Next, she pulled out a stethoscope and listened to his breathing as Selene cleaned the wound and rebandaged it. Then, she pulled out an old-fashioned blood pressure kit and wrapped it around his arm. As the doctor checked his blood pressure, Selene thought to turn in her seat and look at their other patient.
Cat was sprawled on her cot but watching them like a hawk. Selene tried to give her an encouraging smile, but the Marine just stared hard at Ant. When she heard the hiss of air being released from the blood pressure cuff, Selene turned back around.
“You’re the herbal expert here,” Dr. Ruzka said. “What are good, natural ways to raise blood pressure?”
“Ginseng, guarana, licorice, arnica,” Selene said, rattling off the first answers that came to her. “I have the ginseng, but that’s it. Let me get some.”
Dr. Ruzka packed away all of her gear, set her bag in her lap, and wrapped her arms around it. “Not much more we can do for him than that. We’ll need to keep vigil here, though. He needs someone keeping an eye on him. His condition is critical.”
Selene produced a ginseng pill. They spent a minute trying to get him to swallow it. It finally ruptured in his mouth, and he reflexively swallowed most of the powder. It was the best she could do, so she pulled the blanket back over him, dabbed his face with a damp rag, and packed away the rest of her herbs.
“He’s not gonna make it,” Cat said. She had her hands tucked behind her head, and since she was wearing a tank top, it made the bulge of her biceps prominent. Selene found her quite scary, even though she’d never said a mean or rude thing. “I knew he wasn’t going to make it as soon as I saw the bullet wound.”
Selene was shocked when tears sprang into the woman’s eyes. She quickly wiped them away, but more came.
“Don’t give up on him yet,” Selene said. “They might come back with something that will help.”
“They might come back,” Cat said. “That’s right. Dang, Ant and I went through boot camp together. I’ve known that guy since day one. Didn’t think it’d end like this, dying in some back closet in an old bed-and-breakfast. Weird times.”
“The situation is far from hopeless,” Dr. Ruzka said. “He’ll still got some fight in him.”
“If you say so, Doctor,” she replied.
Selene and the doctor moved to Cat’s cot next to check on her hip wound. She was in much better shape, of course, though the wound was far from healed. Still, they cleaned and rebandaged it, and Selene gave her a garlic and honey pill to help with healing.
“Hey, let me ask you a question,” Cat said, as Selene was taping the new bandage in place. “Do you guys keep bug-out bags around the island?”
“Well, we have some first aid kits in the bathroom of the guesthouse, if that’s what you mean,” Selene said.
“No, not really the same thing,” Cat replied. “A bug-out bag is a short-term survival kit, so if you get caught out somewhere, or if you have to evacuate your home suddenly, you can take care of yourself. Some people call them a seventy-two-hour kit.”
“I don’t think we have anything like that,” Selene said. “What do you put in them?”
“Enough food and water for a few days,” Cat replied. “Air filtration mask, first aid supplies, socks and underwear, tools, knives, pepper spray, a handgun, meds—whatever you might need. You should create a few bug-out bags and stash them around the island.”
“You think we’ll need them?” Selene asked.
“You never know,” Cat said. “Trouble’s coming. Better get on that soon. Heck, I’ll help you put them together. Get the other islanders, get Fish, make them help, too.”
Quite frankly, Selene didn’t want to think about it. Yes, a worse enemy was on the way. Things were going to get really bad on the island. Selene knew this, she’d heard it with her own ears, but it hadn’t quite sunk in.
“Okay, I’ll recruit the others to help with that,” she said, after a moment.
When Selene came through the back door of the guesthouse, she heard a clash and clatter, someone muttering curses under his breath. At first, she didn’t see anything, as if the sounds were coming from thin air. Then George Pasqualee rose up from behind the bar, kicking a cabinet shut with his heel. He harrumphed loudly and smacked the bar top with his big hands. Then he noticed Selene standing just inside the door and gave her a sheepish look.
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
“No, no, just looking for something,” he said.
He moved out from behind the bar and headed for the hallway. She followed him.
“Hey, George, I’ve got a little task that we could all work on,” she said. “We’re going to put together these things called bug-out bags, like survival kits, and I’d like to get as many people as possible helping.”
He led her into the kitchen, where he began rooting through the drawers. When he didn’t respond to her, she started to repeat herself. Finally, he glanced at her over his shoulder.
“Sorry, Selene, I’m sort of distracted right now,” he said. “I’ve lost something, and I really want to find it. Why don’t you go recruit the others? Danny is up and moving around. Norman is down there helping that young Marine. The Dulleses are doing absolutely nothing useful. The guy named Fish looks bored. There are a lot of people who can help.” He sounded unusually irritated, and his sharpness actually hurt her feelings.
“Okay,” she said. “Do you mind if I ask what you’re looking for?”
He slid a drawer shut, leaned against a counter for a second, and said, “Picture album. Photographs of my wife and I when we were younger. I stashed them somewhere in the guesthouse, but I can’t remember where. For a long time, I didn’t want to look at them, but
