Fire

by Terra Harmony

  "Oh, I almost forgot. I got Bee something, too," Alex said.

  I put down the jacket and walked over to the box Alex was sifting through. He pulled out a simple white sleep suit that zipped up. A small spiral of life was sewn into the chest. He flipped it over to the back, showing 'Plays with Fire' written in bright red letters.

  Susan finished putting on her boots and joined us. Together, we both sighed, "Awwww…"

  "So cute," I said, taking it from him. "I was worried you were going to pull out miniature cargo pants." I felt the material. It was thick and rigid, "What is it made from?"

  "Flame-resistant Kevlar."

  "Wow, is it bullet-proof?" I asked.

  "Not quite, but would protect her from hard impacts and shrapnel. Also, it may float, if she is light enough."

  I nodded, trying not to choke up. "Thank you so much. I just wish…I wish we didn't have to have her wearing this kind of stuff. We shouldn't have to worry about such things."

  "I know, mommy." Susan put her hand on my shoulder. "She doesn't have to go, you know. Someone can stay behind with her here."

  I shook my head. "If the EMP goes off, I don't want to be separated from her – or any of you. We should all stay together."

  She nodded.

  "Speaking of staying together," Micah's voice behind us startled us all. "I have something I need to show you."

  He stood there with Bee on his hip, extending his other hand out to me.

  "How long have you been there?" I asked, taking his hand.

  "Long enough to roll my eyes at Susan's new boots."

  Behind us, Susan and Alex grumbled in protest.

  "Send in whatever Elementals you come across to get their uniforms and iPads issued," Susan yelled after us. "Plus – they need to come admire my boots!"

  I laughed as we exited the library. Bee popped her head out from the other side of Micah and smiled at me.

  "Give her here." I motioned with my hands. Micah was spending way more time with her than me, lately. I was jealous of both of them.

  He passed her over and I settled Bee on my own hip. It left Micah's hands free to rub at his face. His usual striking green eyes were glossed over, with dark circles underneath.

  "What's the matter?" I asked.

  He attempted a smile. "Just staying up late to work on my political contacts."

  Come to think of it, Micah hadn't fallen asleep with me for the past two weeks.

  "Did you know there was a Presidential election in the States while you were at the Chakra last year – when I was away, trying to hunt down Shawn?"

  "I knew it was coming up," I said. "The new guy won, right? The Independent?"

  He nodded as we walked outside, headed for a bench under our cherry blossom tree. "The Occupy Wall Street movement finally became organized."

  I vaguely remembered protests before I left for my snowboard trip.

  Micah put his arm around me, still talking, "Each individual city movement unified and morphed into a newly created government party dubbed 'Roots'. The name came from their ideas to go back to the grassroots of the constitution and the country, giving the power back to the people."

  I was tolerating Micah's lecture as best I could by making funny faces at Bee. I hated politics.

  "Since then, the country has been in a whirlwind of reorganization…are you paying attention?"

  I quickly deflated my cheeks. "Of course."

  He sighed, stood, and ran his hand through his hair. "What I'm trying to get at, Kaitlyn, is I have to leave today with the first wave."

  I froze, almost dropping Bee. I scrambled to grasp her again, and stood, putting her back on my hip. "Tonight? Without us?"

  He nodded, lips tight.

  "I thought we were going together." I took a step closer and hissed, "As a family."

  "There are some things I need to set in motion before everyone else arrives." He looked down at Bee.

  "Like what?"

  "There is only so much I can do over the phone; I will be able to make much more progress if I’m there in person. I have to notify the National Park Service of Shawn's whereabouts to shut him down, but the biggest thing will be to prepare necessary functions of the government for an EMP and the chaos that ensues after. If there is time, I will try to convince the TSA there is a big enough threat to stop all air service – hopefully after all our groups’ trips to the States." He took a deep breath. "Listen, if something happens on your flight to the States, if the plane goes down because the EMP went off, protect yourself and Bee with your shield."

  If our plane were to drop out of the sky, I was pretty sure I could keep a steady shield around Bee, but not around the both of us. The larger the shield, the more concentration required, and a 30,000-foot free fall was a significant distraction. Maybe it was a good thing we were on separate flights. If I didn't make it, at least Micah would be there to take care of Bee.

  "But don't wait until the last wave," he said. "Come as soon as you can. I should be there to meet you."

  "Should be?" I raised my eyebrow.

  "I'm sort of at the mercy of the politicians."

  "I hate politicians," I mumbled under my breath, looking at the ground.

  He put one finger under my chin, and lifted it. "I have to do this, for you and Bee. You understand that, right?"

  I nodded, fighting back a lump in my throat.

  "And maybe while we're in the States, we can finalize that handfasting thing."

  My eyes widened. "For real this time?"

  He nodded. "Yes. For real. Let's get married."

  Chapter 54

  No Rest for the Wicca

  It was one week after Micah left. After a call to Alex that he had landed in DC, there was no further word from him; his planned daily progress checks were nonexistent. Alex was hoping for more maps of the cave system and I was hoping for a 'hello'. We both just had to make do.

  I suddenly realized how awful it must have been for Micah while I was on Galapagos – then again when I left him for Easter Island. I sat cross-legged on the cork floor of the library with the rest of my travel group, tapping my thumb against my knee impatiently. Transportation for another large group had proved impossible the entire week, until this afternoon. Now everyone who remained at the Chakra was flying out over the next three days.

  I took a look around my group – I at least knew most of their names, but the only one I had logged more than five minutes of conversation with was Zola, the crazy Earth Elemental who never left her garden. This was who I was going to war with. It felt just plain wrong. I felt a pang of loss for Ahi and her cousins. More attempts at contact had failed. If anything, I would eventually have to get in touch with her to invite her to our wedding.

  Our wedding.

  My spirits lifted and I suddenly felt giddy. I would need to start planning. I looked at the iPad in my hands, wondering if we would have internet access on the trip. Alex was passing out more of the flat, handheld computers – one for each circle. One person in the group was in charge of communications, one was in charge of knowing the cave system, and the other one was in charge of knowledge, such as spells, by means of their handy dandy iPad. Unsure of where or with whom I would be when we attacked, I studied all three. It meant very little sleep the past few weeks; I hoped to do that on the plane.

  "The iPads can be used for communication from circle to circle, but Wi-Fi will be spotty at best underground. We will have low-frequency radios that should work a little better," Alex said, standing in front of the entire group.

  The girl next to me, who couldn't have been more than twenty, juggled her iPad and the numerous hard copy maps we had been given. Several more Earths had been recruited, but still not every circle was complete. Those unlucky enough to be missing a member had been tasked with two responsibilities. I almost felt sorry for her, until I remembered that on top of the other gear, I'd be hauling the radio and a baby on my back.

  An hour later, with the lecture over, I returned t
o my room. Most everything was packed and loaded into the one truck recently acquired.

  Susan was in the nursery, reading a book to Bee. Bee was desperately trying to chew on the hard cover, and Susan was making a valiant attempt to make Peter Rabbit sound interesting.

  I paused by the curtain, listening. As she read the last page, she closed the book. Bee snatched it out of her hands to work on the spine.

  Susan sighed. "Bon Appetit."

  I laughed.

  Susan looked up, smiling. "All ready?"

  "I guess." I walked over to the dresser, looking at all the trinkets Bee collected. "I just keep thinking – what if we never come back? I mean, because of the EMP. I wish I could bring everything."

  Several framed pictures of Bee during her time at the Chakra, always in someone's arms, stared back at me, all printed off by Alex. A stuffed bumblebee, made by Susan, sat not too far away; but only things necessary to the battle, and life after the pulse, could be packed. There wasn't much room for anything else.

  Susan stood and opened up a small, carved box Micah made. Inside were the crystals and gems my mom had hidden throughout my things. She dumped the crystals out into my hand. They hummed with energy.

  "They were used with protections spells, right?" she asked.

  "I think so. Mom never was really forthcoming with her magic."

  "Why not?" Susan asked.

  "I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe she always thought there'd be time for that later – like after I went to college."

  My eyes were beginning to glisten with tears when I looked up at her.

  She studied me for a moment, then opened up one of my cargo pockets for me, "Take them with you. If you have time, sew them into Bee's things. Maybe on the trip out."

  I wiped my eyes and sighed. "And I was so hoping to sleep."

  "No rest for the Wicca."

  Chapter 55

  Flu Epidemic

  Jennifer heard her name called over the PA for the second time. She hunched further down in the supply closet, aiming her headlamp onto the cream-colored pages of her book. She shut out the sounds of the hospital around her as the clean, black print jumped off the page, sucking her into another world.

  The door to the tiny closest burst open. The sudden intrusion of light caused Jennifer to jump.

  "What are you doing? We need you out there."

  "My break isn't over for another ten minutes," Jennifer defended herself.

  "I haven't had a break since my shift began eighteen hours ago." Mindy snatched the book from her hands. "This is mine. Besides, you've already read it twice." Mindy shoved the book on a shelf behind some hand sanitizer. "We'll keep it here for the both of us. But now, time to get back to work." Mindy extended her hand to Jennifer.

  Jennifer sighed, replaced the cotton breathing mask over her mouth and nose, and clasped onto Mindy's hand. The pair of nurses entered the children's ward together.

  "What happened here?" Jennifer asked.

  Each private room held at least four people. Rolling cots were shoved into small corners, barely leaving enough space for the standard medical machinery. Not all of the patients were even kids.

  Mindy shook her head. "They ran out of room on the third floor. New flu patients are coming in quicker than we can accommodate. Whole families at a time." Mindy rubbed the side of her face with her inner arm. "We're grouping them according to stages. Come on, we're at the end of the hall – final stage."

  "Oh, joy." Jennifer grimaced, the stage where the victim either survived, miraculously recovering after days of teetering on the brink of death, or passed away, finally at peace. As depressing as it was, Jennifer had to admit it wasn't the worst. They passed the rooms of those who were well into the course of the virus, but not yet losing enough body fluid to welcome death – though they probably wanted to. The smell alone, even through her breathing mask, caused Jennifer to gag. Most of the first-year nurses ended up here. They were kept busier cleaning up body fluids than putting their nursing skills to good use.

  Jennifer and Mindy stared straight ahead, avoiding the disaster scenes in the rooms they passed. They approached 448, at the very end of the hall, stopping just inside the door. One of the doctors was pulling a sheet over a young boy's pasty white body. He looked to be just under ten. Jennifer and Mindy moved aside as the doctor wheeled the body out.

  Jennifer glanced at Mindy, she wasn't watching the dead – she was watching a woman who lay in the room, chest rising too shallow for a full breath.

  "It was her son," Mindy whispered.

  Jennifer nodded, laying her hand on Mindy’s shoulder. "Time for your break."

  Mindy shook her head, "No – every pair of hands is needed."

  Jennifer looked at her best friend and roommate since college. Dark circles hung under her eyes. "Then at least go get us some coffee."

  Mindy turned slowly, her movements mirroring the hallow feeling that took hold of Jennifer's limbs.

  Jennifer swallowed hard, and approached the woman to change her IV bag. The patient's eyes were still on the door, perhaps still willing life into a son that was no longer there. There were no tears, her body was too dry to produce them. Jennifer almost jumped back at the cold, feather-light touch on her arm.

  The woman stared up at her. "No," she croaked.

  Jennifer looked at the bag. "I have to. It’s almost empty. Don't worry, it won't hurt."

  The woman shook her head, a monumental effort on her part. Many of the final hours were spent completely listless. "He was all I had left. I need to be there for him."

  Jennifer’s eyes went wide as she grasped the woman’s meaning.

  "Tend to someone else that needs you," her hand fell by her side.

  "I…I can't. That would be unethical. Illegal." Jennifer shook her head.

  The woman didn't respond, but her eyes remained fixed, silently pleading her case.

  What would really be more unethical? Forcing this woman to drag out her nightmare?

  Jennifer sighed, replacing the nearly empty IV bag on the hook. She touched the woman's shoulder, wishing her farewell, and barely made it out of the room before collapsing against the wall.

  She closed her eyes, fighting back tears. She thought of the little book hidden behind the hand sanitizer. There was some comfort in knowing if things were too much to handle, she could always retreat to her little cove and escape into a world of fantasy.

  Mindy approached, holding a small, warm Styrofoam cup of coffee out for Jennifer to take. "Everything okay?"

  Jennifer nodded, gratefully sipping at her caffeine, letting the warmth fill the holes the job left behind. The lights above flickered.

  "The storms," Mindy said. It had been raining, even hailing, off and on all night.

  The two women edged closer together. In tornado alley, thunderstorms were not to be taken lightly.

  "So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Jennifer asked, attempting to lighten the mood. After their shift ended in a few hours they would have a whole three days to themselves.

  Mindy shrugged. "The coven called that meeting. We should probably go in, see what those mysterious packages are all about."

  Jennifer looked around to make sure they weren't overheard. They'd been ostracized enough for their religious choices. They didn't generally advertise the fact they were practicing Wiccans. She looked back at Mindy. "I heard someone is trying to unite the covens, prepare them for some disastrous event."

  Mindy shook her head. "Francesca said she took a peek in one of the boxes. It contained a bunch of instructions on permaculture, living without electricity and stuff."

  Jennifer shrugged. "Maybe it's both."

  As if on cue, the lights went out, plunging the hallway into darkness. When the backup generators failed to produce the emergency lighting, a few panicked cries echoed down the hallway, and then it went quiet. A muffled, but high-pitched siren sounded in the distance.

  "What's that?" Mindy asked.

  "Tornado sirens!"
said Jennifer.

  The two women clasped arms, dropping their coffee on the floor. "Supply closet," they shouted together, and took off for their escape from the impending destruction.

  Chapter 56

  Onward

  The entire group gathered at the gate of the Chakra, preparing for the walk out. Our luggage filled every inch of space in the truck, barely leaving enough room for the driver. The rest of us would have to walk to the docks.

  I lifted Bee to place her in the backpack she'd had since birth. She was starting to outgrow it, not to mention the seams were worn and the edges frayed. I frowned down at it. I couldn't be running through caves, fighting Elementals, worrying if the backpack would hold up.

  A low-pitched voice caught my attention.

  "I don't want to go – don't want to leave." Zola paced at the edge of the crowd. The rest in her circle did their best to keep her from returning to her garden.

  I ran to the truck, retrieved one of my carryon bags, and pulled out a large jar. "Zola – wait!" I approached the group. The rest of them backed away, as if I were about to set her on fire. I'd logged countless miles running with them – what the hell else did I have to do to gain their trust?

  "I almost forgot; I packed this for you." I handed her the container.

  She opened the clasp at the top and peered in.

  "From your garden," I said.

  She raised her eyes, the smile looking odd on her face. "I don't know what to say – thank you."

  I shrugged. "No big deal."

  "No." She placed a hand on my arm. "Thank you for thinking of me."

  I mumbled a somewhat inadequate response, and returned to the baby backpack. Geez – if only I could have given them all jars of dirt, think of all the mornings I could have slept in instead of running with them.