In the City of Spiders

3- The Hospital

Clifton's eyes darted around the dust.

Both he and Minato stood open-mouthed at the anarchy. Screams erupted from everywhere at once. Sick children clambered around in the ruins, desperately trying to reach their friends from the ward.

Blood covered the concrete slabs that scattered themselves around the area.

For any sadist, it was truly a sight to behold.

The pain and fear that was painted thick in the air was nearly impossible to describe, but not quite.

The top of the eastern most corner of the building was in pieces.

Any of the children that survived would never be the same. All the people that had cared for them in the hardest part of their lives now needed the very same medical treatment they couldn't get.

Minato was the first one to move.

The bitterness that lay so thick, it now had its own smell of death.

She dragged the two men after her towards the nearest girl and ordered them to pull the unconscious child from the stone. Both of her legs were already wrapped in casts.

She went back into the quickly gathered crowd and asked more people to come and help.

"Don't just stand there." Said Minato in the most severe voice she could muster, "There are people dying, children dying, and you are just standing and watching them."

People began to shuffle around in the crowd, a few started running towards some children and lifting the smaller chunks of the wall off.

Minato continued "Stop watching. The roads around this area will be closed until the..." She stopped for a moment, took a shaking breath and indicated towards the hospital, "...This is cleaned up. You might not get to work on time, but please, please help!"

For five whole seconds the crowd was completely silent, until one by one, they all began to move.

Small fires had begun to break out around the building, dancing closer and closer to the children.

Police and Fire Fighters dealt with those, whilst the general public became heroes too.

Clifton and the well-dressed anonymous male lifted more and more rubble out of the way for people to get through. Being the lanky shrimp he was, this proved to be especially difficult for Clifton.

The anonymous man was like a superhero. Rushing back and forth between people of all ages. Bit of a show off, really.

Clifton ran over to where Minato had set up the emergency safe zone. About two dozen children, and half as many adults lay flat on the dirty ground. The remaining hospital staff gathered around the children, tending to their wounds.

It was difficult to tell what was wrong with some of them.

Whilst others had bandaged limbs or clear symptoms, a few looked relatively normal.

They may have been visiting an ill family member, that was most likely the case, with some of them dressed casually instead of wearing hospital scrubs...

...Or they might have had an infectious disease.

Good thing they wore wristbands.

One man coughed and sat up.

He had a disposable face mask on, and a bruised arm. He didn't look to be a patient, being at least 40 and wearing a wetsuit.

He looked around, surveying the battlefield whilst he held a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun.

"W..where...?"

One of the nurses crawled over to him and said " It's okay. We've just had a little accident, so we moved everyone outside."

The masked man continued " ...My daughters..."

The nurse looked at him with sympathy " I'm sure they're okay, the maternity wing is unharmed. How are you feeling? Can you tell me where you are?"

He closed his light blue eyes for a moment and replied slowly "I'm fine. This is the Northfleet children's and women's hospital. I came here to see my wife, our twin girls are due soon."

The man and nurse continued to talk.

"Miss Minato, is there anything I can do to help?" Asked Clifton.

Minato looked him in the eye "Could you please help me with this one? I think he's deaf."

The boy beside her was crying and screaming. But he didn't say any words, he just made weird noises like he was trying to talk. He looked to be about seven year old.

His wristband said 'Archie Mattson. Deafness: Profound.'

He had a few scratches on his arms and legs, his shirt was ripped and he had a shallow cut below one of his eyes.

"Have you got any band-aids?" He asked Minato.

"Band-Aids won't help. I just want him to stop crying." She replied.

Clifton looked sympathetically at the boy "Kids believe that band-aids can fix anything."

Minato drew a plastic strip from the first aid kit that was lying at her feet. She unwrapped it and held her hand out to the child, Archie. Even though he couldn't hear her, he recognized the words that slipped silently out of her mouth. Minato put the band-aid over a scratch on his arm.

Almost as if she had waved a magic wand, the boy's sobs died down. He closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and calmed down.

He wiped his nose on his forearm.

Minato pulled her notebook from her handbag, and began writing something on it:

We are going to help you.

I am Yuzuki, can you write down where you live?

We will help you find your Mummy and Daddy.

The boy took the pen from her.

my namE is archiE mattson.

i camE hEEr for a chEkup.

daddys namE is coLin. mama is at homE.

wE LivE in thE big towEr

The 'conversation' went back and forth like this for a little while, until both turned to Clifton.

The message read:

who is thE man.

why is hE doing.

is hE your boyfrEd.

Clifton took the pen and paper. As he read the message he could feel his face go red.

My name is Errol.

Miss Yuzuki is not my girlfriend.

We work as detectives together.

The little boy stared wide-eyed at the message.

thats soo kool.

do yu savE thE world.

i havE nEvEr mEt a rEaL dEtEckive bEfor.

you arE rEaLy rEaLy rEaLy cooL.

Clifton looked at the boy. It was sad that he had to see the hospital in this state. He could only hope that this would not affect the poor kid in the future.

But life is harsh to those who get caught in the tide.