Chapter 58

Two Sides of a Coin

Night had already settled in. Only then did people start drifting home through the alleys.

Eren came back from the mine, scraped his soles twice outside the door, rolled his left shoulder once in the doorway, and went in. Lila turned in from the alley mouth at the same moment, steps heavy, blowing out a long breath before she'd even planted her feet.

They hadn't gotten a word out when Nova, inside, heard the noise and looked up from the table.

"You came back together?"

Eren answered once.

Right then someone called from downstairs: "Does Eren live here?"

All three of them went still.

The man at the door wore the gray-green work clothes common at the yard. Young. Sweat still on his forehead, like he'd run the whole way. He braced a hand on the wall first, caught two breaths, then got the words out.

"You're Eren, right? Meng Shoucheng sent me with a message."

Eren's hands stopped on the vest fastenings.

"Meng Shoucheng? Meng Xiangyang's cousin?"

The yard worker glanced at the three of them, words tumbling out: "Yeah. Meng Xiangyang got hurt—crate at the loading yard came down on him. They already took him to the town hospital. Shoucheng's there. He can't leave. He told me to come tell you."

Lila stepped closer at once. "How bad?"

The worker wiped his forehead. "I don't know. You should go. Stuff like this has happened at the yard before. I'm afraid…" He let the rest trail off.

Nova's notebook sagged in his hand.

Eren asked, "Which hospital?"

"Town hospital. Past the old street on the south side," the worker said. "I've still got night shift at the yard. Can't stay."

"Got it," Eren said. "Thanks."

The worker waved, turned, and ran for the alley mouth.

Eren went back inside and grabbed the key off the table. His vest still hung open, buttons half undone. Lila followed him in, pulled open the drawer, shoved the little pouch of Crystone coins into her outer coat pocket, and fastened the old coat.

Nova set the notebook back on the table.

"I'm going too," Nova said.

Eren looked at him once and nodded.

When they shut the door, wind rolled in. The notebook on the table flipped a few pages.

The three of them went downstairs. The alley mixed supper smells with sewage. Somewhere farther off kids were still chasing each other. It sounded like any other night.

The town hospital sat on the south side. They had to cut through the old quarter. Farther in, shopfronts thinned, walls ran lower, black mud in the stone seams. Narrow lanes linked end to end. Now and then a workshop's back door stood open—iron clanging inside, voices cursing low.

Eren walked in front. He went faster and faster, but he never broke into a run. Lila kept beside him, steps sharper. A few times she almost spoke, and swallowed it every time.

Her mind wouldn't stop going to the worst.

In front of her were Rusak's narrow streets and stone paving. Behind her eyes another stretch of road ran darker, ceiling pressed low, a young man pinned underneath, breath scraping along the stone.

Lila's step faltered. She nearly hit Eren's shoulder.

"Why is it always like this," she said.

Eren stopped half a pace and turned his head toward her.

Lila didn't look at him. Her eyes stayed on the lane mouth ahead. Her voice was low, but she couldn't hold it all the way down: "Someone like Little Meng—just starting to feel like things might turn. Back then it was…"

The rest stuck in her throat.

Nova jogged two steps up from behind, caught a corner of Lila's sleeve, then let go almost at once.

Eren eased his voice. "Don't jump to the worst. We haven't seen a doctor. Nobody knows."

Lila shut her eyes a moment, then let the breath out slow.

Eren watched her. "When we get there and see Shoucheng, we put a good face on it."

Lila wiped once at the corner of her eye, fast, like she didn't want anyone to catch it.

"I know that," she said. "Come on."

Eren said nothing more. He only eased his pace by half a step.

When they turned the last lane mouth, the light was already gone. A few old Crystone lamps hung at the hospital entrance, dull under dusty shades. People went in and out in a hurry. The first thing that hit them was the sharp smell of medicine.

Eren pushed the door open.

The corridor wasn't wide. Fresh patches of paint on the walls didn't quite match the old ones. The floor had been mopped and still held wet spots that stuck under a sole. Nova glanced down without meaning to, then looked straight up again toward the far end.

A man sat on the long bench outside the emergency room.

Meng Shoucheng was still in the yard's gray-green work clothes, short jacket still on, work badge crooked on his chest. His face looked darker than it had at the dinner table last time. Both hands rested on his knees. Dark dried marks filled his palms and the seams of his fingers—blood or mud, hard to tell.

He heard the footsteps, looked up, saw them, and stood at once.

"Eren." His voice came out very low; the second half almost stayed in his throat. "Lila, Nova—you all came."

Nova saw the marks on his hands and slowed.

Eren walked up to him. "How is he?"

Meng Shoucheng glanced back at the closed door at the end of the corridor.

"Still in there," he said. "They pushed him through and nobody's come out."

Lila followed his look. A small lamp burned over the door, a dull red. A thin strip of white light showed under the gap. Now and then metal instruments clacked inside, then the wall cut them off.

"What happened?" Eren asked.

Meng Shoucheng wiped a hand across his face, got halfway, felt the dirt on his palm, and froze there.

"A bundle slid off the top of a stack," he said. "He was bracing the cart underneath. Hit him square in the back."

His throat worked once.

"When a few of us lifted him, he was still awake. The foreman had someone hitch a cart—said get him to the hospital first. I rode with them."

Eren asked, "What did the doctors say?"

Meng Shoucheng shook his head.

"Just—treat him first." He watched that door. "Anything else, they won't say."

Lila's lips moved, then she swallowed the words.

Meng Shoucheng dropped his head. His fingers locked on his knees.

Down the other end of the corridor a woman walked past with a child, the child's cry gone raw. A nurse hurried by with an iron tray; the tray bottom clipped the rim and rang once, soft. Meng Shoucheng's shoulder jumped, then he pressed his hands back to his knees.

Nova stood in the middle of the corridor, looking up at the red lamp over the emergency door. Dim as it was, it never went out. It held every eye in the corridor.

Meng Shoucheng looked down at his own hands and said, suddenly, "He's only nineteen. I watch him every day—won't let him climb the stacks. Who knew it wasn't safe underneath either."

Lila looked at him once. The thought she'd just pushed down rose again. She opened her mouth and couldn't get the next words out.

Eren stepped half a pace forward, voice low. "Shoucheng—good people pull through. Let's wait for what the doctors say."

Nova nodded with him. "Brother Shoucheng, we'll wait with you."

Meng Shoucheng's throat moved. No words came. In the end he only locked both hands tighter on his knees.

For a while none of them spoke. They only waited. Lila still stood where she was, fingers pinching her own sleeve until the cloth held a crease.

"Sister Lila," Nova called.

Lila looked down at him.

Nova kept his voice very light. "Maybe sit down a bit."

Lila seemed only then to notice she hadn't moved. She didn't sit. She only let go of the sleeve and rubbed once at her brow.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look so good," Nova said.

It was offhand, and it still stopped her short. She glanced at Nova, drew a short breath, and forced back what had already reached her throat.

Eren looked toward her.

Lila met his eyes, then looked away, and fixed again on that door. "I'm fine."

The four of them waited outside.

The corridor lamps made a thin sound. Medicine smell kept drifting from the corner. Wet footprints on the floor dried little by little.

The emergency room door stayed shut.