Harwal, book 3

Chapter 37

It has been almost six days since they started on the 'purge' of Joddel. The first day was a shitshow as the attack started much earlier than we anticipated, but that wasn't the worst.

The worst was the night that followed. People poured in from every nook to find shelter for themselves and the elderly and kids. That continued until the second night, finding space and sharing supplies to everyone who didn't have any. We thought we had enough space, but we didn't.

After the night, we had to start turning people away, as we couldn't hold any more people. Some started fights and tried to kill for a spot. It was a wild mess, where even my gran got hurt. She got pushed down, and she broke her hip, earning a spot in one of Mateo's sick beds for a while.

We got a stroke of luck when Marco visited on the fourth day. Marco and his people sorted out the people taking shelter. He had made another shelter further away, but it wasn't as out of the way as the motel. Marco and the motel owner decided that the motel would be a shelter for the elderly and the sick, and every able-bodied person goes to the other one.

Marco took the people out during the night, and this morning, a group of Atorus came to guard the motel. They are from Narak's fleet, as their orange shoulder patch indicates. Apparently, Marco had said something, and now they were here to escort other new refugees to the other shelter.

I was ready to go to the other place, but Marco insisted I stay to keep watch of his brother. I know it's a bullshit reason that he yelled about, and I'm thankful for that as I get to stay with Gran and Dante. Greece was also not going anywhere, obviously.

Nobody has had any rest. I gave up my bunk in the basement on the first night. Greece and I keep running around helping Mateo in the basement and Tina in the kitchen. I'm jealous of Gran for breaking her hip. She even got one of the freed rooms, as Mateo needed more space for the critically injured.

But the motel has calmed down, there aren't people sleeping in the hallways, and nobody threatens to kill anyone. And even if they are, they couldn't, as they're all grandma's age and most bound to a wheelchair. There are also two frail-looking women with newborn babies, which make up most of the noise now.

Greece flipped a switch about the babies, deciding to beg the motel owner for a room far away from the babies, and she got one. She's with grandma, incredibly getting along with her fantastically. I'm stuck with Dante right next to the crying babies. Luckily for Dante, he doesn't wake up to anything. I don't have such talents, so I've spent most nights either staring at the ceiling or helping the new mothers, so at least they can sleep.

I enjoy it. It reminds me of when Dante was still a baby. Although he was much, much heavier and bigger than a human baby. Taking care of two babies is almost like taking care of one Dante.

Whenever I get the babies to sleep, I'm left looking for the goddamn cat. I see her everywhere, stalking people from the shelves or somewhere high up. It's driving me nuts. She's always somewhere close by, and I swear she's keeping her eyes on me too, but I'm worried someone is going to freak out and do something to her. Or who knows if the cat grows out huge fangs and chomps off someone's head. It's an alien beast. She could probably eat the babies too if she wanted.

Whenever I sleep, I wake up to her sleeping on my chest or next to my head. But the moment I have given her pats, she bolts off. It's driving me insane. I know I'm focusing on a ridiculous thing in the middle of this apocalypse, but my exhausted brain won't let it go. Even though I know she'll come to me when I sleep, I can't stop searching.

Even now. In the middle of the night. I'm in the stairwell looking for that black dot in the darkness. I just got one of the babies to sleep and put him next to his mother, but the other one is fussy tonight. She keeps babbling and crying on steady intervals. It's ridiculous how loud human babies are. Dante was so quiet, almost never crying. Makes me wonder if something was wrong then, and I didn't know.