The Blackout List

He felt the same unease he had felt in policy meetings years ago, the familiar certainty that systems rarely failed all at once. They were usually pulled apart in the silence between warnings, when everyone agreed to wait and see. A dull thud echoed upstairs. Then the building shook. Someone was pounding on the outer door. Marcus stood straight. “That’s not a patient.” Lin stepped to the stairwell and saw a soaked man lurching down the steps, face white with heat and water and maybe blood. He kept muttering, “Basement, basement, there’s someone in the basement…” Before he could finish, a dark shape came after him carrying something like a fire extinguisher and slammed it into his back. The man folded to the floor.