Almost everyone was dead.
That was the first thing Bast noticed when the throbbing pain from the oozing wound on her head woke her from unconsciousness. She looked around and saw where Nanny Guinn was impaled on the ceiling. Others were mashed beyond recognition.
She felt her heart begin to beat again when she found her father. Unconscious but alive. Where was Meow? She asked herself and began to try and gather any of those that were still living.
The next few hours were a blur for Bast as she just tended to what was left of her father’s household. Out of the twenty that made the journey, only six clung to life. Most of whom would perish, too. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she knew they were bleeding internally. Her father held on the most, the tough old soldier, but yet he did not wake.
To add to the stress, Meow had not returned.
On the second day, Bast left the cave to gather more water and wash the blood-stained bandages. She carried several buckets across her back and looked down at her feet to follow the path in the heavy darkness. When she arrived at the small stream, she stretched her back and looked to the sky but saw nothing. The sky did not seem cloudy, but it was like a strange haze lingered from horizon to horizon and just past it, she almost thought she could see stars and other dark objects. Were there more of those things? She had a strange sense of vertigo as she watched some of the dark shapes in the sky move.
With a jerk she straightened herself out. It was best to not think about such things. She had hit her head and that was all; she knew what she had to do. They needed water and clean bandages.
It was two more days before her father woke up, and by then everyone else in the cave was dead. Bast was weeping with her knees drawn to her chest sitting by her father’s makeshift pallet when the old man reached out and touched her.
“There, there, sunflower,” he said with a dry rasp. He tried to say more but his body began to be wracked with coughs and with each he gripped his ribs in pain.
Bast dried her eyes and placed a wet cloth on his forehead.
“Father, your ribs are broken. You need to be careful,” she said in a voice that was equal parts sadness for the destruction around her but also elation for her father to be awake and for her to not be alone any longer.
Her father moved his head and looked around at the horror in the cave around them.
“Did it hit us? We lived?” The old man asked through another painful coughing fit.
“I don't know what happened. When I woke up, almost everyone was already dead, and I helped the others as much as I could. I'm just so thankful you woke up!” She said with tears rolling freely down her face.
“You know it takes a lot to kill us old soldiers dear one,” the old man soothed. “In the morning we will have to leave this place. Sickness follows death and I won't be any help burying these poor souls.”
Bast nodded and she and her father slept.
