Chapter 181: Tension returns to family dinner.
While Hades was dealing with the matters of his relatives, Sunshine, Nimo and Lisha were touring the medic bay in the first wall. That was where Rosario and her baby were.
The baby had been fighting a mild fever through the day, and doctors had just given her a clean bill of health. Sunshine had come over with a Thermaline seed in an iced pot.
Rosario was in bed covered up and draped in warm clothes. The baby was also dressed warmly in matching clothes and cooing adorably. Together, they made a lovely image.
The room was large, a VIP room. Poncho had left his wife with a large cash and gold reserve that she could tap to elevate her lifestyle, and she had tapped into it to get a better room that came with two caretakers, a twenty-four-hour doctor and nurse.
Comfortable cots for two family members to sleep in as they watched over her and the baby. The package also included three meals a day and private home visits for up to two weeks after she was released.
"Does she have a name yet?" Lisha asked as she took a seat.
"Petrona." Rosario said with a soft smile. "It means rock." She looked at Sunshine and said, "I figured it was perfect for her since she has the abilities to lift and move rocks. I hope that she will be strong and grounded."
"Little Petro." Nimo leaned over the child and reached out to pinch her cheeks.
Sunshine pulled her friend back. "Petrol is gasoline. It does not sound like a good nickname. If I met a kid named petrol, I would assume that they like to set fires."
Lisha laughed.
They heard the sound of a gunshot and all three ladies rushed to a window. Nimo and Sunshine were already pulling out their walkies-talkies.
"It’s just a rat." Someone shouted.
"Oh no!" Lisha shuddered. "Rat! I hate rats. First an ant and now a rat. Where are these things coming from? The wall should be electrocuting them."
Sunshine wondered if Lisha would faint if she saw the images of all the things that had died so far, trying to make it up the wall.
"The ground silly." Nimo told her. "Some things dig through the ground and make it to the surface. The wall cannot keep everything out."
Lisha sighed. "We need an underground wall. Or we should just pour concrete on all the soil on the base. Who needs soil anyway?"
"The food we are growing needs soil." Nimo exclaimed. "How are you a smart hacker? Did you skip science class?"
Lisha pursed and glared at Nimo. You could insult everything about her but not her fashion sense or intelligence. "I am going to search the internet right now and find out if we can live without soil."
"There is no more internet Miss Lisha." Rosario reminded Lisha.
They heard a scream coming from outside and hurried to find out what the problem was this time.
"The rat bit me." Someone screamed.
Sunshine decided that it was her cue to go out and start solving problems. The last person she had seen with a rat bite in the apocalypse had been infected with illness and they spread it.
That rat was rumored to have been a mutant monster rat from the mist. Hopefully, that was not the case.
As three women left Rosario’s room, they heard the sound of more gunshots. When they reached the area where all the disturbance was, a patrol team had arrived ahead of them.
Two doctors were rushing the man that had been bitten away. The rat lay dead on the ground, blood splatters everywhere.
A woman stood over it with a bloody machete in her hand.
"This would be more badass if that rat did not look tiny." Lisha commented.
Sunshine would have laughed if she were not worried about a possible rat plague. "System, scan the rat. Is it mutated or ordinary?" Just because it was small, did not mean it was not mutated.
[Ordinary.]
The answer came within ten seconds of her asking the question.
"Dispose of the rat and clean this place up." She shouted out orders.
She went back into the hospital and ordered for the person that had been bitten to be kept for observation for at least three days.
When she made it back outside, the blood was gone as was the crowd. The smell of bleach and antiseptic was heavy in the air.
Nimo and Lisha were talking to the woman that had beheaded the rat.
"Suni, come meet Lucia." Nimo called out. "She is Poncho’s younger sister and badass rat beheader."
She joined the women, with many questions in her mind that she had for the young woman who had displayed bravery.
*****
Later that evening, around dinner time, the Quinn grandparents’ house was alive again, but not the way the Quinn manor used to be. The laughter that once spilled over the walls, the bickering between cousins, the soft lull of music, most of that was toned down.
Instead, there was a quiet unease that hung heavy in the air, the kind that made the youngest child instinctively soften his voice and pushed his toy car around more carefully.
It was family night, a tradition that had always been sacred to the Quinns. It had been frozen when they moved to the base but now, it was picking up again.
Hades, Sunshine and the boys were the last to arrive. They carried ice cream, mushroom tartlets, Grade A beef ground meatballs and butter rice.
The food had been taken out of Sunshine’s space and heated. Then, it was moved to containers or food flasks. They set them gently on the long dining table along with all the food that others had brought.
The rule had always been simple: every adult must bring something. Food, drink, a story. Some token of togetherness.
"Let’s gather and pray." Rori said.
Not many Quinns were praying kind of people, but they respected those who did. They bowed their heads as Rori gave thanks and dinner started.
The room was strangely quiet. Forks tapped against plates, but no one spoke. Suni noticed the way Rori kept her gaze down, how the elders sighed more than they ate, how even the children sensed the weight in the air.
She didn’t allow this to interfere with the deliciousness of her meal. None of these people knew what it was like to starve. If they did, they would be more worried about their stomachs rather than thinking about the Quinns that had been sent away.
"I’ll say it," Hadrian raised his voice suddenly, "I feel no remorse for sending them away. Not one bit. This is the consequence of their decision to follow Damien. We took in the children.
They are well fed and sleeping in the medic bay right now. We hired two young women to look after them. When they are released, they will move in here to live with their grandparents.
Avenn and the rest are on Jon’s base and Hades and Sunshine gave them supplies. They traded so many things so that Jon could show some kindness to those traitors.
In my books, they actually won. If anyone has anything to say, do it now and we put this issue to bed tonight."