Page 77 of The Gods Will Sing Our Song

At first, I don’t notice the odd number of people out—or how they all head in one direction. By the time I’m halfway to the hospital, I realize Mr. Nomura never showed up at the barracks today. I look up at the sky again. The shadow is just…there. It spreads over the sky like a blanket, dark, silent, watching. I pick up my pace, keeping my head down.

The hospital has improved since the last time I was here, with Emi. At least, there aren’t any cots outside. I reach for the door. It’s latched. I knock.

“Who’s there?” I recognize the voice. Nurse Rose is on duty. She’ll help us.

“It’s me, Ren. Cosette is sick.”

The latch flips back and the door creaks open. Nurse Rose quickly motions me in. I enter and she closes it, latching it once again.

“What’s going on?” I ask. Nurse Rose is always calm, but her hands twist around her white apron, and worry, bordering on fear, fills her face.

“The guards came by and told us there might be a riot,” she says. “They wanted us to go home until tomorrow, but there are patients who need us.”

A riot. I think about Kai and James and all the rest like them and Akira’s shadow hanging quietly in the sky. I glance around the hospital. Military cots mix with iron and pop-up camper beds. They ring the perimeter of the room, sitting atop a checkered linoleum floor. Farther down the barrack, there are sections curtained off for operations. Dr. Suzuki talks to a mother whose sick kid is in one of the beds. His face is as controlled as always. He glances at me, and the flint in his gaze shifts, just a bit. Coming over, he asks, “What brings you here?”

“It’s Cosette,” I say. “She’s really weak.”

Dr. Suzuki takes her. Gently, he examines her. Déjà vu comes over me, along with a wave of dizziness. Last time I saw him here, he was trying to save Emi. The chair where I sat giving blood is against the wall. My arm tenses. I feel it, right now. The way the needle punctured my skin, the sight of my blood shooting through the plastic tubing as it was sucked out of me. It wasn’t enough. Nothing was enough.

Carefully, Dr. Suzuki does his examination. He says, “Nurse Rose, we need an infusion.” Addressing me, he says, “It’s good you brought her. She’s dehydrated and malnourished. She’s unable to take the powdered milk, correct?” I nod. Dr. Suzuki and Nurse Rose get to work. Their hands are quick and deft and Cosette doesn’t even make a sound as they slip a needle into her vein. I wince. I can take pain, but knowing she’s in any makes me want to strangle someone. “She’ll need to stay here,” Dr. Suzuki says. Unexpectedly, he asks me, “Have you seen Kai lately?”

“No, sir,” I respond. “I haven’t been at work. I’ve been taking care of Cosette.”

“Understandable.” Briskly, Dr. Suzuki reaches for a chart.

“Do you want me to go look for him?” I ask. Dr. Suzuki pauses. Then he turns to fully face me and regards me silently for a long moment.

“No,” he says. “It isn’t safe.”

“I’ll be fine,” I reply with a shrug. I’ll make sure Violet and Mrs. Aratani are safe, too. “Need to check on some people anyway.”

A soft, subtle knock comes from the door. Nurse Rose speaks to whoever is on the other side and then opens it. A man stumbles in. His hand is pressed to his head. Blood leaks between his fingers, down his wrists, and into the cuffs of his sleeves.

“Mr. Nomura?” I say. Dr. Suzuki and I hurry to him. A red gash cuts across his forehead, surrounded by swelling skin. Blood trickles down his uniform, blending in to the navy blue wool. “What happened?”

“I was hiding in the library.” I’ve never heard his voice so ragged before. He shakes his head slightly, like he still can’t believe what happened. “Masked intruders came looking for me. They beat me, and I barely escaped.”

“Here, here.” Dr. Suzuki guides him to one of the beds. Weakly, he sinks onto it.

“I don’t want to bring trouble here,” Mr. Nomura says to Dr. Suzuki. “Give me a Band-Aid and I’ll leave. They’re still looking for me.”

“A Band-Aid? Nonsense.” Dr. Suzuki doesn’t hesitate. “If they come, we’ll turn them away. You’re in no condition to be moving around. You need stitches, and I need to see if you have a concussion.”

“They’re coming!” Nurse Rose exclaims, peering out the window. The mother on the cot pauses and then keeps smoothing the hair back off her kid’s forehead. “People are coming this way!”

Dr. Suzuki and I rush to look out. Forms appear out of the night, clutching weapons. Axes, hatchets, wrenches, shovels, sticks, and hammers. Faces, lit from below by flashlights and lanterns, are all twisted and strange. I try to count how many people approach. I lose track at thirty.

“Quick!” Dr. Suzuki snatches blankets off the unoccupied cots. “Hide him.”

Nurse Rose hurries to help. They guide him to one of the beds with curtains. Dr. Suzuki motions for him to lie flat. Without a word, he goes down. Together, they drape the blankets over him. He disappears fast under the layers. Glass shatters, skittering across the hospital floor. Someone’s thrown a rock through the window.

I pick up that chair, the one I sat in to give blood. If they breach the hospital, I’ll fight to the death to protect Cosette. It’s a clear thought in my mind, one distinct from the rest of me. Aside from it, I’m nothing but blinking nerves, coiled muscles, and gritted teeth.

The door rattles in the frame. Faces appear in the broken window. No one shouts. In fact, no one says anything. Everything progresses in silence, bizarre in its order.

“Go away!” Nurse Rose says through the door to the attackers. There’s a pause. Finally, a voice comes.

“Nomura. We’ve come for Nomura.”