POOR LITTLE THING!

AUTHOR’S POV 

"Don't stop!" Garrick shouted.

Elena tightened her grip on the stretcher.

They burst through the front doors and into the clearing.

The hunters moved ahead, checking the path. Garrick remained beside Elena while she and another man carried Finn between them.

The children ran close behind, frightened and exhausted.

They had barely reached the tree line when a sharp howl rose from the school.

Another answered.

Then another.

The infected were gathering.

Elena did not look back.

She kept moving, one careful step at a time, listening to Finn's strained breathing beside her.

They would get him to safety.

All of them.

She had made that promise.

And she would keep it.

The journey back to the mountain settlement took longer than expected.

Finn's injury made it impossible to travel quickly, and the children were exhausted. They had gone nearly a day without a proper meal, and their fear made every unfamiliar sound seem like a threat.

Elena walked beside the stretcher, checking Finn's bandage whenever they stopped.

Nora stayed close to her.

"Is he going to be all right?" the girl asked for the third time.

Elena adjusted the blanket around Finn's legs.

"I'll do everything I can for him."

Nora's eyes filled with tears.

"That isn't the same as saying yes."

Elena looked at her.

"No, it isn't."

The girl seemed to appreciate the honesty, though it did not comfort her.

After another hour, the mountain settlement finally came into view.

The survivors were gathered near the communal hall when they spotted the approaching group. Garrick raised his hand to signal that they were returning, and several people hurried forward to help.

Then they saw the children.

Questions erupted immediately.

"Where did they come from?"

"Are they infected?"

"How many are there?"

"Why did you bring them here?"

Elena barely heard the questions.

"Clear a space in the infirmary," she ordered. "We need clean water, fresh blankets, and a place to examine the children. No one crowds around them until I've checked for injuries or signs of illness."

A few people immediately obeyed.

Others hesitated.

Harlan pushed through the crowd, his expression dark.

"Elena, we barely have enough food for the people already here."

She looked at him.

"They're children."

"And we're survivors. We cannot keep taking in everyone we find."

"No one is asking you to feed an army. I'm asking you to help five children who have nowhere else to go."

"What if one of them is infected?"

"Then we'll isolate them and take precautions."

"And if they bring the illness here?"

Elena's patience thinned.

"Then we will deal with the risk responsibly. But I will not leave children to die in a ruined school because we are afraid of what might happen."

Harlan stared at her.

"You can't save everyone."

The words struck a familiar place inside her.

She knew that.

She had known it when the settlement burned. She had known it when the warning bell rang and frightened families ran through the streets. She knew it now, looking at the five children who had been left behind while the world collapsed around them.

She could not save everyone.

But she could save the ones standing in front of her.

"You're right," she said quietly. "I can't save everyone."

She looked toward the children.

"But I can save them."

No one answered.

Garrick stepped forward.

"I'll help prepare the infirmary."

One of the hunters followed him.

Then another survivor moved to collect the children's belongings.

The hesitation in the crowd slowly gave way to action.

Elena carried Finn into the communal hall herself, refusing to let him out of her sight. She settled him on a clean blanket and examined his injury again while Dr. Lydia Shaw, one of the settlement's survivors who had worked as a physician before the plague, helped her organize the medical supplies.

Lydia had joined the group only two days earlier. She was a woman in her early forties with tired eyes, steady hands, and a practical manner that Elena had come to appreciate.

"Poor little thing," Lydia murmured as she examined Finn's leg. "This needs proper attention. The swelling is considerable."

"I know. I'm worried about a fracture."

"We'll need to keep him still and watch for signs of infection. We should also check his temperature."

Elena nodded.

Together, they examined the children one by one.

None had a fever. None showed signs of the strange dark markings Elena had seen on the infected traveler. Their injuries were mostly minor, except for Finn's damaged leg and a deep cut on Nora's palm.

Only after the examinations were complete did Elena allow herself to breathe more easily.

The children were not showing signs of the plague.

For now, that was enough.