Unknown (Unknown Series Book 1) (14 page)

I gritted my teeth and stormed away to check on the five people who’d made it to us. And to my relief, a stream of cars began to steadily make their way up the dusty highway from the city to us. The military directed them where to park and helped people to the medic stations that were erected with cots. We worked fast. Most of the injuries were topical. I realized those with the most damage were probably not able to make it to cars and were stuck down there with no help. Some of the survivors were in shocked silence, but others were eager to talk as we worked, to tell us what they’d seen and experienced—hotels leveled, buildings falling, people trapped, jumping over dead bodies as they ran. Most were traumatized, frantic about family and friends they couldn’t find as they fled.

I had no words to comfort them, so I began telling people about Senator Navis and what he’d said. His words seemed to clear people’s eyes. To focus them. Each and every person clung to those words, like a beacon of light, our solitary hope.

With each person I helped, I gently asked, “Do you know anything about the university?” They each shook their heads, having been in different parts of the city. Until the last woman nodded.

“I work in the financial aid department. The school is mostly okay. A lot of injured are being brought to the campus for treatment since the hospital was damaged during the earthquake. I was out to lunch at the outskirts of the city when the bombs hit.”

Bombs? Plural? “There was more than one?”

She nodded, her eyes fluttering closed for a second. “There were two. Planes flew over. They hit one end of the strip, then the other.” Planes had dropped bombs?

“Ma’am.” The loud voice from behind me made me spin in surprise. A man in a suit with sunglasses reached out a hand to the woman I was tending.

“Come with me,” he said.

“I’m not quite finished bandaging her arm,” I said.

“We’ll take care of it,” he said. The woman took his hand and he helped her to her feet.

“I’m sorry, but who are you?” I asked, standing to face him.

“Your local DRI.” He quickly turned and walked away with the woman, leaving my head spinning. What the hell was DRI? I wracked my brain and then felt relieved. Oh . . . the Disaster Relief Initiative. Damn, they worked fast! The senator must have literally formed that organization overnight and had his people working double time to get them up and running.

So many people were coming and going. The woman’s words blew away from my mind like dust in the hustle and bustle around me.

Tents were set up in the nearby field of dirt where people could rest, and then be shuttled to a high school that was being turned into a makeshift temporary hotel for survivors. The line of people coming for treatment seemed never ending. Now and then I’d catch glimpses of Rylen checking on me, and then he’d disappear again.

The other medics and I worked without stopping until the stars were bright in the sky above us. It was the longest day of my life. When I finally stood, I stumbled into the side of the ambulance in a wave of dizziness.

“Whoa, Tate,” Julian said. I shook my head and blinked.

“I’m all right.” But I was suddenly so hungry and thirsty I worried I might vomit. Like a magician, Rylen was there by my side, looking me over.

“I’m fine,” I said, but my voice sounded tired.

“You haven’t eaten a thing.”

I vaguely remembered him trying to hand me a sandwich earlier, urging me to stop for a minute, but I’d refused it and called over the next limping person.

“Tate, let him take you home,” Julian said. “We’ve got plenty of medics here now, and you can come back after you rest a little.” He rubbed his face. “I’m heading out too.”

It’s true that another round of medics from nearby hospitals had showed, and for all I knew I might be needed back at our own hospital. But I’d be no help to anyone if I passed out. So I nodded and let Rylen lead me through the many vehicles until we came to Dad’s SUV in the last row. I wondered how long he’d been waiting there for us.

Dad looked me over as I climbed in and gave me a nod of respect. Rylen handed me a bag of chips and bottle of apple juice, and I downed them in a minute flat. Then I leaned my head against the window and passed out.

I
woke cradled to a warm, hard chest, feeling the movement of feet beneath me. It was dark, so dark. No artificial light anywhere. My senses were filled with his smell. His body against mine. My eyes blearily opened and I lifted my chin. Rylen’s cheek was beside my lips. His strong arms were beneath my back and under my knees. He was
carrying
me.

All at once I remembered he was now married, and my entire body stiffened. I kicked my legs. Rylen stopped and leaned down so I could leap from his arms. I spun to face him, feeling irrationally angry. My whole body shook and in the moonlight I saw his eyes widen.

He held his palms up. “It’s just me, Pepper.”

“You didn’t have to . . . hold me,” I said.

His face flashed through a series of surprise and agitation before he shook his head and said, “Well, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t wake you and I didn’t want to leave you in the truck all night. I won’t touch you again if it bothers you so much.” He put his hands up, pursing his lips.

“Fine,” I said.

“Fine,” he huffed back.

I looked around at my dark yard, breathing hard, feeling a pang of upset at the blurry sight of the tree still laying across my car. Wrong, so wrong. Everything was wrong. I grabbed my head, which was about to split open.

“Amber,” Rylen said in a ghost of a whisper. “You’ve been through a lot today.”

I opened my eyes and looked into his solemn eyes. A painful crack split my heart. Why did I have to love him so much? Would it always hurt like this?

“Let’s get you inside.” He reached for my arm and I shifted, turning and jogging toward the house.

“Pepper, what the hell?” His voice trailed off behind me. I didn’t stop.

Inside, I found Livia standing by the window with her arms crossed. She studied me as I passed her, heading straight for the hall. I wondered if she’d been watching from the window. Probably. I didn’t wait around to witness Rylen greeting her. I knew I was being a bitch, but I couldn’t seem to stop. I didn’t want to acknowledge any of it.

Despite my complete exhaustion, I slept restlessly with thoughts of Rylen and work. It was weird not to have a working cell phone—not to know if there were local dire emergencies where I was needed. I felt guilty trying to rest. All night I kept glancing toward my alarm clock to check the time, only to be greeted by darkness and the reminder that we had no electricity. It was eerily quiet without the white noise of my fan. When I heard the quiet opening and closing of my parents’ bedroom door at dawn, I got up and joined them in the kitchen.

Abuela was already up too, sitting at the table in her nightgown and quilted robe. She took my face in her hands and kissed the top of my cheek as I sat next to her. Mom and Dad were looking out the front windows of the house.

“His truck is back,” Dad murmured.

“Whose?” I called.

“Grandpa Tate’s,” Mom said. “He told us he was going to get something from the storage room he rents, but he was gone all afternoon. Must have gotten back after dark.” Grandpa was funny like that. Very private.

They came and sat across from us at the table. I noticed a stack in the corner of family photos in frames that had broken or lost their glass during the earthquake. It made me sad to see our history piled there like that. I remembered what some of the people had been saying yesterday.

“They think the earthquake here was caused by the bomb in Vegas. Like they shifted the earth’s plates or something.”

“Unbelievable,” Dad said. “To think a single bomb could do that.”

“It might have been more than one bomb,” I told him. “Some lady said she saw to planes drop separate bombs.”

“What?” Mom’s eyes bulged, and Dad’s narrowed.

He shook his head. “There’s no way. No way these were from bombers. The Air Force is right there in Nellis—they would have stopped any foreign aircraft.”

I shrugged. Maybe she’d seen wrong. I had no idea.

“Did Rylen and . . . his wife stay here last night?” The words felt like grit in my throat.

“No, honey,” Mom said quietly. “They went to his house. Why don’t you tell us what happened when you three left here.”

I told them about Vegas and how the people had to make it up to us for treatment, though by the end of the day they were ruling out nuclear radiation. I told them about how we’d seen the senator, too.

“I heard that speech on the radio!” Mom said. “He’s just what this country needs right now.”

Dad pinched the skin between his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I hate this feeling of sitting around, being disconnected. Our main comm systems are down at work, but we blew the dust off an old telegraph machine yesterday and I was able to get through to Tater’s squadron leader. He hasn’t seen him. They’re all out helping with local relief in the Atlanta area.”

“Was Atlanta bombed too?” My heart thudded as Dad and Mom both nodded. I hoped Tater was okay.

“Is there any major city that wasn’t hit?” I asked, appalled.

Dad sighed. “We really don’t know.” He glanced longingly toward our coffee pot, and my gaze followed. Everything in our house was electric, including the stove. This sucked hard. My eyes felt weighed down by rocks.

“We shouldn’t use the tap water,” I said. “Senator Navis mentioned possible bio warfare. Do we have bottled water?”

“Some, but I need to try the bank and the store again today,” Mom said. “It was packed yesterday with a line out the door.” Dad shook his head.

“I don’t want you going out there again, baby. The Harrises down the street said when they went to the store yesterday afternoon there were fights, and cops out there pepper spraying people and hauling them off. It’s gonna be the same today. And even if the bank is on a generator, everyone’s going to be trying to cash out their assets, and banks aren’t equipped for that. They’ll run out of cash and shut their doors.”

A feeling of horror ran through me, matching the look on Mom’s face.

“We won’t be able to access our money?” I asked.

Dad shook his head. “Nope. And chemical warfare or not, we won’t be able to access our plumbing water without electricity. The Fites might be able to; I think they’re one of the rare old houses on well water still.”

“How will we get food and stuff?”

Mom and Dad shared a glance. Abuela brought a hand up to her cheek, murmuring, “God help us,” in Spanish.

Just then the front door opened, and my heart gave a bang, expecting to see Ry. But it was Grandpa, holding something bulky and metal . . . a camping stove?

Dad jumped up and went to take it from his arms. A French press coffee maker was on top of the two-burner gas stove. My mouth watered. Dad asked, “Where you been, Pop? You disappeared on us yesterday.” He set the things on the table and faced Grandpa.

“Just picking up a few things we might need. You all might want to follow me.”

We looked around at each other with interest before standing. I gave Abuela my arm and we followed Grandpa Tate out of the house into the dawning morning that felt cool on my bare arms. The sight of my smashed car made me grimace. We went to the side of the house and took the outdoor stairs up to the loft above the garage. Grandpa’s loft had been off limits since he moved in. He locked the door every time he went in or out. He’d even added a padlock to the outside.

Abuela and I were last to make it in. Dad was standing there with a surprised, goofy kind of grin, his hand on his head as he stared around. Abuela smacked a hand to her chest.

Whoa.

“Shut the door,” Grandpa commanded. I quickly did, then turned to survey the dim room. Against one wall was a twin-sized bed, neatly made, a dresser, and a tall, wide bookcase. The rest of the room was packed full. Piles of canned food went nearly from floor to ceiling in the corners. Cases of bottled water and giant jugs, bags of rice, propane tanks, sleeping bags, boxes of matches . . . it was like a camping supply store. Or a zombie apocalypse safehouse. All that was missing were guns.