The Abandoned Trilogy (Book 1): Twice Dead (Contagion) (20 page)

I hadn’t thought of it that way, “She irritates the hell out of me,” I muttered.

              “It can’t be that easy for her,” Mitch sat on the bench beside me, “She’s not as pretty as Jasmine, she’s not got any kind of talent like Stevie, she has some intelligence, not just instinct like Cassidy, all she can do is try to make people like her, which she was very good at, other than with you.”

              “She’s in the dog house with everyone,” I said.

              “Pretty much,” Mitch said, “Other than Cassidy who isn’t one to hold a grudge.”

              “I wouldn’t have thought Jasmine had it in her to hold a grudge,” I commented.

              “People can surprise you,”

              That I had to agree with him about that.

Paul was drinking some soup. Taking small sips. Adag was massaging his free hand with an ibuprofen gel. His fingers were swollen. The soup smelt good. Garlic and apple again. I had a feeling that we would be eating a lot of wild garlic from now on.

              I heard a whirr of tires on gravel and turned my head. Seb was heading toward me.

              “Thank God you are up and about,” he said, “I was getting a crick in my neck watching over you.”

              I laughed as he pulled up beside me, and then I said, “We need to talk later on, in Adag’s place.”

              He nodded his head.

Seb then went back inside with Mitch to get some lunch, taking my empty tea mug with them. Adag was talking to Paul, out of the corner of my eye, I watched them, she made him laugh, he was getting weaker and weaker, and without the treatment, he had been having to help make him comfortable he was going to be in a lot more pain before the end came.

Adag had never allowed herself to be emotionally attached to any of the residents, not in the days when things were ‘normal’.” She did her job and she did it well.

However, she had without realizing I suspected formed a strong attachment to Paul, she would put it down to being caring, but I knew it was something more than that. They didn’t say much to each other, but he was comfortable in her presence, just as if he was with Stevie.

He didn’t drink much soup and soon asked if he could be taken inside. Adag wheeled him back into the building.

“Mitch told me to bring you this,” Eden’s voice made me jump. She was holding a mug. I smelt apple and garlic. Eden wouldn’t look at me as she handed over the mug of soup. She shuffled her feet, not wanting to be where she was. She had a field dressing on her head, clean white and firmly held in place by surgical adhesive.

I contemplated ignoring her and letting her walk off, but Mitch’s recent words had struck a chord with me.

“Sit down Eden,” I said abruptly and she looked uncertain. I patted the bench that Mitch had been sitting on. She sat down gingerly, placing her hands in her lap and then lowering her head so she was looking at her shoes.

“How’s your head?” I asked her and her hand instinctively went to her forehead, touching the thick gauze and tracing it with her fingers.

“It still hurts,” she said.

“My throat hurts too,” I said, “My stomach too,” I was staring ahead, to the trees and the abundant wildlife that surrounded us.

Eden was pulling on her fingers; I could see it out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head and said, “Why are you so horrible to Cassidy?”

She stiffened, waiting for me to get angry with her, but I just looked at her and finally she raised her head and we were facing each other.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled.

“I think you do,” I said, “You’re not stupid Eden, I thought you were, but you’re not, you’re quite smart really.”

She looked surprised, “You’re a bit like me I think,” I gave a faint smile, “People don’t realise I have got a brain too, they think I am stupid.”

“I don’t think you’re stupid,” she said and she picked at her nails.

“Cassidy isn’t smart like you, he can’t help that, he can’t help being hungry all the time, it’s not his fault.”

“I know,” she said, and then she added, “He said sorry to me, for hitting my head.”

That surprised me, “He’s been nice to me,” she added and she swallowed hard.

“The only person who is being nice to you,” I said gently.

She nodded her head, tears leaked at the corner of her eyes, but for once, she didn’t burst into her usual crocodile tears.

“Stevie won’t talk to me; he says I-I made you ill,” there was a bubble in her voice, but she managed not to cry in her usual hysterical way.

“You didn’t make me ill,” I said and her eyes met mine, and I saw she didn’t believe me. I reached out and took her hand, surprised at my action, “Eden I am in this home because I am disabled too, or had you forgotten that?”

She blinked, “Part of my disability is something that…” I tried to think how to explain it to her so she understood, “Is that sometimes fluid builds up inside of me and it has to be drained out of my spine, it makes me really ill, do you understand.”

“I-I think so,” she said after a moment’s silence.

Her hand was limp in mine, “And taking people’s things is wrong, very wrong.”

She hung her head, “I know,” she said.

“Try and not do it anymore, ok?” I said.

She nodded her head, “And I will try and be more understanding, ok?”

She rubbed her eyes and sniffed, “OK,” she said.

“Have you made up with Jasmine yet?” I asked her. I felt her stiffen, her hand went taut and she said nothing.

“No then,” I said, I started to move my hand away, but her fingers gripped mine.

“I told her she was being bad,” Eden said.

“Bad?” I echoed. Now I wasn’t expecting that. I thought she was mad at Eden for the same reason Stevie was.

“She took her knickers off,” Eden said.

“What?” Confused I looked at Eden and her face reddened.

“She took her knickers off for that soldier.”

I wasn’t sure if I had heard right, “What do you mean?”

Eden squirmed, she licked her lips, “That soldier who was at the picnic,” she touched her head at the memory, “I told her she shouldn’t, she-she shouted at me.”

“When did this happen?” I asked faintly.

“The day after you got sick,” Eden said in a miserable voice, “She takes her knickers off for him all the time now.”

“Oh my God,” I said in a faint voice.

“I said she shouldn’t do that,” Eden squirmed unhappily, “He’s not her boyfriend, is he?”

“No,” I said when I could find my voice, “He isn’t.”

“I-I didn’t tell anyone,” Eden’s loyalty toward her friend surprised me, even though they weren’t talking, she was trying to protect her, “She’s my friend, you won’t tell will you…”

Christ! What was I going to do?

“You were right to tell her it was wrong Eden,” I said and I squeezed her hand, “And I am sorry I was so nasty to you, shall we try and get on from now on?”

Her face lit up. She nodded her head.

“You can tell Stevie that you and I have talked and we are ok,” I said to her “And if you really want something, then ask for it, you might not get it, but you just might, OK?”

She nodded her head vigorously and stood up. I watched her skip away, and I exhaled deeply.

How the hell was I going to deal with Jasmine and her yo-yo knickers? Oh FFS!

I saw Jasmine and Corporal Peters return from the summerhouse. She was in front of him; she was laughing, singing and twirling around. Corporal Peters followed her, it looked so bloody innocent. I looked at the two of them more closely, squinting as I did. Jasmine’s face had a pink hue to as did Corporal Peters and I noticed his uniform wasn’t as neat as it had been when he had been wandering around the garden with Jasmine. Moreover, wasn’t her top now on inside out? I could see the shop label clearly; it hadn’t been like that when she had left the building.

If I went to Wolf what would he do? Jesus, I couldn’t bring myself to go to Wolf and tell him that one of his men was…I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I tried to make of what I had just been told. Who was I to be angry at? Corporal Peters? Jasmine? I found I wasn’t angry with either of them. Jasmine oozed sexuality if I thought about it properly. She was flirty, pretty and available. There was no one to keep an eye on her properly now that things had changed in the world.

              Relationships weren’t frowned upon in the home, but they were carefully managed, especially for those residents who could be taken advantage of. Like Jasmine. Had Corporal Peters taken advantage of Jasmine? Instinct told me it wasn’t the case, but he should have known better, no matter how alluring she was.

              I mulled over my concerns about Jasmine over along with a million other thoughts that included the Twice Dead, potential survivors in the café in town, a possible way of keeping the Twice Dead at bay and how it could be proven.

              Phoenix. I needed to speak to Phoenix. He had his computer and I knew he had hacked into COBRA again.

              I saw Cassidy and Stevie walking toward me, they had been doing their weight lifting outside and some of the soldiers had joined them, Stevie told me as he carefully took the brakes off my wheelchair.

              I asked Cassidy to carry my soup mug in for me which he happily did.

              “We’re making supper,” Stevie said as he pushed me into the dining room.

              “What are we having?”

              “Oven Chips and scrambled eggs,” Cassidy said happily licking his lips.

As we entered the dining room I saw Captain Lacks-Renton, she was coming out of the office, her eyes rested on me briefly and I made a decision based on instinct.

              “Captain, can I speak to you?” She stopped and moved toward me, I turned to Cassidy and Stevie, “Can you push me over to that corner? I need to speak to the Captain, why don’t you go and check what you need to cook supper and see if there is any ice-cream in the freezer in the cellar.”

              The two young men trotted off and Captain Lacks-Renton, stony faced joined me in the corner of the dining room.

              “Yes?” she said curtly.

              “I need your advice,” I said exhaling, “I know you don’t like me, well I don’t like you very much either so we have that much in common if nothing else.”

              Captain Lacks-Renton’s lips parted to make brusque comment, but then it registered with her exactly what I just said and those same lips twitched ever so slightly though her eyes remained cold and unfriendly.

              “What do you want advice on?”

              “Sex,” I said.

              Her mouth dropped open and her expression turned from hostility to one of total and utter shock.

              “Pardon?” she said in a strangled voice.

              “Sit down Captain,” I said, she did, and I told her what Eden had told me, about Corporal Peters and Jasmine. She listened silently, and when I had finished she was silent for a moment.

              “That’s a hell of accusation to make,” she said, her shock had turned into defense of one of her men.

I sighed, “Captain, it’s not an accusation, Jasmine is of age, she has a right to a sex life as much as anyone has, just because she has a disability doesn’t mean she doesn’t have physical needs, and I don’t think Corporal Peters has raped her.” Realization set in when I saw her facial expression chance, “Oh God, you thought I meant that didn’t you?”

              She had the decency not to deny it, I shook my head, “Captain, Corporal Peters is a nice young man…for a soldier, and Jasmine is a pretty girl like any girl in this place wants a boyfriend, she’s a little girl in a woman’s body, she likes him and on one level that is really nice, and on another level, it’s totally wrong, because now is not the time for her to be having unprotected sex with a man who isn’t going to be around to help her with the potential consequences in nine months’ time.”

              “Shit,” Captain Lacks-Renton’s face was a picture. She hadn’t thought of that.

              “It’s not for me or anyone to curb Jasmine’s sex life,’ I sighed, “But this is not the time and place, we won’t be seeing any of you again in my lifetime, do you understand what I am saying?”

              She did. “I will speak to Corporal Peters,” Captain Lacks-Renton promised me.

              “Thank you, Captain.”

              “I should tell the Colonel.”

              “You have to do what you think is right,” I said, “But I suspect he might hit the ceiling if he finds out.”

              “What makes you think I won’t?” Captain Lacks-Renton challenged me.

I smiled, “Because you took the time to listen to me when you could have totally shot me down, and you didn’t accuse me of lying once you realised it wasn’t an allegation of rape, plus you are Peter’s commanding officer too and your foot up his arse will be only one size smaller than the Colonel’s, like I said, he’s a nice guy for a soldier.”