Break Free The Night (Book 2): Loss of Light (25 page)

              Jack did yell when Anna packed the cloth back into his open wound. His eyes were clenched but even in the dimming light, Kaylee could see the tears.

              "Almost done, Jack," Anna said. "It'll hurt less tomorrow."

              He let out a strangled, cracked laugh at that, his breathing coming fast and sharp. "Whatever you say, doc."

              By the time Anna had tied the last bandage around his chest, Jack looked ready to collapse. "Now you can rest." Jack lay back as he was told, just feet from the stream. His eyes slid closed quickly and his breathing relaxed. Kaylee thought that whether Anna had told him to or not, he wasn't that far from passing out anyway.

              "That was horrible," Emma spoke into the quiet that settled with Jack's breathing.

              Anna nodded, turning from the rest to wash her hands in the cold running water.

              "Agreed," said Andrew. "Is he going to be okay?"

              "I hope so," Anna answered, her hand pressing against her own head again. "The risk for infection is high. He needs antibiotics. Packing it and changing it often will help pull some of the debris out, but..."

              "He could die?" Saying the words sparked more fear in Kaylee than she thought possible. She had felt numb for the entirety of the day, her feelings drained from her and floating downstream with the body of her father. But something in her gut peaked as dread and fear surged through her. She felt small, insignificant, helpless.

              Jack might die.

              It was stupid really, the amount of fear these words produced. Because if today had proven anything, it was that they all could die, every one of them, at any moment. And yet the thought of losing another person, another man she loved so much, filled her with horror.

              The rest of the group was watching her. She blinked, coming back to herself.

              "What can we do?" Kaylee asked, looking to Anna.

              "We're doing it," she answered gently. "Tomorrow we'll find a house, a town, something, and then we can do more. For tonight, we need to know if he breaks into a fever, try to use the stream to not let it get too high if he does."

              Kaylee nodded. She caught Emma's eye as she settled herself next to Jack. Her sister looked exhausted, just like the rest of the group, and sad too, still propped up behind Andrew. Kaylee had planned to spend the night with her, wrapped around her little sister and grieving together, mourning their father in a way that they never got to mourn their mother. But Jack needed her too, needed her arm on his chest, monitoring throughout the cold night for heat that was not natural.

              Emma understood, Kaylee saw that with the small smile that flashed her way. And Emma wouldn't be alone. Even as the thought crossed her mind, Kaylee saw Andrew move back to lay next to her sister. Not touching, but close. Emma didn't move away.

              Jack didn't stir when Kaylee lay against him. She was careful to lay on the side that was not injured, gentle when she rest her hand on his chest, her skin touching his through a tear in his shirt. She watched as his chest rose and fell steadily, gentle reassurance that he was still with her.

~

              Kaylee woke up shivering, the graze wound from the bullet sending sharp pains down her arm as the rest of her trembled with the cold. She reached for Jack, as she had been throughout the whole night, letting the pads of her cold fingers dally over his chest, his neck, feeling for a spike in warmth. Her hands fell on silky pine needles instead and she sat up suddenly.

              It was the darkest part of the night, the silhouettes of the trees black against the dark sky. Moonlight filtered through the branches, casting the low shrubbery and fallen trees into gray shadows. The bodies that lay sleeping glowed orange in places, lit by a low fire that was still smoldering. Bill must have scraped it together after the rest had fallen asleep. He and Anna were huddled nearest the fire. Anna's pale, sleeping face almost yellow in the light. Kaylee could see their outlines, see the rise and fall of their bodies as they breathed. The bandage on her head was darkened with dried blood. Emma and Andrew lay on the other side of the fire. Though Emma was turned away from him, laying on her side, Andrew was closer now, curled up around her younger sister, keeping them both warm. Kaylee's eyes scanned the group, but she didn't see Jack.

              She stood, pausing for a moment to scrape up some branches to throw on the fire. When the wood caught and the flame grew, she stepped out of the circle of light. She listened silently to the forest around her, tuning out the pops of the wood in the fire. Small animals skittered in the undergrowth, claws scraping against the dirt and long dead leaves. Somewhere above an owl hooted softly. Her footsteps were loud, misplaced in the natural rhythm of the woods.

              She saw him before she heard him. A black statue, standing sentinel at the edge of the forest. He stood out from the birch trees that were thin but plentiful, silver white against the night sky. Kaylee's fingers trailed over their papery bark as she shifted towards Jack, her eyes scanning his taunt body. He stood silent in a small opening in the trees, the long, matted grass shone gray in the moonlight. His eyes were on the heavens, trained on the patch of clear sky that sparkled through the gap in the tree tops. He must have heard her coming, she wasn't quiet, but he didn't turn. She came up close behind him, not yet touching, but she didn't want to speak loudly, didn't want to shatter the reverence of this moment, the sanctity of Jack saying his goodbyes through the stars.

              "Sorry if I woke you," he eventually whispered, turning and offering a small smile. "I wanted to get back before you knew I left. It was nice. Waking up with you there."

              Kaylee smiled gently. Something in her tugged, some habit or memory of old. She should be saying goodbye too. But then the hole in her chest gaped open and swallowed the flash of sorrow, leaving her empty once again.

              "You shouldn't get up and wander off just now," she said, keeping her voice low. "I was supposed to be checking you."

              Jack looked back to the sky, his face a mask in shadow. "Fever?"

              "Yes," she answered. Her hand drift up his back, settling on the base of his neck before drifting to the hollow of his throat. He was warm, maybe warmer than she was, but nothing terrible as of yet. She lingered but eventually let her hand drop. "How are you feeling?"

              He went to shrug and couldn't hide the wince that came as a result. "Could be better, I guess. You?"

              Kaylee tore her eyes from him, looking instead up to the stars. They had watched them once before, laid together on a gritty pavement road and made up silly stories. It hadn't been that long ago and yet it felt like years. Life had been carefree then compared to now. Now, orphaned and stranded in the woods with no food and no conceivable direction to go, with every one of their group injured or dead.

              "Numb," she answered softly. He turned, his eyes searching hers.

              "I'm so sorry, Kay," he said quietly. She swallowed hard, looking back at him.

              "I'm sorry, too," she whispered after a moment. She meant for all of it, for their losses, for what she did to Cynthia, for how she treated him after her mother's death. But the heat from his body radiated off him, and it distracted her. She inched closer to his heady proximity. He was right there, just a few inches from her, and she had an urge so strong that it surged within her. She wanted to grab him, press herself to him.

              "I had an older brother, you know," he said suddenly. His eyes darted up, back to the stars. She started and stepped back. "Mark. He would have liked you."

              "You think?" she asked. Jack nodded.

              "Oh, definitely," he said, smirking a bit now. "Had a thing for blondes."

              Kaylee laughed. It was small and quiet, but it surprised her as it broke free from her lips.

              "He was with my parents when New York got overrun. They were supposed to be packing up to meet me."

              "You were at school," Kaylee said, remembering what he had told her when they first met. Jack nodded.

              "Yeah, in Georgia. I went first because the school year was starting and I had to be there for orientation. The rumors of all these weird illnesses, people biting, not knowing if it was going to go airborne, it really freaked my parents out. They shipped me to school down there, hoping to get me away from it. Of course they didn't know it would sweep the country so fast."

              "No one did," Kaylee murmured.

              "True," he agreed in a hushed whisper. "They were supposed to join me. Mom took a leave from work and Dad was going to telecommute, it was all set up. I was on the phone with Mark when it happened."

              "Did you..."

              "I heard it all," he said.

              Crickets and owls and creatures scratching for food echoed all around them, filling the horror of the silence between them.

              "In a way," he continued softly, "I think it was better that way. I never had to go looking for them. I knew. That's more than a lot of people get, I think."

              Kaylee nodded, understanding. Knowing was a relief. That was part of the reason it was so horrible when they thought Emma had run off, the not knowing.

              "What were their names?" she asked, looking up at him. He smiled.

              "My parents? John and Diane."

              "I'm sure they loved you very much."

              "They claimed to," Jack said with a smile. "It's because of them that I'll miss Quinton so much. He was like all three of them rolled into one. Well, maybe not Mom, although he really tried with the cooking. But he was patient and taught me things. I was a terrible shot before he came along, skinny as anything because I was barely feeding myself. He watched out for me, like Mark used to."

              He fell silent then, his gaze back through the opening in the tree tops. The stars were clear tonight, bright sprays of them painted the sky. Kaylee moved next to him, standing shoulder to shoulder. She slipped her fingers over the sleeve of the hoodie he wore, found his fingers, warm in the cool night air, and tangled hers with his. He gripped back and her chest clenched.

              She wanted oblivion, wanted out of the fog her mind was forcing her into. She brought herself under his arm, encouraged when he didn't stop her, and let her fingers rest over his heart. He stiffened as she let her hand drift, careful of the wound in his side, and then pressed her lips to his chest.

              He tugged her closer and she fell into him gently. Her shoulder throbbed and his stomach had to ache as well. She let her one good hand drift lower, settling on his waist, her other hung limp at her side. She felt something jolt through her when his arms came around her.

              "I'm sorry about your dad," he whispered. She grimaced, drawing breath and he drew her closer still, his temple resting on her forehead.

              "I'm going to miss him, too. So much."

              He hummed into her hair, agreeing. She would miss him, just like he missed his family, just like the rest of the bare existence of humanity would miss their loved ones. Grief lay over her like a cloak and she pressed her forehead to his shoulder as an empty cavern throbbed in her chest. Throughout the whole of that day, since she let her father float downstream, everything had been muted. Small spikes of feeling broke through, a laugh when Jack joked about his brother, a collapse of her chest when Jack's shoulder knocked into hers, but they were fleeting and short lived. They flashed and sparked and then died, leaving her settled in a fog of nothingness.