by Kate Morris
He’s been so worried about her since she passed out on their run to Clarksville. That had been a terrifying experience, one he doesn’t wish to repeat. Seeing her hit the deck not to resurface into his line of sight had been scary. He cares so much about her now. He’d even taken a minute to discuss it with Simon while they were bunked together at Dave’s place this week. Her brother is equally concerned about her. He’d gone through a lot of complex medical diagnoses of what could have caused it to happen, but none of them sounded like a good outcome in the end. He’d gone to Simon to find some sort of reassurance about her health but had come away with more questions and concerns afterward.
Cory heads to his cabin, cleans up, and prepares for the long night ahead of him with Huntley. He’ll take his motorcycle and let Huntley ride behind him. He’s worked tirelessly on the machine to get it quieted down. In the past, bikers wanted their motorcycles as loud as they could get them, but Cory needs it to be as silent as he can tweak it to be. Moving in stealth mode is optimal for tracking and creeping on assholes who kill innocent people.
He kills the lights in the cabin with the intention of sleeping a few hours before he rises to go on his mission, but Cory finds himself thinking about Paige’s newest relationship edict of it being over. He simply won’t accept it.
Chapter Nine
Simon
Cory left three days ago, and he’s been in misery since his friend’s departure. He has, however, been learning a lot from Sam’s uncle, who is working with him on pediatric studies. He enjoys the work, the long hours at their new clinic, and the hands-on experience he’s getting with her uncle. Simon’s just not too keen on the time at night when Dave’s men try to include him in on their activities because he doesn’t want to be around Sam. He has no answer for her legitimate question of why he kissed her again. Again. He’d slipped again like an idiot and let his feelings and emotions take over for his logic and level-headedness. His own weakness makes him sick.
That night before the tornado hit and changed everything, Simon had been so angry with her for calling him a coward. He’s not a coward. He’s trying to do the right thing by her. She deserves better but making her see that has not been an easy thing to do. He’s not sure if she sees it still. Sam mostly seems like she’s been avoiding him this week, too. She stays up until the wee hours of the morning playing cards and games with her new friends in Henry’s house.
And Henry is another subject altogether. Simon doesn’t trust him. He may be a nice guy, but Simon is sure that the man is interested in Sam. He’s seen it in his eyes. Sam doesn’t seem to notice, though, or else she is mutually interested in Henry. He hopes not. Simon wants her to be happy and to find someone good who can take care of her, just not Henry. The reason he knows she stays up late with her friends every night is because he can’t sleep, either, and has seen her and Courtney coming out of Henry’s house smiling and laughing gaily as if they’ve had a grand old time. Simon is usually wide awake, wandering the compound aimlessly, or sitting at his desk in his temporary housing looking out the window which happens to face Henry’s side door.
He’s also spent the last week and a half avoiding a few of the women from Sam’s bunkhouse who have let their interest in him be known. They seem like perfectly lovely girls, but he does not return their affections. He believes one was rescued from the sex camp and the other was an orphan who came to live on Dave’s compound a few years ago. They are both close to his age. He hasn’t committed much about them to memory other than that the blonde is named Ashley, and she is very pretty and a bit shy. He just has no consideration of her because he must stick to his studies and stay focused on becoming a doctor now and has no time for romance. Or at least that’s what he tells himself.
“This is great,” he tells her uncle. “I have a lot to study from this.”
They have been working on pediatric growth charts and childhood nutrition. He had no clue that children were so much different than adults. Her uncle taught yesterday about the similarities and also the differences between standard birth weight babies versus preemies. Then he spent most of the night studying the notes he has taken for the last week and a half while working with him.
“Good,” Scott says. “I’m glad I can help. We need all the doctors we can find or teach. This isn’t getting any easier. Babies are being born every day. They need care; so do the mothers. Out there…out there, these children aren’t going to get any help or medical care. I’ve seen so much malnutrition and disease…”
His words fade away as his eyes take on a haunted look.
“Where were you the last four years?” Simon asks because he and everyone else on the McClane farm has been curious about her uncle. He’s very quiet, not open to talking about himself or really much of anything with them.
“Where? Close by. Not far.”
“At a camp like this one?”
Scott shakes his head, “No, not like this. If I had been, I wouldn’t be here tonight with you. The places I was at were a lot less fortified, not secure at all. It’s not…safe out there. I’ve learned that many times over.”
“Sam once told me that you were working and living in Nashville when it happened and that you had a girlfriend or fiancée or something.”
“Yes, girlfriend. It was serious,” he says. “I was going to propose on her birthday the next month, April.”
“What happened?” Simon asks, his interest growing.
“She was killed,” he answers. “I was at the hospital. I thought I could still hold everything together, go to work, help people.”
“My mother did the same,” Simon says, remembering his mother’s devotion to her patients. He wishes so often that he could go back in time and forbid her from going to work that day. It was already becoming unstable in their country. Then it collapsed in the blink of an eye.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I know about her. Samantha told me. I was doing the same thing she was. We were dedicated to helping people. It’s why we all went into medicine in the first place. I had so many little patients who needed me.”
Simon nods with understanding. Her uncle has a big heart, or did. He’s not so sure if Scott is the same as he used to be as far as generosity goes. He is great with the kids at Doc’s clinic, but he is very reserved around everyone else.
“It got bad at the hospital. Police were called in to protect it, guard it against being raided by people looking for drugs. I could literally hear the city collapsing outside the windows of the hospital. I saw fires, looting, all of it. We got as many of the children out and with their families as we could. Some of the staff stayed on. I went home to make sure Steph was all right. I promised to return for a night shift since so many of the staff had already abandoned their jobs. When I got to our apartment, she was already dead. The building was looted. People were dead everywhere. She’d been…”
He doesn’t finish, but Simon knows the horrible fate his girlfriend and future wife suffered at the hands of the same kind of men with whom he’d traveled from Arizona. The same ones who’d abused Sam.
“I’m sorry.”
Scott nods and continues, “I wanted to bury her, but the looters were still in the building. Or maybe it was a fresh hoard. I don’t know. So, I packed what I could and left. I went back to the hospital. It was no better than my home. The police and guards were either gone, abandoned their jobs, or were killed. The druggies were already there taking everything that wasn’t nailed down or locked up and some that was. I took a few of my patients and got out of there.”
“You took other people’s kids?”
He shakes his head. “You don’t understand what it’s like to work on the peds floor, Simon. Some of these kids don’t have families. They get dumped in the hospital, especially babies, and the mother checks out after giving birth, and they never come back for them. It’s a sad and depressing place to work sometimes.”
“Wow,” Simon says softly. “That’s horrible.”
“People are ho
rrible. The kids were innocent victims of bad parents. I couldn’t leave them. I knew how to care for them, so I took two, which is all I could manage and fled. I made it down to the parking garage and to my car with a case of baby formula and a diaper bag full of stuff I’d need. Then I got to an Army post. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, sir,” he says. “My sister was able to do the same.”
“Good for her,” Scott says. “They were great. They even took one of the babies for me and sent men back into the city to rescue more kids from the hospital. I lived there for about a month. That’s all the longer that anyone lived there. It was attacked and overrun. The military men did a good job of getting us out of there, though. Most of us survived, and none of the children were harmed. We retreated to another position. It happened again, but the second time we weren’t so lucky. Many people were killed. Some children, too. I fled on foot that time. I was only able to keep the one baby with me, but I also took a little boy, Terrance. He was a sweet kid, five years old, orphaned. I found other survivors and lived with them for about a year. Then I knew I had to find my sister and her family.”
“Sam.”
He nods and continues, “Yes. You have to understand. In the beginning, it was so chaotic. I never would’ve made it to them. Once I got set up with the military, I was doing medical work immediately with their medics and nurses and any doctors who were available. Kind of like a mobile clinic. Then again with the next military group, I did the same. And again, with the people who took us in. I was always needed. When I could make my break for it, I did. I came back to find the house empty and ransacked and them gone. I didn’t know where to look.”
Simon’s eyes fall to the floor. He’s glad that her uncle didn’t look behind the barn. He would’ve seen the gravesites of Sam’s family.
“I kept searching and searching. Then I met up with a nice group of people and decided to stay with them for the winter. I looked for my family every chance I got. Then we were overrun last year, and I ended up with Dave’s group.”
“That’s a stroke of luck,” Simon comments.
“Yes, I know. I also know what’s out there waiting for me and Samantha if we were to leave. I have no intention of ever putting her in harm’s way.”
Simon tries not to think of Sam being in her uncle’s care. It’s hard to rationalize that he is not in charge of her well-being anymore.
“I know how close the two of you are, so I’m telling you this so that you don’t have to worry about her.”
He tries to offer a smile but fails. “Thanks.”
“I’ve been worried about her myself lately. Ever since her friend hung herself in the barn, Samantha’s been very depressed. She tries to hide it, but I’ve seen it. I’ve tried talking to her about it, but she clams up on me.”
“Yes, she can do that,” he agrees, although Sam actually did talk to him about it a little. If she doesn’t want to talk, she won’t. That’s just Sam. At least she does confide in him on most things, especially anything that bothers or frightens her.
“Simon,” her uncle says. “I know you two traveled together for a short time. And maybe you know what happened to my sister and her family. All I know is that they’re dead. Samantha won’t talk about it, but I worry about her. I know something’s wrong.”
He feels his cheeks begin to burn, but not from embarrassment. This is also not a source of comfort, this topic of conversation, for Simon, either.
“Would it be imposing on you to ask what happened, if you know, that is? I want to be able to help her.”
Simon swallows and runs a hand through his hair. Her uncle is still speaking, but Simon cannot follow his words or make sense of them. He doesn’t want to think about that time. He blocks it as hard as he can from his memory. It is a daily struggle, this trick he plays on his mind. The room feels too small all of a sudden.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Simon blurts suddenly, surprising her uncle. “Excuse me, sir.”
He rushes from the room in her uncle’s small cottage and out into the stifling night air. Their study session is officially over. He never would’ve probed her uncle about his past if he thought the man would bring up his and Sam’s. He can’t talk about that with anyone, especially him.
Simon turns the corner and nearly runs down Sam, who squeals with surprise.
“Simon!” she exclaims.
“Sorry,” he issues.
She’s wearing an oversized, white t-shirt that is two sizes too big and knee-length blue-jean shorts. Her dark hair is pulled into a ponytail, and she has leather boots on her feet. She’s never looked prettier.
“Aren’t you studying with my uncle?”
“Oh, yes, we just…finished,” he lies to cover himself.
She frowns and says, “I thought you two would be going for at least another hour or so.”
“Nope, got done early,” he says. “Big day tomorrow. Gotta get some rest.”
“Hm,” she remarks as if she is considering whether or not he is lying.
“Are you headed to your boyfriend’s house for another night of fun and merriment?” he goads, trying to dissuade her questioning stare and also to find out if she really is going to Henry’s.
“As if that’s your business. But, no, we’re not playing tonight. The guys are having a meeting.”
“About what?”
“The highwaymen,” she says. “I guess Cory saw them the other day when he went home to the farm, and now they’re planning an ambush or something. I’m sure I won’t be allowed to go.”
“Of course you won’t be permitted,” he agrees and gets an immature facial expression from her in return. “It sounds like I should be in on this meeting, though.”
“You’re welcome to join them, I’m sure.”
Her eyes are mischievous tonight. Simon often wonders what is going through her brain.
“What’s the catch?” he asks.
“They’re all still out at the cabin. You’ll have to run through the woods all the way to join their meeting if you want in on it.”
“Funny,” he mocks. “I think I’ll pass and hit the shower instead.”
“A nice cool one, no doubt,” she says.
Simon frowns, “Yes, they don’t have the hottest water going around here, do they? Another reason you should move back.”
“Why? Am I going to die from a slightly off temperature shower?”
“You’re full of pithy comments this evening,” he remarks, staring her down.
“And you expecting flattery and high praise?”
Simon chooses to ignore this and moves on to a topic that is pulling at his curiosity.
“Sam, why…why have you not told your uncle what happened to us, to you?” he asks with great caution.
“What?” she croaks out. “Why are you are asking me that?”
“Because he asked me. I didn’t tell him. You know I’d never do that. I don’t feel it’s my place.”
She nods and looks down. Then she looks up at Simon again, hitting him with those mysterious blue orbs.
“I will. Someday. Maybe. I don’t know.”
“It’s ok. I don’t think he expects you to. He was just worried. Maybe it would help…”
They are interrupted from further comment when a loud boom followed by the cracking of gunfire sounds off in the night.
“What the heck was that?” he asks.
“I have no idea,” she stammers with equal confusion.
Then more gunfire as one of Dave’s men runs past them.
“What’s going on, Thad?” Sam calls after him.
“Get to safety!” he yells at them. “We’re taking fire.”
Simon doesn’t waste a single second and grabs her hand and runs for his cabin. He needs his rifle, which he’d left on the small table in the main room. Within a minute, he has his rifle slung over his shoulder and is strapping his pistol on his hip, as well. He takes her hand again and leads her back out. Then he hooks a right a
nd jogs to her uncle’s small cottage.
“What’s going on out there?” Scott asks with worry as he ushers them inside.
“Not sure. I’m going to find out.”
“Me, too,” Sam says.
“Sam, stay here,” he says and turns to go.
“I want to help,” she argues and is pushing past him to go out the door.
“No!” he barks loudly as more shots in the distance ring out. “Stay here. I don’t want you shot in a crossfire. I don’t know what this is. I’ll come back as soon as I can to let you know when or if it’s safe. I mean it. Don’t come out there. Sir, keep her here. Stay here and get out through the back of the farm if it’s overrun. Get to Doc’s farm if it comes to that.”
“Fine,” she says, her eyes worried and wide. “Don’t forget me here.”
“I’ll keep her safe, Simon,” her uncle says, hitting him with a strange look as if he is surprised to see this side of Simon. He notices the man has a handgun drawn.
“I won’t forget about you guys. I promise,” he says and slides past her. “Lock this!” he yells through the door.
Then Simon sprints for the front of the compound where he meets up with some of Dave’s men.
“What the hell’s going on?” he asks in a rush.
“Someone just launched a grenade at us, at the gates,” the man answers.
“Where’s Sergeant Winters?” Simon inquires after Dave.
“Not back yet,” the other man says, his eyes jumping to the barrier fence separating them from their enemy.
The man Sam called Thad says, “They’re still out there. Come on. Let’s get you in a good position.”
He follows Thad into Henry’s home and sprints up to the attic.
“How bad are we outnumbered?” Simon asks.
“Not sure. Dave should hear the shots and be here soon. No worries. Let’s just do what we can to prevent them from breaching.”
