Land A Stranded Novel

by Theresa Shaver

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  When Alex woke up, she came up in a rush and banged her head hard. “ARGGGG!” her head was pounding and not just from banging it. Her mouth was powder-dry and tasted like something had died in it. She remembered operating on Quinn and then sitting on a stump by the fence and drinking rum. She had never been much of a drinker, just one here and there at a party so she realized that she was experiencing her first hangover and vowed that it would be her last.

  It was dark wherever she was so she felt around with her hands and figured out that she was in one of the bunks in the camper. She swung her legs over the side of the bunk and groaned again from the pain in her head. Water, she needed water and drugs, lots of drugs. She made her way to the tiny kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the counter. She could barely see, but after eight days of living in the camper, she knew her way around in the dark. Opening a small cupboard she fumbled around until she found the bottle of aspirin and clutched it to her chest like a lifeline. She made her way to the side door and went outside.

  It was either very late or very early and it wasn’t until she looked to the east and she saw just a hint of lighter sky that she knew she had slept the rest of the afternoon and night away in a drunken stupor. She shook her head at her own stupidity, causing it to pound even harder and making her stomach rush up her throat. She rushed away to the side of the vet office and vomited up the last of the rum.

  “I guess that’s the designated puking spot. Twice in twenty-four hours, Alex? Nothing will ever grow there again!” Josh teased her from behind.

  Her stomach felt better but her head was still killing her and she fumbled with the childproof cap on the painkillers. Josh plucked it from her hands and popped the lid off, handing her two pills. After rinsing her mouth with water, she took the pills gratefully and downed them.

  “How’s Quinn? Did he wake up? Why are you awake? Where is everyone?” she fired at him.

  Josh threw his head back and laughed. “And she’s back! God, I love you, Alex.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I love you too, you big goof. Now answer my questions.”

  When he got his laughter under control he told her, “Quinn’s fine. He woke up after about four hours and we fed him some soup. He didn’t puke it up like you, so we took that as a good sign. He has no fever and his wounds are still dry and clean so it’s a wait-and-see thing. We gave him some codeine pills and that made him so happy he went back to sleep and is still out. I’m up because we have a druggie and a drunk in our group and someone needs to keep watch while everyone is asleep,” he finished with a raised eyebrow at her.

  Alex looked at her feet in embarrassment. “Right, umm, good, I mean, umm, oh crap. I’m sorry, Josh. It was a really stupid thing to do. I’m sorry I left you guys to do all the work.”

  “Ah, don’t worry about it, Alex. You earned it. What you did in there was amazing. He’s going to be fine because of you. Besides, let’s just say, you provided the entertainment,” he said with an evil grin. “Something about black-haired, blue-eyed bad boys and lots of singing too!”

  Alex closed her eyes in mortification, her face flamed red. She could picture her embarrassed face on public service posters for the evils of teenage drinking. Her head started to clear as the aspirin took hold. She opened her eyes and looked at her laughing friend.

  “Okay, I deserve a little teasing for last night but that’s enough,” she thought to herself.

  “Hey, Josh, remember this? ‘I would kill someone to keep you safe, Dara.’” she said as a sickly sweet love declaration.

  His face went from laughing to blank instantly. “Right, I’m done. Let’s go check on Quinn, Doctor.” He quickly changed the subject. She laughed at him and grabbed his hand as they went in to the clinic to check on Quinn.

  Later that morning, once everyone was awake and they were eating a breakfast of instant oatmeal, they had a group meeting. Quinn had woken up with clear eyes and hungry for breakfast so the boys had carried him on his stretcher out onto the porch and propped his upper body up with pillows so he could eat with them. Alex didn’t want his leg to be moved for a few days and they discussed what the plans would be.

  Josh led the discussion. “I think we need to plan on staying here for at least five days. If we go back on the road with Quinn and we get attacked again, we would be in trouble. I looked through the house yesterday and it’s untouched. I don’t think anyone has been here. There are a lot of supplies we can use and take with us and there are some generators that I might be able to get working. I say we stay put until Quinn is more mobile and then we go like mad for the border and home. We’ve been staying away from main roads to avoid people and we’ve been shot at twice so it doesn’t seem to be helping us. All this back road driving is just making us lose time. Once we leave here, I say we head towards the interstate and once we get past Great Falls we get on it and try and make better time. I know Alex, Quinn and I have all been to Great Falls with our families for shopping. I’ve never seen that part of the interstate, from the border to Great Falls, with heavy traffic. What about you, Quinn?”

  Quinn didn’t answer him because he had fallen asleep again. His head was slumped down, with his chin resting on his chest. They took the empty bowl off of his lap and eased his upper body back down onto the stretcher. They decided to leave him out on the porch in the fresh air so they covered him up with blankets and moved out into the yard to finish the discussion.

  “I agree with you, Josh. We need to stay here and let him heal. We were so lucky with where he was shot. Those bullets could have hit bone or even worse, his main artery. As it is, he’ll be limping for a long time. I’m done with this back road driving too. It’s just taking too long and is just as dangerous. I agree that the northern part of the interstate was never very busy. There were always a lot of transport trucks and it was busy on a long weekend at the border crossing with shoppers but this happened on a Tuesday morning so it shouldn’t be heavy with car crashes. I’m ready to get home so that’s my vote,” Alex told them. Cooper and Dara nodded their agreement.

  “Alright then, we should go up to the house and get it ready. We might as well stay up there for the next few days in comfort. Once we get Quinn moved up into one of the bedrooms, I’ll start working on the generators and see if we can get some power. We’ll need more water too if we are here very long.”

  Dara volunteered to stay with Quinn as the rest went up to the house to get it ready for the coming days.