Polly goes to the unused second bedroom, now an office, and retrieves a paper containing Dr. Chloe Passaro’s identifiers. Calling Walgreens, she impersonates Dr. Passaro and phones in cephalexin 500 mg twice daily for seven days under her own name, plus prefilled enoxaparin syringes for prophylaxis. She rationalizes the risk as low because the orders are not narcotics.

Polly intends the antibiotic for Tegan, having checked its safety in pregnancy. Aware that Tegan likely needs IV therapy in a hospital, she decides this is the best she can do for now and plans to pick up the medications as soon as they are ready.

She returns to the basement to assess Tegan, who is lethargic, barely rousable, and hot to the touch. Tegan’s left foot and ankle are bright red and shiny, with pus draining from the old wound and no palpable pulse on the top of the foot, suggesting a severe, possibly deep infection. Polly cleans the wound with warm water and Betadine and wraps it with Kerlix; Tegan barely reacts.

Using a stethoscope, Polly listens to Tegan’s abdomen and detects a weak fetal heartbeat. Concluding that the baby remains alive but in imminent danger, she commits to retrieving the antibiotic immediately and then getting the baby out before it’s too late.