Practicing Medicine // Complete

Chapter Twenty Three: The Home Stretch

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STATUS

Battery Level: 68%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 91F

HEALTH

BP: 130/90

SPO2: 100%

Temp: 98.5F

RR: 16

HR: 80

WARNING: GALLBLADDER ABSENT!

TIME

Day: 3 October 2279

Time: 13:42

CLIMATE

Current Temperature: 60F

Atmospheric Pressure: 712 mmHG

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The time of day was supposedly noon, but I couldn't see a damn thing. All around us, violent, deafening winds blew up stinging clouds of dust and sand, turning anything past a few yards into a black silhouette against a dancing orange sky. My geiger counter was letting out a steady stream of ominous clicks.

"Well, this sucks!" said Savanna, through the scarf that she'd tied around her face. I brushed away the thin coat of dust from my sweaty brow.

"Yeah! Any idea how close to the road we are?" Savanna gave me a noncommittal shrug.

"I'm not sure. Gram, do you remember what direction we were going when we started chasing Hebe?"

"West, I think!" replied Gram, from atop the recently recaptured Brahmin. Savanna scrolled over my pip-boy's dusty map-screen again.

"Well, the GPS still won't work, so I don't really know. I didn't start counting minutes or steps in time to do any accurate math." Savanna looked down at the ground for a moment. She pressed her finger tips together like she was about to do some math in her head, but I guess it didn't work out, because soon she was just staring at her feet again. "Sorry."

"Are we at least going the right way?" shouted Tandi, her amplified voice piercing through the omnipresent cloud of white noise. Savanna reached into her bag.

"I'll check!" She rooted around in her bag for a few seconds, and apparently came up empty. She checked another pocket, then rooted through the pockets of my coat that I'd let her wear, then patted down her sundress only to realize that this one didn't have any pockets, then checked the front of her bag again. The whole time, Gram regarded her with increasing suspicion.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, because I was starting to get worried for her. Savanna threw her bag down in a huff.

"Yes! I think I left my compass behind!"

Under my storm goggles, I raised an eyebrow- that didn't strike me as being especially important. I probably would've been embarrassed if I'd screwed up twice in a row, too, but given how she usually handled failure, this seemed to me like a distinct overreaction.