Free Dead: Winter by TW Brown Page A

crying. That seemed a bit extreme for giving a little blood.
    “Steve!” Sunshine stepped out of the kitchen where I could see what looked like everybody who was not outside standing around in a cluster. “It’s Teresa.”
    I felt my stomach lurch and the room got all tilted before snapping back to normal. That was when I found myself on my knees. I didn’t need to see what was wrong. The tone of voice on the heels of Dr. Zahn’s urgent summons told me everything that I needed. It was bad.
    “She collapsed.”
    “And?” I was aware that Thalia’s and Emily’s crying had gotten louder.
    “Just get in here.” Sunshine stepped aside and held the door open. I could see the expressions on everybody’s faces and knew it was not going to be something good.
    I stepped past the woman and for some reason, it popped into my head that, if everybody was here, who was taking care of the new girl? Then I saw her. Teresa was sprawled on the floor looking every bit the sixteen-year-old that she had never been as long as I’d known her.
    “Steve,” Brad moved aside so that I could kneel beside the girl, “she just fell out.”
    “As much as that can be used to describe what happened,” Dr. Zahn’s head popped up, her eyes blazing, “I would ask that you leave any sort of diagnosis to me. And since I have just started examining the girl, there is nothing to say. Now, everybody get out of the kitchen except for Steve. There are two little girls in the other room that just watched every adult they know act like they have lost their minds.”
    I wouldn’t say everybody rushed out of the room, but they certainly left in a hurry.
    “Sunshine!” the doctor called. “Get in there with that other woman and keep an eye on her. She is stable for the most part, but if her pulse drops below forty, give me a yell.”
    “Yes, Doctor.”
    “What happened?” I asked after the door shut.
    “She was carrying plates in and, according to Melinda, she staggered a step and shoved the entire stack onto the counter before passing out.”
    Melinda Cribbs was DeAngelo’s wife. She’d been brought in after being shot by the same guy who’d been part of our group briefly before murdering at least two of our members directly and leading a herd of zombies to our site where he tallied a few indirect kills. Melinda and DeAngelo’s arrival had sent Jesus and Jake out in the hopes that the guy was still in the area. Much to his detriment, he had been.
    “So what’s wrong with her?”
    “That’s the problem, Steve,” Dr. Zahn said in a whisper. “It could be a million things related to the pregnancy. I don’t have anything that will tell me shit.”
    I think that was the first time I could recall hearing Dr. Francis Zahn swear. I took Teresa’s hand in mine, not sure what to expect. It was warm and soft, but I could still feel the callouses.
    “Let’s get her into bed,” the doctor suggested. “The last thing we need is Jamie coming in and finding her on the floor.”
    I scooped her up, surprised at how light she was even being a few months pregnant. I let the doctor lead the way, and I carried Teresa to her bed and tucked her in. She stirred once. I don’t care what anybody else might say, I took that as a good sign. I kissed her on the forehead and after a dismissive nod from Dr. Zahn, I returned to the main area.
    Thalia and Emily were still sitting huddled close, but now Buster the Border Collie was at their feet giving everybody a dog’s equivalent of a dirty look. I was just about to go over and check on the girls when the door slammed open.
    “Ian’s down!” Fiona panted. “One of the creepers tripped him up and he hit his head on something, by the time Billy got to him, it had taken a chunk out of his shoulder.”
    On cue, Billy and Jamie came in carrying the visibly injured Ian. The blood from the wound was making his leather coat look shiny. For some reason, that was all I could think about; how shiny his black leather