Chapter Eleven

"Aaaachhoooo!" Carlos' sneeze echoed through the eerie atmosphere of the snow-covered camp.

I turned to the kid, wide-eyed. We couldn't afford anyone to get ill. Carly had barely started searching for the plants she needed for medicine, and she couldn't even create a new vitamin. Since all her notes were destroyed by the storm, she was back to square one.

Carlos sneezed again. Carly ran up to him and walked him towards the main cabin where all of us have been staying for in the past two days. Annie, who looked like Rudolf with a red nose, followed suit.

-Oh dear, two kids with a cold.-

If Carly cannot do anything as soon as possible, the chances of it spreading were huge—or I'm simply overreacting. But there's also the possibility of the cold worsening into something more severe. Carly's healing abilities never worked on illnesses. She was limited to wounds, and even then, it depends on how fatal it was. And since, thankfully, she had no need to practice healing deep wounds. But our lack of practice with our abilities, with the exemption of those who used it every day, would sooner or later be our downfall.

I watched Carly led Annie and Carlos towards the main cabin where Coleen had kept a fire alive all the time. Jack was grumpy since the river had frozen up and he couldn't control it anymore. Though, the young man kept muttering about how he'll tame the ice as soon as he got free time on his hands. The sisters, on the other hand, were in the same boat. They couldn't grow a single, decent plant because the snow pile-up kept on killing it before it could even be harvested.

So, all of us were focused on trying to rebuild the clinic once more.

Lifting woods and other materials up the roof was easy because of Griffin with his telekinesis. Then Jake would help Drew and Steven up the roof one by one so that the two of them could work on it. Zoi had taken care of the small hole in the main cabin. While Tash and I were to clean the insides pf the clinic, saving anything that could be saved.

The sisters were to make sure the remaining pigs were healthy and well. The chickens were a lost cause. James tried to look for them inside the woods but he saw a pack of wolves moving through the forest. They had a safe hide-out not far from us. The storm might have forced them out from it.

And they were the likely suspect for the missing chickens.

The next mornings were torture. The two kids had not ended up with just a cold. We were awoken bu whimpering. Carly hastily checked on them and found out they were burning high with fever. Worst, Tash and Rose started sneezing the fourth day. Carly hadn't slept since; trying her best to create a cold remedy was hard with snow blanketing everything she needed.

She would always roam the woods to look for the plants she needed. But with the wolves running around we couldn't risk her or anyone else. So, two people would always be on guard just a few paces around the camp. Then, one would come with Carly in the woods to provide protection as she looked beneath thick snow. With the spread out, rebuilding took longer.

On the fifth day, Carly returned with a grim expression. All the plants that they marked before the season changed had died during the storm, leaving her with nothing to work with. She tried many times to heal them but it never worked. The kids' temperature, despite the cold weather, climbed to 42 degrees.

We tried everything we could think of to lower their temperatures. Carly said if it climbed any higher, it would be too late to save them without proper medical attention, especially with our lack of vitamins due to limited supplies.

By the next morning, Rose and Tash had fallen to the fever. And we started to become desperate. Carly made a list of medicine and supplies she needed to make sure all the ill would get better. Zoi and I would make the run. Well, I would run and Zoi would stay in the truck to drive away as soon as I sat down. Drew and Steven wanted to argue but hadn't since they were needed at the camp.

The wolves started to watch us and we hadn't liked it.

"Are you ready?" Zoi asked me as he parked the truck hidden from the town.

I nodded my head, "I'll be gone five minutes max. This list is damn long. If I'm not back by then, leave,"

Zoi turned grim but nodded anyway. I picked the backpack up from the back seat and slung it on my shoulder. And with a deep breath, I opened my door and sped away from the truck and towards the town. I had it all memorized from all the runs I've made before so I wasn't worried about getting lost. And thankfully, due to the cold and strong wind that winter brought, the gush of winds from my run would likely go unnoticed.

Fingers crossed, I entered the town. There were a few people outside and they were covered in thick, fluffy coats that were obviously so warm. I shook the thought out of my head and ran straight towards the pharmacy and opened the door. Cold, strong air followed me as I did, blowing papers all over the floor. I read through the bunch of medicines and took everything I needed and I was out of the door before the pharmacist even had the chance to close it. And they were none the wiser about my stealing.

That is—until they started cleaning up the mess I made.

Next, I ran towards the nearest clinic and did the same thing I did back at the pharmacy. Though, I had to be extra careful not to bump into anything or anyone to nor alert them of my presence. And it seemed like luck was finally on our side since I managed to get out of the town with no trouble.

I opened the door of the passenger side and slide into it. I had the door closed before Zoi could notice that I was inside. I grinned at him like a mad-woman because I got everything on the list. Rosh, Tash, Carlos, and Annie will all get well soon.

Zoi stepped on the gas and made our way towards the camp. I decided to take care of the tracks after we deliver the supplies. I wanted to make sure they would be okay. When we left in the afternoon, Tash had already run a fever of 39 degrees.

We hadn't parked the truck to its designated space; instead, we stopped in front of the main cabin. Carly came out to meet us. She hurried us inside because Carlos had convulsed. Coleen and Lily held him still to avoid him from hurting himself. The triplets braved the cold and stood guard outside the cabin.

At the entrance of the woods, we've heard the wolves' continuous howling like they were regrouping. And when we reached the camp, the howling grew louder. And we all knew what they were watching.

The cabin walls did nothing to silence them. Griffin nodded to us before he and Zoi went out to replace the triplets outside. Even with all the medicines we gathered, we couldn't afford to get anyone else to get sick. Carly knelt down beside Carlos and opened the bag. She looked for the one she needed and injected it into him. Within minutes, Carlos stopped convulsing.

"It'll only calm him down. His fever hasn't gone down yet. I need to focus on him because clearly cold isn't his only problem,"

"What about the others? Their fevers are climbing as we speak," Coleen asked, tiredness and worried heard in her voice.

"Carlos is the one in immediate danger," then she rummaged through the bag and gave me a bottle of medicine. "Those need not be injected so it won't be a problem. Give them each a spoon of that. It will lower their fever until I can treat them,"

Nodding, Coleen, and I went to work. She would raise each head and I would make them drink it. At first, it was tough. They coughed it out but we decided to make them take the medicine drop by drop. It took a hell lot of longer but it worked.

The triplets offered their assistance but they were cold themselves so Coleen ordered them to stay by the fire and drink the hot chocolate she made. Reluctantly, the three followed. Steven and Drew were running around to give us a clean cloth to use.

As soon as Coleen and I were finished with our task, Drew and Steven came with two half-full buckets of water for us. I led Steven and nodded at Coleen before I went to Tash and she went to Annie. Lily was already on her way to her sister.

I wet the cloth and washed Tash. She groaned and smiled weakly at me. I smiled at her and told her that she was going to be okay. After all, she was a stubborn one. A movement from my right took my attention and I saw James, who just finished his drink, making his way towards us. He took Tash's hand and held it. She gave him another weak smile but I could see the love in it.

Carly asked for assistance, so I left Tash with James before I made my way towards the doctor. Carlos wasn't looking any better. I sucked in a deep when I stared at the sleeping figure of the little boy that was always full of life.

The skin around his eyes was sunken and dark. But he was as pale as the moon. He was shivering and he definitely hadn't look any better than he was earlier. If anything, he looked worst. Carly did everything she could. But without any real medical support, there were only a few things she could do.

Suddenly, the howling stopped.

Brows knitted together, I looked up at the door and I felt the others did too. Griffin barged into the door with a frantic look in his eyes.

"They found us!" he shouted as we heard a soft buzzing and humming.

And it definitely hadn't sounded like the wolves.