Chapter 18: In the Face of Danger

It has been about two weeks since I was rescued from the brothel to live with the people who ran The Underground. I tended to the plants like I said I would, and just as I suspected, I was getting a sense of purpose helping out. In addition to the gardening, which was the main purpose of The Underground, Stanley said that he occasionally went around town looking for things. He said he had found and rescued multiple people from various things, like one boy on the brink of starvation, whom I realized was Sebastian. He took people to the hospital sometimes, but we thought it would be better if I didn't go there, at least for a little while longer, so that Leonardo would have hopefully forgotten about me. Today I was planting some kona beans in a small corner of the plant room.

I had still been coughing off and on, but I didn't wake up in a cold sweat this week. I wished I could go to the hospital to get better, but I understood why Stanley advised against it. Checking into the hospital was a huge risk because I'd have to register that I was there, and we couldn't trust anyone to not reveal where I was to Leonardo. If I ended up back at Leonardo's, I'd still be sick, and even if he did have medicine for me, I'd be stuck in captivity again. I just had to hold out for another week, and then the hospital would become a possibility. I was keeping faith that Gerard was still alive and well, that he would be at the hospital when I arrived and that he would take me home with him. It was a chance, since it had been so long since I had seen him, but I still knew I would never give up on him.

I got up off the floor after covering the seed with dirt, and turned around to admire the plants that were growing in the pots on the counters. Never in my life did I think I would have to live through an apocalypse, and I definitely did not expect any of the things that I had been through to happen to me. I owed my life to Stanley and Everett, and I knew I would be eternally grateful to them for saving me. As I was making my way over to water the plants on the other side of the room, I was overcome by a sudden bout of coughing. It was so violent that it caused me to stumble, and I squatted down, bracing myself on one of the plant counters. I had never had it be this bad before, and I swear I could feel pain all the way down in my stomach. My lungs and throat hurt a lot as well.

I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn't. My next best choice was to try to give myself some water to drink. Somehow, I managed to straighten myself up and go over to the sink. When I turned the water on, I noticed that it ran red after coming in contact with my hand. Oh no, was I bleeding? This can't be good. I used my hand to bring some of the water into my mouth, rinsing it out, and my suspicions were confirmed when the water I spit out was also red. After my panic subsided, I was able to clean my mouth and drink some of the water, which made me feel slightly better.

I braced myself on the sink, trying to get my breathing back to normal again. I wished there was a mirror in front of me, but there was nothing for me to stare at but the wall and the lantern that was hanging on a hook. I suddenly start thinking of the blood on the hand I had used to cover my mouth while I was coughing, and I worry again. If I am coughing up blood, it could mean something is breaking down inside me and I need to get it corrected straight away or it could get serious and cause me to die. What am I going to do? I can't go to the hospital because of the risk, but I also run the risk of death if I don't. Just when things were going well, of course, they had to take another turn for the worst.

I decided to leave the plant room and go back to my bed to lay down for a while. Maybe the constant bending down and getting up of taking care of the plants was tiring me out and I just needed rest. I was barely down the hallway when I felt an incredible fire in my lungs that caused me to once again brace myself against the wall, making me wonder if I had some sort of severe respiratory illness. I took little baby steps down the hallway, using the wall as support, when I was again caught with another bout of coughing that brought me to my knees. This time I couldn't get it to stop and I felt myself slowly losing consciousness as I fell on the floor with the world going black around me.

I wasn't sure how long I was out, but when I came to, I was laying on the examination table in the infirmary with an IV drip in my arm, and Everett was sitting on a chair next to me. I sat up a little bit and rested against the pillow.

"How long was I out?"

"I don't know how long you were in the hallway, but since the time I brought you in here, it's been about ten minutes. What happened to you?"

"I think my sickness is flaring up. I coughed a lot. Everything hurt, my lungs, throat, stomach, and then I coughed so hard it must have knocked me out."

Everett looked concerned, and I hoped he wasn't going to suggest taking me to the hospital. I was really scared of Leonardo finding me if I went to the surface. It's not that I didn't think Everett and Stanley were capable of protecting me, it's that I knew what Leonardo would do, and I didn't want to put Everett and Stanley's lives at risk. I knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill them if he saw that they had me because he would think they had taken me away from him, and to him, I was his property. He didn't take kindly to people who touched his property.

"Iliana, I saw blood on your hand when I picked you up and brought you here. You said you were coughing? I think you also spit up blood. We don't have proper medical stuff here for that serious of a problem. I know Stanley and I said that we weren't going to take you to the hospital, but I can't just keep you here and have you die when we could have saved you."

"But what about Leonardo..."

"I got you out once, I can get you out again. We can dress you up differently, take you out the other side of this prison building, hide you in the backseat of the car under a blanket while we drive you to the hospital. We can do this."

"Yeah, but those records. I have to sign in properly to the hospital so they can do a medical history. Leo has eyes everywhere, what if he somehow finds out I'm at the hospital? That's what Stanley was worried about. There's no cops so we can't call for them to guard the room."

"Stanley and I will keep a watch out. We'll make sure he doesn't harm you again."

"You don't know Leonardo. He won't hesitate to kill you to get to me."

"We'll fight back. It will be ok, Iliana. I promise."

I smiled at Everett, not convinced of his certainty that he would be able to fend Leo off, but I decided not to argue with him because in all honesty, he was trying to help me to the best of his ability. As much as I didn't want to risk him and Stanley's lives, he was risking mine by allowing me to stay here without treatment, and I appreciated how much he cared. I thought back to earlier when I realized I owed my life to them. If they were willing to face danger to help me yet again, then I was going to let them.