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“Blasts? So it was a bomb? I was in the basement when it happened, with Tyler here, who was helping me with my regular check of our fuse boxes,” said the older man. “Oh, sorry. I’m Ken Sampson—the mechanic in charge of the lifts and basically anything electrical—and this is Tyler Anderson, a bellhop and my unofficial apprentice.”
“I recognize Tyler.” Mercury nodded at both men. “Yes, it was a bomb. Actually, many bombs. So, y’all couldn’t see anything from here?”
“Like I said, we were in the basement when it happened,” answered Ken.
“I wasn’t.” Imani held Mercury’s gaze steadily. “I was hiking and it was just lucky I went that way.” She gestured behind her at the side of the mountain that hadn’t slid into the fissure that had swallowed half the lodge. “But I was surrounded by huge trees and couldn’t see. Whatever happened—the bombs—knocked me off my feet. I think I lost consciousness. Next thing I knew, I opened my eyes and there was green fog everywhere, and then everything started to shake. But you were on the highway. What did you see?”
“Bombs. All around us,” Mercury said. “I’ll tell you everything, but we have people who are hurt with us. Can we get them inside the lodge? Are there any doctors here?”
Imani started to speak, but Ken cut him off. “Portland. Could you see Portland?”
Mercury met Ken’s gaze: the fear within his eyes said that he was probably from Portland. She tried to form the words that would shatter his life forever, but she couldn’t seem to make any sound.
Stella stepped up beside her. “Ken, are you from Portland?”
“I am!” said young Tyler. “But I work up here during spring and summer breaks.”
“Yeah, me too, originally,” said Ken. “My parents and two sisters and their families still live in Portland. I moved to Government Camp with my wife and daughters when I took this job a couple years ago.” His eyes widened. “Wait, you were on highway 26 at the lookout! How’s Government Camp?”
Stella’s gaze went from Ken to Tyler and then back to Ken. Her voice was kind, but she didn’t prevaricate. “There isn’t any more Government Camp or Portland. An avalanche buried Government Camp—all of it. A bomb hit Portland directly. Salem too. They hit all over. We saw dozens and dozens of the smoke trails. Everywhere.”
Imani gasped and covered her mouth as her eyes filled with tears.
Ken didn’t speak. He didn’t even seem to breathe. A small, strangled sound came from Tyler’s bloodless lips, and his body crumpled to the broken asphalt.
“Hey, guys! Nathan passed out again. We really need to get him some help.” Gemma’s voice came from the makeshift litter where she was crouched between Nathan and Marge. “And I think Jason just died. There’s, uh, blood everywhere.”
“We’re coming!” Stella called over her shoulder before she turned to Mercury. “Stay with Tyler while we get them inside.” She glanced at Ken. “I’m assuming we can go into that section of the lodge, right?”
Ken blinked like he was waking from a dream. “I… uh… I can’t—” His voice broke and he turned his head away.
Imani touched his arm gently. “It’s okay. Just breathe.” She turned to Stella and Mercury. “The lodge is in bad shape, but we’ve been bringing the wounded inside to the first floor and trying to stay as far away from there as possible.” She pointed to the missing half of the hotel. “But since there aren’t many wounded so far, that hasn’t been too difficult.”
Stella’s brow went up. “Not many wounded?”
“No.” Tyler shook his head. The teenager wiped the tears from his smooth cheeks. Moving slowly like an old man, he got to his feet. “Almost everyone is dead.”
Mercury felt his words like a punch in her gut. She cleared her throat and asked, “Tyler, can you help load the wounded into your golf cart thing?”
“Y-yes, ma’am.”
“I’ll help too,” said Ken. His face was gray and his hands trembled, but together they loaded Marge and Nathan into the rear of the little vehicle. Gemma had been right. Jason had bled out without regaining consciousness. They carried him to the side of the parking lot and covered him with the tarp.
“Tyler, you go ahead and drive the Polaris back,” said Ken. “I’m going to check the bodies out here and be sure none of them are still alive.”
“Sir, I’ll help you. I’m not afraid of blood or anything like that,” said Gemma.
Ken shook his head slightly. His lips twitched like they wanted to smile but couldn’t remember how. “No, young lady. If you aren’t scared of blood, you’ll be busy up there.” His gaze flicked to what was left of the lodge. “I need the time alone anyway.”
“There’s only room for four,” said Mercury. “Gemma, Sadie, and Karen, you should ride back with Tyler to get Marge and Nathan situated. “Stella, Imani, and I will walk.” No one argued. Every so often Tyler wiped an escaping tear from his face, but he got behind the wheel and gave a hand up to Karen. Gemma and Sadie crawled in behind them, and the Polaris slowly began a careful trek back to the lodge.
“Ken, are you sure we can’t help you?” Mercury asked.
The older man shook his head slightly. “No one can help me. Go ahead and get warm. They’ve at least got a fire going up there, as well as shelter and food. I’ll be along as soon as I check for wounded.”
“Hey, I looked on the way across the lot, and I didn’t see anyone who could’ve been—” Stella’s words stopped as Ken turned and began to walk to the first of many dead bodies.
“Let him go,” said Mercury. “His family is gone. He’s got to try to deal with that.”
