Jenny hesitated. Growing up as Jackson McGrath’s daughter had brought only two kinds of attention: scorn and pity. Over the years, she hadn’t cared for either of them.
“What is it?” Jenny asked.
“A gift. Something a few of us got together and wanted to give you.”
“Ester, I don’t want charity. I just-”
“This isn’t charity, child,” Ester interrupted. “It’s a gift. There’s not a nurse on this floor who hasn’t seen hard times. A lot of us learned not to believe in much outside our own skins, but we learned to accept small kindnesses that came our way. If we hadn’t gotten them, we might not have made it through those dark times. One thing we know: you don’t get through them alone.” She pushed the bag forward.
Reluctantly, Jenny took the bag and peered inside. A pair of jeans, khakis, and a handful of blouses were neatly folded inside.
“We know you’ve had to struggle to keep your clothes clean,” Ester said. “We’ve seen you washing your clothes in the bathroom and drying them outside.”
Jenny’s face burned with embarrassment. She’d been doing all she could do to keep herself clean. She hadn’t wanted to get thrown out of the hospital, and being unclean would only have made her feel like everything she had to deal with was impossible.
“We had to guess at the sizes,” Ester said, “but most of us are pretty good at that. You’ll have to let us know how good we did.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Jenny whispered.
“You say, ‘Thank you.’ That’s all.”
“Thank you,” Jenny said. Surprising herself, she reached out and hugged the older woman.
“You’re welcome, child. You’re welcome.” Ester patted Jenny on the back and hugged her. “Now you get your shower. Both of us need to eat.”
Fort Benning, Georgia
Local Time 0649 Hours
Guards held the checkpoint with the barriers in place. There were more of them present than Joey had ever seen. On other occasions, before the disappearances, the guards had often laughed and joked, though they’d always been professional. There was no laughing and joking now. In fact, two jeeps filled with armed men sat farther back. Their presence was obvious and powerful.
Other guards, these with sentry dogs, walked the perimeter. The dogs moved effortlessly and remained ever watchful.
As he watched them, Joey felt more safe than he had in days. The nightmares about the mall shooting, about Zero and the others, had left him wrecked. He knew that. Seeing the guards at work helped him relax. As long as he didn’t leave the camp, he was safe.
Unless Zero or one of the others got picked up and busted for the murder of the old man. Then they could blame everything on Joey.
As soon as those thoughts crept into his mind, Joey felt sick with dread and fear all over again. His hands shook on the bike handles, and he thought he was going to be sick.
“Hey, kid.”
Joey looked over at the K-9 soldier and the German shepherd at his side. “Yeah?”
“Do you feel okay?” The soldier was older, probably Goose’s age, and he wore sergeant’s chevrons on his sleeves.
“Yeah.”
“You don’t look so good.”
“Just kind of creepy thinking about it, you know?”
The sergeant hesitated a minute, then nodded. “Yeah. Really creepy. I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and find out this was all a bad dream.”
“But it’s not.”
“No, I guess not.” The sergeant looked at Joey again. “But don’t worry about it too much, kid. The brass will figure this out. They always do.”
“I hope so,” Joey said. “The sooner the better.”
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, stay back from the fence, okay? It makes the snipers tense.”
Snipers? Joey looked around at the nearby buildings.
“They’re there, kid. Always on watch.”
“Okay.” That made Joey feel even more safe. The camp was like one of those old medieval castles. The armed guards were the moat that cut it off from the rest of the world.
“I gotta get back to it,” the sergeant said. “Got a lot of miles to cover before my shift’s over.”
“Have a good day,” Joey said. After the sergeant and the dog had moved on, Joey sat astride the ten-speed and stared out where Columbus sat touched by the early dawn. He thought about the madness that was in the city.
Many metropolitan areas had tried to return to a semblance of order. That was what people did, he supposed. Just picked up the pieces and moved on. Like his mom had when his dad left them. And like what she’d done in the camp when so many kids needed somebody.
But that was just the surface. Looting and violence had broken out all over. People were scared and mad, and they were going to be that way until they knew for sure what had happened.
And that it wasn’t going to happen again.
St. Francis Hospital
Local Time 0656 Hours
Jenny luxuriated in the hot shower. The nurses had allowed her into their locker room weeks ago, once they’d discovered she was living at the hospital. Megan Gander had tried to get her to return to Fort Benning, but Jenny didn’t want to leave her father. Her whole life, every time he’d gotten bad, wherever they’d been living, whether in jail or in a psych ward, she’d always managed to be there for him. She lived with the fear that if she wasn’t there, something would happen to him.
Dark hair washed and dried with a community hair dryer, she quickly dressed in a pair of khaki cargo pants, a white blouse with three-quarter sleeves, and her tennis shoes. She used a separate plastic bag to put her dirty clothes in. She planned to wash them later.
Jenny looked in the mirror and noticed how hollow-eyed she was becoming. Red rimmed her green eyes. No wonder the nurses are worried about you. They probably think you’re going to be their next patient. A little makeup would have helped, but she didn’t have any.
Satisfied she’d done all she could do, she turned from the mirror.
9
United States of America
Columbus, Georgia
St. Francis Hospital
Local Time 0703 Hours
Having possessions was turning out to be a problem. Over the last few weeks, Jenny had pared everything she owned down to one backpack. The new clothes didn’t fit inside. She got frustrated thinking she was going to have to carry her bags around like a homeless person.
“Problem?” a voice asked.
Jenny turned to see a nurse putting on makeup two sinks down. “No.”
“You look like you don’t have enough arms.” The nurse was in her early thirties. She wore a charm bracelet that had pictures of a small girl on it. The woman didn’t look familiar, so Jenny assumed she was on loan from one of the other floors.
“Things were easier,” Jenny admitted, “when everything fit into one bag.”
The woman laughed. “I know that’s true. But that’s not really life, is it?”
Jenny silently thought that all the good things that had happened in her life could have fit into one bag with plenty of room left over. It was trouble that seemed to come in bushel baskets.
“No,” Jenny said.
“Tell you what,” the nurse said, “I’ve got an extra lock here somewhere.” She rummaged through a big purse. “Bought one and never used it.” She produced a Master Lock with two keys taped on one side. “You’re welcome to use it.”
“I can pay you back,” Jenny said.
The nurse laughed. “Well, I appreciate that. Just promise me you’ll help somebody in the future. With everything that’s going on in the world, I’m starting to think that’s the only thing that matters. So me helping you today? I’m already one good deed down the road.”
The nurse’s good humor and smile were infectious. Jenny couldn’t help smiling back. She took the lock and the keys.
“Help yourself to a locker.” The nurse pointed at the wall. “There appear to be quite a few of them these days.”