Free After the Event by T.A. Williams Page B

look of surprise on his face. “You mean Alya picks on me because she loves me?”
    The smile on Alec’s face was the strongest since everything went dark. “Every time Alya picks on you she is telling you that she loves you.”
    “That’s weird.”
    Alec ran his hand through Joseph’s hair and the boy nuzzled back into his side. After a few minutes of silence Joseph laid his hand gently on Alya’s head.
    “Alec?”
    “Yeah little man?”
    “Is Ally going to get better?”
    “Yeah Joe, I’ll make sure she gets better.”
    After a few minutes Alec could hear soft snores coming from Joseph. Alec stared back into the fire and watched as the flames slowly broke down the piece of wood into nothing more than ash.
    It was time he talked to his father.
     
     

Grant
     
    “She can’t keep going like this.” Jack whispered.
    Anger flared for just a second in Grant. He knew this, everyone knew this, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. Jack recognized the anger and placed a hand on his shoulder.
    “What I’m saying is we have to get her something to help her fight.”
    “Suggestions?”
    “She’s burning up right now, we’ve got to get her fever down. We need Tylenol and I’ve already checked my place and Trent has checked his, we’ve got shit.”
    Tylenol. A small little pill that anyone could get at a store for a couple of bucks is what they needed and they had no way to get it. “How do we not have any Tylenol?”
    Jack shrugged. “Grant there is a lot of stuff we should have but don’t. When you get used to being able to drive 15 minutes and pick up whatever you need you don’t have a reason to stock up.”
    Alec walked in the room. If Jack mirrored the feeling of despair that Grant was feeling then Alec mirrored the anger.
    “We have to do something.”
    Grant nodded, “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
    “We don’t have time to figure it out we have to do something now.”
    The anger returned and Grant fought to keep it back. “Alec, that is what I’m trying to figure out.”
    Jack stepped up and tried to place a hand on Alec but he shrugged it off. “Don’t give me that shit. You don’t know what you’re doing. You never know what you’re doing, because this is when you run away. When things get bad you take off.”
    The anger took over and Grant grabbed the boy and pushed him against the wall. “Don’t you dare try to put this on me because you’re scared. You think I’m not scared? You don’t think I want to do something?”
    Tears filled the boy’s eyes. “You don’t know what you’re doing. I’m the one that always has to pick us up. I’m the one that is supposed to protect us because you’re not there.”
    The anger fled Grant’s body all at once. He took a step back and took a deep breath. “Alec you don’t have to do this alone anymore. I’m here.”
    The boy broke down. “I can’t sit around and watch her die. I can’t go through that again.”
    Grant hugged the boy to his body. Alec fought him for a second then gave in.
    “You have every right to be mad at me Alec. You have every right to hate me, but don’t let your anger towards me hurt your sister.”
    After a few minutes Alec pushed himself away and walked to the door. “So what are we going to do?”
    Grant glanced at Jack. “I’m going to go in town and see if anyone has some medicine we can trade for.”
    Alec still had his back to Grant. “I’m coming with you.”
    Grant didn’t argue.
     

Alec
     
     
    Trent’s truck fought against the snow and ice and won, this time. They had decided to take the back roads to get into town and at the moment it didn’t seem like such a good idea. The road, which had once been gravel, had more in common now with a frozen-over lake. To make things even worse the ice was covered by snow, in some spots only a foot, in others several, as the blustery wind created snow drifts. The truck would fight to get through the snow drifts only to hit