up, he could be the one comforting Janet through this.
Instead he would be here every step of the way but always an arm’s length away. She’d tolerated his presence because he was her children’s best bet on getting better. He knew she wouldn’t want him to offer anything more than his medical opinion.
“Brought y’all some dinner,” Jackson said. “S’out in the main room waitin’ on ya.”
“I’m not hungry,” Veronica replied, her eyes on Hannah.
“Did ya eat lunch?” Veronica shook her head. “Then ya gotta eat somethin’ now. Ya ain’t any good to her if ya don’t keep yer strength up. Let me and Audrey sit with her while ya grab a bite and maybe some fresh air, yeah?”
“You’re right,” Veronica said. “Janet, you wanna come and eat?”
“I’m fine,” Janet replied, dipping the cloth in the basin of water to wet it again.
“You sure?” Veronica asked.
Janet nodded as she wrung out the cloth and placed it on Matthew’s forehead before taking the one off Mark’s and dipping it in the basin.
Veronica turned to Quinton. “Can’t we just bring the food in here?”
“Not in a sick room. Transmission becomes easier,” Quinton told her.
“Janet, I can stay with them while you eat,” Lorraine offered. “It’ll only be ten minutes, no more. Bolt down the food and you’ll be back in here in no time.”
“I’m fine,” Janet said, her voice higher and tenser, her eyes flashing with anger. “I’m not leaving them so just drop it.”
Quinton knew she’d be stubborn about it. She was a mama bear and she would fight tooth and nail for her babies. It didn’t matter if she hurt herself in the process. She didn’t matter, only her children.
She didn’t realize that hurting herself only made things worse for her children. She needed to stay strong for them, not waste away sitting vigil. His frustration with her and her stubborn attitude suddenly boiled over.
“Janet, you need to eat!” he snapped at her. “You’re blood sugar is going to drop and you’re going to pass out.”
“I don’t care,” Janet said, not looking at him as she put the cloth back on Mark’s forehead.
“I care!” Quinton shot back. “Because when you pass out, that means we’re going to have to take care of you instead of your kids. We’re gonna have to waste supplies on you instead of your kids. Is that what you want?”
Janet turned to him, glaring at him with her angry dark eyes. “Don’t you dare try that guilt trip bullshit with me!”
“It’s not a guilt trip, it’s fucking reality,” Quinton told her as he stalked around the beds to face her head on. “I get it. You want to prove you’re the best mother, your health be damned. And you’re gonna end up making a mess for us to clean up just so you can prove a point about how tough you are.”
Janet shot to her feet, eyes blazing, ready to blast him, but before she could get a word out, her knees wobbled and her eyes rolled back in her head. Quinton leapt forward to grab her before she fell to the floor.
“I’ve got you,” he reassured her as he helped her back onto the stool. He put his hand on her forehead to feel for any fever but her skin was a normal temperature. He looked in her eyes which were now focused on him instead of rolling in their sockets. They were full of pain and fear and exhaustion. “You okay?”
“No,” she gulped out before sobs bubbled up in her throat, tears starting to fall. “I’m not okay at all. They aren’t okay, how can I be okay?”
“I know,” he said, “But they will be and you will be too. You need to eat. The boys need you to be at your strongest, that’s the only way all of you make it through this. Let Lorraine sit with them while you and Veronica go out to eat. Go radio Kim to bring Ruthie by for a visit. She needs you too. She’s probably wondering where you are.”
Janet nodded. “You’re right. I need to see her.”
Quinton helped her stand, keeping a hand on her elbow to help her keep steady. She didn’t push him away as he expected but he tried not to be too happy about it. She was weak and exhausted and wasn’t thinking straight.
“You two eat, get some air, visit with Ruthie and then come back in here fresh,” Quinton told Janet and Veronica. “Anything changes in here, we’ll come get you.”
He let out a sigh as the door closed behind Janet and Veronica.
“Smart plan gettin’ her to realize she was hurtin’ herself,” Jackson said.
“Yeah, it wasn’t really a plan,” he replied.
It had worked out but his actions had been a gamble. Not that he’d really considered it. It had just been a case of him losing his temper and spewing out whatever was in his head.
“Still worked, might as well take credit for it,” Jackson replied. “Yer already bustin’ yer ass with all this shit, doin’ good for all of us. We’re gonna make it through all this ‘cause of ya.”
He would have liked to take credit for it. There was a time when someone stroking his ego was the only thing he wanted but he was a different person now.
He knew he wasn’t a superhero, capable of fixing everything. He could fail and he wasn’t about to get cocky about this. Not when it meant risking the lives of these kids.
“Let’s hope we do.”
Subject File #760
Subject: Can you do me a favour and keep an eye on Jenny?
Administrator: Is something wrong?
Subject: She’s just worried about the sickness. I calmed her down but I don’t want her stressing and making herself sick.
Administrator: She’s not a fragile doll, Travis. You have to stop treating her like she’s going to break.
Subject: I know she’s strong but you never know. Please, just do me the favour, okay?
Travis paced the living room in his cabin, circling the couch and then the small table and chairs in the kitchenette, making a sloppy figure eight. He didn’t really have much choice in direction when it came to pacing in the small cabin. The only other rooms were his bedroom and the bathroom, both of them too small for him to get a good speed up to walk off his apprehension.
He wished he could go outside, give himself a chance to really stretch his legs. Except if he could leave the cabin, he wouldn’t be so worried. He could go check on Jenny, make sure that whatever had taken down Craig and the kids wasn’t affecting her.
He wished he’d put off taking his own cabin a little bit longer. There hadn’t been any particular reason he had moved out of the Reyes cabin. It had even been a comfort staying with them when they first got here. He had become used to being with all of them after their time on the road.
But now they had room to spread out and he felt guilty taking the third bedroom and forci
ng Mateo and Alejandro to share. They deserved some privacy and Travis found he liked having privacy as well after he had settled into the Hummingbird.
At least until now. Being alone with the weight of not knowing who was sick made him wish he wasn’t alone. At least if there was someone here, he could talk out his anxieties.
He always felt better when he voiced them. Even if it didn’t help solve his issues, it made him feel better to share them. He knew it was a long shot that he was infected. He hadn’t gone to the hotel and he hadn’t spent much time around the sick. It was Jenny he was worried about.
He had gone to her when they’d first heard that the kids were sick but she had assured him that she was feeling fine. It didn’t help ease his fears. She had already spent half the day around Ruthie and though the girl was apparently fine, he still wasn’t sure.
It would have been so easy for the little girl to pick up a bug from her brothers and pass it along.
And that was why they had all submitted to a blood test after they had been put in quarantine. Lorraine had come around in full surgical gear to take blood samples and she had let him know that so far no one else had been taken to the clinic.
No symptoms and no one else falling ill, that was good.
There was a knock on his door and he found Angela standing on his porch when he opened the door.
“Quinton sent me out with everybody’s test results,” she said. “You’re in the clear. No signs of infection.”
He figured he’d test clean. The only thing wrong with his body was the occasional ache from the arm that had been broken. Everything else felt fine.
“What about the others?” he asked. “Is Jenny okay?”
“Well, as I’m sworn by oath not to reveal medical information, I can’t tell you her results,” Angela said, “But Quinton wanted anyone with signs of infection to come for a lumbar puncture. Everybody else is free to move about the cabin, so to speak. You can go check on Jenny if you want. She’s in her cabin.”
Travis let out a sigh of relief. She might not have broken her vow but Angela had told him what he needed to know. Jenny wouldn’t be in her cabin if she was sick.
The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3) Page 24
