Abraham came into their bedroom with a tray of hot tea and breakfast biscuits, for which she thanked him.
“Anything?” he asked, to which she shook her head.
She whispered, “I think we should go to the quarantine camp they listed on the television. They’d have all of the medical equipment there we’d need. Doctors and—”
“Don’t even think it,” Tristan said behind them groggily.
Avery ran to the bed and bent over him. “Tristan!”
“Hey, Angel,” he said, his voice unnaturally hoarse.
“Oh, Tristan,” she said and kissed all over his face at least ten times.
“What’s going on?”
“Don’t you know? Don’t you remember?”
Spencer popped up from his slumber and hurried over, as well. They all waited a moment while Tristan sorted through his thoughts. He was very transparent about it, too. His face went from scowl, to confusion, to an angry frown.
“Yeah, someone hit me over the damn head,” he said and winced when he attempted to sit up.
“No, no,” Spencer said and pressed him back by placing his hand against Tristan’s shoulder. “Just rest, buddy. You took quite a hit. You were out most of the night, too.”
“How’d I get here?”
“We found you. Thank God,” Abraham said from the foot of the bed. “Tracked you. Wasn’t easy in the dark.”
“Tristan, you’re so lucky,” Avery told him. “One of those things could’ve found you out there.”
He nodded and winced again.
“Let me get you some Tylenol,” Spencer offered and left the room in a hurry.
This time, Tristan used his hands to push almost to a seated position against the headboard.
“What happened, Tristan? Do you remember?” she prompted.
“Yeah, I was tracking someone. Caught sight of him. Followed him…” he paused a moment as if trying to remember, which frightened Avery that he could have serious damage to his brain. “Followed him to the river. Heard a splash. Thought I saw something, maybe a body, not sure, in the water. He was either working with someone or tossed something in the river to throw me off. It worked. Amateur move.”
Abraham said, “No, not amateur. Not you.”
He glanced up to regard her brother but offered nothing more than another frown as if disappointed in himself.
Spencer returned with the medicine, and Tristan took three pills with water. She wasn’t even sure if Tylenol was something he should take. Medicine and dosages were not her forte. They needed the internet to work, but it was down all night and so far, this morning, too. She’d scoured the medical books they did have, but none of them covered anything like this sort of injury. They were severely lacking in medical preparedness in the knowledge department.
“I radioed Gyles to let him know. Ben Miller, too. Everyone was worried about you, brother,” Spencer told him.
“It’s all good,” Tristan said and extended a closed fist to bump against Spencer’s. However, Spencer didn’t look convinced and sent Avery a suspicious look when he turned.
Her brother and Spencer excused themselves so that Tristan could rest, but there was no way she was leaving him. She thought concussion patients weren’t supposed to sleep, so Avery wasn’t sure if she should let him. Instead, she crawled into bed beside him and sat there holding his hand.
“I’m fine, Angel,” Tristan told her, then cupped her cheek. “Really. Just a headache. Nothing more. Who found me out there? How’d they get me back?”
She explained how it happened and who helped, and Tristan seemed humbled that so many of their friends and allies had come to his rescue. She wasn’t. Avery knew that Tristan was the one they were all relying on to keep them alive through this. Gyles was older and had many good ideas, but Tristan was in charge of their security plans, safety concerns, and overall survival. He had the most experience and the confidence in his decisions that they were doing things the way they needed to in order to make it through this mess as an intact group.
He seemed tired, so she fed him a few biscuits and insisted he drink the warm tea. No longer able to fight it, he fell asleep, but Avery stayed with him. She sat on the chaise and read a book. After an hour and a half, she woke him ‘accidentally’ to which he replied that he needed to pee anyway. That had been her plan all along with the tea, so it worked. She didn’t think he should sleep long in case he did have a concussion. He swayed on his feet, so she helped him get to the bathroom, which seemed to annoy him. Then he grumbled about having to return to bed. Avery did not want him attempting to do much today. Maybe not for a few days.
After noon, Abraham came up to announce that the others had returned. She peeked through the slats on the windows from the second floor and watched as everyone unloaded the vehicles and trailers that were filled to the gills. Her mouth turned down when she noticed that Wren’s dog had a bandaged leg and was limping. This was not a good few days for their group.
Abraham or Spencer must’ve explained to them what happened to Tristan because as they finished unloading supplies into the garage and house, they all left quietly.
Kaia came up to their room a few hours later and explained that everyone was going to come over later for dinner to tell what happened in the city.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “We’ve got everything under control. Renee’s helping me cook, and Jane stuck around to help.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Avery told her little sister, who seemed as if she’d grown up so fast the last six months. She no longer carried with her an air of innocent naivete. Her eyes were more guarded, her movements calculated and with purpose. “I’m glad she’s spending time with you, but I would’ve thought she’d want to go home.”
“She said she will later. She’s getting a shower downstairs right
