Lifeline (Hawks)

Hospital Attack

My back was against the wall as I tried to catch my breath.

Several alarms rang throughout the hallways of the building. In between the sounds of intermittent explosions from a short distance away were the screams of terror from civilians. The villains continued their attack on the hospital where I worked at without anyone strong enough to stop them.

It was a terrible feeling, having to hold out as long as we could here until help arrived. There haven't been any signs of a hero coming to our rescue yet.

"This can't be happening." I said in disbelief as I looked around for a way out of here. "Why here? Why now?" I checked my pockets and groaned in my frustration when I couldn't find my cell phone on me. It must've gotten lost when I ran away from the initial attacks.

Escape was very limited for me. I was a few stories above ground and didn't know which way was safer for me to go. The quiet and peaceful start of my shift seemed so far away.

'Taking the elevator was a definite no, and the stairs wouldn't be any better. There isn't any safe place, or room to stay in, if I needed one... The hallways of the building seemed to be the better option. I could use them to go the long way and reach the exit... But should I take such a risk?'

Another explosion, even closer than before, made me turn my head towards the direction where I heard it. The way they've been tearing up the place, it was almost as if these villains were looking for something. Or rather, someone, in particular.

"Are they... Looking for me?" I froze when I considered this, my heart sank thinking this was all my fault.

There was no time to plan my next step, however, as I noticed one of the walls nearby had begun to show a growing crack. Not a moment later, something powerful broke down the wall and caused debris and dust to fly out in all directions.

From the initial blast, I fell backward in my shock and coughed when the dust reached me. The lights overhead immediately went out, and the smoke reduced my visibility by a significant amount.

A part of the ceiling caved in and collapsed from the sheer force of the attack, blocking an escape route in that entire direction. The fading sunset outside wasn't giving enough light for me to see much of anything.

"I'm going to find you! You're not getting away from me!" A fierce voice called out from the dim hallway, walking in through the rubble. "Lifeline! I know you're in here somewhere!"

More footsteps revealed that whoever it was, they weren't alone.

"Make this easier for everybody and just come out!"

"Give yourself up already! It's too late to run!"

"There's no use in hiding! We will not stop until we find you!"

Hearing how close they were to me, I felt fear swelling up inside of me.

'Their goal is to find Lifeline, to find me! I can't fight against all of them! I have to get out of here... But where? How?'

Using the cover of the alarms, it was my best chance to sneak out of the way to somewhere far away from the villains. Only a few of them were left in working condition up to this point, but I hoped it was enough. With such low visibility, I took the risk to stand up.

Unfortunately, I ended up bumping into one of the small chairs that were pushed closer towards me from the earlier blast. It made enough noise when it toppled over to make the group of them look over to me. I had caught their attention.

"That's gotta be her, right? The description we received earlier fits perfectly." One of them said to what seems to be their leader.

He looked over to me and started walking my way. I could only take a few steps back to maintain my distance the best that I could.