A sharp knock on the door startled her and from the other side, Kit said, “Hurry up!”
Kelly wiped her eyes and dressed in the same dusty clothes and ripped shirt, putting on her tennis shoes, but leaving her socks untouched.
She found a small, clean handkerchief on the pile of tossed clothes in the corner and folded it to put in her underwear for the blood. Her face burned from Carl’s whiskers rubbing on her, and her lips felt bruised, and so did the place between her legs.
Kelly opened the door just as Kit was ready to knock again. She silently walked by the woman and sat beside her friends, who didn’t talk, but touched her and stayed close.
Kelly leaned on Consuela and thought of the Hunter woman who tried to rescue them. Please come back, she thought. Please.
~**~
As Hunter drove into San Angelo, Ike looked at her and said, “I don’t feel so good.” He passed out in the passenger seat and slid to the side as his head lolled. The only thing holding him off the floor was the seat belt. She touched his shoulder, “Ike!”
He didn’t respond. She vaguely remembered where the Shannon Hospital was located, and started that way. She held her phone and used one hand and her thumb to punch in the hospital’s name and get the address. Hitting a few more buttons showed her the route to it from her location, and she did a rolling stop at a stop sign and accelerated.
Ike’s head hung down and was flushed from the blood. His breathing sounded labored, and he didn’t respond to Hunter’s touch.
“Hang on,” she said. Don’t die, please don’t die. She shot down North Oakes Street and reached the Hospital in less than five minutes. Flinging open her door, she went into the Emergency Room entrance and told the staff that Ike was hurt and unconscious.
They had a stretcher to the vehicle almost before Hunter finished talking, and wheeled him into the hospital as the Paramedic and Hunter walked with him. The Paramedic, a man named Steve, asked her questions.
She answered every one quickly, and got some sideways looks from Steve, but no follow-up ones on what they were involved in.
A tall, blond nurse asked, “Are you his wife?”
“No.”
“Are you a relative?”
“A friend.”
The nurse smiled, sad but professional, “I’m sorry, you can’t go in with him. If you’ll wait in the waiting room I will come and talk to you after the doctors are finished.” She pointed down the hall to the small, clean room with all the chairs.
Hunter stopped by a machine and bought a bottle of water. She was so thirsty that she finished it before she went inside the waiting room to sit near the door. The room was empty except for her, and Hunter hoped it stayed that way because she didn’t want to talk to anyone.
She thought of Anita, and of the girl, Kelly. Anita was only six, and she already showed coolness, like when Hunter rescued her from the lake. She acted so loving, too.
Kelly was something unusual, in that Hunter saw rare traits of courage and planning in the short time she observed the eleven-year old.
A nurse entered the room and said, “You can go visit Mr. De Los Santos now. He’s in room 211.”
“Thanks.” She walked down the hallway, and took the stairs to the second floor. She saw the room, next to the last at the end of the hall.
Ike sat up in bed eating a small cup of Gandy’s ice cream with a tiny wooden spoon when she entered. He nodded at her, “Hey.”
“Are you gonna be all right?”
“I’ve got a concussion, a good one.”
“They doctor you up?”
“Yes, some shots for nausea and dizziness. They want to hold me for observation. I told them I was fine, but the doctor didn’t back off.”
Hunter thought, I need to find the children, and soon. But she said, “Doctors know best.”
“That’s not good enough. We have to find those kids, Anita and Kelly and the others. We’re gonna lose them, Hunter. Once they’re in the Middle East, they are gone forever. You know it, too.”
Hunter nodded and said, “Where’s your phone?”