Wrecked

The 44

"Dru, mummy's saying we need to go away." Abby sat before me, her cough came from deep with her chest, you could hear the flem and you could see the seconds it took her to recover from each one. She leant over the bed, empting the contents of her stomach into the bucket beside her.

I could understand that the bug she had, in combination with the infections she was fighting, off was going to kill her. I could understand that her mother had come to terms with the death of both herself and her daughter. I could understand what we needed to quarantine them before it was able to spread. I could even understand that the pit deep within my stomach, the one created by knowing that I couldn't save the life of such a optimistic upbeat little girl. But what I couldn't understand was how the smile and shine within her eyes were yet to disappear.

I watched her as she tucked her hair behind her ears and wiped the sides of her mouth with the back of her hands, her smile still spread from ear to ear.

"You'll come visit me, won't you Druey?" I hated it, but I flinched under her touch as her delicate fingers squeezed tightly onto mine. I couldn't lie to the eyes that stared up at me with nothing but innocent hope. "When your not too busy saving lives of Corse." As she finished her sentence she didn't have time to make it make it to the bucket before she keeled over. This time bile and blood were thrown over the sand as the girls mother held her hair back. The mother herself was weak, pale and brittle- and I still couldn't save her.

"I'll come and see you every day that I possibly can, Abby." I could see Rukma walking over, she must have been done with the quarantine area we'd agree upon. "I promise."

"Look after everyone while I'm gone okay." Abby giggled as Rukma began to lead the mother and daughter into the edge of the forest, I waved a small goodbye before turning to Caila. She'd been waiting patiently behind me, at times placing a hand on my shoulders showing me her encouragement. It was nice knowing I had someone by my side, supporting me and understanding me beyond what I could ever have hoped for.

"We need to try and round up some more blankets, jackets or clothes. We can't leave any more people vulnerable to this weather." I spoke of the drastic change in the weather. At first the wind picked up, being right on the beachfront there was no escaping the chill that spread a chorus of coughs throughout the survivors. Then the sun disappeared, taking with it any chance of heating up- any protection for the weak and injured.

I'd spent another night awake, unable to stop moving- walking from person to person checking to see if they were still breathing. I placed blankets over everyone that I could, tucking my own one over Ari, Lola and Freyja. Ari already had a spare jacket around his shoulders but his sister lay there shivering in her sleep. I knew what the cold would do to those that were already fighting off their infections and it pained me to know that I didn't have enough resources to protect them all. If I could just hold it off until a rescue team came- they'd be able to do what I couldn't.