49
“I don’t know how she got here, but we can’t take her with us.” Kee wrapped one of the coats properly around Dilya. She was partly a Popsicle from huddling so long under the pile of coats on the steel deck. Kee zipped it and patted down all the Velcro closures. She opened the front for a moment, stuffed in the small orange cat Dilya was never without, and resealed the coat again. It was long enough that, with her legs tucked up, the girl disappeared completely inside it. Kee pulled the furred hood up, and it flopped down over Dilya’s face. She pushed it into place until only the elfin face popped out.
With a quick flip of a strap, she secured the girl and the coat once more to the cargo net.
“And what would you suggest, Sergeant Smith?” Emily’s tone wasn’t acerbic, it was…at a loss.
