35 Roman
Roman
“Are you coming back?” Meg asked as I left her on the porch of Councilwoman Troy’s house.
Those four words threatened to break me. It wasn’t a question I’d had to answer as an adult to another living soul that cared whether I made it.
How could you answer something like that, knowing the truth of what I was about to face? Even in times of peace, my job was dangerous.
I didn’t know what we were up against now.
I just knew I had to get back out there.
The words didn’t want to form, but I found them anyway. “I’ll do my best.”
Then her arms were around me, and the raging dam I barely held back cracked another fraction. “This is the worst love story ever.”
“You deserve better.” Better than I could give.
I forced myself to look into her eyes, to not crumble when I gave her a chaste kiss, ignoring the looks from the security guards stationed outside the councilwoman’s house as I turned away.
Let them talk.
If what the colonel said was true, our entire way of life was about to change. A social media scandal was the least of my worries.
And I had so many worries right now.
Back at base, I met up with my unit and the modified HMMWV. The Humvee was mounted with a .50 caliber machine gun that we’d use to patrol the streets. I exhaled a sigh of relief when I saw Staff Sergeant Marcus standing there.
I pulled him to the side. “Where are they?”
Marcus glanced over his shoulder. “We’ve got friends in the southside district. They’re hanging out there for now until this blows over or I come back.”
I knew the place. It was where Katrina lived.
Where I’d grown up. The lower district was packed in tight, but they were good people who’d look out for each other.
People who understood the severity of a collapse of this size.
Fragile lives made shorter by the threat of everyday living.
Nothing like being poor to realize your mortality.
None of us were foolish enough to believe we could take on the gods.
But it seemed Marcus was still holding out hope that this would blow over. The smiles and teasing as the rest of the unit geared up for our patrol told me the same.
I couldn’t bear to break it to them now.
“What happened?” I asked Marcus instead, needing to know what we were up against.
“It’s a mistake, I think.” My old friend scratched the back of his neck.
“We can challenge the board. Figure out where the tests went wrong. It’s not like she’s got mutant DNA or anything.
Sarah was deemed unfit for school after her placement tests.
They revoked her citizenship and my in-laws disowned her. But Daisy won’t leave her side.”
I nodded, knowing he wouldn’t let Daisy handle this alone either. Still, I had to ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I knew, but I had to make sure.
Marcus looked pointedly at my collar device. “Things change, Lieutenant.”
“The important things don’t change. I won’t leave you alone with this.” Not when he was under my command. Not when he was still my friend.
I stepped back, giving the signal to round up, and my men crawled into the vehicle.
“Where to?” Marcus was back to business as he slid behind the wheel.
“We’re enforcing curfew tonight, patrolling the Eleventh District,” I told my team as they packed in behind me. “But do me a favor and swing by the hospital downtown first.”
*
My rifle hung strapped to my back as I walked up the stone steps into the dark and silent hospital. As the sun had set, the reality of what we were dealing with sank in. There would be no lights on tonight.
I clicked on my flashlight beam and swept the halls, already knowing what I’d find. But I needed to make sure.
I paused outside of Room 224 for the last time, steeling myself with one final breath.
The metal bed was empty, stripped of the mattress and any form of life, and the machines sat dead around the room.
That was it.
They’d… pulled the plug.
I sank to my knees on the cold linoleum floor beside the chair I’d sat in so many years and felt my throat burn with the pain of everything left unsaid.
Hopefully, they’d have found a way to cremate him. Though I wasn’t sure I’d ever know where the ashes went during the last twenty-four hours of chaos. There’d be no ceremonial burial in the community garden. He wasn’t important enough to be mixed in the earth to grow the city’s ornamental trees.
I’d never see him again.
Tears stung my eyes and I blinked them away. At least his body had been laid to rest. I imagined Sally giving him as much dignity as she could muster. She’d have done that despite the level he came from.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Dad,” I whispered, forcing a tight-lipped smile for him like I’d seen him do a thousand times for me. “I was on an adventure and I met a pretty girl. You’re going to love…”
My voice seemed too loud in the darkness as the flashlight beam bounced off the dead equipment. I wasn’t here to say goodbye again.
How many times had I said goodbye in one way or another over the years? It was only the stupid hope in science that kept me coming back, wishing for a miracle that I couldn’t afford, even with the promotion to a rank far above my station.
A fist tightened around my heart, squeezing, as I climbed back to my feet.
I shoved that sensation down deep.
“Lieutenant!” someone screamed from outside.
I was running before they finished calling for me, rifle at the ready, and prepared to do whatever it took to make sure my men were safe tonight.