by Kate Morris
“Looking for solutions,” he returns. “Simon here has a rather interesting theory about the resistance to antibiotics we’re experiencing in the treatment of this Scarlet Fever strain.”
She perks up and listens as Simon explains what he’s thinking. He has sound ideas, and by the time he is done, Reagan is left feeling pretty convinced he could be right.
“If Robert’s doctors bring their strain of antibiotics tomorrow like they’re supposed to, then we could immediately run a trial test with some of the children,” Simon tells her, to which she nods.
“And you think it could be our antibiotics that are not working?” she asks.
He nods. “Yes, I’m afraid so. We’re not having any luck. I think our patients have become antibiotic resistant but only to ours. Herb explained that Scarlet Fever was treated before with fairly high success with antibiotics. I’m hoping a new strain of antibiotic solution, which Herb already talked to the doctors up at Knox on the radio about, will help. They are bringing their own. I studied that manual you gave me last year about antibiotic resistance illnesses and how to treat them and thought of this.”
“Could be. I hope you’re right,” she says. They’ve all been burning the midnight oil trying to figure out a cure for these kids. Normally Scarlet Fever was something they used to be able to cure easily, but something is going on with this strain. The mutation is severe and never before documented, so they are the first doctors to study it. She hopes they are the last. “This could be a mutated gene in the virus that is fighting our antibiotic strain. It might make sense, too. The Campbell Kids brought this to our town. They weren’t exposed to our antibiotics. They lived up at Fort Campbell, and I think Melora said they were even staying slightly further north than that for a while. It might explain why our strains aren’t helping. We mix in our local honey. Perhaps something closer to their region would be more effective.”
“A keen observation, Reagan,” Grandpa praises.
“Or, hell, who knows?” she adds. “Maybe it’s just some new strain that evolved to self-preserve.”
“Could be,” he says with a nod and pushes back his gray hair from his forehead. Then he smiles at Reagan. “I’m off to prepare a study guide to help Lucas with his medical studies,” he says and touches her shoulder affectionately.
They both nod, and Simon tells him to be careful not to slip near the corner of the building where it is particularly muddy.
“Where’s Cory?” she asks a while later as they work side by side. “I haven’t seen him all morning.”
He grunts and says, “I don’t know. He said he’s working on some special project and he’d be back later.”
This captures Reagan’s attention. “You don’t think he’s tracking down the highwaymen on his own, do you?”
Simon shakes his head and replies, “No, he’s out in the woods somewhere avoiding work if I were to hazard a guess.”
“Simon,” Reagan chastises. Then she chuckles, “Are you ever gonna let it go? Seriously, it’s Cory we’re talking about here, not some mass murderer.”
He shoots her a dubious glance with a cocked eyebrow.
“Ok, be nice. He’s not truly a mass murderer because he wants to be,” she corrects. “He only does that when he has to. Or at least that’s what we hope, right?”
She smiles and gets the briefest glimpse of one from Simon in return.
“So what’s the plan with these idiots?” she asks. “I heard from John what happened with Sam questioning that kid. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her yet. She’s been hanging out with Paige all day. John said they’re planning a meeting tonight about it, but I’m just wanting to get your take.”
Simon sighs and pauses thoughtfully before answering, “I’m not sure. I assume we’ll start running intelligence gathering missions soon. Then we’ll hit the compound. If the kid was telling the truth, of course. It seemed to me that he was.”
“Yeah,” she adds, thinking about Sam talking to that kid. “People don’t tend to lie to Sam.” Reagan pauses a moment and adds, “Just you.”
Simon turns to her with a deep scowl, a lock of his auburn hair falling over his forehead. Reagan just laughs at his dismay.
“For your information, I’m trying to fix all of that,” he says quietly before turning his attention back to the medical book in front of him on the counter.
“Good luck with that, Simon,” Reagan tells him as she hops down from her bar stool. She tosses her manual on the table for him to continue without her. “She hates your guts. You’re gonna need all the help you can get.”
“Gee, thanks for the pep talk,” he criticizes with a pursing of his lips. “Now I feel great.”
“No problem,” Reagan says.
“Luckily for the world, you didn’t decide to major in psychology,” he jokes.
“Hell, Simon, I can barely even fix myself most days,” she remarks, gets a smile from him, pats his back, and exits the shed.
After dinner, they have a meeting in the dining room, and G volunteers to watch Charlotte while Huntley helps with baby Daniel.
Sam tells everyone what she discussed with their prisoner and the information he gave up. She also makes it clear that she does not think he should be their prisoner anymore. Reagan isn’t so sure about that. A decision like this will have to be thoroughly discussed between the sheriff and the guys because they have more experience in such matters of hostile prisoners and assholes who are a threat.
John says, “I talked to Dave earlier. He’s sending a group tonight to check out this Gaylord hotel place.”
“Oh, I hope they’re careful!” Hannah states with concern.
Kelly simply places his huge hand over hers. “They will be, baby. Don’t worry. They’ve done this many times before just like us.”
“What’s the plan?” Reagan asks.
Derek answers, “We’re gonna watch them for a while, see what we can see, gather intel.”
“How long?” Sue asks, sitting next to her husband with a pinched brow.
“Not sure,” he says. “These things don’t have timelines. We’ll see what we can gather on them, figure out their operation, see how many people are living there. It’s not an exact science. Some of it is just gut instinct.”
“At what point would you make your move?” Grandpa asks.
“Well,” John starts, “we’ll play it by ear. We don’t want them out there killing more people, but we don’t want to put our own men in danger, either, by being too hasty and not getting a solid plan of attack put together.”
“Understandable, John,” Grandpa says as he sips his coffee. “And are you planning on going on any of these intel runs?”
“Yes, sir,” he says.
Kelly adds, “We all will.”
“I want to go, too,” Sam jumps in to say.
“What? No, that is definitely not a good idea,” Simon interjects and gets a sneer from Sam.
“I don’t think that would be a problem, little sister,” John tells Sam and ruffles her dark hair. “You’ve got good eyes and instincts. You could run with Cory and Simon in a few days when they cycle in.”
“What do you mean?” Reagan asks.
“We’ll have to go there in small teams,” Derek explains.
Kelly says, “Right, we don’t want too many of us gone from the farm at a time. And taking too many people with us could mean we would get spotted, as well. Best to err on the side of caution and send in small teams.”
“Plus, with Robert’s doctors coming in the morning, we need to be able to let you docs work with them while we keep things running around here,” John adds.
“I’d like to help, as well,” Paige says, earning a look of disapproval from Cory and an even bigger one from her brother. “What? I want to help. I need to do something productive. I’m going stir crazy being around the farm so much lately.”
“Sure, Paige,” Kelly is quick to say. “I don’t see a problem with that. As long as you feel healthy enough to go
.”
Reagan knows that nobody but she and John know of Paige’s miscarriage. Kelly is still referencing when she was shot. That will always weigh heavily on his mind because that bullet was meant for him. He’s not the sort of man to let something like that go.
“No, I’m fine. I’m strong again,” she says firmly. “I want to go.”
“Fine,” John says and looks to Reagan for confirmation of Paige’s clean bill of health. She nods once. “We’ll set up a rotation. Once these observation missions begin, we’ll need to batten down the hatches around here, be more careful, keep an eye out while extra hands are away from the farm.”
“Right,” Derek breaks in to add. “And when we make our move, we want everyone at home, not in town.”
“When do you think that might be?” Sue asks.
Her husband shakes his head. “Not sure. We’ll get the information we need and make that decision.”
“What we’ll do is set up ambushes on the men running in and out of there,” Kelly says. “We’ll follow them, take ‘em out in small groups before we go for the main course, the big compound.”
“Not surprising you’d use a food analogy,” Reagan teases and gets a laugh from her brother-in-law. “That sounds smart, but what if they figure it out that you guys are spying on them and that’s how you’re managing to know their moves?”
“We don’t feel like they will,” Cory says. “We’ve already been skirmishing with them. That’s nothing new, but we’ll be able to see how many groups leave the compound at one time, where they go, and what they’re up to. Plus, we’re hoping at some point if we follow them, one group or another will lead us to the senator.”
“That’s a very good idea,” Grandpa puts in.
Kelly says, “We’ll take you docs to town tomorrow to meet up with Robert’s doctors. Then we’ll need to come home, and some of us will gear up to go. Our observations will start tomorrow night. Then others from Dave’s group will relieve us and vice versa. The longer we can be out, the more we’ll learn.”
Their meeting adjourns, but when Reagan goes to bed, she neither feels comforted by the plans the men have made or optimistic about their future. Everything she holds dear in her life could be in jeopardy should this fail.
Chapter Six
Simon
He rises early the next morning after their meeting and packs the crates he and Herb put together the night before to take to town. The sun is just cresting over the pine trees on the horizon, and the farm is still and peaceful except for the occasional mooing from the cows out in the pasture or the clucking of hens in the coop. Simon passes Kelly on patrol near the shed and sends him a nod of greeting as he walks toward the horse barn.
There is a heifer that was pasture bred about six months ago that he wants to check on. Herb said he was concerned about her the other night. Some of the other heifers were harassing her, and she was standoffish with the rest of the herd. They have her corralled in the cow barn in a stall for observation. He said she could be having difficulties with her pregnancy.
As he is passing the horse barn, he glances in and sees Samantha sitting on a bale of hay at the other end. He knows he shouldn’t bother her, that she doesn’t like him too well right now, but the temptation is too much to resist, and he goes in anyway.
“Good morning,” he states with hopeful optimism edging into his tone. He sounds even more like a dork than normal, even more than Reagan accuses him of being.
She looks up and says, “Oh, hey,” as if she is disappointed it’s him. Simon tries not to take it as an immediate defeat on his end.
“Drawing?”
“Yes,” she answers with a single word.
Simon bends over and takes a look at her sketch pad. “Wow, that’s great. Your work never ceases to surprise me.”
It’s the truth, too. Sam has drawn the three horses who are lingering in the space just beyond the barn. A lot of the animals do this. Sometimes it’s just to escape the sun in the middle of the day and hang out in the shade provided by the barn. Other times like now, it is to await breakfast and to be the first ones in line when the humans awaken and come out to feed them. Her drawing even captures motion as the gray in her sketch is flicking its tail as they are wont to do.
“Fantastic,” he continues.
Sam flips the cover on her drawing pad and gathers her tools into her messenger bag as if she is annoyed. “Are you guys waiting on me or something? Is it time to go?”
“Oh, no,” he says, trying to stay her with his words. “I just came out to check one of the cows. We’re not leaving for at least another hour.”
“Hm,” she remarks with unveiled irritation.
“As a matter of fact,” he starts, “I was hoping I’d catch you alone while you stayed here with us. I’d like to talk if that’s okay.”
“It’s not actually,” Sam states and stands, slinging her bag to cross over the front of her body.
“Oh,” he whispers, surprised she’d refuse. She used to like talking with him. Of course, he is an imbecile, so he can’t blame her for hating him. He wishes that she didn’t. He stammers and rushes to think of an excuse to keep her near him. “Um, hey, yeah, would you be able to help me really quick, Sam?”
“Help you with what?” she asks, pausing as she tries to pass him.
“With this heifer, the one in lockdown,” he says. He is not a good liar, so he hopes this falsehood comes off as believable. He goes on to explain the situation, and to his relief, Sam agrees to follow him to the cow barn.
Once they are outside again, Simon can see her better than in the dim barn. She’s wearing black cargo pants and a pale blue hoodie under her short black jacket. The hues bring out her vibrant coloring from her dark hair to her pink cheeks to her blue eyes to her full mouth that seems to be permanently downturned lately. He is definitely the one at fault for this being so.
She doesn’t look up at him or make small talk or actually talk to him at all, so Simon tries to fill the void with what mostly sounds like nonsense and gibberish.
“Are you excited to go to town today?”
This catches her attention, and Sam looks up at him with a funny expression, “To help research Scarlet Fever? Sure. That sounds like a blast, Simon.”
“Uh…no, I just meant to help out and also to see your friends,” he says lamely.
“I’ll be glad to go home later if that’s what you mean.”
He has to grind his teeth together to keep from stating once again that Dave’s compound is not her home. This is. She belongs on this farm.
“I’m glad you’ll be with us today,” he babbles. “You’re so great at research. You’re also really helpful with the kids. They really trust you. All kids do. Actually, adults do, as well. You’re just great with people in general, I suppose.”
Her mouth puckers as if she has tasted something gross.
“Swell,” she answers and walks ahead of him into the cow barn.
This is not going as well as he’d hoped. He knew she was angry with him, but he hadn’t expected this. It bothers him the amount of cynicism he hears in her light voice.
“How’s it going between Paige and Cory?” she asks out of the blue. “I tried to talk to her last night about it, but she was kinda’ quiet.”
“Yes, I know,” he replies. “I’ve noticed that, as well. She’s been very quiet lately, even withdrawn.”
“Then you should let Cory be with her,” she says in a tone that is slightly reprimanding.
Simon frowns and says, “What? I don’t think so.”
“You should. Stop trying to control everything and everyone around you and just let your sister be with Cory.”
“I’m not trying to control her. I just want what’s best for her. I want to keep her safe. Cory has issues with commitment. I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Simon, that’s called life. People get hurt. Just lighten up. Let them be together.”
“She doesn’t want to. Remember? She said
she wasn’t looking for a relationship with anyone.”
“That’s a lie,” Sam says as if reading it straight from a manual on human relationships.
“How do you know that?” he questions because he is not so wise as she and is usually in the dark when it comes to anything involving relationships of any sort. He definitely counts Samantha in that category of confusion and perplexity.
“She loves him,” she answers pointedly.
This really throws him off. “What? How do you know that? She told you that?”
“No, not so much in words exactly,” she says. “But I can tell. Paige loves him, and Cory is crazy over the moon about her.”
She just keeps walking as if she isn’t dropping information bombs on him right and left.
To make things worse, she adds, “And you’re keeping them apart.”
“Hey,” he retorts with offense. “I’m doing it for her own good. Cory is a player. He sleeps around. He sews his wild oats all over the county. He’s not getting involved with my sister. He broke a code. I’d never do that to him. Plus, I’m her protector now. Our parents are gone. Paige is my responsibility, and I need to see to it that she’s safe, even emotionally.”
“Yeah,” Sam remarks flippantly and stops to look up at him, “you’re doing a great job of that. She’s totally miserable.”
“Yeah? Well, apparently that’s my specialty when it comes to women.”
She harrumphs at him and juts out her chin. Then she marches down the barn aisle without waiting for him. Simon stands there stupefied and then jogs to catch up with her again.
Shadow, or as Cory calls her Damn Dog, bounds over to greet them, and Sam stoops to pet Cory’s mutt. She coos and sweet-talks the dog, who eats it up and even rolls onto her back to be scratched on the stomach by her.
“Why do you think my sister’s miserable? What do you mean? I haven’t noticed that she’s miserable, just quiet lately.”
She shrugs and stands. “Not a surprise, Simon.”
“What isn’t?”
Sam smirks and walks away again, “That you wouldn’t notice something. If she would’ve clubbed you over the head with a board that had the word ‘misery’ written on it, you still wouldn’t notice.”