Royal Blood

Chapter Twenty Eight

Panic rises through me as the screams get louder. From the looks of things, the whole town is under attack, meaning there is no where to hide. We got so far, this cannot be the end.

Rushing out of the tent, the three of us join the screaming crowds with little direction of where we are going. Children are crying their lungs out while they are running towards their mothers who are frantically looking for them.

My mind wonders back to Macy and her brother who are all alone in the hospital. They have no parents by their side, no one to comfort them, no one to tell them that everything will be alright. A part of me really wants to go against the flow of people, and rush back to them but the flow is too strong.

"Where are we going?" Jasper yells so his voice rises above the noise. I mouth 'don't know' to him as we carry on following the crowds of people.

Although, most of the people seem to be going in one direction, there are people running in all different kinds of directions. Most of the children are being carried in their mother's arms a part from a few who are running straight past us, in the direction we came. Their poor faces are smeared with dirt but that is the least of their worries. That is the least of everyone's worries.

"Oi child, back this way. We're not off to that bunker, this one is closer this way!" I hear one mother shout and one of the children turn around and start running back in the other direction.

"What does she mean by bunker?" Max asks and I am about to shake my head but then I remember about the wooden trap doors on the ground.

"I think I may know where people are going." I say.

"Tell us quickly before we die then." Jasper mocks me.

"I was going to. When I was taking the little girl to the hospital, I noticed that on the ground were these wooden planks. I wondered what they were but then I realised that they were trap doors. I did not think about it that much but they must lead to somewhere." I fill them in.

"Let's follow that family. They look like they know where they are going." Jasper suggests and we agree with him.

The family that we follow have two young children who are both clinging to their parents as if the world is ending. For all we know, the world is ending. The parents are running the best that they can but they are still rather slow. It does not take us long to catch up with them. They suddenly turn around a corner that we were not expecting and we are swept up by the crowds once again.

I keep my focus on the family in front of me, making sure that I do not lose them. The sound of the bombs falling is getting louder and closer to the camp. I feel like I am back in the train station again, when Jasper got shot. I thought that would have been the worst moment in my life, how I was wrong. This is even worse. There are more people here which amplifies the terror in the atmosphere, but for some reason, it seems like there are less places to hide.

The family turn around at look at us over their shoulder. A scowl forms on the fathers face but he soon turns back around so that he is facing forward. I shake it off and carry on following them while trying not to bash into the people who are surrounding me. It is a lot harder than it looks.

"Are you following us?" the father shouts at us when he looks over his shoulder for a second time.

"I... errr... do not want to get lost... or separated from my group." I stutter and explain to him.

"Well where is this group of yours then?" he huffs at me.

"Right here... oh." I look around next to me and both Jasper and Max are nowhere to be found. "Where did they go?" I mutter to myself.