Jenna gave her a curt nod. “See if you can fix it, or maybe Jake can give you a hand.” She turned and trotted down the steps of the porch. “Come on, Elly. Let’s get you a shovel and some gloves.”
Elly cast a look at Sophie, intending to give her a smile of encouragement, but Sophie’s head was bent, her shoulders slumped. Catching up to Jenna with a few quick strides, Elly reached up to tie her bandana tighter at the back of her head. She needed a haircut and as silly as it seemed, going to the salon for a day of hair and nail care was the one luxury she missed the most. Her hair, naturally red, also had a bit of curl and with no mousse or gel to put in it, tended to get a little frizzy in humidity. She patted the bandana then glanced at Jenna. “You were a little harsh with her.”
Jenna met her glance with a raised eyebrow. “Her job is to care for the goats and that means keeping them penned in unless she’s with them.”
“Yes, I know, but she does a great job with them most of the time.”
They walked in silence for a minute or so and then Jenna sighed and said, “You’re right. She’s been great with them, and I haven’t been the nicest person to her.”
It was on the tip of Elly’s tongue to deny the observation, but she couldn’t. Jenna hadn’t been very welcoming. “Listen, Jenna, you’ve done the best you could under the circumstances. I think we all have, actually. Give Sophie a chance. She’s a sweet girl, and she tries so hard to please.”
“I noticed and I guess that kind of bugs me. It’s like she’s trying too hard to make us like her.”
“She has nobody left in the world, Jenna. Think about that.”
Jenna halted. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Damn, I’ve been a bitch, haven’t I?” When she looked at Elly, tears swam in her eyes.
Elly put her arm around her shoulders, pulling her in for a sideways hug. “No, you haven’t. You’ve been grieving.”
“That’s no excuse.”
“When you were at work, and the family member of a dying patient was rude to you, were you angry with them?”
Jenna shook her head. “That’s different. It was my job. I couldn’t take it personally.”
“But you still understood why they were rude, right? You didn’t necessarily assume they were bad people did you?”
“Of course not!”
“Cut yourself the same slack.” Elly smiled. “I’m sure Sophie won’t hold it against you either.”
Jenna nodded, blinking back tears even as she returned Elly’s smile. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Come on, let’s go dig up those carrots.”
“And potatoes.”
Elly grinned. “Ugh. Thanks for ruining the mood.”
They spent a couple of hours digging and then broke for lunch.
It was Piper and Jake’s turn to cook today, and Piper had made peanut butter and jam sandwiches along with a salad of fresh greens. The bread for the sandwiches was still warm. It made the peanut butter melt a little into the jelly and Elly closed her eyes. “Oh my God, this is delicious, Piper!” She didn’t remember her childhood staple ever tasting this good.
Piper slanted a shy smile at Elly. “Thanks. It’s just peanut butter and jam. Hardly gourmet food.”
“Trust me, it’s the best I’ve ever had.”
“Me too. “Jake took another half-sandwich off the platter and took a huge bite. “But what about my contribution?”
Elly looked around the kitchen. Due to heat issues, most of the cooking took place outside, but prep work took place in the kitchen. “What did you make?”
Jake nodded to a plate of cookies Elly had missed on the butcher block island. “Believe it or not, I made oatmeal cookies. A few of them burned, but the rest are pretty good. We both made the salad.” He sent Piper a grin. Elly followed the look, catching Piper as she returned the grin. A faint blush stained the girl’s cheeks.
Elly cocked her head. Something was up between those two. “I’d love a couple of cookies. I’ll let you know if they measure up to Piper’s fantastic sandwiches.”
Jake grabbed the plate and slid it onto the table. “Save some for Hunter and Cole.”
Her mouth full of cookie, Elly nodded. She didn’t know if it was just because cookies were a rare treat or if Jake really had done a good job with baking them, but the soft texture, lightly sweet taste with hints of cinnamon ranked up there with the peanut butter sandwiches. When she could speak, she said, “These are fantastic, Jake.” She included Piper in her look when she praised the meal. Her eyes snagged on Sophie, who had taken only half a sandwich and picked at it. The girl was already too thin and couldn’t afford to lose weight. “Sophie, hon, are you feeling okay?”
Sophie shrugged. “Yeah. Just worried about Hunter.” Her eyes darted to Jenna before sliding to Elly. “Do you think they’ll be back tonight?”
“I’m not sure. Sean needed some parts that might be difficult to find.”
Sophie’s shoulders slumped even more. Elly realized it was the first time since Sophie and Hunter had met that he was gone. She must feel especially lost without him and empathized with the girl. After all, she was in the same boat, so to speak, with Cole was also her only connection to these people, but she was an adult and hadn’t lost her whole family just months before. Her heart ached for the teen.
“Hey, how about I help you with the goats after lunch?” Jenna offered. She took a bite of her cookie. “I know those goats can be a handful, but it’ll be worth it when we have a herd of them. I can’t wait to try to make goat cheese.”
Sophie straightened. “Um, yeah. Thanks. I got some tools from the shed, and I think I know what to do but having someone hold the gate in place while I line everything up would help.”
Elly took the opportunity to bow out. “Well, how about you and Jenna work on that? And maybe Jake and I can go take care of the horses. We’re not going to have very many nice days, from what Cole told me. It might be a good chance to really clean out the horses’ garage.” She caught Jake’s eye to make sure he was okay with her plan. He shrugged to say it was fine with him.
A fly buzzed near her head and she swatted it to keep the insect from landing on the pile of sandwiches still remaining. If the guys didn’t come in for lunch soon, the sandwiches should be wrapped up. “Jenna, do you know when Sean and Joe were going to break for lunch?”
As if mentioning his name had summoned him, Sean entered, followed by Joe. “I’m starving!” He grabbed a plate and piled it with sandwiches, added salad, and snagged a couple of cookies. Joe did the same, although he was more restrained, taking only one and a half sandwiches.
Elly took a bite of her salad. “I wonder how Cole and Hunter are making out?”
“I hope they come back and say everything is better and we can go home.” Piper moved to the counter and sliced more bread. Jake took a spot beside her and started slathering the slices with peanut butter and jam.
“Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Jenna had a look of such hope that it made Elly’s heart twist.
Sophie didn’t say anything, but her earlier bit of animation disappeared as she seemed to retreat back into her shell.
Jake added a few more sandwiches to the pile and Elly couldn’t help herself, she took a second. Accustomed to sitting at a desk, even the regular forays to the gym didn’t compare to the hard physical labor she put in every day. She felt hungry all the time, and even though she ate more than she ever had, her clothes were now loose on her.
Brushing the crumbs off his hands, Jake shrugged. “I guess it would be great if that was true, but even if it was, Chicago was a mess. I don’t think I’d want to go back there. This feels like home now.” He sent Elly a warm look and then smiled at Piper.
It hit Elly then that if the worst was over and they could go home, she would miss this place, as horrible as the circumstances were. “I hope everything is back to normal, but I think we need to be realistic. The chances of that are extremely low. What Jake and I saw in Chicago was beyond devast
ating and, Sophie, you and Hunter saw it was the same out in the country, right?”
Sophie shuddered and then nodded. “Yeah. It was awful.” Then in a small voice she added, “I don’t have a home to go back to. My family is gone.”
Jenna reached across the table and took Sophie’s hand. “You’ll have a home with us no matter what happens.”
Hunter followed his father out the door, leaping off the dock to the pavement beside the truck when a red pickup truck raced into the lot. Before either of them could reach their doors, someone in the pickup opened fire. Bullets pinged off the asphalt and pierced the door Hunter had in his hand. He crouched, his gun drawn, but the truck had passed him and was on his father’s side. It was in the process of making a U-turn, with his father in the line of fire throughout the turn.
“Get in the truck, Hunter!” His father fired several shots at the pickup, but they returned fire, and his father made a sound between a grunt and a gasp.
“Dad!”
“I… I’m okay. Get in the damn truck. The keys are in the ignition.” Hunter looked through the passenger window to the driver’s side, his stomach lurching at the spray of blood on the window. Another round spider-webbed the windshield and spurred Hunter into action. He got off a few rounds at the pickup as it sped by him. It looked to be making another U-turn, and he took the moment when the pickup’s passenger wouldn’t have a good shot at him to race around the front of the truck.
His father leaned against the side of the truck fumbling with his gun as he tried to reload, but his left hand looked barely able to hold the weapon.
Hunter shoved his gun into his belt, grabbed his dad with one hand and flung open the door with the other. He wasn’t sure how he did it, and maybe it was more his father than him, but he felt as though he physically flung his father into the passenger seat and jumped into the driver’s seat all in one motion. He pulled his gun from his waistband and set it in the center console where he could grab it quickly. They had to get out of the backlot. Behind the lot, there was nothing but fields and small trees, then a berm that separated the shopping center from a residential area. No way the truck could make it up that. “Get down, Dad!”
“Like hell I will!” His dad finished reloading now that he could rest his left arm on his thigh and took aim out the passenger window as the pick-up made another pass. The pick-up swerved away from them, one tire flapping. “Go!”
Hunter slammed the truck into drive and stomped on the gas. “What the hell do they want?” He took the turn around the side of the store faster than he should have and the truck seemed to almost tilt on two wheels, but he made the turn and floored it, weaving around empty cars. He cringed when he ran over bodies, but he couldn’t risk crashing the truck to avoid people who had died months ago.
When he made it to the service road around the shopping area, he slowed down and checked his side mirrors. There were no signs of their pursuers, and he blew out a deep breath. “I think we lost them. Do you think they were infected?”
“I don’t know… ” His voice was tight, but Hunter had to keep his eyes on the road.
The road was strewn with cars, either from accidents when drivers died behind the wheel or abandoned in moments of confusion. The only way to tell the difference was to look in and see if there was a body inside, but Hunter didn’t pay any attention to them anymore. There were too many to wonder about. They were all obstacles now. Driving to the store, avoiding them hadn’t been difficult as they had taken their time, but racing away and making sure nobody was following was a whole different ballgame.
“What if there are a lot more survivors than we thought?” He darted a look at his father when he didn’t respond after a few seconds.
His dad sat with his head back, his right hand clamped to his left shoulder. Blood oozed between his fingers, dripping down his arm and onto the seat. Perspiration dotted his face, and his eyes were screwed shut, the muscles in his jaw knotted.
“Dad!” Shocked, Hunter slammed on the brakes, but that caused his father to fly forward.
Hunter flung out an arm, instinctively trying to block his father. It didn’t work, but his dad managed to brace his right hand on the dash, leaving a bloody handprint before he was flung back against the seat.
“Shit! Hunter!”
“I’m sorry. I just… damn it—I didn’t know you were hit that bad.” He’d thought his dad was only grazed. How was he supposed to know? His dad hadn’t reacted like what Hunter had seen in movies and on television where the victim spurted blood and dropped in a boneless heap. “You said you were okay.”
His dad didn’t reply at first, his breath coming in short, harsh gasps. “I didn’t feel much at first.”
Hunter looked around the truck for something to use for a bandage and touched the sheet beneath him. He flung open the door and turned, grabbing the corner of the sheet. He poked his finger through a small hole, making it larger, and then ripped the sheet across until he had a long strip. He did it again several times until he had enough to fold into a pad and to make a sling, of sorts.
Darting around to the other side of the truck, he opened the door, putting his hand out to steady his dad, not liking how heavily he was leaning. “Here, let me see.”
“No. I’m—”
“Shut up and let me see.” He pushed his dad’s hands out of the way, ignoring the glare his father leveled at him.
Blood welled from a small, neat wound an inch beneath his collarbone and almost to his shoulder. Hunter had learned basic first aid in health class in high school, but since he liked to hike and be outdoors, he’d taken another class last year at college. He’d thought it might be useful if he fell or if a fellow hiker had a mishap. He hadn’t ever contemplated treating a gunshot wound, but he knew blood loss was blood loss and it needed to be stopped. That was the first priority. He pressed the pad he’d made over the wound. His dad jerked, sucking his breath in between clenched teeth. “Sorry, Dad. I gotta do it.”
“It’s okay.” The words slurred, sounding more like ‘is s’okay’.
Hunter darted a look at his dad's face, only slightly reassured when he received a tight smile. He bit his lip as he concentrated on what he had to do next. While holding the pad with one hand, he wound another strip around his dad’s chest to keep the pad in place but swore as he fumbled with the strip. First aid class had not prepared him for something like this. Before he could secure the strip, the pad was already saturated.
“Shit! Dad, I’m going to look in the back and see what I can use for a bandage. Can you hold this for a minute?” He reached for his dad’s other hand and placed it on the saturated pad. The pressure alone should help even if the pad couldn’t absorb any more. “I’ll be right back!”
He dashed to the back and flung open the door. They hadn’t paid particular attention to loading neatly, and his hard braking had sent items flying around the inside of the truck. The first thing his eyes landed on was a neon pink shiny package. He picked it up to toss it aside with the words, Super Absorbency caught his eye. That’s exactly what he needed. . He slammed the door, and clutching the box, raced back to the cab.
Hunter fumbled with the box, tore the top off, and dumped the contents on the seat. What the hell were these? He eyed one tube. He’d seen commercials for tampons but had never faced one in real life. They looked like plastic cigars, but as he tore one from the envelope, he accidentally deployed the plunger and shot a wad of cotton a few inches in front of him. He didn’t want to use that one since it was now dirty, so he grabbed another tampon, and this time, carefully opened it. He removed his dad’s hand from the pad, peeled the soaked pad away and dropped it on the ground outside the truck. He looked at the hole in his dad, and the end of the tampon. The sizes almost matched. Could he do it? Swallowing hard, he held the tampon lightly against the wound. “Hold really still, Dad. This might hurt.”
He depressed the plunger, leaning across his father, pressing him against the seat when his dad jumped and
swore at him. “Hold on—almost done.” Using his other hand, he caught the tampon before it could fall out of the wound. Most of the cotton wad was inside, with just a half inch protruding, the string dangled down his father’s chest. When it seemed to be holding, he gathered the strips again and slid an end between his dad’s back and the seat, easing his dad forward so he could get it in the right place and grab it on the other side. The strip was long enough to wrap twice, and then he tied it off. He tied the remaining length of sheet into a loop and draped it around his dad’s neck and gently tucked the injured arm into it. “There.”
His dad opened his eyes and scanned the front seat, focusing on the empty box. He raised an eyebrow at Hunter. Hunter just shrugged. “They’re super absorbent.”
His dad took a deep breath and closed his eyes as if settling in for a nap.
Hunter backed out, shut the door, and reached behind the seat for another sheet his dad had stashed there. Opening it, he hopped behind the wheel, but turned and settled the sheet over his dad, who shivered despite the heat. Hunter unscrewed the top of the Thermos and put it against his dad’s mouth. “Drink.”
His dad opened his eyes and slanted him a look as if he was going to defy him, but then he did as Hunter said, and took a sip. A small one at first, but then he reached with his right hand and held the Thermos in place and took several long gulps.
“Good. Let’s get home.” Hunter started the truck and turned the heat on. He couldn’t remember why it was important to keep an injured person warm but knew it was vital.
7
“What are you doing?” Even slumped in the seat, Cole could see that they were returning the way they had come, but that hadn’t been the plan. They were supposed to drive west and get the windmill parts. He and Sean had discussed the most likely place to find them.
“What am I doing? I’m heading back to the island.” Hunter didn’t look at Cole when he replied, his eyes focused on the road, and he swerved to avoid something Cole couldn’t see from his angle.
Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set Page 33