by Kody Boye
“You know,” Asha said, “we can walk on our own.”
“Shut up,” one of the men said.
She closed her mouth and cast a glance at me. I, in response, merely shook my head—hoping she would understand that talking, at that moment, would likely get us into trouble.
As we passed between the blockade of vehicles and barbed wire, we turned into what once had been the visitor’s drop-off center. A series of guards came forward to scan the streets with their sniper rifles. I was able to watch them only briefly before we stepped through the front doors.
“You have power here?” I asked the guards as we entered the lobby. It was so clean it looked as if it had never fallen to the alien invasion of planet Earth.
“We have more than power,” one of the women said. “Tasha, the sniper on the roof, said you’re from Fort Hope. You’re young.”
“We are,” Asha said, her voice without its usual strength.
“We’ll take you girls to the medical bay to make sure you’re taken care of before you speak with our commander. She’ll be the one who’ll want to know about Fort Hope the most.”
“Thank you,” I said, glad that someone—and a woman, no less—was treating Asha and I like human beings.
“Let up your hold on them, guys. They’re not going to hurt anything.”
The men released their holds on our arms and continued to lead us toward the medical bay. Though we were still surrounded by a semi-circle of armed men, it felt far better than being manhandled by a bunch of strangers.
When we reached the medical bay, a young man—either a nurse or a doctor, I couldn’t tell—stepped forward to face us. “Hello,” he said, his Australian accent friendly and with just enough cheer to make me smile. “My name’s Taylor McKinney. I’m the nurse who’ll be looking after you.” He smiled, then frowned as he looked upon Asha and me. “You girls look absolutely famished. How far have you come?”
“All the way from Fredericksburg,” Asha said. “And on foot, no less.”
“Dear God.” He gestured the men and women surrounding us to back off as he placed a hand on both of our upper backs. “Come along then. We’ll get you two a bath, some fresh clothes, and some food. I doubt you’ve been eating much on the way.”
“Just peaches,” I said.
“Not good at all,” the nurse said as he continued to lead us away. “Can’t have the two of you dropping dead from starvation before we can hear your tale of heroism.”
Heroism?
He thought we were heroes?
I looked up at the man, at his beautiful white smile, and found myself able to smile back in turn.
We’d finally made it to Burgundy Hospital.
Now the true tests would begin.
I could’ve never imagined what difference a fresh change of clothes and food that was not peaches or years-old candy bars could feel like. Fresh and clean, changed, and full from a meal of military rations—which had not tasted amazing but had still been filling—I lay in bed trying to doze and found myself more at peace than I’d ever thought possible.
After nearly a week’s worth of travel, Asha and I could finally rest in relative peace.
But for how long?
I tried not to question that logic as the sound of approaching footsteps entered my ears, their echoes like judgment arriving on swift wings or fine cloven hooves. I tried to feign sleep—tried, without success, to make my body relax—but when a knock came outside the cubicle and the curtain was drawn back sharply, I jerked and exposed my ruse.
“Miss Berrios?” the nurse named Taylor McKinney asked.
“Yeah?” I managed.
“Our commander in chief would like to see you and Miss Dawson now.”
I wanted to resign myself to defeat—to simply lie there, refuse his declaration, and fall asleep without so much as a word in response. Knowing I couldn’t, I threw my legs over the side of the bed, tested the rigidity of the studded socks upon my feet, then nodded as I followed both him and Asha away from the medical bay and down a series of winding halls.
“I never did ask about your eyes,” the male nurse said. “Have they always been like that, or…”
“It was… an accident,” I said, casting a glance at Asha from the corner of my eye. “And part of the reason the two of us came here.”
“I see,” the man said, then looked down to take note of my arm. “We’ll have someone examine you once you’re done speaking with Commander Dubois. She’ll want to know everything that’s happened at Fort Hope and all you’ve gone through on your journey to Austin.”
I could only imagine what the woman—this Commander Dubois—would think of the story Asha and I would have to tell come time we stood before her. Even I, having experienced it, could hardly believe what we had gone through, such was the shock I’d experienced and the sheer adrenaline I’d been forced to run on.
The attack—
The escape—
Mama—
Xiomara—
Jason—
I closed my eyes and swallowed the developing lump in my throat as we took a flight of stairs and stepped off at the next landing. There, we walked down the hall only briefly before Taylor McKinney came to a halt beside a door with an empty name placard. “We’re here,” he said, knocking on the door once, then twice. He leaned forward. “Commander Dubois? The girls from Fort Hope are ready to speak with you.”
“Send them in,” a firm female voice said.
After allowing Asha and me a moment to compose ourselves, the man opened the door and let us inside.
A very tall, intimidating, and authoritative white woman with a blonde bun, blue eyes, and glasses looked on at us as we entered the room. When the door closed, effectively securing whatever fate we would be destined for within the coming minutes, the commander leaned forward to study us. “Have a seat, girls.”
We pulled the chairs out before the desk and settled into them.
“Now,” she said, leaning back to examine us in more detail. “Tell me everything that’s happened.”
So we did. I helmed the story—first stating that, after becoming a member of Fort Hope’s Midnight Guard, I had been bitten by one of the Coyotes. I survived, only to experience dreams in which I was watched by the alien invaders who existed within our skies and lands. Asha then followed up by saying the fort was attacked one lonely night, and she, along with a young man named Jason, had holed up in his apartment complex until the following morning.
“Which was when I arrived,” I said.
I then detailed our trip—from leaving the outskirts of Fredericksburg, to being ambushed in Stonewall, to having to leave Jason behind and losing him shortly thereafter.
By the time we finished, I was emotionally exhausted. I could tell that Asha was, too, by the way tears glistened in her eyes.
“It sounds like you girls have gone through a lot,” Commander Dubois said. “I applaud your efforts on getting here, and admire the fact that you survived regardless of everything you’ve gone through.”
“Is there any way you could send a search party out for Jason?” I asked, leaning forward, but shrinking back as the woman turned her hawkish gaze upon me. “It’s just… he’s out there all alone, and if he’s still alive—”
“Why should I expend manpower to search for an individual who may not even be alive?” the commander replied. “If, as you said, you were ambushed by armed thugs, it’s highly likely that he perished while the pair of you escaped.”
“I know,” I sighed. “But it’s the unknown that gives me concern.”
“I suppose we could do something for your friend. But it would come at a price.”
A price?
What price?
At that moment, I’d have done anything to try and find Jason, anything at all.
“Name it,” I said.
“The two of you have obviously been familiarized with weapons,” she said, turning her attention to Asha. “And you have some sense of survival, whe
ther it’s ingrained, practiced, or just from sheer dumb luck. We could use people like the pair of you protecting this establishment.”
“Do you deal with Coyotes often?” Asha asked.
The commander snorted. “Coyotes?” she asked. “They are the least of our worries, Miss Dawson.”
“How do you know my,” Asha started.
“I know everything that goes on in Burgundy Hospital. Don’t think otherwise.”
The way she said it implied a certain threat, though whether it was strictly meant for the two of us I couldn’t be sure. That, however, wasn’t my primary concern. With the opportunity to submit to service in exchange for sending men to look for Jason, I had little to worry about in terms of anonymity.
“We’ll do it,” I said.
“We will?” Asha asked.
“You won’t?” I replied.
“Well, no. It’s just—you never let me finish, and—”
“So it’s settled then,” the commander said. “The two of you will join my armed militia and help to protect the civilian and medical population that has established itself within this facility, just like you did at Fort Hope. You will also be personally responsible for escorting my men out into the field to search for this friend of yours. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes ma’am,” I said, to which Asha responded with a nod and a ‘yes ma’am’ of her own.
“Go now then, girls. You’ve had a harrowing journey. I’ll inform one of my captains of the scavenging run you’re to perform in conjunction with this search and rescue mission of yours. You’ll leave at dawn.”
As Asha and I rose and turned to leave the room, I looked back at Commander Dubois and took note of the way she looked at the two of us.
Though I couldn’t tell what it was, I knew she wanted something. What that something was I’d have to find out.
Chapter 16
“You say your eye changed color as a result of a Coyote bite?” a doctor asked as he shined a penlight into my eyes.
“Yes.” I reached down to unwrap the bandage around my arm.
I extended my wrist so he could see the damage. It had all but healed, but I grimaced as he took hold of my arm. Though his touch was gentle, it was clinical in that it studied every aspect—from the scabbing, to the depth of the indentations, to the areas where the flesh remained red and swollen. He did, however, nod before stating, “It’s not infected.”
“I was taking antibiotics.”
“But it appears whatever damage that could occur has already been done.”
“What do you mean?”
“As the doctor back in Fort Hope probably told you, you have developed a type of heterochromia, likely due to the trauma inflicted upon your body. Though what trauma that is I cannot be certain.” He gestured to a nurse, who stood at the edge of the room and nodded. She rolled a cart forward with a syringe and a series of vials. “Would you mind if we took a bit of your blood?”
“No,” I said. Though judging by the number of vials arranged upon the metal cart, it would be more than just a ‘bit.’
Six vials ended up being drawn, each large enough to span the length of my pinkie to the edge of my wrist. By the time I was finished, I was dizzy, nauseous, and wanted to throw up, but somehow was able to refrain.
“We’re going to run as many tests as possible to determine what is causing these symptoms you’ve been experiencing,” the doctor said as the nurse labeled, bagged, and then walked off with the blood. “If anything changes, or you begin to have these so-called ‘visions’ again, please do let someone know. It’s imperative that we have as much information as possible if we truly are to help you.”
“I understand,” I said.
“Good.” The doctor extended a hand and shook mine before helping me off the examination table. “Thank you for your time, Miss Berrios. And rest well.”
I lay awake that night in a room that had been designated as my own personal quarters—listening to the sound of the wind, to the rustle of the leaves, to the occasional footstep that wandered the empty halls on a night where most everyone was asleep. Unable to sleep for fear of what tomorrow may—or, more specifically, may not—bring, I stared at the ceiling and tried my hardest to comprehend what I would do were we unable to find Jason.
After all those days, there was finally an ounce of hope returning to my bruised and battered heart. But at what cost? I wouldn’t know until tomorrow—would possibly never know if the odds were not in my favor—and for that reason I knew dwelling on it in the present wouldn’t do me any good.
Still—I couldn’t sleep. That was perhaps the most torturous thing of all.
I leaned back, rested my head on the hospital-grade pillow, and tucked the blankets under my chin, shivering. It had not snowed or rained, but the temperature had plummeted to outrageous degrees. Though I had no idea what it was, I imagined it was somewhere near freezing, if not below.
The fact that Jason could be out there—freezing, or even worse, dead—was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
We should’ve stayed longer. I knew we should’ve. But what would’ve happened if we had? Would we have succumbed to malnutrition? Exhaustion? Have been unable to go on? Or would we have waited for nothing?
“We did everything we could,” I whispered to myself. “Everything we were able to.”
Outside the door to my room, I thought I heard someone move, but shook it off and closed my eyes.
I knew I could do nothing until tomorrow morning.
For that reason, I tried to sleep—or, at the very least, to rest.
Asha was the one who roused me at dawn the following day. Dressed in the casual clothes she’d worn from the day before but outfitted with a suit of body armor, a secondary pistol, and a helmet that covered her eyes with protective Plexiglas, she knocked on the door. Pushing it open, she said, very clearly, “Wake up, Ana Mia.”
“Is it time?” I asked, throwing my legs over the side of the bed.
“It’s time,” my friend said.
I set my feet on the floor and didn’t hesitate to slide them into the winter boots I had liberated from one of the homes in Johnson City. When I rose to face my friend, I barely recognized her behind the mask, but nodded as she led me into the hall.
“We’re going to head toward the outskirts of Stonewall, and then make our way back to Austin from there,” Asha said as we descended the flight of stairs. She turned into a side room near the front lobby, which had been converted into an armory.
“Did they say what would happen if we didn’t find him?” I asked.
“No,” Asha replied, “which was exactly what scared me.”
I knew that act could not go on indefinitely. It would eventually end in either the declaration of Jason’s death or his discovery, if we were lucky enough to find him. Either way, I wanted it said and done; so, when a woman stepped forward to offer me a suit of armor and weapons, I took everything and geared up as quickly as I could.
Once prepared and ready for the day’s excursion, I walked into the lobby. A group of four armed men and women stood around a good-looking Asian man, who was much shorter than the rest of the group. “Ah,” he said as we approached. “You must be the girls from Fort Hope.”
“Yes sir,” Asha said. I merely nodded, too nervous to speak.
“Glad to see you finally made it down here. My name’s Captain Sin. I’ll be leading this expedition today. Are you ready to head out to Stonewall and see if we can find your friend?”
“More than ready,” I replied, tightening my hold on my weapon.
“We’re going to be going by helicopter rather than by car,” he said, turning to lead us toward the revolving glass doorway. “This’ll ensure that we’re safer while we’re on the road, and will give us the chance to escape should we happen to run into any trouble.”
“Are you expecting trouble?” I frowned.
“Only that which Commander Dubois mentioned when briefing me about this mission, which included t
he armed men in Stonewall and the extraterrestrials the pair of you encountered on your way here.”
“We’re not going to be out past dark though,” Asha said. “Right?”
“That’s not our plan, miss, but some plans don’t go as anticipated.”
No, I thought to say, but chose to keep my mouth shut rather than speak. They didn’t.
We made our way into the street and turned to go through a multi-level parking lot. Most of the vehicles within had been stripped—either salvaged for parts or left to rust in their eternal slumber—while some appeared crisp and good as new. The latter were larger vehicles—which, I imagined, this faction of the military used for supply runs and to bring back any necessary equipment they needed for their labs or civilian population.
“How long has this place been standing?” I asked as we continued to maneuver through the dark parking lot, lit only by the light streaming in through the faint cracks of concrete.
“As a military organization?” Captain Sin said. “Since just after the invasions began. We needed a facility large enough to house our military while at the same time able to provide substantial testing facilities for our scientists. Burgundy Hospital was just that place.”
“So it’s been safe all this time?” Asha asked. “You haven’t had any trouble?”
“No more than we could handle,” he said, and kept it at that.
I exchanged cautious glances with Asha, who shrugged and adjusted her hold on the weapon in her arms. Though on one hand I was reassured that it had stood the test of time—and for six years at that—I wondered if, like Fort Hope, it, too, would fall. It wasn’t unlikely, considering what had happened no more than a week prior, but the idea of Asha and me—or even me on my own—having to navigate the brutal world on our own again was enough to send shivers down my spine.
I wanted the hospital to be our new home—for it to be the haven that would withstand the test of time and everything it had to offer. But would it, now that we were here?
I couldn’t think about it—not when we had so much to do.
