“Find out where my brother is. Where they evacuated him and if he’s safe. Then… help you find who you need to find. That’s all I have to do.”
“That’s probably what most people will do,” Kit said. “Searching for families. We will be a society of nomads, moving from place to place looking for loved ones while fighting for scraps of food.”
Abe exhaled loudly and shook his head. “Wow, you are really deep in thought on this.”
“I am. What about these people that will suffer long term? This isn’t Hiroshima, Nagasaki or any war torn city, there’s no United States to go in, bring aid and help clean up.”
“We don’t know that,” Abe said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… we don’t know what’s out there. We got our missiles off the ground, who is to say they hit. Who is to say there isn’t another country waiting for the chance to come in and clean up what they won.”
“Can that happen?”
“It’s possible.”
Kit stood. “I could see that happening if a few bombs fell, but we’re talking thousands. There’s no dusting off so easily.” She took her cup to the dishpan. “Okay, I’m gonna try to shake this mood before we get to town. These people don’t need someone mean and miserable taking their names and determining if they go Red, Blue or Green.”
“It’s okay, Kit, it really is to feel this way.” Abe placed his hands on her shoulders. “You’re thinking ahead. It’s mind boggling because there is no precedence on this. There’s no way to predict an outcome. Why don’t you make it easy on yourself?”
“How would I do that?”
“Think ahead, but only until tomorrow,” Abe said. “One day at a time, because you don’t know what each day will bring.”
A military truck rolled loudly by them just before Abe and Kit parked in front of Central Medical.
“I guess they’re here,” Abe said. “That’s a good thing.”
“More hands, maybe? Then I can go searching for my son and brothers.”
“Look, I will make it a point, one way or another to go to Elcort today, as soon as I can. If they aren’t here, they have to be there. I’ll come get you.”
“I appreciate it.” She opened the truck door. “Good luck.”
“You too.” She stepped from the truck and let another military vehicle pass her. She watched it move down the street, a few people were in the back.
Someone spoke over the loud speaker, giving directions on where to go. Kit didn’t need directions, so she didn’t pay much attention to the details of the voice.
“If you have a Two card, please look for the station marked Two. If you have a Three…’
He repeated his words.
Kit walked inside, expecting the worst. So many more people, she could only imagine how bad the line was. Immediately she saw Harland. He didn’t look too bad for someone who had been working nonstop. Although his blue scrubs were soiled.
“There you are,” Harland said. “Did you get some rest?”
“I did. Thank you. Am I on check in?”
“Not today.”
“Those of you with the number One, please report to the emergency entrance.” The voice continued in the background.
“How long has the announcing been going on?”
“About two hours. I stopped listening,” Harland said.
“So what am I doing?’
“A lot of these people have already been screened and placed on trucks. They are using a numeric system. Three being our red. I need you to make sure people are in the right places. Double check the card they are wearing around their necks.”
“Please do not switch lanyards with someone else…” the male said.
Harland pointed upwards as if to a voice in the sky. “Lanyards. That’s it. That’s what they’re called. He’s right. We have people switching.”
“Okay, I’ll get on…” Kit paused and spun around as if searching.
“If you believe you are marked in error…”
“What’s wrong?” Harland asked.
“We will know upon examination.”
“Oh my God, the voice. How did I not recognize it?” she pushed through the crowd.
“Kit!” Harland called out.
She couldn’t see, she looked left and right around people. Call out again, please call out again so I can find you, she thought.
“Kit.” Harland stopped her. “What is going on?”
“The voice. The guy calling out. That’s my son.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“This way,” Harland led her away from the crowd and outside. “We’ll circle around. He’s making the announcements as the trucks drop off.”
“Did you see him?” Kit asked as she walked hurriedly with Harland.
“No. I didn’t pay attention to what he looked like,” Harland said. He hurried her around the building to the front. “Why would your son be making announcements?”
“Maybe he was at Schriever and they recruited him.” Kit saw a military truck dropping off a few people.
“There.” Harland pointed. “Is that him?”
Kit inched forward and her heart sunk. The man holding the bullhorn wasn’t her son. How could she be so mistaken? How could she not know he own kid’s voice. Then again, she didn’t recognize it at first.
“No,” Kit said. “I would have sworn….”
“Mom!”
Kit’s eyes widened and she turned to her left.
“Mom!” Zeke raced to her
Breaking away from Harland, Kit ran to her son. Immediately they embraced and Kit shrieked with emotional glee. She grabbed hold of her son and wouldn’t let him go.
“I knew I heard you. I knew it.” Kit pulled away. “Then I looked and it wasn’t you.”
“Oh. My announcer shift was done. I was just on my way to look for you here.” Zeke grinned. “Oh my God, mom, I am so glad you’re okay.”
Harland approached. “This is the boy, I assume?”
“Yes. Yes he is. Zeke this is Dr. Harland Cooper, he really kept me safe and got me back in shape.”
“Thank you, sir. Thank you so much,” Zeke shook his hand.
“Aw, well, you’re mom is pretty tough. She didn’t really need me. What are you doing here working?” Harland asked.
“Schriever needed help, I volunteered. I figured it was a good way to look for mom,” Zeke said. “My Uncle said she was alive, but didn’t know where they took her.”
Kit gasped. “You know where your uncle is? Regis?”
“Both. We’re all together.”
“Both? Mark is alive? His part of the plane broke off, Abe said. Mark’s alive. They both are.” Kit whimpered, overwhelmed by the good news and she placed her hand to her chest. “I am so blessed.”
“Mom,” Zeke suddenly took on a serious tone. “They’re… they’re sick mom. They’re pretty sick. It hit them bad yesterday and…”
“What do you mean sick?” Kit asked.
“Radiation. They’re vomiting and in pain, they aren’t healing, they have these marks. We thought they beat the exposure, because they got sick right away. Then when they got better, we were relieved.”
“The latent stage,” Harland said to Kit. “I told you about that. I don’t understand, they had the area cleared before the radiation arrived. You were on a base with a bunker. How did they get exposed?”
“Uncle Mark was thrown from the tail end. Uncle Regis refused to leave until he found him.”
Harland closed his mouth tightly, nodded and placed his hand on Kit’s shoulder. “Maybe you should find a way to Schriever and not worry about all this.”