Chapter two
hundred and fifty-five:
“Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah,” Luke
nodded.
Jenna was
shivering noticeably, despite the heavy blanket around her shoulders and Luke’s
arm around her.
“What happened?”
“The girls
smelled smoke…” Luke replied, filling in for Jen. “Then the alarm went off…
when we got to the hall, the entire floor was on fire…. Every
room except ours. The smoke was…” Luke shook his head. “There was a lot
of smoke. I could see the flames down the hall and I got the girls into the
stairwell. It spread so fast… it was right on our heels the whole way.”
“Thank god you
guys are okay… This… this could have been much worse.”
“Four people…
“What?” He
asked.
“Four people
died… I saw the bodies… near the ambulance…” She sobbed. Luke pulled her into
his arms to comfort her.
“Jesus Christ.”
Zac pulled Becky
through the crowd. Thankfully, he had stopped crying before his brothers saw
him, but Becky was still in tears. She too was shaking, and she sat down
suddenly next to Jen, taking her hand with her free one. Zac was not about to
let go of her other one.
“Where’s
Christy?” Becky sobbed, sniffling loudly.
“She’s still
being looked at.” Luke replied.
“Don’t worry,
babe.” Zac comforted. “She’s with Isaac, it’ll be okay. You’re all out, and
you’re all safe.”
“Do you know if
this was set on purpose?”
“I heard one of
the fire fighters say something about gasoline… that the only way the fire
could have spread this quickly was with gas…” Luke admitted.
“They did this.”
Jen said suddenly, catching them all in surprise.
“Who?” Luke demanded. “Who did this?”
“Them…
the people after us.”
“Jen, this is
extreme… even for them.”
“No,” Becky
spoke up. “We provoked them… we shut down their site… they’re just
retaliating.’
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Isaac returned
to the emergency room holding a cup of tea in one hand and a cup of tea in the
other. He had left his wife with a sweet young nurse, who wanted to be as
helpful as possible.
The emergency
was pandemonium; Isaac had to weave in and out of people as he made his way to
the little curtained off room Christy was in. He found her lying on the bed,
curled up with the flannel sheet around her body as she tried to keep warm.
Thinking she was asleep, Isaac politely thanked the nurse and placed both Styrofoam
cups on the nightstand.
Christy lifted
her head from the pillow “Ike?”
“I’m here,
honey.” He smiled softly, pulling a stool up to the bed and sitting carefully. “I
brought you a cup of tea to calm you down. Are you feeling okay?” He gently
brushed a strand of her dark hair from her face.
The nurse who
had just left allowed Christy to shower between tests, and her hair was
slightly curly from air-drying.
“I’m scared.”
She admitted, abandoning the idea of being warm and reaching for his hand.
”I am too, C.” He admitted, moving closer and tucking the blanket around her to
try to warm her. With one hand grasping hers tightly, he gently rubbed her
shoulder with the other. He was trying to be comforting and trying not to show
how truly worried he was but it was getting harder and harder to ignore the
gnawing in the pit of his stomach.
“I don’t think I
can stand it if I loose this baby.” She whispered.
The comment
caught him completely off guard. He didn’t know what to say. He swallowed the
lump in his throat and leaned over and gently kissed her forehead.
Before he could
respond, the curtain was jerked open and a doctor came into the room with a
clip board and the results from all of Christy’s tests.
The doctor was a
middle aged woman. Her hair was streaked with gray, and there were faint lines around
her mouth.
“I’ve got the
results of your tests…”
Christy shifted
into a sitting position, not letting go of Isaac’s hand. Her nails briefly dug
into the flesh of his hand, but he didn’t protest.
“Is everything
okay?” Isaac asked cautiously.
“Everything is
fine. I can’t see any signs of fetal distress.” The doctor smiled. “You did
inhale a lot of smoke, so I’m going to recommend that you try to rest as much
as possible for the next little while, at least until your next check up.”
“She will
definitely be resting!” Isaac proclaimed, happily embracing his wife.
Christy couldn’t
breath. She felt like screaming in joy and crying at the same time.
“I’ve got some
new ultra sound pictures, if you’d like to see them, and I think you should get
home and try to get some rest as soon as you can.”
Isaac smiled at
Christy, kissing the hand that was still tightly clasped in his. “We’ll do
that.”