Some of the others have already started setting up their camp. Cal opens the door for us and looks down at Andrew’s arm.
“If you need medical attention...” He points to a couple of pop-up tailgate tents. “Head over and see Dr. Jenn in the medical tent.”
“Do you have antibiotics?” I ask.
He frowns and shakes his head. “We’ve been looking, too. So far, no luck.”
Dammit.
Once Cal leaves us, Andrew turns to me. “I’m going to go see if there’s anything they can do about my arm. Can you help Daphne and Kelly with the kids?”
“Of course.”
He kisses me on the cheek and heads for the tent while I go to Daphne and ask what I can help with. We try to get the kids to set up their sleeping bags—it’s late in the afternoon, and it’s better that they have everything they need out and ready to go before the sun goes down. But they’re all distracted.
The Nomads have kids with them as well, and the two groups of children are staring each other down across the parking lot, probablywaiting for the okay to meet up and start playing.
Daphne finally gives our kids the okay to go say hi—walking along with a couple of the shyer ones—and Cara and I tell Rocky Horror, Kelly, and Amy we’re going to check on Andrew.
“What kind of distribution center is this?” I ask Cara as we head over to the medical tents.
“They started setting these up during the flu-year fall. They did it in Maryland, too, but I don’t think they ended up doing nearly as much. At least not like this.”
There are a few trucks on the side of the parking lot closest to the mall. Two of the trucks are tipped over, their back doors broken open. Four are just blackened shells, the soot from the fire spreading all the way to the manufactured stone walls of the mall.
Cara continues but her voice sounds shaky. “The governor took over and gave an executive order that food and medical supplies would be stockpiled in distribution centers. Then the public would be told when they could come get aid packages—but they kept delaying it. I know in Maryland they were saying it was the politicians making sure they could keep their hands on supplies.”
She stops me, taking my arm. I’m about to ask her what’s wrong, but she takes a long, deep breath with her eyes closed, as though she’s trying not to have a panic attack, before finally telling me.
“In Maryland, they took things from the supermarkets, too. No warning, just went in overnight and emptied everything out. When they did it in Easton, people panicked, and that’s when everything started getting bad for us.”
From the snippets of what I’ve learned about Cara before sheended up at Fort Caroline, I know that her family hadn’t gotten the flu, but they must have died another way, because she said she was the only one left. I hold her hand because I know she doesn’t want a hug unless she initiates it.
“Was that how your family died?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “That was later. More panicking, but because of confusion and rumors. It’s not important right now. I just... I don’t know, I wanted to talk about that part. The distribution centers. How they did it in Maryland, at least.”
I nod. “FL347.” So maybe there are three hundred and forty-six others out there, or more. That might explain why we had so much trouble finding supplies when we got to Florida. We thought it was the Key Colony, but maybe it’s because all these distribution centers were stockpiling supplies.
“So there’s supplies in there?” I ask, trying to bring the conversation around to something other than Cara’s family.
Cara points to the smashed-in doors. “I think most of it’s probably gone by now.”
But there could still be something. Maybe canned food or some kind of antibiotics that someone overlooked.
After we check on Andrew and are back with our group, I tell them that I’m going to check the mall for supplies. Cara and Rocky Horror offer to come as well.
“Shouldn’t we get a few people to help out?” Daphne says.
“I’ll go,” says Taylor.
“No,” I say. “You stay here and keep an eye on things. It’ll draw less attention if it’s just the three of us. We can see what’s in there firstand then tell the Nomads. There are more of them than there are of us, so it’s better if we can get supplies for us first.”
“Jamie.” Daphne gives me a look that feels judgmental. “These people are helping us—helping Andrew. We should be returning the favor, not taking supplies from them.”
“We aren’t taking supplies from them,” I say. “We’re taking supplies from the governor of Florida, who thought stockpiling them for herself was better than passing them out to people. We’ll let the others know what’s in there, and I’ll even help them get whatever’s left. But if there’s only a few antibiotics, I’m making sure Andrew gets them. He got mauled by a wild animal, and if we don’t find something to fight the infection, he’s going to lose his arm.”
Daphne frowns but doesn’t argue anymore. We need to be careful now. There’s no way these people would help Andrew before their own. The Keys decided to sell us out to Fort Caroline the second they needed help. We have to make sure we can get out of here, on our own, before the Nomads realize they have a bargaining chip in me.
