Mattie stepped back when Nicholas yelled at her. After the happy note with which he'd gone to sleep, she hadn't expected that amount of agitation. Her head snapped around to look at Cole. [i]Please be quiet...[/i] To her surprise, he did. The relief was short-lived because Jacob had practically hurtled into the room. 

"Jesus titty-fucking Christ!" she yiped upon seeing the gun. Fever. Oh no. No no no, that wasn't good. Mattie swallowed, even though her mouth had gone dry. "You can get fevers from other things," she said desperately. "I'm betting the knife he cut with wasn't sterilized. It could be a different infection." But she knew that the risk was high. Denying it would get them nowhere. 

Wide, pleading eyes fixed on Jacob. "What are we going to do? Kill him?" She struggled to keep back the tinge of panic.