Even though Rebecca and Fiona had been nurses for as long as me, I didn’t know what shape they were in, if the blast had hit them stronger than us. I held on to Emily and rushed toward our table. Joe was helping Fiona off the ground, and Caleb had his arms protectively over Rebecca’s head, so nothing could hit her.

“Is everyone all right?” I asked the group.

Caleb unraveled himself, Rebecca slowly coming out of his cave, their expressions full of shock but no indication that any of them were hurt.

“What the hell was that?” Caleb asked.

“I don’t know.” I looked toward the front of the bar.

The windows had shattered, the glass webs making it impossible to see through. But I still heard the screams of terror coming from outside, and my feet started moving on their own.

“They need our help.”

I reached the door, and the smell of something burning was in the air the moment I got outside. About twenty feet away, at the finish line, was where I saw the clouds of smoke.

“Whitney, wait,” I heard from behind me, hands suddenly on me, not allowing me to take another step.

I knew it was Caleb before I even turned around.

“That was some kind of explosion.” His grip tightened. “There could be ten more that go off at any second. I’m not letting you anywhere near the street.”

Fiona and Rebecca rushed out as well, halting once they saw me with Caleb.

“Listen to the screams!” I shouted at Caleb, trying to rip his hands off my waist. “They need my care.” Adrenaline was surging through me, anxiety pulsing in my chest as I thought about all the lives in danger, the people on the ground, the injuries this had caused. “Caleb,” I added when his fingers didn’t loosen, “let me go.”

The sound of sirens was far in the distance; it was a miracle I could even hear them over all the yelling and cries.

He turned me around to face him. “Where are they all going to be taken once the ambulances come?”

“The hospital.”

“Then, that’s where they’ll need you most.”

He was right.

I looked around, trying to get my bearings, figuring out how to get back to the West End from here. “The three of us work at Mass General,” I told him, Fiona and Rebecca still standing with us. “We’ll have to take the train.” I glanced past him, my brain not connecting where the station was located.

“You’re not doing that either,” he said. “I’ll drive you. I only live a few blocks from here.”

Before any of us could respond, his hand was on my lower back, and we were jogging toward his place.

Nineteen