The Bleeding Crowd (23 page)

“You don’t like it here?”

“It’s a lovely camp,” she said, “but it’s
been three days, and the longer we’re here, the longer I will have
to live in a forest, and, just in case you haven’t realized, I’m
not a big fan of the whole sleeping outside thing.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Jack rose. “Follow
me.”

“Where?”

“Nowhere far.” He grinned. “The guys just
cleared out some of the storage tent, so if you wanted to be under
cover, maybe away from the guys...”

“What?”

“Well, I haven’t been around women for a
while, but I figured you’re probably used to things a little nicer
than we have here, so I thought you might like it.”

He pulled the tent flap open to reveal a
little room carved out in the middle of the rest of the supplies.
The light from the fire was just bright enough to shine through the
tent’s red walls leaving the light muted and shadowy inside.

She stepped inside. “You did this all for
me?”

“We had the space.” He shrugged. “You fixed
up Benny’s ankle. It was the least we could do.”

“Thank you.” She smiled, turning around to
take in all of it . “You really didn’t have to.”

“I wanted to,” he responded. “Is there
anything else you need? There a sleeping bag there, and we set out
some water if you want to wash up...”

“Five star accommodations,” she said.

“You like it then?”

“I love it.”

“Good.” Jack brushed his hands off on his
pants, looked around a final time, and then nodded. “Why don’t you
get some sleep then. We’ll probably take off sometime tomorrow if
you’re feeling up to it.”

She nodded. “Thank you, Jack. You have no
idea how much it means to me that you did this.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he said. “It really
wasn’t any trouble. Sleep well.”

“You too.” She smiled and moved to the
sleeping bag.

* * * *

With addition of the new men and packs, the
going was even slower than before, a phenomenon which worried
Heather and annoyed Des and Ben, but Dahlia was more than happy
with the slower pace. Her body adapted to it much better than it
had to the forced power walks.

Ben moved forward to scout what was ahead of
them, before dropping back into the group.

Dahlia sighed as he fell into step beside
her. “Please, Ben. I’m too tired to deal with any sort of banter
today.”

“Didn’t sleep well in your tent?”

“Ben...” She sent him a weary look. “I’m
serious.”

“I’m just saying you must love all the
special treatment.”

“Yes, yes, I do.” Dahlia looked away from
him. “It’s nice that someone is willing to acknowledge that this is
hard for me.”

“Oh, and it’s all rainbows and butterflies
for the rest of us.”

“Ben, please. Go find someone else to vent
at. I can’t take it right now.”

“You realize all of it is because he wants to
sleep with you.”

Dahlia sighed, tired of his complaints.
“What?”

“Jack,” Ben said. “He’s trying to warm
you.”

Dahlia hummed. “The rest of the men too?”

“A good portion I’d say. The rest just don’t
know how to deal with women in general. I think they’re operating
purely out of fear.”

“Or maybe some people are able to maintain
some sense of courteousness and compassion for their friends while
also feeling overreaching concern for the rest of the human race,”
she said, letting her eyes slid over to him. “Just a thought.”

Ben scoffed. “He isn’t your friend.”

Dahlia didn’t bother to argue.

“Seriously,” he said.

“Seriously, Ben, leave me alone.”

He looked at her for a moment before slipping
to the front of the group again.

* * * *

Jack poked his head into the tent. “Am I
interrupting?”

Dahlia looked up from taking her own blood
pressure. “Oh, I was just taking some vital signs. I felt a little
dizzy today. Didn’t even get up the energy to knock Ben down a peg
or two.”

“He’s a little...” Jack appeared to be
searching for the proper word. “Off, isn’t he?”

“Jackass-ish is what I’d say.” Dahlia
smiled.

Jack nodded. “You aren’t feeling well?”

“Just dizzy and tired. I was wondering if my
blood pressure was too low.”

“Are you all right?”

“I’ll be fine,” Dahlia reassured him. “Based
on the symptoms, I would guess I’m a little anemic.”

“Anemic?”

“The iron level in my blood is low. It makes
you tired...” She pulled her pants legs up. “You bruise
easily.”

“Those are intense.” Jack looked at her
shins. “What’d you hit?”

“I think I’m just thrashing in my sleep.” She
shrugged.

“And you got those?”

She shrugged again.

“Do you need anything?”

“Just some water.” Dahlia shook her head.
“I’m going to take an iron pill and then try to fall asleep.
Hopefully, that’ll take care of it.”

“Are you sure it’s anem...”

“Anemia,” she repeated. “I can’t know. I’d
have to take a blood test, which would be pretty hard in the middle
of the forest.”

Jack nodded. “Let me know if you need
anything.”

“Just water,” she said again. “Please let
Heather know I’m not feeling well. She should know what anemia
is.”

“Can do.”

* * * *

By the next morning, Dahlia was feverish.
Heather opened the tent flap, frowning at the pallor of her skin
other than the bright red cheeks. Heather knelt, laying a hand on
her forehead. She turned to the flap.

“Someone get some water.”

Jude was the first of the group to arrive.
“Is everything okay?”

“She’s got a fever.” Heather grabbed Dahlia’s
bag and pulled out a thermometer. It beeped as it came to life. “A
bad one from the feel of it.”

Heather placed the thermometer in Dahlia’s
ear and waited for it to beep again. She pulled it out, looked at
the reading, and hissed. “We need to bring it down before her brain
bakes itself.”

“How?” Jude looked at Dahlia’s pale face.

“Ice, ideally. Water if nothing else.”

“Bad?” Abel stuck his head in the tent.

“Yeah.” Heather nodded. “Is someone getting
water?”

“I’ll go.” Abel looked at Dahlia for a long
moment before heading back out.

“What’s wrong?” Ben pushed his way through
the group at the flap.

“I don’t know.” Heather shook her head,
pulling all the blankets off Dahlia. “Take the tent down. We don’t
want any heat trapped anywhere near her.”

“You don’t know what’s wrong?” He stepped
forward to let the others pull the tent down.

“I had two years of basic medical training,”
Heather snapped. “I’m hardly qualified as a diagnostician. All I
can tell you is that a fever means there’s an infection. Viral,
bacterial, fungal, there are several possibilities. All I can tell
you is that there’s something in there that her body’s trying damn
hard to fight off.”

“She wasn’t sick yesterday.” Ben’s eyebrows
creased.

“It wasn’t...” Heather shook her head.
“Sudden fever. It’s got to mean something, I just don’t know
what.”

“Then, what can we do?”

“Nothing,” she said. “We can try to bring the
fever down, but if it’s a virus, there’s nothing anyone can do. If
it’s bacterial, well, she’s the one who could give us a dosage
she’d need, or even what do use. I don’t know what half the things
she has in that bag are.”

“Here.” Able set a bucket down.

Heather took a shirt lying nearby and dunked
it into the water, wiping down Dahlia’s forehead.

“Is she going to be all right?” Abel hovered
nearby.

“She’s young,” Heather said less than
decisively. “I don’t know what she has, but she’s healthy. She
should be able to...”

“We really can’t do anything?” Ben
whispered.

“She’s the doctor.” Heather wrung the shirt
out and dunked it again. “I’m not.”

No one spoke.

Jack moved around the other men. “Why is she
unconscious?”

“Because she’s sick,” Ben spat.

“I got that,” Jack said.

Ben tensed, but didn’t respond. “She had an
entire book of herbs. I can’t remember any of it.”

“You didn’t know you’d need it,” Jude said,
kneeling next to Dahlia.

“I...” Ben released a breath. “Can we move
her?”

“What?” Heather frowned.

Ben had already turned. “How far are we from
town?”

“Five miles, maybe,” one of the men said.

“Five miles which way?”

“Ben, what are you thinking?” Heather looked
at him.

“She needs a hospital,” he said.

“We can’t just stroll into town and drop her
off.” Jack looked at him, incredulous.

“I’ll figure something out.”

“Ben.” Heather turned to face him. “It’s very
noble what you’re trying to do, but getting both of you killed
won’t help anything.”

Ben hesitated.

Dahlia’s eyes fluttered, but she didn’t seem
able to open them.

“Give her to me,” he said.

“Ben...” Jude reached for his arm.

“Which way is town?” Ben bundled Dahlia in
his arms.

* * * *

Ben shifted her weight, watching from the
last line of trees at the edge of town. Women moved through the
street, completely unaware of his presence. He had to find an area
just quiet enough to let him drop her without being seen, but not
so desolate that she wouldn’t be found for hours, maybe even
days.

Another group of women passed, leaving no one
in sight behind them. He slipped out of the trees just a little too
far to be safe, and left her by the side of the road. He shifted
her so she looked comfortable, then slid back into the trees to
wait.

It didn’t take long for a woman to pass by.
She stopped at Dahlia, knelt, stood, and ran toward the hospital.
He watched to see what happened. There was only one woman who even
so much as glanced at the forest. The rest of them didn’t seem to
entertain the idea that the unconscious woman would have had to
come from somewhere. They got a stretcher and moved her off.

Ben waited another moment, and then moved
away, heading back to camp. They’d have to move out if anyone
wondered where she came from.

Chapter Thirteen

Dahlia blinked. The familiar beeping sound
and smell of antiseptic made her head spin. She tried to open her
eyes, but even just looking around was painful. Her body felt tired
and sore. She took a breath and forced her eyes open. It was a
hospital, but not her hospital. Her hand found the call button
without needing to look for it.

A woman in light blue appeared within a
minute or so. “You’re awake.”

“I seem to be,” Dahlia said. “Where am
I?”

“Palmerston General,” the woman answered.
“I’m going to get your attending.”

She watched the woman turn before forcing
herself up. The room wavered a bit, but she stayed upright. She
pulled the chart off the end of the bed:

Jane Doe

DOB: Between 18-25

Patient presents with a fever of forty-one degrees,
fever related unconsciousness, and various bruising on the
extremities. No other signs of illness.

Physical Examination

Height: 174cm

Weight: 59kg

Dahlia paused, she had lost weight, a lot of
weight, just in the last couple days. She had no way of telling if
that was a symptom or just all the walking.

Pulse: 87

Blood Pressure: 130/60

HEENT: Pupils are equal and reactive to light.
Funduscopic exam shows the disc to be flat and without hemorrhages
or exudates. Pharnscisclear Tympanic membranes are normal

Neck: Moderate Adenopathy. No thyromegaly or
bruits

“Hello.”

Dahlia jumped and winced as her body reacted
to the jarring.

The doctor looked at her. “I’m Stephanie,
your doctor. Would you mind handing over your chart?”

“Sorry.” She held it out, her arm shaking
some. “I wondered what got me here.”

“Well, it’s hard to understand these if you
aren’t a doctor.” Stephanie smiled.

“What?” The blue shirt on the chair across
from her bed caught Dahlia’s eye. “Oh, sorry. My head’s a little
cloudy.”

Stephanie nodded. “You had a pretty bad
infection. Lucky someone found you. If we hadn’t gotten you on
broad-spectrum antibiotics—”

“No complications?” She interjected.

“You seem to be responding very well.” The
doctor hesitated a moment. “Can we get your name? You were found
without identification.”

‘My...” Dahlia led off. “I...I don’t
remember. I was flying to New Zealand and left the airport...that’s
all I remember.”

“No recollection of your name at all?”

Dahlia pretended to consider it. “B...B
something, I think. I’m sorry.”

Stephanie wrote something into the chart.
“Well, we’re going to keep you here for observation a couple days.
Your fever was very high. Your amnesia symptoms might be a sign of
other brain damage.”

“Brain damage,” Dahlia repeated.

“It’s highly unlikely, but every so often a
high fever can cause lingering problems.”

“But...” She began to dispute that. While
high, the fever hadn’t gone as high as that. Dahlia managed to stop
herself.

“It’s unlikely.” Stephanie obviously took her
cut off sentence as fear. “We just want to make sure.”

Dahlia nodded, taking a deep breath to
relax.

Stephanie went to the equipment near the bed.
“You pulled out your IV.”

“Did I?” Dahlia looked at her arm.

Stephanie nodded. “I’ll have a nurse come in
to take care of that.”

Dahlia waited for the doctor to leave and
then checked the almost empty IV bag. It was nothing important.
They must have finished the antibiotics already. She lay back.

Someone had brought her to town. She was in
New Zealand, so the entire week hadn’t been a fever induced
hallucination. Unless she had sleepwalked to an airport while sick
and somehow gotten a blue shirt. She paused. No, it was far too
coherent a series of events to be all a hallucination.