Vindicta, p.15
Vindicta, page 15
“I stopped under the tree. Wasn’t feeling well. Woke up a little while ago and realized that nobody had come outside since noon. I needed help. I made it to the porch but the front was locked. Didn’t know what happened or where everyone was. Busted in the back door. Got to the basement and heard noises so I knocked. Something hit the door and I stepped back on my bad leg and fell. A second later a shotgun took out part of the door and I heard Jen screaming at me to run. Couldn’t run. Came out here and took him out before he got me.”
She closed her eyes and rested a moment, shivering. The chills were getting worse.
“I’m taking her inside.” He picked her up, surprisingly gentle, and carried her through the house. “Which way?”
“The door at the end. It’s a king bed. Harley’s got the other side.”
They walked in and she looked anxiously toward Harley on one side of the large bed. He was lying flat with his arm propped on a pillow. His legs had also been propped up a bit. She lost focus when Storm laid her down and her calf hit the mattress. Despite her best efforts, tears squeezed from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
It was embarrassing as hell, especially when she felt a thumb rub them away. When she opened her eyes the thumb was gone and Storm was focused on a medication bottle.
“Are you allergic to anything?” he asked.
“Penicillin.”
“Shit. You have to be a pain in the ass, don’t you?” Red said from the doorway.
“I try,” she ground out.
“Kate. We’re going to have to reopen the wound. The top has started to heal, but the infection is still under the surface. I’m going to drain it and keep it cleaned until the infection clears. It’s going to hurt like a bitch, so if you can pass out I’d advise you to do that.”
“I probably won’t be that lucky.”
“Top, we’ve only got enough antibiotics for Harley to have one full course. He’s more at risk for major complications,” Santiago said, coming from the bathroom.
“You want her to get septic?” Storm barked.
“Of course not! I think—”
“No antibiotics,” she broke in.
“You’ll take them if I have to shove them down your stubborn throat!” he growled.
“Do it and I’ll fertilize the fucking field out there with your guts,” she ground out. “Red, don’t let him.”
“Top, she sounds serious.”
Storm clenched a fist and slammed the medication bottle back down on the dresser. “Fine. You can think about your choice when we have to amputate your gangrenous leg.”
He stalked out of the room and she thought she’d pushed him too far, but he came back a moment later with medical supplies.
Shit, this is going to hurt.
Chapter Fourteen
Dwindling
Kate- Past
“Kate, look at me,” Storm said, leaning over her. He put his hand on her forehead. “I want you to take some deep breaths.”
Why is he being so nice?
“Now, bite down on this,” he said, offering her a folded leather belt. “Are you ready?”
She closed her eyes, bit down on the belt, and nodded. Instantly, she wished she could take it back. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t have a choice. One way or another, Storm was going to do it. She could at least not be a wimp about it.
Storm would think less of her, and Red would never let her live it down.
Harley was on the other side of the bed, his face looking waxy and drawn after the ordeal they’d gone through. She couldn’t believe Craig had forced him into the basement in his condition.
She hoped it hadn’t destroyed his chance for recovery.
“Okay, Red. Jen. Young.”
They came around, Red sitting at her side and Jen sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed. There was a small card table there holding a scalpel, a basin of hot water, a bottle of saline that Storm had mixed up in the kitchen, and gauze. Young was kneeling near her feet.
Nerves jangled and a million butterflies took wing in her stomach.
“Take my hands,” Red said, leaning across her body and blocking her view.
He was also holding her down, and if he thought she didn’t notice that then he was stupid. Young gripped her ankles.
She took Red’s hands and he held them squeezed them. He gave Storm a nod and she stared at the ceiling, preparing herself.
The first cut stung and her eyes watered. She bit into the leather of the belt to stifle a gasp. Reed and Young tightened their hold and she heard a clink of metal on metal. Then, the real agony began.
Her scream, muffled against the belt, came without warning as Storm scraped her leg with something that felt suspiciously like steel wool.
Red took both her wrists in one hand and put the other on her forehead. He leaned down and shushed her and the feeling of his hand on her head and his face resting along hers was oddly comforting.
It didn’t make the pain stop though, and she only barely paid any attention to what he was saying. She didn’t know what Storm was doing, but the feeling of cool liquid running off the sides of her leg had her gasping.
“Packing,” Storm murmured and suddenly she felt a wad of something being shoved in her leg and she groaned.
“Shhh. Almost done, Bubba.”
She felt Storm taping her leg and she spit out the belt. “Bubba?” she asked incredulously.
He lifted his head from her face. “What? You don’t like it?”
She just stared at him in disbelief.
“Well, it’s either that or snuggle bunny. Your choice. Personally, I’d go with Bubba.”
“You’re an idiot,” she whispered. “A real, live idiot.”
“It’s taken you this long to notice?” Harley murmured and she turned her head toward him.
“Harley, how do you feel?” She reached out and put a hand on his good arm.
“Like my arm got ripped off and eaten by a monster.”
“Well, you’re in luck, Long John Silver. It only got ripped off, not eaten,” Red said.
“Long John Silver lost a leg, I think,” Harley said. “You’ve got to come up with something better than that.”
“Red, you can get off of her now,” Storm said impatiently.
Red grinned down at her. “Maybe I don’t want to,” he said with a secretive wink down at her. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Storm was going to make him an amputee if he didn’t get up. Probably start with his head too.
He gave a huff. “Fine. Come on, Jen. Let’s go where we’re appreciated.”
Jen smiled at her. “I’ll bring you some food and some medication soon. Call out if you need anything.”
“Thanks, Jen.”
“See you in a bit, Bubba. Stay off that leg,” Red warned.
“Sure thing, Princess,” she retorted and he cackled.
Young, looking exhausted and sweaty, grinned. “Keep giving him hell, Bubba.”
She groaned. “Not you too. I think I liked Buffy better.”
“Too late. You saved our asses. That makes you an honorary brother now.”
“Sisters can’t save asses?” she asked, tiredly. She was feeling extremely hot and her throat was dry. Her hair was heavy and sticking to her back. She wanted it gone.
“I guess, but sisters are annoying so…”
“That’s enough. She needs to rest. Santiago, pass me those Valiums. Harley can’t have them yet, but she can,” Storm said.
She heard the rattle of pills and opened her eyes again. Storm sat near her and pulled her up, bracing an arm behind her back. He felt her head and pushed her hair back from her face. “Your fever is a little higher I think. Give me your hair tie.”
She offered him her wrist and he tugged the band from it. She expected him to just put it back in a sloppy ponytail, but he surprised her. He began to French braid it with practiced fingers. “You’re braiding my hair?”
“Would you rather I didn’t?” he asked.
“No, it's better actually. I’m just surprised that you know how.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“Sister?”
“No.”
He didn’t say anything else and she closed her eyes and enjoyed the scrape and tug of his fingers through her hair. He didn’t want to answer, then she wouldn’t push. He tied off the end and handed her the pills—fever reducers and a Valium.
“I don’t want the Valium.”
He studied her. “You’re sure?”
She nodded and he picked it out of her hand. She swallowed down the others with a drink of water, and he helped her lay back. Harley groaned and they looked at him.
“My fucking arm is twitching,” he said. “The one that ain’t there.”
“Try to rest,” Storm said. “It’ll go away.”
“Storm?” she murmured before closing her eyes. “The herd…where is it heading?”
“Don’t worry about it. They aren’t coming here. Go to sleep.”
She felt him brush a hand along her hair and a cool cloth settled on her forehead. She drifted.
◆◆◆
“Ouch!” she hissed.
“Hold still, Bubba.” Red pulled off another piece of tape. “This is probably the worst part, but hey…consider it a free leg wax,” he teased, then frowned. “Which you could use, by the way.”
“Fuck off, Princess. You try shaving in survival mode.”
“Yeah, that’s got to suck. You guys have to do so much of it too,” he said. “Personally, I’m all for hairy-legged women.”
“That’s good, because there are going to be a lot of us now I think,” she grumbled.
“Jen has a razor stash,” he whispered. “I can hook you up, for the right price.”
“What do you want?”
He ripped the last piece of tape off, taking a good amount of hair with it. “Damn it!”
“Condoms,” he said. “I know you have that stash, and you don’t ever use them.”
She raised her eyebrow. “I might one day.”
“The way Storm is going, they’ll be expired by then…” he muttered.
“What did you say?!”
He pulled the wet packing from the wound and she winced and looked away.
It had been four days since that night and her leg was healing. Her fever was gone. Santiago had been right. She didn’t need the antibiotics after all.
Harley was looking a little better, though the blood loss still affected him. They’d been giving him iron supplements and other vitamins in the hopes that it would help. They were waiting for him and Kate to heal enough before they could get back to the armory.
Every day that passed, Storm was getting more anxious and impatient to leave. He’d become taciturn—well, more taciturn— and everyone was extremely careful around him. He had also started treating her like a stranger.
Which was fine.
Whatever.
“Harley, you ready to start training again? You’ve been laying in bed long enough don’t you think? I mean, it ain’t like you lost a leg or something.”
“Red—”
“Hush, Bubba. I’m only kidding.” He turned to Harley. “I’ll give you another day or two to rest before we start shooting. You’ll probably want to stick with a pistol though. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a hand,” he said with a snicker.
She glared at him.
“Yeah, that’s going to suck. I’m right-handed too…well, I was…”
“Guess you’ll have to learn how to jerk it with the other one,” Red said crudely.
“Red,” Storm said in warning.
“What? It’s just Bubba,” he said and rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I’m just Bubba. Besides, I’m anxious to hear Red’s advice. I’m sure he has plenty of solitary adventures to draw from,” she retorted with a smirk.
Storm’s cheek twitched and she wasn’t sure if it was an attempt at a smile or an annoyed tic.
“Where is Santigo? I haven’t seen him in a while,” she asked.
“He’s out scavenging for supplies with the team. We’re short on food.”
“When he says short, he actually means out,” Red added dryly. “Captain Hook here has been burning through our stores like crazy.”
“I’m growing boy,” he defends. “So, I’m officially a captain now? Cool.”
“He needs it,” she said.
“I think you can get up tomorrow, Kate. Take it easy and use the cane,” Storm said. “Get Jen to help you take a bath.”
“Or I could help,” Red said casually with a tiny glance at her. “And you should call her Bubba now. She’s your honorary brother too.”
“You need to stop,” Storm said, shooting him an icy death glare. “Her name is Kate and she’s not my brother…but she will outrank you fairly soon if you aren’t careful.”
“Oh, burn!” Harley laughed.
“Shut up or I’ll steal your hook.”
“I don’t have a hook.”
“You will someday, and I’ll steal it then.”
She laid there listening to their banter. They had all needed the rest these past several days. The sick people seemed to have had a miraculous recovery and they were up moving around and helping with the day-to-day work. She didn’t know how someone could recover from radiation sickness so quickly, but she was grateful.
The truth was, she didn’t like the trend she was noticing. Their numbers seemed to be declining. They’d started out with thirty-five soldiers, then gained Lt. McCord’s group when they met up at Radnor Lake. They were now down to…
…she didn’t know.
“Who do we have left?” she asked.
Storm stopped messing with his pistol and looked up. “Alpha team, Bravo team, Charlie Two is all alive and doing well. Delta One and Two are mostly recovered, minus Prentiss. Only two of McCords men are left. I’m going to put them in Bravo team for now. Then there’s Jen and the twelve civilians.”
She shook her head.
“I’m still hoping that Echo team will show up at the armory,” he said and they all got quiet. It had been seven days since Echo team had disappeared.
“We’re going to need to figure something with the vehicles. We need another couple of Humvees or some pickup trucks. With no ammo for the fifties, we may just need to switch over to civilian vehicles,” Red said.
“We still have a little ammo. We can resupply at the armory and decide what to do then.”
◆◆◆
Kate stood on the porch and looked out at the wind whipping through the large sycamore in the front yard. The clouds were rolling overhead and rain sprinkled the dry dirt. It was cooler, but she wasn’t sure the trade-off was worth it.
It looked like tornado weather.
She felt weak as she stood there with Storm holding her arm. Four weeks was all he would allow for their recovery and, to tell the truth, she was ready to go—though she thought Harley needed more.
Storm said they had to move out today. She’d been relegated to riding in the van with Harley and the rest of the soldiers who had been ill.
She was a bit pissed about it as well, but she understood. Only those capable of fighting were in the Humvees. They were both the offense and the defense. She couldn’t run yet, and she didn’t have as much stamina as she had before.
She would though. She would work hard to get back to her previous condition.
No. She would be better.
She took a seat up in front next to Jen, who was driving. Underwood, a Delta One guy, would drive the other van while Red took charge of the fertilizer truck. Storm had tried to talk him into leaving it behind, maybe storing it here in the barn, but he was adamant.
The scenery changed gradually, flat land morphing into gentle hills, then foothills. The closer that she got to home, the more depressed and sad she got. When she joined up with the soldiers, she hadn’t really expected to be coming home again. She wanted to be gone.
She didn’t want to be tempted into seeing Jared and telling him what she had done. He’d hate her and then she wouldn’t have anyone.
Except for Red, Harley, and Young who seemed to consider her one of their own now.
Storm, she wasn’t so sure about. He was such an enigma to her sometimes. He’d been opening up more to her before they had to split at the river, but now he was closed off and silent.
In some ways, he was even harsher than he had been when they first met—except for the odd moments where the real Storm shone through the cracks.
The Storm who silently braided her hair for her twice. The Storm who ordered her to take half his daily food rations and watched her eat them with a serious frown. The Storm who seemed to appoint himself her personal physician. The Storm who surreptitiously stared at her with intense puzzlement when he thought she wasn’t looking. Red said he was using his frosty attitude to conceal his obsessive interest in her.
She thought maybe he was plotting the thousand and one ways that he could murder her.
He had been a caretaker before, for someone else. It was obvious. She wondered who he had taken care of and why.
They were twenty minutes from the armory when Kate looked over and realized that Jen was crying.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, leaning over and putting a hand on her arm.
“My Cory,” she said shaking her head with a watery smile. “He loved staying at the campground here,” she said, pointing at the turnoff they were passing.
They were about to cross the bridge that spanned the lake and Kate looked around. She didn’t know what to say. “My mom and dad used to being me and my brother here sometimes when Dad was on leave. We loved it too.”
“Where are they now?” Jen asked.
That was a question that nobody asked anymore.
“My dad died several years ago of a heart attack. I’m pretty sure my brother Jared is barricaded in his basement with ten years worth of food and enough junk to build a replica of the city of New York. My mom…she died in early July…at the refugee center.”
“You didn’t want to find your brother?” Jen asked, confused.
Kate only shook her head and Jen didn’t pry.
