AncilI raised my hands and shouted, “Sam, it’s me. Jed!!”
Her grip weakened and the gun lowered. I could see a small smile appearing in her sickly and pale face. She seemed genuinely happy to see me. “You’re alive,” she smiled.
I could tell that talking took a lot out of her because she let out about four dry coughs right after she spoke.
“Water!! Water!!” She screamed, pointing to a twelve to twenty four liter bottle of water that was beside the bed. I gave it to her and she gulped down the entire thing in a matter of seconds.
“Ms. Jack,” Jinx said, walking up to us.
Sam instantly raised her gun back up and pointed it at Jinx. “What are you doing here?” She groaned.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Jinx said.
“Calm down Sam. She’s a good one.” I said.
“Good one? You can’t be talking about Jinx. This wretch is always trying to kill me.”
“I’m not the one with the gun,” Jinx said. “Calm down. I’m way past killing you now. I’m here to —help.” Jinx said ‘help’ with a sigh.
“She is,” I assured Sam.
She looked at the rest of us, spending a longer time on Sara then she said, “Where are the rest of you? Cornell, Megan, Melanie…”
“I don’t know. That’s what we’re doing now. We’re looking for them,” I said.
“And how did y’all end up here?”
“We followed your footprints in the mud. I wouldn’t think that a woman like you would be able to leave such deep footprints,” Jinx said.
“I had a heavy load.” Sam said, pointing to a big bag of supplies next to the bed. “It’s really heavy. I almost didn’t make it.”
“Why come here though. Them douens could have killed you easily,” I said.
“I needed the ingredients for the antidote,” Sam said, pulling the needles from her arm. “Someone infected me with the symbiote and sent me outside here to die. I would have eventually died if I didn’t find this place. I had enough food but like all things it wouldn’t have lasted very long. I came in here hoping that it would have had the things needed to make the antidote.”
“I’m guessing you know how to make it,” I said.
“Yeah, I figured it out while I was with Jeremy. It’s not that hard to make actually. With enough Serotlium and Vesuruin you could suppress the symbiote so much that it basically becomes nonexistent. Too much of the chemicals at one time however could have killed me, so I used the drips to regulate the dosages. I was here for about…..” She stopped and looked at the bag of drips which was now empty, shriveled and dry. “Actually I don’t know how long I was here. I can’t remember getting up come to think of it.”
“You probably went into a coma,” Ronald said. “That does happen.”
“It seems like I did,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Luckily you guys came when you did. A little while longer and I would have died of starvation.”
“You think you could get back on your feet?” I asked her.
“Yeah. With a little food and water I should be good as new. Probably in a couple days, weeks tops,” she said. She then took out some food supplies she had in her bag and threw it down her throat.
“We could probably stay here for a little while to catch our breath. I’ll go secure the area. Them douens could be problematic especially if we have to leave,” Jinx said.
“Aim for the head,” Sam advised.
“Who’s coming with me?” Jinx asked.
It was a given that Ronald would have volunteered so they both set off towards the door with their swords. Sara, who was quieter than usual, didn’t move.
I wanted to talk to Sam about my episode the other night in the village but I didn’t want Sara around while I was talking about it. “You should go help them out Sara. They could probably use as much help as possible. I’ll stay here with Sam,” I said.
