"I understand the fun. I am just teasing." Phoenix nudges me, and I return her smile. "You two seem really sweet, I couldn't see you with anyone else. He sat for hours at a time by your bedside, we were worried he would have permanent worry lines. Idris, Lee and Liam had to drag him to bed a couple of times, then one of them stayed there to make sure he was okay. I rarely have seen someone so devoted, he clearly cares about you."
My love for him grows as I hear what he did, not knowing this before. As we finish speaking Xavier walks in, covered in dirt from the field and the animals, Maggie happily coming to greet me. I raise one eyebrow at his look and sigh.
"Dude, go shower. Bella showed me how, I can handle it for twenty minutes."
"What, you don't like the soil? You are the gardener, I figured it would be a turn on." He joked, and Bella burst out laughing, Phoenix following suit.
"First of all, I am not Eco sexual, so no. Also, you smell like...farm animals and I love you, but I am not spending two hours subjected to that." I fire back, and he shrugs.
"Fine, bring up a point that makes sense. I am going to go shower by my lonesome." He leaves dramatically, and then leans back around the door. "Love you."
Then he is gone before I can reply. Bella and Phoenix get up, hand in hand, and begin to walk to the door.
"We have some laundry to do then we promised to help with making more canned goods. Avyanna has gone full preservation while we have some goods, so we will be helping until dinner." Phoenix explains. "You good?"
I nod, pulling the headset on over my wavy hair, listening to the static as I mess around with the dials, scanning the waves for human voices. It fades and increases in volume as I scan, petting Maggie with my other hand. She rolls over and I pet her with my good foot, smiling at her doggy-smile, her tongue hanging out and tail wagging.
Suddenly a familiar deep voice reaches through, and I listen intently. The voice calls a few more greetings and I am sure now, struggling to turn on the mike. I do so just as Xavier gets in the room and slid in beside me.
Chapter 76
"Dad?" I call into the mike, and the voice crackles a response. "I can't quite understand you."
"Daughter of mine, are you there?" It comes through clearer, and I catch Xavier's eyes, wide.
"Yes, I am. I am here, and safe." I respond, happiness flooding my thoughts. "Are you?"
"Yes, we all are. It's bad where we are so we had to get out of the town and go further north to be safe. Did you get your location secured?" He says vaguely, in case anyone else hears. "Also, just to make sure, where was I born?"
"Yes, we did. Lincoln, Nebraska. When it clears are you still going to come this way?"
"We plan on it. It might be another month or so though, where we are there are a lot of road blocks, so we must avoid them. We have our place secured as well and found this old radio in the back. If you wanted, we can talk this way on this channel regularly?"
"Sounds amazing. Did you find Grandma?"
"Yep, she is here with us as well as my stepbrother and his family are alive, so we are all holed up together. Your Uncle got shot in the arm in a fight, so he is recovering but no sign of infection, seems to be healing well. How’s your group?"
I look to Xavier with wide eyes, and he nods encouragingly. "Well...three of us have gotten injured so far, but all survived thanks to our medic. One took a bullet to the torso, and the other two were leg shots, one thigh and one knee. Everyone is recovering well surprisingly. Our group came upon a few more members who also have medical experience, so they were able to reconstruct a knee for me. We have added nine more members to our ranks."
"Hold up one moment, a knee for you?!" His voice raises in volume, and I wince, Xavier raising an eyebrow then an understanding dawning as I gesture to my knee.
"Yes. But don't worry Dad, it is recovering well. We sent out a raiding party to the hospital at one point and they found more medical supplies including a knee brace, I have been using it ever since."
"Do you promise you are okay?"
"Yes, Dad."
He breathes a sigh of relief, audible through the channel. "You better be telling the truth or else I am going to be very angry."
"If you want the truth my boyfriend is here, he was the one who did most of the surgery. He can't hear us right now, but I can put him on."
"Sure, if you want."
Xavier pulls out a set of headphones from no where and hooks into the other headphone port, mouthing 'modification' at me. "Hello sir, yes I am here and so is your daughter."
"Be real with me, how bad?"
"The bullet was shot through the side of her knee, so some major scarring. When we opened the wound, we found most of her kneecap had been destroyed and some of her joint had been damaged. Someone in our group is a proficient welder so he made her a metal knee cap and parts for the bones that had been damaged. Between me and two other people we managed to rebuild it in about six hours, and she had an infection but since healed from it. She is well on her way to being fit again, it happened four weeks ago." He explains, and I thank him in my head for not mentioning my coma, last thing we need is Dad driving down here full-tilt when it is dangerous.
We take turns discussing about what we have been through, careful to not give away location or names, and spend our allotted two hours chatting with him. Xavier found another radio he had been working on, and finished it quickly, using it to keep scanning channels. Violet walks in near the end, hearing us chatting with someone.
Chapter 77
“Hey, we got someone?” Violet asks excitedly, before confusion, then realization as she recognizes the voice. “Is that your Dad?”
I nod excitedly, and then give my headphones to her for a moment, reminding her to play it safe with her words in case we are overheard. She talks quickly, then we sign off, agreeing to speak in two days. She hugs me, when she lets go I slide off the stool, almost leaving my crutch behind when Xavier clears his throat, and I take it.
“Well, ask and you shall receive?” Violet smiles at me happily and I grin.
Xavier comes up to my other side and we head to the medical office, Maggie bounding along until James calls to her from the back door and she runs that way. He disappears back out the door, Maggie running to greet Rachel where she is standing, smiling softly at James. They begin to walk to the farm area, Maggie bounding ahead with their shoulders touching, as we can see through the window in the door.
“I am so relieved that he is okay, and all of them are. Also, the fact he isn’t rushing down here all father-bear like because I took some lead to my knee.” I laugh, turning down the hall with the cafeteria and the nurse’s office
“I am so glad lovely. I am assuming he wants to get down here at some point?”
“In a while yes. He mentioned that he has since found my other uncle and family, so they have secured where they were but there is so many infected hotspots and road blocks from there to here, it makes it very difficult. He promised soon.”
“Hey guys!” Galexai greeted, opening the door for us.
“I am so happy, love. Now, I am off to do some other chores, I will catch up with you at dinner.” Violet mentions, waving to us as we walk through the door.
“Up you go, I want to check your knee before working on the cure, if that is okay Galexai?” Xavier asks, and she nods.
He helps me get on the bed, tucking a pillow under my leg as I lean back against the mattress frame, which is angled into a seated position. His hands are gentle as he undoes the brace, sliding my sweatpant leg upwards.
“Mind if I see?” Galexai asks, and I gesture her to feel free.
“If I am the catalyst for a new wave of bionics, we may as well teach others.” I say, and she snorts a laugh.
My knee is now fully exposed, the knotted and discoloured flesh bright under the lights of the office. Xavier tells her about what it took, pulling out the old sketches of what was destroyed and what had to be replaced. She quickly ties her hair into a bra
id as he examines my knee, checking for swelling. Sonji and Lynx join us in a little bit, Sonji added her input as he finishes explaining.
“That is incredible you managed to do that with barely any medical equipment or knowledge.” Galexai observes, and I smirk.
“Then they were able to keep me alive with that lack of equipment for three weeks while I fought off the infection.” I put in, and her eyes widen.
“We had to improvise a lot of the tools we needed. Luckily the school had a blood pressure monitor so Xavier and Liam ripped its parts out and turned it into a straight heartbeat monitor, meant to run continuously and have an alarm if the heart stops. The feeding tube we made for her involved plastic tubing that had to be sterilized, then inserted by two novices to that. Everything else we either raided from a clinic or a hospital.” Sonji explains, showing some of the tools.
“And they saved my ass while fixing Geneva, because I was shot in the thigh same day Geneva was. Lee was in here too, a torso wound from a bullet that was healing. Between three people they saved three lives. They are incredible.” Lynx mentions, her eyes all on Sonji though, then turns to where I am. “Enough of that though, Geneva, time to continue physical therapy!”
I groan comically, and she smirks, helping me to stand up again and move over to where she has some weights and bands. She brings me through the routine as Xavier, Sonji and Galexai focus on the cure, discussing things quietly as Xavier observes a bit of it in a vial, referring to the binder regularly. As I stretch out my leg, Lynx encourages me, helping me the extra distance when I cannot. The hour passes quickly, and she is soon announcing us to be done. My skin has a sheen of sweat as she helps me stand, my bones not showing through my skin anymore.
“Good job, I think you are almost ready to work on martial arts again. We do it twice a week, so tomorrow is our day. I will ask Phoenix to work with you tomorrow, she knows the limits and is fantastic at teaching.” Lynx claps her hands, then helps me to the bathroom. “Now, go clean yourself up. I want to go chat with Idris and see how that network is going. My brother was a gamer, so I picked up on a few things, tech-wise.”
I head into the bathroom off the nurse’s office and strip out of my clothes, having picked up the leg brace on my way past the bed and I dump it on the counter of the sink. There is a towel folded on the shelf, and I grab it. The hot water rushes out of the showerhead as I turn it on, adjusting the temperature to what I want it to be. I step in, enjoying the water falling over my body as I begin to wash up.
The mirror is covered in condensation as I step out, drying off quickly. I slip back on my clothes and strap on my brace again, walking out of the door to see one more has joined us, Jessa. The four of them had gathered around one of the tables and had a whole bunch of tools laid out around three of the vials. Sonji was writing down what Xavier’s observations were as they worked on bringing it to a full immunity shot and a cure in one.
I pull a chair over to listen, Xavier realizing my presence and comes to kiss my forehead, before returning to what he is doing. They are talking a lot of terms I do not understand, but I enjoy watching the dedication to the task. They have agreements and disagreements on what to do next, before putting it to vote then writing the idea down.
“So, if we add this it might counter act this side effect.” Sonji holds up a vial of purple liquid, and they agree, adding it to one of them.
“Want me to take notes, so y’all have your hands free?” I offer, and they toss the binder to me with a pencil.
The hours pass with them making slight adjustments to the vials and Xavier going to test it on one of our caged infected. They get really close, noticing some of the infected stop lunging at them and stop, as if considering, Xavier reports.
Chapter 78
Phoenix eventually comes in to tell us dinner is ready, and we break-up our little science party. Jessa and Galexai help clean up, before we all leave for the short walk to the cafeteria, the smell of soup permeates the air. We walk in and Violet waves me over to sit by her, a bowl of soup already in that place. I settle down, Xavier leaving to grab his share.
“Make any progress?”
“Xavier thinks we are making lots of improvements, but something is still missing.” I comment, picking up my spoon. “Sooner than ever though.”
“That’s awesome to hear, be a relief to have that on hand.” Idris comments from beside Violet. “Xavier, feel free to ignore all your other chores, you too Sonji, I want all work put towards this cure.”
“Actually,” Sonji speaks up from the other side of us. “May I suggest Jessa takes my place? I still want to help out, but she knows a lot more than me about chemistry, I think you should have your two strongest in that field on it.”
“Thank you love, I love your willingness to learn though.” Jessa mentions, and Sonji smiles to her.
“Makes sense. Okay, then yes. Jessa and Xavier, you have free reign then. If Dustin and the others don’t mind taking on a full chore load?” He discusses, and those five nod to him.
“That’s fine.” Dustin accepts, and Idris gives him a grin.
“You know, don’t even worry about petitioning to join us, the moment you walked through that door you were welcome.” Idris formally invites, the volume dropping as he raises his voice. “You guys can stay however long you need, you have proved yourselves trustworthy and if I was in a fight, I would trust you to watch my back.”
“Guys?” Dustin asks, his mind already seemingly made up while look to his friends, who nod. “I think it’s a very easy yes and thank you.”
“The rooms down the second hall are all free. If you want to split up or stay together, doesn’t bother us but any room you find is free, is yours. Violet has a sign near the watch list for the night, just fill in your name on the room you take.” Idris explains, taking another spoonful of soup.
“Anything you guys need, let us know. Mattress, toiletries, random-ass furniture. Whatever you need, let us know.” Anthony tells them, and they chuckle. “We will do a raid with you guys if you need too as well, we would have to go a bit further as we have cleared out most of the towns in a half an hour radius but not a problem.”
“Welcome, you all.” Avyanna smiles. “Now, I hate to ask this question, but can any of you cook? I oversee the kitchen schedule, so I need to know.”
“Everyone here can, but Dustin.” Alexander laughs, and Dustin scowls. “He set a boiling pot of water on fire. We don’t know how.”
“I do have one skill I can bring to the table.” His scowl turns into an almost evil smile.
“Oh no.” Jessa mumbles, looking worried.
“I am real good at setting up explosions. Let me lay some mines outside the perimeter of this school and we will never have to worry again.”
“Let me help, for ease and curiosity sake.” Lee offers, and Dustin fist bumps him.
“We are very close on completing our own internal network to communicate on, Lynx’s tips really helped.” Liam announced, and Lynx did awkward finger guns, making a few laughs.
“Sounds great. We have two queen mattresses and a single right now.” Alexander lists off, and then looks to us. “That covers four people, we would need one more if possible.”
“Sure, we picked up a few from raids, they are sitting in the storage closet on the second floor. Take what you need.” Liam says, and Alexander nods his thanks.
“Actually, I won’t need one in that case.” Rachel speaks up shyly, and James holds up their entwined hands.
“Ooooooooooo, when did that happen?” Violet asks, and Rachel blushes.
“Today, we have done farm chores together for the past three days and what can I say, romance happens in strange places.” James says smugly, and Anthony shakes his head.
“I mean, most of us don’t think romance in the middle of a farm animal barn, but sure man, you do you. Or each other. Preferably not in the barn.” Lee teases, and this time James goes red as well.
“In that case we should be fine
. Dustin and Jessa will take a room, myself then Galexai in separate ones.” Alexander offered.
“Easily done. ‘mi casa es su casa’.” Idris said, and we all cheered to it.
Chapter 79
The next two weeks went like that, some chores by day then a friend gathering by night. We rarely had any problems, the mines working better than ever. Xavier and his team had frustrating progress on the cure, seemingly hit a road block with limited subjects, having to make dangerous outings to gather more infected. My knee finally relaxed, and I had more days without the brace then on.
My body finally got back into shape, allowing me to participate in martial arts, slowly getting better at that as well. The five newest members felt like we knew them our entire lives, fitting in well.
No one was surprised when about a week in Galexai and Liam joined us at breakfast together, gently smiling to each other as well as arm wrestling after breakfast. It was strange, but Liam was finally happy. She took a real interest in Liam creating the communication network, and together they pushed it past its final barrier. Everyone was able to use their phones again, and some went on raids alone for cd collections, and found a bunch in the music department. Liam hooked an old laptop with music downloaded up to the announcement system of the school and it played during the day for fun.
My Dad and I talked regularly over the radio, him getting everyone else on the radio with me too. It was some of the best times, Xavier joining us for most and I could tell, my Dad was warming up to him. We laughed over the radio, and that’s how the day found me and Xavier, and that day, everything that meant peace shattered.
“Daughter, I am so happy that everything is going well, and that you are all safe.” Dad said, his voice warm.
“Its pretty safe to be around my genius boyfriend. He and his friends made a medical breakthrough, and its pretty genius.” I said proudly, and Xavier smiled softly at me, speaking as well.
“We managed to get really close on a cur-.” His voice is cut off when I slam my hand over his mouth, my eyes wide in shock.
Friends Against The World (Book 1): Bite Me Page 28