Page 9 of Blue Arrow Island
“When you get cleared from the infirmary, you’ll be assigned a mentor. You’ll get a work duty assignment, clothes, boots, some soap. Then you can get a shower.”
He ignored my second question, but I’m too distracted by the mention of soap and a shower to call him on it.
“You have showers?”
His lips quirk with a grin. “Yeah, and we’ve got a couple of engineers in camp, so the water pressure’s actually not bad.”
The rows of housing end and he turns right, stopping at a door with an “Infirmary” sign. He opens the door, standing aside so I can enter first.
It’s one massive room, the subtle, sweet scent of vanilla lingering in the air from the maple planks that line the walls. The ceiling is open, the wooden beams supporting the structure’s roof visible.
There are three rows of ten beds, all made up with bright-white sheets. Three men and two women who were on the boat with me are in beds, and there are two other men I don’t recognize. Large rectangular windows along two walls of the room are propped open, allowing a slight breeze in.
I can’t believe there are actual beds. They’re calling out to me, begging me to curl up and rest. The ring of burning discomfort around my arms and midsection from the rope Pax lassoed me with is throbbing.
A pretty woman with her dark hair tied back walks over, her eyes on Pax and a palm on her slightly pregnant belly.
“Commander.” She greets him with a coy smile.
“Hi, Lana. This is Briar, our last newcomer for today.”
Lana pulls her gaze from him to me. “Let’s get you a bed and something to eat, Briar.”
I nod, numb. I’m not myself. Whether it’s from whatever the guards knocked us out with, the heat, dehydration or just plain exhaustion, I don’t know. My thoughts are muddled. A strange stab of jealousy toward Lana hits me right in the chest as she sneaks a peek at Pax while leading me to a bed.
I have to sleep. If I can’t think clearly, I’m putting myself in danger.
Lana brings me a small wooden bowl of smoked fish and a cup of water. I drink the water and eat three bites of fish, then curl up on my side, facing the door to the infirmary.
I survived the beach. I can still see the faces of some of the people who didn’t, their eyes staring blankly at the sky as their blood soaked into the sand.
The sound of Amira screaming my name still echoes in my mind. I wish I could have saved her. Even though life is a series of losses and disappointments in the hellscape that is New America, it’s been a long time since I had a friend.
4
What an exciting time to be alive. Without red tape, there are no limits to what we can accomplish.
- Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Randall McClain
A woman’s primal scream cuts through the air, snapping me out of a deep sleep. I sit up in my infirmary bed and see a man and a woman each holding the arm of a very pregnant woman by the entrance.
“Breathe through it, Peyton,” the woman says. “We’re almost to a bed where you can lie down.”
“Ohhhhhh.....it hurts,” Peyton wails, panting frantically.
She looks and sounds like her baby could drop through her legs any second now, her rounded belly a bulky center of gravity.
The contraction subsides and she makes it to a bed, the woman who helped her there pulling a curtain made of bedsheets around the bed for privacy.
My headache has improved, but I’m sweaty, though I’m only covered by a lightweight sheet. Even with the windows open, thestagnant, heavy air turns up the dial on my disgusting smell. Blood and grime are caked beneath my short nails and my long dark hair is greasy, sand from the beach itching my scalp.
I glance around the room, finding two other people asleep and one sitting up in bed eating.
A loud gurgle of hunger sounds in my stomach. The rest of the smoked fish I left beside me in the bed is gone. It’s been so long since I've had a real meal. That was one perk of living in Lochlan’s household—I ate better than most people.
“Do something!” Peyton cries from behind the curtain. “I can’t...” She lets out a piercing moan of agony.
“Hey, you’re up.” A woman with tightly coiled, shoulder-length blond curls approaches me. “Feeling better?”
