Against the madwoman’s advice, Amanda ran back into the building, up the stairs, and down the long hall. By the time she reached the door of the medical office, her face was flush with strain.
She stopped to gather her wits and form some semblance of a strategy. Should she tell Derek about the crazy thing that just happened? Would he believe her? Would anyone?
Hannah.
Yes. Of course. Her sister was just a little girl when the first encounter happened, but she’d remember. She’d believe.
Amanda pulled her cell phone from her jacket, cursing at the little spinning radar dish. In all the chaos, she’d forgotten about the signal issues today. Maybe I should drive to her place. See if she’s—
The screen on her phone suddenly went dark, along with every light in the hallway. The blackout was so thorough that Amanda had to use her cigarette lighter to rule out blindness.
She opened the door to the office and saw a second lighter come to life behind the reception window. Amanda had no trouble recognizing the face above the flame.
“Derek!”
He squinted through the glass. “Amanda! Where the hell were you?”
“Outside. What . . . what’s going on?”
“Power outage. And to think of all the money we paid for that backup generator.”
“Derek, something happened . . .”
“Help Leni get everyone into windowed rooms. I don’t want people tripping and suing us.”
“I was just in the alley—”
“Wait. First help me find the blankets. It’s freezing in here.”
“Derek, I’m trying to talk to you!”
“Can it please wait? We’re in the middle of a crisis here!”
Her silver bracelet vibrated. Suddenly the waiting room was bathed in a lambent glow. When Derek looked at his wife again, she was encased in a seven-foot egg of shimmering light. They stared at each other through the hazy wall.
“No,” Amanda replied, in a low and trembling voice. “It can’t wait.”
—
The new plan was to evacuate. Chandra Wilkes, the junior oncologist, organized the cigarette lighter exodus. No one needed their Bics in the waiting room. They had Amanda.
Chandra poked a nervous finger at Amanda’s baffling light shell. “What the hell is this?”
“Just go,” Amanda urged. “Get everyone out of here.”
A thunderous quake rocked the building, knocking half the pictures off the walls. Chandra shepherded the evacuees, shouting them forward while they all stopped to process at Amanda.
For nearly a minute, Derek had tried everything he could to break her free of her enclosure. Then his hands grew numb, his face burned with arctic chills, and it finally occurred to him that Amanda was safer than he was. Now he lounged on a waiting room chair, blowing smoke through shivering lips.
As the last of the patients cleared out, Amanda fixed her wide eyes on Derek. “You should go too.”
He took a deep drag of his cigarette. “Nah.”
“It’s not safe!”
“Honey, it’s ten below and dropping. If it’s that bad in here, what do you think it’s like outside?”
As a man who fought cancer for a living, Derek was no stranger to the fine art of the mercy yield. There were simply times when, despite all efforts, the battle was lost. He’d told Amanda time and again that he hoped to face his death with the same dignity as his best and bravest patients. Amanda found his resolve to be vain in all respects, never more so than now.
A new quake shattered the reception window. The walls began to splinter, along with Derek’s calm fa?ade. “Oh God . . .”
“Derek, please go!”
He tried to get up but merely tumbled to the floor. He pressed his palms against Amanda’s light.
“This is what I get?”
“Derek—”
“This is what I get for working hard? For saving lives?”
“Just try to get up! You can still—”
“Why aren’t you feeling this? Why were you saved?”
A huge new fissure split the ceiling. Tiles fell. Dead wires dangled. As the building screamed in distress, Derek narrowed his eyes at Amanda. His skin cracked with frost.
“Guess G-God thinks you’re pretty damn great, huh? At least you two h-have that in common.”
Warm tears spilled down her cheeks. “Don’t do this . . .”
“I’m actually glad we’re going to d-different places. What does that s-say about you?”
The roof finally gave way. The upper floors rained down on them.
“DEREK!”
He disappeared into the crumbling wreckage. Amanda fell to her knees, covering her eyes while the building collapsed all around her.
“Please stop. Please stop. Please. Please . . .”
The metal squeals fell silent. The darkness gave way to bright white nothing. By the time Amanda pried her hands from her eyes, the scenery had changed. She saw small buildings all around her. Blue sky. She was outside again, and everything seemed fine except for her.