WHEN SHE WOKE, the room was pitch-black and she was on the bed. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Anna tried to clear her head. Nico! Fumbling in the dark, she found the flashlight she remembered them using to get to the bathrooms. Nico was lying in front of the hearth. She kneeled beside him and touched his head. He was burning up. Lifting his shirt, she checked his wound. The torn bedsheet was soaked through. His breathing was shallow, but he seemed to have decent capillary reflex, so she ran up the stairs to find the priest.
The main hall was bathed in light. Out of the dungeon, she could hear the wind howling. Why hadn’t she thought of this last night? She went through the church until she found the rectory and rapped on the door. The priest opened it right away.
“Everything okay, my child?”
“Do you have any medical supplies? Nico is injured.”
Without delay, the priest rummaged through a cupboard and came up with two boxes. One was an automatic external defibrillator. Anna sincerely hoped she would not have to use that. The other box held a medical kit. Taking it from him, she raced back downstairs, hearing his footsteps behind her.
Back in the dungeon, Nico was awake and rubbing his head. Anna opened the kit to find more ibuprofen, which she gave him right away. There was also Betadine and bandaging supplies, and a QuikClot kit. It wouldn’t take the place of proper sutures, but was far better than the unsterile, amateur dressing she’d done last night.
“What time is it? Has the storm passed?” Nico asked.
“It’s five in the morning,” the priest said. “They say we’ll have strong wind gusts for the next few hours, but the rain seems to be dying down.”
“Any reports from here or the surrounding islands?”
The priest shook his head. “I have a shortwave radio—that’s how I’ve been getting weather updates—but all other communications are down. No cell, no landlines, and I don’t have a sat phone.”
Anna kicked herself for being so careless with her backpack.
“I’ll have to go out there to see for myself.”
“Nico! You’re running a fever and I’m pretty sure your wound is infected.”
“The people need me. I should’ve been at the hospital last night.”
Instead of saving me. He was gathering the contents of his own backpack.
“I’ll come with you.”
“Oh no you won’t. I don’t need to be worrying about you. It’ll be a trek to my car alone, then who knows whether it’s drivable.”
“I hiked it from the field hospital to the cemetery, I think I can manage.”
“You collapsed at the cemetery.”
“And you’re injured.”
They stared at each other. There was no way she was letting him go out with that injury. Who knew how much blood he had lost carrying her over here in the rain.
“Besides, I have to get back to the hospital. There’s a shortage of doctors right now.” That finally convinced him.
They thanked the priest and promised to return for services. The electricity was still out, but he had more jars of peanut butter and plenty of water to survive on. The church was somewhat remote. This part of the island once held small, locally owned shops that had closed once the big malls opened.
Nico had a rain poncho in his emergency backpack and gave it to her. His windbreaker was relatively dry. The wind whipped at them as they walked away from the church. The rain was lighter than it had been, but it still stung their faces.
“Let’s see if my truck is still where I left it. It’ll be our best bet.”
For once, luck was on their side. The wind was at their backs and propelled them forward. They made it to the truck in less than an hour, but that was when their luck ended. His truck was flipped on its side.
“We’ll have to hike back to the field hospital,” Anna said.
He shook his head. “Let’s flip it and see if it’ll start.”
She stared at him. “How are you going to flip this thing?”
He put his hand on one of the tires. “The old-fashioned way. Sometimes you just have to power through things.”
“That QuikClot stuff isn’t going to hold. I need to restitch you, Nico. It’ll be safer to walk.”
But would he listen to her? Of course not. Once he got an idea in his head, he charged forward with it. Like buying the house in Tumon, and the land in Talofofo.
“The field hospital moved to the school for shelter,” he said. “That’s four miles. We need the car.”
He went around the side of the truck and began pushing. Sighing, she joined him. The vehicle wouldn’t budge. Without waiting for permission, she lifted his jacket and shirt to check on his wound. As she suspected, he was bleeding again. An infection was a given, especially after her shoddy care last night.
What was going on with her? Even in the most austere environments, her medicine was always the best the conditions would allow. How could she have let him spend the night without properly dressing the wound? But she hadn’t been herself yesterday. Years of exhaustion had descended on her like an avalanche. She hadn’t been able to think or process clearly.
Now, in the cold, wet morning, her rational side was kicking in, and not just to assess her medical skills. She wanted to analyze the kiss they’d shared the night before. She hadn’t kissed Nico goodbye when she’d left. At the time, she couldn’t handle looking at him, let alone being near him. Knowing he would come to take her to the airport, she’d slunk away early. In the moment, it had seemed like the right decision, but as the years went by, she found herself longing for a proper goodbye. One where she could fill her heart with his love so she could remember it forever. He had needed it too.
“Nico! You have to stop.”
But he wouldn’t listen, so she pushed with all her might. As she felt the truck begin to tip, both she and Nico gave it everything they had. The rig crashed back onto the road, miraculously on four inflated tires. Nico brushed his hands on his jeans and retrieved the keys from his backpack. He turned the engine over and it coughed but didn’t catch.
He popped the hood and bent over the engine. Just then she heard the unmistakable sound of a siren. It was a fire truck. She raised her hands and waved, and Nico did the same. The truck stopped.
“Nico!”
“Benito!”
The two men hugged and kissed each other on the cheek. Anna smiled. All around the world, she’d witnessed men affectionately greet each other in a way that seemed completely natural. Yet Stateside, that kind of affection was a cultural oddity, replaced with chest bumps and weird handshakes.
“You crazy man, what you doing out here?” Benito was a big, burly guy who looked vaguely familiar. Anna was sure she’d met him at some point; Nico seemed to know everyone on the island, but she’d never been able to keep up.
“Rescuing a princess. Now, can you give me a ride and maybe tow this thing?”
“Sure thing, man. I’ve been towing idiots like you all night.”
Nico punched him playfully.
“Yo, Anna!” Benito turned his attention to her. She nodded and stuck out her hand, but he gathered her in a bear hug. She didn’t dare ask if they’d met before. Obviously they had, and he’d take it as a great insult if she suggested she didn’t remember.
“I gotta drag your butts back to Talofofo.”
“Talofofo? I need to get back to base camp,” Anna said.
“Yeah, there ain’t no base camp anymore. The school flooded so we’ve been moving all the patients to your new hospital.”
That was apparently all Nico needed to hear to get into gear. He worked with Benito to fashion a tow hitch to attach to his truck. Once everything was ready to go, Anna got into the back of the fire engine while Nico sat in the passenger seat.
Benito had been tasked with driving around the island to see if anyone needed help. He had a working sat phone and Nico wasted no time calling the hospital, but the phones just rang.
“They got their hands full, man. Where were you all night anyway?” Benito looked pointedly at Anna, but neither of them was going to take the bait.
Benito’s phone crackled. It was Maria, so Nico snatched the phone away.
“I’m heading back,” was the first thing he said.
“Is Anna with you?”
“Yes.”
“You need to take her and go to Troy Jenkins’s house. They need help. He just called from an inland payphone that’s still working. He’s on his way back home now.”
“Roger that.”
Anna went into physician mode, thinking of all the supplies a fire truck would have on board for medical care. She noticed that the backseat had a bench where three to four firefighters could sit. All trucks carried a backboard, which she could lay across the bench to transport a critically ill or injured patient.
The fire truck was far more efficient at getting through the weather and over the terrain. Anna recognized landmarks as they passed. Memories of her and Nico exploring the island flooded her mind. The littered streets disappeared, replaced in her imagination by flowering bushes of bougainvillea and the sweet smell of jasmine. The roar of the ocean as it crashed into jagged rocks. Nico had seen every sight, but he’d marveled with her as if it was his first time too. Like they were discovering the island together. That was 2,787 days ago. A different lifetime for her.
They arrived at the Jenkinses’ house and Anna jumped out of the truck at the same time as Nico. It was a rambler that looked to be in relatively good shape, which wasn’t too surprising, considering it was inland and at somewhat of an elevation. The front door opened and a woman rushed out with a baby in her arms. It didn’t take Anna long to recognize both the woman and the baby from a few days ago when she’d first arrived at the field hospital. The woman thrust the baby at Anna but her arms remained frozen by her side. The woman was screaming, but Anna couldn’t hear anything above the pounding in her ears.
She watched as Benito took the baby. Nico turned her around and pushed her back toward the fire truck. He was saying something but it took her a moment to process the words. They wanted her to save the baby. Didn’t they know? She couldn’t be trusted.
Then Nico was face-to-face with her.
“Anna!” Through the intolerable pain seizing her chest, she heard his voice. Felt his arms go around her and squeeze her tightly. She gasped and a lungful of air went in. The pounding lessened.
“We need your help.”
She looked into Nico’s eyes; big, brown, warm eyes the color of dark chocolate. He cupped her face in his hands. “You can do this. We need you. The baby needs you. Please, Anna.”
Blinking, she turned from him. He ushered her into the fire truck. Benito was in the back, adjusting an oxygen tank to blow air into a mask too big for the baby’s face.
Something snapped inside her as she took in the baby’s blue lips. “Do you have a pediatric bag valve mask?”
“Baby’s breathing.”
“Not enough.” Anna put her fingers on the baby’s arm, checking her brachial pulse. It was weak but steady at about a hundred beats per minute, which was within normal range. She estimated that the baby was maybe five or six months old. Her breathing was shallow, though. Putting her mouth on the baby’s she gave a small puff of air, then waited a few seconds and gave another.
“I don’t have a pediatric bag valve.”
“Then I suggest you get me to the hospital fast.”
“Is she going to be all right?” Anna registered the speaker as the baby’s mother. Nico gently steered the woman to the front of the truck.
“Aurelia, where’s Troy?”
“He’s not back yet.”
“We need to go,” Anna screamed in between breaths.
Benito didn’t waste any time. He floored the accelerator. The baby had been on the bench but Anna picked her up to make sure she didn’t fall or get hurt during the ride. Nico grabbed Anna and helped her into a seat, buckling her in as the fire truck rocked. He reached up to steady himself on a handhold and as his jacket lifted, Anna noted blood.
She continued blowing little breaths into the baby, her training overriding the painful contractions of her heart as she held the limp body in her arms.
“Nico, you’re bleeding.”
“I’m okay, Anna. What do you need?”
“Stethoscope.”
He took the stethoscope from the bag Benito had left and put the earpieces on for her. He unbuttoned the little onesie the baby was in and placed the bell on the baby’s chest. Anna positioned it in the right spot and listened. It didn’t take long to find the problem, and her own chest tightened so painfully, she wasn’t sure she had any air left to give.
Nico touched her cheek, and she felt wetness under his finger as he wiped her tears. “You can do this.” She nodded and blew another breath into the baby who would probably die.