I don't want to set the world on fire
The sun was on it's way back down from the it's place in the sky. The partially clouded sky occasionally shaded parts of the wasteland below, and the ruined city of London sat peaceful and quiet in the light. The only sign of life was atop a multi story car park, where Michelle and Ryan stood looking out at the landscape.
"we really should head back…" Michelle said more to herself than to Ryan.
Ryan kicked a stone off the roof and watched it plummet to the ground.
"It's been an hour since the radio went dead, if they're in trouble…" he said quietly.
Michelle stood quietly thinking to herself of their next move when a foul stench reached her nostrils. A mixture of wet dog and moist earth, She coughed and brought her sleeve up to her mouth.
"Can you smell that!?" she asked, her voice muffled through the fabric.
Ryan sniffed and immediately brought his hands up to his nose.
"That's awful," he spluttered, "I haven't smelled that since…" Ryan froze.
Michelle watched his expression freeze up and immediately became panic stricken.
"Since what?" she asked reaching out for hey boyfriends arm. Ryan stepped forward and looked over the edge of the multi-story and his fears were realized. Below them was the worst kind of creature. He beckoned to Michelle who peered over the edge and her mouth fell open. The first thought that sprang to her mind was "Were-wolf" but she new that was impossible. The animal was 8 foot tall at least and stood on it's hind legs. The horrible tan coloured hair covering it's body was matted and greasy. The fangs were stained a horrible yellow and it's nose twitched. Michelle and Ryan stared for what seemed a lifetime until the were-wolf type thing, sniffed once…twice…then looked up right at them. The pair of teenagers fell back immediately and stumbled to the floor. Michelle leaned o Ryan's ear and whispered frantically.
"What the hell is that thing? " she asked breathing heavily.
"Me and Ben came across one a year back in Hyde park. Ben called it a Death-claw." Ryan replied.
"Ok…What the hell is it?!" Michelle half shouted in his ear.
Ryans hand shot up and clamped over her mouth.
"SHH!" He said sternly, "We guessed it was what a few hundred years of radiation does to wolves."
Michelle pushed his hand aside, "what did you do last time?"
Ryan sighed and looked at her,
"We ran" and with that he rolled over and crawled across the rooftop to the edge and looked over. The Death-claw had found the ramp leading up to the next floor, which meant it, wouldn't be long before the multi-story roof became too crowded.
Ryan got to his feet and beckoned Michelle to do the same.
"That thing will be up here soon and your pistol isn't going to help at all, we need to think of something." He said, his tone deadly serious.
Michelle looked around the rooftop hoping for some inspiration.
"Could we find a rope to get down somehow?" She said, thinking out loud.
Ryan clicked his fingers to get her attention.
"The stairs, there has to be a stairway that leads to the bottom floor." He said quickly, "Look around for a door or something." Michelle and Ryan scanned the rooftop until
"There," Michelle said Pointing at a rusty grey door set into the brick work.
The two of them ran to the door and Ryan gave the handle a turn and the door a push. The rust seemed to have given the door a stubborn want to stay closed, not in the mood he took a step back and kicked the door right in the middle. It flew off the hinges and clattered forwards. Michelle and Ryan hurried inside and watched as the recently liberated door clattered heavily down the stairs smashed several of the rusted stairs to the ground, a good 15 feet below.
Ryan looked down and swore harshly out loud.
Michelle grasped his hand and lead them back out to the roof.
"That's what you get for being macho" She said looking once more around the multi-story rooftop.
Ryan stared at her, mouth open with an amazed look on his face.
"Is now the time?…Really?" He said exasperated.
Michelle looked at him apologetically then turned back to their immediate surroundings.
"There has to be something we can do!" She said her voice sounding more panicky with every syllable.
"I don't see what there is we can do," Ryan said hopelessly, "I mean, we're trapped up here with nothing but some rusting cars."
Michelle looked at Ryan eyes wide then immediately turned to one of the 3 4 wheeled vehicles parked on the roof.
"Give me a hand," She said suddenly, "I've got an idea."
The large double doors swung open heavily, the harsh stomping of a dozen military boots quickly drowned the swishing sound through the air. Chris looked up from the floor and adjusted his eyes to the light coming through the open doors. Jake slowly opened his eyes and shuffled his chained feet. The metal was hardly comfortable.
The two sat and stared at the soldiers who all stared somewhere past them, deep into the stained panelled wall behind them and beyond. Before either of them new what was going on another soldier stepped through the doorway. He was different this one. He wore no helmet and his dark face was locked eternally into a grimace. His hair was a very short black stain on his head which seemed to pour down his cheeks and wrap around his mouth in a faint beard. His armour was unremarkable and looked the same faded green metal that the other soldiers wore, save for one thing. An insignia was slapped into his left shoulder pad in white paint. 3 Gears one above the other inside a thin circle with wings either side of it and finally, a sword straight up the middle. Jake felt his stomach lurch and he clenched his fists.
The man looked at them both indifferently without showing any sign of communication to his soldiers, somehow told two of them to step forward and unlocked the chains pinning Jake and Chris to the floor. Sluggishly the two got to their feet and found them being shoved and forced through the doorway and down a large corridor. Half a dozen guards were either side of them at all times so Chris couldn't really get a look at his surroundings, but he assumed he was in the hospital.
Soon the two entered a large room and again found themselves force to the ground.
Both now kneeling, they looked up to see the woman in the white dress standing before them. She looked at them both with something of pity, but Chris could see through it. This wasn't the pity of one person to another; this was someone looking down at an animal in pity. She looked at them both for a few seconds and then spoke in her commanding voice. "Why did you come here?"
Jake opened his mouth to speak but found the woman raised her hand.
She looked at Chris and spoke again
"You tell me."
Chris cleared his dry throat and spoke through chapped lips, "We came looking for some medical supplies."
The woman raised an eyebrow sceptically, "Why did you come here?"
Chris opened his mouth but Jake cut across him,
"It's a fucking hospital why do you think we came here!"
Again Jake felt someone hit him over the back of the head, his face flew forwards and collided with the solid floor. A hand pulled him up by the neck of his jacket and Chris saw blood running down Jakes nose.
The women looked from Jake back to Chris and spoke again.
"This was the closest place to you?" she asked
Chris still looked at Jake, "A friend of ours was hurt by raiders and we need to get him some medicine fast or he'd die."
The woman raised a hand and the dark skinned man Chris had seen before approached her side.
"Where is this friend?"
Chris swallowed and looked up into her eyes. "He's through the metro tunnel we came through by a car crash on the bridge near big Ben, 3 of our friends are with him."
The woman lowered her hand and the dark man walked to the door passing in between Chris and Jake. Jake shot out his leg and the man tripped and fell. Jake could hear movement behind him and he shot up to his feet smashing his head into the face of the soldier behind him. Jake brought his elbow down past his waist and slammed it into the gut of the man behind him. Chris moved to his feet and in one fluid motion wrapped his chained hands around the throat of the nearest soldier and pulled his body in front of his own. Chris covered Jake with his newly acquired meat shield whilst Jake rapidly found the key to his bonds from the downed man and freed himself. The other soldiers were all pointing their guns at the two men, refusing to shoot at one of their own. Several of them stepped forward and attempted to grab Chris. Jake swung his fist into the first and Chris launched his foot into the crotch of another. Jake and Chris found themselves backed into the corner of the room, their only protection being the captive soldier Chris held firmly by a twisted arm in front of them. Jake moved his hand to his left pocket and found an empty holster. Fear and panic shot through his mind, as he didn't know how they were going to get out of this now.
Just then the woman stepped in between Jake and her own troops and raised her hands.
"Enough of this!" she said in a soft yet strangely audible voice. "Release him now or I will be forced to kill you all."
Jake looked her in the and shouted at her, "One of my people are out their dieing, so if you have to shoot me, you shoot me but we aren't going to sit around and do nothing, waiting for him to die!"
A strange silence filled the room. The dark skinned man had gotten to his feet and was standing next to the woman, his pistol raised at Jake. The woman raised her hand to her soldiers; they all lowered their weapons. If you let go of him, I promise I will bring your friends here for any help they need."
Jake put his hands on Chris shoulder, Chris loosened his grip on the mans arm and let him move away.
The woman whispered something in the dark mans ear and he jumped to and left the room followed by most of the soldiers. The woman now stood in the middle of the large room with a few other soldiers and looked at them both, her voice was deadly.
"If I find you have lied to us then both of you will pay the price."
Jake and Chris looked at each other then back at her.
She smiled at them and spoke softly to them.
"My name is Jade."
The two relaxed a little.
"Jake"
"Chris"
She looked them both up and down then said "follow me"
Jake and Chris saw no real option and followed her through the door out of the large room. They followed Jade through a long corridor to an elevator. It was large and had railings rather than doors, Jake figured it was probably a service elevator which lifted supplies up to the real hospital, so they must've been kept in a supply room in the basement. The elevator slowly started to move upwards once they were all on.
"I'm sorry for everything that has happened but I must take drastic measures to ensure the safety of this place." Jade said softly
"And what is this place exactly?" Chris asked.
Jade laughed gently, "This place…this place is home…"
The top doors opened and light damn near blinded Chris and Jake.
Blinking furiously they looked around as the elevator slowly stopped.
All around them was noise and movement; it was all very disorientating there were kids running and laughing, people talking and shouting, footsteps, and the sound of cheers and drinks being knocked into one another. Jake quickly became adjusted to the light and could finally see where he was. The hospital floor was alive, the large windows let sunlight stream in, the large open space had a few tables surrounding a large circle of desks in the Centre. Within this circle was a balding in a greasy shirt with a towel flung over his shoulder and 3 large steel barrels that came up to his knees. Sitting at the tables surrounding this make shift bar were men and women all talking and laughing, drinking and eating.
Chris spoke first,
"I don't understand, how could you keep this place secret?"
"And how do you keep a community gowning with children as well?" Jake continued.
"The third floor is a school, we teach the children everything we feel they need to know, the ground floor is for food and recreation, the outside is perfect for physical training, the 1st floor is for sleeping as is a partial amount of the 3rd floor." Jade answered without breaking stride. They were outside walking along the large concrete wall that stood 10 feet high and Jake suspected must go around the entire hospital. They saw groups of soldiers jogging, teenagers with unloaded rifles practicing drills against mannequins salvaged from some poor clothes store. There was some younger children still probably the age of twelve doing push-ups. Jake was amazed at the sort of life these people were living here, his train of thought continued about how amazing this place truly was and his new found respect for Jade when suddenly he went cold. He looked down at his feet and saw the giant shadow of the 5 story high hospital had fallen upon him.