Sympatico Syndrome Trilogy Box Set

by McDonald, M. P.

  Back at the house, Cole knocked on Sean’s door, and getting the okay to open it, stuck his head in. “How are you guys feeling?”

  Sean just groaned and rolled over, tugging the covers up. Cole frowned. That wasn’t encouraging.

  Jenna answered, “He’s been restless all night. He didn’t keep the soup down.”

  Cole sighed. “How about you? Any better?”

  She shook her head, coughing. “Sorry. Still have a fever. I think Piper might be coming down with it, too. I heard her coughing last night.”

  “Maybe it was Sophie?” She had been the second to get the bug, right after Jake, and had everyone worried about her and the baby, hence she stayed at the house for now. It was easier for Jenna to keep an eye on her. Cole had tried to reassure Hunter that Sophie and the baby would be fine, but he didn’t even believe his own words. Her cramps and spotting weren’t good signs yesterday. She was pale and hadn’t eaten anything substantial in days.

  “I know my daughter’s cough, but I heard Sophie coughing also. Neither sounded good.”

  “Okay. I’ll check in on her. And I’ll figure out something for meals today, too.” He wasn’t sure anyone would be able to handle a heavy meal of venison.

  Some of those sick had respiratory symptoms and also stomach distress. It made Cole suspect a bad influenza virus. They had probably been exposed to it from the mainlanders.

  In the back of his mind was the worry that this illness was some off-shoot of the virus that had decimated the population. This version presented like a typical flu, only more virulent. Whatever it was, he was lucky he hadn’t caught it yet, and prayed that if he did, it was only after everyone else was on the rebound. They needed him to stay healthy—there was nobody else to take care of things.

  Cole and Elly had made Jake and Sophie go into modified isolation after their return, similar to what the children had gone through when they had arrived. They were allowed out of the cabins to do chores, but only with masks, and their chores had been solitary. Sophie usually took care of the goats anyway, so that hadn’t been a problem. But neither were able to hunt with the groups. It was too risky, even with a mask. For them, it was difficult to deal with the physical exertion while wearing the mask, for the others, it was too risky that a mask could come loose or get damaged during a hunt.

  After donning the rest of his winter gear, he took care of the animals. The female goats were housed with the horses in what had been the changing room on the beach. The path was covered with a few more inches of snow than had been there last night, but other than being a little slippery, didn’t impede Cole as he tramped it down. Cole liked it much better as a barn for the animals. The thick cinder blocks and the heat from the animals kept it fairly warm. The building had been designed with ventilation at the top where the roof was set above the walls, with a cinderblock omitted, but they had blocked some of those spaces with wood, leaving just a few to let fresh air in.

  The male goats, two now that one of the goats born since their arrival was a male, had to be housed separately in their original small shed up by the chickens. They weren’t aggressive but they were segregated because they just smelled bad. It made the milk from the females take on a funky flavor. Sophie said it had something to do with pheromones given off by the males.

  Cole set the small pan of milk he’d obtained from the goats on the deck, and went back into the house. He entered, catching the screen door behind him before it could slam and stomped the snow off his boots as quietly as he could.

  He headed to what had only recently been converted to his and Elly’s room, but now with everyone sick he’d stayed the last few nights at the cabin next door with Jake and Joe and Hunter. The house was warmer than the cabin, and the kids could sleep with Elly in the double bed in the room.

  “Elly?” After a brief two-knuckle rap, he opened the door. She slept buried under a pile of blankets in the middle of the bed, Lucas on one side, Zoe on the other. “Hey, hon are you okay? I got worried when you didn’t answer.”

  The pile shifted, and Elly raised her head. “Oh, Cole. Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I’m okay. Just tired.”

  He moved in and sat on the edge of the bed. Tugging off his gloves, he reached over Lucas and felt Elly’s forehead. Even though his hands were a bit cold, the heat radiating from her skin was more than it should have been. “You’re still burning up.” He bent and pressed a kiss to her brow. “Stay in bed. I’ll bring you guys some food in a bit.”

  “I’m not hungry, but I’ll try to get Zoe to eat. Lucas was up earlier to go to the bathroom and was asking for something. I heated up the leftover soup from last night and he had some before going back to sleep.”

  “You have to eat, too.” He reached over Elly’s hip and squeezed Zoe’s foot beneath the cover. “Hey sweetie, how are you feeling today?”

  She opened her eyes, blinked. “My head hurts.” Tears welled, spilling from her big blue eyes. “I want my mommy.”

  Cole’s chest constricted. “I know, punkin.” He patted her leg and swallowed the lump in his throat. “I know you do.”

  Her Christmas Day breakthrough with regards to speaking had continued, but she never spoke more than a few words at a time, and most of what she said had to do with her mother.

  Lucas slept on, his breathing deep and even. His color looked better than yesterday, so Cole let him sleep undisturbed, glad that at least one of them seemed to be recovering. He could get by without Lucas’s help for a few more days. Elly turned over and gathered Zoe close, stroking her hair.

  Cole stood, twisting his gloves in his hands and wished there was more he could do. “Do you need anything? Water?”

  “No, we’re fine and I know you have a lot on your hands already,” Elly whispered as Zoe closed her eyes.

  He nodded and whispered, “I think I might head to the mainland and see if I can find another deer. I’ll take Red. I’m going to try to get back before dark, but if I’m not back, don’t worry. I’ll just hole up in one of the empty houses.”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Cole stopped in to see Joe before he left, to ask him if he had an idea of the best place to hunt. The older man was more familiar with the area, but after not receiving an answer to his knock, he eased the door open. “Joe?”

  Joe stirred, restless. He didn’t look as peaceful as Hunter and Jake had looked moments before when he checked on them. Cole worried about him. Joe was the oldest on the island. It was hard to remember most of the times because the man had more than kept up with the rest of them, but his age had to be a factor in any serious illness. He left a note on the table telling them he’d fix some food in the main house and that he was going hunting afterward.

  After taking care of all of the animals, refilling the wood box, ice fishing without success, and putting a stew on to cook, Cole studied the sky. He’d hoped he would catch a few nice-sized fish so he wouldn’t have to hunt but they just weren’t biting. He’d gone ice fishing with friends a few times before. It had always been an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon in January. They’d drop some lines, drink a few brews in the warmth of a fishing shanty, and trade fish stories. Catching a fish was just an added bonus, but now the fun was just a fond memory and desperation tinged his efforts.

  The morning clouds had given way and blue sky turned the lake into a beautiful, but blinding combination of snow-covered ice with a few glints of sparkling water out in the middle of the bay. The current cold snap promised to freeze the bay over entirely. Already, the open water was just a small channel so far east of the island, it was barely visible.

  He looked west to the mainland. After today’s meal, only about ten more pounds of venison remained in storage. There were still potatoes and carrots, and random cans of other vegetables, but what was left wouldn’t last more than another week or so.

  Cole entered the house. Jenna sat in the front room, a steaming mug cradled in her hand. One thing they had plenty of was tea. Jenn
a had been a tea drinker and collected various brands, and had packed it all when they’d abandoned their home. The aroma of the stew and tea had replaced the stale, acrid smell of sickness for now, and he drew in a deep breath as he shucked his coat, hat and gloves. He sat on a chair and removed his boots, setting them near the stove to dry. He had a second pair, thanks to his earlier scavenging with Hunter.

  “Feeling a little better?”

  “Some.” She lifted her mug with both hands and gestured to the stove. “I thickened the gravy with a little cornstarch. You should have some.”

  He lifted the lid on the stew, his stomach growling as the escaping steam billowed the tantalizing aroma in his face. “Yeah, I think I will.” Grabbing a ladle, he filled a small bowl. “You want some?”

  She made a face. “Not yet. I had a couple of crackers earlier.”

  They had a few boxes of those left and Cole saw a waxed paper column half full on the kitchen table. He sat down and took a few squares, dipping them in the gravy while he waited for the stew to cool off enough to eat.

  Jenna stood and moved to the table, peering over Cole’s shoulder into his bowl as she crossed behind him.

  Cole craned his neck, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

  “You need more than that, Cole. What you have wouldn’t feed a five year-old.” She reached for his bowl, but he wrapped an arm around it and lied, “I’m not that hungry.”

  “I heard your stomach growling clear over on the other side of the room.”

  He didn’t respond to the comment, just dug into the stew, supplementing it with a few more crackers.

  “Is anyone else feeling better today?”

  Jenna shrugged. “Everyone is about the same.” Her shoulders sagged. “Sophie has me worried though. Her fever is up and her lungs don’t sound good. I think she might have a touch of pneumonia. Also, she’s been spotting.”

  Cole’s stomach clenched. As crazy as it seemed to bring a baby into this new world, the news had lifted everyone’s spirits. Piper had already started knitting a blanket for the baby and asked Cole to look for yarn the next time he happened to be on the mainland. “Should we give her some antibiotics?”

  “The ones you got that are intended for fish?” Jenna’s mouth quirked. “I’m not comfortable with those. They aren’t meant for people, and with her pregnancy, I’m even less inclined to give them to her.”

  “I know. I wouldn’t normally give anyone medicine meant for fish, but what choice do we have?”

  Jenna blew out a deep breath. “How about this… we wait a little longer and if I feel she absolutely needs them, then I’ll give them, okay? Right now, it might just be a bad case of the flu and you know better than I do that antibiotics won’t do anything for a virus.”

  “I agree completely and you’re the medical expert here. I know you’ll do whatever you need to do when it comes down to it.”

  “Thanks. I’ll admit I’m finding it a bit daunting to be on my own, so to speak, with no other nurses or doctors to discuss anything with. I have no bloodwork or x-rays to go by. I have my stethoscope, a few thermometers and a blood pressure cuff. Cole, it’s like operating blind … ” She trailed off, shrugging helplessly.

  Cole took a last bite of his stew, then scraped the edge of the bowl with a spoon to get every last drop of gravy. While he could easily have polished off another bowl, he pushed away from the table and put his dish in the sink. They had taken to keeping a pot on the stove to keep warm and after wiping his bowl with a wet scrap of cloth, he rinsed it with warm water from the pot and set it to dry.

  “While the weather is still clear, I’m going to head over to the mainland on one of the horses and do a little hunting.”

  “Alone? Do you think that’s a good idea?” Jenna filled her cup with hot water from the pot and sat at the table. As she dipped a teabag in the mug, she nibbled on a few crackers while it steeped. From the weak color of the water, he was sure the teabag had been used a few times already, but didn’t comment on it. Even with the stock they had, someday it would be gone too. “You should take Buddy with you.”

  The dog, who had been lying on a rug beside the stove, lifted his head, his tongue lolling.

  Cole smiled. “Yeah, I bet you’d like to go.”

  Buddy’s tail thumped against the floor in response.

  Cole considered it, but he would rather the dog stay. He’d feel better knowing that he would sound an alert in the unlikely event anyone came by. He wished they had taken Buddy with them when Jake and Sophie had been taken. He was sure Buddy would have barked and he would have heard and come running.

  He took a pair of socks he’d left to dry by the stove yesterday and pulled them on, sighing as the warm socks slipped over his cold toes. He draped the pair he took off on the rack Piper had rigged from a quilt rack. She hadn’t liked wet socks sitting on the backs of chairs in her kitchen. Cole smiled as he thought of his niece and how she’d taken over the kitchen. While she didn’t actually cook everything—Cole did his fair share of it as well—she was the one who kept track of supplies and let Cole know what was critical. Flour and sugar were always on that list, and almost every time he went into town, he broke into a home and scavenged whatever he could.

  “I don’t think I have a choice. I checked on our meat supplies and they’re running low. Right now, everyone’s appetite is down, but when you all start to get better, you’ll need lots of good, nourishing food to get your strength back.”

  “That’s true, but I don’t like the idea of you going alone. What if it gets dark out before you can get back to the island?”

  “I can always bunk down in the garage we used for a barn. It’s warm enough and Red is familiar with it. I’ll be fine.”

  “What about those people who took Jake and Sophie? They could be out there. We need you, Cole. If something happened to you, I don’t know what we’d do.”

  He cocked his head. “Listen, Jenna, all of you have the skills to survive now. In fact, I’m probably the least skilled of all of you. Plus, Buddy will keep anyone from sneaking up on the place.”

  “We wouldn’t have Jake and Sophie back without you.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

  She nodded. “Well, I know it’s true. It still scares me what could have happened to all of you, and makes me sick to think what might have happened to Jake and Sophie if you and Hunter hadn’t gone in guns blazing.”

  Cole chuckled. “It wasn’t exactly guns blazing. At least, not at first.”

  The thought of the people he’d been forced to shoot still made him ill and he gave his bootlaces an extra hard yank as he tied them. Every death was a tick against human survival in his mind. Even old men. Cole felt sick at the thought that all of the knowledge possessed by the men he’d been forced to kill had died with them.

  ”Well, whatever. It still burns me up. What right did they have to take them in the first place?”

  “They didn’t have any right, but it happened. Anyway, I’m just saying that we might have put away another deer or two if we had spent those last few nice days hunting instead of getting the kids back. Sean is a much better hunter than I am and he could have been out instead of waiting for the rest of us to get back.”

  Jenna shrugged. “There’s not much we can do about it now. Besides, you don’t give yourself enough credit—especially since you’re usually out with the inexperienced group.”

  Cole didn’t agree, but let the comment go. “I think Hunter is going to live up to his name soon. That kid is really getting to be good—especially with his bow.” Cole let a little pride tinge his voice because Jenna was family. They used to always boast about their kids to each other—their grades, their sporting achievements, and even way back to something as silly as toilet-training skills. He recalled Brenda bragging about how quickly Hunter had trained and grinned at the memory. As if it was something unusual. They all got there eventually, so Cole had never understood Brenda’s pride in that particular accomplishment
by their son.

  “Yeah, Sean couldn’t stop talking about that shot Hunter made.”

  Cole smiled and nodded. “Jake and Sophie will be good too, and very soon. Jake’s a natural athlete and has a good eye. He just needs more experience.”

  “And thank God for Sophie’s foraging skills. If you see any more cattails you can get to, grab some of the roots. I can use them in a lot of dishes to thicken them.”

  He was happy to hear Jenna compliment Sophie and to see she was finally warming up to the girl. Even before she knew Sophie was pregnant, she’d started to talk about her almost as if she was family.

  “I’ll look but they would have to be in running water for me to be able to get the roots up and I really don’t want to get wet in this cold.”

  “You’re right. I keep forgetting you can’t just jump into a nice warm car and drive back out here.”

  “Well, I could if I had a plow. We should have looked for one in the fall. Next year, we’ll be better prepared. For now, I’ll mark their locations on a map and we can plan a foraging excursion as soon as everyone is feeling better, but now I better get going before there’s not enough daylight left for me to find something.”

  “Sounds good.”

  24

  Cole followed the tracks down into the gully, and scanned the other side for the deer trail, for once grateful for the snow in making it easy to follow. At least two deer had passed this way in the last day or so and judging from the size of the tracks, one was a doe and the other a big buck. He wasn’t yet skilled enough to determine the age of a track with any degree of certainty, but felt one with a bare finger and the snow still felt fresh. It wasn’t icy so it hadn’t melted and re-frozen. Very little snow had blown over the tracks which was another clue. Yesterday had been windy, but today was almost still, so he hoped the tracks were fresh. If he was lucky, the deer had only passed by within an hour or two.