“Is anyone else here?” the man asked.
She could lie and hope Margery slept through everything, but if she lied they might hurt someone.
“A friend of mine is sleeping upstairs. She’s pregnant, in her last trimester, please let her be.”
He shook his head, handed the gun to the woman. “Watch her,” he told the woman. “Shoot her kid if she tries anything.” Then he said to Ellen, “I’ll try not to scare her, but she needs to be down here where I can keep an eye on everyone.”
“I need my medical bag,” Ellen said, resigned that she was being forced to help these people. “It’s in the room with Margery.”
He nodded, went upstairs.
Ellen examined her patient. He was pale and clammy. Feverish. His pulse was erratic. “He needs a hospital,” she said. “He has an infection, he needs an IV, antibiotics, fluids. He needs—”
“Wetried, dammit!” the woman barked. “The roads are flooded. We can’t get out of this godforsaken valley. Just—do what you can. You’re a nurse. Save him.” Her voice cracked.
“Rena.” Sam’s voice was barely audible, a whisper sliding through cracked lips. “It’s okay.”
“It’snotokay,” Rena said, voice breaking. “I can’t lose you, Sammy. Hang in there, she’s going to help you.” Rena looked at Ellen, her eyes pleading with her even as she aimed the gun at her chest.
Ellen’s every instinct screamed to find a way to get these people out of her house. But they had Avery.
And this young man was suffering. No matter what they’d done, she couldn’t let him die if she could help.
The larger man came back down the stairs, escorting Margery by the elbow. He glanced into the dining room, then brought Margery to the couch. “This will be over soon,” he said, almost kindly. Ellen didn’t know what to make of these people. One minute the man threatened to shoot Lyla, and the next he was gentle with a pregnant woman.
Margery looked from Ellen to the strangers, eyes wide, confused and scared.
The man said to Ellen, “I locked your dog in your bedroom. He looks like a good dog, but I can’t be too careful.”
Ellen nodded, turned to Margery, and assured her that it would be okay. She worried about her health as well as her own family. “They promised not to hurt anyone if I help them.”
The man nodded, caught Ellen’s eye, then put her medical bag down on a chair next to her. “I’m watching you closely,” he said. “I may not know much about medicine, but I know about knives. If you try anything—”
“Just stop with the threats,” she snapped. “I’m not going to do anything except try to save this man. He needs a hospital, but I understand you don’t want to do that right now. I can make do with what I have in the barn. Livestock-grade ketamine and antibiotics. They’re locked in a cabinet. I can be there and back in ten minutes.”
“You’re not going alone,” he said. “You run, your family dies.”
“Youhavemy family,” Ellen said evenly. “I’ll come back. I promise.”
“How do I know you don’t have a gun out there? A radio? A phone?No.”
“I can’t promise he’ll make it,” Ellen said, “but if there’s a chance—anychance—I need those meds.”
Brock nodded at Rena. “Take the girl.”
“No!” Ellen snapped.
“It’s okay, Mom,” Lyla said, already moving. “Just tell me what to get.”
Ellen’s gut twisted at the thought of her daughter outside with Rena, but she had no choice. She leaned in close, spoke clearly. “Ketamine’s in a blue box. Antibiotics—penicillin and ceftiofur—white vials, red and green caps. Don’t forget the flashlight.”
Rena and Lyla left, rain and wind blowing in as they went out.
“Is that why you were here earlier pretending to be with the county?” Ellen asked the man. “So that you could case my house and determine whether you could just break in?”
“No,” he said.
She waited; he didn’t say anything else.
