Free Endless Winter (Book 2): Rain & Ruin by Theresa Shaver Page B

to the double metal doors. There always seems to be doors between me and Sky but this time she’s given me the key so my palm slaps the pad and the doors slide soundlessly open. Our feet echo even louder in the tunnel and it feels like I’m running in place. I’m so scared of what we’ll find on the other end.
    The tunnel doors open between the animal area and the gardens and I have to stop and take a few steps back to get Ethan moving again because he’s standing there staring at the small farm. He shakes away his amazement and starts following me again. Over the small bridge and past Ben’s sandbox, then palming the door to their living quarters. I scan the living room and kitchen but there’s no one there so I take a right and see a foot on the ground just inside Ben’s bed room.
    My heart just stops with my feet when I get close enough to see her laying on the floor. How could this happen so fast? I just saw her less than twenty four hours ago! Ethan shoves me out of the way and hits the carpet on his knees beside her. He’s checking for a pulse on her neck and yelling at me but all I can see is Sky laying there on the floor lifeless and it’s frozen me solid.
    Ethan breaks me from my trance by wrenching the bag of medical supplies from my shoulder and I finally hear what he’s saying.
    “Rex, she’s breathing! Help me get her off the floor!”
    I shake off my shock and help him get Sky onto the bed beside Ben. I can feel the heat radiating off of them both and it scares me to death how limp and lifeless Sky is when we lift her. I stand there feeling useless while Ethan pulls out a stethoscope and listens to both of their chests. My whole body is vibrating with the need to DO something, anything but this is beyond my abilities to fix so I have to just trust Ethan to make them better. He finally stands up and turns to me.
    “Rex, I’m going to start I.V.’s for both of them and get some antibiotics running. I think it’s pneumonia but can’t know for sure unless I can do some x-ray’s back at the clinic. I’m almost positive though because there was a little girl in the hotel group who I think has it also. Her x-ray’s showed cloudy lungs so I set her up on an I.V. with antibiotics earlier this morning. Skylar probably picked it up from her and passed it on to Ben. They’ve been so isolated all these years that any bug is going to knock them right off their feet and move quicker than in people who have a better developed immune system. I need you to go back to the clinic and get a stretcher so we can move them.”
    I just stare down at the two of them without moving. I did this to them. I remember how fierce Skylar was the first time she brought me and Matty into the airlock. How she was afraid we would infect Ben with something from the outside because he’s never been exposed to any real germs before. I remember her carrying a little girl on our mad run to get inside when the rain started and how she told AIRIA to override the decontamination process to get us all in faster.
    I did this to them. For the second time, I brought danger into her home and put the only thing that matters to her at risk. How will she ever begin to forgive me? I don’t think she will. The only thing I can do is pray that Ethan can get them better so I ask the computer.
    “AIRIA, is there a stretcher here on this side of the tunnel?”
    “Rex Larson, a medical stretcher can be found in storage container A1.”
    I back away from the bed, not wanting to take my eyes off the girl I know I’ve lost for good. Ethan squeezes my arm and I make myself stop thinking. There will be time later, once they’re better, to face my guilt. Then I’m running out the door again.
    Ethan doesn’t want to leave either of them alone so we put them both on the stretcher with their heads at either end. I’m thankful that it’s a full ambulance style stretcher with folding legs and wheels so we can move them faster and safer than trying to