Live Another Day by Baileigh Higgins (reading in the dark .txt) 📗

his way to the kitchen where he found a warmly dressed Mpho drinking soup and tea while a worried Elise clucked around her like a mother hen.

“Just look at those feet. My goodness. You’ll need to see Jonathan,” she exclaimed.

“Thank you, ma’am, but I assure you I’m fine.”

“Such beautiful manners. Your mother taught you well, young one.”

“My grandmother actually. My mother died when I was young.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Let me see if I can find you something more substantial to eat. You’re so thin!”

Elise bustled away despite Mpho’s protestations that she was okay. Max shook his head and took a seat across from her. “Don’t bother. She needs someone to mother. It’s in her nature.”

Michael nodded. “Now tell us your story, Mpho. What happened?”

She placed her cup down on the table with a sober expression. “Kabelo returned last night.”

Max sat back in his chair with shocked surprise. “Kabelo? So the little shit made it. Lisa won’t be happy to hear that.”

“She will not,” Michael agreed.

“Well, he got back in one piece and told Ke Tau everything about you,” Mpho said.

“I’m not surprised,” Max replied.

“That’s not the reason you’re here, though,” Michael said. “It can’t be.”

Mpho shook her head. “No, you’re right. Kabelo’s appearance reminded him once more how much he hates you, how much your presence here mocks him. He...he told Hiran to get ready.”

Max stared at the scarred wood of the tabletop beneath his hands and took a deep breath. A feeling of foreboding washed over him, and he didn’t want to hear Mpho’s next words. He forced himself to ask, “Ready for what?”

“They’re attacking here, tonight.”

The world spun around Max as her news sunk in. It was as bad as it could get. No, worse.

Michael stared at Max with flat eyes, though a flicker of worry crossed his face. “You’re sure of this, Mpho?”

“I’m sure. That’s why I had to come. I had to warn you.” Her hands folded into fists. “Ke Tau cannot win. We cannot let him.”

Max raised his head. “Thank you for taking such a risk to warn us. I’m indebted to you. We all are.”

“It’s my duty.”

“Even so, after today, we might owe you everything.” Max sighed and looked at Michael. “This couldn’t come at a worse time.”

Right then, Elise returned with a small bowl of chopped carrots fresh from the garden. “Here you go, dear. Eat this.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

Elise paused when she noticed the miserable expressions on all their faces. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ll fill you in over breakfast, Elise. In fact, I’ll need to see the whole camp, even the guards.” He pushed back his chair and stood up. “I’ll gather everyone up and have them assemble here in an hour.”

“Is it that bad?” Worry washed over Elise’s face, and a hand fluttered at her throat. “What about the children? We can’t alarm them.”

Max paused. “You’re right. I’ll ask Michelle to keep them busy in the schoolroom while we meet. Someone can fill her in later. I don’t believe she’ll be capable of fighting anyway.”

“Fighting? Has it come to that now?” Elise asked.

“It has.”

“Well, I imagine we’ll need our energy, so I’ll see what I can scrounge up for breakfast. We could all use a solid meal, even if it’s the last.”

Max looked at her and felt gratitude well up inside him. No matter what, she was always there for him. No, for everyone. “Thank you, Elise. You don’t know how much your help means to me.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand. “We’re family, Max.”

With those parting words, she rushed away, and Max turned to Michael. “Can you take Mpho to the infirmary? Have Jonathan treat her feet then meet back here?”

“No problem.” Michael placed a protective arm around Mpho’s shoulders. “See you soon. We need to plan.”

“That we do,” Max affirmed. He left the dining area with a heavy heart and went about the task of assembling the entire camp. As he walked, one thought repeated itself over and over. The next twenty-four hours will decide all our fates. Good or bad.

Chapter 17 - Lisa

Lisa worked with silent concentration, doing precisely as Jonathan had shown her. It was an ugly job, but she wanted to help, and the doctor already had his hands full. Not only did he have to run the infirmary and look after the camp’s sick people, but he also had to take his turn on the wall, short-handed as they were with people out repairing fences.

Lonny, Ruby’s brother, lay as still as a statue. His skin looked waxen, and his breathing was shallow. She’d given him the most potent dosage of pain medicine allowed, and now he slept. A good thing too because she needed to clean his various wounds, a painful process.

She started with the worst one. The third-degree burn inflicted by Carlito to the boy’s right thigh. The tender flesh had been seared away by a naked flame and was at serious risk of infection.

Lisa peeled away the saline dressing that had been allowed to dry, and a layer of dead tissue came away with it. Jonathan called it mechanical debridement. She called it torture. It was for that reason she’d sent Ruby away with Julianne.

For now, the young girl would be placed under Michelle’s care with the other children. While not exactly a child, she was grieving both for her father and her brother and would be better off with the gentle Michelle and the other kids.

Lonny mumbled under his breath and cried aloud. Lisa froze while she waited for him to calm down. Once he settled, she pulled further on the dressing and worked it free of the skin. The wound was an open sore, red, raw, and weeping. She dressed it as Jonathan had taught her, breathing more easily once it was covered. “There, that’s better.”

She moved onward, disinfecting the cuts Ke Tau and his men had inflicted with their blades and smoothing cream over the purple bruises that discolored his face. His eyes were swollen shut, and she placed a