Page 20 of The Darkest Night

“How are you feeling?”

Mae met his troubled gaze. She knew the gruesome events they’d witnessed together were still at the forefront of Hodge’s mind. Despite his ardent protests, he’d been put on mandatory sick leave for the week. With the autopsy labs at Grandview closed until NYPD finished their investigations into the attack on the hospital, he was probably at his wits’ end trying to keep himself occupied.

“I’m…okay. Or I will be.”

She glanced at the flowers and cards filling the room and swallowed the tight ball in her throat. The staff and patients whose lives she had saved had sent them to the ICU. As far as they were concerned, she was their hero.

Remorse stabbed through Mae. She didn’t deserve their thanks. Not when she was likely the reason Grandview had been attacked in the first place.

She maintained a neutral expression and studied Hodge steadily. “How are you holding up?”

A haunted look came over Hodge. He swallowed. “I still see it when I close my eyes. That…thing that attacked us.”

Yoo-Mi and Ye-Seul exchanged an uneasy look.

Stories of the deadly creatures that had invaded Grandview General had made headline news since the night of the incident, the first reporters who’d turned up on site catching the terrified, first-hand accounts of those who had survived the ordeal before they were whisked away by police and paramedics. Yet, no traces of the monsters had been found. A few experts were now starting to talk about some kind of mass hysteria event and a collective murder spree caused by a nerve agent or other toxin.

When some survivors mentioned seeing black-robed figures among the creatures, their statements were also regarded with heavy skepticism. The security cameras had not captured any images of people who fit that description before they’d gone offline during the city-wide power cut, just as they hadn’t recorded anything that looked like the monsters the survivors had described in graphic detail.

The missing innards and body parts from many of the victims was something that had evidently not been made public yet. And no one had mentioned the animals who had been present during the attack.

“Did they find Antonovich?” Mae asked Hodge.

The director shook his head. “No. The cops who interviewed me said there was no trace of his body in the basement. The only things they found were the organs you’d dissected out.” He hesitated. “They’re wondering if this whole mess is because someone wanted to steal the corpse and interfere with the murder investigation.”

“That’s far-fetched, even for NYPD,” Mae muttered.

Talking to Hodge was making her feel better. She realized just speaking with someone who’d gone through the same experience as her was going to be the key to getting her out of her funk.

Ryu appeared. She slowed when she saw Hodge. “Hi, Steve.”

“Hi, Ryu.” Hodge cast a guilty look at Mae. “I best leave you. I’ll drop by tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to go,” Yoo-Mi protested. “You’re more than welcome to stay and eat with us.”

Hodge shook his head. “Thank you, Mrs. Jin. But what Mae really needs right now is her family.”

An awkward silence fell inside the room when he left. Ryu pulled a chair over to the bed.

“I can’t believe you let her talk you into closing shop,” Mae whispered to her sister while Yoo-Mi and Ye-Seul unpacked the rest of the food they’d brought on the tray table.

“I was the one who suggested it,” Ryu said.

“Why? You know how much money we stand to lose even shutting for one day!”

A muscle jumped in Ryu’s cheek. “You almost died, Mae. Do you really think any of us were in the right frame of mind to carry on, as if nothing had happened?”

Remorse stabbed Mae at her sister’s angry expression. Their conversation was interrupted by a nurse. She took Mae’s vitals and charted them on the computer station at the side of the bed.

“Mmm, that smells good.” The woman smiled at the spread Yoo-Mi and Ye-Seul had laid out before looking over at Mae. “I hope you’ll eat something this time. You haven’t had anything since yesterday.”

Yoo-Mi bit her lip. “You didn’t eat?”

“I wasn’t hungry,” Mae murmured.

Considering how much she loved food, her words made her family even more anxious. She could see the silent questions on their faces. They still hadn’t talked about what had happened that night, or about Rose. One thing they had told her, though. Or Ryu had, at least.

Rose’s remains hadn’t been found among the rubble of the collapsed surgical block. For some reason, Mae had felt an incredible sense of relief at the news. As long as Rose’s body was missing, then she could still be out there, injured but alive.

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