Surge (53 page)

We spend the next two days at the ranch. Most of the time, we make Olivia sleep to try and recuperate. Every single time, she wakes up with a silent scream, and doesn’t stop shaking for hours. When Cory or I ask her what they were about, she writes that she can’t remember, but you can see the look in her eyes that says she’ll never forget.

Leonard and Tommy are constant visitors, spending most of their free time at her bedside and kicking Cory and me out for the duration of their visits. Oscar and Carlos are also frequent fliers. Those two speak in Spanish to her and pat her hand, so whenever they visit, I leave the room willingly before I start shouting for a translator. Even Sarah and Danny stopped by a few times.

Olivia gladly accepted Sarah’s offer of leaving Morris, so that prick has been wrapped in her arms, sleeping on her lap, or curled next to her head on the pillow ever since. The furry bastard has even shed all over her, but does she care? Hell no. Olivia says she likes the company, but I suspect she likes to be able to make any amount of physical contact with a living thing, and not have to keep her guard up.

Whitney and Akio make several trips to check out her stitches and look for any signs of bacterial infection. Finding none, they pop a squat along with Mike and talk to her for a little while. I think that Akio has buried whatever hatchet was left after the Victoria fiasco, because I’ve even seen the serious Doc smile at her more than once, and Olivia’s even returned it.

The only people who haven’t visited her are the hens. Marissa said she wasn’t good with blood. Chelsea used the same excuse, but I could see the fear in her eyes. From what, I don’t know. And Kelly hasn’t been allowed inside for obvious reasons.

Right now I’m headed back into the sick room with a tray of broth that Leonard made specifically for Olivia’s sore throat. He said it’s the perfect remedy for getting his girl
‘shipshape’
in no time. I raised my eyebrows at that, but dutifully picked up the bowl of liquid and carried it out. I knock at the door with my free hand and wait for someone to open it. Oscar’s the one who opens the door and ushers me in before closing it behind me.

Cory’s lounging next to Olivia on the bed, Carlos is sitting in a chair that was brought in from the kitchen, John’s telling jokes, and Olivia’s laughing as she rubs Morris’s ears. I see Oscar resume his perch on the empty chair next to John, as I set the tray at the foot of the bed. When Olivia starts wheezing a little, I glare at John.

“Quit making her laugh, asshole,” I snap. Yes, I’ve become the clucking hen who nitpicks everyone’s moves. Go ahead and sue me, I have a lawyer. Well, I did. Anyway, I want her better A.S.A.P. and every strain on her throat postpones that further.

“She’s fine,” John says with a wave at me. “Right, Livia?” Olivia nods and mocks a scowl at me for daring to say otherwise.

“She doesn’t sound
fine
,” I hiss. Carlos and Oscar whisper something in Spanish to each other behind me before laughing. Olivia looks confused, maybe she doesn’t speak as fluently as I thought, I don’t know. And I don’t care, what I do care about is her throat healing so I can hear her voice again.

“Jared, she’s alright,” Cory says. I relax a little at that, if anyone is as obsessed with her recovery as I am, it’s him. “She was actually just going to share where it is exactly that we’re headed.”

My eyes snap to hers for confirmation. Olivia nods and pulls out her writing goods. She covered the deed with her neat script the first day, so we’ve since found her a pad of paper to use. She uses them now to write out the location. When she holds up her paper seconds later, two words are written.

“Cross Lake.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” I comment. She holds up a finger as she flips the paper around and adds more. It takes a few minutes, but she when she holds it up, I can see she wrote more details.

“It’s in Maine, off of 161. Almost to the Canadian Border. There are four other lakes surrounding it, but it’s in the middle and has a port for seaplanes.”

“Sounds pretty damn far,” John remarks. Olivia nods as she writes more.

“It is. But it’s also
safe
.”
Olivia underlined safe twice to stress the point, and if she thinks the place is safe, then it’s the friggin Taj Mahal of safe havens.

“I think it sounds great,” Carlos says and shoots a look at John, who shrugs in response.

“But why are you telling us now?” Oscar inquires as he squints his eyes a little to observe her.

“Yeah,” John adds. “You were protecting it like the freaking Holy Grail or some shit.” Olivia writes her answer down. When she flips it around, she points to her throat.

“I’m not invincible, and wanted to share it just in case I’m not around to take you there myself.”

“Fuck that!” I exclaim over the rush of blood in my ears. “You’re LC, you can handle anything.” Olivia smiles at little as she writes her reply.

“Thanks, Mouth, but even Lara failed sometimes. I just don’t get to regenerate and try again.”
I bite my tongue on the retort, she won’t need to fucking regenerate if she doesn’t go down in the first place. I’ll make sure of it.

“Fine, we get that you’re only human,” I acknowledge and she nods. “So thanks for the information, but we still need our tour guide. Now eat your damn broth and rest up.”

Olivia salutes me before sliding the tray closer. She demanded her bag to be brought to her the first day of confinement, so she’s wearing things that make her comfortable enough to not have to clutch the quilt. Like today she’s wearing a pair of jeans, another turtleneck that isn’t torn or blood stained, and a loose sweatshirt that must be Cory’s since it’s fucking huge. Her leathers have seen their last day, but we haven’t told her yet. She thinks that they’re being washed, and it’ll stay that way until I think she’s healed enough to rant about it.

The room clears out with the twins going in search of a map from one of our packs to look up Cross Lake, and John to hunt for dinner in the woods with Danny. This leaves Cory and me alone with Olivia for the first time in eight hours. Early risers, like Leonard, started visiting at eight o’clock. We were all up, but that’s beside the point, I didn’t want to be up. But Olivia sure as hell did, she woke up three times before refusing to go back to sleep again. Meaning she’s going on two hours of broken sleep. I don’t how she’s functioning right now when my eyes are closing on their own and I had more than five hours.

“Jared, go take a nap,” Cory orders. My straining eyes snap to his as I snarl. “Like I said, go take a nap. You look like a toddler about to fall asleep in his cereal bowl.”

“No,” I refuse and cross my arms. Olivia rolls her eyes at the display before writing something down.

“Go on, Mouth. You’re starting to be Oscar the Grouch instead of the Cookie Monster, and it ain’t cute.”
I scowl, so she points at my face and adds more.
“Frown lines by twenty-four. Go the fuck the sleep or I’ll put you to sleep.”
I bite my lip, I’m picking up her nervous trait, fuck I need to get out of here. Removing my teeth from my abused lip, I stare at her eyes.

“You wake me for anything, alright?” I demand. “I don’t care if it’s a hangnail, I want to be here.” Olivia pats her chest to say she promises and nods as she shoos me with her other hand. I shake my head and she glares. “I want my hug.”

Walking close to the foot of the bed, I hold my arms out, making Olivia roll her eyes, but she crawls forward to give me a quick hug. She may pretend to find it annoying, but ever since I’ve started demanding one or refusing to do what she orders, she always has a small smile when she pulls back. Like right now. Olivia tries to bite it back, and fails since I see the quirk in her cheek and softness in her grey eyes. I back out of the room, but stop at the door look at Cory.

“I’m serious, wake me for anything.”

“Just go already, you pain in the ass,” Cory says and waves me off. I flip him the bird before closing the door behind me.

<~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~><~~~<~~~
~~~>~~~>

I wake to shouting. That immediately sets my teeth on edge. Dragging my ass out of the warm bed, I pull on my jeans and shirt as I stomp out of the room. Glancing at my watch as I pound down the hallway, I see that it’s nine o’clock and these fuckers should be settling in for the night. It’s the number one rule of the group, quiet time after dusk. Not arguing over who the fuck knows what at the tops of their lungs.

Stopping at Olivia’s room, I glance inside to find a tense Cory, who’s setting up music on Olivia’s portable CD player. It’s one of the older handheld styles that you can use headphones or the tiny speakers attached to listen. He has it with the headset plugged in and I see the earbuds are in a sleeping Olivia’s ears.

“She okay?” I mouth and he nods before pointing at the door.

“Go see what the fuck’s going on,” he demands. “If they wake her, I’m stabbing them all. It’s the longest she’s slept.”

“I’m on it, just stay here.”

Leaving Cory to watch over Olivia, I approach the living room. This is where the screaming match is located. On one side of the room are John, Sarah, Danny, Lenny, Tommy and the twins. Whitney, Mike and Akio are in the middle trying to shush the screechers on the opposite end. It’s no surprise to see Kelly heading up the noise, but Chelsea’s joining in sure the fuck is. I glance around and find Marissa as far away from everyone as possible with wide eyes.

“What the fuck is going on?” I roar over all parties involved. Several people start to answer at once, so I hold up my hands and wait for silence. I get it from everyone except the usual bitch.

“What’s going on is that you’re keeping us locked in with an infected slut,” Kelly shrieks.

“She’s not infected!” Leonard shouts at the same time that Sarah yells, “She is not a slut!” I point at them and they snap their mouths shut before I look at the bimbo on the left.

“Olivia is not a slut,” I say through a tense jaw. “And she is not fucking infected. You’ve already been told this.”

“She is too,” Kelly insists. “I saw the bite myself.” Chelsea nods to say that she saw the supposed bite too.

“You two neurotic ninnies are blind,” I snap. “Olivia was not
bitten
or
scratched
. She caught a piece of glass in her throat, that’s all.”

“Then why won’t you let me see her?” Kelly inquires with a smug smile. “If she isn’t a monster, then why are you blocking my entrance.”

“I think it’s pretty fucking obvious why you’ve been barred,” I remark dryly and hear a couple of chuckles from the right.

“I don’t believe you,” Kelly hisses. “You’ve only allowed men in the room.”

“Is Whitney a man? Sarah?” I ask and don’t receive an answer. “I wouldn’t have allowed anyone in the room if she was infected, never mind my own sister. Get a real argument.

“I have a real argument,” the delusional bitch persists.

“Whitney,” I begin. “You’ve seen Olivia’s entire body, does she have any bites or scratches?”

“No, I have not seen evidence of either,” she answers.

“Thank you,” I say and Whitney nods. “Akio, you’ve done an exam on her. Did you see any evidence of infection?”

“No, I haven’t,” he responds. “What I did find evidence for was glass that needed to be extracted and stitched, which only confirms your statement.” I nod at him and point to the twins, John, Danny, Sarah, Mike, Lenny and Tommy.

“All of you have been in to see Olivia,” I say. “Have any of you seen her display symptoms of being infected or becoming a wheezer?” Resounding
‘No’s’
and head shakes pass all around. I point at the evidence as I stare down Kelly, since she’s the instigator here. Chelsea’s just a crazed follower that’s caught up in the hysteria.

“As you can see, everyone here can attest to Olivia’s well-being,” I finish. “So, give it a fucking rest already.”

“This isn’t over, Jared,” Kelly states and glares at me. “All of those liars are just loyal to you and your whore. But I know the truth and I won’t fall victim to the charms of that Jezebel.”

“Why don’t you go take your crazy ass for a walk,” I suggest as I battle the urge to strangle her. “If you still feel that way after you cool off, don’t fucking come back, you delusional skank.”