CHAPTER 37: Shell-Shocked
The damage was not bad...not even as bad as Nohano had anticipated it would be. The group of them walked the sun down, and it didn't take long to realize that any damage that had been caused by the actual merging of the Nether World and Earth had reversed when the worlds split. Moreover, it seemed that anything that had stood on Nether ground, no matter how it was destroyed, was also restored. When the worlds were together, the ground had alternated from terran soil to nether-soil, and the only things that seemed to still be destroyed were the things that had sat on terran ground. And as the wrecking crews had not even made it throughout the entire city, damage was minimal, not nearly as bad as it had been last September. Of course now, the damage was worldwide.
No one spoke much as they walked; even Ryo and his group were quiet, though Nohano could feel Ryo's presence easily enough. For Nohano, it was enough to be back with his friends, together and safe. He wished again he'd never become a Ronin, and that he could have met his friends another way. Still, he couldn't manage to feel all too dreary; the sun was hot and bright, and it had been so long since he'd seen it that Nohano couldn't look up at the bright sky enough.
None of them had been able to find the supplies that Xander's group had been able to get together, but Nohano didn't have to worry about that for very long. The disaster crews had gotten organized by the time the sun had begun to set, and when a group of them approached Nohano's group and asked if they needed shelter, Nohano said that they did.
There were five of them, driving a van that looked as if it had begun life as a schoolbus, but it was filled with medical equipment, water supplies, and cots all along the sides. When the woman in charge led the way onto the bus, Nohano didn't hesitate. "C'mon, guys," he said quietly. "It'll be nice to sleep somewhere that's not outside."
No one argued—all of them were nearing exhaustion, and they were all hungry and thirsty. For Nohano and the others who had been prisoners, they were gaunt from lack of nutrition. Killian was able to cleanse the water for them all to drink, but they'd been fed maybe twice the entire time.
There were several other refugees in the bus, mostly lying on cots. One or two were sitting up, and on all faces, Nohano could see the ordeals they had gone through. He wondered how much people remembered; last time they had remembered nothing, but then they hadn't been used for slave labor last time, they had been shut up in the towers. A horrible chill went through Nohano as he made the connection; the towers, the Nether Spirits...no wonder no one remembered their imprisonment last September. The human mind could not allow them to remember something as impossibly traumatizing as that.
"We're going to bring you all to a shelter for the night," said the woman. "And then we'll have transports to bring people home."
Nohano only nodded, wondering vaguely if they'd been in the slave groups, the towers, or the lucky groups that had escaped notice. He got his answer a few minutes later when she asked them if they remembered anything that had happened in the last week. When Nohano said wearily that they had, she asked sympathetically if they had been in the slave groups, or if they'd escaped notice. Nohano was able to answer truthfully enough, nodding at Tarun, Xander, and Amaya, and saying they'd managed to take cover, but no one else had.
"I'm sorry for what you've gone through," said the woman. "My name is Chelle Donnelly, we were able to take cover, too, in one of the public shelters. A lot of people managed to escape notice there—it's how we were able to organize so quickly once it was all over. We don't understand what happened, or why, but we kept a close eye on the situation."
That explained why they were all so calm, and none of them looked like death had warmed over.
For the next half-hour or so, Nohano sort of let himself be tended to by the emergency workers; they gave his group water and electro-injections of a general painkiller and mild sedative. They were a little worried when they could not wake Tarun, but after they'd listened to his heart and taken some things like blood pressure and his temperature, they were satisfied that he was not in danger. The crew looked Nohano's group over, cleaning and tending their injuries, and getting them something to eat. For Xander and Amaya, they gave them some normal food; sandwiches and a carton of milk, but for Nohano and the others, they gave some strange-looking nutrition bars. "The slave groups were damn near starved," said one of the men disgustedly. "We don't want to give you normal food just yet; these bars are full of nutrients, but they won't make you sick. They'll ease you back into eating normally again."
"Thanks," said Nohano tiredly.
"Now...most of you look very young, have you been separated from your parents?"
Nohano blinked, realizing that Yasuo was the oldest of them, and since they were of all different nationalities, the rescue squad had likely not realized yet that they were all a group. That explanation had taken a while to get clear, especially when Nohano remembered with a whole lot of annoyance and indignation, that Kale had taken his ID. It was strange for so many emancipated minors to be together, and Nohano knew they'd eventually have to offer proof of their emancipation. If their house was still intact, that shouldn't be a problem. For now, Chelle assured them, they didn't have to worry about it.
Finally the lot of them were lying down on the cots, taking the nine cots at the end of the bus, and the rocking of the vehicle was damn near putting Nohano to sleep. He was finding it difficult to let himself rest, though, because he was paranoid and wary, and feared that even if he did sleep, it would be plagued with nightmares.
Go ahead and rest. It was Ryo, his voice gentle and fond, and Nohano blinked. He had forgotten again that Ryo was there with him—Ryo was so much like Nohano, his spirit was so similar, that it was easy to forget he was there when he wasn't saying anything. Ryo chuckled. I'll look after you while you sleep, he said. So go ahead and rest.
"Thanks..." Nohano murmured, feeling suddenly grateful that Ryo was there...and that he was a friend. It was nice to be protected by someone for a change. Nohano closed his eyes, and that was all he knew for a long time.
Nohano was woken by a very gentle shake at his shoulder, and a soft, female voice calling his name. He started, sitting bolt upright, and looking around in alarm. Chelle Donnelly was there, not looking very surprised at his abrupt wakening, likely having experienced it several times in the course of her work. "We're here, young man," she said. "We're at the shelter. Come on...I know you're tired, but there will be softer beds there than in this bus."
She smiled at him, and Nohano managed a weak smile back. She went about waking the others, and Nohano sent out a brief, soft mental warning to them to sort of wake them up before she startled them. Nohano didn't like being startled awake, and thought to spare them the discomfort.
A nasty jolt of deja-vu gripped Nohano as he and the others were brought into a high-security underground public shelter. It wasn't the same one they'd hidden out in several months ago, but it looked almost exactly the same, and from the reactions he felt from most of the others, they thought so too. 'At least the elevators work, though,' Nohano thought as he was herded along with the other refugees into a large, industrial-sized lift that brought them down several stories.
There was a very unpleasant few minutes when one of the people in the lift threw up, but the rescue squad was able to clean it up fairly quickly, and tend to the sick man.
These damned shelters must all be exactly the same, said Xander sourly once they'd arrived on the bottom floor. Nohano agreed; the shelter was a big room full of cots, with cabinets and doors all over the place. He was too tired to care much, however, and so didn't say much else about it.
Chelle was right, though; the shelter cots were far more comfortable than the bare canvas ones in the bus, and when Chelle said that they could all shower if they wanted, Nohano was very badly torn between wanting to sack out right then and there, and wanting to bathe. None of them had really been able to take a bath for a good, long time. Xander's group had found one or two streams, and Nohano's group had been in the toxic water of the purification chamber, but none of that counted much in his opinion.
Finally, all of them decided that they did want to shower, as did most of the other refugees. They were led to the shower rooms in the shelter, and Amaya and Rashida disappeared into the women's showers. Nohano noticed that their clothing was as ripped as his was, but for them it was a little more revealing. Nohano scowled at that particular indignity that they'd suffered, thinking nasty thoughts about Talpa as he slipped into the men's shower.
Talpa—Talpa was gone. Nohano blinked, stopping short, and apologizing as the guy behind him ran into the back of him. The rest of Nohano's group had already gone into the stalls, shedding their clothing and tossing it into a bin the shelter crews had set out. Talpa was gone—was he gone for good? Or at least for a very long time? How long did that kind of defeat drive the demon away for, and could his warlords come after him, even if he himself was still incapacitated?
Nohano took a big breath and started walking again, finding where the other guys had gone, and finding that he had to wait for a shower-pipe, because they'd all been taken while he was thinking. He leaned tiredly against the tiled wall behind the shower Suisei and Tarun were in, quietly offering to bathe the kid. Suisei nodded his thanks, and Nohano held the kid up while Suisei cleaned him up. Nohano winced again as he saw the kid's injuries, and thought again of Talpa, and of Tarun's battle with him.
In a way, Nohano was sorry he'd not been able to wear Kikoutei again and to fight Talpa, but he was also happy that Tarun was able to fight the battle. He knew that Tarun had been feeling inadequate and a little useless, and Nohano didn't think he'd be feeling that way anymore when he realized what he'd done. 'I just hope it doesn't give him nightmares for the rest of his life,' Nohano thought morosely.
When Tarun had been gently scrubbed clean, Nohano offered to get him dried off and onto a cot; Suisei accepted the offer with thanks, and Nohano staggered out with Tarun in his arms. It was no huge deal to get the boy dried, dressed, and in bed, especially when one of the shelter attendants came and helped Nohano with the task. Yawning, Nohano staggered back to the showers to wait his turn.
He didn't know how he got through his shower without collapsing, but somehow he managed it. He turned the water on as hot as he could stand it (which was a good deal hotter than most the people around him) and scrubbed every inch of his body, leaning against the tiled wall half the time to do it. He wasn't alone, either, everyone else, Ronin and civilian alike, looked like zombies.
Nohano wanted to stay in the shower for about three hours, but he didn't. He got out once his body and hair was as clean as it was going to get, then stumbled out for a towel and clothing. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and thanking whatever God there might be up there that he was safe. He felt ten times better once he was out of the shower and dressed in clean, comfortable pajamas. He mumbled a thanks to the shelter worker, and stumbled out to the main room, where the cots all stood. Once he was lying down, sleep took him so quickly, he could not even remember his head hitting the pillow.
The next morning, around nine o'clock, Nohano was wakened to eat a very strange breakfast. Amaya and Xander ate normal food, but for the rest of them, it was more strange nutrition bars and some mild soup. When Nohano nearly threw up the soup, he decided that he was glad of the weird food.
Ryo was still there when he woke, and Nohano asked him a little worriedly if he was going to be able to get out when Anubis and the Ancient tried to draw them back.
I have no idea, he said wryly. This is kind of a first for me.
Nohano had to laugh, trying to imagine what it was like. Was being the possessor anything like being the possessed? He looked over to his friends, particularly Killian and Demetrius. They had both been possessed before, by something of pure evil. Nohano imagined it couldn't have been easy for them to open their minds and spirits to shield the Ronin from harm.
Everyone was very quiet during the meal, still too wrung out to do much. A good night's sleep seemed to have made everyone more tired than less tired, which didn't make a whole lot of sense to Nohano. He asked about it, and got an explanation from Rashida.
"The past week has been a big strain on our bodies," she said. "Human bodies were not meant to endure what we have, especially for so long."
Yeah, Rowen broke in. Yesterday, you guys—well us too, for that matter—we were going on pure adrenaline. Even when that wore off, we were still on our feet. It's a lot easier to keep going once you're already standing, then to sit down and rest, then have to drag yourself up again.
"That sounds about right," muttered Suisei. "I feel like sleeping about twelve more hours."
"At least," Xander added. He glanced over to the cots, where Tarun still slept, and frowned. "He gonna be all right, Suisei?"
Suisei also looked over, his expression darkening. "I hope so. The medics say he's just recovering. They're gonna give me a couple of electro-syringes for him to keep him hydrated and all that, but they said he should wake sometime soon. And if not, to bring him to the hospital"
He'll be fine, said Rowen, his voice calm and encouraging. He's...what, eleven?
Ten.
Ten. Dang. Well he's small, anyway, and the Inferno armor really takes a lot outta ya. I mean we're talkin' major-league exhaustion. We've been out cold for twenty-four hours at a time before, and that's just contributing to it. Ryo, weren't you out for three days, once?
Nohano felt the oddest sensation through the link, as is Ryo had shuddered. Yeah. I dunno if I've even felt that miserably tired in my life. But don't worry, Suisei. Rowen's right, he'll be fine once he rests up.
Nohano was glad that Rowen and Ryo had come into the conversation to reassure Suisei. The older boy looked a whole lot less worried, and Nohano was less worried, too. Hell, he'd been knocked cold last time he wore the armor, too, and he'd not worn it as long. Of course he'd not been unconscious as long afterwards, either.
After breakfast, a group of the shelter officials came into the main room from somewhere in the back. For the first time, Nohano really noticed them, their crisp, gray-and-red uniforms, their neat hair and the boots they wore, and how efficient they all were. But they weren't cold and impersonal. It was clear they cared about people, or they'd not be in this line of work.
Chelle Donnelly was there, and clapped her hands once to get people's attention. "We will be taking people to their homes today!" she called, and there was a subdued cheer from the weary refugees. Chelle grinned. "I thought you might like that. So, after breakfast, make sure those of you with belongings here get them ready, and we'll be bringing the transports in."
Nohano could not help but grin, too—how long had it been since he had seen his home? Though when he wondered if it was all intact, his grin faded. Was it intact? He'd not seen how badly it had been damaged, and hadn't thought to ask the others if they knew. 'Well I guess I'll find out,' he thought grimly.
The next hour and a half seemed to crawl. The officials were taking people out in groups according to where they lived, and Nohano's group was not among the first half to go. When their names finally were called, Rashida and Xan had both fallen asleep again and had to be roused, which neither were entirely thrilled about. But when Nohano said it was time to go home, the both lightened up considerably.
The transport looked like a giant subway train with wheels. Nohano had seen them before, but never ridden one; they were really fast, from what he had heard. When they said it would take less than an hour to get to their area, he was well pleased.
Everyone was quiet on the trip home, not knowing what they would find when they got there. They all managed to stay awake, however, peering out the window as they rolled into the neighborhood, most of them wincing just in case there was something there they wouldn't like. Nohano wasn't wincing, at least not outwardly. The area seemed to have taken little damage, which was a good sign, and when the transport finally got to the street where Nohano and the others lived, Nohano bit his lip.
He laughed aloud suddenly at the sight of their home, looking as if it had not been touched. He saw the relief on the others' faces, too, but none of them could quite manage to cheer; there had been a few people leaving the bus who'd found their homes were partly destroyed. Not many, but some.
Nohano's group stood wearily, thanking the driver and exiting the transport. Nohano just stood for a moment, looking at the house and smiling. The transport left behind him but he hardly noticed it as he walked up the steps and put his hand on the knob. He stared at it blankly when it didn't move, and he turned around to the others. "Uh...anyone have their key?"
They all gaped at him for a moment, and Xander and Killian started laughing. Xander said his father had taken everything he and Amaya had on them, and they'd not thought to take anything but the armor orbs when they left. Fortunately, Suisei found Tarun's key in the boy's pocket, and they were all able to get inside.
Nohano opened the door and walked in, intending to collapse on the couch and not move for about a week.