quick sweep through the closet shows only a scattering of clothes and boxes. She returns to the hall to report all clear.
Entering the far back bedroom, they step over the bullet-ridden corpse lying on the floor inside the door. Although fully expecting to find another night runner hidden within, they don’t find anything else.
“We’re coming back to the living room,” Gonzalez announces over the radio, receives the familiar two clicks of acknowledgement, and they join Henderson in the dining room.
“We’ll check the basement. Henderson, cover the hall just in case,” Gonzalez says with Henderson nodding in reply. She relays the info to Denton.
The two cross the distance to the door quickly. With Gonzalez covering the door from the side, McCafferty reaches across the door and tests the handle. Locked. With a shrug, she glances at Gonzalez with a “what now” look. Gonzalez waves her to the side and lowers her carbine at the latch. She hesitates a moment, not wanting to shoot through the door and hit someone on the other side. She doesn’t know if the door was locked from this side or the other. The fact that the door is locked but the front door left open makes her think that someone could be on the other side. Without seeing a quick solution, she gives a mental shrug and, after warning Henderson and Denton, pulls the trigger for a short burst.
The striking of the bullets causes the door to explode with a shower of splinters by the door handle. She nods to McCafferty who reaches across and swings the door open. The beam of light from Gonzalez’ laser streaks downward. Where she was expecting a night runner – perhaps locked in – or a very scared girl, she is only met by a flight of stairs heading down. A stench, unlike the odor of rot outside and smelling like an open sewer, rushes up the stairs.
“I’ll go first. You cover over the top of me,” Gonzalez whispers to McCafferty who nods.
Stepping down the concrete stairs into the chill of the basement, she swings her M-4 from side to side as she searches areas as they come into view; the beam of light follows her searches and defines where her barrel is pointed. Cautiously, step by step, she draws closer to the basement floor with the stench being the only assault so far. Reaching the bottom, she looks to the far end of the small basement and sees a figure lying on a few blankets spread on the cold, hard floor.
“McCafferty, get down here. I think we may have found her,” she says pressing the mic button at her throat.
With McCafferty on the way down the steps, she walks over to the figure on the ground. She kneels down next to a teen girl on her back with her eyes closed. She gives the girl a slight shake to see if she awakens but the young girl remains still with her eyes closed, although she did move loosely and without any rigidity when Gonzalez shook her. She searches for a pulse and finds a weak but steady one. Feeling her chest, she feels it rise ever so slightly.
“I’ve got a girl down here with a weak pulse and shallow breathing but she’s alive,” she says over the radio.
They pick the girl up, noticing the worn, dirt-stained jeans and once white top, and carry her outside, picking up Henderson and Denton on their way. They place the girl on the thin strip of green grass serving as the front lawn.
“Carrie!” Kelly yells seeing them carry the thin figure outside and answers the question of whether they found the right girl.
“Denton, go see if there’s an IV and saline in the med kit,” Gonzalez says kneeling by the frail body.
To her, it’s obvious that Carrie has been without food and water for a while and looks like exposure victims she has seen in the past. Kelly kneels on the other side calling to Carrie, stroking her face. Denton returns and pulls out a bag of saline with an IV kit. Gonzalez was trained some time ago and knows she’s no expert at inserting an IV. She had a hard time finding a vein even back in training. She looks to the arm and notices the veins deflated through dehydration. She doesn’t feel comfortable trying to find a smaller one in the hand, and she’s definitely not going for the jugular, so she tries to insert the needle into the arm. Several attempts later, she’s rewarded with a spot of blood in the needle. Taping the needle in place and hooking up the bag, she turns the drip on high.
To the relief of everyone, Carrie emits a faint, stirring moan. She was worried they would have to transport Carrie in her weakened condition. Though there is still time before they are due back, she hadn’t wanted to risk moving her. Carrie’s eyes flutter open. Kelly sobs in relief and hugs her daughter tightly before turning to Gonzalez and giving her a big hug.
“Thank you. Oh, thank you,” she says.
“Our pleasure, ma’am,” Gonzalez says feeling a touch uncomfortable with the outpouring of emotion.
They keep Carrie on the grass for a while longer, feeding her small sips of water until Gonzalez feels comfortable enough with Carrie’s recovery. They load the girl into the rear making sure she’s comfortable and proceed back with the sound of Kelly comforting her daughter. Gonzalez rides back feeling good that they could help someone in this nightmare of danger and death in which so much has been lost.
The next morning arrives and I wake feeling just as tired as when I collapsed. The night passed with my waking many times; sometimes due to the pain and sometimes with the pounding at the doors from night runners. I am angered at their pounding interrupting my sleep and by their taking my precious gem from me. The ache is deep within my heart and I don’t want to get up. I feel like just staying on my cot with my misery for company. I know in my mind that the pain will pass but it certainly doesn’t feel like it ever will. I failed my sweet Nic and the agony of that hurts almost as much as does her loss. No parent should outlive their child. My worst nightmare has come to pass. I don’t want to rise but know that I need to lay my Nic to rest.
With an extreme effort, like lifting a truck from on top of me, I toss aside the blankets that someone put over me during the night. I sit on the side of the cot and look over to where Nic is lying to see that Drescoll or someone wrapped her in a sleeping bag. Robert and Bri are sitting on their cots with their heads hung. Mom is kneeling by Nic just staring at the bag in which she lies. I stand and walk over to Nic, lift her in my arms, and, without a word, carry her outside with Robert, Bri, and Mom following. As she is going about business in the parking lot, Lynn sees us and joins our silent march. The entire parking lot of soldiers is silent as we pass by. I gently set Nic in the back of one of the Humvees. Our doors closing sounds unnaturally loud in the stillness as we climb silently in and start down the road.
All of us have tears in our eyes, with Mom and Bri sobbing in the back, as we drive to the gate blocking the road to our special place. The walk is also conducted in silence with Robert, Bri, and myself carrying Nic’s body along the road and up through the woods. At a stump, we rid ourselves of our accoutrements and smudge ourselves before proceeding into the small valley and up the side of the hill where Nic and I spent so many hours together. The valley still holds the peaceful feeling but I am numb inside. I feel like someone else is walking through the shaded grove. I cannot believe I am about to lay my daughter, my Nic, a jewel in my life, to rest. It’s a different surreal than the world’s situation but surreal nonetheless.
We dig a deep hole on the side of the hill where we used to sit. I take my bear necklace off, and, unzipping the bag, I place it inside. Gently lowering Nic in her sleeping bag, I stand at the edge looking at her lying in the hole. I can’t bring myself to shovel dirt in. The thought of doing so makes me feel like I’d be giving up on her. I lean on the shovel with warm tears streaming down my face and feel Lynn’s arms around my shoulders. Bri hugs my waist and buries her face against me, sobbing. Mom comes over and throws her arms around the both of us with her eyes red from crying. Robert joins us and, in our shared sorrow and loss, we all hug tightly.
As if on a shared thought, we part and I scoop a small load of dirt in, lowering the shovel and gently laying the dirt on the bag, as if edging myself towards actually burying her. We all begin laying shovels in until the bag disappears from view. My vision is blurred as the last of the blue of the bag vanishes beneath the dirt and the hole is then quickly filled leaving a mound. We stand around it holding hands.
I kneel and place my hand on the freshly turned earth. “Spirits, you know Nic. She has visited you many times here. Please take care of her and guide her. Nic, you were a sweet jewel upon this earth and blessed it so much with your presence. Your laugh was like an angel singing. You were the world to me and I’ll truly miss you. I’ll miss your smile and the look in your eyes when you gazed at me. A smile that would chase all of the shadows away. I’ll miss the times we had playing, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. Goodbye my dear, sweet Nic. I love you so much! I’ll meet you here,” I say sobbing between words. My sweet Nic is truly gone, never to grace my presence by her beautiful laugh or sweet voice again.
I swear I hear her voice in my head, “I’ll be here waiting for you, Dad.”
