Numbers 3: Infinity Read Free Page B

swapped. I don’t know how it happened.
    Will it happen now if her temperature gets too high?
    ‘Daniel,’ Adam says. ‘I’ll get Daniel.’
    It’s only a couple of minutes until Daniel comes, but it feels like hours.
    ‘Let’s have a look,’ he says, as he crawls into the tent. He pulls out a stethoscope from his rucksack and listens to her chest. ‘Not too bad,’ he says. He takes her temperature. ‘Nearly forty. Let’s give her some paracetamol.’
    ‘Have you got some?’ Our last supplies ran out months ago.
    Daniel produces a full bottle from one of the rucksackpockets. I look at it, then at him. Where did he get a full bottle of medicine? We check every empty house and shop, and sometimes we’re lucky enough to find a sachet. But a full bottle …
    ‘I’ve got quite a bit of … kit,’ he mutters sheepishly.
    ‘How? Where from?’
    He smiles. ‘The government’s got a stash. You just need to know how to get at it.’
    ‘And you do?’
    ‘I’ve got contacts, shall we say.’
    ‘Government ones?’
    He smiles again but doesn’t say anything more.
    ‘Looks like a virus,’ he says. ‘Keep her drinking and I’ll give her paracetamol every four hours.’ He crawls out again.
    Adam looks in.
    ‘He’s got medicine, Adam,’ I say. ‘He’s got a whole bag of tricks.’
    ‘I know.’
    ‘So this is a good place to stay.’
    He sighs. ‘We don’t have much choice.’
    I know it’s a big deal for him.
    ‘Thank you,’ I say.
    ‘Just don’t blame me if …’
    ‘If what?’
    ‘I dunno. If it all goes wrong. I feel …’ He struggles to find the words. ‘Like a sitting duck,’ he says finally.
    ‘It’ll be all right. We’ll be all right.’ I really want to believe it.
    ‘Maybe,’ he says, but he doesn’t sound convinced. ‘I’m going to start a fire.’
    I turn back to Mia. She’s calmer already.
    Her trusting eyes fix on mine and her number fills myhead. I don’t see numbers, like Adam, but I know hers. Adam told me. 2022054. Twenty-five years left. It’s better than the lifespan she started with, but it’s not enough. I feel sick at the thought. My daughter can’t die aged twenty-seven; it’s too young.
    She needs to find another number, a better number.
    Could I give her mine, like Val did? But how? How did she do it? If it would help her, I’d give it to her, of course I would. I’d give my life for Mia.
    Her hair is damp from her sweat, darker and curlier than ever, but still blonde. It’s like a halo. All I can think is that twenty-five years is nothing. It’ll be over in the blink of an eye.
    I gather her into my arms. Tears stream down my cheeks.
    Mia puts her clammy hand up to my face.
    ‘Don’t, Mummy. Mummy sad?’
    I don’t want to upset her but I can’t stop crying.
    I wish I didn’t know. Adam’s brought this gift, this curse, into our lives. It’s not his fault, but right now, at this moment, I resent him for it. I hate him.
    It’s not natural to know this stuff.
    It crushes you.

Chapter 4: Adam
    I hear Sarah sobbing as I make the fire. Should I go back in the tent? I wait outside for a moment, listening, then I walk away into the forest.
    I can’t blame her for being scared. I’ve been scared for most of my life, ever since I realised what the numbers meant. I was only five. That’s a long time.
    She’s frightened for Mia, and so am I. But I’m frightened of her, too. I’m ashamed, but I can’t help it.
    It’s wrong, isn’t it? She’s a beautiful child – with those blue eyes, that blonde hair, her skin all tanned from living outdoors. A golden child. People look at her wherever we go – after they’ve clocked me first. And of course it’s not her looks that freak me out, it’s her number. She don’t have the number she was born with. I get this spooky feeling when I look in her eyes. Her number sort of shimmers in my head, like it’s not there. It reminds me every time of Nan and that terrible day in the fire, at the start of