The Sentinel

by C Cato

  “I’ll come with you,” said Risa, cheerfully.

  They left camp quietly, probably chatting in their heads.

  Sonya hadn’t realized how much she missed that form of communication. “Cole, what if Soren can’t fix the transmitter?”

  “If he said he can fix it, he can.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

  Ditre cleared his throat and stood up. “That’s my cue to go. Try not to make too much noise,” he said, indicating the girl.

  Sonya and Cole both laughed. It felt good. There hadn’t been much of that since waking up. Once Ditre was gone, Cole caressed her back in long, slow strokes. She wanted to purr like a kitten. “Did you not want them to see?”

  “Are you kiddin’? If there were still rooftops, I’d be shoutin’ my undyin’ love for you at the world.”

  There it was again. He hadn’t asked her to say the same, and she was glad he hadn’t. It was too soon. She was just admitting to herself that she could trust him. The attraction was there, that mysterious pull, but she wasn’t ready to say the words.

  Her turmoil must have been all over her face. Cole sat up and put his arms around her shoulders, “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not… you said… damn it!” Not her most eloquent use of words.

  “Is this about my tellin’ you how I feel?”

  She nodded.

  “Baby—time in stasis not included—I had ten full years to daydream and stare at you like a lost puppy.”

  Sonya smiled.

  “You’ve had five days and a whole lot of weirdness to deal with.” He drew in closer, his eyes softened. “We can make up for lost time, though.”

  With a chuckle, Sonya pushed the flat of her index finger against his lips. “I’d like to get to know you, if that’s okay.”

  He beamed at her. The transformation was stunning. He was a very handsome man, but when he smiled like that, Sonya now knew perfection looked like.

  Leaning back on his elbows, his sunny smile mellowed to a cocky grin. “What d’ya wanna know?”

  “First of all, where are you from? Your accent comes and goes, so I’m never quite sure.”

  “Georgia. I tried to get rid of my accent when I went to Boot. Didn’t do a good job. You should hear me when I’m drunk.”

  “If we ever have alcohol again, I’ll take you up on that.” Cole placed his hand on her thigh.

  Sonya lay hers on top.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “Born and raised in Michigan.”

  “I have to admit I did a little stalking while you were in a coma.”

  Sonya stiffened. Did he know? Would he think less of her if he knew the whole truth? He squeezed her thigh, and she tried to relax. Don’t be stupid. He looked me up a long time ago, but he still just said he loved me.

  “I didn’t find much, if that helps,” he said, troubled.

  “I’m sorry. There’s just stupid drama in my past I don’t like bringing up.”

  He nodded but didn’t prod.

  “Are you going to take me home?”

  Sonya shared a gasp with Cole as the beautiful little girl sat up. Her straight black hair fell in tangles around her shoulders, but her green eyes were bright in the puddle of light that had broken through the trees.

  Rolling to her knees, Sonya turned to face her. “Hey, honey. How are you feeling?”

  The girl’s eyes conveyed more years than she could possibly have, making Sonya wonder what raising a child was like in this new time.

  “You will take me home?” she repeated.

  At a guess, Sonya thought she couldn’t be more than eight but was small for a child of that age. “Of course. Can you tell us why you were out in this bad weather?”

  “My fam’ly is sick. Was goin’ to the Arthur farm. Get the Caregiver.”

  Cole knelt beside Sonya, and the girl didn’t flinch. Instead, she looked between the two of them with open curiosity. “Is this one of your men?”

  Sonya was glad she hadn’t been drinking anything. It would have been an amazing spit take. “Men?”

  “Mhm. I only have five daddies, but Mrs. Arthur got ten.”

  “Well, I only have one,” Sonya said, checking with Cole to make sure that was okay.

  He was back to beaming.

  “If I was older, I would take you,” she said, addressing Cole.

  Soren snorted behind them, and Sonya could only imagine the effort it was taking not to laugh. She wasn’t even going to look at Cole.

  “Maybe when you’re older, he will still be available,” snickered Risa. She dropped a large armful of wood beside the fire.

  “Watch it, Pixie,” warned Cole. A playful lilt to his tone.

  Risa rolled her eyes. Ditre and Soren came back seconds later, each carrying two rabbits.

  Sonya ignored the ribbing and touched the girl’s head with the back of a hand. Her temperature was good, the blue gone. “My name is Sonya Temple. What’s your name?”

  “Elise. Why do you have two names?”

  She wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I just do,” she smiled encouragingly. “Tomorrow, we’ll go back to your family and make sure they are okay. I want you to rest some more.”

  Elise jerked out of Sonya’s grasp. Her eyes growing wider. Frantic. “No! Come with me now. Please. They are all so sick. None of my daddies could walk me to the other place. They couldn’t get up.”

  This didn’t sound good. Sonya didn’t know what a Caregiver was, but if the child had to travel in that wicked storm alone, then she had to have been desperate. But what could she do to help? Doctor’s weren’t miracle workers. Without any pharmaceuticals, equipment, testing facilities, and all the many other things used to treat patients, she was just a woman with an expensive education. Icy tendrils clawed up her back and banded around her chest until she couldn’t breathe.

  “Breathe,” Cole whispered in her ear. “I’ll come with you. Me and Ditre. You won’t be alone.”

  To him, “Thank you.” To Elise, “I’m going to help you. I’m a doctor.”

  At the word, her eyes grew bright with tears. “Caregiver!” She threw her arms around Sonya’s neck and squeezed. A tentative pat led to another until Sonya finally wrapped her arms around the little girl.

  “Ditre, we’re going with her. Take all the medical supplies. Risa, you and Soren stay here with Elise.”

  “But I have to go! Momma will worry,” she said, bouncing her gaze between Sonya and Cole.

  “I don’t think your momma would like it if you got sick either,” said Sonya. “When everyone is better, we’ll come to get you.”

  “But I have to show you the way,” she said

  “You can tell us, baby girl. We’ll find it,” said Cole, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze.

  The gesture made Sonya’s heart flutter. She was liking this new side of Cole

  “Okay, but don’t be long. Momma would cry if she worried.”

  “Promise,” said Sonya, getting up. She looked down at her ragged bodysuit. Giant rents cut across her chest and stomach. For the first time, she noticed her right sleeve was gone. Had she done that when she worked on her hand? “Do you happen to have any more suits,” she asked Cole, hopefully.

  “Nope. Risa lost her pack in the slide and she was carryin’ the extras,” said Cole, raking his gaze up and down her slightly exposed body. At least he didn’t have an issue with it. “I’m sure that will be the last thing on their minds.”

  “I’m ready to go when you are,” said Ditre, hitching his backpack higher.

  Sonya turned to Elise. “Where do we need to go, sweetheart?”

  She pointed. “Across the bridge and down the path. You have to stay on the path and not in the woods, or you’ll miss it.”

  Sonya gazed at Cole, hoping that had made sense to him. He shrugged his shoulders. Fine, she would leave the navigation, to him.

  “We should go. Be good
for Risa and Soren while we are gone.”

  “Caregiver?”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you a Valkyrie?” She wrung her wreck of a dress between her hands, a frown creasing her delicate face. “Not supposed to tell them how to get home.”

  Sonya exchanged a glance with Cole and Ditre, who had moved closer. “No, I’m not a Valkyrie. We won’t tell anyone else where to go.”

  Satisfied, Elise lay back down and closed her eyes.

  Ditre was already walking away. Cole took Sonya’s hand as they hurried to catch up.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Sonya

  Water pounded over the bridge, as the river continued its angry path. On the other side was a barely there rustic path cutting through the trees. Marked with the occasional pile of stones. If they hadn’t known to look for it, they would’ve missed it.

  The path stopped abruptly at a rock wall. A small crag cut through it, wide enough for a midsize SUV to drive through.

  “I’ll go first. Ditre, rear. Sonya, stay here until I call.”

  She pointed at her head. “It’s off. I won’t hear you.”

  “Ditre will,” he said and leaned in for a swift kiss, before turning on his heels and slipping into the rock.

  Water flowed in tiny rivers down the face of stone from the precipitation that did not show any signs of slowing. Sonya wondered if she would ever be dry again.

  “Sonya, he says it’s okay,” said Ditre, his gaze scanning the woods behind them.

  Sound muffled inside the crag. The pounding of rain reduced to a mere pitter-patter. The path weaved in a zigzag pattern. It was disconcerting when she realized she couldn’t see Ditre—or the forest for that matter—behind her. She picked up the pace when the walls started to look like they were closing in.

  Cole was waiting on the other side.

  Her jaw dropped to her chest when she saw the hidden gem in the rocks. The rock wall they’d come through extended in a ring around what had to be the most picturesque farm Sonya had ever seen.

  Lush green grass covered the ground in front of a classic red barn and a two-story farmhouse. She could make out vague shapes behind the house. The area had to be several acres in diameter.

  “Wow,” she breathed.

  “Wow is right,” said Cole.

  Ditre joined them, and they approached the house after Cole searched the barn.

  Their boots sounded loud as they strode across the wooden porch to the front door. It swung open without a sound.

  Sonya moved in after Cole. Ten feet from the front door was a wide staircase that split the house on either side. Stopping at the entryway to their left, Sonya smiled at the brightly painted kitchen with the cobblestone floor. There were no electric appliances, just a sink, faucet, and a large potbelly stove. Potted plants hung in front of the large window over the sink that had a pump faucet.

  Ditre put his nose to one and smiled. “It’s mint. The others are probably herbs, too.”

  At the back of the kitchen was a large wooden table that could seat ten comfortably. It made sense if Elise’s mother had multiple husbands. Sonya wondered if that was why they lived out in the middle of nowhere alone. Did their lifestyle choice force them out here?

  There was a pantry in the space under the stairs and inside were jars of preserved fruits and vegetables, hanging dried plants, jerky, and bread that had started to mold. There was also a large wheel of cheese still uncut and covered with a rind. Sonya took note of what she saw and then followed Cole across the stairway to the other room.

  A massive fireplace took up most of the far wall, but other than that the room looked like a sultan’s palace. The walls were draped with bright colored silks, and large fluffy pillows covered the floor. A group of them were piled on top of each other to form a low couch.

  Exposed beams in the ceiling gave the room a more open feeling even though it was low enough that she and Cole almost had to duck to avoid them. The floors below them were hardwood, but not like she’d seen before. The boards were less uniform and not as flat. There were little swells that made walking through the pillows risky business.

  A moan directed their attention to the stairs. This time Sonya led the way. At the top, a walkway circled the space around them, with a railing to keep anyone from falling into the stairwell. There were two doors on the left side and one on the right. Sonya checked the doors on the right while Ditre and Cole stood guard. They were taking every precaution. The first door wasn’t a room but a supply closet. There was no light, so she had to rely on her green-tinged night vision. Something caught her eye. In the back of the closet, slightly hidden by a stack of rough woolen blankets, was a bright white fabric with hints of something metallic.

  Drawing closer, Sonya pulled on it to reveal a metal badge boasting a stylized sword with wings extending to the sides. “I’ve seen this before. At the camp. The woman I saw up close had one like it.”

  Cole swore under his breath. “We need to leave. Now,” he said, when they had regrouped in the walkway.

  “No. Cole, I promised Elise I would help. There’s a reason they are here alone. Elise seemed scared that I might be a Valkyrie. Do you think that’s who those women were?”

  “If that’s the case, then someone here knows about them,” said Ditre.

  Cole’s hands flexed the frustration easy to read. “I don’t like this. Especially since we lost all of our weapons.”

  That’s when Sonya noticed that neither of them had on the gun holsters anymore.

  “If they are as sick as Elise said, it shouldn’t be an issue,” said Sonya. “And no one has challenged us being here.”

  “Yet.”

  The ominous tone sent licks of cold down her back, but figured it was his job to see the worst-case scenario. She crossed to the other side of landing to open the first door. A wave of smells almost knocked her off her feet. Human sweat, vomit, urine, and the sweet smell of decay forced her back a step. She gagged but controlled her stomach enough to go in. There was a single large bed inside, with three men laying side by side in it. Partially covered by a sheet, it was clear they were naked. Sonya moved with caution toward the bed.

  “Stay in the hall,” she ordered Cole and Ditre when they tried to come with her. “We don’t know what this is yet, and I want to minimize our exposure if we can.”

  There were several puddles of sick on the floor, and she did her best to avoid them, while taking shallow breaths through her mouth. In her head, she could hear the dying screams of people begging for help. She couldn’t help them all. She should have been able to, but she couldn’t they were dying because she couldn’t do her job.

  A heavy hand squeezed her shoulder. Heat spread as Cole curled around her back. She settled back into her body like a buckle snapping into place, her teeth clicking as she shook like a leaf in the wind. If she didn’t get her act together, these people would die. Reaching up, she stroked Cole’s hand and he withdrew, but didn’t retreat to the door.

  She moved closer to the bed until she was within a foot of it. The men were all pale and soaked with sweat. One of them had livid bruises all over, and his exposed foot had darkened.

  Gangrene.

  With a gasp, Sonya stepped away and hurried back to the hall, pushing the men out of the room with her and closing the door.

  “It could be a couple of things, but either way it’s not good. From here on out, we have to assume what they have is highly contagious and take precautions.” Her voice only slightly wavered. “Ditre, go downstairs and get that stove going. We’ll need sterile water. Cut up some of those sheets in the closet over there.”

  “What about me?” asked Cole. He was all business. For once, she appreciated his soldier demeanor.

  “Stay with me, please.” It came out more as a plea than a command. “I need to check the other room.”

  She steeled herself at the second door, not sure what lay beyond. When she reached for the knob, it burst open in front of her. A naked woman that wa
s the mirror image of her daughter stood unsteadily on her feet with a sword in front of her. Her cheeks were ruddy. Her hair clung to her face with the sweat from her fever, but her snarl was vicious. Sonya bumped into Cole when she retreated. He pulled her to the side and behind him. “You won’t have us, you bitch!” she hissed, her voice raspy. “We aren’t going back to Haven!”

  Before Sonya could respond, she sagged in the doorway, the sword dropping to the floor with a clang. Sonya wanted to rush to her side, but years of training held her back. Touching her directly could be disastrous. “Ditre! Hurry with those cloths!”

  He was with them in seconds, handing clean pieces of sheet to her and Cole. She wrapped it around her nose and mouth twice before tying it off. It wasn’t the best protection against exposure, but it would have to do. With Cole’s help, she lifted the unconscious woman under her arms and took her back to bed. Two more men were there. None were as bad off as the three in the other room, but they were all burning up with fever. Fever she could do nothing to stop.

  Once the woman was back in bed, Sonya spun and ran from the room, not stopping until she was back on the porch. Clasping the railing with both hands, she held on for dear life as memories she didn’t want to relive played before her eyes.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Sonya

  “We’ve gone over this, Mom. I’m not coming home for Christmas this year.”

  Red lights flashed in front of her, forcing her to slow down and roll to a stop. Her mother’s voice rattled on through the Bluetooth speaker on her dash. Rain was making it hard to see what was going on. Could have been an accident. Sonya considered pulling over and offering her services.

  “Baby, we all miss you. I’m sure that big hospital would be okay without you for a few days.”

  Sonya’s chest constricted as her mother’s well-placed guilt barb struck home. “Mom, I just made Chief of Emergency. It’s a big deal, and I want to do a good job. Please understand.”

  Her mother’s self-righteous suffering was illustrated in a prolonged sigh. She gave her mom points for dramatic effect. She smiled out at the rain splashing against her windshield. They’d started moving again. After sixteen long hours on duty, she was ready to curl up in bed with a good book and some hot cocoa. The droning of her mother going on about the latest family gossip had lulled her into a trance, so she didn’t see the car heading for her driver side door, missed the screech of tires, and the breaking of glass as cars tossed in the air like discarded toys.