Page 43 of Deadly Strain

“We don’t have time.”

“You’re leaving a trail.”

He swore and veered to one side toward a large boulder. He was already tearing his pants open so she could see the wound.

Matching entry and exit wounds on the meaty part of his thigh were easy to find.

“These have bled a lot. You need stitches and probably a transfusion.”

“It’ll hold,” he said. It sounded like his teeth were so tightly clenched he was chewing on the words.

“Really? How wonderful, you’re a doctor now? Able to diagnose injury at a glance and run long distances in an arid country with no water and no protective gear? How about I just give you a superhero name?”

He gave her awhat the fucklook. “What’s got your panties in a bunch? We’re alive, aren’t we? You’ve got your samples, right?”

“Oh yes.” She let her frustration drip off the words. “All the necessities of life, right there.”

“We don’t have time for anything else.”

“I know, and I hate it.” She was so angry all she could do was shake, because if she let herself do anything else, she’d probably make a fool of herself. “God, I’m going to need so much therapy when I get home.”

She pulled off her backpack and grabbed two nonstick gauze pads, one for each wound, then secured them to his leg as tight as she could with a pressure bandage. Hopefully, it would keep everything in place despite Sharp’s acrobatics.

He didn’t say anything to her after she finished, just grabbed her hand and urged her to her feet. He went back to that ground-eating jog. They went east for a while, then south, then northwest. After that, he didn’t waver on speed or direction.

She wasn’t sure how long they’d been running when the echoing sound of gunshots reached them. Sharp didn’t look back, but she did.

How far had they run?

Was it far enough?

Finally, sometime later, Sharp slowed and seemed to be looking for something.

“Sharp?”

“We need another cave.” His voice sounded raspy, dry. Tired.

“How long will that take?” He was probably dehydrated and in pain. Damn it —what was it with tough men who never allow anyone to know they need help? Suffering in silence was stupid, especially when one word,one word, to her would get him the water he needed.

“Not long. Our team studied topographical maps of this area. It’s full of caves.”

His voice, with slight hesitation at the end of the sentence, made her ask, “But?”

“But...we have to be careful not to pick an occupied one. People use caves in this area for homes sometimes.”

“Great,” she breathed.

He moved on, continuing to examine both the ground close to them and look for signs of caves.

He picked up his pace again and they detoured into a small gully. Despite appearing to be solid ground all around, he led her into a cave. This was much bigger than the first one they’d stayed in. Unlike the last time, Sharp sat down with a thump.

Grace crouched next to him. He should have been sweating. Instead, his skin looked dry and wrinkled, his eyes sunken. She put her fingers to his neck to check his heart rate.

“Headache?”

“Yeah,” he whispered.

“Let me see your tongue.”