Gray (Book 3) by Lou Cadle Read Free Book Online Page B

vessels. Administering anesthesia. Without the right tools and a competent assistant, no, she couldn’t. Wouldn’t. But if there were a fully-stocked operating suite, and drugs, and a nurse…? Maybe. And what if it were Benjamin, with an appendix ready to burst? Would she risk killing him on the table to keep him from dying anyway?
    She’d rather not have to make that choice. But there were a lot of choices she’d been forced to make this past six months that she’d never imagined herself making. Leaving bodies unburied. Killing. Stripping the dismembered bodies of people she’d murdered.
    She glanced over her shoulder at the four strangers. “So you think if we are given a choice, we should go with them?”
    “We were damn close to dying a few days ago. I think we have to see what their set-up is. They have food. Maybe they have a lot more at their home base. Maybe they have antibiotics.”
    She hated that he was right. She liked being with the one person she knew she could trust—trusted enough to tell him the shameful truth right now: “Other people scare me.”
    “For good reason,” Benjamin said. “But if it’s something we can get out of—either from their telling us we can leave, or being able to sneak away eventually once their guard is down—we should see what they have. Maybe we can gear up better before we leave. They might have construction materials, enough to let us build another sled.”
    Her heart lifted at the thought. “That’d be something to take a risk for. But I can’t see them giving away anything they could use.”
    “You could ask for it as salary.”
    “Salary?”
    “Why not? Compensation for your work. Who knows how badly they want you. It won’t hurt to negotiate for pay.”
    She was trying to get her mind around the idea that she might be worth something to these people, that she might be able to barter goods from them for her services. “I’d probably be of more use fishing for them.”
    “Yup, you’re a double threat,” he agreed. “Whereas I’m not that useful.”
    “They don’t know you yet,” she said. “You’re incredibly useful. It’s hard to imagine anyone who would be more so in these circumstances.”
    “They wouldn’t think that. For now, I’m just the guy who comes with the doctor.” That didn’t seem to bother him.
    “That’s right,” she said. “You are. If they want me, we’re a package deal. If they don’t want me—” She stopped herself. She was going to say, “We’re still a package deal,” but she didn’t have the right to choose for him.
    “We’re a team,” he reassured her, as Martin called them back to the smoldering fire.
    Kathy spoke for the group. “We can’t tell you everything. We can’t make an offer to you. But I know Levi—he’s in charge—will want to talk to you both. I think he will invite you in. You don’t seem crazy, and you have important skills.”
    Coral said, “What if we don’t want to come with you?”
    “Then you don’t stay with us. That simple.”
    “And our—Benjamin’s—rifle? My knife? The hatchet? You’ll return those?”
    There was a hesitation at that. “Yes,” Kathy finally said. “Not right away, but eventually.”
    Coral thought the men looked unhappy at that, but none of them challenged the statement.
    “Can we talk about it? The two of us, I mean? Before we decide?”
    “We have exploring to do today, so you have the day. You’ll have plenty of chances to discuss it.”
    “Can I go fishing today?” Coral said.
    “I wanted you to come with me and Martin. There are some things I want you to look at.”
    “What kind of things?”
    Jamie spoke up. “Supplies we found yesterday. We can’t carry everything, and maybe you can tell us what’s most useful.”
    It took her a second to understand why they’d want her to be the one to decide. “Medical supplies, you mean?”
    “Right,” he said. “Doug and I are going to keep on exploring new sites for food.” He