Lady Grace & the War for a New World (Earth's End Book 2) by Sandy Nathan

“We have to get set up permanently somewhere. Where they don’t know where we are.”
    “Yeah. Hey, Mom?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’m sorry about what I said.”
    She turned away from him. “I understand, dear. I have given you great cause for embarrassment. What you thought of me might have been true once. But not any more. I’ve changed. Now let’s wrap up our friend, put him inside, and go to bed.”
     
    The storage unit was filled with huge metal cases. They reached to the ceiling and from wall to wall, with a narrow aisle down the center. Each box was labeled in Russian and secured by tracks in the ceiling and floor. Other than the corridor and four-foot open areas in the front and rear, every inch was jammed. Cabinets on the left wall in the front held emergency medical supplies.
    Veronica made a nest for herself in the open space at the far end. “There’s a sleeping bag in that box in front. We can put Sam by the door. Easier to get him out tomorrow.”
    “Mom,” Jeremy didn’t know how much time had passed when he whispered. “Are you asleep?”
    “No, dear.”
    “Mom, could I sleep with you? I’m feeling weird.”
    “I am, too, dear. Yes, let’s cuddle.”
    Jeremy wormed his way forward and lodged himself next to his mother. He’d never done that, even when he was a child. She always had to pursue him, looking for a hug. She put her arms around him, “What’s the matter, darling?”
    “They took Ellie, Mom. They took her away and there’s nothing I can do.”
    “I know, dear. It’s terrible. But the fact that they brought me here with the crate is an atonement, I think. Perhaps we can do more.”
    “Do you think so, Mom?”
    “It’s not over until we’re dead.” She looked at him earnestly. “We’re here together, and tomorrow is another day.”
    Jeremy relaxed against his mother. He felt like she was someone he hadn’t known, and yet she was. He was drifting off when she said something.
    “Jeremy, are you sure the people in the underground will stay there?”
    “I think so. Sam made noises like he was dying. When they heard wolves howling, they slammed the hatch. I think that should keep them in. I hope. Sam was worried about them following us, though.”
    “Once they figure out they can live outside, we’re in trouble. How far was it to the shelter?”
    “A twenty-minute walk.”
    “Not long enough. If they did what they did to him, what would they do to us?”

7
    Jeremy untangled his arms from his mother’s and crawled out of the tunnel between the boxes. He stood up next to the crate’s door and pulled the lever opening it. Light flooded in. He looked down at Sam.
    “Mom! Mom! There’s something wrong with Sam.”
    Sam was wrapped in the plastic tarp, face bloated and red, and eyes swollen shut. He struggled to cry out, but could barely breathe.
    “Mom! Come quick! He’s dying!” He threw the doors wide and saw that Sam’s body was swollen and discolored. “What happened to him?”
    Veronica clawed her way out and stood over Sam. “He must be allergic to that stuff for lice! Or it could have been the morphine, or the penicillin. Oh, my God.” She turned to the medical cabinet just inside the container’s door, rattling through medications. Filling a syringe, she put a tourniquet around his arm, popped a vein out and gave him an injection.
    “Adrenalin,” she said. “I’m sorry, Sam. We bring you here and almost kill you. I’ve got cortisone, too, but I don’t know how much to use.
    “Jeremy, can you check in the encyclopedia on the computer?”
    “Computer?”
    “Yes. I brought almost everything from the general’s lab. I couldn’t get all the big stuff, but I got the computers. They’re so miniaturized that a child could lift them. There’s a generator, but the computers were charged when I left the bunker. They’re right over there.” She pointed and then studied Sam carefully. “How much do you think he weighs?”
    “Holy shit, Mom!” Jeremy