Page 83 of Deadly Strain

“We’ve got MREs, is that okay?”

Why was he asking so carefully? “It’s better than nothing.” She frowned at him. “Is something wrong?”

He shook his head, then finished the water and grabbed an MRE and another bottle of water.

He wasn’t arguing with her and seemed genuinely interested in preparing for Max’s arrival, so why did she feel like something was wrong?

“So, what’s the next job?” he asked, a pleasant, cooperative smile on his face.

She didn’t trust that expression at all. “We could move everything, so nothing is in the way when the team gets here. Thirteen more people occupying this space.”

“Might get a bit cozy,” Sharp remarked, looking around.

“We’re going to need to work and sleep in shifts, so setting aside an area for sleeping would be useful too.”

“Good idea. There was a smaller room off to the right just as the tunnel starts. That might work. Is Max bringing anyone besides his A-Team?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then you’ll be the only woman.” It was a statement of fact. An irrelevant fact in her opinion, but the way he said it, with just a touch of extra stress on the wordonlymade her wonder why it was relevant to him.

“So?” she asked.

“So, stay within sight of one ofourguys, okay? Until I have a chance to see who’s on Max’s team.”

Her jaw dropped open and for several seconds she couldn’t even breathe, let alone articulate how ridiculous his request sounded.

“You,” she said, “are paranoid.”

“I’m cautious. It’s my job to prote—”

“Shut up,” she interrupted, tapping his meal with one finger. “And eat your food. Maybe a little sugar in the bloodstream will aid your thinking.”

“When did you eat last?”

“While you were sleeping.” Sick of his overbearing, taking-care-of-the-little-woman attitude, she deliberately limped away him and began moving things away from the area she wanted for the lab.

He ate his food, drank the sports drink, and another bottle of water before going in search of the trash inside this camouflaged garbage heap.

She was alone for the first time in days.

The starch went out of her knees and she plopped onto the bench she’d been sweeping rocks off of.

Fear was exhausting. It took a lot of energy to remain in a constant state of terror, and every time she thought she and Sharp were out of danger, something else would happen to make things worse.

Unfortunately, worse seemed to be coming at them from every direction.

Her emotions were all tangled up and not only that, but physically, she was at her limit. At some point soon, her body was going to shut down whether she wanted it to or not. She closed her eyes and dropped her head onto her hands.

“Hey, you okay?”

She pulled her hands away from her face. Sharp was crouched on the ground in front of her.

“Just running out of gas. I thought medical school was bad, but this is...worse by an order of magnitude.”

He nodded. “Yeah, this kind of constant-alert shit will kick your ass in short order. Have another nap before this place gets busy.”

“I thought I was okay, until I had more than two seconds of quiet, then I couldn’t even stand anymore.” Tears leaked out to wet her face, which made her feel even more inadequate and weak.

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