The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson

Author:Shaun David Hutchinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse

TWENTY-NINE

JUSTINA SMITH DIDN’T care about saving the world. When she’d asked me to heal her little brother, she hadn’t been concerned with who might vanish or whether my miracles were part of a larger plan. All she wanted from me was to fix what was wrong with someone she loved. Saving the world was a task so enormous that thinking about it made me sick to my stomach.

When a doctor takes a patient into surgery, she doesn’t worry over the other patients who might need her help. She doesn’t consider who might die while she’s patching up a bullet hole or removing a tumor. She focuses on the person in front of her. She turns all her attention to the life she can save.

Maybe the world was in danger, maybe it wasn’t. I didn’t know if I was capable of saving humanity, but I could heal one boy who couldn’t breathe.

Part of me expected to walk onto the football field and find it empty except for the marching band and the few students who sometimes sat in the stands to watch and do their homework like I did when I was waiting for a ride home from Fadil. Another part of me expected to find the stands packed to capacity; to see reporters with video cameras and microphones who’d snuck onto campus to witness a miracle. The reality was closer to A than B. The marching band was on the field, though they were clustered in small groups while they waited for Mrs. Naam to arrive, and there were about a dozen students waiting by the bleachers. Included in the group were Javi, with a couple of his annoying friends, Freddie, standing alone, and other students whose faces I knew but whose names I couldn’t recall. Some of them had their phones out, waiting to record whatever was going to happen here so they could be the first to post it to Snowflake or whatever. I was surprised Freddie had shown, but glad she had. Even though I’d saved her life, even though she knew my name and I’d talked to her and rescued her from a party and she’d sat with me at lunch, I still felt like she didn’t really see me, and I hoped watching me heal Ben Smith might finally open her eyes.

Trying unsuccessfully to hide behind the bleachers stood Carmen Ballard in a cream suit, wearing oversized sunglasses that made her look like a glamorous alien. She smiled in my direction and I ignored her. There was something slimy about her that freaked me out, and I wondered if I should tell Deputy Akers about her.

Justina Smith, surprisingly, was not part of the crowd. Instead, she sat with her brother on the bleachers, huddled close to him, pointing at a book he was reading. He was a small boy, gangly and thin. His face lit up every time Justina spoke. A nasal cannula was positioned in his nose, and the tubes ran back over his ears to an oxygen tank on wheels, decorated with patches of superheroes and Dora the Explorer.

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