Luana Wakes: Dixie Bakes (Collaboration with Barb Carlson #3)

This is part three of a Tuesday WE collaborative effort of myself and Barb Carlson. In the previous installments, Dixie arrived at her Uncle's farm house, just in time to see a bear trying to climb in the backseat of Tia's car, where an injured Launa lay. If you missed part one or two of this tale, please go back and start  HERE. ( I have used Barb's last post as the link, as mine was split into two posts, so this is easier to navigate)Both Barb and I have index' to our tales of Launa and Dixie, so if you have missed the back story of either, please go check them out.

Launa woke with a start to the sound of someone screaming. Disoriented and confused, she looked around quickly. She saw the IV in her arm, the room -- where am I? -- and a woman with red hair sitting on the couch wearing only a shirt and panties, breathing hard.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Launa asked. Her voice felt unused and a bit weak. I wonder how long I've been out? "Where is Tia? Is she okay?"

"Shhh, Tia's fine, she's sleeping. You're in my uncle's house. I patched you up last night, but that can all wait. How are you feeling?" Dixie asked, relieved to get away from the dream that had awakened her, apparently with a scream.

Launa tried to sit up, but winced as she pulled the stitches in her back. "Ow," she said. "I guess I shouldn't do that." She smiled at Dixie and asked, "Are you my Nurse Nightingale?"

Dixie laughed a hearty guffaw. "Not by a long shot, Darlin'! I'm Dixie. Be careful, I had to sew you back up, and it's still seeping, from the look of the bandage. I'll let you get acclimated, and then I'll change it. How's the pain?"

Tia burst into the room, a panicked look on her face. "Launa! Dixie? Are you okay? Who screamed?" She looked back and forth between the women, holding the old robe closed with one hand.

Dixie looked forlorn, and admitted, "It was me, Tia. I've been having nightmares, or night terrors, for about a month now. Looks like I woke you both, sorry."

"I'm fine, Tia," Launa said. She looked around again and asked, "But, where are we? This isn't the commune. How did we get here?"

Tia bit her lip and said, "I took the turn-off you told me to ... I think." She grinned weakly. "It's a good thing I did come here," she said. "You were bleeding really bad." Tia hugged herself, remembering the previous night. "And it was raining and I couldn't get you to wake up, then this bear came and ..." She stopped to stare out the window to the right. "Oh my god!" she screamed. "There it is again!" Tia started backing out of the room, clutching her robe tight around her.

Launa looked and laughed, but stopped quickly, wincing at the pain, "Oh don't worry about him," she said. "I tend to attract animals, especially out in the wild. He won't hurt you."

Dixie peered quizzically at Launa, "You attract animals? Like Dr. Doolittle or something? Wow. That's a new one on me. Do you want something for the pain? I have some Demerol left, but if you want to keep your wits, I have Ibuprofen," Dixie asked.

Launa smiled and said, "I can deal with the pain. I doubt I'll be awake much anyway, but thank you."

"Yeah," Dixie continued, "Tia was plopped squarely on the ground, and that bear was sniffing you up when I pulled in. I thought you were Smokey's dinner for a hot second, but my horn ran him off. It looks like he's back for breakfast, or is he in love?" Dixie said playfully.

Launa did the "laugh and cringe" routine again. "Not likely," she said, a bit more weakly. "They can tell when I'm in trouble, somehow. I don't call them." Launa glanced at Tia, then at Dixie. "I can send him away if he bothers you." She frowned slightly. "I doubt anyone could have followed us, but it might be better to let him hang around." Launa laid back and sighed. There is so much to deal with yet, she thought.

Dixie looked at her two new companions with concern in her eyes. "You may have a point there, Launa, if what Tia told me last night was any indication. If it's OK with Tia, leave him out there. From the looks of you, you can't take much more, and Gentle Ben out there might just come in handy sometime. How about some breakfast? Sorry, we're fresh out of meat, but we have a boat load of fruit and veggies in the pantry. You need to get your strength up. You're going to need it."

Launa smiled and nodded. "Thank you," she said.

Tia asked, "Do we have any more peaches? Those were great!" Tia went off in search of her clean clothes, trying not to think about what they'd been washed with. Soap is soap, she told herself.

Dixie thought it was best to not mention her own worries about the note, and her own safety issues just yet. Visions, summoning animals, what else can this gal do, and how the heck does she know Sister Eulalia?

"Let's eat a bite, and then I'll work on changing your bandages. Oh, Lord, I hope there's coffee out there, " Dixie said, heading toward the kitchen.

Tia came back into the room and sat on a nearby chair. "You look better," she said. "Are you okay? I was so scared last night!"

Launa smiled. "Yes, I feel much better. If I do a lot of sleeping today, I should be up and around by tomorrow. I need to talk to the detective -- I think he can be trusted -- and find out what happened." She shifted a bit to see Tia better. "Does your cell phone still work? Even if they have a phone here, I don't want to give away where we are just yet."

Tia pulled out her phone and checked. "It's about half-charged. I don't have my wall charger, but I think my car charger is in the glove box."

"Good," Launa said. "That will be useful. I assume you get a signal here?"

"Oh!" Tia said with a laugh. "I didn't even think to check." She opened her phone again and checked for a signal. "Not a very good one," she said. "I'm not sure it will work."

"If it doesn't, we'll figure something out," Launa said. "Do you still have the map? I'm curious as to where we really are."

Tia blushed. "Hey, I'm sorry. I really thought I had the right turn-off."

Launa patted Tia's hand. "It's fine, don't stress. You did great." She smiled reassuringly. "If you had to take a wrong turn, at least you took one that actually led somewhere. It seems like a little more than just coincidence that Dixie was here."

Tia frowned in confusion. "Are you saying she knew we would be here?"

"No," Launa said, "I think there are benevolent forces that sometimes arrange these chance meetings." She smiled at a memory. "It's happened to me more than once. Maybe Dixie and I are supposed to help each other somehow."

Tia cocked her head and said, "You know, she was asking me about some card with your name on it. I didn't know what she was talking about. Do you?"

"Maybe," Launa said. "I'm not sure yet." She smiled again. "I just go where it seems I should go and do what I need to do." Her smiled faded a little as she said, "These last few weeks have been ... taxing. I hope nothing too strenuous is in store for me. I need a vacation from drama for a while."

Tia stood up and said, "I'll go get that map." She looked out the window anxiously. "Your friend isn't going to eat me, is he?"

Launa chuckled. "No, Tia, he has his usual food. He's not interested in eating you."

After consulting the map and determining that Tia turned off a couple miles early, Launa shrugged. "Well," she said, "We're safe and I have a good idea where we are." Her forehead wrinkled a bit and Launa asked, "What day is it? I've completely lost track."

"It's only Thursday!" Tia said. "Can you believe it? It seems like weeks since this all started." She stared out the window a moment in silence, then asked, "What are we going to do? What will happen to Tim?"

"Don't stress, Tia," Launa said. "We'll figure it out. Maybe I should try calling the detective now." Tia handed Launa the phone, and Launa asked, "Is your GPS location feature turned on? We don't want them to know where we are until we're sure they can be trusted."

Tia shook her head. "No, that's an old phone. It doesn't have that feature."

"Good." Launa dialed the number Detective Benning had given her.  She smiled and nodded to Tia when she heard the other line ringing.

"Detective Benning," he said in a businesslike manner.

"Hello, Detective, this is Launa. I ..."

"Holy hell, woman! Where are you? Is Tia with you? We have half the force out looking for you two! Are you both all right?" His voice was loud and Launa could picture him standing up and yelling at the phone.

"We're safe, Tia's fine, I'll be fine," Launa replied.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I'd rather not say right now," Launa said. "I need to know what happened at the hospital."

"I was hoping you could tell me!" he said.

"What happened to our guard? The guard disappeared," Launa said with a slight edge to her voice.

"We have no idea. It was a new guy, just in from the Academy. We wondered if you all were together."

"Um ...no," Launa said. "What happened to whoever was shooting? We heard gunshots as we left."

"Well," Detective Benning said, "the staff heard the gunshots and called security. They locked down the building, but they didn't find you two or any shooter."

"Well, I know he was there," Launa said.

"Yes, yes, we do, too. The six bullets we pulled out of the mattress say he was there, too." He sighed, "But it's hard to look for somebody no one has seen."

"I think the shooter was one of the gang members," Launa said. "Have you picked them all up yet?"

"No, we got four. One is still out there somewhere. Where are you? Is it safe? Maybe you should stay there for a while."

"I fully intend to stay here for a while," Launa said. "Tia wants to visit her brother on Saturday, but we're staying here at least until then."

"We need you both to sign some paperwork. You need to sign the complaint, too," he said.

"I don't want to sign a complaint against Tim. What I want is for that gang to be taken apart," Launa said firmly.

"You're kidding," Detective Benning said. "He took you to them! He needs to be punished!"

"Detective, I really think the child has been punished enough. Do you know if there are other members of that gang? I don't think Tim is safe if there are. Is he safe where he is?" she asked.

"We don't know about other members yet. Tim is safe -- the gang seems to be comprised of just adults, and he's in the Juvenile Detention Center. He's being watched closely. Tell Tia he's safe," he said. "We can talk about filing charges later."

Launa shook her head and rolled her eyes. "I'll tell her he's safe," Launa said. "I need to go, the battery is getting weak. If you have any news, call this number. You do have this number, right?" she asked.

"Yes, we have it," he replied.

"Okay, I will call if anything happens. I'm hoping nothing more happens, I'm tired of this much excitement," Launa said with a short laugh.

"All right. I'll call if I get any information about the gang or the hospital shooting."

Launa closed the phone and was relaying Detective Benning's message to Tia as breakfast arrived.