The Blackout List

Routine was just a slower kind of disaster. Lin arrived at the hospital around noon. When she saw him at the ER entrance, she was surprised. The anonymous email from last night had started to feel less like a message and more like a thread reaching out from somewhere deeper, somewhere that knew too much. “You got the email?” she asked. “You too?” “I didn’t have time to read it.” She handed a warm bottle of water to a patient. “I do know the hospital’s cold chain is failing, pharmacy is screaming about insulin, and administration wants to know who can restart the power room manually.” Lin stared down the hall at the line of patients. “Has the city not upgraded the warning?”