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Here’s the next part about Cade. It’s super long I’m afraid!😬 (LOL I just realized that rhymed XD XD) Sorry!

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“Cade. . . Cade,” a little voice cried out as Cade hurried down the long row of cots.

He bit his lip. Danny. Turning for an instant, he spoke to the boy, “I’ll be right there Danny. I’ve go to get something for Miss Ainsley,”

“But Cade!! I want you NOW!” the child groaned.

“I’ll be right back I-”

“No!” the intense pain in the little boy’s voice made Cade turn back.

He knelt beside him, “What’s wrong Danny?”

“My chest hurts. . .”

Cade pressed his lips tight together. Everyone knew Danny was dying. He had had tuberculous for as long as Cade had known him. None of the medicines they gave him seemed to help. His little body was simply not strong enough to fight off the disease. And now many of the other children were contracting it as well.

“I’m so sorry. . .” Cade whispered, “Would you like Miriam to come sing to you again?”

The boy’s face brightened, “Yeah,” he whispered back.

“Alright,” he squeezed the boy’s shoulder gently and managed a smile, “I’ll go get her,”

Cade stood up and another little voice called to him from across the hall. Dolly’s cot. He stepped over to her.

“Cade,” the pale face, surrounded by long dark curls, was earnest, “Is Miss Ainsley gonna be alright?”

Cade sighed, “I don’t know Dolly. . . I hope so,”

“What’s happening to her?” the worried look deepened in Dolly’s chocolate brown eyes.

“She’s going to have a baby,”

Dolly’s eyes widened and she sat up, “Really?” a smile broke over her face.

“Yes really,” Cade returned her smile, but his eyes were tired and troubled, “But lay back down sweetheart. You’re not quite well enough to be sitting up set,”

“Oh goody!!” Dolly clasped her hands as she sank back on the bed. “Do you think it will have hazel eyes like Miss Ainsley does? Or will it have blue eyes like Mr. Nathan?”

Inwardly Cade tensed against the pain tearing through his heart. Ever simple, innocent question tore at his heart with questions of his own. What if it didn’t come at all? What if this killed Ainsley? Outwardly however he appeared very calm, and the little five yearold never would have guessed that his heart was crying at every word she spoke. All the pain building up inside was almost too much for him to bear, “I don’t know Dolly. Either way I’m sure it will be really cute,”

“Will you come and tell me when it comes?”

“Of course I will,” he grinned at her.

“Good, because I love babies!” she snuggled contentedly down in her bed.

“I know you do,” Cade bent and kissed her, “Now I’ve got to get back to her, so you just try to get some sleep,”

He was going to straighten back up, but Dolly grabbed his face in both her hands and kissed him back. “You’re the best doctor in the world,”

Cade swallowed again and smiled. “And you’re the sweetest little girl that ever lived!”

She let him go and he hurried down the hall again. He saw Miriam sitting on the edge of one of the cots and called softly to her. She whispered something to the child  in the cot, then came to him, her large soft eyes expectant.

“What is it Cade?”

“It’s- it’s Danny,” Cade bit his lip for a moment before he continued, “He- he wants you to sing to him again  . . .”

Miriam’s eyes filled with tears, “Oh Cade!!” she covered her face with her hands, “That’s so hard!! It’s so hard to sing to him- to try to comfort him- to tell him he’ll be alright when I know he won’t- when I know he’s really going to die,”

Cade nodded and gave her a quick hug, “I know. . .”

“But crying won’t do anybody any good will it?” she smiled and wiped her eyes, “I’ll go to him. You just go get those things for Ainsley,”

Cade nodded and walked away.

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When Cade reached the cot where Ainsley lay moaning, Olivia and Sara looked up from where the leaned over her.

Olivia got up and came to him, taking his burden, “Thank you Cade. You’re such a blessing! Flora told me to tell you that Carrie was asking for you. . . she keeps insisting that she’s dying. . .she said she has to ask you something before she dies,”

“Alright. . . I’ll be right back,”

Olivia nodded and went back to the cot and Cade found himself hurrying back down the tunnel again. Rows of sick children lined the walls. It was dark and cold and miserable and many of the children would cry out to him as he passed, asking for water or food or where their parents were. He tried to say something comforting to them, to stop and ease their suffering. But the urge to get to Carry pulled him onward.

Finally he reached her cot. The poor girl lay screaming with pain. Flora looked up with tears streaming down her face as Cade laid a hand on her shoulder. “Go get some sleep Flora. I’ll sit with her till- till she feels better,” i

Flora nodded wordlessly and springing up, rushed away. Cade took her place beside the screaming child.

The eleven year old had been a victim in one of the building fires. She had lost a leg and the trauma of the event had driven her insane. She lay everyday in a swoon-like state, silent and wide-eyed till her horrible pain and gruesome dreams forced from her cries these agonizing cries. Now she was in one of her paroxysms.

Cade lifted her and held her in his strong arms, “Carrie. . . Carrie can you hear me?! Carrie it’s alright!! It’s over,”

“The fire! The fire!!” Carrie’s eyes grew wider and she clung to Cade’s neck with both arms.

“No Carrie, the fire’s over! You’re not in it anymore,”

“Cade. . . Cade I can feel the fire. . . water. . . I want water,” Cade set her down and got up to go get her some water, but the next instant she let out another shriek, “No! No! Don’t go! Don’t leave! You can’t leave me here alone in the fire!! Please come back!!”

Cade knelt again and held her. “Alright I won’t leave,”

Carrie clung to him for a few moments, silent and trembling. He stroked her hair and spoke soothingly to her. Gradually she grew calmer, and when she spoke again her voice was more quiet, “Cade. . . do you know that I’m dying?” she asked.

Cade choked back his tears, “Yes- I do Carrie,” he had to tell her the truth.

Carrie’s face brightened, “You do?”

“Yes,”

“Good. The nurses don’t. They all tell me I’ll be alright. But I know I won’t. . . I hoped you knew so you wouldn’t be so shocked and sad when I finally do die. So you’d expect it. I feel so sorry for them. . . they don’t know!” she gasped raggedly, trying so hard to be brave in the face of her pain. “Cade. . .I want to ask you one question before I die,”

“What is it Carrie?”

“When- when I’m dead. . . will I be all better? I mean. . . will I still feel the fire? Will I still be crazy or will God make it all go away?”

Cade smiled, “God will make it all better Carrie. You won’t feel the fire or the pain ever again. And I’m sure you won’t be crazy anymore,”

Carrie smiled too. It was the first time he had seen her smile since the fire. “Good. Then I’m not afraid of dying anymore. I was afraid of dying before because I knew I wouldn’t be able to bear feeling the fire without you there to hold me. But if God makes it go away then it will be okay. Thank you Cade. . .” her voice grew weaker, it was fading out, “Tell Miriam and Flora and the others. . . not. . . to cry when I’m gone. . . Tell them I’m all better. . . tell them. . . that I wasn’t scared and. . . that I’ll never ever have to feel the fire again. . . God made it all better. . .” her voice faded and her head fell sideways against his chest. She was dead.

Cade sighed. It was so sad- so hard to watch a little girl die like that, but he could not help being glad for her sake that the fire that had been raging in her mind for so long was finally out.

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Cade leaned against the wall near Ainsley’s cot, trying to shut out her heart-rending moans of pain. He had been running errands for the nurses for the past hour. The strain of the grief and worry on top of the hunger and tiredness was wearing him thin. But his thoughts were not on how sick and weak he felt, but on that nineteen year old girl whose screams pierced his aching head. It was nearly time for the meeting, but he couldn’t leave now. Nathan. He needs to be here. Ainsley needs him so badly!! She’s been calling for him       . . .If she dies. . .

Cade squeezed his eyes shut tightly and pressed his lips together. He had seen so many people die in the last few months. People starved to death in the city everyday. In the last building fire about a dozen people were killed. Helping recover their bodies was a horrific experience that would be etched into his memory forever. He relived it all in his dreams, when he slept at all. And when he didn’t, it still haunted him like a demented daydream. He could never forget Carrie’s screams when he had first held her in his arms after he had found her in the ruins. All the cries from the fire victims around him. He remembered them all so clearly it was like he heard then now, blending themselves with Ainsley’s screams. They rose and fell in his mind like the tide. His while frame began to tremble. No. He couldn’t have a seizure. . . not now. His knees were going weak. . .

“Cade!!” Miriam’s hands shook him from his half-swoon. “Cade!! Kenma is here!! He’s out of breath from running. He says he has an important message he needs to tell you right away. Come quick before he passes out or tears the place down to find you!”

“I’m coming.” Shakily Cade stood up away from the wall, “Olivia. . .you’ll let me know if anything happens won’t you? Dolly wanted me to tell her when the baby came,”

“Of course Cade,”

He followed Miriam down the hall to where Kenma stood waiting.

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@mayacat Is this alright?

You can post Kenma’s next part whenever you’re ready. Sorry this is so long 🙁

(Miriam, Olivia, Flora, and Sara are nurses in the Nest and anyone may use them. The children may be used as well)