“If it’s so great, then why didn’t you stay there?”Harlow asked.
“Because I can’t be anywhere Cold Shore is,” Murphy said.“Don’t get me wrong.They generally leave you alone if you leave them alone, but I went AWOL on a contract.So they won’t leave me alone.”
“Well, I guess we won’t be going with you,” Bianka said with a laugh.
“Oh.I didn’t really think that anyone else would be going with us,” Boden said.“I mean, you all weren’t as close to Remy as we were, so I didn’t expect anyone else to go on a search and rescue mission for her.”
“I wouldn’t mind hearing more about this Glacier Valley,” Fergus O’Hara interjected in his lilting accent.
He and his older brother Dougal had joined our group last summer.They had been travelling from their home in Ireland since the outbreak began, moving further and further to the west to get away from the virus.
“Um, I don’t know a lot, really,” Boden replied uncertainly.“It sounds like Murphy knows a bit more.”
“We’d be better off in Glacier Valley, d’you think?”Fergus asked, turning his attention to Murphy.
Xe shrugged.“I haven’t been herethatlong, and I haven’t been in Glacier Valley in years, so I’m not really in a position to judge.”
“But it was a proper town?”Fergus pressed.
“Was there a pub, a bite to be had, and anyone knocking about?”Dougal clarified on behalf of his younger brother.
“When I was there, it had shops, places to trade, and yeah, it had a few different spots where you could get a cooked meal or a stiff drink,” Murphy said.
“Are you saying there is something wrong with my cooking?”Oakley asked from where he leaned against the wall next to Sienna.He still had on his chef’s apron, and his black hair was pulled back into a slick bun.
“No, no, I’d never say such a thing, or even think it,” Dougal insisted with a laugh.“Your meals are truly the highlight of the Barbarabelle.After the showers, of course.I only meant it’s good to have somewhere else to be.This barge’s a bit ripe, isn’t it?”
“So there’s trading and a major outpost there?”Leandro asked.He sat at the table on the other side of me, next to Ryder, and he leaned forward.“Do they have doctors or medicine there?Maybe something to help Cole?”
“They have medicine there?”Sienna reiterated, her interest clearly piqued.
“Maybe,” Murphy replied uncertainly.
Joseph Worrall – the boat’s only real practitioner of medicine since Mika Dumont was killed – cleared his throat.He’d been treating Cole in the infirmary since he’d been here.I hadn’t visited him yet, but Bianka had reported that he’d been sleeping a lot.
“It doesn’t really matter if they do or not,” Joseph said, speaking loud enough so that everyone could hear from the other end of the table.“Cole wouldn’t survive a journey like that.Glacier Valley is how far away?”
“About 800 km, which should take us just over two-months to hike,” Boden said, having already calculated it with the map that Lazlo had given us.
Joseph pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head.“No.There is no possible way he could handle it.”
“Have you figured out what’s wrong with him yet, Doc?”Bianka asked.
“It is difficult to get a clear diagnosis given our limitations here, but I have been unable to rule out acute myeloid leukemia,” Joseph explained sadly.
“Well, what about us?”Leandro asked.“We could go with them, and maybe we’ll find medicine.”
“Some chemotherapy medications do have a long shelf life,” Joseph allowed.“But if I’m being candid, I’m not optimistic about his prognosis.At his current stage, I don’t know that he’ll survive until you return even if you were to find the ideal treatments.”
“But it would help, right?”Leandro asked.“If he survived long enough?”
“And even if it doesn’t help him, it could help someone else,” Bianka added.“It’s not like this boat is overflowing in life-saving medicine, is it?Maybe it’d be good for Leo to go and bring some back, no matter what happens with Cole.”
“That is true,” Joseph said, and his weathered gaze settled on Leandro.“I could give you a list of medications we could use, in addition to the ones to treat your friend.”
“Yeah, I’ll do it,” Leandro agreed readily.
“Well, we weren’t reallyinvitingfolks along,” Boden said carefully.
