“Ricky?” a voice called out from a distance.
“The Wakira found him outside the barrier down by the Rock,” Jennifer shouted in return. “They’re bringing him up the hill now.”
“Thank God! Oh thank God!” Sanders cried out as she pushed her way through the throng.
Jennifer grabbed her shoulder as she was hurrying past. “Remember to thank them,” she admonished the woman. She nodded and continued to press through the throng. Jennifer went the other way, trying to get to the barrier where it now crossed Emerald at Main.
Hail had started falling. As Jennifer approached the barrier, she noticed several of the people watching the hail bounce harmlessly off of the barrier. The skies were as black as night, and winds were starting to bend the middle branches of the trees. Suddenly, a young woman pushing a stroller appeared. “What the hell —?! Someone grab the stroller and pull it through!” Jennifer stuck her head and torso through the barrier. “Give me your hand! Give me your hand!” As she reached for the woman’s arm, a hailstone hit Jennifer in the forehead. “Crap!” She covered her left eye with her left hand. “Give your damned hand now!”
After she pulled the woman through, Jennifer brought her other hand up to where she got hit. “Damn! Damn, damn! It hurts!”
She heard a familiar voice. “Jenn? What’s wrong?”
“Bethy?” Both her eyes were closed tight. “I got hit by a hailstone. It may have hit my left eye.”
Bethy gently grasped her wrists. “Let me see.” Jennifer wouldn’t drop her hands. “Jenn, let me see.”
“I’m afraid,” she said, starting to hyperventilate.
“Jennifer, you’re a grown woman now. You know that I can’t help you if I can’t examine you. Put your hands down.”
Slowly, she complied. “How bad is my eye?” she asked, her eyes still tightly closed.
“Tch! It’s nowhere near your eye. It hit a good half-inch above your brow. Open your eyes and let me see.”
Hesitantly, she opened her eyes. “How badly is it bleeding?”
Bethy shook her head. “It’s not. There’s a thin line of blood at the impact site. I wish I had brought my first aid kit with me.”
Jennifer looked at her coworker, feeling ashamed at her childishness. “I brought the two backpacks with me. I didn’t know how many people might have gotten injured. They’re leaning up against the lamp post at Briar.” The two plowed their way through the crowd. Jennifer kept touching the injury and checking for blood.
“Will you stop playing with it?” She sat Jennifer down on the curb and dug into one of the backpacks. “Baggies?” she asked Jennifer.
“Down near the bottom, I think.”
“Screw that,” Bethy declared and pulled out a disposable glove. She asked one of the men to reach through the barrier and fill the glove with hailstones. She started looking closely at Jennifer’s eyes.
Her reluctant patient reached into her breast pocket and pulled out a stick light. “Here,” she said. “Use mine.”
As Bethy used the light to look into Jennifer’s eyes, the physican from the survey ship arrived. “Mother? Are you injured?”
Bethy told her that her pupils were equal and responsive. “Greetings, physician,” Jennifer said in their language. “This is a coworker. She is a —”. She hesitated, trying to construct the appropriate word. Finally she decided upon “— advanced medical technician. One level below a physician.” She looked back at Bethy. “Bethy, this the doctor from the survey ship. This is Bethy Bratten.”
“Is she harmed? Is she in any danger?” he asked her.
Bethy smiled. “No danger. She’ll have bump on her forehead. You can see where the impact was. She got hit by a small piece of falling ice.”
“Small piece? How do you know it was a small piece? You didn’t see it.”
“Oh honey, considering you were the one who got hit, I’d guess that you didn’t see it either.” She laughed.
Jennifer pretended to fume. “What’s the prognosis, Bethy?”
Bethy smiled again. “You’ve got a boo-boo on your forehead. It’ll form a nice little lump —.” She took the glove of ice handed to her and gently pressed it to Jennifer’s forehead. “And perhaps a nice little bruise — purple and yellow would probably go nicely with those weird blue eyes of yours.” She held the glove of ice to the injury for a couple of moments, then pulled it away and handed it to her patient. “Now, close your right eye and tell me how many fingers I have up.”
Jennifer counted two fingers. “Six.” Bethy furrowed her brow. “You’ve got 4 behind your back. I saw you do that trick a couple of times soon after I started at the clinic, when our shifts used to overlap. I see two, and there are four more behind your back.” She stuck her tongue out.
Bethy looked at the alien doctor. “She is unharmed. There will be a small swelling where the hailstone struck, but that will disappear in a few days.” She then rummaged through the backpack. While the alien doctor watched, she dried the site of the injury, gently cleaned the area with alcohol wipes, and applied a square adhesive bandage. “All done,” she declared.
“Thanks Bethy.” In the alien language, she added, “I thank you for your concern, physician.”
“It is my honor to serve you Mother,” he answered, then headed back to the ship.
Jennifer stood, closed up the backpack and headed back to barrier to watch what was happening. The thunder and lightning had intensified, and strong winds were picking up debris and blowing it around, including small branches. Still, there was no sign of a tornado.
“Mother,” one of the males asked, “when will the storm end?”
She chewed her lower lip. “Perhaps 30 more of our minutes. I think that that works out to be about two-tenths in your measures of time. The worst of it has yet to arrive. Once the area of rotation has passed, the skies should clear fairly quickly. We’ve been lucky so far — no tornadoes have been spawned. I don’t know how long that might last.” She continued to look westward, looking intensely at the low-level spinning cloud, trying to see if their luck would hold out.
Bethy was still beside her. A tall tree on the other side of Main snapped at its base and fell onto the street, the middle and upper branches bouncing off the barrier, thereby sparing one of the houses on Emerald from being damaged. “Straight-line winds,” Jennifer said aloud, answering her unspoken question.
“There’s one,” Bethy called out. “Funnel, still disorganized. Still no contact with the ground.”
“Stay up! Stay up!” Jennifer urged. “Don’t you dare touch down!” She pulled out the alien device and managed to get a view of the funnel cloud from the ship overhead. “Crap, it’s descending!” They watched it float ever closer. “Stay up!”
As the funnel cloud drew closer, its base continued to descend. The spin was now plainly visible, as it organized itself. “Stay up!” she again urged it. The funnel passed overhead, just barely missing the hovering ship, heading to the northeast. “Stay up! Just a little longer!”
The funnel cloud decided to ignore her exhortations. The base dropped and touched down just beyond Topaz onto Jasper, the last east-west street in town. “No!” Jennifer cried out, as the virtual display showed the funnel cloud rip a three-unit rowhouse off of its foundation, shredding it apart before unceremoniously dumping the wreckage out into the fields north and east of town. “Damn! They’re dead! They have to be dead. There’s no way that anyone could have survived.” She looked at Bethy. “They’re dead, Bethy!”
Bethy locked eyes. “No they’re not, Jenn. That was #8 Jasper. Unit 8A has been empty since 2013. The family in Unit 8C is in Honduras or Guatemala, visiting her family. I know that. They came in a week before the aliens arrived, for their shots. They specifically said that they wouldn’t be back until September.”
“What about Tony and his mom?”
“Annalisa is at her twin’s house helping to look after their mom. And Tony is with her. They came in Friday evening. She tried to pay
more for the work you did on Tony. She told me what he had done, and said that they were going to be joined at the hip until school started. If Annalisa was at Zephyrina’s house, then Tony was there too. And they have a shelter in the basement. No one is dead. At least, not yet.”
They continued to scan the skies, looking for more funnel clouds. By 4pm, the storm system had passed to the northeast, and the skies cleared. A few minutes later, the barrier was switched off, and people started returning to their houses.
“If you encounter any injured people, send them to the clinic,” Bethy called out. “We’ll be set up in a few minutes.”
Jennifer grabbed one of the backpacks and slung it over her shoulder, and started reaching for the other one. Bethy grabbed it. “You’re going to need help, kid. You do triage and simple care, and I’ll handle the complicated stuff.” They hurried back to the clinic.
No one came. At one point, Jennifer looked up and down Twin Elm to see if anyone was coming. She was surprised to see that the Burger Shack was open and serving customers. On her way back to the clinic, she spotted Tony and his mom walking up Main towards their home. Jennifer told them to not bother, that their house didn’t exist anymore. After she consoled them both, Annalisa Iannuci said that they’d go looking through the debris field for their stuff the next day.
Just before 5, Jennifer told Bethy to go home. Apparently, Jennifer was going to end up being the only casualty. When Bethy started to protest, Jennifer told her that she’d stay until 7, so her friend could at least get another hour or two of rest. She then herded Bethy to the door.
All was silent while she waited. A handful of people were wandering around. A couple of crews of army personnel carrying chain saws and ropes were spreading out throughout the town to take care of the fallen trees. “One of the good things the county did when they had the recovery money,” Jennifer told herself, “was that they put all the power cables and phone lines underground. At least people will have power. If they can afford it.”
At 6:40, Jennifer had a visitor. “Miss Hodges? I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Hi General. I told Bethy I’d stay an extra hour so that she could make up some of the sleep she lost because of the storm. What are you doing here?”
He hesitated. “I — ummm — I wanted to find out about civilian casualties.”
She frowned at him. “You’re looking at them. Or her. Whatever. Apparently, I am the only one in this town who got hurt. Ginormous hailstone, right in the forehead.” She shrugged. “Bethy happened to be there and gave me first aid. Just a boo-boo. Those were her exact words.”
“I’m relieved,” he told her. “That it wasn’t serious, and that there weren’t any other injuries. I best get back to the office. I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow.” He quickly turned and left. Jennifer looked confused.
By the time Bethy returned for the overnight shift, Jennifer had decided that the time had come to get the facts from Bethy regarding what she might have done. Jennifer hoped to be a little obtuse, to discover the motives behind it, before any of her emotions might shine through her words.
“Hey Bethy,” Jennifer said, without getting up from her chair behind the counter. “Did you sleep okay?”
“Hi Jenn.” Bethy noticed that she wasn’t already on her feet like she normally was at the start of shift change. She tilted her head at Jennifer but said nothing. “I didn’t really sleep — I just dozed a little. Rob and the kids will be picking up dinner from the Shack and will eat here with me.”
“Do you mind if I ask you a question?” Jennifer asked as she eased herself to her feet.
“Sure kid,” was the wary reply. “Get any patients after I left?”
Jennifer smiled at the attempted diversion in topic. “None. Thankfully, I’m the only one who got hurt.” She walked the long way around the counter and leaned casually on it in front of her coworker. “Did you get your captain’s bars when you re-enlisted, Bethy?”
To her credit, Bethy was almost able to hide her shock. “Re-enlisted? Child, what are you talkin’ about? How many times have I told you in the past that I would nevvah re-enlist?”
Jennifer noticed the change in speech patterns. “You’re returning to your North Carolinian roots, Bethy. The change in accent always gives you away. Just like when you and Barb tried to surprise me on my 20th birthday with a cake.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Jenn.” The denial was unconvincing, even to Bethy.
“C’mon Bethy. Did they give you a promotion?”
Bethy realized that the gambit was up. Barb had been right. She had figured it out. “Barb said that you’d figure it out. Damn super-genius.”
“The money in the account was at least 3 times too much for it to be the county giving us our back pay,” she explained. “And it was illogical to assume that they would’ve had a sudden change of heart. Barb tried to sell it as them trying to cover their butts, but they would’ve only done that had they known that they were about to be raided. And it was unlikely that some two-bit politicians from a nondescript county in Nebraska would’ve been able to get any sort of advanced warning.” She waited, but Bethy remained silent. “So, are you Captain Bratten now?”
If there had been dirt to kick in the clinic, Bethy would’ve kicked it. “Yeah. I got my bars.”
“What about Barb?” Bethy echoed the question. “Was she made a captain as well, or is she only a lieutenant?”
“I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about, child.”
Jennifer started getting exasperated by Bethy’s denials. “They wouldn’t have raided the county offices and given us all our backpay if all they got was you for another 3 years.”
“You’re too smart for your own good, girl. Leave things be.”
“Tell me the truth. You owe me that much. Stop trying to avoid the inevitable. I pretty much know what happened; I just want you to confirm it all.”
Bethy knew there was no point in stonewalling. “Yeah, Barb is a captain too.”
“Won’t the other nurses, the lifers, be upset about her jumping the queue?”
“It doesn’t matter what they think. If the President decides that you’re a captain, then that’s what happens.”
Jennifer tried to hide her surprise. “It was the President?” Why would the President get involved? “So, why did you do it? What was the point of all of this?”
Bethy sensed that Jennifer was now fishing, but decided to give her all the facts. “Our asset was under a lot of stress. When the weasel from county showed up, and Ron Jensen saw you crying, it was decided that we had to do something to take that burden off of you.”
“Our asset?”
“Stop interrupting and let me finish. We knew that you were beginning to crumble. The General and the President started getting worried. When the weasel farm sent their white collar goon to punish you, we knew we had to do something. So, it was decided to punish the county — have the authorities move in and seize everything. We knew that somewhere in all the paperwork and emails would be something incriminating that would say that they were going to try and intimidate you. But that wasn’t going to be enough. We wanted to shield you for later, after the aliens had left.”
“Well, there’s no need —.”
“Hush! Let me finish. So, that meant we had to frame them for intimidating a federal official. It was too late to try and take control of the clinic — the threat had already been made. That left making all three of us, since the threat technically was made against the three of us, feds of some kind or another, and make it retroactive. It was a member of the Joint Chiefs that suggested they ‘militarize’ us — his words not mine — and make it retroactive the 10 weeks or so. That would unfortunately absolve the county from failing to pay us, but would make them guilty of interference. There was talk that with some intimidation of our own, we could make some of them think that the charges would be bumped up to terrorism, given your status with the Wakira.”
“Hold
on a minute. What’s this ‘we’ thing? And the Joint Chiefs?”
Bethy ignored her. Now that she had confessed, she wanted to get her story out into the open. “At first, the idea was that after the aliens had gone, you’d move to Washington to advise the President and the military on dealing with the Wakira — ‘cause we figured that they would be back. Your salary would help pay for someone to look after your dad for you, so you wouldn’t have that burden on your mind. But now, all that has changed.”
Jennifer was dumbfounded. “Changed?”
“Well, you won’t be here to head to Washington. So, they’ll keep paying you, putting it into your bank account here. Leave your debit card with your dad, and he’ll be able to draw out money as he needs it.”
“How do you know that I’m leaving with them?”
“Oh honey. You’re not the only one who has been getting daily visits from Frank Comiston.” Jennifer’s jaw dropped. “I had been right; he did recognize me that morning when your alien friend walked you to the clinic. At first, we just shot the breeze about Afghanistan. After a few evenings, he started talking about you. Who you were. What you were like. That sort of stuff. Then he started briefing me. Not all that long after, I was tasked with keeping my eye on your emotional status and wellbeing. I drafted Barb as well.”
“Okay. So you know about the bonding and the symbiote and all of that. You and Barb enlisted. But I didn’t enlist. And, unless I’m mistaken, the equivalent of press-ganging is still illegal. So, how is it that I’m in the US Army too?”
Bethy smiled. “That was the tricky part. You had to be enlisted too, in order for everything to work. What you probably don’t know is, our ‘I was a straight A student’ friend was a bit of a slacker in high school. Something about being bored in class. So, she used to skip school. In order to cover her butt, she learned how to forge her mom’s signature. She swears that she never got caught.”
“Okay. But there are no samples of my signature here. We just initial the log book, and we initial the care sheets.”
And What of Earth? Page 19