Page 80 of V-Day
He pointed to the long windows on the other side of the cavernous hall.
That was where all the passengers had gone to, Olivia realized. They had abandoned their luggage, letting it circle endlessly, while they pressed themselves against the glass.
Over their heads, climbing higher and higher above the horizon, was a cloud that looked a lot like…
Olivia gasped. “Daniel, is that…would that be…?”
“Vistaria?” His voice was hoarse. He nodded, looking at the window.
Olivia covered her mouth with her hands, holding in any pitiful sounds she might make.
Who had been caught in it?
Who would be the final causalities of this war which had just ended?
*
WHEN GARRETT WAS IN DOCTORmode, he couldn’t be interrupted for anything mundane. He simply didn’t hear anyone, even if they shook his arm or tried to take the scalpel away from him. Carmen knew that from personal and direct experience.
This time, though, some externality must have registered upon his subconscious. When she tugged on the sleeve of his shirt, he paused from tying the suture he was in the middle of and looked around. She pointed.
Climbing up above the cleft of Freonegro pass was a billowing, roiling gray cloud, with a long, long shaft and a thick head which was spreading even as they watched.
“Oh, Christ…” Garrett breathed.
A big Chinook helicopter roared over the valley, drowning out everything. It was super low—low enough that Carmen could see the treads on the tires on the wheels at the front.
“Fuck! The wounds! Cover the wounds!” Garrett cried, leaning over his current patient to shield the open wound from the wind and dirt being whipped up by the twin sets of rotors.
Carmen leapt to pull the sheet up over the next patient. They were all lying on the ground because there were no facilities or gurneys to put them on. The American medics Garrett had asked Thorne to assign to him leapt to follow suit.
The helicopter came to a halt in mid-air, then descended, to settle only a hundred yards away. The back door opened. A US military officer with insignia Carmen didn’t recognize strode over to where Garret was bent over his patient, using the sides of his white coat as a shield.
“Sorry about that,” the officer said to Garrett.
“When you aren’t being a fucking moron, who are you?” Garrett demanded.
“Colonel Alan Roberts, US Medical Corps.” He nodded toward the skyline where the cloud was still expanding. “Specifically, I’m the lead medic for the Army’s radiation protocol and dispersal of same. You’re going to need my help.”
Garrett sat back on his heels. “Radiation…” he breathed and closed his eyes.
Roberts hooked his thumb over his shoulder toward the helicopter, where cartons and trunks and containers were being off-loaded at a great rate. “We’ve got folding cots onboard. They might make your first aid station more comfortable, yes?”
Carmen rested her hand on Garret’s arm. It was tight with tension. “Yes, thank you, Colonel Roberts,” she said gently. “We will need every bit of help you can give us.”
*
EVEN THOUGH THE VIEW HADN’Tchanged for five minutes, everyone gathered around Parris’ computer continued to watch the cloud in total silence.
Chloe didn’t realize she was crying until Cristián used the corner of his shirt to dab her cheeks dry.
Parris reached out and closed the lid. Slowly. She laid her hand on top. “Rest in peace,” she murmured.
