Chapter 12
AVA
Ava pulled herself out of bed the next morning, glancing over at Alex’s still-sleeping form. His eyebrows pinched together like he was having a bad dream.
She rubbed his chest gently before she leaned over to kiss his cheek. His skin felt warm under her lips. She frowned but let it go, assuming it was just the blankets and the heater running in the room.
After a quick check of her cell phone, she pushed into the bathroom and turned on the shower, heating the water until it steamed.
As she climbed under the hot stream, her mind whirled. Alex’s calculations showed the town being overrun with the deadly flu so quickly, they may not be able to work fast enough to save most of its residents.
Despite the heat of the water, enough to turn her skin pink, she shivered.
Seeing so many people sick with no treatment in sight twisted her stomach into a tight knot.
If this so-called trial run of the flu looked promising, there was nothing stopping The Board from unleashing this on the general population.
She crinkled her nose. Something didn’t add up about that.
How would they protect their own? Quarantine with advanced notice?
Still, it was risky, but maybe they had preparations for this–a hidden bunker where they could ride it out until the world’s population was decimated.
Then they would swoop in and rebuild, tailoring the world to their specifications.
A wave of nausea crashed over her as she faced the bleak future. She shut off the water and toweled off before pulling on her clothes.
When she stepped out of the bathroom, she found Alex sipping a cup of coffee as he sat in the rickety desk chair. With dark circles under his eyes and pale skin, he looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.
She crossed to him, pouring herself a cup of coffee as she greeted him. “You look rough, babe. No sleep?”
“Barely,” he answered, his voice sounding a little hoarse. He rose, and she swore he swayed a little before he started toward the bathroom. “Hopefully, a shower will help. Let me know what Doc finds out when he calls.”
“Okay,” she said before she took another sip of her coffee, eyeing him over the rim of the paper cup.
Alex hated germs, and this seemed to be taking a huge toll on him. Maybe the best thing they could do was stay back at the motel today to settle his nerves. Besides, outside of ensuring this flu didn’t get loose into the general population, there wasn’t much she could do.
A knock sounded at the door, and she crossed to open it, stepping back to allow Kyle and Sebastian into the room.
“Good morning. Any news?” she asked.
“It’s not good. Huge influx of patients overnight. The hospital is basically overrun. They’re calling physicians in from neighboring hospitals to help but they’re basically bursting at the seams.”
Ava’s eyebrows raised. “They cannot send these people to another hospital. It’s too big of a risk.”
Sebastian crossed his arms, his biceps bulging. “They’ve been told that already. And if I have to, I will call the other hospitals and tell them they cannot accept these patients.”
Ava bobbed her head. “All right. Well, it looks like we should probably head in there today and keep this under control.”
She didn’t want to do it, but they may have no choice. She’d tell Alex to stay here. With the little sleep he’d gotten, he would have a difficult time dealing with the stresses of being in a hospital full of sick people.
“I’m heading in anyway. I asked for them to try a few drug combinations on patients to see if they had any effect on this thing,” Kyle said. “I’d like to see the results firsthand.”
“Is this thing really that drug resistant?” Ava asked.
“Seems to be. All the standard treatments have had no effect on patients.”
Ava pressed her lips together, shaking her head. Of course, they would have designed it like this. They hadn’t created a deadly virus only for a simple dose of Tamiflu to defeat it.
Before she could ask more questions, Alex emerged from the bathroom. It didn’t look like the shower had helped at all. In fact, he looked like he was barely on his feet.
He stumbled forward, his eyes half closed.
“Whoa, babe, you look worse than you did when you went in.” Ava hurried to his side, dropping her coffee cup on the nightstand.
“Yeah,” he answered with a shake of his head, sweat beading on his brow “I didn’t sleep. “How’s it looking at the hospital, Doc? Can Ava and I have a free pass to stay home?”
Kyle frowned at him, his eyes narrowing as he took a step closer. “You feeling okay?”
Ava had the same question. Something didn’t look right with Alex, and it wasn’t just a lack of sleep. Worry twisted her insides into a knot.
“I’m tired. I didn’t get much sleep. And I have a stiff neck from that stupid chair they have.
Remind me to bring my own chair next time I have to save the world from a deadly virus.
” The lopsided grin he tried to give them amped her worry up to the next level.
He looked like he was too tired to even smile.
Ava pressed a hand against Alex’s cheek, her stomach lurching as heat burned through her fingertips. “Babe, you’re burning up.”
“Probably hot from the shower.”
But Ava didn’t buy that explanation. She’d seen the feverish people in the hospital last night, seen how quickly family members fell ill while tending to their loved ones, and how quickly they’d gone downhill.
Had Alex contracted the deadly flu virus?
“Uhh, you may want to sit down, Mav,” Kyle suggested as he swayed on his feet, his eyes barely open.
“Yeah, maybe. I feel really tired. I’ll just–”
“Ace?” Ava asked when his words stopped short.
He collapsed forward, crumpling into Kyle who managed to catch him before he hit the floor.
Ava’s heart skipped a beat as Kyle dragged him toward the bed with Sebastian’s help. “Alex?!” she cried, tears stinging her eyes as the very real possibility that he could be sick with a flu virus designed to quickly kill him shot through her.
“Doc, tell me this isn’t what I think it is,” she said, her voice trembling.
“Let me grab my bag. I’ll be right back.”
Ava grabbed Alex’s hand as she climbed onto the bed next to him. “Alex, come on, babe, you need to wake up.”
She gently patted his cheeks until his eyelashes finally fluttered open. With bleary eyes, he stared up at her. “Avs?”
“Hey, Ace,” she said, her features pinching as she fought the urge to cry. “You gave us a little scare.”
“What happened? I wanted to sit down, and then I don’t remember anything.”
“You got to do that,” Sebastian answered. “The hard way. Doc dragged you over to the bed after you passed out.”
“I fainted?” Alex asked, his eyebrows pinching.
Ava nodded as Kyle hurried back into the room. “Yeah, babe, you did. How do you feel? Are you sick? Sore throat?”
“Uhh,” he started as Kyle pulled his stethoscope from his bag and shoved it into his ears, pressing the other end against Alex’s chest. “I’m just tired. I feel…kind of bad. And I have a headache.”
“Achy?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, I guess. This bed stinks, though. I mean, seriously? I don’t think they’ve changed it since the motel opened.”
Ava shot Kyle a worried glance, her lower lip trembling.
“Okay, let’s not jump to any conclusions here, okay? I’m going to grab a blood sample from you, and a throat swab, okay?”
“Throat swab. Why would I…oh, no. No,” Alex said, his eyes going wide. “No, you can’t think that I have this flu, right?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Kyle said as he readied the materials to collect the blood sample and the throat swab.
“Should we be taking him to the hospital?” Ava asked, trying to keep the panic in her voice to a minimum, but failing.
“Not yet. We don’t know that this is the flu. And I don’t want him exposed to any of those patients if it’s not. What I do want is you to quarantine yourself. No contact outside, okay? No delivery people, no maids, no nothing.”
“I don’t think they have maids here,” Alex said with a weak chuckle. “And I don’t think I have the flu. I’m fine, Avs. I promise. I’m just a little tired.”
Ava offered him a fleeting smile, unable to make it look genuine with the upset that roiled inside her. “Yeah.”
“And at least we get a free pass from the hospital.” As he gave her a weak grin, she noticed the sweat beading on his brow.
“Did you take his temperature?” Ava asked.
“Not yet,” Kyle said as he finished collecting the blood sample. “I’ll grab it now before I get his throat culture.”
Ava pressed her lips together into a thin line as Kyle aimed the gun at Alex’s forehead and pressed the button. She groaned internally at the red light that appeared before she read the number. Close to one-oh-one.
Her heart sank. “That’s not good.”
“What is it?”
“Almost one-oh-one,” she answered. “This isn’t just being tired, babe.”
Alex shifted on the bed, trying to prop himself up on his elbow. “It’s not this flu, though, right? I couldn’t have gotten it this fast. It’s only been a few hours.”
“Incubation time is pretty quick on the regular flu…this could be even faster,” Kyle answered. “Open up and let me get that throat swab.”
“I’d rather you didn’t. I really didn’t want the needle in the arm either.”
“Come on, buddy, it’s only a few seconds. And if you’re good, I’ll give you a lollipop.”
“Very funny, Doc,” Alex answered with a grimace.
“Come on, babe, just let him get the sample.” Ava grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Plus, the lollipop sounds worth it.”
“Do you have grape?” Alex asked.
“Yep,” Kyle said with a nod.
“Seriously? You’ve been carrying lollipops in your doctor’s bag, and you’ve never offered to share them with us?” Ava asked.
“I use them for these occasions. If I shared them all the time, you wouldn’t let me get throat cultures,” Kyle answered as he pulled open the swab.
Alex grimaced before opening his mouth. Kyle stuck the swab into his throat, causing Alex to gag a little as he swiped.
“Good job.” Kyle slid it into a protective container before he dug into his bag and offered Alex a purple-colored lollipop.
Alex grabbed it from him with a smile. “Thanks, Doc. I bet I’ll be feeling better in no time with this type of medicine.”
“Well, you should have whatever medicine you want, Mav. Cheese balls, orange soda. You are under doctor’s orders to stay in bed, relax, and eat. I’m also going to give you some vitamins to help boost your immune system.”
Ava swallowed hard as Kyle dug a pack of immune-boosting vitamins from his bag and handed them over.
“Start with two of those right now. Try to get some food down, okay?”
“I really don’t feel like eating,” Alex said with a shake of his head.
“I’m going to get you something to eat,” Ava answered. “You’re eating no matter what.”
“She’s right. You should listen to her,” Kyle said. “Food helps your body fight this infection.”
“Which I am going to do because this is not the flu,” Alex answered.
Ava clung to the words as she tugged on a hoodie and zipped it up. She wanted desperately to believe that he’d just been run down from the stress and caught a cold, but the fever alone worried her.
She grabbed her room key and her purse. “I’ll be right back. Can you two stay until I get back with the food?”
“Sure, we’ll head to the hospital after you get back,” Kyle answered. “I’ll take a breakfast sandwich, croissant, ham, American cheese.”
“Same but on a muffin, please,” Sebastian added.
Ava stared at him before she shook her head. “Fine.”
“Avs,” Alex said, pushing up to his elbow, “bacon. You know that right?”
“I know, babe. On a biscuit.”
She hurried from the room into the foggy morning air, zipping her hoodie higher as she hit the sidewalk, walking the half block to the gas station on the edge of town.
Her mind spun as she ordered the sandwiches and waited for them to be prepared. How could they fight this? Especially if Alex had this flu.
She couldn’t lose him. She wouldn’t. She would do whatever it took.
When she returned with the sandwiches, Alex seemed no better, but also no worse. She climbed into bed with him, propping him up with pillows so he could eat.
“I feel a little better,” Alex said as he polished off the sandwich.
“That’s good, babe,” she said, running her fingers through his hair.
Kyle tossed his wrapper in the trash. “Why don’t you stay here with him? Alert me immediately to any acute changes in him, okay? I’ll call you as soon as I have the results of his cultures.”
“Okay,” Ava said, her eyes going to Sebastian. “You good handling the hospital for the morning?”
“Yeah, I’ll tell them you’re busy calling all the other hospitals and telling them that they can’t take these patients.”
Ava poked a finger at him. “Perfect. Thank you.”
As they left them behind, she snuggled closer to Alex. “How are you really feeling?”
“Better, honest,” he said. “In fact, why don’t you grab my laptop? We’ll monitor the hospital and stuff while we’re lounging.”
“We can put on a movie,” she answered as she fetched the laptop from the desk.
“Ohh, yes, this place said it had cable. I can’t wait to watch live television like it’s the eighties.”
She snickered at him as she handed him his laptop and joined him in bed, turning on the television and finding a cheesy romantic comedy.
Alex set up the laptop with the video feeds, then turned his attention to the television. Within minutes, he dozed off.
She offered him a weak smile as she stroked his hair while he slept. She settled in to watch the movie, her cell phone in her hand.
When it finally rang, she answered immediately. “Doc…tell me this is good news.”
“Ava…I’m sorry…it’s not. He’s positive for the flu. I double- and triple-checked. It’s the same one we’re dealing with at the hospital.”
Her heart plummeted at the words, her lower lip trembling as her gaze shifted sideways to Alex.
Ava swallowed hard, remembering the patients she had seen last night at the hospital. They’d arrived with little more than a fever and a cough, but within hours some of them were on ventilators, fighting for their lives.
He had the deadly flu that they’d come to stop from spreading. What would she do if he got sicker…or worse?
Her heart felt like it had been ripped from her chest. She glanced at Alex–so still, so fragile. The man who had always been there for her. But now…what if she couldn’t be there for him when he needed her the most?