AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes. It was a pretty sad Christmas. The first one without Beatrice and Elise, and with Reece getting worse every day. But everyone tried to put on a good face for Christmas day.”
“They did. And do you remember the gift exchange?”
She smiled against his chest. “Of course. We hadn’t known each other long, but I bought you a lovely candle.”
“Is that what you’re going with?” She could hear the smile in his voice, and it warmed her.
“Yes. It was vanilla, I think.”
“It was.”
“And it was in a lovely jar,” she said with an air of innocence. She loved dragging this out.
He brought his mouth to her ear and gave her a small kiss. “Do you remember what it said?”
She giggled. “Yes, Thanks for All The Orgasms in large black letters with a heart underneath.”
“And you totally enjoyed me unwrapping it in front of your friends and family.”
She giggled again, the sound so unlike her. “Well... I was very thankful.” Isaac’s gift to her had been practical and thoughtful—beautiful silver welder pencils. She was still using them. But just thinking about the candle made her smile.
They were quiet again for a while, and then Isaac reached over the side of the bed and got them some more water. When he turned off the light, it plunged them into total darkness, but it wasn’t scary like it had been in the beginning. As long as she could feel Isaac’s heartbeat against her cheek while she straddled his lap, his arms around her, she knew he would protect her.
“Although this wouldn’t have been where I chose to spend Christmas,” he whispered, “there is no one else I would want to spend Christmas, or any other holiday with. I love you, Kate.”
“I love you, Isaac.” She knew he would hear the tears in her voice, but it didn’t matter. If life had turned out differently, she would have wanted to spend every future holiday with him too. Unfortunately, life wasn’t always kind. She knew she wasn’t going to get her wish.
* * *
Pain had become Isaac’s constant companion. It had been nine days now without food, but it wasn’t hunger pangs that threatened to drive him insane. Those had been uncomfortable and annoying but had ended over a week ago.
Muscle cramping had become Isaac’s new torture. One he endured over and over again.
They started with a pull, his leg or his arm contracting without warning. Then his hand or foot would jerk as his muscles shortened and contracted. Lastly, pulses of electricity shot along his limbs, playing with his nerves like they were strings on a violin. The intense cramping in other muscles—back, neck, and stomach—was equally as brutal, but all he could do was breathe through them.
With the bed buckled, he couldn’t lie flat, and with the ceiling too low for him to stand, Isaac hadn’t straightened his body in over a week. Add in the lack of water, and it was the perfect recipe for suffering.
Shifting Kate gently in his arms, Isaac scooted his hips over to the edge of the bed and lowered his feet to the floor. Pushing his bare feet along the freezing wood, he stretched until his toes collided with items piled in the cramped space. It gave him minor relief, but it was better than nothing.
When the cold threatened to undo any good the stretching may have given him, Isaac shifted back onto the bed and under the blankets. Making sure Kate was covered, he settled back against the buckled headboard.
He picked up one of the water bottles he’d left on the bed between their bodies and the wall for easy reach. Placing the bottle between his raised knees and trying not to squeeze it, he used his hand that wasn’t holding Kate to unscrew the top.
“Kate, drink for me, Turquoise,” he urged as he placed the lip of the bottle on her cracked bottom lip and tipped it up slowly. A few drops dripped down her chin, but her eyes never opened. Then her survival instincts took over and she swallowed several mouthfuls. Isaac let out a breath of relief.
When he held the bottle up to his own dried lips, his tongue stiff, he had to force himself not to chug down what remained. No matter how thirsty he was, or how often his muscles twisted with agony, Isaac made sure Kate had most of the water.
If they were lucky, their remaining water supply would last until the next evening. December twenty-sixth.
Recapping the bottle, he laid it beside them and shifted back and forth on the pillows to find the least painful position. As he settled Kate more firmly against his chest, she let out a sigh in her sleep and burrowed into his warmth.
With the remaining lantern set on low, he had enough light to see Kate’s face. He ran his fingers along her hairline, pushing back the hair that had fallen forward. The clip from her hair had been discarded days ago, so her tresses fell around her shoulders and over his arms.
In the two days since they wished each other a merry Christmas, Kate had mostly slept. Isaac had done his fair share of sleeping as well, but the cramping jarred him awake at least once an hour. Although he could have done without the pain, it worked better than an alarm clock to make sure he checked on Kate.
The alarming rate with which she had weakened and the amount of time she slept terrified him. If he was honest, he’d been terrified from the moment Kate had been sucked through the wall of his shop. The relief he’d felt when they’d landed in the room and he realized his magic worked had only been temporary.
He’d told Kate that Ben and Sam had seen them get sucked through the wall, but he wasn’t sure what they had seen. Or what Maverick was capable of manipulating. Making someone believe they saw something different than what they had seemed like child’s play compared with turning people into zombies. And Maverick excelled at controlling people.
