The Deathless Trilogy

1.6. Meeting the Leaders

A Deathless nurse buzzes around my mom as she checks her vitals and changes the bandages over her wound: a long gash down her chest, outlined in deep purple bruises. When she came in with my clothes, the nurse told me I'd be meeting the Deathless leaders in a few minutes, and ordered me to change back into what I was wearing when they found me: torn jeans and an old blue tank top. I didn't argue, though. I was happy for something to feel normal.

"I've just given her something that should wake her up," the nurse tells me.

"Will she be awake before I have to go to dinner? I think it would be best if she saw me first. She needs to know I'm safe."

"Not likely. We will be leaving once I finish changing this bandage," she says, taping new gauze over the bloodiest part of Mom's gash. Red lines soak through the cotton, and my stomach turns.

"I'd rather stay here, then. I want to make sure she's okay."

"Ms. Blume," she huffs. "Your mother is in the care of the best medical team this world has to offer. She will be fine while you meet with the leaders." She secures the last piece of tape over the already bloodied gauze, then holds out her arm for me. "Ready?"

I stand beside Mom and push some strands of hair from her face. "There's no way I can skip dinner and just wait with her?"

She shakes her head. "But I will sit with her while you're away. Now, c'mon. They are waiting for you."

The nurse's words are tired, so I sigh, reluctantly taking her arm for balance. I wish I didn't need her help, but my ankle is still too swollen to walk without assistance. She helps me down the hall of labs, through the starlit patio, and into the hall of dormitories. As soon as we're back inside, a pair of doors to my left leak smells of food, and my stomach awakes with a grumble. It must be the cafeteria, and as we pass it, the sounds of chatter and silverware clanking diminish.

On either side of us now are metal doors, like the lab doors, with numbers painted on them. They dot the hall all the way to the Immortal's end, but ahead of us on the left is a break in the pattern. After a few more echoed steps, we turn into it and arrive at a large wooden door. It's a deep, rich brown with a cast iron knob and matching door knocker, whose ornate metal design twists and curls outward from the center. In its center is another cast iron form: An eagle spreading its wings, with a metal name plate reading "President McCleary" clutched in its clawed feet. The nurse lifts it to knock three times.

I recognize the name from political science books. He was the last President before the blast. Many of the books suggested that, if the world hadn't ended, he would have been voted out of office that November. Apparently he spent too much money on the space program, and cut a lot of necessary funding to things like education and health care. One of the books called him America's worst President yet.

After the third knock, the nurse twists the knob and pushes against the door to open it. Light pours into the hall from the room I've been told is called the Captain's dining room, and I'm immediately struck by its extravagance. Brick walls, so different from the cement walls outside and so richly red, surround the room. In the middle of the space sits a long table with twelve chairs, each upholstered in burgundy leather that is so polished it reflects the light hanging from the ceiling. The light—my goodness, the light—looks like an imperial octopus with golden tentacles twisting in all directions above the table, like it's trying to escape from a hole in the ceiling, and I'm reminded of the purslane back home.

Inside the room are three people. One sits at the table in gold rimmed, goggle-like glasses—I recognize him as the gray-haired man who helped rescue me—while the other two stand behind chairs. One is the woman who pulled me from the Prowler, though she's not wearing her goggles or hat anymore, and she has since bathed. Her long, blonde hair falls down her back and appears almost yellow against her tailored navy suit. The other person is a man I don't recognize, with dark brown skin, the color of Ben's, and black hair cut close to his scalp. He is the only one who smiles at me.