“That even our backup generators aren’t designed to run this long. That we’ll be lucky to have an ounce of power once Hurricane Nancy is done with us. Is it just a tropical storm? Or was that the last one? How are we supposed to keep track?”

“Listen.” Jane leaned in. “Remember when I blacked out last year?”

“Of course. I about came unglued. We were supposed to go out that night and you never showed.”

“It just happened again, I think. Standing up.”

“Whoa, girl.” Shelia touched her shoulder. “Go lie down now. Dr. Wraf just came in; I thought for sure he’d skip town. Go lie down. I’d tell you to go home, but that honestly isn’t an option for any of us. I’ll wake you if something happens.”

“You know it will. But I don’t think I have much of a choice. I just checked on the head trauma patient in room seven.”

“Go now, before the next crisis flares up. Please. You know I’ll come for you.”

“I think, at the moment, everyone is stable. But that could change in a minute.”

“If it does, Dr. Wraf can handle it. Dr. de Riesthal and Dr. Stankewicz are still here too. If it gets bad, I’ll wake you. Seriously. I think you are just pushing yourself too hard and your body reacts in a scary way. Go. Now.”

Jane squeezed her friend’s hand and headed down to the doctor’s lounge. It was empty, of course. None of them had the appetite to eat anyway. The hospital had become the last lifeline for the desperate who had waited too late to escape.

If the coming hurricane was as bad as its predecessor, it could be the end for all of them.

Jane lay down on the cot in the on-call room adjacent to the lounge. Mom must be frantic, she thought. Dad too. She’d been able to send out a text a few days ago that she was alive and in the hospital, but then all communication had gone dark. They hadn’t wanted her to even come to undergrad at Loyola, but she’d fallen in love with the school and the city. She’d then quickly enrolled in medical school at Tulane and had never wanted to leave.

Even after the fourth hurricane this year. Even after the levees failed and the mayor ordered an entire evacuation. Even after the CEO of the hospital ordered the patients out, leaving only the sickest of the sick and a bare-bones staff of doctors and nurses. Even after her mother had called, sobbing, begging her to leave.

She was too ideological, Dr. Wraf had lectured her. Too young, too naïve, too much potential to get trapped here. You could die, Jane. We all could.