Grave Digger – Brothers At Arms #4
Grave Digger: Chapter 2

Emily entered the Infirmary and rushed over to the bed where her son was now awake and screaming for her. She knelt beside the bed and reached out for him. “Oh baby, I’m right here. They aren’t going to hurt you baby, they’re trying to help.”

“Don’t feel good mama, don’t want them… I want you!” Anthony bawled his heart out.

“Oh, baby.” Emily gathered his tiny body into her arms and felt his high fever. She looked up at Grave Digger and asked, “Do you have a shower here? I need to get his temperature down.”

Grave Digger nodded. “I just started it and was trying to get him to agree.” He helped her to her feet and led her to another room. She moved forward and ran her hand under the cool water then stepped in fully clothed with her son in her arms.

Anthony cried when the water poured over them.

 Emily just held him close. “I know baby boy but we got to get your temperature down. I got you honey, mama’s right here.”

Grave Digger watched as Anthony hugged his mom and cried as the cool water poured over them.

About ten minutes later, Emily shut down the flow of water and stepped out of the shower.

Grave Digger was there with some towels. They stripped Anthony out of his clothes and wrapped him in the towels. He carried the boy back into the infirmary, leaving her to dry off.

Emily saw there was a huge towel left for her and a blanket. She took her wet clothes off and wrung the water out of them. She shivered and wrapped the towel around her then wrapped the blanket over that. She hoped they had a dryer available and piled her clothes in a bundle then went to her son.

Delaney stood there and held out her arms for the wet clothes.

Looking surprised, Emily handed them to her.

Grave Digger began his exam.

Delaney left the room to put the clothes in the dryer.

Emily watched for several minutes as Grave Digger finished.

He looked up at Emily. “Yeah, I think it’s the flu but that fever has me worried. He’s also dehydrated.”

Emily shook her head. “I told you I ran out of fever meds days ago, the poor kid hasn’t had anything to keep it down for over a day. I couldn’t leave him alone to get any more and then not everything works for him. I told you we ran out of water a day ago and of course, the fever didn’t help. Then we got stuck behind the fence and there was no way to get out of here.”

Delaney came in and held out the pain reliever she had gotten from her room. “Maybe this will help.”

Grave Digger stared at her then he looked at the bottle in her hands. It was not what most people would use but it was a pain reliever. He took the bottle from her and read the label.

Emily bit her lip and wondered what the medicine was. She couldn’t take the chance that Anthony would get sicker. “What is that stuff? He can’t take just anything.”

Delaney shook her head. “It’s just another version of Tylenol, a gentler version, if you will. It can’t hurt him and it might bring the fever down faster.”

Emily nodded finally. “Ok, you can give it to him.”

Grave Digger gave the boy a dose.

 Emily went over to the other side of the bed and sat in the chair there. Reaching out, she brushed the hair away from his face.

Anthony seemed to be settling down to sleep, as he was so tired.

Grave Digger watched them both for a moment then got up and went to his bedroom. He came back a few minutes later to hand her a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. “You can wear these until your own clothes are dry.”

Emily looked up at him and nodded. “Thank you.” She went back to the bathroom and dressed.

When she came back out Zeus, Memphis and Diabolus were there waiting for her.

Zeus stared at her, still looking a bit angry.  “Ok, your son has been treated and now you have some questions to answer.”

Emily nodded. “Fair enough. What do you want to know?”

“What the hell were you doing in the garage?” Zeus growled.

“I told you, I was leaving town and Anthony got sick. I had to find somewhere to stay and your wall wasn’t up when we stopped. I stayed there to get him better then I was going to leave again but you put up that damn wall and I was stuck.”

“Where were you going?” Memphis asked.

“Anywhere but Festus. I heard rumors that the Raggetti brothers were headed this way and I wasn’t sticking around to get caught in a war no one would win.” She shook her head and looked over at her son.

“So what does a war with the Ragettis have to do with you?” Memphis stared at her.

“And the boy’s father? What did he say about you leaving town?” Zeus asked as he stared at the boy.

Emily shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. He’s not in the picture anyway, so that doesn’t matter, does it?”

“It might,” Delaney whispered under her breath. “Maybe not to him but I care.”

Emily shook her head as she stared at Zeus and did not look at Delaney at all. “I’m sorry I trespassed but my boy was sick, I had to stop. I didn’t hurt anything and we stayed in that garage. I don’t think anyone saw us. So no harm, no foul.”

“Well, in case you didn’t notice, we’re under fire at the moment,’ Zeus replied. “This wasn’t the safest place to come to. That war you mentioned is gonna happen right here. Between us and the Dragon’s Breath MC and some of the older Raggetti men. Not an event I’m happy about but it is what it is. Not only that but we got a VIP here from the Mob and he isn’t happy about being here either. You being here is not the best idea we’ve had, but for the moment, you’re stuck. Same as we are.”

“So the Raggetti brothers are on their way here then? The rumors are true?” Emily paled then glanced down at her son. “They are going to try and take this place back?”

Memphis frowned. “How did you know about that?”

Emily shivered. “People talk, you know?” She trembled as she reached out to brush her son’s hair away from his face. He was cooling off now and she sighed in relief.

“Are you from Festus?” Grave Digger asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around town.”

Emily nodded. “I work early morning hours at the bakery in town. The girl next door to me watches Anthony while I work and she drops him off at daycare before she goes to school. Then he got sick and I haven’t been to work in five days.”

Zeus shook his head. “Well, we can’t let you go, the moment you’re on the other side of that fence, the Raggetti’s would stop you. Either by taking you hostage or with a bullet, and we aren’t the type of MC to allow that. So I guess we’re stuck with you too. You came to the wrong place, lady… at the wrong damn time.”

Emily hung her head.

Grave Digger saw her tears. He swung his gaze over and growled at his president. Zeus was being an ass and he didn’t like it.

Apparently, neither did Memphis. “Knock it off brother. She couldn’t help it and neither can we right now,” he called his brother out on his less than stellar manners. “We all just have to stay and see how this plays out.” He looked around at the men in the infirmary. “We need to keep on our toes and watch what’s going on out there beyond our fence. Not fuss over this woman and her kid. What harm can they do? Focus on the war. Not what’s inside the compound, but on what’s outside. We can’t be caught off guard if we hope to survive this.” He turned and left the room.

Zeus growled and followed his brother out.

Diabolus just shook his head, then he too turned and left the room.

Delaney just shook her head. “Well crap, I’d better go out there and calm him down some.” She turned to the window and said, “It will be dawn soon and hopefully my brothers won’t show up for a while yet, but you can’t count on that either. If my dad gets a bug up his ass, he’ll be here sooner than we realize and then he’s gonna be pissed that grandpa shared family secrets with these guys. No telling what he’ll do then.”

Emily’s head shot up and she stared at Delaney. “Your family would actually do that?”

Delaney let out a sigh as she nodded. “Yes, they would and they most likely, will. A person cannot choose their family. They can only choose to not agree with what that family wants and I do not agree. This place and its contents do not belong to the Ragettis.” Then she too, disappeared through the door.

Grave Digger and Emily were left alone other than Anthony and he was sound asleep.

Grave Digger nodded at the bed. “Maybe you should try and get some rest while you can. I don’t think the Raggettis will come tonight. As far as we know, the brothers aren’t here yet.”

Emily nodded. She scooted Anthony over a little and crawled into the bed with him.

Grave Digger covered them both up and stepped back dousing the lights. On his way out, he knew she was almost asleep when he stepped out of the room. He went to his own room right next door.

 When he closed the door, he just stood there a moment with his eyes closed. He made his way over to his own bed and flopped face first onto the mattress. He didn’t even bother undressing, he just grabbed his pillow and put it under his head.

Then he opened his eyes and thought about the events of the night. When he first saw her on the cameras, he didn’t know what she was doing there, then he heard her story and he thought she was on the run… but from who. She never did say. Then Delaney acted oddly, when she saw the boy and he thought maybe the child was one of her brother’s kids but Emily never said. From the way she protected her son, he doubted she ever would. His idea that his dad was a Raggetti was pushed a little further when Delaney seemed to know what to give him for a fever.

He knew if anyone pressed it, Zeus would find out one way or another and that would and could bring even more problems their way. The last thing the Brothers At Arms needed was yet another problem. He hoped that Emily and her son weren’t related to the Raggettis. They sure as hell did not need more reasons for that family to storm the compound.

With a heavy sigh, he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.

A few hours later, Emily began tossing and turning. In her sleep, the nightmare came again, and she couldn’t get away from it. She could not get away from the footsteps running to catch her either. She cried out as she was thrown to the ground. She felt the first hit to her head, then strong hands were reaching out to hurt her. While almost passed out by the blow to her head, she was turned onto her hands and knees and her clothes were torn away from her. The attacker ravaged her though she barely registered this as consciousness came and went. She couldn’t seem to open her eyes as she heard his laughter echoing in the alley where he’d caught her. His footsteps echoed as he walked away, never bothering to check on her to see if she was okay.

She just laid there for a moment in the dirty rotten alley as she gathered her strength to get up and get her clothes back on. She finally got to her feet and straightened her clothes but it seemed to take forever as her movements were weak and slow. Finally, on her third attempt to rise up, she stumbled away. It took only a few minutes to get home, as she had been close to her apartment when he’d jumped her.

To her though, those few minutes seemed like hours. Her head spun and she could barely walk. Finally, she reached her door. When she got inside, she clumsily made sure it was locked tight then headed to her shower and stepped in fully clothed. She sobbed as hot water rained down on her. Eventually, she removed her clothes in the shower and stood there naked as the water poured over her. Tears wouldn’t even come as she felt nearly numb. Soon it grew cold and she still didn’t move.

Time moved in an odd way, like she did not know if she’d been in the shower for ten minutes or an hour. Time had no meaning, nothing seemed to matter. She shut off the water and was shivering.

After much effort, she stepped out of the shower but she couldn’t look at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t even dry off before she went to her bed and covered up to just stare at the wall…. It took 2 days for her to even get up again. She had been too immobile and too traumatized to do it.

Now, Emily sat up and cried out, opening her eyes, she gazed around. She was no longer in her own apartment. She was in the MC compound, in the infirmary. She looked down at the bed and saw Anthony still sleeping. She must not have screamed out loud this time as her son had not awoken and no one came in through the door.

For this small mercy, she felt grateful. No one could ever know. It meant her life and the future of her baby boy. With a last shiver and a saddened sigh, she settled next to her son again. Holding him close, she finally closed her eyes.

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