Page 124 of The Hero Within
Eden prepared the nanoparticle syringe. "It worked for me. Took a few days to shake off the fever"—and she was still a bit achy in her joints—"but my rash is clearing, and my temperature's back to normal."
Hopefully, Lily wasn't too far gone.
It took a couple of days for the nanoparticle hydrogel she’d injected to work completely. She'd barely managed to vaccinate the human pack members of Shadow Rock before the sweats started, though her sweats had been nowhere near as bad as the plague victims in Absolution. The fever had her in its grip by then, and she could barely remember crossing the Divide in the back of a jeep driven by Lincoln and CJ. Arik had stayed in Shadow Rock to make sure his pack was safe, but he'd provided an escort of Munin for her, as a debt repaid for when Johnny slammed him to the floor before he was shot.
Johnny.
Thinking about him only caused her heart to constrict like she was having an angina attack. There was no time for that. She had to believe he was safe and alive, and she would have time to get him back.
They will die if you don't get out of here now....
How had she ever thought him violent and selfish?
Right now, she needed to focus on those who might not be safe.
It was all that was keeping her on her feet right now.
Blinking away the surge of pain, she turned to Luc. "Has she kept any water down of late?"
"Barely," he replied, his voice rough from lack of sleep. "She's been incredibly thirsty all week, but yesterday she started to get listless. Not as thirsty."
Not a good sign.
"No word from Adam?"
"I sent news north through the radio chain," Luc replied. "No reply. He might be out of range. Was expecting to spend the month there. So Riley sent a message north with her friend, Jimmy. He'll find him."
She felt restless without Adam there. She'd survived a year apart from him when he went into his self-imposed exile two years ago, but he'd always been a presence in her life. Despite the fact he drove her crazy at times, when Adam strode into town, she felt like she could relax. Her brother might try and take over, but he could handle anything the world threw at him.
She really, really wanted a hug from him right about now.
Eden set up the drip she'd gotten from Absolution, unnerved by how hot the young girl was. The red rash that accompanied the plague was all over Lily's chest and her heartbeat was far too fast, her blood pressure low. The antibiotics Eden had given her at the start had helped, Luc had said, until the last couple of days.
Leaning on the bed, she rubbed an alcohol-soaked rag over Lily's deltoid muscle, and injected the entire solution before withdrawing the syringe. Lily shifted on the bed, making the faintest of protests, but didn't rouse.
Eden stepped back and took a deep breath. The first step down.
She'd handed over most of the solution and vaccine in Absolution when she got what she needed for Lily, but she hadn't paused to stay. Absolution had an entire medical team. Bart had gotten in her face, demanding she stay and "see to her duty" and it had been all she could do not to punch him.
She'd given everything she had of herself to save her people.
She'd risked her life, and lost the man she loved.
She owed Bart nothing.
"And now?" Luc demanded.
"Now we wait," Eden said, sinking into the stuffed armchair beside the bed. Her eyes were so heavy she could barely keep them open. "Wake me if anything changes."
It worked.
Lily's breathing eased over the next couple of days, her fever swiftly dying down. The hydrogel injection was a slow-release system that would feed her the full dose of antibiotics manufactured specifically for the chimera bacteria over a course of three weeks.
When Lily woke, it was the first time Eden let herself cry.
She spent the next week buried in the quarantine tents, or helping to vaccinate the long line of people from outside of Absolution. They lost most of the first round of victims, including Ian, who was simply too weak to recover, and Eden cried as they buried him, before she dried her eyes and got back to work.
She barely had time to eat, and sleep was snatched when she hit the end of her endurance. She didn't dream of Johnny—she was simply too exhausted—but he filled every waking moment of her days.
