THEM (Season 1): Episode 2 by M.D. Massey Page A

what to do.”
    I was skeptical at best about the idea. “I thought you said La Araña was a curandera —I doubt very seriously she’s trained in trauma medicine.”
    Gabby chuckled softly, then grimaced again. “Just trust me, Scratch—she can help. I don’t want no one else cutting on me. Nothing but butchers in the settlements. I’ve seen it.”
    I nodded in agreement, because the kid had a point. “Okay, we’ll follow your lead.” I’d already decided that getting her back to the safe zone would take too long, anyway. Despite the antibiotics, she’d likely be septic by the time I got her there. Plus we’d play hell dodging the undead along the way. Nos-types could smell fresh blood from a ways off; they were like sharks when it came to blood. Taking her sixty miles in this condition would be a mistake.
    Gabby’s eyes closed, and then they fluttered open again. “God, this hurts. Give me a map so I can show you where she’s at.” I handed her my map. She looked it over for a second, and pointed to a heavily wooded area about five miles north and east of our current position. That was a hell of a lot better than trekking back to the safe zone. Even so, Gabby had mentioned La Araña several times previous to this, and I wondered why she didn’t head there when her uncle disappeared on her. I tried to hide my suspicion as I responded. “That close, huh?”
    She opened her eyes, just barely, and sighed. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. I was going to take you to meet her once we were done here, while we were on the way to where my uncle vanished. Just get me to her and she’ll explain everything.”
    “Fair enough. But I want straight answers once we get there—and you’d better not die on me before I get them.”
    She flipped me off in reply. “If I look like I’m going to die from this mosquito bite, you can shoot me yourself. Now, leave me alone until it’s time to go.” I chuckled and left the canteen where she could reach it.
    Bernie looked at me with suspicion in his eyes, and motioned for me to follow him outside. “Well, what do you think?”
    “I was going to ask you that. These are your hunting grounds, no pun intended. This being your neighborhood and all, I was wondering if you’d ever heard of this woman.”
    He shook his head in the negative. “Nope, can’t say that I have. Heard talk about some medicine woman out in the sticks further south, but I couldn’t tell you what or what not about it. That area she pointed out is pretty damn close to here, and I think we’d have known if there was a healer living in these parts.”
    I rubbed my chin and considered the possibilities. “Unless she was laying low, or just passing through.”
    “Yeah, I suppose. But from where, and why?”
    “Bernie, your guess is as good as mine, but I’ll just have to worry about that later. Right now I need to figure out how to get Gabby to this medicine woman before dark. Let’s go see if those punters left us some transportation.”
    - - -
    W e found a horse and a mule, and I loaded up Gabby and headed out with a quick goodbye to Bernie and Margaret. They were good people, and I hoped to see them again soon. They wished me and Gabby luck as we left the gates, and I reflected that we were going to need it. There was no guarantee that we’d find this curandera friend of Gabby’s, and besides, she was in no shape to move. But, we really didn’t have a choice in the matter; it was either move her and get some help, or let her die. Either way, the kid was pretty much screwed.
    After about a half an hour, I looked back and saw that Gabby’s wound was leaking blood, and she was swaying in the saddle. She looked pale as all hell, and I was worried that she’d fall out. As we were taking the old county and farm-to-market roads, I’d been keeping an eye out for a place to rest since we left the Canyon Lake settlement. I spied an old gas station ahead, and made a beeline for it. Once there, I