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He raised his hand to cut me off. “I’m not talking about you not washing. It’s something else.”
He’s garnered the attention of Reed and Cade now.
“What’s going on?” Cade asks.
“There’s something wrong with Laney.” He says it as an absolute fact. He doesn’t doubt himself for a second.
Reed turns to me. “Is that true, Laney? Is something wrong? Are you sick?”
“I-I’m not sure. I have a headache, and I guess I’m a bit feverish.”
Darius speaks without doubt. “She has an infection.”
I snap at him. “Christ, what are you, a damned bloodhound?”
Reed and Cade exchange a glance.
Reed places his hand on my forehead. “You’re burning up. How long have you felt sick?”
I press my lips together and don’t meet his eye. “Only since this morning.” There’s no point in lying. “I nicked my leg with the axe when I was chopping wood yesterday. I thought it was fine.”
His eyes widen. “You did? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want to make a fuss.”
“Let me see it. Now.”
I don’t dare disobey. I lift the cuff of my jeans and expose the spot above my ankle where I caught it with the blade. The material is blood-soaked.
“Jesus.” Reed shakes his head. “Sit down.”
I plonk myself on a wooden chair, and he crouches at my feet. He lifts the cuff of my jeans again and then carefully unwinds the makeshift bandage to expose my skin. There’s a red circle around the wound, and it looks angry and bigger than it was before.
He makes a disapprovingtsksound with his tongue. “That’s infected. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I poured some alcohol onto the wound to clean it. I thought it would be okay.”
The muscles in his shoulders and the back of his neck are tense, standing out beneath his skin. He’s tanned over the past couple of weeks, his skin deepening to golden.
“It’s clearly not.” His tone is terse. “That axe blade is rusty. You could have given yourself tetanus or something. When did you last have a shot?”
I find myself blinking back tears. I feel like shit, and now he’s angry with me. Not only that, he’s frightening me.
“I-I haven’t.”
“You haven’t had a tetanus shot?”
I shake my head. “Not that I can remember, no. You know what my mother was like.”
He softens a fraction. “Shit, yeah. I’m sorry, Laney.”
Despite my best efforts, tears spill down my cheeks. I can’t help it. My head hurts, and I feel like shit, and I’m stuck out in the middle of nowhere with an infected leg. What if it gets worse? I can’t get any medical help out here, and it’s not as though we have antibiotics on hand. I have visions of my leg and foot turning black. Will I even know or care by that point? Or will I be so sick I’ll wish I’m dead.
“I don’t want to die,” I whisper.
“Oh, baby,” Reed says and pulls me into a hug. “You’re not going to die. We’re going to take care of you. I promise.”
Baby.It’s the first time he’s ever called me that, and for some reason it makes me cry even harder.
