Free Arena Two by Morgan Rice Page B

than I’ve seen her, and while I know she’s asleep, I can’t help feeling that her face looks like that of a dying person. I look down at her arm, at her bandage, and already see large blotches of red forming on either side of the bite. It is infected—and spreading fast.
    I swallow hard, my mouth dry, knowing this is not good. I feel so helpless. I wish there was something I could do, somewhere I could take her. But there’s nothing. Champagne and sleeping pills are, pathetically, all I have to offer her.
    I reach down and pick Rose up in my arms. Penelope refuses to leave her lap, so I hold the two of them, carry them like a baby. Rose is limp and asleep. Thank God for that. I hope she’s not feeling any pain right now.
    Bree gets up and walks beside me. I hand Rose to Logan, then jump down and grab Bree, carrying her off the boat. The snow falls harder all around us. I watch Logan carry Rose into the cave and take Bree’s hand and follow.
    “ Grab the other sacks, will you?” I say to Ben. I don’t want him to be completely useless, if nothing else than for his own sake.
    Ben does as he’s told, reaching into the boat and grabbing the packs of food and supplies. I turn with Bree and walk across the soft sand, towards the cave.
    “ Will Rose be okay?” Bree asks. “Where are we?”
    “ We’re on a small island,” I say. “We’re going to stay here until the storm passes.”
    “ Until Rose gets better?” she asks.
    I swallow hard, not knowing how to answer. I wish I knew myself.
    “ I’m going to do everything I can for her,” I say. “I promise.”
    We reach the mouth of the cave and I am relieved to see it will be the perfect shelter for us. About 15 feet high and 30 feet deep, with a 10 foot ceiling, it is not so deep where I can’t see where it ends. I can see there are no animals—or people—hiding inside. And as I walk in, it already feels several degrees warmer in here—maybe because of the shelter from the wind. I look down and see the dirt floors are dry, too, the snow stopping a few feet from the entrance.
    I feel we can build a fire here. We are protected from the wind, and protected from the eyes of anyone who might be watching. It’s the perfect place for us all to rest and recover and get our bearings.
    Logan places Rose down gently on the earthen floor; he takes off his jacket and delicately rests it beneath her head. Watching him, it surprises me. I had no idea he could be so gentle.
    Penelope stands on Rose’s chest, on all fours, shaking. She curls up in a ball, lying down and pressing her chin on Rose’s chest, looking up at her with sad eyes, refusing to leave her side.
    “ The infection is bad,” Logan says softly as he hurries over to me. “She needs medicine.”
    “ I know,” I say. “What do you propose we do?”
    He shakes his head grimly. “I don’t know,” he finally answers.
    Ben enters with all the bags of food and supplies, and sets them down inside the cave. Logan turns away from him with a look of disgust, still pissed at him for falling asleep on guard.
    At least here, in this cave, we will be safer. There won’t be as much of a need to stand guard. There is practically no way anyone could ambush us here without approaching by boat. And that would make noise. The way I see it, if this island is truly deserted, then we have no worries. I turn to Logan.
    “ Before we settle in,” I say, “we need to know that there’s no one else on the island, waiting to surprise us. We should also scavenge this place, before the storm gets worse, to see if there are any remnants, any supplies we can find, maybe even some kind of medicine. Maybe there are even some animals here we could hunt—maybe we can find dinner.”
    “ Good idea,” he says. “But you shouldn’t go alone.” He turns and looks at Ben. “I’d go with you, but I can’t. I need to stand guard. I’m not about to leave all of our stuff—and our boat—under Ben’s watch.”
    He says it