Vagabonds

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Next Steps

Eliza lingered by the window in the top-story corridor they had been moved to after Daisy's surgery, watching restless flocks of news crews spool and curl in the morning light. Her arms tightened around the fresh blue top that a kindly nurse had given her, shivering despite the warmth inside the hospital.

It had been almost six hours since they'd come screaming into the parking lot, but already news of their arrival had spread to every corner of the country, attracting reporters and journalists like moths to a candelabra. Of course, HNN had the advantage of being first. Between a sheepish statement from Joe and a breathless interview with Joe's relieved and excited parents, the news station's viewership had been steadily gaining momentum all morning.

Watching the cops glower from the front of the barricade they'd erected around the emergency entrance, Eliza swallowed a sad laugh.

It was only going to get worse.

"Hey."

She turned to see Joe standing in the middle of the hall, hands in his pockets, shoulders bunched like fists.

"Hey," Eliza said in response, stepping aside to invite him to join her. "How are your folks?"

Joe chuckled.

"Well, they can't exactly claim I'm an easy kid anymore." He sighed. "But apparently it's the biggest news story they've ever covered. The President himself has called six times. Their stocks are through the roof." His lips curled into a wry smile. "I guess this is a pretty big deal."

"And I'm sure the fact that it all happened in a government research facility makes it even juicier, huh?" Eliza tried to smile back, but the joke didn't quite land. She was still picturing the bodies, the flashlights, the darkness. Still feeling the frayed twine scrape across her palms as Amile fought to escape.

Eliza shuddered, but Joe didn't notice, too busy leaning out to watch the reporters jostle against the barricade, only to wilt when they realized that the person leaving was just a local who'd come in with stomach pain the night before.

"And to think," Joe said with a grin. "Scottstown used to be one of those quiet places."

"Not anymore. How long until the FBI shows up?"

"Oh, ten minutes?" Joe's smile faded as he faced Eliza, met her eyes. "How's everyone else?"

Eliza glanced over her shoulder at the two dark doors, beyond which Daisy, Ian Eckelson, and Martin Bent lay in matching beds, all under sedation as their bodies recovered.

"The docs say everyone will be fine. But what do they know? They've never dealt with anyone like Daisy before."

In fact, the surgeons — after they'd gotten over their open-mouthed shock — had been fascinated by Daisy. Eliza had watched the residents and medical students file into the operating room, excitedly elbowing one another to be first inside. When a tall man who introduced himself as head of general surgery came out to share the good news that Daisy would recover, he'd peppered Eliza with questions about who the Vagabonds were, where she'd found them, did they speak English, were they from Earth?

Eliza would have laughed if she hadn't been so close to tears, adrenaline still pumping through her veins like a ferocious drug. 

Now the boys were with their father in one room, Tori with her freshly cured brother in the one across the hall. Both doors were guarded by sleepy hospital guards, eying Joe and Eliza surreptitiously as they pretended not to be eavesdropping. The police were busy keeping the curious spectators out of Scottstown Medical, but had checked in every half hour to make sure they didn't go anywhere.