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They were losing light when they came to the strangers’ camp. Two other men sat at a campfire. A tent was pitched nearby. Both men stood, weapons in hand. One had a rifle with a scope, the other a shotgun.
Four weapons were arrayed against them and not even her pocket knife to defend herself. Coral was under the control of a far superior force.
They were communicating with each other wordlessly, the glancing, raised eyebrows, little shrugs of people who knew each other well. It didn’t take a genius to know the silent conversation was about her and Benjamin.
The first words spoken were Kathy’s. “Coral is her name. She’s a doctor.”
Coral didn’t deny it. If she was seen as a useful asset, maybe that would keep her alive.
“Looks awful young to be a doctor,” said one of the new men, a tall man with a fur lined hood framing a long face.
Coral kept her silence.
“Well?” he prodded. “Are you?”
If they had anyone in their group who knew about medicine, she didn’t think she could fake being an MD. “Doctor in training,” she said. True enough, though it implied more skill than what she had.
“Where?”
“University of Michigan.”
The fourth man said, “Good school.” He had glasses, a trimmed beard and a high brow, and he looked as if he might be a graduate school student himself in the old world.
“Good school,” she agreed. A stab of nostalgia surprised her. She wished it were spring of last year, that azaleas were blooming, and that she were walking the Diag through the ever-present cloud of pot smoke, heading to her biochem lab. She wished she were still that girl, living in that safe and simple world, with no bigger worry than getting the answer to her question on metal hydrides out of a bored TA.
The fourth man, the graduate student one, said, “I’m Doug. That’s Jamie.”
Coral’s little trip down memory lane had her almost saying, “Nice to meet you,” but that was ridiculous. It was not nice to meet them. It was frightening. She gave a curt nod instead.
“Your friend is who?” said Jamie. “He’s kind of quiet.”
“That’s Benjamin,” Coral said. “I’m trying to treat a wound infection he has. You all wouldn’t have any aspirin or antibiotics or a sterile gauze?”
“What’s he to you?” asked Jamie.
“My husband,” said Coral, before she had any idea she was going to say it. But once she had, she thought it might have been the smartest thing she’d said in a long while. If they were going to believe she was a doctor and spare her life because of it, she needed to give them a reason to spare Benjamin’s too.
“Looks old enough to be your father,” muttered Jamie.
“It’s his beard,” said Coral. She couldn’t see Benjamin’s face, but she hoped he wasn’t staring back at her slack-jawed in shock to discover that somehow, in the past seven months, he’d gotten himself married to her. After the initial surprise has worn off, surely he’d understand what she was trying to do. She had to protect him, and she had to keep them from being separated.
“We have a few first aid supplies,” said Kathy.
“And you’re willing to share?” said Coral.
“Sure. It’s not much.” She ducked into the tent and brought out a good-quality backpack. She rooted through it and tossed Coral a soft-sided pack, dark green with a red cross on it. “Take whatever you need.” She turned to the men. “Any food hot?”
“We were waiting for you two. But I don’t know about two more people. Do we have the MREs to spare?”
Benjamin said his first words. “We have fish that Coral caught yesterday.”
“Ice fishing?” Jamie asked.
Coral moved to the fire, which was giving out some light, and opened the first aid kit. There were bandages, a stretch bandage, tweezers, some two by twos, tape, and, miracle of miracles, a small tube of triple-antibiotic ointment, about 2/3 used.
“Coral,” said Benjamin.
“Come over here and let me re-bandage that.”
He pointed across the fire. “The man asked you a question.”
She glanced up. Jamie said, “Stupid question. Had to be ice-fishing, right? You have a tip rod?”
“No.” She had a vague idea of what they were—ice fishing specialty gear. “Summer gear and five feet of line. But the perch didn’t seem to mind.”
“Willing to trade one of your perch for an MRE?” he said.
She nodded. “I’ll trade you two for two, in fact. Benjamin, please throw the man some fish, and then sit down next to me.”
The man jerked when Benjamin opened the burlap sack, but Kathy said, “I’ve already been through their bags.”
Benjamin handed over a whole perch, cleaned of its guts, head still attached, and two fillets left over from yesterday.
“Damn,” said Jamie. “Thanks. That looks great.”
She had Benjamin sit by the fire so she could see his arm better in its light.
“We have a flashlight,” said Martin.
“Thank you,” said Coral, meaning it. “That’d help.”
She wasn’t used to doing first aid for an audience, but that’s what she had to deal with. She was auditioning for her role as doctor to this group, and that made her more nervous.
“Hurry it up if you can,” said Benjamin. “It’s damned cold without my shirt.”
Coral shot him a grateful look for giving her a built-in excuse for fumbling the job. She untied the previous bandage. The bigger wound of the two was still seeping blood. She tore open a two-by-two and put a dab of antibiotic cream on it. The stuff was precious, and she didn’t use more than she needed. She put that on the larger wound. “Hold that,” she said to Benjamin. She opened a bandage strip for the smaller wound. She put a smear of antibiotic cream on it and pressed it on Benjamin’s arm.
She taped down the edges of the two-by-two, then had him flex his arm to make sure it was going to stay put. “I’m going to wrap the old bandage around it again, to make sure those don’t slip, okay?”
“You’re the doctor,” said Benjamin, and when she glanced at his face, she saw the glint of amusement in his eyes.
Despite everything, it made her want to smile at him. She schooled her features, though, and tied the bandage back around his bicep. “You’re good for another day.” She turned to Doug, who’d been holding the flashlight, and thanked him for the extra light.
“No prob,” he said, flicking it off and putting it away.
Kathy had filled a pan with water and was setting it to boil. Jamie had found a small skillet in his gear and was cooking the perch. “Do I have to share?” he said.
“We’ve been living on fish for months,” said Coral. “I certainly don’t need any.”
Kathy said, “I’m not a big fan of fish. You three guys can split it.”
“I’m in,” said Doug.
Martin said, “Me too. Wish we had some butter.” He stretched and then sat, his hand still loosely on his rifle. Kathy still had her gun in the holster.
“We didn’t bring extra MREs,” Kathy said. “The trade was two fish for two of these, but I’d suggest you two split one tonight and one tomorrow morning.”
Benjamin said, “It’s good of you to share.”
It was shocking they were willing to share, Coral thought. The strangers could have taken their fish, their gear, shot them and either eaten them or left them for dead. She hoped that wasn’t because they wanted to save them for something terrible. Kathy’s reassurance she wouldn’t be forced into prostitution might or might not be true.
Kathy said, “You two have a choice of—let’s see. Pork fajitas, beef and vegetable, turkey, and smoky frankfurters with beans.”
“You decide,” said Coral to Benjamin. It all sounded wonderful to her.
“Turkey for supper,” he said.
That surprised Coral, and then she realized he was probably picking what he thought she’d like. Oh well, it didn’t matter. She’d eaten raw grubs. Any actual meal designed for human consumption had to be better than that. “Franks for breakfast,” she said, picking what she thought Benjamin would prefer as their second meal.
“Turkey and franks it is. These are all fifteen to twenty years old, by the way,” Kathy said, tucking the other meals back in the backpack.
“How’d they survive the heat?” Benjamin said.
“Basement storage,” she said, as she sat by the fire. “Hey, Doug, give me some light.”
He shone the flashlight for her as she read the package. “You need water for the main meal and for the stuffing thing, if I remember right.” She tore open a plastic bag, and a dozen smaller bags spilled out onto her lap. “Okay. We have the main meal with turkey, gravy, and peas. Stuffing. Dried cranberries.” She set each packet aside as she named it.
Jamie said, “Put water in those berries too, or they’ll be like rocks.”
“That’s true,” said Kathy. “Oatmeal cookie. Jelly to spread on the cookie, which is probably too stale to eat. Chocolate, coffee—we usually save those for morning.”
It sounded like a wealth of food, and a mad variety of tastes, to Coral. Her salivary glands were responding to the words and the memories they triggered.
Jamie finished cooking one fish fillet and set it aside on a rock that formed the fire ring to keep warm while he cooked the next. Light faded from the sky as they waited for everyone’s meal to be ready at once, and soon the fire and flashlights were all the illumination they had. The four of the strangers had camping plates, and Coral and Benjamin poured their meal pouches into the pan she’d used to boil water, and they shared that as a plate, passing it back and forth in the firelight. They all drank hot water.
She wasn’t sure she’d tasted anything quite so good, ever, as that meal. At some level, she knew it must be pretty mediocre stuff by her old standards. But having turkey again, and cornbread dressing, and the wild sweetness of the cranberries—what a wealth of sensation. All she could think about for those too-brief moments was the food, its taste and texture.
When the meal was done, and Benjamin was tearing open the main packet to lick out the last of the gravy, her mind came back to their situation. Why were these people willing to share the food with her and Benjamin?
She didn’t trust them and their seeming kindness. She didn’t trust anyone but Benjamin. The world had taught her that no one was honorable, and that kindness was a lure, like the lures she dangled in front of the fish. What were these people trying to lure them into?
The comparison to fishing provided an answer. After she’d lured the fish in, she killed and ate them. These people wanted to use her. And it might be as food, or it might be for sex. If she was very, very lucky, it might be for her skills. When they found out she wasn’t as skilled at doctoring as she had claimed, what would be done to her and Benjamin then?
Should she be trying to ingratiate herself? Or looking for an opportunity to escape?
