Cora didn’t know what her aim was. There was a small chance that whoever was in charge of distributing the medicine would allow Michelle to have it. But for all she knew, there was none left and it had all been looted.
She felt Michelle’s head for the fifth time since they had left the El train. She was burning hot.
Cora felt foolish. She didn’t need this new responsibility, but she couldn’t simply leave Michelle behind. Her mother was dead, Cora had little doubt. But even if she weren’t dead, Cora knew Michelle would be if she didn’t get antibiotics soon. With Cora’s nurse badge, they wouldn’t keep her out of the hospital. They might even offer her food and water.
Michelle would be safe here.
Cora looked around. Safe in a graveyard? As the stench of decomposing bodies wafted in the air, Cora felt the need to vomit, but she kept it in.
There was one guard a few feet in front of the hospital entrance. He started to hold up his hand, but Cora pulled out her badge and flashed it to him.
The guard nodded at her without saying anything and motioned her forward to the hospital entrance, which looked like the dark entrance to a cave.
There was no shortage of people inside the atrium.
There were more bodies covered—the ones who had most recently died and awaited transport to the parking garage—and then there were patients laid out on makeshift beds. These patients were the ones who were the least critically ill—the ones who would likely survive under any normal circumstance.
Doctors and nurses worked frantically, and no single worker was idle. Some of the patients had no tags or bracelets, while others looked like they had been moved from other areas of the hospital.
Cora didn’t need to ask where the best place to get antibiotics was. If it hadn’t been completely ransacked for supplies already, then she didn’t suspect there to be anyone in the Intensive Care Unit. A number of the ICU patients would have died after two days without electricity and backup power, and it was likely the survivors would have been moved to a spot in the hospital with more natural light. So, either everyone else had the same idea about the ICU as Cora and completely stripped it of medical supplies or, in a panic, they had gotten rid of bodies quickly and the rooms had been shut and forgotten.
If the ICU hadn’t been ransacked yet, then it would be as soon as doctors and nurses started to run out of supplies. She wondered how long much of the staff would stay here. They were no doubt holding onto the hope that the power would come back on and that they only had to wait long enough. But soon, each of them was going to have to deal with their families. They could only do so much until their supplies were depleted and they had no way to care for the patients.
Cora’s only priority was Michelle. Her fever was dangerously high, and if she didn’t get medication soon, her brain would cook.
Cora’s biceps burned as she carried Michelle through the sea of patients on the floor, some of them calling out, crying, others sleeping, waiting to be seen by someone. The ones with open eyes and a vacant stare gave Cora chills. It was as though they had accepted their fate on the floor of this hospital atrium, and they knew they would die here. For some of them, perhaps many of them, they were right.
Cora stepped over a man who called out for a doctor, screaming in agony.
She ascended the steps toward the ICU. It was on the third floor, and she wasn’t yet sure how she would get into the room with the magnetic locks holding them in place, but she pushed forward anyway. At the top of the second floor, her legs ached so badly she had to sit for a moment, still holding Michelle in her arms. From this height, she could see the atrium below and the sight of so many patients took her breath away. It looked like a battlefield hospital where soldiers lay in wait in the most unsanitary conditions. The other floors and wings of the hospital must have been overrun already, and these must be from an influx of patients after the first night of the power outage.
Cora took a deep breath and gathered her strength for the next flight of stairs up to the ICU.
She imagined the only medical staff left were those who didn’t care about their billable hours and overtime pay. It was unlikely anyone here would be paid for what they were doing.
This power outage couldn’t last much longer, could it? They weren’t getting shipments of food with the city like this. Pretty soon, whatever was salvageable from the kitchens would be used up by patients. That wasn’t even to mention the fact that there was no running water pumping through the hospital. They were in a hopeless situation that would claim them all if they didn’t start looking for a way out of the city.
Cora had her thoughts set on Hope. She couldn’t get there now, and she wasn’t sure how she would get there later. She wondered how worried her dad was about her. News of Chicago’s power outage would have been a national disaster trending on social media or the top story on all of the news networks. The only thing was, Cora hadn’t seen anyone with cameras, or helicopters or drones flying around to capture footage. That worried her more than anything. The only working technology she had seen had been with the soldiers surrounding their neighborhood. Otherwise, they were living in complete isolation and darkness. Perhaps people in Hope had no idea of what was going on. Surely they weren’t facing the same problem up there.
Cora couldn’t imagine it. If they were under the same power outage, she would bet that her dad had the town whipped into shape already. There was no doubt they would be looking to him for leadership. He was the natural leader of any situation, whether he wanted to be or not. He was decisive and took charge for the simple fact that he didn’t usually trust anyone else.
She missed him. She missed Gwen, too. The three of them had grown apart over the last few years. With their mother’s death and their brother’s death, it had been as though the seam of their family had been pulled, allowing for their fabric to be unwoven.
She charged up the third flight of stairs with confidence, but her steps slowed as she moved down the corridor. Everywhere she looked she saw people in pain. Sick people. Injured people. This hospital was fuller than she had ever seen, and most of the patients were without any help.
Cora realized her miscalculation when she got to the ICU—there certainly wasn’t a problem with the doors being locked. Instead of the ICU being completely empty because most, if not all, of the patients would have died without power, it was packed full with patients, most of them lying on the floor. One or two doctors were doing what they could to help, and a handful of nurses were carefully going from person to person.
Cora felt completely lost.
She recognized one of the nurses and walked up to her. Her name was Tracy. When Cora approached her, Tracy looked down at Michelle in her arms. Tracy shook her head slowly and took a deep breath.
“I hope you’re not needing pain medication,” Tracy said.
“Antibiotics,” Cora answered. “She has a deep gash in her leg and it’s infected. She’s got a high fever now.”
Tracy shook her head again and looked down at the floor as though she were trying to think.
“First day of the power outage a few of the doctors were ordering us to move all of the medical stores to one location. They were afraid of people stealing. Anything we have here is already spoken for by another patient.”
“Then where can I get the antibiotics?” Cora asked. She was tired of this and just wanted a straight answer.
Tracy bit her lower lip as though she didn’t want to give out the information that she had but reluctantly decided to tell her. “Medical stores are on the second floor near the maternity ward. I don’t know if you’ll get antibiotics, but you might want to check with Dr. Ashburne. He’s down there near the stores, and may have what you need.”
Cora didn’t know who Dr. Ashburne was, but it seemed like if she were going to get the meds, she was going to have to tell a compelling story. For all she knew, there were a hundred people out there who needed antibiotics. But surely the doctors and the nurses saw the writing on t
he wall. This was not sustainable, and there had been no signs of rescue. Without power and shipments of food, and without running water, the hospital was going to become a cesspool. It wouldn’t be safe for any of them to be there. Disease would spread quickly, and people would tear one another apart trying to get water and food. Much less medicine.
“I’m just gonna go ahead and tell you,” Tracy said. “You won’t get what you need. And I’m sorry to be the one to tell you that. A lot of people have died. A lot more people are going to die unless this gets fixed. Dr. Ashburne has taken over triage for the entire hospital medication for himself. I don’t know the legality of all of that, but I do know there’s no one stopping him from doing it. I’m also not sure if it’s a good idea or a terrible idea. He’s keeping it protected and doling it out to people who need it and can actually survive with the medicine.”
“If Michelle gets antibiotics, she will survive. That’s a pretty compelling case to me.”
Tracy sighed and nodded. “Then good luck to you. I hope she gets what she needs.”
Cora felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. She thought having access to the hospital and being a nurse would give her a leg up in this situation, but it seemed she was in as much trouble as everyone else. She looked down at Michelle, who was red in the face and hot to the touch. She had been talking to Cora, and her eyes had been open before her ascent. Now, Michelle was asleep.
She didn’t have much time. Cora just hoped Dr. Ashburne cared enough to save Michelle’s life.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Sam’s head throbbed as his eyes opened. A light shone above his head and it shouldn’t have been there. It should have been out like the rest of the lights.
It buzzed with a grating noise that made him grind his teeth. The heat from the bulb consumed the top of his head and the back of his neck. His hands were tied behind him to a wooden chair and his wrists ached from the tightness of the rope.
They had gotten to him. He didn’t know how they found him, he didn’t know what resources it must’ve taken to do it. But they had found him.
It struck him as odd that he felt calm in this situation. It wasn’t peace so much as relief. Relief that he no longer had to run or look over his shoulder.
Still, fear began to creep into his chest. He didn’t want to die. It would make Henry’s sacrifice for him in vain.
He should have just gone to prison and spent the rest of his life there. It was what he deserved, and it seemed that fate had decided he deserved it, too.
He had gotten away with a lot of crimes, particularly when it came to hacking.
It was funny to him because even though many of the things he had been doing were illegal, he felt he had been uncovering a great evil. But the good guys didn’t always win.
He wondered how the Horsemen had been able to find him, but then he remembered the power of their organization. A group that could shut the lights off over the entire United States was certainly a group that could find out where some hacker lived in the middle of Chicago. Sam was like an ant trying to take down a human with its minuscule mandibles. His actions might have been enough for the giant enemy to notice him, but it had taken no effort for them to squash him and be rid of the problem.
Bare concrete walls surrounded him, and dark stains painted the floors and walls where water had once sat but had long since dried. He crinkled his nose at the acrid stench that hung in the air.
It was the perfect place to be murdered.
Sam knew he wasn’t going to be killed just yet. You didn’t tie someone to a chair and lock them in a dank room just to kill them the moment they woke up. No. They wanted to ask him questions. More than likely, they wanted access to his computer and hard drive. He had underestimated the Horsemen before, so he didn’t want to assume they would have a difficult time cracking his security. They had unlimited resources, an unshakable will, and probably the smartest brains in the world working for them.
Sam looked to his right at the single door in the room. It was metal and rusted. He was certain he hadn’t been out for too long, so he wondered how they had a place like this ready for him in the middle of Chicago. For all he knew, though, the Horsemen had facilities everywhere.
A certain flaw existed in almost all conspiracy theories. Whether it was about a fake moon landing, the JFK assassination, or 9/11 being an inside job, the common flaw was that just too many people would have to be in on it for it to remain a secret. If the moon landing was fake, thousands of people would have to have been in on it, and they would have had to keep their mouths shut.
But learning about the Horsemen and how they worked, Sam wasn’t so sure. The Horsemen were able to exist because the people they employed didn’t know they were employed by the Horsemen. One of those soldiers up in the street might have no idea he was operating a mission for some shadow group. There might be only a handful of people that really knew what was happening.
Now, from what Sam understood, the Horsemen hadn’t infiltrated the entire United States government, nor were they comprised of the entire military force. They were most likely certain people in charge who could pull the strings to use those resources. That wasn’t to say the soldiers up above weren’t mercenaries, either. Regardless, Sam knew he was up against a monstrous organization.
The door opened with a loud creak, and Sam jerked his head up to see Elias standing in the doorway. The man swung the door behind him and it shut with a loud clang. He paced in front of Sam, watching him, studying him.
“So, are you going to make me go through the entire charade, or do you just want to give up what you know?” Elias asked.
“What am I doing here?” Sam answered.
“Your security is proving to be quite robust. We will get through it, rest assured, but I’m less interested in what you know versus how you know.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Aren’t you just some crazy homeless guy?”
“You are Samuel Jacob Tash, are you not?”
Sam didn’t say anything, he just watched as Elias pulled out a wallet, then showed Sam his driver’s license.
Sam swore under his breath. “Okay, that’s me,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean anything. Who are you?”
“I have a feeling you know exactly who I am, don’t you, Knuckles?”
Elias said Sam’s screen name slowly and with a grin. They had been watching everything. They knew everything.
“What happened to the others?” Sam asked.
“The other Hunters?” Elias asked. “They are dead. Except for me and you, of course. We killed Weasel first. He was easy, the moron. Astrid put up a good fight, but she was snuffed out quickly enough. Hubbs proved difficult to find at first, but again, not too much for us to handle. None of them knew quite as much as you did, though.”
Sam felt sick. He didn’t know whether or not to believe Elias, but the fact that he was saying their handles was enough to prove he at least knew something.
“So,” Sam said, his voice thick, “you’re Blackleaf then?”
“Sure,” Elias said with a grin. “It was important for us to know the kind of people who were coming after us.”
“I’m nobody,” Sam said.
“That’s right, you are. But you’re a nobody who was able to figure out what we were doing.”
“Obviously there was nothing I could do about it,” Sam said. He had to be careful here. Elias might assume Sam knew more than he did. Not that it would matter. They were going to kill him anyway.
“Well,” Elias said. “That’s what I’ve come to talk to you about. I want to know who you might have sent this information to. Who else knows about this?”
Sam squinted at Elias, studying the man. He had no clue what Sam knew and didn’t know, and they hadn’t been able to get onto his computer or hard drive to figure out all of the data he had obtained. The computer and the hard drive were lost to Sam now, but he could still feel the hidden compartment in his shoe where he k
ept the SD card. It had the same information as was on his computer, but it wasn’t encrypted. If they just strip searched him, they would know everything he had.
This potential knowledge gave Sam enough leverage to keep him alive for now. They wanted to track down everyone he may have sent the information to. Their paranoia told him what they were really afraid of: exposure of their plans.
Sam smiled at Elias, though it wasn’t genuine. He wanted the man to think he knew more than he did.
“Yeah, you’ve hit the world pretty hard, but I know what you’re going for,” Sam said. “You guys sure do suck.”
“That statement alone tells me you know nothing of what we are about,” Elias said. “And you certainly don’t hold the convictions we do.”
“Convictions? So you’re doing what you think is right?”
“Isn’t everyone?” Elias asked. “We all do what we think is right. No one deliberately does what they think is wrong except for sociopaths. So, we all have to justify our actions to ourselves. You do it. I do it. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t justify actions that someone else would think are wrong.”
“Millions of people will die for what you’ve done,” Sam said. “Millions probably already have.”
Elias didn’t acknowledge the statement. “What kind of documentation do you have on that computer?”
“Probably not enough to matter,” Sam said. “Hopefully my friends can do something about what’s coming, though.”
Elias watched him, staring into his eyes for a full minute. “You’re bluffing,” he finally said. “You didn’t send it to anyone. You probably don’t even know what you have, do you?”
“I know a lot more than you think,” Sam said. He was starting to feel desperate, and the more he talked, the more Elias could see right through him.
Elias bent down in front of Sam so that their eyes were on the same level. “I’ve done this a lot, you know. And you know what I have found to be the most common?”
Sam didn’t say anything.
Fallen Earth | Book 2 | Aftermath Page 16
