by Taja Kartio
Kale was silent for a moment. His lips quirked, "This last time wasn't the first attempt at you getting you out of that hospital. Rey came by to see how we were doing and give us a really really vague update on how you were doing. Two weeks ago, maybe. All we got was that they'd been keeping you in the same room and they were running continuous tests. Rey was worried. So Beckett and I decided to try and find you... it didn't go so well."
I didn't ask anything more, not that I really got the chance to. A noise, something sliding against a rough surface. It was distant, but Kale seemed to know where it came from. He stood immediately, "Stay down."
"I'm already down?"
He looked back at me quickly with a roll of his eyes, "Just," He held a hand up that told me to stay where I was.
My brother hastened to the metal racks, more specifically in front of the folded blankets. He dug underneath a few of them and pulled out large sub-machine gun. He didn't have that before. I watched him stand beside the ladder that was hooked to the wall straight across from me. I didn't know where either ladder led to, but if he needed the gun then there must be a chance of someone finding this room that isn't meant to find it.
Two knocks. Pause. Three knocks. Pause. One knock.
The sound seemed to ease the tension in Kale. His shoulders relaxed significantly and the gun in his hands lowered completely.
"Come on down," He called, chiming the barrel of the gun against the ladder twice before turning away and hiding the gun once again.
There was a slight shuffle before the light tapping of feet on the metal bars of the ladder started to clink, getting louder and louder.
"Hey Kale, guess what I found!" Alex's excited voice called.
I glanced at Kale, who rose a brow, "Ya?"
Alex jumped down from the ladder, hauling his backpack off his shoulders, "Remember how you said you could really go for some turkey jerky?"
"You found some?"
Oh boy. My eyes rolled in their sockets in amusement. Kale's favorite.
Alex nodded, pulling what was actually a rather large plastic bag of jerky, "I grabbed the last four bags on the shelf in that convenience store that we tried getting into last week."
"What? How'd you get in?" Kale took the four bags from him enthusiastically. I swore he looked more happy to see those bags than he was when I woke up.
"A lot of skill," Alex started to head over to where I was, still incredibly unaware that I was no longer unconscious.
"Hi Alex," I said quietly, lifting my hand in a small waving gesture.
Alex's eyes snapped to the source of the voice. His jaw dropped at the sight of me leaning against the wall, "Dani? You're awake!"
"Seems that way," I giggled, watching him drop his backpack on a mattress a few feet away from me.
"Hey, Beckett! Come here! Come look who woke up!"
My brother pushed through two strangers, who I presumed were Casey and Tatum.
"Dani," He breathed. Pure alleviation seemed to wash over him as he quickly rushed to my side. His hands shook as he slid them down both sides of my face and ending with my cheeks cupped in his palms. "How do you feel? Are you feeling alright? Does anything hurt? How is your-"
I winced slightly as I lightly swatted his hands away, chuckling as I did, "I'm okay Beck. Really. I'm just a little sore. That's all."
He swallowed, nodding his head, "Right, but does anything hurt? Just... humor me."
"His inner McSteamy is kicking in again," Kale smirked.
Beckett ignored him. It wasn't the first time he'd made that joke.
Kale turned to Tatum and Casey, asking a question I didn't catch. Beckett was still waiting for me to answer his question.
I glanced down at my hand resting on my chest, "My shoulder is a little cranky but I'm overall just really sore."
"That's good. You were in bad shape when got you back," He muttered, turning away to his backpack. I watched him for a moment as shuffled items around, eventually pulling out a small jar of pills. Advil, "How about your stomach? Any discomfort?"
I shook my head, "Nothing."
"I see Kale got you eating and drinking," My brother poked the two empty cans and the water bottle beside me, "Or did he eat both of those himself?"
I giggled, "No. I had one."
"Keeping it down?" He handed me two pills.
I tilted my head, grimacing slightly, "Hard to swallow. I had to take it slowly otherwise I'd be coughing it back up."
"Well, it's progress," Beckett sighed slightly, picking up the water bottle, "Now, bottoms up."
I hoped the pills would do their work quickly. I didn't mention it, but it was still a tad painful to breathe, just like it was when I'd first gotten sick. As I managed to push down the pills and the water, Beckett settled against the wall beside me with the backpack full of goodies he'd snagged from wherever while Alex cracked another can of fruit open for himself. He took a seat on the mattress next to Beckett and I when I started to overhear the somewhat heated conversation Casey, Tatum and Kale were having.
"So now that Sunshine is up, whatta we gonna do?"
My eyes began to narrow. Sunshine?
"She's not ready to travel yet, Tatum, " Kale replied, his arms crossed over his chest, "She just woke up today."
Tatum was a big guy. I would have thought Tatum was going to the gym every day. The kind of guy who was real big on protein shakes and eating right. His body looked like he did but Kale's mentioning of his past lifestyle said differently.
"How long’ll that be? The soldiers been checkin' every crevice of the city for'er."
My muscles tensed up at that. Kale had mentioned it earlier but he didn't seem too worried about it. Either Tatum was in a panic that his and Caseys home would be discovered or he just didn't want a fugitive stashed away in his home. Could just be both.
Alex leaned over with a hushed voice. He too was partially tuned into their conversation, "He's kind of always like this. Paranoid."
Beckett nodded in agreement, "Soldiers are looking for you, but not as extensively as he's making it sound. They have other things to worry about other than you.”
"So then it's pretty dangerous for me to go out there isn't it?" I asked.
"It's dangerous for all of us," Beckett said, opening a bag of saltine crackers and taking a small nibble off the first cracker he grabbed.
"He's just upset he has to stay down here in hiding like the rest of us," Alex whispered again, but loud enough for Tatum to catch.
"We didn't have to before. Now we gotta cause we a part of helpin' you all get this girl."
"We didn't necessarily ask you to help us as extensively as you offered, Tatum," Beckett eyed the man dryly.
"He's right, you know," The other man, Casey said, who was emptying a duffel bag by the metal shelves.
Tatum's nostril flared at his friend's comment.
I shifted uncomfortably.
Thirteen
"Morning Sleeping Beauty," Kale watching me rub an eye with the palm of my hand for a moment. He was standing a few feet away, tinkering with the machine gun. Alex sat across from him, head buried in the pages of a book.
"Hey," I yawned. The room was surprisingly bright. My eyes needed to adjust to the lighting that was trying to blind me. "What time is it?"
He held up his wrist although he wasn't wearing a watch, "Hmm. Hard to say. I think it's broken."
"Okay smartass," My eyes rolled far back in their sockets.
"Well don't ask stupid questions. We don't have a clock around," His entire facial expression was a 'duh'. He lowered his wrist and returned his eyes to the gun on the floor in front of him.
"How was I supposed to know that? I haven't been consciously around long enough."
"Now that sounds like a personal problem."
I felt my brows narrow, "I'm about to make it your problem too."
My brother smirked at that, "Okay Dani."
I worked on sitting up. My muscles still ached, but not as angrily as the previous day,
"Where is everybody?"
Alex answered this time, "Beckett is upstairs in one of the apartments using the bathroom and Tatum and Alex are out trying to get rations."
"Rations?"
"Started a week or so ago," Alex turned a page, "Soldiers are trying to make food last as long as possible until this whole thing blows over."
"I doubt they actually think this is going to blow over but that's what they're trying to make it sound like." Kale added, pulling the magazine from the gun. He seemed fascinated by every bullet that was snuggly rested in the chamber. His finger traced the edges of the mag entrancingly.
"I thought Tatum and Casey were hiding from soldiers too?"
Alex looked up, "Ya, we thought that too."
"They thought that since their only run in with them was at night, that no soldier saw their face clearly enough to be seen as fugitives. We couldn't stop them from leaving." Kale grumbled.
Two knocks. Pause. Three knocks. Pause. One knock.
"You're good," Kale called. He'd had the mag bag in the gun so quick when he heard the sliding of something heavy above us.
"Why do you guys get so worked up when someone is coming?" It wasn't like the soldiers would find us in such a place like this. Hidden and secure. It was so close to an invisible bunker that I didn't see reason to point an assault rifle every time we heard movements outside this dungeon-like cellar.
"Just a safety precaution Dani," Vexation tinged in the eldest brother's voice.
Beckett jumped to the ground when he was close enough. A soft smile on his lips when he looked at me, "Hey squirt."
"Morning Beck," I gave him a small wave. "I know you just got back down here but, I kinda need to go."
He caught on right away, "I was going to ask you that anyway. One of the ladies upstairs, Rebecca, she has some extra clothes for you and she cleaned your old ones."
Kale snorted, “We finally don’t have to clean up after you.”
Quickly, my head turned in his direction, “What?”
Kale looked up, and meeting with Beckett’s eyes, which may as well have been daggers, said nothing. Gross! My cheeks felt hot. I didn’t want to think of my brothers having to baby me and… Ugh. Nasty.
Beckett must have noted my embarrassment. He smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry about it, Dani.”
It would have been nice if Kale hadn’t said anything.
Beckett bent his knees and gestured for one of my arms. He knew I was going to need some help getting up and around. One hand grasped my forearm while the other was behind my shoulder. Kale was also immediately by my side, shadowing Beckett and assisting me in the same way. Against the burning will of my joints, I managed to get to my feet. I wasn't exactly balanced though. After being laid on some kind of surface for over a month, my legs felt wobbly. It was like my knees didn't want to lock together and help me keep my balance. I used my brothers as support to keep from falling to the ground. Beckett was fully concentrated and focused on aiding me while Kale leered at my struggling.
"What are you smirking at?" I asked, glaring.
He broke into a small fit of soft laughter, "It's like we're teaching you how to walk again. Just like when you were a tiny baby."
I wish I had the strength to punch him, "Shut up."
Beckett seemed to go along with this, breaking into his own small simper grin, "He's got a point. I remember when you took your first steps.”
I shook my head sourly, "Well I don't, and I would rather not be treated like a baby again."
"That's too bad. You'll always be our baby sister," Kales voice rose significantly and shifted to a whiny kind of tone.
I heard Alex chuckling to himself. My eyes rolled once again as Beckett let go and began to climb the ladder next to us.
Kale's smirk died as my fingers curled around one of the metal bars, "Think you can do this?"
Quite frankly, I wasn't too sure. Every movement was a stab in the chest. The ladder was perhaps ten or fifteen high but to me, from where I was standing, it looked neverending. Beckett had already made it to the top, giving me an encouraging nod.
I turned to Kale beside me questioningly, "Well, unless you want to clean up after me?"
"Uh..." Kale made a face and looked back up the ladder, "No. I’m a hundred percent confident you can do this."
"That's the spirit."
He let go of my arm so that I could place my other hand on the bar. The chilly metal wasn't friendly. It taunted me. It chanted that I wouldn't be strong enough to make it. I cringed at the whispers but raised my arm to the next bar. The reach pulled on my ribs, shooting a jolt of electricity through my chest. Every movement was more of a negotiation rather than a command. I had to hook my arm around each bar as I reached for the next otherwise I felt that I would fall right off. I knew I was trembling and I knew I was tiring too quickly. By the time I was two thirds of the way up, I felt like I couldn't go on. Oxygen felt like it was entering my lungs through a thin straw.
"You're almost there Dani," Beckett encouraged me every time I paused to take in the next wave of sore pain.
My brothers hand reached down when I was close enough, grabbing my forearm. His strength pulled me to the top of the ladder. The room was small and a little cramped. It didn't work well with my itching claustrophobia.
"How do you feel?" He asked as I seated myself at the edge of the hole. I glanced down at Kale who gave me a quick thumbs up and an congratulated nod up before turning around and disappearing from my view.
"Tired," I answered in between heavy breaths, returning my eyes to Beckett. My shaking died down slightly. It was discouraging that I had gotten so easily exhausted from such a short climb. I was an athletic person, this deep fatigue was completely foreign to me.
Once again, I was gently assisted to my feet. His patience with me collided with my steamy frustration, "You did good though."
By good you mean barely making it? I thought bitterly.
The dim lighting couldn't hide the large hole in the wall that was covered up by a large wooden object on the other side. Beckett raised an enclosed fist, letting his knuckles tap the old wood.
Two knocks. Pause. Three knocks. Pause. One knock.
It took a few moments. I knew whatever was blocking the entrance would have to move but the first push startled me. Beckett gave my shoulder a small squeeze as the wall slid out of the way.
"Beckett," An older man stood in sight. Perhaps late fifties to early sixties, his features were surprisingly clean. His hair wasn't greasy in slightest and his clothes looked brand new, "Wasn't even a whole five minutes."
"Sorry Mack, but Dani is up and running. Could we?"
Mack. The name seemed to suit him perfectly.
He nodded without hesitation, stepping aside, "Take her to the bathroom to clean up in."
Beckett was one step behind me as Mack let us come by. The living room we were in was neat, a regular looking room that a middle aged couple would have in their apartment. A bookshelf, which Mack pushed back into place, was the barrier the covered the hole in the wall. From this side, you couldn't even tell what the books hid behind them.
"Rebecca went to get rations but I know she laid a few spare clothes aside for Dani, plus her originals," Mack cut in front of us and stepped inside a room next to the bathroom, coming back a moment later with a nicely folded set of clothes and a plastic bag. I didn't really get to see what he had as he put them on the counter in the bathroom. "The apartment complex runs off its own plumbing source so there's running water for you to take a shower if you want to."
I nodded, a smile to give my thanks.
"Knock when you're done using the bathroom," Beckett said, "I want to look at those stitches before you shower."
I gently shut the door and let it latch to the frame. My hand released the doorknob and dropped to my side.
My eyes went straight for the mirror. Right away, the girl that stared back at me was unrecognizable. Her eyes sunken, her skin sallow. Everything sagg
ed. Her grease-slicked hair was pulled back behind her head but wisps of hair framed her dusty face. The girl that looked back at me, she looked nothing like me.
I shook my head to myself did my business, washed my hands and at Beckett requested, knocked on the door.
"Hey squirt," My brother greeted as he slipped inside, "How you feeling?"
I shrugged, "I didn't think I looked like this,"
Beckett however glossed over my appearance, "You've been through hell, Dani and here you are, standing. You're alive and not wearing any disfiguring scars-"
I pointed to my chest, "What about this?"
"A scar but not disfiguring," Beckett smiled softly, "I still know who you are. I still recognize you as my sister and I don't need to second glance you to figure that out. The only thing that's different is that you've lost a little weight, you haven't showered in a while," He stepped forward and pulled on the collar of my shirt gently, "and that you're wearing my only spare shirt."
The corner of my lip curled upwards, "Fits me pretty well, huh?"
"Fits you? The shirt could fit three of you."
I giggled, "Are you calling yourself fat?"
Beckett was taken back at that. He made a face, "Tall, not fat. Now sit."
I did as he asked, sat on the seat of the toilet. He kneeled in front of me and I lifted my shirt to reveal the vertical stitching that ran up my stomach.
"How old are they?" I asked.
"A little over a week," His head tilted, eyes squinting. His finger poked at the black thread, "They were a couple days old when we got out of that hospital. Do you remember anything about it?"
I shook my head, "No."
"Well," He tapped my hand and let me drop my shirt, "They were looking for something that wasn't normal. I don't know what could possibly be different though."
"My blood," I answered for him, but he shook his head.
"There's no difference with your blood anymore than there is with mine to the naked eye," He leaned back and sat against the wall across from me, "They were looking for some abnormality with your insides. Failing or failed organs. Something else that could have linked you to the Infected."
"Is that your guess or is that what Kate told you?"