by Lily Harlem
She wondered about wearing the pretty lilac dress to the wedding celebrations in the village, but as had happened the night before, when the sun set, the temperature had also dropped.
So she pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, then grabbed a hoody in case it got cooler still. Then with her hair freshly washed and brushed and more or less dry, she was ready to go.
“Quite a thing,” Paul said as all seven of them wandered toward the large fire in the center of Kaskum. “To have lots of wives.”
No one answered.
“And all those children,” he added. “Must be hard to feed them all out here.”
Silence.
Olivia stared up at the stars.
“And how does he choose which one to go with each night…you know what I mean?”
“I guess he has his ways,” Evan said, flicking the flashlight he was holding from left to right. “Fuck, what’s that?” He stopped in his tracks and tugged the knife from his waistband.
“What?” Harry stood next to him and peered at the ground where Evan was directing the light.
“Ah, mierda,” Raul said. “That is big.”
“Fresh, too,” Paul added.
Mason slipped his arm around Olivia’s waist and tugged her near.
She stared at the massive paw print, and her stomach did a weird roll. “Leopard.”
“I think you got it in one, Liv.” Harry nodded, and she noticed him brush his fingers over his holster, as though checking his gun was there.
“Might be a lion or anther big cat.” Paul squatted down to study it.
“No, the village has had problems with leopards who’ve become too brave in the past,” Olivia said.
Paul looked up at her.
“Anya told me. They take goats and sheep, occasionally one gets a taste for human blood.”
“Mmm, that’s not good.” Paul shook his head and straightened.
“Where’d it go?” Lucas asked, his arm brushing Olivia’s shoulder as he flanked her with his twin. He took hold of her hand.
“Seems like it’s heading that way, back to the plain.” Evan moved the beam of light and showed the tracks, which appeared to skirt around the fringe of the village.
“That’s good,” Olivia said. “Rather it was moving away than coming in.”
“Let’s hope the fire and the noise has scared it off and it doesn’t come back at all,” Harry said, then shared a look with Evan.
“What?” Olivia directed at them.
“Yeah. You’re right, Harry.” Evan nodded. “We should keep a fire lit at night, outside the front of the tent, the way we did on Elysium. It would be wrong to slip into a false sense of security because the village is so close.”
“I agree.” Raul nodded. “And it will not take long to light it when we get back after the celebration. I gathered sticks already, from those bushes near Olivia’s Jeep.”
“It’s not my Jeep.”
“Ah, it is while it is spread all over the floor, because you are going to work the…how you say…magic on it.”
“I’m going to try and work magic.” She nodded at the village. The festivities were in full swing, the fire sending sparks dancing into the night sky.
As they wandered in, Anya came up to them. She was grinning broadly and held a tray of small clay cups. “Here, drink this. My father is giving everyone of his guests some of his special brew.”
Olivia released Lucas’s hand and took one. “Mmm, thanks. What’s in it?”
“A secret.” Anya offered the tray to Raul, then to the others.
Olivia sniffed and caught a whiff of something sweet, cherry perhaps.
“Drink in one go,” Anya said. “It is good.”
Taking a deep breath, Olivia did just that. A melody of flavors—cherry, spice, ginger, alcohol—burned its way over her tongue and down her throat. She held in the need to cough and splutter. “It’s…very nice, thank you,” she managed, though her voice was hoarse.
“Come, come, this way.” Anya turned and set off at a quick pace.
The village was alive with activity. Children ran about, a few greeted Raul and asked for more sweets, dogs roamed, as did goats on long tethers. The fire was stacked high, and several women were clapping nearby and singing in an unfamiliar language.
“There is fish and rice here,” Anya said. “Help yourselves.”
“It is good.” Raul studied it. “Really good.”
Anya beamed and touched his arm. “The fish is freshly caught today from the west side of the lake and cooked on this fire.”
“Perhaps I can catch fish soon,” Raul said.
“Yes, you should all come to the lake and see it for yourselves. Very beautiful when full of water.”
Raul smiled. “We will, we’ll catch fish, and I will make a meal for you and your family to thank you for this.”
“I would like that, so would they.” She pointed at Yamba, who sat on a large seat watching over proceedings. Next to him was a woman Olivia hadn’t seen before; it wasn’t Anya’s mother or the other woman who’d been at his side on the first night.
“That is Sai, his new wife.” Anya touched her neck. “You see the beautiful new beads she wears. Only a wife of the village chief has so many, and the head wife has the most. That is my mother.”
“I see, they’re very beautiful, as is she.”
“Yes, she will be good for my father and for the village.”
“Isn’t she from Kaskum?”
“No, she is from beyond the valley. It is what we do, it keeps everyone connected through blood or marriage and means we do not fight.” She pulled a face. “Which is not what we want.”
“No, not when you have so many other things to contend with.” Olivia nibbled on a piece of flaky, lightly salted fish. “We saw leopard prints nearby.”
“Again.” Anya clicked her tongue. “This is not good. I will report it to my father tomorrow.”
“Yes, you should.”
Olivia glanced at the guys. They were all tucking into rice and fish and seated in a row on a wall. The light of the fire danced off their faces, and she paused to admire how handsome they all were.
“Can I ask you something?” Anya said quietly.
“Of course.”
“When you came here tonight, you were not holding hands with your boyfriend, Raul, but with one of the twins, I can never tell which one.”
“Ah, yes.” Of course, Lucas was keeping her close, because of the leopard prints.
“Do you not want to marry Raul anymore?” Anya raised her eyebrows.
“I love Raul very much.” Olivia smiled. “And…”
“And what?” Anya leaned closer, as though knowing there was much more to Olivia’s situation.
“And I like…love Lucas, too.”
“And his brother?”
“Which one?”
“The one who is the same as him.” Anya nodded at the wall.
“Mason, yes, he’s got a special place in my heart.” She thought of their frantic love making when they’d been in America. How the sexual tension had become so great they could hardly speak, hardly breathe, they just had to fuck.
“And I saw how Harry danced with you at the corn roast.” Anya bit on her bottom lip. “As though he was your boyfriend also.”
Olivia nodded. She couldn’t deny how Harry had pulled her close and clasped her ass.
“Raul did not mind that Harry did that,” Anya said. “Did he?”
“No.”
“Because…” Anya glanced at her father. “You are with them all, aren’t you? For you it is not a husband with lots of wives, it is a girl with lots of boyfriends.”
Olivia’s heart was thudding. Hearing it said like that, by someone outside of her circle, was strange and a little frightening. “And how would you feel about that, Anya, if that was true?”
Anya set her attention on Olivia.
Olivia was aware of her pulse beating in her ears and competing with the sound of drums now being
played.
“I think you have six very handsome men.” Anya nodded at the wall.
“Five,” Olivia said, more briskly than she’d intended. “Not Paul. Not the doctor.”
“Really?” Anya frowned. “But yesterday you were so good together. A great team, you worked hard, you laughed, too.” She paused “And he is very handsome, good catch, a doctor makes for an excellent husband, you will never be ill.”
“That might be the case, but no, I have no desire for Paul to be my husband, boyfriend, or otherwise.” As she’d spoken, her gaze landed on him.
He was looking straight at her even though Mason was speaking across him to Lucas.
She pulled her attention away.
“And Raul,” Anya said. “He will make an excellent head husband for you. Be a strong leader, make the right decisions for you all.”
“Well I kind of make my own decisions and—”
“In Kaskum, it is the men who make the decisions. But I understand that in the west, it is different. Women have more power in the home and in the workplace.”
“Yes, it’s different, I agree.”
“Can you promise me one thing,” Anya said. “Please.”
“Of course.”
“If you do decide to marry all of your men, can I come to the wedding?”
Olivia laughed. “Unfortunately, in the west it’s illegal to have more than one spouse. So it will never happen.”
A slow smile spread on Anya’s face. “But you are not in the west, Olivia. You are here, in Africa. You live in our world now.”
*
The next four days went by in a blur. Heat made Olivia weary as she worked on the Jeep, but the men steamed ahead with the hospital. They ate well thanks to the provisions Riley had organized, then slept solidly and were ready to get up and working each morning.
At the end of their sixth day in Kaskum the structure was solid, with a roof, floor, and the rooms partitioned off. Mason and Lucas had made headway with the basic plumbing—coming from a nearby underground well—and the solar panels were attached to the roof. Already the wind turbine was creating enough energy to keep the refrigerator in the clinical room cool, and there was enough power to work a small suction machine Paul had brought.
“It’s amazing,” Olivia said, standing before the new building. It was long and thin with the main door in the center and three windows on each side. “What an achievement.” She took a swig from her water bottle.
“Come in,” Evan said. “You didn’t see it at the end of yesterday. All the windows are secure now, and Paul has started putting more medical equipment in. He treated a guy with a sore on his foot in the ward this morning. The first official patient.”
“That’s cool.” She grinned.
“Yeah, it’s starting to look like a real hospital…kind of.” He set his palm against her lower back and urged her forward.
Inside, the sound of Raul hammering in the sluice area echoed around the new walls. Paul was in the clinical room, stacking things into a cupboard Harry hadn’t even added a door onto yet—he was standing next to it, holding the big square piece of hinged wood.
“Looking good,” Olivia said to them both and set her water down.
“Aye, it’s getting there.” Paul smiled then stooped into a box again.
Harry rolled his eyes then put the cupboard door down. “You tell me when you’re done, buddy, and I’ll come back to this.”
“Aye, will do.”
Harry kissed her cheek, his stubble, which was now beard-like, abraded her skin. “The rest of the beds for the ward area are going in tomorrow.”
“Is the one I fixed yesterday still okay?” Olivia asked “The one for the isolation room.” The pedal for pumping it up and down had been stuck, and she’d fiddled for half an hour to get it working.
“Yeah, it’s all good.” Harry grinned. “It’s in the main ward at the moment.”
“Soon we can start spreading word that we’re officially open for business,” Paul said. “And when the next batch of vaccines arrive it will be much better to administer them from here.”
“Yes,” Olivia said. “It will.”
“And hopefully Global Medics are getting lucky with sourcing some qualified staff,” he added.
“I’m sure they are.”
“Help! Help! Please help us!”
“What the hell is that?” Harry spun to the door.
Olivia turned, too. “It sounds like Anya.”
“Please. Please. Doctor Paul. Help us.”
There was something in Anya’s tone that sent fear spearing through Olivia like sharp icicles. Despite the heat, her skin goosebumped and she shuddered.
Paul pushed past her and gripped the doorframe as he propeled himself out.
Quickly, she followed with Evan and Harry.
They raced out of the hospital, into the fading daylight, and sprinted across the dirt ground.
Anya, along with four other villagers, were stooped over a supine figure.
“What happened?” Raul caught her up, hammer still in hand.
“I don’t know.” Olivia raced forward, following Paul.
When she reached the huddle she caught her breath. One of the villagers, a man, was on the floor and covered in blood. It was clear he had a severe wound to his right arm, but apart from that it was hard to see if there were other injuries because of the red staining his clothes.
Paul tugged at his own t-shirt, then unbuckled his belt. He whipped it from his pants then dropped to the ground. “Lift his arm.”
Anya did as instructed, and Paul wrapped the belt around it, above the huge gash, and pulled it so tight the flesh bulged around it.
“Is he breathing?” Olivia asked, fearing what the answer might be. His lips were pale, and his head lolling as if he was unconscious…or worse.
Paul leaned forward, his cheek by the man’s face. At the same time he rested his fingers on his neck. “Yes, he’s alive but his pulse is weak. We need to get him into the hospital.”
Mason stepped forward. “We’ll take him.” He glanced at Lucas, who nodded.
“Watch his arm,” Paul said as they scooped him up. “And be gentle, he might have other injuries.”
The man was hurried to the hospital. “What happened?” Paul directed at Anya who was holding the patient’s arm
“The leopard.” Her voice was shaking. “It must have been, but we don’t know for sure. He’d been to the lake, but dragged himself back to the village and then passed out.” She shook her head. “It looks as if he was attacked and had to fight for his life.”
“Go and tell your father,” Harry said.
“Yes.” Paul nodded. “And I’ll do my best to save this man.” He paused. “But I can’t guarantee it. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
They reached the hospital, and the twins and Paul rushed inside. “Olivia,” Paul called. “You’re with us.”
She gulped and stared at the doorway. “What?”
“You should go,” Raul said. “You are good with injured arms.”
“Not that injured. It’s almost hanging off.”
“Olivia,” Paul yelled again.
“Okay, okay.” She steeled herself.
She could do this.
Quickly, she rushed into the hospital. The man had been laid on the bed she’d fixed the day before. Lucas was standing with his back against the wall, his hand resting on the top of his head as he watched his brothers. He was pale, and his bare chest smeared with blood.
“It’ll be all right.” Olivia touched his shoulder. “Go and get cleaned up.”
“No.” He looked at her. “I’ll be outside, in case the damn thing comes back.”
“Be careful, and…” She hesitated. “Harry’s got a gun.”
“Aye, I know.” He left the room.
“Olivia,” Paul barked. “Go get me a needle, one of the green ones. And a bag of that fluid I was just putting away along with tape and one of the long tubes in the cupboard ne
xt to it.”
“Yes.” She ran to the clinical room. Grabbed the needle and the fluid.
What else?
She tried to think like a doctor.
It was no good.
“Engineer head on, Olivia,” she muttered.
Tube. Of course, to connect the fluid to the needle. And tape, to keep it all secure.
She ran back with her hands full. “Here.”
Mason was as pale as his twin had been. “Anything else I can do, Paul?” he asked.
“Aye, something tall, to hang this fluid on. There are some drip stands somewhere, but I don’t think they’re unpacked yet.” Paul took the needle from Olivia and ripped the packaging with his teeth. “Come here, wrap your hands around his lower arm, the good one. Squeeze real tight so I can find a vein.”
“Yes. Okay.” She did as he’d asked; her hands were shaking, but when she gripped tight, she found it helped.
Paul tipped forward, and she studied the top of his head rather than watching him pierce the vein.
“Bloody hell, he’s shutting down,” Paul muttered.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“He’s got hardly any fluid volume circulating, his veins are hard to find.”
“So what do we do?”
“We get this drip going and replace the fluid, fast.” He paused. “Bingo, it’s in. You can let go now.”
“Okay.” She glanced at the patient, who was lying dead still with his eyes closed and his mouth open.
They couldn’t lose him.
They just couldn’t.
He was only their second patient.
Chapter Nineteen
Mason rushed into the room with a long pole. “Will this do?”
“Yes, perfect. That’s exactly what I wanted.” Paul nodded at the bed then rushed around to the other side. “It will attach there.”
“I’m on it.” Mason spun the clamp free.
“What can I do?” Olivia asked.
“Get the fluid, stab the little valve with the point end of that tube, and fill it up, as if you were…” He paused. “Filling up radiators, no air bubbles.”
“I can do that.”
“And sterile, keep the point sterile.”