"We'll go, you'll stay," Ray said to Cathy.
Tate nodded and started walking toward the entrance; he stepped over Natalie and continued in search of Maddy.
Ray immediately followed him behind, and together, they walked out of the emergency room.
Xavier was behind them in no time, ready with his gun to burst any heads that needed bursting.
They were walking along the quiet and empty hospital hallway when Maddy suddenly walked out from one of the wards right next to Ray.
Ray jumped on his feet, "Oh shit!" Ray held his chest and placed a hand on Tate's shoulder.
"Don't be dramatic, Ray, it's just me," Maddy chuckled as she handed Xavier back his gun.
"Where did you go?" Tate asked, he noticed that Maddy's eyes were back to their normal colors.
Maddy shook her head, "Nowhere; I just wanted to calm down; I was feeling weird and didn't want to end up hurting anyone like I did the last time." She replied.
"Ms. Maddy, next time, it'd be better if you tell us than run off; we don't want to risk endangering more people," Xavier quietly informed.
Maddy nodded, "Understood."
Xavier nodded and pointed back to the emergency room, "We need to get back."
Tate held Maddy's wrist and led her back to the emergency room.
Inside, Dr. Nix was squatting beside Natalie, examining her body.
"Are you okay?" Cole walked up to Maddy and asked, his eyes looking her up and down.
"I'm fine, Cole," Maddy replied, staring at Cole's neck.
"I'm sorry about that," She pointed to the scratch on his neck.
Cole shook his head and smiled. "I think I'm already getting used to this," He replied.
Maddy was surprised to hear that; he was the first person to seem carefree about the situation, and he was taking it better than any of them.
"Natalie was scratched too," Dr. Nix announced.
"What?" Cathy gasped.
"Then, why is she different? Why did she turn? Unlike you all," Ama pointed at Tate and Ray.
Dr. Nix shook her head, "I guess the answers are in the blood Dr. Ren has."
"How many more people were scratched?" The president asked.
"I'm not sure, Mr. President, we had believed that we were the only ones, but it turns out we're not. And we don't know if the others are like us, or like her," Dr. Nix pointed to Natalie on the floor.
"There's more, and they're not like us..." Maddy said in an eerie tone.
"What do you mean?" Tate asked, his heart starting to beat for what he envisioned might be the case.
"It was her," Maddy pointed to Natalie.
"She infected someone before walking back here, a student, and I feel it. It's like how I felt about Natalie's change. It's like a radial in my body that makes me detect infected people," Maddy explained.
"So, you're saying that there are-"
"Arghh!!!!!"
A loud scared scream came from outside the hospital.
"Copy that," Xavier spoke into his earpiece and immediately walked over to the president.
"Mr. President! We have to get you out of here; there's a bunch of infected students breaking loose. The chopper is almost here," Xavier informed and waved his hand to the other bodyguards in the room, signaling them to go first and clear the path for the president.
"Maddy, Dr. Nix, get your friends behind me, let's move, Cole," The president said with urgency as he started to walk out of the room.
"Oh no, has everyone turned into a zombie?" Cathy asked, hurrying beside Tate.
"We hope not," He replied.
They all marched out of the emergency room, as they neared the exit, soldiers were already standing side by side from the exit to the gate.
"Mr. President, we have to hurry, some men are trying to get the uninfected students to a safe place while locking the infected ones in a place, or do we release fire on them?" Xavier asked beside the president.
"No!" Maddy suddenly ran up to the president and held his hand, desperately.
The president, who was already halfway to the gate, was surprised to feel someone holding him back, "Maddy?" He called with a frown.
Maddy lowered her head and removed her hand from the president's arm. "Please, do not kill them, I promise we'll find a cure for them...please," She pleaded.
At that moment, there was a loud growl and a screaming from the hostel beside them; they turned in the direction and were shocked to see an infected student push down a soldier and sink his teeth into his neck without wasting a second.
Bam!!!
Another soldier fired at the infected student, who snarled before he fell to the ground, unmoving.
Bam!!!
The soldier fired again, but this time, he shot his fellow soldier who had been pushed down and bitten.
Maddy removed her face from the sight in front of her, pain filling her heart. This was all her fault.
"More people are going to die, Maddy. We kill only when it's necessary like you've just seen," The president informed with a straight face.
"Mr. President, the chopper has arrived," A soldier shouted from outside the gate.
Tate moved forward and held Maddy's arm, drawing her to himself.
The president turned to the soldier beside him and instructed "Make sure everyone uninfected student is protected."
"Yes, Mr. President," The soldier saluted and went back to his initial position.
The four friends stuck together behind the President and his son, Xavier motioned his hand for them to walk forward as the loud sound of the helicopter's rotating rotors was heard above the building.
"Get the president in, Now!" A soldier shouted from the front of the hostel building.
Snarls and gnarls filled everywhere as if the affected students sensed that they were about to leave because they suddenly became relentless in banging against the shut door, and some even succeeded in climbing out of the glass windows by breaking them with their super strength.
"Sir! We need to leave, now," Xavier informed loudly.
The president hurriedly spoke in a rush, "Alright, everybody, let's go." He grabbed his son's hand and walked toward the descending helicopter.
"Move faster, Cole, they're breaking loose," The president said in a loud voice.
Cole didn't need to be told twice, he ran behind his father.
Although Cole tried to look strong; however, once he looked outside the center of the soldiers, his knees almost gave out from fear.
Gunshots were dominating the snarls and gnarls from around them; the soldiers were trying their best to keep the rabid creatures from breaking the line they'd formed around the president and the fleeing team.
"I got him, Xavier!" A soldier shouted from the opened door of the chopper.
The soldier helped the president get up into the chopper while Xavier helped Cole climb after his father.
"Maddy, you go, hurry," Tate nudged Maddy forward.
Maddy grabbed Cathy's hand and walked toward the chopper.
Xavier was now standing at the door, the rotors kept rotating loudly, causing dust to rise around the surrounding area.
Maddy and the rest had their hands over their eyes as they approached the chopper.
"Come on, let's go," Xavier grunted as he helped Maddy and Cathy up.
He hurriedly helped the others. Ama was the last person to enter the chopper, and she almost fell back down to the ground when her hand suddenly slipped off from Xavier's hand.
"Argh! Oh my God!" Her hands were shaking as Xavier caught her arm.
"I got you, get in," Xavier drew her in and immediately shut the door.
"Fly, Robert, we're all set!" Xavier shouted to the navy pilot in front.
"Copy that, taking flight in 3...2...1," Robert's voice sounded through the speaker and everyone felt the chopper leave the ground.
As the chopper ascended higher in the air, silence filled the cabin; nothing but the loud rotation of the rotors around the central mast and the vibration it created along with it was heard inside the cabin as it flew off into the horizon, leaving behind a trail of fading sound.