“You don’t think we’ll make it?”
Hector didn’t answer immediately. He finished tending to his patient, then turned to face her. Mildred was shocked by the change in his appearance. It wasn’t just where the tiredness and the disease had started to take hold of him; it wasn’t just the dark under his eyes. It was the dark within them. Just a few days, a week or so, earlier, Hector had been a man who had belief in his task. He had tried his best for the people of Crossroads, and was willing to try more in the efforts to overcome the mysterious disease that had hit the ville. But now his eyes were dark pits of despair, holes in the earth that had seen into the abyss and echoed this with their own empty caverns of dark.
He had given up hope, but his basic humanity and devotion to his task wouldn’t let him give up until he himself had dropped from the disease and exhaustion.
Finally, after what seemed a painful eternity, he answered Mildred. “I don’t see how any of us can make it.”
“You don’t think we can make it in and out in one piece, let alone find the antidote?”
Hector looked at her blankly. “What?” he asked simply.
Mildred shook her head, plaits feeling heavy as the disease took more of a grip on her weary frame. “You mean to say that you haven’t heard of the attack plan?”
Hector shook his head, but there was a vague glimmer of something that may just have been approaching hope deep within his eyes. He stepped forward, hesitating as though unsure what to do or say next.
“I just knew there was a firefight, and that you and the women arrived in time to drive the wags away. Krysty and Doc were here, but—”
“Ryan and Gloria have a plan of action, and Baron Robertson is backing it. It’s not much as hopes go, I guess—all if’s and buts—but it may be all we have. Take a rest, man—just for a few moments—and I’ll tell you about it,” Mildred said rapidly.
Hector allowed her to lead him to the rear of the med building, where there were a few chairs pushed to the wall to make way for more pallets. Sitting him down, Mildred explained the projected campaign to the bewildered and exhausted medic, who had trouble taking it all in—particularly when she had to go back and explain how both her companions and the Gate tribe knew so much about the underground base. She was sure that Hector had been told this before, but it all seemed new to him, possibly the disease and exhaustion were leading to short term memory loss. Certainly, as she spoke part of her ran a professional appraisal on the medic. She was sure that, unless they were able to fulfill the plan rapidly, it would be too late for Hector. He was working himself to death, and nothing would make him pull back.
“Do you understand what this means?” she asked as she finished relating the details of the forthcoming attack.
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think so. If we can just keep it together here, then we may be able to stop the spread.”
Mildred assented.
“But if we can’t…” He shook his head. “Guess there’ll be nothing to do except work till I finally keel over.”
Mildred allowed herself a wry smile. “Guess not, and I guess I’d do the same in your position,” she concluded.
Hector paused, lost in thought for a moment. Then, with a surprising suddenness, the rangy healer rose to his feet. “Best to get going, then, Mildred.”
As she rose, he grasped her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. His gaze was now fiery and intent, the previous blackness now illuminated by a light of hope.
“Look, if we should never meet again, for whatever reason…” He trailed off, not sure how to continue, before taking a deep breath. “Listen, I realize that there’s a lot about you that I don’t understand and never will, like how you and Doc seem to know so much about what happened before the nukecaust, and how come you know stuff about medicine that seems, well, why that is I don’t know, and I don’t really want to. All that matters is that I learned more about being a healer from you in a few days than I ever had, and it’s helped me more than I can say over the last few weeks. And if you don’t get the hell out of this with the cure, it won’t be for the want of trying. I guess all I’m trying to say is that I’m glad I had the chance to learn from you before all the shit hit the wall.”