“Like I was saying before, I think the antibiotics were what kept his appendix from rupturing this long, but they weren’t going to cure him long term.” Dan said. “Everything is in a number of red biohazard bags, and I would suggest it all get burned away from anything important, in a metal garbage can.”
Craig nodded in understanding. In addition to being a farmer he’d had to dispose of dead animals before, and it made sense to keep any type of infection away from the town.
“We ended up using both pints of blood but I was able to cauterize the small bleeders and everything went as well as it could have, though a little longer than I would have liked.” Dan said.
“Is he awake?” Denise asked. “Can I see him?”
“He’s awake.” Dan said. “In fact, although I made sure he didn’t feel anything, he woke up about an hour ago.”
Denise looked horrified and Marissa rolled her eyes. Dan could read her mind and just knew she was thinking “great bedside manner there, Doc”.
“Seriously,” Dan said, “I know he didn’t feel anything. I probably asked him a hundred times once he came around and the Valium wore off. If anything, I used too much of the local to keep him numb where we were working.”
“Ok, if you say so.” Denise said. The look of relief was skeptical, but honest nonetheless.
“Denise,” Craig said, “Why don’t you head on in and see Jay.” He turned to Dan. “He’s back in his room now?”
“Yes sir.” Dan answered. “A couple of the guys stayed behind and moved his bed back in while I was cleaning up, and I helped move him over to new sheets to make sure we didn’t open up the wound.”
“Great.” Craig said. “In the meantime, I believe we owe you all at least a few things in return.”
…
As warm as it was outside, at least there was a breeze, and Dan started cooling off immediately. He couldn’t believe how stressful the last few hours had been. He felt like he’d run a marathon while taking a physics exam…in a language he’d never studied…on Jupiter…while holding his breath. Yeah, that pretty much summed it up.
“Your wife drives a pretty hard bargain,” Craig said as they walked up the sidewalk. “I think I’m glad the prices at the market were pretty much set.”
“Just be glad she didn’t have coupons,” Dan said. “You’d end up owing her by the time it was over.”
Marissa smacked Dan in the stomach, “You two knock it off!”
Craig chuckled, “I’m used to it. My wife is the same way. For the first fifteen years of our marriage it was the only way we could really make ends meet.” He said. “My dad still owned the farm and I was working for him, so anything extra came from what we could do on our own.”
“Nothing wrong with being self-sufficient,” Marissa said.
“True,” Dan said. “I just wish we’d gotten a little earlier start on that,” as he looked over at the girls, who were looking around at the change of scenery the town had brought.
“Well, your wife has been busy negotiating on the family’s behalf.” Craig said.
“Yes I have.” She said. “And we’re going to have to leave some stuff behind.”
Dan looked at her sideways. “Such as?”
…
“I can’t believe we’re just leaving.” Dan said as they were getting back on the highway.
Marissa didn’t say anything at first, she just kept pedaling and then when it was obvious that Dan was going to stew, she had to break the silence.
“Dan,” she said, “you did your best, but what if something had gone wrong? You aren’t actually a doctor.”
“But,” Dan started.
“No, Dan,” Marissa interrupted without looking at him, and kept talking. “You aren’t a doctor. You did an amazing thing back there, and I can’t tell you how much it helped us. We got rid of the bulky blankets and got a couple of sleeping bags. We have two tarps, and rope—which is going to come in handy later today, most likely, when it starts to rain.”
Marissa glanced over at Dan, who was looking at the road but was obviously at least listening to her. “Craig took some of the silver for the food, but only a little, and that was only after you pushed it. I think saving Jay was,” Marissa paused, “not so much a big deal, but it meant a lot that you saved a life in their community, Dan, even if only for a while. The fact that you were willing to try meant a lot, but you really had done all you could do.”
“Ok,” Dan finally said. “I guess I can see that. People were starting to look at me, and I guess it could have gotten uncomfortable either way. If Jay got better then I could have become the town doctor without the necessary skills, and if he didn’t get better then the last place we wanted to be was back in the town.”
“Exactly,” Marissa said.
“I left them instructions on how to care for Jay for the next several weeks, and they have everything they need to take care of him back at the clinic.” Dan said, more to convince himself than to convince Marissa. “You’re right, as usual.”
Marissa didn’t tell Dan that it had been Craig’s suggestion to go ahead and leave as soon after the surgery as realistically possible, regardless of the outcome.
“Don’t be sore,” Marissa said. “We still need to try and make up some ground before it starts to rain, and by the looks of things we aren’t going to get very far today.”
Dan wasn’t sure if it was the clouds, the cooling breeze they were riding into, or her joints, but he was pretty sure she was right on the money when it came to the weather.
“Bekah,” he called over his shoulder. “Are you doing ok? Do you think you would be ok to push a little harder for a while?”
Bekah nodded, but realized her parents weren’t looking at her, and then yelled over a gust of wind that had kicked up. “I’m fine to go faster for now.”
“We’ll let you set the pace then, sweetheart.” Marissa said, and Bekah pulled in front of the other two.
…
“This is miserable!” Dan yelled.
“I’m not going to argue with you about that!” Marissa yelled back.
They had made just over five miles when it had started to rain. Just a drizzle at first, but only for a few minutes, and then out of nowhere it just started to pour. Everyone was absolutely soaked. The supplies were most likely still dry, because they’d been wrapped in one of the tarps, but Jessie wasn’t just getting wet—she was getting sprayed by the bike tires as well. Dan was cursing the fact that they hadn’t brought the cover for the bike trailer.
Up ahead, he saw the overpass just before Marissa did, but he waited for her to say something.
“Ok, you win,” Marissa yelled. “Unless it’s packed with bloodthirsty, murdering, rapist zombies we’re staying there tonight!”
“Fine with me.” Dan said without a hint of triumph in his voice.
To be honest, he didn’t feel like he’d won anything. The more he thought about it, the more he realized she was right and the underpass was a bad place to stay, but it was immediate shelter from the elements.
The relief everyone felt from getting out of the rain was immediate but short lived. Now they were cold.
Dan and Marissa broke out the two towels they had packed for cleaning up and immediately started drying off the girls, as they were both shivering—Jessie more so than Bekah, who had at least been exercising. Even though it was actually warm outside, in general, the wind was cooling everyone off since they were wet. Dan got out the sleeping bags for the girls and made them strip down into their underwear and dry off again, and get into the sleeping bags.
“I have no idea how I’m going to start a fire in this.” He said, looking out from under the bridge.
“You won’t be able to out there, that’s for sure.” Marissa said, as she wrung out the towels as best as she could away from their makeshift camp. “Here, dry off a little and give it a few minutes.”
“Not yet.” Dan said. “I’m going back out to get some bigger pieces of deadfal
l from the underbrush that haven’t gotten soaked yet. It’ll take a while for the rain to really get through the trees further back into the woods and we’re going to need wood for a fire tonight.”
Marissa looked dubious but didn’t argue.
“We ran into the same thing in the so-called woods behind the house a couple of times before we started keeping wood in the garage.” Dan said as he grabbed a pair of leather gloves from the fire station. “I’ll be as quick as I can. Start breaking up tongue depressors from my EMT kit.”
“Don’t be too long.” Marissa said. “The last thing we need is for you to get sick.”
“I won’t, but we need the fire, and we need to get everyone warm.” Dan said as he headed back out into the downpour.
After forty-five grueling minutes, they finally had what Dan felt was a decent fire going. It was giving off enough heat that the girls could come out of their sleeping bags. They had also propped up one of the tarps to block the breeze and reflect the heat to help dry their clothes.
Dan had brought back a half dozen fairly large logs and branches, and a couple of them were drying out next to the fire so they could be added later on. Marissa got the girls to drink what they could, and then set about refilling their bottles and the kettle with fresh rainwater that wouldn’t have to be boiled.
Jessie was still shivering occasionally, but Marissa and Dan both checked and she didn’t have a fever. Dan didn’t want to waste any of their new provisions right away but felt that something substantial was probably in order, so he and Marissa decided to open one of the quart jars of soup that they had traded for back in town. They added some water to stretch it a little, and everyone had half a can of Ensure for some extra calories.
“Bekah,” Marissa said as she was getting out some fresh, if not truly clean, clothes for the girls, “I want you and Jessie to share a sleeping bag tonight. Unless it warms up, the breeze and the rain are going to make it cool, and sleeping on the concrete is going to make it hard. If we put one sleeping bag under the other you can use it as padding, and you two can share body heat.”
Bekah nodded as she started putting on her t-shirt.
“Jessie, you ok with sharing a bed tonight?” Marissa asked.
“Uh huh,” Jessie said. “I’m just cold.”
“Well that’s why you’re sharing. Bekah will help keep you warm.” She said.
Since they were going to share one sleeping bag, Dan put the other one underneath for extra padding. “There, how’s that, all comfy?” Dan asked.
Bekah nodded, but Jessie was already starting to drift off.
Neither Dan nor Marissa was ready to call it a night yet since the sun was still up, and it was nice to be able to just sit next to each other and watch the girls fall asleep, and listen to the rain.
“How long has it been since we’ve done this?” Dan asked.
“The sitting under an underpass part, or the sleeping outside in the rain part?” Marissa said.
Dan sighed. “The sitting together with nothing else to do but keep each other company part,” he said.
“Oh that,” Marissa said and put her head on his shoulder. “I honestly can’t remember. Months, most likely.”
“That’s what I came up with.” Dan said.
“We need to do this more often then,” she said.
“Which, the sitting under an underpass or sleeping outside in the rain?” Dan asked.
Marissa giggled and lightly punched Dan in the side.
Chapter Seventeen
The bikes and tarps made a decent windbreak, and the median was situated so that they were raised above the road, rather than below it, so they stayed dry all night. Marissa and Dan took turns keeping watch in three-hour shifts, because neither of them had been getting much sleep, and Marissa knew Dan had to be exhausted.
The rain tapered off to a drizzle shortly after Dan woke up for his second shift, and finally stopped altogether for the night around midnight. By the time Marissa got up for her second shift it felt like it was about 75, and the humidity made it uncomfortable.
“Three hours ago it was chilly,” she said when Dan woke her up. “Now it’s sticky and gross. Why can’t the weather make up its mind?”
Dan was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about how fickle Mother Nature could be or he’d never get that last three hours of sleep. “It only just stopped raining recently. Give it another couple of hours and it should dry out a bit.”
Marissa harrumphed and redid her hair in a high ponytail to get it off her neck.
“It’s warmer, but it’s actually drier by the fire.” Dan said. “If you are willing to make the trade-off…”
“I may just do that.” Marissa said as he lay down. “Anybody or anything show up so far?”
“I thought I might have heard some animals, but I didn’t see anything.” Dan said. “Whatever they were, they didn’t get close enough for me to see, even with the flashlight.”
Marissa nodded and took up her place with her back to the fire to keep her night vision from being totally destroyed. “Try to get some more sleep,” she said, but Dan was already starting to drift off.
…
It rained off and on all night, which brought both the temperature and the humidity back down and seemed to have the added benefit of keeping the family isolated all night. One of Marissa’s biggest concerns after the second day, and the encounter at the underpass on the outskirts of Nashville, had been running into organized gangs on the road. So far, they hadn’t seen any groups larger than six—with one exception—and most had been three or four.
Everyone on the road had been cordial enough, but had done their best to stay clear of everyone else. More than once the family had moved to the other side of the highway since they were the larger group, being cautious and at least trying to not appear threatening.
She felt more comfortable now that she had a sling for the shotgun, which she’d traded for back in Kingston Springs, and she was relieved that they had more food. She was so proud and amazed at what Dan had done back there she could hardly contain herself.
She was also afraid of what might happen later when it hit him that he’d saved a man’s life but hadn’t been able to save his own son. She hoped it wouldn’t come across that way to Dan, but knowing him the way she did, she was all too aware that it probably would—and how he would react.
Marissa pushed the thought aside as she got up to stretch her legs and patrol what perimeter they had. The fire was down to just an occasional flame since she had been feeding it large logs to keep it from going out, and maintain the bed of coals. Her night vision hadn’t been ruined by the fire, so she left the flashlight and walked quietly from the median over the eastbound lanes, scanning both near and far for any lights or movement on the road to the west, did the same to the east, and then repeated the process on the westbound side of the highway.
Nothing to be seen as far as her eyes could make out—although she imagined she could see fires back in the town two turns back. “I miss sleeping in a house,” she said under her breath.
“We’ll have a house eventually.” Dan said, quietly, from where he’d been asleep on top of his sleeping bag.
“Sorry,” Marissa whispered. “I was trying not to wake you up.”
“You didn’t, it’s my turn to stand watch,” he said. “We’ll have a house, or at least a home, again eventually.”
Marissa sighed. “I know, and we’ve only been gone a week, or so, but I never expected it to be this rough.” She said. “I don’t know what I did expect, but it wasn’t this.”
Dan chuckled quietly. “Thirty miles a day, three days and we’d be there.” He said.
“Yeah, probably something like that.” Marissa said. “With a hot shower, plenty of food, and a nice bed at the end.”
“Ok, now we have to stop or I’m going to cry.” Dan said with a fake frown.
“Agreed, now get off my bed.” Marissa said.
…
Breakfast
was rice cereal—made with brown rice, raisins, sugar, and powdered milk—heavy on the rice. It was filling, and Dan had started the rice cooking for Marissa before she got up for her last watch, so it was warm and ready when everyone got up.
“How’re you feeling, honey?” Dan asked Jessie while she was eating breakfast.
She made her squinty-eyed monster face.
“Is that a comment on my cooking, or how you’re doing?” Marissa asked with a smile as she gently tickled Jessie in the stomach with a finger.
“How I’m feeling,” Jessie giggled, and then stopped when her mom stopped tickling her.
“Well, you don’t have a fever.” Dan said after he checked her forehead.
“I’m just still tired and,” she made her monster face again.
“Well, you can try to sleep today, ok?” Marissa said.
Jessie nodded and finished her cereal.
“How ‘bout you, Bekah?” Dan asked. “You sleep ok?”
“Once I warmed up I don’t remember anything until you told me breakfast was ready.” Bekah said.
“Are you feeling ok?” Marissa asked.
Bekah nodded. “Uh huh, fine.”
“How many fingers am I holding up?” Dan asked as he constantly changed the number of fingers he was holding up.
Bekah practiced giving him “the look”.
“Yup, she’s fine.” Dan said.
“Let’s get cleaned up and hit the road before it gets too hot.” Marissa said. “If today is anything like yesterday…”
“I am NOT performing surgery today!” Dan said.
“Which is not where I was going, wise guy,” Marissa said. “What I was going to say is that it will be hot in the middle of the day. I don’t want any of us getting sick from heat stroke, so once it starts getting too warm I want us to pull over and build a shelter now that we have a couple of tarps and sit out the hottest part of the day.”
“Good idea.” Dan said. “We can go later into the day, too, and make up the time since we won’t be as tired, hopefully.”
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