Marie wanted to scream in frustration, and truthfully, a little bit of fear. If they couldn’t get to their patients they wouldn’t be able to see them and treat them. “No one has been able to get to the third floor?”
Ophelia shook her head. “We weren’t too sure how stable the stairs were, but if you were able to come up then it’s promising that we can get to the third floor.”
“Okay, why don’t you send Frederico up there for him to appraise the area and then, if it’s blocked like this floor, we can make a plan of how we’regoing to tackle things. I’m going to assume, right or wrong, that there are some staff on the other side of the rubble on this floor that can triage their area. Have you been able to have any sort of communication with anyone on the other side?”
“Si,Frederico says he was able to yell to someone and they were trying to get through from their side.”
Marie nodded, a tiny bit of panic receding, at least it wasn’t only the four of them able to help. Although Juanita, with her broken arm, wouldn’t be able to do a lot, Marie knew the older woman wouldn’t let anything like a injured arm stop her from doing what she could in this situation. “That’s good. I’m going to go back downstairs and collect what I can from the storeroom, if it’s still standing, and bring it up here. Hopefully when I get back we’ll have a better idea of what we need to do and how to handle it.”
Ophelia nodded and then picked her way over the rubble to relay Marie’s message to Frederico.
The wail of sirens began to fill the air. The San Carlion clinic was a small hospital in a small town and she wanted to believe that they would be given help first so that more of the injured could come and be treated. However, given the state of the building, Marie didn’t believe they would be of much use at all. In all likelihood, they would have to be evacuated to a safer building where they could do what they could.
Was there even another one that would be suitable?
“Not your problem,” she muttered as she carefully made her way back to her office. “The authorities will make the necessary calls.”
Marie had no idea how things worked in this town. How many other places were more badly damaged than what they were? She hadn’t even gone outside to see what the situation was like.
How many more buildings were almost collapsing?
They were things she couldn’t think about now. Her main priority was the people in the hospital. Treating them and making sure they were okay, then they could help everyone else.
Marie reached the supply closet. Like most of the other doors, this one hung precariously, and most of the supplies that had been shelved neatly lay in disarray among the dusty rubble. Thank goodness they were packaged up and not loose, if they had been she wouldn’t be able to use them as they would be compromised and she wouldn’t risk giving an injured patient a bacterial infection, or worse, on top of whatever they were trying to recover from.
Looking around she spied a basket she could shove some supplies in. She hoped by the time she got back to the second floor they would’ve been able to make headway through the rubble and get to the other side. She also needed to make her way up to thethird floor and check on everyone there, particularly Mr. Ricco.
Her stomach churned with worry, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it would all be fruitless, that the shaking had been too much, and the building was going to collapse around their ears before they could get everyone out.
“Are you okay? Do you need help?”
After being around Spanish speaking people for so long, not to mention talking in the same language, hearing an American accent shocked her for a few seconds. Marie whirled around, clutching the basket to her as if it could protect her. Natural disasters and other tragic events tended to bring out the worst in some people. They were also a hospital so they had drugs which could be sold on the black market.
The man standing in front of her was tall, broad shouldered and had an air of—not danger, but authority, maybe. A scruffy beard covered most of his face and his hair was longish with streaks of silver in it. His clothes were dusty, but he had sturdy boots on his feet and he looked like he could provide assistance in getting to the inaccessible parts of the building should they need it.
“Are you okay? Do you need help?” This time the same questions were spoken in Spanish as if the manthought she didn’t understand English, which made sense considering they were in another country.
Why had he spoken in English first and not Spanish?
God, did it matter? He’s here and offering to help—take it.
“I’m fine.” Marie answered in English and then in Spanish. The stranger’s eyebrows rose in surprise at her bilingual skills. “Are you hurt? Do you need assistance yourself?”
There was nothing about the way he was standing, nor the fact that there were no visible cuts or traces of blood on his face and arms that suggested he was hurt, but she had to ask all the same. Sometimes the most potent and dangerous injuries were the invisible ones.
“I’m not hurt. I know this is a hospital and is going to be the first place people will come with their injured family members.” He looked around. “This building isn’t safe for that, though.”
“And you know this because, what? You’re a civil engineer? An architect? Or maybe you’re a builder.” Marie snapped back, surprised at the burst of anger firing through her, even though deep down she knew the stranger spoke the truth. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t thought of herself. The building was looking worse for wear, and she was surprised it was stillstanding with the way the building had swayed violently during the earthquake.
Before the stranger had a chance to answer, the ground beneath her began to rumble.
“Fuck! Aftershock,” the man yelled, and with speed she didn’t even know a human being could possess, he was beside her rushing back into the supply closet and pushing her to the ground. His arms encircled her in a tight embrace, the basket of supplies crushed between them. They were incredibly close. As the building protested, the ground dancing in Mother Nature’s rhythm, she gripped the fabric of his shirt, feeling the hardness of his shoulders. His beard brushed her cheek, and she was surprised at the softness of it. She was fully aware of him as someone bigger and stronger than her, yet she didn’t feel worried that he might do something to her.
“Oh god,” she muttered and closed her eyes, glad her back was to what was happening to the room where she’d spent numerous hours.
Were they even safe in the closet?
“It’s okay, I’ve got you. It’s an internal cupboard, so it’s one of the safest places to be.” His voice was calm and soothing.
