Chapter 40
40
The old boardinghouse had originally been constructed as a brothel in the 1930’s during the mining era. It eventually adjusted to the times and became respectable, and was now known as “Granny Apple’s Boardinghouse.”
When Ani walked in, a young medic in a white coat waved her over to an antique desk in one corner of the room. “You’re Ani Devi?”
“Yes. How’s everyone doing?”
“Pretty well, all things considered. We have five patients, the youngest is five, the oldest thirteen. We’re just treating symptoms, obviously. Two children are receiving IV fluids. We’re seeing fever, body aches, typical flu-like symptoms.”
“Any hallucinations or disordered speech?”
He squinted at her with a puzzled expression. “Not that I’ve seen. But you’d have to ask Mindy.”
She thought about Victor’s experimental plant cocktail and eliminated it from consideration. Even if she had access to it, would parents agree to give their children something that caused “wrong tongue”? Maybe it could be a last resort, if nothing else was working, but they weren’t there yet.
“How can I help?”
“You can relieve Mindy. She’ll show you the drill. We’re tracking all symptoms very closely for our database, and when the kids are up for it, trying to narrow down their exposure vectors.”
That caught her attention. Apparently they still didn’t know all the ways the virus was transferred. “Are there vectors aside from other humans, as far as we know?”
The medic shrugged. He was on the young side, or maybe his baby face threw her off. He must have gone through all the Army training provided to medics. “That’s the thing, we don’t know much. All the patients know each other, because it’s such a small town. Everyone is connected somehow. A place like this has special challenges.”
“Why’s that?”
“We don’t even know how many people live here. It’s so off-grid, there’s no way to be sure. Did you know the last census-taker who came through here reported only fifty residents?”
She had to laugh. “Nice round number. I wonder if they just made it up.”
“Wouldn’t be surprised.” He gestured toward a sink set up as an antiseptic station. “You can get started there.”
Ani washed up and headed toward the stairwell. The treads were so old they dipped in the middle. As she reached the first step, she caught sight of Bear pushing open the front door.
He beckoned to her. “Can we talk for a second outside?”
A frisson of fear went through her. Was this about Lila? But no, she’d just seen Lila, and her friend was fine.
She stepped out into the quiet main road. Dust lingered in the air from Bear’s old pickup truck jerking to a halt. He took off his mask—black, badass—and said, “I’ve been making food deliveries to some of my old-timers. At least three are sick, but they don’t want me to tell anyone who works for the government. That’s not you, is it?”
“No, but I am working with them.”
Bear pushed a hand through his dark hair, which hung to his jawline. Ani had found him intimidating at first—he towered over her—but in time she’d come to appreciate his marshmallow side. “Fuck, I don’t know what to do.”
“When I’m finished here I’ll go out there with you,” she promised him. “As long as they have enough water to drink and a bed to sweat it out in, they should be okay. And green tea. Can you take everyone some green tea?”
He looked at her as if she was nuts. “I run a bar, not a coffee shop. The closest thing I have to green tea is probably peppermint schnapps.”
Ani smiled at that. “Kathy might have some green tea at the general store.”
“Not sure they’d drink it.”
“Maybe add some of that schnapps?”
He finally cracked a smile. “Getting the hang of Firelight Ridge now, aren’t you?”
“I’m practically a local now.”
“I’ll come pick you up when you’re done,” he told her as she hurried back into the boardinghouse.
The second floor was filled with army cots, although only four were occupied. The sight of all those empty ones was unnerving. Ani told herself it was good to be prepared, even if most of those cots never got used.
After consulting with Mindy, an Army nurse, she got to work tending to the five little patients.
Amy Tlingit, five years old, was crying softly because she wanted to go home. Ani stroked her hair and soothed her until she drifted off to sleep.
Sawyer Miller, thirteen years old, was experiencing a fit of guilt because his little sister was sick too. “I shouldn’t have dragged her to the creek to go swimming with me. Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s already better,” Ani assured him after checking Lizzie Miller’s chart. “You couldn’t have known about this virus. None of the adults knew either. Just rest now, that’s the best thing you can do for her.” She was about to turn away when he spoke again.
“Elephants dream about sunflowers.”
“Excuse me?”
He stared at her blankly. “What?”
“Did you say something about elephants?”
He frowned at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Go fly down the clouds.” With that, he closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
Hallucination? Disordered speech?
Amy Miller, his little sister, was fast asleep. There would be no checking her for those symptoms.
Ronnie Baker, ten years old, had a fever of a hundred and three and was mad because he’d had to leave a camping trip with his family. Ani gave him a cool washcloth and made him sip some water. She sat with him while he talked about what they’d done on the trip.
“How many are in your family?” she asked him.
“Six kids, plus my two cousins live with us.”
Okay then. That was a big family. And only Ronnie had gotten sick. The virus didn’t seem especially contagious. That was very good news for everyone, since the CDC team should have a good chance of keeping this outbreak contained.
His mention of the camping trip reminded her of Charlie’s request. “Ronnie, have you seen anyone here from the Wilderness Alive group?”
“The what? My head hurts.”
She gave him some Tylenol and more water, and went back to the oldest kid, Sawyer. He hadn’t heard anything about the group Charlie had mentioned either. None of the current crop of patients were part of it.
When all the kids were either asleep or reading one of the vintage children’s books the boardinghouse owned, she slipped downstairs to pose the question to the young medic.
He frowned. “No one has mentioned that group. Do you think they’re still out there?”
“The trip was supposed to be over by now. If they’re still out there, maybe something went wrong. They could be sick. Who should I talk to?”
“Do you know where they were going to camp?”
She shook her head.
“Honestly, we don’t have the resources to send someone on a goose chase into the wilderness.”
“Of course you do. A military helicopter came to pick up me and Gil, they found us with thermal imaging. A whole group of kids would be even easier.”
“Not my call,” he shrugged. “I’m just a medic. Mindy’s back now, so if you want to leave and?—”
Just in time, she remembered that she had the sat phone the sergeant had given her and cut him off. “Thank you. I need to make a quick call. I’ll be back when I can.”
Someone with a gruff voice answered. She explained the situation.
“Is the threat contained?” he asked.
“Contained?”
“Any chance they’d be out infecting other people? Our priority right now is containing this thing.”
“I mean…probably not, if they’re camping in the wilderness. But they should be back by now?—”
He cut her off. “I’ll run it up the chain.”
“Okay, so does that mean you’ll look for them?”
“It means I’ll pass the information along to the decision-makers.” And he was gone.
Ani nearly swore at the phone. The man was right, in a sense. There was likely no public threat from a group of kids on a wilderness trip. But what if they’d gotten sick and didn’t have enough supplies with them? What if they were low on water?
The sight of Bear’s truck heading toward her interrupted her worrying. “Bear!” She waved her hands and ran after him, telling her hip to shut up and cooperate for once.
He pulled to a stop and she jumped into the cab. “Have you heard anything about the group of kids who went camping a week ago? The group is called Wilderness Alive.”
“Nope. Not a word. But the usual grapevine is disrupted. Ready to go see some patients? They’re the grapevine anyway.”
“Sounds good.” She fastened her seat belt. Something was nagging at her. She thought about the kids she’d just seen. Nothing stood out about any of the four cases. If she’d seen them back in Barlow, she would have sent them home with instructions to rest, drink fluids, and take plenty of Tylenol.
So what was bugging her about this situation? It was something important. It danced at the edge of her mind, but she couldn’t quite pin it down.