Jake Morrison's Arc

Chapter 36 of 54

Three days after the wedding, the twins started fussing at every feeding. Marisol sat on the cabin bed, a baby at her shoulder, her face gray. "They need clean bottles. Sterile cloth. Formula for when my milk runs short." She looked up at Jake. "The island doesn't have any of it. And if they get sick out here, there's no hospital." Jake knew she was right. Newborns could go from healthy to dying in a day. He found Marcus by the docks, checking a skiff engine, sleeves rolled to his tattooed forearms. Marcus had crossed to the mainland twice already and come back both times. "I need you on another run," Jake said. "Baby supplies. Formula. Whatever a pharmacy still has." Marcus wiped his hands on a rag. "You're coming too?" "This time, yeah." Jake glanced back at the cabin. "They're mine." Sofia met them on the path, one hand on her pregnant belly. She carried a folded list. "I wrote down everything the town needs. We're at fifty-five people now. Food's thin. Add it to yours." She pressed the list into Jake's chest. "And bring back prenatal vitamins. The doctor wants me in for more visits. This pregnancy isn't simple." Jake read the list. It was long. "We'll get what we can." They left at dawn with two other men. The skiff cut across gray water toward the coast. Jake watched the island shrink behind them, its cabins and docks going small. He gripped the rifle across his knees. The city stank of rot. They tied off at a broken pier and moved fast through empty streets. A drugstore near the water still had its shelves half-stocked. Jake and Marcus filled two duffel bags with formula tins, bottles, sealed gauze, and vitamins. In a market next door they loaded canned food until the bags strained. A wretch came from the back of the store. Marcus put it down with a wrench before it made a sound. They didn't speak. They just loaded faster. The skiff rode low but held. By dusk the island came into view again. Marisol was waiting on the dock. Jake handed her a tin of formula, and her shoulders dropped like a weight had lifted. "You did it," she said. "We did." He kissed the top of the girl's head. But Sofia stood behind Marisol, and she wasn't smiling. She held a hand to her side. "The doctor checked me while you were gone," she said. "There's a problem with the baby. She says I need things she can't do here. Real equipment. A real doctor." Jake looked at the twins, safe now, and at Sofia, pale in the dock light. He had gone to the city to keep his children well. He came back to find the same city was the only place that could save Sofia's. "Then we go back," Jake said. "And this time we find a doctor."