The Lost Ones

12 - Adrian

We fought our way down the stairwell, defending ourselves from various guards and hospital staff. Bodies lay on the floor, lifeless. Blood marked the walls like paint. We had forced Magannor into a high-security cell, then broken the keypad lock, sealing him in indefinitely. He hadn't protested at all, just went in silently with his hands raised.

"No! Josephine! No!" A girl shouted. Lela whipped round and ran to a girl with frizzy brown hair, who was crying over the body of a young girl who looked like her. Her sister?

"Gemma... there's nothing we can do..." A boy around the brown-haired girl's age said as tears streamed down her cheeks. Lela put her arm around the girl's shoulders.

"Gemma.... we have to go now." The girl looked up at me, then at Lela. She nodded silently, tears still sparkling on her face. She got up and the boy carried her sister's body and we ran to the bottom of the stairs.

"Lela! What's wrong with-" A boy with ginger hair greeted her, then he spotted the girl's - Josephine? - body hanging limply in the other boy's arms. "Oh god. Gemma, I'm so sorry, but Peri's rounding up people to get in the vans. We're driving out of here. They're in the courtyard, you better get down there ASAP."

"Thanks, Will. Come on guys, we need to hurry. Adrian, where are the kids from here?" Lela asked me as we sprinted down the steps. I guessed she meant Maisie and the others; I didn't know where they were either.

"The ones we found before Adrian? They're in the buses already. Turns out one of the girls, Maisie, knows how to drive. She'll be driving one of the buses... there!" Will pointed to a number of bright yellow vans that had the hospital logo printed on the side. Sure enough, there was Maisie, gathering various children and teenagers and loading them into buses.

"Where have all the staff gone?" A young girl, about twelve years old, ran up to us.

Lela shook her head. "I'm not sure, but they can't be too far away."

We ran across the gravel, straight towards the buses that were now filled. Will turned to us.

"Lela and Adrian, you guys get into the first bus, there are two seats at the front for you. Maisie will be waiting to hit the gas as soon as possible," Will then looks at Gemma and the boy carrying her sister. "You guys get in the last bus. It's the most empty. There'll be space for..."

He doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't need to. Gemma gives one last sniff and wipes the tears out of her eyes; we split up. We run inside and sit. Maisie is seated in the driver's seat with a fierce look of determination in her eyes. She grins at me and Lela when we sit down.

"You guys ready for the ride? Let's hope they don't shoot the petrol, eh?" She winked. I could hear gunshots now, and the bus' speaker crackled like the intercom in Dr Magannor's office.

"We have to go. Like, now! Step on it, drivers!" Maisie nods and ploughs forward through the wire gates. We all scream at the sudden increase in speed. Gunshots whistle past us, but luckily nothing hits anything important. Well, as far as I know.

The buses fly out into the night, the moonlight shone on the windows. Despite it being the middle of the night, nobody fell asleep. It wasn't surprising, given that we frequently ran over large rocks that made us all jump out of our seats. We raced across the desert, the sand rising up in orange dust clouds.

I thought that I would've talked to Lela for hours when we finally reunited; instead we both sat silently in our seats, staring straight ahead. Don't get me wrong, I was overjoyed to see her again, but with all the things that had happened tonight... So many people had died. I felt guilty, like it was all my fault, even though in my heart it wasn't really. At least, I hoped.

"Guys, we're reaching the forest now. Hang on tight, it's raining and a part has flooded. It's gonna be a bumpy ride." The intercom gives a static buzz and is quiet again.

"Flooded? Isn't that dangerous?" Lela speaks for the first time in about an hour.

"Yeah, but it's driving through a mini lake or becoming guinea pigs for the hospital." Maisie glances at us quickly, then returns to her driving. It's not just raining now; hailstones hit the windows and with every hit there's a loud clanging sound that makes me jump. You can't see much green in the forest now; fog hangs over the trees like a grey mask.

At long last we stop abruptly: we have arrived at the house that I have heard the kids whisper about. We pile out of the buses in double quick time and run inside.

"Listen, everybody! Gemma is... unable to lead you guys for the mo'," The boy that carried Josephine's body says. "So I'm gonna take over for a bit. For those of you that don't know, my name's Drew. So, guys, pack up all that you can take. Tomorrow we have to clear out of here."

"Why?!" Someone calls out from the crowd.

Drew runs a hand through his hair. "The hospital knows where we are now. We have to seek refuge somewhere else now. We'll be setting off first thing in the morning. Get going."