Harwal, book 3

Chapter 32

Grandma took the news surprisingly well, packing her stuff almost immediately. She seemed quite excited by the idea of the aliens being taken care of.

I packed a few changes of clothes for Dante, Greece, and me, and then we headed off to Mateo. He wasn't as excited by the news, going in on a frenzy about harming innocents and increasing his workload. But surprisingly, grandma calmed him down.

We split our work. Dante and the Atorus helped immobilised or otherwise weak patients down to the basement. Greece and I sectioned the place with makeshift curtains and small barricades, so people would have even a little bit of privacy.

Harwal couldn't fit through the tight hallways to the basement, so he stayed up and did something with the motel staff.

Grandma was helping in the motel kitchen, preparing food for the coming days. I really have no clue how long the whole thing will take, and it scares the hell out of me. I didn't even get a chance to ask Harwal about it with how busy we were setting up the shelter. I don't think anyone can know how long this will take, but I wish I had some kind of estimation.

"This place won't hold more than ten extra people," Mateo says as he looks through the place. "I guess it's better than nothing."

I'm resting my feet with Greece at the tiny stools in the middle of the room. "We checked that at least three people fit to lie down on the sections we made."

"You and her are small," Mateo says, pointing at me and Greece. "Your three is two. Five rooms is ten. We can only take in ten people."

"Whatever."

"Not whatever, it's worrying. We need to expand upstairs so it can be used for shelter."

"The motel will be doing that. The point of this place is to keep the sick, wounded, and disabled, with a doctor to help them," I remind him. "You can't go up. Marco said that you have to—"

"I do not care what he said. I am a doctor! I should be helping. Nobody's going to hurt a medic."

"They're aliens. Do you think they care what you are?"

Mateo scoffs and crosses his arms. "We should make more space."

"I should probably mention now that your ten spots don't count me, Greece, Dante, and grandma."

"That leaves only six spaces. This is ridiculous."

Greece groans. "I'm so damn hungry. Could we go and eat already? We're done here, right? We don't even know if this is going to be a long purge or a quicky. Maybe we don't need space. Maybe we'll all die. Stop fighting about the unknown."

I stop my stare-off with Mateo as he scoffs with a wave of his hand. "Fine. But if there is an emergency, I will not hesitate to go help."

"Hey, Marco is the one who said that you should stay here—not me."

Mateo pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head. "We should try to accommodate more people. You made the spaces too big. If we—"

"Alright, I'm gonna go up and eat," Greece interrupts him. "I ain't lifting shit anymore."

I blow a breath as Greece does exactly that. "The basement is small. You have to accept that. We are doing everything we can at the motel."

Mateo grunts, pissed, and whips his hand at me. "Leave."

I'm not going to fight and get the hell out. Grandma has been dealing with Mateo for a long time, so she can handle him this time, too. I don't have the energy or will to force him to do anything.

I trudge upstairs and bump into Dante and the Atorus brothers at the entrance. "Did Greece go already?"

Dante nods and points towards the motel. "She said something about food. Are you done with the basement?"