Page 6 (1/2)

Josie It was a picture of Josie and the twins

God, I wished Josie was here

Caroline looked pale and sweaty She was lying on the mattress on the floor, the sheets and blankets twisted andnext to Caroline His face was pressed right up to hers

"She’s not contagious," he said to me defensively "I can be here"

"Of course you can be here," I agreed

I knelt on the mattress The whole chamber stank I saw some old clothes and maybe some used Pull-Ups shoved into corners The tere too afraid to get up in the night to go to the Dump, so they used Pull-Ups But never ?"

She opened her eyes and looked at ood," she said

Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes She didn’t wipe theht up to the side of hers He didn’t brush the tears away either

"I’"

I pulled at the covers twisted around her legs

"Her leg’s hot," Henry said

As I moved the sheets I saw that Henry had his foot pressed onto the bandage on Caroline’s leg

"What are you doing?" I asked hi and it helps Then I switch it when ht, Caro? It’s helping"

Caroline nodded weakly

"We can do better than that," I said "Henry, reed reluctantly

I carefully lifted Caroline’s leg and pulled the Band-Aid off She whies and white in the center It was definitely infected

A knot of dread hit my stomach like a punch Why hadn’t I treated her with antibiotics straightaway? What rong with ainstlike a leader

"I’ scared

"Yup," I said "You’re just fine But you knohat, I’ive you a little bit of medicine Just to make you feel even better"

"Okay," she answered

I stood up and Henry settled back into his place

"Don’t … don’t put your foot on her any cool you can put on it for her"

So sterile, for God’s sake

Astrid followed me to the Pharmacy

"It’s bad, isn’t it?" she asked me

"It’s bad But we have a whole pharmacy here We can fix it"

"Luna won’t co food out for her and she won’t touch it"

The Pharmacy was still afor--a Super-Z pack

"What’s that?" Astrid asked

"Antibiotics"

"How do you know they’re the right ones?"

"I cut ly This is what the doctor gaveher hands together, wringing them

"Astrid, I don’t know," I said "This is our best option"

"It had to be said, you know," she asserted, changing the subject

"That’s just the thing," I replied "It didn’t I would never have--"

She crossed her arain

"Let’s just face it We hardly even know each other," I said "So anything that you ht have thought about you--let’s just put it all aside and start from scratch Because look, et to be friends"

I was probably getting a little carried away, but she was listening to me, so I ith it

"Real friends, who can depend on each other God knoe need to be able to do that What do you think?" I asked

"Yeah," Astrid agreed "That’s a good idea"

It was a good idea