As Long As She Lives (full published version!)

Chapter 3

Cait woke to pain so complete she couldn't locate it. She panted until she could breathe, breathed until she could think then worked out the problem. At some point in the night she'd rolled off the air mattress and the sleeping bag was doing nothing to mitigate the cold coming up through the earth.

She tried to roll back to the mattress, but the sleeping bag caught around her legs and her back twisted. She gulped back a cry. Panting, she tried pushing herself up where she was, but there was no strength in her arms and she fell forward, planting her face in the plastic ground sheet. She must look like a dying mermaid, flopping about with her sleeping bag tail. The cold, that was the problem, she needed to warm up the muscle.

Relaxing her legs and using her good arm to push the sleeping bag down past her hips, she was able to roll into a sitting position without too much help from her hands. She took a short break, then a big breath and managed to push and slide the sleeping bag free.

The tent was too small and the muscle too cold to stretch. She needed warmth. She pulled a heavy tracksuit from her bag, a skivvy and an extra t-shirt to go under it, but once she'd wrestled herself into them they only insulated her chill. She needed to get to the fire; Riley had carefully smothered it before the adults went to bed but that had only been a few hours ago. There should be some warmth left. If she warmed up enough to do her exercises she'd be fine. Gritting her teeth, she crawled out of the tent.

When she reached the fire-pit, she found Riley had done his job too well. Under Felicity's direction he'd spread the sand and ashes so thin that the pit was already cold. The potatoes would probably still be raw when everyone woke. Another surge of pain focused her mind on the problem at hand. Walking. Walking would warm her up.

Or it should have. But the driveway was no more stable under her feet than it had been under her tyres and it wasn't yet light enough to risk getting up to a speed that would create any body heat. She stumbled again. Her hand found a low-hanging branch but she only managed to swing herself hard against its trunk. Her mouth opened to scream but she held in the sound. Sucking in her nostrils and puffing out her cheeks with each breath, Cait knew this pain. It wasn't going to go away with a few stretches. If she was going to make it through the rest of the weekend without slipping up, she needed it to stop. She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialled Steve.

He answered after several rings instead of his usual one; it was three a.m. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry to wake you."

"Not a problem," he said. "What do you need?"

"Oxy, preferably. I didn't bring anything."

"I didn't know you still needed it."

"I over-did it yesterday. I need it now."

"Do you need to see Doc Collins?"

"I can't leave now. Not without lots of questions."

"He's not going to like prescribing without seeing you."

"I know this pain, Steve. I know what I need."

"Yeah. Okay. I can hear it in your breathing."

Relief flooded her body. "Thank you."

"It's going to take me a while. I'll have to meet him at the barracks to pick it up and then it's a three-hour drive. What are you going to do till I get there?"

"I can make it through a few hours, knowing you're coming."

"Give me the phone." It came from behind her, more growl than words.

Cait turned. Riley stood with his hand out.

"Cait?" Steve said.

"Steve-"