Maddie and I had taken the first room that Patricia had shown us which meant I had no idea where Blake, Whitney, and Jay even were. It was a strange feeling to be inside the fancy house when everything outside was a mess.
I wanted to take a look around the house but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving Maddie alone. I stuck my head out of the door and looked down the hallway. Jay stepped out of his room and paused when he saw me.
He narrowed his eyes and his voice was soft. “What are you doing?”
I gave a quick glance to Maddie before leaving the room. I walked over to Jay with my arms crossed in front of my body. Why hadn’t I taken my hoodie in with me?
“I wanted to investigate,” I said before biting my cheek.
“What’s stopping you?” Jay asked. “I’ll snoop with you if you want.”
My head twisted side to side. “I don’t want to leave her alone.”
“Oh, hmm, I get that but honestly, I don’t think you need to worry about Ollie and Patricia.” Jay grinned as he stroked the side of his neck. “They’re harmless.”
“Says the new guy,” I half-teased. “They didn’t even seem to know Joey had a brother.”
Jay groaned. “That was a bit annoying, considering I dated Izzy first.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Yeah,” Jay said. “Everyone always liked Joey better. He got all the charisma.”
“It doesn’t seem like you guys were very close. That’s usual for twins, isn’t it?”
Jay shrugged. “Not when your brother steals the love of your life. I didn’t want to say anything around your friend, Blake, but Joey and I hadn’t spoken in about eight years, I think.” Jay sighed. “After like three years I stopped counting.”
“That sucks,” I said not knowing what else to say. It was a response I was pretty sure I’d learned from Maddie.
“He stole my girlfriend, married her, they made tons of money, and he had a great life. Screw Jay,” he said throwing up his hands. “Do I sound bitter? I don’t mean to.”
“Maybe just a touch,” I said giving him a sympathetic smile.
Jay released a long exhale. “Well, it all worked out in the end. I married a beautiful woman and had the most amazing kid. Wait. What am I talking about… it didn’t work out at all. Look around. I must be cursed.”
“You and I both,” I said.
“Should I ask?”
“Nah,” I said. “Maybe another time.”
Jay grinned. “You got it. Really, though, you can leave her. She’ll be safe in there.”
“I’d feel better if someone was with her,” I said.
“Even me?” Jay asked.
“Um, yeah,” I said even though I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that was true. I would have preferred Blake or Whitney. “I’ll just be a few minutes.”
“You got it,” Jay said. “I’ll sit out here on the floor. Wouldn’t want her to freak out if she woke up and I was in the room alone with her.”
I smiled. “I really appreciate that.”
“No problem,” Jay said.
I wandered around the second floor, looking into each room that had the door open. The bathroom was the last door at the end of the hall. There was a bucket of water next to the toilet.
I looked at myself in the mirror. My face was dirty and I had more wrinkles than I remembered.
There was a scented candle on the window sill that looked as though it had only been lit once or twice. The long flowing curtains were pulled to the side to let the natural light into the room.
I sat down on the side of the tub and let out a long, almost silent sigh as I rubbed my palms vigorously against my face. Maybe I hadn’t wanted to snoop so much as I just needed a few minutes to myself.
My knees felt weak when I forced myself to stand. I couldn’t hide in the bathroom forever, even if I felt like it.
I looked out the window at the few wispy clouds in the sky. It looked like it was going to be a clear night.
Jay watched me as I came back down the hallway. He didn’t speak until I was two feet away from him.
“Don’t you want to look around downstairs too?” he asked.
“No, I guess I just wanted to locate the bathroom,” I said.
“I think there are like ten bathrooms in this place,” Jay said. “There are two doors in my room and I think one of them leads to a bathroom. Haven’t checked yet.”
There was movement at the bottom of the stairs. Jay stood.
“Meal time,” Patricia called. “If you want.”
“I want,” Jay said to me. “I’ll bring something back for you if you want.”
“That would be great, thanks,” I said just as the door across the hall opened. Both Blake and Whitney came out of the room.
The blood in my veins felt warm as it rushed a bit faster than usual. There were more than enough bedrooms for all of us to have our own.
Blake met my eye but quickly looked away. He followed Jay down the stairs and I turned on my heel to go back into the room with Maddie.
Suddenly, I wasn’t very hungry.
Chapter Twelve
I hadn’t tossed and turned as much as I usually did. The soft bed sucked me deep inside, making it hard to shift around too much. Not to mention, I didn’t want to disturb Maddie, who was still asleep when I opened my eyes.
“Maddie,” I said gently shaking her.
There were tiny droplets of sweat at Maddie’s hairline. I reached out to touch her forehead, recoiling at how hot she felt. I pulled the bedspread down to her feet. It was possible that the bed was too warm… that she was overheating.
“Maddie, wake up,” I said a bit louder.
She groaned and rolled over. Maddie shivered and curled up into a ball.
“Time to get up, Maddie. It’s morning,” I said getting out of the bed to open the curtains. “Let’s go see if we can find some breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry,” she mumbled.
I walked around the bed and pressed my lips to her forehead. She hadn’t overheated from the warm blankets… Maddie had a fever.
I stepped out into the hallway, not hesitating as I walked across and knocked on the door. Blake opened it, shirtless. His eyes instantly narrowed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I need Whitney,” I said quickly. “Maddie’s sick.”
Over Blake’s shoulder, I saw Whitney swing her bare legs out of the bed. She quickly pulled on her pants and walked to the door pushing her way past both Blake and me.
I was at Whitney’s heels back to the room. Whitney sat on the edge of the bed and placed her hand on Maddie’s head.
“Yeah, she has a fever,” Whitney confirmed. Whitney tried to talk to Maddie but she wouldn’t respond other than little whimpers and groans. “She needs a doctor.”
“I wish that were an option,” I said.
“I know I’m sorry,” Whitney said. “Maybe it’s just a bug that needs to run its course.”
Thoughts that Maddie had caught the sickness overcame me. My knees were suddenly weak.
Maddie didn’t have the symptoms the sick had. But would they come? Was this how it started?
“Or maybe it’s an infection,” Whitney said her eyes still on Maddie.
“She got hurt when we were escaping through the fence,” I said. “Her shoulder.”
“Maddie, can we look at your shoulder?” I asked.
She grunted back what I assumed was an okay. Whitney and I worked together to raise up Maddie’s shirt over her shoulder.
“There is no doubt in my mind this is infected,” Whitney said.
It was so bad that I hadn’t even needed Whitney to confirm that it was infected. “It was just a scratch. How did this happen?”
“I don’t know,” Whitney said shaking her head. She flicked me a sympathetic and worry-filled look. “She needs antibiotics.”
“Antibiotics,” I said repeating the word. It tasted sour on my tongue.
I turned sharply, biting back my tears. B
lake was standing in the doorway, his eyes focused on me.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said reassuringly.
“What’s going on?” Jay asked from the hallway. Blake turned and spoke to him so softly that I couldn’t hear his words. “Shit. I’ll see if there is anything downstairs.”
Blake nodded and I started to pace. There wasn’t going to be anything downstairs that would help Maddie.
“I need the first aid kit,” Whitney said as she stood and placed her hands on her hips. “We need to take care of this wound as best as we can.”
“I’ll get it for you,” Blake said. He vanished, his footsteps pounding rapidly as he descended the nearby stairs.
Whitney tapped her finger to her chin. “I’m trying to think of what else we might need. Her heart is racing and she’s taking quick breaths even when at rest. Maybe morphine?” Her eyes locked with mine. “I’m sorry, Kit. I wish I knew more about this. There wasn’t a lot for me to do in the small clinic I worked in.”
“It’s fine,” I said. It wasn’t like it was Whitney’s fault.
“Penicillin… doxycycline… umm,” Whitney said as she paced. Her eyebrows were squeezed together to form a line. “Maybe she needs an injection of the tetanus antitoxin. An artificial respirator.”
“What? Are you serious?” My breaths started to come to me quickly. “We don’t have power. Is this tetanus?”
“I don’t know,” Whitney said. “It’s a possibility, I think.”
Jay came back into the room with a glass of water. “No antibiotics but here’s some Tylenol.”
Whitney shrugged and took the water and pills from him. She cupped two capsules in her palm and nervously gripped the glass.
“Help me, Kit,” Whitney said. “Get her into a seated position. The last thing we want is her choking on the pills.”
Maddie opened her eyes but she couldn’t keep them open long. Her body was so hard to hold up without any help from her.
“What’s going on?” she asked her eyelids fluttering momentarily.
“Take some medicine,” I said stroking her hair away from her face. “It’ll help you feel better.”
“Okay,” she said softly.
Maddie let Whitney place the pills on her tongue. Whitney helped her drink but it looked as though it was difficult for Maddie to swallow.
“Are they down, sweetie?” Whitney asked. Maddie’s head bobbed just enough to see her response. “Okay let’s get her back down.”
Whitney set down the glass and helped me get Maddie more comfortable. Blake stomped into the room, breathing as if he’d just finished a 5k race and won.
“Here’s the first aid kit,” Blake said handing it to Whitney.
“Would you two excuse us while we clean her wound?” Whitney asked.
“Oh, sure,” Blake said and both men exited the room.
They were trying to keep their voices down but I could hear them whispering in the hallway.
“Ollie told me there is a town about twenty minutes from here,” Jay said. “A doctor’s office and a pharmacy in the same building. He had to bring Patricia once when they were visiting.”
“I could be back in less than an hour,” Blake said.
My eyes connected with Whitney’s. It was impossible to miss that she didn’t want him to go.
“Don’t worry,” I said softer than a feather. “I’ll go… she’s my daughter.”
Whitney shook her head. “She’s your daughter. She needs you here.”
“You’ll be able to take better care of her than I can,” I said.
Whitney delicately re-bandaged Maddie’s wound. Maddie winced through her sleep at the pain as we pulled her shirt down together and rolled her onto her back. She down on the side of the bed and held Maddie’s hand.
I backed out of the room and into the hallway. Blake was leaning back against the wall with his hands tucked into his pocket.
“I’m going to head out in a bit,” Blake said. “Just need to check with Whitney on a few things.”
“I heard,” I said looking at my feet. “But I’m coming with you.”
Blake laughed. “Is that a joke?”
“No,” I said sharply.
“I’m coming too,” Jay said.
“No, you’re not,” I said before Blake could open his mouth. “I need you to stay here with Whitney and Maddie. In fact, Blake you should stay back too.”
Blake blinked twice. “That’s not going to happen.”
“We’re not going to sit here and argue about it all day while Maddie is suffering,” I said. “I mean, you guys can but I’m not going to.” I held out my palm. “Give me the keys.”
“There is no way in hell I’m letting you go out there alone,” Blake said. “I’ll drive.”
My teeth pressed together hard. My jaw didn’t relax. “Fine. Let me talk to Whitney quick and tell my daughter I’ll be back soon.”
Chapter Thirteen
I had a list on a small piece of paper. There were various medicines and other supplies we needed to look for. Maybe it would have been better for Whitney to go with Blake but I couldn’t have asked that of her. She probably would have declined anyway.
Jay had watched us drive off out of the front window. He was like a small child watching his parents drive off for a date night, leaving him with his least favorite babysitter.
He had wanted to join us so he could show us around but he admitted he’d only been to the town once before. I felt better having him there to protect Maddie since he was armed. He was new to us, but I trusted him much more than I trusted Mr. and Mrs. Overton to keep Maddie safe should something go wrong.
Whitney was uncomfortable with Blake leaving her. She hadn’t said it but I’d seen it in her eyes. He’d promised her we’d be back soon.
Leaving Maddie had been hard but I knew it was something I needed to do. I needed to get the medicine that would help her get well.
It only took us about fifteen minutes to get to the town, thanks to Blake’s speeding. I was continuously scanning our surroundings, looking for sick or other people that might cause problems.
Blake found the clinic and pulled the SUV up to the curb. He pulled on his mask and grabbed his gun.
“Ready?” he asked in the muffled voice I was used to when we had our masks on.
I slid the mask down over my nose and mouth and nodded as I looked down at the list in my hand again. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had it or not because somehow, I’d memorized every item on the list.
I opened the door and quickly walked around the SUV. The town was like any other small town I’d ever been to. There were cars parked on the street, small businesses, and little shops scattered on the street. At the far end of the street, there was a fast-food chain and likely, it was the only one in town.
Blake reached out to open the clinic door. Neither of us was surprised to find that it was locked.
Blake looked over his shoulder before flicking his gun into the glass. The sound of it shattering was like a firework on the Fourth of July. If there had been anyone in town, they definitely would have heard the sound.
“Let’s move quick,” Blake said nervously.
“Hadn’t thought that would be so loud, did you?” I asked with a smirk.
“No,” he said without smiling back. He pulled open the door and entered the building first with his gun held up.
Blake aimed it around the empty room before gesturing toward the small area of the clinic that was used as the pharmacy.
I opened the door that was for employees only and didn’t close it behind me. My eyes scanned the shelves but it was just an overwhelming mishmash of letters. My adrenaline was pumping so fast I couldn’t concentrate.
I closed my eyes and drew in a breath. As I slowly released it I the letters started to form words.
I grabbed one of the large paper bags below the checkout counter and started filling it with the items on Whitney’s list.
I found everything — the anti-
toxin, the sedatives, the antibiotics — but didn’t stop there. I threw a ton of other stuff into the bag more than half of which I didn’t know what it was. There was a pharmaceutical reference book on the counter which I threw into the bag as well.
“Almost done,” I said to Blake when our eyes met.
“This isn’t a shopping spree,” he said.
“Who knows when this stuff might come in handy,” I said looking at the bottle of Vicodin in my hand. All I could think about was how I could maybe one day get a full night of sleep. I took all of the bottles and dropped them into the bag. “Okay,” I said taking quick breaths as I looked around. There were packages of Lidocaine patches, gauze pads, medical tape… I couldn’t stop taking things. “I’m done. Let’s go.”
Blake looked at the stuffed bag. “Are you sure you have what we came for in there?”
“I’m positive,” I said but I hated that he’d asked. Now I was doubting myself and wanted to set the bag down and check just to make sure but we didn’t have time.
I followed Blake to the front door, but he stopped several feet away. “Shit!”
“What’s wrong?” I said.
“They're out there,” he said quietly.
I leaned forward to get a better look outside the window. There was a small crowd of the sick moving toward us.
“They heard the glass break,” Blake said guiding me away from the front of the building. “They’ll see us.”
I hadn’t needed him to tell me why we were backing away. Before we were out of sight, I saw there was another group coming from the other side of the street. There had to be at least thirty of the sick out there… all of them coming toward the clinic.
Where had they been hiding? Did they just sit around together, waiting for someone to make a noise?
“How are we going to get to the SUV?” I asked quietly.
“I don’t know yet,” Blake said doing his best to remain calm but his hand holding the gun was shaking ever so slightly. He wasn’t calm.
We didn’t have enough ammunition in his gun to deal with all of the sick that were crowding around us. It wasn’t something that just one gun could handle even with all the bullets in the world.
What Remains Series (Book 3): Infected Page 6
