Deprived

Chapter 4

Mr. Michael was a good distance ahead.

"Stay close behind, and stay low." Maize told Ollie.

But as she turned to move forward, something behind Ollie caught her attention. The exterior light cast a dim yellow glow. She squinted to zero in on a woman running towards the infirmary, a white bundle draped across her arm, bare feet dangling out of the bundle in the cold.

As the woman drew under the light that was close to the infirmary door, Maize's bowel loosened. The woman was her mother, and the contents of the bundle in her arms, her seven-year-old brother Liam, who was tiny enough to be carried like a baby. Maize's chest tightened as she moved towards them.

But then she remembered Ollie by her side and what they were about to do. She turned to him and asked him to continue on without her. She could still hear Mr. Michael whistling up ahead.

To her surprise, Ollie didn't hesitate. He patted her on the shoulders and whispered. "I got this." Then disappeared into the darkness.

Maize released words for his safety to the desert god and rushed over to her mother and brother.

Inside the infirmary, sick bodies lay on top of each other. Four patients to each bed, their faces filled with hopelessness. A pungent medicated smell hung in the air, like every other pungent stink in the village.

Maize, her mother, and Liam waited near the entrance behind a large group of people. As usual, Nurse Jackie was the lone nurse on the night shift. It would be a long night.

Maize searched Liam's pale face. His breathing was weak. She checked his pulse as Nurse Jackie taught her, and it almost wasn't there. She wasn't always this concerned about Liam. It was when he got sick, she realized how much she loved her brother.

Maize took Liam from her mother's arms and peeled back the blanket. It was cold outside, but hot as a furnace in the crowded room. She wiped the sweat from Liam's face with her palm and moved the clump of sweaty hair on his forehead. Her brother was dying in her arms, and there wasn't much she could do to help him.

Above the heads of ailing and diseased bodies, Maize searched for Nurse Jackie. As soon as she spotted her, she lost her, as Nurse Jackie disappeared in the back room again, this time, a man with blood pouring from his arms following behind.

Observing that her mother was tired of standing, Mazie encouraged her to sit on the floor since there were no available seats, but she refused. Maize could only hope her mother didn't get one of her dizzy spells because tonight, Liam needed all the attention.

A woman standing in front of them had a sore the size of a catch-ball on her face; it was ripe, inflamed, and festered in the middle. Groaning in pain, she kept her eyes closed as she leaned on a woman who wore a quirrel tale pendant around her neck. Quirrels had two bushy tales to form the letter 'V'. Most people in the village wore their quirrel pendants for good luck. But how could anyone get good luck from something that was mutant?

The woman wearing the pendant was skrawny and sad and looked like she was about to faint. Her attention stayed on Liam draped in Maize's arms. Maize could tell a conversation was brewing and turned her body away from her.

Maize finally locked eyes with nurse Jackie, who quickly looked at her notes and called another patient's name. A woman, screaming in pain while holding her stomach, followed Nurse Jackie into the back room. Maize could sympathize with her, but the most Nurse Jackie would do was give her a mediocre pain pill that would only remove some of the pain.

***

Maize adjusted Liam in her arms. He wasn't more than fifty pounds, but after cradling him for more than an hour, his weight crushed her arms and pounded them to sleep.