Dark Coup by David C. Waldron Read Free Book Online Page B

dinner, and I had to force her to drink some water before I left,” Eric said to Ty once he tracked him down and was following him back to a makeshift office.
    Ty rubbed his forehead with a hand and then asked, “Anything else?”
    “I realized she was warm when I was rubbing her shoulders,” Eric said, mistaking her sore neck for tight shoulders.
    Ty nodded.  “I’ll meet you at your tent.  I need to finish here first and look a few things up.”
    …
    Eric came back to the tent to find Karen sulking in bed.  “Ty will be here soon.”
    “This is stupid,” she said.
    “He looked concerned when I told him,” Eric replied.
    “Of course he did,” Karen said and rolled her eyes.  “He’s a doctor, that’s what we pay him to do.”
    Eric furrowed his brow.  “He’s not getting paid to do anything, Karen.  He wanted to look a few things up before he came over,” Eric said.  “We have quarantine in camp, babe.  Something’s obviously going around, and I don’t think he wants to take any chances.”
    Karen closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  “I know, I’m sorry,” she said.  “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.  I’m tired and…I don’t know.”
    Eric sat down by the cots and held her hand under the covers.  “It’s ok.  I love you.  Go to sleep if you can, and we’ll deal with whatever it is when Ty gets here.”
    Ty showed up about ten minutes later and knocked on the frame around the tent flap.
    “Come in,” Eric said.
    Karen squinted at the streaming sunlight as the flap opened and shut.
    Eric squeezed Karen’s hand and then gave the seat to Ty.
    “So, Karen, feeling a bit under the weather,” he said.
    “I guess so,” Karen said.  “Mostly just a headache and fever, though.”  Karen put the lie to that by trying to roll her head again, which Eric had been noticing her doing since he’d returned to the tent.
    “How about your neck,” Ty asked.
    “Kind of stiff, I guess,” Karen said.
    “Appetite,” Ty asked.
    Karen frowned and shook her head.  Ty picked up the canteen and shook it, noticing that it was mostly empty, so at least she had drunk some water.
    “Stomach-ache,” Ty asked.
    “No,” Karen said.
    Ty nodded and pulled out his pen light.  “Okay, let me check your eyes,” but as soon as he swung the light towards Karen’s face, she flinched and squinted, and he turned off the light.
    Ty sighed and nodded.
    “Eric, come sit down,” Ty said.
    Eric felt his stomach drop, but came and sat on the side of the cot and reached under the covers to hold Karen’s hand.
    “Karen, have you ever heard of Meningitis?”  Ty asked.
    Eric and Karen had had no warning, and both of them gasping in stereo would have been comical if the situation hadn’t been so serious.
    Karen nodded weakly.  “How bad is it?”
    “I can’t put this mildly, and I don’t have the tests to make a definitive diagnosis, but you are showing all of the classic symptoms of bacterial meningitis,” Ty said.  “The good news is that if it is, I may finally know what is going around camp.”
    Ty sighed.  “The bad news is that I have no idea how far along it is, or if we have the right kind of antibiotics to treat it.”
    Ty reached out and grabbed Eric’s hand and Karen’s shoulder.  “I’m going to give you the strongest antibiotic we have, but because I honestly don’t know how far along it is, or even what strain we’re dealing with, I can’t know for sure if it’ll be the right antibiotic.”
    Eric took a deep breath and squeezed Ty’s hand.  “Thank you for being honest with us.  I think I speak for Karen, too, when I say that it’s better than false hope or an outright lie.”
    Karen nodded and swallowed.  “How long before I’ll start to feel better?”
    “I brought the antibiotics with me,” Ty said, “just in case.  I want you to start now.  It’s intravenous–sorry, an IV–twice a day.  I’ll start a saline IV now and add the