My first waking impression was the smell of something burnt mixed with my previous stench when I raised my hand to shield the brightness hurting my eyes. Lying on my back in the sand, I heard the ocean’s waves beyond my head, maybe twenty feet away. “Nick...can you hear me?” It was Norema calling to me, and as I removed my arm from my eyes the brightness eased. Her shadowed form was coming into view, and she sounded much closer. “I think he’s coming to, Ishi,” she said. My little buddy joined her inside my direct view, along with Aafreen. They all gazed down at me. At least they were smiling. In light of what we’d dealt with during the past twenty-four hours, I took this as a good sign. “Can you sit up?” “I think so.” I gingerly raised myself to a sitting position. I faced the tunnel’s mouth that bore scorch marks from the blast. In front of it sat Badri and his dirty dozen, huddled closely together.
