The Starling Saviour

Chapter 20

I wanted to disagree with Ted and tell him he was better than me, but he was too insistent on me being the best thing since sliced bread. He seemed to think very highly of me, even though he had been the one helping me rather than the other way round.

And now we had to help the people get their district back from the Culebra Gang. It was time to save the Glades.

---

Quietly climbing up the ladders lining the walls of the hospital, Helena, Elliot, Isaac and I reached the roof of the hospital, me leading our little group.

'Where's Ted?' Helena whispered in worry as we hid around the only way into the hospital. 'Shouldn't he be here, helping us?'

'He's coming in later than us, remember,' I pointed out the obvious. 'He'll have something up his sleeve.'

'I really hope he's alright,' Helena muttered, thinking that she could only hear what she was saying.

'He's the Vigilante!' I tried to reassure her. 'He'll be fine. Honestly.'

It was obvious Helena had feelings for him too, but I had no time playing Cupid. We needed to save these people, and quick.

Facing the door that separated us from the horrors inside, I held up my hand so only my index finger was unfolded from my palm, gesturing that they waited in their positions. As I placed my hand on the cold, steel handle of the door, I pointed my finger towards the door and burst in, keeping my gun near my chest and moving my feet ever so silently.

Luckily, there was no one in sight. Yet.

I beckoned the other three in from the roof, seeing as the coast was clear. Darting around the corridors, we kept close to the walls the avoid being spotted immediately. The others seemed to be coping well, Helena seeming to be the least worried out of the three. After all, she had knocked someone unconscious with a fire extinguisher the last time I saw her in combat.

'You're doing great,' I congratulated the three in the eerie silence, giving them a thumbs up for good measure. 'Now let's keep moving.'

Before we could resume our hunt, we were surrounded by four gang members, each looking as though they were thirsty for blood.

'Maybe... Not,' Isaac gulped.

'Oh dear God,' Elliot breathed, looking at the sky in the hope that a miracle would happen.

'You're going to give up that fast?' I remarked, looking at Isaac and Elliot with raised eyebrows. 'Really, boys?'

As quickly as I could, I twisted the gun out of my nearest attacker's hand and locked his hand so he couldn't reach his fallen weapon, shooting the other man, who was aiming at me, with my gun in my other hand. Before the last two men could get to me, Helena disarming them and Isaac and Elliot knocking them out. To finish the job, I hit my disarmed opponent's head with the barrel of my gun, reducing him to unconsciousness.

'Pick up their guns before they wake up again,' I ordered, all of us gaining another firearm.

'But what about the one you... Shot?' Elliot asked, sounding as though he was scared of me. 'Didn't you... Kill him?'

'No, I shot him just so he would blackout for a few hours,' I explained quickly. 'I hate murder as much as you do, Elliot.'

---

After twenty minutes of hurrying from floor to floor, we finally found the source to all the chaos. And it was in the most unlikely of places.

'Why are we here, again?' Isaac asked impatiently.

We were in the main supplies room of the hospital, where it looked like all the departments of the building came to get their many medicines, vaccines and supplies.

'We've not found anyone to fight ever since that group near the roof, and now I'm starting to feel like we're missing something,' Isaac carried on whining.

'No, we're not,' Helena shook her head, looking at something in surprise and fear. 'Look at all the different containers in this room. They're all almost-

'Empty,' I finished her sentence, really worried now. 'Oh no.'

'What is it?' Isaac asked in confusion, whilst the rest of us already knew what they were up to.

'This room is the hospital's main source of healing implements,' Elliot explained fearfully. 'And they're attacking the place from the inside. Making sure that no one can get better once they're done with this district. They've even taken all the vaccines this hospital was given that all the other hospitals in this city have also been sent for the winter.'

'And the Glades are in need of this the most,' Helena added. 'I've been keeping an eye on
all the statistics across the city, including the health rate in each district. The Glades are suffering from the most fatalities, probably since they have the most chance of poverty here.'

'We've got to stop them!' I exclaimed at once. 'This isn't the last we'll hear from them either if we don't restore order.'

'But how are we going to stop them getting to everyone now if they've already done this?' Isaac asked in a defeatist tone.

'It's gonna to have to be a trip to their base again,' Ted's voice appeared from behind us.

'Thanks for finally turning up,' I said sarcastically.

'Sorry, I was fighting all those men you didn't bump into,' Ted answered back with just as much sarcasm.

'Are you sure that it's worth going back to that... Place?' Helena shuddered, remembering what it had been like to be there.

'Positive,' Ted nodded quickly. 'I overheard a few of them talking about storing some supplies there.'

'Then let's go!' Elliot exclaimed enthusiastically. 'We've got no time to lose!'

Time to take a trip to the land of déjà vu.