Page 57 of Into the Mist

“Yep. Mercury will talk to the group and let them know what’s up,” said Stella.

“I will?”

Stella nodded. “Use your teacher classroom-management skills. You’ll do great. We can handle hundreds of teenagers a day. Thirty wounded people are the size of a normal classroom. Keep that in mind.”

“Good point.” Mercury nodded, feeling relieved. Stella was absolutely right. Compared to a classroom of thirty-plus hormone-filled teenagers, the adults in the foyer were easy.

“While you’re doing that, I’ll be sure the back of our truck is loaded with supplies. It’s a major relief that that camper shell fit.” Stella made a shooing motion. “Go on. I need to concentrate. It’s almost dinnertime. I have to be sure all this is set for y’all after we leave, which is going to take me a good part of the evening. Then we need to sleep so we can get out of here at first light.”

“’Kay, let’s get this done, Doc,” said Mercury.

Together Mercury and the doctor selected a variety of veggies that could easily be planted under the basement grow lights if they did sprout, and a few razor-sharp chef’s knives. They put everything in a big stainless steel mixing bowl. On the way to the foyer, they stopped in the lodge’s boutique, which had become a makeshift medical supply area, and grabbed a bottle of alcohol and some baby wipes. Then, together they wound their way through the mattresses,where the wounded napped, quietly read books, or played cards. Mercury thought how interesting it was that this little group had settled in so well. A few of the thirty had retreated into themselves and either slept constantly or just stared and cried, but the majority of the survivors seemed to be in halfway decent spirits.

Mercury couldn’t figure out if it was good or bad that no one appeared scared shitless.

She and Dr. Hilary reached the enormous fireplace that crackled and popped and lent warmth and comfort to the large room. Hilary lifted her hand and cleared her throat. Every head turned in their direction as the room went expectantly silent.

“Some of you have already met her,” Hilary began, “but for those of you who don’t know, this is Mercury Rhodes. She has something very important to speak with you about. Please know that she has my full support.” Then the doctor stepped aside.

“Hi,” Mercury said. She’d already decided that it was stupid to equivocate. So, she launched directly into the truth. “When the bombs exploded yesterday, they released some kind of green fog.” She paused as people nodded. “We only know a few things about that fog. One is that it kills people—terribly. Another is that it doesn’t kill everyone, though it seems men are way more susceptible to it than women. Recently, we’ve discovered that it changed some of us—or rather it changed our blood.”

Marge propped herself up on her elbows. “What do you mean bychanged?”

“My blood makes things grow,” Mercury said. “So does my friend Stella’s and Imani’s and Gemma’s.”

“And mine as well,” added the doctor.

“That’s sounds like sci-fi stuff,” said Marge’s partner, Nathan.

“Yep, but that doesn’t change that it’s the truth. Watch.” Mercury took one of the knives from the bowl. Hilary handed her an alcohol-soaked wipe. She disinfected the blade and her thumb, then she quickly cut herself, picked up the top half of a carrot, and smeared the drops of blood that welled onto it. Then she faced the room again. “Along with being able to make veggies grow, we believe that other things have changed about us too, though we really don’t know much more than the fact that some of us have heightened intuition, and we heal faster than before.”

“This is really hard to believe,” said a middle-aged woman whose head was bandaged and her ankle splinted and elevated.

Gemma stood from where she’d been crouched beside a mattress, finishing a bandage change on a man whose arm had a nasty gash from shoulder to elbow. “Yeah, Janet, it is, but it’s also true.” The teenager looked around the room at the people she had been treating—the people who had already come to respect her. They watched her intently as she continued. “My blood makes things grow, but I alsoknowthings about you guys. I can feel when you hurt. And I knew Bob was going to die before he started to bleed out.”

Mercury blinked in surprise at the girl, but before she could say anything Janet scoffed. “Oh, come on! That’s not even possible.”

Gemma met her gaze unblinkingly. Her voice was firm and much older than a sixteen-year-old’s. “Why would I lie? Why wouldwelie?”

“We wouldn’t,” Mercury spoke up before Janet could continue. “Plus, what’s the point? It’s not like you couldn’t disprove what we’re saying—but wecanprove it.” She lifted the carrot that had already begun to sprout green tufts from its top. “Clearly, we’re not lying.”

The group murmured excitedly, but Mercury shushed them.

“Stella, Imani, Gemma, and I are leaving at dawn before the snowstorm that Sim told us about hits. You’re set up here with shelter and a nice amount of supplies, but you’re going to run out. Hilary’s blood grows things. Who else wants to test their blood?”

“Why are you leaving?” Marge asked. “And hell yes, I want to test my blood.”

“Good choice,” Gemma said as she retrieved the knife, alcohol wipes, and the bowl of veggies from Hilary and headed to Marge.

Mercury met Marge’s gaze and continued to tell the truth. “We’re leaving because Stella says we need to, and we trust her gut instinct.”

“Are you coming back?” asked another woman.

“I don’t know, but Tyler is removing the CB radio from Sim’s truck so we can take it with us. This morning he found the lodge’s radio that Bob told him about, which means we can stay in touch. You can’t leave. We already talked with Hilary about it.”

“No, it wouldn’t be wise to move any of you, not even those of you who aren’t badly wounded,” said Dr. Hilary. “Besides thecoming storm, we really don’t know whatout thereis like. You may have to walk—or run—for your lives.”

“Or fight,” Mercury added. “But we’re heading to Madras. As Sim said, the mayor there has made it a sanctuary city. We’re hoping that we’ll be able to send help back after the storm.” She held up one of the knives. “Anyone else want to get tested?”