by Nikita Eden
“That sucks, man,” Peter protested. “It’s not like we won’t get to keep them all the time eventually.”
“I’m just telling you what the Council told me to do until we’re properly trained,” Dean laughed. “You’ll get to keep it soon enough, you gun nut.”
Audrey didn’t mind turning her gun in at the end of the day and wasn’t looking forward to when she was going to have it all the time.
After practice she went to the library where she frequently volunteered to help her roommate, Jennifer, on Tuesdays for reading time. The library was also used as a day care during the day, so there was usually something for her to help with.
“Fancy seeing you here again,” Jennifer greeted her with her happy and squeaky voice.
Audrey smiled at her and rubbed her hands on the sides of her legs, “Yup, here again. What can I do to help you out today?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t really a lot. You’ve been here a lot the last few days, so all of the extra things we had to do are pretty much done,” Jennifer smiled.
Audrey liked Jennifer. She was nice and always happy, but there was something about her perfectly curled long blonde hair that didn’t sit right with her.
“Alright,” Audrey’s shoulders drooped. “Well if you can think of anything just let me know.”
“Actually,” Jennifer said thoughtfully touching her fingertip to her chin. “There is something I could use some help with.”
“Cool, what is it?” Audrey asked.
“We have some extra snack foods that we usually give to the kids. Mrs. Jimenez asked if we’d be able to spare any for the new houses they’re setting up for the people coming from Artesia,” Jennifer explained. “I have a box of stuff in the back and since you guys are going to be working on that anyway do you think you could take that over to the community food bank?”
“Absolutely,” Audrey smiled and headed towards the breakroom the childcare providers used to store things for the kids. She grabbed the box that had been prepared and left quickly.
Helping with preparations for the new citizens from Artesia was something Audrey was excited to do. She and another Runner named Marcella had already helped set up a couple houses with furniture. Mrs. Jimenez had given them keys to the food bank so they could stock the house’s pantries with canned foods.
The arrival date of the fifty new people had been set for the end of the month and Audrey often found herself absentmindedly thinking of Lincoln, wondering if he’d be one of the new residents.
When she got to the food bank she was surprised to see Dean and Peter were sorting through the cans and packages on the shelves so they could take the food that was close to expiring to the mess hall.
“Do you know who’s coming to Roswell?” She asked Dean and started pulling old boxes of crackers off a shelf so there would be room for the new food.
“The Council has a manifest of the people being sent here,” Dean dropped a can into the old red metal children’s wagon he and Peter were using. “Why?”
Audrey moved the cardboard box she brought from the library next to the counter, “I was just wondering if I might know anyone on it.”
“How many times have you been to Artesia?” Dean looked at her questioningly. “You’ve only stopped there a few times. Who would you know?”
“Yeah, I’ve stopped a few times,” she snipped. She usually stopped there on her way to and from Carlsbad, but she didn’t bother talking to people and would just pitch her pop tent for the night or fill up water bottles and leave. Lincoln was the first person she had said more than hello to during any of her stays. “I was just wondering, Dean.”
“I can see if there’s anyone on the list,” Dean smirked and helped her put sheets on the bed. “What the name of the person you’re looking for?”
“Lincoln,” she answered. She felt her cheeks heat up and refused to look at Dean.
Dean leaned against the counter and cocked his head to the side, “Lincoln? Last name?”
“I don’t know it,” she muttered. She tried to picture the camouflage army jacket he’d been wearing, but she couldn’t remember the name on the tag.
“I’ll look,” Dean stood up. “Looks like we’re done here. Want to head to the mess hall to get food?”
“Sure,” Audrey said. She didn’t care for the food the Council provided through the mess hall, but there wasn’t a lot of food for individual households, so cooking at home was a luxury. “Are you coming Peter, or are you headed home?”
“I’ll come by in a little while. I have some stuff to do before I call it quits for the day,” He scrunched his nose up and sighed. “Besides, there’s nothing like bland food in the cafeteria. It’s like being in school all over again.”
Audrey agreed with Peter and when she and Dean got to the mess hall, which was noisy and crowded with large groups of people sitting around the long rectangular tables from an old school cafeteria, she wished she had something else to do like Peter.
Audrey sat at a table at the far end of the room near a brick wall where all the Runners normally sat together.
She looked at her food and wondered how she was going to eat all of it. As a Runner she got a higher daily calorie allowance than other people and she constantly felt a pang of guilt as she watched others eat their dinners.
A lot of people had a hard time adjusting to the strict rations of the community. There were people who still begged the cooks for more food after they finished their first tray of food. The children were sometimes more aware of not having as much food.
“I’ve told you this a hundred times at least, Audrey,” Dean said slightly annoyed when she pulled at small girl onto her lap. “You cannot give your food away when you’re running and doing errands for other people all day long.”
“I couldn’t eat it all of this if I wanted to,” Audrey gave a spoonful of seasoned rice to the waiting little girl named Elizabeth who would often sit on her lap during meal times. “Besides, Jeff said she’s been upset since her cousin was infected and this helps calms her down.”
Dean looked at the girl and gave her a sad half smile when she bit into a piece of cubed chicken breast, “Just make sure you get enough protein, okay? I’ll see if Albuquerque has gotten any of those nutrition bars you like lately.”
The nutrition bars were small enough that they didn’t make her feel like she had overeaten, but were full of the extra calories she needed on a day to day basis. They came in different flavors that she liked too, but they were hard to come by the last couple months because of the low levels of agriculture and slow production rates on prepackaged food. Audrey appreciated the thought although she was sure he offered to look for them because he still felt bad.
She scooped up more of the rice and fed it to Elizabeth while she pieced at her chicken.
Marcella sprinted into the dining hall. Audrey saw her looking around the room before she spotted Dean.
“Dean!” Marcella yelled as she edged around people, “Peter was just attacked by a Howler in the orchards.”
“What? How did that happen?” Dean dropped his spoon and stood up quickly. He gave Audrey a quick apologetic look. “I’ll see you later.”
He quickly ran out of the mess hall with Marcella while everyone watched. The room was quiet for a few seconds before people started whispering to each other.
Audrey didn’t hear what they were saying, but she could feel her heart beating faster while a swirling pit of anxiety built in her stomach like a whirlpool trying to swallow her whole.
“Hey sweetheart,” Audrey said shakily to Elizabeth. “I need to go for now. Can you go find your daddy and tell him Auntie Audrey said hello?”
“Yup!” the little girl smiled and gave Audrey a hug around the neck before she climbed off her lap and toddled into the groups of gossiping people to find her parents.
Audrey looked at the dishes on the table and quickly stacked them into a neat pile before sprinting as quickly as she could after Dean and Marcella
.
She knew they would be headed to a small house near the western wall that had been repurposed into a medical clinic for when the regular clinic was full. It was also where they took anyone who might be infected. They would go to the house so the people in the larger medical facility that was near the south gate would remain safe.
When she neared the small brown house she could see the flowers that grew in a stone flower box underneath the large window in the muted light from the living room. A breeze made the wind chime by the door clink together in what would have been a peaceful sound if it were for Peter’s agonized screams that could be heard from the lawn. The sound was almost enough to make Audrey turn and walk away. She knew the virus was extremely painful for whomever was infected. She didn’t want to see Peter in pain, but she knew he would need her. She took a deep breath and opened the front door.
Peter was laying on the ground in the middle of the living room. His right arm was mangled beyond recognition and the light brown carpet beneath him was drenched in blood.
Audrey felt a touch of relief from the sight and knew he would be able to stay inside the walls because it was impossible to tell if he had been bitten by the Howler or if it had just used its talon-like nails to rip at his arm.
They should get tile or something, Audrey tried to refocus her attention away from the gruesome sight so she wouldn’t gag.
Aside from Dean kneeling with his arms folded at Peter’s head, there were three nurses in the room, a short, chubby one who didn’t look very old and two middle aged women with very severe looking expressions. Audrey was wondering where Marcella had gone when the youngest looking nurse started talking.
“We’re going to have to a-amputate,” the nurse said shakily.
“Don’t be silly, Nora. We don’t have the equipment for that kind of procedure, nor do we have the correct medical expertise,” one of the older nurses pushed the grey hair out of her eyes and gave Nora a frustrated look. “We’re going to have to make a tourniquet so it will stop bleeding and move on from there.”
Nora looked relieved by the nurse’s decision and Audrey wondered if the girl had ever even performed a simple procedure like giving a person stitches.
“If he lasts long enough we may be able to have the new doctor see him,” the third nurse readjusted her coke-bottle glasses and sighed. “What do you think, Eleanor? We could clean it up and see if there’s anything we can salvage before we bandage it up.”
“It’s your decision in the end, Maggie,” Eleanor rolled up her sleeves walked into the hallway, but kept talking. “I’m getting some towels and water. Nora, go get some anesthetic.”
Nora hurried out of the room and rounded the corner to head the opposite direction in which Eleanor had left.
Marjorie inspected the wounds and mumbled to herself, “I don’t know if we should even waste supplies on this. He might not make it through the night.”
Audrey cleared her throat and glared at the old woman. The woman’s eyes dropped to the ground with a frown and she excused herself from the room, “I need to get some bandages.”
“What happened?” Audrey walked to Dean’s side and touched his shoulder lightly. “Where’s Marcella?”
“She went to inform his parents. She said after he left the food bank he met her at the gun shed at the field and got a gun before heading to the orchards. He was trying to find a place the dregs were coming from so he could practice shooting at them, but he ended up finding a Howler instead,” Dean stopped talking and clenched his jaw together.
“What does that mean for him tonight?” Audrey asked.
“Marcella said the thing didn’t catch him but it’s possible a dreg bit onto his arm while he was running,” Dean explained quietly. “I’m not going to say anything about that though.”
“Dean you can’t hide something like that,” Audrey protested half-heartedly. “He could be dangerous.”
Dean’s shoulders quivered and he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, “He’ll be fine, Audrey. Marcella said she didn’t see him get bit.”
Nora came back into the room interrupting their conversation to give Peter a shot of morphine, “That should start working here in just a second so we can start getting him patched up.”
Audrey watched Peter’s movements become less jerky and the lines between his eyebrows and around his mouth smoothed out as the morphine spread rapidly in his system. He twisted his head from side to side and moaned quietly.
“Hey Peter,” Audrey said softly.
“Audrey?” Peter turned his head to her and tried to open his eyes.
“Yeah, it’s me. Everything is going to be okay,” she sat on the floor next to Dean and grabbed Peter’s uninjured hand.
“I’m scared,” Peter moaned.
“Peter, how did you get away?” She asked him in hushed tones.
Maggie and Eleanor had reentered the room and everyone went silent so they could hear his answer.
“Aadam and Marcella were out there with me,” his words began to slur and he clenched his eyes shut. “Aadam took the Howler out with a shot to the face with the gun he took.”
Peter sobbed and opened his eyes. He tried to focus on Audrey and squeezed her fingers, “Make it stop, Audrey. Please make it stop. I don’t want to die.”
Audrey stroked the cool skin on the back of his hand in small comforting circles and tried to keep him calm, “Everything will be okay, Pete.”
Dean whispered something to Maggie that was tending to him. She looked at him gravely and whispered something back with a shake of her head.
“Alright everyone, we need to move him into a bed,” Eleanor said sternly. “We’re going to need everyone in here to help.”
They followed her instructions and lifted him as gently as they could. They shuffled into a room down the hall that had a narrow bed, an IV stand, and a few monitors set up. Peter was gently laid on a twin bed that had a creamy white crocheted blanket on it.
“Please keep me informed of any changes in Peter’s condition,” Dean ordered the women. They nodded and he put his hand on Audrey’s shoulder while looking at Peter. “I’ll see you tomorrow when you’re patched up and feeling better, man.”
Peter tried to reach for Dean, but he was quickly falling asleep thanks to the pain medications and his hand fell limply to the bed.
Dean walked quietly out of the room.
Audrey took hold of Peter’s hand again and pressed her mouth on the back of it. She gingerly pushed his hair off of his forehead, “Get some rest. I’ll come back tomorrow with Dean.”
She didn’t wait for him to respond. She knew he was already asleep. She quietly walked backwards away from the scene, but kept her eyes focused on him as the three nurses formed a small circle around him so they could started working on his arm.
Audrey closed the door to the bedroom and stared at the trail of blood drops on the floor that led back into the living room. She followed them and ran into a man who had started cleaning the floor.
Through the living room window Audrey could see Dean standing in the middle of the lawn. He was looking up at the sky without moving. She moved around the man and pushed the front door open.
The crisp night air enveloped her comfortingly. The sky was clear and stars that Audrey would never had known existed six months ago winked at her happily despite what was going on in the house behind her.
“What’s wrong?” She asked Dean, walking up behind him.
“I’m scared, Audrey,” Dean sniffed his nose and looked at her with tear-filled eyes.
She breathed in the cool air and swallowed hard a few times. She could see the terror in his eyes and knew she needed to be strong for him.
She looked back up at the stars and felt a wave of numbness wash over her, “Don’t be scared. Pete will be fine after they fix up his arm.”
“We’re not even supposed to keep him in the walls if there’s a chance he’s infected. Remember what happened to Tanner?” Tears started running
down his cheeks.
Audrey pulled Dean into a tender hug. She stroked the back of his neck where short stubbly hairs had started to grow since his last haircut.
“I don’t know, Dean. Maybe the Council will make an exception since we don’t know if he was actually bit. Plus, you didn’t tell the nurses that was a possibility. We need to talk to the Council though,” Audrey reassured him.
He buried his face in her shoulder and cried until her shirt felt damp. She didn’t know what else she could say to him so she rubbed his back.
Dean pulled back and looked at her. “Is he going to change? He looked like he was starting to lose his color.”
“Blood loss,” Audrey reasoned, putting her hand on his cheek. “Once they get him patched up he’ll be back to normal in no time.”
“So you really think so?” he asked.
She nodded and looked back at the inky black sky, wondering if wishing on stars really worked.
~~~
Peter was awake and talking to Dean by the time Audrey arrived the next afternoon. Audrey was happy to see him in good spirits considering what he had gone through the night before. When he saw Audrey he smiled feebly and waved her over.
“About time you came,” he said weakly. “What have you been doing this morning?”
Audrey sat on a black folding metal chair that was set up next to the bed, “Just letting the Runners know what happened, getting breakfast, and coming over here. How are you feeling?”
“I have an IV that gives me a constant stream of pain killers right now. I think I’ll be fine until the new doctor gets here,” he shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the ground. “At least I’m not going to be shut outside the community like Tanner was.”
“Nope, you aren’t,” Dean interrupted with a smile. “A couple of the nurses are going around right now trying to find a couple people who might be able to donate blood. They’ve given him an iron pill, but they think he’ll need at least one transfusion.”
“That’s not too bad,” Audrey scooted the chair closer to the bed and held Peter’s hand.
“It’s better than being dead,” Peter smiled at her and squeezed her hand. “Do you remember when we used to play hospital in elementary school?”