The Explosion

Chapter 15

"Where did she go?" Lily asked, turning around in slow circles.

"We should look for her." Max voiced, heading towards the hallway.

"You think?" Zoe said sarcastically, following after him with Lily behind her.

"Let's split up." Max said, ignoring Zoe's comment. "We should find her quicker that way."

"Okay." Zoe said as she turned left down a separate corridor. "And split up!" She called after them.

"Well. That's us told." Max said, sending a grin Lily's way.

"Sure is." She said, returning a smile.

"See you later, Flower." Max said, turning right into another corridor.

"See you in a bit, Chocolate boy." Lily replied under her breath as the opening to Max's corridor fell behind her.

*

Mia listened as her shaky breath slowly steadied itself. She couldn't believe what she had seen. That boy – Max – he had lifted that vending machine as if it had been a small brick. As if it had weighed even less than that! What was going on? This wasn't happening. No way. Things like this didn't happen – ever. She was dreaming; that was it. Except you're not. You never are. A deep breath was released from Mia's lungs, sounding loud in the vast quiet of the small storage room. "Come on, Mia." She whispered. "Stop hiding. You need to take care of the children." Her legs slowly straightened up as she rose into a kneeling position and then up onto her feet. "You can deal with this. You've gone through stuff before, right? So, you can handle this." And, with that, Mia opened the door to the storage room, closed it behind her and started walking down the corridor towards an area of the hospital that she hadn't searched yet, pushing down the fear that was lurking inside of her, waiting for her to let down her guard.

*

"Mia?" Zoe called, poking her head through doorways. She let her backpack straps fall down onto her elbows and felt it's mostly-light bulk crash against her legs as she walked. "Mia?" She wished that she could just be back at school, learning about 3D shapes in maths. She'd do it happily now. She hated the 3D shapes topic but she'd do it all day long if it was between that or this. It must be way past Maths, now, though. Zoe thought. What time even is it? "That isn't important right now." She said to herself as she walked onwards.

*

"I'm sorry if we scared you. We're scared too." Max said as he walked straight ahead, walking into and checking rooms, attempting to ignore the fallen bodies that he came across. What else could he say? It was true. His first day at his new school really took a turn for the worse. And he had pretty much no one. His only friend from before the accident was Joseph. And he had no clue whether he was still at home, waiting for him, whether he had ventured outside or whether he was dead. There were quite a few possibilities. And now he was hanging out with a couple of people he had only just met, searching for a girl he had only just met. They all seemed really nice so he was glad of that. But wow – what on Earth was happening? Hopefully they could be out of town by that night. Find Zoe's mum, find Joseph, and vamoosh. He could go and live with some relatives and, eventually, life could become normal again. He would make an effort and settle in; he would make some amazing friends like Zoe and Lily seemed to be and he would be happy. So close to happy. But he never would be happy, would he? His parents were gone. The two people who loved him more than anything were gone and he didn't know what was happening. He was so confused. "I'm sorry if we scared you. We're scared too."

*

"Mia!" Lily called into the several rooms she passed. "Are you okay? Please don't be scared; we are just as clueless as you are. We can try and figure this out together." But all she was finding was empty rooms or rooms with one or more adults in. "Mia?" Why was this hospital so huge?

*

Mia had been in this part of the hospital plenty of times before the... thing happened. It was near the front of the hospital; it was where the children who were there because they weren't feeling very well went. Mia hated how some parents brought their child in and took up valuable time because their child had complained that they'd had a stomach ache that morning. It was ridiculous. Some people who go there have serious problems but they have to wait to be seen because of people like that. Mia understood that they were worried – she would be too if her child seemed ill - but some people were just way too over the top when there was nothing to worry about.

Her thoughts were cut off, though, when she heard something that sounded a lot like someone crying. "Mummy." The voice said. It was coming from the closed door to the right so she walked over to the side of the door and listened in. "Mummy, wake up!" The voice cried. "Mummy, mummy! Luna has gone really white, mummy, and she won't stop crying. Mummy, wake up!" Mia could tell now that the voice was of a young boy and a weak groaning was faintly coming from the room as well. Realising that there were at least two children in the room that needed her help, she slowly twisted the doorknob and walked inside.

"Who are you?" The little boy asked, his eyes filled with fear. He had brown eyes and brown hair – not light but not dark either – and he was crouched down next to a woman with hair the same shade who was lying on her back.

"It's okay." Mia said softly, lowering herself down to his level and looking away from the body. "I'm Mia. What's your name?"

"Kenny." Said the little boy, seeming slightly less frightened.

"Okay, Kenny. Are you here with anyone?"

"My sister." He replied, pointing over to a pale little girl.

She had the same shade of hair and the same coloured eyes as Kenny, but instead of the naturally pale skin that her brother had, she seemed almost white and she seemed to be sweating. Mia immediately ran over to her and knelt down.

"Hey, Sweetie. Can you look at me?"

The girl looked up at her with tired eyes before letting out a groan and letting her head loll to the side again.

"What's you name?" She asked, placing a hand on the little girl's cardigan covered arm.

"Luna." She said, so quiet that Mia herself could barely hear it.

"Okay, Luna. How long have you been feeling ill for?" Mia asked as she placed a hand to Luna's forehead. It was warm and slightly damp. Suddenly, Kenny was at her side, a concerned look on his face. "How old are you both?" She asked him."

"I'm four. Luna is three."

So young. So young to lose their mum.

"Mummy." Luna whispered, weakly attempting to pull her cardigan off.

"Mia! There you are. We've been look-" Lily stopped as soon as she saw Luna.

Without an explanation, Mia said in a calm voice, "Please get me a cold, damp cloth."

Lily nodded and turned around, leaving the room as Mia helped the ill three-year-old take off her cardigan.