Turning to the little girl, Wendy reached over and cupped Jo Ann’s face in her hand. “Yes, baby. He wouldn’t know how, for one. Only a member of the ship’s crew could do that and then, only a few of them would know how,” Wendy told her in a reassuring voice.
Jo Ann gave a relaxing sigh and Wendy heard another come from Sally on the floor. “Sorry we woke you then,” Jo Ann said sheepishly.
Giving a shrug as she let Jo Ann’s chin go, Wendy turned and saw they only had a few bottles of water left. “Is the water on?” Wendy asked.
Nodding, “Yeah, but we didn’t drink any like you told us,” Jo Ann answered.
Walking over to the small table, Wendy sat down and looked at the spear gun. “Guys, we need more bottled water,” Wendy told them. In normal times, she knew the ship’s water plant would and could put out drinkable water, but didn’t want to trust it. Wendy was sure it would be okay to wash in, but didn’t want to risk drinking any.
Putting a pacifier in Ryan’s mouth, “They have some in the store beside the daycare,” Sally said, getting up.
“That’s only a few levels down,” Wendy nodded, looking at the wall with an unfixed gaze as she thought. When she turned, Wendy saw the girls standing side by side, holding hands in front of her. Both had small trusting smiles on their faces.
Reaching out, Wendy put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Jo Ann, Sally, I’m going out to get us some water,” Wendy said and the smiles fell off as both gasped, taking a breath to argue. “Hold on,” Wendy said and both girls closed their mouths.
“Ryan can’t come and we can’t leave him alone. It takes both of you to look after him. This room is more or less soundproof unless you bang around. When I come back, I’ll give this knock,” Wendy said tapping the table three times, then two, followed by three more. “One of you will put your ear to the door and I’ll whisper ‘it’s me’. Then and only then, will you open the door.”
“What if Anthony comes?” Sally blurted out with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Sally, I won’t be that far away and if you keep the door locked, I’ll hear him trying to get in,” Wendy explained, taking her hands off their shoulders. Gently, she caressed each one’s cheek. “I’ll be back long before he could get in,” Wendy assured them.
“What if you don’t come back?” Jo Ann asked with a few tears running down her cheeks.
“Girls,” Wendy snorted with a chuckle. “If that virus didn’t kill me, Anthony doesn’t stand a chance.”
Hearing certainty in Wendy’s voice, both girls visibly relaxed and the tears in their eyes dissipated. Jo Ann and Sally leaned over, hugging Wendy. “Please be back before dark,” Sally begged.
“Girls, I’ll try, but I have to find us some flashlights,” Wendy told them, hugging them tight.
Both girls leaned back and looked at each other. Unspoken thoughts passed between the twins, and then they turned to Wendy. “Okay, just bring us some,” Sally said with a serious face and Jo Ann nodded.
“I will,” Wendy chuckled.
Wearing only shorts and t-shirt, Wendy put on her shoes and then emptied out the backpack that had held all of Ryan’s supplies. “Need some more diaper wipes,” Wendy mumbled, putting the pack on.
Grabbing the hard-plastic spear holster, Wendy strapped it to her left leg. She looked at the two shiny metal spears. The shaft of the spear that the gun fired, or what Wendy called the arrow, was twenty-eight inches long, with a large metal tip that was over an inch wide. Under the spear gun was the line connected to the arrow so you could pull fish that you’d shot back to you.
Knowing the thing wouldn’t be very accurate, Wendy had taken the reel line off the spear shaft. She didn’t know how much power the two rubber bands had, but it’d taken her a lot of effort to pull them back. One was relatively easy, but the second one was very hard to pull back. “Gloria would’ve never been able to pull back that second rubber band,” Wendy mumbled.
No sooner than her sister’s name escaped her lips, memories flooded Wendy’s mind, making her take a deep breath and push them away. “Keep your mind on the here and now,” Wendy reminded herself as she moved over and helped the twins remove the chairs from around the door.
“When I’m gone, put the chairs back and the door stop,” she said, pointing to the wedge under the door. They had found it in the bathroom but since the bathroom door could be locked open, Wendy hadn’t known why it’d been there.
“What if you need in fast?” Sally asked, kicking the door stop out from under the door.
Glancing at the yellow hair barrette in Sally’s hair, “Sally,” Wendy said, resting her hand on the door. “I won’t need in fast, but you have to make sure nobody but me comes in.”
“Okay,” Sally mumbled unconvinced.
Undoing the privacy latch and unlocking the door, Wendy eased the door open and stuck her head out. The smell in the hall was much stronger today and Wendy was sure it was going to get much worse. With the emergency lights on in the hallway, Wendy poked her head out and didn’t see anything.
Turning back to the twins, “I’m waiting here until you have the door locked, so give one light tap when you are ready for me to leave,” Wendy whispered. As one, Jo Ann and Sally nodded.
Closing the door, Wendy checked the keycard attached to the bungee cord on her waist. Hearing the door lock Wendy turned, looking up and down the hall as the twins pushed the chairs
