Page 99 of Casualties of War
They all knew, then, she had spent the afternoon with Adán. They knew and had judged Adán in this new light.
They had judged him and found him wanting.
* * * * *
“Carmen, getin here!” Garrett yelled.
Carmen bolted upright, her shoulder protesting at the jolting. She slithered off the makeshift pallet and shoved her feet into her boots. She clomped through to the kitchen, the boots shifting around on her bare feet, the laces slapping the floor, and halted just inside the door.
Daniel was sitting with his back against the corner, his ass on the floor, his knees upand the phone to his ear. His eyes were sparkling in a way that made Carmen think he was on the verge of crying.
Yet he had lifted his chin to look at Garrett, who stood at the chipped concrete sink, his hands held under running water, while he scrubbed furiously at his skin with a piece of steel wool.
“I must get back to you,mi amor,” Daniel said softly. “Something’s up…Yes, as soon as I can.”
He put the phone in his shirt pocket and dug his thumb into his eyes.
“What’s going on?” Carmen asked, her heart thumping.
Garrett glanced at her. “Don’t go into the front room. Daniel, close the door. Carmen, get my clothes off me. We’ll have to burn them.”
Daniel pushed himself off the floor and moved over to shut the door into the front room. He put his back to it.
Carmen skirted aroundhim and tugged at the back of Garrett’s shirt collar. He slid his arms out. “Everything.”
“Here?” she asked softly, for Garrett was acutely self-conscious about anyone seeing his scars.
“Here,” he affirmed. “I didn’t touch him with anything but my hands and I wore gloves, only that doesn’t halt the shit. It settles. If I scrub my skin, every inch…. Daniel, your contact at the medical center.You must talk to him about potassium.”
“Potassium?” Daniel said sharply.
As Garrett muttered, he helped Carmen strip him of everything. “Handle them as little as possible,” he added.
Carmen dropped everything into a pile, as he kicked off his boots.
“Socks, too,” he said, still scrubbing hard at his hands. His fingers were red.
She bent to peel his socks from his feet. “What’s on them? Bubonicplague?”
“Radiation,” he said.
Carman reared away from the pile of clothes, horror bursting through her.
Daniel sucked in a deep breath. “The guy out there? I thought he had the flu….” He pushed away from the door, coming closer.
Garrett shook his head. “Carmen, sweep everything onto the end of a stick then carry it up onto the roof and burn it. Use powder from a bullet to get it going, it’llmake the fire hotter and everything will burn to ash.” He bent and took off his socks and dropped them on the pile. Completely naked, he straightened and thrust his hands back under the water.
Carmen swallowed and picked up the twig broom from the corner and flipped it over. She shoved the end under the pile of clothes and lifted.
Daniel took the broom from her. “I’ll see to it,” he said. “HelpGarrett. Wash him from top to bottom. Use the degreasing powder in the tin under the sink.”
Carmen nodded, her heart fluttering. She went back to the sink and bent to grab the ancient tin of degreaser and pried it open. The gray mud in the tin was an industrial strength exfoliant, gritty and rough. She remembered her father using it to wash motor oil and grease from his hands after working onhis beloved Harley.
She scooped a big handful from the tin and swiped it under the water to moisten and soften it, then turned to slather it all over Garrett’s chest.
He shivered, despite the heat of the day.
“Tell me about the patient,” she said, keeping her voice quiet and steady.
