Page 8 of Purgatory
We race over to her, pulling our balaclavas over our faces and immediately going into rescue mode. Hawk lifts her feet and puts them onto his lap reciting to himselfhead is blue, lift the shoe, while I assess her to know exactly what the hell we’re dealing with. She’s soaked in sweat, breathing heavily and her skin is as pale as a ghost. The first thing I do when I get close enough is open her eyelids, inspecting her eyes. One telltale sign of the plague is whited out irises. I thank our lucky stars when I see her beautiful blue eyes looking back at me, not a speck of white obstructing the color.Thank God.I blow out a breath of relief at the sight. When I check her pulse, it’s fast but barely there. Typical signs of heat exhaustion. We can handle this.
“Watcha got, Doc?”
“Her eyes are clear, so no virus. It’s probably heat exhaustion. She needs fluids, and to cool down,now.”
He starts to pick her up. A question in his eyes.Are we helping her here or taking her back?
Wincing, I grit my teeth with my response. “Son of a bitch... Fuck it. Bring her with us. It’ll be safer back at our place. We have more supplies there.”
I take off my head wrap and soak it with the remaining water from my jug, then adjust the damp cloth across the pulse points in her neck.
“Jax is going to pitch a fit but he’ll have to deal. Let’s go.”
Chapter 7
Jax
Stretching my arms above my head, I twist my neck to try and relieve some of the stiffness from the day. I just finished my chores and decide to take a break while watching the front gate for Cole and Hawk’s return. The sun is setting so they should be back soon.
It’s the same routine every day, boring and predictable, but it’s safe, protected, reliable. In other words- structure and I need it. These past few months have thrown my ass, and mind, into a whirlwind of fuckery and the last thing I need are more surprises, so I take no chances. Every day I get up, grab my knife and gun and go for a morning run around the property. As I go, I scope out the fence line to make sure it’s still intact, making mental notes if there are any weak links or fallen trees to handle later. When that’s done, I check our tanks- propane and water- for leaks. We have a well on the property that’s connected to the pipes but it has a high concentration of sulfur, making it not suitable enough to drink but just fine to use in the bathrooms and to water the garden. Before everything shut down, it was simple to just go into town to get bottled water, but of course that didn’t last long, so we MacGyvered the water tanks from old plastic trash bins so that they could collect and filter rain water. Even got the proper plumbing fixtures to hook the entire configuration up to separate taps in the kitchen so that we can access it inside whenever we need it.
Once everything proves to be secure, I go about weedingand tending to the garden. It’s not huge, but I’ve made sure it’s large enough to accommodate the three of us for the summer, fall and, if I am able to preserve it by canning, through the winter as well. Most of our food comes from the fruits and vegetables the garden produces so maintaining it is a priority. Between the three of us, we’ve managed to stockpile a whole pantry and basement full of canned and dry goods, but for the simple sake of essential nutrients- vitamins and minerals- I’m going to push the fresh foods as long as I can. Everyone knows they’re just plain better for you.
After that, Cole is usually done preparing something for breakfast. Sometimes, it’s simply granola with some of the berries or apples he foraged that morning on his run. Other times, our chickens prove fruitful and we have eggs with the bread I bake every few days. Homestead gourmet, simple but fucking delicious.
Hawk would eventually come and join us after his daily fishing excursion on the lakeshore. The lake attached to the property is pretty big and is home to a bunch of different fish. We have a boat but to save on gas, he ends up hiking to his favorite spot and fishes from the large boulders there. Somedays he catches, somedays he doesn’t.
After breakfast, they end up going into town to search for supplies and run patrols, while I go and check the snares and do a slower sweep of the property, fixing what needs to be mended as I go. Happy with the patrol, I, then, go into the house and start preparing something for dinner. Options are limited these days so it’s really just a hodgepodge of what we have on hand. Now, I’ll be humble and admit that I’m far from a Michelin rated chef, but I know how to make a few things from scratch and can adapt to what we have and can find. It’s like if the showChoppedmet Bear Grylls only without the piss. Hey, at least we’re not starving. What’s on tonight’s menu? Squirrel stew.
I’m thankful every day that I didn’t just stop at buying a generator to power the house but invested in solar and wind power. Between the wind blowing off the lake behind the property powering the small wind turbine I have back there, and the solar panels currently covering every inch of the south facing part of the roof- above my room and the guest bedroom- we have enough potential to run the entire house off of natural energy. No state power grids necessary. Even if there ends up being no wind or sun, I still have the fireplace for heat and to cook with, as well as the generator as a last resort. Energy needs completely self-supplied.
“Where the hell are they?” I look at the setting sun, putting my hand up and measuring. There’s not much daylight left. They should’ve been back by now.
I turn to Sadie, my German Shepard, bend down and scratch behind her ears. She’s been with me since Afghanistan, but she’s more than just my K-9, she’s my balance, my calm. She’s also a good indicator of stress triggers. She cocks her head to the side, her tongue flopping out from the side of her mouth. She doesn’t appear to be too worried so I won’t be either.
I turn my head back to the gate and I can just barely hear the gravel crunching with incoming foot traffic. I grab my AR-15 from my shoulder harness and ready it, pointing it to the ground just outside the gate. It's then that I see Cole running down the driveway.
“About time... what the fuck are you running from?” I ask him as I squint my eyes, focusing on the bend. Hawk comes into view. He’s running slower but that’s because he’s fireman carrying someone over his shoulder.
“Not running from. She needs help.” Cole says. Out of breath and panting when he reaches me at the gate.
“She? What do you mean she?” I look between the two guys, eyes bouncing back and forth at the sudden change ofour normal routine.
He points to Hawk just as he enters the gate. I shut it behind him and turn to see exactly whosheis.Sheis passed out, dangling from Hawk’s shoulder.Shecouldn’t be over 25.Sheis … pretty... really pretty... scratch that, she’s fucking gorgeous... oh, sweet Jesus, she’sgonna be trouble... Nope, no, no, no. Big ol’ barrel of hell to the fuck no.
“Get her into the house and put her upstairs. We need to get her out of those clothes and cooled off,” Cole says.
I raise my hands over my head. “Whoa, whoa, whoa what the hell is going on? Who is she?” I point in Hawk's direction as he continues walking towards the house, completely ignoring my questions, while Cole and I follow. Cole doesn’t answer either so I stop him with a hand on his shoulder, stalling him just at the base of the front steps.
My voice goes up an octave as my hands start flying around amid conversation, accentuating my concern. “What the fuck is going on? I thought we agreed, no new people. She’s the very definition of new people! What the hell happened?” My mind starts to race as I try to understand what could possibly prompt them to negate the rules and put everything in jeopardy.
He sighs and looks in the direction where Hawk went. “We found her in town. Decided to follow her to see what was up whensheup and fainted. Fell flat on her ass...she’s been out ever since.”
I can feel my eyes start to widen as my arms raise on their own accord again, my anxiety pushed right to its limits. I’m just about to open my mouth to scold Cole for possibly bringing the plague right to our fucking doorstep when he raises a placating hand of his own and cuts me off. “Don’t worry, I checked her eyes myself, she’s clear. I’m suspecting it’s just a bit of heat exhaustion, but we couldn’t just up and leaveher in her condition and couldn’t help her there because there wasn’t enough water in sight... I had no choice.” He shakes his head and looks at me. Stern eyes meet mine and I know he’s not backing down from this. “She’s just a girl, man. You don’t need to worry about her. We've got this.”
“Fuck.... FUCK!” I throw my hands in the air. This is not happening. This is NOT happening. I don’t do well with new people... AT ALL. Especially nowadays. Especially after what happened. My breathing starts to get heavier and more strained. This is a nightmare. That’s it. I’m stuck in a nightmare and need to wake up. This is NOT happening again. It can’t. I won’t let it.
“It’ll be ok. Deep breaths. No worries, man.” He puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes, trying to tamper down my racing mind then looks towards the house. “Shit. I’ll be right back, ok? I’ll send Hawk out in just a sec... Breathe.” He drags out the last word in an attempt to calm the beast that’s growing within me.
