Finn
I sat for a small eternity inside Magni’s drone with Athena’s unconscious body in my lap. Her complexion was getting healthier, but her pulse was still dangerously low.
I kept checking to see if she was breathing, while caressing her, and calling her back from wherever she was.
“Athena, come on baby. Wake up.”
The tiny flicker of her eyelashes made me raise my voice and cup her face with my right hand. “That’s it, you can do it, just open your eyes for me.”
Her eyelids remained closed but moved with her eyeballs rolling from side to side.
“That’s right, open your eyes, and look at me,” I instructed in an eager voice, and drew a huge sigh of relief when she finally did.
As if I were a homesick toddler, my eyes wouldn’t stop leaking as I squeezed Athena’s body tight against my own.
She mumbled something inaudible against my chest, and I released her a bit. “What was that?” I asked her.
“You love me,” she whispered before her eyelids flickered and closed again.
“No, no, no, you stay right here,” I ordered, using my thumb to open her eyelids again. “You’re damn right I love you,” I exclaimed with my nose itching from all the crying.
Athena was struggling to come back to the surface, her eyes rolling back and her body still limp. I kept coaxing her until she was fully conscious.
“You’re my spiritual teacher,” she muttered.
“Your spiritual teacher?” I repeated as my hands flew to her head again. I had already searched her scalp for bumps but there was nothing. “Did you hit your head?” I asked with great concern.
“You’re my spiritual teacher and you’ll make me a better person,” she mumbled in a raspy voice.
“You’re confused.” I smiled a little. “You’re already the best person I know. There’s nothing spiritual about me. I’m just a big brute, remember?”
“Uhmm.” She nodded a little.
“I’m the guy who can’t take anything seriously, and who you send outside in the snow because I say the wrong things.”
Athena squeezed my hand and locked eyes with me. “Was it an earthquake?”
“Yes, a big one. I came as soon as I could, but it took a while because I was up at the border. Thank God I had Magni’s hybrid or you would have bled to death before I got here.”
Athena moved her head carefully to look around. “I remember this drone,” she said, and it made sense because Magni had used his drone for some of the journey when he kidnapped her.
“What’s that?” she asked, her eyes looking down at the donor unit.
“You had a bad cut on your leg and you lost a lot of blood,” I explained and carefully removed the needles from our arms. “You should be fine now.”
“I can’t believe that you are here.” Athena whispered and licked her dry lips. “I thought you were going home.”
“I was. Hans and I were at the border when the earthquake happened and everything turned into chao–”
“Wait,” she cut me off, eyes wide open. “Is Hans okay?”
“Yes, don’t worry about him. No one had any severe injuries. It was mostly structural damage to the border.”
She tilted her head. “What do you mean structural damage?”
“I mean I could see through to the Northlands. There were literally pieces of the border missing.”
She widened her eyes and exhaled through her nose. “That’s not good.”
Caressing her face, I smiled. “Maybe it will speed up the integration between our countries. All I care about right now is keeping you safe.”
A gasp escaped Athena. “Oh Mother Nature, Karina and the children. Are they all right?”
“Easy,” I warned when she tried to sit up.
“Do you know?”
“No. I came straight here for you.”
Sitting up and brushing her hair back, she pointed to the cockpit. “Please tell the drone to take us to their family unit.”
“What about your leg?” I asked. “I don’t want you moving around on that injury.”
She frowned and looked down. “It doesn’t hurt much.”
I signaled for her to take a seat and strapped her in. “That’s because I pumped you up on painkillers.”
“Finn,” she said in a pleading voice. “Karina and the children might be hurt.”
She was right. I had flown over this area on my way here and seen the destruction.
“Let’s go!” I said and got in my own seat.
Athena started crying as we flew over the area, pointing to collapsed houses and mentioning names of people I didn’t know. She wanted to check in on all of them but I made her go to Karina’s house first.
It was hard to understand that this was the family unit that we had visited last week. Three of the walls had collapsed and everything was in a shamble.
With an arm around her waist, I supported Athena from the drone. A group of people stood huddled together inside the ruins, their heads bowed.
“What happened?” Athena cried out, limping toward them with my help.
They turned, and I was relieved to see Tristan between Karina and another woman I hadn’t seen before. Their faces were all gray from dust, and dark lines revealed that they had cried.
“She’s dead.” Karina’s face cracked into a sob that had her shoulders bobbing up and down. Marita was in her arms and the baby began crying with her mother.
“Who’s dead?” Athena exclaimed and looked down to the person that the group had been gathered around.
“Jo…Joseline,” Karina stammered between the sobs, and was comforted by the woman I hadn’t met before.
Tristan looked at me and with a sad voice he explained. “Joseline was one of the mothers at the family unit where Karina grew up. She was visiting us for a few days.”
Part of the older woman’s body was covered in the rubble from the wall. I didn’t need to examine her closer to see that she had passed on. “Did anyone else get hurt?” I asked.
“Yes.” Tristan pointed ahead to another group of people. “Martin, is keeping the younger children away from Joselin’s body. Some of them have cuts and scratches. Samuel might’ve broken his arm, I’m not sure.”
“Did any of you get hit in the head?”
“Yes, Martin did and he threw up before.” Karina was hard to understand because of all the crying.
“Look, the hospitals are probably overflowing at this point,” I pointed out. “I’ll see what I can do.”
I treated several of the children for minor injuries. The only man in the family unit, Martin, had a concussion and was pale. I gave instructions to some of the older children on how to care for him. My last patient was Samuel who insisted his arm was broken. It wasn’t. He was in shock and cried a lot, so I took time to comfort the boy and distract him a little from the horrible situation they were in now that their home was destroyed.
Later, when I saw Athena, Karina, and Tristan working to remove all the debris from the dead woman, I hurried back to them.
“Here, let me do that.” I made sure Athena sat down and rested her leg. “What were you thinking?”
“What’s wrong with your leg?” Karina asked Athena. “You don’t look too good, and you’re limping.”
“I’m fine. You’ve got enough to worry about with your house being destroyed.”
With empty eyes, Karina glanced over the rubble. “A few hours ago we were all fine. Now our lives are completely changed.”
Tristan and I worked together to pull the dead woman free. Karina kneeled down next to her and with tears running down her cheeks, she stroked the old woman’s hair and whispered soft words of love.
“Randa Christine, where will you go?” Athena asked the woman I hadn’t been introduced to yet.
“Martin’s mom lives two hours east of here, and he already spoke to her. Her house wasn’t affected and she has offered to take us all in.”
“I don’t want to go there,” Tristan objected and turned to us. “Can I stay with you, Athena?”
“I’m afraid my mill was destroyed too.” Athena sighed and rested her body against mine. She looked fatigued, and I made a quick decision.
“I’m taking Athena home with me for a few days.”
They all looked at me in surprise.
“Can I come too?” Tristan asked at the same time as Athena protested going.
“I need to stay here with my people,” she said in a weak voice.
Giving her my most determined look, I nodded toward her leg. “You can come back when you’re healed. Until then you’re no help to anyone.”
“So can I come?” Tristan asked again, and turned to the woman next to him, who was already arguing against it.
“But, Mom, it’s just for a few days, and you know I really want to go.”
“Tristan is welcome to come with us,” I assured her. “I understand that you would be worried but I’m a doctor and I take full responsibility for him.”
To my surprise Randa Christine didn’t refuse. She hesitated, letting her eyes wander between me, Athena, and Tristan.
“There’s a school with children from the Motherlands, and Tristan could stay there with me and Athena. He would be surrounded by Motlanders and be completely safe,” I assured her.
“Mom, please, can I?” Tristan pleaded.
Her sigh was deep and pained. “All right, but only for a few days! And you’d better make sure to call me every day.”