*A man desperate to find his biological mother discovers she belonged to a secret society of people infected with a bizarre virus whose disastrous side effects she struggles to overcome.*
In the year 2043, Beau Johan's only hope of surviving a termi...
Sabian and Ricardo sat on opposite sides of Anna's bed. Sabian's stitched hand lay in his lap, wrapped in a strip of gauze. He watched Anna and the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.
Her feet twitched. Then her arms, her hands, and her whole body convulsed.
Sabian leapt up from the chair and put his good hand on her forehead. "Ice! Fill the tub." Despite his aching hand, he scooped Anna into his arms and carried her into the adjoining bathroom. He placed her in the tub as she convulsed, her arms and legs flailing.
Ricardo's frantic rush into the kitchen alerted Toby who helped him chip ice from the freezer and gather what frozen bags of food they could find. They dumped the items into the tub.
Toby stared with wide eyes, watching helplessly, as Ricardo moved the frozen items around the water with his hands, distributing the temperature evenly, and Sabian cupped handfuls of water over Anna's head.
She woke, sputtering, her eyes rolling back into her skull. After about a minute—it seemed longer than that to Toby—she stopped shaking and shivered in the tub, her head lolling from side to side sleepily.
Sabian held her face in his hands. "Anna."
She looked at him, but didn't speak. Her heavy-lidded eyes closed.
"The infection is setting in," Ricardo said.
"She'll need dry clothes."
Toby found Wes who gave him Anna's bag. Ricardo grabbed it out of Toby's hands and slammed the door in his face.
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He didn't think he'd be able to sleep at all, but exhaustion overtook him. He woke several times throughout the night, though. Once he crept into the bedroom he'd arranged for Beau and found the boy curled peacefully asleep on the bed, his tiny hands tucked under his head. Later, he woke to the sound of the wind howling and voices outside the house.
Beau poked Toby awake the next morning. "I'm hungry." He frowned.
Toby sat up and patted the couch next to him. Beau climbed up and scooted next to him. "I need to check on my friend for a minute. You can talk to your dad while I do that."
Beau nodded. Toby dialed and handed him the phone and then slipped away. The door to the bedroom was open. Sabian, his hair wet, sat in the same chair beside the bed. He wore a clean shirt and pants.
"How is she?" Toby approached the bedside and took Anna's hand. She slept, unmoving despite his touch.
"Her fever is down."
"That's a good sign." He waited for Sabian to agree.
Anna, too, wore clean clothes. The bed linens were also fresh. Someone had scrubbed the room clean of any blood.
