Eliot Strange and the Prince of the People

7) Bad News

"Ambushed," Steven says.

I look at the soldier driving. He has a red cross band around his arm. He's a medic who introduces himself as, "Private Lee."

"How many you got with you?" I ask.

"Seventeen counting me," he says, "though I am not sure all are still alive. Some of them are hurt pretty bad."

Steven is still crying, so I continue with the questions. "What happened? You got anybody other than soldiers with you? How'd you get away?"

"Only soldiers," he says which prompts louder cries from Steven.

I squat down to speak directly to Steven. "Steven, they need some medical supplies. Can you go get some?"

"What?" he asks.

"Medical supplies. You know, help others."

My thinly veiled attempt to distract him works because Steven wipes his face and blows his nose on his sleeve and says, "Yes, right, get some supplies." He skip/hops to get the supplies.

Private Lee continues his tale of disaster. "We were surrounded, just outside Stuart. It would have been bad enough to meet them head on. There were more than we thought, better armed too, but somehow they got behind us. We were fighting on two fronts."

I remembered the vehicles Torin and I witnessed going to the fight. "How'd y'all get away?"

"That's the weird part. We were somewhere in the middle, helping the wounded. We retreated down a side road. We were followed. Surrounded. Looked like it was all over. We were about to surrender when some of their soldiers backed up and walked away. One of them yelled at us to stay hidden, not come out until it was all over. Hide in the woods for at least two hours after the last shot, he said. We did, and here we are."

"Why?" I ask. "Why'd, they let you go?"

"Dunno. But, I guess what we heard is true. We heard there have been some mutinies. Everybody on their side don't wanna be there."

I think about Leia and Adam and Sarah and know this is true. Maybe the One Nation Army is imploding from inside. I ask about Leia and, "Did you see some young fighters, still young enough to be in high school.?"

"They got them right away," he says and when he sees me cringe, he adds, "No not dead, but captured. They were at the front. Saw them carry them off."

"Not dead?"

"No," he hesitates, "But I don't know if I would tell your buddy, he asked about them too, because they might as well be dead."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because One Nation kills prisoners. Usually publicly, so all can witness."

I know this is true because of the Stadium Battle. When Steven arrives, I don't tell him about the prisoners. I don't think he can take any more.

Steven starts to go vehicle to vehicle and hand out bandages and water to other medics.

I continue talking to Private Lee. "Do you know a soldier named Patrick?"

The medic looks at me and grins. "Wait a minute are you his girl, Eliot?"

No, no, I'm not, but I just nod my head and smile.

"Boy, he has got a surprise for you. It's all he talks about."

"Yeah, I heard. Is he with you?"

The medic hesitates again, and I brace myself for the bad news. Only, he doesn't say anything.

"Didn't make it?" I squeak out and brace myself for losing Patrick a second time.

He shrugs.

"Captured?" I ask and brace again because we all know that "captured" means as good as dead.

He shrugs again.

"Well, where the hell is he? And do you know my dad? His name is Joe."

Medic Lee grins and nods. "Yes, I know your dad. And that is where Patrick is. Your dad took him with him."

"Took him where?"

"Stuart," says Lee. "Your dad and Patrick and two other men, I don't know their names, went to Stuart. Before the fight."

"Why?" I ask like I don't already know. "To get my mom?"

"Well, I don't know about that. Joe said he was going to cut the head off the snake."

We spend the next fifteen minutes helping. Even Cindy gets out of the ice cream truck to hand some waters to the thirsty soldiers.

"Sorry, no ice cream," she says. "But as soon as we get back. I'm gonna find you boys some eggs and maybe some pie."

Steven double checks each vehicle and tells me something I already know. "None of our people," he says. He does not say Tommy's name and that is good because I need him to hold it together just a little longer.

We discuss what we need to do next.

Our caravan of grief and broken soldiers heads to Dobson and home where pie and eggs and a doctor await them. Steven and Cindy and Baby Christopher ride at the front in an ice cream truck while I ride in back of a pick up truck with another medic and three soldiers who might not make it back to camp. The first thing I notice is the smell. I think about the houses Steven and I used to plunder. The smell of death was a clue that no one alive was home and the house was safe. Turns out, dying and already dead smell a lot alike. And even more strange, I feel safe in the back of this truck. There's sort of reverence and humility here with these soldiers.

Two of the soldiers are unconscious, but one is awake. His name is Liam. The other medic, whose name I never learn, tells Liam I am Patrick's girl.

"Are you Eliot?" he asks with an adoration that I am not worthy of. He reaches for my hand and pulls it to his chest. "You are beautiful. Just like he said."

"Thank you."

"Will you sit with me, just a minute?" and then as if we have a secret, "I won't tell Patrick." He smiles the biggest smile and winks at me, "You don't tell either."

"Oh, I won't tell."

And that is how I end up holding the hand of Liam, whose last name I never learn, all the way back to camp even after he is gone.