The Lost Ones

20 - Adrian

By Saturday evening, everyone is done packing up their stuff. We have quite a bit of stuff, including the newest addition to our little band of renegades: Claire. I have a feeling Maisie's the only one looking forward to her driving the bus yet again; for the rest of us we'll just have to try and not let the G-Force of her driving kill us.

"Uh, Maisie, don't you think you could maybe slow down a bit?" Lela says weakly after a short test drive to see if the bus is working. Unfortunately for us, it is working a little too well.

"Nah, come on, what's life without a little excitement?" She laughs, and with Maisie it's hard not to join in.

"Yeah, because we really need a bit more fear and excitement in our lives, don't we?" Will says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Maisie punches him on the arm playfully as we head inside to let Gemma and Drew know that everything's ready.

"Do you think something's going on with them?" I whisper to Lela as we trail behind Will and Maisie as they laugh and joke around. She looks surprised but still a little amused.

"The way they're carrying on? Definitely," Lela says. "We shouldn't be laughing right now. Why are we laughing?" She wipes a tear from her eye.

"It's the only thing stopping us from crying."

Interrupting us in our deep and important thoughts - as always - is Drew, making a group of younger kids laugh. He looks up at us and grins.

"Looking for Gemma? She's talking with Riaja," His face suddenly falls and I can see the panic behind the curtain. "It's not good news."

We share a worried glance. If one of Riaja's patients has had a relapse or turns out to be contagious, then it's game over for us. We need to take them with us, or the hospital will catch up with us in no time.

When we get to the attic, Gemma and Riaja are in deep conversation in hushed voices. They nod at us when they see us arrive.

"Hey, guys," Gemma acknowledges our presence, then turns back to Riaja, frowning. "I'm sorry but we're going to have to take them at the same time as the rest of us."

"Gemma, you know that I respect your decisions... but my patients need a bit more time to prepare for the journey." Riaja looks anxiously at the remaining patients from the house.

For the first time I'm noticing these people properly. They're not just objects that can be moved around. Mindy's sitting on a cushion, playing with the youngest-looking patient, a little boy around three or four years old. Mindy looks - and I know it's a cliché for pregnant women - like she's glowing and the boy looks just as happy. As I look around, nobody looks like they're suffering or in pain, and it makes me wonder what exactly Riaja's been doing in the attic all this time.

"Fine! We'll make a compromise. We'll move the patients and your equipment down to one of the buses and let them adjust for a bit before we set off this evening. I'm sorry but that's the best I can do."

"I - I can agree to that," Riaja nods, then turns to us. "Would you mind helping me move my medicine and stuff? It would really help."

So we take an armful of syringes, bottles and various other things each and carefully carry them to the bus. The patients follow us outside, shielding their eyes from the bright sun. I realize they haven't been outside for a while, only for quick bursts of fresh air.

I notice on a tray is a bottle marked 'Test #4'. It's a strange lilac colour and looks like normal medicine, but the handwriting on the label belongs to Riaja. Has she been testing on the patients? I slip it into my pocket and decide to confront her about it later on when there aren't as many people, but I don't see her behind me, watching.

"Adrian, what did you just do with my bottle?" She asks me sternly, her hands on her hips. Lela and the others are outside helping the patients and we're alone in the bus - for now.

"What are you doing to the patients?" I respond, taking the lilac bottle out of my jeans pocket. Riaja sighs and weakens.

"Fine. I... I'm looking for a cure. One that doesn't involve testing on people. I didn't want people to know because they might think I'm some sort of witch doctor."

"Riaja! That's good. That's really good." I give her back the bottle. At least someone's doing something right that has to do with medicine.

"And Adrian...," She continues, as I turn to leave, satisfied that Riaja's not doing anything that'll harm the patients. "Could you not tell anyone? I mean, the patients are doing a lot better, but you never know..."

"Sure, no problem."

"Thank you." She smiles, relief flooding her face.

It's getting darker and the rows of kids and teens are building up outside the five buses. Maisie has (oh no) already taken her rightful place in the driver's seat, obviously happy to be the queen of speed (good for her, bad for us). Drew is rounding up small children like a shepherd and Lela's helping direct Claire to a slightly less crowded bus.

"Okay guys, it's time to go!" Gemma yells over the noise of the crowd.

The lines trickle into their chosen vehicles and slowly disappear. I find my seat on the first bus next to Lela, and see out of the window Jane and her family, waving frantically at us. Alan is to the far right, and I swear as the engines start and we pull out of the drive I can hear Claire's usually quiet voice shout.

"F*** you, Alan!"