AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He stepped into the shower and closed the curtain, blocking my view and breaking my trance.
I shook my head at myself, realizing how tired I was, and went to the sink to wash.Most of the blood on his shirt had been dry, so the water ran clear.When I turned off the tap, I noted the absence of washing sounds on the other side of the curtain.
Molev had to be even more tired than I was.
“You were gone when I heard the howl,” I said.“How much sleep did you get last night?”
“Not much.”
“No running to wherever we’re headed today, okay?I want you sleeping in a vehicle if you can manage it.”
He grunted.
“I’m going to get Roni to see if she knows how to close those gashes up.”
I left the bathroom and found several of the others, including Patrick, waiting in the kitchen.
“His back is torn up,” I said.“He needs stitches.A lot of them.”
Roni shook her head.“I saw his back.I can sew him, but I think he needs someone who actually knows what they’re doing.”
“There’s a FOB west of Woodward,” Patrick said.“They should have a medic there.”
Should.Woodward wasn’t one of the bases we’d stopped at on the route to Parsons because of its closer proximity to the nearest town.The possibility of finding it overrun or simply abandoned like the one near Wichita was there.
“How long will it take us to reach it?”I asked.
Patrick looked down at his map.
“An hour or two if we risk the highway.Most of the day if we take a route that avoids drawing more attention than the FOB can handle when we arrive at their gates.”
I considered the number of infected that could possibly tail us if we took the highway versus how badly Molev was injured.
Based on what I knew of him, the longer we took to get to the base, the greater the risk to him because he would insist on helping even if it made him bleed again.And he’d lost so much blood already.Taking the highway wasn’t a guarantee that there would be more infected or roadblocks.We saw enough of those on the backroads too.But there was more risk.Cars still clogged the highways.We could push through most of them, but that meant noise and potential damage to our vehicles.
“We should have airlifted from Vance,” Tom said tiredly.
Patrick’s expression hardened.“This mission isn’t without risks.You knew that when you signed up.”
“Let’s not sidetrack the discussion,” I said.
“How bad is he?”Patrick asked.
“See for yourself,” Roni said, nodding toward the opening to the kitchen.
Molev entered with only a towel wrapped around his waist.It was a lot smaller than the last one and barely covered his hips.Roni wasn’t ogling him this time, though.She nudged Tom off his chair and turned it so Molev could sit.
“Don’t lean back,” she warned.
He sat with a slightly pained exhale and met Patrick’s gaze.
“I cannot fight more hounds and win until I heal.You must reach the next base as quickly as possible if you do not want to lose more of your team.”
Patrick studied Molev for a long minute then nodded.
“Roni, bandage him up as best as you can.We’ll move out when you’re done.”
She used some glue sticks on the smaller gashes, closing what she could, and bandaged the rest.
