Part 6 – The Storm and the Syringe
It began with thunder.
A distant growl, barely louder than the whine of the farmhouse fridge. Vernon didn’t stir from his nap, and Daisy was busy drawing Reggie’s lopsided smile onto a paper napkin with a broken crayon. But Alicia noticed.
She always noticed the little sounds before anyone else.
She stepped onto the porch. The sky was heavy with charcoal clouds. In the distance, the orchard trees trembled—not from wind, but from the hush that always came before weather broke something.
A gust swept across the yard, sharp and sudden.
Behind her, the kitchen lights flickered.
Then died.
“No, no, no,” Alicia muttered, sprinting back inside. The fridge stood in the corner, humming no more. Its silence was louder than any thunder.
She yanked it open.
Inside: one vial of insulin.
Daisy’s.
Still cold. For now.
But with the power out, they had maybe three, four hours before the temperature crept too high and the vial became useless.
Alicia turned to Vernon. “Do you have a generator?”
He blinked awake, disoriented. “Used to. Got stolen. Years ago.”
“Neighbors?”
He laughed dryly. “Nearest neighbor’s a half mile through brush and poison oak. And that old coot wouldn’t share his coffee, let alone a generator.”
She closed the fridge and braced both palms against the counter. Her hands were shaking.
The valley was wide and flat, but this storm came fast—dark clouds rolling like freight trains over the dead trees. Cell service would be spotty. The van’s backup battery might keep her equipment alive for an hour. But it wasn’t wired for refrigeration.
And Daisy—still too quiet, still too pale—was due for her next dose in less than six hours.
She could go without insulin for a bit, but in this heat, with her already-fragile body?
It wasn’t a risk.
It was a gamble.
And Alicia had gambled enough lives already.
Reggie was already pacing by the door.
Not panicked.
Focused.
Ready.
Alicia turned to him. “You up for a run?”
He barked once—sharp, eager.
She pulled out the cooler from the med crate—her emergency portable unit. Battery-powered, but almost out of juice. It would buy them a little time.
She wrapped the insulin vial in a soft cloth and tucked it inside.
Then she grabbed her keys.
Daisy followed her outside. “Where are you going?”
“To find another fridge. Or at least some ice.”
The girl clutched the stuffed dog to her chest. “You’ll come back?”
Alicia knelt. “Always.”
Then stood and nodded at Vernon. “Keep her calm. Give her water. Keep her out of the heat.”
Vernon saluted with two fingers. “Don’t die.”
The van growled to life.
Reggie leapt into the passenger seat, gaze scanning the road ahead like he already knew where they were going.
Alicia didn’t have much of a plan—just a few pins on her tattered paper map and the hope that one of the nearby communities still had power.
They passed the shuttered gas station. The old diner with broken blinds. The remnants of a world that had once run on clocks and clean countertops.
Fifteen miles out, the road split.
One way led toward Olivehurst. Bigger town, more chance of power.
The other—toward the hills and a campground she remembered treating a patient at last summer. The ranger there had a working freezer, solar-powered.
She glanced at Reggie.
He barked twice. Then looked toward the hills.
The climb was steep and slick, rain now needling the windshield. Alicia white-knuckled the wheel, wipers barely keeping up. Reggie braced himself against the dashboard, tail stiff, ears forward.
At the summit, the clouds broke open.
And there it was.
The ranger’s shack.
Lights on.
She nearly wept.
They pulled in fast. She grabbed the cooler, dashed through the rain, and knocked so hard the metal screen rattled.
A woman answered—broad-shouldered, ponytailed, wary.
“I need freezer access,” Alicia panted. “Emergency insulin transport. I’m a nurse.”
The ranger didn’t ask questions.
She just opened the door.
The vial went into the freezer.
The battery in the cooler died seconds later.
Alicia leaned against the wall and let herself breathe.
Reggie sat at her feet, soaked but proud.
The ranger handed Alicia a towel and a warm drink. “You’re lucky,” she said. “Grid went out in most of the valley. We’re on backup solar, but not for long.”
Alicia nodded. “We just need an hour or two of cold. That’s all.”
She explained what she could—Daisy, the orchard, the storm, the dead fridge, the stakes.
The ranger didn’t say much.
But she made space.
Sometimes that’s all people need.
When the rain finally eased, Alicia packed the insulin into the now-chilled cooler and headed back toward Bartlett Road.
They made it in record time.
Vernon had Daisy resting in a damp towel by the window, her breath shallow but steady.
Alicia opened the cooler, drew the syringe, and gave Daisy her dose.
The girl didn’t flinch.
But afterward, she whispered:
“I dreamed you didn’t come back.”
Alicia smoothed her damp hair. “I always will.”
That night, as the last of the storm clouds vanished over the horizon, Reggie stood on the porch watching the stars return.
Daisy joined him.
She didn’t say a word.
Just sat beside him in the dark.
And for the first time in weeks, Alicia didn’t feel like she was patching holes in a sinking ship.
She felt like she was building something.
Small.
Shaky.
But real.