Colds and Injuries

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(3rd person POV)

The kids, Scrooge, Julie, and (surprisingly) Cole and Kylee were out adventuring in a dark, damp cave. Julie's head snapped to attention when she heard a small sneeze from behind her. She saw Louie wiping his nose on his sweater sleeve.

"You good, Louie?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, yeah; I'm fine," he tried to reassure her, sniffling. "Just allergies, cuz."

She didn't believe him, but she kept walking, looking at her cousin with concern all the while.

Everything was going smoothly until the ground began to shake and stalactites fell from the roof of the cave.

Webby and Scrooge managed to dodge them as well as Julie, but the boys seemed like they were sleepwalking, unable to focus. A stalagmite came crashing down pointed directly at Dewey's head.

"DEW! Watch out!" Julie screamed, but her feet felt like they were frozen to the floor. Just before anything could hit Dewey, Cole tackled him, pushing him to safety. Cole and Dewey stayed there for a moment with the former cupping his head and ruffling his hair feathers.

"T-thanks, Cole," Dewey stuttered, his voice clogged with mucus. Cole waved off the gratitude. "Don't mention it, man."

Scrooge turned to his great-niece. "Maybe we should get goin'; the lads seem to be under the weather. Where's-?"

A sharp scream pierced the air like a knife, causing Julie's head to turn. She recognized that scream, and it only belonged to one person....

"Kylee!" she yelled out, running through the cave until she could hear the crying and shouting clearly. What she saw shook her to the very core.

Her little niece was on the ground, her left leg scratched up and bruised badly...with a stalactite on top of her foot.

Cole hissed through his teeth, then turned to Julie. "That doesn't look good; I'll lift the rock, you get Kylee out." Julie nodded and knelt down the little girl. In one swift motion, Cole pulled up the stalactite with a grunt as Julie scooped her injured niece into her arms.

Scrooge sighed. "Let's get ya lot back to the plane."

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(Julie's POV)

As I carried Kylee back to the plane, she continued to sob and cry into my jacket. I could feel my heart break...I had TOLD Uncle Scrooge it wasn't a good idea to let her start adventuring so soon...why hadn't he listened?

Scrooge led Huey back to the plane, a hand on his back so the kid wouldn't fall over while Cole gave Dewey a piggy-back ride and Louie was half-asleep in my boyfriend's arms.

When we boarded, I propped Kylee up with pillows behind her head and elevated her injured foot. Poor thing was in so much pain; I felt like someone was hitting my heart with a mallet with each sob that escaped her beak.

Uncle Scrooge sat down next to us, wiping a tear away from Kylee's eye. "Ae'm sorry, lassie; Ae shouldnae have thrown ya into a situation like that."

Cole walked up to me, sitting down and putting a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, chica. The boys are...well...not recovering, but...Ok, they're trying not to puke in the cargo."

I rolled my eyes, lightly elbowing him. "Any idea what they caught?"

Cole shrugged. "It's hard to tell, but from what I've seen, it looks like either the flu or a stomach bug."

"Temps?"

My boyfriend sighed and handed me a thermometer. "You're not gonna like it, babe."

I almost fainted right there when I saw the reading. "102 degrees?! For all three of them?"

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