\[Denali’s POV\]
I move forward, trying not to breathe through my nose or look too closely at the world around me. The groans of those infected echo around me, mixing in with the sounds of the nurses and doctors feet rushing along the floor. No one pays me attention. It’s like I’m a phantom here, and I guess with their minds occupied with the sick, no one really cared about me.
I continue to move until I feel Rosco’s familiar essence. Once I’ve pinpointed where he is, I begin to move until I spot Maria coming out of a room, looking exhausted and covered in blood.
“Maria,” I gasp, moving forward. “How are things?”
“They’re…” She begins, worriedly biting her lip. “I’m not sure.”
Not sure. If she was saying that, did it mean that even she wasn’t able to cure the infected of their ailment? If she couldn’t, then the only thing we could do was treat the sick and pray that they’d make it through.
“There is only so much I can do.” She continues. “The illness the nue used is a strong one, and curing it completely goes far above my abilities.”
“I’ll help!” Tristan announces, suddenly appearing from behind his mom. “Let me help!”
“I’ve already told you to go back to our room.” Maria sighs. “This isn’t the place for a child.”
“But I can help!” He insists.
“Tristan,” Maria warns, her voice becoming stern. “Do as mother has told you.”
“But…”
“I think you should listen.” I say as Maria opens her mouth. “Your mother won’t be able to work properly if she has to worry about your well-being.”
Although I knew that Tristan’s heart was in the right place, there was no way that he would be able to help with what was happening. This was a job for trained professionals.
“But I can heal!” Tristan pouts.
“Your abilities are just starting to surface.” Maria counters. “You can’t handle something like this right now. Please, son, go back to the room. I don’t have time to argue.”
For a moment, Tristan doesn’t speak as he looks from Maria to the chaos that is taking place around us, and when he finally gives a stubborn nod, he begins to move.
“That boy.” Maria sighs, wiping sweat from her brow. “I don’t know where he gets that stubbornness from.”
“His father, maybe?” I suggest, realizing that since meeting Maria, I have never heard her speak once of Tristan’s father.
“That bastard,” Maria growls, taking me by surprise. “Is not his father.”
Eyes widening, I understand too late that I was treading on a sensitive subject. I guess there were things that Maria didn’t wish to speak of, and Tristan’s father was one of them.
“Anyway,” she continues now, changing the subject. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you still be relaxing?”
“That’s,” I begin as Olga spots me and begins to make her way toward us. “It’s Rosco.”
“Luna!” Olga calls, her face panicked. “What should we do? There are too many sick to keep up with the blood transfusions, and every time we turn around, new wounds appear. How can we…”
“Olga,” I say, understanding what it was that I could do in this moment. “First, you need to stop panicking. Consider this a normal medical emergency. What would you do in that situation? You wouldn't normally panic, right? Instead, you would confidently begin to treat and try to save as many as possible." I continue, giving the old woman a reassuring smile. "We are going to need all hands on deck and everyone on the same page if we want to get through this smoothly. I'm counting on everyone here to do what their job entails. Now, what should be the first thing to do?"
“We would call in as many hands as we could.” She responds, her voice becoming lighter.
“And what about the blood situation?”
“I can make calls to blood banks.” Maria offers. “I’m sure there are some who can help us.”
“And what about overcrowding?” I continue, focusing on Olga. “Is there enough room for the sick where they aren’t on top of each other?”
“We’ve already made sure to take advantage of the empty rooms so that the nurses and doctors aren’t on top of each other.” She responds.
“Then please continue doing what you are.” I smile.
For now, I would do my best to make sure that no one panicked and that things went smoothly. I was sure that with everyone’s efforts, we could save as many lives as possible.
“Maria,” I say now, turning my full attention to her. “Tell me, how many do you think you can work on?”
Although Maria’s powers were great, I knew that she was limited, and I didn’t want her to push herself to exhaustion. For now, I wanted her to focus on helping as many as she could, even if that meant we would have to lose some.
“I’m not sure.” She admits. “I’ll only know when I actually hit my limit.”
Remaining silent, I consider what she is saying while trying to calculate how many I think she is capable of handling. Even if we could save half of the sick, that was better than nothing, but what half would she be able to save? Would she be able to do anything for Rosco? Would it be selfish of me to ask her to go and see what she could do for him now when I was sure there were others worse off than him?
“Denali,” Maria says gently, reaching out and grabbing my hand. “Don’t worry, he’s going to be okay. He’s strong and stubborn. Do you really think he will let a single illness take him away from you and your daughter?”
“No,” I sigh, knowing she’s right. “I’m just scared.”
Openly voicing my emotions is like a flood gate opening, allowing the tears I’m trying so desperately to keep at bay to begin falling.
Shit. No. I couldn’t cry, not right now. Not when I needed to take over as leader in Rosco’s place.
“You don’t have to try to be strong.” Maria says softly. “No one will fault you for crying.”
No one would fault me. I would fault myself since all I have done since I was young is cry and feel sorry for myself. I refused to go back to the woman I was before meeting Rosco.
“I’m okay.” I say, brushing the tears from my cheeks. “We’re going to make it through this and come out stronger because of it. We just need to focus on what needs to be done immediately.”
“Then I’ll get to calling around to different blood banks.” Maria announces.
“And I’ll make sure that my nurses and trainees are doing what they should.” Olga adds.
Smiling, I nod and watch as the two women begin to make their way away from me. Once they are out of sight, I feel myself deflate just as Charlie leaves the room I’m certain Rosco is in.
“Denali!” He calls, heading toward me. “Why are you here?”
“Someone has to make sure that things are going smoothly.” I say. “How is he?”
“He’s…” Charlie begins, worriedly rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s awake, but just barely.”
"That's better than nothing," I say softly. "Please assist whatever the doctors and nurses need, I'm going to go sit with him."