Sabotage (Powerless Nation Book 3) Read Free Page A

Claire. “You get your dad and the girls over to the clinic.”
    Dee and her family had spent the past few weekends cleaning up the health clinic and getting it ready for patients again. It had been trashed and looted the previous fall, but Grandpa said it would be the best place to set up his practice in town. There weren’t any drugs left in the pharmacy area, but there were surgical tools and a few medical supplies buried in the overall mess.
    Grandpa insisted they clean everything with bleach and get it in perfect order. The sliding glass doors no longer worked, but a side door was propped slightly open, and lanterns shone in the windows. When they walked inside, a woman named Linda was behind the front desk admitting patients and doing triage. A nurse and two EMTs were helping patients in the back.
    Grandpa went to prep for surgery. Dee watched him go, worry squeezing at her heart.
    He had been partially dependent on a pacemaker before the EMP had ruined its circuitry and it quit working. Not knowing it had stopped, he pushed himself too hard and suffered a minor heart attack the following day. Dee had used CPR to bring him back, but he hadn’t ever fully recovered, and he was still at risk. Since then, although he had overseen the farm work, he avoided most of the physical labor required to run the farm.  
    Dee was afraid he would overdo it again, and she knew performing surgery would be a strain. She and her mom had talked to the nurse that would be assisting Grandpa, and she promised she would keep a close eye on him. Dee wished they were back at the farm and Grandpa was relaxing in his chair.
    She stood in the middle of the waiting room, wondering what to do. She looked to her mom for guidance, and saw her kneeling next to an older couple. The man was hurt, and the woman held a cloth to his head to staunch the flow of blood. Claire touched the woman gently on the shoulder and indicated she would help.
    Claire took over for the older woman, applying pressure to the man’s wound. The woman’s arms dropped limply to her sides. She sighed a heavy exhalation of relief.  
    Dee wondered how her mom knew just what to do.
    Sena appeared to know what to do too. She spoke quietly with Linda for a few minutes and then started organizing files.  
    Dee was lost until a middle-aged man staggered into the clinic, bright red blood staining the front of his oversized flannel shirt. She rushed to help him inside but he pushed her away, “Not me, I’m fine. Help her .”
    He opened his shirt and Dee saw that he carried a golden retriever in his arms. Her liquid brown eyes looked steadily at her owner. Anywhere else the man would have been sent away, but Linda had worked with her grandpa in his veterinarian practice.
    She came out from behind the desk and touched the dog gently on the head. “Oh no, not Mabel.”
    The man nodded.
    “Bring her in,” Linda said. “Doc Kerns is in surgery right now, but if we can stabilize her, he might be able to take a look at her in a bit. What happened?”
    “At about seven she whined to go out. She’d already been out for the night, but I figured maybe she still had some business to take care of. When I opened the door, she ran out into the yard and a man screamed. He wasn’t alone. Another guy got her with a knife and then they took off together, but I’d know him if I saw him. Mabel took a big chunk out of him.”
    “She’s a brave girl,” said Linda, gently removing the dog’s collar and feeling for vital signs. “Sometimes it’s the small things that make the most difference.”
    “Can you help her?” he pleaded, his voice raw with pain. “She’s all I’ve got now that Maria and the kids are gone.”
    Linda handed the collar to Dee. “Take them into room five and set her up on the exam table. I’ll send Doc Kerns in when he’s free.”
    The man moved towards the back of the room, and Linda gave Dee a sad look and slight shake of her head. Dee followed the man, her