Hereafter

CHAPTER 4

March Madness Prompt #9

"Hurt/Comfort"

Heero and Trowa hurried down the hill to meet Sally. From this new vantage, Heero could see dozens of fire trucks and ambulances gathering at the edge of the debris. Stretchers were laid out on the ground in rows and men and women in hard hats and uniform jackets were moving around the rubble like ants. The enormity of it hit Heero all over again.

When Sally spoke, he heard her voice as if through layers of stacked mattresses, far away and so muted he could not understand her. He pointed at his ears and shook his head.

Nodding, Sally knelt on the hilltop and opened the bag she was carrying. Heero saw that it was a medical bag emblazoned with the white serpent and staff. She fished around inside it until she found a small box. Heero didn't recognize the box, but he did recognize what was inside it—hearing aids. They were military grade, the sort intended to enhance hearing for purposes of espionage, but in his and Trowa's condition, they might serve to restore normal hearing, or some semblance of it.

Sally only had one pair. She gave one to Trowa and one to Heero with a shrug indicating that it was the best she could do.

Heero was grateful. His heart was a fluttering bird trying hard to escape his chest, but this at least felt like doing something. He put the hearing aid in his ear and fiddled with the mechanism until Sally's voice became suddenly clear.

"Take your time," she said in a soft, soothing tone of voice.

Heero didn't know what it was, but he suddenly felt so light-headed he had to bend over to keep from falling over. A storm of emotion roiled up from somewhere deep inside him. It was as if sound, any sound, made everything he had just seen suddenly real.

Reality crashed over him in a wave. The emotional lurch threatened to knock him off his feet. Feeling as if he might burst if he did nothing, he began to cry. He would rather have punched something, fought something, killed someone, but there was no one and nothing upon which to take out his fear and frustration.

"Breathe, Heero," Sally said soothingly. "Just breathe."

She didn't tell him it was going to be okay, which would have felt patronizing. She did put a hand on his shoulder. The human touch drove him to deeper levels of despair. He wanted to sink into the earth. He wanted to find Relena, wherever she was, and be with her, even if it was in the ground. Two years ago, he would not have cried over an explosion, not even one he had caused, but now, because of her… He did not know if he could live without her. And he was starting to think… starting to believe…

"Weren't you in the building?" Trowa asked Sally, drawing attention away from Heero. "What about the other Preventers?"

"The basement is miraculously intact," Sally said. "I don't know if it was the intended genius of the architect or just a fluke, but it held up like an enforced bunker. There was this awful roar and rumble. The next thing we knew it was pitch black and the ceiling tiles were raining down on us. But the beams held."

"How did you get out?"

"The building slumped more to the West. The exit outside was on the east. It took a little effort, but we were able to dig out."

"Injuries?"

"Nothing serious from those of us in the basement, but the rest of the building…" Sally trailed off. She looked toward the pile of rubble, her expression grave. "Heero, I know you are worried about Relena, but try to have hope."

"Dorothy is alive," Trowa told her, holding out his phone. "She texted me. Look."

A look of awe transformed Sally's face. She read the message from Dorothy. Trowa's phone vibrated again as they were all looking at it. Another message blipped onto the screen.

Quatre is unconscious, but he is alive. I don't know how stable we are here. Please hurry!

"Ask," Heero gasped. "Ask about Relena."

Trowa was already dialing the number.

"Dorothy," he said. "It's Trowa. I can hear you now. Hang on. I am going to put you on speaker with Heero and Sally Po."

"Dorothy?" Sally said. "Dorothy, are you injured?"

"Not sure," Dorothy gasped. Her voice sounded rough and strained. Then she laughed, a little manically. "My legs feel a little numb, but I can't stand up to see if they hold my weight. We are in a small pocket. Quatre is here. I can tell you he is breathing, but not much more. He is partially under debris."

"Where are you?" Trowa asked. "Or where were you when the building fell?"

"Relena," Heero choked. "Do you know if Relena—?"

"I am so sorry, Heero," Dorothy said. "I don't know about Relena. Quatre and I are in the East stairwell. I don't know what happened."

"It was a bomb," Sally said. "We don't know much more right now. First responders are starting to arrive. It might take some time, but we are working to get you out."

"Thank God," Dorothy said.

"What were doing in the stairwell?" Heero demanded. "Relena—"

"Never you mind that," Dorothy snapped waspishly. But then she modified her tone. "I am sorry, Heero. If I knew what happened to Relena, I would tell you. All those people—" She grew quiet very suddenly. "If they're all dead, do we even have a government anymore? God, who would do this?"

"Someone with negative feelings toward unification with the Colonies?" Trowa proposed. "Maybe an anti-government terrorist?"

Sally still had a hand on Heero's shoulder. She gave it a squeeze of comfort.

Heero knocked her hand away. "Whoever they are," Heero said. "I'm going to kill them."