“Of course it did,” Hatfield said. “I’ve been married long enough to know better than to doubt my wife’s word.”
The two of them shared a brief smile while hugging their kids. Justin and Tami ran toward the fence, but their father stopped them before they started to climb. “No, no!” he whispered, then gestured to the part of the fence he’d climbed over before. That was the part next to the tree they could climb down, making less noise.
Getting over the fence was easy for the kids, a little harder for their dad and a challenge for their mom, although it might have been hilarious under less dangerous circumstances. Once at the top, she reached for the tree but couldn’t quite get there.
Her husband stood beneath her, arms wide. “Just let go!” he whispered. “I got you.”
She let go and landed in his arms, then raced away from the compound, soon catching up with the head start her kids enjoyed.
While running, Hatfield turned to see if they were being followed but saw no one at the compound fence. After turning back, he could see the bunker was now within reach, maybe a football field’s length away. But hearing wheezing from his wife wasn’t a good sign.
She stopped, stood there with her hands on her knees as her kids—unaware of their mom’s struggle—kept scurrying on.
“Hold on, kids!” he shouted to Justin and Tami.
Soon, Jess wasn’t only out of breath. She was coughing, clutching her belly in agony. Panicked, her family scrambled to her side. “You okay?” her husband asked.
Unable to push words past her clogged throat, she shook her head, then dropped to her knees, ready to vomit. Nothing came out. She was coughing now, her voice growing rougher and more strained. More troubling yet, the result of her coughs was a pitch-black gob that resembled the kind Cecil produced in his last days.
Justin asked, “Mom, are you going to be okay?”
After a few more throat-rattling coughs, she composed herself enough to say, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. It’s gonna take more than a cough to keep your mother down.”
But, to her husband, this sounded like the bravado that came from Cecil shortly before his passing.
Jess looked up at everyone, eyes heavy with strain. “What’s wrong, everybody?” she asked. “Never seen a woman fight for her life before?” She laughed, but nobody else did.
Hatfield said, “Kids, you go on ahead of us and knock on the bunker door, and when you do it, knock like this.” He demonstrated with a clap of his hands.
But his kids didn’t budge. “Are you sure?” Tami asked. “We don’t want to leave the two of you alone like that.”
“Yes, we’re sure,” he answered. “Go on. Let your mother catch her breath. That’s an order.”
Justin and Tami nodded, then raced through the tall grass to the bunker. Their parents watched them all the way there. Jess turned. “What did you do that for? Scared they’re going to watch their mother die or something?”
He swallowed hard, finding the words uneasy. “I just felt if the two of us didn’t make it, there was no sense in all four of us… you know, not making it.”
Her face sharpened. “Trevor, I told you, I’m going to be fine!”
“Honey, that’s bile! The same thing Cecil was coughing up.”
She laced her words through more cough. “Are you… forgetting… you… are… talking to a… nurse? I know what bile is.”
“I’m just scared, that’s all.”
She hugged him, then pulled back and studied his face. “Well, that’s a club I joined when you took that run to the bunker last night. Welcome to it.”
He helped her to her feet, and the two of them ran the rest of the way, coughing fit and all.
Holding her hand and leading her through the weeds, he said to her, “Promise me you’re going to hang on long enough to survive me?”
“Sure. As long as you promise the same.”
“It’s a deal.”
By the time they reached the bunker, the door was cracked open, with Hatfield spotting his kids’ faces inside. The five of them—Justin, Tami, Jade and her kids—greeted the couple with hugs. “Tami, give the nice lady that food we smuggled out for her family.”
“This is wonderful!” Jade said. “A true blessing.”
“Well, I wish we could have come with better news,” Hatfield said.
“Well… you’re still alive. That’s about as good as the news gets these days.”
“Alive for now,” Jess said.
“What’s wrong, dear?”
Jess hunched over at the door, hands on her knees as she launched into more coughing.
“That’s what’s wrong,” he said. “I’m sorry to do this, but we’re going to have to take another dip into your medicine if you think you can spare any more.”
“Of course! Let me take a look at what we have.” She went through the cabinet, finding a few bottles and held them close to her face to read the fine print on them.
“Anything… anti-bacterial would… probably… help,” Jess said between coughs.
Hatfield leaned in and studied his wife’s reddened face. “I just don’t understand how she could have acquired anything. The rest of us were undergoing surgery with unsterilized equipment. It makes sense that—”
His wife gasped, her widened eyes aimed at his hand. She grabbed his wrist and held it up. “Honey… I didn’t know… your skin… had darkened… like that.”
“Look, worry about yourself,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
She shook her head. Maybe… but we’ll have to… do something… before that infection spreads. Trevor.. that thing could get to the rest of… your body and—” Jess stopped when she raised her eyes to all four of the kids, probably not wanting to share morbid news.
“I’ve got some sterilized syringes,” Jade said, fishing through her cabinet. “Back here somewhere…”
Hatfield stared at his hand longer before finding his wife giving him sad eyes.
“I didn’t mean to worry you,” she said.
“You didn’t. The world worries me all the time.”
“Here they are!” Jade shouted, holding up a container of syringes, at least fifty of them. “You can take as many as you need.”
“Right now, just a few,” Jess said. “Although, if you don’t mind, we could use a few more back at the compound.”
“Sure, take as many as you need! But let’s get the two of you taken care of here and now.”
Jade injected both of them, and everyone waited. Within a few hours, the medication seemed to work. Jess’s coughing had stopped, and the bile she was unloading slowly shifted colors back to normal. Her husband saw no immediate recovery, but it was understood that it would take longer to notice any difference.
As Jess and the kids busied themselves with board games, Hatfield took the woman into a quiet corner and said, “All of us really appreciate the help you’re giving us. I’ll do what I can to make sure my kids aren’t a burden—”
Jade stopped him by holding up a hand, her eyes suddenly heavy. “Not at all. We always wanted a bigger family and now we have one.”
They shared a gentle smile. “That’s great to hear.” Before stepping out, he walked down the long, dark hallway, then lifted the compartment he’d seen on his previous trip. All the weapons were still there and ready to be used. Without looking up, he said to Jade, “Yes. At some point, I’ll be coming back, and when I do, I’ll need to borrow some things from your husband’s collection of toys.”
As he tested a few of the weapons, he heard a gasp from behind. “Please tell me you’ll be using those in self-defense.”
He turned, watched her face go slack with worry.
“That’s the reason they wound up here, you know. The weapons.”