The first wheel of Bera's cot crossed the clinic doorway while the old stake turned under Todd's shoulder. Talli stopped the cot before the second wheel reached the floor seam. Bera raised her hand from the blanket and pointed at the open gate across the yard.
Something was coming down the service rail above it. Cava heard a cage runner strike a joint, followed by the heavier knock of an account sled. The five cords still joined her stake to Rillhold's walls. The one she had cut lay at her feet, harmless to Clinic Five now, though its tagged end had disappeared under the stones.
Talli put her hand on the cot handles, asking whether Bera wanted to go back inside.
Bera shook her head. She wrote on the board across her knees: East wall. Before the next pull.
