Through the Gate and Beyond
This is a continuation of an ongoing story. It begins with Part One, so if you’re wanting to start out at the beginning , I recommend you go there. Or go to the previous Part Fourteen.
Chapter 43: Robin and the Aftermath
“Is she…?” Amber quietly asked as we drew in around Jessica.
Jessica didn’t answer, so I slowly reached out and touched Robin’s neck. I could feel a pulse, but it was slow and weak. “She’s alive,” I said. Tears of relief welled up in my eyes. “Come on, let’s get her comfortable.” Slowly and carefully, we helped Jessica lower Robin to the grass. She didn’t stir or make a sound as we settled her on the ground.
Jessica was shaking. As gently as I could, I pushed her to the ground beside Robin. “She’s alive, Jessica. It’s going to be okay,” I whispered quietly. It was a lie, none of this was okay; none of this would ever be okay. But I said it anyway. Jessica didn’t answer. I was pretty sure she was in shock. She had gone pale, almost as pale as Robin.
Robin’s legs were bleeding. We didn’t have any spare clothes or anything with us. As I started taking my shirt off, I called out, “Amber, I need your sword.” She handed it to me. I used the blade to cut several strips of cloth and wrapped them tightly around the gashes in Robin’s legs. They looked deep enough to worry me. “We need to wash these out. Before infection can set it in.”
Brad started to go for lake water. “No!” I snapped, harsher than I intended. “That won’t do. We need to boil it first.” Brad stood there, trying to figure out what to do, how to help. I wasn’t sure what we could do, either. We didn’t have medical supplies. My shirt was a bad bandage, dirty and sweaty. None of us were doctors. I sat there, feeling completely helpless, trying to come up with a next step. I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
“We need to get her out of here, to somewhere safe,” he said quietly, as much to himself as us.
Amber snapped her fingers. “The wagons! We can use that to get her to that house. We can boil water and whatever there!”
Brad smiled in relief but then the smile dropped. “No good. The wagons won’t fit through the trees.”
“We’ll have to get her back to the road, then,” I said. “The road’s that way,” I pointed back the way we came. “If we cut a bit to the right, it should be shorter than the run we made last night. Then we can go get the wagons.”
They both nodded. “I wish we had tools. We could make a stretcher,” Brad said quietly, half to himself. “Sure would make this easier.”
“My sword?” Amber said.
“No, I don’t think it would be good for cutting wood. And we’d need a blanket or something to stretch over the beams,” Brad said. “No, I’ll just have to carry her.”
I stood up. I didn’t like it, but it was faster than going back for tools and then returning. Probably. “Okay. But whenever you get tired, say so. We don’t need you getting so exhausted that you drop her.”
The next hour or two were slow, grueling, work. We helped Brad settle Robin on his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. Jessica snapped out of her daze and walked beside him, holding Robin’s hand. Amber and I fanned out to the sides, trying to watch in all directions as we walked through the trees.
After a while, I noticed Brad was beginning to stumble as he walked. “Hold up,” I said. Brad looked at me, but tried to make a calm, steady face. “I’ll take her,” I said. With Amber and Jessica’s help, I took Robin’s weight. She wasn’t a heavy person by any means. But carrying her was definitely a hard workout. Before coming to this world, I’d have been worn out in seconds. All my time walking here had helped me build up a little endurance, thankfully.
But even still, I didn’t last nearly as long as Brad had. Amber took over and we kept going. Dread and worry drowned out any conversation as we moved through the trees. Finally, we stumbled out onto the road. Amber eased Robin down to the ground and we sat her against a tree. We stood there for a moment, trying to catch our breath. “Amber, if you’ll go with me, we can dump a wagon and come back for Robin. Brad, you stay and guard them?” I suggested. I could tell Brad wasn’t happy about us splitting up. But it was the most sensible thing to do. After a moment’s hesitation, he nodded. Amber and I headed down the road, hoping the walk through the woods hadn’t hurt Robin even more.
We found the marks where we’d left the road the day before. Amber and I followed the wagon marks. The wagons were only a dozen or so yards off the road. “Oh, fuck no!” Amber said in despair as we came up to the spot. My heart fell and I cussed too. Two of the three wagons were destroyed, wood lying scattered in pieces. The food had been dumped and most of the containers had been destroyed, spilling food everywhere.
I just stood there for a moment, fighting back tears of anger and frustration. We’d spent days building those things. So much time wasted. It was all I could do to not just fall down weeping. “I give up. I’m done. I just don’t care anymore,” I whispered as I picked through the debris.
“No. No you don’t give up. You don’t get to give up,” Amber said. I looked up at her in surprise. She was pissed. “You don’t get to give up on us. Not after all this time. Not now. Not while they’re back there. She’s back there, maybe unconscious, maybe in a coma, maybe dying. But I’ll be damned if you give up on us!” Amber stormed up to me as she spoke. She punctuated the last few words by pushing me, slamming her palms into my shoulders. I staggered back before her anger. My heel caught in a shattered board and I fell, hard, on my ass. Fresh new pain exploded in my head at the sudden jarring. I groaned and put my hands to my temple. “Shit. I’m sorry,” Amber said, the anger drained from her voice as she rushed to help me up. With her help, I regained my feet.
“No, you’re right. I don’t have time — Robin doesn’t have time — for a pity party. Just — ” I closed my eyes and tried to banish the pain. It didn’t work. “Just don’t knock me down next time, okay?” I said ruefully. Amber gave me a brief hug, then looked again at the wagons. It looked like they’d started attacking the one remaining wagon, but hadn’t finished the job. I guess we’d scared them off during the fight, maybe? I was thankful at least one had survived. We got the wagon tipped up and cleared out the broken jars.
We grabbed our packs from where we’d been camping. I didn’t want to lose them, if something else came out of the woods for us. “Grab the food?” Amber asked as we dropped the packs inside the wagon.
“Robin first. We come back for the food later, if we can,” I replied, hoping that was the right decision, fearing there was no right decision. Amber nodded once and we started back down the road pushing the wagon. We soon found the others at the tree where we’d left them. Brad and Jessica lifted Robin into the wagon. We arranged her as best we could. Our makeshift ambulance wouldn’t be comfortable, but it would let us move faster and without getting quite so worn out.
I described what we’d found at the wagons. “It was a complete ambush. They waited until we were done making the wagons, waited until we left town, waited until the dead of night. Then they fucking destroyed our food.” I was angry and bitter and depressed. We all were. As I talked, I pulled my spare shirt from my pack and put it on.
“I don’t think we can go back to the mansion. That’s His place. He loaned it to us, but something tells me that tunnel won’t be safe. Not anymore,” Brad said.
“Where do we go?” Jessica asked in a heavy, hopeless, voice.
“Back to the city. We’ve been attacked less there than anywhere else in this world. It has places to hide,” Amber said. She’d spent the most time there so I trusted her opinion.
“We’ve been harassed there. But no gargoyles,” I agreed.
“Right. Back we go, then.” Brad turned the wagon and we started down the road.
“We’re going to have to go after him, aren’t we?” Jessica said in a low, quiet voice.
I started to make a sarcastic answer, but bit that back. Instead, I said, “I think he’s trying to kill us and we may have to kill him if we want to be left alone. But I fear he’s kept some sort of balance here for so long that killing him may cause other problems. Maybe worse problems, for all we know.”
“Damned if we do. Damned if we don’t,” Brad said.
“We’ll do whatever the fuck we have to do to keep each other safe, that’s what we’ll do,” Amber said. “If that means Mr. M. goes down, so be it. We’ll deal with whatever comes next after that.” Her voice was raw with anger and frustration. I looked at her and bit back a comment. Her face told me she wasn’t in the mood for humorous attempts to defuse the situation. We rolled down the road in silence past the corn and soybean fields. At the edge of the city, we paused and I took over the wagon.
We rolled through the empty streets, the echoes from our wagon’s wheels leading the way. I felt like we were being watched. But every time I craned my neck, trying to spot anything unusual, nothing was there. “You feel it too?” Amber whispered.
“Yeah.” I swallowed. “Part of me fears he’s herding us. Like sheep,” I replied quietly. No one had anything to add to that, so we walked on in silence. We got back to the building we’d commandeered earlier. It was late afternoon and we were exhausted and sweat-stained. But I knew we were nowhere near done for the day.
We carried Robin upstairs as carefully as we could. “Okay. Jessica, will you be alright if we leave you here for just a bit?” I asked. She nodded without taking her eyes off Robin. “Right. We need water. We need to boil enough to clean her legs and sterilize bandages. We need food; we haven’t eaten all day.” Everyone nodded. Jessica looked terrified. “We’ll be back. I promise.” With that, we left Jessica and Robin behind and headed out to gather supplies.
We brought back water first, three pots of it. Jessica had started a fire while we were gone, so we set two pots of water on to boil. It would take a while for the fire to get hot enough, so we rushed out to gather food. Daylight was fading fast. There were fresh vegetables in some of the crates. We’d left them behind, thinking they wouldn’t last long enough to be worth transporting. In a sudden flash of inspiration, I loaded myself down with a crate of fresh carrots, onions, tomatoes, and potatoes. I was almost crying as I brought the crate upstairs, from fatigue and pain and frustration and fear and… frankly, I was feeling overwhelmed by it all.
Upstairs, I cut the vegetables up and tossed them into a third pot. I mashed the tomatoes as best I could, trying to make juice. With some water, I set this all on the stove. I was hopeful that I’d made a decent pot of soup and not some inedible pile of garbage. By the time that was on the stove, the first pot of water was finally boiling. I carefully cut and soaked the rest of my already-torn shirt in the boiling water. After the mess had boiled for about a minute, I took the pot off the stove and set it aside to cool. When it was warm but not too hot, I carried it out to Robin.
Robin was sweating and feverish. I carefully removed the bloody bandages from her leg. The wounds were swollen and ugly. Trying not to think about our lack of medicine, I carefully washed each wound, getting it as clean as I could with just boiled water. Robin moaned in pain while I did this, but she didn’t wake up. The water opened up the wounds, so I tightly bandaged each after cleaning it.
Jessica sat with Robin’s head in her lap through the entire process. Jessica didn’t look at me. She just sat, running her fingers through Robin’s hair. I could only imagine the terror she was going through. Brad came in with a bundle of boards to use as firewood while I was finishing up the last bandage.
He took in the situation. He looked at me with a question in his eyes. I shook my head. Rather than comment, he simply sat down behind Jessica and wrapped his arms around her. It was like watching a dam fail. One second, Jessica had it together. The next, she was a hot mess of sobbing, wailing, tears. I jumped up and rushed to her other side. Amber rushed in, saw what was going on, and sat behind her. The three of us held onto her through the crying. It was gut-wrenching. We were all crying by the time Jessica calmed back down. Finally, she pulled away from us.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she mumbled.
“You never need to be sorry for caring,” Amber whispered.
“We’re here; you’re not alone,” Brad said quietly.
I reached out and brushed the hair from Jessica’s face. “You’re family. If you’re suffering, we’re right here, suffering with ya, sharing the load,” I said. It sounded lame in my ears, but maybe it helped. I hoped it helped. With a groan, I got up and checked the soup. It smelled like soup, at least. I wasn’t sure how it would taste, though. Using one of the clean rags, I wetted Robin’s forehead. I had no idea what good that would do, but they always did that on TV when someone had a fever. Maybe it would cool her down?
We sat there like that, dabbing Robin’s forehead periodically, for a long time. We didn’t talk. I’m not sure we had the energy. A few times, I got up and stirred the soup. Brad went down to make sure the door was securely blocked. Jessica stayed with Robin. Amber spread out our blankets for another night on the floor. I missed mattresses. And I missed hot baths.
“Do you think she needs stitches?” Jessica asked quietly. It was the first any of us had spoken in at least twenty minutes or more.
Everyone looked to me. I rubbed my forehead with one hand and closed my eyes. “Maybe? I don’t know. They look deep, but I don’t know. But I don’t have any thread or surgical needles. I haven’t seen any needles at all here. I might could flail my way through sewing on a button, if I had to and had needle and thread. But sewing up leg wounds?” I sighed. “I don’t know.” I didn’t mean to sound half as depressed as it came out.
I opened my eyes and looked at Jessica. “I’m sorry.” Tears welled up in my eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Tears welled up in her eyes too. “Is she gonna be okay?” I opened my mouth to answer, but I didn’t know what to tell her.
“Jess?” Robin mumbled in a small voice. We all gasped in surprise. Robin opened her eyes, just to slits, and groaned.
“I’m right here, Rob. We’re all here,” Jessica said, crying and smiling as she took Robin’s hand.
Robin tried to sit up, but gave that up as a bad idea almost instantly, with another loud groan. Brad helped her slowly sit up. As he held her back up, he looked around frantically for cushions or something. When nothing was immediately in reach, he awkwardly shifted around so her back was laying against his back.
“Water?” Robin murmured. I rushed to the kitchen and brought out a cup of clean water. Robin raised her hand for the cup, but it was shaking badly, so I held it while she drank. Much of the water cascaded down her chin, but she got some down. I took the cup away before she could drink too much.
“Wh… Where am I?” Robin asked. Everyone started talking at one, then stopped. Jessica started talking, explaining the night before and everything that had happened. I let Robin have another sip of water as Jessica talked. By the time Jessica was done talking, Robin had revived enough to look down at the bandages. “How bad is it?” she asked. Everyone looked at me. I didn’t want to be in charge; I didn’t ask to be here… No. Shut that shit down. There’s no disco ball here, so no pity parties today.
I sighed and sat the cup down so I could take Robin’s free hand. “Pretty bad. You lost blood. I’m not sure how much, but enough to worry me. And the cuts are deep. If we took you to a doctor’s office, they’d give you stitches, I’m pretty sure.” I sighed again. “We don’t have thread or needles. And I don’t know the first thing about sewing people. None of us do.” I closed my eyes, then looked around at everyone. “I think we’re going to stay here until those heal. I don’t think it’s safe for you to travel until they do.”
Robin’s face fell as I talked. “Oh god. I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to be a burden. I’m… you should go on. I’ll catch up later.” I could hear the terror in her voice, despite her efforts to sound brave.
“Fuck that. Fuck all of that. We don’t leave our family behind. We stick together. Always.” My voice was harsh with emotions. Enough so Robin flinched back from my voice. “Sorry. But I mean that.”
Jessica mouthed a thank you to me. I dipped my chin in a silent nod back to her. “Now, I’m starving. Who wants soup?”
We poured soup for everyone. It wasn’t great by my grandmother’s standards. But it was the best thing I’d eaten in days. The only thing I’d eaten all day, in fact. We had to help Robin eat, but we didn’t mind. She fell asleep as we cleaned up from the meal. Quietly, we all settled in around her. We should have posted a guard, but we’d been up since the middle of the night, and none of us had the strength to stay awake. It wasn’t fully dark yet, but I fell asleep within seconds of laying down.
I woke up sitting in the bottom of a shallow, square, boat, drifting on a dark lake somewhere in the night. The waves were rocking the boat just hard enough to be interesting but not enough to be scary. A breeze blew against my back. I could smell salt on the air, making me realize this wasn’t a lake but an ocean. The wave crests glowed a brilliant white in the dim light. Frankly, it was the most peaceful thing in the universe, sitting there in that boat.
But I was alone. The boat was empty save for a coil of old-looking hemp rope. That was my first worry. I glanced around, trying to figure out where I was. I couldn’t see land anywhere. That was my second worry. Then it dawned on me that I had no memory of getting in the boat, no memory of seeing this ocean. That was my third worry.
I sat there, clutching the side of the boat, fearing that I was lost. After some time, I could see something up ahead. It took a while for the dim starlight to reveal it as an island. I was heading for an island. As it came closer, I realized it was a small island with steep rocks jutting up from the center. Still, a shore felt safer than the water.
Soon, I could make out the craggy rocks ahead, and that there was a smooth sandy shore in front of the rocks. Slowly, I drifted still closer. One of the central rocks suddenly moved. Eyes opened. Then a mouth. It resolved itself into a face. No, not a face. It resolved into Mur’s face. He saw me! Mur was screaming rage. He was screaming in rage at me! My eyes snapped open. I was panting in fear, but I hadn’t screamed. No one else was awake. The dream didn’t fade, though, like normal dreams usually do. The details were sharp in my mind as I lay there, waiting for my heartbeat to settle down. So Mur was trying to get to me again.
“Fuck you. You can’t have me. You can’t have any of us. We’re not yours to take, you bastard. Go the fuck away,” I said quietly but forcefully. It took me a while, but I finally drifted back to sleep. I didn’t dream again that night.
Chapter 44: About the Food
We slept in fairly late the next morning. I woke up and lay quietly, listening to everyone else sleep. I refused to think about the previous day or the future. It was calm now, and I focused all my will on just enjoying the peace of a room full of people I cared for, all sleeping. It wasn’t easy to ignore the dull throb of my head, or the sore muscles from yesterday’s work. But I tried.
Eventually, my bladder reminded me that I couldn’t lay there forever. I went downstairs as quietly as I could. The fog was already thinning, so only a few of the ghosts walked the streets. As I was relieving myself, it struck me that I was getting used to the ghost residents. That was a surreal moment.
Back upstairs, Robin was awake. She smiled at me, but I could see pain etched in her face. Quietly, I set a pan of water on the stove and added a couple of boards to the still-glowing embers still in the stove’s firebox. Amber and Brad wandered in as the fire caught.
“Can you see if there are any fresh vegetables left? I can make a fresh batch of soup using the leftovers, but there’s not enough left to feed us,” I whispered. They nodded and headed out with empty pots. While I waited for them to return, I sat thinking about what all needed to happen before this city was safe as a permanent residence. It was a sad train of thought, since nothing here was as ready to go as the mansion had been.
Jessica came in as I sat there, trying not to let the world ruin what had started as an almost-good mood. “How can I help?” she asked.
“Can you get more water? Amber and Brad are gathering food,” I answered.
“Are you okay?” She asked, concern drawing her face into a frown. I guess my face, or maybe my voice, betrayed my worries.
I sighed. “Yeah. I’m still sore from yesterday, but I’m okay.” I rolled my shoulders, trying to work stretch the sore muscles. It made me wince. “Just worried. And I’d started thinking of that mansion has ‘home,’ so I guess maybe I’m homesick,” I closed my eyes. “Double homesick, for the mansion or for my real home.” It troubled me how sad that last bit sounded. A thought hit me. “No, that’s not right. I don’t want to go back to my real home. Not unless I can bring everyone with me. I’d be lost without all of us, together.” I smiled, briefly, at that one happy thought.
Jessica gave me a brief hug, then headed downstairs to fetch water. By the time she’d filled two pots and brought them back, I had poured off some boiling water to cool and was soaking yesterday’s soiled bandages in the pan of still-boiling water. I hoped boiling was enough to make them safe to use.
Robin was sitting up when I brought out the fresh bandages and warm water. She’d pulled herself to the side of the room so she could use a wall as a back rest. I set everything down next to her and then brought a blanket to give her more padding. “We need to change out your bandages and clean the wounds. I’m guessing this is going to hurt like hell, but we gotta do it,” I said.
Robin looked up at me with a grim expression and nodded. “Don’t guess you have any Tylenol?”
“No. And no penicillin either. We’re a fully modern 1800s medical facility here.” She gave me a half-smile for a second, which was the best I could hope for given the circumstances. Jessica sat down next to her and took her hands. “Ready?” I asked Robin.
“No,” she said, sounding pitiful.
I held her shoulder and said, “I really will try to go fast. And I’m sorry.” She nodded. I sat down next to her legs and slowly unraveled the bandages. The innermost layer was stuck to her skin where blood had soaked through and dried. I soaked the soiled bandages with warm water. That loosened the scabs enough to remove the bandages. Robin winced and I could see her squeezing hard on Jessica’s hands as I pulled the bandages free.
The wounds were ugly, but the swelling was no worse. And I didn’t see any weird colors. I thought I’d read somewhere that red streaks indicated infection and that wasn’t happening. But the cuts were so deep. I looked up at Robin. She was seeing the cuts for the first time. Her face had gone pale. I worked as quickly as I could, washing the wounds out gently, then rewrapping them. They were still bleeding, but not nearly as much as yesterday. “There. All done,” I said as gently as I could.
“Thank you,” she said. Her voice was rough from the pain and there were tears on her cheeks.
“I’m sorry it hurts. If it helps any, they don’t look infected,” I said, gathering up the dirty bandages and wet cloths I’d used to clean up. Jessica took the dirty stuff from me and went out to the fountain. She came back with Brad and Amber, carrying the now-cleaner, wet, bandages. Brad and Amber had plenty of food to get us through the next day or so. They took over the kitchen, cleaning the fresh vegetables and restarting the soup while I went out to wash my hands.
While the soup cooked, we discussed our needs. Secure shelter, clean water that we can get to without going outside, food, and furniture topped the list. Amber described some other possible buildings she knew about, thinking we could check a few to see if they’d make better accommodations for us.
The soup was good. And filling. I was glad to see Robin eating on her own. I figured it was a good sign. The rest of the day was mostly just boredom and chatting about the world we’d left behind. None of us had much energy after the mess yesterday had dropped on us. We didn’t discuss Mur. It wasn’t a conscious choice, but at some point I realized we were all avoiding the elephant in the room. Maybe it wasn’t wise. But we needed a day of rest from him and his terrors.
In the early afternoon, we had naps. There was little else to do, so why not? Thanks to the nap, I had a hard time sleeping that night. I kept waking up. Not from dreams. Just from not being tired enough to sleep soundly. Finally, I gave up and went downstairs. From the ground floor, I watched as the fog drifted in and ghosts began to appear on the streets. I’d never observed their arrival. It was weird to watch. A section of the street would be empty. I’d glance to another area that was also empty. Then I’d glance back to the first section and a ghost would be walking there, like it had always been there.
As I watched, I heard steps coming down. Turning, I saw Brad coming into the room. I smiled at him and held out a hand. He returned the smiled as he took it. “Everything okay?” he asked softly as he came up to stand close against my back.
“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep. Came down to watch the native population going about their business. It’s the latest in reality TV you know.” Brad put his arm around my waist and together we watched the soundless walkers.
“They never go inside any building, do they?” he asked softly after a moment.
“No. Just walking around town. They must be in great shape.”
Brad suddenly tensed against me. “Look there!” he whispered, pointing to the side. It took me a second to see it, but sure enough, there was someone moving between the ghosts, dodging and scampering through the streets. The furtive movements were more than enough to convince me that this wasn’t just another ghost. They were hunched over or maybe just short, and their outline didn’t look right to me. It was too dark to see if this was a human, much less male or female.
“What do we do?” I asked as the interloper moved up the street towards us. Then he slunk down an alley to the right.
“That’s towards our food!” Brad said.
“Get the weapons, let’s see where they’re going.” He ran to the corner by the exit where we’d haphazardly stacked the gear. I met him at the door, took my staff from him, and then slipped quietly out on the street. The figure was intent on moving around the ghosts. They didn’t seem to notice us as we hurried to catch up.
The figure stopped about half a block from the park where we’d been raiding the food containers. They crouched behind a statue, seeming to watch the park. I looked at Brad. He shrugged. I pantomimed bashing someone over the head. He shrugged again. Then he gestured to circle around to the right, tapped his chest and gestured to circle to the left. I nodded. We split apart and I moved to the other side of the street. Brad and I remained parallel as we closed the distance. When we were almost even with the figure, we started to angle in towards them. That’s when the creeper finally noticed us. Well, they noticed me.
“No! Mine!” the figure yelled in a high-pitched voice and started running towards me. I saw two things at once. The first was that they had dark-colored human arms and legs but a pig’s head. The second was that one of the arms held a long dagger of some kind. “Mine! Mine for Muruch! Not for you!” The figure pronounced that name like Moo-rut-ch. I wondered if they meant Murdoch?
I stopped moving and held my staff out in front of me. The figure stopped as well. “Muruch warned me you! He warned me!” the figure called out, brandishing his knife menacingly. “Stay back! Mine food! Mine for him!” It was weird; the figure’s pig-mouth didn’t move when he talked. And the beady eyes didn’t track me at all.
Brad came up behind the figure, but hesitated, looking to me. I figured if this creature wanted to talk instead of fight, then by all means, we could talk. “Not today, friend,” I said. “That’s our food. Find your own.”
“Not friend! Not you! Muruch warned me! Stay back!” The person-creature-whatever turned, awkwardly, to stare towards the park. The creature didn’t turn at the neck, but literally turned, full-body, then back. “Food soon here! Mine!”
“You can leave or I can make you leave. Your choice,” I said. I didn’t try to add any threat to my voice. Frankly, I was so tired of violence and Mur’s shit that I didn’t really care.
“Muruch be mad if I leave! Get food! Food for Muruch!” The pig-person was almost dancing, hopping from one foot to the other like a kid who needed to pee.
“Well, he’s already mad. We aren’t dead yet, though. But if you want to take your chances?” I waved my staff at them. They danced back a step in fear, then slashed the air between us with the dagger, despite the ten or fifteen feet between us.
“Cut you! Mine food!”
Well, this was getting me nowhere. I jabbed at the creature with my staff. The creature was far enough away that I couldn’t have hit the thing, but they tried to dodge anyway. The creature tripped and fell on their back. Quickly, they climbed back to their feet. But in the pre-dawn light, I caught a glimpse through the side of the pig head as they rose. The pig’s head was a mask or costume the figure was wearing, not their real skin.
“Where’d you find the pig head?”
“Hah! Not tell you!” they said, slashing the air again. Despite the high-pitched voice, I was fairly sure this was a human man. I wasn’t positive, though.
I took a step towards the pig-headed (literally) figure and slashed with the staff. I didn’t swing hard. The tip of the staff glanced off the pig’s head. The figure screamed and took off at a dead run, away from the park. Brad started to give chase. “Let them go,” I said. “Mur can have them.” I watched the pig-creature run until they rounded a corner and vanished. “We’ll need to keep an eye out.” I sighed wearily. “That guy will return.”
Brad gasped in surprise. I whirled around, expecting an attack. But what I saw was far stranger. At the edge of the park, the ghosts were converging, clumping up in groups of five or six in open spaces in the park. This was the first time we’d seen them interact with each other in any way.
I looked around. Most of the ghosts were continuing their slow, steady, march. But a few were breaking from the streets and going into the park. There seemed to be no pattern, except the clumps kept forming. As we watched, one of the clumps broke apart. Where they’d been standing on empty grass, there was now a stack of wooden crates!
We watched in awe as ghosts restocked the park’s food. I kept glancing around, expecting to see the pig-wearing figure, but they’d left for now. But more and more clumps of ghosts kept coming in, standing for a moment, and leaving behind crates. After a clump would break apart, the ghosts would return to the streets and resume their walking.
“What the fuck?!” Brad whispered slowly, trying to make sense of this new weirdness. I had no clue. We stood there, watching, for ten or fifteen minutes maybe, and then the clumping began to slow down. Finally, after maybe twenty minutes, no new clumps formed and the park was empty of ghosts.
We carefully worked our way into the park, dodging between ghosts. The new crates were identical to the ones we’d been raiding. I opened the lid on one. It contained fresh vegetables. Brad opened one from another pile. He held up a bag. “Flour!” he said in a voice too loud for the ghostly quiet of the park. He flinched, but then went through another box. “Sugar!” he whispered. He grabbed one bag of each and came back over to me. I was busy pulling out red and green apples from the second crate I’d opened.
Brad and I were practically dancing with joy as we came back into the room where everyone was still sleeping. “Do we wake them?” I whispered. Brad shook his head and pointed to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Brad handed me a knife and quietly pointed to the apples. As I began chopping them, Brad started mixing the flour and sugar. The smells of baking apples and frying “pancakes” woke everyone.
“We need milk. And butter. And eggs. Without those…” Brad said later as we devoured the food.
“Fuck, this is the best thing we’ve eaten since… Well, since before,” Jessica said. Robin nodded, chewing happily.
“So who was that you saw, then?” Amber asked.
“I don’t know. They weren’t too smart. Certainly not clever enough to survive this place all on their own. I think they were one of Mur’s henchmen. But I’m not sure why they were there,” Brad said.
“Grocery shopping,” Robin suggested.
“No, not with just one person sent without backpacks or wagons or anything. Maybe a scout to make sure the food was there?” Jessica said.
“Or to see if we had found the food,” I said. “My guess is the grocery shopping comes later. We probably need to get out there, to watch them and maybe to guard the food if we can.” So after breakfast, we grabbed our gear and headed to the park. We left Robin and Jessica behind. They both protested, but Robin’s legs weren’t up to the challenge and we didn’t want Robin left alone. We hid on the edge of the park, where we could see down the street the pig-thing had run down during their escape.
And then we waited for at least an hour or so, but nothing happened. My feet had gone to sleep. I was bored. I looked at Brad, to my right where he was hiding. From this angle, it looked like he’d fallen asleep. To my left, Amber was awake, but she was fidgeting.
“God, this is stupid,” I whispered to myself. “They aren’t coming.” I stood up and started to say something about heading back. But as I stood, something flew towards me. With a yelp, I dropped back down. I felt something graze my hair, but it didn’t actually hit me. Behind me, I heard a rock bounce hard off a wall and clatter to the sidewalk.
I peered over the empty crate I’d been hiding behind. Out in the park, I saw a pale, hairless, white head start to appear up over the top of a crate, looking towards me. I raised up a little higher. From somewhere behind that white head, another rock sailed towards me. I ducked again.
Brad was awake now. So I had that going for me. He was moving off to the right, away from me. Oh, he was trying to circle around behind our hidden enemies. I stood up and then dropped down, dodging a third rock. It was risky, but I thought maybe it would distract them, so they wouldn’t notice Brad. But this time, they knew I would dodge. The rock grazed the top of my head. It stung, but when I felt my head there was no blood. Okay, so I wouldn’t be trying that again.
“Hey! This is our food, you fucking thieves!” I yelled from behind the crate. The irony of us claiming this as our food was not lost on me. But I was still trying to give Brad cover.
I didn’t expect an answer, but I got one anyway. “Muck told us we would find you here!” a voice answered. The voice was low, masculine, and honey-sweet, like a good preacher or salesman. “We were wondering if he had imagined you!”
We. Okay, so there was more than one of them. “And I’ll tell you what I told him: My food. Go away.”
“No. The dead bring us what we need. It is their purpose. It is why they are. You shall not subvert their purpose,” the voice said with calm certainty. “And so we then bring what He needs to Him. That is our purpose. You shall not subvert our purpose.”
“Fuck that. He owes me!” I said.
“His debts are not our concern,” the voice answered. But it had moved. It was circling to the left, away from Brad and towards Amber. I looked at her. She had her sword ready and had noticed the movement, too.
“How about you find a new purpose?” I said.
“That cannot be,” the voice answered, quieter and further to the left.
I risked another peek. I could see the top of a white head above one of the open crates. Packing material stood out against the thing’s entirely white form. I couldn’t tell if this was a costume or a naked creature that was solid white, but the only color difference was a bit of gray around the eyes and the black pupils or slits in the costume. There was no mouth and no nose. I ducked back down when I realized this wasn’t the speaker.
“How many does it take to fulfill your purpose?” I called out.
“All of us. All of us that are.” There was sadness in the voice. “We do as we have promised.”
“Was that bargain worth your life?” I said.
“That bargain is our life,” the speaker said, from somewhere near Amber. She tensed. I was too far away to help her. The white form stepped around the crate, arm cocked back to throw another rock. It never had a chance. Amber’s sword sunk into the white of his abdomen with slick ease. The white creature dropped his rock and wordlessly collapsed. Amber withdrew her sword. A pale green blood welled up at the wound. She looked at me. I shrugged in confusion.
“I’m sorry then. For that was a bad bargain,” I called out, pretending I hadn’t seen the killing. A rock sailed up and over the crates, striking the ground near me. A second arced up and almost hit Amber. She and I both ran. I followed behind where Brad had been, while Amber circled in from the left.
The next few minutes were a terrible game of cat and mouse as we ducked and ran through the crate-filled park. I wasn’t sure who the mouse was, though. Several times, rocks flew at me. One hit my shoulder. Thankfully, it was a glancing blow. It would leave a bruise, I was sure, but it didn’t knock me down or anything. Brad took down one of the things, somewhere within the crates. I heard his grunt of effort and the impact of the sledgehammer.
I blundered, quite by surprise, into another. He was about to throw a rock towards Brad, I think, when I stepped out from behind a box and found myself directly in front of him. We both froze in shock for a split second, then he tried to bash me with the rock. I deflected the move with my staff and rammed him in the face. He rocked back and fell. I stomped, hard, on his leg and felt a bone shatter. He screamed in a high, loud, voice, clutching at his knee. I ran into the crate stacks, before they could find me by his screams.
In the end, we killed five. The sixth, with his broken leg, we left alone. Brad had a nasty, swollen, bruise on his face from a rock, but nothing was broken. “What do we do with him?” Amber asked, pointing to the wounded creature, lying there moaning in pain.
“Fuck if I know. I’m not keen on killing him. But I don’t exactly want to take him home and treat his wounds, either,” I said. I felt miserable.
“What do we do with you?” Brad asked, crouching down by the thing.
“If I don’t bring food to the train, I am dead,” the creature said in a pained voice.
“The train?” I said, but the creature ignored me. I noticed the creature’s color had shifted from paper-white to a light gray. He was moaning, but somehow it didn’t seem as loud now.
“The train?” I asked again.
“I have failed my purpose,” he said. His voice sounded weak. He was definitely not white anymore. Instead, he was shifting towards a darker gray.
I could feel something like static electricity in the air. “Get Back!” I called out. We all backed away quickly from the graying, probably dying, creature. The static built up, making my arm hairs stand on end.
Two heartbeats later, the creature stood up, awkwardly, somehow on that broken leg. He turned to me. “You will regret this,” he said. Only the voice was definitely Mur’s, not his.
Then the creature collapsed. The static electricity feeling vanished.
“What the fuck?” I said under my breath.
“Okay, so Mur takes his grocery shopping really seriously,” Brad said in a shocked voice.
“Oh, this is going to go badly for us, isn’t it?” Amber added. I just stood there, staring at the fallen corpse. Then suddenly Amber’s words sunk in. I shook myself.
“Yes, it is. We’ve got to stock up as much food and water as we can. He’s going to send something after us. Something bad. We need to assume food won’t be safe. Not for a while.”
And so the rest of the day was a flurry of activity as we stockpiled food in our building. We filled the ground floor. Then we found an empty barrel at a nearby building. After rinsing it out thoroughly, we rolled it to the building and began filling it via pails from the fountain. We hoped that and the various pots and pans we could find would be enough to last through whatever Mur would surely throw at us. Because I was certain he was going to throw something terrible at us and soon.
As darkness fell, I changed out Robin’s bandages again. The wounds still looked horrible, but no worse than before. I was grateful for that, at least. Then we all took turns washing off in the fountain. All but Robin, that is, who we didn’t think should get her legs in the water. It was awkward, cold, and, for safety’s sake, far less private than we would’ve liked. No one was left alone. Not now. But we got clean. Well, cleaner than we had been anyway.
Then we barricaded the door as best we could. I hoped it wouldn’t turn into a siege, but I wanted us to be ready. Dinner was quiet and cold. Canned fruits and vegetables. We were afraid smoke from a fire would make it easier to find us.
I needn’t have worried about that.
Chapter 45: Time to Regroup
The next day dawned and we kept to the building as much as we could. It made for a miserable day. Boredom was our first problem. After making a light breakfast and boiling water for Robin’s bandages, we let the fire die down. Then we had nothing useful to do. That left us mostly alone with our thoughts and fears. None of us had high spirits. We were fussing by afternoon. Not because we had anything significant to argue about. Just that we were bored and tired and uncomfortable and afraid and trapped. Each time we’d raise our voices or say something we shouldn’t have, we’d apologize and make up and try to be better. But it couldn’t last. We were just wound up too much.
We needed to get out. We needed hot baths or showers, clean clothes, and hot food. We needed a moment when we weren’t having to watch the street just in case someone was coming. We needed a reprieve. While this world carried a great deal of magical, wondrous things, I’d seen little to give me hope for that reprieve.
Or maybe we just needed some individual space, some privacy. It dawned on me that we’d had exactly zero time to be alone since we left the mansion. That had been what, ten, maybe eleven, days ago now. We were all on edge. And there was no way to smooth that out. Not under these circumstances.
Robin had it the worst. She could stand, with help. But only for a moment. We had to help her down the stairs for bathroom breaks. She resented being crippled, even if it was temporary. Feeling helpless was weighing her down. The swelling around the cuts was going down. I was grateful that the gargoyles, whatever else they may be, seemed to not be carriers of disease at least. But knowing that didn’t ease her pain or make her more mobile.
As the sun began to set, Brad finally threw his hands in the air in frustration and practically yelled, “We need a plan! Something!”
“That’s a great idea! Hadn’t thought of that one! What other pearls of wisdom do you have, oh great one?” Jessica threw at him. It was just the latest jab of the day.
“Guys!” I said, talking over whatever Brad had been about to say in response.
“This is stupid. Look. Mur always comes in waves. And there’s always time between waves. Tomorrow, let’s explore. Make sure he didn’t come through the park, but mostly check out some buildings we’ve not visited yet. We all know this is a safe building, but it’s not ideal. So let’s work on fixing that. Something productive.” I implored.
They both sighed. Amber gave me a brief look of thanks for defusing yet another argument. Robin, from the corner, said, “You know, it’s entirely possible that Mur wants us like this, scared into fighting and fussing and arguing. I mean, he seems to love setting groups against each other. It’s kind of his thing, right?”
I looked at her. She hadn’t talked much today, mostly due to depression, I figured. But she was right. “Fuck him,” Brad said angrily, but for once not directed at any of us.
“Tomorrow we explore. We try to find things that’ll help us. Surely there’s a game or deck of cards or something somewhere, right?” Amber said. “But we still need to bring this fight to him. Somehow.” I nodded as conversation lapsed into silence for a minute.
“You know what I don’t miss?” Robin said, hesitantly.
“What?” I asked, curious.
“I don’t miss the smell of car exhaust,” she offered up.
“I don’t miss term papers,” Jessica said.
“I don’t miss P.E. class,” I said. “Though I think I’d be better in P.E. now than I ever did then.” Everyone smiled at that.
“I don’t miss cabbage,” Amber said. “Mom fixed it at least once a week. It made the whole house smell like rotting dirty socks.”
“I don’t miss Mrs. Howard’s chemistry class,” Brad said. “She would’ve scared Mur into a cowering puddle of shame and tears.”
“Oh, God, yes. She was the worst,” I said.
The smiles faded and we sat in glum silence for a minute. A tear slid down Robin’s face and I could tell she was thinking about all the things she did miss. I was too; I think we all were. Quietly, I got up from the floor and went to sit by her. She looked at me, not trying to hide the fresh tear that was following the first’s trail down her cheek.
Gently, I brushed the tear away. She tried to smile, but it didn’t quite work. “Hey you, we’ll get through this,” I said as gently as I could. Another tear rolled down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb. “I’m really glad we found you, you know.” She wrapped her arms around me shoulders and the floodgates opened. She held me so tight I could barely breathe as racking, wailing, sobs tore through her. I returned that hug with as much force as she gave me. Within a heartbeat I was crying right along with her.
Another set of arms wrapped around Robin and me. I glanced up to see Jessica holding us both. “I love you, Rob,” she mumbled as tears welled up in her eyes. I pulled an arm out from under Jessica so I could pull her tighter into our hug. I glanced up. Amber was crying. I think Brad was, too, but he was at an angle and I couldn’t see him clearly. With one hand, I waved them over. With everyone all tangled up in the hug, we fell over into a mass of crying, giggling, people trying desperately to breathe and not smother anyone.
As the crying and giggles faded, we didn’t try to separate ourselves from the hug. It was awkward and really not very comfortable. But I wasn’t about to end that feeling of connectedness we were sharing in that moment. After a moment, we all sort of shifted to find a position that wasn’t completely painful and awkward without separating. We stayed tangled up together, tightly packed in, even as we faded off to sleep. I suspect if it had just been Amber and Brad and me, it would’ve involved sex. But in some ways this was just as good. It felt comforting. It was a feeling I needed, desperately.
My last thought before succumbing to sleep was that I’d never again feel comfortable sleeping alone in a bed and that I was truly thrilled by who I was sharing my “bed” with. I was smiling as I fell asleep.
The next day, after going out to the bathroom (with a partner for safety, because we’re all about safety through togetherness!), I again changed Robin’s bandages. I was stilling washing out the wound, but I tried to be careful and not break the scabs. The ghosts continued their morning walk as I cleaned Robin’s legs. “I wonder where they steal the food from,” I mused. “It’s a sad lot, to spend your eternity robbing people of their food.”
“Maybe they’re not ghosts. Maybe we’re just in a ‘thin’ spot, where we can see into some other place when the fog rolls in,” Robin said. She was sitting up, helping me tie the bandages on.
“Huh. So you’re saying they work for him from beyond, but not beyond the grave?”
She shrugged. “Maybe? Who knows?”
I turned that thought that over and over as I cleaned up the mess from her bandages. “I like that. It’s something I prefer to him controlling ghosts. I hope you’re right.”
After we’d eaten another uncooked breakfast, Amber, Brad, and I struck out. We went a couple of blocks from our building, to an area Amber had only briefly investigated before. “Not close enough to water, so I didn’t spend much time here,” she explained as we went through more nondescript buildings. There wasn’t a lot to be found. Much like the other places we’d visited, the furniture was minimal and few things left were of any use to us. We did find some blankets that were serviceable. With a good washing, they’d be great. We kept those. And a few pots, so we could bring up more water.
In one shop, we found hundreds of small vials containing various liquids or powders. “Drug store?” I asked. We weren’t sure. The bottles bore labels in a variety of different alphabets. Some looked Russian maybe, or Greek. A few looked like Arabic script perhaps. Many bore glyphs that might have been Japanese or Chinese, I supposed. And some looked completely alien. Only one bottle was English, though. That one was a large bottle, labeled “Poison.” We took nothing from that shop, as we couldn’t be sure what was safe and still good, if any of it was ever safe or good at all.
We kept going, circling around the block so we would eventually come back out at the park. “This city is done with streets arranged in almost perfect grids. No city this old is laid out that way. Well, a few modern cities are, I guess? But these buildings aren’t modern at all, are they?” Brad said.
“Modern? No. Not without indoor plumbing and heat. No, I think this is from some other world, not ours,” Amber answered as we walked. About two blocks north of the park, we found a house with a wall around it. The gate was an old, double-doored, wrought iron, affair. Rust made it difficult to push the doors, but we managed to force them enough to get through. The squealing hinges made me wince.
Inside, the courtyard was small. There was a single tree growing in one corner. It was perhaps ten feet or so tall. It looked like another tree had been in the opposite corner, but all that remained was a short stump. Just to be sure, I walked over and touched the stump and then the live tree. I wanted to be sure we didn’t have another hidden thing to spy on us while we explored. But my fingers encountered what I was seeing.
The house was a two-story plantation style home. It was huge and magnificent, if simpler than the mansion we’d abandoned. The exterior was brick, with white columns supporting a porch and second-floor balcony. White marble steps led up to the entry. It looked like there might be a basement, but I wasn’t sure. The front door was a rich, dark, stained wood. An owl in flight was engraved in the wood. I ran my finger over the owl’s face, marveling at the craftsmanship. We pushed the door open. It moved easily, with a slight squeak.
The foyer had hardwood floors. The boards squeaked softly as we walked, reminding me of my grandfather’s house. Above, the ceilings were ten feet overhead, I thought, and had some kind of tiles rather than the popcorn stucco from back home. There were three doorways off the foyer and a staircase that curved from left to right up to the second floor, passing over the door opposite the exterior entrance.
There was a dining room to the left, with a table and chairs for ten, a china hutch, and a fireplace. To the right, we saw a grand library. It had floor to ceiling shelves on all four walls, with another fireplace. There were books, but we didn’t take the time to explore those yet.
The doorway under the stairs led past a half bath — I checked, it had working water faucets! There was a wet bar with various bottles of clear and amber liquids. Beyond that, we found a living room with sofas and chairs arranged around a fireplace. We could see a grand back porch beyond the living room.
We found an eat-in kitchen to the left of the living room. The kitchen also had a second staircase going up and another going down to the basement or cellar. There was an empty pantry and a laundry room, though this had no washer or dryer, just deep sinks and hanging rods.
To the right of the living room, we found a bedroom that was huge. It had a fireplace, and doors onto the back porch. The bed was a sleigh bed, bigger than my parent’s king-size bed, and made from a dark, mahogany-looking, wood. The same owl on the front door was engraved on the footboard and headboard. The master bath had a shower and an oversized tub. There were two closets, but no clothes. The linen closet contained towels, though.
Upstairs, we found four more bedrooms, a play room (the walls were painted to look a little like clouds and a grassy hill), two baths, and access to porches at the front and back. The storage spaces under the roof eaves held some old furniture, but nothing interesting.
The basement held another bedroom, a mini-kitchen that was about the same size as what we were using back at “our” building, a den, and two other rooms. The den held sofas and chairs. There was also a bathroom and a storage space. The basement storage area held some tools, a few chains, and the usual random stuff one finds in a garage or shed.
We were stunned at this find. I mean, we hadn’t seen any dwelling even close to this. The stove was gas, and amazingly, it worked. The water heater was turned off, but Amber were able to light the gas pilot light. It was, frankly, the most amazing thing we’d seen in days. I mean, the house wasn’t as beautiful or large as the mansion we’d abandoned. But… I couldn’t stop saying “wow” as we went from room to room. All of the artwork had been removed throughout the house, even the mirrors in the bathroom had been taken down, though the wall anchors remained. Otherwise, the house was in pristine condition.
“What do you think?” I asked as we walked out on the back porch. The back yard was larger than the front, and was also walled off from the street. The house and yard occupied half a block or more.
“I say let’s buy it!” Amber said with a grin.
“If that water heater actually heats the water and the showers actually work, I’m all in,” Brad said.
With a smile, I said, “Let’s get the others!” Agreed, we headed straight back to Jessica and Robin. Halfway back I reluctantly said, “If the gargoyles come, the house is not really safe. The ground floor is good, but they can come in via the porches or the windows.”
“Yeah. We probably want to get boards from somewhere and try to block the windows somehow,” Brad said. “It shouldn’t be too hard. But the first few nights, we probably should stay on the ground floor or basement. Just until we can secure the place.”
It was early afternoon when we got back. Robin and Jessica were happy to see us safe and even happier to hear that we found a home with indoor plumbing. “It’s further from food. But it’s got hot water and a gas stove. And beds. It has actual beds.” They didn’t need much convincing.
Robin walked there. She had one arm on my shoulder and one on Amber’s. Brad and Jessica walked out in front, carrying packs with some of our supplies. I really think a doctor would have told us that Robin shouldn’t be on her feet. But we made it, with a few stops to rest along the way.
“Oh, my god, this place is wonderful!” Robin said as we walked with her into the foyer. We helped her settle into a chair in the living room. I could tell she was happy to have proper seating. Honestly, the walk and the new surroundings did us all a world of good.
“Let’s get the rest of our food and tools and such,” Amber suggested.
Jessica looked at me, “Do you mind staying with Robin? I feel like I’ve been completely useless here. I can help carry our gear back while you rest.”
Reluctantly, I agreed and they left. I stood at the front door and watched until they exited the courtyard. When I got back to the living room, I saw that Robin’s legs were bleeding through the bandages in a few spots. The walk was too soon, then. “Robin, are you okay?” I said. She winced, but nodded. “Let me find some fresh bandages for you, okay?”
“Yeah,” she said. I could tell the pain and fatigue were winning, though.
In the kitchen, I set some water to boil and then started ransacking closets and cabinets. I finally found some spare sheets in one of the master closets. They had four full sets of bedding in there! I took a sheet back to the kitchen and cut it into strips. As the water began to boil, I dropped the strips into the pan, so they’d be sterilized. Impatiently, I let them boil and then waited again to let them cool.
I removed her old bandages and cleaned the wounds again. After so many cleanings, the cuts didn’t make my stomach turn anymore. Robin tried not to show how painful it was, but I could tell. I got the fresh bandages on and cleaned up. “Can I get you anything?”
She looked at me with a pitiful expression. “Ice cream?”
“Oh, honey. I wish I could,” I said. She smiled and her pained expression eased up just a little. While she rested in the chair, I stripped the master bed and set out fresh sheets. They didn’t smell clean-washed. But they didn’t smell musty, either. It was a victory as far as I was concerned. It took some effort, but I convinced Robin to get up and walk with me. I helped her to the bedroom and got her into bed. Once I’d helped arrange the pillows for her, I got up to leave. “No, please stay, please?” she asked. Her voice was pitiful, but I wasn’t sure if that was intentional or pain.
I looked at her. She made a sad-puppy-dog face at me. I stuck my tongue out at her. She smiled as I went around and climbed up onto the bed. With a sigh, I sat down next to her. “How bad do they hurt?” I asked.
“Ever had a paper cut?” she said.
“Well, yeah?”
“This feels nothing like that at all,” she said with false bravado. I laughed. “It hurts like hell. This burning, throbbing, ache that doesn’t go away. It sucks. If I move, my muscles pull, and that hurts. If I don’t move, it hurts. When I go to sleep, the pain wakes me up. It sucks so much.” I could see tears welling up in her eyes.
I slid down into the bed and pulled Robin close to me. I didn’t have any words that would take away the pain. And I was pretty sure my touch wasn’t magic either. But I could at least comfort her. It only took a couple of minutes for Robin to fall asleep in my arms.
The door squeaking open woke me up. Jessica walked in, wearing a backpack. Brad and Amber came up behind them. “You okay?” Jessica asked.
I put a finger to my lips and whispered, “The walk over messed up her legs. Had to re-bandage them. I think it wore her out.”
Jessica looked worried. “Anything I can do?”
I shook my head and started to carefully pull away. “No!” Robin murmured in her sleep and clutched frantically at me. I froze and settled back in.
Brad smirked at me. “You’ve ensnared her with your magic cuddles!” he whispered with a grin. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Need anything?” Amber asked quietly.
“No, I’m good. Sure I can’t help?” I answered.
“You are helping. Helping her. We’ll get the rest of the supplies,” Brad said. They quietly left and lay back into the soft pillows. I tried not to think about how beautiful Robin was. But with her in my arms, that was difficult.
I barely heard them leave for more supplies as sleep took me.
The story continues in Part Sixteen.
