CH 27

She heard foggy, faraway sounding voices.

Her Father said, "Change the meeting. I'll be there later this afternoon."

Her mother said, "John, I will watch Allison. The instant something changes, I'll let you know."

"I hate to leave her."

"I know, but you still have things to do. I won't be going anywhere until Allison gets better and I get some skin regrown."

A sigh. "Yeah. OK, I'll be there in an hour."

In a dream, her parents kissed in her bedroom, and Daddy left to go to work. She wanted to say, "Bye, Dad," but nothing came out. The bed she was in she dreamed as her bed, but with some strange tubes going up her nose. Something was stuck in her arms too, on the inside of her elbow. She wanted to ask what it was, but again her mouth would not speak.

The dream shifted and changed again. In a rapid shift she was home, but in Byron's room. "Is Ally ever going to wake up?" Byron asked sadly.

"Eventually," her mother said.

Byron was here. Allison so wanted to say hi to him and tell him she was OK. In her dream, she heard him sniffle. Suddenly she saw him over her bed, looking sadly down on her.

Her mother said, "Byron, you should go see Sarah and get something to eat. You have been here since early this morning."

This was Byron, she so badly wanted to at least greet him. She'd missed him so much! She wanted to sit up and hold his hand so he wouldn't leave. Afraid he was going to leave, she tried to scream his name.

.

"Byron." The word was barely audible as Alison lay in the hospital bed. The soft sound got Cameron and Byron's attention. They both looked to see Allison was still out.

Byron moved over to the bed and took Allison's hand. "Ally? I'm here Ally," he said. She didn't reply, but her hand twitched in his.

"Did you see that?" Byron asked Cameron excitedly. "Ally moved her hand, I felt it! She might not be awake, but she knows I'm here!"

Cameron studied her daughter. When they had found Allison at the bottom of the impact crater she'd made on landing, there had been no life sign at all except for a very shallow heartbeat. The transport was wrecked from the bomb going off. Luckily, Apollo had regenerated, and had flown them to an army unit that had pointed them to an evac hospital. Once the doctors there knew who they were, it was a series of flights with medics giving her oxygen on a ventilator and glucose. Arriving at a hospital in Kyoto Japan, Allison was checked over. The doctors feared she was in a coma she might never come out of.

Cameron read Allison's body temperature. 99.2 Fahrenheit. Heat meant Allison's body was functioning on some level, and producing nanites. She knew as long as Allison's nanites were working, her body would be repaired eventually, even her brain. "I don't know when Allison will awaken," Cameron told him. "You should go down and get something to eat so you can come back and see it when she does wake up."

Byron nodded. Holding Allison's hand, he leaned over to her ear and said, "I'll be right back, Ally, promise." He then kissed her on the cheek and left.

.

The nice dream of lying beside Byron in a pretty field, watching the blue sky and white clouds drift by changed when Byron left her. When he kissed her cheek, she tried to move to give him a kiss, but her body refused to cooperate. Her pleasant dream shifted into a nightmare of a world of dark clouds and fighting machines.

.

Byron walked down the hospital hallway with the other people, gurneys and medical machines that flowed in both directions. He'd learned that here in this hospital in Niigata, Japan, one walked on the left side of the hallway, and took the elevators that were on the left side to keep from interrupting the flow.

This was the busiest hospital he'd ever seen. He found it was easy to get lost here, even with all the direction signs hanging from the ceiling that were written in three languages. Having been here a week, he now knew the way to the large cafeteria, Allison's room, and the entrance.

On the other side of the hallway, men in greens pushed a gurney that bore someone with a sheet covering them completely. Byron knew whoever that was had died. He'd seen many of those also. Niigata had suffered a direct hit from a nuclear bomb, and even though many of the the well built buildings had survived, the people were not. It wasn't enough that the bomb here had killed close to a million people when it went off. They were still dying all over the place. Add to that the war casualties that were being sent here from other hospitals that were filled, and it was easy to see why this place was so busy.

Getting down to the cafeteria, Byron got in line and in the slow shuffle as the line moved along, he picked up his tray, cup and silverware. Like the hallways, the cafeteria line was unforgiving. If you passed something you wanted, then you didn't get it unless you went all the way to the back and started again.

Byron got his usual tray of tofu, mixed vegetables, spaghetti like noodles and cup of juice. Each cavity in his tray was not very big. A meal here was pretty much the same as a snack back at home, ten bites and it was gone. He wasn't going to complain. He knew food was scarce and had to be rationed out. It was easy to see why everyone was so skinny, they were all hungry.

Through the line with his meager dinner, Byron looked over the sea of tables to find a place to sit. Unfortunately, he didn't see anyone he recognized. He found a table where a nurse was getting up. He went over and stood behind the chair and asked, "May I sit here?" Manners were big here.

Another nurse and a girl looked at him and waved him down. He bowed and took the seat. Again, as he'd seen others do, he bowed to his tray and said, "Thank you for the food."

"It is nice to see a polite young man," the nurse beside him said with a smile.

"Thank you," he replied, happy to see she spoke English.

"My name is Yuka," the girl on his other side said.

"I'm Byron, pleased to meet you, Yuka," he told her. He tried not to see the bandage that covered half her face. "The nurses let you come down from your room to eat?" he asked.

Yuka shook her head. "I don't have a room. I can moved all right, so I just come in for the doctor to check me," she explained. "You are visiting someone?"

"Yes, my friend, Allison. She got hurt really bad. She hasn't woken up yet, but today, she did twitch her hand and whispered my name, so she's getting better," he offered with a smile.

Yuka cast him a sad glance. "Byron, please do not be disappointed when she dies. We were sure mother was getting better. She was even able to sit up, but we came the next day to see her and were stopped by the nurse. She had died during the night. There was nothing they could do."

Byron's face fell. "Yuka, I am so sorry," he said sincerely.

"It couldn't be helped," Yuka said sadly. Forcing a smile, she added, "But the news said things will get better. Sky Net is dead, so the wars will soon be over."

"Yeah, Ally killed it. Mrs. Connor told me," Byron agreed.

"Who is Ally?" she asked.

"Allison, my friend. She went to China and killed Sky Net, but it almost killed her too."

The low talk that was going around the table stopped. Everyone looked at Byron.

A thin man across from Byron asked, "Excuse me, this Allison of yours. She is Allison Connor?"

Byron nodded. "Yeah, we go to school together. That is when we can after the wars started," he said.

The man got up and bowed to Byron and said, "Then please accept our heartfelt gratitude for saving all of us."

Seeing the man shed a tear as he thanked Byron, the only thing Byron could think of to say was, "I'll tell Allison when she wakes up."

"If I may," Yuka said meekly. "I would like to go thank Allison myself, for all of us."

"Please, allow us to send our gratitude with you," the man said to the girl.

A couple people produced pens. Taking turns, they wrote notes on clean napkins and passed them to Yuka. Many of them thanked Byron for Allison's sacrifice, which made him a little nervous. He hadn't done anything. Still he accepted their thanks. He offered to take the napkins up to Allison, but Yuka insisted she be the bearer of their gratitude.

His meager meal gone (and swearing he was now hungrier than when he came down to eat), Byron took Yuka's tray to the kitchen line as she carried and armload of napkins with the written notes on them. He escorted Yuka back to Allison's room. He noted Yuka was a almost a head taller then him, but her arms were toothpicks. He felt bad that she insisted on carrying anything by herself. He did take care to keep a watch out for her blind side so she didn't run into anyone by accident.

On the way, Byron figured he should warn Yuka about what Cameron looked like. "Ah Yuka? Allison's mom is pretty torn up. She doesn't look normal, so please don't be freaked out."

Yuka cast him a tiny smile and said, "I have seen many badly injured people. She managed to get a room with Allison? That is fortunate."

"Allison isn't like other people, so Mrs. Connor is taking care of Allison," Byron explained.

"Allison must be unique to be able to do what no one else can," Yuka agreed.

"She is. Ally is the only Christmas tree- pretty girl I know. I really hope she wakes up soon," he said in an attempt to put a smile on Yuka's serious face.

Yuka's face crimped. "Byron, you are a nice boy, and I am sure Allison likes you as much as you like her. You must prepare yourself for the possibility Allison will never wake up. Mother managed to get better for a day before she died. Father never woke up at all," she explained.

"Both your parents died?" Byron asked. ""Where do you stay?"

"The homeless shelter not far from here. Mr. Kuroda makes sure we all have a place to sleep, some food to eat, and get to our doctor appointments on time," Yuka explained.

"That's terrible," Byron said. "I was lucky, I guess. The Connors took me in after my parents were killed. You don't have any home, do you?"

Yuka shrugged and said, "There are very few whole families left, and so many people are sick and dying, I think we just get grouped together to see who will survive."

Byron was ready to cry at what she was telling him. Flowing along with the traffic, he saw they were coming to Allison's room. "In here," he said and helped guide Yuka through the doorway.

Cameron wasn't in the room when they entered. Byron saw Allison was still out. "This is Allison," he said. He saw Yuka's visible eye grow wide.

"A yokai," Yuka whispered.

"A ... what?" Byron asked, confused.

"Allison is a yokai," Yuka said again. "That would explain how she can do things no one else can." Looking at Byron, she said, "You have been greatly honored to have a yokai as your friend." Yuka looked for a place to set the stack of napkins down. Byron guided her to the chair Mrs. Connor had been using.

"I thought Ally was a cyborg?" Byron said.

Yuka shook her head. "That is incorrect. See Allison's hair color, those horns? She is some kind of Oni yokai, but I don't know what. I had thought yokai were nothing but myth, but I was wrong."

Setting the napkins down, Yuka folded her hands in front of her and moved to Allison's side. In a reverent tone, she spoke to Allison in Japanese, bowing deeply several times as she spoke.

"Arigato," Allison whispered.

"Ally?" Byron asked and rushed to her other side. "Ally, can you hear me?" he asked eagerly. "Please, Ally, wake up," he pleaded as he took her hand.

Allison's head turned to him. "Byron?" she asked in a whisper. Her eyelids parted.

Byron grew a big smile. "Yeah, Ally, I'm here. You're safe now."

Allison returned his smile. Her voice gained a little volume, but was still weak. "Byron, I did it. I got rid of Sky Net. We can go back to school now, right, Mom?"

"Once you recover," Cameron stated from behind them, which made Yuka turn and gasp.

"Mrs. Connor, Ally's awake," Byron said happily as he wore a big grin.

"She won't be for long," Cameron reminded him. "You need to let her rest." Looking down at her chair, she asked, "What are these?"

Yuka had heard all about the humanoid cyborgs that Sky Net used to kill people. Allison's mother bore many bandages over her body, but her face that was partially ripped away didn't show bone, but metal underneath. Yuka managed to force past her shock as seeing a real cyborg and said, "They are words of thanks and prayers for Allison." Bowing, partially so she could briefly escape the sight of Cameron, she said, "Please accept our humble gratitude for stopping Sky Net and saving us."

"You're welcome," Cameron replied.

"Mrs. Connor? Yuka doesn't have a home," Byron said. "Her parents died, and she's living in a shelter."

Yuka blushed and said, "Please, do not worry yourself over me."

Cameron tipped her head slightly as she eyed Yuka. "The radiation levels here are very unhealthy and the infrastructure is too damaged to provide effective protection. John is working at expediting immigration and adoption procedures to get people to safer places to live. Yuka, would you like to come home with us?"

"I am honored you would think of me," Yuka said meekly.

"Yuka?" Allison asked in her whispery voice. "Please, come close."

Yuka bent closer.

"Your ear, please?"

Yuka put her ear to Allison's mouth.

In a low whisper, Allison said, "I feel really horrible. If I die, Byron will need someone. Please be there for him."

Yuka pulled back and nodded. "It will be my honor," Yuka said reverently.

"Thank you," Allison said with a small grin.

Yuka rose and turned to bow to Cameron. "Mrs. Connor, please allow me to become part of your house."

Cameron nodded. "We will be happy to accommodate you. Byron, take Yuka to collect her belongings, then help her get settled in our quarters in Allison's room. I will inform you of any changes with Allison."

"Yes, Mrs. Connor," Byron said, then leaned over Allison to give her a gentle hug. "Get well, Ally. I'll come back to see you as soon as I can."

"Be safe, Byron," Allison replied in a whisper. She closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

Byron walked beside Yuka as they left the hospital. On the street, crews were working at tearing down ruined buildings and putting up new ones. Besides the workers, there were trucks parked here and there unloading food to people who stood in lines. The sky here was dismal and even through the mask he and everyone else wore while outside, the air smelled terrible. It held a burnt, sickening sweet smell to it. He was almost glad his meal wasn't very filling, for he had to choke back the urge to vomit.

The homeless shelter Yuka took him to was just that, a shelter. Made of scraps of corrugated metal for a roof and walls that bore various kinds of patches, it was barely basic protection from the elements. Going through the door that was a carpet , they went into a wreck of a place where people of all ages sat and laid on blankets and mats. Every one of them bore faces like their life had been drained out of them.

Leading Byron over to an area where a couple men and women were working at a woman's nasty looking leg bandage, Yuka bowed to them. She spoke to them. One woman replied, then came over and hugged her. The women then smiled at Byron.

"Thank you for taking Yuka into your home. That is very generous of you."

Not knowing what else to do, Byron bowed to her. "We'll take care of Yuka." glancing at all the ragged people here, he said with a wince, "I kinda wish we could take everyone."

"Such a kind boy. We do what we can, yes?"

Byron nodded.

Yuka said goodbye to a few others. They all waved and wished her well.

Leaving, Byron noticed Yuka hadn't collected any clothes. "Hey Yuka, you forgot your clothes," he said.

"These are all that I have," Yuka said. "The mat I slept on, I am sure someone else will need."

"Yeah," Byron said quietly. "Ah, the base is this way. It's not much to look at, but at least the air inside is clean."

They walked a few blocks, then Yuka asked, "The Connors took you in after your parents died?"

Byron nodded. "Our town got attacked by those Sky Net machines. One came in the house and killed Mom and Dad. Me and Gina tried to hide, but it found her. It would have killed me too, but Ally showed up and tore it's head off. I've been living with them ever since," he explained. "Ally is really cool and smart." Sporting a brief grin he added, "She really kicks butt too. When we were running from the attacks, Sky Net tanks found us but Ally destroyed them all. She felt bad after and had to sleep for a few days. Kinda like she is now. I'm hoping she'll get better soon."

"Allison means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she does. I was scared for her every time she left to fight Sky Net. I'm really glad that's over now. She killed it, so now we can go back to school and have fun like we used to do."

Yuka nodded sadly. "What grade were you in at school?" she asked.

"I finished sixth grade just before we left. Ally was in fifth ... I think. We went to Dietrich Academy, that's a school for high IQ students." Byron let out a short laugh and said, "I thought I was smart, but Ally is a real genius! She can do things that are really amazing too. I think maybe that's why Sky Net tried to kidnap her at Becky's birthday party. I think Sky Net somehow knew that Ally was able to kill it."

"Yokai are said to be very powerful," Yuka said thoughtfully. "It doesn't surprise me that Allison was

able to do what no one else could. I am very grateful she was here to do it." Casting Byron a glance, she asked, "You are returning to Dietrich Academy for school?"

"If we can. The school building was demolished the second time Sky Net attacked, but when we left to come see Ally, Gloria was still having class in the Palmdale school building. I hope it's still there. Me and Ally's friends go there too."

"How old are you?"

"I'm ten, Ally is ... eight. How old are you?"

"Fourteen, I think. I lost track recently. So, you are ten years old and you are almost into junior high?" Yuka asked.

"Like I said, I'm real smart. Learning things is easy for me. It's even easier when Ally and I study together. We kinda almost know how the other thinks. If you need help with anything, let us know, we'll help you," Byron said confidently.

"I will do that. Do you play any sports?"

Byron shrugged and said, "Not really. Before all this war stuff began, me and Ally liked to play computer games with Dan and Becky, mostly war games. I think now after what Ally's been through, she won't want to do that any more. It was mostly the challenge of it we liked, you know, outwitting the other team? We played kickball at school. Ally's really good at that too. She can really wallop the ball!"

Yuka frowned at nothing as she said, "Byron, I can tell you like Allison very much. It is good to have such a close friend. You must face the fact she may die."

They walked along another half block before Byron said, "No. Ally can't die. I don't know what I'd do without her."

.

John brought Cameron some food when he visited her and Allison. He knew the portions and makeup of the hospital food was barely enough to keep anyone alive, and Cameron needed nutrients to rebuild her skin. He got the latest news. They were adopting a Japanese girl who'd lost her family, which John was perfectly all right with. Byron had taken her back to the base to get her settled. The news on Allison was mixed. She was strong enough to wake briefly, but the radiation she'd absorbed was severely hampering her body from repairing itself.

Normally, Allison's body could fight off the effects of radiation, or repair severe damage. Unfortunately, Allison had received a high dose of radiation, then was driven into the ground, which while it didn't break any of her bones, it did tear up her insides.

Cameron was doing her best to produce excess nanites to feed into Allison's IV to help their daughter in her fight for survival. Even with that help, Allison's body was struggling to heal.

"What can I do?" John asked as he looked at Cameron's tired face as he held her bandaged hand.

"Keep bringing me nutrients. That is all you can do," Cameron replied. Looking squarely at him, she said, "John, I have recomputed Allison's chances of survival several times. It always comes out to fifty three percent. Our child may die, John."

By Cameron's blank face, John knew she was highly upset. He wished he could do more. "I know," he said softly and hugged his wife.

"We've lost two babies. I don't want to loose Allison too," Cameron said in a flat tone.

"Neither do I, hon. We can only try our hardest and hope for the best," he said as he petted her hair.

"You should return to our quarters. Byron and Yuka are there waiting for you."

John kissed her and got up. "Let me know if anything changes."

"John?" Cameron asked. "I haven't told Byron about Allison's chances. He would be devastated."

"I know. I'll keep things as positive as possible. Call if you need anything." John kissed Cameron again. He cast a sad glance at their baby girl, lying there with tubes in her. For how strong she was, John didn't want to believe she might actually die. He left praying that Allison would recover.