No Ordinary Heroes by Demaree Inglese

Author:Demaree Inglese
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Citadel Press
Published: 2007-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Brady and I sat under the overhang on the back porch of the Correctional Center while we ate. Lunch consisted of an odd selection of items the deputies had salvaged before the kitchen flooded on Monday, mostly sandwiches, cold Vienna sausages, fruit cocktail, and Meals-Ready-to-Eat. The supply of food and drinks was noticeably smaller than yesterday, a disconcerting fact that didn’t seem to trouble the civilians eating MREs for the first time. The families were too busy checking out the various combinations and trading items to consider the dwindling provisions. I, however, was concerned.

Although we had personal food stashes in Medical Administration, the situation could become dire if we were stranded at the jail for a long time.

Brady took a bite and made a face. “The bread in this sandwich is soggy.”

“Too much humidity and no refrigeration,” I said. “Be happy you’ve got food.”

The same can’t be said for people in the other buildings, I thought. By now, some of the inmates and staff must be really hungry. Verret had told me they hadn’t eaten since Monday morning. If Jail Administration had taken the advice of Major Beach, food and water would have been distributed to all the buildings before the hurricane hit. Now the extensive flooding had ruined much of the food supply, and it was impossible to deliver what little remained.

Across the way I could see a hole in the kitchen roof, where the huge venting system had been ripped off in the storm. Beyond, the upper floors of Templeman 3 were also visible. The temperature inside the dark building was surely over a hundred degrees. Hot, hungry, and scared, the inmates had kicked out windows and were screaming or waving sheets and burning blankets through the openings. Some held up crude “help” signs to attract attention, apparently unaware that evacuation of the tiers was already under way.

Brady followed my gaze. “Good thing they got the doctors and nurses out of there last night.”

Several hours after I sent Marcus Dileo to the House of Detention, the rest of the staff had moved there as well. The medical clinic in Detention was on the second floor, well above the flooding. We had heard some minor commotion from the building, but nothing to indicate that inmates were trying to break out. Which is a good thing, I thought. In the Psychiatric Unit, on the tenth floor, some of the patients were dangerously psychotic.

An outburst of yelling and banging erupted above us. The inmates in the Correctional Center had been relatively quiet until this morning. Now the disruptions came and went in waves, starting on one tier then moving to another and another until they gradually subsided. The disturbances were unnerving, but Captain Verret’s deputies had the inmates secured.

In any case the noise probably didn’t bother the medical staff from Templeman 1 too much, I thought. Not after what they had gone through this morning.

I had been shocked to find Sam Gore, Victor Tuckler, and the infirmary nurses at the Correctional Center when I came downstairs at eight in the morning.

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