Chapter 29 - I'm truly sorry for your loss

  The camp was surrounded by makeshift barricades made out of concrete blocks and barbed wire. We stepped off the bikes and approached a narrow opening.

  "Has anyone actually been evacuated from here yet?" I asked hopefully.

  "A few rafts, cars and buses left last week. This week, it's just people on foot, heading inland."

  "Where to?"

  "Military bases, farms, volunteer camps. Everyone picks their own destination, really. There's no one safe place. Or if there is, we wouldn't know about it. All radios are down."

  We slowed to a crawl in front of a makeshift car barricade manned by people carrying an odd assortment of improvised weapons. They wore military uniforms, which made the complete absence of firearms all the more striking; one man even had an actual mace resting on his shoulder.

  The campground was almost unrecognizable. It looked like a scene from a movie about a mission somewhere in a tropical rainforest. Rows of emergency shelters sprawled between the redwoods, their white canvas broken up by regular tents set up here and there.

  The woman spoke quickly to an older guard at the chokepoint, and moments later, Iris was striding toward us from one of the white tents.

  "What happened?" She asked instead of a greeting.

  "A Canary Viper bit the girl. This woman here states to give her a [Poison Resistance] card to survive." Our guide reported habitually.

  "[Poison Tolerance]," I corrected. "The card description said it dulls the worst poison effects, giving the body time and chance to fight it."

  Iris started inspecting Liv right there: checking her eyes, pulse, breathing, temperature and a wound site.

  "Can we see you later, too?" I asked. "Tim needs to be checked over. We've been in a fight, and I want to make sure he is ok."

  Iris nodded, continuing the inspection of Liv. "Attend me in the white tent with the red cross, following your registration." She looked over Tim. "In the interim, see that the boy is adequately hydrated."

  She untied Liv from the bike seat and lifted her, like she weighed nothing, carrying her towards the tent. Tim strained in his seat to follow, but he was too weak to resist my hand on his shoulder.

  My guide handed back my bike and pointed me toward check-in. I got Tim settled in his seat with a water bottle before wheeling Amanda's bike over to the woman in the orange vest behind the folding table. The person talking to her before us finished right as we approached.

  "Hi, my name is Lindsay. Are you new here?" She asked way too cheerfully for the obvious end-of-the-world vibe. She was holding a clipboard warped from the forest's perpetual dampness.

  I walked her through everything: leaving the houses in search of food, the hope of reaching the children's father, and what had happened in the forest. Reliving those moments left me stumbling over my words; my recount was a mess. Lindsay's expression shifted at all the right moments, but there was something practiced about it, polished in a way that reminded me more of a customer service rep than someone genuinely surprised.

  "Sure, I can check our lists if the man has arrived here. What is their Family name?"

  "Oh, right, sorry. I… actually have no idea what their last name is?"

  "You don't know what your neighbour's last name is?" Lindsay rounded her eyes in surprise. My facial expression must have been telling enough, because she coughed politely and said. "Well, no worries. He left the day before yesterday. So he should have arrived at the camp in the last two days. How about his first name?"

  "Jeff, his name is Jeff." I supplied, happy that I can at least recall that.

  "Okay, let me see." She flipped through a few pages. It was disturbing how many people were arriving each day; each entry took up barely two rows of text. "We've got two Jeffs. One's twenty... seems too young. The other's thirty-nine. He's actually still in the hospital tent."

  I nodded. That made sense. Otherwise, I couldn't imagine what would've kept him from his wife and kids.

  "Let's go see Daddy, okay?" I told Tim, and I think some life has returned to his eyes at the suggestion.

  "Hold on a second." Lindsay stopped me. "We need to register you first: confirm your identity and assign your placement based on how long you'll be staying."

  Oh, right. Bureaucracy.

  By some small miracle, I still had my driver's license in my backpack. I was assigned to tent number ten with other single women who'd be leaving in the next few days. The smaller regular tents were for groups and families.

  I helped Tim drink some more water, then we headed to the medical tent. I left the bicycle near the tent, closer to the forest line. Thankfully, Tim could walk. There was no way I could carry him and all three backpacks at once, and I wasn't about to leave our stuff out in the open.

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  I ducked through the tent flap and held it open for Tim. Inside, the air smelled of rubbing alcohol and body odour. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light coming from the candles and a makeshift "window" of clear plastic cut into the tent's roof.

  Four cots lined each side in two rows, all occupied. A patient coughed loudly as we stepped in. Judging by the soot and burns on his hands, it was probably from smoke inhalation rather than the flu.

  A fabric divider separated the back of the tent, and I could hear someone moving around behind it. Medical supplies crowded a folding table by the divider in organized chaos: boxes of masks, prescription bottles sorted into plastic bins, and clean wound dressings. The synthetic floor crinkled under my feet.

  "Daddy?" Tim's small voice cracked as he yanked his hand free from mine and bolted toward the furthest cot on the right.

  The man turned in our direction just in time to catch his son mid-leap. They clung to each other, Tim shaking with silent sobs. I stood frozen, suddenly feeling like an intruder.

  When Jeff finally pulled back, his gaze found mine over Tim's head. His eyes swept the tent, searching. My stomach dropped, and I couldn't meet his stare.

  He didn't know yet.

  Anxiously, I suppressed the impulse to turn around and leave before he asked the question I dreaded answering.

  Tim scrambled onto the cot, and Jeff sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, his face going white.

  "Where..." His voice broke. "Where is she?"

  Before I could answer, Iris emerged from behind the tent partition, cradling Liv in her arms. The little girl looked so much better: her skin had returned to a healthy pink instead of the yellowish-gray pallor.

  "She shall sleep while her body completes its restoration," Iris said, interrupting the moment. She laid Liv gently on the other side of Jeff's cot. "The card you gave her slowed her metabolism enough to protect her organs. The child will make a full recovery." The woman turned to me. "I am prepared to attend to you now."

  "Maybe check Tim first?" I suggested quickly.

  Iris moved toward the boy with that unnatural grace of hers. Tim flinched away when her hand moved toward his forehead, but Iris didn't pay it any mind, and her fingers barely grazed his skin before she stepped back.

  "Minor scrapes. Mild dehydration. The ambient aura will take care of it within hours." Her eyes flickered with something that might have been sympathy. "His mental state, however... that's beyond my abilities." She gestured toward the partition. "Now, come."

  I dropped Amanda's bags beside Jeff's cot and practically fled after Iris.

  Hiding behind the white screen panel was cowardly, but I didn't have the strength to relive the horror of the past few hours again. But I also didn't want Tim to explain to his father why Amanda wasn't with us. He had only just started responding to the world around him.

  I stopped at the modesty panel, steadied myself, and turned back to Jeff.

  "We were attacked in the forest by a group of goblins. We fought them off. Amanda even got a healing card to help with her injuries." I took a deep breath before continuing. "But one of those bright yellow lizards must have been drawn by the commotion. It spewed the magic ball at Liv after it bit her, and Amanda jumped in front of her to take the hit. The damage was - " I swallowed. "There was nothing we could do. It was instant."

  I finally met Jeff's gaze. Tears were streaming down his face.

  "I'm truly sorry for your loss. She was a good person."

  That was all I could manage without falling apart myself. I slipped behind the panel before anything else could spill out.

  Their voices followed me: Tim's high and trembling, Jeff's low and steadying.

  The space behind the screen was cramped but surprisingly bright, lit by floating magic orbs rather than the candles in the main area. I could make out every detail of the cot and small table before I even reached them. I sank onto the bed with a groan, my battered leg finally getting the rest it had been screaming for.

  That's when I noticed the pile of sleeping bags wedged into the darkest corner, someone clearly curled up inside. Were they really that desperate for space?

  Iris pressed her hand to my forehead the same way she had with Tim, then quietly examined my face and leg.

  Up close, I noticed the new small imperfections in her appearance: the slight dullness in her eyes, the faint lines of exhaustion around her mouth, the way her movements were just a fraction slower than before. She looked like someone who hadn't slept in days.

  "Can you get rid of my scars?" I asked when she pulled away. "At least the ones on my face?"

  The question had been eating at me since I'd first glimpsed my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I held my breath waiting for her answer.

  "The wounds I'll heal now will leave minimal scarring." She traced a finger along my forehead. "But the existing scars will have to wait. I'm nearly depleted. Too many patients, and more coming in the days ahead." Her touch moved to my leg, and warmth flooded through it. The pain, the aching, the burning - all of it vanished in an instant. "You're welcome to return tomorrow. I can do minor cosmetic work each day. I also have an active healing aura covering this tent, but I'm afraid it won't do much for this." She gently tapped the scar on my forehead. "Have you been trying to remove it yourself?"

  "Yeah," I admitted, disappointment settling in my chest. "I've cut out a small portion of the scar and used my [Tissue Splice] to reconnect it."

  "Barbaric." The word was sharp with disapproval as she moved her hand to my cheek. The stinging sensation from goblin scratches melted away under her touch. "What you've mended is merely the surface. The scarring underneath remains, and the surrounding tissue is now pulled taut because of it. If you insist on that method, you'd need to remove equal portions through the entire thickness of your face, down to the bone, and reconnect from there. Though I shall warn you: your entire face would be permanently changed, and there could be nerve misalignments."

  I closed my eyes in frustration. I wasn't a surgeon. I'd just done what seemed right with the tools I had. It was magic, wasn't it? Why couldn't it just make me whole again?

  "Can't you restore, like take more magic from somewhere? From the air, or... or from me?"

  "That's not how it works, child. You'll learn eventually." She turned away and settled into a lotus position in the corner. "Your remaining bruises will heal on their own, or you can use your own cards if you're impatient. I need to meditate before the next patient."

  Just like that, she was done with me.

  I sat there for a moment, uncertain. Quiet breathing of the person in the sleeping bags and the murmur of voices in the main room filled the silence. Iris didn't move, didn't acknowledge my presence.

  My stomach growled loudly, and I ran my tongue over my cracked lips. I needed food and water to continue healing.

  I pushed myself up and stepped back into the main area of the tent.

  Jeff was still talking quietly with Tim, but both pairs of eyes locked onto me the moment I emerged.

  "Do they feed people here?" I asked, cutting off whatever questions Jeff had for me.