Behind The Curve-The Farm | Book 3 | The Farm Craven Boyd (the reading list book .txt) 📖

“So, I’m going to limp my gimpy ass up there and ham it up. Don’t be a douche nozzle and fuck this up for me, got it Francis?” Andrea asked.

“I’m never letting you watch Deadpool again,” Curt muttered, but handed her the cane and put his own mask on. He locked up the doors and took Andrea’s arm. They noted that the parking lot had a fenced in sidewalk leading to the double doored entryway. They also saw the guard on the outside and the outline of the one on the inside.

“Good morning. Do you have your hospital ID?” the guard asked her.

“Yes,” she said, fishing it off the lanyard she’d clipped it on and showing it to him.

“Doctor Mallory,” he said, handing it back to her. “Good to have you back with us.”

“Thanks, but this is probably me getting a checkup here and seeing if I’m fit for duty yet. I got pretty busted up.”

“I can see, I remember hearing about that. As I recall, you used the best gun control method out there.”

“Gun control?” Curt asked.

“Hit what she aimed at. I heard she had a whole mob there and did the least amount that she had too. If she had done more, she might not have been hurt so bad. At least, that’s how I heard it.”

“So, they’re not blaming me anymore?” she asked.

“Doctor Mallory, only the dumbass media and one of the big bosses ever said anything bad about you. You have a good day, and if you need anything, you have them give Conner a call on the radio and I’ll be there to help you folks out. I got your back, you can take that to the bank.”

“Thank you, Conner,” she said, smiling despite the situation. She really wasn’t going to go back to work, was she? They had planned on that being a hard no. Most of it was due to bad memories of waking up after having to take several lives. Part of it was how the institution had treated her friends. Part of it was she felt like everyone here blamed her for the entire event. It was a lot to swallow, but it felt good to hear that folks didn’t blame her after all. At least, most of them didn’t.

“How did it go?” Curt asked as Andrea limped out of the conference room.

“About as well as expected. They want me to come in and help with paperwork and vaccinations. I guess that big group of people we saw? They’re waiting for the vaccines.”

“Oh crap, are we going to have to get it?” Curt asked suddenly.

“They told me I had to. My contract states that I have to be updated with all necessary vaccinations.”

“So, what did you tell them?”

“I made a deal with the board. Dante’s mentor to be exact. If I come in and help out for two or three days with paperwork and untangling the chaos, they’ll have no problem giving me some time off considering my medical conditions. It’ll work out well for our alibi.”

“Yeah, that. So they believed it?” Curt whispered.

“I guess I’m better at hiding pain than even I thought. They wanted to put my leg back in a cast, but they took the one on my wrist off.”

“I see that,” he said smiling. “So, your leg is getting you a few days of light duty?”

“Not just the leg,” Andrea said, pulling Curt away from the conference room by the hand.

“Is it your arm?”

Andrea bit her lip, but the edges of her mouth were turning up into a mysterious smile.

“I um, so you have to take a certain test before they shoot you full of x-rays and my test came back positive.”

“Really? We had the virus already and they were—”

“Not that kind of test. And… apparently in that psych eval they did earlier, that took forever by the way… Well, they think I’m suffering from some PTSD. They want me to see a counselor, but aren’t as worried if I’m not doing hands on work at the moment. That, coupled with the fact that I’m pregnant…”

“Wait, what?” Curt asked, pulling her close.

“Yes,” she whispered, kissing him deeply.

Curt let himself go. They had been actively trying for the last year and a half, and now all their wishes were coming true.

“So, our alibi is going to be backed up with legit paperwork and a baby… But they say I’m at a high risk… I mean, we’re not in our twenties anymore, couple that with the PTSD and just healing from some severe injuries, the hospital is willing to let me do a couple of little things to keep me on the books. Not like they have a choice. I hear Doctors, hell, any medical professional, is being pressed into work. Whether or not they want to do it, as long as they are under contract.”

“So, you think it’d be a good idea and pretend to play along until we get the signal from… you know?”

“It’s the best I got. The only thing I’m going to hate is getting that fucking vaccine,” Andrea swore.

“Do you really want to take it though? Can’t you fake it, or fake the paperwork?”

“I’m sure I could figure out a way to fake the paperwork given enough time, but it’s a SARS type vaccine from what I’ve read. What could it hurt?”

Twenty-Two

Scorpia had come after Angelica the second night in her sleep, but the small woman had been expecting it. She’d taken a couple of hits with a sock stuffed with a bar of soap before she nearly broke the woman's skull open on the metal frame of the bunk beds. She didn’t even try to explain to the guards what had happened. She’d just laid down on her top bunk and stared at them blankly as they’d asked what happened, while a medical team was sent in to help the big woman out of there.

That had been a day ago. Jill and