Chapter 23

As the helicopter took off our friends gathered up in their seats. Boris, Jackson and Shae were utterly confused and astonished.

“Where are we going? Why are we going? And; A HELICOPTER!” Jackson shouted

“They didn’t tell you?” Drew asked

“Duh!” Boris said angrily

“I can’t believe it!” Kenzie said

“We’re going back to my place.” Drew said

“Why?” Shae asked. “Didn’t you just leave from there because of the virus?”

“Yes.” Drew said. “Yes we did.”

Everyone fell silent. They were all too confused and astonished to speak for a long while, until finally Aidan said: “I don’t understand anything!”

“I… hmm…” Kenzie said. “Why did we get on the helicopter?”

“I have no idea.” Jackson and Drew said in chorus

“Ok. But now that we are, maybe we should – I don’t know – plan what we’re going to do when we get there?” Boris said

“Yeah. I suppose.” Drew said

“Any ideas?” Kenzie asked

“Maybe we could go and visit Ridley and Mac and the others?” Shae suggested

“An excellent idea!” Boris said

“Who are Ridley and Mac?” Aidan wondered

“Some friends that live in the same city as I do.” Drew said

“Are they good friends? Can they be trusted?” Aidan asked

“Oh, yes! Very good friends.” Drew said

“Of course they can be trusted!” Jackson said

“Then why didn’t you bring them in the first place?” Aidan asked

“Yes, why didn’t you?” Boris asked

Everyone looked at Drew and Kenzie, who looked very uncomfortable.

“Well…” Drew said

“We kinda thought they would do fine without us.” Kenzie said

“I didn’t. But I thought maybe it would be too dangerous to go there?” Drew said

“Oh, yeah. Maybe…” Kenzie said

About one hour later they landed at the hospital in the city and immediately faced a major problem; how to get past the guards and out into the city. Before they could do anything, however, the problem was solved for them. The old man needing surgery was rushed off by a medical staff in hazmat suits, and the others started walking towards the entrance.

As Shae walked out of the helicopter the woman behind her fell forwards and pushed Shae in the back. Shae and a man walking in front of her lost their balance and fell hard to the ground with the woman on top of them in a pile. The woman started screaming with pain, and the guards looked hesitantly at the mess and then left their posts and rushed over to help. The rest of our friends were already outside the helicopter waiting, and could not do anything to help Shae.

“Oh no! Do you think Shae got hurt!?” Aidan asked

“I hope not!” Jackson said worriedly

“The guards are running over.” Boris said

“We could get away right now.” Kenzie said. “But…”

“We can’t just leave Shae.” Drew said

“You go, I’ll stay with her.” Jackson said

“But…” Aidan said

“Don’t worry; we’re in a hospital – we’ll be allright.”

“Are you sure?” Drew asked

“Positive. Now hurry and go! Say hi to the others from me.”

“Will do.” Kenzie said

Jackson ran up to the crowd and the others started running towards some bushes. They discovered somewhat to their surprise that the area around the hospital was not very heavily guarded. They had no problem whatsoever slipping past the remaining guards and out into the nearby park.

“Does anyone know the way?” Drew asked

“Yes, I do.” Kenzie said. “But we shouldn’t go through the city center.”

“No, that seems rather stupid.” Aidan said

“Ok, we’ll go over there.” Kenzie said and pointed down the hill

They started half walking, half jogging through the city. Every now and then they saw a police car or even the odd military vehicle, but they were always able to hide somewhere until it had passed. It took them over two hours to get to Ridley’s apartment, going in a wide semi-circle. Eventually they arrived at the far end of the field outside the apartment building, and they faced another problem; there was a rather large gathering of people on it. They looked very dirty and rough.

“Shit!” Kenzie said

“How the hell are we going to get past them?” Drew said

“Are we going over there?” Aidan asked, pointing towards the building

“Yes.” Boris said

“Damn.” Aidan muttered