But what have they done? Sofia asked herself again, as she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt up over her head and jammed her hands deep into the pockets against the cold of the night. She worried about how much colder it would be outside and wondered whether she might be wise to find a heavy jacket from somewhere. Perhaps steal one from a room. But momentum pushed her forward, and caution. It wouldn’t do to be caught stealing when all she wanted was to get away.

Midnight had come and gone some twenty minutes ago and she knew from her work here that a new shift would just be settling in. She kept her head down as she made her way down the dimly lit corridor, hoping nobody would recognise her. She knew a few people working the graveyard shift this week, but apart from a television running a news channel feed from Seattle, and the rattle of a cleaner’s metal bucket somewhere nearby, this part of the hospital was quiet. Papa’s death and her own arrival as a patient had no doubt been noted by the staff and passed around as an item of gossip or concern. It didn’t matter which to Sofia. What mattered was getting away without being seen.

The main reception desk was not staffed right now. A few desolate individuals, scattered here and there on the rows of cheap plastic chairs that occupied about half of the foyer, gave her no more than a passing glance as she hurried through. It would be busier around in emergency, she knew. There were always doctors on duty in ER, at the far north end of the building, and always plenty of patients for them to see. Drunken militia men, busted up in a bar fight. Farm and construction labourers injured at work. Auto accident victims – a lot of them in this weather. At the southern entrance, however, near the remains of a never-completed parking garage, she was able to pass through unobserved.

Sofia patted the back pocket of her jeans, checking for her wallet. She had thirteen ‘newbies’ in there, the only money she had in the world now. It would be enough for her immediate requirements; she’d just have to scavenge what she needed along the way. She hurried down the steps towards the taxi rank, where a couple of cabs sat idling to power their heaters, generating thick white clouds of exhaust. Sofia swore and shivered in the cold as she increased her pace to a light jog. It felt as though frozen fingers were clenching inside her body.