The Explosion

Chapter 9

The three stepped out into the town centre where groups of children were still gathered. They turned left and weaved in and out of gaps in the mass of people. It only took a few minutes to get to the hospital and Max was terrified. He wanted to get it over and done with but at the same time he wanted to turn back now and never stop running. He stared up at the entrance and the glass sliding doors. He could see inside and it looked a mess. They stepped forward and the doors opened, welcoming them in. There was equipment and papers on the floor and the waiting room had obviously been fairly busy. Max lowered his head down and headed down one of the corridors. It took them longer to find Max's mum as the hospital was quite big but when they did, Max exploded with a rush of emotions. "Mum!" He screamed as he ran over to her. He loved his parents just as much as each other but now that it was confirmed, really confirmed, that both his parents were dead, he just couldn't keep control of himself. "Mum, no. No!" They had found her in a ward and her head had obviously hit something sharp because a pool of blood surrounded her hear and crusted her hair. Max was struggling to breathe because the sobs were coming too fast and too hard. Tears started blocking his eyesight as if he were underwater and Lily and Zoe's voices sounded slightly muffled.

There was an empty bed and Max was about to hoist her up onto it when he saw blood on the corner of one of the legs. He didn't know what was wrong with him; he had never felt this angry in his life. But that bed had killed his mum and it was going to pay. Inanimate object or not. "Argh!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he reached out for the bed with his hands and launched it across the room, sending it crashing down into another bed and rolling over that one into another to stop at the wall. This stopped Max in his tracks and he stared in horror and amazement at what he had just done. There was silence for a little while the three of them took in what had happened.

"You've got some muscles." Zoe half whispered, half said normally. Max and Lily managed to drag their eyes away from the now rather damaged hospital bed and look at Zoe, their faces still plastered with shock. "I know." She admitted. "We need to find out what the hell is going on right now."

"You think?" Lily replied hysterically.

Max was pretty sure that the way Zoe was acting – being humorous and staying relatively calm – was a coping strategy but he had no clue how she could do it.

"Zoe." Lily said, seeming nervous.

"Yes?"

"Please could you try and do your thing? The one you did at your house?"

"I...sure. I don't even know what it is though. I'll try"

Zoe stared at the open door of the room and focused. She willed and willed for it to open, slam open, drift open, anything. But it wouldn't happen.

"Maybe there has to be a sense of urgency." Lily thought out loud. "Max acted out of urgency when the motorbike was coming, you acted out of strong emotions when you opened the doors and same with Max right now." She sent Max a sympathetic face when she said the last bit. The energy that he had earlier seemed to be gone and he seemed to just give up when he saw Lily looking at him like that. His face sort of screwed up and tears started rushing down his face. "What's happening?" He exclaimed through sobs as he collapsed down onto the floor. He thrust his face into his hands and leant over. He heard the echoing of shoes on the white tiled flooring and saw Lily's black trainers twist to face the same way as his. A soft hand reached its way to his right shoulder and Lily leant against his left side. He felt great comfort at the fact that he had people who were there for him but he had to silently scold himself when the butterflies in his stomach started fluttering. How selfish can you get Max? Your parents are dead. Her parents – or mum at least – are dead. Zoe's parents are dead. All the adults in this town are dead. But no; you still have feeling for a girl. Max leant into her anyway. She was here as a friend and he was going to be her friend. Friend. Her cheek was resting gently against his head and he could hear her shaky breathing. He would have happily stayed like that for ages but he knew he couldn't. He knew they were waiting for him to get up. "We-" Max stuttered, "We should go." He looked up at Zoe and her face turned from thoughtful to sick. Max knew what she was thinking and he felt dreadful for her. For Zoe, the worst was still to come.