Sanctuary

by Courtney McPhail

  “Now I’m just going to palpate your glands,” Quinton told her. “That’s just a fancy way of saying I’m going to touch your neck. Is that okay?”

  Shay nodded and lifted her chin for him. He checked her glands and smiled. “No swelling which is good news. I think you earned your lollipop.”

  He pulled out the lollipop Gloria had given him and handed it over. Shay gave him her first genuine smile, flashing him a gap toothed grin, her two front teeth missing.

  Quinton turned to Jed. “Looks like it’s just a reaction to the cold, it should go away on its own. If it starts bothering her, use some of the over the counter ear drops, it’ll help with the pain.”

  “We’ve got some at the pharmacy,” Jed said and then reached over to ruffle the girl’s hair gently as she licked her lollipop. “Alright, little lady, why don’t you go outside and help Miss Gloria and Miss Elsie down to the truck and I’ll take you all back home.”

  She hopped off the couch and headed outside, her mood considerably lighter than before. Jed watched her as she left, checking out the window to see that she had joined the older women.

  Kim had noticed that Jed was protective of all his people. When he had escorted them over here, he had stayed with each of them as they met with Quinton. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them but that he cared about his people’s comfort and knew his presence reassured them. It didn’t surprise her that he would be kind and caring to the little girl.

  “You’re good with her,” Kim said. “Mrs. Fraser told me what happened to her parents.”

  Jed’s face grew dark and he gave a short nod. “I used to volunteer at this after school program she used to come to before all of this. She likes to stick close to me since she doesn’t have any other family but we all try to take care of the little ones who don’t have anybody.”

  “That’s good of you,” Kim said, patting him on the shoulder.

  “It’s the right thing to do,” Jed replied, refusing to accept her praise. “My mom was always looking after the kids. She died that night too.”

  Her heart broke for the boy. He said it with so little emotion that she knew his mother’s death had to be tearing him up inside. He was trying to hide it by pretending it didn’t bother him but as a mother herself, she could see the grief in him.

  She wanted to reach out and hug him but she knew it wasn’t what he would want. Everything about him was guarded in that moment and so she simply tightened her grip on his shoulder.

  “I’m so sorry Jed.”

  He nodded, his only acknowledgement that he had heard her words. “I best get Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Frasier back home.”

  “Are there any more people to see?” Quinton asked and Jed shook his head. “Well, alright then, I guess we should go help the others with the supplies.”

  Jed turned to Quinton and held out his hand. “I want to thank you, Doctor, for helping us.”

  “Thank you for helping us,” Quinton replied, shaking the boy’s hand.

  Jed turned to her and held out his hand. “I want to thank you too, Miss Kim.”

  She clasped his hand in both of hers. “It was my pleasure. You’re a good boy, Jed.”

  His cheeks turned pink at the praise. “My dad will be glad to hear that.”

  They headed outside and she was happily surprised to see their SUVs parked out front of the house and Malcolm, Darren and the others loading their supplies inside them. She was relieved to see Malcolm back in one piece. She knew that Malcolm could take care of himself but that didn’t stop her from worrying and she was happy to have him back.

  Malcolm walked back to the pile of supplies and spotted her, a smile blooming on his face. He left the supplies to cross the lawn to her and leaned down for a kiss. “Y’all do okay here?”

  “We did,” she said. “Everyone is in relatively good health and they’re all in good spirits.”

  Malcolm nodded and looked over to where Mrs. Fraser and Shay were helping Mrs. Austin to the truck. He immediately crossed the lawn to the woman’s side.

  “Can I help you ladies?” he asked.

  Mrs. Austin looked up at him and Kim saw her eyebrow arch as she smiled at him. “Why yes, my dear, I think you could.”

  Malcolm helped them all into the truck, Mrs. Austin flirting all the while. Kim had to stifle a laugh when Mrs. Austin squeezed his bicep telling him he was quite a male specimen and Malcolm had sputtered dumbly in response.

  Kim stepped up beside him and narrowed her eyes at Mrs. Austin.

  “Are you getting fresh with my man, Mrs. Austin?”

  “This is your fella, huh?” Mrs. Austin said, giving Malcolm a more calculating look. “Well, this lady here is a good woman and you better treat her right or you’ll have me to answer to.”

  “On my honour I will, ma’am,” he said solemnly but Kim could see he was fighting back a smile. “Truth is, she’s got my heart and she knows it.”

  “Good,” Mrs. Fraser said, leaning forward so she could spy out the window. “That’s the way it should be. You let him know who’s boss, Kim.”

  “I always do,” Kim replied with a wink, wrapping her arm around Malcolm’s waist as Jed climbed in the driver’s seat. “It was really nice meeting all of you.”

  “You take care of yourselves,” Mrs. Austin called out as Jed started the engine. “And any time you two or that handsome doctor want to come visit, feel free.”

  Kim laughed. “We’ll be sure to do that.”

  They watched as Jed backed down the driveway and then headed back to the shopping centre, Shay waving to them out the back window with her lollipop clenched in her mouth.

  “These are good people,” Kim said as she waved back to the girl. “Did Darren tell you what happened here?”

  “A bit,” Malcolm replied, turning to watch Darren as he helped Trey carry the last of the plywood sheets over to the SUV. “They are strong and they’re smart.”

  She was glad to know he had seen the same thing she had. “They are the kind of people we should want to work with.”

  “You’re right,” Malcolm said and then called Quinton over. “What do you say about us offering up a visit from you once a month to check over their people?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Quinton said. “They have quite a few elderly people here and they are going to be developing chronic conditions. Then they have the kids who are susceptible to tons of things.”

  “I’m all for helping these guys out,” Kim said, “But I do think we should consider what to ask from them in return.”

  Quinton frowned. “We don’t have to ask for anything. They have plenty of supplies, it’s really only my time and I’m fine with volunteering it.”

  “There’s also the gas for the boat and the drive here,” Kim said. “The time of the people who will have to accompany you. That’s worth a lot and I think we should take the opportunity we have to establish a trade relationship with them.”

  She could tell that Malcolm was considering what she said but Quinton wasn’t on board yet.

  “Look at these people. They are strong, they are capable, and they are like us. Hell, they’re better than us. They have almost two hundred people in that place. They are a well-oiled machine and we don’t have to insult them with our charity. We should trade with them. Quinton’s MD for something they can spare. Today it was the building supplies, next time it can be chickens.”

  “Chickens?”

  Kim nodded. “Winston told me that one of the groups they ran into was out on a farm. They brought them chickens, including a rooster. They have fertilized eggs that they are incubating for more chickens. They’ll have plenty to spare in a month.”

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Malcolm said. “It’ll establish a give and take relationship between us. It may also make them more comfortable. They might think there are strings attached or that we’ll try to cash in on it later if we don’t ask for something in return.”

  “Alright, you talked me into it,” Quinton said, holding up
his hands in surrender. “Let’s go negotiate the Sanctuary-Port Meyer Trade Agreement.”

  They walked over to the SUVs where Banks and Trey were loading the last of the supplies and Darren was keeping watch over the street.

  “Looks like you guys are about ready to go,” Darren said. “I’m glad things worked out between us.”

  “That’s what we were talking about,” Malcolm said. “We think it would be good idea for us to come back in a month so Quinton can do another round of check-ups.”

  A wrinkle appeared between Darren’s eyebrows, his eyes darting around and she realized he was trying to figure out their angle.

  “We were thinking you could give us a couple of the chicks you’re hatching up there in exchange for Quinton’s time,” Kim said.

  Darren visibly relaxed and she knew she had been right to insist they barter. He didn’t trust charity but a trade was something he could trust.

  “That sounds fair to me,” Darren replied. “We can even throw in one of the grown hens so you know you’ve got a reliable layer.”

  Malcolm held out his hand and Darren shook it. “We’ve got ourselves a deal.”

  Malcolm nodded and then reached up to rub at the back of his neck and Kim recognized his guilty expression.

  “Look, I want to be honest with you,” he said. “I told you we were camped at a marina and that wasn’t true. We’re set up on an island in the lake. I know I lied but you can’t blame me for playing my cards close to my chest.”

  “No, that I can’t,” Darren replied with a wry smile. “So why are you telling me this now? We wouldn’t have ever known.”

  “Because the second Quinton was done with all his doctoring, you could have just shot us all but you didn’t. We made a deal and built ourselves some trust. I wouldn’t want anything to break that trust.” He looked over at the mall. “Besides, we know about this place, seems only fair you know about ours.”

  “I appreciate it,” Darren said. “Look, if things go bad for you out there, you are welcome here. We can always make room for useful people.”

  “Same goes for you,” Malcolm said. “We’ve always got channel 22 open on our radio. You call us and we can come get you.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “You know, the trip up here, we ran into a lot of bad people. We met some good people too. Mendez and Banks.” Malcolm looked over at them as they were saying goodbye to Martin and Scott. “I thought maybe they were the last good people left in the world but then we came here.”

  “There are good people out there but they know to hide,” Darren told him. “They show what they have and they risk losing it. But eventually we’re going to have to take the risks and reach out. Somewhere down the line, the bad people are going to band together and take everything in the world that is up for grabs. That’s when the good people are going to have to come together and fight back.”

  Kim felt a chill come over her, goosebumps sprouting up over her flesh despite the heat of the day. Darren’s words rang true. Even out on the island, there would come a day when someone would find them and they would have to fight to keep what was theirs.

  It was a terrifying thought and so she focused on the pact that they had struck today. Even if it did come down to a fight, they had found allies here and that was more important than anything in the back of those SUVs.

  Subject File # 749

  Subject: I don’t know if things can ever be the same between us.

  Administrator: Nothing has changed.

  Subject: Everything has changed. What you guys kept from us...it was wrong to do that.

  Administrator: We never intended for anyone to get hurt.

  Subject: Well, fat lot of good that did anyone.

  “I hope they’ve found her,” Claudia said as they jogged along the path to the lodge, “Because I think Veronica is going to lose it if they didn’t.”

  Janet was afraid that Claudia was right. Veronica had been terrified when she had found Audrey’s bloody bandanna in the clinic and Janet understood why. If it had been any of her children, Janet would be near inconsolable. She wished they were bringing back good news but they had searched every inch of the cabins they’d been assigned and hadn’t turned up a single sign of Audrey.

  The lodge appeared up ahead and Janet could see Veronica and Jackson talking to Elaine out front of it. Jackson was the first to spot them and she could see the disappointment in his eyes and she knew the others hadn’t found her.

  Veronica whipped around, for a moment looking hopeful, but then her face fell when she saw Audrey wasn’t with them.

  “You didn’t find her?” Veronica asked, even though she knew the answer but she seemed to need to hear it.

  “We checked all the cabins but there was no sign of her,” Claudia said. “I didn’t see any tracks from her either.”

  Veronica turned to Jackson, her eyes panicked. “Jackson, if something happened to her--”

  “Hey, nothin’ happened to her,” he said, not letting her finish the thought. “She’s pissed and she’s hidin’ somewhere, okay? Ya know she’s smart. She probably heard us lookin’ for her and found another hidin’ spot. And when we find her, we’re gonna ground her ass for a year for givin’ us heart attacks.”

  Janet was impressed by Jackson. She could see that he was worried but he was keeping it under wraps so he could keep Veronica calm.

  The lodge door opened and Jenny appeared there, ushering Matthew and Mark outside. Janet could tell instantly that something was wrong with the boys. They were both staring at their feet, holding each other’s hand, which they only did when they were scared.

  Janet rushed across the lawn and up the steps. “What’s wrong?”

  Matthew glanced up at her with guilty eyes and then looked to his brother, who kept his eyes down. Jenny put a hand on Matthew’s shoulder and squeezed.

  “Go ahead, tell them what you told me, you won’t be in trouble, I promise.”

  “We broke the rules,” Matthew confessed. “This morning, when you told Mark and me to go tell everybody breakfast was ready, after we went down to the boathouse instead of coming straight back. We just wanted to look at the boats.”

  “And what did you see?” Jenny urged him on.

  “Audrey was there talking to Harold and then they went into the boathouse,” Matthew told her. “We didn’t want to get caught so we came back to the lodge.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us this before when you knew we were looking for Audrey?” Janet asked him.

  He chewed on his bottom lip and looked at Mark who looked up at her. “We didn’t want to get in trouble.”

  “What were they talking about?” Veronica asked, coming up to the boys. “What was Harold saying to Audrey? Were they arguing or fighting?”

  “We didn’t hear them,” Matthew said quietly.

  “Was Harold forcing her to go? Was she crying? Did she need help?”

  Veronica’s barrage of questions and the rising hysteria in her voice had the boys shrinking back to Jenny’s side and looking up at Janet for reassurance.

  Janet placed a hand on Veronica’s shoulder and she shot wild eyes at her. “Veronica, you’re scaring them.”

  “But what if he did something to her?” Veronica cried out, her voice shrill and shaky.

  “Hey, calm down, ya ain’t thinkin’ clearly,” Jackson told her. “They went there ‘fore the others left. Audrey was with us at the dock when we saw ‘em off. Harold didn’t do nothin’ to her, okay?”

  Veronica let out a shaky breath and nodded, letting him steer her away from the boys and over to Claudia. Janet didn’t blame her for not being able to think clearly. If it had been one of her children, she would be crazy with fear.

  “Boys,” she said, kneeling down to meet their eyes. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

  They shook their heads.

  “We didn’t think they were doing anything wrong. We’re sorry we didn’t tell you,” Matthew said.

&nb
sp; “It’s okay,” Janet said, reaching out to hug both of them. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Now go back in the lodge with Jenny, okay? We’re going to go look some more for Audrey.”

  “We can help look,” Matthew said.

  “We know a lot of good hiding places,” Mark added.

  She was touched that the boys wanted to help but there was no way that she was going to have them wandering around the island right now. Though Harold had been the last person she would have considered a threat, what the boys had seen this morning made her suspicious.

  What reason would Harold have to talk to Audrey? The fact that they had seen both Harold and Audrey after their meeting at the boathouse was the only thing that kept her from immediately condemning the man but she was still suspicious.

  “I need you two to stay here and keep Hannah distracted,” Janet told them. “I don’t want her to be scared about her sister. Play one of the board games to keep her from thinking about it.”

  “Okay, Mom,” they answered in unison and she gave them one last hug.

  Jenny took the boys back inside, Janet watching as they looked back at her before the door closed and she gave them a reassuring smile.

  “No! I’m going to talk to him! Harold knows something and I’m going to find out what!”

  Veronica’s shrill words pulled her attention from the boys and she watched as Veronica stalked towards the clinic.

  “I think we should talk to Angela about this,” Elaine said nervously but Veronica wasn’t listening, already storming into the clinic, her sister following after her.

  “Better go and stop her ‘fore she rips his head off,” Jackson said and he headed into the clinic, Janet and Elaine following him.

  Veronica was at the door that led down to the lab, pounding her closed fist on it.

  “Harold! Open the door!”

  They waited but there was no response and Veronica pounded on the door again, telling Harold to get his ass upstairs.

  “Maybe he’s not there,” Janet offered.