Blackteeth, page 32
“Her name is Hesper White,” someone said, and it was Moss.
“Your name is going to be fucking mud,” she said to Moss.
Moss shrugged. “The Blackteeth were coming. Some of them followed us here but look”— he waved his hand around— “it’s broad daylight, and there was a platoon of troops that Parsons had waiting for us. Everyone saw, and there’s a news team here who was waiting for us, too. They got footage of the Blackteeth. India was one thing. This is something else.” His expression was arrogantly smug.
Hesper wanted to throw up. She literally wanted to throw up. So she did, and she managed to aim for Moss while she did it. He made a noise and backed up immediately.
“What’s your name?” the EMT asked again, brushing Moss aside.
“Hesper White,” she said and retched again. Her entire body burned with pain. Her kidneys roared with agony as her stomach cramped up.
“Do you know where you are?” the EMT persisted.
“We’re having a picnic at the river,” she snarled. “Didn’t you see the weenies on the barbeque?”
“Do you know what today is?”
“No, I don’t know what today is.” Hesper put her hands on her abdomen. Everything hurt. It hurt from the top to the bottom. Then she thought about his last question. This whole round of events had started on a Wednesday. That was when she’d first laid eyes on Moss watching her from the sporting goods store down the street from Abracajava’s. Then there had been the night spent at the lodge and the morning they’d slipped back into the builders’ world. Then a whole lot of other stuff ending with this epic pile of shit. She literally didn’t have a clue what day it was. “It’s a day that ends with a day in the word.”
“What’s wrong with your stomach?” the EMT asked.
“She’s got scratches on her sides and her stomach,” Moss said. He crossed his arms over his chest and appeared determined. “Maybe some kidney damage by the way she’s bruised and bent over. She’s damaged like they beat her to hell and back.”
“Gotcha,” the EMT. He started talking on his shoulder-attached radio. She gathered he was discussing her symptoms with an ER doctor.
“Where are the children?” Hesper asked Moss.
Moss pointed to her right. She turned her head and saw five more ambulances as well as two fire trucks all sitting within the large parking lot. A buttload of people in uniforms were tending all of the children. There were police, more police, EMTs, and military guys, too. Mun-Hee sat on a stretcher and waved at her gleefully when he saw she was awake.
“Everyone else make it?”
“Taylor lost four men,” Moss said, appearing grim. “The world just had a wake-up call about things that go bump in the night.”
“Rather, things that go splash in the water,” Hesper muttered. “I could have stopped it.” Then she threw up on him again, and that was about all of that conversation.
Hesper woke up again and was immediately happy she wasn’t throwing up. A nurse was checking her vitals. “Looks better,” the nurse said amicably. She was a tall African American woman with a nametag that said Belle.
Hesper said, “How long have I been out?”
“A couple of hours,” Belle said. “You’re at Huntsville Hospital, by the way. The doctor should be in soon. Looks like you have some damage to one of your kidneys. Two broken ribs, too. I’ve never seen someone look like you who hadn’t been in a car wreck. Black eyes. Thirty stitches on your stomach. Ten stitches on your back, and do I need to ask if those were from Taser barbs? Bruises up the wazoo. You are really messed up, girl. The doctor has given you some anti-nausea medication and some painkillers, although if you need more, just ask for it.”
Hesper bared her teeth at the nurse. “Water,” she said.
The nurse immediately got her one of the big hospital cups full of ice and water. It had the industrial-size bendy straw, too. She also helped Hesper adjust the bed. She ended their brief conversation by pointing out where the button was located to call for a nurse. “That also controls the television, and you should check out CNN because you’re all over it,” she said helpfully.
“How far are we away from the Tennessee River?” Hesper asked instead.
“I don’t know. Maybe eight miles? You worried about those things? There are cops all over the hospital.”
“Do you know of a gun shop around here?”
Belle’s friendly face crackled just a little. “Up Memorial Parkway,” she said after a long pause. “Maybe three miles north of us. My dad uses their shooting range. If they don’t have something you need, it’s because it’s something only the military uses.”
Hesper patted her chest and realized she’d lost the harness that Camp had provided her. She’d also lost the grenades, and that hurt because she’d been saving those for a rainy day. God only knew when she was going to get her hands on grenades again.
“Belle,” she said.
“Yes, sugar?”
“You’ve heard about me?”
“Oh yeah,” Belle said. “Everyone’s heard about you. Went up against monsters and came out like a big bear. They’re digging up all that stuff about how you went missing for ten years. The children you brought back with you are talking to every reporter who has a mike in their hands. That other group of kids that came back in India is doing the same. And ain’t no one goin’ fishing in the Tennessee until they figure out about those bitches in black.”
Hesper nodded. It was nice to be believed unconditionally. “How would you like to help me?”
Belle nodded back and then Hesper started as something occurred to her. She was wearing a hospital gown, and she didn’t have anything that belonged to her. Moss or one of the military guys had forcibly brought her back. She didn’t have a key anymore. Motherfucking son of a bitch.
“What happened to my clothing and the stuff I had?” she asked.
“You mean that belt with the knives and the grenades?” Belle asked and tittered. “Those guys from the Arsenal took that with them. No one wanted a live grenade lying around in the hospital.”
And all of the keys that had been left had been in the pouches of the utility belt.
Hesper thought about it. Moss had keys. The soldiers had keys. Some of the kids had keys. She needed a key. She couldn’t see Moss or the soldiers forking one of the keys over to her.
“Anyone else from the river admitted here?”
“Yep. Five of the children. One had to be flown to a hospital in Atlanta for some specialized treatment. Another one went to Birmingham.”
“I need to see the ones in this hospital,” she said.
Belle clearly thought about it. “If I tell you they’re in a special ward, then how can I stop you from wandering over? One floor up. The elevator is right over there.” She pointed in the direction of the door. “We’ll just unplug your monitor.” She got right to work and then helped Hesper stand up. She also adjusted the gown Hesper was wearing. “I’ve got some surgical socks here in the locker,” she said. “Let’s get those tootsies covered. Or if you want to wait, I can…” she trailed off because it was probably obvious that Hesper did not want to wait. The nurse got Hesper to sit on the bed while she pulled the socks with antiskid rubber grips on the bottoms over her feet.
Then Belle decided that Hesper’s gown was a little too revealing in the back and got her another one to go over the backside. “There you go, sugar. Up one floor. Turn left. Should be the first room on the left. If the nurses object, tell them who you are. There’s also a cop up there. You had one for an hour, too, but the hospital decided our security would be okay for you. Our guy should be patrolling through in about”— she glanced at an oversized FitBit smartwatch— “twenty minutes. I should advise you, however, that you’re pretty well injured, and you shouldn’t leave against medical advice.”
“Got it,” Hesper said. “I shouldn’t leave against medical advice.” She took the rolling IV stand with her. She went into the hallway, and people were on their way to and fro without paying much attention to her. When she got into the elevator, she jerked out the IV needle and all of the coordinated tape and gauze. She pressed the end of the second gown to the back of her hand to stop the bleeding. By then the elevator dinged helpfully that it had arrived on the next floor. The doors opened with a clunk. Someone was waiting to get on, and she scowled when she saw who it was.
“What in Christ’s sake are you doing out of bed?” Moss asked.
Moss appeared he’d cleaned up. He’d shaved and he wore a nicer shirt and jeans instead of combat-like technical gear. Even his Reeboks were spotless.
Hesper got off the elevator with Moss, ignoring him. He spared her a look first for pressing the end of her gown to her bleeding hand and then for the IV stand she’d left in the elevator. “I have things to do,” she said at last.
Moss sighed heavily. “They should have kept you strapped down to the bed.”
“Who’s in here?”
“Daisy and Petra were dehydrated,” Moss said. “Luna has a broken arm and a broken clavicle. Then there’s two that won’t talk. They’re trying to figure out where they came from, but all of these kids weren’t reported missing.”
“The Blackteeth were using their relatives,” Hesper said. “I don’t expect they had much of a choice.” She bared her teeth at Moss, and he took a step back in evident alarm. “Although it seems to me there’s always a choice.”
“I thought they were supposed to have a guard with you,” Moss complained.
“There was a nurse. She said something about security. I expect they should have been a little more on their toes.”
Moss pointed to a police officer sitting in a chair outside of a room. “There. Hey, Officer Blaylock. This is Hesper. I reckon you know who she is.”
The young man in his twenties blinked at Hesper. “Dang,” he said. “She looks like a Mack truck hit her.”
“Can I see the kids?” Hesper asked.
“The only ones who can’t are reporters or lawyers,” Blaylock said. “Monsters, too. Well, hell, just about everyone. They didn’t say you couldn’t, though.”
Moss opened the door, and both Daisy and Petra squealed at Hesper. Luna and the others stared at her. Five beds had been fit into a room that was obviously meant for only two, but it looked comfortable, and they’d all been eating ice cream from Baskin-Robbins.
Hesper shut the door and briefly glared at Moss who shoved in behind her. “Have you got a key?” she asked him.
“The general took them all,” Moss said. “Didn’t want people doing something stupid.” He emphasized the word stupid as if he was applying it only to a certain person.
“They’re going to go after other children,” Hesper said. “Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but they will, and those children’s lives will be on us.”
Moss’s face contorted in distaste. “They won’t let that happen now. It’s out in the open. They know.”
“I have to go back,” Hesper said enraged by Moss’s naivety.
Daisy said, “What will you do?”
“Make it so they never come back here.”
“You’re not going back,” Moss said. “No one is going back. Let the military deal with the Blackteeth.”
“What, they’re going to guard every pond, every running stream, every river?” Hesper snapped.
Luna whimpered and shoved her fist halfway into her mouth.
“You’re scaring them,” Moss said.
“They should be scared,” Hesper said and then wished she hadn’t said it. No one should have to be scared. That was why she needed to go back. She was going to ensure that no child ever heard the story of Betsy Blackteeth again.
“What, you thought the kids would still have their keys?” Moss asked dryly.
“Why don’t you go ahead and go visit Olivia?” Hesper suggested. “She probably needs some Moss time. And your mother, too.” She almost asked if he didn’t need to plan a memorial but bit her lip just in time. He didn’t need to be reminded, and she didn’t need to sink that low.
“What are you going to do?” Moss demanded.
“I’ll talk to your general later,” Hesper said firmly as if the general didn’t have a choice but to capitulate to her demands. I’m not talking to him unless it’s to knock his ass to the floor so I can take one of those stinking keys off his unconscious body.
Moss stared at Hesper in a distinctly skeptical manner, then sighed. “Okay, bye, girls. I’ll stop by later and bring some books and games for you. Don’t listen to Hesper. You’ve got protection. You’re safe here.”
Moss waved at them and then gestured at Hesper. He pointed two fingers at his eyes and then the same two fingers at her indicating he was watching her.
Hah. Like I care. Hesper shrugged. She waited until Moss went out the door and when it closed behind him, pulled a chair up to the side of Daisy’s bed. “Who’s still got a key?” she asked firmly.
Daisy made a moue. Petra looked at the ceiling. Luna pursed her lips. The other two girls hid their heads in the blankets.
Hesper put out her hand expectantly. Daisy forked a key over reluctantly while Petra twirled hers in her fingers. Luna showed hers for a moment before she closed her fingers over it again. General Parsons and Lieutenant Taylor had to be insane if they thought any of these children would give up those keys. They would keep them just on the off chance that they would be taken prisoner by the Blackteeth again. Idiots thought if they said something, it would automatically be done.
“If I can give it back to you, I will,” Hesper said. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do it.”
“You really mean it,” Petra said with her German accent heavy. “You’re going to make them stop forever.”
“I’m going to shut them down.” Hesper looked at the key in her hand. It was almost identical to all the others. Six sided and bullet shaped, the black material glinted with tiny flecks of gold in it under the fluorescent hospital lights.
Hesper stood up. “Goodbye, girls. I hope you have good lives. Try to forgive Luna, will you? She didn’t see that she had a choice, and she deserves our compassion.” Unlike dumbass adults who don’t, she added silently. She stood up and exited the room, not saying anything to Officer Blaylock.
Hesper looked down each way of the hall, searching for an easy answer. She needed clothing, weapons, and a way to get to a river that wasn’t the same place she’d come in. The Blackteeth would be waiting at that one, and she needed to sneak back into the builders’ world.
I could hit up the gift shop, but they probably only have t-shirts. I could steal something from another patient, but someone’s going to be looking for me pretty soon. I could ask Nurse Belle for some assistance. I could call my mother. I could call June. Fuckall. Hesper stood there for a moment. No one is going to rescue me.
Clothes. Weapons. Water.
Hesper looked down at herself. She looked like someone who’d been thrown down a set of stairs, picked up, thrown down the set of stairs again, kicked in the face because what the hell, and then dumped down an elevator shaft. Then she’d been committed to a hospital for the criminally insane.
“Help you?” Officer Blaylock asked from behind her.
“I need clothes, weapons, and some water,” Hesper said.
The young man had approached Hesper while she was standing in the middle of the hallway wearing two hospital gowns and a pair of fuzzy socks with rubber antiskid pads.
“I have a car,” the officer said. “I went to school with Emmalee Green. She was in my middle school. She was nice. She didn’t deserve what happened. None of you did.”
“I can’t drive,” Hesper said. “I never learned how.”
Blaylock frowned. “I can’t leave.” He glanced back at the hospital room. “But I know people who can.” He broke out his cellphone. “Someone’s going to meet you in the front of the hospital.”
“Better make it the back,” Hesper said. “Someone is probably going to take exception to me leaving.”
“What are you going to do?”
“People keep asking me that,” Hesper said as she watched Blaylock unlock his phone and started swiping with his finger. “I mean to paint it black. I mean to paint it all black. Is that good enough an answer?”
Chapter Thirty-One
An oak is not felled at one stroke. – proverb
All by herself, still dressed in two hospital gowns, antiskid slipper socks, and nothing else, Hesper stood at the back of the hospital. The back wasn’t exactly the back nor as deserted as she had thought it would be. The access wasn’t located far from the emergency room entrance, and people were definitely coming and going from there.
It was still daylight outside, and she wasn’t cold because it was spring in Alabama, although she couldn’t quite remember what month it was. She stood near the hospital wall just on the edge of the sidewalk and pretended that she belonged there. However, it must have been patently clear that she was an escapee. Three separate people at different times stopped to ask her if she needed help. She supposed that she looked like someone who needed help. If she was honest, she did need help, and she wasn’t sure how to get it. She was counting on someone she’d just met and that implied she trusted the young officer upstairs. She hadn’t even considered that he might be under the thumb of the Blackteeth. She counted on the fact that the Blackteeth wouldn’t have had time to implement a situation where they could get a human to get to her or the children. Furthermore, if she was correct, she’d taken all of the Blackteeth’s leverage from them and that meant that Officer Blaylock couldn’t be one of theirs.
Hesper reconsidered. It was unlikely that Blaylock was one of theirs.
“Did you come out for a smoke?” someone asked her. A middling-sized man with black hair stood near her pulling a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket. He was clearly some kind of medical person with a white jacket and a nametag that was affiliated with the hospital. He also stared at her interestedly.
“I came out to get away, but I don’t have a car,” Hesper said.
