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“Circus then?”
“When the electromagnetic pulse hit, all of the power went out. Lincoln Park is known for its zoo.”
“So, all of the animals…?” he began to piece it together.
“All of them got out.”
His lips separated as he let out a shaky breath before shaking his head, attempting to get up. “I have to go then. I have to find them. Only God knows where they are now.” His efforts to get up failed as he began to fall down. The woman caught him just before he hit the ground. She was stronger than her small figure suggested. She propped him up, allowing him to lean against her for support.
“Then, we’ll help you,” she said, turning her head to meet his gaze.
“Why?”
“The apocalypse didn’t exactly take away our hearts,” she told him, offering him a small smile. “Not all of ours anyway.” It was a terrible joke, but it lightened his mood, even if only a bit. “But, first we have to get that leg checked out by Carlisle. You won’t be any help to them if you can’t even walk.”
He debated arguing before letting out a groan of defeat. “Fine, but let’s make it fast. Time isn’t exactly on our side.”
Chapter Three
"Their dead bodies would be frozen over in the snow.”
16th November, 2021
12:49pm
North Orchard, Chicago, Illinois.
USA.
“Ow! Take it easy. That hurts,” Xander exclaimed as Carlisle, a grey-haired woman, applied balm to his left leg and massaged it. The woman snorted.
“You’ve not even gotten to the painful part,” she said as she continued her work.
Xander sat back and grimaced as each move of the woman’s hand caused pain to shoot up his ankle. His mind was full of worry. He hadn’t seen his sister yet. The only reason he was calm was because Harper, the red-haired woman who had brought him to the make-shift clinic, had promised to help him look for Grayson and Prim. If he would be a good boy and listen to her instructions, he figured he would also be able to get some supplies from her when he finally had to move on with the two little girls. Unfortunately, her instructions entailed him staying back to recover for a whole day. The only reason he didn’t die of anxiety was because he believed that the girls were safe with Nia. He hoped they really were.
Carlisle pulled hard on his leg and twisted it towards the left causing a ‘crack’ sound to be heard across the small room from his leg. Xander yelled and jolted up from the bed. He hadn’t expected that. Carlisle got up from her seat and headed towards the door of the small room.
“My work here is done,” she said just before walking out of the door.
The room was a small one however it was filled with over fifteen patients having varying levels of injuries. Medics attended to some while others were sleeping. The room was probably one of the classrooms of Lincoln Park High School- the school where Harper had brought him. According to what he had been told, the EMP had killed a lot of people in different ways. Planes as well as cars had crashed. Elevators had suddenly stopped. Hospital ventilators and life supports had been disabled. No one knew who was behind the bombings. It had happened a little over an hour after passing out from the crash. The makeshift health care center had been set up immediately by local medics to cater for the health of survivors from any of those incidences. Harper had said that the whole area had been searched to find survivors. Harper was one of the police working in that area of Chicago. She had been off-duty that day but because of how sudden the attack had come; she had left her home to help out. At least that explained why she had looked like a hobo. She had been pulling people out of wreckages all day long. There was uncertainty everywhere and so every police person, whether in uniform or not, had to be around to reassure the people. Winter had come in full force and nobody knew where the next attack would come from. All the supplies around town had been rationed so as to be managed.
Xander took a while to recover from the pain. He looked at his leg. It was straight by default again. After a couple of minutes, he got down from the bed to test the leg. Harper had given him a crutch to help with walking. He took the crutch that had been lying by the bedside and used it, along with his good leg, to stand upright. Slowly, he put his bad leg to the ground. It didn’t hurt much any longer, which was good. He limped out of the room into a larger hall where over a hundred people were gathered. There were youth, adult and children alike. What they all had in common was the fact that their normal course of life had been disrupted. There were no cell phones to preoccupy them. Instead they all had to face the future with a level head. Family members were with their injured loved ones. Harper had said that all the injured people around town had been gathered in there. Some had died. There were some stretchers with bodies completely covered with leather.
He spotted Harper just ahead, speaking with a man who also looked like a hobo despite being in a suit. Xander noticed the glow stick in her hand as he walked up to her.
“Hey, Harper. Thanks. My legs feel so much better,” he said once he was within hearing distance.
She smiled when she saw him walking better.
“Well, you do look better. Carlisle is dun’ a great job once again,” she said.
“Yeah. Sure. She’s been massaging me since yesterday. Unfortunately, she didn’t stay long enough for me to thank her when she finished,” Xander said and Harper laughed. She turned to the man she had been talking with.
“Joel, this is the guy I told you about who lost his sister. His name is Xander.”
“Hey, boy. Good to meet you,” Joel said, stretching out his hand for a handshake.
“Thanks. Good to meet you too,” Xander replied, though he was not too comfortable with being called ‘boy’. It reminded him of Gertrude. Suddenly, he wished he had been nicer to his step-father. He didn’t know if he would ever see Gertrude or his mother again. He chose to swallow his pride and honor Joel. Besides, the man was definitely in his forties, to say the least. Xander decided the man had earned the right to call him ‘boy’. He turned back to Harper.
