Her Loyal Seal(6)

“I’ll try to eat more later.”

“Let’s get you a shot so you can sleep.”

“Okay.”

It took five minutes for the shot to take effect, but when it did Clint finally relaxed. He would bet his bottom dollar her pain level had been closer to ten.

“Dare, did some of the cuts on her back need to be stitched up as well?”

“I considered it, but with all the movement, they would just get ripped out and cause more damage. It was better to do butterfly bandages.”

“Dammit. What is the likelihood of infection?”

“Pretty high. Her mother told me she was sick with a cold when she was taken. We need to keep her wounds dry. We need this damn rain to stop.” Lydia shifted in her sleep and moaned, then she started to cough. Darius gave her a grim look. Clint pushed closer to her front so that they were touching, trying to give her as much warmth as possible. He watched as Darius moved closer to her back without touching her, so that he too could provide some body heat.

This time Lydia let out more of a relaxed sigh. Clint closed his eyes, maybe he would be able to get some sleep.





Chapter Two





By day three Lydia was burning up with fever. Clint was amazed she was conscious as often as she was.

“Clint?” she whispered. “How is Beth? How are my parents?”

He looked up ahead and saw Mason was carrying Beth. They all slowed down, but by Drake’s calculations they would still make the rendezvous point on time.

“They’re fine, Lydia.”

“I know my father has made some mistakes.” She stopped and took in deep breaths. Then she started to cough. She coughed even more at night. Some of the wounds on her back were getting red and ugly, and as predicted, she was getting an infection in her lungs. Even though Darius was trying to hide it, Clint could tell he was worried.

“Don’t talk Lydia, everything is going to be all right.”

“Clint, you have to promise me...” She coughed again.

“I’ll promise you anything, just stop talking.”

“Beth. You have to promise you’ll look after Beth. My father might be in trouble when we reach America, but my mother will stand by him no matter what, she always does. Beth will be all alone.” She coughed and her wet hair spilled over his shoulder. “Please take care of Beth.”

“I will Lydia. I’ll take care of both of you. You have my word.”

She coughed again. She couldn’t seem to stop, her chest rattled, and then she passed out.

“Darius,” he yelled.

“Halt!” Mason called out.

Clint was half aware of the rest of the family as they just about fell down where they stopped. All of the Hidalgos were on their last legs. Mason knew Lydia was in trouble, and was making the decision to take a break so Darius could attend to her.

Clint found the best coverage he could under a large tree, and wasn’t surprised when Finn and Drake had tarps out to protect Lydia. Darius had his back pack out with all of his medical supplies.

Clint sank down at Lydia’s feet and pulled off her wet socks, and dried her off as best he could before sliding his last pair of socks on her feet. He didn’t look up to see what his friend was doing. He didn’t want to see the look in his eyes. Mason came over to see what was going on.

“Mason, we need to camp here for the night,” Darius said grimly.

“We can’t.”

“Then we have to have two hours.”

“Dare, there’s only four hours of daylight left. We need all of it if we want to make it to the rendezvous in two days.” Mason set his hand on Clint’s shoulder. “You’re damn near played out. Let Drake take her for the rest of the day. It’ll help speed things along.”

“That’s bullshit. You know it’s the parents slowing us down.”

“Right now they are but in another hour it’ll be you.”

Clint looked up in his Lieutenant’s eyes and realized he was right. “Okay.”

Lydia groaned. Darius had stripped Lydia down to her upper buttocks and had three syringes in his hand. He was injecting her in her hip. “I need everyone’s clean shirts now. We need to keep her warm, and the wounds on her back dry. The rain is dripping down inside the poncho.”

Seeing the bloody and infected areas on her caramel colored skin made Clint sick. He really thought the antibiotics and antiseptic ointment would have helped her.

“Why isn’t she getting better with the medicine?”

“It’s the Goddamn rain,” Darius said bitterly. “It keeps washing away the antiseptic and it’s dripping into her mouth and nose and she’s damn close to pneumonia if she doesn’t already have it.”