Chapter 2

28 Days Later…

Lidded eyes and fanned eyelashes rested quietly upon high cheekbones of a sleeping face. The resting body in the pristine white hospital room lay motionless as the machines peacefully beeped around him. Tubes were connected to his arms, and soft bruises and grazes lay across his creamy skin. His brown spiky hair was dirty, as it hadn't been washed for days, and his green baggy hospital clothes were creased. His body was sprawled across the bed, one arm above his head and one resting on his flat stomach. His legs were comfortably open, and the same for his mouth.

The boy's eyes twitched lightly, as did his left index finger in tow. His mind heavily came crashing down to earth and suddenly it became hard to breath in his sleep. His dreams became uncomfortable and his eyes screwed up, clamping his hands together. A rush of consciousness flew through his body then to his head and soon his eyes flew open widely and he shot up with a desperate gasp for air. His eyes darted around the room in panic, searching for something, for someone. Then the real reality hit him. He was in hospital, and his body was weak.

He gratefully calmed himself down and pulled the tubes out of his skin awkwardly, hating the way the liquid inside them was pumping stuff into him and not out. His mouth was unbearably dry, and his glans seemed to be reacting slowly. He noticed a mouldy apple on his bedside table and he cringed, thinking how disgusting this hospital was or how the nurse's service was so poor around here. They hadn't even noticed he was awake yet. How long had he been asleep?

Slowly he climbed out of the bed when suddenly memories of why he was in hospital in the first place ran through his mind. He looked concentrated at the floor as he tried to remember, and his eyes slowly shut.

"Hey Riku, slow you down you idiot!" Kairi laughed in the backseat of the car.

"Come on! The streets are empty today, give me a break snotface," Riku replied stepping down on the gas a little bit more.

"Sora, help me out would you." Kairi poked Sora in the side as he sat next to her.

Sora lifted himself up and poked his head out of the sunroof, enjoying the cool crisp air as it rode past his face, his spiky brown hair rustling in the wind. He smiled contently as he heard his two friends talk to each other about the picnic they were going to have. The food was in the boot all ready to go and Kairi had herself wrapped in the huge picnic blanket. They were all out in the country side of Destiny Islands, enjoying the solitude and the summer holiday.

Suddenly Sora felt hands on his legs then with a force they dragged him back into the car. Kairi giggled as Sora landed back onto the seat with a thud. Sora grinned at Kairi and grabbed the blanket, flinging it over the two of them as he tickled her relentlessly. Kairi laughed like a lunatic as she laid flat on the seats, Sora straddling her body so she couldn't wriggle away.

"Hey guys," Riku interrupted from the drivers seat, "what's that?"

Sora lifted the blanket off the two of them then looked ahead to see what Riku was talking about.

What they saw ahead was definitely strange. A small blur of black was heading towards them at a weird speed. As it got closer, it looked like it was running straight towards them.

"Riku, don't run it over," Kairi said, leaning in-between the gap of the two front seats with Sora.

"I'll try not to, but there's nowhere for me to swerve." The road was only a country side, one-way road with a huge steep hill to the left, and a wall to the right.

The black blur ran faster, making noises the three friends couldn't quite make out.

"Riku…"Kairi was uneasy. If they didn't hit it, they'd have to swerve away from it into the hill. But if they did hit it, well, who knows. "Riku, stop the car."

Riku was getting a bit scared; the image of the black blur was becoming clearer now it was so close, and in all honesty he didn't want to stop the car. He didn't want to swerve it either, he wanted to keep his friends safe and not go crashing down the hill and probably die. The thing wasn't human, more like an animal, they wouldn't get into too much trouble for it.

Riku stepped on the gas and the creature ran straight for him, the beady yellow eyes fixed onto Riku's aqua ones. Kairi screamed in fear and Sora held her hand as the car ran straight over it, strange coloured blood splattering all over the road. The front wheels skidded on the body of the creature and Riku lost control of the car. He turned the wheel in panic as the car headed straight for the side of the hill, but there was nothing he could do.

The only sounds that could be heard as the car came crashing down the hill was the three friends screaming for their life.

Sora opened his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. He'd actually survived that. Then his mind came tumbling back to his friends. Did they survive it?

Sora quickly scrambled to his feet and walked towards the door, opening it and looking down the silent and empty hallways. There were no doctors or nurses anywhere, he couldn't even hear one. He looked up to see a sign telling him he was in the ward where all the other coma patients were, so they couldn't be far.

Growling from his stomach made his pace slow, for all he knew he hadn't properly eaten in days. He felt lighter as he walked, he'd lost a few pounds during his coma. He could only assume he was in a coma anyway. He had no idea what had happened between the crash and him waking up a few minutes ago. The symptoms of his weak state could boldly prove it too.

He checked each room as he walked past every white door, finding nothing each time. He could only hope and pray Riku and Kairi were in a coma too, then hoped even more that they would wake up and not leave him alone. His mind slowly built into a state of panic when he thought about it. He honestly couldn't imagine his life without them, his two best friends. The thoughts made him quicken his pace a little. He couldn't bare it.

He stopped when he turned the corner and noticed a smashed open coke machine by the wall. It had been completely vandalized and broken open; the contents were scattered everywhere. Most of the cans had already been opened or spilled and the floor was sticky on Sora's bare feet.

Suddenly realising how thirsty he was he got to his knees and searched for a sealed can, casting away the empty ones. Once he found one and slumped against the wall with a thud and opened the can as it made a quick fizzy noise. Sora caught the coke that almost spilled everywhere with his mouth and drank the liquid quickly, gulping every mouthful down. His eyes drooped closed with pleasure as the cold coke soothed his dry throat.

"I know the feeling."

Sora lurched forward in shock at the voice and dribbled the coke all down his chest. A soft chuckle escaped from the person's lips as he crouched down to Sora with a smile. Sora looked at his silver haired friend and felt a rush of relief devour his body. Sora grinned and pounced at him, hugging him with dear life.

"Riku!" Sora laughed, happy as ever.

"Hey, I missed you too," Riku laughed and Sora let him go, the smile still playing on his lips. "How do you feel?"

"Really rough. I feel so weak, like all my strength has been ripped out of me."

"Probably because you haven't eaten properly for at least four weeks."

"Four weeks?!" So that's how long he'd been asleep, he'd missed most of the summer holiday already. The crash must have really been bad, but at least he was still alive. Now he'd have no time to finish the book report with Kairi for school. Wait... "Where's Kairi?"

Riku smiled and stood up, taking two cans of coke from the floor. "Come and see for yourself."

000000

Sora and Riku walked into a similar looking room to his not far from the coke machine, although the room was a little bigger. When Sora walked in the first thing he noticed in contrast to the white surroundings was Kairi's bright red hair. She had her back to them, staring out of the window. Sora watched as Riku walked up to her, a smile curving on his mouth. He was so happy his friends were okay, he felt as if he needed to thank someone with his life for this amount of luck.

There was no nurse in this room either; he'd not seen anyone in this hospital apart from Riku or Kairi at all. How Strange.

"Sora, you're awake!" Kairi tried to be ecstatic as she possibly could, but it looked like all the energy had been drained out of her as well. She was very pale, and looked a lot thinner. Sora gave a smile of concern when she didn't come running toward him, but instead slowly walked toward him. He generously met her halfway and enveloped her into a comfortable hug. "I was so afraid you wouldn't wake up." She whispered into his neck, eyes clamped shut.

Riku looked on with sad eyes. Kairi had been awake before either of them, 3 days earlier in fact. When Riku found her she was crying in the corner of her room all alone, no doctors ever coming to her aid, not even a nurse, no matter how many times she called for them. She was too scared to look too far for her two friends. The accident had really shaken her up. Riku hated himself for not waking up earlier, he hated the sight of how he found her, but most of all he hated himself for putting both her and Sora in so much danger.

"Kairi, it's okay, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere." Sora soothed her and stroked her matted hair while she quietly sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'll try and find us some food, and maybe a doctor or something," Riku told them. He walked towards the door and Kairi lifted her head to look at him.

"Riku please be careful." Kairi looked at him with pleading eyes and Riku gave her a comforting smile.

"Kairi I won't be long, you catch up with Sora, okay?"

Kairi nodded and watched him walk out of the door. Sora carefully brought her out of his embrace and looked at her face, tucking a few strands of red hair behinds her ears.

"Stop crying…"

"Sora there's no one here." Kairi half yelled desperately, tears glazing her eyes again.

Sora frowned, confused. He knew he'd not seen anyone yet but there had to be someone around this hospital somewhere. Kairi walked him towards the window pointing out to the streets of Destiny Island.

What Sora saw made him freeze. The streets were completely empty. The cars were dotted all over the roads motionless, there were no people anywhere, despite how busy Destiny Islands usually was. The silence was deadly, chilling, it creeped Sora out to a harsh level. He didn't like what he was seeing at all.

"Where is everyone?" Sora asked quietly, as if his voice could cause an avalanche.

"I've not seen a nurse or a doctor, even a patient, for 3 days," Kairi looked down at the window sill, "I've been totally alone. The silence was so scary I was too afraid to look for you. I thought the worst for a moment, thinking you were both dead. I didn't know what to do with myself, I just sat and cried."

Sora turned to face her, guilt rushing all over his body as she spoke in such a broken tone.

"When Riku found me in here I felt like I'd won the lottery," she half-laughed, causing Sora to smile lightly. Kairi looked up into Sora's eyes. "but you weren't with him."

"I'm sorry, Kairi, I… I just wish I'd woken up before you."

"It's not your fault," she grabbed Sora's hand, "don't be Riku and blame yourself. He's feeling so guilty over this whole thing it's not even funny."

Sora remembered the car accident, how Riku couldn't control the car as it swerved in the deadly direction, the look of fear across his face. "It wasn't his fault, it was just a freak accident. No one would have thought an animal could have caused that," Sora said.

"Was it an animal…"

The door of the room flew open and both Sora and Kairi looked as Riku breathlessly stood by the door with a large blood stained pole in his hand. Kairi gasped at his odd presence and walked as quickly as she could to him. Sora frowned at the bat, then to the blood splattered all over his green hospital clothes.

"Riku, what the hell?" Sora rushed to him aswell.

Riku panted and breathed heavily, holding onto the door for support. Even Riku hadn't gained his energy back. But what in world had he been up to?

Riku looked at his two friends, tears daring to glaze his eyes. "We have to leave, now."