Chapter 48
Remy
It was dark when we arrived in Xwechtáal, since Vince’s pace was hindered by dragging me along in a stretcher.
Jordy had also been right in that the entire trip was agony.
Overall, though, the pain was a double-edged sword: I passed out from it at least three times, but it always eventually woke me again.
Someone tried to take my temperature at the gates, but Jordy waved them away, and for some reason, they listened to him.
From my place on the stretcher, I hardly saw anything of the town, other than a few glimpses of roofs and trees. Eventually, we came to a stop outside a barn that used to be a garage. A staircase clung to the outside wall, leading up to the second floor.
“I’ll come back and take care of your mule in a minute, but let’s get you upstairs first,” Jordy said before gingerly putting his arms around me and helping me to my feet.
Very slowly, he managed to get me up the stairs to the apartment above the garage. It wasn’t without a great deal of pain, but it was the only way to get me up there.
The apartment was completely dark when we went in, and he carefully sat me down on a cold mattress. He scrambled around the room, and shortly, a fire roared to life in the hearth, illuminating the one room flat under a pitched roof.
“I’ll let you catch your breath for a minute,” he said.
“I’m going to get your mule all settled in.
I have my own mule, Buck, actually, so I’m all set up to make him comfortable.
Once I’m done with him, I’ll run over to my house next door to get a few things to help you.
” He started for the door, then paused. “What do you think is wrong?”
“Broken ribs and clavicle,” I repeated my best guesses. “And some frostbite on my toes.”
He glanced towards my feet, still in my boots. “Good to know. I’ll be back shortly.”
After he left, I pushed myself up slowly, grimacing through the pain. I took off my gloves first, then I pulled off my balaclava and ran my fingers through my sweaty tangles of dark hair.
With a considerable amount of pain, I was able to slowly shrug my jacket off my good shoulder, but I was completely immobilized by agony when it came to getting it off my broken side.
Ripley laid down in the corner, near the unlit fireplace, and licked her aching paws. I hoped that Jordy had some fresh hay for Vince down below us.
A little while later, the door to the apartment swung open, letting in a cold draft of air, and Jordy came in carrying a tray of various supplies.
Since he’d been in his house, he’d shed his layers, the same way that I had attempted, so he returned wearing a sweater and jeans with his face fully visible.
The first thing that surprised me about his appearance was how youthful he was. He wasn’t a teenager anymore, but I had to be at least a few years his senior. Being rescued by someone younger than me felt off somehow.
The second thing that shocked me about him was that he was rather good-looking.
His hair was thick, raven black and landed above his shoulders.
Most people these days, especially in this subarctic climate, had weathered faces that aged them.
Somehow, he looked so fresh-faced compared to the usual survivor I met.
Just because he was attractive didn’t mean I was attracted to him, but I noticed it, the same way I noticed the burn scars on his hands. Speckled patches of lighter skin and a waxy sheen on his fingertips.
“I’ve brought a few things that I think will help –” he was saying as he came in, but he stopped midsentence when he saw me, and he scowled. “Oh, no, you were supposed to wait for me to help you undress.”
I bristled. “I can do it myself.”
“No, I’m not being a creep.” He rolled his eyes. “You are visibly bruised and broken on your left side all the way up to your chin. With only the injuries you’ve diagnosed yourself with, it is almost scientifically impossible for you to undress on your own.”
I glanced down as far as my neck would allow, but even a subtle movement sent pain all through me. My chest had turned a horrible dark purple color, except for the bright white spot where the bone pointed jaggedly into the skin, straining it to the limit without quite piercing it.
“Who are you? Why are you helping me?” I asked and motioned to the apartment. “This isn’t an infirmary or quarantine. Are you keeping me hostage or something?”
“I honestly don’t believe I could hold someone and her pet lion hostage,” Jordy said with a smirk, and he set the tray on the nightstand, before he carefully sat at the edge of my bed. “But what do you need to know about me to feel more comfortable about this arrangement?”
“Who are you? Why did you bring me here? What are your qualifications for helping the infirmed? How old are you?”
“As I told you before, my name is Jordy Duvall. Jordy’s actually short for Jordano, with my full name being Jordano Anthony Duvall, if that is pertinent info for you,” he said.
“I brought you here, because you would’ve died if I hadn’t.
I am a chemist here in Xwechtáal, and I am twenty-six-years-old. ”
“Twenty-six?” I echoed skeptically. “So you were like fifteen or sixteen when the virus broke out? How the hell did you become a chemist?”
“Same way anyone became anything before the industrial age,” Jordy replied glibly. “I studied, I practiced, I apprenticed, I tried, I understood.”
“What is a chemist anyway?” I asked.
He gave an incredulous laugh. “You don’t even know what a chemist was, and you couldn’t believe that I was one?”
“It sounded like something you need an education for,” I reasoned.
“That’s true, but there’s more than one way to receive an education,” he said. “A chemist makes and distributes medicine, using science and herbal know-how to handle all kinds of problems.”
“And that makes you qualified to treat my broken bones?” I asked.
“Given the other options around here, yes, it does,” he said.
“Do you want to get better? Do you want me to help alleviate your pain? I can do that. Or, if you’d prefer it, I can leave you here to suffer and slowly die.
I won’t force anyone to live these days, especially if they’re unwilling to fight for it themselves. ”
“I want to live, and I’d rather not suffer,” I admitted wearily.
“I can help you with that,” he promised with a confident smile. “Why don’t I give you something for the pain, and then I’ll add another log to the fire?”
“What do you have for the pain?” I asked.
Jordy reached over and picked up a small clay dish off the tray on the nightstand. Inside the dish were a few tiny scraps of green paper, like bits of hand-torn confetti about the quarter of the size of a postage stamp.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s a concoction I’ve made called grinleaf,” he explained, carefully picking up two small flecks with his waxy fingertips. “It blocks pain receptors and causes a sense of euphoria. Given your state, I would recommend that you take two.”
I stared up at him, debating as the ache burned all through me. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t. But you’re not going to survive without some help.”
“Fucking hell,” I muttered. “How do I take it?”
“Put it on your tongue and let it dissolve. You’ll feel it working almost right away,” he assured me.
I took the green tabs from him, and they reminded me almost of fish food that I’d fed my goldfish as a child. Irregular shapes of semi-translucent shades of green.
“If I die, my lion will blame you for it and take it out on you,” I warned him. “Just so you know.”
“Thanks for the heads up, but I promise that I’m only trying to keep you alive,” he said.
The way he smiled at me, I wasn’t sure if I should believe him. But my options were all so limited. How much longer could I go on without treatment for my broken bones? Especially now when I could hardly even hold myself up?
I popped the two tabs on my tongue, and they tasted like vinegar and copper.
Jordy went over to the fireplace, throwing in a few logs from the nearby rack, and the fire blazed and crackled.
“How are you feeling?” Jordy asked as he walked back over to my bed.
“Warm,” I said, but I also felt the pain slowly subsiding.
No, that wasn’t the right word. It was like it was still screaming outside the windows of my mind, but now I could slam them shut and pull closed the curtains, blocking them out.
Tension was slowly unfurling through me, with ice melting in my veins, turning into a sweet liquid, like warm honey, flowing all through me.
Jordy knelt on the bed beside me and helped me take off my jacket. I felt the tug of my left arm, even heard the jostling of my bones scraping against each other. But it didn’t hurt.
With my jacket off, I started fumbling with the buttons of my flannel shirt, clumsily using my one good hand, and already, my eyelids were feeling so heavy, I had to fight to keep them open.
I slipped out of my top layer, but I still had a long-sleeved thermal shirt, a tank top, and a sports bra underneath. I couldn’t hold myself up anymore, though, and I fell back onto the bed.
“Ripley will eat you alive if you hurt me,” I mumbled groggily.
“I promise I won’t hurt you,” Jordy said, and then I lost consciousness.