The Last Summer

34: Pointing Fingers (Day 3)

"I look outside at the fringe of trees across the yard, those menacing, threatening trees. They almost look like they are laughing at our distress."

(Chapter 35)
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"What is it? What's going on?" Maggie calls out from the dining room, on the other side of the kitchen.

Terrell shoves everyone outside of the room, before he slams the door shut, breathing heavily. "No one goes back in there," he says quietly. "Keep the door closed."

There are puking sounds echoing from the bathroom. Wesley probably.

"I'm coming over there!" Maggie yells.

"Nothing!" Terrell shouts back, ushering us to turn around. "Nothing's going on!"

There's a crashing sound from the kitchen, and we all freeze for a split second.

"Maggie!" Della cries out. "Maggie!"

Terrell shoots to the rescue, and we all scramble to catch up after him. We find Maggie lying on the floor just in front of the dining table, her face twisted in agony.

"She tried to stand up on her own, but she fell!" Della explains, cowering at the kitchen sink. She had been using a dish cloth to wipe off the blood on her hands.

Terrell squats down and hesitantly reaches for Maggie's shoulder, but she quickly hisses at him, "Don't touch me!"

He jerks his hand back in shock.

Maggie is squeezing her eyes shut, barely moving a muscle. Her body is rigid, and I can tell that she is in a lot of pain. She's said before that she had hurt her ribs during her fall from the tree.

I squat down next to Terrell. "Maggie, are you having trouble breathing?"

A few tense seconds pass before she can muster up the strength to whisper, "Yeah."

I bite my lower lip, trying my best to keep the rising panic from engulfing me.

Dear God, she needs a hospital.

"Uh," I say, my voice shaky. "Hang in there. Just focus on breathing nice and easy."

Nolan goes to the door, unbolting the locks.

"What do you think you're doing?" Nelia asks him.

"We have to go. The power is out. The WiFi is down. Maggie needs help. There's no reason why we need to stay here."

He opens the door.

"Nolan, wait!" I snap, jumping to my feet.

"What's going on?" Wes says, coming in from the hallway, his face pale.

By then, Nolan had already made it down the steps. We all scramble outside after him.

"Wait, we can't just leave Maggie behind," I argue, grabbing his arm to halt him.

"She's already having a hard time breathing. Making her move her body and come with us is asking too much. It's a miracle she's come this far. We can't make her go any further without risking serious damage," Terrell tells us gravely.

Wes glances at Bleckley's phone. "It's twelve-thirty. We need to make good use of the day while we still have light left. We should try and find the main road before dark."

Nelia points at the driveway to the trailer, and I follow the gravel road as it disappears into the woods. "If we follow that, then we should eventually find the main road."

Wes nods. "We can leave Maggie in the trailer, and if we can't find the main road or any other houses along the way, then we'll come straight back before dark."