Riley and I cut through the groups of people milling around the Fort. Since we've showed up yesterday, two more groups from the outside were rescued and brought here, looking as scared, dirty, and on edge as we probably did.
We walk in silence through the neighbourhood. He leads the way. The confidence in his step has seemingly come back, along with his sense of humour.
"Do you remember how to get to the hospital?" he asks, stopping and turning to look at me. He smirks a little bit.
"Yeah. We go past the post office, you go left, and its the tall white building with a giant red cross. You can't miss it." I say, trying to mimic Connor's tour guide-like instructions given to us the night before.
"Right... I think I see it. And it's smoking. Shit." Riley points at a plume of black smoke coming from next to the post office.
"Oh my god... James..." I say, my eyes widening at the prospect of losing him now, when there is a cure at stake.
Riley breaks into a run, and I follow.
The hospital is definitely on fire. On the inside anyway. Smoke is coming from open windows on nearly every floor, even the front doors. I don't know if anyone could get out of there. How could a fire this bad start? It had to be a major screw up or something.
"We need to go in there and find him!" Riley shouts frantically, looking at me. His blue eyes wide in fear. He's shaking now, and I am too.
The wind picks up a little. That only fans the flames.
"We can't!" I shout back, feeling helpless. "We'll get killed! Maybe he got out on his own! Caroline, David and Melanie were going to take good care of him! He's their ticket to a cure, they wouldn't just let him die!" I look around, hoping to spot James in a crowd with the researchers.
I spot a large group of people near the post office. There are maybe thirty of them, women, men and children alike. They're covered in ashes and they stumble around in a disoriented fashion. I can hear some of them crying from over here.
I see some doctors in torn coats treating the people who got out, and treating themselves. Upon closer inspection, many of the survivors and even doctors seem badly burned. In the mix up, I see Caroline's face, but it disappears as she leans down, possibly treating someone. It has to be James.
"I just saw Caroline!" I say to Riley, turning to him. "She had to get him out. I bet he's cured!"
Riley looks at me, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "We're wasting time, we have to go over there."
We speed walk toward the post office, passing through survivors of the fire and curious Fort Benning citizens alike, careful to stay calm and not upset anyone who escaped the burning hospital building. It smells terrible, and the heat of the fire can be felt even from across the street.
Upon reaching the post office, we push our way through the large crowd to where I saw Caroline. A figure I didn't see stands up in front of us. It's Caroline, and she was treating someone.
But it's not James.
She's treating Melanie. The right half of Melanie's face is burned very badly, her clothes are covered in dust and her right arm is burned as well. She sits on the wide stairs of the post office, looking blankly at the ground.
James isn't in sight. Riley notices this, and the joy in his eyes turns into sudden anger. He turns from looking at Melanie in a disgusted awe to looking at Caroline with hate in his eyes.
"Where the hell is James!?" he snaps, getting Caroline's attention. "You're supposed to be helping him! Where is he!?"
Caroline stays quiet. Her and Melanie exchange a look.
"He's still in the hospital." Caroline answers, quietly, directing her eyes at the ground. "Him and David. They... they didn't make it out. Nor did our research, and our lab is probably destroyed by now."
The news feels like a sucker punch. The logical side of me knew that James would die eventually... but the optimist in me hoped that somehow, the scientists would have a breakthrough in their research and save him. To go in a fire without being able to fight it... almost as bad as being bit.
I turn to Riley. He looks... empty.
"How the hell could you let this happen?" I snap, disgusted by Caroline's carelessness. The people around us turn from the fire and stare at us instead. "He should have been your top priority! Now everything has gone to shit again and we're back where we started! What were you thinking!?"
She stares me down, unaffected by what I just said.
"Do you think David would have died if your friend was not our top priority?" she questions calmly. "He sacrificed himself for Melanie and I, and to try and get your friend out. We did everything we could!"
Melanie looks up from her burnt arm. "So you need to grow the hell up. Everyone has lost someone. I can't feel this side of my face but you're bitching about some kid who was pretty much dead anyway." she hisses harshly.
Riley looks at me blankly. He looks back at the two remaining researchers. Then he leaves.
I don't say another word. Instead, I take a seat on the postoffice stairs and watch the hospital burn, eating up James and our chance of a cure.