Page 56 of The Chain

“What does your mom do when you’re like this?”

“Doctor.”

She’s covered with sweat and her breathing is getting more labored.

“We need to take her to a hospital,” Pete says.

Rachel turns to face him. What the hell is he thinking? Hospital? There’s no way they can take her to the hospital. If they take her to the hospital the jig is up and Kylie’s dead.

“No,” she says.

“She’s having an allergic reaction,” Pete says.

“I can see that.”

“She has to see a doctor. We don’t have the EpiPen.”

“No doctor,” Rachel insists. “I’ll hold her.”

She takes the girl and Pete finally understands. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’ve made the decision.”

A terrible decision, but one The Chain has forced on her.

Either the little girl is going to die in her arms here and now or she’s somehow going to get better.

“I’ll stay here with her. You get an EpiPen any way you can!”

“How?”

“Rob a goddamn pharmacy! I don’t know. Go!”

Pete runs upstairs. “I’ll leave you the gun,” he says from the kitchen.

“Fine. Just go!”

She hears the back door slam.

She holds Amelia.

“Doctor,” Amelia says.

“Yes, honey,” Rachel replies.

There will be no doctors and no hospitals.

If she dies, she and Pete will abandon the house and try again. The cops will find a dead little girl chained to a pillar, covered in spit and vomit, surrounded by dolls and toys and games. They will think it’s one of the most evil crime scenes they’ve ever laid eyes on.

Amelia’s face is pale. Her eyes are glassy. She begins coughing.

The hospital could save her.

A paramedic unit from the Newburyport Fire Department could save her.

But Rachel isn’t going to call the paramedics or a doctor or a hospital. That path will kill Kylie. If she has to choose between Amelia and Kylie, it’s going to be Kylie.

Rachel starts to cry. “Try to breathe more slowly,” she says to Amelia. “Slow, easy, big breaths.”