The Decay

Chapter 50 - Flight

50

Richard reached the main lobby on ground level and ran with Roger towards the entrance. As they turned the last corner, they spotted Anita, still propped up against the wall. Her breathing had deteriorated; it was much faster and shallower than previously. “We have to get her medical help, immediately,” said Richard. Roger nodded. He lifted her gently off the ground and carried her outside. The NFAD hovered overhead, close to the ground. Mike joined them, turning his attention to Anita. “You'll be fine, I promise.” When they were all aboard, the NFAD took off and headed back to the headquarters of The Resistance.

“I'm going to have to give her a shot of something,” shouted Richard through the headset. He opened the box he had found in the hospital. Most of the pills were unlabeled and therefore too dangerous to give. He picked out one of the vials. It read X-31. All compounds labeled with an 'X' were potent and potentially dangerous. They had been created as the main treatment for cancer shortly before the fourth world war. He placed it back in the box, having no use for it. Of the other six vials, four of them were labeled with an 'X' followed by a number, and one was empty. The last one, however, had no letter. Only a code on it: 2-A-75. Richard sighed in relief as he realized what it meant. A strong antimicrobial agent. Most of it would have decayed, but it's still better than nothing, thought Richard. Filling a syringe, he injected the drug into one of her veins, hopeful that it would at least keep her alive until she received proper treatment.

“Hey, what's that down there?” asked Mike. “Monsters of some sort. Reports of their sightings seems to increase the further East one goes,” replied Roger. “Do you know where they come from?” Roger shrugged, shaking his head. “No one knows for sure, but it's not normal. No one's seen them until recently. We're trying to monitor their activity; hopefully it will give us some clues.”

A few minutes later, they all sank into their seats as the pilots activated the jet engines. They were only usable for about two minutes at a time due to their heavy radiation leakage, but it increased their speed tenfold. “ETA is twelve minutes,” announced the co-pilot. “The medical team is on standby and waiting for our descent,” he continued. Hang in there, Anita, thought Mike. You've better pull through this.