Following a hearty meal of fish and chips, Sam being aware that she probably hadn't eaten anything this fattening since she was a teenager, she turned her attention to Ken. He hadn't stopped staring at her and it was beginning to get more than a little creepy.
"Tom?" Sam hissed across the table out of the corner of her mouth.
"What's up?" Tom asked, finishing the last few chips on his plate.
"Your old friend is still staring at me." Sam replied, jerking her head towards him.
"Is it annoying you?"
"…more like disturbing me." Sam replied with a grimace.
"I'll go talk to him." Tom said, giving her a reassuring smile before standing up.
Sam watched from afar as Ken scratched his bald head awkwardly and gave some kind of explanation that Sam would have been able to hear, though she was not sure she wanted to, if the rowdy table would have died down for a moment. When Tom returned he had an irritated expression on his face.
"What happened?" Sam asked almost immediately.
"Turns out he's staring at you because he recognised your face in the papers. They used a photo of you from your army days back when the hospital first exploded. Ken er… has a thing for strong women." Tom said as he sat back down.
"Translation being he has a thing for me." Sam said flatly before adding, "He's old enough to be my father!"
"Do you want to leave?"
"Yes."
…
Following a hasty departure Sam and Tom made for a local park, hoping to catch the sunset from a hill that Tom knew of overlooking most of the city. Tom explained that he came up here a lot when he was a kid also, while apologizing profusely for Ken's creepiness.
When they reached the hill the view was far more beautiful than Tom had described. The high rise buildings in the background had lights in practically in every window which seemed to make the every building glow. As Sam looked around the area closer to where they were standing she could see row upon row of homes which reminded her slightly of the children's dolls houses she always refused to play with, instead opting for the nearest action figure she could get her hands on.
The streets near those houses were empty, but in the distance the unmistakeable sound of car horns and motorbikes near the high rise buildings reminded them that they were not in some quaint little town disconnected from the hustle and bustle of the city, they were in fact in what could be considered the eye of the storm.
With a slight twinge of fear Sam picked out the remains of Holby City Hospital and sighed. A couple of the buildings hadn't been touched by the bomb, but most had suffered some amount of damage. The giant pile of rubble Sam stood on with Jeff and Dixie had been cleared away with nothing but gravel replacing it and there appeared to be some building work going on, as Sam swore she caught a glimpse of a builder's truck driving out of what was the carpark and graffiti lines marking what used to be the ED.
"I forgot you could see the hospital from up here." Tom said sadly, "I'm sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable."
"It's ok…" Sam said distantly.
Something was wrong. She could feel a faint tingling sensation at the back of her head and her vision was blurred around the edges. But that, as Sam soon discovered, was the least of her worries.
It was cold and Sam was tired. She couldn't sit, her arms were bound to the wall high above her, her legs chained to the ground. She couldn't see anything, she had either gone blind, mad or there was no light in... Wherever she was.
"That cross on her uniform means she's a doctor… We'll get a high price for her. What is her name?" A voice asked high above her in a way that made every hair on the back of her neck stand.
An eerie beam of light hit her face, and Sam just about made out a figure staring down at her before the light was turned off. She found her mouth forming words without her permission.
"You bastard! Face me like a man, coward!"
"What is your name?" The man asked in a heavily accented voice.
"Go to hell!" Sam yelled before she could stop herself.
"…You say the name printed on her uniform was Samantha….. Nicholls? Interesting…" Sam heard him mutter to someone beside him before he turned his attention back to her and said, "I know why you came after me. Anger and pain are a powerful combination of emotions but I am here to tell you that you have wasted your trip. I am not his murderer. I merely work as an underling for the real culprit, and he is far away…"
Sam was screaming in frustration, pain, fear and in a vain attempt to extinguish the fiery pit of anger that was burning in her heart. She began writhing and twisting, struggling against her bindings until she broke free…
"Sam are you ok?" Tom asked, waving a hand in front of her face.
"My brother!" Sam blurted suddenly.
"What?" Tom asked, confused.
"My bother was… that man he…. Never mind I have to go!" Sam yelled, waving Tom away and starting to run back down the hill.
"Sam wait! Go where?"
…
Sorry again about the lack of updates, try-to-complete-all-of-my-summer-homework-without- going-crazy week has begun!
I start school again on Wednesday the 4th so I don't have much time!