“Hope, it’s not your fault,” Calum said. “It’s an awful tragedy. This whole epidemic is awful. But none of it is your fault.”
Hope just sniffed and cried harder. It didn’t matter what her brother or anyone else said. She was never going to forgive herself.
“I’m going to see him,” Bash said suddenly, starting toward the house at a full-speed run.
“Bash, no!” his sister Silver said, trying to run after him. “It’s too contagious. If you go in the same room as him you’ll catch it and die, too.”
“I don’t care,” Bash yelled. “He saved our lives in the first place by letting us escape out here. I’m not letting him die without being surrounded by friends.”
“Bash!” Silver yelled, chasing him as fast as she could. Hope’s eyes widened. There was no way Silver was going to catch him.
“Bash! Stop!” Hope yelled, breaking away from Calum and running toward the cabin, too. “You’ll die! Think of your parents! Your family! Drew wouldn’t want you to risk your own life like this!”
As Hope ran into the front door, she heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. She took the stairs two at a time herself, still screaming out at Bash to stop. Moments later, she heard a bedroom door open, followed by more of Silver’s screams at her brother to stop. She reached the top of the stairwell just in time to see Silver and Bash, wrestling with each other as they both tumbled into her bedroom.
Hope let out an agonized moan and covered her face with her hands, tears starting to fall again. What was Bash thinking, running in there like that? And Silver had just signed her own death sentence by trying to keep her brother from his own foolhardiness.
Hope slowly walked toward the bedroom, already wondering how in the world she was going to find the strength to watch three of her closest friends be lowered into graves.
Chapter Ten
Hope hated her name. She felt anything but hopeful right now. Lying in bed, next to her dying boyfriend, with two of her other friends waiting to die in the bedroom next door, seemed like pretty much the opposite of hope to her.
She had tried to sleep as much as possible, just to block out the nightmare unfolding before her eyes. Drew had been drifting in and out of sleep, but each time he woke up he was a bit less coherent than the time before. His fever was unrelenting, and he wasn’t interested in eating any food. No matter how much Hope begged him to eat to keep up his strength, he just sadly shook his head no.
“I’m not hungry, Hope. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Whether or not I eat, I’m going to be dead within the next day or two. This disease moves quickly. I have three more days left, tops.”
Hope had broken down into tears at these words, and Drew had tried to comfort her by telling her he was always with her in spirit, and that he was just happy she wasn’t sick.
Hope didn’t even tell him that Bash and Silver were likely going to die, too. Drew had been asleep when they barged into his room, and he hadn’t seemed to realize what was happening when they woke him up. Maybe he had thought it was all a dream, but he never mentioned anything about the intrusion. He just kept saying that he was happy that at least the rest of his friends were going to be okay. Hope didn’t have the heart to tell him that this wasn’t exactly true.
Hope looked at the clock next to her bed. It had been thirty hours now since Bash and Silver had barged into the bedroom. Hope dreaded going to hear the news. She knew it wasn’t going to be good. There was no way they got lucky enough that two more people on this crew were resistant to the bear flu. She didn’t want to face the fact that more death was descending on this cabin.
Drew stirred next to her, and when Hope looked over he had opened his eyes. They had a faraway look in them, like he wasn’t really consciously in the room right now.
“Drew?” Hope asked. “Are you okay?”
He slowly turned his gaze to focus on her, and a small smile turned up the corners of his lips. “I love you,” he said. Then he closed his eyes.
Hope shook him, her heart pounding. “Drew! Drew! Don’t you dare leave me! You can still pull through this!”
There was no response, and she started shaking him harder. “Drew!” she cried out desperately, reaching to feel for his pulse.
It was still there. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. She put her head against his chest, relieved to feel that it was still rising and falling slowly. He had just fallen back into a deep sleep. He was still alive.
For now.
Hope sat up and put her head in her hands again, unsure of what to do. She should really go see Bash and Silver. Since she was apparently immune to the flu, she could visit them even though no one else could. It was up to her to help keep their spirits up. Hope kissed Drew on the forehead, and started to stand. Just as she reached for the doorknob of her bedroom door, a knock sounded on it.
“Hope?”
Hope froze with her hand on the doorknob. It was Silver. Silver, who should have been in bed hot with a fever by now. Was it really possible? Was Silver also immune?
Hope threw the bedroom door open to find Silver standing there, looking as healthy as she had yesterday before barging in on Drew.
“Silver! You’re not sick!” Hope said, then threw her arms around her friend.
“No, no I’m not,” Silver said. “And neither is Bash.”
Hope pulled back and looked at Silver with wide, disbelieving eyes. “What? How is that possible?”
Silver smiled. “Don’t you see, Hope? We’ve just discovered something amazing. Something that Juno thinks could save Drew’s life.”
Hope felt her heart beating faster. “Don’t play with me Silver. Don’t give me a false sense of hope.”
Silver shook her head. “I would never do that, Hope! I’m serious. Think about it for a second. Drew got sick within a day, as expected. But you, me, and Bash didn’t. What’s the difference between us and Drew?”
Suddenly, it dawned on Hope. “We’re shifters. He’s not.”
“Bingo,” Silver said. “It looks like there’s something in shifter DNA that keeps the virus from taking hold in our bodies.”
“How is this going to save Drew, though?” Hope asked. “We can’t turn him into a shifter.”
“No, but we can give him shifter blood,” Silver said. “Juno is the biologist so she can probably explain it better than me, but, basically, we’re going to inject Drew with blood from one of us. Since Jack’s a doctor he can handle that part. Basically, we’re hoping that this will be enough to help his body learn to fight the virus. Juno thinks there’s something in the white blood cells of shifter blood that’s capable of easily taking down the virus.”
Hope blinked a few times, trying to process everything Silver was telling her. “But, what if his body rejects the new blood? There aren’t any hospitals for miles. We won’t be able to get him emergency care, and he’ll die.”
“Hope,” Silver said gently. “He’s dying anyway. This will actually give him a chance.”
Hope bit her lip, chewing on it so fiercely that she started to taste blood. She wanted to believe that this was possible, and that it would give Drew a chance to pull through. But she was afraid of getting too excited only to have Drew die after all. Still, the thought that there might still be a way to save Drew filled her with excitement.
“Don’t you need medical equipment to give him blood?” Hope asked. “Like a hospital with an IV machine or something like that.”
Silver actually chuckled. “I don’t think it’s called an ‘IV machine.’ But Jack brought a lot of first aid medical supplies with him from Chicago. He said he has what he needs to be able to get shifter blood into Drew’s veins.”
Hope glanced back at Drew. Although he still had a fever, his face was no longer flushed pink. Instead, it had turned deathly pale. Hope forced herself to swallow back the tears once again trying to force their way out of her eyes.
“Okay,” Hope said. “Let’s do this. I don’t see any other options.”
“Come on,” Silver said. “Jack and Juno are in the supply shed. Let’s go talk to them and get this done.”
Hope followed Silver out to the supply shed, a large building which Drew mostly used to store weapons. The walls were lined with several different guns, and even some fearsome looking swords. Jack had apparently been using the space as a place to store his medical supplies as well. Right now, he was sitting on the floor with Juno, going through a neatly arranged box of what appeared to be bandages. Jack and Juno both looked up as Silver and Hope entered the room.
“Hope!” Juno said, a smile breaking across her face. “I’m assuming Silver told you the news?”
Hope nodded. “She said you guys think you can save Drew.”
Jack nodded. “We’ve got everything we need here to set up an IV bag. We’ll use that to pump blood from one of us into Drew’s body. If we’re lucky, his body will accept the blood, and the white blood cells from the new blood will fight off the bear flu virus.”
Hope nodded, still trying to process everything that was going on. “Whose blood are you going to use?”
“We can use anyone’s blood,” Juno said. “Drew has type AB blood, which is the universal recipient. We know that thanks to his dog tags from his time in the military.”
“Drew was in the military?” Silver asked in surprise. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk about it.”
“Yeah, well, he hated it,” Hope said. “He doesn’t like authority figures, and there’s quite a few of them in the military.”
Jack laughed. “Yeah, I can’t see Drew being the kind of guy who would enjoy getting yelled at by drill sergeants. Luckily for us, though, he kept his dog tags. They’re hanging on the wall there by the door of the shed.”
Hope glanced to her left and saw two silver dog tags hanging from a simple nail on the wall of the shed. She reached over and held them between her fingers, reading his name and blood type aloud.
“Drew Brooks, AB positive.” It was hard to imagine him as a hotheaded eighteen year old, taking orders from angry superiors. Drew had told Hope that he’d wanted to serve his country, but had been very happy when his time in the service was up.
“Too much yelling,” he’d said. “And not enough of it done by me.”
Hope looked up at Jack again, a determined look on her face. “I want to donate to him. Use my blood.”
Jack nodded as if he’d been expecting this. “Of course. Let’s get this gear to the one room cabin so you can sit on the couch while we get your blood. We shouldn’t waste any more time. From what I understand the bear flu kills quickly, so we want to do this before it’s too late.”
Hope followed Silver, Juno, and Jack out of the shed, her heart pounding with excitement. Suddenly, the sun seemed to be shining brightly again. The crisp white snow looked cheery instead of cold. There was a chance that the love of her life was going to pull through, after all.
As Jack set her up on the couch and started searching for a vein in her arm to pull blood from, she breathed out a silent prayer.
“Please let this work, please let this work.”
She wouldn’t be able to bear the pain if it didn’t.
Chapter Eleven
Drew blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes in confusion and trying to bring the spinning room into focus. Every time he opened his eyes, he felt surprised that he was still alive. He’d heard stories on the news of numerous people who had died within twenty-four hours of contracting the flu. But his body seemed determined to fight it, even though he knew it would be a losing battle in the end. Perhaps he was lasting longer because he was such a big, strong man. But it didn’t matter. His body’s valiant fight was only delaying the inevitable.
Drew glanced around the room again, disappointed to see that he was alone. He knew Hope couldn’t possibly stay in the room twenty-four seven. She needed a break now and then, too, and this was the first time he’d woken up and found her gone. Still, he would have liked to see her beautiful face. She was so perfect.
He had been immensely relieved when he realized that Hope was somehow immune to the flu. He’d only seen one news report discussing a rumor that someone in Texas had claimed to be immune, but that report had been unverified. It seemed that the flu was as universally deadly as a bullet to the chest. Hope had somehow escaped the bullet.
Drew tried to lift his arm, but the effort this simple movement required made it nearly impossible. His body was shutting down, saving all of its strength for merely surviving. Not that it mattered. Even the task of breathing would be too difficult before long. Drew stared up at the ceiling, and thought about his parents. No one could get in touch with them right now, because they were hiding out in underground Alaskan caverns, trying to escape the massive persecution of shifters that had been going on. Drew only hoped that their complete isolation had made it possible for them to escape the flu.
Drew felt cold, even though he was pretty sure he had a fever. A creeping sense of dread washed over him, as he realized that death was starting to take hold. Cold, dark death was coming for him. He shivered, then winced in pain as the shiver irritated his aching muscles. This was it. His whole life had come to this. Dying, alone and weak in an isolated cabin. He hadn’t made much of a mark on the world. He didn’t even have a child to carry on his name. His legacy ended with him, here in this small room.
Drew closed his eyes, wishing that at least Hope would show up so he could see her one last time. As if his thoughts had power, the door to his room suddenly burst open. He opened his eyes to see Hope come running in, and a weak smile played at the corner of his lips. But his smile soon faded as he saw that Hope wasn’t alone. Jack, Juno, and Silver were all crowding into the room as well. Drew felt panic seizing him. What were they doing here? Didn’t they know how contagious this flu was? They were all going to catch it and die!
“No, no, no!” Drew screamed out. But he was too weak to truly scream, and his attempts at a scream came out sounding like painful coughs.
“Shhh,” Hope said, coming over to sit by his face, stroking his forehead with her hands. “Everything is going to be all right. We found a way to save you.”
Drew tried to talk again. To tell her to make the others leave. They were out of their minds. There was no cure. There was nothing they could do for him, and they were going to contract the flu by being in this room. But the more he tried to speak, the more he found how truly weak his body was. He couldn’t get coherent words to come out. He couldn’t raise his arm to protest. All he could do was lie there weakly as Jack’s face came squarely into his field of vision.
“Hey, buddy,” Jack said. “We’re going to take care of you. Let me explain how.”
But Drew couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. He couldn’t focus on Jack’s face, much less his words. Everything started spinning, the room going in circles faster and faster until everything went black.
* * *
Drew woke with a start, his eyes flying open and his heart pounding as though he’d been running from a tiger. Once again, he was surprised to find himself still alive. But, this time, he was surprised to find that not only was he alive, but he didn’t feel quite as weak as he had before. He felt almost…normal. His skin didn’t feel like it was burning up anymore, and he didn’t have any chills. He wasn’t wearing a shirt now. Only sweatpants. He didn’t remember taking off his t-shirt but he obviously had at some point. His stomach, while still muscular, looked thin. He had lost quite a bit of weight. How many days had he been sick now? He had no idea. Everything had run together, and he had no idea what time it was, since the clock on the nightstand was facing away from him right now. The room was dim but not dark. It must be late afternoon.
He tried to lift his arm, and was surprised to find that he was able to do so with relative ease. He felt exhausted, but he wasn’t so weak anymore that he was unable to move. Drew sat up slowly, amazed to find that the room wasn’t spinning. He glanced across the room to see Hope slumped in a simp
le wooden rocking chair. She was asleep, with a paperback novel in her lap. Drew smiled. That paperback novel was the only one this crew owned, and it had been passed around, and read and reread, dozens of times since the clan came to live out here in the woods. Paperback novels were almost nonexistent these days, but one of the shifters had happened to have one. Hope stirred slightly, but didn’t wake up, and Drew’s heart melted as he looked over at her. Even slumped over in her sleep, she was stunning.
Drew turned his attention back to his own body, and once again started taking inventory of how he felt. He lifted one arm high above his head, then the other. He moved both of his legs, and found it surprisingly easy to do so. Last time he had woken up, they had felt like they were made of weighted lead. He turned his neck from side to side. No aches.
Drew took in a deep breath and let it out. His lungs felt clear and…alive.
Was it actually possible that his body had beat off the flu? Drew shook his head in confusion. No. That was impossible. None of this made sense. Hope was immune? He was fighting it off? According to all of the news reports he had seen, they should both be dead by now. Drew slowly swung his legs off the bed and put his feet on the ground, wriggling his toes.
As impossible as this all seemed, it was actually happening. He was recovering. And Hope was still very much alive. Drew felt a small rush of joy flooding his body for the first time in days. Had they really managed to beat this thing?
But that small rush of joy was quickly replaced with a feeling of concern. He had a vague memory of Jack, Juno, and Silver coming into this room right before he passed out the last time. Which meant it was quite possible they were either sick or well on their way to being sick. Drew’s heart started pounding again. Why had they come in here again? They knew better. None of this made sense.
Mischief in a Fur Coat Page 8