We could hear it, too.
“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” I blurted out.
Astrid squeezed my hand. She looked so proud and relieved.
“Baby’s fine,” Kiyoko said. “Do you want to know the sex? Boy or girl?”
“No,” Astrid and I said at the same time.
“Mmph,” she grunted. This seemed to be a part of her vocabulary, this strange little mmph. It conveyed “Yes, I see,” and also, “Maybe.”
The screen moved with the wand. As she traced it over Astrid’s belly, the image changed. I thought I was seeing things I could recognize, arms, legs, but who knows.
“Here’s the face,” the nurse said. “Look, Mama. The face of your baby.”
There it was, in silhouette.
“It’s a real baby. It’s a real baby in there,” I said like an idiot.
“I know. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Astrid asked me.
I nodded, awed by the glowing swimmer on the screen.
“This baby is big,” Kiyoko said. “You were exposed to compounds?”
“No,” Astrid choked out. “Never.”
“Mmph,” she said. “I think maybe so. Your uterus is small, but the baby is big. Growing too fast.”
“No,” Astrid said.
“These cramps. The body is surprised by the baby. Growing so fast.”
“We’re from Telluride,” I lied. “The compounds never reached us. But we had to evacuate anyway. We had to leave everything behind.” That was the story of a teenage boy I’d met in our tent.
“My mom said I was a really big baby,” Astrid protested.
It struck me that she was afraid of the baby being too big.
“Mmph,” Kiyoko said. She wasn’t making eye contact with us now. She was making notes on “Carrie’s” file. “US government’s doing study on pregnant women. They pay well.”
“I’d never let them do tests on me,” Astrid said. Her voice was cold.
“Lots of women say this. But when they learn more, they change their mind. Very good money. Low risks.”
“They’re taking people away against their will,” Astrid said.
I tried to tell her to stay quiet with my eyes.
“For you, you need rest, okay, Mama? Take rest. Take vitamins.”
Nurse Kiyoko wrote a prescription on a pad. I thought only doctors could do that, but maybe things were different in Canada.
“Vitamin D. This will help.”
Around this moment we heard a shrill voice yelling outside the tents. A kid.
“I will just check dilation, next, mmph,” Kiyoko continued, but we hardly heard her.
“Astrid?” came the voice outside the tent. Jesus, it was Chloe. “Astrid? Dean? Where are you?”
She had to be right outside the tent.
“Chloe! What’s wrong?” I yelled.
What had happened? My heart was up in my throat in an instant.
“Where are you?” I shouted.
“Where are you?!” Chloe snapped back.
I stepped out of the curtain in the main passage of the tent and saw her pass by outside the open door. She had something in her hand.
“Chloe!” I yelled.
She stepped in, pushing right past the nurse in fatigues.
“Oh my God, guess what?!” she gushed. “We’re FAMOUS! Like really, really famous!”
Chloe held up a newspaper.
“Alex wrote a letter to a newspaper and they printed it and it tells our whole story, about how close we were to NORAD and everything!” She glanced at Kiyoko. “Hi.”
There was a slugline reading: THE MONUMENT 14.
“That’s really cool,” I tried to cover. “We’ll read it all together with the others back at the tent. We’re in the middle of something here—”
Chloe didn’t even hear me. She barreled on.
“Look, it’s all about us and how we made it from Monument to Denver and about Mrs. Wooly and everything. Astrid, look, here’s the part about you.”
Chloe pointed to a paragraph.
“Now’s not the time,” Astrid said. She pulled her shirt down, getting the gel all over it.
I helped her off the table.
Kiyoko took the newspaper from Chloe.
“But it tells our whole story! About the compounds and the black cloud and how the others went to Denver in a bus and came back for us. And now anyone can find us. Everyone can know where we are!” Chloe exclaimed. “It’s how our parents will find us!”
“Let’s go read it outside,” I said. I took the paper from Nurse Kiyoko. “Thanks again for everything.”
She looked pissed.
“Lying to a nurse is very bad,” Kiyoko said sternly. “Pregnant women, exposed to compounds, need special care.”
I grabbed Astrid’s arm and steered her away from her.
“I don’t need special care. I’m fine,” Astrid said.
We were at the door to the tent now.
“You guys! You should be happy!” Chloe complained, trailing behind us. “I thought you’d be psyched.”
“Wait!” Kiyoko called. She turned around and called for the other nurse. “You need to tell me the truth! And we need to do some tests.”
We sped away from the medical tents as fast as we could.
“I still don’t understand why you’re not excited!” Chloe whined.
Astrid turned around and grabbed Chloe by both arms.
“I didn’t want them to know my real name!” she snapped.
“Why?” Chloe asked. “That doesn’t even make sense? I mean, how am I supposed to know that?”
We left her behind.
“You know, Alex and Sahalia were really psyched about the letter. They kept it a secret and everything.”
We were headed toward, I don’t know where. Away from Chloe.
“Try a little gratitude sometime!” she yelled after us.
CHAPTER EIGHT
JOSIE
DAY 32
Sometimes we get a moment of reprieve and this afternoon, in the courtyard, it’s a blue-sky Indian summer kind of day and someone lends Freddy a Frisbee.
We all play, even me.
Heather’s shouting, “Throw me the Frithhhbee!”
Aidan, who’s the youngest—just 8—is somehow really, really good at it and can place the Frisbee wherever he wants.