Mischief in a Fur Coat (8 page)

Hope hated her name. She felt anything but hopeful right now. Lying in bed, next to her dying boyfriend, with two of her other friends waiting to die in the bedroom next door, seemed like pretty much the opposite of hope to her.

She had tried to sleep as much as possible, just to block out the nightmare unfolding before her eyes. Drew had been drifting in and out of sleep, but each time he woke up he was a bit less coherent than the time before. His fever was unrelenting, and he wasn’t interested in eating any food. No matter how much Hope begged him to eat to keep up his strength, he just sadly shook his head no.

“I’m not hungry, Hope. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Whether or not I eat, I’m going to be dead within the next day or two. This disease moves quickly. I have three more days left, tops.”

Hope had broken down into tears at these words, and Drew had tried to comfort her by telling her he was always with her in spirit, and that he was just happy she wasn’t sick.

Hope didn’t even tell him that Bash and Silver were likely going to die, too. Drew had been asleep when they barged into his room, and he hadn’t seemed to realize what was happening when they woke him up. Maybe he had thought it was all a dream, but he never mentioned anything about the intrusion. He just kept saying that he was happy that at least the rest of his friends were going to be okay. Hope didn’t have the heart to tell him that this wasn’t exactly true.

Hope looked at the clock next to her bed. It had been thirty hours now since Bash and Silver had barged into the bedroom. Hope dreaded going to hear the news. She knew it wasn’t going to be good. There was no way they got lucky enough that two more people on this crew were resistant to the bear flu. She didn’t want to face the fact that more death was descending on this cabin.

Drew stirred next to her, and when Hope looked over he had opened his eyes. They had a faraway look in them, like he wasn’t really consciously in the room right now.

“Drew?” Hope asked. “Are you okay?”

He slowly turned his gaze to focus on her, and a small smile turned up the corners of his lips. “I love you,” he said. Then he closed his eyes.

Hope shook him, her heart pounding. “Drew! Drew! Don’t you dare leave me! You can still pull through this!”

There was no response, and she started shaking him harder. “Drew!” she cried out desperately, reaching to feel for his pulse.

It was still there. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. She put her head against his chest, relieved to feel that it was still rising and falling slowly. He had just fallen back into a deep sleep. He was still alive.

For now.

Hope sat up and put her head in her hands again, unsure of what to do. She should really go see Bash and Silver. Since she was apparently immune to the flu, she could visit them even though no one else could. It was up to her to help keep their spirits up. Hope kissed Drew on the forehead, and started to stand. Just as she reached for the doorknob of her bedroom door, a knock sounded on it.

“Hope?”

Hope froze with her hand on the doorknob. It was Silver. Silver, who should have been in bed hot with a fever by now. Was it really possible? Was Silver also immune?

Hope threw the bedroom door open to find Silver standing there, looking as healthy as she had yesterday before barging in on Drew.

“Silver! You’re not sick!” Hope said, then threw her arms around her friend.

“No, no I’m not,” Silver said. “And neither is Bash.”

Hope pulled back and looked at Silver with wide, disbelieving eyes. “What? How is that possible?”

Silver smiled. “Don’t you see, Hope? We’ve just discovered something amazing. Something that Juno thinks could save Drew’s life.”

Hope felt her heart beating faster. “Don’t play with me Silver. Don’t give me a false sense of hope.”

Silver shook her head. “I would never do that, Hope! I’m serious. Think about it for a second. Drew got sick within a day, as expected. But you, me, and Bash didn’t. What’s the difference between us and Drew?”

Suddenly, it dawned on Hope. “We’re shifters. He’s not.”

“Bingo,” Silver said. “It looks like there’s something in shifter DNA that keeps the virus from taking hold in our bodies.”

“How is this going to save Drew, though?” Hope asked. “We can’t turn him into a shifter.”

“No, but we can give him shifter blood,” Silver said. “Juno is the biologist so she can probably explain it better than me, but, basically, we’re going to inject Drew with blood from one of us. Since Jack’s a doctor he can handle that part. Basically, we’re hoping that this will be enough to help his body learn to fight the virus. Juno thinks there’s something in the white blood cells of shifter blood that’s capable of easily taking down the virus.”

Hope blinked a few times, trying to process everything Silver was telling her. “But, what if his body rejects the new blood? There aren’t any hospitals for miles. We won’t be able to get him emergency care, and he’ll die.”

“Hope,” Silver said gently. “He’s dying anyway. This will actually give him a chance.”

Hope bit her lip, chewing on it so fiercely that she started to taste blood. She wanted to believe that this was possible, and that it would give Drew a chance to pull through. But she was afraid of getting too excited only to have Drew die after all. Still, the thought that there might still be a way to save Drew filled her with excitement.

“Don’t you need medical equipment to give him blood?” Hope asked. “Like a hospital with an IV machine or something like that.”

Silver actually chuckled. “I don’t think it’s called an ‘IV machine.’ But Jack brought a lot of first aid medical supplies with him from Chicago. He said he has what he needs to be able to get shifter blood into Drew’s veins.”

Hope glanced back at Drew. Although he still had a fever, his face was no longer flushed pink. Instead, it had turned deathly pale. Hope forced herself to swallow back the tears once again trying to force their way out of her eyes.

“Okay,” Hope said. “Let’s do this. I don’t see any other options.”

“Come on,” Silver said. “Jack and Juno are in the supply shed. Let’s go talk to them and get this done.”

Hope followed Silver out to the supply shed, a large building which Drew mostly used to store weapons. The walls were lined with several different guns, and even some fearsome looking swords. Jack had apparently been using the space as a place to store his medical supplies as well. Right now, he was sitting on the floor with Juno, going through a neatly arranged box of what appeared to be bandages. Jack and Juno both looked up as Silver and Hope entered the room.

“Hope!” Juno said, a smile breaking across her face. “I’m assuming Silver told you the news?”

Hope nodded. “She said you guys think you can save Drew.”

Jack nodded. “We’ve got everything we need here to set up an IV bag. We’ll use that to pump blood from one of us into Drew’s body. If we’re lucky, his body will accept the blood, and the white blood cells from the new blood will fight off the bear flu virus.”

Hope nodded, still trying to process everything that was going on. “Whose blood are you going to use?”

“We can use anyone’s blood,” Juno said. “Drew has type AB blood, which is the universal recipient. We know that thanks to his dog tags from his time in the military.”

“Drew was in the military?” Silver asked in surprise. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk about it.”

“Yeah, well, he hated it,” Hope said. “He doesn’t like authority figures, and there’s quite a few of them in the military.”

Jack laughed. “Yeah, I can’t see Drew being the kind of guy who would enjoy getting yelled at by drill sergeants. Luckily for us, though, he kept his dog tags. They’re hanging on the wall there by the door of the shed.”

Hope glanced to her left and saw two silver dog tags hanging from a simple nail on the wall of the shed. She reached over and held them between her fingers, reading his name and blood type aloud.

“Drew Brooks, AB positive.” It was hard to imagine him as a hotheaded eighteen year old, taking orders from angry superiors. Drew had told Hope that he’d wanted to serve his country, but had been very happy when his time in the service was up.

“Too much yelling,” he’d said. “And not enough of it done by me.”

Hope looked up at Jack again, a determined look on her face. “I want to donate to him. Use my blood.”

Jack nodded as if he’d been expecting this. “Of course. Let’s get this gear to the one room cabin so you can sit on the couch while we get your blood. We shouldn’t waste any more time. From what I understand the bear flu kills quickly, so we want to do this before it’s too late.”

Hope followed Silver, Juno, and Jack out of the shed, her heart pounding with excitement. Suddenly, the sun seemed to be shining brightly again. The crisp white snow looked cheery instead of cold. There was a chance that the love of her life was going to pull through, after all.

As Jack set her up on the couch and started searching for a vein in her arm to pull blood from, she breathed out a silent prayer.

“Please let this work, please let this work.”

She wouldn’t be able to bear the pain if it didn’t.

Drew blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes in confusion and trying to bring the spinning room into focus. Every time he opened his eyes, he felt surprised that he was still alive. He’d heard stories on the news of numerous people who had died within twenty-four hours of contracting the flu. But his body seemed determined to fight it, even though he knew it would be a losing battle in the end. Perhaps he was lasting longer because he was such a big, strong man. But it didn’t matter. His body’s valiant fight was only delaying the inevitable.

Drew glanced around the room again, disappointed to see that he was alone. He knew Hope couldn’t possibly stay in the room twenty-four seven. She needed a break now and then, too, and this was the first time he’d woken up and found her gone. Still, he would have liked to see her beautiful face. She was so perfect.

He had been immensely relieved when he realized that Hope was somehow immune to the flu. He’d only seen one news report discussing a rumor that someone in Texas had claimed to be immune, but that report had been unverified. It seemed that the flu was as universally deadly as a bullet to the chest. Hope had somehow escaped the bullet.

Drew tried to lift his arm, but the effort this simple movement required made it nearly impossible. His body was shutting down, saving all of its strength for merely surviving. Not that it mattered. Even the task of breathing would be too difficult before long. Drew stared up at the ceiling, and thought about his parents. No one could get in touch with them right now, because they were hiding out in underground Alaskan caverns, trying to escape the massive persecution of shifters that had been going on. Drew only hoped that their complete isolation had made it possible for them to escape the flu.

Drew felt cold, even though he was pretty sure he had a fever. A creeping sense of dread washed over him, as he realized that death was starting to take hold. Cold, dark death was coming for him. He shivered, then winced in pain as the shiver irritated his aching muscles. This was it. His whole life had come to this. Dying, alone and weak in an isolated cabin. He hadn’t made much of a mark on the world. He didn’t even have a child to carry on his name. His legacy ended with him, here in this small room.

Drew closed his eyes, wishing that at least Hope would show up so he could see her one last time. As if his thoughts had power, the door to his room suddenly burst open. He opened his eyes to see Hope come running in, and a weak smile played at the corner of his lips. But his smile soon faded as he saw that Hope wasn’t alone. Jack, Juno, and Silver were all crowding into the room as well. Drew felt panic seizing him. What were they doing here? Didn’t they know how contagious this flu was? They were all going to catch it and die!

“No, no, no!” Drew screamed out. But he was too weak to truly scream, and his attempts at a scream came out sounding like painful coughs.

“Shhh,” Hope said, coming over to sit by his face, stroking his forehead with her hands. “Everything is going to be all right. We found a way to save you.”

Drew tried to talk again. To tell her to make the others leave. They were out of their minds. There was no cure. There was nothing they could do for him, and they were going to contract the flu by being in this room. But the more he tried to speak, the more he found how truly weak his body was. He couldn’t get coherent words to come out. He couldn’t raise his arm to protest. All he could do was lie there weakly as Jack’s face came squarely into his field of vision.

“Hey, buddy,” Jack said. “We’re going to take care of you. Let me explain how.”

But Drew couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. He couldn’t focus on Jack’s face, much less his words. Everything started spinning, the room going in circles faster and faster until everything went black.

* * *

Drew woke with a start, his eyes flying open and his heart pounding as though he’d been running from a tiger. Once again, he was surprised to find himself still alive. But, this time, he was surprised to find that not only was he alive, but he didn’t feel quite as weak as he had before. He felt almost…normal. His skin didn’t feel like it was burning up anymore, and he didn’t have any chills. He wasn’t wearing a shirt now. Only sweatpants. He didn’t remember taking off his t-shirt but he obviously had at some point. His stomach, while still muscular, looked thin. He had lost quite a bit of weight. How many days had he been sick now? He had no idea. Everything had run together, and he had no idea what time it was, since the clock on the nightstand was facing away from him right now. The room was dim but not dark. It must be late afternoon.

He tried to lift his arm, and was surprised to find that he was able to do so with relative ease. He felt exhausted, but he wasn’t so weak anymore that he was unable to move. Drew sat up slowly, amazed to find that the room wasn’t spinning. He glanced across the room to see Hope slumped in a simple wooden rocking chair. She was asleep, with a paperback novel in her lap. Drew smiled. That paperback novel was the only one this crew owned, and it had been passed around, and read and reread, dozens of times since the clan came to live out here in the woods. Paperback novels were almost nonexistent these days, but one of the shifters had happened to have one. Hope stirred slightly, but didn’t wake up, and Drew’s heart melted as he looked over at her. Even slumped over in her sleep, she was stunning.

Drew turned his attention back to his own body, and once again started taking inventory of how he felt. He lifted one arm high above his head, then the other. He moved both of his legs, and found it surprisingly easy to do so. Last time he had woken up, they had felt like they were made of weighted lead. He turned his neck from side to side. No aches.

Drew took in a deep breath and let it out. His lungs felt clear and…alive.

Was it actually possible that his body had beat off the flu? Drew shook his head in confusion. No. That was impossible. None of this made sense. Hope was immune? He was fighting it off? According to all of the news reports he had seen, they should both be dead by now. Drew slowly swung his legs off the bed and put his feet on the ground, wriggling his toes.

As impossible as this all seemed, it was actually happening. He was recovering. And Hope was still very much alive. Drew felt a small rush of joy flooding his body for the first time in days. Had they really managed to beat this thing?

But that small rush of joy was quickly replaced with a feeling of concern. He had a vague memory of Jack, Juno, and Silver coming into this room right before he passed out the last time. Which meant it was quite possible they were either sick or well on their way to being sick. Drew’s heart started pounding again. Why had they come in here again? They knew better. None of this made sense.

Hope stirred again, and this time the movement made her book fall to the ground with a thud. She woke with a start, looking around in momentary confusion from being abruptly dragged out of whatever dream she’d been having. After a few moments, her eyes focused on Drew. She rubbed them in disbelief and then jumped up and ran across the room, attacking him with a giant hug.

“Drew!” she screeched out. “You’re alive! And you’re sitting up! How do you feel?”

Drew winced from the rough hug, and Hope pulled back. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “You’re probably achy and sore. But how do you feel? It feels like your fever is gone.”

Hope put her hand on Drew’s forehead to double check, then nodded happily.

“All gone,” she said. “And you don’t look so pale anymore. I think it actually worked. I think you’re going to get better!”

“Whoa, Hope, slow down,” Drew managed to say. His voice was raspy and still a little weak, but even he could tell that it sounded much healthier than it had the last time he tried to talk.

“Sorry,” Hope said. “I guess I’m talking a hundred miles an hour right now. I’m just so happy that it worked! I almost can’t believe it! I feel like I have you back from the dead.”

Hope tackled Drew with another big hug, and he winced again, but returned the hug. It felt so good to be able to lift his arms again to put them around her. She was so beautiful. So soft and warm. She felt like home. He felt a few splashes of water on his bare shoulder, and he looked up to see that Hope was crying.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. I think you’re right. I think I’m going to be okay. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe it wasn’t bear flu, after all. I was sure it was, since that guy in the woods looked exactly like the people I’ve seen on the news who are sick. But maybe it was just something similar.”

Hope shook her head. “No, it was bear flu. You don’t remember Jack treating you?”

Drew’s heart dropped again. “I remember they came in here. Why did they do that? Are they okay? Has it been twenty-four hours yet since they were in here?”

Hope stared at Drew as if he had lost his mind. “You really don’t remember?” she asked.

Drew sighed and pushed a loose strand of hair back from Hope’s face. “I guess I don’t,” he said. “I only remember them coming in here and me telling them to leave. Everything gets kind of fuzzy after that.”

Drew racked his brain trying to make himself remember something else, but he drew a blank.

“Wow, okay,” Hope said. “Well, it’s good you’re sitting down because I have some pretty big news to tell you.”

“Okay…” Drew said, drawing out the word in confusion. Moments later his stomach growled loudly, and Hope laughed with delight.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “You haven’t had anything to eat in days.”

Drew realized for the first time that he was hungry. He hadn’t felt hunger since he’d come down with the flu, and it felt good to actually have hunger pangs. It made him feel alive.

“Yeah, I guess I am hungry,” he said.

Hope grinned. “Okay, hang on. I’m gonna go get you some food and water. I’ll be right back.”

She bounced out of the room, the sound of her whistling trailing behind her as she happily headed to find him something to eat. He rubbed his forehead, confused but overjoyed at how much better he felt. With every moment that passed he was feeling stronger. He stood, and walked on wobbly legs, pacing back and forth across the room a few times. After a few passes, the wobble was almost gone. He went to the window and looked out over the meadow. The fire pit sat empty, but he was still overjoyed just to see it. He had spent so much time sitting out there with his friends, laughing and enjoying life. He had come so close to losing his life and losing any future opportunities to do that. But here he stood, miraculously healed.

The sound of Hope’s footsteps coming up the stairs drew his attention back to the room. She showed up in the doorway again, holding a plate with a giant sandwich and a huge side of potato chips. Drew’s stomach growled again. The food looked so good. Hope handed the food and a large glass of water to Drew, who took the plate and sat in the rocking chair to begin wolfing the sandwich down. He closed his eyes and moaned in delight as the first bite hit his tongue. There was nothing quite as satisfying as getting your appetite back after a long sickness.

“So,” he said, after he’d swallowed his first mouthful of food. “Want to fill me in on how I’m not dead right now.”

Hope nodded. “Okay, so, this whole saga started when I went to tell everyone that I was apparently not sick, but that you were dying. Obviously, they were happy to hear that I was alright, but they were devastated that you were not. Bash got so upset that he ran into the house, storming up to the room before anyone could stop him. Silver freaked out because she didn’t want to see her brother get sick and die, so she chased after him. They both ended up in here, exposed to you and the bear flu. So, we quarantined them and were basically waiting for them to start showing signs of the illness, too. We figured there was no way we’d be lucky enough that both of them—or even one of them—would be immune to the flu, too. But then more than a day passed and neither one of them got sick either.”

Hope paused, and Drew furrowed his brow. “But, the odds of that are virtually impossible,” he said, his voice confused and uncertain. “There were no confirmed cases of anyone surviving, let alone being immune. This must not have been bear flu.”

Hope shook her head. “No, Drew, it was bear flu. All of the symptoms you had were exactly what would have happened with a bear flu infection. The reason that you got sick and no one else in the clan did is that shifters are apparently immune to the virus.”

Hope paused to let this news sink in. Drew chewed his sandwich slowly as he processed what Hope had just told him. “But how would no one have realized this yet?” he asked.

“Think about it, Drew,” Hope said.

And Drew did think about it. It made perfect sense. There weren’t many shifters left walking around freely. Hundreds of them had been dumped into makeshift jails, so they were pretty well isolated from the rest of the population. And even more were hiding out themselves, staying as far away as they could from civilization in an attempt to escape the war on shifters. So when bear flu broke out, there weren’t large numbers of them around to make it obvious that they were immune. If a few had been exposed, everyone had been too panicked in all the worldwide chaos to even realize it.

“Wow,” Drew said. “You’re right. It wouldn’t have been obvious. Are you sure, though?”

Hope nodded. “We’ve all been in here to see you now. All nine shifters, and not one of us has gotten the flu.”