Free My Dead World by Jacqueline Druga

walked back out to the car.
    Cade was right. There was no one around, no police or even sounds of sirens. I grabbed the empty duffle bag from the car and the keys. Even though we were in a remote area, I didn’t want to take a chance of losing our only means of transportation.
    When I returned back inside I realized Cade wasn’t kidding when he said he’d move fast. On the silver examining table were items he planned on taking. Some of which were intravenous bags with fluids.
    “Start putting that stuff in the duffle. I found a box we can use as well.” He showed it to me. It already had items in it and he put it on the table.
    “Is this right to do?” I asked.
    “Yes, yes it is,” he answered without hesitation.
    “Will it work?”
    “Put it this way … IV fluids are IV fluids. Antibiotics are different but they’ll work, especially the ointment and wound cleaner. Bandages are bandages,” he said, “I think we have enough. And …” He tapped the box that also had supplies. “We can drop this off to Boswick.”
    I loaded the duffle bag. “If we have enough already, what are you looking for?”
    “I’ll know it when I see it,” He stepped from the room. Within seconds he returned with a small white box, and he put it on the table before walking out.
    The tiny white box tipped and brand new capped syringes poured out.
    “Cade?” I lifted a syringe and sought him out. He was in a storage room down the hall. “Do you mind telling me why we need …” I paused when I saw he was looking at a small bottle that fit in the palm of his hand, containing a liquid. “Needles?”
    He didn’t seem to hear me.
    I walked closer. On the shelf was a small open box with seven other similar small bottles.
    “This is it,” Cade said in a soft voice. He squeezed the bottle then put it with the others and grabbed the small box.
    “What is it?”
    “Let’s just say, it could be a humane answer.”
    I was curious about what he meant. I didn’t see the name on the vials and I doubted I would know what I was looking at anyway. I figured it was some sort of pain medication or tranquilizer, both of which would come in handy in the long run.
    After getting all of our items, turning off the lights, we shut the door and got back in the SUV.
     
    It wouldn’t be a long drive to the cabin and once we hit Mountain Road, I was able to get through to Boswick on the radio. Even over a static filled line he sounded grateful and said he’d meet us at the property gate.
    He was waiting there with one other man I didn’t recognize.
    Boswick was a few years younger than my father and they had a love hate relationship. For years they bickered, but it didn’t surprise me in the least that my father told him where the spare key was. I never minded Barry Boswick, he was nice to me. He reminded me a lot of my father, strong and a leader. He knew his way around the outdoors, although you couldn’t tell that by looking at him. In all the years I had known him I never seen him in anything but a golf style shirt, and tan casual pants. In the summer he traded them in for shorts. But, he was always dressed preppy.
    I really thought when his wife died years earlier that he would close Big Bear, especially since his son didn’t live in the state. He didn’t close, in fact, he grasped on to it, treating the regular dwellers like family.
    He, like my father was protecting that family.
    Boswick didn’t just meet us at the gate with a relieved look, he greeted us with the charging base to the radio.
    “Keep that on you. With this crisis, we could end up needing each other.”
    Cade handed him the box. “This should help you out. If you have any questions, just radio.”
    “How did you get it?” He asked.
    “Well we couldn’t get into town, so we borrowed from the animal hospital.”
    “That works, good thinking. I’m sorry I turned you away.”
    “I understand. How many injured do you have?” Cade asked.
    “Right now about ten. When