“I did,” said Lila. “We gave you a blood transfusion and you stabilized. Fortunately the bullet came out pretty easily and there’s no sign of infection.”

“Wow. It’s lucky that you’re a doctor.”

The woman grimaced. “Actually, I’m a dental nurse.”

“You are?” Roslyn nodded slowly. “Well, good job. Hang on. Did you say Nick was locked up?”

“Yes,” confirmed Sean. “He’s in a holding cell at the police station.”

“What!” she screeched, wide awake now.

The Viking’s eyebrows headed high.

Lila frowned. “You don’t want him locked up?”

“No, of course not,” said Ros. “Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because he’s dangerous,” said Sean.

She scrunched up her nose at him in disbelief.

Sean in turn scrunched up his forehead, looking less sure of himself by the minute. “Because he hurt you?”

“Nick didn’t hurt me. Justin shot me. Pete and him wanted to rape me. Nick risked his life to get me out of there.” She shuffled up, wincing all the while. Fuck, it was uncomfortable. Getting shot was distinctly unpleasant. She would never do that again. Plus her chest hurt. She took a peek down the front of her tank top. A dark, nasty bruise crossed her chest where the seatbelt had been. “What a mess.”

“Roslyn, you can’t get up,” said Lila.

“Yes, I can.” It hurt. It would never be her idea of a good time. But she could definitely do it.

Lila jumped up and helped her with a hand beneath her good arm. “Hang on. Take it slowly. The pain meds are going to make you groggy.”

“Damn.” The room spun and she wobbled a step forward on weak legs. She clung onto the other woman. “I need to go to the bathroom. Then I need to go to Nick.”

“Roslyn, you got shot two days ago,” said Lila, her brown eyes full of concern. “What you need to do is rest.”

“I’m fine.” Her knees trembled, defying her words. Stupid knees. “Bathroom?”

“Wait.” The woman fussed. “Let me get this sling on you. We need to keep the weight off your shoulder.”

Lila helped her into the loopy length of padded material. It kept her left hand up high, taking the weight off that limb as promised. The woman frowned but helped her to the bedroom door. They were in a small wooden house, an old cottage by the look of it. Across the hallway sat a bathroom. God, it felt good to empty her bladder. It was awkward to rise again, but well worth the effort.

She worked one-handed while Lila hovered with her back turned. Roslyn splashed some water on her face and finger-combed her hair. Nothing would save that bird’s nest. It’d grow back eventually. Nick could take her as she came. An eager need to see him built inside her as she started moving about, gathering her meager reserves of energy. She felt stronger already, less shaky. Sort of.

“Are my boots around?” she asked.

“You’re serious about this?”

“Very.”

Lila nodded and opened the door. “Sean, can you carry her to the police station, please?”

“I should be able to walk,” she said. Though, on second thought: “Is it far?”

The big man frowned at her, too. Then he put an arm beneath her knees, another behind her back, and picked her up without comment. Also without the slightest show of strain. The Viking had to be made of solid muscle. She held herself rigid, trying to keep some distance between her and him on account of his being a complete stranger. A complete stranger who had locked up Nick, which made no f**king sense.

“You might as well relax,” he said.

She wearily did as she was told. “Thank you for this.”

“How well do you know him?”

“Well enough to know you shouldn’t have locked him up.”

Little lines appeared beside Sean’s eyes as he gave her a worried look, but off they went. Sunlight dazzled her as they stepped outside. It took her a moment to adjust. There were people, quite a lot of them. Many stopped what they were doing and gave her curious looks. She smiled back uncertainly. Neat rows of houses lined the street, with vegetable gardens filling the front yards where grass would once have been. Further down the road some kids played footy. Somewhere nearby a baby cried. It was all so normal, so right. This place was everything they’d taken for granted before the plague hit. Her eyes felt hot, gritty. Suburbia had always sort of peeved her previously, but now it was like nirvana. Growing up in cities, she’d never seen the beauty in this sort of scene. People building their houses a couple of meters apart from each other, everyone getting into everyone else’s business. Her father had moved them here there and everywhere, but there had always been tons of people around. Those days were gone. She’d never again expected to see a community. It’d only been half a year, but everything had changed so much.

“So this is Blackstone,” she said.

“Yes.”

“It’s lovely.”

He grunted.

She kept smiling, though few smiled back. In fact, no one did. Some people passed by with their faces downturned, but some stared openly, their eyes hard. What the f**k? It felt a long way from nice to be studied that way. Ros did her best to be calm. So not everything here was Pleasantville. There seemed to be a whole lot of tension in the air. Fear lined people’s faces.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Why are people so …”