Surviving Sarin

Chapter 15

It's been a week since Valentina and Kate were captured. Besides the continuing red eyes, Kyle has been stable, but Tim monitors him closely, much to Kyle's dismay. Tim was serious about us not splitting up. We go everywhere together, even if it's only a few feet out of sight from our base. He even assigned everyone a bathroom buddy. Taking on these extra precautions has made him more sleep-deprived than normal, leaving him constantly on edge and easily irritated.

Right now, though, he sits with Kate, the most chill I've seen him in a while. The two of them lean against a tree, whispering and giggling. As much as seeing Kate and Tim entwined sickens me, the guy could use a break before the stress destroys him.

I enter the shelter. David's inside, lying on the ground not far from Valentina, whose condition hasn't improved. His eyes clamp shut, and he's listless or depressed, or both. Or maybe he's just pretending he doesn't hear me.

"Hey," Valentina says, her eyes still closed.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's fine. I wasn't really asleep. I thought maybe if I lay still long enough, I'd eventually fall asleep, and the pain would go away for a little while. Or maybe I'd wake up, and I'd be home again."

"It's still flaring up? We have a few pain pills left."

"That's okay. It's not that bad."

I sit next to her, leaning back against the column. "I was talking to Tim. We agreed if the pain was still bothering you, we should, uh..."

Her big eyes glance at me. "We should what?"

"If the infection gets worse and the pain doesn't go away, we may need to amputate."

"Amputate my foot?" Her eyes and mouth go wide. "I don't have an infection!"

I bite my lower lip and jut my chin towards David.

Valentina looks over and smiles. "Yes, that's probably best." She lets out a long, exaggerated sigh. "But then I won't be able to walk at all, and I'm too heavy to be carried all the time."

"We could replace your foot with one of David's. He's little enough that we can carry him around."

Valentina softly snorts. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind. And if he does, we could always just cut off his foot while he's asleep."

David tucks his knees tight against his chest.

"Well...he's asleep right now. So maybe it's best to just get it over with." I get up and walk to where David is lying. As soon as I reach him, he springs up.

"Are you crazy?" he yells.

Valentina and I laugh. The musical tone to her voice fills the shelter with happiness for the first time since she was captured. "Serves you right," she tells David. "You know better than to eavesdrop."

"You guys are mean." David scowls, but his twinkling eyes give him away.

"Sorry, buddy," I tell him. "I couldn't resist. Forgive me?"

David turns to Valentina, his expression serious. "But you don't really need your foot amputated, do you?"

She laughs and hugs him. "No, I'll be alright."

"Since you're up, do you want to go outside?" I ask. "We have some food left over."

"Sure," she says. "What's on the menu?"

"Kate caught some fish when we went out two days ago." I couldn't help shake my head at the thought of how well Kate's adapting. Hell, she's a better fisher than Tim. But she steers clear of me. My smile fades. A good thing too.