Alone in a Busy World

Chapter Fourteen

As I open my eyes the panic subsides along with my breaking heart. I can feel Storm's rough tongue licking my hand and Misty and Spirit are staring down at me. It's dark though. I sit up slowly. My head throbs like I have a knife embedded in my skull. I reach up to where the pain is worst. My hair feels sticky and wet; when I look at my hand again it's covered in blood.

I have three questions on my mind which I throw in quick succession at the others: Where are we? How did we get here? Why was there an explosion? My head throbs harder as I quickly grab a strip of bandage from my bag and attend to my injuries whilst my questions are answered.

You would remember, young cub, that you gifted us with flight before the explosion occurred. Storm and Misty flew to find a safe place to land whilst I carried you safely down. Just behind some rubble that we cleared there was a small cave which we are in now. Some people must have spotted us from that really tall building and they fired on the mountain but no one has actually come over here yet.

Yippee, a welcome party! Maybe when we get in the building we'll find some banners and a massive buffet. I think my sarcasm is getting worse. Thinking of food makes my stomach growl and I'm soon dishing out meat for the others whilst I tuck into a little salad. I notice Spirit's paw is bleeding slightly so despite her protests I bandage it and give her another scrap of meat to stop her complaining.

We decide that we'll rest here for the day to help my head get better and maybe Spirit's paw will have healed by then. I don't think there's any way of anyone getting into here, but just in case I pull some rubble over the entrance.

Whilst Spirit sleeps under the entrance, Storm and Misty cuddle up a little way away from me. I turn on the map-pad and look through documents that map out the building we want to get into. I use my iWatch to look for useful rooms that we could use. I decide we'll enter through the roof, but before we do that we'll take a small detour to the little cubby-hole that Al hid loads of weapons in. I might need more than just some knives for when we go into a building probably stored with guns that no one even knows exists yet.

I spend the rest of the day drinking coffee and memorizing the map of the building. I also take note of where the mess hall is so that I can grab more supplies and refill my flasks with coffee.

After I'm certain that I have the route stuck in my head I play for a moment on the map-pad but it's rather boring so I get up to go and explore. I find a small slit in the rock that none of the others could fit through, but my slim body squeezes through without much trouble. I've left a note scrawled on the cave wall so the others shouldn't worry too much.

Without thinking twice I head in the direction of the park. I start following the thin corridor until I come to a small opening that a small child could fit through. Before I squeeze through I pause to look at the sunlight spilling through and to hear if anyone is outside. After a few minutes I'm fairly certain that no one is around and I slip out.

I squint and take in my bearings. There's a few bushes hiding my position from the lab and the forest isn't too far to my right. I sneak along with the last light of the sinking sun and, as I enter the forest, the world plunges into darkness. There's a full moon out and within no time I'm standing at Al's grave.

The other side of the tree, behind some ivy, there's some more writing carved:

Leonardo Johnson, failed experiment no. 2, still alive. WHEN YOU COME, YOU WILL DIE, YOU WILL SEE THOSE YOU LOVE SUFFERING BEFORE YOU GO.

My breath catches and before I can come back to my senses, I'm running. I don't care where. I'm just running. Getting away from that message is all that matters at the moment. I don't care about dying, but I can't watch the others die. I run, blind with fear, I'm snapping. Not long now and I'll snap, I'll break beyond repair.

I climb a tree and hide my face in the branches as I release the tsunami welling up inside. My hands dig into the branch I'm sitting on. They begin to cramp and my river of tears keeps on running. I cry until I fall asleep. When I do, my dreams are more disturbed than they ever were before.