He broke the kiss and ran a thumb along my lower lip. He did not let me go. “That’s better,” he said, breathing hard. “I wanted to kiss you as a man.”
“You are a man,” I said.
He rubbed my lip again—the sensation of it was raw, as if I had no more defenses—and kissed the corner of my mouth, my jaw, the tender spot on my neck. Then he stopped, holding me, his head dipped to the spot beneath my ear, breathing me in.
I touched his face, ran my fingers along his jaw and his cheekbones. I knew every line of them, every contour, though I’d never touched them before, not like this. The feel of him beneath my hands sent a spark of something through me, dangerous and heady and wonderful.
“Jack,” I said after a long moment.
“Hmm?”
“Are you kissing the nurses just to get newspapers?”
When his body shook against mine, I knew he was laughing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
The rain had not stopped. Though it was morning, the clouds were so thick we needed the electric lights in the patients’ hall in order to see through the gloom. The light thrown by the electric bulbs wasn’t as strong as the light from the paraffin lamps, and Nina kept a lamp lit as she worked.
“No one’s died yet,” she told me bluntly when I came to relieve her. “It’s well there’s only five. It makes it easier.”
“Six,” I said.
She passed a glance to Archie, who lay still on his blanket. “Yes, well, I meant five infected. I’ve tried feeding them, but no one will take anything. Did you make the breakfast in the kitchen? Thank God.” She stared over my shoulder as Jack came up behind me. She took in his change of clothes and was momentarily speechless.
“Good morning,” Jack said.
“Blimey,” said Nina.
“I think we ought to regroup,” I cut in. “We put the patients on the floor here for evacuation, but the rain hasn’t stopped, and we may not get help for another day yet. The floor isn’t the best place for them.”
“I agree,” said Nina. “They should be in their rooms, in bed.”
I turned to Jack. “Let’s find Paulus and Roger. And Captain Mabry. Let’s see if we can move these men back upstairs.”
Paulus and Roger were in the kitchen devouring much of the breakfast I’d cooked. We sent them upstairs to prepare the six bedrooms and get a stretcher. Then I put a plate together, poured a cup of hot tea, and brought a tray to West.
He was in the common room, looking out at the rain. He didn’t thank me when I gave him the food, but I could tell he was famished. I took a seat in one of the rickety chairs and looked out at the rain as he ate.
“It’ll lighten up by tonight,” he told me. “And then we can get help.”
“How do you know it will stop?”
“I feel it in here.” He pointed dismissively to the stumps of his legs. “I felt it coming, and now I can feel it going. Coming is worse. It nearly made my teeth hurt.” He took another bite of bacon, didn’t look at me. “I’m not useless, you know.”
I was surprised. “I never said you were.”
“I nearly had that scrawny bastard last night,” he went on. I thought vaguely that my patients had long lost any awareness of swearing in my presence, if they had ever had any in the first place. “I learned my choke holds in the army. Another few seconds and I’d have put his lights out, but he fell out of his chair and got away from me.” West looked at me. “I’m just saying I don’t have to be a drain. I can be of use.”
“Very well, Mr. West,” I said. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Lieutenant Douglas R. West, First Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment, at your service.” He gave me a quick salute, then smiled. “Call me Douglas.”
“There you are,” Jack said, coming into the room. Captain Mabry followed. “Morning, West.”
West looked him up and down. “Out of your pajamas at last, Yates?”
“Something like it.”
“The look suits you. Though you must be disappointed you’re not one of the team.” He motioned to the lettering on his shirt.
Jack shook his head. “I’ve resigned.”
“Well, by God.” West, cheered up, rubbed his hands. “Brave Jack is here. It’s raining, we’re stuck here, we’re dropping like flies, there’s a ghost, and Jack’s going to lead us over No Man’s Land. I’m game. This ought to be good. What’s first?”
Jack pulled up a chair and shrugged. “Mabry’s got news. Go ahead, Captain.”
Captain Mabry nodded politely at me. He looked pale, and gray shadows hung under his eyes. I hoped to God he wasn’t getting sick, but before I could ask him, he began. “The generator’s low on fuel. The fuel is kept in the cellar, apparently, so I went to get some, and I found two problems. The first is that the cellar is completely flooded, and getting worse as we speak.”
I straightened in my chair. “You’re saying we can’t fuel the generator?”
“We can’t. Sorry. I mucked through as best as I could, but the water’s over a foot deep and the fuel container wasn’t airtight. The whole supply has watered to nothing by now.”
“All right,” said Douglas. “Lamps it is.”
“The other issue,” Mabry continued, “is that I saw evidence that someone had been there. On a shelf was a blanket and two opened tins of meat stolen from the kitchen pantry. The remains in the tins weren’t rotten. Someone had been down there recently, camping out. They likely left when the flooding started.”
“Creeton,” I said.
Jack nodded. “We know where he spent the night, then. But we don’t know where he’s gone. Or why.”
I didn’t understand it. Why go into hiding, away from everyone? Creeton hadn’t been the same since the awful day of his suicide attempt; he’d been alternately hostile and silent in turn, his comments, when he bothered to speak, almost frighteningly vicious. But he’d been present and aware of his surroundings. His hiding spoke of delusion. Something had pushed Creeton over the edge.
Nina came into the doorway. “Kitty, am I needed to help move the patients? I’m dead on my feet.”
I stood. “I can take over. Moving them shouldn’t be complicated.”
“You may want to rethink that,” said a voice from behind Nina.
Paulus and Roger came into the room. Paulus was pale, his expression more grim than I’d ever seen it. I wondered whether he’d recovered from the night before.
“What is it?” said Jack.
“I’m not sure those fellows should go to their rooms after all,” Paulus said. “Come take a look.”
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