Code of Honor

“Grace!”

The harsh whisper brought me crashing down. I slumped backwards into my father’s large body and he cradled me in his strong arms. I was safe and I truly felt it with my dad here. Even with the shouts of the soldiers outside.
My body realizing I was where I needed to be started to withdrawal the adrenaline from my system. Pain attacked me from everywhere. The scrapes in my knees, the bruise on my side from the fall I had with the soldier, the deep scratches on my back and worst of all, the bullet wound in my left side.

Dad kept his hand over my mouth as he moved his other hand down to pry my bloody hands off the wound. The bullet had entered my left side, just below my rib cage. Warm blood was pouring out and down my side. Panic settled in his eyes and he didn’t hide it. Quickly he ripped his shirt off his body leaving him in only a dirty white singlet.
He pressed his shirt to the wound to stop the blood flow and tightened his hand to muffle my sounds of discomfort. We couldn’t be heard now and I doubted he wanted to hear me screaming. He pulled my up into his chest and held me like a baby.

“Shh,” he cooed softly in my ear. “We’ll be okay, I’ll get you help Gracie.”

His voice was weak, shaking in fear but with fake strength. He wanted me to believe him. But he too was scared for my life. I could see the dilemma in his eyes. He had to get me help as soon as possible but he had to hide out longer. We couldn’t risk running into any more government soldiers.

This wasn’t the first time I’d been shot either. It was a part of this life. Especially when you had a target on your back like we did. I only survived the first time thanks to my father. One of the biggest problems now was the lack of medical supplies. Before a shot like this could be fixed, you would survive given you got the help you needed. Now that help didn’t exist and medicals supplies were in short demand. If the bullet didn’t kill you the infection would.

Slowly so he didn’t cause me any unnecessary pain dad stood, keeping me in his arms. I put my head down into the crook of his neck and closed my eyes. Hot tears still fell down my cheeks and soaked into his shirt. He continued to coo softly in my ear as he walked but most the time his words were lost in my pain.

Sometimes he had no choice but to jump and hide, which in turn jolted me and caused me more pain. I had to bite my hand to stop myself making too much noise. By the time we made it back my hand was drawing blood was well. I opened my eyes slowly to see where we were. My vision was hazed but I could tell we were back home, at the hideout.

Our hideout was an old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. We often moved to keep hidden but this had to be the best place we’d had so far. It was big but half of one side had caved in, leaving only half the space. The back where it had all caved in provided good cover and the smalls gaps acted as windows. Also it deterred the army from looking in here. They expected us to be in something better than a caved in warehouse. Dad got us inside quickly, I closed my eyes again as the world started to spin around me.

“Jamison!”

Dad’s voice boomed and echoed off very wall. It rang in my ears and soon pounding footsteps rushed over. From my guess, two people.

“What happened?”

“There’s so many of them out there,” Dad breathed his voice weak.

“C’mon, put her down.”

Dad was usually the one handing out orders but when it came to anyone’s health. Jamison was the man who gave the orders. Dad walked over to the other side of the room and laid me down gently. There was something soft beneath me, but I could still feel the concrete floor beneath my spine. Three large bodies leaned over me, blocking any light. Two hands carefully took my head and laid it gently in their lap. I looked up through blurry eyes to see my father. Gently he touched my cheek.

“Get all the supplies,” Jamison ordered making the third man run off.

“There was so many of them out today,” dad whispered. “I had no idea.”

“No one did until an hour ago,” Jamison replied. “Dimitri came back and told us they were all out. Apparently there was another threat of invasion from the Russians.”

“What for,” dad said. “There’s nothing left to have.”

“To prove a point I guess,” Jamison muttered pulling the shirt off the wound. “To say we have this land and you don’t just like we did to them.”

“It’s fucking ridiculous,” Dad muttered as the third man returned. “We’re running low,” Dad noted. The tone of his voice worried me.

“I know,” Jamison breathed sadly. “We’re going to have to make another run to the hospital. We’ll have no choice after this. She’s...,” he trailed off, dad squeezed my hand tightly.

I finally found the strength to open my eyes. Dad was above me, holding my head in his lap. I drifted my sight down to see the other two men. Jamison was on my left side, filling a needle with a clear substance. I hated needles but right now I didn’t care as long as it was filled with morphine. To my right sat Dimitri. He was seventeen, only a year older than me and in all honesty. The most annoying person left on the face of the earth. Of all the people to spend the apocalypse with I got him. Any other time I would have shoved his hands off me. He was a pervert and I despised his touch but right now he was stopping blood flowing from my body.

I gritted my teeth and watched as Jamison injected the needle into my arm. Jamison was one of the main men in our organization. Alongside my dad. He had this rank because of his knowledge. He was one of the few university graduates we had left. Luckily for us he studied medicine before switching careers. So he became our only doctor and care taker. My father held him in high regard and the feeling was mutual, making them very good friends. Both men were leaders in a time when chaos reigned. People flocked to them. Something I’d noticed about people was they needed a leader. Someone to tell them what to do. Very few survived without this.

“What can I do?” Dad questioned.

Jamison was silent for a moment. “There’s nothing you can do Cameron.”

“There was to be something,” Dad said his voice tense. He wasn’t the kind of man who liked being rendered useless. Especially when it came to his children.

“Keep her awake, keep her with us,” he replied carefully. There was a tense minute before he went on. “Hold her Cameron, I have to get the bullet out....”

“But,” Dad prompted finishing his hanging word.

“There’s not enough morphine,” he whispered. I wasn’t sure if I heard him correctly.

“Can’t we get more?” Dad said forcefully.

“Not in time,” He replied in good nature compared to Dad’s tone. “We have to get it out now...or it’ll get infected. If it gets infected she dies.”

Dad let out a shaky breath.

“Hold her,” Jamison replied gently. “Keep her awake.”

I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good. Dad leaned over, placing his head beside mine. He kissed my forehead gently before his hands took my arms. Holding me still. This definitely wasn’t going to be good. Dimitri shared a look with Jamison, he nodded and Dimitri looked back at me. His hands taking hold of me to.

“Grace...,” Jamison said gently. “I know it’s going to hurt but you need to keep still for me, so I can get it out quickly okay?”

The only answer he got from me was my eyes clenching and my head turning to face another direction. I felt the shirt being pulled off the wound. Dried blood tugged lightly at my skin as it left. I heard him pick something up and my imagination run wild. I swear I could be my own worst enemy sometimes. Images flashed through my mind of what he could be holding...a knife...a scalpel...a sponge.

The list was endless but when it dug into my flesh I knew it was something sharp. I couldn’t help it, I cried out. The two sets of strong hands tightened on me and I flinched and squirmed in anguish. I could hear crying and screaming but I didn’t know if I was the source. My mind was on the pain. I could feel something digging into my side...getting deeper and deeper. Forcing its way through stubborn flesh until it found its target.

I have no idea how long it took Jamison to pry the bullet out. It all blurred into one long instance of pain. Then suddenly there was a soft noise as the bullet and knife hit the ground together. Then Jamison was throwing orders at Dimitri to pass him what he needed. Slowly as some of the pain faded things came to me. I could hear dad’s weak voice in my ear. Telling me it was okay. But before my pain could numb much more there was an agonizing moment when Jamison poured something over the open wound. I screamed and dad quickly tried to calm me.

“I’m sorry Grace,” Jamison said, loud enough to be heard over my pain. “I have to disinfect it...bandages Dimitri.”

Slowly and carefully he wrapped clean bandages around my middle so the wound was covered. Dad pulled me up gently so I was sitting up in his lap to make it easier. I slumped lazily into him, letting him move me where I needed to be.

“Get some water,” Jamison said softly to Dimitri I assumed since he left. Then he turned to look back at me. His eyes soft as he pulled my shirt back down. “We’re done, you can rest.”

He looked at dad. “We just have to keep the area clean, we can’t let it get infected.”

“Should we organize another trip to the hospital?” Dad asked.

A trip to the hospital was filled with good treasure to bring home. Medical supplies were scarce and highly needed. But it was a risk. Not only could there be dangerous disease still lingering within the walls, it was an open area. One the army often checked.

“We’ll have to,” Jamison replied slowly. “But we can’t for a couple of days. Not while all these soldiers are out. We’ll get killed.”

Dimitri came back with a glass of water and gave it to Jamison. Dad held my head up with one hand while Jamison poured the water into my mouth. It was a slow process. One Dimitri watched with concern.

“Is she alright?” he asked.

“She’s weak,” Jamison replied. “She lost a lot of blood but she’ll be okay.”

“What about a pharmacy,” dad said suddenly. “Will that give us what we need until we can make the hospital?”

Dad was nothing if not practical.

Jamison pondered the thought as he moved forward before me. Carefully we reached to my face and pried one of my eyes open with two fingers. He studied my eye for a moment before moving back. “It won’t give us exactly what we need but it’s something. Organize it for tomorrow. If nothing else we’ll get the bandages we need. I’ve only got one change left for her and she’s going to need a few.”

Dad nodded and moved me in his arms. So I was laying back and he could cradle me like a baby. I let my heavy eyelids drop shut and rested in his arms. I could hear the sounds of the warehouse coming to life behind us. It was often quiet during the day. Some slept because they kept us safe at night, some were always moving around during the day looking for the remnants of their home and family’s and returned in the afternoon. Usually empty handed.

It was late afternoon before we really saw anyone. And with everyone returning, so did the injuries, stories and questions. Jamison had to leave us to tend to someone else’s cuts and grievances. Though he was always coming back to check on me. Dad refused to put me down so as people came back and came to him with questions and information he sent them away. His thoughts were solely on me and my health and within the hour, under his watchful eyes I finally drifted into sleep.

“Gracie....”

I groaned.

“Grace...c’mon.”

Slowly I opened my eyes. Everything was blurred but I could make a shape leaning over me. There hand cold on my cheek. Light was peeking through the roof. Dead on into my eyes. Groaning I draped my right arm over my eyes.

“Are you with me babe?”

“Don’t...call me that.”

He chuckled and many things ran through my mind. Nothing complimentary.

“You feeling alright?” he asked.

I didn’t dignify him with an answer. I can’t have looked good considering how I felt. I could feel hot sweat dripping down my face, my clothes were sticking to my body because of it. My head was aching, my left side was throbbing. The pain was still running rapid through my nerves. I let out a long shaky breath and moved my arm.

The sun was directly above us in the sky. I could see it through the small window the roof. It had to be about midday...if not one o’clock in the afternoon. The sun was one of the only ways to tell time anymore. Watches only lasted as long as there batteries, if they had survived. I felt as though I had been sleeping for a very long time. My body was stiff so I assumed I’d slept through the night.

“Where’s my dad?” I questioned. My voice croaked.

“Not here,” he replied.”He and a few guys went out to get more supplies. They’ll be back soon. He told me to look after you,” Dimitri replied.

I turned my eyes to him. His blond hair had grown out long since he’d joined us. It suited him but I didn’t find it attractive. His blue eyes watched me intently as I carefully sat up. Flinching as pain shot through my torso. His hands caught me halfway and helped me sit so I could lean up against the wall. I glanced around slowly. There was a few people still around. All moving around and doing their own thing. From the far corner Penny smiled at me and stood up from where she had been sitting. She walked over and kneeled down beside Dimitri.

“How are you feeling?”

“Okay,” I muttered. “Sorta...I don’t know.”

“Here,” she said softly. “Have some water.”

She handed me a cracked glass carefully. I took it with my right hand. Leaving my left side alone to stop any more pain. I drank slowly. My dried throat welcomed the liquid. Penny was a very caring woman. She had been one of the first people I’d met here. She was very motherly towards us younger ones. I thought it to just be her nature...and maybe helped along by the loss of her own children. She told me about them a lot. I think it just helped her to talk about them. She’d had three children, all under the age of ten. None of them had survived the first bombings.

Suddenly there was a commotion on the front wall of the building. We all looked over in time to see a group of men come through the main entrance to the building. A door would be way to obvious. So the door had been barricaded and we all entered through a hole on the wall which had been well concealed from the outside. The only people who knew how to get in were those we showed and the only ones who got shown wore red bands. The first to come into sight was Jamison, a bag over his shoulder and a gun in his other hand.

Carrying a gun didn’t suit him at all. Next two other men walked in. Two I didn’t know well but they had been here a while. Then my father came in. Now a gun suited him well. Probably because he’d been using them his whole life. He’d been a hunter before now he used his gun to defend himself and me. My father never believed in turning a gun on another human being. But now he didn’t have a choice and I knew it troubled him. His eyes traveled straight over to where I was sitting and he quickly dumped his bag and gun with Jamison’s before jogging over to us.

“How are you, are you hurting?” he questioned kneeling down to my level.

“No,” I lied. Dad didn’t need to stress over me.

Dimitri shot me a disbelieving look. So did dad. I guess it was sort of obvious. Who wouldn’t be hurting after being shot? Apparently I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.

“I doubt that Grace,” Jamison said as he sat beside me. Slowly filling a needle. I groaned and looked away. Dad instantly reached for my hand. “This on the other hand will make you feel a bit better.”

He took my left arm gently and placed it in his lap. I closed my eyes and buried my head in dad’s shoulder. There was nothing more I hated more than needles. But thanks to the pain in that side of my body I didn’t feel a thing and didn’t even know it was done until Jamison spoke once more.

“Okay were done. It’s not the strongest of pain killers but it’ll take some of the pain away. Anyway it’ll do until we make the hospital.”

“Where did you go today?” I asked.

“We went for the closest couple of pharmacies and drug stores,” Dad answered. “And took everything we could use.”

Supply runs were a daily part of this life. But they could be extremely dangerous.

“Were all the soldiers still out?” Dimitri asked. Asking exactly what I had been thinking.
Dad nodded slowly. “They won’t be gone for a few days, I think it’s best if you kids stay in for a while.”

Dimitri nodded. He and I were the youngest people here.

“She won’t be going anywhere anytime soon anyway,” Jamison said as he finished changing the bandages on my side. I had barely felt it.

“I’m sure we can find something to do,” Dimitri winked at me. His flirtatious nature coming though.

“I will die a virgin before I touch you Dimitri.”

“Good,” Dad grunted as he stood.

Dad knew Dimitri was a flirt and usually gave him some leave. Unfortunately I was the only girl his age in a fair radius. So I copped the brunt of his flirtatious comments. More often than not dad took these comments with good humor but occasionally Dimitri found himself on the wrong side of my father’s hunting rifle. Well that had only happened once but the look of horror on Dimitri’s face would amuse me for a lifetime.