Kings of Anarchy (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #3) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,174

force him to retreat into himself. When Saint was deadly calm, his face a blank mask and his words cold and calculated that was actually when he was closest to breaking himself. It was like the calm before the storm. "He's male, between the ages of sixteen and twenty five, has no previous underlying medical history of heart or respiratory conditions, he's strong and fit and healthy. Instead of the widely publicised mortality rate of sixty-three point four percent, someone in his bracket actually only has a forty seven point nine percent chance of succumbing to this virus."

"Only?!" I roared, losing my shit for the hundredth time today and Monroe pushed himself up off the couch, moving to intercept me as I started charging towards Kyan's door. "If it's so fucking low then I want to be in there with him," I demanded. "I want to face my fate at my brother's side and go with him if he leaves me."

"Don't be moronic," Saint hissed as he got to his feet too and snarled at me, standing shoulder to shoulder with Monroe to block my progress. "Forty seven point nine percent chance of death is in no way good odds and you know it. I was merely stating the fact that his chances are better than the publicised average. Are you really so afraid of your own grief that you would risk making all of us suffer it over you if you infect yourself and die from it? What if Kyan survives only to find he passed it on to you and killed you? Is that a burden you wish to place on his head?"

I gritted my teeth in determination and took another step towards Kyan's room, but Monroe's arms encircled me before I could go any further.

"This won't help him," Monroe insisted, tugging me back a step. "Giving him reasons to worry about you will only mean he is less focused on fighting this thing. Is that what you want?"

My heart was racing and the pain spiking through my body was unbearable as I fought to draw breath. I was sucking air down hard and fast, the week leading up to my mom's death playing on repeat in my mind. I'd made three video calls to her and only one of them had included any actual conversation. After that, the doctors set it up to let us say goodbye twice. That was a cruelty in itself. After the first time I'd been crushed, expecting the worst and dreading the call to say it had happened. But then she'd made it through the night and the next night too, they'd told us she was fighting and I'd been fool enough to believe she would win. The second time they'd connected the video for us, I'd truly believed she'd be there, sitting up in bed telling us how shitty she felt and promising to be home soon. Instead they'd informed us that this really was the end and I'd sat beside my father, his hand wrapped so tight around mine that it felt like my bones would break as we watched her take her final, laboured breath and slip into oblivion.

"I can't go through that again," I choked out as I stared down the hallway towards Kyan's room and stopped fighting Monroe’s grip on me.

At least he had Tatum with him, looking after him, holding him, showing him that he was loved while he fought for his damn life. My mom had been all alone.

I still wasn't sure if we'd made the right call by not sending him away to hospital, but I knew as well as the others that there was no real treatment for the Hades Virus.

Saint had managed to get a supply of the recommended steroids and painkillers sent to us and he had a doctor consulting with Tatum on Kyan's at home care eight times a day and we’d all agreed that he was better off here getting full one to one attention rather than in an overrun hospital.

The few times I'd seen Tatum, she'd sworn to me that he was doing as well as could be expected. She only left his room to collect the food and water we left out for her and each time she retreated, Saint approached the short hallway which led to mine and Kyan's rooms in a full face mask and gloves and bleached everything within an inch of its life.

My room had been deemed too close to Kyan's for safety,