“Yeah?” She glanced over at him, and this time he was sure she smiled.
“Yeah,” he nodded.
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“You never know.”
They reached the Control Room, and as soon as they entered, they heard a small, female voice. For a moment, he thought the guys had let a little girl into the room. Except the voice was coming from a ham radio on a shelf on the back wall, broadcasting from somewhere nearby.
It was a young female voice, and he recognized it as belonging to a child.
“Hello? Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me? Please, if you can hear me, we need help. We’re running out of supplies and my brother is hurt. I’m all alone now. Is anyone there…?”
CHAPTER 32
LARA
Lara’s father was an amateur radio operator when she was a kid, though he gave it up when his only daughter didn’t find it quite as interesting as she once did, when she sat on his knee to see the blinking lights. This ham radio looked much more sophisticated than her father’s, with a ridiculous amount of buttons, LED readings, and dials. She recognized the microphone, though, which hadn’t changed very much over the years.
“Hello? Is anyone there? Please, we need help. My brother is hurt. I think he’s hurt real bad. Is anyone out there?”
The girl’s voice was young and frail. It came through clear on the radio but didn’t really tell her anything. The voice could be from as nearby as Starch or from halfway across the globe. That was the charm of a ham radio — the ability to reach the world without ever leaving your basement.
Ben was there with Davies, the man who usually worked the Control Room’s afternoon shifts, both of them looking at the radio but neither moving to answer it.
“She started broadcasting a few minutes ago,” Ben said. “We usually leave the radio on all day, with the unit set to automatically scroll across the bands every few minutes in case someone tries to make contact. It’s connected to an antenna in the woods.”
“Has anyone made contact before?” Will asked.
“This is the first time we’ve heard from another living soul out there. We almost missed it, too. Davies was about to leave for the day.”
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Lara asked.
“That’s why I told Will to bring you,” Ben said. “I was hoping you would answer her. I don’t want to spook her. She sounds like a little kid.”
She nodded. It made sense. Kids usually responded better to a female presence.
She picked up the microphone and pushed the push-to-talk lever on its side. She took a breath. “Hello?”
She depressed the lever to let the girl talk, but there was no voice from the other end. She waited, then looked to Will for confirmation. He gave her an encouraging nod, and she pressed the lever and spoke into the microphone again.
“Hello, I can hear you. My name is Lara. What’s your name?”
No response.
Lara waited a few more seconds, and was about to press the lever again when the voice suddenly came back.
“Elise. My name’s Elise.”
Lara breathed a sigh of relief. “Elise. It’s nice to meet you. How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“Are you alone, Elise? You said your brother was with you.”
“Todd…”
“Is Todd hurt?”
“Yes. He’s hurt bad.”
“How old is Todd, Elise?”
“Fifteen. But he’s going to be sixteen in two days. I won’t get a chance to find him a present or anything.”
“I’m sure he knows you tried your best,” Lara said. She was thankful the men hadn’t crowded around her. She took another deep breath, then pressed the microphone again. “Where are you now, Elise? Can you tell me?”
“I’m underneath the school. In the basement. We both are.”
“What school, Elise?”
“The high school.”
She thought about Vera and tried to picture her in Elise’s position. Small, vulnerable, and scared. Not alone, but she might as well be with her brother hurt. Patience was the key here.
“What is the name of the school, Elise? Do you know?”
“Dansby High School.”
Lara looked over at the men. Davies was nodding his head. “Dansby is a town about ten miles up the highway. I know that high school — I’ve been to football games there.”
She turned back to the mic. “We know where the school is, Elise. Are you okay?”
“Todd’s hurt…”
“But are you okay, sweetheart?”
“I think so.” The girl’s voice seemed to drop another level when she said, “Lara?”
“Yes, Elise. I’m here.”
“Can you save us?”
Lara felt her heart break. It took her a moment before she could be sure her voice wouldn’t quiver when she answered. “Yes, Elise. We’ll save you. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She looked at the men. Will nodded again, encouraging her to keep going. She turned back to the radio. “Is Todd there? Can I speak to Todd, Elise?”
“He’s asleep,” Elise said. “He’s hurt real bad and took some medicine and now he’s sleeping. He’s been sleeping all day.”
“Okay, that’s fine. He’s probably just tired from the medicine. I need you to listen to me carefully, Elise.”
“Okay…”
Lara glanced down at her watch. 4:15 p.m.
“I want you to stay exactly where you are and don’t go anywhere, okay? You’re very close to us, and we can come and get you very soon. Understand, sweetheart? Tell me you understand.”
“I understand.”
“What will you do until I get there?”
“Stay still. Don’t go out.”
“That’s good, sweetheart. I want you to stay exactly where you are. Do you have any food left?”
“A little bit…”
“Enough for the day?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Okay, I want you to make sure it lasts for at least one more day, because that’s all it’s going to take for me to get to you.”
“Please hurry.”
“I will. And Elise?”
“Yes?” the girl replied, the hope in her voice making Lara’s chest heave.
“Just hold on a little while longer, sweetheart. I’ll come get you. I promise.”
“Hurry, Lara.”
She released the lever and looked at Will. “I’m going to go get her,” she said softly, but with absolute certainty.
He nodded back. “We’ll go with you, but not today. It’s two hours until sundown. We need to carve out as much sunlight as possible to get there and back. Until then, see what else you can get from her.”
Lara nodded. He was right, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear, or to turn back to the radio and tell Elise. But she did, doing her very best to reassure the girl that she would be there. Not today, but tomorrow.
Tomorrow…
She spent another two hours talking to Elise, comforting the girl and reassuring her that they would be there tomorrow. She didn’t let the girl go — she didn’t want to let her go — until she heard Elise yawn. Lara told her to go to sleep and turn off the radio so it didn’t make any noise. By the time she left the Control Room, she couldn’t remember ever having felt so hopeful since all of this began.
Will followed her back to the Infirmary, where he watched her pace back and forth in the middle of the room. Trying to wear out the carpet, her mom would have said, except there wasn’t any carpet in the facility, only hard, solid concrete. She hadn’t realized how much she missed carpets until now.
“You did a good job preparing her for tonight,” Will said. “She’ll be fine until we can get there tomorrow.”