Song: Let It All Go by Birdy ft Rhodes
Day 3:
I woke up the next morning to find that everyone was already up and some people were even gone. "Mmm, What time is it?" I said sitting up and rubbing my eyes.
"It's 9:30. We all decided that you needed some sleep." Said a female voice. I looked around and saw that Katie was looking at me as a bunch of adults walked in.
"Thanks. What's happening?" I said getting up and eyeing some adults.
"Dr. Cannerts is lifting the lockdown in the hospital, some parents are picking up their children today." Katie said before walking over to some parents to talk to them. I quickly got up and went to the bathroom to do my daily routines and look presentable for the parents.
Nearly ten minutes later most of the kids had left except for a few. "It's not fair they get to go." Mary said as she sat down on her bed. I gave her a sympathetic look and sat on the bed across from her.
"Well if your mom was in here you'd be able to go." Katie said frowning a little.
"Hey" I said getting Mary's attention. "The hospital lockdown's over... You should be happy your friends get to go home." Mary nodded and looked at me smiling.
"Hey Mary, wanna play?" I looked over and saw that Quentin walked over to us. Mary nodded and followed him over to where Thomas was holding a tennis ball.
I looked over at Katie who was smiling proudly. "You did that didn't you!" I whispered loudly. Katie just chuckled and walked away. I rolled my eyes and chuckled too.
"Hey, you guys still looking for phone cords?" Said the out-of-breath voice of Jake Riley. I turned to see the very sweaty police officer in a grey tank top holding black cords.
"Yeah, thanks." I said getting up and taking them from him. I turned and went to plug my phone in when I heard Katie ask if he was okay. I shunned them out as my phone lit up and I saw that Hannah texted and asked if I was okay.
I quickly sent her a reassuring reply and got up. "I just wanna go home. Have a barbecue, sleep in my own bed.. You? Jake asked to Katie.
"...I just want to breathe... I can't till all of these kids get home safely." Katie said stressed out.
"How many got to go?" Jake asked hearing the stress in her voice.
"Not enough."
Jake looked down for a second then turned to me as I sat on my bed again. "How you holding up? I was pretty scared for you last night."
I looked directly at him and sighed.
"Sorry for the scare. It's just I've never been away from my family for a long time and those containers made it seem like we're going to be in here forever, I'm fine now." I said as I ran my fingers through my long black hair.
"It's okay, I'm glad your okay... really." Jake replied as he smiled back at me. When Jake walked away Katie turned to me and smiled. "Looks like someone's got a crush." She teased.
"Calm down. He was only being nice." I said and walked away.
Later that day Katie and I were watching the kids. Quentin bumped into her which made her mad at him. Rey (our bus driver) walked in and started talking to Katie while I continued to watch the kids. I saw Quentin, Mary, and Thomas all touch and laugh. "THAT'S IT. Everyone, separate corners." I said, pointing to corners of the room. The kids all groaned and walked to the corners as Katie finished her talk and walked over to me.
"Thanks. I think we all should get some fresh air though." She said as she crossed her arms and looked at the kids who were now grumpy.
"Why don't we go on the roof... We could play a game that involves no touching." I suggested as I noticed a basketball by the whiteboard.
"Great idea! What game though?" Katie asked then motioned the kids toward us.
"How about... 4 Square? It's fun and simple, the kids love it!"
Soon enough we got permission from the doctors to go up onto the roof to play. The kids were having fun while I was talking to Katie. "...I mean seriously, this could be a cover up. Jake and I also saw those bodies, we know they are lying." We were currently discussing what Dr. Cannerts told her about Patient Zero, she doesn't know what to believe, I on the other hand...
"I don't know, Iris. If this is something that involves the government, why? Why now?" I looked up at the sun then back at her and shrugged.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Said a voice that immediately got our attention, I looked to see it was Thomas. "Can you take me Ms. Katie?" Katie nodded then turned to me and Rey. "Can you two watch them?" We both agreed and watched as Katie left with Thomas to go to the bathroom. After a few seconds I instantly had a theory and ran to the stairs to catch up with Katie so I could tell her.
"KATIE WAIT I NEE-" I yelled once I opened the door but stopped immediately and gasped. Thomas was on the stairs with a man who looked to be contaminated, Katie was right behind Thomas. She turned to me and as she did so, the man grabbed Thomas' glove and ripped it off so he could grab his hand. I grabbed Thomas' other arm and yanked him back then watched in horror as the man was now coughing up blood. We all looked at the man then over at Thomas who was in a trance staring at his small hand that was now bloody. Oh no...
"This isn't your fault." Dr. Cannerts was saying to Katie down the hall. Once the man stopped coughing up blood we all raced to get Thomas contained. I was pacing back and forth down the hall from where the two were watching Thomas, I couldn't bare look at him get sick.
"Katie, c'mon lets get a snack from the vending machines." I said as I finally walked up to the both of them watching Thomas through the glass. Katie just turned and nodded to me then we walked down the hallways until we found a vending machine. "What do you want?" I asked but she shook her head. "You wanted to just get away too." I observed.
"That obvious? I just can't help but feel it's my fault, I just stood there...doing nothing." Katie said as she hugged her arms for comfort and looked away.
"If it makes you feel better, I probably would've been too scared to do anything too." She just nodded and shrugged.
"Maybe." After that we started talking about random things like our family and the weather.
A while later when we finally returned, Dr. Cannerts was not there. Katie ran to the end of the hall and looked into the small room where Thomas was supposed to be. "THOMAS!" She yelled trying to see if he was hiding behind his bed.
"What? Is he not there?" I asked getting confused. Katie turned around and shook her head. "DR. CANNERTS?!" I yelled turning on my heals and starting to fast walk down the halls. "Katie, follow me!" I said as I turned a few corners then stopped. Thomas was there holding hands with his dad and walking across the hallway, toward the exit. I heard Katie come up behind me then gasp.
Mr. Graham turned around letting go of his son and looked at us. "I've come to take my son home."
"No, no, you can't. He has been exposed." I whispered loud enough for him to hear. Then things escalated quickly. Mr. Graham took out a gun and pointed it at both of us, causing a gasp and whimper from Thomas.
"I said, I've come to take him home." I stepped back then I saw Dr. Cannerts walk into the hallway with his arms raised up a little.
"Dr. Cannerts call the police, Jake even." Katie said with hope filling her voice.
"I've already tried. We can't." Was all Dr. Cannerts said.
"Please, let us keep an eye on hi-" I was suddenly cut off by Mr. Graham running toward us with his gun switching from Katie to I.
"YOU TWO WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE CARE OF HIM! BOTH OF YOU!" I bit my lip and looked away. Please... Not here... Not now... Not like this.
All of a sudden I heard Bert's voice from behind me. "Sir, It's not kind to wave a gun in a woman's face." I glanced back at Mr. Graham who looked like he just realized what he was doing. His eyes glassed over and he looked down.
"Please... I just want to take my son home." I blacked out for a few second until I heard a small voice say goodbye to me. I slid against the opposite wall that Katie lay on, and let out a breath that I didn't even realize I had been holding. Thank god that didn't end badly.
An hour later I decided that I needed to be alone for a while so I wandered through the halls. I decided that I should tell Hannah what happened to me, so I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed her number. On the second ring I heard her cheery voice pick up. "About time you called! We've been worried."
"Sorry, a lot happened today... Can you just listen for a few minutes?" I said sighing and sitting against a random wall.
"Of course, what happened?" So I told her, everything that happened from when we hung up last night to an hour ago.
"-Jake arrived back at the hospital but I nor Katie wants to see him right now. Katie is with Quentin right now, she doesn't want to leave his side." Hannah listened to all of it until I was done. I heard her sigh and I could tell she was running a hand through her hair and thinking about what to say.
"I'm glad your fine now, God I don't know what I would do if I lost you... Or dad or even Sarah. You should let Katie have some time with her son, she definitely needs it now. As for Jake, talk to him, see what he's been up to, get your mind off things. And I know you have a crush on him, it's obvious from what you say about him."
"HEY! I do not!... Ok maybe I do but that's not the point. There are more important matters at hand, but I do need to get my mind off things... I miss you." I said sighing again then fiddling with the hem of my black tank top that I changed into earlier.
"I miss you more. Sarah and Dad have been having such a hard time focusing, every time I see Sarah she is flipping through news channels. Dad is about to lose his job which this situation is not helping him. They love you lots."
"Tell them nothing will happen to me and that I love them. I'm gonna go talk to Jake, Love you."
"Love you too." Hannah said before she hung up the phone. I turned off my phone and headed to where Jake would be doing god-knows-what.
I finally found him in a big furnace room putting something on a shelf. "Hey." I said in a small voice causing him to turn around and smile at me.
"Hey Iris. Cannerts told me what happened... I hope you and Katie are okay."
"I am... I don't have a kid yet so I barely know what she must be going through." I said as I looked around curiously. "What are you doing here?"
"Well I'm working two jobs now. It's hard... These people were all alone. At least Thomas has his family." Jake said as he caught me looking at the jars on one of the shelves. His job is to burn the-oh God....
"If a man could easily take a kid from in here, what's it like outside this hospital? Who's in charge?" I asked finally looking at him. Jakes looked away avoiding eye contact with me. "Why are we in this mess?" I asked even though he didn't have the answer.
"I know that Thomas is in his house eating dinner with his family. Probably watching YouTube like any other normal 11 year old." I shrugged causing him to ask, "Have you seen the one were the dog shoots a basketball into a hoop?" This caused me to laugh and shake my head. Jake gasped and put a hand to his chest dramatically. "Follow me!" He said before running into the hall and going on his phone.
One I got into the hall, Jake set his phone down in the middle and sat on one side of the hall. I sat on the other as Jake leaned out and pressed play. I saw a boy balance a ball on his dogs nose, then I saw the dog shoot it into a small basketball hoop. This caused me to laugh and after the third time Jake and I were out of breath.
All of a sudden the video stopped and the screen went black with only a few red letters and an exclamation point inside of a triangle. "W-what happened?" I asked grabbing his phone and trying to go on the Internet.
"I don't know... Let me see." I handed him his phone and pulled out my own. I tried to call Luke, Hannah, or my mother but the calls didn't go through. I tried going on the Internet but it said the Internet was down. "They shut off the service and the Internet." Jake said as he put his phone on the ground.
"No, no, no. I need to talk to my family, let them know I'm okay." I said getting angry. Jake looked at me sympathetically then stood up.
"It's okay, they'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, why don't you say we get to know each other better?"
I sighed then heaved myself up from the floor. "I guess that's okay.. What do you want to know?" I said as we started walking back to the room we were staying in.
"Your family, your friends... The basics." So I told him.