Page 48 of Savagely Yours
I nodded. “Yes. Name’s Dez.”
“And I’m right?”
“I won’t say anything until I’ve told her everything.”
Ana smoothed the sheets and kissed in the area of the top of Larke’s head. “I understand. But please, if you can, don’t let them send her back here, Dez.”
They wouldn’t have to send her. Knowing Larke, she would try to come back on her own. There was no way she would be okay with living a privileged life in Woodhaven while the people in Sanitation suffered. There was also little chance that when I asked her to marry me, she would say yes.
Ana slipped the mask over my face.
Then, I left through the front door.
When I reached the guards, they eyed the bundle in my arms, and I silently dared them to question me about it. “I’m removing you from your posts,” I announced. “Go straight to the infirmary for quarantine. I’ll also be taking these sheets for testing. A couple of my guys fell ill today, and we can’t afford to lose any more.”
One of them went pale.
“Go now,” I reiterated.
They hurried off.
I retraced my steps through the complex until I arrived at Woodhaven, took the freight elevator up to my floor, walked Larke into my unit, and placed her on the bed in my bedroom.
“Babe, I’ll be right back, okay?” I said.
Still, she didn’t stir.
I sprinted down to the attached Woodhaven healthcare facility and approached the reception desk. Before I could make a request, a man with a balding head wearing a white coat stepped into the reception area, reading something on a clipboard.
“Dr. Lin,” I called.
“Hmm?” He looked up. “Oh, hello, Dez. Good to see you. Is everything all right?”
I didn’t respond.
He searched my face. “Let me get my things.”
Bag in tow, he followed me to my unit. I walked him to the bedroom, and when he spotted Larke, frail and motionless, inthe middle of the large bed, he set down his things and took a seat on the mattress.
“When I came to you earlier, you said you would help her,” I said. “That it didn’t matter who she was.”
I’d had only ten minutes between duties to make the request. It took less than one for him to accept. All I’d had to do was tell him that there was someone in need of medical attention.
“I took an oath, Dez,” he reminded me.
“She’s from Sanitation.”
I waited for a reaction.
“What are her symptoms, and how long has she been sick?”
“Fever and sore throat for a few days,” I explained. “The puffiness around her eyes and the swollen hands? Those are new. I saw her earlier, and she didn’t have either. Then, the doctor in Sanitation said she has a slower than normal heartbeat. And she’s got this weird rash on her neck and chest. Let me show you.”
I moved Larke’s shirt aside.
Months ago, it probably would have fit perfectly.
“See what I mean?”
