Carl hopped down off the wall then helped Frannie down. “C’mon, it’s alright.” he said quietly as Frannie let him guide her towards the door. He was grateful that Adam and Amy were still out on the deck with the kids. Freddie came over and put his head in Frannie’s lap after they had settled down on the couch. The two of them sat quietly each taking a side of the dog’s head and petting him. He was glad that Frannie had stopped crying, even though her eye was swollen an ugly shade of purple.
“Wait right here, Frannie.” he said, giving the woman a small smile. His own face felt sore and swollen from the fight. Carl went into the bathroom and grinned widely when he found what he was looking for in the medical bag then got a towel off of the handle on the oven. “Here, Frannie.” The boy broke up the little plastic bubbles inside the ice pack and shook it until it got chilly in his hands then wrapped it in the towel. Frannie leaned against his chest and held the cold pack against her eye with one hand.
Amy looked helplessly at Adam as they held the children. Their eyes met and they looked at each other for a long moment, the man growing concerned for the young woman sitting near him. She sighed heavily and looked down at the little girl in her lap. For the life of her she could not figure out why her palms felt sweaty and her heart was racing… The girl needed to be held, she knew that but it felt kind of like she could not breathe… “Hey kids, why don’t you go inside?” Lacey said quietly as he eased Paulie onto the deck. “I’ll bet Freddie wonders where you guys are.”
Frays could not help but feel grateful to the man when Becca released her hold on her neck and slipped away. Once the kids were inside she looked at him and smiled weakly. “C’mon, let’s get the last of those water cans filled up.” she said as she walked over and grabbed up two of them. “We’ve gotta get them up here.”
The two of them carried the four remaining water cans down to the lake. Amy set hers down and stood off to the side, pulling security while Lacey unscrewed the lid on one of the cans and submerged it in the water. “Think there was anything to what Frannie said?” Lacey said quietly as he looked around, a little nervous. Noises tended to draw…them…and Rodriguez had been raising quite the ruckus earlier never mind the fistfight down by the lake. It was a long way to the safety of the house if another bunch happened to be within earshot.
Amy shrugged. “Dunno.” she grumbled, keeping her eyes peeled. “I dunno, Lacey.” Frays was quiet for a half minute, watching the trees about eighty or ninety meters away on their right and letting her eyes wander. There was a jittery queasiness in the pit of her stomach and the little hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. Frays tried to tell herself that it was just because they were standing around practically in the wide open. “Just concentrate on what you’re doing, Lacey. Let’s get back inside.”
It only took a couple minutes to fill the water cans. Amy picked up one of the heavy plastic containers in each hand and started towards the stairs. “Whoa, whoa Frays.” Lacey said as he rushed over to her and tried to take them from her. “Lemme take those. I got it.”
Amy smiled and tightened her grip on the cans. “It’s alright, Lacey.” she said quietly and tugged them out of his grasp. “Like I told you before, I’m pregnant not a cripple. Chill out, buddy. Thank you though.” Lacey chuckled quietly and shook his head before picking up the other two water cans and following her up the stairs.
Lacey passed Frays on the landing where the stairs to the deck used to be then passed his water cans across the gap and hopped up onto it. He took Frays’ burden and set it aside as the woman put both hands on the deck and jumped forward, dragging herself across the gap. Adam snagged the drag handle on her LCS to keep her from falling then took her hand and helped her to her feet.
They were almost to the door when an invisible sledgehammer bashed the water can out of Lacey’s hand. The sound of a gunshot reached their ears a half second later or so. The two of them hit the deck, waiting tensely to see if another round was about to come flying at them. Adam looked over at Frays. “You okay?” he asked, hoping he did not sound as scared as he felt. He also hoped that he did not shit his pants again.
Amy nodded. “Stay down and be quiet.” she hissed then spared a glance at the door. There was a hole in the sliding glass door and water was leaking out of the can, dripping down through the planks and soaking Adam’s leg. “Kick that can over to me.”
Lacey did as he was told. Frays reached out and pulled the water can closer to her face, splashing a little cool water on her face and neck as she studied the hole in it. There was one advantage in having a good fifty to sixty IQ points on anybody in the room, heck probably in the world at this point. She noted the size of the hole (it looked like a .30 caliber) and the angle the bullet had penetrated the plastic can, as well as the general direction it had probably come from. After doing some geometry in her head, Frays thought that she had a pretty good idea where the sniper was.
“Lacey. Lacey!” Frays stage whispered to the Marine a few feet away. He looked at her with scared, panicked eyes. “I need you to check something for me.” She glanced at the helmet on the man’s head. “Find a stick or something and hold your Kevlar up so the bad guy can see it.” Frays inched forward slowly on her belly as she snapped the magnification module on her M4’s sight into place. Amy eased the muzzle of her carbine through the slats of the fence around the deck and brought the weapon up to her shoulder, the woman’s jaw working slowly against the M4’s buffer tube as she tried to figure out where the sniper was.
Lacey crawled over and slid open the door. Rodriguez had the kids on the floor, protecting them with her body. “I need a stick or a broom handle or something.” Adam said as loud as he dared. Becca and Paulie looked at their dad, their little faces pale and frightened. Paul jumped up and ran through the dining room and into the foyer. He had seen a broom in the little closet next to the laundry machines and he came back with it.
A flash of light on glass caught Amy’s eye a little over seven hundred meters away down by the lakeshore near a rocky outcropping that jutted out into the water. She spotted what looked like a figure hunched over a log. There you are! Frays thought as she adjusted her hold for the range and a rough estimation of the wind speed and direction. A gunshot flashed in her field of vision followed a half a heartbeat later by the projectile clipping off the railing just over her head as she heard the others moving behind her. She flinched at the nearness of the impact then found her sights again and pressed off a shot, a familiar sickening thrill running through her when she saw the form pitch over and roll away out of sight behind the rocks.
Frays pulled the magnification module out of the way and rolled onto her back, looking towards the house with a nervous smile on her face. “I think I got him, guys. The rocks at the left hand side of the bay.” she said quietly. Amy swallowed hard, her mouth going dry. Paulie stood in the doorway staring numbly at the two fingers he did not have any more on his right hand and the blood running down his arm. “Holy crap…”
“It’s alright, buddy.” Amy said carefully keeping the tone of her voice low to try and keep the boy from panicking. “Shhh…shhh…” Frays sat up and tried to get to the boy but his dad beat her to it. The sight of his father’s terrified sickened face broke Paulie’s trance and he started bawling. Frannie rushed forward and wrapped a towel around the little boy’s hand, lifting it over his head and holding it there to try and stop the bleeding.
Frays was vaguely aware of the whole scene. Everything was kind of strange and far away…she could not tell exactly where she was. Paulie was crying and she could smell the coppery scent of blood so strongly in her nose that she could almost taste it… She blinked rapidly as she stared at the others tending the little boy’s wound feeling light headed and kind of green about the gills. There was a loud whining in her ears and try as she might Amy could not seem to catch her breath… It felt like the gears in her brain were grinding, unable to get into herself to function… I can’t breathe! Frays thought a
s she desperately tried to keep some air in her lungs…
Rodriguez bandaged Paulie’s hand. “C’mon, little man.” she said reassuringly as she gathered the little boy up and carried him inside. “You’re okay. I gotcha. It’s alright. Shh...” Frannie laid him down on the couch with his damaged hand up in the air. “You just rest. You’re okay. You’re daddy’s right here and we’re gonna take good care of you.” She glanced towards the door. “Frays, do you got a pressure bandage? …Frays?”
Amy lay sprawled on her back out on the deck. “Ohholyshit!” Lacey shouted as he hurried outside and rolled the woman onto her back. Oh holy fuck no…nononono! he thought frantically as he started patting the woman down to see if she had been injured. Adam let out a sigh of relief when he found that Frays had not been shot or anything. Her pulse and breathing were steady but slow and her skin was a little clammy feeling… “Carl, help me get her inside.” Lacey called as he put his hands under Frays’ armpits and lifted her torso off the ground. Carl almost knocked him over as he rushed through the door and grabbed his sister’s ankles.
The two men rushed Amy into the living room and gently laid her down on the floor. “I think she just passed out or something.” Adam said worriedly as he started loosening the cuffs of Frays’ uniform and the Velcro straps of her flak jacket. “Carl, untie her boots and put something under her feet, okay? Gotta get her feet above her head.” he ordered as he set about loosening Frays’ ACU belt then returning to his son’s side.
“Keep his hand up and keep him conscious.” Rodriguez told Lacey, demonstrating what she meant then tousling the boy’s hair. “You’re alright, little man. I’ll be right back but I have to check on Amy, okay?” She glanced over to see Becca clinging desperately to Freddie’s neck as the little girl took in all the activity. She stroked the animal’s fur with a mechanical sort of fervor as she stared at Amy and her brother with wide, vaguely glassy eyes. “Hey Becca, can you help me?”
The little girl reluctantly left the dog and came to Frannie’s side. She knelt next to Amy and dug around in her CLS kit until she found a small plastic tube. Rodriguez gave it to the little girl. “Break that in two and stick it under Amy’s nose until she wakes up, okay?” she said and smiled at the girl. “I gotta get the bag from the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
Becca looked at Carl then did what Frannie said as the woman rushed off in search of the drugs. Daddy was wrapping Paulie up in a blanket. Amy grumbled her face wrinkling up as if she smelled something stinky then her eyes fluttered open after a few seconds. “Wuhzah?” she mumbled as she tried to sit up. Somebody put a hand on her shoulder to keep her lying down. Her head buzzed and she had to blink a couple times to get her eyes to focus…
“Aim, just lay still.” Carl said as he gently restrained his sister. “Shh…it’s alright. You said you got him.” He smiled nervously at the little girl who still clutched the broken tube of smelling salts in her hand. “You did good, Becca. Way to go, kiddo.”
Amy looked over at the couch, trying to concentrate on breathing. Yeah, she had just killed a man. Again. But that was not what was bothering her at the present. She wanted to be sick. “I…” Frays tried to say, only to have her words cut off by a stream of vomit.
“Oh, God!” Carl shouted, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand and recoiling at the smell. He freaked out when he saw his sister’s eyes bulging in their sockets, little coughing choking noises coming out of her throat. The woman clawed at her throat and face as she struggled to breathe. Carl rolled Amy onto her side and struck her several times on the back, trying to help her get the vomit out of her airway.
Frannie was at his side pulling Amy’s hands out of the way. She rolled Amy onto her back and leaned into the woman’s face. “Frays! Frays just relax.” she said quietly then reached inside the woman’s mouth with her index finger, scraping the vomit away from the back of her throat. “If you bite me I’m gonna be pissed.” It only took a couple of seconds but it felt like an eternity to Amy and her brother for the thick disgusting sludge to get cleared away so she could breathe. Rodriguez rolled Frays onto her side and put her hip against the woman’s back, relieved as her friend took big raspy sounding panic breaths. Rodriguez grimaced at the mess clinging to her finger then, not knowing what else to do she wiped it on the carpet.
“Naughty word.” Paulie said weakly when Rodriguez crossed the room and crouched next to him on the couch. “Owe me a quarter.” She kissed the little boy’s forehead and smiled then dug around in the medical bag after wiping her hands off with an alcohol pad. How much of the painkiller would be enough for him? Frannie scowled, not for the first time missing Eamon in more than a boyfriend/girlfriend sort of way. She guessed that maybe half of a Tylenol 3 would be plenty, considering that a whole one was generally enough to get her loopy out of her skull for a few hours.
“Tell you what, buddy.” Rodriguez said as she shook one of the pills out and broke it in two, putting the bigger part back into the bottle. “You take this for me like a good boy and I’ll give you a whole dollar, how’s that sound?” The little boy took the pill from her and popped it in his mouth. Lacey gave his son the bite valve of his camelbak and let him drink some water.
Carl went into the bathroom and came back with a fistful of their precious toilet paper, which he used to clean up the vomit on the carpet. “Jeez, Aim.” he grumbled disgustedly as he carefully scraped up the warm goop, fighting the urge to add his own contribution to the mess on the floor the whole time. “I think you owe me big time. So gross!”
Amy sat up after a few minutes and scooted on her butt until she was leaning against the blue recliner’s footrest. She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged her legs, trying to block out the sound of the boy in pain a few feet away. When that did not work Frays stood on wobbly legs and struggled into her parent’s bedroom. The young woman curled up on the bed, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her hands over her ears. “I’m not here.” she whispered to herself, trembling and sniffing back tears “I’m not here and this is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening.”
Lacey watched Frays get up and go into the bedroom. Whatever drug Rodriguez had given Paulie seemed to be starting to kick in. He was getting a little drowsy and the little boy had stopped crying as he leaned against his dad’s chest. The bleeding had slowed but Frannie had to tighten the bandage down extra snug. Adam looked at his son’s injured hand and gently squeezed his poor boy’s remaining fingers. Paulie’s middle, index finger and thumb were still warm and seemed like the digits were still getting circulation. What would happen if the wound turned gangrenous or something? The thought of amputating his son’s hand did not appeal to him at all. He wanted to go find the son of a bitch who had shot at them and have words with him. And by words he meant kick that fucktard’s ass so hard that when he sneezed his bootlaces would be hanging out of his nose.
“Carl, c’mon.” Adam said, moving Paulie so that he was lying down. “Let’s see if that bastard is dead.” Adam grabbed his M16 and started towards the back of the house but Rodriguez intercepted him.
“No, stay here.” Frannie said putting a hand on his chest. “Your kids need you. Besides, we don’t know how many of them there are. Just calm down.” She looked around, spearing Carl with a hard look. The boy had that old ass Russian rifle of his clutched in his hands. “And if we’re gonna go poking around in there I’d feel a lot better with Frays watching our backs from the deck. She can really shoot!”
Lacey looked into the bedroom. “Um…” he said frowning as he turned back to Carl and Frannie “I think we might have a problem there.” Carl and Rodriguez poked their heads around either side of Adam. Amy was curled up on the bed her back to them and shaking like a leaf. Lacey sat down next to her and put a hand on the woman’s shoulder.
“Frays?” he asked quietly, worried when Amy did not answer him. Lacey tried to roll her onto her back but she pulled her shoulder out of his grasp and buried the side of her head
into the pillow. “You okay? What happened?” He glanced at Carl and Rodriguez, unsure of what to do. What the hell happened? Adam could not help but be a little frightened. He never expected Frays to break down like this… He sighed and looked helplessly at the others.
Tense hours passed. Nobody shot at them and Frannie kept watch on the porch, lying on her stomach with a pair of binoculars. She could not see anyone but then again that did not mean that they were not there. Paulie was being kept company by Freddie, the little boy stroking the dog’s head with his good hand. She felt terrible for the kid but Paulie looked like he was going to be alright as long as he had time to heal and no infection presented itself.
Amy was a different story. She had not moved much or said anything since the little firefight this morning despite Lacey and Carl’s attempts to at least get a response out of the woman. Frays was tough and for some reason she never struck Rodriguez as the type to get shell shock… Then again, I know a thing or three about PTSD. Frannie thought morosely as she slowly scanned the area at the front of the house. I never thought it would happen to me, either.
Lacey alternated between spending time with his son and time with Amy. Paulie was sleeping soundly on the couch, a combination of narcotics and being worn out from all the excitement keeping the little boy snoring away. Adam struggled a little bit with Amy as he helped her take off her LCS and body armor then piling her gear in the corner of the room along with her cleared M4. That done, Lacey sat next to her and held her hand or rubbed her shoulder trying to coax a response from the woman. Finally he lay down next to her and slipped an arm carefully under her neck, his other hand resting on the little lump in her stomach. “It’s alright, Frays.” he whispered in her ear. The woman’s skin was chilly and a little clammy so he pulled one of the blankets over them and held her tight, trying to share his body heat with her.
Outbreak: Brave New World Page 20