A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter

walking up the hallway. The man was slightly stooped, the woman holding him up by the arm as they shuffled along, reading the signs on the doors.
    Jeffrey said, 'There's a McDonald's across the street, right? Near the university parking decks?'
    'I don't know,' Sara answered, because she had not been into this part of Atlanta in years. 'Is there?'
    'I think there is,' he told her. 'I'll meet you there at six tomorrow morning, okay?'
    'No,' she said, watching the older couple come closer. 'Take care of the dogs.'
    'Are you sure?'
    Sara continued watching the man and his wife. With a start, Sara realized that she had not recognized her own parents.
    Jeffrey said, 'Sara?'
    'I'll call you later,' she said. 'They're here. I've got to go.'
    Sara leaned over the counter to hang up the phone, feeling disoriented and afraid. She walked down the hall, hugging her arms to her stomach, waiting for her parents to start looking like her parents again. With a startling clarity, she realized how old they were. Like most grown children, Sara had always pictured her mother and father as somehow not going past a certain age, yet here they were, elderly and so frail-looking she wondered how they managed to walk.
    'Mama?' Sara said.
    Cathy did not reach for her, as Sara had thought she would, had wanted her to do. One arm stayed around Eddie's waist, as if she needed to hold him up.
    The other she held at her side. 'Where is she?'
    'She's still in surgery,' Sara told her, wanting to go to her, knowing from Cathy's hard expression that she should not. 'Mama-'
    'What happened?'
    Sara felt a lump in her throat, thinking that Cathy did not even sound like her mother. There was an impenetrable edge to her voice, and her mouth was set in a straight, cold line. Sara took them to the side of the busy hallway so they could talk. Everything felt so formal, as if they had just met.
    Sara began, 'She wanted to come along with me-'
    'And you let her,' Eddie said, and the accusation behind his words cut deep. 'Why in God's name did you let her?'
    Sara bit her lip to keep from trying. 'I didn't think-'
    He cut her off. 'No, you didn't.'
    'Eddie,' Cathy said, not to reprimand him but to tell him that now was not the time.
    Sara was quiet for a moment, willing herself not to get more upset than she already felt. 'They've got her in surgery now. She should be in for another couple of hours.' They all looked up as the doors opened again, but it was just a nurse, probably taking a break from surgery.
    Sara continued, 'She was stabbed in the belly and the chest. There was a grazing head wound.' Sara put her hand to her own head, showing them where Tessa's head had hit the rock. She paused there, thinking about the wound, feeling the same panic well up. She wondered not for the first time if it had all been a terrible dream. As if to snap her out of it, the surgical doors popped open again, and an orderly pushing an empty wheelchair passed through.
    Cathy said, 'And?'
    'I tried to control the bleeding,' Sara continued, seeing the scene playing out in her mind. In the waiting room, she had been going over and over what had happened, trying to figure out what she could have done differently, only to realize how hopeless the situation had been.
    'And?' Cathy tersely repeated.
    Sara cleared her throat, trying to distance herself from her feelings. She spoke to them as if they were just the parents of a patient. 'She had a grand mal seizure about a minute before the helicopter came. I did what I could to help her.' Sara stopped, remembering how Tessa's spasms had felt under her hands.
    She stared at her father, realizing he had not looked at her once since they'd arrived.
    Sara said, 'She had two more seizures during the flight. Her left lung collapsed. They put a tube in her chest to help her breathe.'
    Cathy asked, 'What are they doing now?'
    'Controlling the bleeding. A neurologic consult was called, but I don't know what they found. Their primary focus is to stop the