Ashes, Ashes (25 page)

“You’re being overly dramatic, Delfina,” she said. “As usual. The children are being well looked after. They’ve been awaiting your return, in fact.” Her glance traveled from Aidan to Lucy. Del made an explosive sound of frustration.

“How quickly you’ve reverted to savages,” the woman said in the same light tone. “There’s an article in here somewhere. ‘Primitive Response to Traumatic Stress Syndrome,’ perhaps?” She sounded amused. “Your weapons are hardly necessary.”

“What about the Tasers?” Aidan yelled. His arms were trembling with the effort of keeping his bowstring flexed. Beads of perspiration ran down his forehead.

Three of the Sweepers turned to face him. Dr. Lessing lifted her hand and looked toward the burly man standing to her left. His hands were bare. Lucy noticed the red hairs bristling from his knuckles and his chewed nails—small details that seemed magnified. She tried to see his face, but the visor was too dark. It was disorienting, like trying to see to the bottom of a murky pond. She could tell that the Sweeper standing on the other side was staring at her. A woman, she thought. Medium height, plump, the ends of her blond hair sticking out from under her helmet.

“Simmons,” the doctor said. It sounded like an order, though she said no more than the man’s name. The Sweeper with the red hair on his fingers jerked his head at the others. The other Sweepers stepped back, holding their semicircular formation.

“Better?” she asked. “Come, now. Surely we can be civilized? You haven’t been living in the Wilds for so long?”

Lucy looked at Aidan. She was separated from him by twenty feet of gleaming marble tile floor. Two Sweepers still guarded her, their Tasers primed. They were so close, she could smell ozone frying. Del hovered next to the staircase leading down. Her bow was shouldered, the arrows stowed in her backpack. Lucy stared at her, willing the girl to meet her eyes. Del ducked her head. Her hair hung across her cheek. Tears tracked down her cheeks. Lucy felt no pity. She wondered how Aidan was feeling. One glance at his contorted expression was enough to tell her. He had gone red with anger, but as she watched him, his countenance whitened. She could see the muscles bunch in his jaw as he ground his teeth together.

She turned to face Dr. Lessing. Again the name stirred a memory. “What do you want with me?”

“I wanted to meet you. To talk with you.”

“Why?”

Dr. Lessing smiled again. She smiled a lot. “There are things I’d like to ask you, but not here, standing in a foyer. Come to my office. I can make some coffee and we can chat.”

Lucy glanced at Aidan, who had not lowered his weapon. “And what about them?”

“If they’d like to join us for coffee, that would be fine. Otherwise, Delfina can go.”

“Aidan?”

“Aidan is supposed to come with me!” Del said.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” He cast her such a look of loathing that she backed up.

“We’d like to check Aidan. Make sure he’s healthy. I can’t help but notice he’s favoring his left arm.”

“Like you ‘checked’ Leo?” Lucy said.

Dr. Lessing spread her hands. “Leo was ill. He carried the plague, and it flared up. We tried to help him.”

“That’s crap and you know it!” Aidan said. “You attacked the camp!”

“We came to the camp to help you. We were attacked before we could explain.”

“You brought weapons,” Lucy pointed out.

“There are wild animals everywhere. You know that.”

“People have been disappearing for months, and it all leads back to this place,” Aidan said.

Dr. Lessing transferred her gaze to him. “Is this some kind of conspiracy theory?” she said gently. “Look at us. I am just one doctor. These people are here to keep the hospital and patients safe. Many of my staff lost loved ones. We help people; we don’t harm them.”

“Leo was healthy until he came here. He was the strongest person I knew.”

“The disease lies dormant. In birds, in rats, in people. Sometimes for months. He was already too far gone. We tried to sedate him, but he fought, injured one of my men and got out of the building. He escaped into the Wilds, and we couldn’t find him.”

“He died,” Lucy said. She had a sour taste in her mouth.

“I am sorrier than I can say,” said Dr. Lessing.

“What about the dogs? You use dogs to hunt people,” Aidan said. His grip on his bow faltered. With an effort he raised it up to his shoulder. The string pressed against his cheek, and Lucy saw the livid mark there, red against the whiteness around his lips.

“The dogs are a search-and-rescue team. They are trained to find people after a disaster. They track humans by the scent of their blood. It’s quite amazing, really,” she said with another wide smile. “They can detect the differences.”

Lucy shook her head. She was too tired to figure out what was a lie and what was the truth. This woman had an answer for everything, and her voice was calm. She sounded concerned. She looked like someone you confided in.

“There really isn’t much choice, Lucy. You’re outnumbered, after all.” She said this with another broad, white-toothed smile. She was teasing them.

“What’ll happen to them if I go with you?”

“Delfina can go home right away. Aidan will be looked after, as I said before. We’ll give him a thorough checkup. I’d hate to think the plague was incubating in your camp. There are all those children. Think what a tragedy it would be!”

Lucy hesitated. This rang true. Wasn’t she worried that she might be a carrier herself?

Dr. Lessing nodded to Simmons. The Sweepers backed up even farther and lowered their Tasers.

“I just want to talk to you, Lucy,” Dr. Lessing said. “You are a very special girl.”

“Why do you say that?” Lucy said, suddenly nervous. Could they know that she hadn’t been vaccinated?

“I know all about you,” she said. “You’re a survivor.”

“Can I get the kids now?” Del demanded. Her nails were ragged horrors, the tender pads of her fingers torn and chewed.

“Of course,” Dr. Lessing said. “You know the way, dear. Your friends will be right behind you. Emi and Jack are on the next floor down. They’ll be so excited to see you. They’ve been ready since six o’clock this evening. So eager!” She laughed again. “Kelly, go with Delfina and help her, won’t you?”

The blonde Sweeper stepped forward. She passed by quite close to Lucy, and once again she had the clear sense that the woman was staring at her from behind her dark visor.

Del muttered, “Del, not Delfina. You’re not my friggin’ mother.” She cast one last, pleading look at Aidan, which he ignored, and ran down the stairs. They heard the intake of breath as she stumbled, the click of the door opening and then closing one floor down. Kelly followed at a slower pace.

Lucy didn’t want to be separated from Aidan, but it seemed silly to insist on it after Dr. Lessing had shown them to two rooms adjoining each other. “Simmons is an EMT—one of two on my staff. Kelly is the other,” she said, opening the closest door. Inside the small room was an examining table, an IV drip, cabinets, and an armchair. “He can check Aidan’s arm. Or is it your ribs?”

“I just wrenched my shoulder,” Aidan said. “Could have pulled a muscle,” he admitted, opening and closing his fist. A flutter of pain crossed his face.

“He can make you more comfortable. Run a few tests.” She looked into his eyes. “Does that sound feasible? It shouldn’t take long, and then you can join us for coffee if you’d like. Or I’ll send a cup in.”

Aidan nodded.

“You can join us later,” the doctor continued. “I’ll leave the door to my office open.”

Aidan shot Lucy a reassuring smile.

She reached out for his hand, moved closer, and spoke in a whisper. “This doesn’t seem real. I feel like I’m dreaming. Can we trust her?”

“I’m not sure. See if you can get some answers.”

Simmons had removed his helmet. He smoothed his hands over his bushy red hair and slipped his Taser into his pocket. He was younger than Lucy had expected. His face was pale and sweaty. The hazmat suit was zipped up tight under his chin, and the skin above it was red and angry-looking, as if he had heat rash. It was warm inside the building. She felt the lining of her jacket stick to her skin.

Simmons cleared his throat. “You can put your bow and your backpack just there on the chair, Aidan.” And he waved him into the examining room.

“Come along, Lucy,” Dr. Lessing said. Lucy entered a room furnished with a large wooden desk, a tall cabinet, and a couple of deep, upholstered armchairs. A thick carpet in rich hues of red and gold covered the floor. It was a comfortable room, but Lucy could smell the strong odor of cleaning fluid and other odors, antiseptic and medicinal. It seemed to permeate everything. And it was chilly, a shock after the humidity on the landing.

“Have a seat,” Dr. Lessing said, propping the door open. Her gaze never left Lucy’s face, and she frowned as if she were concentrating on a puzzle.

Lucy took the seat closest to the hallway so that she could keep an eye on the closed door of the examining room where Aidan was. She pushed her backpack under the chair. She looked around. The walls were bare and painted white. Floor to ceiling built-in shelves, also painted white, were filled with a collection of wide-spined books covered in red leather. Medical books, Lucy guessed. Off to the side, a door opened onto a closet-sized space with a narrow cot bed. Heavy curtains were drawn over the windows, which she guessed looked out on the parking lots and the bridge. The thought that Dr. Lessing could have been sitting here in the dark, watching them sneak across it made her feel jumpy.

The doctor seemed nice enough, though. Lucy watched her as she busied herself at the countertop behind her desk. An electric kettle whistled. The air conditioner rattled and wheezed. The air tasted metallic. The drone of the generator was just background noise now and hardly registered. Lucy tried to remember what it would be like to live with electricity, but failed. She wondered if the hospital staff listened to music, had dance parties on Saturday nights. It didn’t seem likely.

The two desk lamps felt too bright to her. She was used to the small dancing flames of the lanterns and the steady orange glow of a campfire.

“It’s only instant, I’m afraid,” Dr. Lessing said and turned around with two steaming mugs. “Artificial creamer?”

Lucy shook her head and accepted the cup.

Dr. Lessing sat down behind her desk. “I miss cows, don’t you?”

“I guess,” said Lucy. She missed donuts and her family. Mostly her family. And feeling safe.

She took a sip of her drink. It was searingly hot and very sweet. The doctor had added sweetener without asking her. In the past she drank it black and unsweetened, but coffee, even this chalky, sugary mixture, was coffee. And it was comforting.

She blew on it, watching the woman from behind the rim of the cup.

Dr. Lessing put her cup down on a neatly folded square of tissue paper and opened a drawer to her right. She pulled out a thick folder. Lucy leaned forward. Coffee slopped over the edge of her mug, splashing onto her leg. She yelped. Dr. Lessing looked up momentarily. A little frown creased her forehead and then smoothed itself. Lucy recognized the folder. It was hers, from the nurse’s office at school. And now she remembered Dr. Lessing’s name from the reports inside. The school nurse, Mrs. Reynolds, had sent all the blood tests here.

“Why do you have that?” Lucy asked. The coffee wasn’t waking her up. Just the opposite. She felt like curling up in this soft chair and taking a nap. She forced herself to sit straight. “Did the school send it to you? Why?” She peered at it. There were pages covered in small, precisely written words. It was much bulkier than before.

Dr. Lessing closed the folder and pressed her palms flat against it. She stroked it and smiled. “They did so many tests on you, Lucy. Did you know? A veritable plethora, looking for the usual things: heightened immunity, some kind of increased antibody production, excessive white blood cells, excessive red blood cells. And then they got creative with it. The most far-fetched possibilities were considered, but there was nothing.” Her fingertips caressed the folder as if it were a cat. Her smile didn’t waver. “They died without ever finding out. I can’t imagine anything more frustrating.” Her eyes lingered on Lucy’s face. A spasm flickered across her eyelid.

Lucy swallowed the gulp of coffee she’d been holding in her mouth. She sputtered as it went down the wrong way. A tiny thread dribbled down her chin. Dr. Lessing handed her a tissue from the box on her desk.

“Am I sick?” Lucy asked in a whisper.

Dr. Lessing tapped her lip with a pen.

“Your parents didn’t vaccinate you.”

It sounded like an accusation.

“Yeah, I guess,” Lucy said. “I had an older brother who died from an allergic reaction when he was a baby.”

The doctor’s mouth pursed. Her eyes narrowed. She seemed to be looking at something that was far off in the distance. Lucy shifted in her chair. She finished the rest of her coffee, so hungry she even drank the thick syrup at the bottom, and held the mug in her hands. “You didn’t answer me,” she finally said. “Am I sick?”

“I didn’t believe it at first, but the tests corroborate it completely. You’re an anomaly. You shouldn’t exist.” She slapped the folder so hard, it made Lucy jump. “But you do!”

“What does it mean?”

Dr. Lessing got to her feet in a quick, smooth motion. She walked to the window, pulled the curtain aside. The sun was coming up, flushing the concrete parking lot with pink and gold light. “It means,” she said, “I’ve searched for you for a long time, Lucy Holloway. I almost got you at the Midtown shelter, but you vanished.” She frowned. “And then Del mentioned your name while I was asking her a few general questions about the settlement. Such an unbelievable stroke of luck. I don’t think she likes you much, by the way. It took some convincing, but she eventually saw that it was the right choice to bring you here.”

“She didn’t escape,” Lucy said, suddenly sure of it. “You let her go.”

“She’s a capable girl, that one. A little vindictive, but trustworthy, and her heart’s in the right place.” She swung around. “She’d do anything for the little ones, you know. Quite motherly, although she doesn’t look it.”