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Martin was having flashbacks to the hardest times of Zero Year. The current situation made him think of the days when they had been forced to search buildings full of the dead to find anyone who couldn’t seek help. They had cleared the cities street by street, checking every apartment, hotel and house for the incapacitated or babies and sometimes trapped pets. It had been a nightmarish time that he tried very hard to forget. But he sent his own men out now to search every occupied dwelling looking for any children that might need help or women that might have fallen asleep with a pot on the stove.
Every household had at least one woman down. Fear had changed to dread overnight. There was no reason to keep the women’s flu a secret anymore. The news that Tillie was the first one down had gotten out and run through town in no time.
Martin pushed some papers around on his desk. He couldn’t concentrate. Livid images of Zero Year haunted him. He didn’t want to remember the things that he and his men had needed to do back then. There were too many of those companions that were gone now, lost to disease or violence or despair. His quiet office felt too empty. He went down the hall seeking company to distract himself from his grim memories.
Young Joe, Tall Joe and Toby, all looking worse for wear, were standing at the big map on the back wall.
“Any problems from the storm?” Martin asked.
“A couple lines down,” Young Joe said. His cowboy hat looked a little battered as if he’d been out in the worst of it. “Two vehicles got their windows smashed.”
“Do we have replacements?” Martin asked.
“I haven’t had time to look,” Young Joe said sharply.
Martin grunted his understanding. They were stretched thin and tempers were going to get shorter. “Not a priority.”
Toby’s red hair was slicked to his head, and his clothes looked damp. He must have been out in the storm also. “I had to call all the Sentinels in under cover last night. They’re out now, but the borders were open for about two hours during the worst of the hailstorm.”
Martin felt a little guilty for being well-rested and dry. His men had been out making sure others were safe. Normally, he would have been, too. He wondered when that had changed. His promotion into administration had crept up on him. Now it was time for him to take the overview. He couldn’t act like he was on the frontlines any more. “If you had to bring the men in, I doubt anyone else would have wanted to be out in it,” he assured Toby. “Any word from the farms?”
Tall Joe was wearing one of the new, Hunter green, Watch uniforms. “Did you think there might be trouble?”
“No, I was thinking about the crops. That hail was enough to keep us inside. Animals can be brought in, but plants can’t.”
Toby groaned. “We’ve already cut rations, please don’t tell me we’re going to have to cut more.”
“I’ll get Nick to check on it,” Martin said. “Anything else?”
“What are we supposed to do with the women we find?” Tall Joe asked. “And the kids?”
“Kids can go to Ted, and women can go to the clinic,” Martin said.
“Clinic’s full,” Tall Joe said. “They’ve got women on the floor, in the halls and any place that’s got a flat surface. It’s like Zero Year,” he said with a shiver.
Martin chose to ignore their emotional discomfort and concentrate on the physical. “Have you all eaten something? You should get into dry clothes.” His concern only elicited guilty looks.
A young girl skipped into the room. She looked so incongruous that the men all stared, but that didn’t put her off. “James says to tell you that Tillie woke up.” She spoke the words very deliberately as if she’d been told to report it verbatim. Then spun on her tip-toes and skipped away.
“That’s good news,” Martin said cautiously.
“Is it?” Young Joe murmured. “If she was all right, she’d be here right now ripping a strip off us for forgetting something.”
As if thinking of her had summoned her, Tillie arrived with Angus. She didn’t look good, paler than normal and leaning heavily on Angus.
“You’re here,” Martin said with a note of surprise in his voice.
“They needed the bed,” Tillie said dismissively. She groaned a little as Angus helped her into a chair.
“Can I get you anything?” Tall Joe asked.
Tillie waved away his concern. “Bring me up to date.”
Martin glanced at the three men and back to Angus. “Um.”
“You know she’ll wade in eventually, and we could use the help,” Angus said wearily.
“Clinic’s full,” Martin said. “We’re searching for kids too young to be on their own and sending them over to Ted.”
“And have you sent anyone over to help Ted?” Tillie asked.
She looked tired and her voice was hoarse, but the look in her eyes made Martin stand to attention. “Not yet.”
“Send the garden committee and maybe the forage crew. We might need the harvest crew on standby. And get those men at the clinic busy. They can’t be hanging around their women getting in each others’ way. We’ll have riots by the end of the day. See if Lance has people to spare. I don’t imagine we’ll be getting in too many new people until the flu runs its course.”
“Which appears to be three days, if Tillie is any measure to go by,” Angus said cheerfully. “We don’t have much data as yet, but I think we might be able to call this year’s version benign.”
Martin knew it was too early to call it, but like Angus, he thought Tillie’s swift recovery was a good omen.
Nick came in look worn down. Seeing Tillie brightened him up, but Martin doubted that he’d slept at all last night “Good to see you up, Tillie,” Nick said with a tired smile.
“You look like hell,” Tillie snapped back. “Are none of you sleeping? Have any of you eaten? You can’t burn out when we’re this short-handed.”
The men joined in a relieved chuckle.
“Chickens started laying,” Nick reported. “We’ve got plenty of eggs to hand around. And Holly Hill brought in the spring wheat yesterday. All in before the storm hit. Trey said he had a feeling it was time.”
“Does that mean bread soon?” Toby asked hopefully.
“Only if you know how to bake it,” Tillie said. “Mary and two of her helpers are down. I don’t know if her new guy can handle it.” She looked like she was about to hand that over to Nick. Martin worried that he already had too much on his plate.
“I’ll get you some runners,” Martin said. “They can gather intel for you and carry messages.”
Tillie gave him a steely eyed look that cheered him up immensely. “That’ll do. Now we need to move some women up to the school. The clinic is so full they’re tripping over them. And we need to make sure that the shipments are going out to the Stations and Forts on time.”
Martin felt an emotional muscle unkink as Tillie handed out assignments. He fervently hoped that things would start improving.