Found (Book 1 of the Haven's Army Trilogy) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 32

It felt good to be back on the open sea. The tiny Uninhabited had felt like a prison.

The only problem was that now the people from the Hearth were seasick again and James and Katie had their hands full. Luckily, Fern, the special one from the Garden, (and the youngest overall with her two sisters) was naturally gifted in healing so she helped them out. Kathryn and I tried as hard as we could to help but neither of us were too skilled so we were bossed around by a twelve-year-old to fetch water and such.

"Handmaids now?" came a voice.

Kathryn stopped. "I swear, Audrey, one day, when this is all over, I am going to rip your throat out."

Audrey daintily touched her fair neck as if imagining it being torn from her, deciding she'd rather not lose it. "It's not my fault you're a savage beast, I suppose."

Kathryn dropped the bucket and lunged forward. Luckily I was between them and managed to grab Kathryn and stop her from killing Audrey.

"Let me go Charlotte," she growled. "The princess needs a lesson in manners."

"Ah so this is what you've been doing the past few days," I observed.

"I'm positive she found enjoyment in it," Audrey pouted. "It's what untamed savages require after all. They just need to bicker with someone superior to console themselves." She gagged in disgust and walked away daintily.

Kathryn threw me off of her. Luckily, things like this were normal amongst the group because no one paid any attention to us.

"Walking dictionary, I swear," Kathryn grumbled. "I can't believe you, Charlotte," she complained as she picked up her bucket of seawater. "If it were Nathan, you'd want to rip his throat out too."

"But I wouldn't," I pointed out. "Restraint," I explained, picking up my bucket. "You'll end up getting yourself killed otherwise." We started walking back to the infirmary. We bumped into Peter, leaving the infirmary in a hurry.

When we got to the infirmary, everyone seemed to be in a panic so we dropped our buckets. Fern had left her post and was helping Andrew.

That can't be good, I thought.

James held a hand over Andrew's mouth. "He's barely breathing."

"Everyone!" Katie yelled. "What's a good limb to cut off?"

"What?" I asked in shock.

"Leg?" Kathryn asked casually.

"Arm," James said confidently.

"Head?" Katie suggested.

"Kathryn," James said quickly, "Dominant right or left?"

"Right," Kathryn replied.

"Left it is," James said. They began hovering their hands over his body until they stopped in his left arm.

"What is going on?" I asked. Of course, no one answered me.

"Is that all?" Katie asked. "We have to get it all."

James scanned Andrew's body. "That's everything," he reported.

"Fern," Katie stated, "leave the room. Everyone else, turn away and plug your ears."

"What?" I asked.

"Just turn around," Kathryn said, shoving me to face the wall. I plugged my ears with my fingers. A few seconds later, James called that we were okay. We turned around, taking our fingers out of our ears.

Kathryn collapsed to the ground. "It's over."

I looked to the table. "It's gone," I said weakly. "You cut his arm off." I felt like I was going to be sick. I fell to the ground next to Kathryn.

James grinned. "I prefer amputated."

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"It needed to be done," Katie said as she reentered, peeling off her face mask and gloves and throwing them in the nearest trash bin. I hadn't even noticed her missing. "The poison reacted differently in his body than in Dennis'. There was no way to draw it out so we drew it to his arm and got rid of it."

Katie sat down. A few minutes later, James sat next to her. Once I stopped freaking out over what had just happened, I felt a relative calm in the room, something that hadn't been there in a long time.