Page 79 of Born Savage

He moved toward the bed while I kept my eyes locked on Rage. He crouched down beside me, rubbing hair from his face and placing his palm on her forehead.

“She’s burning up. Her body is fighting the disease.”

“I’ll get Maggie.”

Maggie had been a nurse practitioner who’d won the lottery and we’d been lucky enough to have her in our community from almost the beginning. She was amazing but wouldn’t be able to fix this.

“Let’s get her into a bed.” While I didn’t want Wren to be taken from me, I allowed Rage to guide me to my feet.

I was completely numb inside, uncertain if I’d ever allow myself to feel anything again. Doing so was far too painful. She was so frail, so helpless yet so hardheaded, just like I’d always been.

The empty bed seemed too large for her tiny body, but I eased her down, realizing I should feel grateful we were in a secure environment that contained a medical facility. Maggie had been so knowledgeable with almost every malady, including my mother’s cancer. She’d also been the voice of reason even when one of our community members hadn’t wanted to let one of our own to fade into the light.

That’s what someone had called dying, another futile attempt at grabbing a moment of hope.

Just before their body was burned in a ceremonial yet barbaric ceremony. When there was the time, the inclination, and a safe location.

Often, the bodies were simply dumped somewhere to rot, much like the decaying corpses in the City of Lights. I shuddered from the series of horrible thoughts.

“She is fighting as does every healer.” Rage’s voice held a spin of knowledge.

Jake placed his paws onto the bed, his mournful cry an indication of how tight a bond could be with humans and animals.

That’s why my mother and father… my birth parents had given me my Jake as a gift. I’d been taught pets were luxuries, so many species either taken to the brink of extinction by the aftereffects of the war or their DNA altered to such a degree they’d become vicious.

But as I’d learned later, there was a black market for everything under the sun. The dream continued ravaging portions of my mind, bitter memories that came in waves but more than I’d experienced before. At least I had an intact vision of the woman who’d given birth to me.

How fascinating she looked so much like my adopted mother. I turned my head toward the other bed, studying her serene face. She was sleeping peacefully. What if she’d been given a second chance at life?

At what expense? The child? Wren had offered a gift of life because of how distraught she’d seen me. A lesson to be learned as both mothers would say.

“How do you know about healers? Am I to assume you know something about everything? You’re very conceited if you do.”

My jagged-edged barb was meant to be hurtful, but once again, the person I was directing my anger toward shouldn’t be Rage. I’d never gotten over being furious with the entire damn world. How dare people destroy such beauty because of greed.

“I know enough. Have faith.”

“In what exactly? That she won’t die like everyone else? She’s a child and there’s no…” My God. I was staring a hero in the face, about to complain that there were none left on the planet. What the hell was wrong with me?

The answer was far too easy. I’d been programmed to hate a long time ago. I was beginning to believe my irrational anger wasn’t based on abandonment, but something much darker. More sinister. It was as if Rage being sent to find me was more about awakening my memories.

Just something else to infuriate me.

I pressed my fingers against her pulse. Thready but maybe a little steadier than before. “Stay with her, Rage. Please don’t leave her.” I lifted my head, pleading with him with my eyes.

When he nodded, the closeness of his body reminded me of the risks he’d taken not once but twice to save me. As soon as I gently placed my hand on his, another moment passed between us that didn’t need words.

We were both broken to the point there was no one capable of putting us back together.

“Tom. Star. What happened?” Maggie swept into the room, struggling to understand the scene she’d walked into.

“Wren tried to heal Mama,” I answered. “She’s not strong enough.”

She took a deep breath, shifting her gaze from one bed to another. Peter came into the room seconds later, his face registering what was happening.

Maggie walked closer. “Star, do me a favor and allow Peter and me to run some tests. That will take a couple hours. Okay? Try and relax. I’ve known several healers in my life, most able to overcome almost any illness. It just takes time.”

“What about a death disease?” I’d learned through Peter that scientists had believed they’d cured cancer decades before only to have it survive the war, flourishing in the horrific conditions.