Viral

5 - The Others

Our group erupted in panic.

"We're not going anywhere!" Craig shouted. 

"We don't know you!"

"Where are we going?"

"Who are you?" 

The stranger raised his hands to quiet the group and a nervous unease settled over everyone. When everyone was quiet, he turned to me.

"They seem to listen to you. Tell them we have to go."

I raised an eyebrow. "And why should I do that?" 

"Yeah, Hannah was just telling us to stay," Craig backed me up.

The stranger sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. He was handsome in a boyish way with a soft, clean-shaven jaw, angular cheekbones, and fierce emerald green eyes. 

"Listen to me," he pleaded, "you're all in danger. The doctor  was right: you'll be fine. You will live, but you'll be sick for a long time and when you're finally well again, they're going to run all kinds of tests on you."

"What kind of tests?" Joe gulped.

"Experiments," the stranger explained. "You're one of the few groups to survive the Cure. They want to know why: what makes your genes so special? They want to know whether you're actually cured of 'the plague' or whether you just survived the virus they just injected you with. They want to know how you survived and worst of all, they want to see whether they can replicate your DNA, extract your bone marrow, or do anything to help others survive, too."

"You mean they're going to harvest our bone marrow to cure everyone else?" Craig gulped.

"Something like that, yeah," the boy nodded.

"You still haven't told us your name."

"Kai," the boy grinned. "My name is Kai."

"You look familiar, Kai," I squinted, trying to place where I'd seen this boy before. Was he from one of the other Zones? Maybe he was one of the younger maintenance. I couldn't figure out why I recognized him.

"Yeah," Reed snorted, "of course he looks familiar: he looks like you." 

"Dark hair, green eyes... He's not wrong," Joe nodded.

"Maybe that's it," I grinned. "I know a good looking face when I see one."

Kai blushed, but Joe interjected with, "don't get too excited, there, man. She's just complimenting herself."

I winked. "Guilty."

"As fun as it is to watch you compliment yourself, we really need to get going." Something about the urgency in Kai's voice and the way he kept glancing over his shoulder convinced me.

"You made some valid points," I nodded. "I don't really want to be dissected like a frog."

"Me neither," Maddy agreed.

"I'm with you on that," Reed huffed.

"Great," Kai nodded encouragingly. "Let's go." 

***

The moment we followed Kai out of the tarp, an alarm blared, just like it did before this whole mess started. 

Three sharp rings followed by please return to your quarantine and another three sharp rings. Then the cycle repeated.

We broke out into a run, following Kai as he sprinted down the halls. We skidded into turns, barreling into the opposite walls before pushing off and regaining our balance. Behind us, we could hear feet slapping on the once-hospital's laminate floors. We picked up the pace.

After a few minutes, Kai shoved open a heavy metal door and we tumbled out into a courtyard. He didn't falter and neither did the guards chasing us. 

The courtyard was huge, surrounded on three sides by what used to constitute the old hospital's wings, with the fourth side barred off from the outside world by a huge barbed wire fence. Frankly, it looked like a prison.

I looked over my shoulder to see seven or eight guards spill out of the doorway, hot on our heels and clad in heavy material and gas masks. 

"Now what?" Joe wailed from behind me.

"Now," Kai smirked from my right, "we call the Others." 

Reed didn't even have time to question him as he brought two fingers to his mouth and let out a shrill whistle. The guards didn't seem phased. If anything, they were getting a lot closer and were mere feet from catching Maddy or Craig.

All of a sudden, I heard a second whistle, and then a third, and then a whole symphony as teenagers poured out from every feasible direction. Some spilled out of windows, some emerged from behind the various hospital wings, others dropped down from trees, and all stampeded after us. 

Glancing back, I saw the guards panicking. Kai hadn't even broken a sweat, but the rest of us were all huffing and panting, having barely gotten any exercise since we were first quarantined. My blistered skin stretched and burned in protest as I pumped my arms faster, forcing myself on.

As for "the Others", as Kai had called them, the teenagers were catching up fast, practically galloping after us. Soon, they had surrounded the guards. Grinning, the Others overtook them, practically leaping on the poor, stunned guards and tackling them to the ground.

"Who are they?" I panted to Kai as they fell further behind.

"The Others," he replied nonchalantly, his breath smooth as if we were only walking briskly. 

Risking a second to glance back, I saw the Others standing up and dusting themselves off, the guards unconscious at their feet. One boy looked up and winked before motioning to the rest of the teenagers to follow him away. Just as they had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, they disappeared.

Stunned, I hadn't realized I had stopped running until Joe careened into me, knocking me over. We landed in a heap and shortly after, Reed tripped over us, crashing down as well. Kai only rolled his eyes, helped us up, and yelled, "come on!" 

We reached the perimeter of the courtyard. Kai hurdled the barbed wire fence easily while the rest of us scrambled up after him. The barbs cut my palms and knees, tearing at my blisters, but I blinked back tears and leapt down. Finally, Kai stopped to let us catch our breath.

"We're home free," he grinned.

Collapsing on the ground, Joe let out a long moan. "Who were those guys back there?"

"I wouldn't question it," Reed mumbled. "They saved our lives."

"Smart man," Kai laughed. "You can thank them later. Right now, we have to go."

"You just said we're home free!" Joe whined.

"We're literally right outside the quarantine, doofus," Allison rolled her eyes before helping Joe up. 

And with that, we were off again.

***

After running for over an hour through a forest that stretched for miles, Kai stopped short in a small clearing and we fell to the ground, gasping for air. My lungs had screamed in protest the entire time and now they wheezed in gratitude, catching their breath.

"Aren't we–" Joe wheezed, "putting everyone–" wheeze "–at risk?"

"Putting who at risk?" Craig cocked a brow as he tried to catch his breath. "We're in the middle of nowhere. Nobody's around!"

"Untrue," Kai countered, barely out of breath. He let out another two fingered whistle and just as before, "the Others" began emerging from behind trees, dropping down from branches, and cartwheeling into the clearing.

"Who are these kids?" Whispered Joe.

"Monkeys?" Craig suggested quietly.

Kai sent them a half-hearted glare before gesturing with open arms. "These," he beamed, "are the Others."