The night had grown colder, my breath alive in the low torch light. Whilst my head was bowed, I may have drifted off.
Matt, Lily and Toby had crowded around Chloe. Each sat on a bed of pillows and blankets.
I lingered on the patient's pale face and her distant expression before breaking the silence. My voice croaked as I pulled the blankets tighter over my shoulders.
“Your parents?” I asked, trying to keep the words soft. Regretting as the sound came out, realising the effect of the words and expecting a shower of tears.
They didn't come, just a shake of the head.
“We ran,” Cassidy said. “The gunfire was so rapid, the screams cutting, it wasn't a place you wanted to hang around. We ran until the noise stopped and never looked back.”
“What did you do then?” Naomi said.
“Waited,” Cassidy replied.
Zoe, who'd been sitting loosely to their side, edged herself closer, pressing her hands around Cassidy's free left.
“We waited for hours, but when the explosion happened and that jet, I decided we needed to get further away, find shelter, food…” Her voice cut short, the words catching in her throat.
“They're probably fine,” Zoe said, telling me off with a pointed look my way.
I nodded a shallow reply and turned back to the dark floor.
Lily was the next to come closer to our little group, her face betraying her eagerness to get the questions she really wanted the answers to. It didn't take long before she leaned in, offering an open bar of chocolate in the kid’s direction.
Ellie looked up to her sister and, receiving a nod, she took a row.
Lily didn't wait.
“So,” she said with an unaccustomed hesitation, “while you were out there did you…?” she said again, before stopping herself short.
Naomi gave a great sigh.
“Did you see anything strange?” Naomi asked, her voice loud in the darkness.
All heads turned to hers and she rolled her eyes, but the group's attention switched back to Cassidy.
Nods ran around the room, urging on the answer.
I didn’t look up straight away, but when silence was the only reply I turned up with intrigue. Could we be about to find out one way or another if I was going nuts?
Cassidy's gaze fell to Ellie as she devoured the last of her chocolate.
Lily lent forward, offering another.
“Then that's it,” Cassidy said, as Ellie broke off the squares.
Checking she was occupied, Cassidy looked around the room to take in each of our faces.
Like me, I knew their hearts would be racing, too. She lingered as each gaze caught, her lids lowering just a little until she moved on.
“Like what?”
I kept quiet and glanced to Naomi, making it clear I wasn’t about to influence the answer.
It was Toby who spoke, all heads turning to the dim light shrouding the vigil.
“You were out there longer than us,” he said, his expression more eager than his voice betrayed.
Cassidy drew a deep breath, sparking Ellie to give a wide yawn. Cassidy let the child get herself comfortable as she fidgeted at her side. She waited as she nuzzled down on her thigh, let her eyes close and her breath turn to a soft purr before she spoke.
“We saw emptiness,” she said.
I tried to stop myself leaning forward, getting closer with each of her words.
“We saw people being inhuman.”
“What do you mean?” Zoe asked, not giving Cassidy the chance to draw breath.
“We saw people dead, killed with guns. We saw people acting like animals. People fending for themselves. It's only been a day and already the mask has slipped.”
As a group we leaned forward as she paused. I squinted at Naomi and watched as she sat back, forcing a look of disinterest.
“Anything else?” Zoe asked, her voice quivering.
The silence ate up the atmosphere, plumes of breath rolling in the centre of the group giving away our apprehension.
“We saw,” she said, and the cloud of breath stopped, “people left for dead, so many people,” she said, her voice betraying she wasn't finished.
Still she paused. “Left for dead, but they weren't.”
No one spoke despite the volley of questions we each had ready.
Again, it was Zoe who broke the silence.
“What do you…?” she said, but I interrupted.
“Can anyone else smell smoke?”
15
“Shush,” came Naomi's irritated reply. “Let her speak,” she said, her eyes pinched in my direction.
“No one else?” I asked, scouring each of the distracted faces in the shadows. “Really?” I snapped, then gave up as all gazes were on the newcomer.
Taking a long draw of breath through my nose, I could swear I still smelt bitter smoke but put it down to tiredness when Zoe spoke.
“So, what did you mean, they weren't dead?”
Cassidy shook her head, rubbing her temple with her free hand.
“Just what I said. Not everyone was dead. Some people were laying on the ground, thrashing around.” Her voice grew desperate with a sadness greater than before. Her eyes squinted as if trying to block the images in her mind.
“I wanted to help. I wanted to do something about their pain, but I couldn't take Ellie there. I wanted to. I really did.”
“It's all right,” Zoe said, handing over a square of tissue. “There's nothing you could have done, I’m sure.”
“That's it?” I asked, regretting my tone as the words flowed, then tried to ignore the glares which returned. “Nothing else?” I said, softening my tone.
Cassidy shrugged.
“It was,” she said, checking her sister's eyes, “pretty fucking unusual for us. Does this kind of shit happen often to you?” Her voice was high and her tone cutting.
I didn't need to look to Naomi to know
