The Runaway

Chapter 10

"Soak your hands." She instructed. "It'll help with the pain." A reluctant Valerie placed her trembling hands tentatively into the bowl with the fear of the pain becoming much worse. Instead the milk cooled her hands, making some of the pain ebb away. She sighed with relief, resting her head on her arm. "Thank you."

The woman attended to Robyn's ankle, declaring that she had simply landed on it wrong and that it would be fixed by tomorrow. She did her rounds on her three patients, dabbing antiseptic wipes on the majority of scrapes and applying creams and bandages to other injuries. Once she had finished, she stepped back to admire her handiwork, hands on her hips and a look of pure satisfaction on her face.

 "Billy, maybe I should give up my day-job and become a nurse." She said, scratching the Persian behind the ear. He mewled contently and leapt away to sit on Valerie's lap, sinking it's claws into her legs. She yelped but the woman took no notice. She was looking a lot happier now that the threats in her lounge room were immobilised and grateful. Her temperament had improved tenfold. 

"I'll get to work setting up the beds then, girls. Don't move too much. You, girl - don't take your hands out of that bowl just yet."

 She came back in, dragging two mats with her. She threw down a set of sheets and blankets onto the sofa by Mabel's feet and made the beds for them while humming. "The youngest can stay on the couch." Once finished she dusted her hands and ran them through her white hair, making it stick up.

"Okay. Now the final thing - you're going to need some cream and bandages for those hands of yours."

She made Robyn hobble over to the spare seat and sat in her spot, gently attending to Valerie's hands which had improved significantly - nearly all the swelling was gone.

The woman dried her trembling hands with a towel and Valerie made noises of pain.

"You three are spineless- hold still!"

"I-I can't. It just happens sometimes when I'm stressed or scared or overwhelmed." Valerie said quietly. The woman made no reply.

She placed burn cream all over her shaking hands and then wrapped them with  bandages. "See, no need to be such a wuss."

The woman tried for some small talk but none had the strength or the motivation to sustain a proper conversation - Robyn ended up being the only one that answered and even then it was monosyllabic.

"I'm going to pop off to sleep now. Keep the noise down - you lot are too chatty." She whistled for Billy and he perked up, jumping off the kitchen table where he had been drinking the left over milk.

"Oh, nearly forget- bathroom's down the hall. Don't wake me up before five. Goodnight."

"Night."

She flipped the lights off, leaving them in total darkness save for the light filtering in through the dirty window.

Valerie managed to stumble to her mattress on the floor, not knowing what to do with her hands. She kicked off her socks and laid there.

Robyn finally spoke. "What do you think happened to all the others?" She whispered.

Valerie shrugged in the dark. "Arrested, killed, escaped, wounded. Who knows. Let's just hope that Rosetta and Tanner are safe."

Mabel stifled a moan, pressing her face into her pillow.

"Listen, Val- about what happened to Cole-" Robyn began.

Valerie grit her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut. "I don't want to talk about it."

Robyn stayed quiet for a few minutes.

"We're some of the few lucky ones, you know. This is what lucky looks like."