Free End of the Line (Book 2): Stuck in the Middle by Lara Frater Page A

but I managed to open my eyes. The other people vomiting were Jim, Dave, Henry and Mike.
                  Mike similarly sat on the deck like me. He looked white as a sheet. Jim and Dave still were over the edge. Henry was lying on a lounge chair, with his eyes squeezed shut, holding his gut.
                  The door opened and I figured it was another person about to lose their dinner. It was Hannah, she wore boots but not her glasses. She didn’t throw up and she didn’t look white as Mike. Instead she came over to me.
                  “You too?”
                  “What’s going on?” I shivered uncontrollably.
                  “I think it’s food poisoning.”
                  “From where?”
                  “I don’t know yet. When you feel like you’ve finished, go back to bed. Do you have water in your room? Does Henry?”
                  “I have. I don’t know about Henry.”
                  “I’ll bring two just in case. Try to drink as much as possible. I don’t want to bring out the saline, but I will if you can’t get water down.” She gave me a box of wipes. I used them to clean off my hand.
                  That was the least of my worries. I felt hot and cold at the same time. My stomach gurgled in protest.
                  “Anyone else sick?” I managed to croak out.
                  “Everyone but Dena, Grace and me. Keith won’t come out of his room, but he says it’s not bad. I don’t know why he barricaded the door. I guess he’s afraid.” He was but I didn’t tell Hannah why. “It hit Tanya, Eric and the kids early this morning. Also please go down to the swim platform if you have diarrhea.”
                  “There’s diarrhea too?”
     
                  I shit into the freezing cold air and felt the icy drops of water hitting my butt. I thought everything I ate came out of my mouth but apparently that wasn’t true. Right now I was grateful to be alone but the deck was filthy indicating I wasn’t the only one with a problem. Hannah had given me something anti-diarrhea medicine and I prayed it worked soon. I shit where rich people had once jumped off for a cool swim. I mooned the zombies, worried that some floater would come by and bite my ass. I began to cry. I didn’t care if anyone heard me. I was humiliated. I missed Mark, I wanted him to bring me broth. I missed running water and having a bathroom where I could shit in private.
                  After either I finally emptied my stomach or the medication worked, I wiped myself, dumping the wipes into the water. I pulled my pants up, walked to the edge of the swim platform and dumped my slippers now covered with filth into the ocean. I didn’t care how cold my feet were as I took the ladder back to the deck. Dave and Jim were sitting on lounge chairs, looked white, pale, unsure about what to do. Neither said anything to me, nor I to them. I walked back inside without a word
                  No one was in the salon. I went to the bedroom and crawled back to bed; stripping almost everything because I didn’t know if any of the platform shit got on me. Henry was wrapped up in a blanket on his side of the bed.
                  I wished Henry was gone, even though he was asleep. I wanted to crawl in bed alone and die. I felt really hot but I also shivered uncontrollably.
                  I don’t know how much time passed before Hannah came. She looked sweaty herself.
                  “You too?” I asked. She nodded. I knew she didn’t like me, but we shared this moment.
                  “Dena and Grace?”
                  “So far, so good.” Figured the bitches would be fine.
                  She left a bottle of water for me and one for Henry. She put a