He held the regulator out to the young girl. Can you breathe through this? The girls mother told her to bite down on it and not to breathe through her nose, to stay close to the diver.
Conner nodded toward the window he had smashed. The family crawled across the rising sand with him, the girl tethered to Conner by the air hose. As the sand sought its level, Conner held out his arms and took a boy Robs age in one, the young girl in the other. The parents encircled them all in an embrace. One last look at their faces in the pale red light, deep breaths all around, cheeks puffing, eyes wide with fear, the sand tumbling in, and Conner flowed them toward the window. He strained, the pulse in his temples knocking against his skull like a hammer, a feeling of being in thick and heavy sand, the danger of sinking, but a thought of Vic lifting an entire building, and something surged in him, an anger at the world, and though Conner was too far gone in concentration to even know that they were moving, he glimpsed the purple sky overhead, watched it loom closer, and then felt the wind and the pepper of sand on his face, heard the gasps and gratitude of the family as
they held one another, covered there in sand.
There was no time to tell them they were welcome. Just a regulator passed back to him, sand and spit of the saved on the mouthpiece. Conner bit down grimly on this before returning to the depths, a boy who had been told he couldnt be a diver, becoming one now in the most terrible of ways.
What others? Vic asked. She wiped her mouth and passed him the canteen.
The other divers. I saw one or two down there looking for people to save. Woulda thought thered be hundreds helping by now.
He took a grateful swig while Vic gazed toward the west to keep the sand out of her eyes. I saw those divers down there, she said. But I dont think they were after people.
You think they were scavenging? Conner didnt want to believe this. He wiped his mouth with his ker.
Looting, she said, stressing the word like there was some great difference. The rest of the divers are out hunting for a different buried city, she added.
Danvar.
Vic nodded. The people who did this, who did that She pointed to where the wall once stood. Theyre the same ones who found Danvar. Palmer was with them. She mustve seen the confused and horrified look on Conners face. Not with them in that sense. He wasnt a part of the bombing. They hired him for a dive. Palmer was the one who found Danvar.
Conner didnt know what to say. He remembered how his brother had looked in the sarfer, like a body fresh from a grave. Is he okay?
He was down there for a week. If he lives, itll be a miracle. But hes got his fathers blood, so who knows.
Conner couldnt believe how lackadaisical his sister could be about their brothers life. But thenall the death hed seen that day already had him inured to the sight of the buried. Why would anyone do this? he asked, though he knew the question was pointless, knew everyone who witnessed the aftermath of a bomb asked the same question and never got a response. Churches were overfull with these unanswered questions.
Vic shrugged. She pulled off her visor and checked something inside the band. I wouldnt be surprised if the people who did this were the same ones who spread the word about Danvar. Just to clear out those who might be here to help.
The divers, Conner said. He grabbed his boot and tried to work a kink out of his calf muscle. So what now?
One more run down by the scrapers. There are a few pockets we missed. Then Ill get you back to the Honey Hole and check on Palm before I head to Low-Pub.
Low-Pub? Conner glanced around at the people staggering across the sand, pulling what they could from the shallows, tending to the exhausted and the wounded. Arent we needed here? Whats in Low-Pub?
The people who did this, Vic said. She put her visor back on. Palm said they were going to hit Springston first. He overheard them, knew this was going to happen, just didnt know it would be this bad. We came here as quickly as we could for some food and to warn someone. But we were too late.
You saved us , Conner said.
Vics cheeks tightened as she clenched and unclenched her jaw. She said nothing. Just pulled her ker up over her nose and mouth.
The people who did this are shacked up in Low-Pub? he asked. If you go after them, I want to come with you.
He thought she would argue. But Vic just nodded. Yeah. Ill probably need you. And they arent shacked up in Low-Pub. I think theyre gonna strike there next. And that it might be worse than this.
Conner surveyed the scene around him once more, the wind and sand blowing unfettered where it hadnt blown for generations. He couldnt imagine that anything could be worse than this.
49 Half-Sisters
of civilization, it was also the new wall. A few tents had already been erected in its lee. Shantytown, spread out to the west, was all that remained whole and intact.
As Vic approached the building, she felt as though she could still see all the bodies beneath her feet, that her sandsight had become permanent. The dead were spots in her vision like you get from staring at the sun too long. They were motes of sand swimming in her eye.