I woke up, confused, then I remembered the girl. "What part of being careful did you not understand?" August asked as I squinted from the blinding light overhead.
"What happened?"
"You got shot and were out for two days. Luckily, we stopped the bleeding, or you would've died."
"What about the girl?"
Kenneth walked over. "She's stable. What did you want with a Psycho, anyway?"
"Answers, but I'm exhausted right now. Question her later?"
"And what? Keep her locked in the basement?"
"Make sure she stays... here," I said, falling asleep.
My right arm was in a sling August made using an old pillowcase. It took a week before I could do anything with the rest of my body. Piper became friends with the ex-Psycho, named Émilie Rothschild. At the time of Yellowstone, Émilie was a journalist from Germany, but she was doing a story here in the United States. Émilie had joined the Psychos, so the chance of her death was mediocre. Émilie's knowledge of English was alright, so Piper taught her some more. I found it strange, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one. Émilie kept saying my name like "caller", and I eventually got used to it. Sometimes, I would forget and correct her. It was a few days after Jenna's second birthday when we started getting ready to attack the current leader of the Psychos, who Piper and Émilie called Jonah.
"Thank you, Caller. You saved my life. I owe you." Émilie smiled.
"Don't worry. Listen, I have to go." Émilie opened her mouth to say something else, but I was already gone.
I wandered into my sister- and brother-in-law's bedroom. "Uncle Cayler," Jenna shrieked and ran into me with a hug. My niece, running to hug me, jostled my body. I gritted my teeth. That hurt! She was only two and didn't know better, just acted as if nothing had happened.
"Hey sweetie, Mommy and Daddy are here, right?" The two-year-old nodded, leading me to Amy and Jace.
Amy had her hands on her hips. "Cayler! We need to talk."
"You seem mad at me and whatever it was, it's not my fault, sis."
"Remember the summer of my graduation?"
"Of course. It was a big day for you. What about it?"
"I remember Sarah-April, Sarah, rather. We went to the same high school in Indiana."
"Okay? I don't get where you're going with this."
Amy sighed, clearly mad that I wasn't catching her drift. "Maybe Gavriel has heard from Dad."
"I don't know. It's been four years since we even heard about him, and they presumed him dead."
"It wouldn't hurt to try."
"I honestly don't recommend it. I don't want you to get hurt if you find out he's dead. Was this it?"
Amy nodded. I turned to Jace. "Jace, Jensen wants you in his office. I don't know why."
Jace said thanks and left. "It's a little weird having Émilie here, isn't it?" Amy said.
I nodded. "I wasn't expecting Piper to become friends with her."
"What? You were going to shoot her?"
"What was I supposed to do, Amy? Send her back to Jonah. Who would've gotten our information and killed us all?"
"Whatever, Émilie is very helpful."
"She is. Sometimes, she calls me Caller, though," I said with a slight smile. "Kenneth needs my help with something," I said randomly.
As I turned to leave, Amy grabbed my hand, "Cayler, wait." I turned back in my sister's direction. "You and Kenneth want to adopt, right?" I nodded slowly, wondering where this could be heading. "Jace and I found a baby boy by our house. He was alone, so I'm guessing he's an orphan. Don't worry, he's staying with us for now."
"Why don't you ask Jensen if he could ask around? Does the boy have a name?"
Amy shook her head. "He's too young to talk. Anyway, do you want to adopt him?"
Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair. "If Kenneth is up for it, let me go ask him." I hugged Amy and then went to find my husband.
Kenneth was in the living room, placing a green highlighter streak on a patient's forehead. He was doing a triage, which they had taught me in the Combat Support Hospital or CSH. One meant the injuries were minor, and the two got saved for more dangerous injuries, while three were for immediate treatment.
My husband lifted his eyes when I cleared my throat. "You're not mad at me, are you?" Kenneth asked.
"Maybe. Did you ask Amy?"
Kenneth shook his head. "Nope, she offered. Is that it? I'm a little busy."
"Yeah, that's it. Love you."
"I love you too," Kenneth said, yawning.
"Go get some rest, I'll cover for you."
My husband didn't budge. "I can't leave them. They'll die."
"When was the last time you slept? And I mean over thirty minutes."
"Yesterday, and for about three hours."
"If you keep working like this, you'll drop dead. Trust me on this."
Kenneth finally left after staring at me for several seconds. "Thanks for doing this," August said, handing me a mask. I put the loops over my ears.
"Not a problem. What's the death count, if I may ask?"
"We lost nine people last month."
I clicked my tongue, "that sucks." August just nodded.
All the injured had bright red skin. "Oh, make sure you "wash" your hands using the sink, since we don't have gloves or soap. Just stick your hands in there, not for too long, though."
I walked over to the sink and stuck my hands into the water, yanking them out a second later. "Is it boiling?" August nodded, making me laugh, startling everyone. Embarrassment swallowed me completely.
"I heard about that baby boy Amy and Jace found," Jensen said, sitting down beside me.
"Yeah. They found him near their house. Are they keeping him there? Did they ask if you and Kenneth wanted to adopt him?"
I nodded slowly, "Amy offered. I just got the news, but I'm up for it if Kenneth is. You know your aunt Mary is here, right?"
"Where was she all this time?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you talk to Mary?"
After Jensen left, I continued treating injuries. At one point, August rolled over to me. "Wow. You're fast. Maybe with you working at our side, the death rate will decrease."
"Do you think so? Hey, did Angel ever take Thomas' place in the war?"
"Don't think so, but she said when we fight Jonah, she'll join."
"When's the big day?"
"Christmas Eve."
"So we have over ten months?"
August nodded, and I shivered. Ten months was a long time from now, but in reality, it wasn't. As I continued working, soon, the living room was at half of its occupants than this morning. Most of them went back to fighting once they were healthy enough, and I didn't blame them.
A couple of weeks later, the living room was practically empty, so I went back to the battlefield. Kenneth went back to fixing injuries, of course. "What exactly is this? Training for Jonah? This is easy!" A guy on my team yelled, then ended up getting shot. I sped over to him, pressing my hand to his stomach. His name was Grant, and he was in his late teens.
Grant laughed nervously. "Everyone says that. Honestly, let me go. I want all of this misery to end." His smile stayed on his lips as life left him. Even though he said he wanted to die, guilt still gnawed at the back of my mind because I didn't help him.
When we were back inside, Kenneth hugged me. "How was your day?"
"Grant Bennington died," I sighed.
Kenneth tilted his head. "Did you know him?"
I shook my head, "nope."
"At least I have good news," he said with a smile. "None of the injured died."
"That is good news."
"Laya has dinner on the table already."
The two of us walked to the table where almost everyone else sat. They were all talking like it was Thanksgiving, but I remained silent. Jensen cleared his throat. Everyone quieted down immediately. "Thank you, everyone, for being here tonight. As most of you know, we've been a town for a little over a year, and our population has gone from one hundred and thirty-seven people. We're in the middle of a war, and too many people are dying. Any ideas?"
Jack raised his hand, so Jensen called on him. "Maybe from June through September, we should come inside instead of doing shifts."
Jensen nodded, "Good idea. Anyone else?" Dawson said he, Émilie, and Aaliyah were planning a way to get inside and attack Jonah. Sarah, Lindsey, and Angel were engineering their tanks/cannons.
Jensen was happy with all of this as he raised his glass. "We can do this."
The good luck of no deaths of the injured halted shortly after my twenty-third birthday, totaling ninety-five deaths so far. We were only in the middle of March.
Then a loud crash came from the room next door. I darted over; Katrina slumped against the wall. I checked her pulse. It was fine. She fainted. She awoke a couple of seconds later. "Hey Katrina, you're alright now."
Katrina's brown eyes were wide with surprise. "What happened?"
"You fainted," I said. "Have you been eating enough?" Katrina nodded, but I was skeptical. Her son and husband recently died.
"Cayler, do you remember the guy who showed up about three years ago?" Jensen asked from the doorway.
I nodded, helping Katrina up. "Yep. Kenneth told me. What about him?"
My best friend sighed. "Gavriel said that Flight 0116 had stayed nearby, and Amy's dad had been a part of Flight 0116, but left to find something. Eventually, he became a cannibal after being separated, and soon after when I shot a man. Maybe I shot Dylan, Amy's dad, since that's what the man said his name was."
"Or maybe Dylan had already died, and that guy had stolen his identity."
"Maybe. It doesn't matter, since he's dead, anyway. What should I tell Amy?"
I glared at Jensen. "This is what you tell her, nothing!"
"Okay, okay! Calm down!"
I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I'll just go." I turned to the door and rushed outside, mowing down a field of Psychos from the porch.