Yield (47 page)

Looking back at it all through the tempered lens of days like this one, though, she would fight to the death for every second with her kids. With Devin
…

*  *  *

“
Hey, Mom,
”
Tyler
’
s hoarse voice whispers. He
’
s been watching his mother
’
s napping breaths for several minutes now
,
curled up next to him on the couch. The boy smiles. Just having her there fills him with a sense of calm and confidence.

“
How you feeling, baby?
”
Kat asks. She sits up quickly, unsure of how she was even able to fall asleep.

“
Wonderful.
”
Tyler forces another smile. His eyelids feel so heavy. He tries to blink away the immense muscular fatigue from his convulsions, but his eyes just keep wanting to close.

“
Liar,
”
Katherine laughs.
“
Do you remember what happened?
”

“
Some,
”
the boy says. He tries to scoot himself up on the couch, but his
face quickly betrays the pain.

“
Easy, Ty,
”
Kat pleads. She puts a protective hand to his chest.

“
I
’
m fine,
”
he insists. Tyler rearranges the pillows behind him, forcing himself upright with a grunt.

Katherine
’
s eyebrow raises, but she stays silent.

“
I was okay when I got to school,
”
Tyler says.
“
But then I started feeling a little light-headed in homeroom.
”

“
Did you tell the nurse?
”

He sees weakness mirrored in his classmates
’
eyes.
“
I drank some water,
”
Tyler says, his face hardening,
“
and it mostly went away.
”

“
You still should have told somebody,
”
Kat continues. Her eyebrow shoots up again.

“
I know. But then they made some sort of coded announcement over the loudspeaker, and Miss Woods told us to get under our desks for a special drill. I didn
’
t want to make a big deal out of it.
”

The faces of children fill Katherine
’
s mind. All across the country, they crawl under the illusory safety of their desks. Their voices are heartbreaking. A
t first
they laugh, enjoying this new and exciting game
…
then, suddenly, they all cry out. The choir of screaming promise is silenced as nuclear detonations tear their schools apart.

A shiver shoots down the back of her neck.

“
Well, it is a big deal, kiddo. You could have
…
”
Her voice trails off again. She can still feel her son
’
s pale body twitching and writhing in her arms on the classroom floor. She pulls the quilt up higher to her chest.

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
Tyler whispers.

“
I know,
”
Kat scolds. Fear flashes in her eyes.
“
But we
’
ve been over this before. You can still do the things you want. You just have to monitor yourself. Alright?
”
She pulls out a fingertip glucose tester from the medical kit and grabs the GlucoWatch on her son
’
s wrist.
“
That
’
s what these are for.
”

“
Okay.
”
The word comes out with obedient annoyance, anxious to be done with the lecture.

“
Thank you.
”
Katherine leans down and kisses her son
’
s forehead again, trying to balance out the discipline with love.
“
Oh, and don
’
t ever scare Haley like that again. Your poor sister didn
’
t stop crying for an hour.
”

Tyler quickly looks up at her. Lately, the only one-on-one time he
’
s had with his sister has ended in violence and retribution.
“
Haley?!
”

“
I believe that is her name. Yes.
”
Katherine stands up to start dinner. She pulls the blanket up to her son
’
s neck and delicately tucks the bottom under his legs.

“
So, what happened anyway?
”
Tyler asks. His stomach begins to churn even before the words leave his mouth. He knows it was something major but prepares himself for the usual censored explanation so customary of adults.

“
I don
’
t know.
”
Kat stops, her hands freezing on the blanket.
“
I heard bits and pieces, but a lot of the radio and TV stations aren
’
t working right now. None of it makes any sense.
”

“
Was it terrorists?
”
Tyler probes.

“
We don
’
t know.
”

“
Did they hit New York again?
”

“
Yeah, baby. They did.
”
Katherine runs her fingers comfortingly through his hair.
“
Some other cities, too.
”

“
Close to here?
”
Tyler asks. Worry spreads across his eyes.

Katherine looks down at her intelligent detective, knowing she
’
s already said too much. She hesitates.

“
Seattle?
”

Kat looks sharply back at him. His eyes beg for answers. It ages
him
somehow, making
Tyler
seem so much older than the worries of an eight-year-old should.

Katherine sighs.
“
Yeah,
”
she whispers.

“
Is Dad okay?
”
Tyler
’
s eyes fill with tears.

Katherine sits down and puts an arm around her son.
“
I don
’
t know, Ty.
”

“
Did he call?
”

“
The phones are all down. Cell lines are busy,
”
Katherine says. Her heart flutters, trying to convince itself.
“
I
’
m still trying though, baby.
”

Tyler pushes out of the hug and looks u
p
.
“
We need to go find him,
”
he pleads.
“
He might need us. We could
…
”

“
Settle down now,
”
Katherine soothes. She gently takes the boy
’
s shoulders and helps him to lay back. Kat looks down proudly at her fireman in the making. Her smile lights up the room.
“
You
’
ve got your Dad
’
s heroics in you. I
’
ll give you that. You
’
d probably hitchhike the whole way, too.
”

Kat forces the fear from her eyes. She smooths down the curls in her son
’
s hair, trying to set his turbulent world at ease. She pulls the quilt back up to Tyler
’
s chest.
“
Send him a prayer, Ty.
”
Katherine leans down and kisses
his
forehead.
“
Send us all some prayers while you
’
re at it. The world could sure use them right now.
”

The
sharp hiss
of
a
n
incandescent
bulb pops on inside the Banes
’
dark living room. Katherine
’
s eyes drift down to the soundly sleeping eight-year-old on the couch. She kneels, laying a hand on Tyler
’
s ruddy blond hair. Kat kisses his forehead, just like she
’
s done so many times before the chaos of today. She lingers longer than usual, letting the boy
’
s adventurous scents fill her nose. It
’
s a combination of maple trees, bark dust, and baseball fields
,
mixed with a healthy dose of stubbornness he inherited from his father.

She takes a small medical pouch out of her purse and unzips it. A lock of golden hair tumbles over her ear before she can tuck it back. Kat pulls out two vials of insulin, her eyes narrowing. Holding the glass containers up, the small amount of liquid in the bottom barely catches the light from the lamp beside her.

Katherine looks down at her son. Pride and concern fill her hazel eyes. She sets the boy
’
s life sentence down on the end table with a clink, fighting back a growing fear.

She takes Tyler
’
s wrist and turns it over.
Thank God
…

The blood sugar levels on his GlucoWatch have held steady at 110 for the past two hours. She smiles, sinking into the couch like a deflated balloon. Katherine pushes the delicate curls of hair back from his eyes. A faint smile creases the corners of his mouth.

The color of his skin is no longer an ashen gray. It
’
s still a shade or two away from normal, but imperceptible to anyone other than his mother. To her, it
’
s a warning sign as clear as day of what could have happened. Katherine knows every tint of her children. Every pain. Every scar. Being a stay-at-home mom has been the most joyous, difficult, and exhaustively fulfilling thing she has ever done. At times, she
’
s been happier than words could describe. At others, she
’
s cracked, splintered under the self-induced pressures of perfection. She
’
s even thought of leaving a few times
—
actually walking away from it all and
giving up everything just so she could experience the things she never got to. Devin proposed to her when they were only kids themselves. So long ago
…
T
hey were different people back then.

Looking back at it all through the tempered lens of days like this one, though, she would fight to the death for every second with her kids. With Devin
…

*  *  *

“
Hey, Mom,
”
Tyler
’
s hoarse voice whispers. He
’
s been watching his mother
’
s napping breaths for several minutes now
,
curled up next to him on the couch. The boy smiles. Just having her there fills him with a sense of calm and confidence.

“
How you feeling, baby?
”
Kat asks. She sits up quickly, unsure of how she was even able to fall asleep.

“
Wonderful.
”
Tyler forces another smile. His eyelids feel so heavy. He tries to blink away the immense muscular fatigue from his convulsions, but his eyes just keep wanting to close.

“
Liar,
”
Katherine laughs.
“
Do you remember what happened?
”

“
Some,
”
the boy says. He tries to scoot himself up on the couch, but his
face quickly betrays the pain.

“
Easy, Ty,
”
Kat pleads. She puts a protective hand to his chest.