“I ran a few of my drones all through the wreckage,” Cody said. “There’s no one else left there alive.” He glanced at the bystanders working in the ER and switched to subaural. I had to use my cyborg strength to get Mrs. Sampson loose and she’s the last one.
Chapter Seventeen
Jeff drew Melly aside, out of the ER altogether, into a hallway. After watching them go, Tamsyn asked Cody, “Want some synthcaff?”
“Sounds like a great idea.”
They walked in companionable silence to the waiting room where the volunteers had set up refreshments for the medical staff and their helpers. The room was deserted now and once they had their cups full, Cody guided Tamsyn outside into a tiny courtyard where there was a bench and a few struggling bushes.
She sat, realizing it was the first time she’d been off her feet all day.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m numb, I think. The day is one big blur of blood and people rushing around and me giving orders and solving problems and checking on Melly to be sure she had what she needed.” Tamsyn drew in a long, tremulous breath, held it and released the pent-up air in a gust, as if spewing her emotions out along with the exhale. ”But now I’m exhausted and shaky.”
“Adrenaline dump. The crisis is over and now your body is crashing.” He set his cup down and pulled her close.
“My clothes are all bloody,” she protested.
“And mine are covered in dust from climbing through rubble in the collapsed building. We’re a pair.” Cody held her close and the warmth and strength of his embrace soothed her anxiety and stress. She closed her eyes and leaned against him while he stroked her hair with one hand. Aches and pains made themselves known all over her body and she resolved to find a dose of over-the-counter painkiller as soon as she could.
“Think about the ranch,” he said. “The open range, the peace and quiet. Put yourself there for a few minutes. It’ll help.”
“Being with you is helping the most,” she said. “How are you doing? Crawling through the wreckage must have been intense.”
He was silent for a moment. “I’ve seen worse in combat. But the thing that got to me today was the survivors we could hear calling for help at first and then one by one the voices fell silent. When I got my drones in there, as I said earlier, no one else was alive. I wish we could have helped them in time.”
“You did what you could,” she assured him.
“And so did you.” He took a deep breath. “Long day. The mayor assigned us a house in what the townies call the cleared zone. Ryan’s there now with APC2. When we get there, how about a nice long hot shower?”
“Is there going to be hot water?” she asked skeptically. “Actually I don’t care. Anything will do to wash today off me and then a bed to fall into. With you.”
“Hold the thought.” His grin was sexy and his eyes twinkled. “Let’s go find the captain and the doc and see if we can head out yet.”
* * *
Melly found herself surprisingly willing to be taken away from the ER and her medical duties for a while, clutching Jeff’s hand and walking with him into a deserted hallway. As the door shut behind them, he drew her close and gave her a long kiss. “How you holding up, doc?”
“I’ve been through mass casualty incidents before,” she said, remembering one particularly bad time after the crash of a commuter shuttle. “I know what it takes, I know what to do. I shift into doctor mode and then I’m good. But this—” she gestured at the hospital walls around them, “Was a nightmare. I was in an ER all right but using primitive tools for the most part—we had to do live donors for blood. And although it was the ER, the entire hospital surrounding me was empty, nonfunctional. No scans, no meds, no surgeons standing by…just me and a few trained personnel and a lot of willing volunteers. Tamsyn was a literal lifesaver— she took care of so many organizational issues. Between her and Trent, we were able to function better than I’d hoped. One of the volunteers found a few emergency containers set aside for an MCI like today and that yielded vital medinjects.” She wiped her brow with one hand. “I used up a lot of our medical supplies today but they were needed. We’ll have to restock, maybe even do a run to New Damarkal and see what their hospitals may hold?—”
“Doc, slow down.” He interrupted her. “Those concerns are for another day. You did the best anyone could have done under these conditions and Millersville was damn lucky we rolled up on them today. How are you actually?”
She considered her answer briefly then held out her hand, which trembled visibly in the dim light. “Shaky. Exhausted. Glad there aren’t any more patients coming, which is a terrible thing to be thinking—all those poor people Cody was talking about, crushed in the ruins?—”
“All right, I’m taking you out of here,” Jeff said in a stern voice, arms closing around her tightly. “You need a hot shower, real food and a nap. Let me take care of you at the house the Mayor gave us?—”
“Oh I forgot all about his wife!” Melly exclaimed. “I haven’t seen her yet.”
“Tomorrow. She can wait till tomorrow. You need a break.”
“I can’t leave,” Melly said to Jeff, astonished he would even suggest such a thing. “There are critical patients inside, several in post-op who’ll need to be monitored. I have to be on the alert for complications. There’s literally no one else. No night crew is coming to take over and the helpers who were here today are exhausted.”
“Including you.” Jeff said sternly. He tilted her chin so he could look into her eyes. “You’re the only doctor we all have. Probably the last one on the damn planet, except maybe one or two at Glastine or the research facility. If you burn out from overwork, we all lose. And those people in there and the mayor’s wife and everyone else who might want to see a doctor while we’re here, lose. And I’m not risking the life of the woman I love just because she doesn’t know when to step back and recharge.”
Protests bubbled up in Melly’s throat but she swallowed hard, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor. Toying with the fastening of his combat vest, she considered his words. What would she say to any colleague in the same state she was after an all-day crisis like the one she’d been through? Pretty much what Jeff was telling her.. Fatigue was pulling at her limbs and she wanted to lie down on the floor and close her eyes for even ten minutes. She’d be no good to a patient in this state. “All right, you win. If we have volunteers organized to sit with the patients here who can com me at once if there are any changes, I’ll go with you. But I need to be here first thing in the morning to do rounds.”
“It’s not a question of winning or losing,” he said gently, reaching up to loosen her hair from the strict bun she’d wound it into and massaging her scalp as the strands fell freely onto her shoulders. “It’s me loving you and committed to taking care of you. You’re my life and heart, lady.”
