My knees hit the sand, and the bag I was carrying slipped all over. Cans of food and supplies scattered around me as I gasped for breath. Roy and Jan had run out with supplies. Bob and Jay had a cot out for Joey to get into, and Jerry helped hoist him into it. I clawed at my layers of coats. My fingernails scratched at the synthetic fibers. Everything was too hot. There was another thump just ahead of me, accompanied by sobbing soon after.

“What the hell- oh my God!” Jan unwrapped Joey’s arm and stumbled back. Her heel dug into my side and she fell over me. I wheezed. Coughing made everything more hot but I couldn’t find the zipper to set me free. Emery had gotten over to Joey and grabbed stuff out of the kit that was lying next to the cot. A pair of hands flipped me over and unzipped the first layer of jackets. Another hand propped me up and ripped it off of me. The pattern continued until I was left in my red Hawaiian shirt and black t-shirt. My glasses were somewhere in the sand, but I could tell that the two blurry blobs were Bob and Jay. Jay handed me my glasses, and I almost threw them back towards the store once I saw what was going on. Rosie was coming out from the tent with Jack in her arms, Jan was on the ground behind me, Jerry was trying to calm Margaret down, Roy and Emery were huddled over Joey, trying to wrap up his arm and keep it elevated, and Bob and Jay were trying to see if I was ok. I just sat there and didn’t know what to think. How did things get this bad?

“Ollie, Ollie, Oliver, Olive, Olive Salad, Olive Green Soup, Fuckhead, Dude, OLIVER!” Bob grabbed my collar and brought my face close to his. “Snap out of your trance and start telling us what happened? Do I need to get the blowtorch and melt off his arm? I need your brains here, kid. Emery can only do so much without the tools to help her and she’s a little preoccupied right now.” I shook my head. “Ok, good. Why is Margaret a wreck?”

“She dislocated her shoulder and Emery popped it back in place. She didn’t have time to process because then Joey got hurt and we had to run.” My throat felt raw, and my lungs felt like they were on fire. Bob nodded. He started to speak again but Rosie had gotten to us.

“What the hell is going on? Why is Joey bleeding? Why are you all in Oliver’s face? Bob, get out of his face. Jay, what the hell is Jerry doing with Margaret? She looks like Jan after she got drunk. Will someone tell me what’s going on? I could only hear screaming and now everyone is dying!”

“Well, I’m trying to find out what’s going on from Oliver, but I had to make sure he didn’t die of heatstroke first.”

“Oh, and that’s my fault?”

“No, but you’re acting like you come before the people who actually need help.”

“I just want some answers, and you aren’t helping either.” They kept arguing with each other, each statement louder than the previous in an attempt to outdo the other person. I stood up, and Jay grabbed my elbow to steady me. I turned and grinned at him. He nodded. Jay then walked over to Bob and tried to pull him back from Rosie a little bit. They had gotten closer to each other and it looked like either one of them could start a fistfight. Bob was not happy to be pulled back, even though it was just a little tug.

“Oh, you think that I’m being too much? She started it, Jay. And now you are siding with her? Rosie is attacking me and you’re siding with a girl who didn’t even know your name until she had been living with the group for three months over your husband! I can’t believe you!” Bob started jamming his pointer finger into Jay’s chest. Rosie had taken a step back to collect herself. It seemed clear on her face that she had realized she had overreacted and how Bob was set off on a tangent. Jerry was walking over to me with Margaret in tow. Tear tracks were still all over her face and Jerry was stuck in a permanent scowl. I took a step back to try and avoid more people yelling when Jan started pushing everyone out of her way to get to Joey. Emery and Roy had gotten the arm bandaged up, but we didn't have any glue or stitches. Blood was seeping through the bandages and it wasn’t getting any better with the pressure that they were putting on it. Joey had closed his eyes, and Roy was trying desperately to get him to open them. He only seemed to be getting small nods in return. From five feet away I could feel the terror rolling around him.

“Emery, you need to use the torch and cut off his arm. It was probably a dirty blade so even if you can stop the bleeding, it'll just get infected.” Jan was right behind Emery now, yet she was looking anywhere but Joey. I thought she might faint at the sight of him by the way she was acting.

“That could just cause him to go into shock and die.”

“I think he’s already in shock.”

“He’s not.”

“I think so.”

“I’m not in-” Joey tried talking back but he let out a pained groan. His teeth were clenched and Emery pressed down harder on his arm.

“You’re making it worse, you need less pressure and more cauterizing.” Jan tried talking Emery’s hand off of Joey’s arm, Emery hip-checked her.

“Jan, cutting off his arm isn’t going to help!” Emery snarled and started to say something else before Jay yelled back at Bob.

“Calm the fuck down! I’m so tired of you getting mad at other people and taking it out on me. We need to help Emery take care of Joey and help Margaret calm down because she clearly needs a little support right now. Put your goddamn pride aside and think before you go off!”

“I need to calm down? Why is it that I’m always the one that needs to calm down?”

“Because you’re always yelling and making everything worse!”

“How could things get any worse? It’s the fucking apocalypse, Jay. The mother fucking apocalypse!” I clenched my fists and let my fingernails dig into my palms, the ragged edges started to put horrendous pressure on the blisters despite the bandages. Emery and Jan were still arguing, Jay and Bob were yelling. Rosie was glaring at me, Jerry looked like he wanted to murder someone, Roy was getting overwhelmed, Margaret looked like she wanted to turn into seafoam to escape, Joey was fucking dying, and I couldn’t take the ringing in my ears anymore.

“Shut the fuck up! All of you!” The yelling and arguing finally stopped, but the ringing didn’t. Why wouldn’t the ringing stop? I unclenched my fists and looked up at the group. Everyone was staring back at me. “We need to focus. Joey needs help and to get out of this wind. Jerry and Jay, can you help carry the cot back into the tent while the rest of us try to gather these supplies? Make sure that Emery can still apply pressure on the wound because that might be the only thing keeping him alive. Bob, can you get the blowtorch ready? We might need to seal up the wound if we can, but cutting the arm off is a terrible idea. Margaret, I know that you’re stressed out, but it’s ok. Take Jack from Rosie and focus on keeping him warm. Rosie, help me with the coats and try to calm down. I can explain while we pick stuff up. We have to work together and not act like goddamn toddlers if we want this to work. All hands on fucking deck, and I better not hear any more yelling.” I glanced around. Once I got a nod from everyone I started picking stuff up. Jerry and Jay went to the ends of the cot and started to bring Joey inside. Emery stayed right with them and kept the blood from gushing out any faster. There was definitely less blood coming out now that things were quieter and more calm, but it still wasn’t good. Margaret had Jack in her good arm and started to bring him inside of the tent. Roy, Jan, Rosie, and I started picking up all of the coats and cans while Bob went around to the other side of the tent to look for the blowtorch. I recounted the tale as calmly and concisely as I could while we worked. Once all of the stuff was gathered we brought it inside the tent. Bob was trying to get a flame going, and Jay was looking for spare lighter fluid. Jerry was with Margaret, she was calmer now and Jerry seemed to be less tense now that she could explain what happened. Roy ran over to Joey and sat down next to his cot. Emery held onto the injured arm and brushed some of Joey’s hair out of his face. His fringe was all clumped from the sweat and breathing seemed to be paining him. Jan goes and stands next to Emery, they both remain silent. Rosie squeezes my shoulder.

“Hey, you did good. Don’t beat yourself up. Emery is the best medic I’ve ever seen and the idea to seal up the wound is really smart. I just hope that we have the supplies to match your genius.” I scoffed and gently brushed her hand off of my shoulder.

“I’m no genius, I just don’t want anyone to die. I feel like that’s on me if that happens.” Rosie frowned and shook her head. She looked like she wanted to argue with me, but she decided against it. I went over to Bob who was still trying to get a flame going. “How’s it going?”

“It’s not. Babe, did you find any flame juice yet?” Jay lifted his head up to answer and banged his head on the lid of the box. He winced and rubbed the sore spot.

“No, I don’t think we have any. Do you think that we could make another trip to find some?” My heart sank. There wasn’t going to be any Joey left to save if we went out, somehow found the fluid or a functional lighter, and came back. We were fucked. We were fucked and it’s my fault. I shook my head.

“Ollie, come here please.” Emery beckoned for me and my feet started moving before I realized where I was going. “I hear something outside of the tent, and I think it has teeth.” She looked at me, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking exactly, but I knew that it was nothing good. We were all scared.

“Guys, shush!” I piped up and everyone fell silent. Feet dragging in the sand came from outside. I saw my machete resting on the table and I reached over to get it. I looked at Jerry and he nodded. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and tried to keep on listening.