Flame by Ryan Amy Kathleen

Author:Ryan, Amy Kathleen [Ryan, Amy Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

SURVIVING

Arthur Dietrich slid along the corridor of the Empyrean, his eyes on the door to the infirmary where he knew Tobin, Austen, and all their patients were waiting. If everything was working correctly, Sarek was watching him on the com screen from the apartment they’d commandeered. When Arthur reached the infirmary doors, he knocked, two quick raps, then another set of three slower knocks. Almost immediately the doors opened, and Tobin greeted him with a pat on the shoulder. “You made it.”

“How is everyone?” Arthur said.

“Stable,” Tobin said. “Hopefully,” he added, worrying the inside of his cheek with his teeth.

Arthur and Sarek had tried many times to convince Tobin to turn himself in and transport the patients to the New Horizon, until Arthur heard a conversation between the crew chief, Chris, and one of his repair crew. “I’ve been thinking the infirmary might have life support after all,” said a woman over the com signal. “It might just be a malfunction in the sensors.”

“As soon as we seal all the bulkheads,” Chris had answered, “the infirmary is next. We’re breaking it down and bringing all the equipment and meds to the New Horizon.”

“What if there are survivors hiding in there? I heard rumors there were comatose patients,” she persisted. Arthur liked this woman; she was always looking out for the animals on board, too. “Maybe we should have a medical team on standby.”

“The Pastor told me no doctors will be allowed to come on board,” Chris said, sounding angry about it. “She’s short on medical staff as it is, and she’s not willing to risk them when there’s probably no one to help anyway. If we find any, we’ll just have to hope they survive the journey to the New Horizon without help.”

Rattled by this new development, Arthur and the rest of the boys decided to hole up on the Empyrean for as long as possible to give the coma patients, including Tobin’s mother, a chance to heal. That meant they had to move everyone out of the infirmary to avoid discovery, and today was the day for it.

“Ready?” Arthur asked Tobin now. They had a lot of work ahead of them.

Tobin nodded distractedly as he tucked bags between his mother’s legs and the safety rail on her gurney. She’d been in a coma for months now, the result of severe decompression trauma and radiation sickness. Her hands had curled up against her sides, her legs bent, her spine twisted. Tobin had insisted on keeping her on life support until a real doctor could see her, and Arthur knew he’d do the same thing if it were his own mother. But now, would there ever be a doctor?

Austen walked into the room carrying a large bag filled with bed linens and plopped it on the floor.

“Hey,” Arthur said to him.

“Hi,” Austen muttered distractedly as he shoved the linens into a cloth bag and hung it at the foot of one of the gurneys.

Each patient’s gurney was loaded with bags of

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