Sudden Independents (10 page)

S
cout held Catherine’s hand—her firm grip somehow reassured him—and guided her through the door. The window blinds had been lowered a quarter-fraction of their length, allowing sunshine to fall across Vanessa. Scout fought the mental image of his sister’s soul rising in the light. She looked so close to death. Strands of damp hair were plastered to her head and her eyelids fluttered like a moth that had flown too close to the flame.

Luis paced, checked Vanessa’s pulse and listened to her heartbeat, but mostly shook his head and mumbled to himself.

Mark wiped Vanessa’s brow with a damp washcloth and spoke soft words to her; or maybe he was praying. When Vanessa first started seeing Mark, Scout doubted whether the guy would be good to her. Now he was ashamed the thought ever entered his head.

Catherine pulled him toward the baby.

“Wait, I need you to help my sister,” Scout said, tugging her toward the bed.

“Don’t worry. We have time, I promise.” She almost yanked him off his feet.

The baby was absolutely beautiful, with a dark, curly patch of hair. He stopped crying and stared at Scout with eyes big enough to capture his heart. In that moment, Scout knew he would do anything for the little guy.

Ginger handled the baby like a registered nurse in a pediatric ward, folding a blanket around him as he squawked underneath the lamp that kept him warm. The generator outside powering the lamp provided a soothing background hum.

“He’s so tiny,” Catherine said. “Look at his little nose.” She touched his head and the baby smiled at her. Catherine closed her eyes.

Ginger looked up at Scout. “We have a visitor?”

“This is Catherine. Hunter found her.”

Catherine pulled her hand away and smiled at Ginger. “The baby is perfectly healthy. He says he’s happy and you’ve been very helpful. Oh, and he’s getting hungry.”

“How do you know that?” Ginger asked.

Catherine regarded her like she was simple. “He told me, silly.”

Ginger appeared mystified as she held up a bottle. “I was just about to give him some of this baby formula.”

Catherine looked at the baby and nodded. “He says that will be fine for now.”

“What’s wrong with her, Luis?” Mark asked, jerking Scout’s attention back to his sister.

Vanessa’s eyes were closed and her chest barely moved with each shallow breath she took. Scout hadn’t heard a peep from her since he’d arrived.

“She’s still hemorrhaging,” Luis said. “I can’t stop it. I’m not a surgeon.”

“What does that mean?” Mark asked, his voice rising.

“She’s bleeding internally because her uterus hasn’t contracted yet.” Luis nodded at the confusion on Mark’s face. “The area inside her where the baby has been growing is supposed to shrink back to its normal size after delivery. If it doesn’t, she could bleed to death. Back before the plague, a doctor would perform surgery in this situation, but I’m just not equipped or experienced to do that. I’m sorry.”

Luis went to a desk and leafed through one of the big black books from his piece-meal medical library that Hunter and Scout found and put together for him. His finger traced rapidly over the lines he read, but still he shook his head and mumbled, swatting over page after page in frustration.

Scout squeezed Catherine’s hand. She slipped free and walked over next to Vanessa. Mark stared at her in shock before turning angry eyes on Scout.

“Scout, get this little girl out of here! Your sister may be dying!”

Scout flinched from the strike of the harsh comment. He wanted to yell back, but quickly put that reaction in check. “This is Catherine. Trust me. She can help Vanessa.”

Catherine laid her hands on the white sheet that covered Vanessa’s stomach. After a moment, Catherine almost collapsed; she lifted her hands and looked at Scout. “I’m going to need your help,” she told him.

“What can I do?” he asked, stepping up beside her but afraid to gaze down at his sister.

“Put your hands on her,” she told him. “She needs your strength and love. Mark, you can help, too.”

Mark appeared too scared to move. Scout nodded to him before placing his hands on Vanessa’s shoulder. Mark sighed and cradled Vanessa’s hand. Without being asked, Luis joined the group, gently pressing Vanessa’s other shoulder, while Ginger remained with the baby.

Catherine returned her hands to Vanessa’s silent body.

Bright yellow light flooded from the open palms of Catherine’s hands. The light conformed over Vanessa’s body, warping like a vibrant field of energy.

Mark and Luis stared with wide eyes at the little girl. From their contact with Vanessa, yellow light pulsed up their arms. Mark closed his eyes tight, his lips moving. Scout knew he was praying this time.

The light crept up Scout’s arms, too. A startling tingle worked inside him, pulling at his inner essence. The weird sensation continued for another minute and then, as if someone punched the throttle, the pull converted into a forceful wrenching.

There was life in that light. A static connection furrowed through his arms, transferring part of Scout to his sister.

Scout’s knees began to buckle but he bridled his resolve, forcing himself to go all the way. He wished he’d grabbed a chair when he remembered what happened after Catherine’s healing of Hunter had ended.

Vanessa contorted and arched above the bed, then inhaled a deep breath and released it with a mighty exhale. The yellow energy field flowed from her body and the boys’ arms straight through Catherine’s hands and into the little girl’s mouth. Just like with Hunter the night before, the light disappeared down inside of her to who knows where and everything went completely dark, despite the sunlight Scout assumed still streamed through the top of the windows.

Catherine’s eyes snapped opened. The yellow light exploded into the room, immersing everything and everyone before simply fading away.

The baby giggled from his heated corner.

Vanessa sank back with a calm smile traced upon her lips.

Catherine panted, covered in sweat as though she’d just played a mean one-on-one pickup game with the devil. Suddenly, she rolled to the floor like a sheaf of paper, Mark slumped over in his chair and Luis collapsed on top of him. Scout regarded his sister one last time before his eyes glazed over and he crashed to the floor beside Catherine.

•  •  •

Scout awoke and found Jimmy hovering. Scout’s mom used to do the same thing whenever he was sick with the flu. He closed his eyes and groaned. His whole body ached like he’d been dragged behind Hunter’s motorbike over broken asphalt. When he opened his eyes again, Jimmy smiled from above.

“Sleep well?” the tall, town leader asked.

An unusual thickness to Scout’s tongue affected his speech. “Vanessa?”

“She’s fine. She woke up an hour ago. She’s been feeding the baby ever since.” Jimmy averted his eyes and shifted uneasily.

“What’s wrong?” Scout asked. He tried to sit up but realized his body wasn’t ready.

“Nothing. I’m just not used to seeing a baby being breastfed.” His face blazed red.

Scout chuckled until he figured out who and what they were talking about. “Hey, that’s my sister, man.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t see anything.” Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck and changed the subject. “How do you feel?”

Catherine slept on a green cot over by the wall. Hunter sat in a chair next to her. He smirked at Scout and gave him the thumbs up. Scout laid his head back down, fighting a rush of nausea that threatened to pull him under again.

“I feel like hell,” he said. “Where are Mark and Vanessa?”

“They’re in the next room having family time. Mark woke up first. Once Ginger was sure he was okay, she gave him the baby and left. She was pretty shaken by the whole light show. Luis asked us to move the rest of you out here.”

Jimmy sat and gave Catherine’s sleeping form a considering look before returning his gaze to Scout. “Hunter told me about his broken arm. I guess we owe our new little friend a lot. Can you tell me anything else about her?”

“She can heal people. I never believed such a thing was possible. It happened the same way with Hunter, but she needed help healing my sister.”

“What was that like?” Jimmy asked.

Scout closed his eyes and tried to figure out a way to describe the event. “Like part of me was taken to fix my sister.” Scout looked at him again, but Jimmy was staring straight ahead, focused on nothing. “She really can heal people, Jimmy.”

Scout’s words and their implications hung in the air between them. Then Jimmy rubbed the back of his neck again and smiled before patting Scout’s shoulder gently. “Get some more rest. Hunter tells me you were up all night watching over both of them. I appreciate you bringing him back.”

“I know. You owe me big. So where’s Aunt Molly? I haven’t seen her yet.”

Jimmy frowned and Scout wondered what was wrong this time; it was always something with that girl. Vanessa tried making friends with her, but it takes two. Molly just didn’t seem interested. Mark kept saying she’d come around someday.

Jimmy shifted in his seat and picked at the front of his shirt. “She blew up at dinner last night about Ginger making clothes for the baby, and now we can’t find her.”

“That sounds kind of extreme, even for Molly,” Scout said. “Why would she run away?”

Jimmy leaned in close and dropped his voice. “I went looking for her last night to make sure she was okay and let her know the baby was coming. When I found her, she sort of threw herself at me.”

Scout smiled; if ever somebody needed a girlfriend to squeeze, Jimmy’s name was at the top of the list. “Did you hit that, man? You lucky—”

“No,” Jimmy hissed. “That’s the problem. I told her no.”

Scout dropped his grin in disappointment. “Dude, seriously?”

“I am being serious.” Jimmy’s face turned a nice shade of red again. It looked really funny this time now that they weren’t talking about Vanessa. “I like someone else. When I told her, she ran off and now we can’t find her anywhere.”

Scout folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. “Well, you can count me out. I’ve already done my search and rescue for the week. It’s Hunter’s turn.”

M
olly couldn’t believe all the unfair, horrible crap happening in her life. First Vanessa, then Mark, and now Jimmy’s rejection of her; nothing could hurt as bad as that. He said he liked someone else. But who could he possibly like?