The Darkest Night (Surviving the Fall 7)

“I’m trying!” With a clear, open stretch of road for what looked like a good mile ahead, Rick was pushing the car to its absolute limits while simultaneously fighting against the shaking and rumbling beneath the earth. As he glanced up at the skyscraper to see what was going on for himself he felt a sickening squeeze in his stomach as the building wobbled slightly too far towards the left in the direction of where they were driving.

Chapter 11

The Water’s Homestead

Outside Ellisville, VA

Jason dozed on and off throughout the rest of the day and into the evening hours. Tina, Sarah and Dianne continued to check on him while Mark stayed busy instructing his brother and sister with cleaning and maintaining the hydroponics in the basement and with feeding and caring for the animals. Mark, Tina and Dianne took the main watches throughout the day and night so that Sarah could spend as much time with Jason as possible.

Not wanting to trouble Jason given his condition, Dianne and Tina kept their discussions regarding their response to the gang between themselves, Sarah and Mark. The conclusion, after hours of on and off discussion, was to keep the status quo largely unchanged. The property and the house was largely protected against surprise assault and there wasn’t much else they could do that didn’t involve completely surrounding the property which, as they had talked about before, was not within the realm of feasibility.

The cold weather and the concerns over keeping a fire going and having the smoke be seen by the gang was a constant worry. Near the end of the day as the sun started going down they agreed that they would need to make the best of the situation by running a single, small space heater in the dining room. Everyone who was sleeping would be on pallets in the room to help conserve warmth while those who were on watch would double down on the blankets and warm clothing. The temperature over the last few nights had been warmer than expected which helped with the situation and Jacob and Josie were overjoyed at the change in scenery despite the direness of the whole situation.

It was in the early morning hours when Dianne, who was trying to get a couple hours of sleep, was awoken by Tina’s rapid tapping on her arm and whispering in her ea

r. “Dianne. Get up. I need to talk to you.”

“Wha…huh?” Dianne blinked several times and nodded slowly. “Sure. Talk.”

“Not here. In the kitchen.” Tina stood up and hurried to the kitchen while Dianne slowly stood up and padded from the moderate warmth of the dining room through the blanket hung in the doorway and into the cold of the kitchen.

Mark was standing at the back door as Dianne sat down across from Tina who passed the bleary-eyed mother a cup of coffee. “Here. Drink this. You need to be awake.”

“Tina, while I appreciate the coffee, I really hope this is an emergency.” Dianne croaked out the words as she sipped on the hot drink, both hoping that the caffeine would wake her up and wishing she could be back on the floor sleeping.

“Jason’s not doing well.” Tina spoke quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear. Dianne’s eyes widened and she put the cup down on the table, her brain suddenly kick-started into high gear.

“Come again?”

“Jason. He’s not well.” Tina shook her head. “His temperature’s going up pretty rapidly and he’s starting to have trouble breathing. I talked to him earlier and he seems… confused. Definitely not himself.”

“He seemed okay when I talked to him last night.”

“I know.” Tina nodded. “That’s what’s worrying. He’s getting worse.”

“What do you think it is?”

Tina sighed and scratched her head. “I… don’t know. My best guess is an infection. Maybe a bad one. Sepsis, possibly.”

“Sepsis? That sounds bad.”

“Yeah, it’s a whole-body infection. If that’s it—and I’ll be honest, I’m pretty sure it is—he needs real antibiotics very soon or he’s going to die.” The frank declaration sat in the air, hovering over the table as Dianne tried to make sense of it.

“Okay… so what do we do? Try more antibiotics?”

“Nothing you’ve got here is going to help. Mark helped me go through every last bit of meds you’ve got. They’re fine for small wounds and infections but something this serious needs something real.”

Dianne took in a deep breath. “Where do we find what he needs?”

Tina ran her hands through her greying hair and exhaled sharply. “That’s what I needed to talk to you about. The only places that will have something like this are hospitals or LTAC hospitals.”

“What’s an—”

Tina interrupted Dianne, answering her question before she could finish. “Long-Term Acute Care. It’s kind of like a mix between a normal hospital and a nursing home. We send folks there who need weeks or months’ worth of hospital-level care.”

“And a place like that is going to have antibiotics?”

Tina nodded rapidly. “Yes. More than a normal hospital, most likely. They’ll have mass quantities of broad-spectrum antibiotics and fluids that he’s going to need to survive. He’ll need to be on an IV for a while. Couple of weeks, maybe. Possibly less, maybe more.”