Infernal Realms

Chapter 5

  I was upstairs, where back in the day I was told it was used for the holding of the patients and where medication were dispensed to patients. It also happened to be the same floor where experiments were issued against patients in a make shift infirmary, but now we used it to house as many as possible. The once trashed rooms were cleaned out and Sam worked his handyman magic and made it so we had our own off the grid generator with unlimited heat and power. There were maybe 30 or so rooms on the floor and half of them were used to house patients. The same with the ground level and parts of the basement supposably. I checked the back corridor, nearest to the staircase which lead to the few main rooms upstairs. It held maybe 6 or 7 rooms. I walked by some, all the doors had been removed long before, so seeing within wasn't a big deal. Old air mattresses and gym mats were used as beds now, the original beds and mattresses had to be thrown out because they were so old and flimsy. The three cleaner rooms were being used by some of those who had lost their homes during the cleansing. I was visiting one family in particular.

I gently tapped my knuckle against the door frame to announce my arrival. I watched three pairs of eyes snap back to look at me. I smiled, "What's up, guys?" I greeted the young brothers. Smiles greeted me back. The eldest was a kid named Eric. He was barely 13 and now the sole caregiver to his youngest brothers. His younger brother, James, was 10 and holding their youngest brother. The youngest was only a few months old. Their parents were killed when their house caught fire. The parents were able to direct the kids to safety before they were ingulfed in the flames. Now Eric was caring for his younger brothers, but still a kid himself. His story, like most those days, was also sad.

" Hey, Drey," Eric greeted with a smile. He had bags under his eyes. He used to sleep with his eyes open when they'd first arrived. I knew because I made sure they slept at all at night whenever I did my rounds. He was always paranoid, but for good reason. Outside of Margie's, the world had gotten even more horrible. James walked over to Eric, hugging the smallest close. Eric quickly sheathed his knife and picked up what he'd been working on. He placed the cardboard box down, within was a small hand made pillow with a padded mat under it. James put his brother within and Eric covered him with a patch work baby blanket.

"Has Sally come to see you guys yet?" I asked them as I walked in and kneeled beside the cardboard box. The green eyed baby looked up at me, his face blank at first. I reached a hand it and grinned and whispered a "Hey, little man, " to him and his eyes lit up and he smiled a gummy greeting to me.

"Yeah. " James answered cheerfully. He, like his brothers, had shaggy brown hair and pale green eyes. "Gave us the box until a crib could be made or found." he walked up to me and gave me a quick wave. I pulled my hand away from the smallest and waved back at the middle child.

"Good. You guys like her for a roommate?" I asked. She immediately offered to take the kids in under her wing when they first came to Margie's. Which included feeding, cleaning, and most care before and after she had her baby. Zane was more than ecstatic when they moved in with the boys. He had a way with kids and young adults. Even though he had a limp, he spent his time with the boys when he wasn't wandering around the asylum, helping Sam with whatever repairs.

"Yeah... Thanks again, Audrey. We wouldn't have survived long out there... We really appreciate you having us here," Eric paused and walked closer to me, standing. I stood and faced him. "If you need me or James to do any work we can help you." he added quickly, "I can do more than him and I'd rather him be here with Mickey." he added softly.

I gave him a tight lipped smile, "Eric, you don't have to worry about that. You focus on you and your brothers. Sally, Zane, Sam, and I are here to make sure you three are safe, fed, and warm. Maybe when you're bigger, you can help us with keeping this place together, but not for quite some time. Beside, you need to worry about getting rid of that extra luggage," I gestured to his face.