Masked by Nicola Claire

he?" Alan demanded.
    "Have you tried the command post? He may have reported there with walking wounded."
    He wouldn't have. Or, at least, he wouldn't have left here without first letting me know.
    Trent was nothing if not a competent leader. And he wouldn't abandon his team.
    "He's not here," I said loud enough for Alan to hear.
    "I think we've established that, Lena," Alan growled. "But where would he go?"
    I shook my head. The Cardinal and SRS member watched on, offering no assistance. They looked bone-tired, too. But they'd recognised me, and their interest was piqued enough to use exhaustion as their excuse to remain where they were standing and watch.
    I felt like I was always being watched lately.
    "He wouldn't go anywhere without letting us know," I insisted.
    Alan frowned, my words tumbling over inside his thick skull. A thick skull that, when applied correctly, housed an intelligent mind.
    It took him three seconds.
    "The hospital." I nodded, that ache inside my chest becoming a pressurised pocket about to explode. "Come on," he instructed, slipping into the rebel leader role smoothly, just like he and Trent had rehearsed.
    I'd never thought I'd be taking instructions from Alan.
    We nodded farewell to the Cardinal and Civil Defence Force rescuer, and made our way towards the staging point and the ambulances there.
    A sense of organised chaos surrounded us. People bustling from one spot to another, red lights flashing, generators humming, commands wafting above the clatter of trolleys and stretchers and beeping machines. Most of the injured had already been transported, just a few remained. Perhaps one of them Trent.
    Hope left an acrid taste on my tongue.
    Alan tried to gain access to the emergency tent, but was turned away. His anger billowing up like a mushroom cloud, erupting in heated words and tight fisted hands and hunched shoulders.
    I slipped past him and the Cardinal who refused entry, and simply walked into the tent unobstructed.
    "Hey!" the Cardinal called from over my shoulder. "You there! Halt!"
    I couldn't see Trent, but that didn't mean he wasn't here. Or that he hadn't been, and had already been transported to the National Hospital at Muhgah Foh. I couldn't see him, but hope, that fickle bitch, swelled inside me despite the lack of provocation.
    "Citizen!" the Cardinal called, his tone demanding attention.
    "Good luck with that," Alan murmured at his back.
    "You, get outside!" the Cardinal yelled at him. While someone, a field doctor maybe, hissed, "Quiet!"
    I turned to face the Cardinal, his arm out in front of Alan who was on his toes peering at each of the cots in the makeshift emergency room. The look on his face said it all: He couldn't see Trent, either. My stomach clenched and twisted, the acrid taste becoming bile.
    "You!" the Cardinal repeated, having seen I was paying attention now, "are not allowed in here."
    I stared him down. So easy to do; it's how I've been raised. Rebellion or not, I was an Elite. An Honourable. Above reproach or disdain. "Do you know who I am?" I asked, my voice hollow, my words like a whip.
    "I don't care who you are," the Cardinal shot back in a valiant attempt at authority. "You're not wearing the security tag that allows you back here."
    "Don't you recognise her?" Alan asked, falling into the role so easily.
    We hadn't practised this one. More often than not, Alan and I butted heads. But he knew immediately what I was doing. Or he was just extremely efficient at taking advantage of a situation when presented it. He edged his way around the distracted Cardinal for a better look at the beds.
    "Who are you?" the Cardinal asked, a little more uncertainly.
    "She's The Zebra," the doctor, who'd told us to be quiet earlier, said. "How can I help?" he asked, turning to me once he'd reached my side. He had a kindly, if somewhat tired face. For some reason capricious hope soared.
    "Trent Masters," I started, my heartbeat almost drowning out the words.
    "I know him," the