Dismantle the Sun

8: The Escape

THE EASTERN SEABOARD, UNITED STATES

Two years after The Fall

Sam held the baby against her with one hand while she lifted the key from around her neck and knocked on the door to let Beth know that it was her.

Beth was sweeping the shop floor. The concrete never stayed clean, but she tried anyway. Sam shut and locked the door behind her.

"You weren't gone very long," Beth said as she turned. Her brow furrowed. "What's under your sweater?"

Sam rocked on her heels for a moment. "Beth, I...." She swallowed. "I found—" She couldn't say the word baby out loud. So, instead, she lifted her sweater enough so that Beth could see, then covered him back up.

Beth dropped the broom and it fell to the floor with a clang. "You found a baby?"

Sam nodded and went over to the stacked crates where they stored odds and ends, including a few extra blankets for the winter. Beth hurried over and took one off of a pile and held it open so that Sam could set him in it and wrap him up.

"He's so cold." Tears fell down Beth's cheeks and she wiped them away.

The baby was still making short, very soft whines and both girls stared down at him.

"What are we going to do?" Beth's eyes were huge.

"I don't know. I don't know." Sam closed her eyes and then turned to Beth. "Can you hold him for a few minutes? I need to think."

Beth nodded and accepted him into her arms. She held him close and rocked him in her arms a bit as she walked over to the "kitchen area" of the shop. "Hello, there, little guy. Let's see if we can get you to drink some water, okay?"

As Beth continued to coo at him and pour some of their water into a bowl, Sam went to the other side of the room and sat on her cot, lowering her head down against her raised knees.

Sam closed her eyes and tried to push away the fear and to focus.

It wasn't helping. She pressed her fingers against her closed eyes and counted until she was calmer.

They couldn't take care of a baby. She didn't know what to do.

Beth sat down at their table, which, according to Ricky, used to be a welding table. She put her index finger in the bowl and then in the baby's mouth, transferring over a drop of water. He sucked greedily on her finger and promptly burst into tears when she removed it. "Shh, shh, little one." She did the process again and again, until he calmed down and realized there would be more.

"Okay."

Sam's presence at her side startled Beth and she jumped a bit when Sam spoke, which caused the baby to startle and to cry.

Beth dipped her finger again and then left it in the baby's mouth for a few extra moments, to calm him down. She looked up at Sam.

"Will you be okay with him while I go find Ricky? We'll see what we can find. We're going to need some kind of formula. And diapers, I guess. We'll try to get something for now and then worry about finding more later." They hadn't broken into houses in over a year because everything useful was gone, but they hadn't been looking for anything for a baby. Odds were, no one else had either.

"Of course." Beth smiled down at him and smoothed his tiny curls with her free hand. He was still sucking on her finger. "Be careful."

ALLERFORD, SOMERSET, ENGLAND

The following week

Hermione made herself a hot cuppa, put a few pieces of shortbread on a saucer, then sat down at Christie's roll-top desk and sipped the tea as she waited for the laptop to connect.