THREE WORDS: I'M SO SORRY.
Everything happened quickly. One second they were heading to the limo and the next, total dizziness. A girl nearby screamed but he didn't have time to turn and see what was going on before Alex felt himself hit the ground and completely blacked out.
Alex could feel something underneath him. It wasn't hard, but it still made his back ache. He slowly moved his arms and legs. They felt like they weighed a tonne each. With his eyes still shut tightly, he tilted his head experimentally to the right and then to the left. No good.
Shit.
It hurt. He carefully, and reluctantly, opened his eyes. Blinding white light burnt into the back of his head. He blinked a few times and the room came into focus. He was staring straight up into the ceiling. Alex looked around himself. Directly in front of him was a green-painted door with the number 214 carefully printed with gold stickers across its glass window. It was open and Alex could see into the hallway which was bustling with white-clad figures. He looked to his left and found a large window that looked out into a courtyard with identical, plain square windows facing in from all angles.
He looked to his right. There was another bed next to his but it was perfectly made and empty. Between these two beds was a range of machines making slow beeping noises and two ordinary-looking, plastic chairs. The people sitting in the chairs drew his attention. Alex recognised them both as Snake and Wolf. Snake had his head, arms and legs all bandaged. They were both fast asleep, softly snoring.
"Oh, you awake, Mister Rider?"
Alex turned to face a tired-eyed woman walk into the room with a thick manila folder. She had thick grey glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, her faded blonde hair was twisted up in a knot on the top of her head and she had red lipstick all over her straight teeth. She smiled kindly at Alex and checked a chart that was sitting out of view behind his head.
"Sorry, but where am I?" he enquired croakily. His throat was dry and his stomach growled hungrily as he spoke.
The woman looked down at him in surprise. Her name tag was now close enough to read. It said 'Sandra Brown'. "You are in the Royal St James Medical Hospital for Intelligent Forces. I thought somebody would have told you by now."
Alex fidgeted in his bed. There really was something hideously uncomfortable behind his back. "No, I only just woke up."
Sandra gasped. "Oh, well I better go get Doctor Kane. Stay right here." She bustled back out the door and away to the right.
"What else am I gonna do?" he muttered to himself and sat up once she was out of sight. His back was stiff, but he clenched his teeth and stood up. His legs threatened to give way under him but they held long enough for him to grab hold of a nearby machine until he steadied himself. Alex looked back down at his bed. But there was nothing there. He frowned.
"Mister Rider, you should remain lying down." Another adult walked in with Sandra close behind him. The man was reasonably tall at six foot one and had a close-cut crop of black hair. Alex sat down on the side of his bed and awaited farther instruction. "Good afternoon, Mister Rider. My name is Doctor Kane and I'll be replacing Doctor Bristow. I'm sure you've met him before...?"
Alex frowned before shaking his head. "No. Never."
The worry in both of the adult's eyes sent a bucket load of panic through Alex's insides. Doctor Kane quickly flipped through the manila folder and found what he was looking for.
"Oh. My. God."
Joseph powered on. His muscles were stinging and he felt like he was going to throw up, but he didn't rest. He continued lifting the weights off the floor, above his head and then back down to the ground. Joseph knew that he shouldn't have been over-working himself. But revenge was on his mind.
He stopped for a break and sat down on a nearby fitness bike. He was in his Dad's gym in the basement of his massive house. Joseph had been there since day break and lunch time was quickly approaching. He took a deep, steady breath and stared at a blown-up picture of a boy around his age that had been stuck to the wall.
"I'm going to get you, Rider," he told the picture. "I'm going to get you and your girl and there is nothing you can do about it."
Laura moaned. The light was too bright. She buried her head under her pillow and kept her eyes clamped shut. It was just another boring day at Royal St James Medical Hospital for Intelligent Forces. At first, she had thought it would be super fun - spies and other intelligences barely corridors away. What she hadn't counted on was the security. Apparently, Laura wasn't allowed out of her room for 'health' reasons.
She shifted on her bed. There was a very loud, whirling machine connected to her chest via four thick red wires. Laura opened her eyes groggily and watched as her heart beat was displayed on the screen of the monitor. It was almost therapeutic. Of course, Laura didn't see it that way. She just saw it as a big nuisance.
"Laura, honey? Are you awake?"
Laura sat up slowly and carefully avoided looking in the mirror. She stared around the room. It wasn't much of a room, really. More like a giant glass box in which she wasn't allowed to leave. She stared out of the glass and to her left. Jasmine was sitting on a small, two-seater lounge looking very tired. Her hair was falling out of its pony and there were dark circles forming under her eyes.
Laura nodded and walked up to the speaker box. "Morning, Jassie." She frowned when Jasmine came closer to the screen. "You should really get some sleep. You look exhausted."
Jasmine nodded. "Yeah, I think I might. I'll go see how Alex is going. Take care." She yawned before leaving the separate room with a tired drag.
Laura sighed and sunk back down onto her bed. It was going to be another long, boring day.
Josephine was lying on her stomach on her oversized mattress. Her room glowed lilac all around her. Her phone was in her hand and she was impatiently waiting for it to ring. After a few more moments of waiting, she flipped her phone open and dialled. She put the phone to her ear and waited for somebody to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Yes, hi," Josephine said. "Is Madison there, please?"
"Sure, who's speaking?"
"It's Josie."
"Won't be a moment."
Josephine didn't wait for Madison to finish saying hello. "Why didn't you call me? I've been waiting for at least four minutes!" she shrieked into the mouthpiece. "Am I, like, not your friend anymore?"
"Sorry, I was talking to that new Indy girl."
Josephine sighed. "I thought we weren't going to make new friends apart from that Alex guy, remember?"
"B-but," Madison stuttered. "Phoebe has a plan! A really good one!"
Josephine tilted her head to the side. "I'm listening..."
Madison Cainbridge was a tall girl at 5 foot, 6 inches. She had long brown hair which she always wore in a group of six or so bunches with as many clips and accessories as she could fit. She was sitting outside her small house in Chelsea when her friend Phoebe McCoy phoned. Her mother passed the phone out through the window and down to her daughter on the grass.
"Hello?" Madison greeted.
"Hey, Maddie, it's me, Phoebe. Listen, I have big news!"
Indy Forest was at the kitchen table, silently doing her homework while her parents watched a sitcom in the room down the hall. She sighed and stared vacantly out the window. She thought about calling Laura or Alex, just so she could get out of the house for a change. Indy had almost made up her mind when the old phone on the counter rang and shook her out of her thoughts.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is that Indy?" a loud voice enquired though the earpiece.
"Yes. Who's this?"
The voice laughed. "Oh, right, sorry. I'm Madison Cainbridge, from Brookland School. You probably don't know me, but I wanted to call and say hi."
"How did you get this number?" Indy asked suspiciously.
"Oh, I can't remember. But what do you say you come meet me and some friends down at the movies to see that big new film...what's it called? I can't remember. Anyways, what do you say?"
Indy shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
Jasmine slowly walked towards the apartment block. She had driven Wolf's truck back from the apartment and had parked around the corner. She stepped up into the building and looked around. The doorman was missing.
"Hah," she breathed. "Weird."
Jasmine stepped into the stairwell and immediately noticed a dark red mark smeared across the third step. Her breathing started getting faster as she climbed higher and higher and the red stains became more frequent.
Until it immediately stopped with a giant puddle on level seven – her level.
The man ran. He wasn't sure where he was going, exactly, but he needed to get away. His pursuers were close behind him. They were much, much faster and he knew that if he didn't do something real fast; he wouldn't be waking up tomorrow morning. It was about sunrise, but people were already flooding around the main roads.
If only he could get that far...
The man came to a sudden halt. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Wolf was dreaming.
He was running down a long passageway. On his left was a door - door 23.
He kept running.
Every thirty metres, another door appeared. They were all numbered 23. Wolf kept going until he noticed something different about the door. This time, it had a red mark on it.
He stopped in front of the door and reached out to open it.
"Oi, Wolf, mate. Wake up!"
Wolf opened his eyes and came face-to-face with Snake, a friend of his from the SAS K-Unit. Snake had dark, blank eyes and a roughly shaven chin. He was still covered in casts and slings.
"Wha'?" Wolf snorted, sitting up straight in his chair. He noticed the empty bed in front of him. "Whoa, where's Alex gotten to now?"
Snake shrugged. "No idea. Come on, let's find out."
Sabina wandered around the shops looking for nothing in particular. She wanted some new clothes that would suit London more than America. But she was definitely not in the right mood for shopping. Her mind was preoccupied with more important things than fashion. Like Alex Rider. She hadn't seen him at all since she'd arrived back in London.
Well, she knew he was always away. She knew that he was a spy and that he would be sent all over the world, if he was needed. But something in her head told her not to bother looking for him, just in case something terrible had happened. Although, there was something in her heart that said to go for it.
She was confused.
Sabina sat down at a nearby table and sighed.
"Rider," she said to herself. "What have you done to me?"
Jack Starbright shifted in her bed. It was dark outside and getting closer and closer to the early hours of the morning. But she couldn't sleep. She was at her father's house in her old bedroom. Pink flowers and teddy bears scattered the walls. Jack gave up trying to get comfortable and sat up against her bed head. She ran through the conversation she had had only a few days ago.
Alex was in hospital and she wasn't there for him. She'd been told he was out cold and probably wouldn't notice she was gone, but she still felt guilty not being there. MI6 wouldn't tell her why he was hospitalised in the first place, but she had managed to get a hold of his caregiver and get as much information as she could.
He'd been walking out of his school when Alex and a girl with him had been...
No, she told herself. Don't even think about it.
The two figures walked up to the man sprawled across the concrete. The man to the left – the shorter one – kicked the dead body in the ribs. No movement. He sent a single, bone-shilling nod to the figure opposite.
Job completed.
AN: Sorry for the lateness. You would be able to comprehend how guilty I feel and I hope this makes up for it.