“Oh my Lord, child, you’re a lucky one,” Annie exclaimed, placing her hand over her heart.
“It’s okay now. We’re just on our way out.” I was just as shocked as Annie was as Cordillia moved to embrace her warmly. “It was so sweet of you to worry. We are definitely coming back here someday, right, Ethan?” She asked turning to me.
“Um… yeah sure of course.” I nodded as I rubbed the back of my neck. She was good. Damn good. They said there goodbye’s and I followed Cordillia back to the truck, watching as she waved one last time before shutting the door behind her. I started the truck and sped out of there as fast as I could. It was only a matter of time before that poor woman saw the mess I’d left behind.
A long silence had passed between us before I had the courage to ask the most pressing question on my mind, “What the hell was that?” My tone was more serious than I had meant it to be, Lord knows I was impressed and surprisingly proud of her. She smiled weakly at me and looked down at her feet.
“I don’t know,” she finally answered. “I guess I just had to, you know. I needed to get us to the truck.” I nodded and reached over to her, gripping her shoulder lightly. She looked up at me, her eyes full of shame.
“I’m proud of you.” I nodded before turning my attention back to the road.
“Really?”
“Sure, I couldn’t have done it.” I shrugged.
“But aren’t you supposed to tell me not to lie, that it’s bad or some crap like that.” She chuckled.
“Well yeah but you’re right, we needed to get to the truck and you did what you had to do.”
“You confuse me sometimes.” She smiled as she leaned over and rested her head on the window. She raised her feet up onto the seat next to her and placed her head on her hands and a few moments passed before I realized that she had fallen asleep. I hardened my foot down on the gas and pushed my truck as fast as she would go, wanting nothing more than to put as much space between us and California as I could.
Chapter Six
It was a long drive but as we crossed the border into Oregon I felt myself smiling slightly, we had finally and thankfully made it. It was almost surprising to see that in one night not only had I managed to make it out of California but I was pulling into a small Indian reservation as Cordillia returned to life in the seat next to me.
“Rise and shine.” I chirped and she just groaned, clutching her stomach tightly. I assumed she was responding to my bad attempt at levity but that was before I got a good look at her face. She was drenched with sweat, her cheeks red and her eyes were dull. I pulled to the side of a small dirt road and she barely waited for me to stop before she pushed the door open and leaned her head out of the truck, throwing up more than I thought she could possibly hold.
I reached over to grab her hair before she made a mess of it and she waved her hand in thanks. After a few minutes she pulled herself back into her seat taking deep breaths and holding her stomach as she closed her eyes. Her hair was stuck to the sweat of her cheek and as I reached over to brush it aside I felt the burning heat that came off of her in waves.
“I don’t feel good.” She groaned as she rolled her head to face me. She cried out weakly and lifted her chin as it brushed across her wounded shoulder and I felt the color drain from my face as I got a better look at it.
It was swollen and seeping, the part of it that wasn’t bright red had turned a sickly shade of purple and I gasped as I realized that it wasn’t just the wound, her entire arm was swollen red. It stopped just short of her elbow and covered most of her chest as well. I was panicked; it wasn’t anything like what I had gone through that night at the hospital. This was something different and I hadn’t the slightest clue what to do.
“It’s bad isn’t it?” Her voice was barely more than a whisper as she opened her eyes to me.
“Uh... No.” I lied. She smirked as rolled her head to the side once more, allowing it to rest on the window next to her.
“You’re a terrible liar.” I started the engine and pulled onto the road like a man possessed. I didn’t know where I was going or if a doctor could even help her but after last night’s encounter I wasn’t about to lose her to something like this, something that was so comparatively small.
As I made my way down narrow side streets and onto the main road I didn’t have time to notice anything about my surroundings other than the apparent lack of a hospital. I saw a line of stores to my right and decided I better ask someone. I pulled the old girl up to the curb outside of what looked like a drugstore, not even bothering to correct my horrid parking job before I killed the engine and turned to Cordillia.
“I’ll be right back.” She nodded softly and with that I jumped out of the truck, slammed the door behind me and ran into the drugstore. It was small and as I pulled open the glass door the smell of alcohol and sterility filled my senses. There was no one behind the counter and I felt myself growing frantic and impatient as I peered around the back.
“Hello?” I called as I smacked my fist onto the counter. “Hello!?” I nearly screamed. A young man came out of a backroom. He couldn’t have been out of his early twenties, his short round face carried a smile that could melt ice and in all honesty I really wished I had more time to enjoy his apparent kindness. He met my eyes and his smile quickly changed to concern.
“Can I help you?” He asked as he bent down to place a small white bag behind the counter.
“My sister, she’s really sick.” I explained frantically. He nodded as he listened to me. “She’s running a fever. There’s an infection in her shoulder. I really think she needs a doctor.” A smile crossed his lips as his posture began to relax.
“There is no need to worry sir.” He tried to assure me. “I’m sure it’s nothing, I see family overreact about this kind of thing all the time.” He paused for a moment to think. “We have peroxide and a lot of over the counter pain killers…”
“That’s not going to do it.” I cut him off sharply. “It’s bad, really bad.” His face didn’t change and in that moment I could tell he wasn’t going to believe me. I turned and stomped out of the small drugstore and back to the truck. I didn’t want to do this but I knew there was no other way to convince him.
I opened the passenger door and helped Cordillia to her feet.
“What? Where are we going?” She groaned as she leaned her head against my chest. I picked her up and carried her into the store, her arms rested across her stomach and her head bent back as I ducked through the front door and laid her down on the counter.
The small man’s face immediately went white, his expression mirroring the horror and concern that I felt. She had gotten worse since I first came into the tiny store and it wasn’t until I looked down that I realized the redness in her arm had spread down to her wrist, the wound itself had become putrid and sickly and it was all I had not to drag him over the counter in a panic..
“Peroxide isn’t going to do it.” I pleaded with him desperately. “I need a doctor PLEASE.” My breath grew short and I bordered on tears as I waited for him to reply.
“Outside of town.” Was all he could muster as he shook his head. “You could drive there, I could give you instructions.” He stammered as he lifted his eyes to meet my gaze.
“I don’t have that kind of time. It wasn’t this bad when I came in.” I explained, his eyes grew wide and suddenly his face lit up.
“Wait here just one second,” he said as he disappeared into the back. I looked down at Cordillia. She was lying there almost lifeless as she looked back at me through glassy eyes. Her teeth began to chatter as she whispered up at me.
“I’m cold.” I took her hand in mine but before I could say anything her eyes rolled back into her head and she slipped away into sleep. I watched her as her shoulder pulsed and a burning hate welled up in me. It was futile I know but a part of me would have given anything to savor in his death just one more time.
The young man came out of the backroom and moved around t
he counter to face me, his eyes flicking quickly toward Cordillia before turning back to me.
“I called our doctor. He’s not the best but he can stabilize her so you can make it to a Hospital.” I nodded and lifted Cordillia into my arms as he grabbed a set of keys from behind the counter and led me out of the store. We walked around back to a small empty parking lot and it took me a moment to notice the black Taurus parked just on the other side of a row of small dumpsters.
“We have to go there, help me get her in and ill drive you.” He opened the back passenger door and moved aside as I lowered her into the backseat being as gentile as I could with her head. He slammed the door shut and walked around the front without a word. I climbed in as he was buckling his seat belt and before I could get mine one we were off down the road as fast as we could go.
The ride was short. Cordillia groaned in the backseat with every bump and quick turn we took. I reached back behind the seat and took her hand in mine. “It’s okay, Cordy,” I said as assuredly as I could. I didn’t believe it, not fully anyway but I had to make her believe. We pulled onto another dirt road and just half a mile up the narrow trail lay a small wooden cabin that seemed somehow to be untouched my time and circumstance. An old man stood out front waiting for us with a smile on his face and a certain sense of tranquility in his presence.
He was older. The lines in his face a testament to his age. His gray hair was tied back in a thick braid and he looked stronger than a man his age should. He wore an oversized red shirt over blue jeans and brown boots, his appearance screamed of a simpler life, one I would have to remember to try when things weren’t so dire. I climbed out of the tiny car and almost immediately felt as if I had stepped into another world.
The cabin was surrounded by a thick nest of trees, birds sang in the distance and it was all I had to pull my attention away from the beauty around us as Marcus opened the door and helped me to lift my sister out of the backseat and into my arms. I kicked the door shut and a shudder ran through me as I watched the small man jog toward the doctor and whisper something into his ear. I couldn’t tell what was said but the old man answered him with an inquisitive nod as I began to walk toward them, shrugging off the nagging sense of doubt that nipped at my heels.
We were literally in the middle of nowhere with some medicine man and I had to admit I was a little more than skeptical leaving my sisters life in this man’s hands. I wanted a doctor but what else could I do.
He gazed into my eyes and I couldn’t be sure, maybe it was the fear but I could have sworn he saw right though me.
Without a word he led me up the front steps past a rather tired looking old bloodhound and into the house. As soon as we stepped in, the smell of baking bread hit me in the face and something much fainter followed close behind. I took a whiff of the air and realized quickly that it smelled like the woods around us. I was sure it was whatever he was planning on treating her with and I only hoped to God it worked.
He led me into a small living room and I placed Cordillia gently on the large couch that faced the front window. I took a quick look around as I stood back up; everything was wooden except for the small ornate rugs that decorated the place here and there. There were pictures on the wall of what I could only assume were his family and a fish tank hummed quietly from the corner of the room. Cordillia would love that, I thought to myself. I couldn’t wait to see what she thought when she woke up and for the time being at least I had that hope to get me through.
“Please God let her be okay.” I prayed as I stepped back and watched over her nearly lifeless body with a deep sense of worry.
I heard the two men whispering behind me, I couldn’t make it out but as I turned I saw the younger man whispering into the old man’s ear again. The doctor nodded a few times and finally asked “And the other one?” he whispered in a raspy but sweet voice. The young man shook his head.
“I don’t think so,” he responded quietly. As soon as they noticed I was listening the older man met my eyes.
“You can go back to work now, Marcus,” the doctor spoke in a deep voice that was as typically native as you can get. “I will call you to bring the young man’s truck back.” Marcus held his hand out to me and asked politely for the keys. I didn’t feel right handing them over, especially since I didn’t know how long I was going to be out here. Reluctantly I did and no sooner than that did he turn and leave. A long silence passed and I heard his car pull out of the driveway as the older man walked over to Cordillia.
He knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her forehead. He began humming something as he closed his eyes. It was old, I could feel that much, probably much older than even himself. As he looked her over the song never stopped. It was haunting, beautiful even. I closed my eyes and listened.
“You were right about the infection,” he spoke, his voice much closer than I had expected. I opened my eyes and there I was face to face with the man I trusted her life to. “You were also right not to go to a doctor. There medicine is all wrong.” I wondered at this and went to ask him what he meant but before I could speak he wandered over to a small kitchen that sat at the right.
There was no wall dividing us so I just stood there watching him as he worked. He pulled a small glass bowl from a cupboard above him and walked over to the stove. I could see him pouring a sweet smelling green liquid from a pot into it and he met my gaze briefly before returning to the task at hand. Watching him move so fluidly and so sure of himself I wondered if he hadn’t done this a thousand times before.
“Your doctors treat every sickness like it is the same.” He began. “Just because the symptom is the same doesn’t mean the treatment is.” He grabbed a white rag and walked back over to the couch, kneeling down next to her with a groan and I could hear the bones in his hips creak as he touched the floor. He dunked the rag into the liquid and began to dab at her wound.
“What did you mean by that?” I asked as I moved to sit next to them.
“A sickness like your sisters is not the same as any other.” He began to explain. “A doctor would see just another infection. He would probably give her an antibiotic but this is not biological.” I was puzzled.
“But that doesn’t make any sense.” I questioned him as he worked. “Of course it’s biological, isn’t that what an infection it?” He shook his head gingerly as a smile curled his lips.
“The creature that gave her this wound,” He started as his eyes flicked quickly to me. “It was black, almost pitch.”
“How did you know that?” His smile widened.
“He would have been angry and for something trivial or for no reason at all.” I stared down at him in disbelief. “They almost always are.” He added quietly as he re soaked the rag and continued with his treatment.
“He was looking for a fight,” I spoke quietly, shocked and a little confused. He nodded lightly in response. “He attacked a waitress in front of a lot of people; it was like he didn’t care.”
“They run on pure emotion; Anger, hatred and sometimes fear but that doesn’t happen often.”
“How do you know all of this?” I asked again hoping that this time he would offer me even the smallest of explanations.
“You must be honest with me young man, if I am going to treat her well.” I took a deep breath the sweet aroma had faded into a sour stench and I noticed the liquid in the bowl had turned a sickly brown. I sighed deeply and shook my head.
“What do you want to know?”
“I need to know what happened to her.” He nodded toward Cordillia. The color had begun to return to her face and I breathed a quick sigh of relief, hoping that it was a sign that his treatment was working.
“I stopped him when he attacked the waitress.” I began quietly. “He came after me as we were leaving, that’s when Cordillia found us and he went after her.” I sighed. “I did everything I could I swear,” I began but he put his hand up to stop me as I spoke frantically.
“It’s okay, I believe you but you must lea
rn to control your emotions if you are to control the beast within you,” he spoke as he returned to his work. He stood up quickly taking the bowl with him and walked back to the kitchen to empty the bowl and pour a fresh batch. I watched my sister carefully as he walked quietly behind me, the redness in her arm had retreated and I could feel myself becoming hopeful. He sat back down next to me and began to wash her with the sweet water again.
Wolves among men Page 6